Posted on 10/03/2006 5:41:31 AM PDT by Valin
EAGAN, Minn. - For a guy who has flown military helicopters in the Middle East, the World War II jeep Joe Repya struggles to fire up is particularly low-tech. "Everything works on this vehicle," he says as the Go Devil four-cylinder engine turns over, sputters, bellows, jumps to life and then dies. Well, almost everything works. Repya, 60, fiddles with the choke and turns the engine over again; this time, it starts for good. A smile sprouts across his face, and now the man who earned a reputation as one of the Army's oldest soldiers in Iraq and one of Minnesota's most vocal supporters of the troops and the war is ready to have some fun. Repya's fully restored 1942 jeep, with him at the wheel, was to be at the front Saturday of the Minnesotans' Military Appreciation Fund Run/Walk, a fundraising effort to benefit the state's soldiers and their families. Since its inception in August 2005, the statewide nonprofit group has raised nearly $4.5 million.
For Lt. Col. Joseph Repya Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), it will be a fitting way to mark his retirement, which officially began Sept. 21. He spent 38 years in the military, including 10 years on active duty in Vietnam, the first Gulf War and, most recently, Iraq. If old soldiers never die, but rather fade away, Repya is on his third or fourth fade-out. He voluntarily came out of retirement after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and wound up serving in Baghdad as a liaison officer overseeing air operations.
Repya, an amiable and robust man, jokes at first when asked why he volunteered for duty in Iraq. "I didn't want to shovel snow in Minnesota," he said. So he traded the snow for the chance to walk around with 40 pounds of body armor and other gear in a place where temperatures can get up to 125 degrees. "But it was a dry heat," he said. Behind the humor is an earnestness born of wearing a military uniform for much of his life. When he's asked what he did to celebrate his retirement, he said he and his wife, Debra, had a quiet dinner.
He pauses a moment.
"I've lost some friends," Repya said, explaining why the celebration was low-key. "Lost some friends in this war, too." For most Minnesotans, Repya came to prominence before the invasion of Iraq. As a Vietnam veteran, he said, he was concerned about dissent over the then-impending war, so he and Debra started the Minnesota Support Our Troops Coalition. "In January 2003, when things were starting to heat up, there was a barrage of signs that sprung up here that said, 'Say No to War.' We said, 'Here we go again,' " he said. "Just to be stinkers, we came up with our own yard signs."
In 10 weeks, the group produced and distributed 30,000 lawn signs that read, "Liberate Iraq - Support Our Troops." The group also sponsored a rally at the State Capitol that drew an estimated 18,000 demonstrators. Repya said none of the turmoil or setbacks in Iraq have diminished his support for the war, or for a president he worked to get re-elected. "I think we're doing the right things," he said. "No war goes according to the game plan."
He believes his efforts at home early in the war helped build strong public support for the troops. "The support of the American people has been wonderful," he said. Repya owned a company that sold and brokered airplanes, but he said he doesn't intend to go back into that business. His main interests have been the jeep and the military appreciation fund. This particular jeep served with the 101st Airborne Division in Europe during World War II, and Repya has gotten himself the uniform to match - an M-1942 field jacket with angled pockets, jump pants with their large side pockets and straps, and special jump boots that were worn by paratroopers.
Repya's jeep carries a dashboard-mounted .30-caliber machine gun and an M-1 Garand rifle (both demilitarized, Repya is quick to point out) and other authentic gear. His passenger Saturday was to be Herb Suerth, 81, of Wayzata, a D-Day veteran and former member of the 101st Airborne's E Company, the unit depicted in Stephen Ambrose's book "Band of Brothers," which was later turned into a TV miniseries.
Repya and Suerth met four years ago through a veterans' group. Repya "has a very strong character, very patriotic and American," Suerth said. "I think the fact that he re-enlisted in the service at the age that he did, I think that speaks for itself - to take that kind of initiative, to get permission from the president of the United States to do it."
Repya said he knows he wants to stay involved with the appreciation fund after the event and that he needs to find some way to express his patriotism short of coming out of retirement yet again. "I'm sure there's other ways to serve the country now that I'm an old codger," he said
Consider yourselves pinged
ping
Why would you demil a Garand????
MN Patriot ping.
The Jeep. What an amazing vehicle that was. Cheap to produce and it got the job done.
With what we pay for the Humvee these days we could give every soldier in the Army a new jeep.
(Seriously) there a probably legal issues, as to where him could bring it.
I bought several de-milled for a Civil Air Patrol color guard unit.
It allows easy access to government buildings and large events with the drill out and de-milled stamp.
Plus, it removes any serious concern of someone doing something stupid. (ie: someone bringing a live round from home and showing their friends how it chambers.....)
>>"Because it's a (cue the ominous music) gun rifle! And you never one when it might jump up and start blasting away."<<
That's right - you know, in response to a special command, if you put three of them together using a complex maneuver taught in basic training, they can stand up all by themselves!
(STA-A-ACK ARMS!)
and Re-Pinged
Even in Minnesota, the Garand would not need to be de-milled. Absent a federal tax stamp, the .30 cal machine gun would. Unless it was rebuilt with a new semi-auto receiver. They would, in general, have to be unloaded though.
Lt. Cols., like other officers, don't "re-enlist", they just change status. In his case, from the retired list to the active list.
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