WWI veteran finally received Purple Heart

Troubled hero gets his heart: After 100-year wait, WWI veteran awarded posthumous Purple Heart

Livingston County News
By MATT LEADER
FEBRUARY 24, 2019

Martin Jacobson survived the suffocating clouds of mustard gas that blistered soldiers’ skin and lungs alike; he survived the German bullet that tore through his leg as he sought refuge in a corpse-filled foxhole; and he survived the exploding artillery shell that sent 16 pieces of burning hot shrapnel to lodge in his 24-year-old body.

Jacobson survived the horrors of World War I; made it back home; got married; started a family. But the trauma of his service stayed with him and, more than a decade after his medical discharge, it caught up with him in an upstairs bedroom of his Painted Post home.

The afternoon of Jan. 22, 1929, Jacobson put a shotgun to his chest and pulled the trigger. He was 34s year old and left behind a wife, Leona, and a 15-month-old daughter, Barbara Louise.

Jacobson left no note, but his poor physical and mental condition almost certainly led to his suicide.
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Florida Veterans Unclaimed Remains from 4 Wars Laid to Rest

Unclaimed remains of war veterans laid to rest at Lake Worth cemetery
Sun Sentinel
Erika Pesantes
December 6, 2015

On Saturday, laid to rest were: Jack Legan, Frank H. Vadurro, Charles J. Valkenburg, Carol Andre Shepherd, Jacob S. Cohen, Ignatius Patrick Crisci, John Joseph Fitzgerald, Wayne Andrew Ludwig, Frank Wilfred O' Hara Jr., John Edward Lee, Charles William Morton, James Edward Sullivan, William Vaselekos and Louis Walter Harvey, Jr.

Army Major Michael Flynn inters the remains of U.S. Army Corpral Jack Legan as Marshall Murphy of the South Florida National Cemetary looks on. Veterans and volunteers were on hand at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth to take part in the burial ceremony for the Missing in America Project. The nonprofit locates, identifies and inters the unclaimed cremated remains of veterans, spouses and dependents that have sat on funeral home shelves for decades. During the ceremony the unclaimed remains of 14 veterans and seven veterans' spouses were interred. December 5, 2015. Jim Rassol, Sun Sentinel.
(Jim Rassol / Sun Sentinel)

The mahogany urns bore gold plaques that read: "You are not forgotten." On Saturday, they were remembered for their heroic acts.

Up to a quarter century after their deaths, the cremated remains of 14 war veterans and the spouses of another seven service members were finally given a dignified burial under stormy skies.

Those veterans, who served in World War I and II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars, were laid to rest at the South Florida National Cemetery in Lake Worth thanks to volunteers from the non-profit, Missing in America Project.

"Each one that we lay to rest today is a hero. You, men, who we bury today, we say goodbye to you with thankful hearts because you've embodied heroism," guest speaker Brian Mast said. "And because you've embodied bravery on our behalf and on behalf of your own families and on behalf of our grateful nation."
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Linked from Stars and Stripes

MOH Henry Johnson Died Destitute And Alone In VA Hospital

With Medal of Honor Award, Family Learns WWI Hero Wasn't Kin
Associated Press
by George M. Walsh
Jun 03, 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Two days before President Barack Obama announced a posthumous Medal of Honor for black World War I soldier Henry Johnson, a family got staggering news about the legacy of heroism that had inspired them for generations and through three wars. They weren't related to Johnson by blood after all.

An Army general visited Tara Johnson last month with word that Henry Johnson was not her grandfather, and that her father, World War II Tuskegee airman Herman Johnson, was not the hero's son.

"Dad's birth certificate didn't have Henry on it," she told The Associated Press in an interview this week. The name of the man listed on the document found by Pentagon researchers vetting Johnson's lineage was one relatives had never heard mentioned as the father.

Henry Johnson was a railroad porter in Albany before the war. He enlisted in the Army and won acclaim for rescuing a comrade despite suffering grenade and gunshot wounds in a ferocious hand-to-hand battle with German raiders in 1918. Returning from France, he was honored with parades and glowing newspaper stories about his exploits with the 369th Infantry Regiment, a unit known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." But while France awarded him the Croix de Guerre for heroism, Johnson was given no medals by a U.S. military mired in Jim Crow-era racism.

Hobbled by his wartime injuries and unable to work, Johnson took to drinking. He died destitute in 1929 at age 32 at an Illinois veterans hospital.

On Tuesday, the president handed the Medal of Honor to New York National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Louis Wilson because the military found no known blood relatives of Johnson.

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World Warrior Shaft

Jon Stewart covers this mess with the VA. World Warrior Shaft

The Daily Show
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Backlog problems Stewart points out that Bush didn't fix them before Obama didn't fix them.


Then Stewart follows all of this up with World Warrior Shaft Terrible Memory Lane

The Daily Show
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Combat PTSD in WWI veterans

History has done worse than repeat itself. With all that has been done in the last 40 years, they are still expected to just get over it.

Clifton Roat: The First World War soldier who experienced post-traumatic stress disorder after the horrors of Gallipoli
Mirror UK
By Francesca Cookney
Feb 16, 2014

For the 22-year-old farm boy from Norfolk, travelling to far-flung lands to fight The Hun in the First World War had seemed liked an adventure

Like thousands of young men in 1914, Clifton Roat couldn’t wait to join the army and go off to war.

For a 22-year-old farm boy from Norfolk, travelling to far-flung lands to fight The Hun was an adventure.

And to begin with, the postcards home spoke of nothing but excitement and high spirits. “Greetings from Egypt” said the cheerful note to his mum Lydia in January 1916, less than six months after he was drafted abroad.

“I’m thinking of you as I send this card. Maybe ’twill bring you joy to know that a message of love has come from your handsome soldier boy.”

But the man who returned was not the same person his parents and fiancée Harriet had waved off from Norfolk.

Like hundreds of First World War veterans, Clifton had seen and ­experienced horrors beyond anything he or his loved ones could comprehend.

Today, 100 years later, post-traumatic stress disorder is a well-known ­phenomenon. Many soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are offered therapy and counselling to help them come to terms with their ordeal.

But back then, returning servicemen were expected to simply pick up where they had left off.
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Cannon fire in Kissimmee

Museum of Military History

Military Appreciation Weekend

This tent was made out of ponchos snapped together

December 7 and 8 from 9am to 5pm

Brown's Farm 4901 Oren Brown Road, Kissimmee Florida

Great day for a celebration like this but it was just too hot to stay. Can't get use to being able to get a sunburn in December.

If you are in the area the Civil War Battle reenactment will be on Sunday.

Happy 101st Marine Chief Warrant Officer Sam Domino

Marine Chief Warrant Officer Sam Domino
Here is a link to more pictures from Sam's 100th birthday bash at the Orlando VA
101st Birthday

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is blocking plans to honor WWI veteran Frank Buckles

I was shocked by the email alert sent from Veterans For Change but not shocked Boehner was behind it. After all, why would the Speaker of the House want to honor the last WWI veteran when he does not honor any veteran?

All Hands on Deck

World War I veteran, Frank Buckles to lie in honor inside the Capitol Rotunda is being blocked!

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is blocking plans to allow the last American World War I veterans body to lay in honor inside the Capitol Rotunda.

We need all our readers to please call toll free 866-272-6622 on Monday, ask for Congressman Boehner’s office and let him know his actions are not acceptable! That this Veteran has earned the honor of “Laying in State” in the Capitol Rotunda!

Please help us to help us to help the Buckles Family and Americans Nationwide the privilege and honor of paying their last respects to the last WWI Veteran!

Friends, this call doesn’t cost you one thin dime, all it costs is a few minutes of your time!

“U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin III, both D-W.Va., had expected that Rockefeller's resolution to allow Buckles to be honored at the Capitol would be met with unanimous support in Congress. U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., had introduced similar legislation in the House.”

We can flood their switchboard with calls and we can make this happen!

This is where you can read the rest of the story.

Buckles’ family upset that veteran might not be honored at Capitol
March 4, 2011 - By Beth Henry, Journal City Editor

MARTINSBURG - Family and friends of the late Frank Woodruff Buckles reacted with shock and disappointment Thursday to news that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is blocking plans to allow the last American World War I veteran to lie in honor inside the Capitol Rotunda.

U.S. Sens. Jay Rockefeller and Joe Manchin III, both D-W.Va., had expected that Rockefeller's resolution to allow Buckles to be honored at the Capitol would be met with unanimous support in Congress. U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., had introduced similar legislation in the House.

Instead, Boehner spokesman Mike Steel told the Associated Press that the speaker and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would seek Defense Department permission for a ceremony for Buckles at Arlington National Cemetery.


Buckles family spokesperson David DeJonge said the veteran's funeral is scheduled for March 15 at Arlington, but he pointed out that the cemetery cannot handle the volume of visitors who want to honor Buckles' memory.

"Boehner is going against the will of the people," DeJonge said, adding that various groups from across the country want to pay their respects to Buckles at the Capitol. He said everyone from motorcycle clubs to representatives of 2,000 war re-enactors already contacted him about participating in a ceremony to honor the nation's last link to WWI, and Arlington National Cemetery won't be able to handle such a huge crowd.
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Buckles’ family upset that veteran might not be honored at Capitol

WWI memorial cross stolen from Mojave National Preserve

WWI memorial cross stolen from Mojave National Preserve
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Online Edition, Tuesday, May 11, 2010
WASHINGTON — Vandals toppled and removed the 8-foot-high cross at Mojave National Preserve in California less than two weeks after the Supreme Court ruled the controversial memorial could remain on federal property.

The cross, which has stood in various forms for the last 76 years as a memorial to World War I soldiers, was stolen late Sunday night or early Monday morning, according to officials from the Liberty Institute, a conservative advocacy group that deals with church-state issues. In a statement Kelly Shackelford, the group’s president, called the actions “disgusting.”

Vandals cut through a series of metal bolts to remove the cross — still covered by a wooden box — from its concrete foundation.

The cross had been covered with plywood for 10 years as the legal fight surrounding the memorial wound through the courts. Officials from the Liberty Institute argued in favor of allowing the memorial to stand, saying that censoring the cross violated veterans’ freedom of speech and religion.

On April 28, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the memorial did not warrant removal as an overtly religious symbol, and did not represent government endorsement of a specific religion.
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WWI memorial cross stolen from Mojave National Preserve

A soldier's courage, obscure since WWI, is given due tribute

A soldier's courage, obscure since WWI, is given due tribute
By Jonnelle Marte
Globe Correspondent / September 15, 2008
EVERETT - Little is known about Fred Dulevitz's life.

It is unclear when his family moved to the United States from Russia, how long he lived in Massachusetts, or whether he graduated from high school.

More is known about his death, however.

Military records show that US Army Private Dulevitz was just 19 years old and had already earned the French Croix de Guerre award for bravery when he died during one of the deadliest battles of World War I, at Verdun in northeast France.

He volunteered for what was surely a suicidal mission: going through the German trenches to get a message to an American battalion commander.

He also earned a Purple Heart and, after his death on Oct. 28, 1918, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Those accolades were recognized on a new tombstone dedicated yesterday at the unmarked grave in Glenwood cemetery where he has lain for decades.

Dulevitz's bravery is no longer buried in obscurity.

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Missing in America Project lays another vet to rest

Once-forgotten veterans buried in Oregon

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Jun 21, 2008 9:04:28 EDT

EAGLE POINT, Ore. — Harry Fish was born in Ohio and served in the Army during World War I.

He married Mima Fish and died in Grants Pass on April 18, 1974 — 10 days after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record.

Little else is known about Fish, except that his ashes sat unclaimed for the past 34 years in a locker at a Grants Pass funeral home.

On Thursday, the remains of Fish and seven other forgotten servicemen were buried with full military honors at the Eagle Point National Cemetery.

The remains were discovered as part of the Missing in America Project, a 2-year-old group that finds, verifies and arranges burials with full military honors for veterans whose remains lie unclaimed in funeral homes.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/06/ap_vetburial_062108/