This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Real Soldiers

  • On Basil Marceaux

    Last weekend, in response to several requests, I wrote a bit about Basil Marceaux, a candidate for governor in Tennessee who claimed he had been a Force Recon Marine. I doubted it given his demeanor at the time. We just got his records fromour friends at POW Net and it turns out he was indeed involved in Force Recon.

    He went in the Marines in 1971 until 1973 when the military was drawing down so he didn’t go to Vietnam, but that doesn’t detract from his service. He never claimed any medals he didn’t earn, unlike many other politicians.

    Welcome home, Basil.

  • RIP Vernon J. Baker

    The Washington Post reports that the sole liveing African American MOH recipient of WWII has left us.

    First Lt. Vernon J. Baker, 90, an Army infantryman who, more than 50 years after the end of World War II, became the only surviving African American to receive the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the war, died July 13 at his home near St. Maries, Idaho.

    The article goes on to describe Lt. baker’s actions agaionst the Germans in Italy.  It reads like something out of a movie:

    Two hours after starting their mission on April 5, Lt. Baker and his men came within 300 yards of the castle. While attempting to find a suitable place for a machine gun, Lt. Baker observed two rifle barrels hanging out of a concealed slit in some rocky earth.

    After stealthily crawling to the opening, he popped up and emptied the clip of his M-1 rifle into the observation post, killing two sentries.

    While searching for more camouflaged emplacements, Lt. Baker spotted a machine-gun nest occupied by two soldiers distracted by their breakfast. He shot and killed them both.

    A German soldier then hurled a grenade that landed at Lt. Baker’s feet. Undeterred, he fired two fatal rounds at the fleeing German, while the grenade by Lt. Baker’s boots failed to explode.

    He found the door to another bunker and blasted it open with a grenade. A wounded German soldier stumbled out in confusion, and Lt. Baker shot him. After tossing in a second grenade, he raided the bunker with a submachine gun blazing, killing two more Germans.

    Apparently, Baker spent 23 years in the Army and retired in 1968.  My favorite part of the article was the end:

    He spent much of his later life hunting big game in Idaho. During one expedition, he discovered a mountain lion lurking behind him. After receiving his Medal of Honor, Lt. Baker was asked by Clinton what happened to the cougar.

    “Why, it’s in my freezer,” Lt. Baker said. “I’m going to eat him.”

    BZ Lt.  Rest In Peace

  • Clarence Wolf Guts

    The other day in a post Jonn gave us about Edith Shain . Reader 509th Bob left a comment regarding the passing of the last of the Oglala Lakota code talkers and I thought it merited it’s own post.

    Clarence Wolf Guts was the last of the Oglala Lakota code talkers. These code talkers spoke the Lakota dialect of the Souix language, the other two dialects being Nakota and Dakota.

    “He’s a very unselfish hero, always complimenting somebody else,” [Donald E.]Loudner said. “He always said to me ‘I never did anything great, I was just one of a team.’”

    Sound familiar?

    “I knew he was an important man to people because of his activities in the Army, but I didn’t know this many people had so much respect for him,” said Don Doyle, Wolf Guts’ only son. “I’m very proud of him, and I’m very grateful to them coming all the way here to pay respects to my father.”

    Most of us became familiarized with the code talkers when the government declassified material related to the code talker program in the 1990’s and a book, then movie was written regarding the code talkers called Wind Talkers. I admit, I never saw the movie because I was worried Hollywood would screw it up. The book and movie highlighted the Navajo code talkers which was a Marine program. Many people don’t realize that Indians from 15 different tribes became code talkers. Clarence was part of the Army’s code talker program and was recruited while at Ft. Rucker in Ranger training along with his cousin Iver Crow Eagle. Clarence was Maj. Gen. Paul Mueller’s personal code talker, and traveled with him and the 81st ID as the division moved from island to island in the Pacific, headed for Japan. Iver accompanied the general’s chief of staff.

    Clarence was laid to rest on June 23rd, God Bless and thank you Sir.

    Clarence Wolf Guts

    ht; 509th Bob

  • Goodbye Don

    Yesterday, I attended the funeral of Corporal Donald Marler, who was killed in action along with two other Marines in Helmand on June 6th. At the time he was serving with 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1), which was on its sixth combat deployment in support of the war on terror.  I served with Don for  two years, first at Marine Barracks Washington and then as part of the Marine security detail at Camp David.

    (more…)

  • Welcome Home

    I was looking at Facebook the other day and saw that the gunner on my old tank is coming home from Afghanistan today… Yah, he re-upped after being out for I don’t know how long and he’s older than his Battalion CO. Anyhow, I saw this over at Theo Spark’s place and was just a little moved. Maybe you’ve seen before but if not, enjoy. Every Soldier/Sailor/Marine/Airman deserves this kind of welcome home….and if you can still see the monitor at the end of the video, check your pulse….you’re probably dead…

    [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/GSTKoKjJ5XA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

  • REAL Soldiers

    I know that one of the things that this blog has done with great ferocity and pleasure is to take on the poseurs and wannabees.   They always fall into 2 categories, those that have never served and those that have and yet feel the need to embellish said service (see of course Sporkmaster’s latest schmuck) and those that have made up completely their military service ala General Ballduster McSoulpatch (the absolute best name for a wannabe evah!!!)

    I came across this story in the local fishwrap and it is what most of the comments of “Catagory 1” wankers seem to draw….if you served honorably, why lie about it? Well, this guy didn’t and felt that the awards weren’t the biggest deal about his service (waddaya know, a humble vet…) He received 2 awards 65 years after he received them….

    He was 25 years old and just finished serving the duration of U.S. involvement in World War II. He did not particularly care that he deserved some medals.

    “When I got out, I just wanted to forget about the war and go on,” said Young. “It didn’t bother me if I didn’t have the medals.”

    And to top it all of they gave the guy a flag that flew over the Capitol on his 90th birthday, nice touch..

    Discharge papers stated he earned two medals he never received, but Young never bothered to ask for them.

    “I didn’t know anything about the medals,” Young said. “I didn’t even know I had them coming (before being discharged), and I don’t know why I didn’t get them.”

    I think this guy is probably more in line with the majority of vets out there, I just thought maybe some of the poseurs out there might want to see what a real man looks like…

    Honor

  • 1st Armored Div soldier killed on leave

    Sporkmaster sent us a link to the story about a 20-year-old soldier named Cody Ryan Patterson, who was murdered while back home on leave from Iraq. The soldier happens to be the nephew of a blogger at The Rag Blog. The Daily Sentinel tells the story;

    Hill County Sheriff Jeffrey Lyons said Pvt. Cody Ryan Patterson, 20, suffered an apparent gunshot wound to his chest at a home in Blum, about 40 miles north of Waco. He was pronounced dead early Saturday morning.

    A Hill County jail spokesman said April Thompson, 25, of Odessa, was charged with manslaughter Sunday after she was arrested in Glen Rose, about 30 miles west of Blum.

    Patterson was assigned to the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, TX according to the Associated Press.

    UPDATED: I have added a few more links with more information and obituaries

    I am not sure when this was posted but here is a update in the case that ended in a plea deal

    An Odessa woman makes a plea deal in the shooting death of a central Texas soldier.

    24-year-old April Danielle Thompson was sentenced to six years in prison.

    Thompson says she accidentally shot 20-year old Cody Ryan Patterson in October of 2009.