Veteran's Day 2020: My Family

 

 November 11th is Veteran's Day in the USA and Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other countries.  

My combat positions: Platoon leader 81mm mortars; Rifle Platoon leader; Platoon leader 107mm mortars; XO Combat Support Company, Brigade S3 Air; Battalion S-1; Rifle Company Commander; Headquarters Company Commander; Assistant Battalion S3; Battalion S3; Battalion XO; Interim (6 months) Battalion Commander; Task Force Commander (unit classified) in Northern Iraq providing military assistance to the Kurds.

My Battalions:

2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry (Raiders)

1st Battalion, 52nd Infantry (Ready Rifles)

 7th Battalion, 6th Infantry (Regulars by God!)

 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry (Warriors)

2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry (Regulars by God!)

Me and Honorable Son #2 (who is now a Captain). 

 

Son #2's In-Laws.
 

I proudly wear the patch of the First Armored Division on my right sleeve.

Younger me  (in need of a shave) on my Bradley "Audacity" with the 1st Armored Division when I was doing the heavy infantry thing. Always hot coffee with heavy infantry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Brother #1 and his lovely bride. 

 My Brother #1's son-in-law with Daughter #2.

 

My lovely bride and sister-in-law #2 (a retired Colonel who is still my favorite Blackhawk pilot!).

Sister-in-law #2's brother.

Sister-in-law #2's brother and his son. 

My Brother #2 

 Brother #2's son and his lovely bride.

My cousin Sarah's husband Edgar. To her everlasting regret, I introduced him to miniature wargaming!

 

My Dad.  He was "Doc" to the Marines during 2 tours in Vietnam. I owe a lot to this man.

My Dad's brother Gus. My Uncle Gus served in the Army during The Vietnam War as a Military Intelligence Vietnamese Language Specialist.

Vietnamese language intelligence specialist  He w

 
My amazing father-in-law Jim was a 19 year old 1st Lieutenant flying B-17 bombers with the 8th Air Force in 1944 and ended the war as a captain. Had a great phone call with him the other day. A product of the depression (when he was a very young cowboy), he volunteered to be a pilot because it paid more!

My grandfather Sylvester was a Seaman 1st Class Gunner's Mate on the destroyer escort USS O'Neill (DE-188) during World War II.

On 31 October 1944, the USS O'Neill transited the Panama Canal and reported to the Pacific Fleet. Arriving in the forward area in December, she joined the 3rd Fleet under Admiral Halsey, and took part in the operations which culminated in the recapture of Luzon in the Philippines.

"Pap Pap"

In February 1945, the O'Neill became a unit of the 5th Fleet under Admiral Spruance, and served as an escort for the transports which landed the 3rd Marine Division at Iwo Jima. This landing took place on 24 February, and thereafter O'Neill served in the anti-submarine screen around the island.

 

After a passage to Milne Bay, New Guinea, the O'Neill joined the force assigned for the invasion of Okinawa. The initial landings were made on 1 April 1945. In the prolonged fight for the island, she served almost continuously for 60 days on ASW picket duty — shooting down a Japanese twin-engine bomber on 25 May, and being hit by a kamikaze suicide plane on the 26^th. On the latter occasion two men were killed and 17 were wounded aboard the ship.

Shortly after a change of command on 16 June 1945, the O'Neill returned to San Pedro, California. for repairs of battle damage and major overhaul. While in San Pedro the war in the Pacific came to an end.

 

The ration booklet that belonged to my mother as a young child during WW II.

  

My grandfather Mike served as a civilian civil engineer during World War II building railroads in Persia to help supply the Soviets. He was told he was "too old" when Pearl Harbor happened; plus he had a child (my father) and wife. Later the Department of War would not be so picky. His brother Royce was a Captain in the US Army Field Artillery and he died of pneumonia in 1942. His sister "Skeet", one of my all time great people was married to the famous "Uncle Jack."

 

Aunt Skeet, Mike, and my Uncle Royce who I never met.

  

My Great Uncle Jack (Professor Emeritus of English at Princeton University) served with the OSS doing sneaky stuff in World War II in various theaters and Honorable Son #1 still have his Sykes Fairbairn knife. You know how sneaking those English majors are - Right Honorable Son #1? In photo below left to right: Aunt Skeet (Jack's wife), Jack in stripped uniform (OSS guys are sneaky), Elizabeth, my grandmother and Mike's wife and cousin Clio.