Coal Miner's Sons

--General Gavin reviewing the troops

A gun is a tool entirely without humor
--Absent Without Leave, Heinrich Böll

Whether all is really lost
or not depends entirely on
whether or not I am lost
--It is I Who Must Begin,
Vaclav Havel
____________________

Let us celebrate the 68th anniversary of D-Day by looking at a photo memory of two Airborne officers -- one being an inspiration to a later generation of paratroopers. It is a photo of two slim guys named Jim shaking hands, one of my most cherished moments of my brief service. Ranger was 26 here, and D-Day was 28 years past.

This photo was taken in 1972 when two men, both sons of Pennsylvania coal miners, met at Ft. Benning, Georgia at the Headquarters of the 4th Student Battalion (Abn.), commonly called, Jump School. General Gavin was kind enough to visit our unit, providing a link between the Old School officers and the new troopers.

No history is needed for Gen. Gavin as the history of World War II and the 82nd Airborne is also the history of men like Gavin. He jumped into actions with his men, and always carried an M-1 rifle, the assigned weapon of the Infantryman. Gavin carried the weapon of a buck Private, just as Gen. Grant wore the Private's tunic throughout the Civil War; both men were linked to the fighting men of their command.

General Gavin participated in ground combat and killed Germans -- on one occasion a Machine Gunner and crew -- with direct fire from his assigned weapon, the basic tool of the Army. Those were the days that created the Airborne mythos which guys like Ranger sought to emulate.

Above is an Army plaque that shows what Airborne and Ranger Infantry looked like in WW II. These plaques used to be in every Army day room back in the 1960's and 70's; Ranger liberated this copy just as Gavin's 82nd helped liberate France.

General Gavin is buried at West Point Military Academy. How can anyone live up to the standards of men like Gen. Gavin?

Will my pen ever be more effective than an M-1 rifle?

--Tyke demonstrating how the paratroopers
must have felt on D-Day

D-Day

For some of them ... tomorrow

Is a day ... they'll never see

I can't promise we'll all make it lads

But I'll do my best ... you'll see

--The Coxswain, Tony Chapman

"Never again," was the heartfelt motto,

"Lest We Forget," became the Veteran's Day theme,

But the big guns did not long stay silent

And Peace is still a will o' wisp dream

--Lest We Forget, Mike Puhallo

________________

Ranger recognizes the D-Day Normany Landings, June 6, 1944, and all the veterans who took part in the actions of that harrowing day 65 years ago.

We will include a poem written by a friend and Vietnam Veteran, Joe Lama, in 1973:

Yours


We are the sons, your sons,

of another lost generation.

Some of us have been Lost,

Not to death, but to Hate, to Greed, to Insensitivity.


Yet a few of us are alive to life, to Optimism.


We have experienced that which you could not,

But in telling you of our Optimism,

Which we must,

We assume the risk of perpetuating The War Myth.


This is our true burden,

our true legacy.

D-Day's Plan B

On D-day, it is wise to remember the small note which Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander, had written the day before, and placed in his wallet in the event of the mission's failure.

Simply,

"Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based on the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

It is a lesson of leadership, and responsibility to his troops. He would withdraw the troops if a satisfactory foothold was not gained.

It is called having a Plan B.