Only once here. I was in NCO leadership school and we had a speaker who was a Master Sargent and a B-52 tail gunner. It also happens that he was the last enlisted AF pow from Vietnam. He came to tell us his story, from being shot down to spending 6 years in the hanoi hilton. at first it was good, but the more he talked to more nervous tics came out. by the end it was painful to watch. He said I do this every year because people need to know the truth. One thing that stuck with me is he said it's not if you talk, it's when. the object is to give as little as possible, but they will beat it out of you. Most moving thing I've ever heard.

Lived next door to a WW2 vet that was 94 and blind. Only story he told me was about VE day. He and his buddy heard the news while in a pub in London, they proceeded to rack up a bar bill they couldn't afford. Then some nice rich British businessman took them into the restaurant and ended up feeding them and paying their tab.

I have known a bunch that were awarded the Silver Star and the Bronze Star with V device. Heard most of the stories of events that lead to the Award. Included in that group was a survivor of the Bataan Death March . Another was in the North Africa Campaign to listen to them was history.

I knew an old man for 25 years and didn't know he was awarded a Silver Star in the battle of the bulge. Found out at his funeral.

Only my father who passed away in 2003.

Tomorrow he would have been 63

Chris Kyle once.

And the guy who has a fake hand, Medal of Honor guy.

Did rounds and took care of patients in the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center in 2005/2006, the peak of the Iraq war. Saw plenty of heros in there, many with their faces nearly melted off, limbs torn to shreds or just missing. Many died. What was amazing was how many had girls that would come and eventually leave. Only a few stayed.

My uncle's father who is still alive was in the Pacific theater and was tasked at climbing up those hills and throwing explosives into those holes that had the big guns shooting out of them. He has been deaf my entire life with a hearing aid that doesn't work very well.

My father. He was in WWII in the Signal Corps in New Guinea and the Philippines. He did some behind the lines recon but mainly communicated with and directed aircraft on bombing runs. After his death, our Parish Priest told me part of his job was extracting intel from pilots before they lost their mortally wounded aircraft. He never spoke of it.

Met Chris Kyle once at a happy hour through a mutual friend. This was before his book and I had no idea who he was. When I told him I worked at Raytheon and built the MTS system on the Predator/Reaper UAVs, he lit up and started telling stories about how he and his team relied upon the UAVs in their missions. He was a lot of fun to chat with and as gregarious a person I have ever met.

Michael Thorton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_E._Thornton

Yes I have met many police /firemen/ doctors/nurses etc all thru my life !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ranger Ray Martinez is a staple here in NB. Back in the day and while a policeman, he took out that Whitman feller on that there tower in The People's Republic of Austin. I still can't imagine walking up all those flights of stairs and getting out that door to accomplish what needed to be done. A great, humble man with, obviously, big cojones.

Many. My sister is a Firefighter, My Bro-in-law is an ex firefighter who turned to deputy, Uncle - FBI, grandfather - highway patrol and chief of police later in life(never met him), 2 uncles in Vietnam, One very close family friend retired Army Ranger in Vietnam...and that is just family.

edit - almost forgot my cousins. One Army surgeon and two Police officers.

Ranger Ray is a better man than I will ever be. Very brave man.

McCoy took out Whitman, so the story goes.

Martinez was off duty on August 1, 1966, when he learned via television of the Texas Tower sniper shooting. Arriving at the campus, Martinez went to the top of the tower with civilian Allen Crum. Martinez dislodged a dolly used by Whitman to block the door that led to the observation deck of the Main Building tower at the University of Texas at Austin. Martinez and Crum went out the door, and as Crum guarded the South side, Martinez went around the Southeast side to find the shooter(s). Officer Houston McCoy came to the top of the tower with Officer Jerry Day. Crum told the officers where Martinez was. McCoy, armed with a shotgun, caught up with Martinez and they noticed Whitman sitting in an opposite corner. Martinez jumped out and fired in the direction of Whitman, missing with all of his revolver shots. McCoy leaped out while Martinez was firing and saw Whitman's head looking over the light ballast, McCoy fired at the top of the ballast, hitting Whitman between the eyes with several pellets, killing Whitman instantly.

McCoy fired again, hitting Whitman on his left side. Martinez grabbed McCoy's shotgun, ran to Whitman's prone body, and fired a direct shotgun blast into deceased Whitman's left arm.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramiro_Martinez_(police_officer)


Another link:


https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-cops-who-stopped-charles-whitman/

Only one comes to mind off the top of my head.

Several years ago there was an arson fire incident in San Antonio. Brad Phipps was one of the firemen on the scene and rushed back into the burning building after discovering a fellow fireman did not come back out.

Brad sustained life changing injuries when he was consumed by the fire. Sadly , The man he went in to find did not make it.

My daddy.

One of my uncles served in Korea. He refused to talk about it. Another uncle was a Marine in Vietnam. He was exposed to Agent Orange and still suffers from it. I also worked with a man that took three bullets in Afghanistan when he jumped in front of men that had been wounded and he fought off the attackers until reinforcements arrived.

First, my Dad... 21 years in the Marine Corps Infantry. Served in Korea. Cuba, VietNam, only wounded in Korea.

Next on my list is the Colonel I worked for while assigned to AWACS. He too spent 6 years as a POW... the only active duty guy I knew who still smoked indoors in the 90s... said he quit smoking once, when the VC took his cigarettes, didnt plan to do it again.

There are others, like the fuels troop who worked for me and died while we were on deployment fighting the (GHW Bush) President's War on Drugs... he fell backwards out of a bus and suffered a fatal brain injury.

Awesome stories guys!

Back when I was actively flying, I was presented the opportunity to spend some time in a bi-plane piloted by Colonel Joe Kittinger. I did not know until after we were back on the ground that he was a famous aviator - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger - with a very impressive background in aviation, and who for many years held the record for the highest parachute jump (and free fall).

My Dad....Okinawa
Brother....101st Airborne Vietnam
Several uncles ....Europe WW2
Old-timer Hunting /Fishing buddy Glen....gunner B17 Europe

All modest men who did not talk much about battles or metals. Lots of heroes from that greatest generation.

I was honored enough, to live with them...…….

This one is a little different. When I was in high school (catholic) we had a priest give us a speech. He got captured by the Nazis for helping Jews escape Germany. They sent him to a concentration camp. Showed us the prisoner number tattooed on his arm. They tortured him but couldn't break him completely. Remarkable man.

One of my grandfathers was a Marine in the Pacific and spent 30 days on Iwo. He was an alcoholic arsehole but he did his job. I only heard him talk about the battles a few times. I don’t think he would have been the way he was if it weren’t for the war. I asked him about Iwo one time and all he said was it was dog eat dog on Iwo, apparently it was the worst island they had to take.

My other grandfather was a mechanic, stationed in New Guinea and then the Philippines. He learned to fly over there and flew enough to get flight pay. He was on the first wave to go over there and joined when he was 16, they stayed with families in Australia before they built landing strips on the islands. They were patching planes with tin cans and using WW1 weapons when he got over there.. He was the best man I ever met and taught me how to be a man. I’ll always consider him as a hero. He talked about the war a few times and I think he enjoyed his time over there, but he enjoyed his time anywhere he was. He only got leave one time in 5 years from the islands. His story about flying back to Australia for a week was a good one. He wrote a book about his time over there but left out the gruesome details he told around the campfire. He was a successful, practical man who viewed the war as something that had to be done.

The one thing these two men had in common is they both hated the Japs until the day they died. The things those people did to Americans were evil and inhuman on the islands.

My neighbor for 8 years in Houston was at Midway. His name was Jesse, he would come over and sit on the front porch and drink beer with me. His wife, 5th wife, wouldn't let him have beer at the house because he was diabetic so I kept Bud heavy in cans in my beer fridge for him. He didn't talk much about his time in the service but he had some damn good stories about Telephone Road in the 50s