Hope you had a good Labor Day without labor.
Posted on 09/05/2004 7:59:57 PM PDT by 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub
Welcome, Boazo, to the Canteen.
Thanks, christie, for stopping by the Canteen.
".....some people call it a swagger in Texas we call it walking!!!"
I was just a very little boy toward the end of WWII.
My Dads cousin Bill was home from the war. He had a bronze star. I didn't know what that meant but I knew he was very brave. Cousin Bill's dad had won the congressional medal of honor and Bill had gone to west point. I didn' know what a medal of honor was.. but I knew his dad had been very brave.
Every one in the family had talked about how brave Bill and his Dad were. His dad had recently passed.
I was very concerned about me. I knew I was often afraid. I knew my Dad was brave and so were my uncles.. and my cousins too. But I was a little boy that was often afraid.
Cousin Bill was just a bit younger than my Dad. He was my Dad's first cousin. I was sitting on Bill's lap when I got the courage to ask him about how to become brave. I told him I was afraid of lots of things.
He told me a story that has stuck with me my entire life.
His company and was held down by machine gun fire from a postion at the edge of a wooded hill just in front of their position. They needed to take the hill. The Germans had left the machine gun position to hold our advance in check while the rest of the Germans retreated.
Bill said he could not in good conscience ask an enlisted man to try to take out the gun nest. A head on or even flank attack would get a lot of men killed.
Bill decided to try it alone. He would have to cross open teritory to get to the cover of the woods to make a grenade attack from the side of the nest. The odds were anyone who tried it would be killed.
So Bill told them to wait 5 minutes after he left.. then have the troops open fire on the machine gun position. Under the cover of that fire he would try to cross the open space well to the right of the nest. He hoped to reach the safety of the woods.
When he did that he got shot in the leg. He could no longer walk so he crawled close enough to the nest to lob a grenade into it.
He said his hands were shaking so much he had to use his teeth to pull the grenade pin. He was afraid if he missed on the grenade throw they would discover him and kill him. The grenade was right on target. The grenade took the machine gun crew and their machine gun out. For that he got a Bronze star.
But he told me he wet his pants in the process. When our troops got to him he had lost a lot of blood. They sent him back for treatment He was now home of leave to recover. He had a big cast on his leg.
He said he had never been so scared. He said afterwards they said he was brave. But that was a lie. He was scared to death. He said his Dad was scared too when he did what it took to get a Congressional medal of honor.
Bill said his Dad had told him all men are cowards. That brave men only do what they know must be done even when they are too scared to do it right.
He said if you will just do what you know needs to be done .. even when you think you are too scared to do it, other men will think you are very brave and give you medals for bravery.
I have never forgotten Cousin Bills story. It had guilded much of my life.
Cousin Bill taught me something worth remembering. It is ok to be afraid as long as the fear never gets control of you.
Several times in my life I have faced fear. Cousin bill taught me a real lesson.
Hello BlindGuardian, and thanks for stopping in today. The Canteen is here 24/7/365 to honor our troops, our veterans, their families, and our allies; and to provide a safe place where they can come, put their feet up, enjoy some jokes, some music, hear everyday family adventures, and just have a touch of home.
Hi Cal....good humor today. Thanks. Hope you had a nice day.
Total for the day: 40 q/a - 2660 words
(That's 100 q/a total, in case you haven't been keeping "score." wOOhOO!!!)
Now *only* 3-5,000 words "tomorrow" and I'll almost be caught up.
Maybe with any luck, I'll be able to sleep lying down again this week, too. ;)
FANTASTIC!! Thanks for pointing me to your report. Your pictures are wonderful, and even more wonderful was your confrontation of the protesters. I'm very proud of you, and the job you did.
Thanks, Tator, for the wonderful story. What a rich history you have in your family. Thank you to Cousin Bill, his Dad, and to you too for y'all's service to this great country of ours.
~~I see you~~
At least it was under a watchful eye; and hopefully a lesson well learned the FIRST time.
WOW! What a cool picture of "Lassie", and the background sky's not bad either.
Fawnn.....100 q/a!!
14 terrorists at a time is good.Thanks, Seven, for the updates.
BTTT!!!!!!!
BTTT!!!!!!!
BTTT!!!!!!!
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