American Heroes

[Byron Quick]

As a child and teenager I was surrounded by heroes as were many of us. Kurt McCray, U.S. Marine, always sat at the soda fountain at the drug store down town drinking free coffee. Twitching, shaking, mumbling into his coffee. Scarred over much of his body from his duty in the Pacific. Strangers from out of town would come in and be nonplussed by him. Sometimes they would ask the druggist,"Why do you let him sit here all the time. Don't you know he is losing business for you?" The druggist would quietly relate the Marine's service and state,"Any business he loses me-is business I don't want." Silver Star.

Mr. Mims, down at the service station, fat friendly old man. US Army paratrooper-Silver Star-Anzio.

Popcorn Saxon US Marine posthumous Silver Star-Vietnam.

You think you are forgotten? By God! I say you are not!

 

[cornered rat]

I'd say John Lott may be a hero, though that is not at all his goal. And yes, meeting him was nice...always good to have smart people on our side.

An old urban legend about war heros:

Two oldtimers are talking about the tough time they had during the Battle of the Bulge. They remember the shelling, the bombing, the burning tanks and shot-up people...buy each other some drinks. The one of the says: "say, I was in the such-and-such infanty division, how about you?"

His pal looks over his drink and says: "Oh, sixth panzer..."

[This message has been edited by cornered rat (edited March 04, 1999).]

 

[Byron Quick]

Good point, Oleg! One that my sensei, Lt. Colonel Fumio Manaka, Japanese Self Defense Forces, will appreciate!

 

[Grayfox]

If you will pardon my self indulgence, I'd like to tell you about my hero from WWII. He was my father. Dad was a modest man and never talked much about the war. What I know has been put together from bits and pieces I've picked up over the years.
Dad enlisted in early 1942. He was the gunner on a .30 Browning machine gun crew. He fought throughout Sicily and the Italian campains. He survived D-day and battled half way across France. Then on some unknown hill, somewhere in France his platoon was holding off a German advance. They couldn't get past Dad and his Browning, so the germans called in an artillary barrage on him. He was so badly wounded, they believed he would never make it to the field hospital. He did and he made it home. Spent 18 months in a Army hospital in Waco, Texas recovering from his injuries. In the late 1960's the damage in his right leg caused him to lose it just below the knee.
In my whole life, I never heard him regret any of it. He was proud to have done his part.
Other kids in the 50's and 60's may have looked to movie stars and astronauts to find their heros. I only had to look across the room.
My father, expert infantryman, Purple Heart winner, Hero.
God, how I miss him.

 

[Byron Quick]

God bless him. Be as self indulgent as you like.

 

[KNIGHT]

An old lady lived down the street from me in my last neighborhood. She was about 85 and I didn't think about her much, until I saw her trying to bring some fairly heavy boxes into her house. Being the good boy scout I offered my help and she accepted. Inside her house was like going into a WWII museum. Old pictures from the 30's, 40's, and 50's, plaques, and a ceromonial flag and medals grouping. I asked her whose they were, maybe her husband? NO they wre hers. She was a Lt Comander in the Navy. More ribbons than I'll ever have! She is a real hero. A woman in that system, putting up with the real sexual harrassment, and the other ways that the men back then came up with to belittle women.

 

[motorep]

I'm glad this came up, I haven't sat down and thought about it for a long time. When I was growing up, it seemed that every adult male I knew had served in WWll, my dad, my uncles, all of our neighbors, all of my friends dads, my teachers, etc. My dad was in the 4th Marines- Iwo Jima, Saipan, Tinian, etc. Wounded 3 times. My uncle flew one-way gliders into North Africa - land them with a bunch of troops on board and fight your way out. Not one of them ever gave the impression that they thought of themselves as heroes, just that it was something that men did and it was behind them.They were sure heroes to us kids, though, enough so that when our turn came we went, too.

 

[Ed Brunner]

A lot of ordinary people have done extraordinary deeds and are called heroes.
The most often overlooked category seems to be the military nurse who does her craft day after day after day treating injuries most people cant even imagine.
I know its tough on doctors and medics too but I think it is particularly tough on the nurses because of who they are and what they represent.

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Better days to be,

Ed

 

[chink]

Same war different Military. My grandfather was a general under Chaing Kai Shek in the Nationalist Army. He fought the Japanese and the Communists throughout China, and also defend several small islands several miles off the coast of china. He also never talked about his military accomplishments. I learned most of the stuff about him from my father and grandmother. tragically, he passed away before I could full understand the signifcnace of what he had done, and never was able to get the stories out of him. I think that we as a nation should try to presereve the first hand accounts of WWII before they are all gone. THere were so many heroes and there is so little time

 

[Bulldog]

My Grandfather would have to be my hero. I never met the man--I just saw photos and talked to my mother and aunt about him. He was an artillery officer in Patton's 3rd Army during WWII. He earned the rank of Captain and his bronze star while serving in Germany and France. He later fought and died during the beginning of the Korean conflict, two months before an expected promotion to the rank of Major. He was awarded, posthumously, a Purple Heart and Legion of Merit. My mother was 9 and my aunt 5 when he died. I never knew exactly how he died until I ran across a letter sent to my Grandmother from one of my Grandfather's troops. The letter described how my Grandfather was struck my machinegun and mortar fire when his unit was ambushed by the Koreans. That was July of 1950. I was born 24 years later, but for a man to go from being a manager at J.C. Penny's in 1941 to volunteering for WWII and then dying in the Korean War, it kind of brings into perspective the way things used to be. Although I never met this man, he is my hero.

 

[tombread]

An event will occur this May in Indianapolis that ought to be widely acknowledged. In conjunction with the 500 Mile Race, every living Medal of Honor holder has been invited to be an honored guest, all expenses paid. The only 500 Parade celebrities this year will be Medal honorees. Of the 188 living winners, about half have accepted the invitation. Imagine-- more than 90 Medal holders in one place! The oldest is 92, the youngest is 56. They are, God willing, a none-renewing national treasure. I hope this event and the Medal holders receive the attention they and the event deserve.

 

[BrianCM]

I found out just last year that my Uncle, who fought in WW-II, earned a Bronze Star. He hid in a house and held the Germans off until his company could escape. He simply thought that what he did was just part of his job as an infantryman.

 

[DC]

My Dad passed up a football scholarship and instead tricked his mother into signing his enlistment papers (fortunately she never knew and he told her he was drafted ) and became a 17 yr old Marine in the Pacific. He was wounded and couldn't get his football scholarship but he never regreted his decision. He left the Marines as a Sgt 3 yrs later. Like many of your fathers, he rarely talked about it and when he did it was never to brag. He was a loving patient man with a fierce sense of right and wrong and love of country. It makes me sad that he was so profoundly disappointed and confused about the apparent "new" values and morality evidenced by our elected leaders when he died

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes"

 

[Dr Thompson]

It is great to read these posts. I have learned that heros are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences. Your examples ring loud and true.

 

[Byron Quick]

One of the enduring memories of my childhood comes from the veterans walking about town from one of several local veterans' homes. veterans who apparently had nowhere else to go. This was back in the sixties when the WWI vets were the age the WWII vets are today. Many of these men seemed to have mental or emotional problems of varying degrees. They were in the right place-in a town that would cherish them in spite of the fact that they might act rather strange at times.

Anyway, one particular WWI veteran has stuck in my mind. Below average height, skinny as a rail, he always dressed in immaculately pressed khaki work clothes. Almost a uniform. He would stride down the sidewalk briskly until he came in sight of an American flag, come to attention, and snap off a salute. The expression on his face when he saluted always made me wonder where his mind had taken him. I wonder still. This little man had a tough time on Veterans' Day and the Fourth of July. Take two steps, salute, two more steps, salute... God bless him.