Allen Dale June Code Talker

Sgt. Sgt Dale was temporarily in The Cheyenne VA hospital last year and early this year. While he was there I had an opportunity to visit with him. He had reverted to his native Navajo language, but he did say a few words in English.

We first met outdoors. I saw him being pushed in a wheel chair. i saw his red hat with Marines and Code talker on it. I immediately squatted down where he could see my Marine hat, and when he did, he sat up straighter and smiled and saluted! No doubt he was proud to be one of us. Next day at VFW breakfast I just happened to sit with Virginia and his grandson. She gave me two of his autographed business cards. So these will definitely become a keepsake! read more

WWII WMs and Honor Flights

I was at my veterinarian about a year ago and on the wall in the waiting room was an old picture of a young Marine along with an ensamble of ribbons and medals. I asked my vet who that was and he told me it was his father, William Kuhl. He began to tell me a couple of stories about his father in the corp and I found them interesting, among the most interesting was a couple things, the fact his father served on the USS Yorktown when it was sunk and a story of his father's long lost sea bag. A couple weeks later, I stopped back in and he said he brought some things from his house to show me. He had an old foot locker and an old worn, tattered cardboard box. He said his aunt (his father's sister), had kept newspaper clippings of things that had concerned his father and articles in which his father was mentioned. Dr. Kuhl started to show me pictures and newspaper articles that indeed varified his father was on the USS Yorktown. One newspaper article had even metioned how he had shot down a Jap zero. To make a long story somewhat shorter. Dr. Kuhl told me he had no idea as to what to do with all these articles as there was no one left in his family that was much concerned with them. I told him I had an idea and I would get back with him in a couple of days. I went home and contacted the Marine Corp Museum in Virginia and they in turn immediately contacted Dr. Kuhl. He sent them some pictures of some of the items, and their response was if everything he said he had was verified, that these items would make a one of a kind display at the museum. So Dr. Kuhl signed the property over to the museum and hopefully soon they will have a special place there. I mentioned earlier a newspaper article about his father's lost sea bag, so I have included here a copy of that article and a picture of his father with his sea bag. They are pretty self explanitory, so I will leave you now to enjoy. But in closing, I would like to say that as a thank you to me from Dr. Kuhl, he gave me his father's K-bar that had seen action at Guedalcanal, Iwo, and several other places along with his father's brass E.G.A. belt buckle. read more

An Update

Sgt.

Here is an update to a picture I sent earlier.
I was fortunate enough to sit with a Code Talkers Wife today.
Today was the 54th annual cemmorative wreath laying at Bethel Cemetary
in Cheyenne. Afterwards we had a free BBQ picnic at VFW 1881.
Just by chance she happened to sit with me at the table.
She autographed the back sides of these two cards for me.
One is a pic when he was in service back in 1942 and the other a few years ago.
He's 91 years old now. read more

WWII WMs and Honor Flights

Sgt Grunt,

Last month Honor Flight flew 97 aging but vibrant WWII Vets flew from Madison Wisconsin to Washington, DC. to visit the WWII Memorial and return home in a one day blitz. This flight set the record for the most female WWII Vets on any flight in the history of the program, and it was noted that a vast majority of those women were WMs, or as they were called back then, WRs. Proud to say that my 86 year old Momma, Corporal Annette Howards, USMCWR, was standing front and center when the roll was called at the airport. read more

RIP SSGT Gene S. Richards

Several months ago you ran a picture of my dad in Sasebo Japan and one of myself in Desert Storm in Sgt. Grit. I have attached that picture again.

My dad Gene S. Richards passed away Sunday May 9th in Salt Lake City Utah. He was an Iwo Jima Marine and watched the second flag go up, participated in the occupation of Japan and was a drill instructor after the war at MCRD San Diego. In Nov. 1940 half of his bootcamp platoon would later go to Wake Island. read more

The Pacific

Sgt. Grunt,

My father was a Marine Torpedo Bomber (TBF) aircrew in VMTB-143 on Guadalcanal in the October 1942 time period. He has been watching “The Pacific” with great enthusiasm and he related to me that, after watching what the line companies went through, he realized he had it pretty good after all. Of course he didn’t realize it at the time, but his war was so much different from the line companies. Some of the things he related: read more

My dad was a tank commander

Sgt. Grit,

My Dad was a US Marine during WWII. He was on the USS HUDSON, he was on Okinawa, Guam and Guadalcanal. I have ooodles of old photo's and no way to find out when or where or with whom they were taken. If any of your readers could help me out with names and places I would really appreciate it. My email is slf1228[at]tx[dot]rr[dot]com. read more