Category: We Remember

According to Fox News, ten Tennessee volunteers are coming home after they were killed in the Mexican War in 1846.

The soldiers were part of the Army of Occupation led by former President Zachary Taylor – then a general – who fought in the 1846 Battle of Monterrey. Out of a force of more than 6,000 soldiers from Tennessee, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas, only 120 U.S. troops were killed and 43 went missing in the three day mêlée in which American forces defeated the Mexican Army of the North.

Archaeologists in Mexico discovered the remains of 10 soldiers between 1995 and 2011 as the scientists dug in an area where a construction company planned to build.

[…]

Tennessee believes the soldiers were part of the state’s militia. About 30,000 Tennesseans responded to calls for additional troops and about 35 were killed in action…

Thanks to Tom and Bobo for the link.

Last month, Hondo told us that Emmett L. Kines’ remains had been identified from the battlefields of the Pacific island Betio in Tarawa, another missing Marine recovered by History Flight from among the hundreds. Today we hear that he made it home yesterday to Grafton, West Virginia;

From WeHeartWV;

On hand was his only remaining living sibling, 90-year-old Betty Huffman. She was present when his remains arrived at the Donald G. Ford Funeral Home.

She hugged her brother’s flag-draped coffin, finally reunited with her long-lost brother.

From DPAA;

Marine Pvt. Emmett L. Kines, 24, of Grafton, West Virginia, will be buried Sept. 19, in his hometown. In November 1943, Kines was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, but the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Kines died sometime during the first day of the battle, Nov. 20, 1943.

McClatchy reports that Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th President and the commander of the invasion of Hitler’s Europe will finally get a Memorial in Washington, DC a block or so from the National Mall. The memorial will focus on his leadership on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

“From Eisenhower’s upbringing in Abilene, Kansas, to the pinnacle of power in the 1940s and 50s,” [Susan Eisenhower, the president’s granddaughter] said, “Eisenhower’s origins and his leadership in war and in peace is an appropriate way to remember him.”

[…]

In addition to Baker, who was secretary of state under President George H.W. Bush, the memorial got a boost from Kansas’ senior statesman, Bob Dole, a former senator and Republican presidential nominee.

Dole, 93, had pushed for the memorial’s completion as a tribute to the living World War II veterans Eisenhower led. According to the National World War II Museum, fewer than 700,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in the war are still living, including Dole.

It’s hoped that the project will be finished in time for the 75th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2019.

The President has designated today as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

The United States does not leave anyone behind, and we do not forget those who remain missing. We will never stop working to bring home those who gave everything for their country, nor cease in our pursuit of the fullest possible accounting for all who are missing. We are working to fulfill this promise by strengthening communication with the families of those service members missing or taken prisoner. And as Commander in Chief, I am committed to living up to this responsibility.

The men and women of our Armed Forces face unthinkable conditions and bear the painful cost of war. Theirs is a debt we can never fully repay, though we will continue striving to remain worthy of their sacrifice. In honor of those who have not yet come home, and the families who struggle with the fear of unknown fate, we renew our fierce commitment to our patriots in uniform and pledge to do everything we can to bring those missing or held prisoner home.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) there are still more than 83,000 Americans missing;

Eggs sends us links to the story that the college football team, the Arizona Wildcats, plan to honor USS Arizona, the battleship which rests at the bottom of Pearl Harbor since December 7th, 1941;

A survivor from the U.S.S. Arizona attack will be honored at halftime at Saturday’s game against Hawaii at Arizona Stadium, and the Wildcats will also wear special uniforms honoring the battleship. Arizona unveiled the new uniforms Wednesday night:

That seems like a much more productive behavior for football players than some of the other examples we’ve seen lately.

Tom sends us the news that US Army Corporal Larry M. Dunne is on the last leg home after his capture in Korea in 1950 and he was declared dead in 1953. His earthly remains have been interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, known as the “Punchbowl” since 1954.

Dunn’s remains will fly into Huntsville International Airport around 8:45 a.m. They will then be taken to taken to Cullman Heritage Funeral Home, where they will lie in state Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. so the community can pay their respects.

Dunn’s funeral will be Saturday at 11 a.m. He will be laid to rest with full military honors at Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

The Patriot Guard Riders plan on being there for him.

From AL.com;

18-year-old…Army Cpl. Larry M. Dunn was a member of Company B, 2nd Engineer Combat Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, when his unit was fighting through a roadblock that was heavily defended by enemy forces near Sonchu, North Korea on Dec. 1, 1950, according to the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Dunn went missing during the battle.

According to the Department of Defense, Dunn never appeared on any list of the captured released by North Korea or the Chinese Communist Forces, nor did any repatriated Americans report that he was a fellow prisoner in any internment camp in North Korea.

Because of lack of information, the Army declared Dunn deceased as of Dec. 31, 1953.

The following was written by MCPO USN NYC (Ret) and posted at his request;

Lest we forget 15 years ago today . . .

 

7:59 am – American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 92 people aboard, takes off from Boston’s Logan International Airport en route to Los Angeles.

8:14 am – United Airlines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 with 65 people aboard, takes off from Boston; it is also headed to Los Angeles.

8:19 am – Flight attendants aboard Flight 11 alert ground personnel that the plane has been hijacked; American Airlines notifies the FBI.

8:20 am – American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C. The Boeing 757 is headed to Los Angeles with 64 people aboard.

8:24 am – Hijacker Mohammed Atta makes the first of two accidental transmissions from Flight 11 to ground control (apparently in an attempt to communicate with the plane’s cabin).

8:41 am – United Airlines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 44 people aboard, takes off from Newark International Airport en route to San Francisco. It had been scheduled to depart at 8:00 am, around the time of the other hijacked flights.

8:46 am – Mohammed Atta and the other hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crash the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

8:47 am – Within seconds, NYPD and FDNY forces dispatch units to the World Trade Center, while Port Authority Police Department officers on site begin immediate evacuation of the North Tower.

9:03 am – Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building

9:08 am – The FAA bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through the airspace around the city.

9:21 am – The Port Authority closes all bridges and tunnels in the New York City area.

9:24 am – The FAA notified NEADS of the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 after some passengers and crew aboard are able to alert family members on the ground.

9:37 am – Hijackers aboard Flight 77 crash the plane into the western façade of the

Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 59 aboard the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building.

9:59 am – The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

10:07 am – After passengers and crew members aboard the hijacked Flight 93 contact friends and family and learn about the attacks in New York and Washington, they mount an attempt to retake the plane. In response, hijackers deliberately crash the plane into a field in Somerset County,

Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew aboard.

10:28 am – The World Trade Center’s North Tower collapses, 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11.

5:20 pm – The 47-story Seven World Trade Center collapses after burning for hours; the building had been evacuated in the morning, and there are no casualties, though the collapse forces rescue workers to flee for their lives.

8:30 pm – President Bush addresses the nation, calling the attacks “evil, despicable acts of terror” and declaring that America, its friends and allies would “stand together to win the war against terrorism.”

. . .

Editorial Note: At approximately 0100 on May 2, 2011, a 79 member joint team, including MWD Cairo, delivered by the Night Stalkers and operating with Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU aka SEAL Team SIX) RED Squadron raided a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden with one shot to the head followed by another shot to the chest. Mission Commander of OPERATION NEPTUNE SPEAR and DEVGRU RED Squadron OIC on scene reported, “for God and country … Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo”, and then, after being prompted for confirmation, “Geronimo E.K.I.A.” (enemy killed in action). Within 24 hours of his death, the lifeless and soulless body of bin Laden was unceremoniously dumped in to the Indian Ocean by a lone junior Sailor from the USS Carl Vincent for the sharks and sea snakes to feed upon.

The sad news comes to us that Greta Zimmer Friedman, the woman in the above picture has passed after a long period of illnesses.

Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform on Aug. 14, 1945. She went to Times Square amid reports that the war had ended. That’s when she was kissed by George Mendonsa celebrating Japan’s surrender.

Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the moment. It became one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

George Mendonsa died in 2014 at the age of 86.