I had fun reading about how Julia Ward Howe came to write the Battle Hymn of the Republic on this day in 1861. Really interesting that the song started as a Civil War soldiers’ song, “John Brown’s Body”. “John Brown’s Body” originated in the 2nd Battalion of the Massachusetts militia. A soldier in the battalion had the same name as … Read More

You have to stop and think about the Americans fighting in the Hurtgen Forest today, one of the most miserable and horrific combat experiences of World War II. I am remembering Bernard Ray, a 23 year old lieutenant with the 4th Infantry Division who earned the Medal of Honor posthumously when he sacrificed himself to destroy a wire obstacle belt … Read More

I am thinking today about Freeman Horner, who earned the Medal of Honor in Germany in 1944. Horner was a private in Second Platoon, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 119th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division. I dug into the combat history of Horner’s regiment and what these men experienced from June 13, 1944, when they landed in France, through the German … Read More

I made a post about Mack Alvin Jordan, who earned the Medal of Honor on this day in the Korean War. His physical courage and drive and what he did in combat are unbelievable. What’s also crazy, though, is how when you scratch the surface on a story like this, the other soldiers and leaders who were with Jordan on … Read More

I wrote about the eve of the Ia Drang Battle yesterday, and today I’d like to honor, as much as I am able, Army pilots Bruce Crandall, Ed Freeman and Walter Marm. Lieutenant-Colonel “Snake” Crandall led numerous Huey flights into the valley to evacuate more than 75 Americans and to bring supplies to the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry. 12 of … Read More

I realized that 58 years ago today, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, commanding the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division received his mission to “conduct an airmobile assault”, followed by search and destroy operations in the vicinity of the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam.  This battle was memorialized in 1994 in “We Are Soldiers Once, And Young”, a book … Read More

I am a little out of order with the dates, as there is lots to commemorate and write about over the last few days, and there is never a bad day to remember the great “Footsie” Britt, who earned the Medal of Honor 80 years & 2 days ago in Italy. Honor this great American!