Tell us about a vet you know who has passed

[RiverguyVT]

An early influence on my life was growing up next door to a paratrooper from WWII. Missing a finger, and both legs from below the knees. Bastogne froze them off. He had jumped in North Africa, before that. Injured there too. He saw some crazy shirt.

He was a history teacher at the middle school. Very knowledgable about WBTS. I liked him because he cussed creatively. LOL. I'd never heard cussin' except from him. No heavy stuff. Smoked like a chimney.

He had a sense of humor too. Always had sports on the TV on Saturdays. He was part of a small group of vets who sat at the drugstore sandwich counter every afternoon to gripe about hippies.

Mr. Trevillion, RIP.

[RWNJ]

One funny story I remember him telling me was he was sitting in an outhouse and a sniper was shooting at him. As bullets were flying around him, his thought was "Oh God, not this way". Obviously he lived to tell the story.

[awesome guy]

One of our neighbors came back from Nam shell-shocked. Debilitating levels of stress. His parents and family thought he was just a stinky hippie, but he was clearly traumatized, had all the classic symptoms of being afraid of guns, fireworks, etc. He mostly sat in his room and made serene oil paintings. We moved and I never knew what happened to him later on.

[HokieHam]

My uncle, God rest his soul, was a pilot in the Pacific. Flew Corsairs, which, IMHO, were the baddest planes of the war. My favorite photo of my uncle is of him sitting in the cockpit with the canopy pulled back. He flew a ton of recon missions. He finally shared his recon notebook with the family about 5 years ago. It was fascinating to read and see the little maps he drew. He went on to work for NASA and actually has a piece of equipment he designed on the moon from one of the Apollo missions. He passed away last year, a few months after being able to visit the WWII memorial in DC.

[Major Kong]

I believe I've relayed this one before.

This involves both my Dad and his older brother who both served during Korea. My Dad was in the Navy and my uncle in the Marines.

My uncle was a forward observer, he was present when the Chinese crossed the Yalu River and was one of the Chosin Few (he was part of the 1st Marine Division). My uncle was wounded during the breakout to the port of Hungnam in North Korea.

My Dad was stationed aboard the USS Boxer which was sent to the harbor of Hungnam to assist in the evacuation of UN troops falling back from the Chinese advance. My Dad was wounded in the leg during the fighting around the port. He was part of a group helping the the US 3rd Division defend the Port.

The evacuation was successful...unbeknown to my Dad and Uncle they were both in the same medical facility on board the Boxer and then both transferred to the Hospital Ship USS Haven. They didn't find out about it until they were both home together a few years later.

Dad received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star...my uncle received the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

Neither Dad nor my uncle ever talked much about other than Dad said his budding baseball career ended that day.

Then in 2008 I took the both of them down to Mountain Home Veterans Facility in Johnson City, TN and as we were sitting there the two of them started talking about it. It was fascinating.

[HokieJoe]

My uncle, God rest his soul, was a pilot in the Pacific. Flew Corsairs, which, IMHO, were the baddest planes of the war. My favorite photo of my uncle is of him sitting in the cockpit with the canopy pulled back. He flew a ton of recon missions. He finally shared his recon notebook with the family about 5 years ago. It was fascinating to read and see the little maps he drew. He went on to work for NASA and actually has a piece of equipment he designed on the moon from one of the Apollo missions. He passed away last year, a few months after being able to visit the WWII memorial in DC.

+1

Corsairs were the baddest planes of the era.

[HokieHam]

My uncle, God rest his soul, was a pilot in the Pacific. Flew Corsairs, which, IMHO, were the baddest planes of the war. My favorite photo of my uncle is of him sitting in the cockpit with the canopy pulled back. He flew a ton of recon missions. He finally shared his recon notebook with the family about 5 years ago. It was fascinating to read and see the little maps he drew. He went on to work for NASA and actually has a piece of equipment he designed on the moon from one of the Apollo missions. He passed away last year, a few months after being able to visit the WWII memorial in DC.

+1

Corsairs were the baddest planes of the era.

Here's a photo my cous posted today on FB.

[HokieHam]

I believe I've relayed this one before.

This involves both my Dad and his older brother who both served during Korea. My Dad was in the Navy and my uncle in the Marines.

My uncle was a forward observer, he was present when the Chinese crossed the Yalu River and was one of the Chosin Few (he was part of the 1st Marine Division). My uncle was wounded during the breakout to the port of Hungnam in North Korea.

My Dad was stationed aboard the USS Boxer which was sent to the harbor of Hungnam to assist in the evacuation of UN troops falling back from the Chinese advance. My Dad was wounded in the leg during the fighting around the port. He was part of a group helping the the US 3rd Division defend the Port.

The evacuation was successful...unbeknown to my Dad and Uncle they were both in the same medical facility on board the Boxer and then both transferred to the Hospital Ship USS Haven. They didn't find out about it until they were both home together a few years later.

Dad received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star...my uncle received the Purple Heart and Silver Star.

Neither Dad nor my uncle ever talked much about other than Dad said his budding baseball career ended that day.

Then in 2008 I took the both of them down to Mountain Home Veterans Facility in Johnson City, TN and as we were sitting there the two of them started talking about it. It was fascinating.

Cool story Kong. I love hearing stuff like this.

[burgrugby]

I've got two more recent ones:

The first was SSG Chris Kiernan. I knew his brother and parents when I was growing up, but never got to know Chris real well. He was KIA in Iraq in 2007. On a patrol, his squad came under sniper fire. He was shot in the side (between the front and back plates of his body armor). As he lay there, he was concerned more about the safety of his guys than his own life. He wanted to make sure they were all ok, no one else was hit, and that they were doing the right things to engage the sniper and keep themselves safe. Great guy and took his last breath worried about his squad.

The second was Chief Petty Officer Matt Mason. He was a Seal in DevGru that was killed when Extortion 17 went down in Afghanistan. A unit of Army Rangers was engaged with the Taliban and he was part of a QRF that was going in to help those guys out. My daughter played soccer with his son. He was a great guy, modest and humble, and an amazing father. He was definitely a role model that a lot of his friends looked up to on how to "do it right". His wife was pregnant with their 3rd son when he was killed.

[Vienna_Hokie]

My grandfather served on escort ships in the Navy as a gunner's mate. He was on station during D-Day and his ship transited to the Pacific where they supported amphib ops. He didn't talk much about it his time, other than telling me once that the worst thing he ever saw was the inside of Japanese pill boxes after they were neutralized with satchel charges. Part of his escort group's role was post invasion clean up (sweeping for mines, body recovery, etc).

Couple "fun" facts about his service time.

He was a coal miner and as such had a deferment from the draft. Decided one day to punch his foreman (would never tell us why), who's brother was head of the local draft board. We always joked that his draft notice beat him to the house that day.

He was born Willy Lee. His draft notice was for William Lee. Since he had no middle name his induction papers listed his name as William (n) Lee (standard govie indication of no middle name). His discharge papers listed him as William N. Lee. No one paid much attention to any of this and his SSN that was issued later was issued to William N. Lee. Upon his death, the United Mine Workers rejected his death benefits to my Grandmother because they had no record of a William N Lee being a member (the name associated with the member number didn't match the name on the death certificate). Luckily my grandmother never threw out a piece of government paper and was able to put together this chronology and get the rejection reversed.

[Vienna_Hokie]

My Grandfather's grandfather (whatever that is) enlisted in the 1st TN Cav (US) at 13 by lying about his age. In their first skirmish he was captured by the CSA and they discovered his age and sent him home on a train. A year later he went back and joined up again and roughly a year later was captured again. This time he was sent to the Confederate prison on the Jame's River in Richmond. During his time there he contracted TB and learned to read. He was included in a prisoner exchange and spent the remainder of the war at a Naval Hospital in Annapolis. After returning home he read law-books until he was able to pass the TN bar and became a lawyer.

I have a copy of his VA disability petition that outlines his service record and life for the first few years after the war which was a great read. I did some google searching after reading it and found a diary posted on-line from a soldier from an IN unit who was captured a few months after he was and sent to the same prison. He was also included in the same prisoner exchange and spent a few weeks in Annapolis before returning home.