Posted on 02/07/2008 6:11:30 PM PST by Dubya
Harry Richard Landis, Thank You for outstanding service, and Rest in Peace Sir.
see also
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1966112/posts
(just more)
He made it quite clear it did not amount to more than marching and drill.
That orderly duty in the sick ward during the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic must have been pretty grim though.
The most terrifying thing about it was how it struck down the young and vigorous. Because of their close quarters and young populations, army camps were the hardest hit.
That orderly duty in the sick ward during the worldwide Spanish Flu pandemic must have been pretty grim though.
The most terrifying thing about it was how it struck down the young and vigorous. Because of their close quarters and young populations, army camps were the hardest hit.
I had an uncle that passed away in 1985, he enlisted and served in Mexico with BlackJack Pershing chasing Pancho Villa. He almost died later from the flu and was discharged.
The last time all known U.S. veterans of a war died was Sept. 10, 1992, when Spanish-American War veteran Nathan E. Cook passed away at age 106.
As a kid back in the 1950s, I knew a lot of old (grandfather types) who were WWI Vets. But there was one old guy who was the neighborhood Chiropractor and an avid stamp collector. His name was Doc Winston. He was a very nice man. He got me interested in stamps then, sadly it didn't last for long. ( I was more into baseball cards then. ;~))
The guy was in his 80s I'd guess and still practicing. One time talking to him, he told me he was a veteran of not only the Spanish-American war, but also marched into Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.
I wish I had been old enough or smart enough to either record or write down his recollections of that time. I loved talking to him, but I just can't remember much of about the stories he told. I just knew I really liked that old guy and his history fascinated me then.
But tell your kids that when they meet an old timer who wants to tell them about 'the day' to find a way to preserve those memories.
The last time all known U.S. veterans of a war died was Sept. 10, 1992, when Spanish-American War veteran Nathan E. Cook passed away at age 106.
As a kid back in the 1950s, I knew a lot of old (grandfather types) who were WWI Vets. But there was one old guy who was the neighborhood Chiropractor and an avid stamp collector. His name was Doc Winston. He was a very nice man. He got me interested in stamps then, sadly it didn't last for long. ( I was more into baseball cards then. ;~))
The guy was in his 80s I'd guess and still practicing. One time talking to him, he told me he was a veteran of not only the Spanish-American war, but also marched into Peking during the Boxer Rebellion.
I wish I had been old enough or smart enough to either record or write down his recollections of that time. I loved talking to him, but I just can't remember much of about the stories he told. I just knew I really liked that old guy and his history fascinated me then.
But tell your kids that when they meet an old timer who wants to tell them about 'the day' to find a way to preserve those memories.
My great grandfather was born in 1899. He never fought in any war. His older brothers went off to WWI. I always assumed my great grandfather was too young to go to war in WWI. But apparently not.
He would have been 18 in 1917 when the US declared war. There could have been a lot of reasons he didn’t go while his older brothers did. Back then, they used to reject you if you had ‘flat feet’. Not every man of military age served in that or any other war. Thankfully, we have never been in that position.
Here's a song written in 1914 updated from an American song written in 1863.
It reflects the relief, joy and pride that families and hamlets will experience when their sons come marching home from the Great War:
When Johnny comes marching home again
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home!
Get ready for the Jubilee
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give the hero three times three
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home!
Rest in peace, U.S. Army Veteran, Harry Landis. You made the last march home to the Place we know your laurel wreath was waiting. We salute you!
Leni
RIP, Mr. Landis.
Thanks for posting.
I had just browsed the city rag and found this blurb on PAGE 20 next to a twice as large home window ad. The obit was pitiful NINE (9) LINES!
What a sad disgrace to our fallen soldiers!
God bless Harry Landis for his service.
The 1918 influenza pandemic was an incredible killer. It killed 500,000+ in the US and 50+ million worldwide. It wouldn’t surprise me it was was more dangerous, statistically speaking, to have served in those flu wards than to have been a US soldier in France.
It was the same with my grandfather. Born in 1899, he would have been old enough to enlist by 1917 but didn't. Even my father isn't too clear on the reasons. Granddad did have a defense-related job -- he was a tool & diemaker for an automotive company so he probably had a draft deferment. Of course, he would have been too old for WW2 (though it wasn't unheard of to find 40 year old infantrymen).
My family was of German extraction, so perhaps that had something to do with it?
Read somewhere that the US Army was alarmed at the medical rejection rate for WW1 which was somewhere around 20-25%. The big problem was the effects of malnutrition. It wasn't much 'better' for WW2.
My father had pneumonia real bad as a kid. He enlisted in the Air Force in the late '50's and served 6 years. He could easily have flunked a physical due to residual lung scarring. His childhood was at the very beginning of the antibiotic era & Polio was a big problem, too.
Aha...german extraction.
My great grandfather was german. Actually, he considered himself to be prussian, even though his mother was half swede. As I understand it, a prussian was something between german and danish...or a mixture of the two...and the nation of prussia ceased to exist before WWI. His people came from a town called schleswig. It’s practically in denmark.
Interestingly, this doesn’t quite jive with what I just looked up on wikipedia. It states there that old prussian is something between a german and a lithuanian.
odd
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