last living Medal of Honor recipient from D-Day, dies

[Kris Clewell]

http://www.armytimes.com/article/201...rom-D-Day-dies

sad. Take a read, the guy couldnt better fit the definition of courage, and heroism. However, sadly, It reminded me of a passage I read recently by Adam Smith....

Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of humanity in Europe, who had no sort of connection with that part of the world, would be affected upon receiving intelligence of this dreadful calamity. He would, I imagine, first of all, express very strongly his sorrow for the misfortune of that unhappy people, he would make many melancholy reflections upon the precariousness of human life, and the vanity of all the labours of man, which could thus be annihilated in a moment. He would too, perhaps, if he was a man of speculation, enter into many reasonings concerning the effects which this disaster might produce upon the commerce of Europe, and the trade and business of the world in general. And when all this fine philosophy was over, when all these humane sentiments had been once fairly expressed, he would pursue his business or his pleasure, take his repose or his diversion, with the same ease and tranquillity, as if no such accident had happened. The most frivolous disaster which could befall himself would occasion a more real disturbance. If he was to lose his little finger to-morrow, he would not sleep to-night; but, provided he never saw them, he will snore with the most profound security over the ruin of a hundred millions of his brethren, and the destruction of that immense multitude seems plainly an object less interesting to him, than this paltry misfortune of his own.

RIP Mr Ehlers, and the rest of those heroes. Not too many left now...

[majordad]

Rest in Peace Staff Sgt Ehlers, ar Dheis De go raibh a hannam.

[Dmill]

These guys were incredible...My Uncle was in the 29th ID. First wave on Omaha....landed at 6:25am (The 29th ID was sent in before the Big Red 1 as they were expendable and they wanted to save the Big Red 1)...Woody was in boat 5..told me he knew it was 6:25am because that was the time on the watch the government gave him....His best buddy (Joe Dickerson) was in boat 6.....according to him, "Your Uncle Woody and I landed in France on June 6th at 6:25 and proceeded to take a walking tour of europe together...never mind they ended up with 9 purple hearts between them 2 bronze stars and my Uncle won the Silver Star at about 9:30am on D-Day ...they could not get off the shelf so he grabbed a satchel of tnt and ran up and threw it in a pillbox which took out the pillbox and opened up the draw....In the second week of June in the hedgerows, he was run over by a german tank when the bazooka he fired bounced off the front of it. We lost Woody several years back, but I still keep stay in touch with his best buddy Joe Dickerson....One time we started talking about his 5 purple hearts...he told me about 4 of them and then he pointed to the scar on his forearm and said...I got my first purple heart on D-Day by a german bayonet....and that's all I want to talk about that.....The most amazing thing about all of these guys wasn't necessarily the combat they saw...which is almost unimaginable...it's that they came home and somehow got back to living normal lives....

[Kris Clewell]

takes balls to stand in front of a tank with a bazooka.

[50/50]

Last September I was traveling through a very crowded BWI terminal and the suddenly was a wall of Navy Cadets with a lot
of clapping and cheering and people stopped in the tracks and spontaneously joined in . When I got a peak through the crowd there was a single file of old men some in partial some in complete uniform All were from an elite group, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients. Common Men doing the Uncommon. The Excitement joy and love was palpable.
Mr Ehlers was just 23 years old at D Day. Think of what most men his age are doing today, tethered to a smart phone.

Thanks for the original post.

[50/50]

Another hero passes on


http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/st....html?mode=jqm

[Peanut]

I experienced the same in DCA. It was incredible to see EVERYONE'S response.

Last September I was traveling through a very crowded BWI terminal and the suddenly was a wall of Navy Cadets with a lot
of clapping and cheering and people stopped in the tracks and spontaneously joined in . When I got a peak through the crowd there was a single file of old men some in partial some in complete uniform All were from an elite group, Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients. Common Men doing the Uncommon. The Excitement joy and love was palpable.
Mr Ehlers was just 23 years old at D Day. Think of what most men his age are doing today, tethered to a smart phone.

Thanks for the original post.

[Dmill]

If you have seen those flights arrive in the DC area, they are probably "Honor Flights" We have gone out to Dulles to welcome a couple of the flights in....They fly in a group of WWII vets..most travel with a companion...they are met at the airport by folks who are interested in their stories, boy scouts and active military guys...an active military person is assigned to each vet...they go down to the WWII memorial and the other monuments, get put up in a hotel d-town and then head home the next day....It is a very moving thing to meet these guys when they come off the plane. My son and I have gone several times with a guy named Roger Neighborgal...(you can google him)...He was in the 5th Rangers on D-day...these are the guys who went in just to the right of the 29th...and the unit that is portrayed in Saving Private Ryan. There job was to scale the cliffs of Point du hoc and take out the large guns that overlooked and commanded the whole area...When they got to the top of the cliffs, they found the Germans had moved the guns...so they fought their way inland knocked out some other guns and then hunkered in and waited for relief which did not come for a day or so...they took big time casualties....I was at a Honor flight with Roger and I met a guy coming off the plane with a 5th Rangers hat on...so I went to get Roger....he literally pushed folks half his age out of the way making his way over to this other 5th Ranger.....the guy was a replacement who came into the Rangers after D-Day and Roger did not know him...but they still shared some combat together later in the war. Roger has a German flag he captured when he captured a German patrol boat on the Rhine....It's pretty cool because it is a german navy flag.....it's a great story how he captured the boat....I think if you google him, you will find him telling it

One more quick story about Woody...Woody did not smoke...I knew that cigarettes were more valuable than money in europe...So I asked him what he did with the cigarettes he got in his K-rations...He said "I gave them to the Germans:...I said "the Germans?"....he said "Yeah....the German girls !".....Those guys looted not only the property but the girls as well....

[Rolly]

I had the honor of setting at the table with Walter Ehlers for a celabration in honor of two Medal of Honor and one Silve Star
winner at my local American Legion post 291 in Newport Beach a couple of years ago, Mr Ehlers was very humble, What a great American!

Regards,

Rolly

[P-CarLover]

They just don't make 'em like that anymore~ RIP Staff Sgt Ehlers and to all those who bravely fought for the freedom we have today! Dmill - great stories - best way we can honor them is to remember them~