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The Mozart Group, a U.S. veteran-led private security company, has provided a crash-course training program for Ukrainian troops. Its staff has grown to nearly 30 highly experienced trainers made up of mostly former American service members.
The aid package includes resupplying Ukrainian troops with thousands of artillery and ammunition rounds and more ammo for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
Ukrainian police officers returned Saturday, along with TV and radio services, to the southern city of Kherson following the withdrawal of Russian troops, part of fast but cautious efforts to make the only regional capital captured by Russia livable after months of occupation.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pressed Southeast Asian countries for political and material support in his county’s fight against Russia, while accusing Moscow on Saturday of playing “hunger games” with the world by holding up shipments of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products.
I just found out that my publisher now does audio reading for their books. Pretty exciting. I will be doing that as soon as I finish my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.
Keep coming back to check the progress of the book. Better yet…go to the top of this page and click on subscribe. When you do all future posts will go directly to your inbox.
Checking in on you. How are you doing? Is everything going OK, or are you fighting back memories? FEAR NOT! There are over 15,219 Veterans on this site who have your back. 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 highlyqualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK. 1-800-273-8255…texting 838255.
+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.
+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.
An undetermined number of Americans — many with military backgrounds — are thought to be in the country battling Russian forces beside both Ukrainians and volunteers from other countries even though U.S. forces aren’t directly involved in fighting aside from sending military materiel, humanitarian aid and money.
Germany says it is making progress on weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels and expects to be fully independent of Russian crude oil imports by late summer.
Some women and children were evacuated from a steel plant that is the last defensive stronghold in the bombed-out ruins of the port city of Mariupol, a Ukrainian official and Russian state news organizations said, but hundreds are believed to remain trapped with little food, water or medicine.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the Illinois Republican said the joint resolution would not be a mandate for the Democratic president but rather a measure that would provide an option for Biden’s administration while also sending a warning to Russian President Vladimir Putin as he pursues war with Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a subpanel of the Senate Appropriations Committee that the Pentagon is closely watching its inventories and working with the defense industry to replenish weapons such as Javelin and Stinger missiles as soon as possible.
Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli, who has led U.S. Army Europe and Africa for the past four years, will replace U.S. Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, if confirmed.
Here is an interview with a WWII veteran who was in 20 different hospitals.
My interview is with George Woodruff. We had become good friends. He is a WWII and Korean veteran. He is an American hero. Not because of what he did while in the military, but what he has done for his fellow veterans.
He is allowing me to share his name.
George Woodruff is a full time resident at Trinka Davis. Way back in his early military career he fell out of a top three tiered bunk and landed on his head. That would be the beginning of years of hospital times and many trips to the ER.
SOH
George, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit with me today. I am honored to be talking to you. Tell me about your early time in the military. When did you enlist?
George
August 8th, 1944.
SOH
Where did you do your Boot camp?
George
I did my boot camp at camp Downes, Great Lake Lakes Naval Training Center.
SOH
How was boot camp?
George
It was not Picnic! March… march… march, until you thought your legs would fall off. Then we had to wear a gas mask; enter a large chamber where you had to remove your gas mask. Tears ran down my face!
Boot camp was tough, but you learned to follow orders that might keep you alive when the actual shooting started. We became men during boot camp.
SOH
Where did you go after boot camp?
George
I was assigned to Basic Engineering School. I was temporarily transferred to the Replacement Depot. It had triple decker bunks there. I figured this was an accident waiting to happen since I was assigned the top bunk. They had no railings back then. And of course it did happen. I woke up one morning finding myself lying face down on the concrete floor. My nose was broken. I went to the aid station and the medical corpsman straightened up my nose.
I had no idea how serious my injuries from the fall actually were. I was to find this out the hard way over the many years as problems caused by the fall worsened.
I was in Army Hospitals 7 times during my service. Three of these were in Germany during the Berlin Airlift. I was in Navy Hospitals twice, once at Great Lakes for Scarlet Fever and once at Oakland Naval Hospital. Since getting out of service I have been in VA Hospitals more than 20 times over the years.
SOH
Were there any incidents that stood out during your training?
George
We had a slightly overweight sailor who as not too clean. He bathed rarely. We finally grabbed him and took him to the shower. We used a stiff brush and soap and scrubbed him until his skin was red. From that day on that sailor was the cleanest guy in the barracks.
SOH
Tell me more on how your fall affected you as you went along in the service.
George
It was during the training period that problems from my fall began to manifest themselves. I would have periods of extreme irritability and occasional memory loss.
SOH
Did the fall cause you problems in your daily duties?
George
Yes, one day I was driving a forklift and blacked out. I went over the edge of a wall and crashed down onto a large diesel engine a few feet below. I was sent to Oakland Naval Hospital for evaluation and treatment. While I was in the hospital, Japan agreed to surrender on August 14th, 1945. Atom bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
SOH
What happened to you after your hospital visit?
George
I was honorably discharged on September 29th, 1945. I was awarded a 100% disability.
SOH
I see you were also in the Army, how did that happen?
George
I met a Sergeant in Houston who happened to be a recruiter. He invited me to his office, and he had a small bar. We had a few beers. I took some tests he asked me to take. We have several more beers. When I woke up the next morning, I was on a train to Ft. Ord, California! I had somehow joined the Army in 1947! (I did my basic at Ft. Ord, Just like George did. We have a lot in common.)
SOH
George went on to be trained at the Vent Hill Farms Station near Warrenton, Virginia. He was training for the Army Security Agency. (I too was trained to be an ASA trooper.) They trained people to do be radio intercept operators, cryptologist, and radio repair technicians.
SOH
I notice you spent much of your time at many different hospitals. That must have been tough.
George
I was in VA hospitals over seven times during my military days and over twenty times so far after I was discharged.
SOH
Let’s talk about now. One of the things you really had a hard time with was being separated from your wife Jeannie. Share your thoughts on that.
(Jeannie began to have memory loss and needed to be sent to a special facility that cares for those problems, and George had to be in a VA facility because of his problems. They had to live in separate places.)
“When Jeanne and I could no longer live together I felt like my world had ended. After so many years of a wonderful marriage we were torn apart by our failing health. It broke my heart and took away my reason for living.”
(This is an actual quote from George in an email to me.)
SOH
George now lives at the Trinka Davis Assisted Living Facility, in Corrollton, Georgia. This is a VA facility for military only. It was started by the good graces by Trinka Davis, who donated millions to get it started.
SOH
George is now on hospice care, and has many ailments including congestive heart failure, diabetes, hearing loss, stenosis of the spine, problems still from his head injury, and many other ailments. He still has a very positive attitude. He has been an inspiration to me, and I will never forget him. He is a true American hero.
·
In honor of my good friend George Woodruff, I am going share a poem he wrote in February of 2014. He told me he was extremely depressed when he wrote this poem, because he knew he would be separated from his wife Jeannie soon.
Saga of a Disabled World War II Veteran
Time has passed me by and now I’m sick and old, nearly blind, kidneys failing, stenosis crippling my spine.
A pair of painful legs that no longer function or hold me up, a power wheelchair for this worn out old carcass of mine.
So I guess I’ll bear this continual depression and pain.
Until the Supreme Architect above finally takes me away. So God if you are up there somewhere listening to my prayer,
I would really appreciate it if you decide to do it today!
There will be more interviews in future posts. My next one will be with a Vietnam veteran. He has some very scary situations he had to go through. Keep coming back to see more. Better yet…God tot he top of this page and click on Subscribe. When you do all future posts will come directly to your inbox.
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 highlyqualified counselors there to help you, and they will not hang up until they know you are OK.
+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.
