My oldest brother Jimmie is stationed in Kuwait right now and just sent us an e-mail and some pictures of some pretty exciting visitors that came to give the soldiers a morale boost.
Easy Company in person! If you have not seen Band of Brothers, I highly recommend renting the 10 part mini-series and watching. It is excellent, and I'm not really a war movie kindof girl!
Here is his e-mail.
Hello Everybody,
I want to write this down because I want to remember what these men told us when they meet with us. The USO brought the "Band of Brothers", the real 101st Airborne Division Easy Company 506Th Parachute Infantry Regiment to see us. Not all of them but those who could make it.
Major Dick Winters was to ill to attend he is 91, Lieutenant Buck Compton was recovering from surgery. Here are the guys who came up to see us and talk with us. Staff Sergeant William "Wild Bill" Guarnere, Sergeant Edward "Babe" Heffron, Sergeant First Class Don Malarkey, Sergeant Forrest Guth, Corporal Clancy Lyall, Sergeant Amos "Buck" Taylor. They actually came to see us here at Kuwait Naval Base September 17, 2008.
They introduced the group. They were all seated in a packed out tent, in front of Navy, Army, Coast Guardmen. The HBO people had a trailer or movie takes from Band of Brothers. We watched the trailer.
Then they started by introducing each of the Band of Brothers. They started with Clancy Lyall he had stayed in the Army served in combat in Korea, and in 1954 Vietnam. Clancy had on a white wind breaker with a large Screaming Eagle 101st Airborne patch. Clancy said, "Thank you", to all of us and said he believed in what we were doing. He was proud of us.
"Wild Bill" was next and he had on a white wind breaker with the same logo as Clancy and Babe had on. Bill had on a hat you see golfers wear sometimes. The hat had Army jump wings on top of it. Bill is from South Philadelphia and has such an outspoken and colorful character. His portrayal in the movie is very accurate. Bill lost one of his legs in Ardene's forest Belgium. Bill started out by saying, "Thanks to all of us" He said, "I love you guys for what you are doing". Then he began to cry saying we were his hero's. He was reminded of his youth by us and we were just like them then. He could not finish what he wanted to say. He said come back to me.
"Babe" Heffron was wearing the same type windbreaker as Clancy and Bill. Babe had on his WWII issued garrison cap with the Airborne symbol over the left eye. He had it cocked sideways over his right eye. That hat and the way he wore it is something a combat veteran earned the right to wear anyway he wants to. Bill had set the tone of the first part of meeting when he began to cry. Babe said that he had nothing to say right then. His eyes were watering up and he was deep in the emotion of what Bill had spoken.
Amos Buck Taylor had on a khaki blouse that soldiers wore in WWII. Buck thanked us for everything we were doing. He was proud to be here with us.
Don Malarkey one of the top NCO's in the 506Th was dressed in the white windbreaker. Platoon Sergeant stripes on the jacket. Don said do not listen to those cry baby democrats keep up the good work. Everybody got excited and broke out into applause.
Forest Guth has served with 506Th PIR and then stayed on to serve with the CIA. Forest said that he was glad to be with us and thanked us for serving.
After these guys spoke with us we got to ask questions. One question was what did you do for morale while you were deployed.
Wild Bill said we hung out with the Broads. He started talking about England. He said there was a place you could go in London that had women of the night in the square. He said you would walk alone and they would light a cigarette lighter to show you their face. One of them ask Wild Bill do you want to have a good time. Wild Bill said how much, the women said six pounds. Bill said we came over here to save your ass not to buy it. He was very funny.
Another question was about one of their most memorable moments. Babe said I got a Dear John letter from a dame named Doris. I let on like it was not that serious. He said I did not tell her it was all that. You know you cannot let them know this kind of stuff, talking about Doris. He said that later on they got on board this military aircraft and he noticed the name Doris on the fuselage with a painting of a woman. He said they took off he went to sleep and Bill woke him up and said you know the name Doris is on the plane. Babe said yes. Bill said we are probably going to get blown out of the sky. Bill said he asked the crew chief who Doris was. The crew chief said the Captain's girl was Doris. The Captain came back and said who is asking about Doris. Babe said me. He told the Captain a dame named Doris wrote him a Dear John letter. The Captain said Doris was his wife from southern New Jersey and they had two kids. Babe said that is not the same Doris I know. Later this year 2008 Babe and Bill wrote a book. In May they were doing a book signing he heard a voice in the back of the room say Babe. Bill spoke up and said it was Doris. Babe had written about her in the book and she brought a copy up and asked him to sign it after she kissed him. Babe says she keeps on calling him and he can not get her to stop.
Babe said the most memorable moment was when he returned home. "I kissed me mother"!
Forrest Guth said that he had a sweet girl that he made an arrangement with. He asked her to wait on him until he got back from the war. When he got back they meet in New York. She was working in the opera as a singer. He married her and they are still together after 61 years.
He then told how he was visiting the hotel near the opera. There was a man there dressed in a European style hat fur collar on his jacket, always wore leather gloves. He always appeared to be well dressed. The hotel had a ladies group that meets there. From time to time they would talk to him because he was in uniform. One day the man tipped his hat saluting Forrest. Forrest said at first he did not understand why. Later he learned that the man was from Belgium.
In Operation Market Garden paratroopers dropped in to Eindhoven from the sky ending a four year occupation of the German Army. The people called them angels because they dropped in and freed them. The people of that country even to this day are thankful. Forrest said that they go there from time to time are treated with such great respect. Forrest said that he knew that the man did no know him but he did know the Screaming Eagle 101st Airborne Patch, and the award that the Belgium government gave those men was a maroon colored landyard for their acts in freeing Belgium.
Another question was about supplies and food were they ever hard to get. Babe answered this question. He said one time the men were told in Belgium that they would have a break and get to rest under shelter. The shelter Babe's squad got was a barn without a roof. There was a dike nearby and Germans were on the other side.
One night while they were asleep in the barn a sentry ran in and said the Germans are coming over the dike. Babe said he jumped up and could not find his other sock. So he put on one sock and his boots and they repelled the Germans. He came back and could not find his sock anywhere. So after about a week he asked for supplies through a division supply officer. The supply officer told Babe sure we will be down with supplies soon. Babe said to this day I ain't seen that SOB.
Babe said, I went on with one sock and I did not complain. He went on for weeks switching one sock from the left foot to the right foot to keep from getting trench foot. He told his men if you are having some problem then do not complain or I will sock it to you.
Well I have more but I wanted to send this out as an email. I think this was the greatest booster to our morale while we were here. With the exception of being able to talk with people you love over web cam. I have been able to talk to my sweet bride of 30 years over the web cam. So I have it great compared to these guys this Band of Brothers. They are very humerous and seem to know each other so well. I thanked each one of them. I got my Kevlar helmet signed by each one of them.
That generation of Americans made such a great sacrifice. My grand parents were part of that generation. On my fathers side of the family Great Uncle "Red" Belton Carver 30Th Infantry Division, two of his brothers served and Red did not come home. My mothers side was her Dad my Grandfather Whitfield with 3rd Army Patton's men. Well I could go on.
I am glad that I have been able to serve with these men here in the Middle East. I have 43 men. So far so good. They are not any different than the Band of Brothers. They have it a little better than our brothers and sisters to the north of us in Iraq and Afgahnistan. But all in all I am proud of them Navy, Army, Coast Guard Port Security Unit 309, Australian Army and Navy here at Kuwait Naval Base.
Not too many days ago terrorist attacked the U.S.Embassy in Yemen. Just hours from where we are. An American citizen an 18 year old girl was killed. She had just gotten married. The attack was from small arms fire AK-47, then Rocket Propelled Grenades, then they detonated a vehicle born explosive device and attempted to detonate another, before being repelled by security forces. Our enemy are extremist they are driven by hatred and that will never overcome us. They have no sense of love for life. Just this mindless demonic desire to please a god that really is no god.
I know my God to well. He is with us. Not that he chooses sides. But he knows what we are up against. No weapon formed against us shall prosper. We are prevailing here and we will continue to do that as long as God is willing.
Jimmie
Jimmie is the tallest, handsome one in the middle of the back row.
