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Memorial Day, take the time to honor the fallen……

Drink IRON City

Drink IRON City

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My Dad, a Korean War veteran has passed for quite a while. (2011)

One time I asked him (in his older years), “ what was his favorite thing to do ?”

His answer was solid, precise and to the point……. “Honor our flag”

I put flags up at different times of the year both for my self but ALWAYS in his honor.

Thank You Dad !!!!!


Honor and Remembrance go out to many and thank you to all who served.





Salute the nation
 
Lost my dad to cancer in 1990. He lost a leg in Korea in 1952.

Dad tried to enlist in 1950, but nobody would take him because he had 'flat feet'. Disappointed he decided to try his hand at being a baseball player. He had a couple of try outs, but ended up playing only a few semi-pro gigs around western PA. The Pirates, Orioles and maybe the Phillies held open try outs in towns around the northeast. Dad went to one of those in Johnstown to give it one last shot.

No teams offered him a contract, but there was a guy there from the Army recruiting ballplayers to tour around parts of the Far East helping to build baseball fields and teach the game to locals. He jumped at the chance and there he was in the Army, in the 25th ID. Just a few months into this experience the 25th took heavy casualties and everyone was ordered to pick up a rifle and hit the front lines. Dad was assigned to be the FO (forward observer) for his company. He was only on the line for a few weeks when a Chinese mortar took his right leg off above the knee.

We're an Army family. Dad's grandson is now a Major.

May God please bless all who have and do serve.
 
My grandfather was U.S. Army 82nd Airborne during WW2. Multiple medals including purple heart. He never talked to my dad about the war at all and unfortunately passed away in 1976 when I was a kid.

I have a few pictures of him dressed out in Liverpool,England just after the end of the war.
 
Steelr4evr said:
My grandfather was U.S. Army 82nd Airborne during WW2. Multiple medals including purple heart. He never talked to my dad about the war at all and unfortunately passed away in 1976 when I was a kid.

I have a few pictures of him dressed out in Liverpool,England just after the end of the war.
Click to expand...
I wanted to go Airborne but they didn’t want anyone with my MOS stepping away. Granddad did the country good. 👏🙏
 
Drink IRON City said:
My Dad, a Korean War veteran has passed for quite a while. (2011)

One time I asked him (in his older years), “ what was his favorite thing to do ?”

His answer was solid, precise and to the point……. “Honor our flag”

I put flags up at different times of the year both for my self but ALWAYS in his honor.

Thank You Dad !!!!!


Honor and Remembrance go out to many and thank you to all who served.





Salute the nation
Click to expand...
Lost my Dad in 2011 as well

RCAF veteran from WWII

Mom was a war bride from Wales
 
We lost our nephew in Afghanistan near the end. Special Forces for the Army. Very mysterious circumstances, and never solved. He was killed by someone on base for sure. Really sucks. He was about a week away from coming home.

Then the whole Afghanistan thing was pissed away by the powers that were. Not a good thing for him to die for.
 
Steelr4evr said:
My grandfather was U.S. Army 82nd Airborne during WW2. Multiple medals including purple heart. He never talked to my dad about the war at all and unfortunately passed away in 1976 when I was a kid.

I have a few pictures of him dressed out in Liverpool,England just after the end of the war.
Click to expand...
My father did a tour in Vietnam as a medic. As a kid he never talked about it. Later on when I was in my 30's and we would do our yearly hunting trips together he would open up and tell a story here and there. One time when my father was older and with his health issues he shot a buck. I was field dressing it for him. Gut shot. My father was standing over top of me holding the legs to help me out. I was gagging and all but puking from the smell. He just stood over top of me. I looked at him between gags and asked...doesn't that smell bother you. I will never forget his response. Once you smell human guts there isn't anything worse. The horrors our Vets went thru for our freedom!!!!! I thank everyone of them. And of course the ones that gave the ultimate sacrifice. God Bless!!!
 
TheDudeAbides said:
Lost my dad to cancer in 1990. He lost a leg in Korea in 1952.

Dad tried to enlist in 1950, but nobody would take him because he had 'flat feet'. Disappointed he decided to try his hand at being a baseball player. He had a couple of try outs, but ended up playing only a few semi-pro gigs around western PA. The Pirates, Orioles and maybe the Phillies held open try outs in towns around the northeast. Dad went to one of those in Johnstown to give it one last shot.

No teams offered him a contract, but there was a guy there from the Army recruiting ballplayers to tour around parts of the Far East helping to build baseball fields and teach the game to locals. He jumped at the chance and there he was in the Army, in the 25th ID. Just a few months into this experience the 25th took heavy casualties and everyone was ordered to pick up a rifle and hit the front lines. Dad was assigned to be the FO (forward observer) for his company. He was only on the line for a few weeks when a Chinese mortar took his right leg off above the knee.

We're an Army family. Dad's grandson is now a Major.

May God please bless all who have and do serve.
Click to expand...
My wife who is Korean would say to your dad as she says to all Korean War vets she meets. “Thank you for saving my country.”…. in her heavy Korean accent.
 
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Hypocycloids said:
My wife who is Korean would say to your dad as she says to all Korean War vets she meets. “Thank you for saving my country.”…. in her heavy Korean accent.
Click to expand...
I appreciate this. Thanks to you and your wife. I know something of the appreciation felt by many, mostly older, Koreans for the American military. I have tremendous respect for all that the Korean people have had to endure. They have had a challenging century.

My son, now the Major, was in South Korea a number of years ago. He's a language specialist, for lack of a better word (pun unintended, but noted), who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. He speaks 'some' Korean, enough to get by. He was in Korea on some sort of business and got involved in helping some Korean Army officers learn conversational English. As a thank you of sorts they took him on a tour of some of the major American monuments, cemeteries, etc. around Seoul. He mentioned to them that his grandfather had fought in Korea and lost his leg there. Next thing he knew he was being interviewed by people from the local press who included him in a newspaper article about the work they were doing. He was taken out to a special dinner and treated like a bit of a celebrity by the Korean people he was around.

The Major's mother and I will always be thankful for the grace and hospitality of those people. It's tough when people you love are half a world away, involved in God knows what.

Bless all of those who serve and have served, and the loved ones who can only worry and pray.
 
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