MOH recipient from Iwo Jima Honors guardian angel

Last living MOH recipient from Iwo Jima offers graveside salute to ‘guardian angel’
STARS AND STRIPES
By WYATT OLSON
Published: March 18, 2018

HONOLULU — Seventy-three years ago on the island of Iwo Jima, Hershel “Woody” Williams randomly chose several fellow Marines to give him rifle cover as he made a one-man charge with his flamethrower against a network of Japanese pillboxes.

Hershel “Woody” Williams salutes before the grave of Charles G. Fischer on March 17, 2018. Fischer was a Marine Corps rifleman who died in Iwo Jima while providing covering fire for Williams. Williams learned of Fischer’s identity and gravesite location only several months ago.

WYATT OLSON/STARS AND STRIPES

He spent four hours unleashing flames into the pillboxes that had stymied advance for days, racing back to the Marine Corps lines to refuel the flamethrower, and then running again into battle — all while covered by only four riflemen.

Williams was ultimately awarded the Medal of Honor on Feb. 23, 1945, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,” as the official citation describes it. He “daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machinegun fire” coming out of reinforced concrete pillboxes, on which bazooka and mortar rounds had no effect.

Two of the Marines covering Williams died that day, but he never knew their names, and never knew where their remains rested until just a few months ago.

On Saturday, Williams, with the Medal of Honor hanging around his neck, stood over the Hawaii grave of Charles Fischer, one of those “guardian angels” who helped him survive that day and is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, nicknamed the Punchbowl.
read more here

20 years on job, fired after Wild Acres night?

Pinellas sheriff’s lieutenant terminated after DUI charge
Tampa Bay Times
Langston Taylor
March 18, 2018

LARGO — A Pinellas sheriff’s lieutenant was fired after she was charged with driving under the influence, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Christi Ruhtz, 41, was first hired by the agency in December 1998 and was working in the Public Records Processing Unit until Sunday morning.

About 1:49 a.m., a person called authorities, saying a driver near the intersection of 130th Avenue and Wild Acres Road was driving in reverse while honking a horn. When deputies arrived, they found Ruhtz, the only person in the vehicle.
read more here

The most famous women you never knew

The most famous women you never knew
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
March 18, 2018

The title is a running joke in Point Man, since that is the way I usually get introduced.  Lots of people have heard of my work, my site but most cannot remember my name or even why they know me.

Putting this video together made me very proud to be a woman but ashamed I never knew about some of these women.

Sure, you heard about Paul Revere getting on his horse to warm about the British coming.

Paul Revere did not gain immediate fame for his April 1775"Midnight Ride." In fact, it wasn't until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, which greatly embellished Revere's role, that he became the folk hero we think of today.

But did you know Sybil Ludington also made a ride at the age of 16? Wonder how much fame she would have gotten if Longfellow paid her attention too?

On the night of April 26, 1777, Colonel Henry Ludington, father of 12, veteran of the French-Indian War, and commander of the militia in Duchess County, New York, (just across the state line from Danbury, Connecticut) received a messenger to his house. The British had entered Danbury and found some American military stores, stolen some, destroyed others and drank the whiskey. Drunk, they began ransacking the town, burning and looting.

His daughter got on her horse and rode for 40 miles.

You heard a lot about the men fighting for our freedom but did you know about these women?
Deborah Sampson, Nancy Morgan Hart or Margaret Corbin?

You heard a lot about heroic men with the Medal of Honor but did you know Dr. Mary Edwards Walker received one too? Actually, technically it was twice because Congress officially took it away from her, but she refused to return it. In 1977, she officially received it back, but she died in 1919. 

Those are just some of the women in this video. I hope you learn something watching it, because I learned a lot doing it.

Neighbor gave Vietnam veteran heat for home and warmth for heart

Neighbor helps Vietnam vet, wife who went 6 years with no heat 
Connecticut News 12 
March 16, 2018 

STRATFORD - A Vietnam veteran and his wife who have been without heat for years are finally getting the help they need.

Stratford's Tom Pendagast says his furnace stopped working six years ago, and the lines were plugged to his underground oil tank. He says he had some heat, but his electric bills were very high. 

His neighbor, Barbara Esposito, heard about the situation and wanted to help. She called the VFW, which then contacted Honorbound in Darien - a national organization that has helped over 20,000 veterans over the last 40 years. read more here

Deceased Vietnam Veterans Surviving Spouses Recognized

Honoring the wives of Vietnam veterans
FOX Dakota
By John Salling
Mar 16, 2018

MANDAN, N.D. - The spouse of a Vietnam veteran received a special honor as part of the Vietnam War Commemoration. The 50th anniversary of the war began in 2012 and will continue through 2025.

One of the honors available during the commemoration is the Deceased Vietnam Veteran's Surviving Spouse pin.

Friday was the funeral of Dr. Gary Wall, a dentist that served during the Vietnam war. His spouse Loretta is the first to receive this new pin at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery.

"Think of the family also. The soldiers of course, a lot of them gave their life, but I think it's important also for the wives and mothers back home, and fathers. They grieved every day," Loretta Wall said.

James Nelson, a Vietnam veteran, says that they never got a welcome home, but honors and recognition of service help make up for that.

"The family member sacrifices just as much as the veteran does, and especially in the Vietnam era veteran there is a lot of issues, unresolved issues that we're still working on, and it's just to recognize these people," Nelson said.
read more here