thedrifter
11-15-07, 07:54 AM
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The Tank
Army Aviator Receives Distinguished Service Cross [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
Note from Camp Taji, Iraq:
Mr. Smith, I thought you might be interested to know about a great American who served in my unit here in Iraq. He lost his life on 2 Feb 07, defending his wingman.
On Veteran's Day his widow received the Distinguished Service Cross for his sacrifice.
CW4 Keith Yoakum was a Cav trooper, hero and friend. It's a crying shame that people are more worried about Britney losing her kids than heroes like this...but I guess that is the nation we live in.
Cheers!
CW4 Dan McClinton
1-227 AVN, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
Camp Taji, Iraq
Incidentally, the Distinguished Service Cross is the Army's second-highest award for valor in combat (ranking only below the Medal of Honor).
More about CW4 Yoakum
guidons.blogspot.com/2007/11/army-aviator-receives-dsc.html
11/14 04:00 PM
More War Stories [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
Veterans Day may be over, but we continue our recognition of America's military veterans all this week — National Veterans Awareness Week — through Saturday, Nov. 17.
Regarding our piece, War Stories Lost, a reader e-mails with a few tales of his own (a little long, but worth it):
My father still won't talk about his experiences in Burma in WWII. He will be 88 in at the end of November, and other than stories of his States side training (and meeting my mom), and a couple of anecdotes concerning some memorable leaves he had, I don't think he ever will.
Anyway, I always enjoy your writing, the stories you impart, the lessons you teach. I thought maybe you would enjoy a couple of the stories I have managed to glean from my father - mostly by listening at the stairwell while I should have been asleep when my dad spoke with his brothers and brothers-in-law.
My Uncle Ted was a Marine heading to the South Pacific on a Navy transport for his first deployment. He never, ever forgot his rifle - boot camp drilled that in, of course. But what really made the lesson stick was sitting on the open latrine as a torpedo plane approached the transport - rifle in hand and firing.
I cannot remember whether the Marine in this story was Uncle Ted or not - I was pretty sleepy. While on leave in Sydney, a table of Marines was catching guff from some large Aussie Marines across the bar - one was particularly loud-mouthed. Every time the Aussie spouted off, an American Marine would turn to the Aussie table, lift a glass, smile, and ask the waitress to buy that Aussie a drink. That went on for a long evening, eventually leaving a single loud-mouthed Aussie passed out and abandoned by his friends in the same bar as a table full of American Marines. Apparently, the Aussie woke up with a large American flag tattooed across his chest.
B-17s often had a tough time clearing the Himalayas. There is a photo of my dad looking rather dashing in his bomber jacket. He had to throw that overboard at one time in order to lighten the load enough to clear the mountains. He bumped into my college roommate's father one weekend to discover he had also served in the Army Air Corps in Burma - as a pilot (my dad was a logistics officer). Turns out Red also had to jettison a bunch of stuff while climbing over the Himalayas. The beer made it to the final destination - the Norton bombsight didn't.
I won't bore you with the stories about leaves my father had - they are fun, funny, wonderful and probably somewhat universal to anyone who has served in combat. But I will leave you with this one.
My little town has a fairly large Veterans Day celebration these past few years. Last year, as part of that celebration, the vets were asked to step into middle, junior high, and high school classes after the reception to talk a little about their experiences. Of course, my dad wouldn't talk about anything that happened to him. Instead, he talked about two brothers that grew up in the same parish as my dad in Detroit. (By the way, my dad tried enlisting in the Army Air Corps in January 1942: They turned him down because of bad eyesight. Then he tried the Marines: They turned him down for bad eyes. Next, the Navy: Same thing. The Army, however, took him. While in basic, they decided he wasn't cut out to be a G.I., so they transferred him to OCS in the Air Corps!)
Well, the story my dad told goes like this: His friend signed up for the Air Corps in January of '42. His friend's older brother joined the Marines. My dad ran into his buddy a few times during the war - a little during training, once or twice in North Africa.
After North Africa, my dad was sent to Burma. His buddy ended up flying transports in the South Pacific. On one transport mission, after dropping off supplies at a forward island, he was approached by the base's medical officer. They had a severely wounded Marine — took a grenade blast in his face — who desperately needed a real hospital There was no official paperwork, and no oxygen for the cargo area, so the plane had to fly low and burn so much fuel it was a bit risky - but he and his crew got that bandaged and unconscious Marine back to a larger base. The Phillipines? Australia? I can't remember. Anyhow, after doing his obligatory 3-day stint in the brig for breach of orders in making that flight, he decided to swing by the hospital to check on his "patient" before flying to his station. Yeah, it was his friend's older brother. My dad and those two shared more than a few beers together in the decades following.
Ellie
The Tank
Army Aviator Receives Distinguished Service Cross [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
Note from Camp Taji, Iraq:
Mr. Smith, I thought you might be interested to know about a great American who served in my unit here in Iraq. He lost his life on 2 Feb 07, defending his wingman.
On Veteran's Day his widow received the Distinguished Service Cross for his sacrifice.
CW4 Keith Yoakum was a Cav trooper, hero and friend. It's a crying shame that people are more worried about Britney losing her kids than heroes like this...but I guess that is the nation we live in.
Cheers!
CW4 Dan McClinton
1-227 AVN, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division
Camp Taji, Iraq
Incidentally, the Distinguished Service Cross is the Army's second-highest award for valor in combat (ranking only below the Medal of Honor).
More about CW4 Yoakum
guidons.blogspot.com/2007/11/army-aviator-receives-dsc.html
11/14 04:00 PM
More War Stories [W. Thomas Smith Jr.]
Veterans Day may be over, but we continue our recognition of America's military veterans all this week — National Veterans Awareness Week — through Saturday, Nov. 17.
Regarding our piece, War Stories Lost, a reader e-mails with a few tales of his own (a little long, but worth it):
My father still won't talk about his experiences in Burma in WWII. He will be 88 in at the end of November, and other than stories of his States side training (and meeting my mom), and a couple of anecdotes concerning some memorable leaves he had, I don't think he ever will.
Anyway, I always enjoy your writing, the stories you impart, the lessons you teach. I thought maybe you would enjoy a couple of the stories I have managed to glean from my father - mostly by listening at the stairwell while I should have been asleep when my dad spoke with his brothers and brothers-in-law.
My Uncle Ted was a Marine heading to the South Pacific on a Navy transport for his first deployment. He never, ever forgot his rifle - boot camp drilled that in, of course. But what really made the lesson stick was sitting on the open latrine as a torpedo plane approached the transport - rifle in hand and firing.
I cannot remember whether the Marine in this story was Uncle Ted or not - I was pretty sleepy. While on leave in Sydney, a table of Marines was catching guff from some large Aussie Marines across the bar - one was particularly loud-mouthed. Every time the Aussie spouted off, an American Marine would turn to the Aussie table, lift a glass, smile, and ask the waitress to buy that Aussie a drink. That went on for a long evening, eventually leaving a single loud-mouthed Aussie passed out and abandoned by his friends in the same bar as a table full of American Marines. Apparently, the Aussie woke up with a large American flag tattooed across his chest.
B-17s often had a tough time clearing the Himalayas. There is a photo of my dad looking rather dashing in his bomber jacket. He had to throw that overboard at one time in order to lighten the load enough to clear the mountains. He bumped into my college roommate's father one weekend to discover he had also served in the Army Air Corps in Burma - as a pilot (my dad was a logistics officer). Turns out Red also had to jettison a bunch of stuff while climbing over the Himalayas. The beer made it to the final destination - the Norton bombsight didn't.
I won't bore you with the stories about leaves my father had - they are fun, funny, wonderful and probably somewhat universal to anyone who has served in combat. But I will leave you with this one.
My little town has a fairly large Veterans Day celebration these past few years. Last year, as part of that celebration, the vets were asked to step into middle, junior high, and high school classes after the reception to talk a little about their experiences. Of course, my dad wouldn't talk about anything that happened to him. Instead, he talked about two brothers that grew up in the same parish as my dad in Detroit. (By the way, my dad tried enlisting in the Army Air Corps in January 1942: They turned him down because of bad eyesight. Then he tried the Marines: They turned him down for bad eyes. Next, the Navy: Same thing. The Army, however, took him. While in basic, they decided he wasn't cut out to be a G.I., so they transferred him to OCS in the Air Corps!)
Well, the story my dad told goes like this: His friend signed up for the Air Corps in January of '42. His friend's older brother joined the Marines. My dad ran into his buddy a few times during the war - a little during training, once or twice in North Africa.
After North Africa, my dad was sent to Burma. His buddy ended up flying transports in the South Pacific. On one transport mission, after dropping off supplies at a forward island, he was approached by the base's medical officer. They had a severely wounded Marine — took a grenade blast in his face — who desperately needed a real hospital There was no official paperwork, and no oxygen for the cargo area, so the plane had to fly low and burn so much fuel it was a bit risky - but he and his crew got that bandaged and unconscious Marine back to a larger base. The Phillipines? Australia? I can't remember. Anyhow, after doing his obligatory 3-day stint in the brig for breach of orders in making that flight, he decided to swing by the hospital to check on his "patient" before flying to his station. Yeah, it was his friend's older brother. My dad and those two shared more than a few beers together in the decades following.
Ellie