Filed under: 511th, Medal of Honor, Paratroopers | Tags: Medal of Honor, Pacific
I knew that some airborne units had shipped out to the Pacific and that they’d seen some intense fighting, especially in the Philippines, but I hadn’t realized that they’d made combat jumps. As I was reading about the liberation of Manila, I came across an account of PFC Manuel Perez, Jr’s Medal of Honor in Gerry Devlin’s Paratrooper
While marching toward the inner ring of the fort’s defensive wall, Perez’s company had managed to knock out eleven of the twelve large bunkers. Perez had shot and killed five enemy soldiers during the preliminary skirmishes.
Now that the smaller bunkers were out of the way, Company A was facing the final and largest bunker blocking the approach to the fort. Inside were two twin-mount .50 caliber machine guns. Paratroopers nearing the big bunker were immediately cut to ribbons by the twin .50s.
In an attempt to take the bunker, Perez ran wide around its flank, killing four more enemy defenders along the way. From his new position, Perez threw a grenade into the bunker. When four Japanese ran out to escape the grenade blasts, he killed them.
Just then, Perez discovered that he had expended his rounds. While reloading, an escaping enemy soldier tried to kill him by <i>throwing a rifle with a fixed bayonet</i>, like javelin. As he tried to parry this thrust, Perez’s rifle was knocked from his hands, causing him to drop his bullets. Reaching down, he snatched the ememy rifle and killed his assailant and another Japanese soldier. Taking advantage of the confused situation, Perez ran toward his objective. On the way he bashed in the skulls of three Japanese who tried to stop him. He then ran inside the bunker and bayoneted the lone survivor of the grenade blasts.
While Perez survived that encounter, he would not survive to be awarded his medal, as was true of many such heroes. He was killed less than a week later, while charging a pillbox alone.
Perez is buried in Fairlawn Cemetery in his hometown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Perez enlisted in Chicago and there is a plaza named after him in Chicago’s Little Village Square as well as an elementary school.
It’s very easy for the general public when thinking about paratroopers to forget about anyone who wasn’t in Easy Company. Mike Ranney had let Dick Winters know that his grandson had asked if he had been a hero during the war, to which Ranney responded that he wasn’t a hero, but he had served in a company of heroes. With men like Manuel Perez, Jr. in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the other side of the globe, we were blessed with many companies of heroes.
I missed posting a ‘Wanderings’ last weekend. I had to run down to the wine shop to help fix computer problems on Saturday, so got nothing done. Fortunately, I’ve been keeping my eyes open.
- Chris Kolditz forwarded along a link to an article about Augusta Chiwy, an African nurse who tended to wounded in Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
- Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training and Tom Boswell had a good column on the excitement from the perspective of the rookies.
A mix of links this week, including one historical novel that has a love story to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
- There’s an interesting sounding novel out called Officer’s Row 1904 that takes place at Fort Rosecrans in San Diego a century ago. Having truly enjoyed watching Downton Abbey on PBS recently, the late-Victorian era and it’s social conventions are starting to intrigue me. It’s perhaps too late to order this as a Valentine’s Day present for your sweetheart, but you could always buy early for 2012! Sales of the book benefit families of Explosive Ordinance Disposal personnel in all the armed services.
- Craig Swann had a good post about the Walmart/Wilderness decision.
- I’d recently read Battling Buzzards, which chronicles the history of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team. I wanted to understand more about the unit, since I’ve met several of the men over the last few years. They’re having what the think might be their final annual reunion July 13th-18th down in Atlanta and I think I’m going to see if I can attend. Like the Operation Dragoon and Colmar Pocket events, it offers a unique experience to meet history.
The other day, I was driving out to Camp Highroad for a Boy Scout event and I smiled, because my drive was taking me through the Aldie battlefield. The Battle of Aldie was a rather smallish affair, with just two cavalry brigades involved (2000 Union and 1500 Confederate soldiers). Having been to the battlefield a few times now, it makes more sense how the charges up the Snickersville Turnpike could both be so deadly and be repeated. The twists and turns of the road, the tightness of the walls and the suddenness of the elevation changes all generated confusion and created opportunities for ambushes.
When one reads about battles without visiting them, it is very easy to misunderstand what happened and why. Many times, I’ve been out on a battlefield and looked around, feeling the light bulb inside my head flick on as the movements suddenly made sense. Until I walked the ground and saw what they saw, the actions of the various commanders and soldiers didn’t always make sense. Often, it’s about what can be seen and not seen. Sometimes, it explains why an advance was either easy or difficult.
A fine example is on the first day’s battlefield at Gettysburg. I’d been on the battlefield dozens of times from the early 1990s until 2007, when I organized a training hike for my Philmont crew. I’d never walked the Confederate approach from Chambersburg to GeneralBuford’s lines on McPherson Ridge. I’d driven it dozens of times, but since my Scouts needed some training on ground that was a little “bumpy”, we hiked from the first shot marker eastward. As we cleared Willoughby Run and began hiking up the slight incline, with light packs on our backs, I realized that the slight incline felt a whole lot steeper than “slight”. I’d only looked at it from the top of the ridge (from Union lines) and it never seemed that steep. However, carrying gear and walking up it while imagining musket and cannon fire cleared up a great deal about how Buford’s troops were able to hold the Confederates off that morning.
Similarly, when I was on Omaha Beach in Normandy, it was an eye-opener. Standing on that wide beach, with a perfect curve to it, I realized what a killing field that they landed on. Going to the extreme right of the German line, up on the heights at the east end of the beach, you can visit (if you get the right guides, like Paul, Dale and Allan) WN60 – the German resistance net up on those heights. When you look down across that vast expanse, it’s a wonder the invasion didn’t fail right there.
There is no substitute for walking the ground. Looking at maps or even sampling Google Earth’s views might give you some ideas, but nothing like the stunning effect of standing where the men who fought did. As General Buford said in the movie, it was lovely ground.
Filed under: 506th, Marines, Navy, Veterans, Weekend Wanderings | Tags: Lessons Learned
Super Bowl Sunday is a uniquely American experience, parties that start mid-afternoon on a Sunday and last until the game ends. Loads of food, a good amount to drink and a game on in the background. Oh, I almost forgot the commercials! The commercials are usually the best part.
- Every year, folks go out and commemorate the Battle of the Bulge with a reenactment at Fort Indiantown Gap. Friends of mine were there and passed along a link to a good article about the event. Hat tip to Brim.
- Craig made a good post to commemorate Operation Flintlock on its 67th anniversary. Operation Flintlock is a textbook example of “joint” operations built by experience – a prime example of Lessons Learned.
Today, we’ll get to see some of the best players in American football in its “All-Star” game, the Pro Bowl. I think that moving the Pro Bowl to the weekend before the Super Bowl was one of the smartest things they could have done with it. No one used to watch it when it happened after the Super Bowl and no one paid attention to who was in it. Now, during the playoffs, I notice when the lineups change – none of the players on the Super Bowl teams will play in the Pro Bowl, so it can make a real difference in the lineups. That said, it’s almost the end of our season, which always makes me sad. Fortunately, pitchers and catchers report for spring training for baseball in a few weeks and I can get back to reading the Sports section of the Washington Post.
- I’m guessing not many World War II Marine Scout/Snipers ended up with long careers in the movies. Lee Marvin did. There’s a fantastic post about him by Long Fade, who writes about record-cover art. It was prompted by The Music from M Squad, an album from the NBC TV series that Lee Marvin starred in.
When you’re talking to a used car salesman and he doesn’t know the answer to one of your questions, you can be sure he’ll make something up. Better for him to confuse you and defuse your worries, or generate some fear, uncertainty and doubt than for him to deal with you honestly. After all, he just wants your money.
Now, one hopes that when studying history, a higher standard will be exhibited by historians. Thomas P. Lowry committed fraud by altering a pardon authored by Abraham Lincoln so that it would read as having been signed on April 14, 1865 – the date of Lincoln’s assassination – instead of April 14, 1864. Lowry took a fountain pen with him into the National Archives and literally re-wrote history by changing 1864 to 1865. For his discovery, the amateur historian was popularly hailed, invited to speak at conferences and able to publish his work freely.
I follow a few Civil War blogs and, while I’d read about it the Washington Post this morning, there is nothing quite like the collective ire of the community. David Woodbury’s of Battlefields and Bibliophiles quotes some of Lowry comments about the pardoned soldier, Patrick Murphy, in ways that likely will apply to people’s opinions of Lowry himself. Eric Wittenburg notes that this is stain on the historical community. Brooks Simpson offers some thoughts on how this could have gone unnoticed.
To me, this falls in the same category as Mark Patterson’s vandalism of the Bizory monument or the hideous monuments to Longstreet in Gettysburg and to Peace in Normandy, only…. it’s far worse. He was literally altering the historical record and in pursuit of that one goal of all too many revisionists, fame. Historians seek truth. Lowry just wanted respect he hadn’t yet earned.
Filed under: Leadership | Tags: Conquistadors, Football, Hernan Cortes, Leadership, Rex Ryan
One of the reasons I enjoy American football is that you get to see men react to stress and difficult situations. Sometimes, you get to see true leadership and that’s why I write about it today.
Rex Ryan is loud and foul-mouthed. He’s grossly overweight and rarely exhibits grace or class. So, he’s not at all the kind of leader that I’ve striven to be. Of course, I wouldn’t be writing about him if he wasn’t a brilliant and capable leader. He excels at an emotional form of leadership that absolutely brings out the best in his team. Sally Jenkins wrote a brilliant article today on Ryan. In mid-December, having lost two games in a row, Ryan’s Jets were in trouble.
At the hotel on the night before the game Ryan delivered a fierce, choked exhortation in which he described the desperate expedition of conquistador Hernan Cortes, who sailed off to conquer Mexico in 1519. Cortes was so determined not to retreat, Ryan said, that he ordered his men to set fire to their ships. “They burned their boats!” Ryan shouted.
The following day, when the Jets and Steelers were tied at 10 at halftime, they took up the chant. “Burn the boats,” the Jets said. “Burn the boats.” Final score: Jets, 22-17.
They knew it was juvenile. They knew it was worthy of a high school locker room. Burn the boats? Fine. “We still got to get back to the airport, though,” Ellis notes, wryly. Yet they ate it up anyway, and have been using it ever since.
“Burn your boats,” Ellis says. “Definitely. It means go out there and leave nothing behind. I’m not going to say this is war, but basically, just go out there and don’t intend on coming back. Just leave it all on the field.”
There are many ways to lead and many manifestations of the effectiveness other than just wins and losses. Seeing Ryan’s men dropping their guard and giving into the emotion is stirring. It’s example of leadership that anyone can learn from – the passion Ryan exhibits and its infectiousness is hard to pass up.
Filed under: Homefront, Veterans, Weekend Wanderings, WWII | Tags: Japanese Internment, Korean War, RAF, Veterans
This weekend, the Jets and Steelers face off for the AFC championship, while the Packers and Bears have an old-school matchup for the NFC championship. Hopefully, nothing gets in the way of your chicken wings, ribs, burgers, cold beers and NFL watching. As always, I will be checking what Terry and Howie have to say, but first, here’s the most interesting stuff I’ve found this week….
- New Zealand provided pilots to the RAF and one of their daughters posted up photos from her Dad’s service in 127 Squadron. Hopefully, she’ll post some of his journal entries.
- Three veterans in New Jersey shared some stories with the Wyckoff Historical Society. There are several inaccuracies in the article, as it puts Saigon in Korea (it was probably a town that sounded the same instead of the capital of South Viet Nam) and vaguely refers to the Korean War starting “less than 10 years after World War II” instead of 5 years, but provides interesting little tidbits nonetheless. With World War II veterans dimishing in numbers every day, their stories drift away with them. Hopefully, we can record as many as possible, while also putting them in context with slightly more accurate historical knowledge….
- One of the darkest chapters of American history is the internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II. A blogger writes about their own mother’s inability to talk about her internment and has an interview with one of the women was interned on video. If it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye, you must be made of stone….
Filed under: Henderson, Leadership, Marines, Officers | Tags: Leadership, Marines
While it didn’t happen in World War II or Korea, I’d like to note that LTC Anthony Henderson (USMC) was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor for his leadership of 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment in the fight for Fort Jugroom near Garmsir in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.
The 19th century British fort “sits at a crossroads and along a river, letting those holding it dominate much of southern Helmand.” The Taliban had held off an attack by the Royal Marines in January of 2007. 15 months later, in April of 2008, the US Marines were on duty in Helmand, so 1/6 was tasked with clearing the fort. Henderson’s men fought a close quarters battle against 200-400 Taliban fighters, through tunnels, bunkers, minefields and buildings. As the Marines of 1/6 fought their way in, the Taliban attacked them from behind, making it a 360-degree battle. Chesty Puller might have said, “All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time.” As darkness fell, Henderson knew that the heat would continue and that he’d best pull his men back to a defensive position. When they headed in the next morning, Fort Jugroom was empty, the Taliban having stolen away in the night, in hopes of living to fight another day.
In the tradition of Chesty Puller and Jim Gavin, Henderson took a hands-on approach to leadership. “My desire was to be as far forward as I could be without interfering with the small unit leader’s ability to fight his fight against the enemy.”
Lieutenant Colonel Henderson was in a staff position with the Joint Chiefs in DC this fall. “It’s humbling and fulfilling to lead Marines,” reflected Henderson. “I have a constant yearning to be back there and amongst them.”
We're not lost, Sergeant, We're in ... France 