Posted on 12/07/2012 1:02:41 PM PST by neverdem
May God bless them. They trace their heritage back to Rogers' Rangers in the French and Indian War which was part of the really first world war, the Seven Years War.
One thing I remember about my Father who was a combat veteran of WWII. He was in the Combat Engineers but his opinion of the Rangers came pretty close to absolute worship.
More than once he told me just how good they were.
I have been to this battle site in the Hürtgen Forest area. As a scout master and/or an assistant scout master, I took our troop there 4 times between 2000-2003. We were actually there on 7 Dec 2002, with a historian who read from the Hürtgen Forest trail Medical position, accounts of the battle and the truce that allowed both German and American soldiers to hold a truce and together recover the dead and wounded. We stood on very site where pictures were taken during WWII. After that we went to the German 77th Division Cemetery where the last surviving member was the caretaker; he told us some stories which probably met more to me than the boys.
As a baby boomer American who knows next to nothing about soldiers or war.
I thank my lucky stars daily - to be able to stand on the shoulders of these brave men who fought so valiantly.
They don’t want my attention or need my kind words, yet they gave their lives and quit this earth as men.
Everyone remembers December 7 as the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack--an American defeat. But how many recognize June 5 as the anniversary of the Battle of Midway, June 6 as the anniversary of Belleau Wood, June 19 as the date of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, and October 25 as the anniversary of the invasion of Grenada, arguably the turning point of the Cold War? We ought to be commemorating our victories.
RLTW!
These men fought bravely under incredible odds, God Bless their loyalty, fierce patriotism and love of Country.
It’ll be interesting to see if the young manginas of today’s generation can do anything remotely like this.
I doubt they could.
We’re no longer a serious country. Bad things happen to non-serious countries.
After all they, and the soldiers of Valley Forged sacrificed to give them a free Country, On November 6, 2012 the traitors and parasites proved they do not have the intelligence to live in a free Country and finished giving it away. How high we soared as a Nation and how low we have sunk.
Thanks for the pic & dates.
Rhode Island’s Blue Civil War (Walter Russell Mead)
Centrist Dems lying low on deficit negotiations to avoid 2014 backlash
Heads reportedly roll at ATF over Fast & Furious
Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Excellent comment and true. We should celebrate our victories, but remembering the failures of government are also important.
Wow, great post.
Thanks neverdem.
Thanks for the ping!
I love to watch the postwar movies about WWII — other than Patton, they always show Germans dying by the dozen. It’s a bit daunting to realize that Germany wasn’t fully mobilized for war until perhaps 1943, which was the year of the Battle of Kursk (Operation Zitadelle), the turning point of the Barbarossa campaign, the one that finally broke the Wehrmacht and began the two years of retreat and final collapse. And throughout the war (and WWI before it), Germany was massively outnumbered, and didn’t spend its blood needlessly. The bright spots for Germany were the early victories, when France and Britain collapsed in a few weeks, victories only marred by the German failure to close the bag at Dunkirk. Hitler simply lost his nerve, as he often did. He didn’t like victims who fought back.
Had he not been a complete cipher vis a vis strategy and tactics, Germany would have achieved complete power over continental Europe outside Russia, and over the Mediterranean basin; finishing up in North Africa using the massive firepower and formations he instead tossed into Barbarossa would have resulted in a German-Japanese linkup, a cutoff of the fuel supply to the British fleet, and ejection of what was left of the western allies from the Middle East.
Eventually the UK would have rid itself of Churchill (as it did shortly after the defeat of Hitler) and capitulated without firing a shot. A UK aligned with Germany would have meant no staging area for D-Day, and no support anywhere in the Med or N Africa (the so-called “soft underbelly”). At that point, Germany might still have launched Barbarossa, but waited a few years filled with consolidation of its rule over occupied Europe, mobilization, and preparation.
The Japanese and Russians managed to avoid hostilities until 1945; the US beat Japan in a bit over 3 1/2 years, without the level of commitment it might have had without having to worry about a war in Europe. Take that away, and Japan is toast in a much shorter time frame, and the only large powerful ally the USSR — assuming Germany would have, eventually, launched Barbarossa.
The US atomic bomb would not have been ready for the eventual but sooner denouement against Japan, so it is possible that an invasion of the Japanese home islands would have taken place. More likely would have been a US buildup in an enclave (or more than one) in China, in order to shore up the mostly useless Nationalist army there — it would have delayed the invasion of Japan, but would have reduced the Japanese army available to resist.
:’)
I’m guessing that you mean a LOT of men raised today, if drafted like in WW II, wouldn’t be able to rise to the occasion. I imagine you are correct. Less and less hard-working country boys and more and more city kids with their i-phones.
BUT - just to be clear, there are MANY boys that still rise to this level and are in the service today. (I use the term “boys” in that they are young - but obviously are men of great courage.)
The link is to some Marine actions in Iraq that they too are trying to get recognized for:
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