We Remember
WWII Bletchley vet dies
Some of you are probably aware of Bletchley Park, the World War II British code-breaking site. Like the OSS was the ancestor of our CIA, Bletchley can be considered the parent of the Brits’ version of NSA, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). I suspect from some of the comments that several of you DWs […]
Valor Friday
Harold Bascom Durham Jr was born 12 October 1942 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The city of his birth is deep in cotton and tobacco country, and was the site of a 1962 Martin Luther King Jr. speech where he used his “I have a dream” line a year before he delivered it on the […]
The Sea Devil
Imagine the scion of a noble military family, with such a history that the French dedicated the ‘Marseillaise’ to one of them. Maybe also imagine a bit of a wild child, who saw a cruise ship menu and ran off to sea at age 13… on a Russian tramp schooner. (You know THAT was a […]
Dennis Arndt, actor and vet dies
I like to think that every vet should be remembered. In this case, I had no idea what kind of life he led – and was surprised at what he had done. Dennis Arndt – not a household name. I suspect he was best known for what he was the recipient of … he was […]
Three vets pass on
Joe Harris, believed to have been the oldest surviving WWII Paratrooper, died March 14 at the young age of 108. 72 jumps before he got out – hardly a 5 jump chump. SGT Harris was a member of A Company of the 555th Parachute Infantry, aka the “Triple Nickels” or sometimes the “Buffalo Nickels.” They […]
Valor Friday
The humble looking enlisted man you see before you with a CIB has a distinctive little ribbon just below that among his fruit salad. Even without the photo being in color, the brilliant light blue ribbon with its five white stars stands out among the other awards on display. Bill Crawford was a young private […]
Valor Friday
Ralph Talbot was born in 1897 in Massachusettes, and would use natural gifts for both academics and athletics to eventually attend Yale. There he received some basic military officer training as part of the school’s artillery corps. These programs to train Ivy League men in the ways of military officership were the immediate predecessor to […]
Sad end of an era
John “Paddy” Hemingway, 105, the last Battle of Britain pilot, passed away Monday. He joined 85 Squadron flying Hurricanes in December 1938 and went with the squadron to France on the outbreak of war. Based near Lille, the squadron flew sector reconnaissance flights and exercises with the French Air Force during what became known […]
Recent Comments