Category: Support the troops

Every veteran’s passing is a sad event for our nation but this one stunned the sleepy town of 5000 on the Guadalupe River in south Texas.

BULVERDE, Texas (AP)—Felix “Doc” Blanchard, the 1945 Heisman Trophy winner and Army’s Mr. Inside in one of college football’s most famous backfields, has died. He was 84.

The bruising fullback Blanchard, listed at 6 feet, 208 pounds, and Glenn Davis, aka Mr. Outside, helped Army win consecutive national titles in 1944-45.

With Blanchard and Davis, Army went 27-0-1 from 1944-46.

Blanchard scored 38 touchdowns and gained 1,908 yards in his three seasons playing at West Point. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the third overall pick, but he never played professional football.

He ended up serving a long career as a fighter pilot in the Air Force, flying in the Korean and Vietnam wars retiring with the rank of Colonel.

One of the most awesome backfields in NCAA history is reunited.

Godspeed Sir.

I suppose the DHS Secretary can take him off the watch list now.

My first experience with online activism was back in 2000 when then-General Shinseki decided to arm the Army with it’s greatest weapon – the black beret. My friends over at paratrooper.net and I raised a pretty good stink and we followed the battle right to the halls of Congress.

Actually, Shinseki appeared before the Small Business Committee (ahead of a subpoena) because he’d short-circuited normal purchasing procedures and bought the first load from China at about the same time the Chinese knocked down one of our reconnaissance flights over international waters. Of course, 9-11 took center stage and our concerns shifted towards more important issues.

But here we are nine years later, Shinseki, who couldn’t even get a hat issued to his soldiers without getting a subpoena to explain it to Congress, is running our Veterans Affairs Department. Well the Stars and Stripes newspaper headlines this morning that some troops still don’t like the beret;

Soldiers had a list of complaints about the black beret. Among them:

* It doesn’t match the Army Combat Uniform, which has no black in its pattern.
* It has to be shaved, washed and dried on a lampshade or hat stand to hold its shape.
* It can cost nearly twice as much as a patrol cap, and there’s no standard way to wear it.

“You have seven people wearing it seven different ways,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jon Butler.

Honestly, I could never figure the whole thing out. The only reason I could see that Shinseki wanted the black beret was because he’d been a tanker in Augsburg (tankers used to wear the black beret which at the time was unauthorized) when the 1st Ranger Battalion came to town for REFORGER in 1975 and the few nights we were allowed in the enlisted club on Sheridan Kaserne, a brawl over the beret ensued.

Then a few years later (I think it was 1978) the new Army Chief of Staff, General Bernard Rogers, did away with all unauthorized headgear (even the maroon beret for Airborne troops) and the tankers lost their black beret. I guess we’re all lucky that Shinseki wasn’t in the 172d Infantry Brigade in Alaska – they wore a beret that looked like it was made from those nasty-looking green blankets that the Army issues.

But the Army ought to take a survey and make a decision based on what the troops want – for a change.

TSO tells me that Marne Man and Medal of Honor recipient Russell E. Dunham has taken the point and passed on Monday. Here’s the narrative of his Medal of Honor;

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. At about 1430 hours on 8 January 1945, during an attack on Hill 616, near Kayserberg, France, T/Sgt. Dunham single-handedly assaulted 3 enemy machineguns. Wearing a white robe made of a mattress cover, carrying 12 carbine magazines and with a dozen hand grenades snagged in his belt, suspenders, and buttonholes, T/Sgt. Dunham advanced in the attack up a snow-covered hill under fire from 2 machineguns and supporting riflemen. His platoon 35 yards behind him, T/Sgt. Dunham crawled 75 yards under heavy direct fire toward the timbered emplacement shielding the left machinegun. As he jumped to his feet 10 yards from the gun and charged forward, machinegun fire tore through his camouflage robe and a rifle bullet seared a 10-inch gash across his back sending him spinning 15 yards down hill into the snow. When the indomitable sergeant sprang to his feet to renew his 1-man assault, a German egg grenade landed beside him. He kicked it aside, and as it exploded 5 yards away, shot and killed the German machinegunner and assistant gunner. His carbine empty, he jumped into the emplacement and hauled out the third member of the gun crew by the collar. Although his back wound was causing him excruciating pain and blood was seeping through his white coat, T/Sgt. Dunham proceeded 50 yards through a storm of automatic and rifle fire to attack the second machinegun. Twenty-five yards from the emplacement he hurled 2 grenades, destroying the gun and its crew; then fired down into the supporting foxholes with his carbine dispatching and dispersing the enemy riflemen. Although his coat was so thoroughly blood-soaked that he was a conspicuous target against the white landscape, T/Sgt. Dunham again advanced ahead of his platoon in an assault on enemy positions farther up the hill. Coming under machinegun fire from 65 yards to his front, while rifle grenades exploded 10 yards from his position, he hit the ground and crawled forward. At 15 yards range, he jumped to his feet, staggered a few paces toward the timbered machinegun emplacement and killed the crew with hand grenades. An enemy rifleman fired at pointblank range, but missed him. After killing the rifleman, T/Sgt. Dunham drove others from their foxholes with grenades and carbine fire. Killing 9 Germans–wounding 7 and capturing 2–firing about 175 rounds of carbine ammunition, and expending 11 grenades, T/Sgt. Dunham, despite a painful wound, spearheaded a spectacular and successful diversionary attack.

According to TSO, after returning from the war, he went on to serve the troops with 32 years in the VA. His hometown paper Riverbend, IL’s The Telegraph has a great article about him.

Rock of the Marne.

All of us are fans of tankerbabe so you’ve all read her excellent post about the SIlver Stars awarded to the members of Co. C 2/503rd 173rd Airborne Brigade for their actions at the tiny Vehicle Patrol Base at Wanat, Afghanistan on July 13, 2008. 

This morning at Stars and Stripes, Cindy Fisher writes about Marine Corporal Jason Jones who was also at Wanat that morning and was also awarded the Silver Star for his actions there;

His medal citation recounts how he and another Marine dashed 35 meters through enemy fire to rescue a seriously wounded Afghan soldier.

Then they heard a call from U.S. soldiers that their observation post was about to be overrun.

“We had to do something,” Jones said.

He and a fellow Marine grabbed machine guns and ammunition and sprinted more than 100 yards through enemy fire to man the post and repel the attack.

I’m pretty sure those Taliban knuckleheads would have thought twice if they’d known it was a full platoon of US paratroopers AND three Marines they were attacking in that tiny patrol base. Honestly, I’m in awe of these guys – a handful of men beat back hundreds of fanatics. How can anyone not be awed?