Tag Archives: Memorial Day

Mar 19 2017

The American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign wars are building a Veterans Park in the city of Macedonia which is in the Nordonia Hills School District in Ohio


Last Spring both the American Legion (AL) Post 801 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 6768 that I belong to, in the Nordonia Hills area of Ohio, decided to fix up and rededicate an old neglected park making it a first class veterans park.  The entire project would cost over $360,000 if done as a normal project but we have been about to secure many parts of this project as donations in kind reducing our actual cash requirement significantly.  So far we have raised almost $40,000 in cash secured a Grant for $20,000 and have a commitment for about $65,000 in construction value.

That allowed us to order a memorial and work toward finishing the first phase of the project by Memorial day May 29, 2017 three months from now. We have about $14,000 in the bank, as I write this, and only need $25,000 more to completed Phase One which is about a $150,000 investment. 100% of the money raised goes to the project as the AL and VFW personal  are the only ones involved in the fundraising and we do not take any compensation. However this is a city of Macedonia park and they are responsible for much of the major site prep and concert work that will be required as well as maintenance of the park when it is done. Not counting the on going maintenance of the park the cities work to prepare the site is probably about 40% of the project.

Below are two pictures the one on the left is what we started with and the one on the right is an architects rendering of the park done last year and although a few changes have been made to accommodate some of the legal and environmental restrictions this rendering is very close to what is actually being constructed.

combined-2

Here are a couple of views of the park that were created for us by a local artist Sharron Finn, they were used to create the plan view of the park shown above in the .

The Veterans memorial that we will be installing in three months is shown next the image on the right is the front and the image on the right is the back. The base in gray granite is 84 inches wide 20 inches deep and 12 inches high. Siding on top of of the base is the memorial which black granite and it is 72 inches wide 72 inches tall and 8 inches thick.

The next images are of some of the planed sub monuments one for each conflict the country has been in which will be placed in the Veterans Park after the main memorial and plaza are finished this June The first is for the current War on Terror (WOT) and will be to the left as you walk in the main gate. These sub monuments will be on a base 48 inches wide 14 inches deep and 8 inches high. The vertical sitting on the base will be 36 inches wide 18 inches deep and 60 inches high.

The second sub monument is from the Vietnam War which will be on the right as you come in the main entrance

Any donations made toward this project are tax deductible as we are a 501(c)19  (same as a 501(c)3 for tax purposes. You can check either of the to Posts involved in this project

Click here for American Legion Nordonia Hills Post 801

Click here for Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6768

Click here for The City of Macedonia the veterans park project is the last link on the right side.

For information on the project and find the various ways we have established to donate to the project

Click here for the Veterans Memorial Park web site

If you would just like to make a simple donation by credit card of PayPal

Click here for the Go Fund Me Park web site

David Pristash, Commander American Legion Nordonia Hills Post 801

 

 

 

 

Nov 11 2016
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To all my Brothers (and Sisters now as well) in Arms!


veterans-day-2016

May 28 2016

Interstate 10 Memorial Day Tribute – Army Rangers in Afghanistan Release Music Video…


Great Video the rangers are number 10 … lol

Nov 22 2015

History of the legendary Colt .45 M1911


Captagon Makes ISIS Fighters Superhuman or Are They Just a Warrior Cult?

Posted on November 21, 2015 by

Captagon

According to various sources, ISIS is using the drug Captagon to create superhuman warriors. Perhaps this is true. However, it is by no means the first encounter with a warrior culture and it would be a mistake to assume it is simply drugs.
MindanaoThe modern legend of warrior cults came from the island of Mindanao, where the U.S. Army had to invent the .45 automatic to stop the fanatical Moros from cutting down American soldiers in the Philippine Islands. The legend is not entirely wrong. It is very true that fighting the Moros was indeed the primary motivator for the “invention” of the .45 automatic. It is true that from 1911 until 1985, the Colt Model 1911 .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol was the official sidearm of the U.S. military and became the most famous pistol in military history.

In the late 19th century, the U.S. adopted the Colt Model 1894 .38 caliber double-action (DA) revolver as the standard sidearm for officers. The six-shot Colt .38 DA represented advanced technology, replacing the famous Colt .45 “Peacemaker” which was a single-action that had to be cocked by hand each shot. The Colt .38 was used during the Spanish-American War, which was actually only two days of actual ground combat. The Philippine-American War (called at the time the “Philippine Insurrection”) was nearly as long as World War II itself from February 1899 to July 4, 1902, because it was really a guerrilla war that they saw as a national liberation battle.

The Filipino Army of Liberation had to make their own bullets and had perhaps one rifle for every three soldiers. Over 4,000 Americans were killed out of 126,468 troops, so the death rate was actually higher than the Vietnam War. The Filipino troops used the bolo, which was a fearsome, short, 16 to 18-inch razor sharp weapon used to in harvesting crops and hacking through trails in the jungle. American troops with a single shot weapon did not stand a chance, and often against a charge of several hundred bolo armed men.

Moro

As the war came to an end in the north, suddenly the south island of Mindanao erupted with the first battle taking place between the Americans and the Muslim Moros on May 2, 1902; the Battle of Bayan. Yes, they were Muslim and the fieriest warriors of all. The Americans killed about half of the 600 Moros warriors. About 10% of the American troops were severely wounded in a matter of minutes. American troops ran out of ammo and fixed their bayonets. A wave of Moro warriors were hiding in nearby trenches and charged, swinging their terrifying bolo short swords and some with the double-handled kampilan, while others had the double-edged wavy kris that was considered to be the most deadly of all. One survivor of that battle, Capt. C.C. Smith, recounted that “in hand-to-hand combat our soldiers are no match for the Moro. If our first shot misses the target, we rarely have time to get off another.” In the end, all the officers were killed and about half of the American troops were cut down. Only a torrential rainfall saved the rest.

Am-v-Moro

The battle against the Moro lasted more than a decade from 1903-1913. The most famous of the Moros warriors was Panglima Hassan who was a Tausug war leader. He refused to surrender and by himself he rushed the American line with only his sword. They opened fired but he cut up one American soldier and two officers before being brought down. His body was inspected and thirty-two bullets hit him before a last bullet from a sergeant’s revolver shot him square between the eyes.

The newspapers asserted that the Moros were “hopped up” on drugs. They wore bamboo armor and old Spanish helmets for protection during these charges. This was just propaganda. The Moros were a warrior culture much like the Spartans of ancient Greece or the Celts who would charge at the Romans in a sure death charge. There was never any possibility of surrender in any of these cultures for it was considered dishonorable and highly shameful in both society and their religious values. So there was no possibility of returning after the war. All of these cultures embraced death as honorable where they would gain instant entry to heaven if they died in battle. The Celts believed they would simply be reincarnated. This type of mental state did not require chemicals.

Colt 45 M1911A1

The first A1semi-automatic pistols were finally shipped to Moro land thirty years later in 1944-1945. No doubt, the experience with the Moro Muslim warriors inspired the semi-automatic .45 to become a standard issue when they faced another hard to stop warrior type society – the Japanese.

Nov 11 2015
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FROM ONE VET TO ALL THE OTHER VETERANS BACK TO THE BEGINNING — THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!


vetrans day

Feb 1 2014

Memorial Day; May 27, 2013


This is a speech I gave on memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day the day we honor our war dead, those warriors who gave what Lincoln called, “the last full measure of devotion.” I’m a veteran but this is not our day that comes on Veterans Day on November 11th. We came home carrying our shields; they came home carried on theirs. Memorial Day is the day we raise our glasses to honor and remember all the absent comrades.

The History:

Memorial Day is now a United States federal holiday which occurs every year on the final Monday of May. Memorial Day is a day of remembering all the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. The observance originated shortly after the American Civil War ended to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. Memorial Day was formerly known as Decoration Day, but the name gradually evolved into Memorial Day in the 20th century and that was made official by congress in 1967.

The first well-known Memorial Day-type observance after the Civil War was in Charleston, South Carolina. During the war, Union soldiers who were prisoners of war had been held at the Charleston Race Course. During the war at least 257 Union prisoners died there and were hastily buried in unmarked graves. Shortly after the war ended, in May 1865, black residents of Charleston organized a ceremony, which was covered by the New York Tribune and other national papers.

Nearly ten thousand people gathered on May 1st to commemorate the war dead. Involved were recently “freedmen,” teachers, school children, Union troops, black ministers, and white northern missionaries. Most brought flowers to lie on the burial field. Years later, this celebration would come to be called the “First Decoration Day.”

Three years later on May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander of a veterans’ organization for Union Civil War veterans, General John A. Logan issued a proclamation calling for “Decoration Day” to be observed annually and nationwide. It was observed for the first time that year on May 30.

That date was chosen for two reasons first because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle and, the second according to the White House was, this was the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom.

An interesting fact is that Ironton, Ohio, lays claim to the nation’s oldest “continuously running” Memorial Day parade. Its first parade was also held on May 5, 1868, and the town has held it every year since.

How many of our military have not come home?

America has been involved in small, medium and large conflicts almost continuously since its founding. According to Wikipedia the U.S. military has been involved in 74 military conflicts since the Declaration of Independence where our soldiers have fought, died and suffered for their country. Because of the poor record keeping (no internet or computers) and the intensity of the fighting in many of these early conflicts, the numbers shown here are estimates’ only but probably not far off.

The totals are:

664,401 KIA

40,915 MIA (which I will consider KIA here)

and 1,647,973 WIA

Also there were 652,602 (mostly in the Civil War) who died in theater

That makes a total of 3,005,891 military casualties.  Therefore, we can say since the formation of our country 237 years ago that we have incurred 12,683 casualties per year or 35 casualties per day since the founding.

But today we are here to give thanks to those that gave their all in “combat” which, including MIA’s, as of last month totals 705,316 KIA.

What were the worst conflicts?

Of the 74 conflicts that the American military has been involved in eight (8) stand out for the numbers of military personnel who died or were wounded.  These 8 conflicts account for 97.2% of all military casualties.

More military were lost in WW II than any of the other conflicts but that was not the worst war we were in. To put these conflicts in proper prospective and using the figures listed in Wikipedia under “Untied States Military casualties of war” I created a table where I could compare the military casualties to the size of the country at the time of the conflict.

This makes a big difference since when the country was formed there were fewer than 3 million citizens and today there are well over 300 million citizens, 100 times more.

I’ll start with the current War On Terror even though it is not one of  the eight to give a base of comparison to all those past conflicts since it is the one we are most familiar with today.
The Global War on Terror (WOT)

10/7/2001 to …

This Kinetic Action using today’s vernacular can not be rated as it is not yet completed, but as of April 2013 last month 6,677 have died to get rid of the Taliban and Al Qaida in Afghanistan and remove an evil dictator with delusions of grandeur from Iraq.

So far this war has lasted 4,223 days and we have lost 1.58 of our military per day. This is America’s longest continuously running war.

Considering the size of the country at 300.4 million citizens and even if we add in the wounded, that means that only a very small fraction of the country has served, or died, or was wounded in this conflict.

In all the following conflicts I will reference them as some multiple of the War On Terror.

The American Civil War

4/12/1861 to 4/9/1865

This was by far the worst war we have ever been in, since it was the South against the North, all were Americans and 624,938 of them died to end slavery and to keep the country whole. The war lasted 1,458 days and we lost 428.6 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 33.5 million citizens and adding in the wounded means that almost 3.2% of the population died or was wounded in that conflict.

That amounts to 1 out of 32 people. Nothing since comes even remotely close to what happened during the Civil War.

In fact we would have to add together all the remaining 7 major conflicts we have been in to equal that of the Civil War casualties compared to the size of the population. This war was 165.5 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

The American Revolution

4/19/1775 to 9/3/1783

This was the second worst war we have ever been in with 25,000 who died to sever our relationship from England and form the country.  The war lasted 3,059 days and we lost 8.2 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at only 2.8 million citizens means that this war was 93.0 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

World War II

12/7/1941 to 9/2/1945

This was the third worst war we have ever been in with 435,713 who died to defeat the Germans and the Japanese who were trying to take over the world. The war lasted 1,365 days and we lost 319.2 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 136.7 million citizens means that this war was 42.4 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

World War I

4/6/1917 to 11/11/1918

This was the fourth worst war we have ever been in with 119,866 who died to save England and France from being defeated by Germany. The war lasted 584 days and we lost 205.3 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 103.2 million citizens means that this war was 16.4 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

The War of 1812

6/18/1812 to 2/18/1815

This was the Fifth worst war we have ever been in with 14,260 who died to prevent England from taking back her former colonies.  The war lasted 975 days and we lost 14.6 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 8.0 million citizens means that this war was 12.3 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

The Vietnam War

11/24/1963 to 4/30/1975

This was the Sixth worst war we have ever been in with 60,698 who died trying to save the Vietnamese from being taken over by the communists’. The war lasted 4,175 days and we lost 14.5 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 202.6 million citizens this war was 5.5 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

The Korean War

6/25/1950 to 7/27/1953

This was the Seventh worst war we have ever been in with 41,278 who died to prevent the Communist North from taking over the free South. Technically this war never ended as there was a cease fire but no official end to the conflict.  The active portion of this war lasted 1,128 days and we lost 36.6 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 156.2 million citizens means that this war was 4.5 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

The Mexican War

4/25/1846 to 2/2/1848

This was the Eighth worst war we have ever been in with 13,283 who died to resolve the issue of Texas who had seceded from Mexico. The war lasted 648 days and we lost 20.5 of our military per day. Considering the size of the country at 21.8 million citizens means that this war was 4.3 times more deadly then the current War On Terror.

This ends all the major conflicts.

This day is personal for me!

From my Special Force camp in Vietnam in 1967 and out of the team that averaged fewer that a dozen men and in the order that they died I knew the following:

SP5 Joseph R. Beck, KIA

SFC Elmer Ables, KIA

SGT Michal Miller, MIA

SFC Herman A. McBride, KIA

SFC Ernest O. Broom, KIA

SP4 Gerry D. Schroeder, KIA

That was almost 46 years ago and I still remember them and the others that were wounded in my camp but made it back.

That almost ends my talk and I hope I have conveyed to you the spirit of, and meaning of this day.

So go enjoy your barbecues, your friends, and your communities parades, but remember you do so because those honored dead make it possible.

Sometime today turn your thoughts to the many gardens of stone around the globe where those who gave their all now rest and say a pray of thanks to them.

 

Now I’ll close with a few of the opening lines from a poem I wrote about war, and the purpose of service, shortly after 9/11.

I am the American Soldier.

Liberty never comes free,

and the soldier’s life is the key.

My blood in Lexington first flowed,

giving sweet life to her precious seed.

 

But liberty is a demanding thought,

and its growth with much sacrifice is bought

I am the American Soldier.