Mariupol teeters as Ukrainians defy surrender-or-die demand

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Russian ship sinks after battling a fire that Ukrainian forces claim was caused by their missile attack
A Russian cruiser that Ukrainian forces claim they hit with two missiles has sunk, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Thursday.

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DOD identifies remains of WWII pilot and Medal of Honor recipient Addison Baker

On April 8, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency identified the remains of Lt. Col. Addison Baker, a posthumous Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

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North Korea tests ‘tactical guided’ weapons, condemns US-South Korean drills
The initial estimates peg the projectiles as more limited in range than a launch March 24 of an intercontinental ballistic missile that was theoretically capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.  North Korea has conducted at least 11 other rounds of missile tests so far this year.

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Mariupol teeters as Ukrainians defy surrender-or-die demand

If Mariupol is captured, Russian forces there are expected to join an all-out offensive in the coming days for control of the Donbas, the eastern industrial region that the Kremlin is bent on taking after failing in its bid to seize Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital.

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In Lviv, displaced artists create anti-war, anti-Russian work

Ukrainians feel a need to tell the world — and especially Russians — what has happened here. The country’s contemporary artists find themselves at the forefront of that storytelling mission.

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US troops to train Ukrainian forces on howitzers in coming days
The training, which will occur outside Ukraine, will teach Ukrainian forces to operate the 155mm howitzers. They will then return to the fight and train other Ukrainians to use the American cannons, the official said.

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Zelenskky: Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine has begun

Russia launched its long-feared, full-scale offensive to take control of Ukraine’s east on Monday, attacking along a broad front over 300 miles long, Ukrainian officials said in what marked the opening of a new and potentially climactic phase of the war.

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Two short stories about my own Uncles who fought in WWII. They are my heroes.

My Uncles in WWII

My Uncle Dwight Wood was a WWII veteran. He had a hard time sharing his time in the military, so I wasn’t able to interview him directly, but I did get some idea of what he went through to help defend our country.

Uncle Dwight was the driver of a tank during the war. One day he was in the tank with two other soldiers. A Japanese soldier climbed onto the top of the tank and threw a grenade down into the tank where they were. The grenade instantly killed one of the men right next to my uncle, and my uncle and the other men were wounded with fragments from the grenade. My uncle was given the Purple Heart, and to his death he would not talk too much about his time in the military. The event of seeing his buddy killed right before his eyes was too overwhelming, and it had haunted him until his death. They didn’t even know what PTSD was back in WWII. It was called, “Shell Shock,” back then.  This is a classic case that shows that thousands of WWII veterans surely lived with PTSD all of their lives. 

Another person who was a WWII veteran was my Uncle Claude.  He was a Seabee. The Seabees were an extremely important part of the military. They built bridges, forged roads through the brush. They built sleeping quarters for the troops. It hard to say how many lives were affected by their heroics, but they were very much admired by the rest of the troops.  I never got to ask him any question about his time.

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I will be sharing some more endorsements in my next post. Be sure to come back and check them out. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts will come directly to you inbox.

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Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you struggling?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 14,345 veterans on this site who have your back.

Here is what I am asking you to do…please share this site with as many other veterans as you can. It has helped so many.

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If you are battling mentally, but you are losing, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number that you can call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Losing a Buddy in the Military is hard, at best, to Accept

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A day late again. Sorry about that. I am still struggling with pain after my surgery. I see the doctor tomorrow.

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I see some interesting things developing in our country. This weekend Donald Trump will be speaking at a huge gathering. This is his first public speech since he left office. Should be extremely insightive.

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Today I am going to share an excerpt of my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

I am leaping ahead here to my time deployed to South Korea. I have many stories about there in my book.

One of the pluses of joining the military was that I was able to sign up under the buddy plan. There were two other guys I enlisted with. We all went to high school together.

We had basic training together. We had Signal Corp training, and we were sent to Korea together. When we got there we were scattered to three different locations. Our training was needed at several spots.

Did I face the loss of a friend while deployed? Yes I did. One of the other friends never made it back to the states alive. He contracted some ugly virus, and died in Korea.

I took it very hard, but not to the point of PTSD. Back then they never heard of PTSD. They labeled mental stress as “Shell Shock.”

I did lose another buddy while in Korea. He got extremely drunk one night. As he came back to Camp Red Cloud from the village, he was wavering and struggling to stay on his feet. He accidently feel into a “Honey Bucket,” and suffocated. (A honey bucket in Korea is the name of a waste ditch that human waste is dropped into to fertilize their crops.)

It was a horrible death. I that was also very hard on me.

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I will be sharing excerpts from, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, from time to time, to let you get the feel of the book.

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Checking in on you now my friend. Did you lose a buddy in the military? Was it extremely hard to accept it. Did it cause you to have PTSD?

You are not alone!! There are over 11,570 fellow veterans here on this site, that have you back.

Many have been where you have been.

If there is no way you are able to handle things right now, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

DO NOT take in this not so friendly world alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

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+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 from this site, please let them know about it.