To All,
.Good Saturday morning 16 November. ..I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. I got a bit carried away this morning but there are some good stories here from Shadow and others that the Marines will enjoy and the rest of us will be glad we were not involved.
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Make it a GREAT Day
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 84 H-Grams .
..
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History .
November 16
1776 The first salute of an American flag (Grand Union Flag) by a foreign power is rendered by the Dutch at St. Eustatius, West Indies in reply to a salute by the Continental ship Andrew Doria.
1798 The warship Baltimore is halted by the British off Havana, intending to impress Baltimores crew who could not prove American citizenship. Fifty-five seamen are imprisoned though 50 are later freed.
1942 USS Woolsey (DD 437), USS Swanson (DD 443), and USS Quick (DD 490) sink the German submarine U-173 off Casablanca, French Morocco.
1963 President John F. Kennedy, on board USS Observation Island (EAG 154), witnesses the launch of Polaris A-2 missile by USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN 619).
1973 Skylab 4 is launched and recovery is performed by USS New Orleans (LPH 11).
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This Day in World History November 16
1776: British troops captured Fort Washington in New York during the American Revolution.
1907: Oklahoma became the 46th state of the union.
1914: The newly created Federal Reserve Banks opened in 12 cities.
1915: Coca-Cola had its prototype for a countoured bottle patented. The bottle made its commercial debut the next year.
1938: LSD is first synthesized by Albert Hofmann
1939: Mob boss Al Capone was released from prison after serving 7 1/2 years for tax evasion and failure to file tax returns.
1952: In the "Peanuts" comic strip, Lucy first held a football for Charlie Brown.
1959: The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway, starring Mary Martin as Maria von Trapp.
1966: Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard was acquitted in his second trial of murdering his pregnant wife, Marilyn, in 1954.
1969: The U.S. Army announced that several had been charged with massacre and the subsequent cover-up in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.
1973: Skylab 4, carrying a crew of three astronauts, was launched from Cape Canaveral on an 84-day mission.
1973: U.S. President Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
1982: An agreement was announced on the 57th day of a strike by National Football League (NFL) players.
1990: Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the Girl You Know It's True album. Session musicians had provided all the vocals.
1999: Chrica Adams, the pregnant girlfriend of Rae Carruth, was shot four times in her car. She died a month later from her wounds. The baby survived. Carruth was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years and 11 months in prison for his role in the murder.
2001: The movie "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" opened in the U.S. and U.K.
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Thanks to the Bear. .
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER ….
. rollingthunderremembered.com .
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
This one has an interesting story with some pictures
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Saturday November 16
November 16: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2393
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature.
https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
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THE FOURTH ONE FROM SHADOW
. THE AMBUSH
Sorry, had to take care of business for a few days… I think I should start with a
disclaimer… Those events I witnessed… I shall be accountable for… Those I recount
from conversations shall be accurate to the best of my recollection, realizing as Don says,
they may be a part of the legend.
When Bravo and Delta left our perimeter, I don't think any of us anticipated what was
going to happen. We knew this was a foray deep into "Indian Territory"… but I think
most of us just expected another routine sweep with some contact, but nothing major…
how wrong those of us who felt that way would be… was shocking, to say the least.
I believe the original plan was for Delta to lead… I assume this was because Blackjack
had more confidence in them after the sweep around Cam Lo Mountain. They were to go
out due north in the valley between the Razorback and the high hills just northeast of our
base camp. They would continue, until reaching the canopy covered mountain range that
ran perpendicular to the valley, continue up it, until almost to the DMZ, then turn around
and sweep back.
I think everything was routine until some NVA were spotted by the point man, near a
small stream at the base of the mountains. I don't remember whether fire was exchanged,
but this definitely gave us a clue that the NVA was in the area.
As the sweep continued up the mountain, the next report that raised concern was that the
point man had found an electrical wire, running across the trail ahead of the patrol…
I need to digress for a moment. A few hours after the patrol left, Westerman called in for a
helo to take us up on a hilltop so we could act as an observation point for the patrol. I
may be wrong about this, but the first day, I think there were only about seven or eight of
us up there, including Henri Huit and another war correspondent. Henri had covered the
war in Indo-China when the French were there (He was in fact, half French, half
Vietnamese) and stayed on when the US entered the conflict. He had spent his entire
adult life as a war correspondent and photographer. He was a mellow guy and I still have
the pictures he took of me up on the OP.
The other guy (don't remember his name) was a redhead with a beard… Aggressive and
he acted real macho… wearing tailored "Tiger Stripes". I don't think Henri thought much
of the guy, saying he'd either get killed or get over his zealousness about wanting to see
real combat. A couple of times we had to call this guy back up the hill because he kept
trying to sneak down toward the patrol. He had wanted to go out with the sweep, but
higher authority had turned down the request.
We set up the OP for two reasons… One was to visually keep track of the sweep as best
we could (which wasn't at all) and the other was the feeling that the patrol would be out
of radio range, even for the relay station up on the Rockpile.
I believe it was either Bob Short or McMahon I was talking to… about the "wire"…
When all hell broke loose… The ambush was sprung… We could hear the rattle and
muffled explosions all the way up on our mountain… On the radio, the firing crackled
like a multitude of snaps.
Bravo and Delta were in a world of hurt… According to first reports, men were down all
over… debris was flying and at times the jungle seemed to be defoliating before their
eyes… branches and leaves going everywhere. They had walked into a major
confrontation with the enemy… an ambush.
From our perspective… By the initial reports coming in, from Bravo Six and Six Actual,
they seemed to be on the verge of total panic… Every time they keyed the radio, you
could hear the firing and their voices were strained and somewhat emotional and
confused… Bravo Six Actual was in extreme duress… He tried to tell us what was going
on, but seemed incapable of making much sense. (I'm not trying to put the guy down,
who the hell knows how each of us would react in such a situation… It's kinda hard to
keep your wits about you when you're up to your ass in alligators).
Reports coming from Short and McMahon… while manifest in urgency… They were at
least coherent and pro-active… trying to set up a defensive perimeter and to get control
of their men and position. Meanwhile, the firing seemed to go on unabated.
A few things were becoming very obvious… The two companies were in a desperate
situation. Second, because of the canopy and the constant fire… We really didn't know
their exact location (I don't believe they did either). This made it extremely difficult to
bring in supporting fire. In conversation, we felt the two companies had to link up in
order for them to survive their extremis situation. Delta had the higher ground as far as
we knew… We felt Bravo had to move to them in order to link up.
When I called Bravo Six Actual to tell him to get his men up toward Delta… He almost
screamed at me that it was impossible to move without getting killed. McMahon had
made a similar, yet more subtle statement, "Right now, every time someone moves they
get shot"… but it was in a matter of fact tone… Not hysterical. I looked at Westerman
and asked him how he wanted me to respond?
Jack looked at me… and as coldly as I ever heard him speak, he said, "Tell the Captain
(Alpha's company commander) that either he gets his shit together and gets unfucked or
we're coming down there to unfuck him". He then said, "You tell him just the way I said
it". It was not the first time he had me be the voice of condemnation… nor the last.
Westerman then said to me that the Captain was close to totally losing control… and
something needed to be done, to straighten him out.
I then did something I had no business doing… I looked at Westerman and said to him,
that he should put McMahon in command. Westerman didn't blink and snapped back
with an immediate, "I know that". As crazy as it sounds, I truly think he was agonizing
about a stupid thing called rank…
The Bravo Company Commander was a Captain… McMahon was a First Lieutenant.
The only way to officially place McMahon in charge was to relieve the Bravo CO and
then place McMahon in total control. No one wanted to do that considering the dire
straights everyone was in.
The way we handled it was simple… I just started directing all instructions to Delta
Six… All requests for information also were directed to Delta Six. We effectively put
McMahon in total command without officially designating him. Dan may not
acknowledge it today… but he knew what we were doing and why. If those guys were
going to survive, someone down there had to keep a cool head and take charge.
In the end, I believe as strong today as I did then… that men can be led… and be inspired
by good leadership. Nowhere, is this more important than at the small unit commander
level. I also believe that you can hate a leader… or fear him… yet still follow him and his
orders… if you respect him or believe in his conviction of purpose. It is my sincere belief
that this is what separated Bravo from Delta. Delta believed in its' leadership… and
themselves, right down to the squad leaders and point men… They all knew they were
good and the people around them as well. I think it was what carried them through and
allowed the majority of them to survive.
Over the next two days, the situation remained in doubt. It was obvious our guys were up
against a far superior force… and the ballgame was on their turf. There were very few
highs… and a lot of lows. As the CASREP's came in it was downright depressing. GySgt.
Chitko (sp) went down in the first seconds… I remembered he had a bunch of kids back
in the states. One of the Lieutenants went down trying to get to a wounded Corpsman.
Another Corpsman was wounded and I think three more Marines were killed trying to
rescue him.
It took a while before we could get any supporting fire down there to help (Arty and Air).
The situation did not get any better for the next two days… The NVA seemed in no hurry
to disengage… and our casualties climbed higher with each hour. These things have a
natural ebb and flow to them… Once we were finally able to get some arty and air to
them, enough trees were blown down that we thought perhaps we could get a helo in for a
medevac. (I believe this was on the second day) As the helo dropped into the rough LZ,
the firing reached a fever pitch and it was shot down in the LZ and couldn't take off.
Toward the middle of the second day, McMahon called and said he'd given instructions
to his men to dig their holes down and in… He felt it might be possible, they would
eventually get over-run… and if that happened he planned to call arty and air in on top of
himself. No one would want to do such a thing, but it was an indication of just how
desperate things had become.
A few hours later, one of the horrible "accidents of war" occurred… to drive this point
home. We had a flight of A-4's working the perimeter. The FAC had decided to work
them as close as humanly possible… I was told they were going to drop within a hundred
meters of their own position and that they'd passed the word for everyone to get down in
their holes… "Don't look up"….as this was going to be close. I can't remember whether
it was the first or second drop… but as the bombs released, one of them hit a tree… and
detonated above ground level… resulting in more casualties.
In hindsight, I don't think you could fault a single person for what happened. The FAC
knew it was a close call and had passed a warning to get down in the holes. The pilots
had done a magnificent job… it was some of the best and most accurate bomb drops I
ever witnessed as a grunt or an aviator. Later, as a Marine fighter pilot myself… Their
skill was even more impressive. This was in the days of what we called "Iron Sights"…
Long before lasers and precision guided bombs. Bomb accuracy was totally dependent on
pilot skill, Kentucky windage and pure guts. They were up to the task… except for this
one lone tree, that caused the whole thing to go wrong. At 500 knots, you're not going to
be able to pick out one defoliated tree trunk sitting up in the middle of the target area.
From our vantage point, I believe we were up on hill 842 (eight something, Red Dog has
the map), we could see the aircraft roll in and through binoculars, see the bombs
release… but had no idea what happened until the frantic radio calls of "Suspend,
Suspend" and "Cease Fire"! It was a real low point.
I've thought about this and decided I'm not going to try to describe the events as they
took place in the ambush itself, except in the most general terms that I already have…
The guys who should do that, are the ones who were there. Whatever I'd have to say
would be anecdotal or hearsay, at best. I've fallen into that trap once and don't want it to
happen again.
Each day we went up on the hill, our entourage grew… On the second and third day we
were mortared… I think once we even took some random sniper fire… Nothing accurate,
no one was hurt as I recall.
In the midst of all that was going on I also suffered a couple of humiliating events… Red
Dog knows about it and I'm sure he'd call me a pussy if I didn't mention it. The second
day, right in the middle of the mortar attack… I'm in a hole with Westerman… when the
raging cramps hit… I'd been blocked up for days (too much peanut butter), that morning
I'd stupidly tried some Caraway Cheese from the C-Rats (a natural and powerful laxative
if there ever was one) and it was now time to pay the piper.
I had two choices… Go in the hole with the battalion commander (bad form) or get out
and risk the mortars. I must be honest, Westerman said to do it right there… but as bad as
I was hurting and had to go, I couldn't get myself to do it there. I chose to get out and do
it in the open. I jumped out of the hole and dropped trou… about 6 or 7 feet away. As I
squatted, we get more incoming. But I was in the grip of one of the most powerful forces
on earth. I was squatting and ducking at the same time… when the gates of hell
erupted… and I went and I went and I went… As a matter of fact, I went so much… that
the pile was reaching the point of expulsion… adding insult to injury… I had to duckwalk
forward to keep it from touching my butt. If the whole thing weren't humiliating
enough… Westerman starts laughing his ass off… He said, "Stafford, I knew you were
full of shit… I just had no idea…" He even got me and the others laughing at my plight.
Between the mortars and the diarrhea… it brought new meaning to the term, "Hanging
one's ass out to dry".
Right in the middle of all these horrible events… Marines still had the time to laugh at
themselves and others… I sometimes think it is the only way to keep one's sanity.
Back to the important stuff… At the end of the second day, a relief force was dropped in
east of the ambush (I believe it was elements of the 27th Marines)… again Red Dog has
the official chronology so I'll defer to him… Anyway, it was hoped they'd be able to
arrive on the third day. As they got close to the beleaguered men of Bravo and Delta, the
NVA finally started to withdraw.
I've left out a lot of heroic stuff that went on here… I'm going to leave that to the guys
who were there. But I do need to mention how some of the helo bubba's did some pretty
brave stuff, like hovering over the hot LZ to kick out water and ammo. I still maintain
that the first successful extraction of wounded was in a single Army Huey flown by a
young Warrant Officer… Who wasn't even part of the operation or rescue effort… He
was in the area and just dropped in… by himself. No other helo overhead as cover.
When we flew off the hill that last day and landed back at the Rockpile, Blackjack got out
of one side of the Huey and I got out the other… Just as we got out, I heard the familiar
crunch of mortars and dove in a hole. Blackjack wasn't as lucky and took a shrapnel hit
in the hand… I think between Korea and Viet Nam this was his fifth Purple Heart.
There was a little discussion once the relief arrived about how Bravo and Delta were to
be extracted… I made a pitch to have them extracted by helo… But Westerman said no,
they walked in… and by God, they'd walk out like Marines. My logic was that after all
they'd been through, they deserved a break… I was also fearful of another ambush on the
return march… but then again, who was I.
What eventually happened was the final straw as far as I was concerned between
Blackjack and myself. He put the word out that he wanted to be given a 15 minute
warning before the first man was to come into the perimeter… What followed was pure
theater… Jack actually scoped out the area and positioned himself on high ground and
had the column come to him for a handshake. From my personal view, it was pure
Hollywood. There stands Westerman, shirt unbuttoned or off, wounded hand bandaged,
standing on the high ground to greet his troops… with a few correspondents and
photographers to record the occasion. He was on stage (hell, he set it) and played it to the
hilt. He looked like John Fucking Wayne!
My sense of propriety was insulted by this… Instead of a quiet dignified return, Jack
takes an opportunity to grandstand. Most of us with any sense, stayed as far from this as
we could… What we were looking for, was the faces of our friends and comrades… Most
of us had tears running down our faces. We had become emotionally, if not physically
involved in their dramatic fight for survival. All of us had the utmost respect and
admiration for what they'd just come through.
After the correspondents left, most of us sought out our friends and quietly expressed our
thanks that they had made it through and complimented them on their courage and
competence… "I'm so glad you made it… Good job you did out there". What else could
you say….?
I've left out a lot here… I may come back to some of it later.
More tomorrow, Shadow
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From the archives
. THANKS TO INTERESTING FACTS
I lost count of the number of cans of his spaghetti I ate over the years when I was in college and after……skip
Chef Boyardee was a real person.
The world knows him as the jovial-looking fellow whose face has graced untold numbers of ravioli cans, but to those who knew him in life, he was Ettore "Hector" Boiardi — which is to say, Chef Boyardee was a real person. Born October 22, 1897, in Piacenza, Italy, Boiardi was working as an apprentice chef by the age of 11 and founded the company bearing his name in 1928, after he and his family settled in Cleveland. The business began because Boiardi's restaurant there was so successful that patrons wanted to learn how to make the dishes at home, which was remarkable for the time — Italian food wasn't nearly as well known (and beloved) as it is today. In fact, Chef Boyardee has been credited with helping to popularize the cuisine in America.
There was just one problem, though: "Boiardi" was difficult for Americans to pronounce, so his products were sold under the phonetic name of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee (since simplified to its current spelling). Notably, Boiardi helped with the war effort during WWII by producing Army rations, which required keeping his factory in Milton, Pennsylvania, open 24 hours a day. By then, the company had become too big for Boiardi and his family to manage alone, so they sold it to the conglomerate Conagra in 1946. According to Boiardi's niece, it was the only way to make sure everyone still had jobs after the war. Boiardi continued appearing in commercials until 1978, and died on June 21, 1985.
Chef Boyardee was referenced in an episode of "Seinfeld" — and didn't like it.
In addition to all the made-up companies and products mentioned on Seinfeld (like Vandelay Industries), a number of real-life brands played prominent roles as well: Jujyfruit, Junior Mint, and even Levi's Dockers pants. According to Glenn Padnick, then an executive at Castle Rock Television, the only brand that ever asked to be removed from an episode was Chef Boyardee. The would-be reference came in "The Rye," the 11th episode of the seventh season, in which Kramer was supposed to feed Beefaroni to a horse — an ill-advised snack that resulted in flatulence. The name was changed to Beef-A-Reeno instead.
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.
. From the King of Battle to Second Fallujah by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
11/16
This Week in American Military History:
Nov. 14, 1910: In a Naval aviation first, Eugene B. Ely makes an airplane takeoff from a ship, doing so in a Curtiss Flyer off the cruiser USS Birmingham anchored in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Ely will make the first-ever airplane-landing aboard ship (the USS
Pennsylvania) in Jan. 1911, then be killed in a crash during an aerobatic demonstration in October.
Nov. 16, 1778: In a letter to Frenchman Jacques Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, an intermediary between King Louis XVI and American emissaries seeking support (including ships) for the American Revolution, Continental Navy Capt. John Paul Jones writes, "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast, for I intend to go in harm's way."
Readers will recall Jones dramatic refusal-to-surrender – "I have not yet begun to fight!" – the following year during the famous battle of the North Sea between the Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard and the British frigate HMS Serapis.
Nov. 17, 1775: The Continental Congress unanimously elects Henry Knox "Colonel of the Regiment of Artillery," thus the official birth of the U.S.
Field Artillery, known affectionately as the "King of Battle." Infantry, by the way, is known as the "Queen of Battle."
Knox's regiment will become operational on Jan. 1, 1776. Knox (Yes, Fort Knox is named in his honor) is destined to become a major general and America's first Secretary of War.
According to the U.S. Army's Institute of Heraldry, "Although [today] Field Artillery and Air Defense Artillery are separate branches, both inherit the traditions of the Artillery branch," so both trace their ancestry to Knox and his regiment.
Nov. 18, 1967: U.S. Army Private First Class (future Sgt.) Sammy L. Davis, badly wounded, and with his artillery battery about to be overrun by an overwhelming force of Viet Cong diehards; mans a machinegun and singlehandedly mans two different howitzers, blasting away at the enemy and beating back the attack near Cai Lay, South Vietnam.
During the all-night battle, Davis – despite his wounds – also manages to swim across a nearby river to rescue three wounded buddies.
For his actions, Davis will be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Nov. 16, 2004: Nine days after launching Operation Phantom Fury – the Second Battle of Fallujah (Iraq) – U.S. Marines and soldiers (as well as a few British and Iraqi troops) begin the mopping-up phase of what has since been described as the most intense urban combat since the bloody battle for the Vietnamese city of Hué in 1968.
It is during the battle for Fallujah, that a radio transmission is intercepted by U.S. forces in which a panicking al-Qaeda insurgent is heard exclaiming to his chief: "We are fighting, but the Marines keep coming! We are shooting, but the Marines won't stop!"
Nov. 19, 1863: Pres. Abraham Lincoln delivers his now-famous Gettysburg Address, a portion of which reads:
"…we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. … we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
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From the archives
Thanks to Craig
I NOW U OLD FARTS WILL REMEMBER ALOT OF THESES THEN EVEN I DO..,LOL
This will take you on a walk down a long forgotten lane…- one of the best compilations going around.
http://pinterest.com/SallyBalm/back-in-the-day/
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From the archives
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/10/marine-valor-award-vete
ran/1674665/
One Marine's savage battle with the enemy illustrates that victory in war often depends on the best warriors.
3:19AM EST November 10. 2012 - A few years back, Cliff Wooldridge was on a typical path for a young man growing up in a logging town in the Pacific Northwest.
He graduated from high school, went to a diesel-mechanic school and got a job fixing heavy machinery used to harvest timber. Except it didn't feel right.3:19AM EST November 10. 2012 - A few years back, Cliff Wooldridge was on a typical path for a young man growing up in a logging town in the Pacific Northwest.
"On TV, all you heard about was Marines in Iraq, and I wanted to be part of it," Wooldridge says.
In 2007, he walked into the Marine recruiter's office in Port Angeles, Wash. His request to the recruiter was simple: "I want to be the guy you see on TV kicking in doors."
Days later, he was on his way to boot camp and into the annals of Marine Corps history.
Wooldridge, now 24 and a sergeant, distinguished himself in Afghanistan for actions that earned him the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor for valor. In brutal hand-to-hand combat, Wooldridge grabbed the machine gun of an enemy insurgent and beat him to death with it.
Wooldridge's exploits are not well known outside the Marine Corps, but officers say close encounters with the enemy are not uncommon, despite the increasing use of drone-fired missiles and smart bombs.
On the 237th birthday of the Corps, Marines today are battling enemies in a fight recognizable to their predecessors in Guadalcanal in World War II or Belleau Wood in World War I.
Far from being an anachronism, Marines say the warrior ethos and the desire to test one's abilities in battle is just as critical to defeating an enemy today as it was when a few hundred Greeks held off thousands of Persians during the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C.
"About 90% of these Marines joined when we were at war, expecting to go to war, hoping to go to war," says Marine Capt. Patrick Madden, who was Wooldridge's platoon commander in Afghanistan.
"The Marine Corps is going to attract a different mind-set and different personality," says Marine Maj. Carin Calvin, Wooldridge's company commander in Afghanistan.
That mind-set is the specialty of the U.S. Marines, and the Corps'
consistent success in molding men into storied fighters known the world over is exemplified in the story of Wooldridge.
Despite his enthusiasm, Marine boot camp was a shock for Wooldridge. He was an athlete, so the physical part of it wasn't so bad. It was the demands of discipline from shouting drill instructors that took getting used to.
But Marines such as Wooldridge thrive on the challenge and the competition.
"I started to enjoy it," he says. "I was very driven."
In 2010, his unit headed to Afghanistan, the vanguard of a new strategy ordered by President Obama that bolstered forces in Taliban-controlled parts of the country. By then a corporal, Wooldridge was assigned to Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines.
The Marines were sent to Helmand province, an insurgent stronghold and poppy-growing region in southern Afghanistan where coalition forces controlled only a few key towns. At the time, the Taliban moved freely through large swaths of the region.
Soon after arriving the unit was sent to Musa Qala, where the Marines were arrayed against Taliban fighters that wanted to hold the region at any cost. In June, Weapons Company was given the mission to clear a valley that held a large settlement in the Helmand River Valley.
They expected to confront the enemy but were taken aback by what they encountered.
"We ran into a hornet's nest," Calvin says.
The initial plan was to meet with villagers who lived in settlements strung along the valley, or wadi, to get a sense of the enemy situation.
"That all went out the window the moment we got into the wadi," Calvin says.
The Taliban tried to ambush the Marines at every turn. The roughly 125 Marines were facing between 150 and 250 hardened Taliban fighters who had established a sophisticated network of bunkers and trenches laced into hills in the high ground overlooking the wadi. The area had been seeded with roadside bombs.
Anticipating a clash, villagers fled the town. Families with all of their belongings, including sheep, cows and goats, streamed past the Marines.
Insurgents from nearby towns flooded the area, determined to blunt the Marine offensive and hold on to the poppy-growing region that was critical to the Taliban.
It soon became clear why the Taliban had established such a strong defense.
The wadi was the main route used by well-trained foreign fighters coming from Pakistan into the river valley, Madden says.
Every day was a firefight as Marines pushed through the valley. Dozens of Marines were getting injured, but unless the wounds were serious they remained in the fight, Calvin says. Calvin's company headquarters was down to four Marines. Everyone else was engaged in the battle.
Even Marines who were seriously injured left the battlefield only reluctantly, preferring to stay with their buddies.
Fighting their way through the valley took days. On June 18, about a week into the operation, Wooldridge climbed into an armored vehicle that was part of a small convoy assigned to take a hill called "the football"
because of its shape.
Within five minutes of leaving the secure perimeter, Wooldridge's vehicle struck a roadside bomb. No one was seriously injured, but the vehicle was wrecked. Wooldridge and his team got into another vehicle. They had barely moved before they hit another bomb and had to get into a third vehicle.
By this time in the offensive, the Marines had decided to alter tactics to get closer to an enemy that would typically fire at them from a distance and then melt away.
"Nobody had seen them," Madden says of the Taliban.
They would probe farther into the valley than ever before, drawing insurgents out and then sending teams on foot to cut off the Taliban fighters before they could melt away.
It wasn't long before the four-vehicle patrol was getting fired at from trees on the western side of the valley. (The account of his actions is based on interviews with Wooldridge and other Marines and the official
citation.)
The turret gunners in the vehicles wheeled around and began firing in the direction of the gunshots. The Marines split up in an effort to cut off the Taliban militants. One team went south and another north.
Wooldridge bounded across a freshly harvested field toward the firing as a couple of his fellow Marines got down and fired at targets ahead of him.
Wooldridge burst into the treeline and saw a militant emerge from a ditch and start to run.
"I shot and saw him fall," Wooldridge says.
Wooldridge's two teammates caught up with him. They moved quickly through the trees and stopped short when they came to the edge of a farming village with mud homes and walls. Looking down from a small hill, they saw 15 armed insurgents at the center of the village.
The startled insurgents saw the Marines and turned and raised their weapons. It was too late. The Americans opened fire. Most fell, but a handful escaped.
Marines watched as an insurgent carrying a rocket-propelled grenade emerged from a narrow alleyway in the village and stepped over the bodies of his fallen comrades. The Marines shot him.
This is what the Marines had been hoping for. They had flushed out the enemy and forced the Taliban into a close-quarters fight.
Wooldridge moved his team to another spot for a different view on the Taliban compound.
Just then he heard voices that sounded like men arguing behind a nearby wall. He peeked around the corner and was face to face with four insurgents armed with machine guns, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.
Wooldridge shot two of them before they could react. He killed a third as the man was trying to escape. Out of ammunition, he tried to bluff the last insurgent by gesturing at him to drop his weapon.
The insurgent raised his gun and pointing it at Wooldridge, who was 10 feet away. Wooldridge ducked behind the mud wall to reload. Before he could put a fresh drum in his light machine gun, a barrel poked around the corner of the wall.
Wooldridge dropped his own weapon and grabbed the barrel of the machine gun. He slammed the insurgent against a wall and both men fell to the ground. Wooldridge rolled on top of the insurgent and began pummeling him.
The insurgent reached for a grenade attached to the Marine's protective vest. If he pulled the pin, both men would die.
Wooldridge broke away and got to his feet, grabbing the insurgent's machine gun at the same time. He aimed it at the insurgent and squeezed the trigger. It didn't work.
With the stock of the weapon, he beat the Taliban fighter to death.
Marines arrived to find Wooldridge covered in blood, leaning over the dead insurgent.
Not done, the Marines radioed back to Madden and requested permission to pursue the enemy. Madden's vehicles were coming under heavy and accurate fire and the Marines in the valley were stretched thin. Madden told them no, they had to return.
"I think I just killed a guy with my hands," Wooldridge told his platoon commander when he climbed into the vehicle.
Calvin was at the company command post, a vehicle with some camouflage netting stretched over the back, when Wooldridge and his team returned, dropping the enemy's machine gun at his feet.
Calvin looked at Wooldridge's blood-spattered uniform and at the weapon.
"The butt stock was shattered and broken," Calvin recalled.
The Marines captured other weapons and radios, from which their interpreters began monitoring the Taliban's radio traffic. Madden says the Taliban appeared "terrified" by what happened.
"It absolutely crushed their morale," Madden says. "They had no idea what happened to them."
Used to sniping at troops from distant and protected spots, the Taliban appeared to have encountered an enemy that rushed toward their gunfire for a duel to the death.
The close-in fight boosted the morale of the Marines.
"We had finally gotten in their backyard," Madden said. "We felt like that was the point we kind of got inside their head and broke their spirit."
Having been in sustained combat for 17 days, they were ordered back to the forward operating base at Delaram to rest. On the second day there, Calvin got an order from the battalion telling him to be ready to move in a week to Sangin, another Taliban stronghold where Marines would encounter months of hard fighting.
While in Sangin, Wooldridge took the oath to re-enlist for another four years. The decision was easy, he said.
"I love being a Marine," Wooldridge says. "I can't see myself doing anything else."
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More from the archives
I still had to laugh at these …skip
*Modern Marvels … **Computerized!*
*This ought to make you feel better about your computer skills…*
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Tech-Support: *What kind of computer do you have?
*Customer: *A white one.
*Tech-Support: *Click on the 'My Computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
*Customer: *Your left or my left?
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Customer: *Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every
time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it.
*Tech-Support: *What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
*Customer: *A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Customer: *My keyboard is not working anymore.
*Tech-Support: *Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
*Customer: *No. I can't get behind the computer.
*Tech-Support: *Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
*Customer: *Okay.
*Tech-Support: *Did the keyboard come with you?
*Customer: *Yes!
*Tech-Support: *That means the keyboard is not plugged in.
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Customer: *I can't get on the Internet.
*Tech-Support: *Are you sure you used the right password?
*Customer: *Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
*Tech-Support: *Can you tell me what the password was?
*Customer: *Five dots.
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Tech-Support: *What anti-virus program do you use?
*Customer: *Netscape.
*Tech-Support: *That's not an anti-virus program.
*Customer: *Oh, sorry... Internet Explorer!
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Customer: *I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver
on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.
*Tech-Support: *No Response…
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Tech-Support: *How may I help you?
*Customer: *I'm writing my first email.
*Tech-Support: *OK, and what seems to be the problem?
*Customer: *Well, I have the letter 'a' in the email address, but how
do I get the little circle around it?
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Best two of all…*
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her
printer.*
*Tech-Support: *Are you running your computer under windows?
*Customer: *No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point.
The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine.
*----------------------------------------------------------*
*Tech-Support: *Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter 'P' to bring up the Program Manager.
*Customer: *I don't have a 'P'.
*Tech-Support: *On your keyboard, Bob.
*Customer: *What do you mean?
*Tech-Support: *'P'.....on your keyboard, Bob.
*Customer: *I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!
*----------------------------------------------------------*
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This Day in U S Military History November 16
1944 – Allied air strikes support offensives of US 9th and 1st Armies; about 10,000 tons of bombs are dropped by some 1200 US 8th Air Force planes and 1100 RAF bombers with the goal of obliterating the fortified towns of Duren, Julich and Heinsberg as well as the German defensive position west of Duren. The US 9th Army advances toward Geilenkirchen and Eschweiler with the objective of reaching the Roer River. To the right, the US 1st Army attacks toward Duren, east of Aachen.
1945 – Eighty-eight German scientists, holding Nazi secrets, arrived in the U.S. In a move that stirs up some controversy, the United States ships 88 German scientists to America to assist the nation in its production of rocket technology. Most of these men had served under the Nazi regime and critics in the United States questioned the morality of placing them in the service of America. Nevertheless, the U.S. government, desperate to acquire the scientific know-how that had produced the terrifying and destructive V-1 and V-2 rockets for Germany during WWII, and fearful that the Russians were also utilizing captured German scientists for the same end, welcomed the men with open arms. Realizing that the importation of scientists who had so recently worked for the Nazi regime so hated by Americans was a delicate public relations situation, the U.S. military cloaked the operation in secrecy. In announcing the plan, a military spokesman merely indicated that some German scientists who had worked on rocket development had "volunteered" to come to the United States and work for a "very moderate salary." The voluntary nature of the scheme was somewhat undercut by the admission that the scientists were in "protective custody." Upon their arrival in the United States on November 16, newsmen and photographers were not allowed to interview or photograph the newcomers. A few days later, a source in Sweden claimed that the scientists were members of the Nazi team at Peenemeunde where the V-weapons had been produced. The U.S. government continued to remain somewhat vague about the situation, stating only that "certain outstanding German scientists and technicians" were being imported in order to "take full advantage of these significant developments, which are deemed vital to our national security." The situation pointed out one of the many ironies connected with the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union, once allies against Germany and the Nazi regime during World War II, were now in a fierce contest to acquire the best and brightest scientists who had helped arm the German forces in order to construct weapons systems to threaten each other.
1950 – A dedication of the monument erected in Arlington National Cemetery on the gravesite of those who lost their lives on the night of 29 January 1945, when USS Serpens was destroyed off Lunga Beach, Guadalcanal. This was the largest single disaster suffered by the US Coast Guard in World War II.
1965 – In the last day of the fighting at Landing Zone X-Ray, regiments of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division repulsed NVA forces in the Ia Drang Valley. Joe Galloway served at LZ X-ray. He later received the Bronze Star for his actions during the epic battle. Based on that and his subsequent actions in Vietnam, Galloway came to be regarded by the military leadership and the GIs alike as a journalist who was fair, objective, and who could be trusted to get the story right. He co-authored with Lt. Gen. Hal More "We Were Soldiers Once…And Young."
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
HORNER, FREEMAN V.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K, 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division. Place and date: Wurselen, Germany, 16 November 1944. Entered service at: Shamokin, Pa. Birth: Mount Carmel, Pa. G.O. No.: 95, 30 October 1945. Citation: S/Sgt. Horner and other members of his company were attacking Wurselen, Germany, against stubborn resistance on 16 November 1944, when machinegun fire from houses on the edge of the town pinned the attackers in flat, open terrain 100 yards from their objective. As they lay in the field, enemy artillery observers directed fire upon them, causing serious casualties. Realizing that the machineguns must be eliminated in order to permit the company to advance from its precarious position, S/Sgt. Horner voluntarily stood up with his submachine gun and rushed into the teeth of concentrated fire, burdened by a heavy load of ammunition and hand grenades. Just as he reached a position of seeming safety, he was fired on by a machinegun which had remained silent up until that time. He coolly wheeled in his fully exposed position while bullets barely missed him and killed 2 hostile gunners with a single, devastating burst. He turned to face the fire of the other 2 machineguns, and dodging fire as he ran, charged the 2 positions 50 yards away. Demoralized by their inability to hit the intrepid infantryman, the enemy abandoned their guns and took cover in the cellar of the house they occupied. S/Sgt. Horner burst into the building, hurled 2 grenades down the cellar stairs, and called for the Germans to surrender. Four men gave up to him. By his extraordinary courage, S/Sgt. Horner destroyed 3 enemy machinegun positions, killed or captured 7 enemy, and cleared the path for his company's successful assault on Wurselen.
LINDSEY, JAKE W.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Hamich, Germany, 16 November 1944. Entered service at: Lucedale, Miss. Birth: Isney, Ala. G.O. No.: 43, 30 May 1945. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 16 November 1944, in Germany. T/Sgt. Lindsey assumed a position about 10 yards to the front of his platoon during an intense enemy infantry-tank counterattack, and by his unerringly accurate fire destroyed 2 enemy machinegun nests, forced the withdrawal of 2 tanks, and effectively halted enemy flanking patrols. Later, although painfully wounded, he engaged 8 Germans, who were reestablishing machinegun positions, in hand-to-hand combat, killing 3, capturing 3, and causing the other 2 to flee. By his gallantry, T/Sgt. Lindsey secured his unit's position, and reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
*MILLER, ANDREW
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company G, 377th Infantry, 95th Infantry Division. Place and date: From Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany, 1629 November 1944. Entered service at: Two Rivers, Wis. Birth: Manitowoc, Wis. G.O. No.: 74, 1 September 1945. Citation: For performing a series of heroic deeds from 1629 November 1944, during his company's relentless drive from Woippy, France, through Metz to Kerprich Hemmersdorf, Germany. As he led a rifle squad on 16 November at Woippy, a crossfire from enemy machineguns pinned down his unit. Ordering his men to remain under cover, he went forward alone, entered a building housing 1 of the guns and forced S Germans to surrender at bayonet point. He then took the second gun single-handedly by hurling grenades into the enemy position, killing 2, wounding 3 more, and taking 2 additional prisoners. At the outskirts of Metz the next day, when his platoon, confused by heavy explosions and the withdrawal of friendly tanks, retired, he fearlessly remained behind armed with an automatic rifle and exchanged bursts with a German machinegun until he silenced the enemy weapon. His quick action in covering his comrades gave the platoon time to regroup and carry on the fight. On 19 November S/Sgt. Miller led an attack on large enemy barracks. Covered by his squad, he crawled to a barracks window, climbed in and captured 6 riflemen occupying the room. His men, and then the entire company, followed through the window, scoured the building, and took 75 prisoners. S/Sgt. Miller volunteered, with 3 comrades, to capture Gestapo officers who were preventing the surrender of German troops in another building. He ran a gauntlet of machinegun fire and was lifted through a window. Inside, he found himself covered by a machine pistol, but he persuaded the 4 Gestapo agents confronting him to surrender. Early the next morning, when strong hostile forces punished his company with heavy fire, S/Sgt. Miller assumed the task of destroying a well-placed machinegun. He was knocked down by a rifle grenade as he climbed an open stairway in a house, but pressed on with a bazooka to find an advantageous spot from which to launch his rocket. He discovered that he could fire only from the roof, a position where he would draw tremendous enemy fire. Facing the risk, he moved into the open, coolly took aim and scored a direct hit on the hostile emplacement, wreaking such havoc that the enemy troops became completely demoralized and began surrendering by the score. The following day, in Metz, he captured 12 more prisoners and silenced an enemy machinegun after volunteering for a hazardous mission in advance of his company's position. On 29 November, as Company G climbed a hill overlooking Kerprich Hemmersdorf, enemy fire pinned the unit to the ground. S/Sgt. Miller, on his own initiative, pressed ahead with his squad past the company's leading element to meet the surprise resistance. His men stood up and advanced deliberately, firing as they went. Inspired by S/Sgt. Miller's leadership, the platoon followed, and then another platoon arose and grimly closed with the Germans. The enemy action was smothered, but at the cost of S/Sgt. Miller's life. His tenacious devotion to the attack, his gallant choice to expose himself to enemy action rather than endanger his men, his limitless bravery, assured the success of Company G.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for November 16, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
16 November
1913: John Domenjoz, a Swiss aviator, looped his Bleriot over the Battery and Statue of Liberty in what was presumed to be the first loop. Lt Petr Nikolaevich Nesteov of the Imperial Russian Army claimed an earlier first loop in his 27 August 1913 flight over Kiev in a Nieuport Type IV. (8) (24)
1927: The Navy commissioned its second aircraft carrier, the USS Saratoga. The US destroyed it in a 1946 atomic bomb test. (20)
1944: In the largest air and ground cooperation to date, over 4,000 allied planes, with 750 fighter escorts, dropped over 10,000 tons of bombs in front of the 1st and 9th Armies to prepare for a ground attack. (4) (24)
1951: KOREAN WAR. Fifth Air Force fighter-bombers made over one-hundred rail cuts between Sinanju and Sukchon and between Kunu-ri and Sunchon. They also damaged bridges, knocked out gun positions, destroyed supply buildings, fired fuel dumps, and took a toll of enemy rail cars. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. USMC aircraft attached to Fifth Air Force attacked hydroelectric facilities at Kongosan. (28)
1956: The 98 AREFS at Lincoln AFB, Nebr., received the last production KC-97, a G-model (number 53-3816). (1) SECDEF Charles E. Wilson transferred the northern part of Camp Cooke, Calif., from the Army to the USAF to set up a training site for Thor, Atlas, and Titan missiles. (6)
1959: At the White Sands Missile Range, Capt Joseph W. Kittinger, Jr., set three unofficial records by taking an open-gondola balloon to 76,400 feet. From there, he parachuted back to earth. This jump included a 64,000-foot free fall, the longest to date, that lasted 2 minutes 58 seconds. (9)
1966: Maj William J. Knight set an unofficial X-15 speed record of 4,159 MPH at Edwards AFB. (3)
1973: FIRST SKYLAB MISSION: In Skylab 4, the astronauts set a 7-hour, 1-minute space walk record in a 2,017-hour mission. They returned on 8 February 1974 after 34,523,000 miles and 84 days 1 hour 15 minutes 32 seconds in space.
1982: The Space Shuttle Columbia ended its first operational mission (fifth overall) by landing at Edwards AFB. It was the first craft to take more than three people into space. (3)
1987: Operation BUSY TIGER. MAC participated in the initial test to check KC-135 capabilities for short-notice deployments. Aircraft, personnel, and equipment from Grissom AFB and Beale AFB were used in the test. (16) (18)
1988: Through 30 November, MAC aircraft flew 442 tons of insecticide and supplies to Dakar, Senegal, to battle a destructive influx of locusts. (26)
2004: In its final flight, NASA's B-52 #008 launch vehicle, the oldest plane in the USAF inventory, carried the X-43A mounted on a Pegasus booster into the air. The X-43A then broke its 4,780 MPH record of 27 March 2004. After separating from a Pegasus booster rocket at 110,000 feet, the scramjet engine accelerated the X-43 to 7,000 mph (Mach 9.8). With this flight, the Dryden Flight Research Center validated the operation of the supersonic-combustion ramjet, powered by liquid hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen. The Guinness Book of World Records added the X-43's flight as a new world speed record for jet powered aircraft. (3)
2006: The Air Force Special Operations Command received its first CV-22 Osprey at Hurlburt Field. United States Special Operations Command commander, Gen Doug Brown, flew the Osprey to the arrival ceremony at Hurlburt. (USAF Aimpoints, "Hurlburt Gets First Osprey," 17 Nov 2006) DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. An F-16 Fighting Falcon pilot, Capt David Anderson from the 35th Fighter Squadron at Kunsan AB, Republic of Korea, received the award for his actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom. While assigned to the 524th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Balad Air Base in Iraq, Captain Anderson and Capt Nick Sweeney flew a routine combat mission to Kirkuk. During their 16 November mission, they engaged enemy forces in contact with a US platoon near Baghdad. A joint terminal attack controller on the ground tasked the fighters to search for a vehicle near the platoon's position. When an enemy attack pinned down the ground troops, the controller immediately directed the F-16 pilots to the location. After a third low pass, Captain Sweeney had to disengage to get fuel. As the enemy fire intensified, the controller then ordered a strafe pass with the F-16's 20mm cannon. As Anderson executed a fourth low pass of the target area he identified his target and opened fire. In three successive strafe passes, he fired all 510 rounds to silence the enemy position. His attack killed enemy fighters, including one insurgent who was setting up a 60 mm mortar. (AFNEWS, "Kunsan Pilot Receives Distinguished Flying Cross," 12 September 2007)
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