NEED to KNOW!!!! These Heroes!!!

The Green Beret

By
Don Bendell

My hair was long, with one blonde stripe,
The surfer's streak . . . my father griped.
I'd listen to the Beach Boys sing,
And thought that I was "everything."

My sandals laced up to my knees,
With cut-off cords, no BVD's.
I was a hippie, and a bum,
And joined the Army to have fun.

They changed my mind with morning runs,
Grenades, and push-ups, bombs, and guns.
They shaved my head and made me hurt,
And more than once, I ate some dirt.

In OCS, they said, "Now quit!"
But I said, "I will finish it!"
Then came the day and that gold bar,
Then jump wings and my brand new car.

And soon, I won my green beret,
Then left to fight so far away.
In Vietnam, I fought with pride.
My cousin fled up north to hide.

POW's beat and caged,
While back at home the peaceniks raged.
Jane Fonda made me yell and scream,
When friends died who were on my team.

Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/DG/03e_poem.html

[center:3hlg4xff] [/center:3hlg4xff]
Sakato, George T.
Rank and organization: Private, U.S. Army, Company E, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Place and date: Biffontaine, France, 29 October, 1944. Born: 19 February 1921, Colcon, CA Entered service at: Glendale, Ariz.

Citation: Private George T. Sakato distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 29 October 1944, on hill 617 in the vicinity of Biffontaine, France. After his platoon had virtually destroyed two enemy defense lines, during which he personally killed five enemy soldiers and captured four, his unit was pinned down by heavy enemy fire. Disregarding the enemy fire, Private Sakato made a one-man rush that encouraged his platoon to charge and destroy the enemy strongpoint.

Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_1942_nisei/sakato.html

[center:1839vxhf]Captain Arthur W. Wermuth
"One Man Army" [/center:1839vxhf]

[center:1839vxhf] [/center:1839vxhf]

Arthur Wermuth didn't look like a U.S. Army officer. Sporting a mustache and Vandyke beard, the former football star from South Dakota endured his baptism of combat in the last week of 1941 and into first week of 1942. Departing Manila on the day after Christmas with the 150 men of Company D, 57th Infantry (Philippine Scouts), he had been ordered by Colonel George Clark to put his small force in the lines on Northern Luzon and "Dig in and hold!.

Facing Wermuth's small and generally untrained but equally determined force of Philippine Scouts was an entire division of Japanese, rapidly pressing south after landing on the northern coast of Luzon. After ten days of resistance, Captain Wermuth no longer had a force to command--only 37 of his soldiers had survived. They, along with other units of General Jonathan Wainwright's Northern Luzon force had been finally forced to fall back.

Meanwhile, General Wainwright aligned his forces south of the the Calaguiman River which flowed from nearly-mile-high Mount Natib which
splits the Bataan Peninsula, eastward into Manila Bay. The river was a defining geographical feature in what became known as the Abucay Line, a final defensive position in efforts to hold out against Japanese General Homma's advance down the east side of Bataan, until promised reinforcements arrived. Straddling the river was the important junction barrio of Kalaguiman.

Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/footnotes/2007/01January2-wermuth.html

(*Indicates Posthumous Award) Miller, Robert James

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 3d Battalion, 3d Special Forces Group (Airborne). Place and Date: Afghanistan, 25 January 2008. Entered Service at: Wheaton, Illinois. Born: 14 October 1983, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Citation: Staff Sergeant Miller distinguished himself by extraordinary acts of heroism while serving as the Weapons Sergeant in Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3312, Special Operations Task Force-33, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force-Afghanistan during combat operations against an armed enemy in Konar Province, Afghanistan on January 25, 2008. While conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol through the Gowardesh Valley, Staff Sergeant Miller and his small element of U.S. and Afghan National Army soldiers engaged a force of 15 to 20 insurgents occupying prepared fighting positions. Staff Sergeant Miller initiated the assault by engaging the enemy positions with his vehicle’s turret-mounted Mark-19 40 millimeter automatic grenade launcher while simultaneously providing detailed descriptions of the enemy positions to his command, enabling effective, accurate close air support.
Read the rest at : http://homeofheroes.com/moh/citations_W ... obert.html

I NEVER wanted to make this a political thread, but I SORRY I'm Pi$$ed.
IMO, Mr. President, what are you going to tell this HEROES' (& all the HEROES, that have given they're all in Afghanistan), Family & Friends, now that you've quit, before VICTORY?
Why aren't you a community oraganizer taking the advise of your Generals? (They know of what they speak, you Sir DO NOT!)
Did they all die in vain, so you could use they're death's as a political talking point? SHAME on YOU!
Sorry I had to put this here... I will also post this else where...

MY DAD, Ralph, aka "Jake" (now, after I got taller than him) "Little Jake", a WWII Vet., was in the Pacific, on a Mine-Sweeper, (AMS 320, U.S.S. IMPECCABLE) was a Gunner and manned one of the Twin 40's, as well as other duties.

NOT A MEDAL WINNER, But he's STILL my HERO!
DID SHOOT DOWN 1 ZERO, that he remembers.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=960432443819&id=ea7c592b8296c05c5b53d9abf3e79b8b



USS Impeccable (AM-320, later MSF-320), 1944-1974
USS Impeccable, an 890-ton Auk class minesweeper built at Alameda, California, was commissioned in April 1944. During the next year, she performed escort and patrol duties in the Pacific. In March-June 1945, Impeccable took part in the Okinawa campaign, enduring several Japanese air attacks while serving on minesweeping, patrol and rescue missions. With the coming of peace, she cleared mine fields in Japanese waters before returning to the United States in December 1945.
Out of commission from March 1947, Impeccable was placed back in active service in March 1952. She took part in Korean War mine clearance and patrol activities from September 1952 to March 1953. Impeccable spent the next two years operating along the U.S. Pacific coast and was reclassified MSF-320 in February 1955. She was decommissioned in October 1955 and remained in reserve until sold for scrapping in 1974.
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-i/am320.htm

An excellent thread you have going here, TPP!

'Google' lori piestiewa, and peruse, if you like, her wikipedia thumbnail biography.

Thank You, TPP, for your insightful and thoughtful posts on our behalf.

Wiffie's Dad Served on these boats...

USS John Paul Jones


USS Klondike



USS Jason

[center:1cr32fag] [/center:1cr32fag]
[center:1cr32fag]Blanquet [/center:1cr32fag]
[center:1cr32fag] [/center:1cr32fag]
[center:1cr32fag]U.S. Army Medal Of Honor, Indian Campaigns[/center:1cr32fag]

In 1872 Lieutenant Colonel George Crook was sent to the Arizona Territory to bring an end to years of warfare with the Indians by negotiating peace and moving the Indian tribes to reservations. By fall he had brought relative peace after crafting a treaty with Cochise. In November he began a winter campaign to make life miserable for those renegade Indians who still chose to fight. Under pressure from cavalry patrols, he knew they would be forced to retreat into the mountains to try to survive the snow and low temperatures. The target area was the Tonto Basin where Western Apache bands and Yavapais had been raiding and eluding troops for several years.

Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/photos/index_2.html

[center:3jouue72] [/center:3jouue72]
[center:3jouue72]SERGEANT CARNEY'S FLAG
The True Story of the First Black
MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
Fort Wagner, South Carolina
July 18, 1863 [/center:3jouue72]

Perhaps you've seen the movie "Glory"--an epic based on the true exploits of black soldiers during the Civil War. One of the most gripping portions is the assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina. Just two weeks after General Grant's victory at Vicksburg a large Union force gathered outside the walled Confederate fort on the beach at Fort Wagner, an obstacle considered essential to Grant's plan to capture Charleston. From the bay six ironclad Union ships began the bombardment. Lying on the sandy beach within 1000 yards of the fort were members of the Union infantry including the 600 men of the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry. Behind them was the 6th Connecticut, but on this day it would be the black soldiers of the 54th who would lead the assault.

The Civil War was almost two years old when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. With that historic step, for the first time, black American's were encouraged to enlist in the Union Army. Among the enlistees was a young man named William Carney. Born on February 29, 1840 at Norfolk, Virginia, William Carney's mother was a slave to Major Carney. Prior to the Civil War there was no program for educating young black men in the South, but Carney was fortunate enough at the age of 14 to attend a secret school where he learned to read and write. Emancipated when Major Carney died, young William Carney had moved to Bedford, Massachusetts and began preparing for a future as a minister.

When volunteers were requested to man the Union Army in 1862, and following President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, William Carney temporarily set aside his plans to enter the ministry. He later stated, "I felt I could best serve my God by serving my Country and my oppressed bothers." He became a member of, and trained with, the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry's C Company. Most of the soldiers in the unit were conscientious and focused on the task at hand. Union General Ullman later said of the men in the all-black units, "They are far more earnest than we...They know the deep stake they have in the issue."

Read the rest at: http://homeofheroes.com/hallofheroes/1st_floor/flag/1bfa_hist5carney.html

[center:15kmqyzz] [/center:15kmqyzz][center:15kmqyzz]Erwin Russel Bleckley [/center:15kmqyzz]

Second Lieutenant, US Army Air Service
Born: December 30, 1894 at Wichita, KS
Entered Service: Wichita, KS
Date/Place of Action: October 06, 1918 - Binarville, France
Unit: 50th Aero Squadron, 130th Field Artillery, Air Service
Presentation: G.O. 56, WD - December 30, 1922
Date of Death: October 06, 1918 (Killed In Action)
Buried at: Meuse-Argonne Cemetery - Romagne Meuse, France