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Today in History --- March 8, first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam
Members of the 9th U.S. Marine Expeditionary force scramble out of a landing barge on to the beach at Da Nang in South Viet Nam, March 8, 1965. They were ordered to the area to bolster defenses around air base at Da Nang against possible Viet Cong attacks. (AP Photo)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published 11:00 PM CST, March 7, 2025
Today in history:
On March 8, 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines arrived to defend the U.S. air base at Da Nang.
https://apnews.com/today-in-history/march-8
War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon’s DEI purge
2 of 5 | In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, the Boeing B-29 named the “Enola Gay” is seen on Tinian in the Marianas Islands. (U.S. Air Force via AP)
By TARA COPP, LOLITA C. BALDOR and KEVIN VINEYS
Updated 6:21 PM CST, March 6, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — References to a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, the Enola Gay aircraft that dropped an atomic bomb on Japan and the first women to pass Marine infantry training are among the tens of thousands of photos and online posts marked for deletion as the Defense Department works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content, according to a database obtained by The Associated Press.
The database, which was confirmed by U.S. officials and published by AP, includes more than 26,000 images that have been flagged for removal across every military branch. But the eventual total could be much higher.
One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public, said the purge could delete as many as 100,000 images or posts in total, when considering social media pages and other websites that are also being culled for DEI content. The official said it’s not clear if the database has been finalized.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given the military until Wednesday to remove content that highlights diversity efforts in its ranks following President Donald Trump’s executive order ending those programs across the federal government.
The vast majority of the Pentagon purge targets women and minorities, including notable milestones made in the military. And it also removes a large number of posts that mention various commemorative months — such as those for Black and Hispanic people and women.
But a review of the database also underscores the confusion that has swirled among agencies about what to remove following Trump’s order.
Aircraft and fish projects are flagged
In some cases, photos seemed to be flagged for removal simply because their file included the word ”gay,” including service members with that last name and an image of the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II.
Several photos of an Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in California were marked for deletion, apparently because a local engineer in the photo had the last name Gay. And a photo of Army Corps biologists was on the list, seemingly because it mentioned they were recording data about fish — including their weight, size, hatchery and gender.
In addition, some photos of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation’s first Black military pilots who served in a segregated WWII unit, were listed on the database, but those may likely be protected due to historical content.
The Air Force briefly removed new recruit training courses that included videos of the Tuskegee Airmen soon after Trump’s order. That drew the White House’s ire over “malicious compliance,” and the Air Force quickly reversed the removal.
Many of the images listed in the database already have been removed. Others were still visible Thursday, and it’s not clear if they will be taken down at some point or be allowed to stay, including images with historical significance such as those of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Asked about the database, Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement, “We are pleased by the rapid compliance across the Department with the directive removing DEI content from all platforms. In the rare cases that content is removed that is out of the clearly outlined scope of the directive, we instruct components accordingly.”
He noted that Hegseth has declared that “DEI is dead” and that efforts to put one group ahead of another through DEI programs erodes camaraderie and threatens mission execution.
Some images aren’t gone
In some cases, the removal was partial. The main page in a post titled “Women’s History Month: All-female crew supports warfighters” was removed. . https://www.af.mil/News/Photos/ . But at least one of the photos in that collection about an all-female C-17 crew could still be accessed. A shot from the Army Corps of Engineers titled “Engineering pioneer remembered during Black History Month” was deleted.
Other photos flagged in the database but still visible Thursday included images of the World War II Women Air Service Pilots and one of U.S. Air Force Col. Jeannie Leavitt, the country’s first female fighter pilot.
Also still visible was an image of then-Pfc. Christina Fuentes Montenegro becoming one of the first three women to graduate from the Marine Corps’ Infantry Training Battalion and an image of Marine Corps World War II Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Harold Gonsalves.
It was unclear why some other images were removed, such as a Marine Corps photo titled “Deadlift contenders raise the bar pound by pound” or a National Guard website image called “Minnesota brothers reunite in Kuwait.”
Why the database?
The database of the 26,000 images was created to conform with federal archival laws, so if the services are queried in the future, they can show how they are complying with the law, the U.S. official said. But it may be difficult to ensure the content was archived because the responsibility to ensure each image was preserved was the responsibility of each individual unit.
Military marks imagery for DEI purge
The Associated Press obtained a database of tens of thousands of Department of Defense website images that have been flagged for removal, or already removed due to having content that highlighted diversity, equity or inclusion. Images highlighting female service members' contributions have been removed as have images highlighting Black, Hispanic and Pacific Islander contributions to the military, among many others. The database AP obtained contains 26,000 images that were flagged — and they may only be a fraction of all the content that is being removed.
Use the column header buttons to sort columns by ascending or descending orderCurrently not sorted
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Military leaders discuss technology, maritime tactics at Sea, Air, Space Expo
https://www.marines.mil/photos?igphoto=2001541793
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New York, New Hampshire recruits among first with Marine Corps infantry contracts
https://www.marines.mil/photos?igphoto=2001679078
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Lasting Legacy
https://www.marines.mil/photos?igphoto=2002605273
See the link for the rest of this page which is page 1 of 2649
https://apnews.com/article/dei-purge-images-pentagon-diversity-women-black-8efcfaec909954f4a24bad0d49c78074
In many cases, workers are taking screenshots of the pages marked for removal, but it would be difficult to restore them if that decision was made, according to another official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details that were not public.
A Marine Corps official said every one of its images in the database “either has been taken down or will be taken down.” The Marines are moving on the directive as fast as possible, but as with the rest of the military, very few civilian or contractor employees at the Pentagon can perform content removal, the official said.
In the Marine Corps, just one defense civilian is available to do the work. The Marine Corps estimates that person has identified at least 10,000 images for removal — and that does not count more than 1,600 social media sites that have not yet been addressed.
Many of those social media sites were military base or unit support groups created years ago and left idle. No one still has the administrative privileges to go in and change the content.
The Marine official said the service is going through each site and getting new administrative privileges so it can make the changes.
On Feb. 26, the Pentagon ordered all the military services to spend countless hours poring over years of website postings, photos, news articles and videos to remove any mentions that “promote diversity, equity and inclusion.”
If they couldn’t do that by Wednesday, they were told to “temporarily remove from public display” all content published during the Biden administration’s four years in office.
Military flags online content for removal as DEI
The Associated Press obtained a database of tens of thousands of Department of Defense website images that have been flagged for removal, or already removed due to having content that highlighted diversity, equity or inclusion. These are some examples in the database of images that were flagged for removal.
[...]
https://apnews.com/article/dei-purge-images-pentagon-diversity-women-black-8efcfaec909954f4a24bad0d49c78074
Brooklyn Center, MN, WWII Vet Turns 102 Years Old, Receives Special Honor
4:37 PM | Monday, February 24, 2025''
1:13
https://ccxmedia.org/news/brooklyn-center-wwii-vet-turns-102-years-old-receives-special-honor/
A Brooklyn Center veteran was given a special honor by the Minnesota National Guard on Monday.
Don Halverson, a World War II veteran, was awarded the Order of St. George Bronze Medallion.
This came as a surprise to Halverson, who was celebrating his 102nd birthday.
“It’s the first time I’ve been this old — somebody says ‘how do you feel?’ It’s the first time I’ve been this old — I don’t know how you’re supposed to feel,” Halverson told CCX News. “As long as I get out of bed and breathe in the morning it’s a good day.”
Havlerson joined the Armu in 1943. He served with the 34th Infantry “Red Bull” Division, leading a platoon of soldiers from Naples, Italy to the Swiss border.
World War II veteran and Brooklyn Center resident Don Halverson turned 102 years old on Monday.
The Minnesota National Guard marked the occasion by surprising him with the Order of St. George Bronze Medal.
He watched as the German 34th Infantry surrendered on May 1, 1945.
The end of the war marked the best day of Halverson’s life.
“The captain hollered out the war was over,” he said. “It still hadn’t hit me.”
He credits his long life to his wife.
“Overseas you smoked everything, you got your cigarettes and you drank everything,” he said.
“When I got home I met a gal that didn’t smoke and I quit smoking in 46'. Have a little whiskey-water at the VFW as preservative.”
Halverson has lived in Brooklyn Center since 1959.
Last year, the city celebrated his birthday with a firetruck and police vehicle procession.
https://ccxmedia.org/news/brookyn-center-wwii-vet-gets-fire-truck-procession-for-101st-birthday/
Today in History: February 23, 1945, Marines raise flag on Iwo Jima
U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945.
Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest,
most famous battles of World War II against Japan. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal)
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published 11:00 PM CST, February 22, 2025
Today in history:
On Feb. 23, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima captured Mount Suribachi, where they raised two American flags.
(The second flag-raising was captured in an iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal of The Associated Press.)
https://apnews.com/today-in-history/february-23
Medal of Honor recipient faced down 100 enemy troops to cover his men
By Jon Guttman
Robert Craig. (Army)
As the Germans launched their last, desperate offensive on the Western Front in mid-1918, a relatively new United States Army unit, the 3rd Infantry Division, would earn the nickname “Rock of the Marne” for its refusal to give an inch of ground against the overwhelming and advancing German forces. The Germans failed to break through the division’s defenses, turning the tide of the battle.
Despite its heroic stand, not one member of the 3rd Division was awarded the Medal of Honor throughout World War I, but that would change in the next conflict. Not only would the 3rd produce 61 Medals of Honor — the most of any division — but one of them, Audie Murphy, would be the most decorated soldier in the U.S. Army.
Although Murphy fought a long and agonizing war before receiving his Medal of Honor, one of his comrades-in-arms, 2nd Lt. Robert Craig, was destined for a much shorter, though no less violent, tour of duty.
Both men served in the 1st Battalion, 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division when they came ashore in Fedala, French Morocco on November 8, 1942, but at that time Murphy was a private in Company B, while Craig was in Company L.
Craig, born in Scotland in 1919 before immigrating with his family to Toledo, Ohio, in 1923, had enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1941 as the likelihood of the United States entering the global conflict grew.
he following month Craig and the 15th Infantry Regiment left for Europe, participating in the November 1942 Operation Torch landings, cutting their teeth in Vichy-held French Morocco.
On July 10, 1943, however, the 3rd Division was place under the command of Gen. George S. Patton Jr.’s Seventh Army and tasked with job of taking Sicily during the Allied Operation Husky.
By day’s end, the 3rd Division had secured Licata and drove back a counterattack by the Italian 528th Coastal Defense Battalion while suffering less than 100 casualties.
On July 11, the division resumed its advance. Near the town of Favorotta, L Company encountered serious resistance on terrain short on cover or concealment, where a well-placed Italian machine gun position drove its troops to ground.
Three attempts were made to eliminate the obstacle, only to result in three failures with a lieutenant falling wounded during each attempt.
It was after the third failed attempt that Craig volunteered to have a go. In short order, his citation reads, he “snaked his way to a point within 35 yards of a point within 35 yards of the hostile position before being discovered.”
As he came under fire, Craig, armed with an M1 carbine, charged headlong at the machine gun nest and swiftly killed all three crewmen.
With the initiative back in their hands, Craig and his platoon advanced down the forward slope of the next ridge, only to encounter roughly 100 Italian troops.
Craig’s response was to signal his men back to the modest cover of the hill crest while he advanced, firing his carbine to divert enemy attention his way. At 25 yards, he dropped to one knee and, in quick succession, killed five enemy and wounded another three before being shot down himself.
“While the hostile force concentrated fire on him,” Craig’s citation continues, “his platoon reached the cover of the crest. Second Lt. Craig was killed by enemy fire, but his intrepid action so inspired his men that they drove the enemy from the area, inflicting heavy casualties on the hostile force.”
On May 26, 1944, Craig posthumously received the Medal of Honor for his valiant actions on the Italian coast. His father, William Craig, accepted the award on behalf of his son.
Buried in the Toledo Memorial Park in Sylvania, Craig’s name was subsequently commemorated on a Victory ship, the USAT Lt. Robert Craig, as well as a drawbridge, the Craig Memorial Bridge, spanning Route 280 over the Maumee River.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2025/02/06/the-medal-of-honor-recipient-who-lived-and-died-next-to-audie-murphy/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
The Loneliest General: Silence Surrounds Gen. Mark Milley Amid Trump Retaliation
An Armed Forces Welcome Ceremony in honor of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Army Gen. Mark A. Milley
is held at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Arlington, Va., Sept. 30, 2019. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. James Harvey)
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin and Steve Beynon
Published January 31, 2025 at 6:31pm ET
Listen to this article now 11:17
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/31/loneliest-general-silence-surrounds-gen-mark-milley-amid-trump-retaliation.html?ESRC=army_250204.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=army&utm_campaign=20250204
President Donald Trump focused his ire and retaliation on one person in the very first minutes of his presidency, even before his inauguration concluded -- retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, the highest-ranking and most visible officer in the military during the president's first term in office.
On Jan. 20, as Trump was sworn in, Milley's recently unveiled portrait painting from his time as Joint Chiefs chairman was quietly removed from a hallway in the Pentagon that displays portraits of all former chairmen. A week later, another portrait of Milley, a retired Green Beret with more than 40 years of service, from his time as Army chief of staff was removed.
Few have come to Milley's defense and even the military, to which the four-star general had given decades of service, was unwilling to offer any pushback.
One recently retired general noted to Military.com that Milley is "as radioactive as it gets."
Military.com reached out to nearly a dozen current and retired general officers for comment on the actions the Trump administration has taken against Milley. None would speak even under the condition their names be withheld from publication to protect them from retaliation, a common practice in the press to allow officials to speak candidly when their views could draw retribution.
Keeping Milley at a distance, even anonymously, showed the widespread concern that Trump and his allies pose a threat to those who may fall out of step.
The president's effort to erase Milley's history and punish him in retirement appears to be unprecedented in recent history. Trump's allies argue that they are looking to hold Milley accountable for what they see as a betrayal of the president during the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Milley reached out to his Chinese counterpart amid the chaos to assure that country that the U.S. was not about to start a military conflict.
The humiliation wasn't over for Milley. Trump's newly appointed defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced he was ending Milley's security detail and initiating an investigation into the retired general to see whether they could strip him of rank, removing one of his stars in retirement.
But the final blow for Milley might be the silence after the open retaliation by Trump, who campaigned on punishing his political enemies.
Few have come to Milley's defense and even the military, to which the four-star general had given decades of service, was unwilling to offer any pushback.
One recently retired general noted to Military.com that Milley is "as radioactive as it gets."
Military.com reached out to nearly a dozen current and retired general officers for comment on the actions the Trump administration has taken against Milley. None would speak even under the condition their names be withheld from publication to protect them from retaliation, a common practice in the press to allow officials to speak candidly when their views could draw retribution.
Keeping Milley at a distance, even anonymously, showed the widespread concern that Trump and his allies pose a threat to those who may fall out of step.
The president's effort to erase Milley's history and punish him in retirement appears to be unprecedented in recent history. Trump's allies argue that they are looking to hold Milley accountable for what they see as a betrayal of the president during the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Milley reached out to his Chinese counterpart amid the chaos to assure that country that the U.S. was not about to start a military conflict.
In his farewell speech at his retirement, Milley never mentioned Trump by name but pointedly said that service members "don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator. … We don't take an oath to an individual."
"We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we're willing to die to protect it," he added.
Milley Wiped from Pentagon History
While removing a portrait may seem like a trivial matter, the Pentagon is not just office space -- its miles of hallways are also living memorials of military history and heritage.
Aside from each service dedicating hallways to their accomplishments and history, memorialized within the Pentagon are hundreds of leaders, heroes and battles that stretch back to the founding of the nation or the creation of the services. There are portraits of the secretaries of war, historical artifacts, and even dioramas so elaborate that one incorporates two Vietnam-era Huey helicopter cabs.
Among those displays are hallways lined with portraits of every chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, for the Army, a hallway with every chief of staff.
Both hallways now have gaps where Milley's portrait hung -- his service scrubbed from the living timeline of the Defense Department's headquarters. One editorial published Thursday called the move a "Soviet-style" purge.
Still, the response to the removal from all quarters has been an eerie silence.
The Pentagon, despite clearly being part of the effort to remove the portraits, had nothing to say.
Officials at the defense secretary's office said they had no comment on the removal of the first portrait and said to ask the Army about the removal of the second. The Army directed Military.com back to the secretary's office.
The office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a post now held by Gen. Charles "CQ" Brown, also had nothing to say on the matter.
No one in the Pentagon would even say who ordered the removal.
However, more notably, officials and groups that in years past would have rallied around a general under fire have remained silent as well.
Military.com reached out to both the Association of the U.S. Army, or AUSA, and the Military Officers Association of America, MOAA -- groups that advocate for soldiers and military officers, respectively -- and neither wished to say anything about Milley's treatment.
In contrast, when Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., held up the promotions of hundreds of senior military officers in 2023 in an effort to pressure the Pentagon to reverse its policy of covering travel and leave for service members who seek abortions, MOAA readily came to the defense of the generals.
Throughout the nearly yearlong hold, Tuberville argued that the Pentagon had more generals and admirals than it needed and that the military is the weakest it's been in his lifetime.
The head of MOAA, retired Lt. Gen. Brian Kelly, said Tuberville's remarks were "insults ... that demean and disrespect the sacrifices they make in defending our nation."
"Future service members are watching this display of political theater and are reconsidering their decision to serve," Kelly wrote of Tuberville in a letter published in November 2023.
Milley's tenure as chairman was certainly rocky, and he was condemned by both Republicans and Democrats at various times for either his views on diversity in the military or his actions amid the violent national protests following the death of George Floyd.
But the biggest rift between the Army general and Trump came after the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In the days after the insurrection, Milley made two calls to a Chinese general, Li Zuocheng.
"My task at that time was to deescalate," Milley told senators that year, and explained that he was hoping to calm fears in the Chinese top brass that the U.S. might attack China during the chaos and turmoil of a presidential transition that was being rocked by violence.
Milley was "certain" that the former president "did not intend on attacking the Chinese, and it is my directed responsibility to convey presidential orders and intent," he said.
During his reelection campaign in 2023, Trump claimed Milley would have faced death "in times gone by" for the call.
However, Milley is not the first general to run afoul of his civilian bosses.
In the 1950s, during the Korean War, Gen. Douglas MacArthur clashed with President Harry Truman over the direction the conflict should take. MacArthur eventually ordered his troops to invade North Korea and push past the 38th parallel, scuttling Truman's efforts at a ceasefire.
"This was not the first time the general had ignored direct orders from his commander in chief," the Truman library website said.
MacArthur was relieved of command in April 1951 but returned to a hero's welcome at home. Since 1981, the Pentagon has honored the general with an entire hallway commemorating his life in uniform. Among the displays are MacArthur's medals, uniforms and personal effects.
The display sidesteps his firing and instead simply says one of the military's few five-star generals was ordered to turn over his command.
At the end of Milley's career, there were a few flowery farewells in the press as well. Long articles based on interviews with the general cast him as a defender of the Constitution during a historically trying time for the country.
Milley Investigated, Security Deal Nixed
Beyond the immediate removal of Milley's likeness from the Pentagon, Trump officials also made moves late one Tuesday to revoke the authorization for his security detail and suspended his security clearance.
Hegseth "has also directed the DoD IG to conduct an inquiry into the facts and circumstances surrounding Gen. Milley's conduct so that the secretary may determine whether it is appropriate to reopen his military grade review determination," Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement.
If Milley is ultimately demoted, the corresponding change in retirement payments could add up to a loss in the hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of the rest of his life.
The revoking of Milley's security detail comes at a time when several former Trump officials face threats from Iran stemming from his first administration's hard-line stance against the country -- and specifically the military's killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Revolutionary Guards.
Several Republican lawmakers told hosts of political shows on Sunday that they had real concerns for the safety of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, two other officials stripped of their security detail by Trump as part of an apparent retaliation campaign.
The Guardian reported that, according to a former senior Biden administration official, the Trump administration was "well aware" of the "active threats" against the former government officials, and they called the move "highly irresponsible."
The move to strip Milley's security managed to elicit some calls of support from Democratic lawmakers.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jack Reed, D.-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that it was "unconscionable and recklessly negligent for President Trump and Secretary Hegseth to revoke Gen. Milley's security detail for their own political satisfaction."
"The administration has placed Milley and his family in grave danger, and they have an obligation to immediately restore his federal protection," Reed added in a written statement.
Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Smith, D.-Wash., the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that "removing Gen. Milley's security protections sets a dangerous precedent -- one that threatens to have a chilling effect on all those in uniform and those considering service to our country."
On Tuesday, reporters also noted that a portrait of Mark Esper was removed from the hallway of Army secretaries -- the civilian heads of the service. Esper served in the position during the first Trump administration before being named defense secretary.
Trump would later fire him from that post, days after he lost the election to Joe Biden.
Esper had long expected to be fired after being at odds with Trump over several issues, the most notable of which was his resistance to using active-duty troops on protesters during the height of the Black Lives Matter protest movement in 2020.
Esper's portrait as defense secretary, at the time of publication, was still hanging in the Pentagon, just feet from the door to the office now occupied by Pete Hegseth.
Related: Mark Milley's Portrait Disappears from Pentagon on Trump's Inauguration Day
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/01/31/loneliest-general-silence-surrounds-gen-mark-milley-amid-trump-retaliation.html?ESRC=army_250204.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=army&utm_campaign=20250204
A change of the guard at the Pentagon.
Oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor dies at 105
By Audrey McAvoy, The Associated Press
Dec 27, 2024, 03:19 PM
Warren Upton sits for a portrait with his daughter Barbara Upton on Nov. 26, 2021. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group via AP)
Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/military-history/2024/12/07/how-recovering-a-japanese-zero-at-pearl-harbor-added-to-its-mystery/ . and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah, has died. He was 105.
Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California, after suffering a bout of pneumonia, said Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors.
The Utah, a battleship, was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes began bombing the Hawaii naval base in the early hours of Dec. 7, 1941, in an attack that propelled the U.S. into World War II.
Upton told The Associated Press in 2020 that he had been getting ready to shave when he felt the first torpedo hit the Utah. He recalled that no one on board knew what made the ship shake. Then, the second torpedo hit and the ship began to list and capsize.
The then-22-year-old swam ashore to Ford Island, where he jumped in a trench to avoid Japanese planes strafing the area. He stayed for about 30 minutes until a truck came and took him to safety.
Upton said he didn’t mind talking about what happened during the attack. Instead, what upset him was that he kept losing shipmates over the years. By 2020, there were only three crew members of the Utah still alive, including himself.
There were an estimated 87,000 military personnel on Oahu on the day of the attack, according to military historian J. Michael Wenger. After Upton’s death, there are only 15 still alive.
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-military/2024/12/27/oldest-living-survivor-of-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor-dies-at-105/
Battle of the Bulge Law
25 December 1944
In the frigid winter of 1944, when the outcome of WWII was still far from certain, the Allied forces were in the battle of their lives. They were making their way toward Berlin to end the devastating WWII in the European Theatre.
The German Army surprised the Allied forces in mid-December 1944 in the densely forested Ardennes region between Belgium and Luxembourg. The Allied forces, comprised of soldiers from all parts of our country and elsewhere, were bogged down in the worst winter storm of a generation, completely neutralizing the superior Allied air forces in the last major German offensive on the Western front.
General George Patton, the Allied general in command and a deeply religious man, ordered the chaplain to deliver a prayer for clearer skies. The skies did clear, dramatically, in fact. The superior Allied air power enabled the Allied forces to break the stalemate. Eventually the Allied forces marched to Berlin by late summer, 1945 and victory in the European Theatre.
It remains one of the most remarkable turns in battle in recorded history.
The press back home gave credit to “Patton’s Prayer,” as it became known. So much so the Allied forces ordered that a reprint of the prayer be given to every soldier who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
One of those soldiers was Private C C “Buddy “Graham of Floyd, Virginia, my father-in-law. He and his three brothers enlisted in what came to be known by many at the time as The Great War. They served in the European and Pacific-Asian Theatres of WW II. One was shot down over France, and he was a POW in a German prison camp until the end of WW II. But they all survived the war.
Toward the end of the war, the United States Congress passed the first phase of the G I Bill. Over the next five years nine million veterans received financial aid to go to college and to buy a home. Most of them were the first of their generation to go to college or to buy a home. Provided to them by a grateful nation to give a chance to those who gave our nation and democracy a chance.
Like most all the soldiers who fought in that defining battle, Buddy Graham carried his copy of Patton’s Prayer in his wallet for the rest of his life.
Their copy of that prayer kept them close to the challenge of those times. A regular reminder that they made it through. And it kept that sense of gratitude close, that Dame Chance and more gave her sweet smile to their cause in those times of uncertainty.
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart,” says an old proverb which remains fresh when it is applied. It is this profound and humble sense of gratitude which is the indelible marking of the Greatest Generation.
Nearly all those brave soldiers are gone now, eighty years later. Those in the know, and we know, the days of those who still survive are narrowing. The news of the passing of the last one will soon come to us, and their bravery and courage will be forever cast to the silent shore of memory.
Historians, those of science, and the families of most people we know tell us that struggles, hardships, and other challenges often carry with them the markings of character, too. A through line to a life of the heart, spirit, faith, and substance as well. And we are wise to be on the lookout for their residual but lasting value. As a memory of those who gave us a chance, and as an example of character to give ourselves a chance, too.
An insight, too, maybe, which helps us see more clearly what matters, and what matters most. Those values and experiences which, in time, make us all free, as that enduring song of another great war instructs.
How grateful we all should be.
R. Michael Wells
Postscript.
After Buddy Graham passed away, Janet made a copy of her dad’s “Patton’s Prayer.” She gave our children a copy of the Prayer that Christmas, their grandfather’s last gift to them.
Sailor who died with 428 crewmates in Pearl Harbor attack finally accounted for
By Kerry Breen
December 6, 2024 / 1:19 PM EST / CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pearl-harbor-uss-oklahoma-soldier-identified-john-auld/
The Combat Cadillac Was the Most Gangster Military Vehicle that Never Was
You’re not imagining things; this 1915 Cadillac does kind of look like a JLTV. (Wikimedia Commons)
Military.com | By Scott Murdock
Published October 02, 2024
At the height of the Prohibition-era gang wars, the infamous gangster Al Capone had enemies everywhere. He also had a ride like no one else. Capone’s car was a beautiful green Cadillac -- the pride of General Motors -- equipped with a powerful V8, windows made from one-inch-thick glass and body panels stuffed with 3,000 pounds of bulletproof armor.
It was the most gangster car in Chicago, but it wasn’t the most gangster car in America. Funny enough, the U.S. Army had a few custom Cadillacs of its own.
...
The Problem: Enemy Grunts with Rifles
In the early 1900s, warfare didn’t look too different from the way people fought 100 years earlier. Soldiers still trained to fight shoulder to shoulder and deliver volley fire; they just did it with bolt-action rifles instead of muskets.
...
The Solution: Friendly Grunts with Rifles and a Fast Car
In 1915, just two years before the U.S. entered World War I, an Army Reserve Corps officer named Royal Davidson gave the U.S. military its first true armored vehicle.
According to the Florida newspaper the Highlands News-Sun, Davidson was as much an inventor as a soldier. He had spent two decades trying to convince Army leadership to replace horses with machines. Davidson pitched bicycles and tricycle-mounted machine guns, but neither of those ideas were better than four hooves and 1,000 pounds of muscle.
At long last, Army Reserve Corps officer Royal Davidson found a way to stop people from bullying him for riding a tricycle as an adult. (Wikimedia Commons)
...
This trim level pleased Cadillac customers who particularly hated hot air balloons. (War Wheels)
...
...
Look What a Gunned-Up Cadillac Gave Us
If you like slinging advanced munitions from a JLTV, thank R.P. Davidson. (Photo by Spc. Derek Mustard)
As you read this, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is standing by to wreck any enemy foolish enough to get in its way. Hybrid powertrains are already in use, and electric combat vehicles are on the way. The Army should make a selection on the Robotic Combat Vehicle program in the near future. And it’s all because a reservist bolted steel plates and a pair of machine guns to a convertible Cadillac.
Davidson’s inventions didn’t score a lucrative military contract, thwart a hostile balloon invasion or roll through German defenses during World War I. The most impressive mission they accomplished was shuttling college kids and a few government officials to San Francisco for a fun road trip.
But those Cadillacs were still America’s first armored combat vehicles. They proved that the idea was viable, and they paved the way for some of the most legendary military vehicles the U.S. military has ever fielded. I’d call that a success.
https://www.military.com/off-duty/autos/combat-cadillac-was-most-gangster-military-vehicle-never-was.html
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Biden takes first ride in new Marine One as Sikorsky wraps delivery
By Stephen Losey and The Associated Press
New Marine One helicopter awaits President Joe Biden at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, August 19, 2024. (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
Aug 19, 2024, 03:36 PM
The U.S. Marine Corps received the final batch of its 23 new VH-92A Patriot presidential transport helicopters last week, an air frame most famously known as Marine One when carrying America’s commander-in-chief.
Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, delivered the final VH-92A Patriot helicopter in a ceremony at the company’s Owego, N.Y., facility on Aug. 14, Lockheed and Naval Air Systems Command, or NAVAIR, said Monday.
“This delivery represents a significant milestone and new chapter in the rich, 67-year history of Marines providing helicopter transport of the president of the United States,” Lt. Gen. Bradford Gering, the Marine Corps’ deputy commandant for aviation, said in a statement. “The VH-92A Patriot brings increased capabilities for this no-fail mission supporting the commander-in-chief around the world.”
The VH-92A carries the same iconic dark green and white livery as past Marine One helicopters, and will carry the same “White Top” nickname as the older ones.
President Joe Biden on Monday took his first flight aboard the newest Marine One after years of delays to the program to replace the aging aircraft that carry the president and vice president.
The new Marine One helicopters, the VH-92A Patriot, are built by Sikorsky and are adaptations of the S-92 commercial helicopter. (Lockheed Martin)
Biden boarded the helicopter after arriving on Air Force One in Chicago where he is speaking Monday evening at the Democratic National Convention. The maiden presidential voyage carried him from O’Hare International Airport to the parking lot of Chicago’s Soldier Field, often used as a landing zone for presidential travel.
It marked a crucial milestone in a two-decade-long process to replace the Vietnam-era helicopters that have been in use carrying presidents, in some cases, since the 1970s.
An initial effort to purchase new helicopters was kicked off by the Bush administration in an effort to improve communications and mission capabilities in the post-September 11, 2001 environment, but it was scrapped by President Barack Obama after rampant cost overruns.
NAVAIR said the new helicopters will provide better performance and be able to carry a greater payload than the VH-3D and VH-60N, while sporting improved crew coordination and communication systems.
Two of the 23 VH-92A helicopters will be used for testing, NAVAIR said, and the rest will be used for operations. This will provide enough helicopters to transport the president, undergo necessary maintenance and allow pilots and aircrew to train.
The new program was started by the Obama administration, and the helicopter, branded the “Patriot,” made its public debut during the Trump administration. But issues with the secure communications system on board — required so that the president can carry out classified conversations and make military decisions in an emergency — as well as a tendency to scorch the White House South Lawn led to years of delays to the program.
The Marine Corps reported last year that the communications issues had been resolved, but it was not clear whether modifications to the exhaust system have eliminated the threat to the White House grass.
The Marines have been using the VH-92 helicopters for several years in regular service, including test flights around Washington, D.C. and to carry White House staff and security personnel.
The new helicopters are based on the commercially-available Sikorsky S-92 and are larger and have longer range than the older VH-3D and VH-60N models.
About Stephen Losey
Stephen Losey is the air warfare reporter for Defense News. He previously covered leadership and personnel issues at Air Force Times, and the Pentagon, special operations and air warfare at Military.com. He has traveled to the Middle East to cover U.S. Air Force operations.
https://www.defensenews.com/air/2024/08/19/biden-takes-first-ride-in-new-marine-one-as-sikorsky-wraps-delivery/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
Here's Kamala Harris' Record on Veterans and Military Issues
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives for the graduation ceremony of the U.S. Military Academy class of 2023
at Michie Stadium on Saturday, May 27, 2023, in West Point, N.Y (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston)
Military.com | By Rebecca Kheel
Published July 24, 2024 at 3:26pm ET
Listen to article
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/07/24/what-would-harris-presidency-mean-service-members-and-veterans-heres-what-shes-done-past.html?ESRC=mr_240729.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240729
President Joe Biden's 11th-hour decision not to seek reelection and the quick rallying around Vice President Kamala Harris to take over for him at the top of the ticket give Democrats a likely presidential nominee with a less high-profile record on military and veterans issues than before.
As vice president, Harris has supported Biden's major initiatives on service members and veterans, including the massive expansion of veterans benefits under the PACT Act and the 2021 U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. But the portfolio of projects she took the lead on in the White House did not focus on military and veterans issues.
Still, her four years in the Senate included votes on military and veterans bills, and her time as California's attorney general saw her take on for-profit colleges that targeted veterans -- a record that could provide a window into what a Harris presidency would mean for service members and veterans.
[...]
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/07/24/what-would-harris-presidency-mean-service-members-and-veterans-heres-what-shes-done-past.html?ESRC=mr_240729.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240729
Remembering D-Day: Key facts and figures about the invasion that changed the course of World War II
1 of 2 | FILE - American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 in World War II.
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States, 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces. (AP Photo, File)
Updated 1:31 PM CDT, June 3, 2024
OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to punch a hole in Adolf Hitler’s defenses in western Europe and change the course of World War II.
With veterans and world dignitaries gathering in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings, here’s a look at some details about how the operation unfolded.
FILE - American paratroopers, heavily armed, sit inside a military plane as they soar over the English Channel en route to the Normandy French coast for the Allied D-Day invasion of the German stronghold during World War II, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo, File)
WHO TOOK PART
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle.
The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces.
More than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that started on D-Day.
WHERE AND WHEN
The sea landings started at 6:30 a.m., just after dawn, targeting five code-named beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword. The operation also included actions inland, including overnight parachute landings on strategic German sites and U.S. Army Rangers scaling cliffs to take out German gun positions.
Around 11,000 Allied aircraft, 7,000 ships and boats, and thousands of other vehicles were involved.
MANY DEATHS ON ALL SIDES
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.
In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians.
The exact German casualties aren’t known, but historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone. About 22,000 German soldiers are among the many buried around Normandy.
FILE - American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 in World War II. (AP Photo, File)
Inevitably, the number of survivors attending major anniversary commemorations in France continues to dwindle. The youngest survivors are now in their late 90s. It’s unclear how many D-Day veterans are still alive. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it doesn’t track their numbers.
https://apnews.com/article/dday-wwii-france-invasion-military-b02d03fa11f66767a521a3b01357a89a
The last WWII vets converge on Normandy for D-Day and fallen friends and to cement their legacy
3 of 16 | World War II and D-Day veteran Jake Larson visits the graves at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
10 of 16 | American WWII veterans Bill Wall, left, and Bob Tedesco attend a ceremony on Omaha Beach, Tuesday, June 4, 2024 in Normandy. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Jeremias Gonzalez)
15 of 16 | World War II and D-Day veterans are led by two pipers as they prepare to visit graves at the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. World War II veterans from across the United States as well as Britain and Canada are in Normandy this week to mark 80 years since the D-Day landings that helped lead to Hitler’s defeat. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
By JOHN LEICESTER, SYLVIE CORBET and DANICA KIRKA
Updated 2:17 PM CDT, June 4, 2024
OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — Under their feet, the sands of Omaha Beach, and in their rheumy eyes, tears that inevitably flowed from being on the revered shoreline in Normandy, France, where so many American young men were cut down 80 years ago on D-Day.
Veterans of World War II, many of them centenarians and likely returning to France for one last time, pilgrimaged Tuesday to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landing beaches on June 6, 1944. They remembered fallen friends. They relived horrors they experienced in combat. They blessed their good fortune for surviving. And they mourned those who paid the ultimate price.
They also bore a message for generations behind them, who owe them so much: Don’t forget what we did.
“They probably wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t be successful,” said Llilburn “Bill” Wall, who flew bombers in WWII and will celebrate his 101st birthday this week as world leaders gather in France to pay homage to the D-Day generation.
As decades pass, D-Day anniversaries in Normandy have become increasingly fun-fair like, clogging the region’s leafy roads with WWII-era fans dressed in the uniforms and driving restored vehicles of the time. But the presence of an ever-dwindling number of veterans keeps the commemorations real, inevitably raising questions about whether the memories, pathos and lessons of WWII will fade when they are gone.
“There are things worth fighting for. Although I wish there was another way to do it than to try to kill each other. But sometimes you’re called upon to do something and you just do it. You know? That’s it. These people looked death in the face and just kept right on coming,” said Walter Stitt, who turns 100 in July and fought in tanks — surviving the destruction of three.
“All those young men that never had a chance to go home and find a love of their life and hold their children in their arms,” he said on Omaha, wiping away a tear.
On the bluffs above Omaha, at the Normandy American Cemetery with 9,387 immaculately tended graves, 100-year-old Bob Gibson paid tribute to comrades who fell on D-Day, when he landed on the other, less-bloody American landing beach, code-named Utah.
“You don’t want other people to go through the same thing,” he said. “Because I’ve seen a lot of these boys that never even made the beach, believe me. And we were all 18, 19 years old.”
“I’m glad I made it. The old boy upstairs took care of me,” he said, gesturing skyward.
Across the Normandy coast where the largest-ever land, sea and air armada punctured Adolf Hitler’s defenses in western Europe on D-Day and helped precipitate his downfall 11 months later, Allied veterans are the VVIPs of this week’s 80th anniversary celebrations.
More veterans were on their way Tuesday, traveling by ferry from southern England across the English Channel that 23,000 Allied airborne troops flew over to drop on D-Day into Normandy and which more than 132,000 others crossed aboard thousands of ships that stretched as far as eyes could see, landing on Utah and Omaha and three other code-named beaches: Gold, Juno and Sword.
“It looked like you could walk across the Channel using boats as stepping stones,” recalled 100-year-old Robert Pedigo, who was a nose gunner aboard a B-24 bomber that flew over the landing beaches on D-Day to pound German forces from the air. He was part of the veteran group that visited Omaha on Tuesday, brought to France for the 80th anniversary by American Airlines.
Back at base on D-Day night, he was told the Allies had suffered thousands of casualties.
“Overwhelming,” he recalled. Although his bombing mission that day proved to be among the “easiest” of 30 he flew over occupied France and Nazi Germany, “the emotional impact was the greatest.”
More than 4,400 Allied troops were killed on D-Day, including more than 2,500 Americans. The Allied toll grew appallingly in the Battle of Normandy that ensued, with 73,000 killed and 153,000 wounded.
Eight decades on, veterans are making more pleasant new memories to go with painful old ones.
Aboard the Mont St. Michel ferry carrying them Tuesday to France, about 20 British veterans gathered on deck and waved like rockstars to well-wishers who cheered them off.
A pipe band struck up a stirring rendition of “Brave Scotland.” Sailors stood at attention. Fireboats blasted their hoses in an arc. A military transport plane flew past twice.
RAF veteran Bernard Morgan, who worked in communications on D-Day, chuckled: “It was more pleasant coming today than it was 80 years ago.”
___
Danica Kirka reported from the Mont St. Michel ferry in the English Channel.
https://apnews.com/article/dday-normandy-wwii-veterans-france-110e5361cca01f9ff1d3db8b74a09c67
World War II veterans take off for France for 80th anniversary of D-Day
01:30
https://apnews.com/article/world-war-ii-dday-anniversary-flight-b366b128fbfdd099b2ced592b80920ee
1 of 11 Photos
More than 60 veterans of World War II took off Friday from Dallas to France, where they will take part in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The group ranges from 96 to 107 years old, according to American Airlines which is flying them first to Paris.
The flight is one of several that are taking veterans to France for the commemoration.
The group traveling from Dallas includes six Medal of Honor recipients from wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam who wish to honor the World War II veterans.
There are also two Rosie the Riveters, representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war. (AP video shot by Kendria LaFleur)
Updated 10:54 PM CDT, May 31, 2024
DALLAS (AP) — More than 60 veterans of World War II took off Friday from Dallas to France, where they will take part in ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The group ranges from 96 to 107 years old, according to American Airlines, which is flying them first to Paris. The flight is one of several that are taking veterans to France for the commemoration.
The group will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Suresnes American Cemetery, visit the Eiffel Tower and join in a daily ceremony known as le Ravivage de la Flamme, which honors fallen French service members at the Arc de triomphe.
They then head to the Normandy region for events that include wreath-laying ceremonies on Omaha and Utah Beaches, two of the landing sites for the Allied forces.
Almost 160,000 Allied troops, 73,000 from the United States, landed at Normandy on June 6, 1944, in a massive amphibious operation designed to break through heavily fortified German defenses and begin the liberation of Western Europe.
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.
See source for complete graphic:
https://apnews.com/article/world-war-ii-dday-anniversary-flight-b366b128fbfdd099b2ced592b80920ee
The group traveling from Dallas includes six Medal of Honor recipients from wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam who wish to honor the World War II veterans.
There are also two Rosie the Riveters, representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during the war.
Hundreds of thousands of military women from Allied nations also worked in crucial noncombat roles such as codebreakers, ship plotters, radar operators and cartographers.
There are various ceremonies to commemorate the day in France and to thank veterans, some of whom will make the long trans-Atlantic journey despite advanced age, fatigue and physical difficulties.
“We will never forget. And we have to tell them,” Philippe Étienne, chairman of commemoration organizer Liberation Mission, told The Associated Press.
https://apnews.com/article/world-war-ii-dday-anniversary-flight-b366b128fbfdd099b2ced592b80920ee
Playing taps is a solemn duty. He wanted to do it right.
Chris Gekker has played the trumpet -- and taps -- for decades. But it carries special resonance on Memorial Day.
By Michael Laris
Updated May 27, 2024 at 10:33 p.m. EDT|Published May 27, 2024 at 7:22 p.m. EDT
Chris Gekker stepped up to the flag flying at half-staff, trumpet tucked against a borrowed wool uniform. Before him was the World War I Memorial and its lines of poetry on a granite wall.
We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us.
He raised the mouthpiece, took a pause. Then a breath.
The son and grandson of immigrants who fought for America in two World Wars was about to perform taps — the 24 most solemn and beautiful notes he ever plays.
Gekker has been with this instrument for 62 of his 70 years. He’s recorded with it, taught with it, shared it with his music-loving father before his father was gone too soon.
He thinks of taps as eight groups of three notes each. Fairly simple.
But sometimes, he says, “simple things are not that easy to do.”
Gekker is a professor of trumpet at the University of Maryland School of Music. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
Taps has a sacred presence in Washington. Its soulful melody can be heard dozens of times a day at Arlington National Cemetery — after the three sharp rifle volleys at military funerals and after wreaths are placed at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
Daily soundings of taps began three years ago at the World War I Memorial, just after the partially completed monument opened to the public. The work will be completed after a 58-foot bronze sculpture is installed, starting in July.
The Doughboy Foundation, a nonprofit group helping operate the memorial, plans to keep buglers and trumpeters performing taps there at 5 p.m. every day in perpetuity. Foundation officials say a bugler has been absent only one day, when a nearby protest in January prevented him from reaching the spot.
Gekker has performed with Sting and Peter Gabriel. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
By the time Gekker got the call, he had spent decades with the weight of taps.
He played it for families of the victims after terrorists flew a plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. He played it on the edge of a cliff in the Teton mountains for the family of a man who fell to his death nearby. For years, he played it five times each Memorial Day weekend at a Catholic church in Bethesda, seeing the tears of those in the pews when he was done.
It has not become easier.
Music has always been a tool for Gekker to connect — a medium of love, of family, of soaring beauty, a place to find and share humanity, with its moments of joy and sadness.
Gekker’s father, U.S. Army Sgt. Paul Gekker, didn’t talk much about war. He had landed with the Allies in Europe during World War II and marched to Berlin, but he was too thankful to be alive to spend much time looking back.
Gekker first picked up the trumpet in fourth grade. Sometimes his father, an immigrant from Ukraine, would pull his car over so he and his son could listen to the end of a symphony without the distractions of the road. He died when Gekker was 16.
Before Gekker graduated from high school, he played a concerto with the U.S. Navy Band in Constitution Hall. He has performed with Sting and Peter Gabriel, been on the soundtrack of a Samuel L. Jackson sci-fi film, and played the theme music for “Nightline.” And he performed in Shanghai after China’s Cultural Revolution, when Western music was vilified as counterrevolutionary. When his American Brass Quintet played the Stephen Foster ballad “Beautiful Dreamer,” thousands sang along softly in Chinese.
His father missed too much, Gekker says, and is so deeply missed.
In 2010, Gekker commissioned a new work dedicated to him. He asked the composer to use the opening theme of Brahms’s Intermezzo Op. 117, something his father loved to play on the piano when he was growing up.
It starts with Brahms’s tender opening piano. Then Gekker joins in, the gentle brass notes allowing father and son to speak again.
Gekker, the son and grandson of immigrants who fought for America in two World Wars, plays taps on Monday. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)
On Monday, he told himself to focus, to not get swept away by the occasion.
He played the first three mournful notes of taps.
Then the next three. And the next.
Thirty-eight seconds in all.
After Gekker stepped down from the marble corner, Bernie Robinson, 78, approached. He told him of his father, Marshall D. Robinson, and the Purple Heart he received when a German sniper’s bullet pierced his helmet and grazed his scalp.
He has seen friends buried after hearing that call. “I don’t think its meaning will ever change,” Robinson said, voice cracking.
On Tuesday, someone else will play it there again.
Three mournful notes.
And then the next.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/05/27/memorial-day-taps-world-war-i/
Willys Jeep: How the US Army Created the Greatest Military Vehicle of All Time
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(Stellantis)
Military.com | By Scott Murdock
Published May 14, 2024
In 1940, Uncle Sam saw storm clouds on the horizon. Germany was steamrolling European countries at a horrifying pace. Japan was collecting island nations like Boy Scout badges all over the Pacific. Italy and the Soviet Union weren’t exactly on their best behavior, either. The U.S. military’s lax attitude since World War I suddenly looked like it might be a fatal mistake. Hell, even the Army’s garage looked bleak.
Necessity is the mother of all invention, as the saying goes, and the U.S. military had plenty of needs. In addition to replacing the pitiful Grumman F3F with something that could survive more than five seconds with Mitsubishis and Messerschmitts, soldiers needed a quick, nimble combat vehicle that wouldn’t get stuck or fall apart on the battlefield.
A now-defunct company named Willys answered the call. What rolled out of the research and development shop a few weeks later was one of the four vehicles Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower credited with winning World War II, according to the automotive historians at Hagerty. The Willys Jeep is an automotive legend to this day, and this is its origin story.
Born for Combat https://images02.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2024-04/Willys_Quad.jpg?itok=2uoII4gQ
Willys won the military’s business with the Quad prototype vehicle that evolved into the now-famous Jeep. (Stellantis)
There were three contenders for the military’s business when the Army asked for a lightweight reconnaissance vehicle. Willys won the contract over Bantam and Ford, although some design elements from Ford’s prototype made it onto the final production vehicle and the company would get in on the action soon enough. According to the car publication Autoweek, the famous T-latches on the hood and seven-slot grille came from the Ford Pygmy rather than the Willys Quad.
After beating the competition, Willys sent the Army a production model called the MA. It was a step in the right direction, but it failed to meet the Army’s restrictive weight requirement. According to historians at Jeep, the company sent its MAs to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union under a lend-lease program. Engineers then went back to the drawing board and got serious about shedding weight. They trimmed body panels and even cut fractions of an inch off bolts to save every possible ounce.
The result of all this obsessive refinement was the Willys MB, or Jeep. The vehicle satisfied the Army’s weight limit of 2,160 pounds. Each one cost $738.74, according to Jeep.
Willys’ Detroit factory cranked out MB Jeeps as fast as possible, but that wasn’t enough to meet wartime demand. According to the automotive site Hemmings, Willys produced 362,000 MB Jeeps, and Ford built another 280,000 GPW Jeeps.
Willys MB: A Heavyweight Fighter in a Featherweight’s Body
The Willys MB could go where other vehicles couldn’t –- and live to tell the tale. (Library of Congress photo)
On paper, the Willys MB didn’t look like much. It was the size of a golf cart with 60 horsepower. It had a three-speed transmission and tires just six inches wide, according to Kaiser Willys, the source for Willys restoration parts and information.
That’s only half the story, though, because it also had a low-range transfer case for crawling over rough terrain. The reliable 2.2-liter “Go-Devil” engine could achieve a top speed of 65 mph and stretch 15 gallons of gas 285 miles -- perfect for scouting battlefields where stopping to fill up wasn’t an option.
[...]
https://www.military.com/off-duty/autos/willys-jeep-how-us-army-created-greatest-military-vehicle-of-all-time.html?ESRC=eb_240515.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb&utm_campaign=20240515
Audie Murphy honors and awards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the military and civilian honors of Audie Murphy. For details on his life and military career, see Audie Murphy.
Audie Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was one of the most decorated United States Army combat soldiers of World War II, serving from 1942 to 1945. He received every American combat award for valor available at the time of his service, including the Medal of Honor. He also received recognitions from France …
See more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy_honors_and_awards
Murphy wearing the U.S. Army khaki "Class A" (tropical service) uniform with full-size medals, 1948
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GRAPHICS
U.S. medals, awards, decorations and badges
U.S. military personal decorations
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Almost 80 Years Later, Audie Murphy's Medal of Honor Action Is Still Like Something Out of a Movie
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
Published January 19, 2024
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https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
Moviegoers have seen it all by now. We've seen tornadoes full of sharks, trucks fighting jets and Nic Cage swap faces with John Travolta after landing a helicopter on an airplane. Such outlandish mayhem gets a little ridiculous after a while, but the real world is full of its own unbelievable stories.
Audie Murphy's one-man fight against the Nazis in Europe might seem like something straight out of a modern action movie, but his movie was actually made a decade after the battle ended -- and it still stands up today.
In January 1945, Allied victory in Europe was anything but assured. The German military launched a major offensive in December 1944 that had pushed Allied lines back into Belgium and France, but the resulting Battle of the Bulge forced the Nazis into a retreat. They were far from finished, however: on New Year's Eve, Nazi Germany launched what would be its last major offensive on the Western Front. Operation Northwind was an attempt to bolster its forces in the Bulge and destroy two Allied armies.
American and French forces would fight for more than a month to not only prevent a German advance, but to push the Nazi Wehrmacht back into Germany. Though they finally succeeded, a powerful force of some 30,000 or more Germans were centered around the city of Colmar, forming a pocket of resistance in Eastern France that American troops would have to retake. Not only was it the last major Nazi foothold on French soil, but control of Colmar also allowed freedom of movement into Germany itself.
An American map showing the reduction of the Colmar Pocket in 1945.
One day late that January, near the village of Holtzwihr, northeast of Colmar, German forces struck out at advancing American infantry. This is where Lt. Murphy would single-handedly hold the strategically important forest outside the town, despite being outmanned and outgunned by a veteran German Army.
It's safe to say Murphy knew his way around a battlefield and had a pretty reliable intuition when it came to taking risks. By the time the U.S. Army advanced on the Colmar Pocket, Audie Leon Murphy had already received the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars.
He had enlisted at the tender age of 16, joining the Army in 1942 because it was the only branch that would accept his underweight frame. He was first sent to North Africa, then landed at Sicily, mainland Italy and eventually southern France. He then fought his way across Europe, earning a battlefield commission in October 1944.
To hell and back
https://youtu.be/Z-7m6ejqfm8
The danger the Colmar Pocket posed to the Allied advance into Germany was real. If the Nazis broke out, they could have routed the overstretched Seventh Army and then hit the advancing Third Army in the rear, potentially destroying it, too. From there, the Wehrmacht could have retaken the port of Antwerp and pushed the Allies back into the English Channel. That was the reason the Allies couldn't just hole up such a powerful pocket of enemy troops and armor. Something had to be done.
On Jan. 23, 1945, the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division's 30th Infantry Regiment advanced through the Bois de Riedwihr, a forest near Holtzwihr, when it was suddenly attacked by a large force of enemy tanks, tank destroyers and infantry. The 30th was caught in an open ground and was unable to dig into the frozen earth, ending up mangled by the attacking Germans and ordered to withdraw. To fill the gap, the Americans ordered the 15th Infantry to take its place.
The very next day, on the southern edge of the woods, German tanks and infantry hit the regiment's Company B hard, wounding 102 of its 120 enlisted men and killing all of its officers except one: Lt. Audie Murphy.
That same day, Murphy led what was left of his company into the woods, where they, too, were unable to dig any kind of foxhole. They worked through the night but couldn't make any progress in the snow and cold. The next morning, Murphy was reinforced with two tank destroyers from the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion and used them, along with five armored vehicles, to form a defensive position. It was better but it was still weak, and they could see the heavily defended village of Holtzwihr from this spot.
It was now Jan. 26, 1945. Murphy had made the most of what was available, but was informed that his reinforcements had not yet arrived -- and they wouldn't make it that day. At 2 p.m. that day, six tanks and 250 elite German mountain troops moved out of the village toward their position. Murphy only had time to get to a phone and call for artillery before the shooting started. It turns out the road to a German victory in the Colmar Pocket ran right through the road his company was holding.
The American tank destroyers opened up on the oncoming German tanks immediately, but their fire was ineffective. They were taken out almost, either by enemy tank rounds or poor maneuvering, which scattered surviving anti-tank troops into the forest. The only silver lining was the M10 tank destroyers' mounted guns, which tore into the German infantry, but even that didn't last long. Company B's machine gun crew was hit next. Murphy knew his unit couldn't hold this vital stretch and ordered his men to fall back into the forest. He would cover their retreat while directing artillery fire.
With the Germans advancing and his carbine out of ammunition, Murphy spied a burning tank destroyer and its remaining .50-caliber gun. Instead of going back into the forest, he climbed aboard the turret and began pouring fire into the oncoming enemy advance. He believed the tanks could not advance without infantry, so he began mowing them down. Murphy was right; as he cut down enemy troops, the German tanks were forced to fall back to their own treeline. He fought on as enemy tank shells and artillery exploded around him.
Murphy killed an estimate 50 German troops from atop the tank destroyer on Jan. 26, 1945. (Universal Pictures)
For an hour, Murphy was obscured by smoke and firing the machine gun, stopping only to reload, call in artillery fire or recover from the exploding 88-millimeter shells. After what must have seemed like days, the clouds parted and he was able to get close-air support from Allied air power. In the face of all that firepower, the Germans finally began a retreat toward the village. It was great timing for Murphy, because his phone to Allied artillery suddenly went dead. He left the tank destroyer and rejoined his men in the relative safety of the forest. After he reached the treeline, the turret on which he stood for that entire hour blew up, tossing it sky high.
Refusing to be evacuated or deterred, Murphy then began to plan a counterattack, retaking their original position from the remaining Germans. Company B held its ground throughout that night and the reinforced 30th Infantry Regiment captured the village the next day. Had Murphy not made his stand atop the burning armored vehicle, it's likely the entire company, undermanned and demoralized, would have been annihilated.
Murphy was promoted to first lieutenant and received the Legion of Merit for his leadership during the Colmar Pocket operation. On June 2, 1945, Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch, commander of the Seventh Army, presented the 19-year-old Murphy with the Medal of Honor for his actions outside of Holtzwihr.
By the war's end, he would famously receive every medal for valor the United States offered, along with three Purple Hearts for his trouble.
Lt. Gen. Alexander Patch awards the Legion of Merit and Medal of Honor to Lt. Audie Murphy. (Audie Murphy Research Foundation)
After the war, Murphy went off to Hollywood, where he began a slow but lucrative film career, landing his first leading role in 1949's "Bad Boy." That film led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where he was particularly known for his war movies (whether they were his story or not) and for his westerns. He later parlayed his success in western film into making country music and western television series.
As the most decorated soldier of World War II, he not only wrote his popular autobiography "To Hell and Back," but also played himself in the 1955 movie of the same name, along with some 40 other films, including "The Unforgiven," "The Quiet American" and "A Time for Dying." His performance in "To Hell and Back" was so solid that the movie made him a massive star, one of Universal's "Big Four" leading men alongside Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Jeff Chandler.
Murphy would go on to join the Texas National Guard and Army Reserve while being an outspoken advocate of post-traumatic stress disorder research and treatment, from which he personally suffered for the rest of his life.
He died at age 45 in 1971, a passenger on a private plane that crashed into a mountain near Roanoke, Virginia, and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
https://www.military.com/history/almost-80-years-later-audie-murphys-medal-of-honor-action-still-something-out-of-movie.html?ESRC=mr_240122.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20240122
British D-Day veteran celebrates turning 100
By Danica Kirka, The Associated Press
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D-Day veteran Bill Gladden speaking at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
LONDON — British D-Day veteran Bill Gladden turned 100 on Saturday, a day after his niece threw a surprise birthday party for him. It was a big fuss he didn’t really expect, though the old soldier had tears in his eyes long before he caught sight of a cake decorated with a replica of his uniform and the medals he earned.
But Gladden isn’t focused on his birthday this year, big as it is. He’s looking six months down the road.
That’s because the event he really wants to attend is the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on June 6.
It may be the last of the big events marking the beginning of the end of World War II in Europe because so few of the 850,000 troops who took part remain. Gladden wants to be there to honor those who are gone — to remind people that victory did not come cheap.
“If I could do that this year, I should be happy,’’ he told The Associated Press from his home in Haverhill, eastern England, where he still lives on his own. “Well, I am happy now, but I should be more happy.”
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D-Day veteran Bill Gladden show off a painting, of they type of glider he was in when he landed in Normandy and a snap of parachute which he later embroidered, at his home in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
A dispatch rider with the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment, Gladden landed behind the front lines on D-Day, June 6, 1944, in a wooden glider loaded with six motorcycles and a 17,000-pound (7,700-kilogram) tank. The unit was part of an operation charged with securing bridges over the River Orne and Caen Canal so they could be used by Allied forces moving inland from the Normandy beaches.
Based in an orchard outside the village of Ranville, Gladden spent 12 days making forays into the surrounding countryside to check out reports of enemy activity.
On June 16, he carried two injured soldiers into a barn that was being used as a makeshift field hospital. Two days later, he found himself at the same barn, his right ankle shattered by machine gun fire.
Lying on the grass outside the hospital, he read the treatment label pinned to his tunic:
“Amputation considered. Large deep wound in right ankle. Compound fracture of both tibia and fibula. All extension tendons destroyed. Evacuate.”
Gladden didn’t lose his leg, but he spent the next three years in the hospital as doctors performed a series of surgeries, including tendon transplants, skin and bone grafts.
After the war, Gladden married Marie Warne, an army driver he met in 1943, and spent 40 years working for Siemens and Pearl Insurance. They had a daughter.
These days he’s more likely to talk about how proud he is of his family than he is to reminisce about D-Day. But his wartime story is preserved in a scrapbook that includes a newspaper clipping about “the tanks that were built to fly,” his drawings and other memorabilia.
There’s also a scrap of parachute left behind by one of the paratroopers who landed in the orchard at Ranville. As he lay in the hospital recovering from his wounds, Gladden painstakingly stitched his unit’s shoulder insignia into the fabric.
The edges are frayed and discolored after eight decades, but “Royal Armoured Corps” still stands out in an arc of red lettering on a yellow background. Underneath is a silhouette of Pegasus, the flying horse, over the word “Airborne.”
“These are the flashes we wore on our battledress blouses,” says the caption in neat block letters.
Nothing has faded from memory though. At his party, people celebrated his service and offered a booming happy birthday chorus.
“I just think he’s a legend, what he’s been through, what he’s seen, what he’s done,’’ said his niece, Kaye Thorpe. “He’s just amazing, and he’s still bright as a button on top.’
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A birthday cake specially designed and made for D-Day veteran Bill Gladden surprises birthday party in Haverhill, England, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (Alastair Grant/AP)
For men like Bill Gladden, though, there was no I in D-Day. Even as he celebrated his 100th birthday, somehow it wasn’t just about him. Instead, he echoed the words of many who survived the invasion.
“When you think of all those young lives that lay in those cemeteries abroad, the Allies and us won the war but (victory) was a very expensive one, life-wise,’’ he said. “Because so many youngsters died.’’
Associated Press writers Mayuko Ono and Alastair Grant contributed
https://www.militarytimes.com/veterans/2024/01/14/british-d-day-veteran-celebrates-turning-100/
https://apnews.com/article/dday-veteran-birthday-100-28523e59141702a391d990aadb0f71da
Military News -- Dozens of Troops Suspected of Advocating Overthrow of US Government, New Pentagon Extremism Report Says
Carrying shields, covering their faces, and holding upside down U.S. flags, marchers with the Alt-Right Neo-Nazi group "Reclaim America," chant the phrase "reclaim America," while marching near the Capitol, Saturday, May 13, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
Published December 01, 2023 at 5:16pm ET
An annual Pentagon report on extremism within the ranks reveals that 78 service members were suspected of advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government and another 44 were suspected of engaging or supporting terrorism.
The report released Thursday ... https://media.defense.gov/2023/Nov/30/2003349553/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2024-034_SECURED.PDF .. by the Defense Department inspector general revealed that in fiscal 2023 there were 183 allegations of extremism across all the branches of military, broken down not only into efforts to overthrow the government and terrorism but also advocating for widespread discrimination or violence to achieve political goals.
The statistics indicate the military continues to grapple with extremism following its public denunciations and a stand-down across the services ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021. .. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/01/what-pentagon-has-hasnt-and-could-do-stop-veterans-and-troops-joining-extremist-groups.html .. Furthermore, the numbers do not make it clear whether the military's approach is working.
In 2021, the year the data was first released to Congress, there were 270 allegations of extremist activities. .. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Dec/02/2002902153/-1/-1/1/DODIG-2022-042.PDF In 2022, that figure dropped to 146 before rebounding over the past year.
Read Next: Airman's Remains Recovered from Osprey Crash off Coast of Japan, 7 Others Listed as 'Whereabouts Unknown'
The Army had the most allegations in fiscal 2023 with 130 soldiers suspected of participation in extremist activity.
The Air Force suspected 29 airmen; the Navy and Marine Corps reported 10 service members each. For the first time, the inspector general also reported numbers for the Space Force as a separate entity from the other services -- it suspected four Guardians of extremism.
Remaining links...
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/12/01/dozens-of-troops-suspected-of-advocating-overthrow-of-us-government-new-pentagon-extremism-report.html?ESRC=mr_231204.nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=mr&utm_campaign=20231204
The IG report also included instances of alleged criminal gang activity: There were 58 allegations of gang activity across the military.
However, the report did note that, out of all the suspected extremism and criminal gang activity, 68 of the total cases were investigated and cleared or deemed unsubstantiated.
In the U.S., extremist activity, including neo-Nazi, white supremacist and anti-government movements, has been growing, and numerous violent plots by veterans and even active-duty troops have been thwarted in recent years. Experts on extremist movements have warned about the growing potential of more violence and future attacks, similar to the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995 that killed 168 and was carried out by an Army veteran.
In February, a former National Guardsman, Brandon Russell, who founded the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi hate group, was charged with plotting to blow up Baltimore's electrical grid and cause as much suffering as possible. Russell, who allegedly kept a framed photo of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2018 after an arrest in Florida for possessing explosives.
In the wake of the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol building, the Pentagon tried to make a show of dealing with the problem of extremism among troops after it became clear that veterans as well as some active-duty troops were among the mob that stormed the halls of Congress in an effort to halt the certification of the 2020 election.
Military.com has reported that many of those efforts -- including the military-wide extremism training stand-down ordered by Austin -- were largely symbolic and were widely considered as just another box for commanders to check.
One active-duty noncommissioned officer said that, aside from the fact that no one was paying attention at the stand-down briefing he attended, the commander giving the lecture was "talking about what he thought were radical groups like Black Lives Matter."
The idea that far-left groups are just as problematic as far-right ones is a popular talking point among conservatives and Republican lawmakers. However, law enforcement officials and experts who study the topic have consistently noted that far-right groups espousing anti-government and white supremacist views are the biggest threat to the U.S. today.
The report also revealed that other efforts such as screening prospective recruits before enlistment are not working as well as intended.
Some recruiters did not complete all of the screening steps and "as a result, military service recruiters may not have identified all applications with extremist or criminal gang associations," according to the inspector general report.
"Further, the audit found that one military service entered data indicating applicants disclosed extremist or gang associations even though the applicants had not made such disclosures," the IG said, but it did not reveal which of the services falsely accused some of its recruits of having extremist ties.
What the report does make clear, however, is that when allegations are made, they are being referred for investigation, and when allegations are substantiated, some action is taken.
Of all the extremist and gang activity allegations, 135 were reported to military or civilian law enforcement, and 109 of the allegations were reported to another DoD organization or official.
Furthermore, 69 of all the allegations were substantiated at the time the report was written and the vast majority of those -- 50 -- were handled through administrative actions. That included involuntary discharge for 19 and counseling in three instances, while 17 more were handled by nonjudicial punishment and two went to court-martial.
There were no substantiated cases of extremism or gang activity where no action was taken.
While these figures, compared with the overall size of the services, are small, research and experts say that military service members and veterans pose an outsized danger to communities when they go down the path of extremism, given their increased familiarity with firearms and ability to organize and plan effectively.
In 2020, an Air Force sergeant at Travis Air Force Base in California pulled up to a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, in a white van and opened fire on security guards, killing one before going on the run and murdering a county sheriff's deputy a week later as part of a larger plan to incite a civil war.
Also in 2020, members of a group that included two Marines and styled itself as a "modern day SS" were arrested on allegations that they were plotting to destroy the power grid in the northwest. U.S. court records in that case say members discussed recruiting other veterans, stole military equipment, asked others to buy explosives, and discussed plans to manufacture firearms.
-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on X at @ktoropin.
Related: What the Pentagon Has, Hasn't and Could Do to Stop Veterans and Troops from Joining Extremist Groups
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/01/what-pentagon-has-hasnt-and-could-do-stop-veterans-and-troops-joining-extremist-groups.html
Sixty years ago yesterday the United States came to a halt and sixty years later everyone knows where they were that day.
He died too soon and may he rest in peace and may we never forget.
Somber Bugles and Bells Mark Armistice Day Around the Globe as Wars Drown Out Peace Messages
French President Emmanuel Macron adjusts the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe,
as part of the commemorations marking the105th anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice, ending World War I,
Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin/Pool via AP)
11 Nov 2023
Associated Press | By RAF CASERT and MARTA FIORIN
YPRES, Belgium (AP) — With somber bugles and bells from Australia to western Europe's battlefields of World War I , .. https://apnews.com/hub/world-war-i .. people around the globe on Saturday remembered the slaughter and losses just over a century ago that was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.”
Yet the rumble of tanks and the screeching of incoming fire from Ukraine to Gaza pierced the solemnity of the occasion and the notion that humankind could somehow circumvent violence to settle its worst differences.
“This time last year, our thoughts were focused on Ukraine. Today, our minds are full with the terrible images emerging from Israel and Gaza. These are just two of the more than 100 armed conflicts in the world today,” said Benoit Mottrie, the head of the Last Post Association in western Belgium's Ypres, where some of the fiercest and deadliest World War I battles were fought.
During a ceremony with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and dozens of dignitaries, Mottrie expressed the sense of powerlessness that so many feel that the lessons of the past cannot automatically be translated into peace today.
“It would be naive to think that our presence here in Ypres will have any direct impact on any of the 100 conflicts. The emotions of those involved are too raw for us to understand, and for them to see the light of what we regard as reason,” Mottrie said.
At the same time as French President Emmanuel Macron was saluting French troops in Paris and honoring the eternal flame to commemorate those who died unidentified, war and destruction was raging Gaza. In Ukraine, troops have been fighting Russian invaders along a front line that has barely moved over the past months, much like in Western Europe during most of World War I.
Still Armistice Day largely stuck to the primary purpose of the occasion — to remember and pay respect to those who died for their country.
“'Lest we forget,' — It should not be forgotten," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, reflecting on the carnage of the 1914-1918 war that killed almost 10 million soldiers, sometimes tens of thousands on a single day in a war that pitted the armies of France, the British empire, Russia and the U.S. against a German-led coalition that included the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires.
Generally the most peaceful of occasions, the ceremony in London was held under strict police and security surveillance for fears that a massive pro-Palestinian protest could run out of hand and clash with the remembrance ceremonies.
“Remembrance weekend is sacred for us all and should be a moment of unity, of our shared British values and of solemn reflection,” said British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Related Topics: Military Headlines Veterans Day Topics World War I
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/11/somber-bugles-and-bells-mark-armistice-day-around-globe-wars-drown-out-peace-messages.html
On Veterans Day, Biden commemorates the sacrifice made by soldiers and their families
November 11, 20231:45 PM ET
Juliana Kim
President Biden speaks at the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery during celebrations for Veterans Day on Saturday in Arlington, Virginia.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden paid his respects to those who served the country and their families on Saturday — vowing to provide them with the care they need and deserve during his Veterans Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.
"We owe them. We owe you," Biden said Saturday afternoon. "Not just for keeping the flame of freedom burning during the darkest of moments. For preserving our communities even after they hang up their uniforms, for inspiring the next generation to serve."
The president's remarks came on the 105th anniversary of the end of World War I but his message was largely focused on today's veterans, who he described as the "steel spine" of the nation.
During his remarks, Biden acknowledged the sacrifice that soldiers and their families often make in order to serve the country, like the holidays spent apart, the move from one duty station to another and the sleepless nights waiting to hear back from a loved one deployed oversees.
"Too often their sacrifices go without thanks or without acknowledgment," Biden said.
He added that it was the country's "sacred obligation" to recognize such sacrifices and provide them with adequate support and care.
"It's not an obligation based on party or politics, but on a promise that unites us all together," he said.
The president's speech on care comes a day after the White House announced new efforts to expand healthcare access for veterans. Beginning this month, the Department of Veteran Affairs will offer its no-cost healthcare to veterans who live in nursing homes and all those who served in World War II. The department will also cover costs associated with Parkinson's disease.
On Saturday, Biden also announced that veterans who were exposed to toxins will be able to enroll in the department's no-cost healthcare starting March 2024. The effort to provide toxin-exposed veterans health services has been hailed as the largest expansion of care in VA history.
Before his remarks, Biden placed a floral wreath at the tomb, solemnly looked at it and gestured the sign of the cross before the military band's trumpeter played taps.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Harris, and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff, as well as some members of the president's cabinet.
https://www.npr.org/2023/11/11/1212487962/on-veterans-day-biden-commemorates-the-sacrifice-made-by-soldiers-and-their-fami
The oldest continuing celebration of Veterans Day is in Warsaw, NC. There is a rest area on the way to the beach that celebrates our Veterans.
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The Only Navy Warship Authorized to Fly a Pirate Flag at Sea
Although there are dozens of active Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers in the U.S. Navy's fleet, there's something special about the USS Kidd. It doesn't have any secret technology or weapons (that we know of), and its capabilities are the same as any other of its class. The standout feature that tends to capture the attention of even the most landlubberly civilian is the massive Jolly Roger that the Kidd is often seen flying from its mast.
The USS Kidd's pirate flag, the infamous skull and crossbones that hearkens back to the Golden Age of Piracy that spanned the 17th and 18th centuries, is the only one the U.S. Navy has ever allowed to fly on one of its ships. And like most bizarre things that happen inside the Navy, it starts with an honored tradition, one dating back to World War II.
Pirates these days don't really think about hoisting a Jolly Roger to announce their intentions. They usually just go in for the killing and stealing. So if a U.S. Navy vessel flies the old pirate flag when returning to port (and some do), it's all in good fun. No one thinks the submarine USS Jimmy Carter, which was spotted flying the pirate banner back in 2017, is actually out there terrorizing sea lanes and stealing doubloons.
Read: Why Some Submarines Return to Port Flying Pirate Flags
But in the Navy, old habits die real hard. There's no better example than the fact that U.S. sailors wore bell-bottom trousers until the 21st century. So even though most of its ships are more likely to kill pirates than join them, the Navy brass still frowns on making light of lawlessness at sea by raising the Jolly Roger.
Yet, not so much with the USS Kidd. The Kidd gets a pass because of tradition, the most powerful force in the Navy. Tradition is what keeps Navy coffee mugs unwashed and sailors eating cherries out of belly buttons (you're gonna have to ask a "shellback" about that one; don't Google it at work).
(U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kaylianna Genier)
The USS Kidd is named for Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, who was killed aboard the battleship USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the first American flag officer to die in World War II. As he was the commander of Battleship Division One, he ran to the bridge of Arizona, his flagship, to take command during the outset of the surprise attack. He died aboard the ship with 1,175 of his sailors and Marines, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
Rear Adm. Kidd picked up the nickname "Cap" while attending the U.S. Naval Academy, a reference to the infamous privateer-turned-pirate Capt. William Kidd, who was executed for the crime in 1701. When a Fletcher-class destroyer was named for Rear Adm. Kidd in 1943, its crew immediately adopted the pirate theme, with the blessing of Isaac Kidd's widow, Inez. Inez Kidd even convinced the Navy to formally give the USS Kidd express permission to fly the pirate flag.
The Fletcher-class USS Kidd during World War II. (U.S. Navy)
That first crew of the Kidd began calling themselves "the Pirates of the Pacific," picking up downed naval aviators and returning them to their carriers in exchange for a "ransom" of ice cream. That initial USS Kidd, which served the U.S. Navy off and on until 1964, is now a museum ship. In 1981, a new USS Kidd, the first of its eponymous class of warships, entered service and inherited the tradition (and permission) to hoist the Jolly Roger until it was given to Taiwan in 1998.
And so it was for the latest USS Kidd when it was commissioned in 2007. It not only flies the pirate flag when entering and leaving port, but when the vessel makes its way between the U.S. coasts and during multinational exercises, as well. The skull and crossbones can also be seen on the rear of the Kidd's five-inch guns, on its internal doors and probably tattooed on a fair number of its sailors.
A lot of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are out there, named for a great number of the Navy's leaders and heroes. The USS Kidd (and the Kidds that come after it) will always be the only ship flying the Jolly Roger as part of its own unique piece of history.
-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, X or on LinkedIn.
https://www.military.com/history/only-navy-warship-authorized-fly-pirate-flag-sea.html
How Armistice Day Became Veterans Day in the United States
The holiday, which originally marked the end of World War I, was broadened in the 1950s to honor all veterans.
People celebrate Armistice Day in New York City on Nov. 11, 1918.Credit...Associated Press
By Karen Zraick
Published Nov. 10, 2019
Updated Nov. 8, 2023
On Nov. 11, 1918, the Allied nations and Germany signed an armistice ending the fighting in the Great War, which had killed more than 15 million people. A year later, King George V of England proclaimed that date Armistice Day, to be marked with two minutes of silence at 11 a.m., the hour the agreement had gone into effect.
“King Asks British to Pause Two Minutes on Armistice Day,” The New York Times wrote in a front-page headline on Nov. 7, 1919. Days later, the paper reported that Americans would be observing the day, too, with ceremonies around the country.
In a special message to the nation in 1919, President Woodrow Wilson noted the monumental changes that the fierce and bloody war had provoked. The European Allies fought for more than four years, and the Americans for more than a year and a half. None would ever be the same. The fighting had destroyed empires, transformed Europe’s borders, spurred advances in weaponry and manufacturing, and brought millions of women into the work force.
Wilson’s statement said:
With splendid forgetfulness of mere personal concerns we remodeled our industries, concentrated our financial resources, increased our agricultural output, and assembled a great army, so that at the last our power was a decisive factor in the victory. … Out of this victory there arose new possibilities of political freedom and economic concert. The war showed us the strength of great nations acting together for high purposes.
The Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war, had been signed earlier that year, on June 28, 1919.
In 1953, Alvin J. King of Emporia, Kan., proposed changing the name of the holiday to Veterans Day, to recognize veterans from all wars and conflicts. According to a 2003 congressional resolution recognizing his efforts, the holiday was first celebrated in that small city, about 60 miles southwest of Topeka, the same year.
The resolution noted that while Mr. King was not a veteran himself, his stepson John Cooper, whom he had raised, was killed in combat during World War II.
The community raised money to send Mr. King and his wife, Gertrude, to Washington to meet with officials and push them to change the name of the federal holiday. They received crucial support from Representative Edward H. Rees, also of Emporia.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the change the following year. A 1968 law moved the observance of the holiday to the fourth Monday in October, but that was unpopular, and in 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a law moving it back to Nov. 11. The law took effect in 1978.
Memorial Day, on the other hand, is observed on the last Monday in May. Whereas Veterans Day honors all veterans, Memorial Day specifically honors those who gave their lives for the United States.
British Commonwealth nations and some other European countries also mark the anniversary of the armistice with ceremonies on or around Remembrance Sunday. In London, a National Service of Remembrance is held each year at the Cenotaph, a war memorial, and bright red paper poppies are worn as a symbol of support for the armed forces.
In the bombed-out countryside of Western Europe after World War I, Flanders poppies, which were resilient enough to grow amid the destruction, became potent symbols. A Canadian doctor, Lt. Col. John McCrae, described them in the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
Harold E. Talbott, secretary of the Air Force, laying President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Nov. 11, 1954.Credit...Associated Press
The Royal British Legion, a charity founded in 1921 that supports the armed forces, adopted the poppy as its emblem and set up a warehouse to employ disabled ex-servicemen to produce poppies. The tradition has endured, and public figures who have declined to wear the poppy have faced criticism. (There are also white poppies for pacifists, purple ones for animal lovers and, this year, apparently false reports of rainbow ones for supporters of L.G.B.T. rights.)
The organization’s American corollary, the American Legion, also uses the red poppy as its official flower, and has promoted the Friday before Memorial Day as National Poppy Day.
Bells toll as the US marks 22 years since 9/11
By Jennifer Peltz and Karen Matthews, The Associated Press
Sep 11, 10:50 AM
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Sam Pulia places flags before the commemoration ceremony of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Monday, Sept. 11, 2023, in New York. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:00 p.m. EST with additional information.
NEW YORK — Americans looked back Monday on 9/11 with moments of silence, tearful words and appeals to teach younger generations about the terror attacks 22 years ago.
“For those of us who lost people on that day, that day is still happening. Everybody else moves on. And you find a way to go forward, but that day is always happening for you,” Edward Edelman said as he arrived at New York’s World Trade Center to honor his slain brother-in-law, Daniel McGinley.
President Joe Biden, speaking at a military base in Anchorage, Alaska, urged Americans to rally around protecting democracy. His visit, en route to Washington from a trip to India and Vietnam, is a reminder that the impact of 9/11 was felt in every corner of the nation, however remote.
“We know that on this day, every American’s heart was wounded,” Biden said. “Yet every big city, small town, suburb, rural town, tribal community — American hands went up, ready to help where they could.”
Nearly 3,000 people were killed when hijacked planes crashed into the trade center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, in an attack that reshaped American foreign policy and domestic fears.
On that day, “we were one country, one nation, one people, just like it should be,” Eddie Ferguson, the fire-rescue chief in Virginia’s Goochland County, said by phone before the anniversary.
The predominantly rural county of 25,000 people has a Sept. 11 memorial and holds two anniversary commemorations, one focused on first responders and another honoring all the victims.
At ground zero, Vice President Kamala Harris joined other dignitaries at the ceremony on the National Sept. 11 Memorial plaza. Instead of remarks from political figures, the event features victims reading the names of the dead and delivering brief personal messages.
Some included patriotic declarations about American values and thanked first responders and the military. One lauded the Navy SEALs who killed al-Qaida leader and 9/11 plotter Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011. Another appealed for peace and justice. One acknowledged the many lives lost in the post-9/11 “War on Terror.” And many shared reflections on missing loved ones.
“Though we never met, I am honored to carry your name and legacy with me,” said Manuel João DaMota Jr., who was born after his father and namesake died.
To Gabrielle Gabrielli, reading names “is the biggest honor of my life.” She lost her uncle and godfather, Richard Gabrielle.
“We have to keep the memory of everybody who died alive. This is their legacy,” Gabrielli said, heading into the ceremony.
Biden, a Democrat, became the first president to commemorate Sept. 11 in the western U.S. He and his predecessors have gone to one or another of the attack sites in most years, though Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama each marked the anniversary on the White House lawn at times, and Obama also visited Fort Meade in Maryland.
Warning of a rise in extremism and political violence, Biden told service members and their families that that “every generation has to fight” to preserve U.S. democracy.
“That’s why the terrorists targeted us in the first place – our freedom, our openness, our institutions. They failed. But we must remain vigilant,” he said.
First lady Jill Biden laid a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon, where a giant American flag hung over the side of the building. Earlier, bells tolled, and musicians played taps at 9:37 a.m., the time when one of the hijacked jets hit the military headquarters.
“As the years go by, it may feel that the world is moving on or even forgetting what happened here on Sept. 11, 2001,” but the Defense Department will always remember, Secretary Lloyd Austin said. He deployed to Iraq in the war that followed the attack.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, laid a wreath at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where another plane crashed after passengers tried to storm the cockpit. Earlier Monday at the memorial, a rabbi from Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 worshippers in 2018, called for ensuring that younger people know about 9/11.
“With memory comes responsibility, the determination to share our stories with this next generation, so that through them, our loved ones continue to live,” Rabbi Jeffrey Myers said. The memorial is offering a new educational video, virtual tour and other materials for classroom use.
Many Americans did volunteer work on what Congress has designated both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance. Others gathered for anniversary events at memorials, firehouses, city halls, campuses and elsewhere.
In Iowa, a march set off at 9:11 a.m. Monday from suburban Waukee to the state Capitol in Des Moines. In Columbus, Indiana, observances include a remembrance message sent to police, fire and EMS radios. New Jersey’s Monmouth County, which was home to some 9/11 victims, this year made Sept. 11 a holiday for county employees so they could attend commemorations.
Pepperdine University’s campus in Malibu, California, displayed one American flag for each victim, plus the flags of every other country that lost a citizen on 9/11. Reflecting the tragedy’s scope, U.N. General Assembly President Dennis Francis exhorted world nations Monday to counter extremism, build tolerance, “join hands and say never again.”
Fenton, Missouri, is more than 650 miles (1,050 kilometers) from the attack sites. But the St. Louis suburb, population 4,000, holds an anniversary ceremony at a memorial that includes steel from the World Trade Center’s fallen twin towers and a plaque honoring Jessica Leigh Sachs, a 9/11 victim with relatives in town.
“We’re just a little bitty community,” Mayor Joe Maurath said ahead of the anniversary, but “it’s important for us to continue to remember these events. Not just 9/11, but all of the events that make us free.”
Associated Press journalists Julie Walker and Deepti Hajela in New York; Seung Min Kim in Anchorage, Alaska; Tara Copp in Washington and Michael Rubinkam in northeastern Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2023/09/11/bells-toll-as-the-us-marks-22-years-since-911/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=army-dnr
Biden awards Army pilot Medal of Honor for Vietnam War rescue
By Darlene Superville, The Associated Press
Sep 5, 04:01 PM
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President Joe Biden awards the Medal of Honor to Capt. Larry Taylor, an Army pilot from the Vietnam War who risked his life to rescue a reconnaissance team that was about to be overrun by the enemy, during a ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to Capt. Larry Taylor on Tuesday, honoring the Army pilot who risked his life during the Vietnam War by flying into heavy enemy fire to save four members of a reconnaissance team from almost certain death as they were about to be overrun.
On the night of June 18, 1968, then-1st Lt. Taylor flew his Cobra attack helicopter to rescue the men after they had become surrounded by the enemy.
“It was pitch black. No moon. No stars. No light beyond the glow of Lieutenant Taylor’s cockpit control, when he heard a whisper coming through his radio, ‘We’re surrounded,’” Biden said, adding, “Lieutenant Taylor knew the risks, but he was ready.”
Taylor, a Tennessean who is now 81, recalled in an interview last week that he had to figure out how to get the men out, otherwise “they wouldn’t make it.”
David Hill, one of the four Taylor saved that night, said his actions were what “we now call thinking outside the box.”
Hill and the others were on a night mission to track the movement of enemy troops in a village near the Saigon River when they were discovered by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops. An intense firefight ensued and soon they were running out of ammunition. They radioed for help.
Taylor arrived in minutes at the site northeast of what is now Ho Chi Minh City. He asked the team to send up flares to mark their location in the dark. Taylor and a pilot in an accompanying helicopter started firing their ships’ Miniguns and rockets at the enemy, making low-level attack runs and braving intense ground fire for about a half-hour.
But with both helicopters nearly out of ammunition and the enemy continuing to advance, Taylor surveyed the team’s intended escape route to a point near the river and concluded that the men would never make it.
He had to think of something else.
Now running low on fuel and almost out of ammunition himself, Taylor directed his wingman to fire the rounds left in his Minigun along the team’s eastern flank and return to base camp, while Taylor fired his remaining rounds on the western flank. He used the landing lights to distract the enemy, buying time for the patrol team to head south and east toward a new extraction point he had identified.
After they arrived, Taylor landed under heavy enemy fire and at great personal risk. The four team members rushed toward the helicopter and clung to the exterior — it only had two seats — and Taylor whisked them away to safety. He was on the ground for about 10 seconds.
“I finally just flew up behind them and sat down on the ground,” Taylor said by telephone. “They turned around and jumped on the aircraft. A couple were sitting on the skids. One was sitting on the rocket pods, and I don’t know where the other one was, but they beat on the side of the ship twice, which meant haul a--. And we did!”
During the medal ceremony, Biden said that Taylor’s aircraft was “hit multiple times” and that, according to “Army standards, he could have left the fight.” At one point, the president said, Taylor was directed to withdraw but “he refused to put his own life above the lives of those in need.”
“That’s valor,” Biden said. “That’s our nation at its very best.”
The army says that what Taylor did that night had never been attempted.
The president, whose wife, first lady Jill Biden, tested positive on Monday for COVID, and Taylor wore facemasks to start the ceremony. But both later removed them and later stood together maskless as Biden placed the medal on Taylor, shook his hand and saluted him.
In the interview before the ceremony, Taylor said he flew hundreds of combat missions in UH-1 and Cobra helicopters during a year’s deployment in Vietnam and, “We never lost a man.”
“You just do whatever is expedient and do whatever to save the lives of the people you’re trying to rescue,” he said.
Taylor left Vietnam in August 1968. He was released from Army active duty in August 1970, having attained the rank of captain, and was discharged from the Army Reserve in October 1973.
He later ran a roofing and sheet metal company in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He and his wife, Toni, live in Signal Mountain, Tennessee.
Taylor received scores of combat decorations, including the Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Distinguished Flying Crosses.
The president noted that, all told, Taylor flew more than 2,000 combat missions — earning 43 air medals.
“Thank God he’s not wearing all of them on his chest. He’d have trouble standing,” Biden joked.
Still, Hill said in an interview that he and Taylor’s other supporters were shocked to learn over the years that Taylor had not been awarded a Medal of Honor.
Hill said they believed Taylor deserved the medal, the military’s highest decoration for service members who go above and beyond the call of duty, often risking their lives through selfless acts of valor.
Their campaign lasted more than six years. Biden called Taylor in July with the news.
Biden said Tuesday that Taylor didn’t see some of the men he rescued that night in 1968 until decades later, at Army reunions.
“But the greatest honor of all, the family showed up at these reunions too,” Biden said.
“They’d look for Larry. They’d hug him. They’d say ‘You don’t know me, but you saved my Daddy’s life.’”
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RELATED
This daring Vietnam rescue finally results in Medal of Honor award
https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2023/09/01/this-daring-vietnam-rescue-finally-results-in-medal-of-honor-award/
https://www.armytimes.com/veterans/2023/09/05/biden-awards-army-pilot-medal-of-honor-for-vietnam-war-rescue/
A World War II warship will dock in three US cities and you can explore it. Here's how and where
Keith Uhlig
Green Bay Press-Gazette
A one-of-a-kind World War II-era ship that helped turn the tide for the Allies will be moored and open for tours in three U.S. cities starting at the end of August.
The chance to board the USS LST 325, the last fully functional Landing Ship Tank remaining in the country, will appeal to history junkies and maritime buffs everywhere.
The ship is docked and open for tours in Evansville, Indiana eleven months out of the year, but will take its annual voyage to three port cities.
This year, the USS LST 325 will visit La Crosse, Wisconsin; Dubuque, Iowa; and Hannibal, Missouri over the course of a month.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/08/03/world-war-ii-warship-visits-wisconsin-iowa-missouri-tour-tickets-schedule/70524710007/
This Independence Day Let's COMMIT to Saving Democracy
Tuesday, July 04, 2023 at 6:52:38a CDT
We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident
Today, we in America rightfully celebrate the birth of our country, a Democracy founded upon the precepts of equality and Divinely bestowed "inalienable" rights such as the pursuit of "life, liberty and happiness."
But as we celebrate the joy of being Americans, let us also recognize the fragility of said democracy, and renew our commitment to the PRESERVATION of it, in full recognition of the equally "self-evident" truth that our Democracy is now being threatened, undermined, and imperiled like never before, by authoritarian elements of fascism and supremacist ideology, promoted by wealthy power brokers and oligarchs (domestic and abroad), whose sole purpose is to further empower themselves via hate based rancor, divisive rhetoric, and the systemic demonization of some perceived "other." Just as they ALWAYS HAVE.
And imo, few narratives have captured and quite succinctly summarized how this has played out time and time again, from early in our nation's history, as did Thomhartmann's rather excellent piece,
"Why are We Letting Red State "Welfare Oligarchs" Mooch Off Blue States?" .. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/27/2177933/-Why-are-We-Letting-Red-State-Welfare-Oligarchs-Mooch-Off-Blue-States
In it, he wrote:
Fewer than 2000 families — six-tenths of one percent of the Southern population — owned more than 50 enslaved people and ruled the oligarchy that we call the Confederacy with an iron fist. The 75 percent of white people in the South during that era who did not own any enslaved persons generally lived in deep poverty.
Women had no rights, queer people were routinely tortured and murdered, education for both enslaved Africans and poor whites was generally outlawed, religious attendance was often mandated, and hunger and disease stalked all but those in the families of the two thousand morbidly rich planter dynasties.
Photos Show Memorial Day Tributes at Arlington National Cemetery
BY KAITLIN LEWIS ON 5/29/23 AT 5:51 PM EDT
02:58
Watch: President Biden Lays Wreath At Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
President Joe Biden advised thousands of visitors at Arlington National Cemetery (ANC) to "never forget" the price that democracy costs while delivering his Memorial Day remarks.
Monday's federal holiday marked Biden's third Memorial Day since taking office and began with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
The president was joined by first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Douglas Emhoff for the observance proceedings.
"Every year, as a nation, we undertake this rite of remembrance, for we must never forget the price that was paid to protect our democracy," Biden said while delivering remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater following the wreath-laying ceremony. "We must never forget the lives these flags, flowers and marble markers represent: a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a sister, a spouse, a friend. An American."
President Joe Biden participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29 in observance of Memorial Day.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
According to ANC, nearly 5,000 visitors dawn on the national gravesite every year for Memorial Day. CNN reported that around 3,000 people were in attendance this year during Biden's speech, citing the White House.
Visitors also flocked to the national cemetery Monday to pay their own respects to the over 400,000 veterans and their eligible dependents who are buried in Arlington. Service members from every one of the United States' major wars are entombed within the 639 acres, ANC states, dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Brad Fromm talks to his son, Tyler, at the final resting place of a fallen loved one in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, May 29, in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
Like in past years, the president spent time during his speech to reflect on his late son, Beau, who served with honors in Iraq and died in 2015 of brain cancer. Tuesday will mark the eighth anniversary of Beau's death, and Biden spoke about the pride he felt for his son's time in the armed forces.
Biden also acknowledged that his loss was "not the same" as those who have lost loved ones on the battlefield, but he added, "as it is for so many of you, the pain of his loss is with us every day, but particularly sharp on Memorial Day."
"But so is the pride Jill and I feel in his service, as if I can still hear him saying, 'Dad—it's my duty, Dad,'" Biden continued. "That was the code my son lived by and all those you lost lived by. It's the creed that millions of service members have followed....Throughout history, these women and men laid down their lives, not for a place or a person or a president, but for an idea unlike any other idea in all of human history. The idea, the idea of the United States of America."
From left to right, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrive to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, on May 29.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY
Biden also used his speech to highlight ways his administration has increased support for veterans and their families, including signing the PACT Act into law in 2022 that expands federal health care services for veterans who were exposed to burn pits during their service.
"As a nation, and people have all heard me say this for a long time, as a nation, we have many obligations, but I believe with every fiber of my being we have only one truly sacred obligation: to prepare those we send into harm's way and care for them and their families when they come home, and when they don't," the president said. "It's a sacred obligation, not based on party or politics, but on a promise, a promise to unite all of us. There is nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American."
Krista Meinert sits with her late son, U.S. Marine Corps Lance Corporal Jacob Meinert, who was killed in Afghanistan, at Arlington National Cemetery on May 29 in Arlington, Virginia.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
According to the Associated Press, Biden hosted members of veterans organizations, military service and military family organizations, surviving families of fallen soldiers and other administration officials for a breakfast at the White House prior to Monday's observance proceedings.
Both the president and the first lady are scheduled to spend the remaining time of their holiday at their home near Wilmington, Delaware, the AP reported.
https://www.newsweek.com/photos-show-memorial-day-tributes-arlington-national-cemetery-1803208
We went to a Memorial Day ceremony here today.
They had a Fife and Drum group playing patriotic songs.
They also had a bagpiper who played Amazing Grace.
The rain held off and it was a nice ceremony.
The Most Decorated Female Soldier in the History of Modern Warfare
There are no National Defense Medals in World War I Serbia.
Military.com | By Blake Stilwell
LISTEN -- The Most Decorated Female Soldier in the History of Modern Warfare
https://www.military.com/history/most-decorated-female-soldier-history-of-modern-warfare.html?ESRC=mr_230306.nl
In 1912, the nations of the Balkans joined together to kick the Ottoman Empire out of Europe, end its influence in their countries and free the people living in those territories from Ottoman rule. Spoiler alert: They were wildly successful, but only after raising a combined army of more than 750,000 men. And at least one woman.
The Serbians had to call up 255,000 men, almost 9% of its total population at the time, so the army went far and wide to find conscripts. In the tiny village of Koprivnica, it called up Milunka Savic’s brother, who was suffering from tuberculosis
This region of Serbia just happened to be known as a hotbed of Serbian patriotism, so the Savic family wasn’t about to shirk its duty just because of a deadly lung infection. Milunka Savic cut her hair, donned a uniform and set out in her brother’s place as Milun Savic, which was a great ruse considering her village only had 20 people in it.
Pictured: Milun Savic, who is totally not Milunka Savic, no way.
Savic probably didn’t know she was about to set out on a seven-year rampage of destruction across two continents in three wars, but she was definitely willing to try.
The Serbians were divided into four groups, the bulk of which fought the Ottomans’ western army near Novi Pazar, right outside of Savic’s home village. At just 24 years old, she joined the Iron Regiment, which saw action almost immediately at the Battle of Kumanovo, the first major battle of the war, on Oct. 24, 1912.
When the Ottoman commander realized the Serbs weren’t ready at Kumanovo, he just attacked. Despite the surprise, the Serbs put such a beating on the Turks that the entire Ottoman offensive had to be scrapped, and they retreated from the area altogether.
The Serbians forced the Ottoman Army into a pocket from which it couldn’t escape, laid siege to Shkodër alongside their Montenegrin allies and occupied northern Albania until the war ended. After seven months, the Turks were essentially kicked out of Europe. Savic must have learned a lot from this first war, which was a good thing, because the next one came pretty quick.
Unhappy with how the spoils of war turned out for Bulgaria, that southeastern European country turned on the rest of its former allies. It was a bad call. Not only did Montenegro, Greece and Serbia have veteran armies by then, Romania and the Ottoman Empire wanted a piece of Bulgaria, too.
The Iron Regiment was sent to Bregalnica in July 1913. In what turned out to be the largest battle of the Second Balkan War, nearly hundreds of thousands of Serbians clashed with Bulgaria’s finest.
The Bulgarians’ plan was to surprise the Serbian Army, which, as we know, is a bad move. They tried to overpower the middle of the Serbian lines, which just happened to be Savic’s regiment. Savic’s superpower, it turns out, was lobbing grenades at enemy offensives, and she did it over and over at Bregalnica, running right into a charging army 10 times. For her trouble, she received her first medal for valor and a grenade to the chest.
Taken to the field hospital for shrapnel wounds, this is where Serbia’s army discovered her secret. But they didn’t give her a discharge; they gave her a promotion. This worked out for the Serbians, because they got the heroine they didn’t know they needed for the upcoming world war.
Riding high on back-to-back war victories, the Serbians were convinced that Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to them, not the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which annexed it in 1908. Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo in 1914, where he became history’s most legendary gunshot victim, which led to World War I.
Austria marched a massive force right to Serbia, where the Serbians promptly handed them their fourth point of contact over and over. Savic fought at Cer, where the undersupplied and outnumbered Serbians gave the Allies their first victory over the Central Powers. Their next meeting came at the Kolubara River.
At Kolubara, Savic charged across No Man’s Land with two bandoliers of grenades and her standard-issue rifle. After single-handedly clearing an Austrian trench with those grenades, she ran to the next one, where 20 enemy soldiers surrendered. After sending the prisoners back, she assaulted another trench with grenades. She didn’t stop until shrapnel from an artillery shell hit her in the head.
When you can finally let your hair down and crush your country's enemies as the woman you are.
For her gallantry at Kolubara, she received the highest medal Serbia could bestow, the Karadjordje Star with Swords. Austria lost the battle and was forced to withdraw from Serbia, tail between its legs. Milunka Savic’s career wasn’t over. Serbia was surrounded by enemies Bulgaria, Austria, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, and Savic fought them all.
In 1916, she earned another Karadjordje Star with Swords for cleaning trenches full of Bulgarians by chucking grenades at them, even managing to capture 23 prisoners. The Serbians couldn’t hold out against all of its enemies and were forced to retreat across Albania. They were picked up by the French and Italians and joined the French Army of the Orient to continue the fight.
Savic was wounded a total of nine times over the course of her three wars. She was also awarded 12 medals, including two French Legions d'Honneur, Russia’s Cross of St. George, the British Medal of the Order of St. Michael, the Serbian Milos Obilic Medal, and she was the only woman in all of World War I to receive the French Croix de Guerre.
The monument to Milunka Savic in Jošanicka Banja.
As a recipient of the Legion d'Honneur, France offered to set her up in Paris with a home and a nice pension after the war, but she did not want to leave Serbia.
Instead, she became a factory worker, cook, nurse, janitor and, during World War II, ran a hospital for partisans.
She died in Belgrade in 1973, still the most decorated female combatant in history.
https://www.military.com/history/most-decorated-female-soldier-history-of-modern-warfare.html?ESRC=mr_230306.nl
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