Memorial Day Thoughts.........

[cpm9ball]

This is for my Dad, Billy, Victor and all of the others who served their country.

 

 

CPL Joseph P. Machuga, Medic

79th Division, 314th Infantry

ETO, WWII

 

God Bless all of you!

 

Chris

[Excaliber]

Thank you for sharing that Chris, and i thank them as well.

[kryptonitecomics]

Nice thought Chris........we certainly don't want to lose sight of those that have sacrificed so much. I was proud to have served During Desert Storm and I hope everyone still over their comes home soon.

 

SPC Daniel Canup

1/27th Field Artillery Battlion

41st FA Brigade

V Corp

[TwoKopeiki]

I wish you all a peaceful Memorial Day.

 

2Kopeiki

 

 

 

 

 

Operation Iraqi Freedom II

A Co, 759th MP BN

Baghdad, Iraq (Jan '04 - Jan '05)

[Brotherman]

Good job Chris.

 

I agree wholeheartedly and would like to add my dad who served and was wounded in WWII and my best Friend Lt. Col. Michael Fennell that is serving right now.

 

Hats off to you men.

 

Hays

[cpm9ball]

God Bless them, Hays!

 

Chris

[HaydenTubbs]

Great thread Chris,these are not honored enough for their deeds

[EZ_E]

Thanks, Chris.

 

I recognize two purple hearts, a bronze star (?), Vietnam Service Medal, An Air Force Good Conduct (?) and a whole slew of others. Wow!

 

I remember when you related the story of the Hiway Patrol pulling you and your mom over just to say thank you because of the POW license plates on the vehicle. It's like gee, thanks but just don't do that again!

[cpm9ball]

Thanks, Chris.

 

I recognize two purple hearts, a bronze star (?), Vietnam Service Medal, An Air Force Good Conduct (?) and a whole slew of others. Wow!

 

Thanks, Victor! The medals in the frame in my original post are (left to right from the top):

Combat Infrantyman's Badge (CIB) Note #1

Purple Heart

Bronze Star

Prisoner of War

Purple Heart

Armed Forces Pin

Cross of Lorraine (79th Division Insignia)

Medical Corpsman

Cross of Lorraine

European/African/Middle Eastern Campaign Note #2

Normandy Invasion Note #3

American Campaign

World War II

Good Conduct

German POW Tag

 

Note #1: Ordinarily, medical corpsmen are not authorized for this medal, but my Dad earned it before he became a medic and was allowed to keep it.

 

Note #2: This medal has five "battle stars" on it, one for each campaign in which my Dad fought.

 

Note #3: In 1995, the French government awarded this medal to all participants on the 50th Anniversary of the Normandy Invasion. Unfortunately, my Dad's records were lost in the German counteroffensive known as the "Battle of the Bulge" and the recreated records that were eventually stored in the St. Louis Records Center were destroyed in a fire in 1973. However, my Mom, being the record-keeper that she is, sent photocopies of all of Dad's correspondence (V-Mail) to France, and by a special act of the French legislature, Dad was awarded this medal in 1996, just 16 months before he passed away.

 

Chris

[Regis44]

Memorial Day - Medals and memories remain from those who sacrificed so much to gain and protect our freedom.

 

May God protect and bless those in harms way today, preserving those freedoms for future generation. And so that we'll have U.S. money in future years (not REPLACED by arabic or "pandas")

 

Regis

[EZ_E]

I'm glad that you know what they all stand for!! Most family members don't even know pay grade or even job specialty of their family members. I'm impressed!

 

p.s. I talked to an agency that does alot of contracts in Florida, even your fabled city. I'm sending off the FL license application this weekend. Forewarned is forearmed.

[Brotherman]

Wow Chris, your dad must have had some amazing stories.

My dad only fired 17 bullets in his first battle and was wounded

by a mortar. He was sure he didn’t kill anyone since he never even

saw the enemy, but since everyone else was shooting he did too.

He and two of his buddies were captured by a German patrol as they

were taking my dad to an army hospital. The Germans decided my

dad’s chest wound was too severe and didn’t see the point in capturing

a dead man. They left him in a ditch to die.

 

When the morphine wore off my dad started crawling until he passed out.

Luckily he passed out right on top of a telegraph line and luckier still the

line wasn’t working. A couple of soldiers sent to check the line discovered

my dad.

 

Dad spent a year in the hospital recovering from his wounds. He lost his

left lung and had a ringing in his left ear from the explosion – the ringing never

went away - but otherwise fully recovered. Losing half of his lungs was a

ticket home, but the war in Europe ended about the time he got out of the

hospital anyway.

 

This story really isn’t about my dad, it’s about a guy named Harold

Marcus. Harold was my dad’s best friend and was beside him in the foxhole

when the mortar went off. Harold wasn’t hit but when he saw my dad’s wound

he knew it was serious. He didn’t call for a medic or wait for the shooting to

subside, he pick my dad up and carried him back to the aid station right

then. Dad said there were so many bullets in the air it sounded like a swarm of

angry bees. They made it back to the aid station without suffering

anymore injuries. Moments later Harold was killed as he tried to make it back

to his foxhole.

 

There were many heroes in WWll. Harold Marcus is ours.

 

Hays

[cpm9ball]

I'm glad that you know what they all stand for!! Most family members don't even know pay grade or even job specialty of their family members. I'm impressed!

 

You know, I was in the service, too!

 

p.s. I talked to an agency that does alot of contracts in Florida, even your fabled city. I'm sending off the FL license application this weekend. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Great, Victor! I'm looking forward to it.

 

Chris

[MikeKing]

Thank you Chris, for posting this tribute to your dad. And Hays, for that very special story. These soldiers literally changed the face of the earth through WWII. A monumentous point in history. Because of them.

[Excaliber]

Chris and Hays, your Dads were VERY special men, keep sharing their stories. We must never let people forget the sacrifices that were made so that this country would be so great. Men like your Dads are the reason we walk free in the greatest country in the world, sometimes i think too many people forget that.

[crazyboutcoins-migration]

God Bless all who have served and those who are still serving to protect our freedom. We can never thank them enough.

[MunkyMan95]

Great thoughts, Chris. I would like to add both of my great grandfathers who served in WWII. One was in the navy and returned home unscathed, but the other was in the air force and he is basically paralyzed from the waist down, and now resides in the Veterans hospital proabaly for the rest of his life. Wish them both well.

[leeg]

I'm very proud of my service to this great country of ours. I'm even prouder of the family's who share in our long absences, lonlieness, and grief at times. My prayers go out to those still serving.

 

Lee

AOCS (AW) USN (Ret)

[EZ_E]

Wow, brotherman, what a story! That is a true hero.

 

My mom belonged to the Freerepublic website and they made every veteran out to be a hero when in truth, most people join the services for reasons other than patriotism. Just because I spent 6 yrs in the Navy does not make me a hero. It is men like yours and Chris' dad! And I stick by my conviction.

 

p.s. Chris, I started filling out the application for the Florida x-ray license and they require a copy of my high school diploma! WTF?! I've never been asked for a copy of it, ever. I don't even think that the Navy required a copy. And it is in deep storage in Vegas. It would be a shame for something so piddly to delay the licensure.

[cpm9ball]

Wow, brotherman, what a story! That is a true hero.

 

My mom belonged to the Freerepublic website and they made every veteran out to be a hero when in truth, most people join the services for reasons other than patriotism. Just because I spent 6 yrs in the Navy does not make me a hero. It is men like yours and Chris' dad! And I stick by my conviction.

 

p.s. Chris, I started filling out the application for the Florida x-ray license and they require a copy of my high school diploma! WTF?! I've never been asked for a copy of it, ever. I don't even think that the Navy required a copy. And it is in deep storage in Vegas. It would be a shame for something so piddly to delay the licensure.

 

Victor, it doesn't surprise me that FL asks for the diploma. With such a high percentage of elderly residents, they have to take every precaution to weed out the quacks and scam artists. It's not just for medical-related fields either. There have been times when I've had to chuckle upon seeing an application that asks for elementary and/or middle school education. I would imagine that applications like these have not been revised for 50-60 years.

 

You have to look at the bright side, though. There is no state income tax in FL, and more than 50% of the Spanish wrecks in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico waters surrounding the FL coastline have never been discovered.

 

Chris

[MikeKing]

You have to look at the bright side, though. There is no state income tax in FL, and more than 50% of the Spanish wrecks in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico waters surrounding the FL coastline have never been discovered.

 

Chris

 

Was that you I saw being chased by aligators while running around the everglades in a snorkle with a metal detector, last time I was sunning in Florida?

[EZ_E]

But I also have to submit a copy of my college diploma. Seems kind of evident to me that one must pass high school or obtain a GED before going to college. It just seems idiotic to me. Besides, I have my national x-ray license which is sufficient for some states and is a prerequisite for getting the more limiting state licenses. With the shortage of rad techs, it seems that the states would be more friendly.

 

 

I just think that fate is keeping us from meeting or else is keeping me away to prevent Hayden from kicking my . You believe me, right?

[Brotherman]

Victor, are you and Chris both X-ray techs? My nephew recently passed

his boards (first try BTW) and is now the weekend tech at a hospital in the

next town, which is only 12 miles away.

 

It is a sweet job. He goes in at 11pm Friday night and works until 11pm

Sunday night. Much of his time is spent in an on-call room reading,

watching TV, or surfing the web on his laptop. You know, I think he is

on call Friday night and doesn’t really have to be there until Saturday

morning – I’m not sure. The point is he only works 36 hours and they pay him

for 40 THEN he basically has Monday through Friday off! They are teaching

him how to do CTs (?) now. He makes almost as much money in his first job as

I did managing a restaurant and putting in 65-75 hrs a week. I’m so proud of

that kid.

 

He came to visit me when I was in Lexington. I took a couple of days off

from painting to go car shopping with him. He ended up buying a used but

very nice 230C Mercedes Benz. All that was to 1) brag on my nephew, and

2) to tell you the personalized license plate we came up with: ICNU

I hope it’s not taken. His second choice was XRAYI.

 

I should apologies every time I post because I tend to be so longwinded.

 

Hays

[IGWT]

[crazyboutcoins-migration]

Here's another heartwarning one for Memorial Day.

 

In the New Orleans paper the other day, a demolition contractor tearing down a house from Hurricane Katrina found a Purple Heart. He recognized it because he had served.

 

Turns out the guy it was awarded to had earned two of them and this one was the one that he had given his daughter. After conducting some research, it was returned to the daughter. Here is the link (it someone can help me with the link thingy.)

 

http://www.nola.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-1/114846754250150.xml?nola

[cpm9ball]

You have to look at the bright side, though. There is no state income tax in FL, and more than 50% of the Spanish wrecks in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico waters surrounding the FL coastline have never been discovered.

 

Chris

 

Was that you I saw being chased by aligators while running around the everglades in a snorkle with a metal detector, last time I was sunning in Florida?

 

No, that was an illegal alien, and I told him that if he wanted to be granted amnesty to stay in Florida he had to run through the swamp. While the gators had their eye on him for lunch, I went fishing.

 

Chris

[cpm9ball]

Victor, are you and Chris both X-ray techs? My nephew recently passed

his boards (first try BTW) and is now the weekend tech at a hospital in the

next town, which is only 12 miles away.

 

It is a sweet job. He goes in at 11pm Friday night and works until 11pm

Sunday night. Much of his time is spent in an on-call room reading,

watching TV, or surfing the web on his laptop. You know, I think he is

on call Friday night and doesn’t really have to be there until Saturday

morning – I’m not sure. The point is he only works 36 hours and they pay him

for 40 THEN he basically has Monday through Friday off! They are teaching

him how to do CTs (?) now. He makes almost as much money in his first job as

I did managing a restaurant and putting in 65-75 hrs a week. I’m so proud of

that kid.

 

He came to visit me when I was in Lexington. I took a couple of days off

from painting to go car shopping with him. He ended up buying a used but

very nice 230C Mercedes Benz. All that was to 1) brag on my nephew, and

2) to tell you the personalized license plate we came up with: ICNU

I hope it’s not taken. His second choice was XRAYI.

 

I should apologies every time I post because I tend to be so longwinded.

 

Hays

 

I'm not, but my sister was. I remember when she was in training at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. She had to x-ray a skydiving accident victim. She told me that just about every bone in his body was broken and he felt like mush when she had to move him for more x-rays. He lived 9 days.

 

Chris

[EZ_E]

Brotherman,

 

Cool to see you brag on you nephew. I truly love my job even after 13 yrs. I much prefer cat scan but I also do MRI and x-rays.

 

Maybe once I tire of traveling the country as an agency tech (been doing it for 5 yrs now) then I wouldn't mind just working the weekend and having the rest of the week off. It a good deal.

 

A lot of hospitals require you to take call. You make more money but it certainly gets tiresome after awhile being called in at all sorts of hours.

 

If I knew better then I would have done the x-ray route in the Navy instead of being a nuke electrian. But that's cool. I got to see both sides of the world during my elistment. Most corpman, most especially x-ray techs, are stationed state side.

 

One of my beefs with the military is that nurses are commissioned officers but radiologic technologists are mere grunt enlisted men. Both are professional fields with similar training requirements.