Sunday, July 31, 2016

Biased against the Japanese because of WW2 atrocities?


Speaking of the Japanese, I have been very biased against them studying their barbaric actions on the islands in the Pacific. However, I found an excellent film on Youtube about a Japanese American unit (442) that won a lot of honors for their fighting in WW2. called GO FOR BROKE starring Van Johnson. Wow, would I like to interview one of them. I will look them up on Wikipedia:

442nd Infantry Regiment (United States)

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442nd Infantry Regiment
442nd Regimental Combat Team
442-Infantry-Regiment-COA.png
Coat of arms
Active1944–1946
1947–1969
Country United States
Branch United States Army
TypeSeparate regiment
later 100th Infantry Battalion
RoleInfantry
Size3,800, regimental combat team
Motto(s)"Go For Broke"
EngagementsWorld War II
Commanders
Notable
commanders
Colonel Virgil R. Miller
Insignia
Shoulder sleeve insignia442nd Infantry Regimental Patch.jpg
The 442nd Regimental Combat Team is an infantry regiment of the United States Army, part of the Army Reserve. The regiment was a fighting unit composed almost entirely of American soldiers of Japanese ancestry who fought in World War II. Most of the families of mainland Japanese Americans were confined to internment camps in the United States interior. Beginning in 1944, the regiment fought primarily in Europe during World War II,[2] in particular Italy, southern France, and Germany.
The 442nd Regiment was the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare.[3] The 4,000 men who initially made up the unit in April 1943 had to be replaced nearly 2.5 times. In total, about 14,000 men served, earning 9,486 Purple Hearts. The unit was awarded eight Presidential Unit Citations (five earned in one month).[4]:201 Twenty-one of its members were awarded Medals of Honor.[2] Its motto was "Go for Broke

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Why I interview Elder Veterans

  • IN THEIR WORDS (THE WISDOM OF ELDER VETERANS)

  • “Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.” 
    ― Edmund Burke
  • To understand today, you have to search yesterday. Pearl S. Buck
  • Genealogy, Archealogy, History Tools
  • This quote means the present and the future can be predicted from the past, and those who do not grasp this concept, countries or individuals, are probably destined to repeat personal or global fiascos. 
  • In Southern history, slaves were not given credit what they did to help build this country, and the Civil War is not even called that in the South, it is called "The War Between States."
  • As far as WW11 is concerned, most emphasis now is on the Atom Bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Not much written about the build up to Pearl Harbor and the reason for it. Also, not much is known about the "unknown war of 1941" where Nazi u-boots sank over 200 of our merchant ships off our coast, and even invaded a couple of small isolated ports on the North Carolina Outer Banks. 
  • Japan was a militaristic imperialistic country who had invaded and taken over Manchuria, China and parts of Indochina plus many islands in the Pacific. President Roosevelt told them to leave China, and after they refused. He ordered our country not to supply them with steel and oil, which they desperately needed. They even declared war on us first. 
  • We all know about Germany and the Holocaust, however little is known about their sinking of our boats, invading our country and then declaring war on us Dec. 18, 1942 a day before we declared war on them.
  • Our country was in quite a bind then with Japan on one coast and Germany on the other. The government naturally got the draft going quickly and training some unlikely soldiers for combat. I have interviewed a fiesty little 95 y.o. vet. WAC who had been trained to shoot machine guns M-40 and M-60 for a year. She was disappointed that after all that, she did not get to go "kill the bad guys." Yet, when I asked her advice for the future generations, ironically, she said "to love everybody." Also, I did not know the Marines took women, however 94 y.o. Francis did not have a choice when enlisting. She was already a professional Drafter, so they used in skills in Washington. When I asked her what Marine women were called, as Navy females were Waves, she said I don't know "Big Ass Marines" with a smile on her face. She also hitchhiked as a young woman from New Jersey to Florida. Surprised, I responded "well, if you were a Marine, I guess you would hitchhike."

  • Retired Lt. Colonel Larry Dandridge, who wrote BLADES OF THUNDER about Vietnam "Helicopter" war writes that our country does not know the history, culture and, tragically, the  allies of the countries we go to invade post WW11. 

I am a volunteer at the VA Palliative Care and Hospice Unit. I enjoy listening to the stories of the old veterans there. When the volunteer supervisor heard some of the stories, he asked me to interview them for the Veterans History Project for the Library of Congress. This is a volunteer job and I am dedicated to interviewing many as possible, as most are in nursing homes and hospices. I have interviewed 28 in a 200 mile radius. Many are in hospice units, and several have died since I started this project about 6 months ago. That is why I consider this an urgent project. Also, I have interviewed a couple of older Korean and Vietnam vets.   

                                                                                               

Veteran Farmers

Farmer Veteran Coalition
lowship thanks to generous support from Stand4Heroes with the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The Mahshie’s run Veterans Healing Farm in Hendersonville, NC, and produce a variety of fruits & vegetables under the Homegrown By Heroes label.

Meditation soothing vets!

Meditation helps soothe wounds to the soul

I agree with this completely. One of my vet. friends who has ptsd meditates a lot and states it helps him immensely, thanks Carole Kennedy
An Iraq War veteran is using meditation to help veterans decrease anxiety, insomnia, anger, depression, and release deeply embedded trauma.
goodnewsnetwork.org|By Good News Network

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Vietnam Homeless Hero


"...THEN got to spend an hour or so wandering churchyards and taking photographs, when I ran into my friend Corporal Benny Nathaniel! I've posted portraits of him before. Benny, originally from Baltimore, mustered out of the Viet Nam war, the only survivor of his unit, in 1967. He's lived on the streets of Beaufort ever since, he just turned 74. Good man, who has made the best of tough circumstances. You'll note his VA ID is a bit more worn than mine."

I want to get down to Beaufort to interview this man for the Veterans History Project for the Library of Congress. Thanks Theda Parks

James R. Taylor's photo.

James R. Taylor
 
Had a meeting in Beaufort today with their interfaith council, spent a couple of hours with various ministers, Rabbis, the honorable mayor Billy Keyserling, chief of Police, lots of good people. Then dinner on the river side of Bay street with my friend Dimitri Chernywho is running for Congress in the first district, THEN got to spend an hour or so wandering churchyards and taking photographs, when I ran into my friend Corporal Benny Nathaniel! I've posted portraits of him before. Benny, originally from Baltimore, mustered out of the Viet Nam war, the only survivor of his unit, in 1967. He's lived on the streets of Beaufort ever since, he just turned 74. Good man, who has made the best of tough circumstances. You'll note his VA ID is a bit more worn than mine

Three Good Samaritans came to the aid of a 93 year-old WWII vet just when and how the help was needed



Awesomesauce. Humanity at it's best. Thank you for you service sir.
Larry Brauner added 2 new photos.
Following his weekly shopping trip to the Jewel Food Store at Roselle and Wise Roads in Schaumburg last Friday, July 15th, 93 year-old Arvid Johansen of Schaumburg was beside himself when his 1993 Buick would not start. With groceries having just been placed into his car, Arvid asked a fellow shopper in the parking lot if she could possibly help him start the disabled car. She took out jumper cables from her own car, but was unsuccessful in getting Arvid’s car to turn over. A gentleman named Jeff then came to the rescue, and although he could not get the car started, Jeff called Larry & Dan’s Marathon on Schaumburg Road and stayed with Arvid until station owner Dan Dworzynski arrived on the scene. The acts of kindness did not stop there. Dan of the Marathon Station drove Arvid and his groceries home and helped get the groceries into the house before returning to the Jewel parking lot with his tow truck. Arvid’s car was towed into the station, where a faulty starter was replaced with a new one. In the meanwhile Jeff, the second Good Samaritan, had called the service station to say that he wanted to pay Arvid’s bill for the towing and replaced starter. Jeff did. The repair bill was paid in full.
Three Good Samaritans came to the aid of a 93 year-old WWII vet just when and how the help was needed. It was a day Arvid Johansen will long remember and always be thankful for.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

A Happy WW11 Vet! (97 and still smiling broadly, thanks for your service Sir!)


Mary Thornton Blue: Happy birthday. My dad is 92 and a WWII vet. Thank you, sir
Thanks Mary. I really enjoy interviewing these guys and gals. Monday, I interviewed a WW11 94 yo lady Marine (I did not know Marines recruited women in WW11). At the same assisted living place, I got to re-visit a delightful 95 yo vet - a former WAC who was trained to shoot machine guns at start of war, and was disappointed the military decided not to use women in combat. They were both very happy to be interviewed.
I wish I knew where this vet. lives, as he would be a delightful interview!
Trending News's photo.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Bill Mauldin in his cartoons depicted the reality of war.

William Henry "BillMauldin (/ˈmɔːldən/; October 29, 1921 – January 22, 2003) was an American editorial cartoonist who won twoPulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe, two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field. These cartoons were widely published and distributed in the American army, abroad and in the United States.





Here is my favorite and I think the most profound one:

And another from my collection:

      That last one was Mauldin's Pulitzer Prize winner. For an insight into Mauldin's place in history, here's part of the FORWARD from the 1982 Stars and Stripes book that included these and a number of other cartoons by Mauldin, and several others:

      "Mauldin's cartoons of Willie and Joe, the two mud-covered, dry-humored infantrymen who typified the front-line soldier to all our combat troops, won for him a 1945 Pulitzer Prize and the reputation as WWII's outstanding cartoonist.

      In 1940, when he was 18, Mauldin joined the Arizona National Guard, and went on active duty with it as a rifleman in the 45th Infantry Division. He accompanied the 45th through the Army camps in the United States, and in 1943, as a sergeant, went overseas with the division to Sicily, where he later switched from the unit's paper, the 45th Division News, to the Stars and Stripes, with an assignment to cover the war in cartoons.

      His cartoons, expressions of muted rebellion against the Army system, featured a young enlisted man, a clean shaven, nameless recruit who evolved into the dirty, dull-eyed, bearded Joe of the combat-weary team of Willie and Joe. The team slogged from Italy to Germany.

      The cartoon that won Mauldin the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 was typical. Captioned "Fresh-spirited American troops, flushed with victory . . .," it depicted wretched, drenched infantrymen slogging through a downpour.

      While most of the Army brass favored the cartoons as outlets for the average GI's pent-up rancor, a few objected to the bedraggled and grimy, although realistic, public image Willie and Joe were projecting of American fighting men. Mauldin was occasionally lectured, but never suppressed.

      Well known by now is the story of Gen. George Patton threatening to have The Stars and Stripes banned from the Third Army as long as Mauldin's unkempt heroes appeared in it. Patton and Mauldin were told by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's headquarters to discuss the matter. Said Mauldin after the conference: "I came out with all my hide on."

      Plenty of other Generals, including Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, recognized the cartoons' worth.

      Among the some 1,500 cartoons Mauldin has drawn during his career, he acknowledges only one favorite. It annoys him that none of his fans has been moved to rave over it. This drawing -- a captionless one -- shows an old cavalry sergeant pointing his revolver, in grief, at the radiator of his jeep, which has a broken wheel. 'I think that's really funny,' says Mauldin."

Innocent soldiers and vets and a war we had no choice in....

Never blame the vets. of all the wars. We were innocent and doing the best we could under the circumstance. Many were drafted or like me enlisted under the threat of the draft. Others, young and idealistic, believed the govt. reasons to go to war.
WW11 was a different story, as our country had no choice. Japan and Germany invaded (Pearl Harbor and U-boots sinking our ships in our coastal water and even taking over a couple of the isolated little ports in N. C.) and declared war on us before we declared war on them.
Now I have one year anniversary of volunteering in the VA Hospice and Palliative Care. I really enjoy listening to the old and injured vets. stories, so they picked me out to send them to the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress. Sixteen so far and 9 more getting readied, and more I want to interview. There is a new vet in palliative care, who was in WW11, Korea and Vietnam, and he likes to tell stories, so looking forward to interviewing him soon. I am not anti-war, however I am Pro-peace!

1 Year Ago
 
The Hospice Orientation:
I have just finished an excellent orientation to VA Hospice today. One of the outstanding teachers is a social worker who just happene...d to sit beside Dr. John Wesley Fisher at the dining room when he was at the VA a couple of weeks ago. She ordered his book ANGELS IN VIETNAM, and like me could not put it down. And ordered his new one, A FLIP OF THE COIN, which is similar to my experience as a brother, whose brother was killed in Vietnam, at the same time I was in the Army. She is more than willing to help network for his visits back here to the VA and the UnityCharleston. I am getting the book back from Dr. Ron Acierno, who is my supervisor for my other volunteer job as a peer support therapist assistant. As presenters today, we had a MD in charge of the Hospice program and his partner a Psychiatrist, who is in charge of helping them live a quality life while here, a RN, a Ethicist MD, and the Volunteer coordinator. They were all really good, and I am proud to be part of their Palliative Team. I really enjoyed your sermons yesterday, as was obvious as I stayed for both. Helping heal the wounds of war, ron
p. s. THEY ARE ENCOURAGING ME TO GET STORIES FROM THEM if they want to tell them to me, and to spend as much as time as they are available! YEAH!



Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Returning Veterans go against Rich Man's war

 

"When the rich wage war its the poor that die" 

Bullets have no name on them.

 

Even some women and children weren't spared by the destruction left behind by the war. Bullets and explosions don't have a name on them. 

Wasting away and trying to stay in front of tank

 

Exhaustion and dehydration alone killed many soldiers out on the battle field. 

Flares good for illumination

 
 

When the sun comes down flares were a great way to illuminate the dark to make sure you weren't getting flaked. 

Running from the Explosions

 

Grenades going off in the back you see noting but rubble and destruction.


Another fallen soldier

 

Calling the medic to check on his fallen soldier. Always the hardest part of war. 

Miserable suffering soldiers

 

No war goes without pain and suffering. 

Pitiful the way elders, women and children had to deal with war...

 

Alone, scared, and injured Vietnam natives were affected in so many ways. Here we see a just a glimpse of what hiding from the war looked like. 



Trying to revive the dead

 
 

Trying to revive the dead. CPR sometimes just isn't enough. 

Children did not know who to trust...

 
 

Carrying frightening children to safety was the hardest part since the children were confused. 

"Biggest advantage"?

 
 

The biggest advantage of all, a tank. 

More on Helicopter War

 
 

Helicopters were a true advantage in the war being able to get soldiers to vantage points and scoping out the field. 

Viet Cong?

 

Fighting a war in the trenches. 

How to guide freshwater into canteens.

 
 

A tip for survivalist. The easiest way to collect rain water is to find a leaf to guide it to you canister. 

It was a helicopter war

 

Finding a safe landing point for helicopters to deliver food, equipment, and reinforcement is a key part of war. 

Making sure children stay out of harms way...

 
 

Making sure children stay out of harms way.

Losing limbs in the war and having to evacuate homes left countless people on streets with only having what they can carry.

 
 

Losing limbs in the war and having to evacuate homes left countless people on the streets with only having what they can carry. 

Countless soldiers were injured and killed (including my dear Brother Barry) during this 20 year war.

 

The Vietnam War was nothing to celebrate. Countless soldiers were injured and murdered during this 20 year war. 

This war is known to many as being one of the most pointless wars that the United States has ever fought

The Vietnam War was a lengthy and expensive armed conflict that matched the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its main ally, the United States of America. The war started in 1954 and lasted until the fall of Saigon in 1975.
This war is known to many as being one of the most pointless wars that the United States has ever fought. So many men were killed, became sick from Agent Orange or suffered PTSD that made coming back home harder than ever.



Having your guard up at all times was crucial in this war. Especially  with terrain like this where it was easy for the opposing soldiers to hide.

How would you like it if a neighborhood Young Girl Ran Naked down your street in terror?

 

Vietnam was a bad time for the natives. Thousands of kids full of terror running for their lives leabing everything they had behind. 

American and Vietnamese Soldiers together

 

Here we see American and Vietnam soldier fighting together for a single cause. If only both nations could find a way to work things out as well. 

Vietnam Selfie Stick

 

The Vietnam equivalent of a selfie stick. This is where it all started. 

Jumping teenager

 

Straight from teens to army

On Riverboat in Nam

 

People got bored while sailing to Vietnam. It's a good thing the water was still.