Ponsdorf posts a photo tribute to his Father-in-law, Dan Leffler, who passed away this morning. I’m pretty sure Ponsdorf, who served in the Navy, put up with a lot of guff from Mr. Leffler, who according to Posdorf parachuted into Sicily and rode a glider into Holland.
Blue skies, SSG Leffler…keep your feet and knees together.
Brigid Schulte of the Washington Post sent us a link to her article about the search for a resting place for Purple Heart certificate of Richard E. Owens who died in a plane crash over Normandy more than a decade before any of us were born. I’m sure TSO, who is mentioned in the article a few times, will have something to say about it in the coming days, but I just wanted to mention the story, even though my roll in the unfolding story was minor (mostly I acted as a switchboard operator forwarding emails).
I’m proud that TAH played a part in reuniting the parties and objects involved. This whole story adds an entirely new dimension to the Ranger’s Creed line “I will never leave a fallen comrade….”
One of our readers, Jake D, sends along this video about Medal of Honor recipient Bob Howard who seems larger than life. He was brought down by cancer recently and MSNBC does a fairly decent job of telling his story.
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I was in Vermont teaching ROTC during Operation Just Cause. When I went to bed on December 19th, I’d heard the news that a large number of transport aircraft had just left Fort Bragg, and I never thought they were headed to Panama. The following morning I woke my Panamanian wife to tell her we were at war. One of my cadets had a brother in the 82d and called to ask what was going on – like I’d know.
My brother-in-law was a sergeant in the Panama National Guard (which was actually the federal troops under Noriega) – he decided not to got to work that day and reported in when Noriega was finally taken in to custody. He retired from the Panama Defense Force three years ago. My nephew is a corporal in the PDF’s Traffic Police.
My mother-in-law had gone to school with Noriega and 12 years earlier, when he was a lieutenant colonel, had asked him to help get me released from the local jail (named Carcel Modelo) when I was jailed on some trumped-up kidnapping charges. He didn’t help, and I was released after two weeks with no charges brought against me.
So we go back every year, and I’ve never noticed any animosity towards Americans. Of course, it helps that they have the highest standard of living in Central America, much of it because of American tourists and the willingness we have to spend a lot of money there (they still use the dollar, but they call it a Balboa). They’re generally glad that Noriega is gone, some of them miss the Americans, but they’re doing well enough on their own.
A salute to the fallen of Just Cause from my buddies at Paratrooper.net;
ARMY
Staff Sgt. Larry Barnard 3/75th Rangers Hallstead, Pa.
Pfc. Roy D. Brown Jr. 3/75th Rangers Buena Park, Calif.
Pvt. Vance T. Coats 82nd Airborne Division Great Falls, Mont.
Spec. Jerry S. Daves 82nd Airborne. Division Hope Mills,N.C.
Sgt. Michael A. Deblois 82nd Airborne Division Dubach, La.
Pfc. Martin D. Denson 82nd Airborne Division Abilene,Texas
Pfc. William D. Gibbs 7th Infantry Division. Marina, Calif.
Spec. Phillip S. Lear 2/75th Rangers Westminster, S.C.
Spec. Alejandro Manriquelozano* 82nd Airborne Division Lauderhill, Fla.
Pfc. James W. Markwell 1/75th Rangers Cincinnati, Ohio
Cpl. Ivan M. Perez 5th Infantry Division Pawtucket, R.I.
Pfc. John M. Price 2/75th Rangers Conover, Wis.
Pfc. Scott L. Roth 89th Military Police Brigade Killeen, Texas
Pvt. Kenneth D. Scott 5th Infantry Division Princeton, W.Va.
1st Lt. John R. Hunter 160th Aviation Victor, Montana
CWO2 Wilson B. Owens 160th Aviation Myrtle Beach,S.C.
CWO2 Andrew P. Porter 7th Infantry Division Saint Clair, Mich.
Pvt. James A. Taber Jr. 82nd Airborne Division Montrose, Colo.
NAVY
Lt. jg John Connors Special Warfare Group Arlington, Maine
BM1 Chris Tilghman Special Warfare Group Kailua, Hawaii ENC
Donald McFaul Special Warfare Group Deschutes,Ore.
TM2 Issac G. Rodriguez III Special Warfare Group Missouri City,Texas
MARINE CORPS
Cpl. Garreth C. Isaak 2nd Marine Division home town unknown.
Another of our “wars of imperialism” in which we didn’t occupy or annex the country. When will we learn to get it right?
Norbert Otto Schmidt, a Korean War veteran who died this last summer, was being transported by his family to Arlington National Cemetery a few days ago, when someone stole the carry-on bag which contained the urn with his remains;
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The Armorer reminds us of the date and the attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut. He also lists the casualties from that day. Their webpage at Arlington Cemetary.
MaryAnn at Soldiers’ Angels Germany blog reminds us that They Came in Peace. Camp Lejeune marked the day. The State Department statement on the anniversary.
Col. Timothy J. Geraghty, USMC (Ret.), recounts his experiences that day in the New York Post. Fraternity brothers of one casualty from New York State mark the day.
Laughing Wolf at Blackfive remembers a friend.
Two days later, we invaded Grenada.
The best quote I’ve read from the late conservative columnist comes from the Washington Times;
Look, I’m not David Broder, Mr. Novak told the Washington Monthly in a 2004 profile. I’m not one of the real good guys. They try to make things nicer. That’s not my deal.
Mr. Novak contended that he began his career as a moderate, becoming more conservative only because of the impact of his reporting on his political ideas.
I suppose he’d take some measure of joy from the fact that the Democratic Underground warned their denizens to “stay classy” when they announced his death;
Fox News is reporting that the body of Desert Shield/Desert Storm’s only MIA has been positively ID’d. No links on their website yet, but here’s one from the Star Tribune;
Officials say the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology has positively identified the remains of Captain Michael “Scott” Speicher, whose disappearance has bedeviled investigators since his jet was shot down over the Iraq desert on the first night of the war.
The Pentagon initially declared him killed, but uncertainty led officials over the years to change his official status a number of times to “missing in action” and “missing-captured.”
Officials say they got new information from Iraqi citizens last month that led them to a place in the desert believed to be the crash site — and there they found the remains.
Added: More at Blackfive and Michelle Malkin.