Remembering Those Who Gave All

On this Memorial Day, I would like to say thank you to the families of the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. I have two in my family that I know of for sure. The first is my Great, Great Grandfather, John Osborne, who was a member of Thurmond’s Partisan Rangers raised for the Confederate service primarily from Fayette, Greenbrier, and Monroe counties, West Virginia (then Virginia) during the spring and summer of 1862. John Osborne was killed in action at Winfield, Putnam County.

The second in my family was my Uncle, Jamie Osborne, who was killed in Italy during WWII. I do not have any particulars of his unit or how he was killed.

I would also like to memorialize a great friend, James D. Fountain, a fellow member of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam.

And to make this about coins, I will post a coin of one of 9 emperors who died in battle:

VALENS
AV Solidus
OBVERSE: DN VALENS PER F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: RESTITVTOR REIPUBLICAE, Valens standing right, holding labarum in right hand & Victory on globe in left, cross to left. Mintmark star ANTE star
Struck at Antioch, 364 AD
3.6g, 19mm
Antioch RIC 2d,xxxvii-5

He died during a retreat from a battle with the Goths in 378 AD

 

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My grandfather James "Pete" Clark who served during W.W. II in the USAF in the 758th Bomb Squadron, 459th Bomb Group (they flew B-24 Liberators). He was killed over Austria on 26 June 1944. He was only 21 years old.












an Emperor who was killed in battle fighting Constantine in A.D. 312



Maxentius
A.D. 309- 312
26mm 6.5g
IMP C MAXENTIVS P F AVG; laureate head right.
SAECVLI FELICITAS AVG N; She-wolf standing left, suckling the twins.
In ex. MOSTT
RIC VI Ostia 52

 

Ditto, for my honorable ancestors, Generals Robert E. and Harry Lee, respectively, my grandfather who endured a German stalag, and to all else.

 

my great great great Grandfather was killed in service of the Confederacy. he is buried at Jefferson Barracks, and i had guard duty there of a couple of years, but was unaware of him and the history till 30 years after. .Herennius Etruscus(c.227-June 251AD) 20mm, 2.76gms

 

My grandfather had 2 brothers who died in WW2, Battle of Voronezh (1942)
Here is my Trajan Decius coin.

 

I too have to honor all those who have fought and died in the service of their country. Antigonos Monophthalmus Ar Tetradrachm In the name and types of Alexander III of Macedon Susa 316-312 BC Obv Head of beardless Herakles in lions skin headdress. Rv Zeus Aetophoros seated left. Price 3857 Taylor (Susa) 71 17.05 grms 26 mm Photo by W. Hansen Antigonos was one of the major participants of what would eventually be called "Alexander's funeral games" the long and seemingly endless series of wars fought over Alexander's empire by his erstwhile generals. Antigonus died at the Battle of Ipsus. After his infantry was separated from his cavalry by an enemy elephant corps, the enemy concentrated on defeating that force. As the enemy bore din upon him, one of his officers stated "The enemy is about to attack. Antigonos replied "Well who else, but me should they attack?" He died at the age of 80-81 feisty to the bitter end.
Note made a bit of an error sorry.

 

James, Thanks for posting this thread. Memorial Day is always a solemn day for me, & a time of reflection for the classmates & comrades who died in Viet Nam. My Uncle Walter, from Bochum, Germany, died fighting on the wrong side of WW II during the Normandy Invasion.


My father was the smart one in the family, he left Germany shortly before Hitler became Chancellor in a fake election in 1933. That handsome dude standing next to him is me before shipping off to Viet Nam, June 1967.


The young emperor Gordian III, died fighting for the Roman Empire.

 

Great Grandfather Frank, served in the 13th Illinois Volunteer Cavalry, Civil War

 

May 30, 1431…Joan of Arc burned at the Stake…

 

Here are a few pics of those who served in my family.

Otto Muir, my great grandfather, in the U.S. Navy in 1918



My Dad in Viet Nam, 1969 with Joe DiMaggio and Bowie Kuhn



My Dad's ship, the U.S.S. Madera County, LST 905 originally built in 1944 and served honorably on D-Day, in the Mekong river, still in service in Viet Nam.



Going back in time, to the Civil War and great-great-great grandfather Friederich Reidel, who was a private in the 18th Ohio infantry (photo of the sergeant and officers of the unit).

 

591 years ago...nine more for the 600th anniversary. I believe I have a French (or?) coin of some kind from 1931 citing the 500th...can't recall what and maybe not where...will try and find it.

 

My grandfather and a step grandfather were in WW2, but both made it home. I am not aware of any relatives who passed away in battle.

Here is a fellow that was though.


Allectus himself was killed in the battle, having removed all insignia in the hope that his body would not be identified.

Allectus (293 - 296 A.D.)
Billon antoninianus
O: IMP C ALLECTVS P F AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right.
R: PROVIDENTIA AVG, Providentia standing left, globe in right hand, cornucopia in left hand, S in left field, P in right field, ML in exergue.
Londinium (London, England) mint
21mm
2.52g
RIC V-2 36

 

for my cousin, hanged by the Nazis for fighting with the partisans in northern Italy;
for my great aunt and uncle , who were hostages and shot by the Nazis.

coin from Teanum where they were from.

 

I’m fortunate that my family survived the wars. My great grand father was an ensign in the USNR in WWI, but survived. Grandfather somehow avoided major combat but service in WWII,Korea and Vietnam.
My dad missed Vietnam by months. At that time, average life span of helicopter pilots was less than 30 days.
And here I am, having avoided the last major war in the Navy. Who knows what the future would bring

 

Those are really amazing and historic pictures and stories in this thread. Thank you so much y'all for sharing.

 

I was lucky enough to do my military service in time of peace. My father and two grandfathers served in time of war but survived. My dad was drafted on 10th June 1940, when the French army was already completely defeated, and with his regiment avoided annihilation or capture. He enlisted again in 1945-47.

His father, my grandfather, had served in WW1, I have a picture of him riding his horse c. 1915:


My other grandfather volunteered in 1914 at the age of 16: he had 6 brothers who all served in this war, 3 of which were killed, a 4th one died from his wounds in 1919. He served 4 years on the frontline. He was drafted again in 1939 but soon discharged because of his 4 brothers killed in WW1. In 1940, when the Germans were advancing toward Paris, he evacuated with his family but the columns of civilian refugees were constantly attacked by German Luftwaffe and he was severely wounded and his wife, my grandmother, was killed in one of these low-altitude bombings on civilians (the bastards knew very well they were bombing civilians, my mom remembers she could see the pilot in his cockpit).
Here is a picture of him c. 1918:

I have another very rare picture of my... great-great-great grandfather (well... the grandfather of my great-grandfather!). He served in the Napoleonic wars. Of course photography was not invented yet. But c. 1858 a German photographer in Paris took pictures of old veterans of the "Grande Armée" wearing their uniforms at their annual gathering. My g-g-g-grandfather was one of them and this picture is still in our family old photos... Artillery, I think, judging from the uniform. He is obviously having fun remembering the good old days...

 

So sad. But I do love old family photos like these. I've shown some of my own, including of my maternal grandfather who served and was wounded at Verdun (on the other side from yours!). My grandmother had four brothers, all of whom also served in the German army. Fortunately, none was killed. Two ended up fleeing the Nazis and moving to France in the 1930s; one survived. (As a non-citizen, the other was briefly in the French Foreign Legion until France surrendered.) When my grandparents finally were able to leave Berlin and Germany in late May 1941 and escaped to the USA via Lisbon, one of the few possessions they were able to take with them was a cardboard suitcase filled with family photos dating back to 1859. Those photos were the origin of my interest in family history, which began in my childhood.

 

My father on leave, with his parents in Yonkers, sometime around 1942 or so.

 

Sorry for the loss

 

Actually not correct. Antigonas died in battle at Ipsus in 301BC.