Happy Vererans’ Day and Thank You!

[DizRotus]

 

[DizRotus]

Sgt. Ray Lambert is 98.  He’s one of the last D-Day survivors.  He is interviewed here:

 

https://ondemand.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/atc/2019/06/20190605_atc_d-day_veteran.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1124&d=480&story=730126155&siteplayer=true&size=7671549&dl=1

 

[JohnJ]

@DizRotus

& Thank You!

That is powerful, it doesn't hurt that Mr. Elliott has that voice as big as Texas and the demeanor to match it. Good actor!

 

And Sgt. Lambert he's a very strong guy. In the past they all seem to have had fortitude and attitudes similar to his.

Hope there are some more out there now that aspire to be even half the man he is.

 

I'm going to pull this up on my phone and send the link to my Uncle retired from the Army.

He flew, led and trained Blackhawk pilots at KingFahd & FtCampbell. 

[BigStewMan]

4 hours ago, JohnJ said:

I'm going to pull this up on my phone and send the link to my Uncle retired from the Army.

My late-Uncle was at Normady in WWII. He told of the landing craft doors opening and immediate enemy fire. When i saw Saving Private Ryan and the same thing happened as he had described, it was chilling. He had basically described the beginning of that movie to me back in the early-mid 70s. 

 When i was a kid his stories were so exciting that i remember saying, “I hope there is a war when i turn 18.”  At about age 15 or 16 his stories changed and i remember saying, “I sure hope that i never have to go to war.”  Some of the things he went through and witnessed are simply mind-boggling.  I remember sitting in his living room asking him how close was he to an enemy shooting at him.  He said, “maybe here to across the street,” which was probably about 50 feet away. Look out your front window ... i Can’t imagine being on one side of the street and having an army on the other side shooting at me. I told him that i’d just walk alongside a tank and he said that they avoided the tanks as much as possible because they drew the heavy artillery fire. He’d rather take his chances against a man with a rifle. 

[JohnJ]

That movie was the first I think that I heard the true sound of the high caliber lead flying close by. I've heard from my best friends (60s & 70s) dad about him fighting nazis when he was a teen in Greece. This 90+ year old is more of a patriot than most here under 40! My mom's oldest brother about cleaning his friend (driver) out of the Jeep so he could return to wherever he'd come from in nam. Then this uncle that was affected by sadamn's gas shells at that base in the desert. So much that we'll never know about sacrifices that veterans have made for our FREEDOM!!

[BigStewMan]

When I was on active duty, we had to take turns doing public events. One event, it was HOT and the ceremony was LONG.  I was holding the American Flag and my buddy next to me has a rifle. He whispers that he’s going to pass out. I tell him to bend his knees and hang in there, that the ceremony has to be almost over. He didn’t last much longer. he broke rank and went and sat down, opting to do that rather than pass out.  This old man, WWII era, comes out of the audience, grabs the rifle and joins our formation. That was so cool. To see someone with so much pride that he’s motivated to do that was really cool to experience. 

People can do some really neat things when they accept that there are things bigger than themselves. 

[DizRotus]

Was that in GH?

[BigStewMan]

3 minutes ago, DizRotus said:

Was that in GH?

yes

[DizRotus]

So the old guy was Van something?

[BigStewMan]

1 hour ago, DizRotus said:

So the old guy was Van something?

most likely -- the V section is half of the phone book.  

[Wolfbane]

10 hours ago, BigStewMan said:

My late-Uncle was at Normady in WWII. He told of the landing craft doors opening and immediate enemy fire. When i saw Saving Private Ryan and the same thing happened as he had described, it was chilling. He had basically described the beginning of that movie to me back in the early-mid 70s. 

 When i was a kid his stories were so exciting that i remember saying, “I hope there is a war when i turn 18.”  At about age 15 or 16 his stories changed and i remember saying, “I sure hope that i never have to go to war.”  Some of the things he went through and witnessed are simply mind-boggling.  I remember sitting in his living room asking him how close was he to an enemy shooting at him.  He said, “maybe here to across the street,” which was probably about 50 feet away. Look out your front window ... i Can’t imagine being on one side of the street and having an army on the other side shooting at me. I told him that i’d just walk alongside a tank and he said that they avoided the tanks as much as possible because they drew the heavy artillery fire. He’d rather take his chances against a man with a rifle. 

 

The US had the misfortune of getting Omaha Beach as one of their landing beaches in Normandy. I believe both the US 1st and 29th Divisions took pretty heavy losses fighting uphill into German MG fire. If you have ever heard a MG42 fire on full auto being bumped from side to side it’s rate of fire makes it sound like a buzz saw. The only good news is the best German Divisions were either busy fighting the Soviets or further in-land in France on that day.

 

Wb

[jimjimbo]

Happy Veterans Day to all of my veteran brothers and sisters.  I think of you every day.

[BigStewMan]

30 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

Happy Veterans Day to all of my veteran brothers and sisters.  I think of you every day.

and to you to Jim.

[HDBRbuilder]

My paternal grandfather had only ONE son who served in the military, my father (center in the pic below) who served 27 years and retired from Army active duty (WWII) RIP!. All of HIS sons served in the military. His oldest son (far left in the pic) Robert H. Barr (RIP!), retired from 23 years of active duty Army as a First Sergeant in 1976 (four tours in Viet Nam); his second oldest son, Eddie (second from left in the pic) retired from the Army Reserve; His youngest son, David (far right in the pic) served 8 years in the Air Force (Operation Urgent Fury & Operation Just Cause ground commo operations, and ground commo operations for the 1983 French Foreign Legion into Chad); and myself (second from the right in the pic), I retired with 36 years total service from the Army Reserve (12 years were active duty Army with over 6 of those years on active duty parachute jump status as both an enlisted infantryman and as an Infantry officer....go figure! OIF/OEF).  BTW, just a few days before this pic was taken, I had already enlisted into the Arkansas Army National Guard at my previous active duty rank of SGT (E-5)...and was awaiting my notification to attend my first training weekend, which was a few days later!...this was in mid-Spring of 1982...I would still be working at Klipsch for another year and a half!

 

My paternal grandfather also had ONE of his daughters, my father's baby sister, serve in the military, Army Nurse Captain Mary Lou "Billie" Barr (RIP!), and she was a MASH nurse in the Korean conflict.

 

So, to all my family who served, and to all my friends who served...and to all U.S. Vets everywhere...have a GREAT Veteran's Day! It is YOUR day, so enjoy it to the MAX!  And remember those who never made it home by raising a glass or two to them!

 

So, Here's to YOU, and to my own personal regimental affiliation unit...my 509th Airborne Infantry brothers...and (NOWADAYS!) sisters!

 

You all started out WWII with an authorized Battalion strength of around 700 personnel as an independent Parachute Infantry Battalion...You made your FIRST of FIVE WWII combat parachute jumps in November of 1942 into North Africa...as America's FIRST COMBAT PARATROOPERS...and then made two more combat jumps in North Africa, TOO!  Then, after being held in the 82nd Airborne task force reserve for the Sicily operation, you made your FOURTH combat parachute jump into the Avellino, Italy area, deep behind enemy lines to disrupt and delay enemy forces from reinforcing the attacks at the beachhead during the Salerno, Italy landings....and you accomplished your mission and, after having already been given up for dead, over 70% of you somehow made it back to friendly lines in small groups!  Then, you operated with Darby's Rangers, and fought as elite mountain infantry in the high ground above Venafro, Italy!  Next, you spear-headed the Anzio landings with two of Darby's Ranger battalions....and during the desperate German counter-attack afterwards at Carano, you received your first Presidential Unit Citation!  While D-Day was going on at the shores of Normandy,  you were called upon to prepare make your FIFTH combat parachute jump into Le Muy as the Pathfinders and the spearhead for the Southern France operation.  And after that action was completed you were refitting nearby the Ardennes when the Germans came across the lines for the Battle of the Bulge, and you were key in blunting that attack at Sadzot, Belgium cross-roads!  When the battle was over, ONLY FIFTY-FIVE of you were able to walk out! But you got a second Presidential Unit Citation for that one!   Charlie Audet (now 100 years old!) told me that the ground was frozen so hard there that the entrenching tool wooden handles broke trying to dig-in the fighting positions...and I asked him:  "So what did you do for fighting positions after they broke and you couldn't dig anymore or fill any sandbags?"  Charlie looked me right in the eye and said:  "Frozen dead German bodies make pretty good sandbags when you don't have anything else to use...you just gotta be careful how high you are stacking them up around you!...and be sure to throw lots of snow overtop of them!"  From November 1942 thru January 1945, a time-frame of Slightly over JUST TWO YEARS, well-over SIX THOUSAND DIFFERENT MEN had been in that 700-man battalion, at one time or another.  That, in itself, tells quite a story of how many never made it home!...or were too-badly wounded and had to return home because the war was definitely over for them! On 1 March 1945, the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion was "officially" disbanded as the last remaining independent Parachute Infantry Battalion in the U.S. Army.  Its remaining able-bodied personnel were re-assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division as replacements. 

 

But, your story didn't end there!  You were brought back into existence and it again continued throughout 1960's and into the late 1970's and onwards in the Cold War era, and continued further into combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan...and TOO MANY of you didn't make it home from those places, either!

 

So, here's to you, the "Nickel-O-Nasty" 509th Geronimo's of the Airborne Infantry fraternity...currently with 1st Battalion at FT Polk, and 3rd Battalion at FT RIchardson...to those who DID make it home, and those who DIDN'T!!….and to those still there! AATW!

[Bigdnfay1]

Happy Veterans Day. Thank You to all that have served.

[Edgar]

My dad was a B-29 navigator in the Pacific during WWII, and again in a C-46, ferrying supplies and troops, during Korea. He always said that he got shot at so that I wouldn't have to, and I'm so grateful for that.

 

Dad died Oct 30, 2018.

 

Thanks, Dad. Miss you.

[WillyBob]

 to all who served to preserve our freedom

 

  Thank you

[USNRET]

3 generations 

[billybob]

Texted my brother Viet Nam vet

Salute to all...

[dtel]

6 hours ago, WillyBob said:

 to all who served to preserve our freedom

Well said, Thank You to all Veterans and people serving now, we would be in big trouble without these brave people.