Category Archives: Current News
A Tribute to Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats that Won the War
Andrew Jackson Higgins
Andrew Jackson Higgins, the man Dwight D. Eisenhower once credited with winning World War II, was a wild and wily genius.
At the New Orleans plant where his company built the boats that brought troops ashore at Normandy on June 6, 1944, Higgins hung a sign that said, “Anybody caught stealing tools out of this yard won’t get fired — he’ll go to the hospital.”
Whatever Higgins did, he did it a lot. “His profanity,” Life magazine said, was “famous for its opulence and volume.” So was his thirst for Old Taylor bourbon, though he curtailed his intake by limiting his sips to a specific location.
“I only drink,” he told Life magazine, “while I’m working.”
“It is Higgins himself who takes your breath away,” Raymond Moley, a former FDR adviser, wrote in Newsweek in 1943. “Higgins is an authentic master builder, with the kind of will power, brains, drive and daring that characterized the American empire builders of an earlier generation.”
Higgins was not native to the South, despite his love of bourbon. He grew up in Nebraska, where, at various ages, he was expelled from school for fighting. Higgins’ temperament improved around boats. He built his first vessel in the basement when he was 12. It was so large that a wall had to be torn down to get it out.
He moved South in his early 20s, working in the lumber industry. He hadn’t thought much about boats again until a tract of timber in shallow waters required him to build a special vessel so he could remove the wood. Higgins signed up for a correspondence course in naval architecture, shifting his work from timber to boats.
In the late 1930s, he owned a small shipyard in New Orleans. By then, his special shallow-craft boat had become popular with loggers and oil drillers. They were “tunnel stern boats,” whose magic was in the way the “hull incorporated a recessed tunnel used to protect the propeller from grounding,” according to the Louisiana Historical Association.
The Higgnins’ “Eureka” boat
Higgins called it the “Eureka” boat. The war brought interest by U.S. forces in a similar style vessel to attack unguarded beaches and avoid coming ashore at heavily defended ports. The Marines settled on the Higgins boat, transforming what had been a 50-employee company into one of the world’s largest manufacturers.
“To put Higgins’s accomplishment in perspective,” historian Douglas Brinkley wrote in a 2000 article in American Heritage magazine, consider this: “By September 1943, 12,964 of the American Navy’s 14,072 vessels had been designed by Higgins Industries. Put another way, 92 percent of the U.S. Navy was a Higgins navy.”
Though Eisenhower and even Hitler acknowledged the importance of the Higgins boat — military leaders came to call it “the bridge to the beach” — its builder went mostly unmentioned in histories of the war. That is, until 17 years ago, when the World War II Museum opened in New Orleans and recognized Higgins’ life, displaying a reproduction of his boat.
Still, there’s been just one biography written: “Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats that Won World War II” by historian Jerry Strahan.
“Without Higgins’s uniquely designed craft, there could not have been a mass landing of troops and matériel on European shores or the beaches of the Pacific islands, at least not without a tremendously higher rate of Allied casualties,” Strahan wrote.
Higgins Hotel, New Orleans, LA
The WWII Museum in New Orleans officially broke ground on the Higgins Hotel directly across the street from the museum in 2017.
“The one man in the South I want especially to see is Andrew Jackson Higgins. I want to tell him, face to face, that Higgins’ landing boats such as we had at Guadalcanal are the best in the world. They do everything but talk; honest they do.” ___ Warrant Officer Machinist, James D. Fox, quoted in the Shreveport Times, 6 March 1943
AJ Higgins held 30 patents, mostly covering amphibious landing craft and vehicles.
Higgins died in New Orleans on 1 August 1952, and was buried in Metairie Cemetery. He had been hospitalized for a week to treat stomach ulcers when he suffered a fatal stroke.
Article resources: The World War II Museum in New Orleans (2018 Annual Report), The Marine Corps & the Washington Post.
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Current info –
May – Military Appreciation Month –
From: Cora Metz posters
May 18, 2019 – Armed Forces Day
A day set aside to pay tribute to men and women who serve in the United States’
Armed Forces. Learn more…
May 27, 2019 – Memorial Day (Decoration Day)
A day set aside to commemorate all who have died in military service for the United States. Typically recognized by parades, visiting memorials and cemeteries.
The coloring books include pages for Mother’s Day.
LINK – Coloring page for military children
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Military Humor –
Military Contractors
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Farewell Salutes –
Louis J. Abshire Sr. – Amelia, LA; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Courtesy of Dan Antion @ https://nofacilities.com/
Theodore “Bud” Benard – Payson, UT; US Army, WWII, PTO, 96th Infantry Division
Ray Cline – WV; US Navy, WWII, USS Biddle (DD-151)
Owen R. Dievendorf – Fort Plum, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Medical Corps, x-ray tech, Sgt.
Glenn Francis – Santa Monica, CA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Quartermaster, USS Natoma Bay
Edgar L. Galson – Syracuse, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, Field Artillery, radio/forward observer
Charles Haughey – Chicago, IL; Civilian, WWII, Dodge B-29 engine plant
Charles ‘C.C.’ Lee – Lexington, KY; US Navy, WWII & Korea, Chief Flight Deck Electrician, USS Corregidor & Block Island
Luther H. Story – Americus, GA; US Army, Korea, Cpl. A Co/1/9/2nd Infantry Division, KIA (Sangde-po, SK), Medal of Honor
Olive Thompson – ENG/CAN; WRoyal Naval Service WREN, WWII
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OKINAWA 78 years ago Stars & Stripes – Pacific
Stars and Stripes Pacific
By PFC. WILLIAMS LAND | STARS AND STRIPES May 22, 1945
Stars and Stripes presents these archive reports as they were written by the reporters in the field. The graphic and politically incorrect language used may be offensive to some readers.
Medic on Okinawa
Editor’s Note: A fortnight ago Bill Land, one of our battlefront reporters, learned that he was a father. Back to us by radio came this story of Oki’s orphans. Unable to go home to see his own daughter in Baton Rouge, La., Bill let himself go on Oki’s orphans – being left to die by the Sons of Heaven. But the GIs wouldn’t let the kids die…
OKINAWA – Here’s a story you could call “The Children’s Hour.” Ever since I got that radio about my new baby daughter I’ve had in mind writing a children’s story, especially since the material is so plentiful.
It is said that there are more children on Okinawa than there are goats, and, brother, that is some statement.
Very rarely does one see a woman who isn’t carrying either a born or unborn child around and most of the time it’s both.
For doughboys and leathernecks, the care of children started on the first day of the invasion, and from the way it keeps on, it looks as though “the Children’s Hour on Okinawa” will outlast Lillian Hellman’s play on Broadway.
Military government has even set up an orphanage, probably the first the island has seen.
“Since the natives showed interest only their own babies, we had to do something to care for children whose parents were killed or missing,” said Army Capt. W. W. McAllister of Iowa City, Ia., the officer in charge.
Nipples are made from surgical gloves and the orphans seem to take kindly to their new diet of canned milk through a glove.
Okinawa 1945
In another part of the island, Chief Pharmacist’s Mate Hugh Bell of Iberia, La., found himself playing the role of a mother when his outfit, a Marine reconnaissance unit, was scouting for suspected enemy installations and suddenly came upon a whole colony of natives hiding in a cave. Most of them were starving and sick and 35 children required immediate medical attention.
Bell, being the only “doctor in the house,” had all of them on his hands. For 24 hours he treated them, giving them plenty of food and feeding them canned milk while his buddies drank their coffee black.
“The kids thought I had used magic to fix them up,” he said, “and followed me around whenever I went. The headman of the group of cave dwellers told the unit command later that Bell was called “Mother” whenever they referred to him.
It is not at all a strange sight to see kids running around in cut-off GI woolen underwear or rompers made of fatigues, but Sally’s diapers made of green camouflage cloth really take the cake. Sally’s one of the orphans.
Sitting on the hard coral rock playing with the ration can, it looks as if she selected a soft tuft of grass to place her little behind on.
Pfc. John J. Stroke of Olmsted Falls, Ore., found her. She’s a two-year-old girl, and Stroke supervised her bath and sprinkled her with anti-vermin powder. Then, with the help of marine fatigues, a jungle knife and couple of pins, he went into the diaper business.
With most able-bodied Japs in the Imperial army or navy there seems a definite shortage of obstetricians among civilians and therefore many deliveries have to be performed by American soldiers and medics.
Relating his first attendance at childbirth here, First Class Pharmacist’s Mate Richard P. Scheid of Napoleon, O., warned, “I knock down anybody who calls me a mid-wife.”
Medic, Okinawa
As in the play, “The Children’s Hour,” and everywhere else, for that matter, there are good little children and naughty ones.
The other day, Sgt. Elvis Lane, marine combat correspondent from Louisville, Ky., ran across a couple of them who didn’t want to take to the American way of life at first. Dressed in a ragged Jap soldiers’ suits, they kept hoping to fight the “American devils” who were soon to be blasted by superior Japanese power.
That night, enemy units attacked the camp in which the two boys were staying and the air was filled with screams of the Jap wounded, the rat-tat-tat of machine gun fire and explosions of hand grenades. When morning came, the boys stared in horror at the Jap bodies and one of them said:
“Jap is a big liar. I think my brother and I want to be like our father – farmers.”
Marine First Lieutenant Hart H. Spiegal of Topeka, Kansas, uses sign language as he tries to strike up a conversation with two tiny Japanese soldiers captured on Okinawa. The boy on the left claims he is “18” while his companion boasts “20” years.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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SHOUT OUT !!!
ANZAC DAY
MAY WE ALL REMEMBER ON ANZAC DAY
Please keep in mind that Tuesday, 25 April is a remembrance day for Australians and New Zealanders.
It is one that I have tried to show respect and honor to…
https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/?s=ANZAC+Day
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Thomas E. Button – NZ; RNZ Navy, CPO (Ret. 20 Y.)
Australian soldier pays tribute
Robert G. Cole – Montague, NJ; US Army, Vietnam, 101st Airborne Division, Bronze Star
Trevor Crawley – Hawkes Bay, NZ; RNZ Air Force # D80250, Flight Lt.
James Graham – Dunlap, TN; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT/11th Airborne Division
Ernest E, Hamilton Sr. – Key West, FL; US Air Force, Korea
Noah Evans – Decatur, GA; USMC, Pfc, M Co/3/Recruit Training Regiment
Peter W. Leufkens – Palm Springs, FL; US Army, Korea
William Peterson – Tamp, FL; USMC / US Coast Guard
Ken Potts (102) – Honey Bend, IL/Provo, UT; US Navy, WWII, PTO, coxswain, USS Arizona survivor
Robert R. Samples – Charleston, NC; US Army, Japanese Occupation, 187/11th Airborne Division, Army boxing team
Jozef Subritzky-Kusza – NZ; RNZ Army # A483345, Sgt.
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From GP –
I apologize if I happen to be missing some posts lately. The routine here has been disrupted somewhat.
Thank you for being understanding.
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SURRENDER
11th Airborne Honor Guard
The above photo shows the 11th Airborne Reconnaissance Battalion Honor Guard as they presented arms to the Allied and Japanese delegations upon their arrival to the USS Missouri, 2 September 1945.
General Douglas MacArthur, despite the irate fuming of the Soviets, was to be the Supreme Commander in Japan for the Occupation and rebuilding of the country. No occupational zone was given to the Russians regardless of their protests. The Soviets were insisting that they were to receive the Kuriles and Hokkaido in Northern Honshu as their ‘spoils of war.’ Stalin sent an emissary with these plans to MacArthur, who in reply threatened to sent the messenger back to Moscow rather than allow him to remain in his observer status. Stalin also sent a telegram to Truman with the same demands. At first, the president felt he would just ignore the irrational request, but then decided to just send a negative reply. The Soviet plan for the takeover was in effect until 23 August, when the Russian leader realized that Admiral Nimitz controlled the Japanese waters and he would be risking an armed conflict.
Instrument of Surrender
At 0700 hours on Sunday morning, 2 September, guests to the Japanese surrender ceremony began arriving as destroyers pulled up to the USS Missouri and unloaded their passengers, military officers and correspondents from around the globe. At 0805 hours, Admiral Nimitz climbed on board and MacArthur at 0843. Finally, the Japanese delegation went up the starboard gangway at 0855. Foreign Minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, using a cane and in agony because of a poorly fitted artificial leg, and General Umezu were followed by nine representatives, three each from the Army, Navy and Foreign Office. They paused, awaiting directions, each wearing a Shiran Kao (nonchalant face). The proceedings began at precisely 0908 hours with men draped from the decks and 450 aircraft from Task Force 38 roaring above in the overcast skies.
An invocation was read by the ship’s chaplain with the entire company standing at attention and a recording of the “Star-Spangled Banner” played through the speakers. Kase, the Foreign Minister’s secretary, felt his throat constrict upon seeing the number of small painted Rising Suns on the bulkhead. Each miniature flag represented a Japanese plan or submarine destroyed. Admiral Tomioka wondered why the Americans were showing no signs of contempt for them, but also, anger seared through him at the sight of the Soviet presence. The eyes of General Percival and Colonel Ichizi Sugita (interpreter) locked as they both remembered an earlier surrender and their painful memory at the Ford factory in Singapore.
MacArthur making history.
Generals Wainwright and Percival stood with MacArthur as he began to speak, “We are gathered here to conclude a solemn agreement whereby Peace may be restored…” (There was a brief interruption by an inebriated delegate [thankfully NOT American] who began making faces at the Japanese.)
When the general had finished and the U.S. and Japan had signed the documents, as if on cue, the sun broke through the clouds. The next to sign was China, Britain, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands and New Zealand. MacArthur announced, “These proceedings are closed.” He then leaned over to Admiral Halsey and asked, “Bill, where the hell are those planes?” As if the pilots could hear the general’s irritation – 400 B-29s and 1,500 aircraft carrier planes appeared out of the north and roared toward the mists of Mount Fujiyama.
MacArthur then went over to another microphone to broadcast back to the United States, “Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended…” Japan’s delegates, now no longer considered the enemy, were saluted as they left the quarterdeck.
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Historical note – Almost a century before these proceedings, Commodore Perry had opened the West’s door to Japan. In commemoration of this, Admiral Halsey arranged for the actual Stars & Stripes, flown by Perry’s flagship in 1853, to be flown out to Japan for the ceremonies.
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Note of Interest – Truman was very pleased that the “USS Missouri” was chosen for the momentous occasion. It was one of the four largest battleships in the world, it was named after his home state and christened by his daughter, Margaret. (I find it hard to believe that this was just a coincidence.)
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Humorous note – On 1 September, the “Missouri’s” gunnery officer, Commander Bird, held a dress rehearsal for the ceremonies with 300 of the ship’s sailors. Everything went well until the band began to play the “Admiral’s March.” The stocky chief boatswain’s mate nicknamed, Two-Gut,” froze in his steps and scratched his head saying, “I’ll be damned! Me, an admiral!”
When the real Admiral Nimitz came aboard, he nearly went unnoticed. In desperation, Commander Bird shouted, “Attention, all hands!” Everyone on the ship became so silent that you could hear the waves lapping at the ship’s hull.
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SHOUT OUT !!!
Please take a look at a current 11th Airborne story that Rosalinda Morgan was kind enough to post. It just
happened to have occurred very close to where I live…
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Denis Neil Boak (100) – Northcote, NZ; RNZ Air Force, # 436452, WWII
Anthony Di Petta – USA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Ordnanceman 1st Class, USS Enterprise, Torpedo Squadron 20, KIA (Malakai, Palau Is.)
Thomas F. Green – Ramona, CA; US Army, Vietnam, Pfc., 68 Aviation Co/52 Aviation Batt./17th Aviation Group, door gunner on Chinook helicopter “Warrior 143”, KIA (Nha Trang, SV)
Loretta Hanson (100) – Detroit, MI; US Woman’s Marine Corps, WWII
Tessie Kindos – Asbury Park, NJ; Civilian, WWII, Brooklyn Army Terminal
Harold Kretzer – Odin, IL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, TSgt., 66BS/$$BG/8th Air Force, B-24 gunner-engineer, KIA (Ploiesti, ROM)
George Lewis – Cleveland County, OK; US Army, WWII, ETO
Hershey Miyamura – Gallup, NM; US Army, WWII, 100th Infantry Batt. / Korea, POW, Medal of Honor (Author dis a post on Mr. Miyamura a while back. If you care to read more of his story… https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/intermission-stories-5/
David J. Riley – Juda, WI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Seaman 2nd Class, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Harry Wickham – Floral City, FL; US Merchant Marines, WWII, Ensign, radio operator
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MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄
TO ALL THOSE THAT BELIEVE IN FREEDOM AND PEACE: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
FROM: PACIFIC PARATROOPER!!
PLEASE! REMEMBER ALL THOSE THAT FOUGHT FOR US IN THE PAST…
THOSE THAT FIGHT FOR US TODAY…
AND FOR THOSE SPECIAL PEOPLE WHO WAIT PATIENTLY AT HOME…
TO ALL THOSE WHO DO NOT CELEBRATE THIS HOLIDAY … I WISH YOU THE WARMTH AND PEACEFUL CONTENTMENT THAT IS REPRESENTED BY THIS SEASON !!!
Peace to ALL. Embrace the love.
Military Christmas Humor –
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carrier I-400 series conclusion
Watch the surrender of a I-400 class Supersubmarine.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto called for the construction of 18 of the massive submarines carrying a total of 36 attack planes. The name of the special submarine class was abbreviated to Sen-toku.
The attack planes had to be designed from scratch. The need for speed, range and a decent sized bomb payload required tradeoffs. The wings had to be foldable to fit inside the tube, or hangar, atop the submarine. The design work, testing, and building of the plane was outsourced to the Aichi Aircraft Company.
The I-400 program did have its detractors in the heavily bureaucratic Imperial Japanese Navy. After the defeat at Midway in early June 1942, Japan became more focused on defending the homeland and far less on possible attacks on the U.S. mainland using the large submarines. The death of Yamamoto in mid-April 1943, played further into the hands of conservative Japanese commanders. Cutbacks were ordered in the number of submarines to be built. .
The first test flight of the Aichi attack plane occurred on November 8, 1943. The plane, called Seiran or “storm from a clear sky,” reportedly handled fairly well as the world’s first sub-borne attack bomber. The Japanese began compiling limited available information on the heavily fortified Panama Canal. Their analysis showed that destroying the gate opening onto Gatun Lake would create a massive outpouring of water, destroying the other gates in its path while rushing toward the Caribbean Sea.
After weeks of planning, the Japanese came up with a strategy to attack the Gatun locks at dawn when the gates were closed and presumably the defenses were lax. The planners had nearly a full year to formulate the attack for early 1945. But there were problems ahead because none of the submarines were complete and the planes were not yet in the production stage.
The Japanese labored on, and by the end of 1944 the I-400 and the smaller I-13 were completed and turned over to the Navy. In early January 1945, the I-401 was commissioned and the I-14, the last of the underwater aircraft carriers, was put into service by mid-March 1945.
As an important aside, it should be noted that while preparations for the attack on the Panama Canal went forward, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, vice-chief of the Naval General Staff, floated another idea for the use of the Sen-toku submarines. He suggested arming the Seiran planes with biological weapons to be unleashed against a populated area on the West Coast of the United States.
Dr. Shiro Ishii, Japan’s top virus expert and head of the Army’s notorious 731 unit in Manchuria, was consulted. He recommended that the planes drop plague-inflected fleas, something he had tested with success in China. On the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego he suggested as targets. The plan was discarded in late March by the head of the Army’s general staff who called it “unpardonable on humanitarian grounds.”
In effect, the Japanese Army, which had led the development of biological weapons and had tested them on Chinese and American captives, nixed the idea of using the weapons late in the war on American civilians, perhaps in the belief that the war was already lost.
I-400 class submarine located off Oahu.
The subs were later scuttled.
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Upcoming – For those in the U.S. and around the world, reading here – Happy Thanksgiving!! 2022
Thanksgiving from: Pacific Paratrooper | Pacific Paratrooper (wordpress.com)
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Walter Alesi – Salem, OH; USMC, WWII,PTO, 5/4th Marines
Norma Bidner (101) – Gibson City, IL; Civilian, WWII, Chanute Air Force Base
Take a moment to honor them.
Robert Black – Boise, ID; US Navy, Chaplain, the Gray Shepard Award, USS Racine
Raymond Cattell (101) – Birmingham, ENG; Royal Navy, WWII, HMS Glasgow & HMS King George V
Benge Elliot – Lamesa, TX; US Army, medical
Levin Ferrin (100) – Phoenix, AZ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 82nd Airborne Division
Willis Holton – Jacksonville, FL; US Air Force, Korea
Francis P. Martin – Scranton, PA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Pfc. # 33457416, Co D/1/157/45th Infantry Division, KIA (Reipertswiller, FRA)
Walter Nies – Eureka, SD; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, SSgt. # 37307545, Tail gunner, 96 BS/2 BG/15th Air Force, POW, KWC (Stalag Luft 6, GER)
James Rotunno – Brooklyn, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, SSgt. # 32204944, Co K/3/157/ 45th Infantry Division, KIA (Reipertswiller, FRA)
Robert A. Wright – Whitesville, KY; US Army, Korea, Pfc. # 15381551, Co C/1/19/24th Infantry Division, KIA (Taejon, SK)
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USMC Birthday / Veterans Day 2022
The Marine Corps birthday has been commemorating on November 10 every year since 1775, the year of establishment of Continental Marines. Every year the cake cutting ceremony with the conventional ball follows.
Saluting the U.S. Marine Corps
Marine Corps Birthday Cake
Sketch of the original Tun Tavern
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Veterans Day
On November 11th, we pause to reflect on the history of this great Nation and honor all those who fought to defend it. Originally titled “Armistice Day” and intended to celebrate the end of World War I, “the war to end all wars,” Veterans Day allows us to give thanks to veterans past and present, men and women from all walks of life and all ethnicities, who stood up and said, “Send me.” We recognize your sacrifices, your sense of duty and your love for this country.
Thank you – To ALL our veterans!
The 11th Airborne Division jumps again!
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
For many other countries who remain free thanks to their veterans, this day is called Remembrance Day. I thank you!!
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Lawrence “Junior” Anderson – Blanchard, MI; USMC, WWII, CBI, scout observer
Catherine Batoff – Cedar Lake, IN; US Army WAC, WWII
Jesse G. Bell – Roopsville, GA; US Navy, WWII, USS Case DD-370
Leo E. Cummings – Jackson, MI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Ralph Fiorio – Peekskill, NY; US Army, WWII, ETO, 8th Armored Division
David E. Holeman – Le Harpe, KS; US Air Force, WWII, PTO, # 646029, 17/24th Pursuit Group, POW, KWC (Cabanatuan Camp, P.I.)
Merle L. Pickup – Provo, UT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, CBI, Cpl. # 39832953, 393 BS/308 BG, KIA (India)
Paul J. Simons Jr. (102) – Wyoming, MO; US Army, WWII
James M. Triplett – King County, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, TSgt # 39202130, B-24 radio operator, 700BS/445 BG/2/8th Air Force
Allen H. Tuttle – King County, WA; US Army, Korea, Sgt. # 19261249, field artillery cannoneer, C Batt/38/2nd Infantry Division, POW, KWC (NK Camp # 5)
Larry A. Zich – Lincoln, NE; US Army, Vietnam, Chief Warrant Officer # 508603819, HQ/37/1st Signal Brigade, KIA
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Why is the only one standing the man with a wheelchair?
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4th of July 2022 🇺🇸
HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 2022
Respect – Honor – Celebration
Celebrating the birth of our nation and dedicated to those who have served and fought to preserve our freedom.
PLUS A CHANGE OF PACE FOR PACIFIC PARATROOPER – A HUMOROUS LOOK AND 5 MINUTE HISTORY OF America’s BIRTH!
ONE TEAM UNITED – LET’S TRY THAT AGAIN AMERICA!!
Military July 4th Humor – 
Farewell Salutes –
William Anderson Jr. (100) – Ninety Six, SC; US Army, WWII, ETO, Purple Heart
Zane Baker (100) – Dayton, OH; US Army, WWII, PTO
William Coward Sr. – Ramseur, SC; USMC, WWII, PTO, MGunnery Sgt. (Ret. 33 y.)
Leon Diamond – Brooklyn, NY; US Navy, WWII
Donald W. Emery – Searsport, ME; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Hancock (CV-19), aviation ordnance
Grover Long – Adolphus, KY; US Navy, WWII
Howard McGhee – Sioux City, IA; US Army, WWII, ETO
Donald Morehead – St. Paul, MN; US Navy, WWII, signalman
Robert Pogna – Gunnison, CO; US Navy, WWII, USS Pocomoke
Hershel W. Williams – Quiet Dell, WV; USMC, WWII, PTO, Chief Warrant Officer 4 (Ret.), Purple Heart, Medal of Honor
🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸
MEMORIAL DAY 2022
Today we commemorate our country’s most solemn national day of remembrance – Memorial Day. We honor the men and women of our military who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country. The Army leadership especially wants to thank our Gold Star families. We, along with a grateful nation remain inspired by your remarkable strength and fortitude.
As you reflect on this day, remember it has been granted to us by some of the most noble, selfless, and courageous men and women our country has ever produced. Of those who laid down their lives in defense of our great nation, all the way back to those who gave their lives to establish it, we remember.
Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.
For all of us who walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us, it is our responsibility, our duty, and even our privilege to honor their sacrifice.
Stay safe. Stay ready. Stay strong
Ryan D. McCarthy, Secretary of the Army
For Freedom
MSGID/CMC WASHINGTON DC DMCS//
SUBJ/MEMORIAL DAY MESSAGE 2022//
Notable humanitarian, educator, and tennis player Arthur Ashe once said, “True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” Each year, Memorial Day offers us an opportunity to reflect on those who have given the last full measure in service to our great Nation and with the aim of securing freedom throughout the world. We owe the deepest debt of gratitude to all who paid the ultimate price in the line of duty, and to the loved ones they left behind. This Memorial Day, let us remember the greatness of past generations and find inspiration in their courage, devotion, and selfless determination.
Gold Star family
2. Each fallen hero is the embodiment of the valiant fighting spirit and devotion to duty that our Nation has come to expect of her Marines in times of crisis. From every generation, a select few rise up and put themselves in harm’s way to protect the ideals on which America was founded. Their stories serve as a continual reminder that freedom should not be taken for granted. We can’t rest on the sacrifices of past generations – peace, freedom, and global security require constant vigilance. Pacing threats around the globe uphold the truth of President Ronald Reagan’s sentiment that “freedom is never more than one generation from extinction.”
3. So this Memorial Day, we honor the courageous actions and sacrifices of our fallen heroes, and we look to them for inspiration as we prepare for the next battlefields. Technology and tactics may change, but the fighting spirit of United States Marines, Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen remains strong.
4. Enjoy this holiday weekend. Stay safe, and remember you are a living memorial to all our fallen heroes.
Semper Fidelis,
David H. Berger, General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commandant of the Marine Corps.//
D-Day memorial, Beford, VA
Riverside Cemetery POW Memorial
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Not Military Humor – (Please click on images to read)
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Farewell Salutes –
Richard Adams – Solon, OH; US Army, WWII, ETO
Winnie Ancar Sr. – City Price, LA; US Army, WWII, ETO, Interpreter
Anthony Bova – Plattsburgh, NY; US Air Force, Vietnam
Mildred Bourgeois – Cril, OK; US Navy WAVE, WWII, Aviation Radio Technician
James A. Coleman, USA; US Army, Korea, Sgt., Co I/3/19/24th Infantry Division, KIA (Hwach-on Reservoir, SK)
Luther Cranford – Eatonton, GA; US Navy, WWII, PTO
William J. Dees (101) – Fredericktown, MO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Anderson Dyer – USA; USMC, WWII, Navajo Code Talker
Raymond Femc – Forest City, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co E/187/11th Airborne Division
Willie Goudeau (100) – Evergreen, LA; US Army, WWII, Major, Corps of Engineers
Marion Prince – Morganton, GA; US Army, Japanese Occupation, 511/11th Airborne Division
Larry Spencer – Wichita, KS; US Navy, Vietnam,F4B pilot, Commander, USS Ranger & Enterprise, POW, 4 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts
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https://pacificparatrooper.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/memorial-day-2022-e1653935275865.webp
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Manila | February 1945
Flamethrower
While advancing, the 11th Airborne encountered heavy barrages from machine guns, mortars, artillery and grenades streaming from tunnels and caves above the highway. After the enemy was eradicated, the command post dug in on the side of the road. In the middle of the night, they were attacked. Headquarters Company used flame throwers and rifle fire to fend them off.
My father, Smitty, would wrinkle his nose at the mere sight of a flame thrower on TV. He said, “Once you smell burning flesh, it stays with you. There’s nothing worse. Every time I see one of those things flare up, even in a movie, I can smell the fuel and flesh all over again.”
The importance of Manila cannot be stressed enough. The natural harbor has served as a strategically situated port for commerce and trade for centuries. Manila Bay and Laguna de Bay are connected by the Pasig River.
Pasig River, before the war
Following the initial American breakthrough on the fourth, fighting raged throughout the city for almost a month. The battle quickly came down to a series of bitter street-to-street and house-to-house struggles. In an attempt to protect the city and its civilians, MacArthur placed stringent restrictions on U.S. artillery and air support. But massive devastation to the urban area could not be avoided. In the north, General Griswold continued to push elements of the XIV Corps south from Santo Tomas University toward the Pasig River.
Late on the afternoon of 4 February he ordered the 2d Squadron, 5th Cavalry, to seize Quezon Bridge, the only crossing over the Pasig that the Japanese had not destroyed. As the squadron approached the bridge, enemy heavy machine guns opened up from a formidable roadblock thrown up across Quezon Boulevard. The Japanese had pounded steel stakes into the pavement, sown the area with mines, and lined up old truck bodies across the road. Unable to advance farther, the cavalry withdrew after nightfall. As the Americans pulled back, the Japanese blew up the bridge.
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Current News – The Legacy continues –
The 11th Airborne will exist once again!!
5 May 2022
Military.com | By Steve Beynon
Soldiers stationed in Alaska will soon ditch the 25th Infantry Division’s “Tropic Lightning” patch and be re-designated the 11th Airborne Division,
The two existing airborne combat units are the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne, which is airborne in name only; it’s actually an air assault division.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Russell Adams – San Francisco, CA; US Merchant Marines, WWII
Willy J. Cancel – TN; USMC / KIA (Ukraine)
Aubrey B. Dale – Lilburn, GA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 127th Engineers/11th Airborne Division
Jack W. Harrell – MacClesfield, NC; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT
Luis Herrera – Marion, NC; US Army, Spec., 82nd Airborne Division
Jack E. Lilley – Waldworth, OH; US Army, Korea, Pfc. # 15414336, Truck Driver, HQ Co/34/24th Infantry Division, KIA (Taejon, SK)
Riley D. Mixon – Greenville, SC; US Navy, Vietnam, Desert Shield & Desert Storm, Admiral (Ret. 36 y.) / Exc. Director & Vice Chairman to establishing the USS Midway Museum
Laverne A. Nigg – Browns Valley, MN; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Seaman 2nd Class # 3167440, USS Oklahoma, KIA (Pearl Harbor, HI)
Lee R. Peterson – Edmore, MI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Radioman, USS Estes
William F. Teaff – Akron, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, radioman # 35586750, POW, KIA (Stalag Luft VI)
Chauncey (William) Sharp – Osborn, OH; US Army, Korea, Pfc., Co C/1/27/25th Infantry Division, KIA (Hwanggon, SK)
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So… Have a great day!
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Luzon | February 1945 (2)
Japanese in Manila
The final attack on the outer Japanese defenses came from the 11th Airborne Division. The division had been halted at Nichols Field on the 4th and since then had been battling firmly entrenched Japanese naval troops, backed up by heavy fire from concealed artillery. Only on 11 February did the airfield finally fall to the paratroopers, and the acquisition allowed the 11th Airborne Division to complete the American encirclement of Manila on the night of the twelfth.
As February opened, the 7th Allied Air Force continually bombed Iwo Jima, Marcus Island and Corregidor, while the 5th Allied Air Force not only targeted Corregidor, but Cavite, Cebu City, and enemy positions on Mindanao and Borneo.
Col. Robert Soule
The 11th A/B continued on to Tagaytay Ridge where they would come upon more of the enemy. Colonel Soule directed the artillery of the 674th and the 675th while the final assault was made by the infantry. The troopers went uphill through the Mount Cariliao-Mount Batulao defile. This was Shorty Ridge; the eastern area that needed to be free of Japanese before the 511th made their jump. (The regiment had to be capable of meeting up with the rest of the division within twenty-four hours of their landing.) The forward Command Group of the Headquarters Company went through a mile of enemy territory to destroy the resistance on the ridge and make that first contact.
A mere two hours later, the Command Group followed along the fire-swept road and set up the division command post on the ridge. The Reconnaissance Group, right behind them, did not rest, but continued on toward Manila. The Command Group then folded in behind and set up another command post while under heavy fire.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.
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Author’s Note –
I am having trouble with my wordpress notifications. They do not always give me a link to return to your site anymore. I’m doing the best I can to not only get this glitch repaired, but find a way back to each site.
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25 April | ANZAC Day
MAY WE ALL REMEMBER ON ANZAC DAY
Let’s all wish our Australian neighbors and friends a memorable ANZAC Day.
For those unaware of its meaning…
“Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”.
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Current News –
Crocodile in Key West
In South Florida, surprise visitors can crawl on their bellies. And wear out their welcome.
Naval Air Station Key West had to remove a stubborn crocodile from its airfield on Boca Chica Key so planes could take off and land. The croc was photographed basking in the spring sunshine with a Super Hornet fighter jet in the background.
Navy officials knew what to do. The air station, at mile marker 8, off the Overseas Highway, is located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. She had been tagged about years ago, but now has a new tag.
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Military Humor –
Quite a tee off position!
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Farewell Salutes –
Hemming Anderson (104) – Tauranga, NZ; 2nd Expeditionary Force, WWII # 32089
Ian Cosgrove (100) – Winton, NZ; RNZ Army Medical Corps, WWII
Bob R. Hayes (100) – Mt. Vernon, NY; US Army, WWII
Aubie Kreusel – Gansville, LA; Civilian, WWII, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft (B-24 production)
Bernard Lampinen – Ashby, MA; US Navy, WWII
Harold Mann – Columbus, GA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 1255th Engineer Battalion
Jack E. Matson – Rock Island County, IL; US Army, WWII, PTO, SSgt. # 36431461, 382/96th Infantry Division, KIA
George Nelson – Wheatland, WY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Sgt., radioman, 8th Air Force
Hans Petersen – Shelby, DEN; Danish Resistance, WWII
William Ragsdale – TN; USMC, WWII, PTO, Cpl. # 433627, HQ Co/1/24/ 4th Marine Division, KIA (Saipan)
Hillary Soileau – Bunkle, LA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Pvt. # 34233291, Co F/2/27/25th Infantry Division, Bronze Star, KIA (“Galloping Horse Hills”, GUAD)
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Pacific Paratrooper 
