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Old 05-26-2018, 05:11 PM
 
17,472 posts, read 17,286,872 times
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October 1990 the USS Iwo Jima LPH-2 had a steam leak that killed ten engineers. Arab yard workers put black oxide brass nuts on a main steam valve bonnet (over 600 psi and over 800 degree steam). As the ship was pulling out from Bahrain the nuts gave way and the nearly 200 lb bonnet was thrown across the boiler room. This 2 & 1/2 story boiler room was filled with this superheated steam in about two seconds. The pressures were so great the walls and ceiling bowed outward from the boiler room before snapping back into shape. Six were killed instantly. Four got out alive but slowly died from having inhaled the superheated steam. Because of the complexity of the boiler room, their buddies were ordered to dress out in fire fighting gear to recover the bodies. The eyes were still open and the skin was coming off onto the hands of those lifting them. About a week later I received orders to the ship. Nearly a month after the accident I arrived on my first ship after a 12 hour flight. First night trying to sleep was the first time I heard men screaming in terror from the nightmares. Two of the guys were eventually taken away for psychological problems. I don’t know what those guys were like before the accident but those who were there all said none were the same. To make their stress worse, while dealing with the loss of their buddies they were all questioned by NIS (now called NCIS) from the Captain down to the lowly E-3. They wanted to be sure this wasn’t a sabotage by someone who didn’t want to go to war. What it did was put everyone on edge. This caused fights (verbal and sometimes physical). A year later I could see a huge difference in our chief (E-7). He went from the angriest jerk I ever met to a cool boss.

Some military lives aren’t lost in combat or war.
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Old 06-26-2018, 09:33 PM
 
Location: Where the heart is...
4,927 posts, read 5,273,239 times
Reputation: 10673
Default Kentucky WWII veteran who died in 1998 is awarded Medal...

of Honor

Long overdue but the POTUS made the decision to award this fine man what he deserved.

While serving in Houssen, France, in January 1945, Garlin Murl Conner slipped away from the hospital, where he was nursing a combat injury - one of seven he would sustain during the war. He rendezvoused with his unit, and volunteered to run into enemy fire. Using a field telephone, his goal was to inform American artillery of German movements.

He proceeded to direct artillery fire on his own position as he crouched in a shallow irrigation ditch, and is credited with blocking the advance of six German tanks and 600 German infantrymen.

Conner's telephone was "the most deadly instrument on the battlefield" that day, said Major General Leopoldo Quintas, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division, Conner's former division.

read:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ke...cid=spartandhp

Garlin Murl Conner

Conner was born on 2 June 1919 in Aaron, Kentucky.He was the third child of eleven brothers and sisters. He and four of his brothers served during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlin_Murl_Conner
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Old 06-28-2018, 07:35 PM
 
7,473 posts, read 3,977,607 times
Reputation: 6462
Quote:
Originally Posted by HomeIsWhere... View Post
of Honor

Long overdue but the POTUS made the decision to award this fine man what he deserved.

While serving in Houssen, France, in January 1945, Garlin Murl Conner slipped away from the hospital, where he was nursing a combat injury - one of seven he would sustain during the war. He rendezvoused with his unit, and volunteered to run into enemy fire. Using a field telephone, his goal was to inform American artillery of German movements.

He proceeded to direct artillery fire on his own position as he crouched in a shallow irrigation ditch, and is credited with blocking the advance of six German tanks and 600 German infantrymen.

Conner's telephone was "the most deadly instrument on the battlefield" that day, said Major General Leopoldo Quintas, who commands the 3rd Infantry Division, Conner's former division.

read:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ke...cid=spartandhp

Garlin Murl Conner

Conner was born on 2 June 1919 in Aaron, Kentucky.He was the third child of eleven brothers and sisters. He and four of his brothers served during World War II.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlin_Murl_Conner
I saw this in the news. What a humble and heroic man...…….I salute him.
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Old 08-25-2018, 07:47 PM
 
Location: New Mexico U.S.A.
26,527 posts, read 51,504,606 times
Reputation: 31319
Sen. John McCain, hero POW, former presidential hopeful and maverick Republican, dies at age 81

McCain survived nearly six years as a POW in North Vietnam, succeeded Barry Goldwater in the Senate and lost a White House bid to Barack Obama.

He was diagnosed with a virulent former of brain cancer in July 2017, a week after doctors removed a blood clot from above his left eye.

Days later, he cast the deciding vote that killed Senate GOP's bill to repeal Obamacare.

Sen. John McCain, who survived nearly six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, succeeded Barry Goldwater to represent Arizona in the Senate, lost a White House bid to freshman Sen. Barack Obama and became an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, has died. He was 81.

McCain died Saturday. His office released this statement:

Quote:
Senator John Sidney McCain III died at 4:28pm on August 25, 2018. With the Senator when he passed were his wife Cindy and their family. At his death, he had served the United States of America faithfully for sixty years.
Entire Article At: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/25/sen-...maverick-.html
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Old 08-25-2018, 07:59 PM
 
Location: Honolulu, HI
24,156 posts, read 9,097,694 times
Reputation: 22552
RIP, amazing lifelong public service to his country
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Old 08-25-2018, 08:33 PM
 
Location: San Diego CA
8,373 posts, read 6,743,293 times
Reputation: 16691
A personal hero of mine for years. Warrior and Statesman. Thank you for your service.
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Old 08-25-2018, 08:47 PM
 
Location: SW OK (AZ Native)
24,169 posts, read 13,014,616 times
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I had the privilege of meeting and conversing with Senator McCain four times, notably the day I was commissioned as a second lieutenant. (The gentleman he replaced in the Senate commissioned me.) I have asked myself many times, especially while preparing to fly in combat, "How would I act if shot down? Would I have the strength and courage to persevere the way Lt McCain did in Hanoi?"

I echo the sentiments above. He personified the core value of service before self.
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Old 08-26-2018, 08:34 PM
 
7,473 posts, read 3,977,607 times
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I too would like to salute the man. Few can hope to equal his accomplishments...…..or endure what horrors he has endured.
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Old 11-23-2018, 10:00 AM
 
Location: New Mexico U.S.A.
26,527 posts, read 51,504,606 times
Reputation: 31319
Ray Chavez, the oldest surviving veteran of Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday (Nov 21, 2018) in California at the age of 106.

“Ray was the epitome of the greatest generation,” said Richard Rovsek, a trustee of the nonprofit Spirit of Liberty Foundation in Rancho Santa Fe, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “He was always proud to be an American and proud of the military.”

Ray who'd been in hospice care, asked to be buried at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.

He was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diego’s Old Town and Logan Heights communities; his large family ran a wholesale flower business.

At 27, in 1938, he joined the Navy and was stationed with the minesweeper Condor at Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was a seaman first class; after the attack, he spent the next nine days on continuous duty in and around Pearl Harbor.

He once said the horrors he saw at Pearl Harbor left deep trauma.

His daughter, who was adopted in a San Diego orphanage in 1957, added that "he never saw himself as any different from the other men he served with. He’d always say, ‘I’m no hero. I just did my job.’” She told The Union-Tribune her father was the child of Mexican immigrants, and although he experienced racism and discrimination in childhood and in the Navy, he remained a proud American.

Chavez, who loved nonfiction books and was into travel, spent 30 years as a groundskeeper at the University of California, San Diego, and then ran his own landscaping and grounds keeping business in the Poway area until he retired at 96.

From Article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/oldest-su...or-dies-at-106
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Old 11-25-2018, 08:04 PM
 
7,473 posts, read 3,977,607 times
Reputation: 6462
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM View Post
Ray Chavez, the oldest surviving veteran of Pearl Harbor, died Wednesday (Nov 21, 2018) in California at the age of 106.

“Ray was the epitome of the greatest generation,” said Richard Rovsek, a trustee of the nonprofit Spirit of Liberty Foundation in Rancho Santa Fe, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. “He was always proud to be an American and proud of the military.”

Ray who'd been in hospice care, asked to be buried at Miramar National Cemetery in San Diego.

He was born in San Bernardino in 1911 and grew up in San Diego’s Old Town and Logan Heights communities; his large family ran a wholesale flower business.

At 27, in 1938, he joined the Navy and was stationed with the minesweeper Condor at Pearl Harbor. On Dec. 7, 1941, he was a seaman first class; after the attack, he spent the next nine days on continuous duty in and around Pearl Harbor.

He once said the horrors he saw at Pearl Harbor left deep trauma.

His daughter, who was adopted in a San Diego orphanage in 1957, added that "he never saw himself as any different from the other men he served with. He’d always say, ‘I’m no hero. I just did my job.’” She told The Union-Tribune her father was the child of Mexican immigrants, and although he experienced racism and discrimination in childhood and in the Navy, he remained a proud American.

Chavez, who loved nonfiction books and was into travel, spent 30 years as a groundskeeper at the University of California, San Diego, and then ran his own landscaping and grounds keeping business in the Poway area until he retired at 96.

From Article: https://www.foxnews.com/us/oldest-su...or-dies-at-106
WOW. The last of Pearl harbor survivors...…….sad but was bound to happen. I salute this man and the ones who preceded him...…..
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