The 79th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor Bombing is this weekend. Dec 7th, 1941

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

_____________________________________

Time to come out of our bunkers.

This coming weekend is the 79th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl harbor December 7th, 1941. I was only 2 years old at that time so I had no idea what really was going on.

Here is a story by a man who was there that day, and is still alive:

Sterling R. Cale realized something wasn’t right on that fateful morning. He was just 20 years old that day. He was a Navy hospital pharmacists mate stationed there at Pearl Harbor.

He had just finished breakfast when he noticed something happening at Battleship Row. He thought, How come they are bombing the battle wagons? “We don’t train on Sunday!”

While he was watching a plane came by with the Rising Sun on the fuselage. He said, “My God, those are Japanese planes!”

He ran and walked into the shallow harbor waters, to retrieve wounded and dead bodies over the next two hours. He said, “I only picked up 49 people.” He went on to say, “Some of those people were gone already. Some others were so badly burnt the skin would come off of their hands when I tried to help them.

There were others that were tired because they had been blown off a ship, or had jumped and had to get to shore.”

Cale, who is 98, is the last surviving military person from the attack on the Hawaiian Islands. His home is just a few miles from where the attack occurred.

He said, ” It is always on my mind. I know what happened, how it happened, but not whay it happened.”

______________________________________

I had three uncles who fought in WWII.

One was a Sea Bee. Another was an infantry soldier, and the third was a tanker.

All three had vital things they contributed to the war during their enlistment.

The uncle who was in the See Bees, put in very important bridges and roadways to help our men and women fight the war.

The second uncle was wounded in France. His company was overwhelmed by German forces. He had to play dead, while the Germans came through to check for survivors. If they were still alive they shot them. He was a very lucky hero.

The last uncle was the driver of a tank fighting against the Japanese. He had two other crew members in the tank with him.

One day he had stopped to rest and get some fresh air in his tank. That turned out to be dangerous. A Japanese soldier was near, and dropped a grenade into their tank. The blast instantly killed his best friend next to him, and everyone else was wounded.

He never wanted to talk about it, because he felt he caused the problem by opening his tank up.

_____________________________________

Are you being strong?

Have you had some bad times? Does everything seem to be closing in on you?

You are not alone, my friend. There are over 10,180 veterans in this site who have your back. They care for you and want the best for you.

However, if you are overwhelmed, and frustrated, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number for you to call 24/7. When they talk to you it is all free.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

______________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

______________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it.

Scary Interview With WWII Veteran

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it. You may be saving a life. Your comments will not be seen by other people, just me, and I will connect with you to see if you are OK to share it.

Found some more interesting facts. These are from the 9-11 attacks:

(We should never forget!)

  1. 19 highjackers.
  2. 2,977 people killed in New York City, Washington D.C., and outside Shanksville, PA.
  3. 2,753 people killed at the World Trade Center.
  4. 343 firefighters who died in the initial attacks and during the collapse of the towers.
  5. 23 police officers who died.
  6. 37 Port Authority officers during the attacks and the collapse.
  7. 184 people when flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.
  8. 40 people died when flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, PA.

A total of 6,320 people lost their lives on that horrible day.

___________________________________________________________

I am switching my thoughts to my up coming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the Trenches of Life.

I am going to give you the outline again. It has been awhile since I last did that:

  1. The first section will stories from my basic training. This will have humor, some tense moments, and proud moments. At the end of each chapter I will be sharing thoughts on how you and I can survive in the not so firendly world as civilians.
  2. The second section will have stories from my deployment to Korea. It also will have some humor, tense moments, and unfortantly some very sad moments.
  3. The third section will sotries from my time at FT. Bragg. again, a little humor, but a few very scary moments.
  4. The last section is my favorite part. It is full of interviews from veterans who have been there and done that. Some of these stories are very scary, sad, humorous, and fansicnating. I have WWII, Korean, Iraq, Vietnam, and Afghanstan, interviews from soldiers.

I am going to share you an interview today. It is about a WWII veteran who had a near death experience.

I will name him in the book, but not now.

He was in France and he and four of his buddies were pinned down. I mean really pinned down by enemy fire. You can think about trenches to hide in, but these poor guys could only lay flat in furrows. Those are what is left after a plow comes through. If they stuck up any part of thier body they were dead.

My friend heard something coming up behind him. It was the tank Corp. They pulled over the top of him; opened the hatch, and pulled him in. They did that with the other four buddies as well. They didn’t know heroes had their backs.

________________________________________________________

I hoe you are getting excited about this upcoming book. It is perfect for all veterans, and even current military. It will give you hope and answers. Some of the chapters talk directly about issues:

  1. PTSD
  2. TBI
  3. War wounds
  4. depression, Suicidial thoughts
  5. People left behind after deployment
  6. Much more

_______________________________________________________

There will be a great index as well. It will be full of places to get help for any of your issues.

_______________________________________________________

Now let’s talk about you. How are you doing my friend? Is the world spinning too fast? Are you having a hard time coping? You are not alone. There are over 9,485fellow veterans here who have your back.

If it is just too overwhelming, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call. They have highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

________________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit for the site, please let them know about it. You may be saving a life. Your comments will not be seen by other people, just me, and I will connect with you to see if you are OK to share it.

_______________________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

February Was Black History Month

I am back with more interviews from people who have served. I will be sharing from time to time interviews with veterans who have been in the trenches.

First, I want to share to statistics about African-American veterans who have served our country in the military.

There are 2.1 million black veterans nationwide.

There are 30.2 percent of active-duty enlisted women who are African-American

17.1 percent of active duty men are African American.

20,000+Black Marine recruits who received training at Montford Point camp in North Carolina during WWII.

21 who have received the Medal of Honor during the vietnam war.

7,243 who died in the Vietnam war.

3075 who died in the Korean war.

901,896 who served during WWII

24 percent all the military sent to fight in the Persian Gulf war.

350,000 who service in WWi.

___________________________________________________________-

More from the book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.”

I have many other interviews done, and many more to get to yet. One interview came quite by accident.

I decided to stop by a fast food hamburger restaurant. I walked in, got my meal and was walking to my seat when I noticed a Vietnam Veteran eating at a table. I could tell he was in Vietnam by the hat he had on.

I sat down, and continued looking at him. He looked in pain. He had a sad look on his face. He got up to throw away his left overs in the garbage. He struggled to get up. He walked with a heavy limp.

I decided to ask him to sit with me and talk. He looked like he didn’t want to have anything to do with the. Then I told him I was a veteran as well. He then decided to sit.

We had idle chat for a few minutes and then I started asking him about his military life.

I asked him where he served, and he said he was a Marine on a ship off the coast of Vietnam. It was a helicopter offshore base, and their mission was to take supplies into the troops, bring wounded troops out, and even sent supplies to the villages that were starving.

I then asked him what was the worst moment he had in the military, and he said one day his best friend was taking off in a helicopter with a co-pilot, and the engine died and the helicopter dropped into the ocean. It sunk fast and his friend was dead. He said they never even attempted to retrieve the bodies because the water was too deep. He was fighting tears at that time.

He went on to say his second worst moments is when he got of the plane coming home, and the people spit on him and called him a murderer as he walked through the terminal.

That was the end of the interview because he just couldn’t talk anymore. We shook hands and I thanked him for his service. I watched him out the window as he hobbled to the hotel by the restaurant.

This is just one of many stories that will be in the book.

You can keep up on what is going on with the book, by clicking on the subscribe icon at the top of the page. When you do that , you will get all posts sent directly to you inbox.