Veterans...Get the hell in here now!

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"An American Navy veteran captured in Afghanistan two years ago has been freed in exchange for an Afghan man who was imprisoned by the U.S., a senior Biden administration official said Monday."
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today In Military History:
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"The Battle of Chickamauga, fought on September 19–20, 1863, between U.S. and Confederate forces in the American Civil War, marked the end of a Union offensive, the Chickamauga Campaign, in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. It was the first major battle of the war fought in Georgia, the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater and involved the second-highest number of casualties after the Battle of Gettysburg with nearly 35,000 total casualties. The casualties amounted to nearly 40% of both armies, a staggering number.

For the end of the Union line, it was a shattering defeat. The Confederate Army captured 8,000 men, 15,000 muskets, 51 cannons, and a huge amount of material. It was the greatest tactical victory of the Confederate army in the west and also the last major victory in the battlefield for the Confederacy in the entire war.

The battle was damaging to both sides in proportions roughly equal to the size of the armies: Union losses were 16,170 (1,657 killed, 9,756 wounded, and 4,757 captured or missing), Confederate 18,454 (2,312 killed, 14,674 wounded, and 1,468 captured or missing). They were the highest losses of any battle in the Western Theater during the war and, after Gettysburg, the second-highest of the war overall. Among the dead were Confederate generals Benjamin Hardin Helm (husband of Abraham Lincoln's sister-in-law), James Deshler, and Preston Smith, and Union general William H. Lytle. Confederate general John Bell Hood, who had already lost the use of his left arm from a wound at Gettysburg, was severely wounded with a bullet in his leg, requiring it to be amputated. Although the Confederates were technically the victors, driving Rosecrans from the field, Bragg had not achieved his objectives of destroying Rosecrans or of restoring Confederate control of East Tennessee, and the Confederate Army suffered casualties that they could ill afford."


'The Rough Side of War' The Civil War Journal of Chesley A. Mosman
"bout 10am we halted to bury the bones of dead men who fell here Saturday evening September 19th, out of Hazen's Brigade. Papers near the bones of one showed that he was Harrison Emery of the 101st Ind. Regiment. I was surprised to find how well preserved the parts of the bodies covered by pantaloons were. The coats and shirts were generally open and did not protect the upper body as well. Some lay as they fell, others had been rooted and tossed about by the hogs and turned over. Heads were missing from some. The chests seem to have decayed very fast. It is just two months and eleven days since the battle and the scene is awful. The Rebels may have intended to bury them but they certainly did not.
Along the road, close to a house where apparently a stand had been made there was about 100 corpses that had had earth thrown upon them from the knees to the chin, leaving heads and feet exposed. It was a shockingly cruel sight. Many died of their wounds, unattended and uncared for. A woman nearby told me that "but for the meanness all would have been buried." Whose meanness do you mean, I asked. "Gen. Bragg," she answered, "The citizens wanted to bury them but he would not allow it."
Cartridge boxes, belts, cups, tins, haversacks and other debris covered the ground. We have not seen the field of the heaviest fighting yet. It is to our rear. The 9th Ind. boys found the ground over which they fought and the grave of a lieutenant of the Regiment names S.B Parks. They had left an envelope on him with his name, Company and REgiment on it, and the envelope was still on the grave. The Rebels had buried him and built a tall pen over his grave. A tree near the ground the 9th fought on has the names of two of the 10th and one of the 19th South Carolina cut upon it. Their graves were near its foot and also of Lockhard and Lindsay of the 24th Ala.There were many graves of members of the 32nd, 18th and other Tennessee Regiments that fought Grose's Brigade. Men not on duty play chuck-a-luck while details bury the dead."

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
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In New York City on September 22, 1776, Nathan Hale, a Connecticut schoolteacher and captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying.

A graduate of Yale University, Hale joined a Connecticut regiment in 1775 and served in the successful siege of British-occupied Boston. On September 10, 1776, he volunteered to cross behind British lines on Long Island to spy on the British in preparation for the Battle of Harlem Heights.

Disguised as a Dutch schoolmaster, the Yale-educated Hale slipped behind British lines on Long Island and successfully gathered information about British troop movements for the next several weeks. While Hale was behind enemy lines, the British invaded the island of Manhattan; they took control of the city on September 15, 1776. When the city was set on fire on September 20, British soldiers were told to look out for sympathizers to the Patriot cause. The following evening, September 21, Hale was captured while sailing Long Island Sound, trying to cross back into American-controlled territory. Although rumors surfaced that Hale was betrayed by his first cousin and British Loyalist Samuel Hale, the exact circumstances of Hale’s capture have never been discovered.

Hale was interrogated by British General William Howe and, when it was discovered that he was carrying incriminating documents, General Howe ordered his execution for spying, which was set for the following morning. After being led to the gallows, legend holds that the 21-year-old Hale said, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” There is no historical record to prove that Hale actually made this statement, but, if he did, he may have been inspired by these lines in English author Joseph Addison’s 1713 play Cato: “What a pity it is/That we can die but once to serve our country.”

In the diary entry of one of the British officers made on the day of Hale’s execution, it was said: “He behaved with great composure and resolution, saying he thought it the duty of every good Officer, to obey any orders given him by his Commander-in-Chief; and desired the Spectators to be at all times prepared to meet death in whatever shape it might appear.”

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:


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During the American Revolution, the U.S. ship Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones, wins a hard-fought engagement against the British ships of war Serapis and Countess of Scarborough, off the eastern coast of England.

Scottish-born John Paul Jones first sailed to America as a cabin boy and lived for a time in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where his brother had a business. He later served on slave and merchant ships and proved an able seaman. After he killed a fellow sailor while suppressing a mutiny, he returned to the American colonies to escape possible British prosecution. With the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775, he traveled to Philadelphia and was commissioned a senior lieutenant in the new Continental Navy. He soon distinguished himself in actions against British ships in the Bahamas, the Atlantic Ocean and the English Channel.

In August 1779, Jones took command of the Bonhomme Richard and sailed around the British Isles. On September 23, 1779, the Bonhomme Richard engaged the Serapis and the smaller Countess of Scarborough, which were escorting the Baltic merchant fleet. After inflicting considerable damage to the Bonhomme Richard, Richard Pearson, the captain of the Serapis, asked Jones if he had struck his colors, the naval signal indicating surrender. From his disabled ship, Jones replied, “Sir, I have not yet begun to fight,” and after three more hours of furious fighting it was the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough that surrendered. After the victory, the Americans transferred to the Serapis from the Bonhomme Richard, which sank the following day.

Though Bonhomme Richard sank after the battle, the battle's outcome was one of the factors that convinced the French crown to back the colonies in their fight to become independent of British authority. Bonhomme Richard's final resting location was the subject of much speculation. A number of unsuccessful efforts had been conducted to locate the wreck. The location was presumed to be in approximately 180 feet (55 m) of water off Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, a headland near where her final battle took place. The quantity of other wrecks in the area and a century of fishing trawler operations had complicated all searches. In 2018 remains, possibly those of the Bonhomme Richard, were found in shallow water very close to the coast of Filey, North Yorkshire, England, by the Land and Sea search team Merlin Burrows. However, the location of this wreck does not corroborate with multiple eyewitness accounts from observers on land, who noted that on the morning of September 25, 1779, the Bonhomme Richard disappeared out of sight over the horizon.

Jones was hailed as a great hero in France, but recognition in the United States was somewhat belated. He continued to serve the United States until 1787 and then served briefly in the Russian navy before moving to France, where he died in 1792 amidst the chaos of the French Revolution. He was buried in an unmarked grave. In 1905, his remains were located under the direction of the U.S. ambassador to France and then escorted back to the United States by U.S. warships. His body was later enshrined in a crypt at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.


 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:
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This day in history, September 26, 1945, Lt. Col. Peter Dewey, a U.S. Army officer with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Vietnam, is shot and killed in Saigon. While it may have been another decade before the US was “officially” involved in Vietnam, Dewey was really the first of the more than 58,000 troops who paid the ultimate price there.

Once World War II broke out in Europe in May 1940, during the Battle of France, Dewey was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Polish Military Ambulance Corps with the Polish Army fighting in France. Following the defeat of the French army, Dewey escaped through Spain to Portugal. Upon return to the United States, Dewey was selected for OSS.

Dewey parachuted into Southern France in August of 1944 and radioed reports of German troop movements behind enemy lines for six weeks as part of a ten-man OSS "Jedburgh" team. OSS operatives were the forerunners of the US Army Special Forces and CIA.

For his actions in France, General William “Wild Bill” Donovan personally awarded him the Legion of Merit while the French gave him the Legion of Honor and a second Croix de Guerre.

Dewey was then shipped to Saigon in September of 1945 to command a seven-man OSS team “to represent American interests” and collect intelligence. Working with and sympathetic to the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh, whom he considered a freedom fighter, during an operation code named Project Embankment, he arranged the repatriation of 4,549 Allied POWs, including 240 Americans, from two Japanese camps near Saigon. Dewey freed the Americans from two Japanese camps in Saigon. The majority of them had been held in Burma for most of the war and employed, as slave labor building a railroad line that was to cross the Kwai River, later made famous by the movie Bridge On The River Kwai.

Camp Poet in Saigon held five POWs, and Camp 5-E, just outside of Saigon, contained 209. Of these, 120 were from the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery of the 36th Division, a National Guard anti-aircraft outfit from Texas that had landed in Java by mistake and had been captured intact. These POWs would later become known as the “Lost Battalion.” Among the other POWs, 86 were survivors of the cruiser Houston, sunk on the night of 29 February 1942 off the coast of Java. Their fate was also unknown until Dewey liberated them. The other eight were airmen shot down over Indochina.

Because the British occupation forces who had arrived to accept the Japanese surrender were short of troops, they armed French POWs on September 22 to protect the city from a potential Viet Minh attack. The French were wanting to re-establish colonial rule in Vietnam, something the Viet Minh were adamantly against and considered themselves the rightful government.

In taking control of the city, the 1400 freed French soldiers quickly ousted the Viet Minh who had just taken power. The British commander, General Douglas Gracey, was firmly against the Viet Minh and only too happy to assist the French in their quest to re-establish their colonial rule.

He established two distinct zones under his authority, the French and the English, and he flew in 300 Gurkha troops to keep control. Dewey who was quite outspoken, and blasted Gracey for his subjecting the Viet Minh to the French again. Eventually, Gracey took exception to Dewey’s objections and declared him persona non grata.

As with military tradition, Gracey prohibited anyone but general officers from flying their nations’ flags from their vehicles. Dewey had wanted to fly an American flag for easy identification among the Viet Minh, who Dewey claimed were only concerned about attacking the French. The jeep he rode in prior to his death had a flag wrapped around a pole that was unidentifiable.

Because the airplane scheduled to fly Dewey out did not arrive on time at Tan Son Nhut International Airport, he returned for a lunch meeting with war correspondents Bill Downs and Jim McGlincy at the villa that OSS had requisitioned in Saigon as well as visit an American who was wounded by Viet Minh soldiers who ironically enough mistook him for a Frenchman. As he neared the villa, he was shot in the head in an ambush by Viet Minh troops. Dewey’s jeep overturned, and Dewey’s subordinate, Captain Herbert Bluechel, escaped, pursued by Viet Minh soldiers. Bluechel informed OSS HQs of the tragedy. “We were returning to the O.S.S. hostel when we passed through a partial double roadblock. As we drive through, Annamese (Vietnamese) in a ditch beside the road opened with a machine gun not ten yards away. The charge caught Peter in the head.”

“The jeep overturned in the ditch. I saw Peter was dead and I couldn’t help him, so I crawled from under the jeep. While the Annamese still were firing, I crawled along a hedge for 150 yards, firing my .45 back at them, slowing them down. When I reached the house I alerted the other offices and we broke out the arsenal. The Annamese besieged the house for about three hours until British Gurkha troops arrived. The natives had cut our telephone wires and I had to radio O.S.S. headquarters in Kandy, Ceylon, who radioed the British in Saigon to send help.”

The Viet Minh afterward claimed that their troops mistook him for a Frenchman after he had spoken to them in French. Bluechel later recalled that Dewey had shaken his fist and yelled insults for some reason at three Vietnamese soldiers in French while driving back to headquarters.

According to Vietnamese historian Trần Văn Giàu, Dewey’s body was dumped in a nearby river and was never recovered. But other reports had Viet Minh troops dumping his body in a well and then burying it elsewhere in a small village after it was learned that he was an American. Reportedly, Ho Chi Minh sent a letter of condolence about Dewey’s death to U.S. President Harry S. Truman while also ordering a search for the colonel’s body. Ho also offered the large sum of 5000 piasters for the return of the Major’s body.

Dewey is not listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. because the United States Department of Defense has ruled that the war officially started, from a U.S. perspective, on November 1, 1955, after the U.S. took over following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu
 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:

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In the U.S. Coast Guard’s illustrious 227-year history, only one of its members has ever been recognized with the Medal of Honor. Signalman First Class Douglas Munro earned the decoration in September 1942 at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

On September 27, 1942, Munro was in charge of a group of small boats that were used to drop about 500 Marines at a beachhead known as Point Cruz, by the Matanikau River. The plan was for the Marines to drive the Japanese from the area west of the river and establish an inland patrol base.

When Munro’s boats returned to their rallying point after the dropoff, they were told that the conditions where the Marines had been left were much worse than anticipated – they were under attack from a huge Japanese force and needed to be extracted immediately.

Munro quickly volunteered for the job and devised a way to evacuate the battalion. If his crew didn’t save them, the men would surely be slaughtered.

Despite heavy fire from machine guns on the island, Munro directed five of his small craft toward the shore to pick up the Marines who had made it back to the beach. As they closed in, he signaled the other boats to land. They were able to collect up most of the Marines, but some were struggling. In an effort to block them from enemy fire, Munro moved his own boat as a shield between the beachhead and the other boats.

His actions helped the crew of the other boats evacuate the last of the stranded Marines, but it cost Munro his life. He was hit by enemy fire and killed. According to fellow signalman Ray Evans, who enlisted with Munro and was on the boat with him when he died, Munro’s last words were, “Did they get off?” referring to the last of the Marines.

Colonel Lewis Puller, the Marine officer who had ordered the attack in which Munro perished, nominated the Coast Guardsman for the Medal of Honor. Puller himself was one of several hundred Marines from 1/7 evacuated. The nomination was endorsed by Admiral William Halsey Jr., and President Franklin Roosevelt approved the decoration on or about May 1, 1943. The medal was presented to Munro's parents on May 24 by Roosevelt in a White House ceremony

Munro saved hundreds of men who would have otherwise surely died. For his leadership, planning and devotion to the cause, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in May 1943, as well as the Purple Heart.

One poignant note in his story involves Munro’s mother Edith. After his death, she sought to join the Coast Guard female auxiliary, the SPARS (Semper Paratus, Always Ready). Though the Coast Guard initially was reluctant to have a Gold Star mother serve, she was persistent. When commissioned as an officer, she insisted on going through basic training. Though at 48 she was twice the age of her fellow recruits, she successfully completed the training and was the first female officer on a Coast Guard district staff.

Munro's remains were recovered from Guadalcanal in 1947 and were reinterred at Laurel Hill Memorial Park in Cle Elum in 1948, his family having declined a full military burial at the Arlington National Cemetery. In 1954, the City of Cle Elum expanded Munro's gravesite with the installation of two decommissioned Mk22 naval deck guns to either side of the tombstone. Munro's parents were later buried on either side of their son's grave at Laurel Hill. The entire site has since been added to the Washington Heritage Register as the Douglas Munro Burial Site

Munro’s Medal of Honor is on display at the Coast Guard Training Center in Cape May, New Jersey, not far from a memorial that’s dedicated to him. The Coast Guard has named two cutters for Munro, too. The most recent, the Coast Guard National Security Cutter Munro, was commissioned in April. The Navy also named a ship in his honor – a destroyer escort that served in World War II and the Korean War.


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The Citation
For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry in action above and beyond the call of duty as Petty Officer in Charge of a group of 24 Higgins boats, engaged in the evacuation of a battalion of Marines trapped by enemy Japanese forces at Point Cruz Guadalcanal, on 27 September 1942. After making preliminary plans for the evacuation of nearly 500 beleaguered Marines, Munro, under constant strafing by enemy machine guns on the island, and at great risk of his life, daringly led 5 of his small craft toward the shore. As he closed the beach, he signaled the others to land, and then in order to draw the enemy's fire and protect the heavily loaded boats, he valiantly placed his craft with its 2 small guns as a shield between the beachhead and the Japanese. When the perilous task of evacuation was nearly completed, Munro was instantly killed by enemy fire, but his crew, 2 of whom were wounded, carried on until the last boat had loaded and cleared the beach. By his outstanding leadership, expert planning, and dauntless devotion to duty, he and his courageous comrades undoubtedly saved the lives of many who otherwise would have perished. He gallantly gave his life for his country.​
 
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wascaptain

Well-Known Member
this is our newest park. it was a 100 arce horse farm that was donated to the city for this purpose.

got a nice play ground for the kids and a 2 mile paved running/walking track. dog park and what i think is the nicest of all......

a veterns memorial, even got a space force flag.. the best part its right next to my gym, no more 1/4 mile circles to run

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BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:

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On Sept. 29, 1864, during the Battle of New Market Heights (part of the larger Battle of Chaffin’s Farm) near Richmond, several regiments of United States Colored Troops launched an assault on a well-fortified Southern position at the gates of the Confederate capital.

Northern newspapers touted the Union’s win at Chaffin’s Farm as “highly encouraging,” but they suffered an estimated 3,300 casualties. Although African-Americans represented a small proportion of Union forces in the battle, USCT losses made up 43 percent of the casualties. The 6th U.S. Colored Infantry lost 87 percent of its men.

Because of this action,
14 black soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military’s highest decoration for acts of valor in combat. These men represent the largest group of African-Americans from a single battle to be so recognized.

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
"this brief study provides evidence that group-based archaeology programmes for military personnel may lead to a positive and sustained improvement in their psychological wellbeing. Whilst the improvements identified were not clinically significant, they may form the basis of preparatory work for formal psychological therapy."

 

BarnBuster

Virtually Unknown Member
Today in Military History:

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The Battle of Kamdesh took place during the war in Afghanistan. It occurred on October 3, 2009, when a force of 300 Taliban assaulted the American Combat Outpost ("COP") Keating near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan. The attack was the bloodiest battle for US forces since the Battle of Wanat in July 2008, which occurred 20 miles (32 km) away from Kamdesh. The attack on COP Keating resulted in 8 Americans killed and 27 wounded while the Taliban suffered an estimated 150 killed.

As a result of the battle, COP Keating was partially overrun and nearly destroyed. Observation Post Fritsche was attacked simultaneously, limiting available support from that position. The Coalition forces withdrew from the base shortly after the battle. A deliberate withdrawal had been planned some time before the battle began, and the closing was part of a wider effort by the top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, to cede remote outposts and consolidate troops in more populated areas to better protect Afghan civilians. The Americans "declared the outpost closed and departed—so quickly that they did not carry out all of their stored ammunition. The outpost's depot was promptly looted by the insurgents and bombed by American planes in an effort to destroy the lethal munitions left behind."

27 soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. 37 soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor. 3 soldiers were awarded the Bronze Star Medal, and 18 others the Bronze Star Medal with "V" device for valor. Nine soldiers were awarded the Silver Star for valor. Staff Sgt. Justin Gallegos' Silver Star was later upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross. 1st Lt. Andrew Bundermann's Silver Star was upgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross as well.

The flight crews of three United States Army AH-64D Apache helicopters were later decorated for actions during the battle. Captain Matthew Kaplan, CW3 Ross Lewallen, CW3 Randy Huff, CW2 Gary Wingert, CW2 Chad Bardwell, and CW2 Chris Wright were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for conducting close combat attacks on the Taliban during the battle. Capt. Michael Polidor and Capt. Aaron Dove, pilot and weapon systems officer of one of the F-15E aircraft coordinating close air support, were also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

On 11 February 2013, President Barack Obama presented the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha, a survivor of the battle. He became the fourth surviving soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to be awarded the Medal of Honor due to courageous actions during the battle.


Staff Sergeant Ty Carter (then Specialist) was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage during the battle. He was awarded the medal on 26 August 2013.

Following the battle, the U.S. Central Command conducted an investigation on what had occurred, led by US Army General Guy Swan. The report, released to the public in June 2011, concluded "inadequate measures taken by the chain of command" facilitated the attack, but praised the troops fighting at the base for repulsing the attack "with conspicuous gallantry, courage and bravery." Four U.S. Army officers—Captain Melvin Porter, Captain Stoney Portis, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brown, and Colonel Randy George—who oversaw COP Keating were admonished or reprimanded for command failures.


Battle at COP Keating and OP Fritsche
 
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