Marine with the most "Purple Hearts"...

[FoxtrotOscar]

The Purple Heart is the oldest American military decoration for military merit. It is the most revered and, to be honest, the most unwanted award for military merit among all of the awards given to...

[Mongoose]

God Bless........I knew a Marine in Nam that had 5 PHs.

[PaulWill]

:scared:

[Zulu 36]

My father, who had two Purple Hearts from WWII, said he never knew a Marine infantryman who had never been wounded at least once (even if he didn't get a Heart for it). Dad said if he got a Heart for every instance he was wounded, he would have had over a dozen. Grenade fragmentation mostly. The Japanese loved to use grenades and knee mortars. Dad's first wound was "friendly fire," a fragment from a WP grenade that he had to dig out with his K-Bar.

I know Advanced says he was never wounded, and I'm sure some Marines my Dad served with may not have been either, he just didn't know of them.

[advanced]

You are correct Zulu, I was never wounded but over my tour everyone in my squad was - or worse. I was never wounded as a cop either though in the 3 car wrecks I was in (I was driving in 2 of them, emergency calls) 2 of my partners each had to have discs taken out of their necks, me - not a scratch. Only in one fight did I have my wire aviators smashed deep into my nose. In the Nam my guys used to tell me that I couldn't die. They called me 1 (the one).

As a TACT officer I was on the entry team, we were the ones that breached into the bad guys. Not a scratch. Not everyone gets wounded, as I've posted before at Hue my Capt's after action report stated our company went into the city with 120 Marines, we left with 39 of us still standing (his words).

In my counseling I was told that I thought of myself as immortal, I always told them that if they had repeatably come out of the places that I did they'd be immortal as well. In all the years of riding motorcycles I've only had one wreck where I was side swiped by a big ford suv, I landed on my feet until my Indian knocked me down. Not a scratch.

My dad in WWII only made one landing, Iwo Jima, and he was never wounded either. My Uncle Paul was 1st MarDiv beginning at the Canal, ending at Oki, only wounded once. Uncle Paul and Uncle Bob were both at the Chosen, neither wounded.

Of course the VA rated me 100% P&T PTSD, though when asked if I had PTSD I'd answer damned if I know. My family has always had the charm. Knowing what I know now I would have been "unbreakable" I would have done a lot more stuff. Just saying.

[Zulu 36]

My Dad was carried into the aid station only once and walked out the next morning. Another friendly fire incident. A Navy destroyer spotted my Dad's patrol and fired 5" guns at them as they were behind Japanese lines doing their job (Scout-Snipers). My Dad got a concussion. All of his Japanese inflicted wounds were mostly minor, self aid or first aid from a buddy except the two he got Hearts for. Those he had to visit the aid station to get bigger pieces of metal removed and a couple of stiches. Walked in, walked out. One of those visits came from wounds received trying to recover his patrol leader's body and got a Bronze Star too. Between Saipan and Tinian he was pretty loaded with fragmentation. After he returned to the States he was in a Naval Hospital to get a bunch of metal removed. For the rest of his life, little pieces of fragmentation worked their way up and he would pop them out like pimples. Watched him do it a bunch of times. He saved them all in a small box, but my mom got rid of it after Dad died.

[advanced]

Zulu, your Dad sounds like a great man with all that he went through. I have respect for him as well as my Dad and my uncles. My uncle Paul who was with the 1st MarDiv, 5th Marines, told me many stories of his experiences said to me before I enlisted if you're going to be a grunt, whatever you do don't let them put you with the 5th Marines as they'll get you killed.

When I got to Nam I had to wait 5 days with no money at Freedom Hill with the new guys before they sent me out. I rode in a 6-by while they were unloading Marines to various places, then they called my name in this God forsaken place, nothing but sand. It was Phu Bi, with guess who - the 5th Marines. I thought, Oh ****, but I survived and to this day I'm proud of my time with the 5th Marines. Life takers and Heart breakers, damn if I haven't lived that one. At times I wish I hadn't, it would have been nice to just be normal. Just saying.

[Zulu 36]

Advanced, yeah I'm pretty proud of my father. My Dad landed on Saipan on his 18th birthday. His platoon (6th Marines Scout-Snipers) recently had a book published about them, "40 Thieves on Saipan." They also had an article written about them in Leatherneck Magazine back in late 1944 about a rather daring patrol they got away with (with stolen Japanese bicycles they used to ride back to American lines, waving at unsuspecting Japanese soldiers as they went along). For PC purposes, the LN author called them Tachovsky's Terrors instead of the real name other Marines called them, Tachovsky's 40 Thieves. Didn't want the folks back home to think their boys had a hobby of stealing anything they wanted or needed. They even get mentioned (just as an anonymous group of thieving Marines) in Leon Uris' book, Battle Cry. Many books and articles about the landing on Saipan show photos of Marines coming ashore. Most of those photos are of the 40 Thieves. One shows the platoon commander sitting on the beach with a bored expression on his face. Plus, if you get the official USMC historical monograph about Saipan, the platoon gets mentioned several times. Few platoon sized units got mentioned by name in the monographs more than once, if at all.

[advanced]

Zulu, you certainly have a reason to be very proud of your Dad. I don't know much about my Dad or my Uncles as I was young and didn't ask, now they're all gone. I wish now that I knew more but from my own experience, knowing where they were, I know it certainly wasn't uneventful. Be proud brother.