Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
11 hrs ·
Let's be honest. We get comments all the time from people who say things like: "What, you tryin' to make me feel old"… No we are not. We are just reminding you that you grew up in what may turn out to be the best time in the history of this country (US). We remind you because we were there too. So with that being said…

53 years ago tonight, The Monkees first TV show aired. Yes we thought it was incredibly cool. (We were in our early to mid teens). Their 1st single, "Last Train to Clarksville" was already climbing the charts.

School had just started and The Monkees were what everyone was talking about.

Yeah, we miss the simpler times of the mid 60's.

The Monkees first TV episode first aired 53 years ago tonight. Did you watch? AND… How long did it take you to get a double breasted shirt and a stocking cap? Be Honest...

w/ Micky Dolenz, Micky Dolenz

 
curious2garden

curious2garden

Well-Known Mod
Staff member
too larry said:
The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge
11 hrs ·
Let's be honest. We get comments all the time from people who say things like: "What, you tryin' to make me feel old"… No we are not. We are just reminding you that you grew up in what may turn out to be the best time in the history of this country (US). We remind you because we were there too. So with that being said…

53 years ago tonight, The Monkees first TV show aired. Yes we thought it was incredibly cool. (We were in our early to mid teens). Their 1st single, "Last Train to Clarksville" was already climbing the charts.

School had just started and The Monkees were what everyone was talking about.

Yeah, we miss the simpler times of the mid 60's.

The Monkees first TV episode first aired 53 years ago tonight. Did you watch? AND… How long did it take you to get a double breasted shirt and a stocking cap? Be Honest...

w/ Micky Dolenz, Micky Dolenz

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Oh my! I really disliked The Monkees and The Archies and all the other sugar pop. I was more into Led Zep, Cream, Black Sabbath. My parents were certain I was going to hell.
 
doublejj

doublejj

Well-Known Member
Between September 4 and September 12, 1967, multiple North Vietnamese Army regiments laid siege to the vital U.S. Marine Corps base on Cồn Tiên, a hill just two miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Over the following two months, North Vietnamese artillery brought down thousands of heavy explosive shells on the several Marine battalions stationed at Cồn Tiên. A months-long, relentless artillery barrage combined with Communist ground attacks and pelting monsoon rains made the fight for Cồn Tiên one of the toughest battles of the war.

In the spring of 1967, North Vietnam intensified its attacks across the DMZ and began a buildup of forces in the region north of I Corps. By the summer, some U.S. military leaders believed the enemy buildup was a sign that the North Vietnamese intended to launch a massive invasion into northern South Vietnam. In response, the III Marine Amphibious Force received orders to construct a strong-point obstacle system across from the DMZ and to man a series of outposts to block key infiltration routes into South Vietnam. Cồn Tiên was one of these outposts. Cồn Tiên also protected the large Marine Corps logistics base at nearby Đông Hà.

By the late summer and early fall, Marines engaged more and more frequently with North Vietnamese army forces around Cồn Tiên. Communist artillery fire from across the DMZ began to rain down on Cồn Tiên's defenders, and enemy troops launched a succession of ground attacks-including one on September 13 that reached the base's perimeter-all of which the Americans successfully repulsed. During the month of September, the Marines on the hill endured over 200 enemy artillery shells per day. The most intense bombardment occurred between September 19 and 27, when over 3,000 enemy shells hit the base, causing numerous American casualties.

Ceaseless rain, ankle-deep mud, and weeks of relentless tension due to the constant threat of attack and death made the defense of Cồn Tiên one of the most harrowing battles of Vietnam. While the Marines on the hill steadfastly defended the base with artillery, automatic and small-arms fire, and ground counterattacks, nearby U.S. troops aided their countrymen with one of the most focused and potent air and fire support operations of the war. A constant stream of Marine helicopters brought in supplies and ammunition by air, and the Air Force launched over 4,200 sorties against the forces attacking Cồn Tiên. Navy vessels offshore fired more than 6,100 shells, and nearby Army and Marine Corps artillerymen fired an additional 12,500 shells against the attackers, all before the end of October.

Under this onslaught of U.S. firepower, the North Vietnamese finally withdrew back into North Vietnam. Allied officers later estimated that Communist troops had sustained several thousand casualties. But American casualties were heavy as well, with approximately 1,800 men killed or wounded in the defense of Cồn Tiên. The 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines was among the hardest hit units. It numbered 952 Marines in early September, but was reduced in strength to about 300 by the end of October.

The expected North Vietnamese invasion of I Corps never came. Instead, Communist troops launched the Tet Offensive throughout hundreds of cities and towns across South Vietnam in early 1968.
 
BarnBuster

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member

Jim “Pee Wee” Martin​

101st Vet Aged 98 To Jump Again in Operation Market Garden

​
War History Online Sep 14, 2019 George Winston

"If anyone can prove those adages to be true, it’s Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin, an American World War II 101st veteran who’s doing something many men half his age are too terrified to tackle.

They say you’re only as old as you feel, that age is just a number, and that growing older is best combated by thinking and acting young.

Martin is going to repeat a jump he first did in 1944 as part of an Allied mission Operation Market Garden to free parts of the Netherlands from the Nazis’ grip. Apparently, he doesn’t consider his age a deterrent in any way.

In 2014, to celebrate the 70th D-Day anniversary in Normandy, France, the then 93-year-old veteran once again carried out a parachute jump over Normandy, making a tandem jump from another D-Day veteran, a C-47 Dakota.

Originally, Martin planned to repeat his bravura jump during the 75th anniversary of D-Day this past June. However, certain health matters forced him to cancel his plans. Undaunted, he has simply made new arrangements, with a little help from his friends. Martin’s life long friend and travelling campaign Doug Barber is unable to accompany Jim on this trip so another friend stepped in.
ne friend in particular, Kevin Price, who is with the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. He will help Martin make the journey to the Netherlands, and is totally supportive of his friend’s plans, if a little awed by them.

“I went to the Normandy commemoration in June,” Price told the Dayton Daily News. “And when I got back, I said (to Jim) ‘Hey, you couldn’t go to this, but what about the Netherlands in September?’ His response was, ‘If they let me jump’.” Price had lived in the Dutch region for a time, and became as fond of it as Martin had been during his war years. He and Martin became friends at a veterans’ event some years ago.

Jim “Pee Wee” Martin is one of the few “Toccoa Originals” of the famous WWII era 101st Airborne Division “Screaming Eagles” who is still with us. Jim continues to meet the public and carry forward the legacy of his experiences and lessons learned on D-Day in Normandy, during “Operation Market Garden” in Holland, in the snow outside Bastogne during the “Battle of the Bulge” and under Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” in Berchtesgaden.

Apparently, not everyone, particularly in the Netherlands, saw Martin’s age as a non-issue. Officials there were a bit worried that a 98-year-old is just a little too fragile to go parachuting out of a plane, no matter how historic the event would be. And no matter how good it might be for the area.

But Martin, Price and the base persisted with Dutch officials, and that, along with a letter from the U.S. Veterans Administration, got the local government on board, and they became convinced that Martin was of sound mind — and body.

He wants to do the leap for two reasons, he told the Dayton Daily News. First of all, he feels that Holland doesn’t get the P.R. and fame it deserves for its vital role in defeating the Germans. “Everyone thinks of the war as Normandy,” he said. “They forget about Holland.” Hence, he is hopeful that his jump will boost war-themed tourism in the region.

He also said that this jump will give him a sense of closure, a “capstone” to a long and distinguished military career.

“I signed up to go fight,” Martin told a reporter with the Robins Air Force Base Newsletter. And fight, he did; in fact, he took part in three crucial campaigns of the war: D-Day, Operation Garden Market and the Battle of the Bulge. He added that, because of the horrific manner in which the Dutch were treated under the Nazis, they were wildly happy to see the Allied soldiers, and made that abundantly clear.

Citizens collected guns off the ground for the Allies, and even threw rocks at the retreating German men; anything to express their relief and thanks, according to Martin. “The Dutch people were treated really terribly” by their German occupiers, he recalled.

Authorities there today are now delighted to have Martin on his way to the area soon for what is sure to be a historic jump. In part, that’s because the Veterans’ Administration included documentation of his medical fitness by one of its staff physicians.

And so, on September 17th, Jim “Pee Wee’ Martin is not just going to jump out of a plane to honour the Netherlands. He is going to leap right into history, and a place of renown all his own.

We have had the pleasure and privilege of meeting Jim on the battlefields of Normandy and is one hell of a man".
 
too larry

too larry

Well-Known Member
pabloesqobar said:
I spent 95% of my time needle-gunning rust, used a lot of primer and haze gray paint, soaking brass in buckets of bug juice and cleaning the berthing and head. 5% of my time I hunted subs and repaired sonar systems. I didn't much care for that job.
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When I was doing the Electrician's Mate thing, what shop I was assigned to determined what I did. For a while in the power shop I was the Electrical Safety Officer. lol. If it had a cord on it, I tested it. There are a lot of coffee pots on a ship that size. I got to go all over the ship and have a cup of coffee {and the occasional safety meeting} will lots of folks. {but I was a hard ass if your extension cord didn't have a tag on it. SOP was to cut the plug off anything not tagged}

In the light shop we would have trouble calls. There were always a pile of them to take care of, so we would get little gifts for making certain ones rise to the top of the pile. The cooks up in the chief's galley would give us lobster, etc, etc to get their lights back on. All the best bribes involved food.

The skatest duty I had was berthing cleaning, followed closely by mess deck duty. When we were underway and everyone else had been on 6 and 6 so long they didn't know night from day, I was working half days and sleeping the night through.
 
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