Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

757growin

Well-Known Member
He made it thru the beach landing at Anzio and was wounded a few days later near Solarno and was evacuated to a US hospital. That was the end of the war for him. He did mostly recover and married my mom.....the rest is history
I wonder if he served with my grandpa. Not sure his unit but i cut and pasted this from his obituary..
An Army veteran of World War II, he served in the European and African Theater, and was recipient of the Purple Heart.

Gardens look great by the way jj!
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
I wonder if he served with my grandpa. Not sure his unit but i cut and pasted this from his obituary..
An Army veteran of World War II, he served in the European and African Theater, and was recipient of the Purple Heart.

Gardens look great by the way jj!
Thank you things are looking good so far. Those were big campaigns bro they probably did serve together someplace. These campaigns were really diversionary strikes to keep the germans preoccupied and drain their resources leading up to the Normandy invasion in France. My dad was buried with a purple heart and a bronze star, but i'm not sure he received them at the same time...I think he said he got a bronze star in Tunisia...
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"Some veterans choose not to enroll in Medicare Part B because they’re going to use VA healthcare for life. But, then life happens and things change.

Tom is a Vietnam veteran. At age 65, he retired and signed up for Social Security and Medicare Part A, hospital insurance, but not Part B, medical insurance. He doesn’t need that to go to the VA. Now, at age 75, he’s having some issues and needs more frequent medical appointments. The nearest VA facility is 37 miles away. Tom’s driving skills have declined and he fatigues easily. He would really like to see local doctors.

Because Tom did not enroll in Medicare Part B, hospital insurance, when first eligible, he cannot sign up until the General Enrollment Period, January 1-March 31. After that, Part B would not take effect until July 1. On top of that, Tom will incur a late enrollment penalty, based on 10 years without Part B. In 2019, the penalty would add an additional $135.50 every month to his bill for Part B. (The penalty amount can change every year and will follow Tom for life.)"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dianeomdahl/2019/07/15/veterans-pay-attention-to-medicare-at-age-65-or-face-problems-later/#7ee02b7649aa
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
1st Battalion,3rd Brigade, 9th Infantry Division was in Cambodia from very early May through 30 June 1970 when they crossed the river back into Vietnam. There was extremely heavy combat throughout this period. American losses were very heavy, with all units relying on heavy inflow of replacements to try to maintain at least half strength in the field. In one company, of all the men who had entered Cambodia, only nine left on 30 June, the rest having been either killed or wounded and evacuated. The unit was awarded the Valorous Unit Award, equivalent to individual Silver Stars, for their combat performance in Cambodia.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member



Marine Corps pallbearers salute the remains of an unidentified service member being returned from Tarawa during a ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Wednesday, July 17, 2019. WYATT OLSON/STARS AND STRIPES

"JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii – Cases holding the remains of at least 22 service members killed in the ferocious Battle of Tarawa during World War II were solemnly carried by Marine Corps pallbearers from a C-17 plane into a crowd-filled hangar during a ceremony here Wednesday evening.

“Although more than 75 years have passed, we’re here in formation tonight to honor and welcome home our fellow Marines, brothers in arms who fell long ago in battle, enabling the freedom and security we’ve enjoyed since the end of World War II,” Lt. Gen. Lewis Craparotta, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, told those in attendance.

“As part of the 18,000 Marines in the battle, their actions changed the world for the better in the face of tremendous adversity, their honor, courage and commitment on display for the world to see,” he said.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency transferred the remains from Tarawa in 22 cases, though remains from additional service members could possibly be commingled with them.

Forensic anthropologists at the agency’s lab on the joint base will now begin the painstaking work of identifying them through DNA technology, dental records and other tools. DPAA had earlier held a repatriation ceremony in Tarawa as the remains began their journey home.

More than 500 Marines and sailors were missing in action after the battle, and 429 remain unaccounted for to this day, Rear Adm. Jon Kreitz, DPAA deputy director, told the audience. “Tonight, we are receiving and honoring at least 22 of those men,” he said.

The Battle for Tarawa began on Nov. 20, 1943, with attacks on Betio Island, which was within the Tarawa Atoll, and on Makin Island, more than 100 miles north of the atoll. While Japanese resistance was light on Makin Island, defenders on Betio were entrenched and determined. The 76-hour battle cost the lives of 1,021 U.S. Marines and sailors, with another 2,000 wounded, the Pentagon said in a Wednesday news release.

“Servicemen killed in action were buried where they fell or placed in large trench burials constructed during and after the battle,” the news release said. “These graves were typically marked with improvised markers, such as crosses made from sticks, or an up-turned rifle. Grave sites ranged in size from single isolated burials to large trench burials of more than 100 individuals.”

Efforts to exhume the graves and identify remains were hampered due to incomplete record keeping and by the alterations to the cemeteries shortly after the battle, the news release said. In other cases, locations of cemeteries were entirely lost.

Tarawa is now part of the nation of Kiribati.

In March, searchers with the nonprofit organization History Flight discovered a mass grave with remains believed to be from members of the 6th Marine Regiment. The transfer Wednesday represents a portion of remains found at that time.

History Flight has been searching for World War II remains in Tarawa since 2007. In 2015, the group uncovered the bodies of 35 U.S. troops, including Medal of Honor recipient 1st Lt. Alexander Bonnyman Jr., who died leading a doomed assault on a Japanese bunker.

Two years later, History Flight searchers found 24 sets of remains".
 
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BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

A veteran from the Old Glory Honor Flight takes a photo of a flag that flew on a landing craft control vessel during the storming of Utah Beach, France on D-Day. The artifact was unveiled at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. on July 26, 2019.
By EMMA SWISLOW | STARS AND STRIPES
Published: July 26, 2019

WASHINGTON — "More than 100 veterans gathered at the National Museum of American History on Friday to see the unveiling of a 48-star flag that flew on Landing Craft Control 60 during the 1944 D-Day assault on Utah Beach in Normandy.

Among those in attendance was Herman Zeitchik, who stormed Utah Beach on D-Day and later played a part in liberating both Paris and the Dachau concentration camp. Most of the other veterans in attendance served in Vietnam, and were in Washington as part of the Old Glory Honor Flight from northeast Wisconsin.

The flag is displayed on the third floor of the museum as part of an exhibition marking the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

During the invasion, LCC 60 guided American vessels to their landing spots on the beach and helped control the armada’s movement. After the events at Utah Beach and other fights in France, its flag was brought home by U.S. Navy Reserve Lt. j.g. Howard Vander Beek, who captained LCC 60. For years, Vander Beek, who was of Dutch descent, displayed the flag in his house, curator Jennifer Jones said.

After Vander Beek died in 2014, the flag went up for auction. Bert Kreuk, a collector from the Netherlands, purchased it ($514,000) through Heritage Auction in Texas in June 2016 with the intention of someday giving it back to the United States.

Smithsonian National Museum of American History curator Jennifer Jones, director Anthea Hertig and lead curator of political history Claire Jerry (left to right) cut the ribbon to officially unveil the display of a 48-star flag that was flown on a landing craft control vessel that landed at Utah Beach, France on D-Day.

The flag was exhibited in the Netherlands for a couple years before Kreuk emailed the National Security Council and the State Department in November to let them know he wanted to return it to the U.S. He and his uncle, Theo Schols, then donated the flag to the museum.


“[The donors] were interested in giving the flag that they had purchased ... back to the United States and to the people of the United States because they had such a feeling of personal connection to the country,” Jones said. “They had been able to grow up and live the ‘American Dream’ because of Europe’s liberation in World War II.”

On the Fourth of July, according to Jones, the donors emailed the Smithsonian to let them know that Kreuk, alongside President Donald Trump and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, would present the flag at the White House during a ceremony on July 18.

The flag was flown from the Netherlands to Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on a military transport. The American History Museum then catalogued the object before loaning it to the White House for the ceremony.

Jones worked with designers and other curators at the museum to put together its space at the museum in order that it could be displayed just a week after its appearance at the White House. Typically this process takes six months at minimum, Jones said.

Among the flag’s features that Jones hopes to explore more are the holes throughout it.

“We want to know which holes in the flag might be attributed to machine gun fire by the Germans,” Jones said. “There’s one little pinhole that’s very clean and doesn’t have a lot of fraying around it. I’m suspecting there’s more than one, but I’d love to be able to talk to [Vander Beek’s] family to know more.”

The flag will be displayed for a year as part of the D-Day exhibition and then move to the museum’s permanent collection, Jones said."

https://americanhistory.si.edu/press/releases/smithsonian-display-recently-acquired-d-day-flag
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-netherlands/bullet-riddled-us-flag-that-survived-d-day-comes-home-75-years-later-idUSKCN1UD274
 
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BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
President Trump welcomed 9/11 first responders to the White House Monday morning, as he signed a bill that will ensure continued funding for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-thanks-first-responders-as-he-signs-9-11-bill-you-inspire-all-of-humanity
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/07/29/trump-sign-9-11-victim-compensation-fund-bill-first-responders/1835550001/


Shame on these holdouts:
Only Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, voted against it. They proposed amendments to the bill that were rejected.
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in military history:



Japanese sink the USS Indianapolis

"There were 1,196 heroes aboard the USS Indianapolis when she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 on the night of 29-30 July, 1945. Some of them had only recently reported aboard, but most of the crew had already distinguished themselves in some of the most critical battles of the Pacific War. Her crew had already succeeded in close-in shore bombardments supporting U.S. Marines and shooting down multiple kamikaze suicide aircraft, any one of which could have crippled or sunk a critical U.S. aircraft carrier. While serving as the flagship for one of the largest and most costly naval battles in history off Okinawa, the Indianapolis was hit and nearly sunk by a kamikaze; she was saved only by the skill, courage, and determination of her crew. All of those aboard when she was torpedoed were instrumental in the successful accomplishment of Indianapolis’ most important mission of the war; the safe delivery at maximum speed of atom bomb components to Tinian Island (her speed record from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor still stands today.) In doing so, the Indianapolis Sailors served to forestall additional years of carnage, in the long run saving many hundreds of thousands of U.S. and Japanese lives.

Beyond the defeat of the sinking itself, USS Indianapolis’ story is compounded by grave errors in U.S. Navy command, control, and intelligence, which, beyond those Sailors who initially went down with their ship due to Japanese torpedo attack, resulted in hundreds of needless and horrific additional deaths to exposure, dehydration and shark attacks. And as if the sinking were not bad enough, the U.S. Navy’s poor handling of casualty notification, and perhaps the most controversial court martial in U.S. Navy history, led to years of bitter recriminations. Why, after 70 plus years should we remember? Because, even in the worst defeats and disasters there is valor and sacrifice that deserves to never be forgotten. The story of USS Indianapolis can serve as inspiration to current and future Sailors enduring situations of mortal peril. There are also lessons learned (and in the case of the Indianapolis, lessons re-learned) that need to be preserved and passed on, so that the same mistakes can be prevented, and lives saved. Lest we forget so we may learn."

Indianapolis : the true story of the worst sea disaster in U.S. naval history and the fifty-year fight to exonerate an innocent man / Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton

Out of the Depths: An Unforgettable WWII Story of Survival, Courage, and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis by Edgar USMC Harrell and David Harrell

All the Drowned Sailors: Cover-Up of America's Greatest Wartime Disaster at Sea, Sinking of the Indianapolis with the Loss of 880 Lives Because of the Incompetence of Admirals, Officers, & Gentlemen by Lech and Raymond B Lech
 

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Today in military history:



Japanese sink the USS Indianapolis

"There were 1,196 heroes aboard the USS Indianapolis when she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-58 on the night of 29-30 July, 1945. Some of them had only recently reported aboard, but most of the crew had already distinguished themselves in some of the most critical battles of the Pacific War. Her crew had already succeeded in close-in shore bombardments supporting U.S. Marines and shooting down multiple kamikaze suicide aircraft, any one of which could have crippled or sunk a critical U.S. aircraft carrier. While serving as the flagship for one of the largest and most costly naval battles in history off Okinawa, the Indianapolis was hit and nearly sunk by a kamikaze; she was saved only by the skill, courage, and determination of her crew. All of those aboard when she was torpedoed were instrumental in the successful accomplishment of Indianapolis’ most important mission of the war; the safe delivery at maximum speed of atom bomb components to Tinian Island (her speed record from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor still stands today.) In doing so, the Indianapolis Sailors served to forestall additional years of carnage, in the long run saving many hundreds of thousands of U.S. and Japanese lives.

Beyond the defeat of the sinking itself, USS Indianapolis’ story is compounded by grave errors in U.S. Navy command, control, and intelligence, which, beyond those Sailors who initially went down with their ship due to Japanese torpedo attack, resulted in hundreds of needless and horrific additional deaths to exposure, dehydration and shark attacks. And as if the sinking were not bad enough, the U.S. Navy’s poor handling of casualty notification, and perhaps the most controversial court martial in U.S. Navy history, led to years of bitter recriminations. Why, after 70 plus years should we remember? Because, even in the worst defeats and disasters there is valor and sacrifice that deserves to never be forgotten. The story of USS Indianapolis can serve as inspiration to current and future Sailors enduring situations of mortal peril. There are also lessons learned (and in the case of the Indianapolis, lessons re-learned) that need to be preserved and passed on, so that the same mistakes can be prevented, and lives saved. Lest we forget so we may learn."

Indianapolis : the true story of the worst sea disaster in U.S. naval history and the fifty-year fight to exonerate an innocent man / Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic.

In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors by Doug Stanton

Out of the Depths: An Unforgettable WWII Story of Survival, Courage, and the Sinking of the USS Indianapolis by Edgar USMC Harrell and David Harrell

All the Drowned Sailors: Cover-Up of America's Greatest Wartime Disaster at Sea, Sinking of the Indianapolis with the Loss of 880 Lives Because of the Incompetence of Admirals, Officers, & Gentlemen by Lech and Raymond B Lech
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

Dorothy Olsen, seen on a P-38 Lightning during her time with the Women Airforce Service Pilots. According to her daughter, Olsen called it "an old woman's plane" and liked the P-51 better. Air Force photo


Pilot Who Was a Daredevil Flier with WASPs During WWII Dies at 103

31 Jul 2019
The News Tribune | By Siandhara Bonnet


About 30 people stood on the pavement of the Calvary Cemetery, looking toward the sky, waiting for World War II planes to fly overhead in honor of a woman who flew ones like them more than 75 years ago.

When they had to wait a little longer than expected, Julie Stranburg piped up.

"Mom wouldn't have stood for this," Stranburg said with a smile.

Dorothy Eleanor Olsen, Stranburg's mom, died at 103 on July 23. She was honored with a Funeral Mass on Monday at St. Charles Borromeo Parish and now rests at the Calvary Cemetery in Tacoma, Washington.

Olsen was part of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) -- a group of civilian volunteers who moved planes across the country, hauled targets for shooting practice and performed other flying duties. She was stationed at Long Beach Army Air Base, California, from 1942 to 1944 and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2009.

During her time as a WASP pilot, Olsen flew about 60 missions as part of the 6th Ferry Group, often alone, according to a report from the Chinook Observer in 2011. She also flew about 29 different aircraft. Her favorite was the P-51.

"Mom said the P-38 was an old woman's plane. She said anybody could fly that," Stranburg said. "She said that the P-51, you had to stay on top of that."

She also didn't care much for the bomber planes. Debbie Jennings, friends with Olsen since about 2003 and developer of a WASP exhibit at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, said her friend preferred the fighter plane because she was by herself and could do whatever she wanted.

Jennings said Olsen would get a kick out of scaring farmers on their tractors and fly right behind them. She would do the same at railroad stations just because.

Stranburg said her mom got chewed out by ranking officers for flying like that and once got reprimanded for using her landing gear at high speeds. One time, she flew upside down and a piece of the plane fell off -- but the landing crew never said a word, and Olsen's son, Kim Olsen, has the piece to this day.

"She was like nobody I've ever known. So determined to do whatever she wanted to do," Jennings said.

At the time, women and people of color were fighting for respect in the military.

According to NPR, during the last WASP training class, Henry "Hap" Arnold, the commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces, said when the program began he wasn't sure "whether a slip of a girl could fight the controls of a B-17 in heavy weather."

"Now in 1944, it is on the record that women can fly as well as men," Arnold said.

Jennings said some of the male pilots were jealous of how many different planes Olsen was able to fly.

On two occasions, Olsen received v-mail, or victory mail, postcards from male pilots who had found Olsen's name and address in the cockpit of a plane she ferried. In the last line of the postcard, one pilot from Italy wrote, "Despite the fact that a woman once flew it, it appears to perform perfectly," Jennings said.

"They were the first women to fly military aircraft for the United States," Jennings said. "The women had to jump into any aircraft that needed to be moved, whether it was for training or for combat, and know how to fly it and fly it wherever it needed to go."

WASPs were not recognized as veterans until 1977 under President Jimmy Carter.

Olsen grew up reading about World War I planes and flying in Woodburn, Oregon, in the 1920s, according to a report from The Seattle Times. She was inspired to pursue flight after reading 'The Red Knight of Germany" by Floyd Gibbons.

As she pursued her pilot's license, Olsen taught tap dance and continued to teach after receiving her certification. She was one of three women to get her private flying license in the Portland area by 1939, according to the Chinook Observer.

Once she joined the WASPs, she kept a pair of black DeLiso Debs and socks underneath her seat in every plane she flew, Stranburg said.

"She'd date a new man every night and go dancing, dump them and take off on her next plane," Stranburg said.

When the WASPs disbanded in 1944, Olsen had to pay her own way from Long Beach back home.

Stranburg said Olsen got a job flying war-weary planes after the war -- aircraft deemed no longer safe for combat missions. She once worked with two other men and flew planes to Wyoming.

"They got into a snowstorm and were low on fuel," Stranburg said. "The men wanted to turn back and Mom said, 'No, you're taught never turn back.'"

She said they knew the airport was near, but weren't sure where. The townspeople heard them flying over head and directed the pilots to the landing strip using car headlights.

"She had so many close brushes with death but managed to slide by so many times," Stranburg said.

Olsen later married Harold W. Olsen, a Washington State trooper, and settled down in University Place.

Stranburg said her mom was always fair, particularly when Stranburg and her brother Kim would fight growing up. One time, Olsen told her kids to clean up dog vomit in the kitchen, but neither wanted to.

"She walked up there, took her hand, and [split it in half]. 'You clean that, and you clean that,'" Stranburg said.

Stranburg said her mom didn't fly after she and her brother were born and didn't even think of flying commercial or private planes.

"She said, 'Why would I want to fly a Cessna when I've flown a P-51?'" Stranburg said.

Olsen never lost her flying spirit, though. She often "drove with authority," neighbor Duncan Foley said with a chuckle. "She drove like she was driving a fighter jet."

According to her memorial obituary on the Edwards Memorial website, that spirit landed her a speeding ticket in her 1965 poppy orange Mustang.

Stranburg said flying was the highlight of her mom's life, and that she loved to look at clouds and remember flying through them.

"Every sunny day when you see clouds, think of mom," Stranburg said. "She's up there doing slow rolls in a P-38."

Before Olsen was laid to rest, Jennings read the poem "Celestial Flight" by WASP Elizabeth MacKethan Magid, which is "now required reading at all WASP departures."

The first verse is:

"She is not dead --

But only flying higher,

Higher than she's flown before,

And earthly limitations will hinder her no more"
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
31 Jul 2019
Stars and Stripes | By Rose L. Thayer

AUSTIN, Texas -- A group of Texas veterans believe it's time for the military to start honoring its contemporary heroes. And they'd like to start by renaming Fort Hood after a Vietnam War Medal of Honor recipient.
At its national meeting in July, the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, approved a resolution brought forward by a council of Texas veterans to call on the secretary of the Army to rename Fort Hood as Fort Benavidez, in honor of former Special Forces Master Sgt. Roy Benavidez.


*************************************************************************************​

(Sergeant Benavidez's story always bears repeating every time I see his name. bb)


"On 2 May 1968, 12 Green Berets were surrounded near Loc Ninh, South Vietnam, by an entire battalion of NVA. They were thus outnumbered, 12 men versus about 1,000. They dug in and tried to hold them off, but were not going to last long. Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez heard their distress call over a radio in town and boarded a rescue helicopter with first aid equipment. He did not have time to grab a weapon before the helicopter left, so he voluntarily jumped into the hot LZ armed only with his knife.

He sprinted across 75 meters of open terrain through withering small arms and machine gun fire to reach the pinned down MACV-SOG team. By the time he reached them, he had been shot 4 times, twice in the right leg, once through both cheeks, which knocked out four molars, and a glancing shot off his head.

He ignored these wounds and began administering first aid. The rescue chopper left as it was not designed to extract men. An extraction chopper was sent for, and Benavidez took command of the men by directing their fire around the edges of the clearing in order to facilitate the chopper's landing. When the aircraft arrived, he supervised the loading of the wounded on board, while throwing smoke canisters to direct the chopper’s exact landing. He was wounded severely and at all times under heavy enemy crossfire, but still carried and dragged half of the wounded men to the chopper.

He then ran alongside the landing skids providing protective fire into the trees as the chopper moved across the LZ collecting the wounded. The enemy fire got worse, and Benavidez was hit solidly in the left shoulder. He got back up and ran to the platoon leader, dead in the open, and retrieved classified documents. He was shot in the abdomen, and a grenade detonated nearby peppering his back with shrapnel.

The chopper pilot was mortally wounded then, and his chopper crashed. Benavidez was in extremely critical condition, and still refused to fall. He ran to the wreckage and got the wounded out of the aircraft, and arranged them into a defensive perimeter to wait for the next chopper. The enemy automatic rifle fire and grenades only intensified, and Benavidez ran and crawled around the perimeter giving out water and ammunition.

The NVA was building up to wipe them out, and Benavidez called in tactical air strikes with a squawk box and threw smoke to direct the fire of arriving gunships. Just before the extraction chopper landed, he was shot again in the left thigh while giving first aid to a wounded man. He still managed to get to his feet and carry some of the men to the chopped, directing the others, when an NVA soldier rushed from the woods and clubbed him over the head with an AK-47. This caused a skull fracture and a deep gash to his left upper arm, and yet he still got back up and decapitated the soldier with one swing of his knife, severing the spine and all tissue on one side of the neck. He then resumed carrying the wounded to the chopper and returning for others, and was shot twice more in the lower back. He shot two more NVA soldiers trying to board the chopper, then made one last trip around the LZ to be sure all documents were retrieved, and finally boarded the chopper. He had lost 2 quarts of blood. Before he blacked out, he shouted to one of the other Green Berets, "Another great day to be in South Vietnam!"

Suffering from 37 bayonet, bullet, and shrapnel wounds in various parts of his body, Benavidez used the last of his strength to pull himself on board the helicopter, the last man to leave the battlefield. The helicopter was completely riddled with holes, covered in blood, and without any functioning instruments, but the pilot somehow took off and got the team out of there. Benavidez lost consciousness as soon as he knew they were clear.

Sergeant Roy P. Benavidez of the 1st Special Forces was credited with single-handedly saving the lives of eight men during six hours of non-stop battle. When a recovery team went through the site a few days later they discovered over 30 empty NVA foxholes with heavy weapons, and saw the battlefield littered with more dead than they had time to count.

After the rescue helicopters landed at the base, Roy Benavidez's motionless body was carried off the helicopter, and after a preliminary inspection by the medical personnel on-site, the hero was gently laid onto a gurney and wheeled into the coroner's office.

Just as they were zipping up his body bag, Benavidez used the last of his energy to spit in the doctor's face.

The mostly-dead Benavidez was rushed into surgery immediately, then transferred to Saigon for many months of intensive rehabilitation. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic balls-out actions, and once the full details of the battle came declassified the award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, the highest award for military bravery offered by the United States military. He lived to be 63."
@doublejj
 

Skeet Kuhn Dough

Well-Known Member
There isn't enough WWI movies out there for some reason. Seems like we oftentimes forget about the sacrifices all those brave men made during that first world war. I suppose it is overshadowed by WWII. Can't wait to see this, looks like it's gonna be pretty good.

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
There isn't enough WWI movies out there for some reason. Seems like we oftentimes forget about the sacrifices all those brave men made during that first world war. I suppose it is overshadowed by WWII. Can't wait to see this, looks like it's gonna be pretty good.
Have you watched "They Shall Not Grow Old" ? It's a historical documentary but it is a outstanding technical achievement in film processing. First 20 min or so are ho hum but then you will be amazed.
 

Skeet Kuhn Dough

Well-Known Member
Have you watched "They Shall Not Grow Old" ? It's a historical documentary but it is a outstanding technical achievement in film processing. First 20 min or so are ho hum but then you will be amazed.
I have not but I will see if I can find it. I really enjoy history.

*edit: am downloading it right now
 
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