Survey Monday, Memorial Day

[The Gipper]

A bit of a  different survey today,  Memorial Day.   Remember the purpose of Memorial Day:   to give honor to those who died defending our nation and/or who have been killed in warfare. 

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

 

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

 

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

 

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

 

5. Is there any way that you can relate a Memorial Day situation to the Browns or football? 

 

[Dutch Oven]

1 hour ago, The Gipper said:

A bit of a  different survey today,  Memorial Day.   Remember the purpose of Memorial Day:   to give honor to those who died defending our nation and/or who have been killed in warfare. 

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War. 

Not exactly... My grandmother's cousin was a member of the 101st Airborne during WWII. He parachuted into Normandy in the dark hours prior to the morning beach landing, fought at the Battle of the Bulge where the 101st were surrounded by the Germans. When he came back my great grandfather remarked that "the happy-go-lucky kid before the war was gone". Robert had some serious issues resulting from his service, including alcoholism, and was abusive towards his wife and kids. One night, in fear for her life, she would go into their bedroom, get a gun, and shoot Robert dead. She was never charged, understandably. I think he was as much of a victim of the war as anyone who died in Europe or on some god-forsaken island in the Pacific. My uncle nearly was killed in Vietnam, he returned with two Purple Hearts and a drug problem.

 

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

Glory, Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart and Unbroken and while not "movies", HBO specials 'Band of Brothers' and 'The Pacific' were amazing.

 

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes? 

 

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

Been to Gettysburg, when I was 12. 

 

5. Is there any way that you can relate a Memorial Day situation to the Browns or football? 

Um, not really?

 

 

[TexasAg1969]

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

I think it important sometimes to remember an "unknown". There were 3 civilian engineers who maintained water & electricity on a small base outside Phan Thiet who were ambushed with a command detonated mine that blew their jeep off the road where all 3 were then shot in the head. You will not find their names on the Wall in Washington, nor do I recall any of their names since I only knew them in passing. But they gave their lives nonetheless.

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

The Deer Hunter, Platoon and To Hell and Back

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

My uncle who was the only survivor of a 5 man tank crew in Europe. He was blown out of the top and lost an eye in the process.

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

Shiloh and Gettysburg

5. Is there any way that you can relate a Memorial Day situation to the Browns or football? 

Not really.

[The Gipper]

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

My Grandfather died from a Nazi bomb during WWII.  

 

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"? 

Inglorius Basterds for sure....just because it was so fun,  obviously not for its historical accuracy. ;   Patton,  The Dirty Dozen.....run Jimmy Brown run ,   Stalag 17,   Lawrence of Arabia.  Dunkirk....see below. 

Not a movie but a series:    Sharpe, starring Sean Bean,   takes place mainly during Napoleanic Wars

 

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

Personal:   As noted above:  1.   My Grandfather, though I didn't know him, he was doing his job as a Civil Servant for the British Admiralty when he was killed by the Nazi bomb.  2. My cousin,  Alan Deere,  famous in this sense:  He was one of The Few.#   An RAF pilot during WWII.  Had 9 planes shot from under him and survived.  He was the role model for the Tom Hardy character in the recent Dunkirk movie. He was the the military advisor on the movie The Battle of Britain...made in like 1969 starring Robert Shaw among others.   He represented the RAF in the funeral cortege of Winston Churchill.  He was the aide-de-camp for the Queen of England.  2. My Dad.   He served first under General Patton, then under General Patch.  While he was not in the original wave that captured it,  he was in the second wave of soldiers who took over the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's mountain hideaway, in Berchtesgaden Germany. 

Historic:    George Washington,   Grant,  Ike.  I am sure there are others.  

# Recall the Churchill famous quote:  "Never in the course of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". 

 

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

The Arizona Memorial and the Missouri in Pearl Harbor;    Fort McHenry;    The Battle Road....Lexington and Concord, Mass. ;   The Perry Peace Memorial, Put-in-Bay commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie.  Yorktown;  Cowpens.  Appamattox.

 

5. Is there any way that you can relate a Memorial Day situation to the Browns or football? 

Just to reference the tale of Pat Tillman.

Also just a reference to appropriately:   Cliff Battles.   NFL HOF from Kenmore in Akron.  Served as a Marine in WWII.  (though Battles was not killed)

 

[The Gipper]

My cousin, and the guy who played him.

[Dutch Oven]

Tom Hardy also had a small role in 'Band of Brothers'. 

[TexasAg1969]

12 hours ago, The Gipper said:

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

The Arizona Memorial and the Missouri in Pearl Harbor;    Fort McHenry;    The Battle Road....Lexington and Concord, Mass. ;   The Perry Peace Memorial, Put-in-Bay commemorating the Battle of Lake Erie.  Yorktown;  Cowpens.  Appamattox.

I left out Lexington and Concord-well worth the visit as a pair.

[The Gipper]

1 hour ago, Zombo said:

This was on the front page of New Castle News this morning about my uncle:

https://www.ncnewsonline.com/news/local_news/wifes-wartime-letter-part-of-singers-tribute-album/article_f0d886ac-496a-5a69-8a5b-74e55ea2b3d4.html

Nice.  By the way, I too had an Aunt Pauline.    Not a name you hear anymore.  Even among our generation.

(but I also had aunts named  Betsy, Daisy, Pearl, Corrine, Geraldine, and Gladys, also names no longer used much if at all)

And Frank is rare these days as well. In fact, My wife works with a lot of grade school kids, and I asked her and she says that she cannot recall that in 20 years of working in grade school was there a kid named Frank.   I did go to high school with a couple of "Franks".

Sorry to diverge.  Thanks for the link. 

[The Gipper]

I have not watched this whole thing as it runs 2 hours.  I will have to at some point, but this is a documentary is about Pat Tillman.

 

[nickers]

 

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

My Grandfather a Croatian "Ustasa" who was killed by Communist soldiers in WWII

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

 

Platoon, The Dirty Dozen, Apocaplypse Now

 

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

 

My Stepfather who served in NAM

 

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

 

None as of yet.. But Gettysburg is high on the bucket list.

 

5. Is there any way that you can relate a Memorial Day situation to the Browns or football? 

 

Yeah.. I remember when they won!

[Icecube]

On 5/25/2020 at 2:27 PM, The Gipper said:

A bit of a  different survey today,  Memorial Day.   Remember the purpose of Memorial Day:   to give honor to those who died defending our nation and/or who have been killed in warfare. 

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

No one.

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

Metal Jacket, Black Hawk, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Ryan, Green Berets, Deer Hunter. 

3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

Pat Tillman

 

 

[calfoxwc]

1. Tell us of anyone you knew  or were related to  who was killed in War.

Personally, no. Our old farmer friend told me last week, he was the only guy of his high school class that was still around. Several died in WWII, and one

died of cancer. So many stories about guys who lost friends and relatives in wars over the years I was in the service.

2. What are some of your favorite "War Movies"?

My favorites:

"13 Soldiers" (based on a true story in Afghanistan) and Heartbreak Ridge.

 3. Who are some of your real  war heroes?

My Dad and his brothers, they enlisted from their farm in the WV mountains...during WWII. Two brothers went into the Army, Dad went into the Navy. Dad was the second youngest - he ran a landing craft - personnel, by himself. The war ended about four weeks after he got to the Philippines.

A very good friend - was Special Forces.

My cousin was an advisor to S. Vietnamese troops in Laos and Cambodia back in 67/68. He lost friends over there, and eventually got hit, went back. Got hit by shrapnel when a tank he was riding in got hit, went back again...and finally became a recruiter. He never talked about it, and I never asked. He came back a damaged guy, nothing like the funny guy he was before he left. It was many years later, at a funeral, that I met him again. I didn't recognize him because of his white hair and big smile. I thought he was the preacher.

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

Gettysburg, the Arizona Monument, and the Navy base at Pearl Harbor..., when we were there, had special permission - we saw where the bullet dents in the cement wall of the mess hall were still there- they paint them, but they didn't ever fix them. I always wanted to go see an aircraft carrier. Dad talked about how huge they were, we never got around to going to the coast.

To be there at the Arizona Monument, know the history, smell and see the ocean, see the Arizona underwater with a tiny wisp of oil even then... is a very stunning, solemn moment of time we will never forget.

 

[The Gipper]

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

Gettysburg, the Arizona Monument, and the Navy base at Pearl Harbor..., when we were there, had special permission - we saw where the bullet dents in the cement wall of the mess hall were still there- they paint them, but they didn't ever fix them. I always wanted to go see an aircraft carrier. Dad talked about how huge they were, we never got around to going to the coast.

To be there at the Arizona Monument, know the history, smell and see the ocean, see the Arizona underwater with a tiny wisp of oil even then... is a very stunning, solemn moment of time we will never forget.

Cal....I believe if you go to Corpus Christie TX  (and its a nice place to visit under any circumstances)....you can take a tour of the USS Lexington...the Grey Ghost I believe they call it.   

Here you go:

https://www.usslexington.com/tours/

[TexasAg1969]

On 5/26/2020 at 10:23 PM, The Gipper said:

4. What battlefields have you visited that were most moving to you?

Cal....I believe if you go to Corpus Christie TX  (and its a nice place to visit under any circumstances)....you can take a tour of the USS Lexington...the Grey Ghost I believe they call it.   

 

Here you go:

https://www.usslexington.com/tours/

It's worth going on and walking through. Oh and Gip, I know it's almost sacrilegious down here, but it's nickname is The Blue Ghost, the Grey Ghost being still reserved for Col. John Mosby, Commander of Mosby's Rangers of Virginia. The Lexington was an Essex class carrier named after its more famous predecessor which was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

[The Gipper]

3 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

It's worth going on and walking through. Oh and Gip, I know it's almost sacrilegious down here, but it's nickname is The Blue Ghost, the Grey Ghost being still reserved for Col. John Mosby, Commander of Mosby's Rangers of Virginia. The Lexington was an Essex class carrier named after its more famous predecessor which was sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

OK,   I see, yes.   The Grey Ghost was one of the nicknames of the USS Enterprise.

And lots of things have been called the Grey/Gray Ghost:

Arts and entertainment[edit]

• The Gray Ghost (TV series), a 1950s an American historical television series
• Grey Ghost, a band fronted by Ruby Starr
• Gray Ghost (DC animated universe), a superhero in Batman: The Animated Series voiced by Adam West
• The Gray Ghost (serial), a 1917 film serial
• Grey Ghost, a fictional hero in the novel Everybody's All-American
• Grey Ghost of the forest, an alias of Dog from New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats

People[edit]

• John S. Mosby (1833–1916), Confederate cavalryman and partisan who fought during the American Civil War
• Roosevelt Williams (1903–1996), blues pianist nicknamed "Grey Ghost"
• Tony Canadeo (1919–2003), football star, "the Gray Ghost of Gonzaga"

Ships[edit]

• USS Enterprise (CV-6), US Aircraft Carrier
• USS Pensacola (CA-24), US Heavy Cruiser
• RMS Queen Mary, an ocean liner painted Navy Grey for use as a troopship during the Second World War

Other uses[edit]

• Weimaraner, a breed of dogs
• a male Northern harrier
• an early Rolls-Royce Limited car model
• Gray Ghost, slang term for a Walther P38 pistol
• Gray Ghost, a nickname for the experimental aircraft YF-23 Black Widow II
• Grey Ghost, the mascot of Illinois Valley Central High School