Posted on 11/11/2005 8:55:32 AM PST by DollyCali
Thanks!
In fact he didn't. He was stationed in the Philippines with a Underwater Demolitions Team.
That Dennis Franz thing, I don't know, it caused a little jump of the old meter. It's hard to say without a detailed bio, and the net has its usual fragmentary info. Typical net bio says went on to study theater [Southern Illinois University] in college. After graduating in 1969, he was drafted into the army and spent 11 months on the front lines of Vietnam with the 82nd [and 101st] Airborne recon unit. Although Dennis made it home in 1970,
Graduated spring (?) 1969 drafted and in an "airborne recon unit" in Vietnam the same year. One on-line source mentioned "officer school" (not unusual for a college grad) but no mention of his rank in any story which would usually mean he was enlisted. The 82nd had one brigade in Vietnam sent in for the Tet emergency (Jan.'68) that stayed for 22 months and [i]n September 1969, the Brigade conducted its last combat operation in Vietnam -- YORKTOWN VICTOR -- in the iron triangle. The 3rd Brigade returned to Fort Bragg and the 82nd on 12 December 1969. That could explain why he served in both the 82nd and 101st staying on after the 82nd left, but . . .
Thanks for info. I always liked Walther Matthau! Now I like him even better.
I did not do an exhaustive reasearch on this. It started with an email I recieved a few months ago & I have played with it on & off.
By the mary Mapes standard everything is true until disproven!
Location, location, location!
Here is a page you might enjoy.
Thank you all for posting. Truly moving. I clipped the quote from Mill and plan to use it.
I don't want to go tell Steve that he's a liar and that he never soldiered with Ventura in Viet Nam.
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Jesse Ventura would not be a good example to use. With his obnoxious self-promotion and questionable credibility of his service during Vietnam, Jesse is not a veteran that many people want to deal with these days. Too many open questions, too few answers.
No problem, glad that worked out for you!
I am a big Audie Murphy fan as well. When you visit his modest grave in Arlington, it is a moving experience--the understated courage and bravery of the American fighting man.
There are many others listed in the MOH citations. I always enjoyed this one:
*MOON, HAROLD H., JR.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company G, 34th Infantry, 24th Infantry Division. Place and date: Pawig, Leyte, Philippine Islands, 21 October 1944. Entered service at: Gardena, Calif. Birth: Albuquerque, N. Mex. G.O. No.: 104, 15 November 1945.
Citation: He fought with conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity when powerful Japanese counterblows were being struck in a desperate effort to annihilate a newly won beachhead.
In a forward position, armed with a submachinegun, he met the brunt of a strong, well-supported night attack which quickly enveloped his platoon's flanks. Many men in nearby positions were killed or injured, and Pvt. Moon was wounded as his foxhole became the immediate object of a concentration of mortar and machinegun fire. Nevertheless, he maintained his stand, poured deadly fire into the enemy, daringly exposed himself to hostile fire time after time to exhort and inspire what American troops were left in the immediate area.
A Japanese officer, covered by machinegun fire and hidden by an embankment, attempted to knock out his position with grenades, but Pvt. Moon, after protracted and skillful maneuvering, killed him. When the enemy advanced a light machinegun to within 20 yards of the shattered perimeter and fired with telling effects on the remnants of the platoon, he stood up to locate the gun and remained exposed while calling back range corrections to friendly mortars which knocked out the weapon. A little later he killed 2 Japanese as they charged an aid man.
By dawn his position, the focal point of the attack for more than 4 hours, was virtually surrounded. In a fanatical effort to reduce it and kill its defender, an entire platoon charged with fixed bayonets. Firing from a sitting position, Pvt. Moon calmly emptied his magazine into the advancing horde, killing 18 and repulsing the attack. In a final display of bravery, he stood up to throw a grenade at a machinegun which had opened fire on the right flank. He was hit and instantly killed, falling in the position from which he had not been driven by the fiercest enemy action.
Nearly 200 dead Japanese were found within 100 yards of his foxhole. The continued tenacity, combat sagacity, and magnificent heroism with which Pvt. Moon fought on against overwhelming odds contributed in a large measure to breaking up a powerful enemy threat and did much to insure our initial successes during a most important operation.
Jack Lemmon was in the Naval ROTC at Harvard and served in the Navy after his graduation, just after WWII.
So many patriots and great actors as well. I like Jack Lemmon.
That is a fantastic story. Thanks for sharing it.
any of your work that might fit in here????
Thanks Victoria! Bob Hope will always have a special MILITARY honor in my mind for his decades of USO work with our troops... He was one class act. I have a fairly large selection of his movies on DVD/video
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