doublejj
Well-Known Member
Roy was a medic......
Veterans...Get the hell in here now!
- Thread starter 6ohMax
- Start date
And a Fucking STUD!
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
A legendary chapter in Air Force history has come to a close.
Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” E. Cole, the last survivor of the “Doolittle Raid,” died April 9, in San Antonio.
“Lt. Col. Dick Cole reunited with the Doolittle Raiders in the clear blue skies today,” said Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. “My heart goes out to his friends and family as our Air Force mourns with them. We will honor him and the courageous Doolittle Raiders as pioneers in aviation who continue to guide our bright future.”
On April 18, 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces and the Doolittle Raiders attacked Tokyo in retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which boosted American morale in the early months of World War II. The Doolittle Raid was the United States’ first counterattack on the Japanese mainland after Pearl Harbor. Eighty U.S. Army Air Forces airmen in 16 modified B-25B Mitchell bombers launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet, about 650 nautical miles east of Japan, to strike Tokyo. While it only caused minor damage, the mission boosted morale on the U.S. homefront a little more than four months after Pearl Harbor, and sent a signal to the Japanese people not only that the U.S. was ready to fight back but also that it could strike the Japanese mainland.
“There’s another hole in our formation,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “Our last remaining Doolittle Raider has slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and has reunited with his fellow Raiders. And what a reunion they must be having. Seventy-seven years ago this Saturday, 80 intrepid Airmen changed the course of history as they executed a one-way mission without hesitation against enormous odds. We are so proud to carry the torch he and his fellow Raiders handed us.”
When Cole retired, his list of decorations included the DFC with two oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, and the Air Force Commendation Medal. In 2014, President Obama presented Cole and three other Raiders the Congressional Gold Medal at the White House.
http://www.doolittleraider.com
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untold-story-vengeful-japanese-attack-doolittle-raid-180955001/
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A legendary chapter in Air Force history has come to a close.
Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” E. Cole, the last survivor of the “Doolittle Raid,” died April 9, in San Antonio.
“Lt. Col. Dick Cole reunited with the Doolittle Raiders in the clear blue skies today,” said Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. “My heart goes out to his friends and family as our Air Force mourns with them. We will honor him and the courageous Doolittle Raiders as pioneers in aviation who continue to guide our bright future.”
On April 18, 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces and the Doolittle Raiders attacked Tokyo in retaliation for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which boosted American morale in the early months of World War II. The Doolittle Raid was the United States’ first counterattack on the Japanese mainland after Pearl Harbor. Eighty U.S. Army Air Forces airmen in 16 modified B-25B Mitchell bombers launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet, about 650 nautical miles east of Japan, to strike Tokyo. While it only caused minor damage, the mission boosted morale on the U.S. homefront a little more than four months after Pearl Harbor, and sent a signal to the Japanese people not only that the U.S. was ready to fight back but also that it could strike the Japanese mainland.
“There’s another hole in our formation,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein. “Our last remaining Doolittle Raider has slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and has reunited with his fellow Raiders. And what a reunion they must be having. Seventy-seven years ago this Saturday, 80 intrepid Airmen changed the course of history as they executed a one-way mission without hesitation against enormous odds. We are so proud to carry the torch he and his fellow Raiders handed us.”
When Cole retired, his list of decorations included the DFC with two oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, and the Air Force Commendation Medal. In 2014, President Obama presented Cole and three other Raiders the Congressional Gold Medal at the White House.
http://www.doolittleraider.com
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
Missing In America Project
"It's The Right Thing To Do!"
"It's The Right Thing To Do!"
Why We're Here
The purpose of the MIA Project is to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed cremated remains of American veterans through the joint efforts of private, state and federal organizations. To provide honor and respect to those who have served this country by securing a final resting place for these forgotten heroes.
The Missing in America Veterans Recovery Program (MIAP) (EIN: 20-8408832) is a Federal recognized Non-Profit Veterans Organization for the identification, location, verification, and movement of Veterans and their Dependents.
Working Together to Accomplish Our Goals
The initial focus of the MIA Project will be a massive, nation-wide effort to locate, identify and inter the unclaimed remains of forgotten veterans. This task will be executed through the combined, cooperative efforts of members of the American Legion, other volunteer service and veteran organizations, local Funeral Homes, State Funeral Commissions, State and National Veterans Administration Agencies, and the State and National Veterans Cemetery Administrations. Local, state and national laws must be followed in the identification, claiming process and proper interment of the unclaimed remains of forgotten veterans.
Our Progress to Date
Total Funeral Homes Visited - 2,328
Cremains Found - 19,365
Veterans Cremains Identified - 4,233
Veterans Interred - 3,920
https://www.foxnews.com/us/missing-in-america-project-buries-42-unclaimed-veterans-in-texas-and-florida
https://www.miap.us
https://www.miap.us/Donation.html
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
An aftermath of the Doolittle Raid I hadn't heard about until now. 
On April 18, 1942, Doolittle led the raid on the Japanese homeland, bombing a number of Japanese cities with 16 B-25 bombers. The raid, totally unexpected by the Japanese, was a success. Most of the bombers, after passing over Japan, landed in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.
Much of China was occupied by Japan at this time, and as a result of the brutality of their invasion, the Japanese occupiers were much hated by the Chinese. Consequently, local Chinese peasants helped many of the American airmen after they crash-landed their bombers on Chinese soil.
The Japanese response to the Doolittle Raid was swift and brutal. In a campaign called the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, 180,000 troops of the Japanese Army’s China Expeditionary Force set out not only to find the American airmen but also to punish anyone they suspected of aiding them in any way.
What followed was on a par with the Rape of Nanjing in terms of violence, bloodshed, and savagery. Japanese troops swept through the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. They managed to capture eight US airmen, of whom they executed three. The worst horrors, though, were suffered by the Chinese civilian population.
When Japanese troops arrived in a town or village in Zhejiang and Jiangxi, they presumed guilt and complicity with the US airmen on the part of the entire village. This applied to men, women, and children all the way down to domestic animals, regardless of whether any US airmen had even been anywhere near the settlement.
The sentence the Japanese troops imposed for this crime of suspected complicity was death.
The atrocities committed en-masse by the Japanese forces were witnessed by a number of foreign Christian missionaries who lived in some of these villages and towns. One, Father Wendelin Dunker, described the Japanese horrors with chilling clarity:
“they shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, they raped any woman from the ages of 10 – 65, and before burning the town they thoroughly looted it.”
On June 11, the Japanese troops moved from villages and small towns to the city of Nanchang which had a population of around 50,000.
After surrounding Nanchang so that none of the inhabitants could escape, they took the city in an orgy of bloodshed, rape, murder, and looting. The Japanese troops rounded up 800 women and imprisoned them in a warehouse, in which they were repeatedly raped. Men were summarily killed on the streets, and the city was looted.
The Japanese occupied the city for around a month in a reign of barbarous violence and horrific bloodshed and brutality, before burning the entire city down. The process of burning Nanchang took three days; the troops wanted to make sure that they left nothing of it standing but charred rubble.
Other towns and cities in these provinces were taken in a similar fashion, with the Japanese troops laying waste to everything and conducting a campaign of wanton terror, destruction, and looting. In some regions, eighty percent of all homes were destroyed, and the majority of the population were left destitute.
The Japanese troops who participated in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign did not stop at rape, torture, and murder, though. In August, members of Japan’s secret biological and chemical weapons division, Unit 731, attacked the region in a more insidious but equally devastating manner.
Realizing that once they had left the area, it would be reoccupied by both Chinese troops and civilians, Unit 731 poisoned wells, springs, and water sources with cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and paratyphoid bacteria. They also infected food and water rations with these pathogens, leaving them where hungry Chinese troops and civilians would find them.
They even released plague-carrying fleas into the fields.
All in all, it is estimated that 250,000 Chinese civilians lost their lives in this campaign of wanton brutality and bloodshed. Yet another tragedy of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign was that few of the troops and officers involved were ever prosecuted for the egregious war crimes that were committed during this campaign.
Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who orchestrated the campaign, was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment but was paroled in 1954.
Perhaps equally sadly, this campaign of terror has largely been forgotten in the West’s remembering of the Second World War."
The American Doolittle Raid And The Brutal Japanese Reprisals
INSTANT ARTICLESWORLD WAR II Apr 10, 2019 Jay HemmingsOn April 18, 1942, Doolittle led the raid on the Japanese homeland, bombing a number of Japanese cities with 16 B-25 bombers. The raid, totally unexpected by the Japanese, was a success. Most of the bombers, after passing over Japan, landed in the Chinese provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.
Much of China was occupied by Japan at this time, and as a result of the brutality of their invasion, the Japanese occupiers were much hated by the Chinese. Consequently, local Chinese peasants helped many of the American airmen after they crash-landed their bombers on Chinese soil.
The Japanese response to the Doolittle Raid was swift and brutal. In a campaign called the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign, 180,000 troops of the Japanese Army’s China Expeditionary Force set out not only to find the American airmen but also to punish anyone they suspected of aiding them in any way.
What followed was on a par with the Rape of Nanjing in terms of violence, bloodshed, and savagery. Japanese troops swept through the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangxi. They managed to capture eight US airmen, of whom they executed three. The worst horrors, though, were suffered by the Chinese civilian population.
When Japanese troops arrived in a town or village in Zhejiang and Jiangxi, they presumed guilt and complicity with the US airmen on the part of the entire village. This applied to men, women, and children all the way down to domestic animals, regardless of whether any US airmen had even been anywhere near the settlement.
The sentence the Japanese troops imposed for this crime of suspected complicity was death.
The atrocities committed en-masse by the Japanese forces were witnessed by a number of foreign Christian missionaries who lived in some of these villages and towns. One, Father Wendelin Dunker, described the Japanese horrors with chilling clarity:
“they shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, they raped any woman from the ages of 10 – 65, and before burning the town they thoroughly looted it.”
On June 11, the Japanese troops moved from villages and small towns to the city of Nanchang which had a population of around 50,000.
After surrounding Nanchang so that none of the inhabitants could escape, they took the city in an orgy of bloodshed, rape, murder, and looting. The Japanese troops rounded up 800 women and imprisoned them in a warehouse, in which they were repeatedly raped. Men were summarily killed on the streets, and the city was looted.
The Japanese occupied the city for around a month in a reign of barbarous violence and horrific bloodshed and brutality, before burning the entire city down. The process of burning Nanchang took three days; the troops wanted to make sure that they left nothing of it standing but charred rubble.
Other towns and cities in these provinces were taken in a similar fashion, with the Japanese troops laying waste to everything and conducting a campaign of wanton terror, destruction, and looting. In some regions, eighty percent of all homes were destroyed, and the majority of the population were left destitute.
The Japanese troops who participated in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign did not stop at rape, torture, and murder, though. In August, members of Japan’s secret biological and chemical weapons division, Unit 731, attacked the region in a more insidious but equally devastating manner.
Realizing that once they had left the area, it would be reoccupied by both Chinese troops and civilians, Unit 731 poisoned wells, springs, and water sources with cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and paratyphoid bacteria. They also infected food and water rations with these pathogens, leaving them where hungry Chinese troops and civilians would find them.
They even released plague-carrying fleas into the fields.
All in all, it is estimated that 250,000 Chinese civilians lost their lives in this campaign of wanton brutality and bloodshed. Yet another tragedy of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign was that few of the troops and officers involved were ever prosecuted for the egregious war crimes that were committed during this campaign.
Field Marshal Shunroku Hata, who orchestrated the campaign, was convicted of war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment but was paroled in 1954.
Perhaps equally sadly, this campaign of terror has largely been forgotten in the West’s remembering of the Second World War."
too larry
Well-Known Member
Most of the bad stuff that happened to others was forgotten pretty quickly on this side of the Pacific. But you can be assured the Chinese remember.
But much of history is never taught anyway. Ask folks who had killed more of the German Army, and they will almost all say the good ole USA. When in fact, 9 of every 10 German soldiers that were killed were killed by the Red Army. No history book is going to say, "we waited until they were on their knees, then we hit them from behind."
doublejj
Well-Known Member
The US was fighting the Japanese at the same time as fighting the germans. The russians had the germans and we took on the japanese almost by ourselves. How many japanese did the russians kill?....war is hell
too larry
Well-Known Member
No doubt. The war in the Pacific was more than enough. We did the smart thing by waiting on Europe. I'm just saying that is not what is taught.
My dad was in a German POW camp the last six months of the war. The Red Army got there to liberate them a couple of days ahead of the Americans. He said that when the guards saw it was going to be the Russians, they all shucked their uniforms and tried to blend in with the refugees.
They shouldn't have been hard to spot language aside - just look for the well fed guys.
too larry
Well-Known Member
The camp was in Germany, but with two Armies closing in, everyone was trying to be somewhere else.
Well fed is a good point. Daddy never ate potato peels after the war. Potato peel soup was a big part of their diet in the camp.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
I'll never eat WWII c-rations again....
too larry
Well-Known Member
lol The wife and I did have MRE's for supper last night. I turned down a lot and still have about 4 cases left from the hurricane.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
MRE's are a banquet compared to c-rats
too larry
Well-Known Member
Yes, I had a few back in the day. I was in the Navy 81-83, so the odds are I ate some made about the time you were in.MRE's are a banquet compared to c-rats
Singlemalt
Well-Known Member
I can't(won't) eat any canned meat (other than spam) product. Shit like Dinty Moore beef stew , just the smell gives me the heebie jeebiesMRE's are a banquet compared to c-rats
too larry
Well-Known Member
Now Spam comes in the single serve plastic pouch. Or as hikers call them, meat push pops.
My first unit in the CG was an isolated duty LORAN "A" station in the Aleutian islands in 77 that had a couple of secret (during the war) air strips that still had the old generators, temp strip lights etc. We found mountains of cases of vintage C-rats in underground quonset huts & of course went through them.MRE's are a banquet compared to c-rats
Smoking Lucky Strike's (in 5 cig packs as I recall) - they tasted like antique toilet paper, nothing like smoking butt's that are wayyy older than you are.
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
"James H. Stogner received the prestigious Navy Cross Medal during a special ceremony Friday afternoon, April 5 at the VFW in Polson, Montana.
Lance Corp. Stogner served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. The presentation, which was facilitated by Montana Sen. Steve Daines and his office, was made by United States Marine Corps Lt. General Frank Libutti.
April 5 of this year, the date of the commendation, marked the 52nd anniversary of the day when Stogner showed extraordinary heroism and courage while rescuing a fellow Marine. On that date in 1967, the 18-year-old Stogner was serving as part of a machine gun team, carrying ammunition. He saved the life of fellow Lance Corporal Elijah "Eli" Fogg, who was being tortured while in the hands of the North Vietnamese Army soldiers — as well as saving the lives of numerous other Marines.
Lt. General Frank Libutti attended the ceremony to present the Navy Cross Medal to Stogner. He read, "Jim is, no doubt, a Marine's Marine. The kind we read about, the kind we want to be about. Jim's story is a story in a thread in the fabric in our nation's history with a reminder that freedom isn't free. Jim, thank you for the service, thank you for the sacrifice. Congratulations from everybody."
On that tragic night of April 5, 1967, Stogner was in Company C (known as Charlie Company) of the First Battalion of the U.S. Marine Corps. He was the "support man" for Fogg, the A (machine) gunner.
Capt. Wallace Dixon read a depiction of what transpired.
The three units in the company were approaching enemy lines, crossing a dried up rice field. Then came a surprise ambush by hidden North Vietnamese Army soldiers. After Stogner dropped three enemy soldiers, he encountered return fire — which struck and disabled his rifle, which broke his nose. "His platoon had been caught out in the open and they were cut to pieces," Dixon read.
As time went on, Stogner used the cover of darkness to push forward toward the enemy. His only usable weapon was a KA-BAR knife. He would dispatch three NVA soldiers before he saw that four others were torturing who was discovered to be a screaming Fogg. Using the knife he dispatched all four while being further wounded. Stogner picked up up Fogg — still alive — and his machine gun, and carried him back to U.S. Marines lines.
Twenty-one Marines were killed that night and 30 were wounded, but Stogner's actions undoubtedly saved the lives of many of those who survived the horrific night.
"Lance Corporal Stogner's heroism and bravery on the night of April 5, 1967, was never recognized until now, 52 years later. The Navy Cross acknowledged he did perform far and beyond the call of duty for an 18-year-old ammo humper," Dixon read.
Following a prepared commendation by Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, Libutti proudly pinned the Navy Cross medal on Stogner's chest."
"What you're going to hear now is that I am filled with patriotism and love for Montana," Libutti said loudly. "There is an old saying in the Marine Corps … "no guts, no glory, no Navy Cross." Jim, you were indeed gutsy, and did bring great glory to our beloved Corps demonstrating extraordinary bravery and courage as reflected in the Navy Cross citation we all heard. You have demonstrated the belief of the Corps: "Leave no Marine behind."
BarnBuster
Virtually Unknown Member
On Dec. 7, 1941, Thomson was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft. The USS Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Thomson.
From December 1941 to June 1944, Navy personnel recovered the remains of the deceased crew, which were subsequently interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries.
In September 1947, tasked with recovering and identifying fallen U.S. personnel in the Pacific Theater, members of the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) disinterred the remains of U.S. casualties from the two cemeteries and transferred them to the Central Identification Laboratory at Schofield Barracks. The laboratory staff was only able to confirm the identifications of 35 men from the USS Oklahoma at that time. The AGRS subsequently buried the unidentified remains in 46 plots at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (NMCP), known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. In October 1949, a military board classified those who could not be identified as non-recoverable, including Thomson.
Between June and November 2015, DPAA personnel exhumed the USS Oklahoma Unknown remains from the Punchbowl for analysis.
To identify Thomson’s remains, scientists from DPAA used anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial and material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and autosomal DNA (auSTR) analysis.