The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Sorted by date Results 126 - 147 of 147
MSgt. Jimmy F. Meacham: Age 84 MSgt. Jimmy F. Meacham served 42 years in the U.S. military including four years in the regular Air Force, 18 years in the Air Force Reserves and 20 years in the AL Air National Guard. He received the following awards and medals: Meritorious Service Medal with Two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, USAF Commendation Medal with One Bronze Oak Leaf, USAF Achievement Medal with One Bronze Oak Leaf, Air Force Good Conduct Medal, Air Reserve Forces Meritorious Service Medal,...
Major LeonArd Norman: Age 71 Major LeonArd Norman not only valiantly served for four years in the U. S. Army, he also served 25.5 years as a policeman in Montgomery, AL, where he earned the rank of Major. His military medals and awards include two Purple Hearts, the Army Commendation Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with “V” Device and Oak Leaf Clusters, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Bronze Star with “V” Device, the Bronze Star, the Combat Infantry Badge, and the...
Col. Joseph Edward Boyett, Jr.: 84 Col. Joseph E. Boyett Jr. served 25 years in the United States Air Force in military logistics. As an operations research scientist, he created models to understand cause and effect relationships between support systems and weapon systems and to discover ways to improve combat capability. His studies led to changes in support systems that were confirmed by improvements in cost, schedule and performance. He received the following medals: Legion of Merit, B...
John L. Cannady, Jr.: Age 62 John L. Cannady, Jr. served in the United States Air Force for 22 years and seven months. He received the following medals and awards: AF Meritorious Service Medal, AF Commendation Medal, AF Achievement Medal, AF Outstanding Unit Award, AF Organizational Excellence Award, AF Good Conduct Metal, Outstanding Airman of the Year Ribbon, National Defense Service Metal, AF Overseas Short and Long Tour Ribbons, AF Longevity Award, NCO Professional Military Education...
Eugene Thomas Beasley: Age 95 Eugene Thomas Beasley is a WWII veteran who served as a signal man in the U. S. Navy aboard the USS North Carolina (BB-55) in the Pacific Theater. On September 15, 1942, he received severe injuries to both eyes when a Japanese torpedo struck the ship causing blindness in one eye. Beasley volunteered for military service and served three years, four months and 21 days from June 17, 1941, until December 4, 1944, when he was honorably discharged because of his...
Brigadier General Marvin Kent Speigner: Age 96 Brigadier General (BG) Marvin Kent Speigner served in the U. S. Army for 35 years. His medals and awards are: Combat Infantry Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with Three Stars, World War II Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Meritorious Service Medal Alabama Commendation Medal and Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal. BG Speigner was...
Walter Mabry Whetstone Sr. Age 100 Walter Mabry Whetstone Sr. at 100 years of age is the oldest living WWII veteran in Elmore County, AL, as of February 16, 2020. He served in the Army in the liberation of Italy. Whetstone received the following medals: European African Service Medal, Easter Service Medal with Two Bronze Stars, Good Conduct Medal and WWII Victory Medal. Whetstone was born January 2, 1920, in Weoka, a rural community in Elmore County, AL, to his parents, Theophilus Walton...
Adrian Jack Lively ~ 79 Adrian Jack Lively served 20 years in the U. S. Air Force as a radar technician and as an air-traffic controller. During 11.5 years of that service, he served four overseas tours including three remote, two in combat zones and one accompanying tour which allowed his family to go with him. Lively’s conclusions about his service to his country via the U. S. Air Force are, “It was this to me. I grew up in a military family. My dad was discharged from the U. S. Army aft...
Romay Catherine Davis: 100 Romay Catherine Davis served two years and four months in the Women’s Army Corps (WACS) during World War II. She was born October 29, 1919, to her parents, Fairfax and Catherine Johnson, in Prince George County, VA, where she finished the 7th grade followed by education in Camden, NJ, attendance at Harren High School in New York City and graduation from Dumbar High School in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Davis worked for a year in the U. S. Treasury Dept. o...
• Veterans are entitled to a patriotic ceremony at their funerals. • Families should take a copy of the veteran’s DD214 discharge papers to the funeral home and ask for an honor guard to conduct a flag ceremony. • Although the funeral home can arrange for the honor guard to include a bugler to play “Taps”, that bugler may bring a bugle and play a tape recording. • To arrange for a “live bugler”, contact Raymond Keel, a veteran who attend veterans’ funerals and plays “Taps” live. • Call...
Robert Shafton Kohn ~ 97 Robert Shafton Kohn served in combat in the U. S. Army’s Infantry for 52 days in the WWII Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Rhineland under General George Patton in the 3rd Army, 90th Infantry Division, 359th Battalion, Company M (Heavy Weapons). Company M used 81 mm mortars and 30-caliber machine guns. Soldiers carried a 30-caliber carbine and a 45-caliber pistol. He also served stateside in the Army National Guard for 13 months during the time of the Korean W...
Thomas Daniel Davis ~ 99 Thomas Daniel Davis is a 99 year-old United States veteran who completed 30 years of military service in two branches, namely, the U. S. Navy for 10 years and the U. S. Marine Corps for 20 years. He served in three wars including WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War with multiple tours to Japan, Korea and Vietnam. Davis received the following medals: sixty Good Conduct Medals with Two Stars, the Vietnam Service Medal with Two Stars, the Vietnam Campaign Medal with...
John F. Morrow ~ 97 Battle of the Bulge Hero John F. Morrow is a 97 year-old WWII veteran who served as a U. S. Army tank driver in the liberation of Belgium, Holland, France and Germany. Lt. General George S. Patton was his commander during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes, a region in southeast Belgium that extends into Luxembourg, Germany and France. The Battle of the Bulge was the major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II taking place from December 16,...
William Ellis Duncan ~ 96 William (Bill) Ellis Duncan is a 96-year-old World War II veteran who served for three years during 1943–1946 in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps and transportation unit. His service in Europe included driving jeeps to supply General George S. Patton’s Third Army as it prepared to liberate Frankfort, Germany, as well as driving ambulances to transport wounded GIs for medical treatment. Duncan is very modest about his contributions during WWII, yet his ser...
Lt. Col. George C. Winn 95 Lt. Col. George C. Winn is a distinguished veteran of three wars, namely, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War serving 31-plus years with three years in the U.S. Navy and 28 years in the U. S. Air Force. Winn received 21 awards and decorations. The most notable awards are the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Air Force Commendation Medal. In addition, he received four foreign decorations including the RV Chuong-My Medal which...
Jacob Thomas Chesnutt, Jr. For three years during WWII, Thomas Chesnutt served as a 1st Class Petty Officer radar technician on the destroyer, U.S.S. Fletcher (DD 445) which was named for World War I-era Atlantic Fleet commander Admiral Frank Friday and which traveled over 250,000 miles in the South Pacific. The Fletcher destroyer measured 376 ft. with a speed of 36 knots with the capacity of carrying 273 officers and enlisted men. This was the first combat application of what came to be known a...
John Lakeos John Lakeos served in the U. S. Air Force for 24 years reaching the rank of Master Sergeant. His M.O. was aircrew pararescue/recovery technician. John went to S.E. Asia, flew helicopters into Cambodia, Laos and N. Vietnam where he rescued downed pilots and took them to medical units. He witnessed many wounded and dying. From the helicopters, John went down by cable and secured the wounded to a cable which hoisted the person up to the helicopters. Escort WWII dive bombers assisted in...
Dr. Donald E. Hayhurst Dr. Don Hayhurst landed on Omaha Beach with a U. S. Army tank recovery unit about 10 days after the initial landing and invasion of the Allies. Although his unit was supposed to land on June 18th and then convoy across the country, the waves were coming in making it just too tough to get to shore immediately. Hayhurst and his men finally made it. He received five battle service stars for his participation in combat including Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge and the Rhinel...
James Manley: Battle of the Bulge Hero Jim Manley served in the United States Army February, 1944 November,1947, seeing action in the Italian Campaign during WWII. The Allied troops suffered 320,000 casualties and the Germans’ figure was over 330,000. No other campaign cost more lives and wounds by infantry forces on both sides, yet Jim came through unscathed. His infantry unit continued fighting in liberating France, and he participated in the Battle of the Bulge with General George P...
Robert Terry Harper Robert Terry Harper during three wars, namely, WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He served a total of 22.5 years with 4.5 years in the Navy and 18 years in the Air Force. Robert served as an aircraft mechanic and reached the rank of E7 Master Sergeant at the end of his service. He was never wounded in combat; however he did receive one injury, a smashed finger. Robert was born in Red Level, AL, and he lived there until in 1944. He volunteered at the age of 18, joining...
Winfred Lowe Winfred Lowe served in WWII in the Infantry Branch of the U. S. Army at Europe for 22 months where he was on the front line carrying an M1 rifle starting out in France and then to Germany and to Salzburg, Austria. Winfred completed high school after WWII, and he worked at a retail tractor dealer, Cotton Ford Tractor Company at Andalusia for 36 years. His wife, Mary Hudson, and he had three daughters. Winfred’s patriotism is still strong as evidenced by his words, “I was proud to...
Col. Joe Panza serves as the Executive Director of the Air University Foundation at Maxwell Air Force Base. His distinguished military career encompassed 34 years of service in the U. S. Navy and the U. S. Air Force. At age 17, he joined the Navy as a Communications Technician with the Naval Security Group with oversees tours in Hawaii, Okinawa and Japan. After being discharged with the rank of Second Class Petty Officer (E-5), he worked for IBM for one year before graduating from San Jose...
