Veteran's Day

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I can't take credit for writing this...

To all of you who have served and are still serving...Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What is a Vet?

He is the cop on the beat, who spent 6 months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th Parallel.

She is the nurse, who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing
nights for 2 solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another ~ or didn't come back AT ALL

They've forgotten me...God

He is the Quantico Drill Instructor, who has never seen combat ~ but has
saved countless lives by turning boys into Marines, teaching them to watch
each other's backs.

She is the career Quartermaster, who watches the ribbons and medals pass her by.

He is one of the anonymous heroes in the Tomb of the Unknowns, whose
presence at the <http://www.arlingtoncemetery.org/> Arlington National
Cemetary must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes, whose valor died unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy, bagging groceries at the supermarket ~ palsied now and
aggravatingly slow ~ who helped liberate a Nazi death camp ~ and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

She is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being ~ a woman who offered some of her life's most vital years in the service of her country, and who sacrificed her ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more
than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation
every known!

So remember .....

Each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say "THANK YOU!" That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been, or were awarded.

Our Honor is at stake...

It is the soldier, NOT the reporter,
who has given us Freedom of the Press.
It is the soldier, NOT the poet,
who has given us Freedom of Speech.
It is the soldier, NOT the campus organizer,
who has given us the Freedom to Demonstrate.

It is the soldier,
who salutes the flag,
who serves beneath the flag,
and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protestor to
burn the flag!

~ author unknown ~


God Bless the Veterans of
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and those
who are currently serving today...L'est us not forget.
 
Lynne said:
He is the old guy, bagging groceries at the supermarket ~ palsied now and aggravatingly slow ~ who helped liberate a Nazi death camp ~ and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

A friend of my father's once told me that he was one of the first soldiers into Auschwitz (I think that's the right camp). I remember more what he told me about how it ocurred...

The townspeople kept coming up to the Americans and saying "It's not our fault - we didn't know what was there." This puzzled them until they got into the camp... and they went back to the town and herded the townspeople through the camp at gunpoint saying, "This is what you didn't know about."

Tony told me that he still had pictures... he wouldn't show them to me, though.

And a few more definitions of Vet:

He's the guy who got drafted in the Vietnam era, never saw combat, and after being discharged enlisted in the reserve for 30 years, working his way up to Command Sergeant Major before retiring.

He's the Vietnam era Air Force mission planner who's working as a security guard.

They're collectively someone who is owed a big Thank You by every American who wants to live free.
 
Ross, we had that same response when we were stationed in Berlin,they didn't know Dachau existed. Didn't know that that was what they were doing. We just could not believe those answers.
We also got the younger generation that said it never happened. [shock] [roll]
 
MrsWildweasel said:
Ross, we had that same response when we were stationed in Berlin,they didn't know Dachau existed. Didn't know that that was what they were doing. We just could not believe those answers.
We also got the younger generation that said it never happened. [shock] [roll]

The Germans try hard to put that period behind them. I used to have a friend that was a Nazi (just small fry) back then, a local political leader. Not a bad guy, other than being an alcoholic. He's definitely ashamed of what the party did at the upper levels, which explains his alcoholism.

The good news is that the Germans won't get caught in that trap again.
 
Oh, they're trying to put it behind them, but, they won't forget in our lifetimes. WW2's destruction will insure that. They were unscathed in WW1 and thy waqr with France around 1870. That's why they got bold later.
 
MrsWildweasel said:
Ross, we had that same response when we were stationed in Berlin,they didn't know Dachau existed. Didn't know that that was what they were doing. We just could not believe those answers.
We also got the younger generation that said it never happened. [shock] [roll]

Sue, I just talked to my mom; she tells me that the camp that Tony liberated was indeed Dachau.
 
Got this from a friend of mine and thought I'd share it:

“Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.

This story shall the good man teach his son;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother…

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.”

- Shakespeare, Henry V

Let’s raise our cups together! To the Honor of our fellows, both present and missing.

Steve Hurkett

7/17 cav

====================================

Steve is a Lodge brother who served in Vietnam.
 
There is a memorial to the Holocaust in Israel called the Yad Vashem. I was there when I was 14, and some of the images displays I saw there are burned into my brain so I couldn't forget them if I wanted to.

One of the displays there is of a block of solid gold, about 3-4" square and about a inch or two thick. The gold came from people's teeth. I don't even want to talk about the lampshade.
 
Ross, I can imagine. It is something we will never forget,and at some point we will go back,and see how things have changed.
 
Did anyone see R. Lee last night on the History channel? He did a special on Viet Nam. He really was a Marine and stationed there. It was a good episode.
 
Yeah, I'm doing okay. Actually got out some today,but hit the wall so to say. I'll be taking it easy tomorrow,but it was nice to get out. [lol] Thursday was a rough day,and Glenn came home early.
 
You take care of yourself hun. Be a couch potatoe tomrrow, and the next day if you need to. You had some work done there, so give the insides time to heal, k?

<HUGS>
 
I am taking it easy. Tomorrow will definately be the couch potato. Glenn's been keeping a eye on me. He always said he can tell how I'm doing by my eyes. [lol]
 
MrsWildweasel said:
I am taking it easy. Tomorrow will definately be the couch potato. Glenn's been keeping a eye on me. He always said he can tell how I'm doing by my eyes. [lol]

Ed says the same with me when I'm not 100%. It must be that glazed look. [lol]
 
I didn't get the opportunity,but hopefully when we get back there,I will. There were alot of things that were weird. We lived in Hitler's SS barracks. There were parts of our casern that were off limits. It was an experience I know we'll never forget.
 
dwarven1 said:
There is a memorial to the Holocaust in Israel called the Yad Vashem. I was there when I was 14, and some of the images displays I saw there are burned into my brain so I couldn't forget them if I wanted to.

One of the displays there is of a block of solid gold, about 3-4" square and about a inch or two thick. The gold came from people's teeth. I don't even want to talk about the lampshade.

There are still a lot of people for whom "Never again" is more than just a slogan that their A.K. parents mumble. I had that bit of encouragement confirmed about 10 years ago when I was walking on Temple Mount on Yom Ha-Shoah at the moment when the air-raid sirens sound and the entire world stands still for a minute. (Of course, the young woman in uniform with a Galil slung over her seat in the buffet and all the men openly carrying Glocks didn't exactly spoil my attitude, either.)

Ken
 
KMaurer said:
I had that bit of encouragement confirmed about 10 years ago when I was walking on Temple Mount on Yom Ha-Shoah at the moment when the air-raid sirens sound and the entire world stands still for a minute. (Of course, the young woman in uniform with a Galil slung over her seat in the buffet and all the men openly carrying Glocks didn't exactly spoil my attitude, either.)

When I was 14, I went to Israel. While our tour bus was driving through the desert, we stopped at a bus stop (there was NOTHING else to be seen except sand and rock... I have NO idea where the men and women waiting there came from!) and picked up some IDF personnel.

Captain David (I don't remember his last name) and his Uzi sat next to me. Nice guy; I often wonder how he's doing..

Capt_David_IDF.jpg
 
C-pher said:
I have a picture of me from the Worlds Fair in Knoxville with those same socks. :D :D

Hey, I was 14.

And even then I knew about safe gun handling. When the Captain sat down in the seat next to me, his Uzi was over his shoulder, but pointed at me. I just reached out and moved the muzzle so it was pointing away from me.

Ross
 
dwarven1 said:
C-pher said:
I have a picture of me from the Worlds Fair in Knoxville with those same socks. :D :D

Hey, I was 14.

And even then I knew about safe gun handling. When the Captain sat down in the seat next to me, his Uzi was over his shoulder, but pointed at me. I just reached out and moved the muzzle so it was pointing away from me.

Ross


Hey, I'm not knocking it. I'm just saying that I had the same socks.

And I did as well. Hell, when I was at the worlds fair, my uncle that I was with was carrying a revolver on his ankle. I just didn't have to tell him to not point his foot at me. :)
 
How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

On Nov. 15, 2003, an 85-year-old retired Marine Corps colonel died of congestive heart failure at his home in La Quinta, Calif., southeast of Palm Springs.

He was a combat veteran of World War II. Reason enough to honor him. But this Marine was a little different. This Marine was Mitchell Paige.

It's hard today to envision -- or, for the dwindling few, to remember -- what the world looked like on Oct. 26, 1942.

The U.S. Navy was not the most powerful fighting force in the Pacific. Not by a long shot. So the Navy basically dumped a few thousand lonely American Marines on the beach on Guadalcanal and high-tailed it out of there.

You Navy guys can hold those letters. Of course Nimitz, Fletcher and Halsey had to ration what few ships they had. Much has been written separately about the way Bull Halsey rolled the dice on the night of Nov. 13, 1942, violating the stern War College edict against committing capital ships in restricted waters and instead dispatching into the Slot his last two remaining fast battleships, the South Dakota and the Washington, escorted by the only four destroyers with enough fuel in their bunkers to get them there and back.

Those American destroyer captains need not have worried about carrying enough fuel to get home. By 11 p.m., outnumbered better than three-to-one by a massive Japanese task force driving down from the northwest, every one of those four American destroyers had been shot up, sunk, or set aflame. And while the South Dakota -- known throughout the fleet as a jinx ship -- had damaged some lesser Japanese vessels, she continued to be plagued with electrical and fire control problems.

"Washington was now the only intact ship left in the force," writes naval historian David Lippman. "In fact, at that moment Washington was the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet. She was the only barrier between (Admiral) Kondo's ships and Guadalcanal. If this one ship did not stop 14 Japanese ships right then and there, America might lose the war. ..."

On Washington's bridge, Lieutenant Ray Hunter had the conn. He had just seen the destroyers Walke and Preston "blown sky high." Dead ahead lay their burning wreckage. Hundreds of men were swimming in the water and the Japanese ships racing in.

"Hunter had to do something. The course he took now could decide the war," Lippman writes. "'Come left,' he said. ... Washington's rudder change put the burning destroyers between her and the enemy, preventing her from being silhouetted by their fires.

"The move made the Japanese momentarily cease fire. Lacking radar, they could not spot Washington behind the fires. ..." Washington raced through burning seas. Dozens of destroyer men were in the water clinging to floating wreckage. "Get after them, Washington!" one shouted.

Sacrificing their ships by maneuvering into the path of torpedoes intended for the Washington, the captains of the American destroyers had given China Lee one final chance.

Blinded by the smoke and flames, the Japanese battleship Kirishima turned on her searchlights, illuminating the helpless South Dakota, and opened fire. Finally, as her own muzzle blasts illuminated her in the darkness, Admiral Lee and Captain Glenn Davis could positively identify an enemy target.

The Washington's main batteries opened fire at 12 midnight precisely. Her radar fire control system functioned perfectly. During the first seven minutes of Nov. 14, 1942, the "last ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet" fired 75 of her 16-inch shells at the battleship Kirishima. Aboard Kirishima, it rained steel. At 3:25 a.m., her burning hulk officially became the first enemy sunk by an American battleship since the Spanish-American War. Stunned, the Japanese withdrew. Within days, Japanese commander Isoroku Yamamoto recommended the unthinkable to the emperor -- withdrawal from Guadalcanal.

But that was still weeks in the future. We were still with Mitchell Paige back on the god-forsaken malarial jungle island of Guadalcanal, placed like a speed bump at the end of the long blue-water slot between New Guinea and the Bismarck Archipelago ... the very route the Japanese Navy would have to take to reach Australia.

On Guadalcanal the Marines struggled to complete an airfield. Yamamoto knew what that meant. No effort would be spared to dislodge these upstart Yanks from a position that could endanger his ships. Before long, relentless Japanese counterattacks had driven supporting U.S. Navy from inshore waters. The Marines were on their own.

As Platoon Sgt. Mitchell Paige and his 33 riflemen set about carefully emplacing their four water-cooled .30-caliber Brownings, manning their section of the thin khaki line which was expected to defend Henderson Field against the assault of the night of Oct. 25, 1942, it's unlikely anyone thought they were about to provide the definitive answer to that most desperate of questions: How many able-bodied U.S. Marines does it take to hold a hill against 2,000 desperate and motivated attackers?

Nor did the commanders of the mighty Japanese Army, who had swept all before them for decades, expect their advance to be halted on some God-forsaken jungle ridge manned by one thin line of Yanks in khaki in October of 1942.

But by the time the night was over, "The 29th (Japanese) Infantry Regiment has lost 553 killed or missing and 479 wounded among its 2,554 men," historian Lippman reports. "The 16th (Japanese) Regiment's losses are uncounted, but the 164th's burial parties handled 975 Japanese bodies. . The American estimate of 2,200 Japanese dead is probably too low."

You've already figured out where the Japanese focused their attack, haven't you? Among the 90 American dead and seriously wounded that night were all the men in Mitchell Paige's platoon. Every one. As the night of endless attacks wore on, Paige moved up and down his line, pulling his dead and wounded comrades back into their foxholes and firing a few bursts from each of the four Brownings in turn, convincing the Japanese forces down the hill that the positions were still manned.

The citation for Paige's Congressional Medal of Honor picks up the tale: "When the enemy broke through the line directly in front of his position, P/Sgt. Paige, commanding a machinegun section with fearless determination, continued to direct the fire of his gunners until all his men were either killed or wounded. Alone, against the deadly hail of Japanese shells, he fought with his gun and when it was destroyed, took over another, moving from gun to gun, never ceasing his withering fire."

In the end, Sgt. Paige picked up the last of the 40-pound, belt-fed Brownings -- the same design which John Moses Browning famously fired for a continuous 25 minutes until it ran out of ammunition, glowing cherry red, at its first U.S. Army trial -- and did something for which the weapon was never designed. Sgt. Paige walked down the hill toward the place where he could hear the last Japanese survivors rallying to move around his flank, the belt-fed gun cradled under his arm, firing as he went.

And the weapon did not fail.

Coming up at dawn, battalion executive officer Major Odell M. Conoley was first to discover the answer to our question: How many able-bodied Marines does it take to hold a hill against two regiments of motivated, combat-hardened infantrymen who have never known defeat?

On a hill where the bodies were piled like cordwood, Mitchell Paige alone sat upright behind his 30-caliber Browning, waiting to see what the dawn would bring.

One hill: one Marine.

But "In the early morning light, the enemy could be seen a few yards off, and vapor from the barrels of their machine guns was clearly visible," reports historian Lippman. "It was decided to try to rush the position."

For the task, Major Conoley gathered together "three enlisted communication personnel, several riflemen, a few company runners who were at the point, together with a cook and a few messmen who had brought food to the position the evening before."

Joined by Paige, this ad hoc force of 17 Marines counterattacked at 5:40 a.m., discovering that "the extremely short range allowed the optimum use of grenades." They cleared the ridge.

And that's where the unstoppable wave of Japanese conquest finally crested, broke, and began to recede. On an unnamed jungle ridge on an insignificant island no one had ever heard of, called Guadalcanal.

But who remembers, today, how close-run a thing it was -- the ridge held by a single Marine, in the autumn of 1942?

When the Hasbro Toy Co. called some years back, asking permission to put the retired colonel's face on some kid's doll, Mitchell Paige thought they must be joking.

But they weren't. That's his mug, on the little Marine they call "G.I. Joe."

And now you know.
 
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