Military Heroes...

Kohai999

Kohai999

Second Degree Cutter
Joined
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In 1994 at the OKCA show, I got to meet Colonel Rex Applegate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Applegate

In 2008 I met Senior Chief James "Patches" Watson at the OKCA Show:

http://www.nightscribe.com/Military/seals/james_patches_watson.htm

The same year at Blade, I met and briefly spoke with Commander Richard Marcinko:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Marcinko

On Wednesday at the SHOT Wiley-X booth, I met and chatted with Lieutenant Colonel James Magellas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Megellas

Without fail, every meeting with these great men was pleasant, and I was quite taken with their humility, sense of humor, and have been inspired by them. Every time I briefly told them about my own military service, without fail they tendered some sort of appreciation for that service. I have at least one book written by and signed by each of these heroes, and it is gratifying that they took the time to write these books and preserve their histories for future generations.

It just makes me wonder why someone else would make up lies about their own service, instead of just being proud for having served at all, yunno?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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Some years ago I had the honour to speak with a Victoria Cross recipient. There is something very special about those sorts of guys.
 
gajinoz said:
Some years ago I had the honour to speak with a Victoria Cross recipient. There is something very special about those sorts of guys.
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Agreed, when I was a rook there was a guy that had just graduated the academy in the class ahead of mine who responded as backup to a suspicious vehicle. The more experienced officer was killed instantly with a point blank shot to the heart. This guy, while under fire from 3 suspects, got off twelve shots from a revolver with a reload and put solid torso shots into two and a head shot in the third. After the incident he was incosolable, thinking he would be ostracized for doing a lousy job. He earned the Medal of Valor (highest that dept. gives)

I think part of it is the total humility despite unbelievable feats.
 
Vito R. Bertoldo

http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-a-f.html

BERTOLDO, VITO R.

Rank and organization: Master Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company A, 242d Infantry, 42d Infantry Division.

Place and date: Hatten, France, 9-10 January 1945.

Entered service at: Decatur, Ill.

Born: 1 December 1916, Decatur, Ill.

G.O. No.: 5, 10 January 1946. Citation: He fought with extreme gallantry while guarding 2 command posts against the assault of powerful infantry and armored forces which had overrun the battalion's main line of resistance. On the close approach of enemy soldiers, he left the protection of the building he defended and set up his gun in the street, there to remain for almost 12 hours driving back attacks while in full view of his adversaries and completely exposed to 88-mm., machinegun and small-arms fire. He moved back inside the command post, strapped his machinegun to a table and covered the main approach to the building by firing through a window, remaining steadfast even in the face of 88-mm. fire from tanks only 75 yards away. One shell blasted him across the room, but he returned to his weapon. When 2 enemy personnel carriers led by a tank moved toward his position, he calmly waited for the troops to dismount and then, with the tank firing directly at him, leaned out of the window and mowed down the entire group of more than 20 Germans. Some time later, removal of the command post to another building was ordered. M/Sgt. Bertoldo voluntarily remained behind, covering the withdrawal of his comrades and maintaining his stand all night. In the morning he carried his machinegun to an adjacent building used as the command post of another battalion and began a day-long defense of that position. He broke up a heavy attack, launched by a self-propelled 88-mm. gun covered by a tank and about 15 infantrymen. Soon afterward another 88-mm. weapon moved up to within a few feet of his position, and, placing the muzzle of its gun almost inside the building, fired into the room, knocking him down and seriously wounding others. An American bazooka team set the German weapon afire, and M/Sgt. Bertoldo went back to his machinegun dazed as he was and killed several of the hostile troops as they attempted to withdraw. It was decided to evacuate the command post under the cover of darkness, but before the plan could be put into operation the enemy began an intensive assault supported by fire from their tanks and heavy guns. Disregarding the devastating barrage, he remained at his post and hurled white phosphorous grenades into the advancing enemy troops until they broke and retreated. A tank less than 50 yards away fired at his stronghold, destroyed the machinegun and blew him across the room again but he once more returned to the bitter fight and, with a rifle, single-handedly covered the withdrawal of his fellow soldiers when the post was finally abandoned. With inspiring bravery and intrepidity M/Sgt. Bertoldo withstood the attack of vastly superior forces for more than 48 hours without rest or relief, time after time escaping death only by the slightest margin while killing at least 40 hostile soldiers and wounding many more during his grim battle against the enemy hordes.
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That's what you do to get a Medal of Honor. Don't expect a statue in Illinois, or a street, school, park, dog pound, or truck weighing station named in your honor.

Illinois has a monument honoring General Italo Balbo.

2ee55350-b21a-44d7-a6c8-8984284854d7.jpg



QUESTA COLONNA
DI VENTI SECOLI ANTICA
ERETTA SUL LIDO DI OSTIA
PORTO DI ROMA IMPERIALE
A VIGILARE LE FORTUNE E LE VITTORIE
DELLE TIREMI ROMANE
L'ITALIA FASCISTA SUSPICE BENITO MUSSOLINI
DONA A CHICAGO
ESALTAZIONE SIMBOLO RICORDO
DELLA SQUADRA ATLANTICA GUIDATA DA BALBO
CHE CON ROMANO ARDIMENTO TRASVOLO L'OCEANO
NELL' ANNO XI
DEL LITTORIO


THIS COLUMN
TWENTY CENTURIES OLD
ERECTED ON THE SHORES OF OSTIA
PORT OF IMPERIAL ROME
TO SAFEGUARD THE FORTUNES AND VICTORIES
OF THE ROMAN TRIREMES
FASCIST ITALY BY COMMAND OF BENITO MUSSOLINI
PRESENTS TO CHICAGO
EXALTATION SYMBOL MEMORIAL
OF THE ATLANTIC SQUADRON LED BY BALBO
THAT WITH ROMAN DARING FLEW ACROSS THE OCEAN
IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR
OF THE FASCIST ERA
​
 
I had the pleasure of being around Vernon Walters on a few occasions. He was the most amazing man I've ever met and a name that's generally unknown to the average person. He joined the Army in 1941 as a Private, was sent to OCS and retired in 1973 as a LtGen. He also served as Deputy Director of the CIA and Ambassador to the UN and West Germany.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/vawalters.htm
 
Norman Schwarzkopf. I read his book "It doesn't take a hero" and it blew me away.
 
Kohai999 said:
It just makes me wonder why someone else would make up lies about their own service, instead of just being proud for having served at all, yunno?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Because it serves a deeply-felt psychological need for certain folks ... generally, those with what we oldsters called "low self esteem."

Of course, it's wrong. From every perspective. Stand tall for what you've done, yourself; don't try to borrow credit, earn it.
 
I met a guy at the shipyard in Vallejo,Ca. once who was a sargent in S.F. His name was Roy Benavidez. He received the Medal Of Honor in V.N. They also named the first spanish G.I. Joe after him when they came out.
 
I'll never forget the first time I saw Mike Thornton. I was shooting pool in the lounge of my barracks at Great Lakes Naval Training Center when I heard someone behind me yell "HA!". I turned around to see this guy crouched on top of the ping pong table, holding the ball he had just snatched out of the air and looking back and forth at the two guys who had been playing. The next time I saw him, I noticed that officers were saluting him, and he was a Petty Officer First Class. When I got close enough to see his ribbons, I found out why. It was many years later before I found out that he won the Medal of Honor saving the life of another Medal of Honor winner.
 
I never met any "name brand" military heroes.
Just my grandfather, who certainly did his part in WW2. Surviving the raid on Dieppe, prisoner of war camp and the Death March makes him heroic enough in my book.:thumbup:
Plus the fact that he volunteered to do what he saw as his duty. Doing what you view as the right thing to do is a big part of being the hero.
 
el dub said:
I met a guy at the shipyard in Vallejo,Ca. once who was a sargent in S.F. His name was Roy Benavidez. He received the Medal Of Honor in V.N. They also named the first spanish G.I. Joe after him when they came out.
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I mostly lurk but I saw this and wanted to contribute.

Shortly before his death, I got to meet MSG Benavides at FT Hood and listen to his recount of the mission for which he received his Medal of Honor. His story is an astonishing tale of selfless service and human will power. If I recall his story correctly, his injuries were so grave and he was so badly wounded that the chopper crew thought he had died on the flight back to the FOB. He was actually getting zipped up in a body bag by a medic when he managed to spit blood at the fellow to signal that he was still alive.

My personal military hero has always been my grandfather who was a Marine Aviation officer in WWII. One of my prized possessions is an old photo of my grandfather with Joe Foss (Medal of Honor recipient and USMC’s leading Ace) and Charles Lindbergh -- who was traveling through on some promotion -- all standing on a beach somewhere in the Pacific.

I imagine that in the years to come, many of current service men and women will deservedly be looked upon with much the same sense of awe and inspiration.

Oaf
 
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Hairy Oaf said:
My personal military hero has always been my grandfather who was a Marine Aviation officer in WWII. One of my prized possessions is an old photo of my grandfather with Joe Foss (Medal of Honor recipient and USMC’s leading Ace) and Charles Lindbergh -- who was traveling through on some promotion -- all standing on a beach somewhere in the Pacific.
Oaf
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This is my uncle, Barry Silverman:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/n...elicopter-an-air-force-of-2.html?pagewanted=1

He served in Vietnam, and became a Westchester County Parkway Policeman, and stayed in the U.S. Army Reserves, retiring as a CW04. He is certainly a hero of mine, and when I enlisted, served as a willing and able counsel and advocate....but that isn't my point to this post so much , as I think many of us have had "everyday heroes" in our lives and some of us are or could be that to someone else.

The heroes that I mentioned above are the "rock stars" of military heroes....for example, my wife worked with General Wayne Downing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_A._Downing

These guys are heroes to the heroes, if that makes sense.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
I met Carlos Hathcock not long before his death.

My alternative hero is my Great Uncle Donald Bard McMullen, my paternal grandfather's older brother. Uncle Donald was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work on epidemiology in Japan and the Philippines during World War II. While not in a combat role, he saved thousands of lives through his medical research into tropical illness.

http://www.jstor.org/pss/3276865

FWIW, Granddad was assigned to an Army hospital in New Caledonia. Uncle Donald's work probably helped keep him healthy.
 
The one that stands out the most to me is Frank Litherland aka Big Frank.

This is all I could find on him.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r103:S22AU4-58:

I had the honor of working with Frank for a few years in a gun shop. Drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of lunches with Frank, he was a great man.

Went to the NRA convention with Frank in the early 90's to listen to Carlos Hathcock give a little speech too.
 
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