So much for kissing and making up in the Old Line State after the cannonade smoke had cleared.
Category: Veterans
For his heroic action in affecting the rescue of Surfman Bracken, John F. McCormick was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal on Nov. 7, 1938.
while the men and women of the armed forces serve the nation, the Pentagon looses their belongings and then allows their contractors to sell off their stuff at auction
Within 12 minutes, the Indianapolis sank into the Philippine Sea. Of the 1,196 men on board, 900 abandoned the ship and only 317 men survived and were rescued four days later.
It is the only time in U.S. Navy history (and probably U.S. military history) that an aviator was buried in his aircraft after being killed in action.
It’s a fact; the only time you’ll see a liberal standing close to the flag is when they are there to support burning it.
Former Senator Bernie Fowler, now of Prince Fredrick, attended basic training at the Great Lakes naval base and went on to basic engineering school. After that, he was shipped to Viejo, California where he came aboard the destroyer escort ship USS Engstrom DE-50. On this relatively small support ship, Fowler would spend his near two-year tour during the war.
The diesel-electric powered Engstrom traveled across the Pacific to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where the men geared up for what became, for Fowler, a run to numerous island bases in the Pacific Ocean, where some of the most horrific battles of the Pacific side of World War II were fought.
The primary operations aboard the Engstrom, and similar destroyer escorts, were to provide protective escorts for fleets near these islands. They also conducted anti-submarine warfare “sub chasing” and “picket runs” around island bases to look out for enemy submarines, ships or aircraft.
Historic Ships in Baltimore represents one of the most impressive collections of military vessels in the world. Located within easy walking distance of each other, US Sloop-of-War CONSTELLATION, US Submarine TORSK, US Coast Guard Cutter TANEY, and Lightship 116 CHESAPEAKE exhibit life at sea from the mid-19th century to the mid-1980’s.
When America was attacked, America went to war
Alan Brylawski, 85, says funny things happen at war, though some horrors still haunt him.
“I am an optimist and humorist. I don’t take life too seriously,” the World War II veteran said.
War has been part of human culture since man got out of the cave, Brylawski says. “It’s senseless, there are no winners. We slaughter people. Everybody loses.” He said the kind of horror one man perpetrates on another during war is inconceivable, adding once the enemy is demonized everything becomes okay.
“It is either you do it or they are going to do it to you. So self-preservation says you do it first,” he said. “When you see bullets pass you, there’s no question you are under fire. At that point the enemy becomes a demon, devoid of humanity.”