The veteran I still work with, Pfc Finney was a medic in Okinawa almost for same reason, however he carried a gun and was willing to use it to protect his comrades. He received Purple Heart for wound that still bothers him at age 90 and also received a Bronze Star. He stated he was too busy to use his gun however.
Monday, November 28, 2016
New Clips for HACKSAW RIDGE - Mel Gibson's WWII drama movie
The veteran I still work with, Pfc Finney was a medic in Okinawa almost for same reason, however he carried a gun and was willing to use it to protect his comrades. He received Purple Heart for wound that still bothers him at age 90 and also received a Bronze Star. He stated he was too busy to use his gun however.
VF-33 Squadron The Fighting 33rd
I know we agree that WW2 was inevitable as Japan and Germany attacked us first and declared war on us first, even though the Jap diplomats delivered the ultimatum a day too late due to communication problems. You can imagined the chilly reception they got after visiting the White House a day after Pearl Harbor, which they were not informed of...funny youtube showing their stunned confused faces leaving there)
Saturday, November 26, 2016
MUSTANGS over TOKYO
I saw your youtube on the Mustangs over Tokyo, who flew out of Iwo Jima. And I commented on an interview of a soldier who guarded the Seabees while they were rebuilding that vital airport there. He had a rough time of it, as there were a lot of Japs still there in that extensive network of deep caves built on that island. There was a lot of controversy about capturing that island, but the Mustangs did not have the fuel capacity to get back to the Marianas (where the B29 bombers flew out of)There were a lot of crashes at that airport, from Mustangs that gave out of fuel just before getting there and because of the initial bad shape of the airport with all the bomb craters etc.
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
LAST of the Code Talkers died, how sad!
LAST of the Code Talkers died, how sad!
Walt Foster to Native / Trail Of No More Tears
The last of "The Code Talkers" died this morning
R.I.P.
R.I.P.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
95 Y.O. WAC trained to shoot machine guns at start of WW2
Our Country was in a bind with Japan attacking us on the West Coast and Germany on the East, so it should come as no surprise that women were being trained to shoot machine guns as 95 year old Ruth Walzer testifies below
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Rev. Dan Wright, my first interview, on racism in WW2. I was blessed to this man, RIP and thanks for your service Rev. Dan
94 y.o. Rev. was in a Hospice when I met him and was my first interview. After the war, he was ordained as an AME minister at Charleston's famous Mother Emanuel Church.
Then he built his own church down in Jacksonboro, S. C. I was blessed to attend his funeral last year, and his church is very handsome and large. It was overfilled and treated as a celebration of his life. One of his congregants (a child at the time)was one of the 9 killed at Mother Emanuel. Unfortunately, this news was a burden to him in his last year. THANK YOU SIR FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR OUR COUNTRY AND MANKIND!
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Some correspondence about interviewing old vets
| interviewing old vets have been a blessing Posted: Nov 12, 2016 1:25 PM |
| ||||||
to me. One of my favorites is of a WW2 vet, who the new movie HACKSAW RIDGE could be about. Pfc. Finney, now living in a VA Nursing home, was a medic in Okinawa also. (This is where my Father was a platoon Sgt in the Marines but would never talk about it.) Anyway, PFC Finney has the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, but unlike the medic in the movie, he carried a gun. He told me he would use it to protects his brothers in arms, but was too busy patching them up. He was shot by a sniper crawling from foxhole to foxhole, and wonders how any medic could get out of combat without getting injured. Another fav. WW2 story is from Sgt. Tom in nearbye Gray Court. He is a delightful 97 y.o. who is probably the last survivor of the HOGAN'S HEROS. This comedy series was based on lots of truth. Sgt. Tom was a hero there saving another crewmember when their B24 was downed. He put the parachute on him and pushed him out the plane, telling him to pull the rip cord when he couldn't hear the engine anymore. As soon as they hit the ground, he climbed a tree, as the wounded crew was bleeding badly. The Nazi captors took them to Stalag 17, and the injured crew ended up in the same baracks after a month in hospital. Sgt. Tom became known as Pappy because he was all of 22 years old. Sgt. Shultz and most of guards were not fit for combat, and were POWs fairly well until the Gestapo came around to inspect. Anyway, Pappy ended up being a leader in that barracks, and the tunnel digger wrote a book about it called THE FLAMEKEEPERS. As the war winded down, the guards marched the POWs 280 miles so they could be captured by American forces instead of Russians. When they arrived, the guards smartly handed their guns over to the Pows and became the pows, therefore being treated much better than most Germans. Sgt Tom became a very successful man in Gray Court, and the man whose life he saved stopped by to visit him every time he traveled to Florida, giving Sgt. Tom much gratitude for enabling him to have a great life! Now, with over 50 interviews, I will be publishing a doc called IN THEIR OWN WORDS, THE WISDOM OF ELDER VETERANs hopefully before Christmas. | |||||||
Friday, November 11, 2016
Monday, November 7, 2016
John Fisher, on returning to Vietnam to help in his recovery from PTSD
Dr. John Wesley Fisher was drafted into the Army and served in the Vietnam War. He was on the front lines almost from day one, and suffered the loss of several close brothers in arms. Also, besides, the grief, he returned with survivors guilt and terrible remorse of the deaths of many "enemies" that he felt responsible for. Upon returning to Vietnam, though initially very scary, much to his relief, John found that the Vietnamese do not have PTSD and much to his amazement did not hold resentment toward Americans due to their spiritual/cultural beliefs such as living in the present and believing there are no accidents. HIs former "enemies" befriended him and other veterans who return.
Dr. Fisher now takes Veterans (and interested civilians) back with him on annual ten day goodwill trips. Part of the trips are helping out in clinics that serve agent Orange victims. He has written several well-received books that can be found on Amazon: NOT WELCOMED HOME, WAR AFTER THE WAR, ANGELS IN VIETNAM and THE FLIP OF THE COIN.
not hold resentment toward Americans due to their spiritual/cultural beliefs such as living in the present and believing there are no accidents. HIs former "enemies" befriended him and other veterans who return.
Dr. Fisher now takes Veterans (and interested civilians) back with him on annual ten day goodwill trips. Part of the trips are helping out in clinics that serve agent Orange victims. He has written several well-received books that can be found on Amazon: NOT WELCOMED HOME, WAR AFTER THE WAR, ANGELS IN VIETNAM and THE FLIP OF THE COIN.
Dr. Fisher now takes Veterans (and interested civilians) back with him on annual ten day goodwill trips. Part of the trips are helping out in clinics that serve agent Orange victims. He has written several well-received books that can be found on Amazon: NOT WELCOMED HOME, WAR AFTER THE WAR, ANGELS IN VIETNAM and THE FLIP OF THE COIN.
Dr. Fisher now takes Veterans (and interested civilians) back with him on annual ten day goodwill trips. Part of the trips are helping out in clinics that serve agent Orange victims. He has written several well-received books that can be found on Amazon: NOT WELCOMED HOME, WAR AFTER THE WAR, ANGELS IN VIETNAM and THE FLIP OF THE COIN.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Hacksaw Ridge (2016 - Movie) Official Trailer - this movie could have been about WW2 Vet that I interviewed
This movie could be about one of the WW2 Vets, that I interviewed, PFC Finney who was a medic in Okinawa. Finney did not want to "kill" at basic training, so they made a medic out of him. A difference was that Finney carried a gun, and said he would use it to protect his Brothers in Arms, if he had to. It turned out he was too busy saving soldiers lifes to use his gun. He does not understand how a medic could get through the battles without getting wounded "climbing from foxhole to foxhole" stopping the bleeding of his comrades. PFC Finney was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze star for his heroics.
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