Posted on 05/30/2016 7:18:49 AM PDT by irish guard
This is a totally personal thread meant to honor those who served. If there's already something like this out there, please have Jim Rob delete it.
My Dad (US Navy, WW2 and Korea), My Uncle Bill(US Navy WW2), My Uncle Pete (US Army Medic CBI Theater), My Uncle Jack (US Navy, WW2, Played Piano when the Andrews Sisters showed up w/o an orchestra!), My Cousin Jackie (Army, Vietnam),And My Father-in-Law Abe (US Army WW2, Pacific Theater)
“”My uncle, who I was named after, died in the Philippines, on the Bataan death march.””
I’m sorry for that. I remember what it was like when my family suffered a loss like that. My uncle, my mother’s only brother also died in the Philippines - January 1942 so he avoided the death march. He was killed on the Abucay Line. His name is spelled wrong on the memorial at the American Cemetery in Manila as are records online. His body was never recovered.
My sister and I tried to get it corrected when we learned of it but it had to be requested by a next of kin of which there weren’t any. I have letters he wrote to my mother from the late thirties and what he felt was a “war” atmosphere. A letter she wrote to him on Christmas Day 1941 was returned to her and I have that. I also have her diaries for the years of the war. They kept up with everything by radio and newspapers, of course!
I remember the day the phone call came to our farm house in 1942 after our grandfather received the word of his death. I was 5 nearly 6. I barely recall his last furlough home.
Each and every freeper veteran or currently serving deserves a hearty THANK YOU from all of us.
I will always remember the young man, Harold Davis, Jr. who, in 1941 when my parents visited his parents who were friends, would spend time with a little kid like me.
He showed me his model airplanes he built and took me for rides on his bicycle in Columbus, Ohio.
He entered the U. S. Army shortly thereafter and fought during the Normandy landing. He was fighting during the Battle of the Bulge and was, it was reported, shot in the chest and immediately killed.
What they said was his body was shipped back to the USA and a memorial service was held that I attended. There was, of course, no open casket and his mother never believed that Harold, Jr’s body was in that casket.
There are other stories as well, but I now know that my Great Grandfather fought in the civil war and was buried with honors in an Ohio cemetery. I also know that the other half of my family lived in Georgia and Alabama and fought for the Confederacy.
I honor all those who have fallen in all the wars.
If a war for states’ rights were fought today I know full well which side I would be on.
CW2 G.S. Reali
SGT R.R. Loveland
SGT H.O.Hoskins
And my friend, always, Micheal Hermann Van Daam.
RIP
Army Sgt Robert Post Hampton, Jr. Vietnam 1970
http://www.virtualwall.org/dh/HamptonRP01a.htm
Marine LCpl HD Hogan Afghanistan 2012
http://thefallen.militarytimes.com/marine-lance-cpl-hunter-d-hogan/6568242
Marine LCpl Joshua Bernard Afghanistan 2009
http://thefallen.militarytimes.com/marine-lance-cpl-joshua-m-bernard/4240112
Marin LCpl Eugene Mills Afghanistan 2012
http://thefallen.origin-domain.sightlmg.com/marine-lance-cpl-eugene-c-mills/6568239
BIRX, CHRISTIAN F JR
PFC US ARMY
WORLD WAR II
DATE OF BIRTH: 06/25/1919
DATE OF DEATH: 09/13/1944
BURIED AT: SECTION D SITE 3724 Click to view the cemetery map
BALTIMORE NATIONAL CEMETERY
5501 FREDERICK AVENUE BALTIMORE, MD 21228
He was nice to me at church family gatherings. This was War conscious Baltimore and I was 6 when I learned he was KIA. My first loss that I can remember. His parents gave me his short wave radio and his youth football uniform which I used.
All these memories are just great. Thanks to all.
We still have the Western Union telegrams when our grand ma is advised of his MIA, POW and Liberation status.
My dad, who received the bronze star and purple heart in the Hurtgen Forest, Germany, October 1944. Passed away October 2015.
We should adopt what the Russians do, “The Immortal Regiment”
Every VE Day, there is a parade of people who carry pictures and memorabilia of their relatives who fought in the war.
Ugh, the Hurtgen Forest battles were legendary
Communism is reprehensible. The Russian people, many are drunks, but they do some things right.
But as reprehensible as Communism was, those soldiers came from simple families and were fighting for their homeland and families against a vicious invader. They didn’t necessarily fight out of love for Stalin or Bolshevism.
Yes, you are correct. They were thown into the battle like mere chips and died by the hundreds of thousands. I have some respect for the Russian people. I just don’t know them. Some of what I do know seems OK to me. I’ve traveled the world and find that most common folk are all just about the same. I figure the Russian people are not much different.
My platoon Sgt. Killed in the Tet2 battles south of Saigon in May 1968. I was hit the same day and was on the dustoff flight to 93rd evac with him. Both his and my last Huey ride. Was so sad we had in February first phase of TET retaken the Cholon district and racetrack in Saigon and spent months chasing the VC remnants back to Cambodia only for him to get killed in the 2nd phase. War is hell. Rest Easy Sarge.
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