“Tex” Combs passes
Chief Tango sends us the sad news that Monroe “Tex” Combs, a member of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, known as the “Band of Brothers” in popular culture has passed at the tender age of 95.
On the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion, Combs parachuted into combat and counted himself among the lucky ones. As he exited the airplane, wind tore away the machine gun from a container sewn onto his jump harness, and his parachute eventually got caught in a tree. When he jumped down, he landed in water up to his neck.
“If I’d have had that machine gun and hadn’t landed in a tree, I’d have probably drowned,” he told The Advocate in 2013. “The Good Lord had reasons to keep me upright, didn’t he?”
Combs fought for 18 days before being wounded severely enough that he could have been sent home. He declined the opportunity and joined in the invasion of Holland on Sept. 17. When Germany launched the Battle of the Bulge offensive on Dec. 16, the 101st hustled in to hold on to Bastogne, Belgium, before it was surrounded.
Category: Real Soldiers
And just last week Donald Malarkey also passed. http://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=75077. Can’t be many of these amazing troopers left. RIP
Earlier this year Edward Tipper passed away at age 95.
http://www.denverpost.com/2017/02/10/edward-tipper-band-of-brothers-obituary/
AIRBORNE!
All THE WAY!
Rest in well deserved peace Tex. God rest you well for your service Sir.
Darn. They’re going fast now.
See you in a while, Brother …
Another Elder Warrior goes on to join his Comrades in Valhalla, Rest In Peace Sir.
May you rest well, Dear Warrior.
RIP
Bob Rader became a local hero…but nobody knew it. After seeing the dead Hitler youth he killed, he dedicated his life to helping children.
Becoming a teacher at our local Youth Authority, before teaching at the local Jr and Senior high schools.
Robert was also a volunteer city firefighter. We had a large hotel catch fire, and Robert fought it all night—10 hours—went home, took a shower, and reported to his class in the morning.
A bridge on a city artery was dedicated to his memory, 3 years after he died, with 9 others of Easy Company on hand to honor him.