Category: Blue Skies

Sparks wrote us about a young man from his church who was killed at Bagram Airbase the other day when the Taliban fired two rockets. Sparks’ friend was Robert “Robby” Wayne Ellis. I’ve been holding off mentioning this until the Pentagon publicly identified the four youngsters and they’ve finally done that today;

30-year-old Spc. William R. Moody of Burleson, Texas;
25-year-old Sgt. Justin R. Johnson of Hobe Sound, Fla.;
21-year-old Spc. Ember M. Alt of Beech Island, S.C.;
21-year-old Spc. Robert W. Ellis of Kennewick, Wash.

Johnson served with the 10th Transportation Battalion, 7th Sustainment Brigade, Fort Eustis, Va. The others served with the 68th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 43rd Sustainment Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

From Robby’s hometown newspaper;

Spc. 4 Robby Wayne Ellis, a 2010 graduate of Kennewick High School, served in the Army’s 32nd Transportation Co., based at Fort Carson, Colo.

Ellis, a truck driver in the Army, was recently promoted and had re-enlisted for another five years. He was seven months into his first tour of duty in Afghanistan and was due to return to the U.S. in August.

Army officials said Ellis and three other soldiers were killed when insurgents attacked the sprawling Bagram Air Base, one of the largest military bases in Afghanistan. Few details were available Wednesday, but it appears they were hit with some kind of indirect fire, likely rockets or mortar rounds.

His mother, Joelle Ellis of Kennewick, said Ellis and his comrades were standing at a bus stop on the base when they were attacked.

I know this has really hit Sparks hard, so I extend the condolences of TAH and an offer for anything we can do to help.

Tman sends us links to the news that two members of the Federal Bureau of Invstigations’ Hostage Rescue team died in training in Virginia on Friday.

The accident happened off the coast of Virginia Beach on Friday, the FBI’s national press office announced in a statement Sunday. No other details were given and the cause is under investigation.

The special agents were identified as Christopher Lorek, 41, and Stephen Shaw, 40. Lorek joined the FBI in 1996 and is survived by a wife and two daughters, 11 and 8. Shaw joined in 2005 and is survived by a daughter, 3, and son, 1.

Yet another reminder that training can be as deadly as real life.

The Navy Times is reporting that a Navy SEAL, Special Warfare Operator 3rd Class Jonathan Kaloust, was killed in training at Fort Knox Wednesday night when the vehicle in which he was riding overturned. Seven others were injured;

The exercise was part of tactical training and the vehicles were traveling in a convoy, but Lloyd declined to give any further details, saying the training is considered sensitive.

Kaloust was assigned to an East Coast-based SEAL team out of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Va., the release said. The 23-year-old from Massapequa, N.Y., joined the Navy in March 2011. He joined his unit in December.

Another stark reminder that training can be as deadly as war.

Thanks to Chip for the link.

Several of you have sent us the link to the sad news that Alan Wood, the man who provided the flag for the iconic raising on Iwo Jima has passed on ahead April 18, 2013;

Wood happened to have a 37-square-foot flag he had found months before in a Pearl Harbor Navy depot.

Five Marines and a Navy Corpsman later raised that flag in a stirring moment captured by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.

Steven Wood says his father was always humbled by his small role in the historic moment.

In a 1945 letter to a Marine general who asked for details about the flag, Wood wrote: “The fact that there were men among us who were able to face a situation like Iwo where human life is so cheap, is something to make humble those of us who were so very fortunate not to be called upon to endure such hell.”

MCPO Ret. in TN reminds us that Ernie Pyle gave his life on this day in 1945 in service to the troops. From the Tennessean;

“He got people at home to understand that life at the front ‘works itself into an emotional tapestry of one dull dead pattern — yesterday is tomorrow and Troiano is Randozzo and, O God, I’m so tired.’

“He never made war look glamorous. He hated it and feared it.”

In September 1944, after more than two years writing from the front lines, a tired, worn-out, 44-year-old Pyle headed home, writing apologetically to his millions of readers, “I don’t think I could go on and keep sane. … I have had all I can take for awhile.”

From his obituary in the New York Times;

Ernie Pyle died today on Ie Island, just west of Okinawa, like so many of the doughboys he had written about. The nationally known war correspondent was killed instantly by Japanese machine-gun fire.

The slight, graying newspaper man, chronicler of the average American soldier’s daily round, in and out of foxholes in many war theatres, had gone forward early this morning to observe the advance of a well-known division of the Twenty-fourth Army Corps.

He joined headquarters troops in the outskirts of the island’s chief town, Tegusugu. Our men had seemingly ironed out minor opposition at this point, and Mr. Pyle went over to talk to a regimental commanding officer. Suddenly enemy machine gunners opened fire at about 10:15 A.M. (9:15 P.M., Tuesday, Eastern war time). The war correspondent fell in the first burst.

Ernie would want me to remind you that the legend goes that he was buried by the soldiers that he loved so much still wearing his helmet.

During the last days of World War II in Europe, an American soldier – PFC George Charles Hankey – was killed.  He died on May 1, 1945.  He was buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France.

PFC Hankey’s family was notified of his death.  His little brother Alvin was 7 at the time.  He idolized his brother older, and thought of him often growing up.

PFC Hankey’s medals – including a Purple Heart – were given to his widow.  Unfortunately she also died a few years later.

PFC Hankey’s funeral flag was given to his mother.  But for whatever reason, PFC Hankey’s mother didn’t want his medals.

The medals disappeared.  And in most cases, that’s the end of the story.  Except this time . . . it isn’t.

Fast forward about 60 years – and enter CPT Zachariah Fike, VT ARNG.  CPT Fike founded and runs a nonprofit foundation called “Purple Hearts Reunited”.  The name of the foundation very succinctly describes its mission.

PFC Hankey’s medals were found recently in an old cedar chest.  Someone contacted Purple Hearts Reunited.

PFC Hankey’s name was engraved on the back of his Purple Heart.  That allowed Purple Hearts Reunited to locate his nearest living relative:  his little brother, Alvin Hankey, now in his mid-70s.

Alvin Hankey recently received his late brother’s Purple Heart – along with his brother’s Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Campaign Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, and Airborne Wings.  With the medals and badges was a photograph of his older brother in uniform.

PFC Hankey’s medals are hardly the first returned by Purple Hearts Reunited.  Rather, they’re only one case among many.

Kudos, CPT Fike.  Damn well done.

. . .

Purple Hearts Reunited is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit corporation.  Their Facebook page, which IMO is worth a visit, is

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Purple-Hearts-Reunited-INC/252965351489307

They accept donations via PayPal.  Should you care to donate the old fashioned way, donations can also be mailed to

Purple Hearts Reunited INC
P.O. Box 3
Burlington, VT 05402-0003

If you’ve got some spare $$$ after taxes, this might be a good place to send a few of them.

An older gentleman, aged 87, passed away on 11 April 2013.

Like many of his generation the man was a vet.  He quit high school during his senior year, enlisted in the USMC at age 17, and spent 2 1/2 years in the South Pacific.

After his return from war he went to college, discovering an interest in art.  He met his future wife; their marriage lasted until her death over 60 years later.

He became a comic, and a damn good one, not too long afterwards.  He spent the rest of his professional life entertaining people and trying to make people laugh.

The man’s name?  Jonathan Winters.

Rest in peace, Jonathan Winters. Rest in peace.

Added Sporkmaster: I think my lack of age is showing here. I was looking at his photo and it looked familiar but I could not place it. Looked him up and then I saw a much younger photo of him in the movie “It’s a Mad Mad Mad World”. My father showed it to me when I in my early teens. So to help those in the thirty and under age group I am adding a video of the best scenes of that movie with Jonathan Winters.