Showing posts with label Korean War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korean War. Show all posts

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Veteran of WWII and Korean War Proves PTSD is Not New

A veteran's life of triumph and tragedy
WUSE 9 News
Bruce Leshan
November 4, 2016
Next Thursday, the French Embassy will give Col. Gabriel one of its highest honors: a French knighthood, the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
ALEXANDRIA, VA (WUSA9) - On Veterans Day next week, Colonel Arnald Gabriel will be just where he's been for decades: conducting a symphony and remembering lost comrades.

In his 91 years, the Army and Air Force vet has seen several lifetimes worth of triumph and tragedy.

He is one of the few vets left to remember what it was like to land on the beaches of Normandy in that first wave on D-Day.

He didn’t think he would survive.

“Gosh no,” he said. “Scared to death.”

Gabriel was a 19-year-old machine gunner. He said there are no words or movie that can give any of us a sense of chaos.

“If you watch Private Ryan and multiply it by 100, maybe that will come close to what the carnage was really like,” he said.

He marched across Europe to Germany with his two buddies, Harry Ashoff and Johnny Arrowsmith. On Jan. 9, 1945, a German shell hit the trench where they were sheltering.

“Those two buddies will remain with me forever,” he said, his voice breaking.

In a book just out, The Force of Destiny, Gabriel's son describes how he returned home and buried himself in work to deal with the mental anguish now called post-traumatic stress disorder.

When the Korean War broke out, Gabriel volunteered again. This time as a conductor for the Air Force Band. And for 34 years, Gabriel was a military band director. He played with some of the biggest stars of the day.

“Shirley Temple, Edward G Robinson, Peter Graves,” Gabriel said.
read more here

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Texas Female Veterans Celebrated on Honor Flight to DC

Texas' First All-Female Honor Flight Takes Off From Austin
TWC News
By LeAnn Wallace
Saturday, October 8, 2016

AUSTIN, Texas - An honor guard and an appreciative crowd are symbols of respect that go with every well-deserved honor flight.

But this trip was different.

It was the first all-women’s veterans honor flight in Texas and the third ever nationally.

"It feels wonderful. I never thought I'd be honored at my age, 93," said B.J. Garner, a WWII veteran.

For others, the honor flight brings back powerful memories, such as “Clark Air Base, triage, blood (and) bullets” for Frankie Dawson who was a Vietnam War medic.

The women are all World War II, Korean and Vietnam War veterans. They're off on an all-expenses paid trip to see the war memorials in Washington DC.
read more here

Saturday, September 24, 2016

First All Female Veteran Honor Flight Brings Women Together

First all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight from Columbus visits D.C. war memorials
Department Veterans Affairs

Jennifer Sardam
September 21, 2016

“Most times, women were not wanted overseas unless you had a nurse’s degree, and you could take care [of] or nurture the men that were injured,” said Dorothy “Dottie” Wolfe, who served in the Marine Corps, Marine Corps Reserve and Air National Guard. “But I served, and I was proud to have served. I would have gone had they sent me, under any situation. That’s what you signed the contract for, and I knew it.”
Honor Flights from across the country bring Veterans to Washington, D.C., several times a week.

But Sept. 10, the Honor Flight Columbus organization out of Ohio sent the group’s first all-women Veterans’ Honor Flight to the nation’s capital. While there, 81 women—Veterans of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War—visited their respective monuments.

The trip to Washington kicked off with a hosted event at the Women in Military Service for America (WIMSA) Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, and included stops at a number of sites: the Iwo Jima Memorial, the U.S. Air Force Memorial and the memorials for World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught—one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history—was among those who greeted the group at the WIMSA Memorial; in 1966, she was also the first woman to deploy with an Air Force bomber wing.

“It means so much to see this group of women come in and see what the memorial means to them, because it does mean something to them,” said Vaught. “It is seeing their service to our country paid tribute to by the nation. And yet with it all, there comes laughter and joy, and that’s the way it ought to be about serving our country.”

As the pioneers of their times, these women blazed a path that until then was only traveled for men. And yet despite their contributions, they weren’t so readily accepted as equals.

“My career field was supposed to be aerospace jet mechanic,” said retired Air Force Veteran Phyllis Collins, who goes by the nickname “Sunshine.”

“And the guys didn’t like me there … I was supposed to be working on a dead battery. They hooked it up, and I got zapped,” she said. “So I changed my career field real fast. I became a military cop.”
read more here

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Rolling Stone Forgets How Long Other Generations Waited For Memorials

Iraq War Veteran Reflects on the Ground Zero Mall
On the failed efforts to build a Global War on Terror memorial, while a shopping mall is built at the 9/11 site
Roling Stone

By Scott Beauchamp
September 9, 2016

The primary reason no GWOT monument yet exists is that, per the Commemorative Works Act of 1997, combat must have ended a decade before work on a memorial can begin. The Global War on Terror continues unabated. How are we supposed to "remember" wars that might never end?
A grand opening event at the Westfield World Trade Center mall in August. Cindy Ord/Getty
Last month, nearly 15 years after September 11th, a mall opened at Ground Zero. The Westfield World Trade Center is aggressively ordinary, despite resting on the site of the nation's most memorable and deadly terrorist attack. As The New York Times notes, "there is little to suggest that [the mall] occupies consecrated ground ... this mall could be just about anywhere." Walking the pristine marble floors of the concourse, past stores like Apple, Sephora and Kate Spade, there's no indication that the soil underfoot might contain debris from the first foreign attack on American territory in two generations.

A nearby museum and memorial officially commemorate those who died in the World Trade Center attacks, underscoring the absurdity of the mall's presence there. The juxtaposition of the memorial and the shopping mall gestures at America's complex attitude toward commemorating wars and tragedies.

As a veteran of the Global War on Terror who deployed twice to Iraq as an infantryman, there's no permanent federal monument where I can publicly mourn and remember. As important as the country's various 9/11 memorials are, they're memorials to civilian victims of terrorism, not members of the military. There is no official government monument recognizing the casualties of what some have taken to calling the Long War.
read more here

If you really want to honor anyone, it would be a good time to refresh history of what already happened. Reminder, it is not the longest war. Vietnam still is at just under 20 years. First name on The Wall is "The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956." and the last killed ""The ‘Mayaguez Incident’ The battle on Koh Tang occurred on May 15, 1975."


Gulf War "While Feb. 28, 2016, marked the official anniversary of the cease-fire that ended the war 25 years ago, no special celebrations were held on the day, a disappointment several war veterans fumed over." 


And this is how long it took for the Vietnam Memorial Wall to be built. "The Memorial (wall) was completed in late October and dedicated on November 13, 1982."

Korean War ended in 1953. It was dedicated on July 27, 1995 


 WWII ended in 1945. The memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004

Friday, August 26, 2016

317 Florida Veterans Get Medals in Bradenton

Governor presents awards to 317 veterans in Bradenton
Bradenton Herald
James A Jones Jr.
August 25, 2016
William Thompson, 91, and Ned Teves, 82, came through the award line together. Thompson served in the South Pacific during World War II, while Teves served as an Army doctor in a military hospital in Japan during the Vietnam War.

Teves said he had been a recent immigrant from the Philippines and not yet a citizen when he was drafted into the Army.

He called his draft notice a “love letter” from the U.S. government.


Teves, like other vets from the Vietnam War era, welcomed the appreciation expressed for their service in recent years.
BRADENTON
Rick Scott had already presented Governor’s Veterans Service Awards to more than 300 veterans on Thursday when he spotted Jackson Carson, 86, sitting at the back of the room.

The Bradenton National Guard Armory had just about emptied out, and Carson seemed unable to come forward to be recognized.

The governor walked back to Carson with Major Gen. Michael Calhoun, Florida’s adjutant general, at his side. Scott placed the award around Carson’s neck, thanked him for his service and asked him when he served.
read more here


Monday, August 22, 2016

MOH: Marine Jumped on 2 Grenades But Only Received Navy Cross?

Medal of Honor being sought for Lebanon Marine
The Lebanon Reporter
By Rod Rose
Aug 20, 2016

“He jumped on a hand grenade: It turned out to be a dud,” Regan said. Soon a second grenade landed among the Marines. Bogan jumped on that grenade, which exploded beneath him.
Navy Cross Presentation: Marine Cpl. Richard E. Bogan (right) received the Navy Cross in a 1968 ceremony
Richard E. Bogan was a U.S. Marine Corps private first class, when he received the Navy Cross after jumping on a hand grenade in what was then the Republic of South Korea’s Thua Thien Province. The Navy Cross is the second-highest decoration for heroism awarded by the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps. It is presented only for extraordinary valor in combat.

Bogan, a 1967 graduate of Lebanon High School, was 41 when he died in a single-car crash in December 1990.

Now, Gerry Regan, a Marine who was there when Bogan jumped on that grenade, is working to have the Navy Cross award replaced — with the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.

Regan is recently retired, but has been active in Marine Corps organizations since he was discharged from the Corps following his service in Vietnam. He is a former president of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines branch of the 1st Marine Division Association.

Nikki Baldwin, Bogan’s daughter, met Regan in 2008 at a Marine Corps reunion, she said recently. She is appreciative of Regan’s efforts to earn the Medal for her father.

She provided The Lebanon Reporter a copy of a letter that could be critical evidence in Regan’s efforts, as well as other documents about her father’s service.
read more here

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Korean War Veteran Gets Dying Wish, A Uniform To Be Buried In

Marine gets his dying wish: A uniform to be buried in
Providence Journal
By Carol Kozma
Journal Staff Writer
Posted Aug. 17, 2016

Normand Dupras, of Swansea, had served in the Korean War. At 86, and now suffering from dementia, it was his dying wish a few years back that he could be buried in the uniform, he said.
DIGHTON, Mass. — Normand Dupras sat at the Dighton Nursing Center, amazed to hear from his granddaughter, Dona Silva, that a group of people was there to see him.

“We’ve got a surprise for you," Silva told him Wednesday.

That’s when Glenn Dusablon, of the Veterans Memorial Museum, in Woonsocket, presented Dupras with a full Marine Corps dress uniform, including the white hat, belt and gloves.

“I love this," Dupras said, looking over each item.

Dupras, of Swansea, Massachusetts, a former reserve police officer in that town, served in the Korean War. At 86, and now suffering from dementia, it was his dying wish a few years back to be buried in the uniform, he said.

Asked what happened to his former uniform, Dupras said he did not know, but believes it was taken at a hospital.
read more here

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Korean War Veteran And Wife Pass Away After 63 Years Minutes Apart

After 63 years of marriage, Platte couple dies 20 minutes apart
KSFY News
By Courtney Collen
Aug 07, 2016

"The VA was doing as much as they could until about 7-8 weeks ago. Said there isn't more they could do," Lee explained.

After some recent falls, Henry's condition worsened.

"He said, 'I need to go to the nursing home'. They put mom and dad in the same room which was very sweet,"
Lee said with a smile.
It's one of those stories that rarely comes around once in a lifetime. A story of an elderly man and woman with incredible faith and 63 years of marriage.
As their health got worse, their faith and love for God, their family and each other grew stronger until the very end.

After they married in 1953, the journey of life took Henry and Jeanette De Lange to Platte, South Dakota. He was a Korean War Veteran. She was a musician, worked at the Platte Care Center and took care of their five children.

It wasn't until Sunday, July 31, 2016 when their children got a call from the Platte Care Center.

"They said both your mom and dad aren't doing very well at all. Highly recommended that we get there as soon as we could," son Lee De Lange said.

Lee's mom, at 87 years-old, suffered from Alzheimer's Disease and had been in nursing home care since 2011.

"Dad visited mom once a day, twice, or maybe three times a day. It was very sweet," Lee said. "Wednesday or Thursday, she had stopped eating. She was dehydrated."

The clock on the wall said 5:30 p.m. when Henry went to heaven, twenty minutes after his beloved wife.

"We're calling it a beautiful act of God's providential love and mercy. You don't pray for it because it seems mean but you couldn't ask for anything more beautiful."

It doesn't end there; the clock told another story.
read more here

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Veteran of 3 Wars, Abandoned By Family, Buried By Bonds of Love

Military "Family" Buries Veteran Local Family Won't Claim
KCEN
Rissa Shaw
July 27, 2016

Bundy served in the Army from 1942-1963, seeing combat in both World War II and the Korean War, and was active duty during Vietnam before retiring from Fort Hood as a Sergeant. Officials said he served honorably and would receive full military honors.
KILLEEN - His family wouldn't claim him, but the military did.

On Monday, a local veteran who fought for our freedom through three wars, was laid to rest in Killeen.


While Walter Scott Bundy Junior's living family members didn't show up to his burial service at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery, many did to show support for the man they said was their 'brother' in every sense of the word.

"They have a home, they have a family," said Eric Brown, Deputy Director of the Texas State Veterans Cemeteries.

Many who attended the ceremony saluted Bundy, laid their hands on his urn, even gave money to the man they'd never met.

"No one is ever forgotten, they're lost but never forgotten," said Army Staff Sgt. Christopher DeRouen.

Dozens of soldiers, past and present, came to Killeen to honor one of their own who died without a family of his own.
read more here

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Senior Wives Fighting The Worst Part of PTSD

Older Veteran Spouses Suffer More With Suicides
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
July 10, 2016

Capt. Elizabeth Schloemann is dealing with the loss of her husband Andres to suicide. She wrote about it on Army Times. This widow's story will break your heart, and compel the Army to change and she still serves at Fort Bliss. Yes, that Fort Bliss.
“It’s going to be okay.” No it isn’t. Not for a long time.

“It’s not your fault.” Are you sure? Were you there in that moment in his head? Can you really know that?

“There’s nothing you could have done.” Don’t get me started. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone over and over in my head what I could have and should have done. Don’t make me tell you all of them. I know it won’t change anything. I’m the one living with it.

How many times have those thoughts run through our own minds? How many hours have we spent wondering if we were going to get a knock on door or a phone call telling us our husbands and wives were not coming home? The rest of the country simply assumes that we are all ok.  After all, our spouses have been home from war for decades.  Why should we need anything?

The facts have been the facts since the 90's and nothing has changed.  Our veterans were committing suicide at a rate of 20 a day in 1999 according to the VA. As of the latest report from the VA on suicides it is still at 20 but there are almost 7 million less veterans in the country.

The 2000 US Census had 26.4 million veterans and in 2013 we were down to 19.6 million. Yes, I know, we are all talking about what the states report with veterans outnumbering civilians at double their numbers.  How the VA got to the 20 is a mystery when the CDC says that there are over 41,000 Americans committing suicide.

The other thing is that in the new report, veterans over the age of 50 are 68% of the veterans committing suicide.  Yes, our generation but no one is talking about us.  What makes all this worse is that they are not talking to us.

Too many have been there, done that and lost far too many.  On the flip side, a lot of us have been there, done that and learned how to not lose this battle after war. We made mistakes when we had to learn on our own.  We made miracles happen when we got out of the darkest journey no one warned us about.

I've been married almost 32 years. Not bad considering I was only 23 when I met my husband.  Some of us have been married over 40 years and most of us are living with PTSD.  That is the most important thing of all in all of this. LIVING WITH PTSD.

None of this is hopeless.  So why haven't the majority of our older veterans got that message? Why hasn't the younger generation gotten that message?

I think is high time the rest of you started to deliver it!  Get busy! Don't make the same mistakes all the new groups are making just jumping into all of this. First learn what you do not know and then put that with what experience has taught you.

Go to the VA and offer to help support groups.  Go to the VFW, DAV, American Legion and spread the message that none of this is hopeless.

Write opinions to the editor of your local paper and get them to start telling our stories. Not just of the losses we suffer but the ones offering glimmers of hope that tomorrow can in fact be better.

If we don't start getting active, then we are going to let down far too many who should have survived being home with us.

Read the Captain's article and then know, we have a lot to do and it is time we actually did it!




Capt. Andres Schloemann committed suicide in December. His wife, Capt. Elizabeth Schloemann, hopes their story will prevent future soldiers from taking their own lives. (Photo: Courtesy Capt. Elizabeth Schloemann)
I wanted everyone to read it. I wanted people to see that we are only human. I made mistakes, too. As a leader, a Soldier, I felt like a failure. How often is it that we’re trained on suicide prevention? Were there things I should have known, should have looked for? Did I use all the resources I had available?

I wanted to revolt against being a widow. I am many things, and I didn’t want being a widow of a suicide to be the one that defined me. I am a woman, a warrior, and a mother. I am strong and fierce, proud of everything I have accomplished, but suddenly found myself an unwilling victim of something I couldn’t control. The temptation to stare everyone down and force them to look me in the eyes and see me instead of my burden was overwhelming.
If we do not, then as bad as the numbers are for us, for these young ones, it will be worse. It has been a decade of everyone doing the wrong things including military training and folks running around the country raising awareness about the problem they know little about. The results have shown no change for the better and we'll keep fighting the worst!

Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day tribute was held at VFW Post 4287

A Memorial Day tribute was held at VFW Post 4287 in Orlando.  Some Gave All panels offered a stark reminder of what this day is supposed to be all about.

Published on May 30, 2016
Today at the VFW Post 4287 in Orlando, there was a Memorial Day service. One of the special guest was a Korean War veteran about to celebrate his 95 birthday. What no one expected was that he can tap!

Saturday, April 16, 2016

MOH Marine Pfc. Hector A. Cafferata Jr. Passed Away At 86

Marine who earned Medal of Honor at Chosin Reservoir dies
Marine Corps Times
Lance M. Bacon
April 15, 2016

Marine Pfc. Hector A. Cafferata Jr., who earned the Medal of Honor at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War, died April 12 at the age of 86.
Pfc. Hector A. Cafferata Jr., who received the Medal of Honor for
his valor at the Chosin Reservoir in 1950 during the Korean War,
died April 12.(Photo: Defense Department)

Cafferata was a rifleman with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, on Nov. 28, 1950. More than 10,000 Chinese troops had surrounded Gen. Douglas MacArthur's U.N. forces at the Chosin Reservoir, including 8,000 from the Marine division. On a frozen, rocky promontory, the 230 or so Marines of Company F had been assigned to protect the Toktong Pass, a narrow escape route through the Nangnim Mountains.

The other members of Cafferata’s fire team became casualties at the pass during the initial phase of “a vicious attack launched by a fanatical enemy of regimental strength against his company's hill position,” according to his award citation.
Cafferata was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman at a White House ceremony on Nov. 24, 1952. He was one of 42 Marine vets to receive the nation's highest military award for valor for actions in the Korean War — 14 of whom were awarded for actions in the Chosin Reservoir campaign. Seven of those awards were posthumous.
read more here

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Korean War Veterans Not Happy After Member Shoved Woman

Veterans Group Identifies Man Seen Shoving Protester at Trump Rally
Military.com

by Bryant Jordan
Mar 08, 2016

Senior Citizen Veteran Fights Protester at Louisville Trump Rally
(Screengrab: YouTube)
The Korean War Veterans Association has identified the member who was seen shoving and shouting at a young black woman who was protesting a Donald Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky.

In a statement released Monday morning, KWVA President Larry Kinard said the man, identified as Alvin Bamberger of Cincinnati, Ohio, "was not officially representing the Korean War Veterans Association at the event and the association does not, in any way, condone his actions."

The organization "places a great deal of emphasis on the conduct and decorum of the KWVA members at public meetings,"
he said in the statement.

"Once the association has learned all of the facts regarding this incident, and there are many yet to be revealed, it will then be in a position to better move forward and determine the applicable actions to be accomplished," Kinard said.
read more here

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Korean War Veteran Made Pact With God--Became Philanthropist

Auto dealer’s philanthropy a pact with God 
Bob Baker has given millions to Catholic, veteran and homeless outreach groups
San Diego Union Tribune
Pam Kragen
Feb. 1, 2016
From ninth grade, his dream was to become a Catholic priest, but sons from divorced families weren’t allowed to enter the priesthood. Instead, right after high school in 1951, he and two buddies enlisted in the Army to fight in the Korean War. During his service overseas, Baker went on 27 night patrols, earned two Bronze Stars and avoided getting shot or killed on at least seven occasions.
Sixty-three years ago, Bob Baker was a young Army corporal stationed at Outpost Harry during the Korean War when he embarked on what his commanders warned would be a suicide mission. When he ended up in the middle of a minefield during the night patrol for Chinese soldiers, he decided it was a good time to make a deal with God.
Bob Baker, founder of the Bob Baker Auto Group, is especially interested in helping veterans reintegrate into society. — Howard Lipin
“I told him, if he spared me that night, I would go home, get married, have six children, become a success and do whatever he wanted me to do,” Baker said. “With all the millions of dollars I’ve given away over the years, I believe that’s what God wanted me to do.”

During the past 10 years, the founder of San Diego’s Bob Baker Auto Group has donated from $500,000 to $1.7 million a year for projects that have included Catholic churches and schools, programs for military veterans and underwriting for Solutions for Change, a nonprofit that helps get North County homeless families off the streets.

Baker, 84, said he’s drawn to causes where he feels a personal connection. The Rancho Santa Fe resident was homeless as a boy, his faith saw him through years of hardship, and he witnessed the horrors of war and knows how it can impact veterans trying to reintegrate into society.

“Bob is a hands-on kind of donor,” said Chris Megison, founding president for Solutions for Change in Vista. “A lot of philanthropists will want to see our audited financial statements and study our plans, but Bob is the kind of philanthropist who wants to get in the car with me and drive out to see what we’re doing firsthand.”
He discovered the Solutions for Change charity in 2013 and has since become one if its champions. Most recently, he signed on as title sponsor for its 2015 gala, which honored military veterans. He said he was drawn to the cause because the Vista nonprofit helps find homes for the families of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and addictions.
read more here

Monday, January 18, 2016

Montford Point Marine Fought in Three Wars

Marine who embodied Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream never stopped marching
OC Register
By Joanna Clay Staff Writer
January 17, 2016
Simmons served for 22 years in three conflicts – World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He wanted to fight for his country, despite the prejudices that existed, his daughter said.

Maj. Gen. Ronald Bailey, left, places a replica Congressional Gold Medal on

Montford Point Marine Jesse Simmons of Santa Ana during a commemorative ceremony
at Camp Pendleton in 2012. LEONARD ORTIZ, FILE PHOTO
Jesse Simmons enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1943. Until then, he was ineligible because he was black.

He was sent for basic training at the segregated Montford Point training camp, outside Jacksonville, N.C. The white drill instructors urged the recruits to leave. The recruits couldn’t go into town for a meal. They’d be risking their lives in the Jim Crow-era South.

“My dad’s favorite saying was ‘continue to march.’ … ‘If someone spits on you, continue to march,’” daughter Angie Jacobs said. “And that’s what he did.”

Simmons died Thursday in Fountain Valley at age 92. It was just a few days shy of today’s holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.

A fixture on the Santa Ana family’s dining room wall was a plaque of the civil rights leader with the famous inscription, “I have a dream.” Simmons was inspired by King’s unwavering faith that change was possible, Jacobs said.

“He, unfortunately, had to live through it, but he got to see the change and see whites and blacks be together,” said Jacobs, 53.
read more here

Friday, December 25, 2015

Christmas Eve Midnight Mass During the Korean War

An unforgettable Christmas Eve midnight Mass during the Korean War
Stars and Stripes
By Carlos Bongioanni
Published: December 24, 2015
Celebrating the birth of the Prince of Peace that night allowed Deptula and other GIs with him to forget, at least for an evening, the death and destruction of war that had already left an indelible mark on their souls.
Amid the horrors and devastation of war, a midnight Mass 65 years ago in a dilapidated church in Kyong-ju, South Korea, would prove to be a miracle of sorts for Army Pfc. Norman Deptula.

It was December 1950, six months into the Korean War. Deptula, then 21, was among the approximately 100,000 United Nations troops who had just been evacuated out of North Korea. He had been among the "Chosin Few" who had escaped intense battles against overwhelming Chinese forces in the Chosin Reservoir campaign.

In a telephone interview Wednesday from his home in Webster, Mass., Deptula, now 86, recalled how frightened he was after an estimated 300,000 Chinese crossed over the Yalu River into North Korea, intent on annihilating the U.N. forces.

“We were outnumbered. The odds were stacked against us,” Deptula said, adding that he didn’t expect to make it out alive.

When the Chinese invasion started that October, Deptula was in Koto-ri, a small village in the Chosin Reservoir area, assigned to the Army Signal Corps’ 581st Signal Radio Relay Company. “I wasn’t in the infantry, but I saw a hell of a lot of tragedies,” he said.

It was a brutally cold winter, making the war that much worse for the combatants, many of whom suffered frostbite and lost limbs.
read more here
At Taegu, South Korea, Norman Deptula, left, stands with two soldiers from the 581st Signal Radio Relay Company after they had been evacuated out of North Korea. COURTESY OF NORMAN DEPTULA
A Christmas Story
By Norman J. Deptula
Published: December 24, 2015

"Home for Christmas" was the rallying cry as United Nations forces, spearheaded by American troops, were well on their way to clearing the entire Korean peninsula of Communist North Korean forces who had invaded South Korea in June, 1950. Then, in late November, in the dead of one of the coldest Korean winters on record, more than 300,000 troops from the Communist People's Republic of China poured across the Yalu River and entered the war bent on the annihilation of U.N. forces and the installation of a Communist dictatorship for all of Korea. Within a few short days all hopes for a joyous Christmas were dashed. General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of all U.N. forces in Korea, said, "We face an entirely new war ..."

Approximately 120,000 Chinese troops battered and besieged U.N. forces around the port city of Hungnam, in northeast Korea. When the U.N. command decided that the Hungnam area could not be held, a mass sea evacuation of troops, equipment and about 98,000 refugees began in mid-December.
read more here

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Florida Veterans Unclaimed Remains from 4 Wars Laid to Rest

Unclaimed remains of war veterans laid to rest at Lake Worth cemetery
Sun Sentinel
Erika Pesantes
December 6, 2015
On Saturday, laid to rest were: Jack Legan, Frank H. Vadurro, Charles J. Valkenburg, Carol Andre Shepherd, Jacob S. Cohen, Ignatius Patrick Crisci, John Joseph Fitzgerald, Wayne Andrew Ludwig, Frank Wilfred O' Hara Jr., John Edward Lee, Charles William Morton, James Edward Sullivan, William Vaselekos and Louis Walter Harvey, Jr.
Army Major Michael Flynn inters the remains of U.S. Army Corpral Jack Legan as Marshall Murphy of the South Florida National Cemetary looks on. Veterans and volunteers were on hand at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth to take part in the burial ceremony for the Missing in America Project. The nonprofit locates, identifies and inters the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans, spouses and dependents that have sat on funeral home shelves for decades. During the ceremony the unclaimed remains of 14 veterans and seven veterans' spouses were interred. December 5, 2015. Jim Rassol, Sun Sentinel.
(Jim Rassol / Sun Sentinel)
The mahogany urns bore gold plaques that read: "You are not forgotten." On Saturday, they were remembered for their heroic acts.

Up to a quarter century after their deaths, the cremated remains of 14 war veterans and the spouses of another seven service members were finally given a dignified burial under stormy skies.

Those veterans, who served in World War I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars, were laid to rest at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth thanks to volunteers from the non-profit, Missing in America Project.

"Each one that we lay to rest today is a hero. You, men, who we bury today, we say goodbye to you with thankful hearts because you've embodied heroism," guest speaker Brian Mast said. "And because you've embodied bravery on our behalf and on behalf of your own families and on behalf of our grateful nation."
read more here
Linked from Stars and Stripes

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Colorado Springs World War II Veteran Remembered

Funeral for Colorado Springs World War II veteran draws hundreds
The Gazette
Tom Roeder
December 5, 2015
About 200 Colorado Springs mourners marveled Friday at how Army Maj. Duke Boswell survived his 20s.

The 92-year-old, who died Nov. 29, survived four parachute jumps in World War II combat with the 82nd Airborne Division after enlisting as a 16-year-old in 1940. He survived the Battle of the Bulge and helped liberate a concentration camp.

"With the 136 people who started with Duke, only 13 finished the war," Army Col. Mark Collins said, explaining that the others were killed or wounded.

In his 20s, Boswell survived severe mortar wounds while fighting with the 1st Cavalry Division in Korea.

"He served bravely for 23 years," his son Ralph Boswell said.
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Monday, November 16, 2015

Oldest Living Sergeant Major "Providence Guided" Him

Inside the legacy of the oldest living sergeant major of the Marine Corps 
Military Times
By Gidget Fuentes, Special to Military Times
November 15, 2015

As Marines gather to celebrate the Corps' 240th birthday, chants of "oorah!" are likely to be heard around the world.

That iconic battle cry is just one mark of the long-lasting legacy left by the oldest living sergeant major of the Marine Corps. When retired Sgt. Maj. John Massaro left his hometown of Cleveland to enlist in the Marines in 1948, he didn't think it would turn into a career.

About 29 years later — after combat tours in Korea and Vietnam and high-profile assignments in Washington — the career infantryman was named the eighth sergeant major of the Marine Corps before retiring in 1979.

As another Marine Corps birthday week comes to a close, Massaro, now 85, spent it the same way many Marines do: reminiscing and reconnecting with old friends and battle buddies.

“I was blessed,” he said, speaking by phone from Utah. “I try to sit back and look. The hand of Providence guided me where I went.” read more here

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Strength For Service To God and Country Best Seller

Eagle Scout brings back WWII devotional, making forgotten book a Pentagon best seller 
FOX News
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published November 15, 2015
“The Joint Chiefs of Staff sent letters to us asking if we could get this book published, people started sending checks, the Pentagon asked for a million copies to be sent over and everything started to fall together,” Hunsberger said. “There are so many signs that God was playing a role in this project, because there is now way it could have happened without his help.”
Evan Hunsberger was just 13 when his grandfather suffered a stroked that meant he would never be the same again. But the boy made an unexpected discovery among the two-war veteran's belongings that changed his life and gave inspiration to a new generation of American soldiers and sailors.
It was 1999, and Hunsberger, a Boy Scout, was somberly helping his grandmother sort through former Navy Corpsman Gene Hunsberger's possessions as he prepared to move into a Southern California nursing home. A book his grandmother was about to throw away caught the boy's eye.

It was called “Strength for Service to God and Country,” and the veteran had carried during his service in both World War II and the Korean War.

Knowing that the book he now held in his hands had helped his grandfather through difficult times, the boy got a little idea that would soon become a big one. “I wanted to republish book that brought him so much comfort when he was in harm’s way,” Hunsberger recalled to FoxNews.com. “I asked him, ‘Papa I am going to publish this book, and do I have your blessing?’ read more here