PawPaw_n_Gram
On the Road Somewhere
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In memory of:
T/4 James Mason Whipple, Jr. of Springhill, LA
Died Feb 8, 1945
Burial in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetary, Hombourg, Belgium
My mother's big brother who never came home.
Full-Time 2014 - ????
“Not all who wander are lost.”
"You were supposed to turn back at the last street."
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hokeypokey
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PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:In memory of:
T/4 James Mason Whipple, Jr. of Springhill, LA
Died Feb 8, 1945
Burial in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetary, Hombourg, Belgium
My mother's big brother who never came home.
Our deepest & heartfelt respect.
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bucky
Raleigh metro
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Was it the Bulge? Dad made it thru to VE Day, survived VN, and then died at 59 of a heart attack. What a shame that Hitler was ever born. 400K didn't come home from both theaters, millions wounded.
My flag is flying proudly.
2005 Cummins 3500 2WD LB quad cab dually pulling a 2014 Blue Ridge 3025RL
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PawPaw_n_Gram
On the Road Somewhere
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Uncle Junior died in the efforts to regain what was lost in the Battle of the Bulge a few weeks earlier and advance into Gemany toward the Rhine. Operation Grenade launched the day my uncle was died.
We've determined that my father was about 20 miles away in another Army unit involved in that push.
Junior was five years older than my father, and mother.
Though raised nine miles apart along the Arkansas/ Louisiana border - the two families never met until the late 40's when my father went to work at the International Paper Mill in Springhill - my mother was doing payroll for the mill at that time.
My purpose is to put a name and a 'face' on those who died in the service of our country.
Another name / face is:
HMC George W. Piercy, USN, Died Oct 23, 1983, Beirut, Lebanon HMC Piercy
Chief Piercy stepped in to be my sponsor at CPO Initiation aboard the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) for the three of us from the beach with 24 MAU in Beirut on Sept 16, 1983. My sponsor, and detachment SCPO, had been called back home for Emergency Leave due to the death of his father. I didn't know Chief Piercy well, but he took me under his wing and made sure I followed proper practices and procedures. Teaching me to be a Chief for the short six weeks that I knew him.
The point is that Memorial Day isn't just flags, ceremonies, and pictures of graveyards. It is men and women who lost their lives in the service of this country.
Families such as my mother who always missed her big brother, and who I never learned until many years later, wept and prayed every day that I was in Vietnam, and Lebanon.
Just as I wept and prayed every day that my son was in Iraq in 2003.
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sljohnson1938
Mount Airy, NC - USA
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there were 8 boys in my dad's family and 3 boys in my mother's family.
total 11, of this 9 served in WWII. My dad was a US Marine, 1 in the Navy, 1 in the US Army Air force, 1 in the Coast Guard. all the others were in the Army.
None were killed. The two who did not serve were too young. Uncle Albert did serve later.
another strange thing - All of them had the same first name - Uncle.
another thing - 4 of my dad's sisters also served. not sure what branch. i had 12 Aunts
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