21 Guns~ A tribute to those who have fallen

John Hartzheim, Appleton, WI----Viet Nam
He was my classmate.
He never came home.

 

Lawrence E. Venier US Army-my dad who served in WWII in Burma and helped build the Burma Road-died Oct 1983

Lawrence Aldridge US Navy-my father in law who served in WWII in the Pacific theatre-died July 1990


Gone but not forgotten

 

Adam Kinser
21, of Sacramento, California.
Kinser died west of Ghazni, Afghanistan, when a weapons cache prematurely exploded. He was assigned to the 304th Psychological Operations Company, U.S. Army Reserve, based in Sacramento, California. Died on January 29, 2004.

His widow is due this week, expecting a little baby boy.

 

Gary Maloy, a classmate, date uncertain, died saveing another soldier. About 20 more, names unknown. In Viet Nam we did not use regular names, each new guy was assigned a name by the the 'short timmers', those due to rotate soon. We did not get to know others, it was a waste to learn that. It was easier to say 'carrot top' or 'beach dude' than Joe Smith or Bob Brown. Same as today when men working high danger jobs, such as electrical linemen; do not use real names. Bridge painters do not know their coworkers by their real names either. I have worked with 'skinny cow', 'mamas boy' , and 'Ford dude' before this.

Garys parents were not very up to date as far as names goes, it was spelled 'Gray' Maloy, he is on the wall. I could allways 'sucker' him into a full- nelson when we wresled at lunch at school. He never had a life away from the static, never had a chance to grow as an individual, later, I thought I was done with this tear mess.

 

WW1 several uncles who have long since passed away, and one aunt I know of. Probably even more.

WW2,My father, my father in law, my step father, and most of my uncles and one or two of my aunts.

Korea, several cousins.

Viet Nam, my self, my step brother, and many friends, some of whom did not return.

 

My father who served in the Korean War. I miss you Daddy and I will always love you. I will see you again in heaven and we can sit under the shade tree by the crystal sea and talk things over like we used too.

Daddy almost lost his life when he nearly froze to death guarding an ammonition shack. He loved his country and his Heavenly Father. Thank you for being my father and for all that you did for our country. Mother misses you so.

April 12, 1933-July 1983

 

My father 1946-1995
who served in Vietnam from 1967-1968.
Murdered in 1995 while taking a walk in a park.

Daddy I miss you so. You gave me away only 6 months before, you walked me down the isle. I knew you were proud of me. Then someone took you away from me. You called me all the time, you raised me, you made me the woman I am today. We love you daddy, Rest In Peace!! We will meet again someday!

 

Charles N. Scherf, 20 years in the navy, best dad in the world

William Duell, USMC, died after returning from 'Nam, of psychological injuries received there.....

 

My father, Ernest Sr.

Ernest

 

my grandfather, PFC Charles Henry Crawford Sr.
128th Infantry Regiment
WWII New Guinea Campaign 17 jan 44, Battle of Leyte 14 nov 44



i had no idea how much the 21 gun salute meant until i had honor guard duty this memorial day. now, i'll never forget the feeling of being part of it.

 

George Keene Black
1917-2004
WWII, Korea​

Father, died this past June 2.
The Honor Guard at the military service did a beautiful job. We could believe that they grieved with us.

 

My Uncle, Anthony "Bud" L.P. Wermuth, Sr., USMA 1940. Uncle Bud went through West Point, served in W.W.II, and later taught at the Academy. My Dad asked him "Why West Point?". Bud told him that it was the hardest thing for a poor kid from South Philly to do!

Another Uncle, Harry Tisdale, served in the U.S.A.F.

My Cousin, Paul Fischer, Vietnam Vet, Died from Agent Orange 2 months before the Wall was dedicated.

 

I'm new, but hope you do not mind my entering in a family member here:


Tech Sgt. Dennis M. Catoire, Jr. 67'th Armored Regiment, 2'nd Armor Division

Enlisted in December of 1941.

Killed in Action in the Ardennes Forest, Belgium, Christmas Day, 1944


Dennis trained at Fort Benning, Georgia, and in Patton's big domestic tank training war games in South Carolina and Louisiana during early 1942 after basic.

In either late 1942 or early 1943, Dennis and his tank unit was shipped out to North Africa to fight Rommel's Afrika Corps (Rommel was Hitler's greatest general, if you recall, and was killed himself not long before Dennis died, when he was involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler).

After Rommel's forces were defeated in North Africa, Dennis unit was sent to fight the Germans and Italians as General Patton's forces liberated Italy from the Fascists.

After Italy was liberated, Dennis' unit was sent to England to await the D-Day invasion.

Dennis' unit was sent onto the beachhead right between the Omaha and Utah beaches the day after D-Day (7 June 1944), assigned the task of breaking down the cement hedgerows and getting tanks past Rommel's awesome coastal barriers at Normandy. I am not sure how long he personally was on that beach, using his tank as a battering ram, only that his unit had some presence on that beach for the next two weeks.

After he got off that beach, he was part of the force that liberated France, and then Holland, and then Belgium.

The boys hoped that the war would be won by Christmas, and they could all get home shortly thereafter. But Hitler had other plans.

Just when it looked like the Allies were unstoppable in their assault against the Germans, Hitler mustered up every last tank he could get his hands on, as many trained tank crews as he could get his hands on (and sent alot of other tank crews in without hardly any training at all), and gathered every drop of gasoline he could get his hands on -- for one last, great, counter offensive, designed to divide the Allied forces in half and eventually to drive them off of the continent.

History calls this last great German counteroffensive The Battle of the Bulge, and most of it took place in Belgium, primarily in the thick Ardennes Forest, between 16 Dec 1944 and about 15 January 1944.

Dennis' unit was far south of the fighting when it began on 16 Dec 1944. But when it looked like the Germans could take a key city in the region called Bastogne, and they just might reach the American fuel dump on the Meuse River and be able to replenish their tanks to continue the fight -- it was at that moment of desperation that General George Patton told Eisenhower that his crack armor division -- 2'nd Armored -- the tank boys he trained himself in Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina -- he was sure that those boys could move up from where they were, though the ice, blizzard, zero visibility, and narrow forest roads too narrow for tanks to drive -- and he could get them up to the Bastogne/Meuse River area in just 4 days!

Only General Patton would have ever been daring enough to try a manuever like that, and only his crack 2'nd Armored Division could have ever pulled it off.

But they did it, somehow -- and because it was considered to be an impossible task, they caught the Germans totally off guard.

2'nd Armored Division was not the only key unit in this fight -- the 101'st Airborne Division was parachuted into Bastogne to hold it until relief could arrive, and they did hold it under impossible odds. 82'nd Airborne also shone brightly in this fight, as did a few other British and American units.

But there is no doubt that Hitler could not have been stopped, had it not been for the miraculous breakthrough of 2nd Armored and a few other units of the 3'rd Army. They made it up there in just four days, and managed to stop the German forces JUST ONE SINGLE MILE from the American gasoline depot on the Meuse River.

It was on the 26'th of December, that day when 2'nd Armored stood on the defense of that gasoline depot and stopped the mechanically superior 2nd Panzer Division's Tiger tanks.

As it happened, that was the day the war was effectively won. This is because the Germans were so low on fuel that if they could not get the American gasoline, their tanks were not going to be able to fight. 2nd Armored kept them from getting that gasoline. And the 101'st Airborne kept them from capturing the key city of Bastogne, which they had to have. It was the 26'th of December, the day that the 101'st was finally sent reinforcements (their ranks were significantly thinned by days of almost no rations, heavy losses, and rapidly dwindling ammo supplies) So that is the day that Bastogne's fate was secured as well.

There were four more months of fighting, but they were mostly mop up work. The was was effectively won on 26 Dec. 1944, the day that Hitler lost too many men and too many tanks to continue a real fight.


But my great uncle, Tech Sgt. Dennis Catoire, DIED THE DAY BEFORE THE WAR WAS EFFECTIVELY WON. To make his death more tragic, he DIED ON CHRISTMAS DAY.


Dennis joined up right after Pearl Harbor, and actively fought that ruthless, bloody war against Hitler through pretty much all the campaigns until his death on Christmas Day.

It just always seemed to me so tragic that, after sacrificing so much for so long, he had the misfortune of being killed in action by the Germans in the last 24 hours before the outcome of the war was effectively decided.

 

Dewey Morse Allways on the wild side and tough as hell.Died 3 days in country Dec.1969 onery but a good friend

 

My brother, Jon Nelson, who died of wounds received in Viet Nam. He was still a baby, only 19. Several Maloy cousins and uncles in WWll who were a little before my time so I shall never know them.
My step-father, Billy Guynes, 26 years in the Navy and Army. Served in WWll and Korea without getting a scratch. Died of Cancer at age 72. Wonderful, loving man and I will always miss him.

 

These are the brave men of our family who died serving their countries, their sacrifice means they will never be forgotten.

Robert Lorraine Fisher, KIA 16 November 1918 5th Bn., Northumberland Fusiliers. My great grandfather. He did not die in the service of the United States, but I find it impossible not to think of him on Memorial Day.

Robert H. Hill, KIA 7 October 1944 when his B17 exploded over Coerde near Muenster.

Alexander Williams, 4th Virginia Militia, died of disease 1 January 1815.

Our family has provided soldiers for every conflict from the American Revolution to Vietnam, we count ourselves lucky that only three did not make it home.

 

Harold Dewey Ray, died 1985. Served in France, WW II, Army. My grandfather was a short, red-headed, Irishman who loved a good fight.

John Crow, died 2004, lied about his age to join the Army, one of the soldiers who stormed and was wounded on the beaches in Normandy. My husband's grandfather.

I would also like to honor the veterans in our family who are still with us:

Herbert Carl Wright, served in France and Italy, WWII, Army, my maternal grandfather.

Richard Lee Robb, USMC, two tours in Vietnam, my stepfather and a great man.

God bless the soldiers and be with them and their families.

 

I didn't realize this sticky was here. I had posted this on June 3, 2005 in the family forum.

HT member RachL, who I met here on the Veterans forum when I first found HT, lost her husband in Iraq. I don't know which exact day he died, but it was front page news on June 3.

I will not post his name. If RachL stops by, she can edit to add it.

RachL has a 16 year old son, and another who is 4 or 5. I met them, and the older son is a true gentleman, the younger bright, and eager to learn, and also one of those rare, well mannered kids. Losing their father will be tough.

Please keep RachL in your thoughts as she adjusts to life without.....

Meg

 

David Gilchrist, retired 7th Special Forces Group medic, and contract medic instructor died July 21, 2005.

He leaves a wife and 16 year old son.

Dave was a career SF medic, who did his time, and then stayed on to train more like him. He was one of the good guys.

We'll miss him.

Meg