Carl's Update on WWI and WWII Veterans

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    Thanks Jim/Sue, Jay,

    Walter must have been great to know. It would have also been great to be able to interview him. I do this when I get the chance.

    Jay, yep, last I heard, they were passing away at the rate of 1,700 a day. It's mind boggling.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    This finally appeared in our newspaper today!! Our daily paper sometimes lags on information it deems not so important, overlooking the fact that there are a lot of us out here that find these items of greater import, and not the drivel that it emphasizes.
    So what else is new?
    Cheers - Jay:beer:

    Cheers - Jay:beer:
    "Not hardly!!!"

    It looks like Most of the People that I served with in the U.S.A.F. in the Korean War that we called "Re-Treads" from W.W. 2 are almost all Gone Now. :yeaahh:

    Bill
    :cowboy:

    Hi Jay, Bill,

    Jay, I definately hear you on that. Apparently they (the newspapers) don't think this stuff is important. Boy are they ever so wrong. It sure is important to so many good folks out there.

    Hi Bill, I definately hear you on that. It is so sad to hear of so many of them passsing into history. My Father was in the Army Air Corps in WWII and then the USAF in Korea.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    The last of the few anti-Hitler bomb-plotters, has passed away at the age of 90.

    Baron Philipp von Boeselager, who was a German Army Officer in WWII, and also a recipient of his (then) Nations highest bravery award: which was the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, has passed away at his home early Thursday.

    As a German Army Officer, this man was able to get the explosives that were given to Co-Conspiritors (namely) Colonel Count Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg, (who planted a bomb in a briefcase for the July 20, 1944 plot against Hitler) and had placed this briefcase at the leg of the table right next to where Adolf Hitler; had been standing.

    The Baron said that he was never caught because none of his co-conspiritors had revealed his name under torture.

    This man also was never a member of the nazi party as the vast majority of German Officers were also not. I used to have his address, but never found time to write.

    This man is one WWII German Veteran that I have to say: Rest in Peace; to.

    Best regards--Carl.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    Hi Jim/Sue, your quite welcome and, thank you for also publicly saying that he was a hero-which he was.

    Also, something I forgot to mention yesterday was, that this man was also involved in another and earlier plot to kill Hitler. The Baron was part of a group of eight German Officers who were on the Eastern Front and who would be among those who were to greet Hitler on his arrival. When Hitler arrived, these eight officers were going to pull their pistols at the same time, and shoot Hitler and then fly to Berlin with 1200 men and arrest Himmler and Goebbels.

    The reason why they had not carried out this attempt, was because the reprisals would have been much too high-as they thought that no less than 2,000 much needed Army Officers would be arrested and executed.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    Thanks for letting us know about Baron Philipp von Boeselager, Ringo. I am suprised that Hitler made it all the way throught the war only to take his own life. It is hard to believe that noone could get that close to him to pull off an assassination. Too bad. What a brave man or men it must have took to even try, considering the reprisals. It's one thing to put you own life at risk, but that of your family as well? I couldn't have made that choice.

    Thanks for sharing that clip about Kamikaze pilots, H.sanada. I often wondered about how they really felt being asked to so wastefully give their young lives to a losing cause. I bet that documentary will be very enlightening. I hope I have a chance to see it.

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "

    I have to say ditto on the comments of dukefan 1. In some ways I see a parallel to today where sodiers who are very young are fighting for what others are telling them is crucial. Power Pride Greed perhaps these are the ingrediants of to many wars.

    Greetings from North of the 49th

    The assassination of Hitler raises a lot of questions if say he had been killed 1923-1939 would World War II have ever happened. If he had been killed in the early years of the war 1939-1941 and replaced with another hard line nazi would Germany have won the war.

    At the time of the assassination attempt in 1944 the war was lost to Germany but early capitulation would have saved many millions of lives.

    Those behind the attempt were brave men and women who paid the cost of its failure
    with their lives.

    Mike

    War is empty.
    please let me introduce the documentary film "Tokko(Wings of Defeat)".
    This film is open to public in the Tronto Hot Dogs Documentary Film Festival
    in April.2007 and screened by the film festival etc. all over the world.
    here is the official site of this(including the trailer)

    http://www.edgewoodpictures.com/wingsofdefeat/trailer.html

    H.sanada

    Sometimes kids ask me what a pro is. I just point to the Duke.
    ~Steve McQueen~

    Thanks, H.sanada. I watched the trailer. Now I want to see the documentary. But it only says it goes on sale in Japan. I saw nothing of a U.S. release. And the screenings are all too far away from me. I hope it does become available on DVD over here someday. It looks very interesting.

    Mark

    "I couldn't go to sleep at night if the director didn't call 'cut'. "



    Hi H.Sanada, I certainly do have an interest in them. Thank you for this link and I will also pass it on to some friends of mine who are at WW2F.com, as they too will greatly apreciate this site. :thumbs_up:

    Take care and best regards--Carl.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    Thank you Mark, Kilo, Mike and H.Sanada,

    Mark, your quite welcome. For many years now, I have been very lucky to meet either in person or by mail, many historical figures including many WWII German Veterans.

    I was also very priviledged to have been introduced to a Great man who was a Victoria Cross Recipient-by the name of: Captain, Richard Wallace Annand-of the Durham Light Infantry. A Lot of people ahaven't been as lucky as I have been-on meeting these folks.

    I think I really got my interest in these things when as a boy, I remember when our POWS returned home from Vietnam. I was about six at the time, and I remember they had a big hoobalah of a celebration at the NAS in Kingsville, TX-where a plane load of them stopped and we got to meet many of them. I no longer remember any of their names but, as a kid, I was in total awe of these guys-and felt great that when I grabbed a sleeve of their jacket/tunic, and actually got their attention-I was walking on water for a long time afterwards.

    Over the years I basically happened to be at the right place and at the right time. One WWII American Vet that really stood out in my mind-for many years-as a great guy was the last Marine to surrender to the Japanese on Corrigador, by the name of MacCormack. He had been a (Im not sure of the Marine equivillent to the Army rank of Master Sergeant) when the Japanese invaded the Philippines. He was in charge of a battery of guns which eventually were wiped out and all of the crews killed or wounded. Well, this man stayed on Corrigador and fought until sometime in 1943!! He finally had to surrender because he was too sick (had an acute case of Malaria) to do anything, so he surrendered. Well, after the war ended and he was released from captivity, he weighed about 115 pounds-from his previous 200 or so pounds, and spent many months recooperating. Anyway, I met him at a local Museum in Kingsville. This guy recieved many many military awards-but not the MoH. Sadly, he passed away about 24 years ago.

    Sorry for my lecture but, this subject brought it back to the forefront of my mind. In short, I guess I really want to say that i've met many-a-historical character in the last 30++ years-many of them very famous, some not so famed but equally deserved it so. Heck, before he passed away, I even had a phone conversation with Maj (later) Col. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington-who was in Florida at the time.

    Among the more famed WWII German Vets I got to know are: Major Martin Drewes-who was a Night-fighter Pilot and who had I think 60 victories? with the vast majority of them being at night. Baron Burkhard Freiherr von Mullenheim-Rechberg-who was the 4th Gunnery Officer on the Battleship Bismark-he passed away a few years ago, and several others of note.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    WWII Navajo Code Talker & Medal of Honor recipient dies on Memorial Day.

    Jerry C. Begay Sr. was 83 years young. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his service in the USMC as a Code Talker.

    Among the places he served, this man served on Okinawa using his skills of speaking his native language as code-a code that the Japanese never broke and still is classified today.

    Rest in Peace Jerry.

    PS, if im not mistaken, I THINK he was the last living Navajo Code Talker living. Thankfully there are others still living who were from other tribes.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    Medal of Honor recipient: Jack Lucas passes away in the pre-dawn houres on June 5th, at the age of 80.

    This man lied about his age to enlist in the Marines after Pearl Harbor was attacked on Dec 7th 1941. Jack was 14 at the time and had forged his Mothers signature on the enlistment waiver. Military censors found out his age through a letter from his 15 yr old girlfriend. He was assigned as a truck driver in Hawaii when they threatened to send him home. "He said if they sent him home, that he would just join the Army."

    He stowed away on a Navy ship headed for combat in the PAcific. He turned himself in to avoid being listed as a deserter and volunteered to fight. He got his wish. Having just turned 17 in Feb 1945, when his heroism on Iwo Jima earned him thenations highest military honor.

    He used his body to shield three fellow squad members from two Japanese grenades, and was nearly killed when one exploded. "A couple of grenades rolled into the trench. I hollered for my pals to get out and I did a Superman dive at the grenades. I wasn't a Superman, after I got hit. I let out one helluva scream when that thing went off." He was left with more than 250 pieces of schrapnel in his body and in every major organ and endured 26 operations, in the months after Iwo Jima.

    He was the youngest Medal of Honor Recipient of WWII and since the Civil War. "By his inspiring actionand reliant spirit of self-sacrifice, he not only protected his comrades from certain injury or even death, but also enabled them to rout the Japanese patrol and continue their advance," the Medal of Honor citation read.

    Rest in Peace Sir.

    Es Ist Verboten Mit Gefangenen In Einzelhaft Zu Sprechen..

    A very good post, Ringo Kid - thanks for posting it.

    I remember spending a boring, rainy afternoon once just reading about the Medal of Honor winners of the past few wars. I think I just sat in front of my computer for the better part of an hour or two feeling absolutely overwhelmed by the the stories of courage and sacrifice I read about and wondering "where" does this type of courage come from. What would possess a man to jump on a live gernade to save his friends / brothers-in-arms where every instinct we know about would compel you to get the hell out of there?? How is it possible to display so much courage..???

    When I was younger and growing up in the United States, I drew a very high number in the "draft" lottery so the likelihood that I would ever spend time in south east Asia was very remote. But I remember thinking about how I would "perform" under fire if, in fact, I drew a low number and went overseas to serve.

    While I have nothing but respect and admiration for ALL of the fighting men and women who serve in the military, the Medal of Honor winners are incredibly inspirational people. To me, they redefine the word "courage"..!!