Filed under: 82nd, Homefront | Tags: Andy Marchese, Eddie Greiner, Tyler Kautzman
Recent college grad Andy Marchese takes some marvelous photos and blogs about his photo shoots, including a very good ad campaign he did as a college project. Recently, Tyler Kautzman, who had sent care packages to soldiers overseas with the 82nd Airborne Division, contacted him to take some photos at a 5K run he was sponsoring. One of those soldiers befriended Tyler and they stayed friends over the years.
If you want “the rest of the story”, read Andy’s blog entry about One Truly Special 13 year-old. It will move you.
Filed under: Operation Dragoon, Veterans | Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, Brice Houdet, Darryl Egner, Dick Seitz, Elias Hernandez, Gene Frice, Jim Welsh, Joe Cichinelli, John Carter, John Singlaub, Lloyd Ramsey, Michael Halik, Operation Dragoon, Paul Donlon, Robert Jackson, Robert Ware Foster, Roger Donlon, Sam Magee, Stanley Siemrzuch, Veterans, William Ryan
U.S. Army World War II veterans of Operation Dragoon and Members of the Military District of Washington’s Sgt. Audie L. Murphy Club, the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division, and the military attaché to the French Embassy pose following a remembrance ceremony honoring the success of Operation Dragoon held Arlington, Va., July 21, 2012. DOD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
The 68th Anniversary of Operation Dragoon Commemoration was covered by the American Forces Press Service this time. Due to the expectations of severe weather at the time for the ceremony in the amphitheater at Arlington National Cemetery, the Legion of Honor ceremony was instead held in the 16th floor ballroom of the Sheraton Pentagon City. John Singlaub, Paul Donlon, Darryl Egner, Elias Hernandez, Michael Halik and the son of Stanley Siemrzuch were all presented with the esteemed French medal by COL Brice Houdet, the French military attaché. The ballroom was filled with conference attendees, family members, staff from the French embassy and a number of active duty members of the Military District of Washington’s Sgt. Audie L. Murphy Club.
As always, the event was tremendously educational, allowing historians and veterans the opportunity to educate each other and the audience on this less well-known operation.
Filed under: 36th, Operation Dragoon, Understanding Battles | Tags: Books, HDMI cable, iPad, maps, Netflix, Nook, Operation Dragoon, tablet, Technology, WWII, Xoom
As I prepared for my talk on the 36th Infantry Division at our Operation Dragoon seminar, I’ve had an opportunity to use my new tablet (a Motorola Xoom) to the utmost. It really is a “killer app” for a historian.
My friend, Eric Wittenberg, first wrote about his tentative use of his Nook early last year, then replaced it with an iPad in December. Despite being a software developer in my paid work, I was apprehensive. I love books and maps. The look and feel of each has always been special, and I felt no computer would be able replace them for me.
I tried Kindle, first as a PC app, then on my smartphone. Not the same as a ‘real’ book, but quick and easy. With a library of a few hundred books, I never ventured to read history via Kindle. I had too big of a physical book backlog to consider it.
Then, I needed more detail on the 36th in less than a week. So, I used Google books to buy “First to the Rhine”. I kept flipping pages to review maps, then realized that I could use Google maps on my tablet. Zoom, twist, slide zoom out, add the terrain overlay. I’m sold. I just hope I can figure out how to Bluetooth or connect to the projector with my tablet because it makes understanding the fight at Montelimar so much easier. Maybe this or maybe at the Colmar Pocket seminar in December. It is an amazing tool.
Update: I’ve got a 15-foot mini-HDMI to HDMI cable on order from Amazon so that I can hook to the projector we use at these conferences and to my TV at home for Netflix.
Filed under: Korea, Veterans | Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, Korean War, Veterans
On the Korean War Armistice Day 2012, the Department of Defense will hold a commemoration ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, starting at 9:00am. This event is open to the public and kicks off with a wreath-laying ceremony and keynote remarks by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. To RSVP for this, go to http://koreanwar.defense.gov/july27rsvp.html There are buses available for veterans from a number of locations, as far away as Baltimore, Annapolis and Richmond. There will also be a local shuttle for those wishing to drive and park at the Navy Annex.
Additionally, in the evening, Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs is hosting a banquet in honor of Korean War Veterans at the Sheraton Pentagon City Hotel (which is actually across the highway from Pentagon City mall) starting at 5pm. To RSVP for that, contact Monika Stoy via email at monikastoy@yahoo.com or phone 703-912-4218 or 571-419-8915 by July 13th.
Filed under: Veterans | Tags: American Civil War, Andy Turner, Cavalry, Gatehouse Press, John Opie
Today, in my email, I got one of the regular notification emails from Gatehouse Press, which publishes Morningside Books and Gettysburg magazine. Needless to say, I think they’re marvelous folks, but I’m not writing today because of that, but rather because I found there email and the associated story immensely amusing.
John Opie served in the Confederate cavalry and saw action in the major Virginia campaigns. His memoir A Rebel Cavalryman with Lee, Stuart, and Jackson is a light and humorous narrative on the life of a cavalryman. I’m guessing from the excerpt that Andy Turner published in his blog, that Mr. Opie must have been a hit whenever people gathered to hear stories of the war. It seems that his horse was not quite the gentle, loving companion that one always imagines when day-dreaming about being a cavalryman. In a few short chapters, Opie details how his seemed hell-bent on killing Opie, or, failing that, getting Opie killed. I’m not going to steal Andy or John’s fire, so click on over and read all about it.
Filed under: Battle of the Bulge, Medics, Normandy, Veterans | Tags: 1st Infantry Division, Big Red One, Omaha Beach
“He still gets nightmares, and he thinks back to the men he couldn’t save,” Bernard Friedenberg’s wife, Phyllis, told FoxNews.com.
Sergeant Bernard Friedenburg was a medic in the 16th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry. When he landed on Omaha Beach, 40 minutes into the landings, it was a nightmare. He came in near the D-1 “draw”, outside Vierville-sur-mer.
As a medic, he was trying to save men, but he is haunted by the terrible calculus of war. Trying to treat one soldier with a sucking chest wound, he had to give the young man morphine and move along to less-wounded men. He could save more of the others, but he is haunted by the memory of that one. He went into a minefield to save five men, only failing when the sixth man rolled over onto a mine. For that, they awarded him a Silver Star.
He ignored heavy fire in “Munsterbusch, Germany, to treat and evacuate wounded comrades. This earned him his second Silver Star.”
While his memoirs seem to be hard to find, both the memoirs and an oral interview can be found at The Veteran’s History Project of the Library of Congress.
Filed under: en Francais, Normandy, WWII | Tags: Bob Sabasteanski, Joe Muccia, Major John Howard, Ox & Bucks, Paul Woodadge, Pegasus Bridge, Stephen Ambrose, Trigger Time
This year, for the first time, I ache not to be in Normandy on the Anniversary of D-Day. Facebook and a collection of friends and acquaintances who share my obsession with the history have allowed me to see the photos, get the stories of the events as they happen and, sadly, to only wish Melissa and I could be there. We both love France and Normandy in particular, and I did not realize how much seeing it so instantly would make me miss it more. The crowd around Paul Woodadge, Joe Muccia and the other Trigger Timers who made it to Normandy look to be having a blast.
To soothe my pining, tonight I’m getting together with a military history book club to discuss Stephen Ambrose’s “Pegasus Bridge“. While I have issues with Ambrose, you can’t fault his prose. He is a marvelously enthralling writer and, since this was written in the 1980s, he makes me regret not having had an interest back then. My good friend, Bob Sabasteanski, had the honor of meeting Major Howard when he visited the Bridge in the 1980s and I wish I’d gone back then.
en Francais:
Cette année, pour la première fois, j’ai mal ne pas à être en Normandie sur l’anniversaire du J-Jour. Facebook et une collection d’amis et connaissances qui partagent mon obsession avec l’histoire m’ont permis de voir les photos, obtenir les récits des événements qu’ils se produisent et, malheureusement, seul souhait Melissa et moi pourrions être là. Nous avons deux amour France et Normandie en particulier, et je ne réalisais pas que combien voyant ainsi instantanément me ferait à manquer plus. La foule autour de Paul Woodadge, Joe Muccia et les autres “Trigger Timers” qui rend en Normandie semblent avoir s’amuser.
Pour apaiser mon languissement, ce soir j’obtiens avec un club de lecture de l’histoire militaire afin de discuter “Pegasus Bridge” de Stephen Ambrose. Alors que j’ai des problèmes avec Ambrose, vous ne peut pas blâmer sa prose. Il est un écrivain merveilleusement captivant et, puisque cela a été écrit dans les années 1980, il me fait regretter de ne pas avoir eu un intérêt à l’époque. Mon bon ami, Bob Sabasteanski, a eu l’honneur de rencontrer le Major Howard quand il a visité le pont dans les années 1980 et je souhaite que j’avais fait à l’époque.
Highly recommend you check out Paul Reed’s notes on Dig WW2. Sounds like it won’t be available outside the UK for a while, but when it airs in the US, I know I’ll be watching.
One of our favorite guides, Paul Woodadge, helped the project get into Brecourt Manor for the dig there.
Dig WW2 Photos, a set on Flickr.
Last year I worked as the Historical Consultant for Dig WW2, made for BBC NI by 360Production. The series in some ways grew out of Dig1940 we made back in 2009 however this was more ambitious – to look at aspects from the whole war from the point of view of what was left behind.
We were lucky to follow several digs across Europe: one at Arnhem where a Northern Ireland soldier fell in 1944 – another in Italy near Monte Cassino – and two in Normandy, at Juno Beach and the site of the Brecourt Manor Battery; the latter attacked by the ‘Band of Brothers’ on D-Day.
The series also looked at sites and digs in the UK, with a heavy emphasis on Ireland and included a dig on a Spitfire where the recovered guns were made to work again!
These…
View original post 215 more words
Filed under: 509th, Veterans, Weekend Wanderings | Tags: Andrew Pelkey, Eric Greitens, Jim Broumley, Lions of Kandahar, Memorial Day, Morton Katz, Navy SEAL, Special Forces, Stuart Beare, Tufts University, William Bennett
As most of the country simply enjoys another day off, I’m sure those reading this are spending some time thinking about the true meaning of Memorial Day.
- Jim Broumley, who wrote an excellent book on the 509th (The Boldest Plan is the Best) notes that COL Morton Katz, who is expected to attend the Operation Dragoon seminar and commemoration in July, will be delivering the keynote speech at the Avon, Connecticut memorial service on Monday.
- Speaking at Tufts University, Navy SEAL Eric Greitens challenged graduating seniors to sacrifice, “to serve one’s country and to live magnanimously.” Greitens noted of his own service, “The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became.” I’m going to order his book, The Heart and the Fist: The education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL
and I think everyone ought to. Thanks to Mr. Pelkey for the link to Bill Bennett’s column.
- On Wednesday, the “Lions of Kandahar“, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group, were awarded the Canadian Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation by LTG Stuart Beare, Commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. LTG Beare compared the honor to the Presidential Unit Citation – this is only the 7th award of the citation and the first to a foreign unit since the citation was established in 2002.
Filed under: Films, Signal Corps, WWII | Tags: Machine guns, rate of fire, Training
Consistent with the thesis that high rates of fire waste ammunition, the Signal Corps produced a short film to reassure late war replacements that German weapons were inherently inaccurate. Since some German veterans they would face had been at war for five years, one can be certain that they concentrated on controlled bursts. Of course, the Signal Corps was not only training the men, but also doing a little propaganda. If the green trooper followed orders and remained calm, he and his squad would succeed. Thanks to Bob Sabasteanski for the link….
We're not lost, Sergeant, We're in ... France 