Author: Jonn Lilyea

  • Russell Warriner and altered history

    Russell Warriner and altered history

    The Bangor Daily News printed a story told to them by Russell Warriner who served in Vietnam as a helicopter crew chief and left the service in 1975 as a staff sergeant. He served with Battery C, 2d Battalion, 20th Artillery of the 1st Cavalry Division from October 1967 to June 1969. He was awarded the Purple Heart and 14 Air Medals including one Air Medal with a Valor device.

    The problem comes with Bangor Daily News article when he describes an incident where his pilot and co-pilot flew another helicopter while he was left to repair his own craft on February 4th, 1968.

    In the story, he claims that the co-pilot, Thomas Hooper was killed. According to the National Archives, there was no Thomas Hooper killed in Vietnam;

    He also claims that Robert Connelly was captured and imprisoned at the Hanoi Hilton. The historian of NAM POW, Captain Mike McGrath, an actual POW of the Vietnam War, says that there was no Robert Connelly captured and held as a POW or returned in 1973 with Captain McGrath. DPAA agrees;

    Doing my due diligence, I searched for more of SSG Warriner’s stories and found a 2012 version of the same article in which he gives the names of the pilot and copilot as Warrant Officers Ronald Fields and Michael O’Connor.

    Checking the NARA and DPAA websites confirms that SSG Warriner merely mis-remembered the names of his crew in his telling of the story for the Bangor Daily Times;

    Welcome home, SSG Warriner and Warrant Officer O’Connor.

  • Spcs. Casey Brandle and Justin Stinnett saving the world

    Spcs. Casey Brandle and Justin Stinnett saving the world

    Devtun sends us a link to the story of Kentucky National Guard Specialists Casey Brandle and Justin Stinnett who, last month saved 87-year-old David Hamilton who had lost control of his car and plunged into raging waters alongside the road;

    A Daviess County Sheriff Deputy reported that Hamilton lost control of his vehicle and plunged into the waters along a stretch of highway. The deputy witnessed Brandle and Stinnett “selflessly and without hesitation” jump into the water, swim to the vehicle and assist Hamilton out of the car and up the embankment where emergency personnel would arrive to care for him.

    “We were on our way to the armory when we noticed the car drive off the road and into the flood water,” recalled Brandle. “We stopped to see if anyone needed assistance and we saw the car was sinking and someone on the inside trying to get out, so we jumped in to help.”

    As the two Soldiers made it the vehicle, Stinnett applied his weight to the rear of the car to keep it from nose diving more into the water, while Brandle pulled Hamilton from the driver’s side window.

    Brandle and Stinnett both remain humble for the ordeal and are thankful everyone is alive and well to commemorate the experience. Stinnett said he joined the Guard to gain a greater understanding of what he wanted out of a career as a machinist and welder. February 27 taught him a lot more.

    “It’s an honor to me having our actions considered heroic,” Stinnett said. “But, it’s one of those things that to me I feel as if anyone with a good heart would do the same. And I like to believe everyone else would have done the same.”

  • Sunday morning feel good stories

    Sunday morning feel good stories

    From Grayson County, Texas;

    A man is in the hospital after authorities said he broke into a Grayson County home and was shot by the owner.

    Neighbors said the homeowner, who is elderly and bedridden, told them the intruder worked on his yard in the past and has allegedly created problems recently.

    The owner told them he heard the man breaking into his home off of Farmington Road, between Van Alstyne and Howe, Thursday night around 10 p.m.

    “Saw the person, told him to leave and he didn’t,” Capt. Sarah Bigham said.

    Grayson County Capt. Sarah Bigham said the homeowner shot the alleged intruder then called 911.

    Neighbors said the homeowner had a gun right next to his bed and shot the man in the stomach three times.

    “The person he shot was no longer at the residence when our deputies arrived there,” Bigham said.

    So deputies started searching for the man who was shot and later found him at a local hospital, but they still don’t know how he got there.

    From El Paso, Texas;

    The incident began when the man allegedly was trying to break into the house and the homeowner came outside.

    The alleged intruder then picked up what police described as a weapon and charged at the resident, who retreated inside, police said.

    The intruder then forced his way inside and charged at the homeowner a second time, police said.

    The homeowner got a handgun and shot the man, who fled, police said.

    Police said that patrol officers already were en route to the burglary call when the call was upgraded to a shooting before officers arrived.

    Patrol officers found the wounded man nearby. He was taken to University Medical Center of El Paso for treatment, police said.

    The man will be charged with burglary of habitation and booked into jail once he is released from the hospital, officials said.

    From West Valley City, Utah;

    Lt. Jeff Conger, West Valley City Police, said a man was standing at the Redbox at a gas station at 3500 South 4400 West around 11 p.m. when another male went inside to purchase beer.

    “The man who went in to buy the beer appeared to be in a hurry, according to the cashier,” said Conger. “That man then left the store and stood directly behind the man at the Redbox and for some unknown reason, pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the neck.”

    Conger said after the man was stabbed, the victim went to his car and grabbed a gun and shot the suspect multiple times.

    The suspect, who had been struck by one of the bullets, fled the area but when police arrived they searched the area with K-9 officers and located the man nearby.

    Both the victim and the suspect were sent to area hospitals with significant wounds but have both been released.

    Conger said they booked 21-year-old David Tuipulotu Vea into the Salt Lake County Jail for felony aggravated assault and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. Conger said the stabbing victim will most likely not face any charges.

  • Governor Zell Miller passes

    Governor Zell Miller passes

    Mick sends us the sad news that former governor of Georgia (1975-1991), and US Senator (2000-2005) Zell Miller, 86, passed after battling Parkinson’s Disease yesterday;

    A lifelong Southern Democrat, Miller famously famously spoke at the 2004 GOP convention as a Democrat in support of former President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign.

    A decade earlier, Miller had been the keynote speaker at the 1992 Democratic National Convention, endorsing then Arkansas Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton for president.

    Wiki tells the story of his military career;

    Less than a month after the Korean War armistice, Miller wound up in a drunk tank in the mountains of North Georgia. Miller stated later that this incident was the lowest point of his life. Upon his release, Miller enlisted in the Marines. During his three years in the United States Marine Corps, Miller attained the rank of sergeant. He often refers to the value of his experience in the Marine Corps in his writing and stump speeches; in his book on the subject, entitled Corps Values: Everything You Need to Know I Learned in the Marines, he wrote:

    In the twelve weeks of hell and transformation that were Marine Corps boot camp, I learned the values of achieving a successful life that have guided and sustained me on the course which, although sometimes checkered and detoured, I have followed ever since.

  • Col. Arnaud Beltrame saving the world

    Col. Arnaud Beltrame saving the world

    We talked a bit about the Terrorist who took hostages in a supermarket in Trebes, France yesterday. Colonel Arnaud Beltrame, one of the first officers to respond to the attack, was able to arrange a swap for one of the hostages and he took her place, according to Military.com;

    [Beltrame] went inside the supermarket on Friday, he had given up his own weapon and volunteered himself in exchange for a female hostage.

    Unbeknownst to the Morocco-born captor, he left his cellphone on so police outside could hear what was happening in the store. They stormed the building when they heard gunshots, officials said. Beltrame was fatally wounded.

    His death raises the toll to four. The gunman was also killed, and 15 people were injured in the attack.

    “Arnaud Beltrame died in the service of the nation to which he had already given so much,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. “In giving his life to end the deadly plan of a jihadi terrorist, he fell as a hero.”

    According to the statement, Beltrame joined the elite police special forces in 2003 and deployed to Iraq in 2005. He served as a member of the presidential guard and in 2012 earned one of France’s highest honors, the Order of Merit. He was married with no children.

  • Trump takes Mattis’ recommendations on transgender ban

    According to Stars & Stripes, President Trump signed an order yesterday that was aligned with recommendations from Secretary of Defense James Mattis in regards to allowing transgender recruits in the ranks of the military;

    The decision revokes a full ban that Trump issued last summer but disqualifies U.S. troops who have had gender reassignment surgery, as recommended by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

    “By its very nature, military service requires sacrifice,” Mattis wrote in a memo to the president that was released Friday. “The men and women who serve voluntarily accept limitations on their personal liberties – freedom of speech, political activity, freedom of movement – in order to provide the military lethality and readiness necessary to ensure American citizens enjoy their personal freedoms to the fullest extent.”

    Current transgender service members who have not undergone reassignment surgery should be allowed to stay, as long as they have been medically stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex before joining the military and are able to deploy across the world, Mattis recommended.

    Mattis recommended that anyone diagnosed with gender dysphoria, the condition of wanting to transition gender, since the Obama administration ended the Pentagon’s longtime ban on transgender service in 2016 may continue to serve. The decision amounts to a “grandfathering” of those affected by the new policy.

    Of course the Palm Center isn’t happy;

    Applying a single standard to all service members is not only the sole legal option, but is the best way to promote military readiness. Transgender troops have been serving openly in the U.S. military for nearly two years, and have been widely praised by commanders. All available research, including the military’s own extensive study of the issue and the results of a thorough study by the RAND Corporation, indicates that inclusive policy promotes readiness by ensuring equal treatment and drawing on all available talent.

    According to the Stars & Stripes article, Mattis believes that Rand Corp. study to be inaccurate;

    “It referred to limited and heavily caveated data to support its conclusions, glossed over the impacts of health care costs, readiness and unit cohesion, and erroneously relied on the selective experiences of foreign militaries with different operational requirements than our own,” Mattis wrote. “In short, this policy issue has proven more complex than the prior administration or RAND assumed.”

    Basically, the order grandfathers-in transgender troops who are currently in the military while it limits the number of recruits they will accept in the ranks to the more stable people. I guess they don’t want to spend tax payer dollars on a social program that benefits only a few while it sucks away training dollars.

  • Frank C. Gaylord II passes

    Frank C. Gaylord II passes

    Bobo sends us the sad news that Frank C. Gaylord II passed at the age of 93. He is best known as the sculptor of the figures at the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Reportedly, the faces of the men were actually taken from Gaylord’s sketches of the people he served with during World War II as a paratrooper with the 17th Airborne Division.

    Born March 9, 1925, in Clarksburg, West Virginia, he was the son of Richard and Thelma (Hamilton) Gaylord.

    Frank graduated from Washington Irving High School in Clarksburg. Next, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served as a paratrooper in the 17th Airborne Division, Company C, 513th Parachute Infantry based out of Fort Meade, Maryland, before being honorably discharged with the Bronze Star for Valor Combat Infantryman’s Badge and Combat Paratroopers Badge. After his discharge, he went to Temple University on the GI Bill where he graduated in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts.

  • Saturday morning feel good stories

    Saturday morning feel good stories

    From Stone County, Arkansas;

    A news release issued by the SCSO states that before the shooting happened, deputies had been called to investigate a report of an intoxicated person on Cedar Creek Rd. who was making threats over the phone to the homeowner and was armed with a gun. It was later learned that the intoxicated person was a Marshall resident.

    A few minutes later, deputies headed to the scene were told that the homeowner, who was still on the phone with dispatchers, feared for his safety and the safety of his family and had fired shots at the intruder.

    When deputies arrived moments later, they saw through the open door of the home, that a man was lying dead on the floor several feet inside and that what appeared to be a rifle, was lying next to him.

    During the course of the investigation, it was determined that the deceased suspect had unlawfully entered the home and was confronted by the homeowner.

    From Arnold, Missouri;

    According to police, a person came into the Pawn King on Jeff Co Boulevard around 4 p.m. attempting to rob the store. The suspect, who was armed, was shot and killed inside the building.

    At present, it’s unclear who else was in the store when it happened.

    A longtime customer said that the store owner, his wife, and brother were almost always there manning the shop. He said the store sells a lot of guns and that the store owner and his brother are experienced with guns and always carrying.

    In Bakersfield, California;

    When deputies arrived, the resident, a man, was holding the suspect, a 17-year-old boy, at gunpoint. The resident put his gun away as deputies approached.

    The Sheriff’s Office determined the resident confronted the teen about breaking into his backyard shed. That’s when the teen allegedly tried to stab the resident, and the resident responded by shooting the teen in the leg.

    The Sheriff’s Office said the teen will get medical care before being booked into Juvenile Hall.

    In St Paul, Minnesota;

    According to police: The robbery victim and the suspect, both of them men, met on Facebook Marketplace where one agreed to sell the other an iPhone X for $500.

    When they met in the parking lot, the buyer, a St. Paul man, started counting out the money in $20 denominations to make the payment. At that point, the seller “placed a black firearm to his side and took the money,” Ernster said.

    The robbery victim drew his own gun and fired up to three shots at the suspect, who fled on foot. Police do not believe the suspect, who is 18, fired at the robbery victim at any point.

    The robbery victim fled the scene, called police and later returned to the area to assist in the investigation. He was not arrested in the incident.

    The suspect was dropped off by a private vehicle near Regions Hospital.