Archive for October, 2009
WWII Soldier’s Diary Reveals Life In The Trenches
by admin on Oct.30, 2009, under Historical Heroes
WWII soldier John T French kept a journal while holed up in a muddy trench with German sniper bullets whizzing over his head every day. And the story that it tells is quite remarkable. In his diary he tells horror stories of the killing and death. He describes ‘piles of men’ who had been killed in the firefight, and he describes ducking those same bullets who killed his countrymen.
He also talks of downtime in the fighting when he and his comrades would shout good natured insults to the opposing Germans, who would throw their own back. 30 minutes were spent in verbal sparring involving cultural cliches from each country. Then they would duck under the trenches and get back to fighting.
French survived the horrors of the Second World War, but succumbed to TB at age 37.
I always find it fascinating to see items such as these diaries. As I know I’ve mentioned in a previous post, for me, seeing these words written, and photographs taken, so long ago really brings the people involved to life. While in school I always found it so easy to tune out and simply memorize the dates. I did these brave people an injustice by letting them remain just names on a piece of paper.
But they weren’t just names. They were people with hopes, dreams, and lives of their own, and not just some name to memorize in order to pass a test. This is something we all need to remember.
If you are interested in reading more of French’s diary, click here.
Jack Lucas: Dedicated Marine
by admin on Oct.29, 2009, under Historical Heroes
Jack Lucas was a cadet captain in the military school where his mother had enrolled him after his father’s death when he heard radio reports of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The next day he promised his mother that if she let him enlist, he would come home after the war and finish his education—but he wound up forging her signature on the consent form because she would have to lie for him. Lucas, big for his age, told the Marine recruiters he was seventeen. Shortly before being sent to the training center at Parris Island, South Carolina, he turned fourteen.
Troops were moving out to Hawaii, but because of his experience in military school, Lucas was ordered to stay behind and drill new recruits. He knew his buddies were ultimately headed for combat, so he hopped onto the train with them—in effect going AWOL to get into the war. Once in Hawaii, he managed to convince officers that he was there because of a clerical error.
He was almost drummed out of the Corps when a censor read a letter to his girlfriend that mentioned his real age, fifteen by then. He managed to talk his way out of trouble again and was assigned a job driving a truck on the base.
A year later, when a large number of troops were being ferried out to ships in Pearl Harbor heading into action, Lucas stowed away on the USS Deuel, in effect going AWOL a second time. He slept on deck and scrounged meals from other men. When the ship was
well out to sea, he turned himself in for fear of being classified as a deserter, and a sympathetic colonel decided that instead of punishing him, he would finally grant Lucas his wish of being assigned to a combat unit.
Not long after, the Deuel approached Iwo Jima. On February 19, 1945, five days after he turned seventeen, Lucas hit the beach with forty thousand other Marines, five thousand of whom would become casualties that first day of combat. The next morning, his unit destroyed a Japanese pillbox, then took cover in a Japanese escape trench, where eleven Japanese soldiers surprised them. The Marines and Japanese started firing at each other at point-blank range. Lucas shot one soldier in the forehead before his rifle jammed.
As he was trying to get it to work, he saw two Japanese grenades land near the Marine next to him. He dove down into the soft volcanic ash, covering the grenades with his body. One failed to go off, but the explosion of the second one flipped him over on his back and inflicted large wounds on his arm, chest, and thigh.
His chin was sliced open and one eye was forced out of its socket. He had internal injuries and was bleeding heavily from his nose and mouth. A Marine from a following unit, reaching down to take off Lucas’s dog tags, saw Lucas’s hand wiggle.
He was given a shot of morphine, carried back to the beach on a stretcher, and transferred to a hospital ship. At one point he was almost given up for dead, but the doctors kept working on him.
After hospitalizations in Guam and San Francisco, and several of the twenty-two surgeries he would undergo, he was discharged in September 1945. On October 5, at the age of seventeen, he received the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman, making him the youngest recipient since the Civil War. Then, as he had promised his mother years before, he went back to school—a ninth grader wearing the Medal of Honor around his neck. He later graduated from high school and earned a college degree. His book, Indestructible, was published in 2006.(MSNBC
Wow. What a story. This was quite the man. It was incredibly lucky that the one soldier saw that he was still alive, even after suffering those extensive injuries. People like this really are an inspiration.
Soldier’s Sacrifice
by admin on Oct.28, 2009, under Combat, Tribute
I found this lovely essay written by a soldier’s mother. She has been lucky and hasn’t had the misfortune of losing her son in the field that so many military moms are facing. She reflects on this, and makes comparisons of her son to another young soldier who recently lost his life in Afghanistan.
Soldier’s Son Takes Father’s Legacy And Fulfills Promise
by admin on Oct.27, 2009, under Historical Heroes
This is beautiful. This shows that war is only fought by those men who really have nothing to do with the debate that started the whole mess. When you get down to it, it’s just regular men trapped in a terrifying muddy hole somewhere far from home.
64 years ago, at the battle of Iwo Jima, two soldiers sat together in a foxhole: a 24-year-old American lieutenant, Fiorenzo Lopardo, and his captive, 26-year-old Japanese sergeant major, Taizo Sakai.
Neither spoke the other’s language, but both spoke a bit of French, and, during the three days that Lopardo was waiting for American intelligence agents to take Sakai into custody to find out what he knew about the Japanese military’s plans, the two young, frightened men created a bond.
Sakai believed that the American intelligence officers would kill him after they extracted the information they needed. If he did manage to survive, he thought that the shame upon him for surrendering would be so great that he would never be allowed to return home. So he had a special request for Lopardo.
While the two soldiers waited in the foxhole, Sakai passed Lopardo two photos: a black-and-white image of him and his wife, who he had married the year before; and a photo of the couple and their 4-year-old niece. Sakai gave the photographs to Lopardo, asking him to keep them safe—and, if possible, to send them home to his family, who he believed he would never see again.
Lopardo accepted the request, and kept the photos safe in his possession throughout the rest of the war, and after his return home to his family. He never found out what happened to Sakai, and though he searched for the Japanese soldier’s family, he was never able to locate them.
“He told me and my sister, Lisa, about his desire to return the photos, but he never really had a way to do it,” Lopardo’s son Steve told the San Diego Union Tribune. “This was the days before the Internet. Finding people was a lot harder.”
But after Lopardo’s death a few years ago, Steve decided to take on his father’s quest. He tracked down soldiers from his father’s battalion, looked at previously-classified interrogation reports, and even talked to Japanese tourists he encountered about his mission, but found no leads.
However, one of the tourists he’d met had told a newspaper about his story, and it soon got picked up a Japanese television station. A Japanese government official who saw the program decided to put his staff’s efforts into locating the family.
Finally, last September, Steve Lopardo received an email from a Japanese official: “We found the family, it said. “Will you come and deliver the photos?”
Soon, Lopardo hopped on a plane to Yokohama to fulfill his father’s legacy, not knowing what to expect. On his arrival, he discovered that Sakai had not been killed or shunned after all—he had given the American troops a fake name to protect his family. After his release, Sakai (actually Sakamoto) returned home to his family. He and his wife had six children together, and both passed away in the late 1980s.
Sakai’s son and two daughters were there to welcome Lopardo—along with Sakai’s niece, who was in the photograph.
“Sixty-three years ago, my father accepted these photographs from Taizo Sakai and promised to safeguard them,” Lopardo said in Japanese—he didn’t speak the language, but had gotten his speech translated, and practiced it for weeks, so that he would be able to communicate with Sakai’s family. “With respect to both our ancestors, I now return them to your family.”
After passing over the photographs, fulfilling the promise that his father had made to that frightened Japanese soldier so many years ago, Lopardo’s eyes filled with tears.
“It was very, very fulfilling,” he said. “One of the greatest moments of my life.”(Gimundo)
Afghanistan In Photos
by admin on Oct.26, 2009, under Combat, Support Our Soldiers
I found this site with some pretty spectacular photos from the front in Afghanistan. It helps give the sense of what the men and women in service are dealing with on a day to day basis. A window into their daily lives in service.
Duchess Of Cornwall Meets With Injured Soldiers
by admin on Oct.22, 2009, under Combat
His shattered body slumped on a hospital bed, triple amputee Craig Wood tells Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, about his desperate wish to walk again.
At just 18, he is one of the youngest British soldiers to lose three limbs after he was horrifically injured in a bomb blast in Afghanistan in July.
Doctors were forced to remove both of his legs and part of his left arm. When he arrived at hospital, he had lost 27 pints of blood and doctors told his family his chance of survival was 50 per cent.
But despite the appalling odds, Craig, of the 2nd Battalion the Rifles, fought back and is now determined to make a good recovery.
He is now one of just three triple amputees in the country to have survived the conflict.
Craig was moved from Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham, to the military’s rehabilitation centre at Headley Court, in Surrey, earlier this week and was today undergoing physiotherapy when Camilla stopped by his room.
Craig, along with his parents and his fiancee
The Rifleman, who still bears the terrible facial scars of his ordeal just 11 weeks ago, described his experience – and even asked if he could have his picture taken with the Royal visitor on his mobile phone.
Although he arrived in Afghanistan back in April, the same month that he turned 18, Craig told the Duchess that he was out of action for his first few weeks of duty due to a shoulder injury.
On July 30 he was finally deemed fit enough to out on foot patrol with his colleagues in 2nd Battalion the Rifles.
He had been issued with a device which stops mobile phone signals from activating improvised explosive devices.
But insurgent forces ambushed the soldiers and triggered a lethal wired bomb near to Craig.
A helicopter that had been called to fly him to safety was forced to land and take off in direct gunfire after a battle began between the soldiers and the Taliban.
Craig later said: ‘I’d only been out an hour and a half but I was the only person injured. The nearest person to me was about 10 foot behind but he was fine.
‘The helicopters are absolutely amazing in how fast they get out to you. That’s what saves your life.’
He was put into a drug-induced coma and transferred to hospital in Birmingham where, even as he drifted in and out of consciousness, he began to have a recurring nightmare about losing his limbs.
Unfortunately he contracted a number of serious infections as he fought for life, including MRSA in the tracheotomy in his throat and septicaemia in his wrist, which meant that his hand had to be cut back further by doctors.
He arrived at Headley Court, a forces rehabilitation centre, just a few days ago where he has already discussed prosthetic limbs with his consultant.
While I’m glad that Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, could visit with these young men and help bolster their spirits, I’m also very sad at the reason they need bolstering. This young man especially. It breaks my heart to think that he was so drastically injured at such a young age. It does warm my heart to see his fiancee still standing by his side. So often this kind of tragedy can cause the spouse to run at the thought of the responsibility it takes to help someone through this kind of life.
Medal Of Honor
by admin on Oct.20, 2009, under Tribute
The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military decoration. It has been bestowed on
3,447 men and one woman since President Abraham Lincoln signed it into law on Dec. 21, 1861.
It is reserved for those who are distinguished “by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.” Five servicemembers have received the Medal of Honor – all posthumously – since the global war on terror began following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
This quote was taken from the U.S. Department of Defense website. Click here to visit. I didn’t know that the Dept. of Defense had a website dedicated to their Medal recipients, and I’m glad to see that they do. These people deserve to be remembered for their heroic and selfless acts on the battlefield.
An Unsung Hero
by admin on Oct.20, 2009, under Non-Combatant Heroes
It’s a position that rarely gets any attention or credit in the military. Army cook. And now, the military is beginning to do away with this long standing position in favor of private meal contractors.
But the benefits to the soldiers when they can get a hot meal, or even, a good hot meal, can be wonderful. It can be uplifting to know that someone, a comrade in arms, is thinking of your mealtime needs.
This cook in Afghanistan is even beginning to get quite a following just by simply feeding his fellow soldiers.
Combat Outpost Zerok, Afghanistan – The anticipation is palpable on Mexican night at this tiny US base in the mountains of Paktika Province in eastern Afghanistan. Every Thursday, soldiers start lining up an hour early as Spc. Jose Flores hand-rolls more than 200 made-to-order burritos for the base. The creative cook has earned something of a cult following in his unit for his ability to transform military rations into tasty meals.
More anomalous than the appetizing military food though, is the fact that the chef behind it is an Army cook.
Though the Army cook has long held a prominent role in military fiction and folklore, on bases in Iraq and Afghanistan they’re all but obsolete. Private contractors such as KBR now run the vast majority of downrange cafeterias, while military cooks have been pushed into odd jobs like guard duty. Only occasionally are they tasked to their actual job, usually on small outposts beyond the reach of contractors where – out of practice – they get anything but positive reviews.
Through a series of lucky breaks and hard work, though, Flores has made himself a military cook who actually cooks. Now, he’s arguably one of the best cooks in the Army, having worked on a cooking team that placed second in an Army-wide competition and trained under a cook who later won the title of best senior chef in the Army.
“Only a select few get this kind of experience,” says Flores, describing just the amount of time he’s spent in the kitchen, let alone working under high-level mentors.
During his first tour in Iraq, for example, Flores estimates that only about 20 percent of the military cooks in his unit got experience in front of the stove. With the military’s reliance on contractors already widespread by the time Flores enlisted in 2003, he says rumors have been circulating for as long as he’s been in uniform that the Army will do away with military cooks completely in favor of civilian contractors.
Among those who went through basic training with him, Flores says frequent deployments to large bases in Iraq and Afghanistan with contractor-run cafeterias limited their chances to grow as chefs. Fellow cooks would earn promotions for whatever duties they were assigned unrelated to cooking, he says, so by the time they returned to a kitchen they were managers removed from the food-preparation process. “I’ve known people who’ve climbed the rank ladder in food services and know very little to nothing about food service,” he says.
Flores avoided this problem by landing his first duty posting at Fort Bliss, Texas, which, like many installations in the US, employed Army cooks instead of contractors. The assignment allowed him to spend two years behind the grill and join a competitive cooking team. Now when he prepares meals – even at a remote outpost – he and his crew pay attention to every detail, even steaming tortillas before serving breakfast burritos.
By the time Flores transferred to a deployable unit, his experience allowed him to move into one of a handful of cooking jobs with his unit in Iraq.
Now on his second deployment, this time to Afghanistan, he is something of a minor celebrity in his unit. Most of the soldiers say his cooking tastes better than anything the contract kitchens make on big bases.
“We’ve had this chow before on training exercises, and it never tastes like Army chow [when Flores cooks it]. He makes it delicious,” says Spc. Matthew King.
Spc. Bret Tillman proudly remembers how the chef brought two large boxes of his own spices when they deployed to Afghanistan.
For his part, Flores is optimistic that soldier-operated kitchens will not become a footnote in military history. With so many small outposts spread throughout the Afghan countryside, he estimates that now about 75 percent of the cooks in his unit are getting an opportunity to actually make food.
“I’ve known some great food service minds in the military,” he says. The future of army food services is in great hands. There are a lot of guys out there who know what they’re doing.” (CS Monitor)
Michael Monsoor – Video
by admin on Oct.19, 2009, under Combat, Tribute
Last month I posted about Michael Monsoor, a young SEAL who threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades. Today I ran across a touching memorial video on YouTube.
What a brave young man. I’m sure his family is proud of him and his selfless actions, but I’m also sure they wish he could be with them today.
Hero Marines Help Out With Car Crash
by admin on Oct.16, 2009, under Rescues
These people put their skills to the test and won back this man’s life. You don’t have to be on the battlefield to be a hero.
[J.A.] Magana [trooper with the N.C. Highway Patrol] said the driver was heading south on Lake Road around 7:30 a.m. when he lost control of the Nissan SUV, overcorrected, flipped and submerged wheels up into the ditch with about 3 to 4 feet of water.
The Marines following behind the crash stopped, jumped into the canal, pulled the man to safety and then breathed life into his lungs.
Staff Sgt. William Carlson, of Marine Attack Squadron 231 and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, was heading to rifle practice at Camp Lejeune with three other Marines, Cpl. Shari Hansen, Sgt. Eric Lyman, and Sgt. Caleb Bailey, all of VMA-231, when the crash happened.
“We stopped the car jumped into the ditch and tried to get the doors open,” Carlson said. “We couldn’t get the doors open on the driver’s side so we jumped over to the other side and got the back passenger door open.
“We got his seatbelt undone. He was tangled up in it. We cut him loose and pulled him out the back passenger door. We had to remove the headrest to get him past the seat. He was underwater for about three minutes.”
They then began working with three other Marines who arrived at the scene just after the crash to save the driver’s life.
“Once we got him out, he didn’t have a pulse and he wasn’t breathing,” Carlson said. “We started CPR. After about a minute of CPR, his pulse came back. He started breathing about 10 or 15 seconds after we stopped compressions when we got a pulse.”
One of those on the scene was a 31-year-old Marine corporal who didn’t want to give her name.
“One Marine took his pulse, another Marine checked for breathing, and I was on top doing chest compressions,” she said. “We continued to do that until he started spitting out water, and we put him on his side to get the water out. Read on…
