God bless and protect our military.
Hope your Memorial Day was happy and peaceful.
Posted on 05/28/2006 7:49:10 PM PDT by The Mayor
I don't have the Words. God Bless you, Stopem's Dad, and Purple's Uncle H. S.
STORY FROM WW 2
This story originally appeared in Stars and Stripes on January 19, 1945.
Nine fingers shot off — he kept firing
By Earl Mazo, Stars and Stripes staff writer
A GENERAL HOSPITAL, France, Jan. 18. — For 19 hours early in the German counter-offensive Alfred Bell held off attackers who tried to flush him from an abandoned aid station.
The rangy staff sergeant from Dallas, Tex., fought first with a German bayonet. Then, when a bazooka shell had blown away most of both of his hands and had blinded him in one eye, he kept fighting and had a medic hack away with a bayonet at one piece of his left hand which hung uselessly and got in the way of the tommy gun which he held crooked under that arm.
Bell's platoon of light tanks was rushed into the fight before Stavelot. His platoon leader had gone ahead, leaving him with four tanks to hold a road block and protect a battalion aid station.
After 24 hours of "just sitting," an outpost reported a German patrol heading for Bell's tanks. The patrol turned cut to be about 400 screaming SS soldiers.
"We picked off quite a few," Bell recalled. "But one by one their bazookas got all our tanks except mine. I told the medics they had better withdraw with the wounded."
"I knew it would be suicide for me and the two medics and two American wounded with me to resist night then, so I hid my pistol and tommy gun, and when the Germans came after us we gave up.".
Bell had everything planned. He would grab the tommy gun at the first sound of American relief. But darkness came and there was no relief. The Germans guarding them brought out a couple of bottles of cognac. As the Germans got drunker and drunker, Bell eased himself toward the big. SS-special bayonet with which they had sliced their bread and when the opportunity came he grabbed it and slit the throats of both guards.
"Our scuffle stirred some of the Germans upstairs. I wheeled around in time to see a German aiming a bazooka at me. The round burst against the wall right above me, blinding my left eye and playing hell with my hands.
Fires With Little Finger
"Somehow I got my gun, cradled it under the crook of my left arm and with the little finger of my right hand, which was the only one I had left, I fired like hell. The German fell before he could reload. I kept shooting until Germans stopped trying to come down those narrow cellar stairs.
"How did I feel? Weak, weak as hell, and mad. A piece of my left hand was hanging down over the tommy gun and getting in the way so I asked a medic to cut it off. He whacked away with the German bayonet for about ten minutes, but I guess I was too tough for that bayonet. So the medic tied together what was left of that hand with my parachute neckerchief."
As the night wore on fighting around the building grew in intensity, then, as Bell put it, "like something out of a wild-west movie, a tank jerked to a halt outside and all hell broke loose."
What a Night
It was Bell's tank, in which Cpl. John Robinson, of Detroit, had rushed off for help. He had returned with 12 combat engineers and they came into the building fighting.
"I kept things going as best I could — what a night! Those engineers fought like tankers. Eleven of the 12 were killed. The one that survived had a BAR. I wish I could remember his name, I never had seen a man fight like that. I know that he killed at least 40 Germans."
As daylight approached, the Germans set the building on fire, and that was when the Americans dashed through a hail of machine-gun fire for the ambulance halftrack the medic had discovered.
Robinson and a sergeant who said his name was Aurio Pierro, of Boston, stayed behind to cover Bell and the others as they got away.
Thank you, Just Amy. This is a solemn and reflective day. There are very, very few flags on display on homes in my area. There are those who remember and honor here in Los Angeles, but few and far between as compared to total population.
In our military, we have been given better than we deserve.
God rest the soul of your father.
85,000+ graves at Los Angeles National Cemetery and a flag on every one today.
A moving, solemn and wonderful ceremony to remember and honor our fallen heroes and veterans was held under clear blue skies.
I happened to end up with a handful of red, white and blue carnations (they had been passed out earlier). A lady near me asked for a red one for someone special. Then she told me of her cousin's son, a Marine who was killed this past April in Iraq. She had his picture and memorial card with her. She was there to honor his memory, she said. I said, Here, take all these flowers to his grave.
Everyone please remember LCpl Stevie Perez, KIA April 3, 2006. Buried in San Antonio, Texas.
Very nice LUV, thanks for the ping!
You're welcome. It's always good to see you.
Thanks for the ping and the pictures DH. It's good to see you around.
Thank you.
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I am watching the History Channel's programme on the life of Goerge Washington.
God Bless your husband's Uncle.
Thank you LUV, good to see you too! I was out of town a few days and am playing catch up!
Yes ... a very reflective day.
We visited two cemeteries this morning. I have one cousin who served in Korea but we decorated all the graves. Hubby's parents and mine. It has become a tradition.
God bless our military!
Rest in peace, LCpl Stevie Perez!
Father, please comfort his family.
Hi Amy! HUGS!
"God bless and protect our military. "
Yes please do so Dear God, please do.
See ya tomorrow! On FR :)
Local Sea Cadets provided Color Guard Duties as well as greeting each vehicle entering the cemetery with a sharp salute.
Distinguished speakers offered words of praise to the memory of so many veterans who have since answered their eternal roll call.
One speaker, a young US Marine Captain, shared about how all the training and education he has previously received would not prepare him for one of his present duties - USMC Casualty Officer serving the greater Northern San Joaquin Valley. It has been his duty to inform Marine families that their Marine has been killed in action. Sadly, he has had to make that visit to the homes in this area too many times. Four visits just since the first of this year.
Though he never "met" these Marines, he has grown to know them very personally though their personnel files as well as meeting with surviving family members.
He spoke from the heart, which touch the hearts of many in the large 300+ crowd assembled for the ceremony. It was a very emotional time for this Vet.
So much more took place in the one and half hour program, speeches, family members of the 16 members of our Armed Forces killed in Iraq and Afghanistan from our region accepted the condolences and gratitude of all those present.
The Lakewood Memorial Park was adorned with American Flags lining all the lanes through the cemetery as well as a flag on the grave of each Veteran. An awsome site to behold. A scene from today's ceremony...
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