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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cpm9ball, post: 857992, member: 24633&quot;]I feel sorry for some of you guys that said you felt old. There are at least three of us here, who completed our tour before you were even born! In another thread, I told Stan that there are two things I don&#039;t like to be called, and that is a &quot;gentleman&quot; because it makes me feel older than I already am (62) and &quot;Sir&quot; because I was enlisted.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><b>Military: United States Army Security Agency, 1969-1971</b></p><p><b>MOS: Cryptanalysis</b></p><p><b>Last Duty Station: Project MASSTER, West Ft. Hood, TX</b></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Fortunately, and I&#039;ll be the first to admit it, I never left the States. Unfortunately, I had a lot of friends die in Viet Nam. I&#039;m originally from the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and every time I visit the Viet Nam Wall, I can&#039;t keep the tears from welling in my eyes.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Enough about that because they&#039;re coming again.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In spite of the fact that I never left the States, I have a bunch of stories that I could tell, but I don&#039;t want to lull any of you to sleep, so I&#039;ll only tell one per post, that is, if you want to hear them.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I also told Stan when he thanked me for my service, that he didn&#039;t have to because if it wasn&#039;t for my Dad, I wouldn&#039;t be here.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><b><u>Story #1</u></b></p><p>Like Stan, my Dad was a combat medic. In WWII, Dad was in the 79th Division (Cross of Lorraine), 314th Infantry. He participated in the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach, earned 5 Battle Stars, 2 Purple Hearts, 2 Bronze Stars and never left the front lines from the day he landed on the beach until the day he was captured in January, 1945.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At one point, he almost got court martialed. After being wounded twice, he was able to scrounge up a Thompson submachinegun for his protection. Some people may not realize it, but the German infantry and snipers targeted medics as well as officers. Apparently, one of the &quot;Brass&quot; had seen him with it and chewed his CO out. His CO told him he would have to lose the Thompson, and he should try to find something less conspicuous, like a 45 auto. So Dad swapped the Thompson for a Colt 45.</p><p>Dad was one of only two men from the original company to come back alive. He passed away on December 12, 1997, and he is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By the way, my parents met in Wasington, D.C. in early 1941, and they were married on December 6, 1941, the day before the attck on Pearl Harbor. It wasn&#039;t until about 30 years later that my Mom learned that Dad didn&#039;t get drafted. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Chris[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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