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This video was actually Thursday.
This video is a good one to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. It reminds us of those who go the extra mile.
For those without sound, John Finn was the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient.
From the LA Times:
Although he was a guest of honor at numerous gatherings of veterans and Medal of Honor recipients — including at the White House, where he was greeted by President Obama — Finn routinely declined to accept the accolade of hero.
“I can’t believe this,” Finn told the more than 500 people who gathered last year at a local diner to celebrate his birthday. “All I ever was was an old swab jockey…. What I did I was being paid for.”
Rousted from bed by the explosions that chaotic morning in Hawaii, Finn immediately manned a machine gun and began firing at the Japanese attack planes that swooped low over the naval air station at Kaneohe Bay on their way to their primary target, the U.S. planes and ships at Pearl Harbor.
“I loved the Navy,” he often told reporters, “and that day I was just furious because the Japanese caught us napping and made us pay for it.”
Wounded numerous times by bullets and shrapnel, Finn refused to be evacuated. His leadership and courage gave heart to dazed sailors to begin fighting back against the new enemy.
Fair wind and following seas. We meet on Fiddler’s Green, shipmate.
That is the expression I was trying to think of last night, (well actually this morning), Cargo.
What an amazing man. I can’t imagine doing what he did. Stories from WWII never cease to amaze me.
@cargosquid
I’ve never heard that expression. What does it mean?
What an INCREDIBLE story! He stayed in that lot for two hours? And he still lived to 100 years old?
Simply amazing. I can’t even imagine.
–saluting–
“Fair winds and following seas” says that you hope you have a calm and fast journey. “Following seas” are the waves that are traveling in the same direction you are.
Fiddler’s Green is where sailors go when they die. A Sailor’s paradise. Cavalrymen also refer to a Fiddler’s Green paradise. Its a hold over from British tradition.
Thanks Cargo. I had heard it many times and knew the gist, but never in so much detail.
Cargo, we are doing Memorial Day threads every day over the long weekend. Thanks for your contribution.
My father in law, who is now deceased, used to share stories of his time in WWII when I would pester him. He was pressed into service as a gunner on a ship in Leyte Gulf and witnessed kamikaze fighters coming in at American ships. He told me that he, as a gunner and or a gunner’s mate (whatever the situation called for), could see the faces of the Japanese pilots as they flew between their smaller ships trying to reach the larger vessels to crash into while they were trying to shoot them down. He was 17 years old. At the time, he was a citizen of Italy and an immigrant to America.
At that age, I was still in High School and could not imagine such responsibility. What a person he was.
@cargosquid
Thanks, Cargo!
Lucky, your FIL sounds like an incredible man. What were the rest of us doing at age 17? I was having teen angst. He was being a true hero.
@Lucky Duck
I don’t know if your father in law is still with us, but if he is, please thank him for all he did. They really were heroes one and all.
Halfway down the trail to Hell,
In a shady meadow green
Are the Souls of all dead troopers camped,
Near a good old-time canteen.
And this eternal resting place
Is known as Fiddlers’ Green.
Marching past, straight through to Hell
The Infantry are seen.
Accompanied by the Engineers,
Artillery and Marines,
For none but the shades of Cavalrymen
Dismount at Fiddlers’ Green.
Though some go curving down the trail
To seek a warmer scene.
No trooper ever gets to Hell
Ere he’s emptied his canteen.
And so rides back to drink again
With friends at Fiddlers’ Green.
And so when man and horse go down
Beneath a saber keen,
Or in a roaring charge of fierce melee
You stop a bullet clean,
And the hostiles come to get your scalp,
Just empty your canteen,
And put your pistol to your head
And go to Fiddlers’ Green.