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I Thought I Was Done With Iraq. Then a Fellow Marine’s Purple Heart Turned Up at Auction.
WSJ ^ | 28 May 2021 | Ben Kesling

Posted on 05/31/2021 7:46:44 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT

I remember the day Lance Corporal Walter O’Haire was killed in Fallujah. Known as Gator to his friends, Lance Cpl. O’Haire was on a rooftop with his squad on a sweltering May afternoon in 2007, watching over fellow Marines on the street below when a sniper hit him about 2 inches below the back of his helmet.

Early this February, I received a message from Charlie Williams, who was a lance corporal on that Golf Company deployment. He had gotten wind that Gator’s posthumous Purple Heart certificate, his medals and what was described as the flag that adorned his casket were all for sale through an online auction site called Alexander Historical Auctions.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: honor
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Among the many, please also remember:

Philip Martini, LCPL, U.S.M.C. age 24,1/1 Bravo Co. 2nd platoon.

Lost to a single sniper shot, 8 April 2006 Anbar Province, Iraq.

1 posted on 05/31/2021 7:46:44 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Full TXT:

https://archive.vn/iEYDn


2 posted on 05/31/2021 7:49:15 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Was it worth it? What have we bought with our involvement there?


3 posted on 05/31/2021 7:50:47 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Many thanks to those that gave all since 1775. Sadly we’ve ended up with the current cabal despite the sacrifices of so many.


4 posted on 05/31/2021 7:52:48 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this?)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

—”Was it worth it? What have we bought with our involvement there”

A question I do not want to contemplate.


5 posted on 05/31/2021 7:53:46 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

” What have we bought with our involvement there?”
We have lost and are losing American Treasures to this filth in the $hit holes of the world.


6 posted on 05/31/2021 8:00:12 AM PDT by duckman ( Not tired of winning!)
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To: DIRTYSECRET
If U.S. soldiers are asked to fight and die in combat it should only be authorized combat aimed at the unconditional surrender (or total annihilation) of the enemy using any or all of the military weapons of the United States.

When Presidents or military leaders do anything less they give aid and comfort to the enemy.

7 posted on 05/31/2021 8:03:26 AM PDT by Carl Vehse
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To: Carl Vehse

Amen. Agree 100%.


8 posted on 05/31/2021 8:06:49 AM PDT by Semper Vigilantis (Proud unhyphenated 3rd generation American.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET
Was it worth it? What have we bought with our involvement there?

Time to become energy independent.

Was WWII worth it?

Our biggest problems are the enemies within.

9 posted on 05/31/2021 8:10:00 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries. )
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To: Semper Vigilantis

What’s the use of having power if you don’t use it? It infects all leadership.


10 posted on 05/31/2021 8:10:04 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: rktman

—”Many thanks to those that gave all since 1775. “

Also, untold survivors damaged in many ways.

I was fortunate to be hired by my favorite uncle an Infantryman with 42nd Infantry Division (RAINBOW) and the Liberation of Dachau.
He would often wake up SCREAMING and self-medicate with alcohol. He also had a solid network of “Army buddies”.

He employed mostly WWII and Korea vets, they were good and helpful to me.
Today many vets return to the world alone and find little support.


11 posted on 05/31/2021 8:11:09 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
Why does the song "Billy Don't Be a Hero" come to mind? The song ends with this:

I heard his fiancee got a letter
That told how Billy died that day
The letter said that he was a hero
She should be proud he died that way
I heard she threw the letter away

How tough these combat deaths are, not only to friends and fellow soldiers but to spouses, children and those who were counting on their "hero" to come home.

I understand that life moves on and the survivors must adjust the best they can. All I would ask is that you don't disrespect those men (and women) who lost everything trying to defend our country. They deserve better. We can at least spend one day each year to show our appreciation and thanks for them.

12 posted on 05/31/2021 8:14:39 AM PDT by OrangeHoof (Chinese communism will look different once the masks come off.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Thanks for the text link, I am not a subscriber to the WSJ, and I wanted to read how things turned out. I have done a similar thing for a deceased survivor veteran, WWII Spitfire Pilot, a friend of me and my family.It cost a bit, and the awards and memorabilia went into a war museum’s archives.The family had sold them.


13 posted on 05/31/2021 8:14:41 AM PDT by Candor7 ((Obama Fascism:http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html) )
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To: Carl Vehse

“I do not personally regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany as worth the bones of one British Grenadier. It therefore seems to me that there is one and only one valid argument on which a case for giving up strategic bombing could be based, namely that it has already completed its task and that nothing now remains for the Armies to do except to occupy Germany against unorganized resistance.”

Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris


14 posted on 05/31/2021 8:14:52 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Definitely not worth it.....nor many of the other 3rd world shitholes our boys are sent to by profiteering warmongers back in Washington DC.


15 posted on 05/31/2021 8:17:53 AM PDT by FLT-bird
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Roger that. I see them on my infrequent trips to the VA. Crushes me to see the disabled guys that gave so much to be treated so poorly. My family’s military history goes back to the revolution and nearly everything in between.


16 posted on 05/31/2021 8:22:41 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this?)
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To: FLT-bird

There’s more. The C5A was a boondoggle. Could have converted same size 747’s. Then there’s the existing anti-malaria drug that worked against Covid. What does it have to do with Memorial Day? Too much excrement going on and young lives are just currency in the overall scheme of things. Time to put a stop to it.


17 posted on 05/31/2021 8:23:26 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Carl Vehse

I agree. Rebuilding and forcing democracy isn’t worth dying for.


18 posted on 05/31/2021 8:25:45 AM PDT by Rusty0604 (" When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat." -Ronald Reagan)
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To: duckman
"We have lost and are losing American Treasures to this filth in the $hit holes of the world."

A stupid statement. We are in these "$hitholes" because we are a world power and if we didn't have brave, selfless men and women willing to fight there and maybe lose parts of their bodies or their lives in the process, we wouldn't exist for very long. Didn't you learn anything from Pearl Harbor? Evil can't be ignored until they are ready to attack us at home.

It has been over a century since aircraft and long-range warships were invented, so we can't afford to hide in isolation.

It annoys the crap out of me to hear someone imply that we wasted our years and our lives defending our country on Memorial Day.

19 posted on 05/31/2021 8:26:02 AM PDT by Chainmail (Remember - that half the people you meet are below average intelligence)
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To: DUMBGRUNT

Amazing.

Brought tears to my eyes.

The sketch of the young soldier was a true work of art.


20 posted on 05/31/2021 8:29:33 AM PDT by Notthereyet (We're so angry we can spit pea pellets at a tree and drill the dang tree. )
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