Memorial Day Thread. Tell us about your heroes.

[BigRedChief]

Please post about who you lost in your family while serving this country. Your friend, co-worker or anyone you lost or would like to post about in the service of the country.
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I recently did the Genalogy thing. I’d like to tell you about Richard Proctor, my Great-Great Grandfather.

In 1862 at 23 he left his one year old son, my great grandfather and his wife, to join the Green County Union regiment out of Springfield Mo.

He served on active duty for 2 years. Fought in several major battles but was never wounded. In July of 1864 he was finally wounded in the Battle of Atlanta after saving “several” of his fellow regiment soldiers. He was captured and taken to the infamous Andersonville prison. He died that winter in Andersonville prison. He never saw his family again.

[Scooter LaCanforno]

I also had a relative die in Andersonville. He was a Scout for the 2nd NY Cavalry. He was captured 3 times and released twice in prisoner exchanges. Third time capture was a trip to Andersonville.

[srvy]

LTDR Michael Scott Speicher 1st casualty 1991 Gulf War. We grew up together road bikes explored the woods till his Dad relocated to Florida. Was one naturally funniest people I ever met. Everyone who ever met him was better for knowing him and miss him still today. Hope your resting in piece Scottie.
https://i1.wp.com/fightersweep.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/pic043a.jpg
http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2005/06/19/253101/pic033.BMP
http://www.pownetwork.org/saudi/sd017.1.jpg
https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01455/pilot_1455016f.jpg

Arlington
https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2007/319/22942958_119525955644.jpg

[BigRedChief]

I also had a relative die in Andersonville. He was a Scout for the 2nd NY Cavalry. He was captured 3 times and released twice in prisoner exchanges. Third time capture was a trip to Andersonville.damn, l bet he was a charismatic man in his day. Ballsie too.

[Scooter LaCanforno]

damn, l bet he was a charismatic man in his day. Ballsie too.


He was just a kid really. Signed up in NYC at the age of 17 in 1861. He was a sharpshooter that could ride a horse. Spent the War behind Enemy lines. Married in 1863 and Died 1864. Buried in Andersonville.

[BigRedChief]

He was just a kid really. Signed up in NYC at the age of 17 in 1861. He was a sharpshooter that could ride a horse. Spent the War behind Enemy lines. Married in 1863 and Died 1864. Buried in Andersonville.its unbelievable that when the time comes throughout our history that the “ordinary” kids can make extrodinary sacrifices for the greater good. That’s why we should take this time every year to pause our life’s and recognize those who sacrificed to get us here.

[BucEyedPea]

Nathan Hale
Stonewall Jackson

[58-4ever]

For Memorial Day, I always remember my grandpa Arnold Pluid. He served for 17 years as a combat medic. He was in WW2 and Korea, including the Battle of the Bulge. I wish I had more time with him.

[Over Yonder]

Didn't die in action, but my grandfather fought WWII (Army). Landed D-Day+11 in France. Slapped Hitler's boys around until they got just inside Germany. I was never told what happened, but he lost a leg and was sent home. Died in the early 80's.

Wife's grandpa fought in Korea. Don't know anything about his time there, he would just say "It was rough" when asked about it.

Other military mentions in my life.

My Grandpa (mom's side) was drafted for WWII, but didn't pass the physical.

Dad is Navy. Joined after high school at the tail end of 'Nam. By the end of boot camp, we were coming home.

Numerous aunts, uncles, cousins serve/served. Got a cousin that fought in Iraq#1. Was that called Operation Desert Storm? Can't remember off the top of my head?

Current hero is my son. Active duty U.S. Marines. He is in the Pacific as we speak.

These are just the folks I personally know/have met. My family is eyeballs deep in military folk :clap:


.... and let's not forget to mention the folks back home that sacrificed so we could fight and win. Years ago, I was at grandpa/mas going through an old box of pictures and what-not. I found one of there old war stamps cards. Damn, I wish I would have kept that, but I was just a punk kid and didn't know any better :(

[-King-]

He's the hero we need but not the one we deserve
Posted via Mobile Device

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

My grandfather. Army Colonel, served for over 40 years, fought in 3 wars, one purple heart, a bronze star, 3 Legion of Merits, Army Intelligence, MACV, CIA.

My father too. Twenty years with the 101st Airborne and 82nd armor.

Neither KIA but both fought and are definitely heroes to me. Would've joined myself but they both asked me not to. Said it could be a rough life, especially with a family. They thought the family had served enough for awhile.

[Miles]

My grandfather served in the marines in WW2 and was in Okanawa as an MP but never really talked about openly it at all. I’d always meant to bluntly ask him about it and particularly after the HBO Pacific series but never got the nerve before he passed a few years ago.

[Rain Man]

My ancestors dutifully paid taxes so your ancestors could go to war. I come from a long line of taxpayers.

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

My grandfather served in the marines in WW2 and was in Okanawa as an MP but never really talked about openly it at all. I’d always meant to bluntly ask him about it and particularly after the HBO Pacific series but never got the nerve before he passed a few years ago.

This is where I'm at. I really wish I knew more but I don't know how comfortable he is talking about it. Some of the intelligence stuff he probably can't talk about. He's fluent in Russian. A Russian friend of his tells me he speaks it like a Russian and has no accent. He also disappeared to Israel for a year right after the Munich Olympics. I pretty much just have tidbits of information. I bet he could tell some stories but he either doesn't want to or can't.

[Hammock Parties]

My grandpas.

Both fought in WWII. Grandpa Nath fought in Italy AND Africa and rescued people fleeing from Mt. Vesuvius eruption.

Then they came home, stayed married for 60+ years, lived in nice neighborhoods in cool houses, had six kids and 10 grandkids, and did it all without college degrees.

One still alive at 95. Mows his own lawn. Going to Alaska later this year.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Dad fought in North korea. He's 90 now . It would be neat for him to see the end of that war before he passes.

[Miles]

This is where I'm at. I really wish I knew more but I don't know how comfortable he is talking about it. Some of the intelligence stuff he probably can't talk about. He's fluent in Russian. A Russian friend of his tells me he speaks it like a Russian and has no accent. He also disappeared to Israel for a year right after the Munich Olympics. I pretty much just have tidbits of information. I bet he could tell some stories but he either doesn't want to or can't.

I indented to come in with angle of asking directly but saying I understand if he doesn’t want to talk about it. Unfortunately I never pressed it and really wish I had before he passed.

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

I indented to come in with angle of asking directly but saying I understand if he doesn’t want to talk about it. Unfortunately I never pressed it and really wish I had before he passed.

Yeah, I've asked mine before if he saw much combat and clearly left it an open-ended question. All he said was "yes" and then looked a little uncomfortable. I was pretty young then, though, and that may have been why he didn't go into details. I don't know if I'll ever have kids but I would like to be able to tell them more about their great-grandfather's service if I do. I need to do what you wanted to do before it's too late. At least then I'll know I tried.

[BigRedChief]

My ancestors dutifully paid taxes so your ancestors could go to war. I come from a long line of taxpayers.my family on both sides had people serve since the Revolutionary War Up to WWII. Because of the ages, no one served in the Korean or Vietnam war or the recent ones.

I’m also the taxpayer only. I’d like to think I’ve gave back at least a small part to recognize and appreciate the vets sacrifices over the years.

[Rain Man]

my family on both sides had people serve since the Revolutionary War Up to WWII. Because of the ages, no one served in the Korean or Vietnam war or the recent ones.

I’m also the taxpayer only. I’d like to think I’ve gave back at least a small part to recognize and appreciate the vets sacrifices over the years.

It's kind of odd, but I think my family members were always the wrong age. In WWI my grandparents were under 5 years old, so I suspect their parents were exempt. In WWII, my parents were under 5 years old, so I think my grandparents were exempt. (And I vaguely have heard that they were in jobs that didn't get drafted - ag worker and civilian truck driver on an army base). And in Vietnam I was 5 years old at the peak, so I think my dad was exempt. They were all accidents of timing, because the kids were born a few years before hostilities started.

None of my uncles were in as well, probably for the same reasons. A couple of my cousins volunteered, but were in an era where there was no combat so they pretty much just had jobs where they wore uniforms. My in-laws are heavy military-type folk, but that's a different lineage.

[srvy]

Yeah, I've asked mine before if he saw much combat and clearly left it an open-ended question. All he said was "yes" and then looked a little uncomfortable. I was pretty young then, though, and that may have been why he didn't go into details. I don't know if I'll ever have kids but I would like to be able to tell them more about their great-grandfather's service if I do. I need to do what you wanted to do before it's too late. At least then I'll know I tried.

Maybe he would write it down or type it up on computer. My Dad when he was around seventy took it upon himself to write up his experiences from his earliest remembrances through his service in the Navy during WWII as a pilot. Meeting our Mother his wife. His experience with the birth of me and my brother and sister he even left pages open to fill in things that he remembered. When he died at 86 in 2006 I put original copy in safety box along with a cd copy and keep a copy at home. Its one of my greatest treasures that I marvel at some of the things we never knew he never discussed but would write it down he just couldn't speak it in person I guess.

[Easy 6]

Uncle Tommy, my dads brother, would have to be that guy for me

Dad served during Nam as well, but was a surveyor and never left the states

Tommy was a giant bear of a man who earned 3, thats right 3, Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart in just one tour as Infantry in Vietnam... the man was still huge even into his early 60s when complications from Agent Orange exposure caused his death a few years ago, what a heroic SOB he must've been to get 3

[wazu]

Nathan Hale
Stonewall Jackson

Stonewall Jackson is my first cousin, several generations removed. And he is the only relative I’m aware of that died in military service.

And weirdly enough, Nathan Hale is one of my favorite American patriots. This is kind of eerie.

[BigRedChief]

Uncle Tommy, my dads brother, would have to be that guy for me

Dad served during Nam as well, but was a surveyor and never left the states

Tommy was a giant bear of a man who earned 3, thats right 3, Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart in just one tour as Infantry in Vietnam... the man was still huge even into his early 60s when complications from Agent Orange exposure caused his death a few years ago, what a heroic SOB he must've been to get 33 Bronze Stars? :eek: That one helluva badass.


Sorry about the Agent Orange death. Thats no way for a hero to die.

[Coyote]

LTDR Michael Scott Speicher 1st casualty 1991 Gulf War. We grew up together road bikes explored the woods till his Dad relocated to Florida. Was one naturally funniest people I ever met. Everyone who ever met him was better for knowing him and miss him still today. Hope your resting in piece Scottie.
https://i1.wp.com/fightersweep.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/pic043a.jpg
http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2005/06/19/253101/pic033.BMP
http://www.pownetwork.org/saudi/sd017.1.jpg
https://secure.i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01455/pilot_1455016f.jpg

Arlington
https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2007/319/22942958_119525955644.jpg

I am sorry for your loss. I never served with your friend but his loss was still personal. His country never stopped looking for him. He was on a very shortlist of “Sensitive Site Exploitations (SSEs)” in 2003. We finally found him in 2009.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/02/us.gulf.war.remains/index.html

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

I wanted to share an article about forgotten American POWs. Typically, the WWII and Civil War POWs dominate the conversation. Over 11,000 American soldiers paid the ultimate price for freedom in British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. To put it in perspective, around 8,000 perished in combat. They had their opportunity to escape the hulks by enlisting with the British but they choose the Cause. God rest their souls.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ ... 180962508/

[gblowfish]

My dad is my hero. In 1950 he got an invitation from the St. Louis Cardinals to come to Florida for tryouts. Two days later he got a letter from Harry Truman inviting him to join the festivities in Korea. He said "when you get an invite from the President, and the man is from your home town, you don't say no." He went to Ft. Sill in Oklahoma and became an infantry radio man in the 24th Division. The 24th was the first division in Korea. My dad got there about a week after the Chinese had entered the war and had pushed the allied troops way back south to around Seoul. He told me his platoon was on the top of a hill, there was a valley out below with railroad tracks, and the tracks went into a tunnel on the other side of the valley into a hill where the Chinese were. The Chinese were tending their wounded and storing ammo in the train tunnel. Air Force jets would strafe the tunnel and skip Napalm at it just about every day. At night both sides would send patrols into the valley and get into fire fights. The line stagnated there, and it was a standoff. After about six months they pulled the 24th Division off the line and sent them back to Japan to re-group and get some R&R. Then after about a month they sent him back in. He thought, "Well, at least I'll get to see another part of Korea." Nope. they sent him right back to the exact same outpost. He said "the damn relief troops shit in all our foxholes. So we had to dig all new ones." He manned the line on that same ridge for another six months, then they pulled them back to Seoul, and then back to Japan, then back home. My dad came back to KC, married his sweetheart (my mom, who just past away last Tuesday), and was married for 56 years till he passed in 2011. I asked him why he never owned a gun when I was a kid. He had marksman medals and a CIB. He said "I went to Korea so I wouldn't need any guns when I got home." Thought that was a pretty great answer. He loved the Royals and Chiefs. His name and my mom's name are on a brick on the Chiefs memorial plaza by the Lamar Hunt statue. He was a great guy. Loved the VFW and loved the USA.
Thanks Dad for doing your duty. You're a hero to me.

[BigRedChief]

My dad is my hero. In 1950 he got an invitation from the St. Louis Cardinals to come to Florida for tryouts. Two days later he got a letter from Harry Truman inviting him to join the festivities in Korea. He said "when you get an invite from the President, and the man is from your home town, you don't say no." He went to Ft. Sill in Oklahoma and became an infantry radio man in the 24th Division. The 24th was the first division in Korea. My dad got there about a week after the Chinese had entered the war and had pushed the allied troops way back south to around Seoul. He told me his platoon was on the top of a hill, there was a valley out below with railroad tracks, and the tracks went into a tunnel on the other side of the valley into a hill where the Chinese were. The Chinese were tending their wounded and storing ammo in the train tunnel. Air Force jets would strafe the tunnel and skip Napalm at it just about every day. At night both sides would send patrols into the valley and get into fire fights. The line stagnated there, and it was a standoff. After about six months they pulled the 24th Division off the line and sent them back to Japan to re-group and get some R&R. Then after about a month they sent him back in. He thought, "Well, at least I'll get to see another part of Korea." Nope. they sent him right back to the exact same outpost. He said "the damn relief troops shit in all our foxholes. So we had to dig all new ones." He manned the line on that same ridge for another six months, then they pulled them back to Seoul, and then back to Japan, then back home. My dad came back to KC, married his sweetheart (my mom, who just past away last Tuesday), and was married for 56 years till he passed in 2011. I asked him why he never owned a gun when I was a kid. He had marksman medals and a CIB. He said "I went to Korea so I wouldn't need any guns when I got home." Thought that was a pretty great answer. He loved the Royals and Chiefs. His name and my mom's name are on a brick on the Chiefs memorial plaza by the Lamar Hunt statue. He was a great guy. Loved the VFW and loved the USA.
Thanks Dad for doing your duty. You're a hero to me.hes a hero to everyone.:clap:

Sorry to hear about your Mom.

[BucEyedPea]

I am sorry for your loss. I never served with your friend but his loss was still personal. His country never stopped looking for him. He was on a very shortlist of “Sensitive Site Exploitations (SSEs)” in 2003. We finally found him in 2009.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/02/us.gulf.war.remains/index.html

Wow that was nice of you to post. Gave me goosebumps. RIP.