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Author
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Topic: Richard Winters passes on
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booger
TOO BIG TO FAIL
Member # 3602
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posted January 17, 2011 06:57 PM
With all of the coverage last week of the events in Tucson, I almost missed a back page article announcing the fact that Dick Winters died in PA last week as well.
I think he was 92 or 93. I am a huge Band of Brothers fan and have read most of the guy's books about their experience in Easy Company.
It seems Dick was one of those guys that his men would follow anywhere.
My dad landed on Utah Beach the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, and I like to think that Easy Company taking out the German artillery at Brecourt Manor might have helped him make it through.
That generation of men was something special...we still have one guy living in Russell, Kansas that was a member of the 101st Airborne that jumped into France and Holland and was at Bastogne, although I don't know what company he was.
He was a friend of my dads, and I didn't know where he served until this past November when they did an article on him in the local newspaper for Vets day. I think I am going to give him a call and spend an afternoon with him.
[ January 17, 2011, 06:59 PM: Message edited by: booger ]
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If we ever forget we are one Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under--Ronald Reagan
Posts: 911 | From: Bob Dole Country | Registered: Apr 2010
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Possumal
HONORARY CALLS FORUM MODERATOR edit: AND TOKEN LIBERAL
Member # 823
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posted January 17, 2011 07:16 PM
That'll be great for you to talk with him. Those fellows sure deserve to hear from us every chance we get. Kudos to you for thinking of him and the other fellows.
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Al Prather
Foxpro Field Staff
Posts: 781 | From: Nicholasville, Ky. | Registered: Mar 2006
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4949shooter
SECOND PLACE HIGGINS (MAGNUM P.I.) LOOK A LIKE CONTEST
Member # 3530
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posted January 18, 2011 03:08 AM
I spent some time with a WWII vet a few years ago. He was extremely happy when I brought my M1 Garand to show him. He held it for a long time. I also found one of his unit patches at a gunshow, and gave it to him.
He has since passed away...
Posts: 2274 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Dec 2009
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Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
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posted January 18, 2011 04:57 AM
I read that about Dick Winters last week it really got no coverage hear in Az. It made me think about how very important an accurate history is as we lose these people daily and the true stories go with them.
I realize what a tragic event took place in Tucson, but the pinhead media sure sure can wear out a topic and in so many stupid ways by the time were all done even our pets wiil need counseling.
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Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted January 18, 2011 08:51 AM
There was a pretty big obituary on him in the LA Times, last week. Those guys did what needed to be done, but never acted like heros, which they were, in fact.
Good hunting. LB
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31450 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Aznative
FARTS ON CLUELESS LIBERALS
Member # 506
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posted January 19, 2011 06:49 AM
That generation amazes me. My dad dropped out of school and went into the Navy at 17. My mother's youngest brother lied and told the draft board that he was born in a home and has never had a birth certificate. He then used the draft card as id and got into the army at 16. When his older brother turned 18, he went down to register for the draft. The guy at the draft board told him was lying about his age because his birth date was only a few months from his brother who was already in the army.
It really saddens me to lose these guys.
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Never thought the devil would need a teleprompter but I could be wrong.
United State of America: RIP
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Posts: 1924 | From: Phoenix Az | Registered: Jan 2005
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JoeF
resides "back east"
Member # 228
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posted January 19, 2011 07:22 AM
Oh so few of those guys left.
I hope that people in your area(s) are doing the honor flight thing to the WWII Memorial.
It is a big hit locally. Donations and volunteers make the trip possible. The guys on the cycles travel about 50 miles south to escort the returning vets back on the last leg of the trip home from the airport. That homecoming usually takes place in a local Holiday Inn parking lot. Nearly midnight and there will be dozens and dozens of people there to greet the returning vets.
Dad was one of the guys who went. Never talked about it much at all to me or my older brother, though my younger brother got a good dose of stories.
Heard a lot of stories from the few buddies of his I've met through the years - a lot of them from a guy who walked in to dad's visitation with a cane in each hand. He grabbed a chair and sat down to spend the next two hours telling stories about their times together in the Philippines, New Guinea, and other wonder tropical paradises. Comedy to tragedy, he told it all, and there was not a dry eye in the house.
That was almost 9 years ago and that old boy was 86 then. I suspect he's gone, too.
Man, I miss those guys!
Posts: 646 | From: Midwest | Registered: Aug 2003
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fgf4
unknown comic
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posted January 19, 2011 09:02 AM
Sadly these guys stories are passing with them...
We lost my dad two years ago. He served his duty in the South Pacific as a Coxswain on a landing craft.
Only in the last year of his life did he finally talk to me about some of his experiences... Dad told me horrible descriptions of landing on the beaches. It is sacrilege not to respect and honor these men.
Dad had five brothers all of which served in WWII along with my Step-Grandfather, a WWI veteran, who lied about his age to rejoin as a Merchant Marine.
The Honor Flights are a great tribute. I am not a veteran... I graduated as Vietnam was ending. Dad insisted I go to college instead of enlisting and I followed his wishes. That is just one of the personal reasons I ride in as many ceremonies as I can for all veterans. I respect every one of them deeply and from my heart.
Nikonut
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