Paul B. Huff, CMOH

[Maikäfer]

Great thread, I read it with a lot of interest!

[Ron C.]

Something else SGT Huff gave me

Since I am sorting stuff now that I am retired, I found something else SGT Huff gave me that I didn't have room for in the display......I planned to make another small display but never got to it.

These are some 509th backgrounds and his old wings (he got a new set to add the devices to), and he had a couple of extras that he had never worn.

Ron

[Ron C.]

A small world! My first squad leader in the Army in 1960 was SGT Eddie Reid who used to talk about serving with Paul Huff in the 101st Abn Div in the mid-late 1950s. Needless to say, he considered CSM Huff to be one of his role models.

Mr. Hodge,

Sorry that I did not notice your post before, and that I am responding so late. The only thing I can say in my defense is simply sometimes the pressures of work, and strokes can sort of distract one. It is a small world. In 1957, as a young and dumb 17 year old PVT with the 801st ABN Maint. Bn., having heard about this hero on post who had recieved the MOH,.................when I ran into him on post one day, and I saw that ribbon on his chest (he was in class A's headed somewhere), I almost crapped my pants........I snapped to attention, nearly breaking my heels, and threw a salute that if I had hit my forehead might have knocked me cold, and I almost screamed "good morning, or good afternoon, SIR" my voice nearly broke.........I had never seen anyone wear that ribbon before, and I thought I might be in the presence of God's right hand man!! He looked at me and as he was returning my salute he said somewhat sternly "relax son, you did it right, and don't call me sir.......I work for a living".........then he gave a faint smile and went on about whatever he was headed for............I stood there for a while and finally got the strength to move from my tracks. I am sure it was totally obvious to him that I was fresh out of basic. In basic I had a good teacher, SFC Haywood...he was a a combat veteran of the USMC, and had made landings at places like Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima, and made it through.......later he went back to the service, but this time in the army airborne.......he made the combat jump with the 187th in Korea.........and he was one "bad ass". He told us that if he ever even heard that we passed a man wearing that ribbon by without saluting.....he would rip off our legs and arms, and suck our eyeballs out.......damned if I don't think he would have......and he would have enjoyed it. He was a very hard man.........but he was a damned fair one, just like SGT Huff.

That day at FT. Campbell I would never have believed that I would ever be friends with SGT Huff. In fact, when I came back as a JAG CPT years later and they told me I should go see him I wouldn't go...........the staff called him and set me up, and handed me the phone........I don't know what they said to him......they told me that they were sure he would like me, even though he ran off a lot of people coming to see him.........when I got on the phone with him he asked me if I would like to visit him at his home that night. Of course, I said "Yes Sir".........he laughed.
Later that evening we actually met for the first time........he said "have I seen you before"........I said yes sir, and told him about the meeting........he said "so you were that young soldier", and he invited me in he said "come on in........and you don't have to call me sir.......I used to work for a living". He introduced me to his wife and said something to the effect of "do you remember that young soldier I told you about years ago who gave one one of the sharpest salutes I had ever seen"........she answered in the affirmative and smiled........he said "this is him". We became friends. Now I have no real idea if he remembered me, or the staff told him.....although I don't remember telling them the whole story..........but we never talked about it again, and I wasn't going to cross-examine SGT Huff .

So all I can say about SGT Reid is he must have been a hell of a soldier, because his role model was OUTSTANDING!!

Sorry for the late response,
Ron

[Ron C.]

I have been sent a photo of SGT Huff which really pleases me. I will not tell where it came from, unless the person wants me to do so. I believe it is a shot that was likely taken shortly after the ceremony in the woods, when he was presented the MOH by General Clark and I will say why. It is a bit hard to do with old photos, even ones that have been converted to digital.....actually with any old snapshots, since they are never the original images.......yes, that is right, the original is the negative (unless that has been copied), and the quality of a print depends on the skills of the one printing it from the negative. Here is why I think the picture comes from the period I said above.

1. From the different prints I have of the ceremony, it appears that the cap is the one worn in the presentation picture. To me it looks like it has the same bend to the front edge of the top.

2. He is in theatre and is wearing his ribbons and badges......not done real often in combat situations. He also has a MOH ribbon.

3. His shirt appears to have dark areas like he was sweating through it in places. The day he was awarded the medal in Italy June 8, 1944, according to the date that the photographer had on the back of the photo that General Clark sent me. I know the action was February 8, 1944, and I know that the G.O. was dated May 26, 1944, but I would doubt that any medal was presented on the day the G.O. was issued. Since the photographer's records apparently said he took the photo on June 8, 1944, I would bet that said date was when the photo was taken, and the date that General Clark placed the medal around his neck. I also note that he was a CPL on the date of action, managed to get busted to slick sleeve PVT, for striking a 2nd LT, that overturned and promoted to SSG between the action and date the photo was taken.

4. June in Italy near the Med may have been a little warm. Nearly everyone in the award group is in only shirt sleeves, including General Clark, one even has his sleeves rolled up..........except SGT Huff. He is wearing a shirt with a jump jacket over it..........may have been a little cooler in the early part of the day. So, later at presentation and photo time, it may have been a bit warmer, and he may have been sweating a bit.......his forehead even looks a bit moist to me in the new photo. I knew SGT Huff somewhat, and he was a rather profuse sweater who loved air-conditioning.......stayed out of the sun in the warmer part of the day as best as he could.

5. In the photograph with all the people lined up in the woods.........behind them up the hill is what appears to be a building of some type that could be made of brick, hard to tell. I think that after the ceremony they could well have gone up to that building, and Paul might have said "Damn.....I'm hotter than hell" and pulled off his jump jacket (of course one might be sweating a little more than normal when he was in front of General Clark getting the MOH.....especially Paul). From knowing Paul, even for as short a period as I actually did, he would not have continued to wear the MOH around his neck after the ceremony.......he would have taken it off as soon as he could, put it back in the case, pinned on the ribbon, and safely placed the medal in his jump jacket pocket and snapped that shut. He would have been very proud of that medal and would not have wanted to risk it even getting slightly damaged or soiled. Oh, he didn't think he was a hero, he was just doing his job.........but I ask you.......if you "did your job" so well that your main boss gave you special recognition for doing it the way you did, wouldn't you be proud that you really did your job good. I know Paul would be, I know how he looked when he showed me a home project he had finished one time, and when I told him "Paul.....you did a really good job on that", and I wasn't even his boss, and no way near a General. Paul was really proud of his recognition for doing his job very good. I also know that he didn't have any of the original neck ribbons for the MOH......why? Easy.....they would give him new ones, if he wanted them at the various get togethers, and he didn't want the medal to be tarnished by a dirty ribbon........even in a box, over time the ribbon gets a bit aged looking. He wanted his to look like he was just recognized for doing his job really well. The ribbon wasn't important to him......but the medal sure the hell was, even though he was just doing his job.

6. I think that when he got back to that building on the hill, and got his medal safely tucked away, put his ribbon on, and got the jacket off, one of his buddies likely said "hey Paul.....I gotta have a picture of you today", and this picture was the result. Take a look at the picture I took of him in his own living room on one of my visits. I didn't take but that one.......he didn't like his picture taken.....he is frowning at me (he wasn't much on smiling in any picture....look at the others I posted...not counting the one when he was a bit looped with the milkshake). I never even tried to take another picture of him.......didn't want to irritate him. But look at the picture I was sent and am posting........hell for Paul that is an "ear to ear" smile....look close he couldn't really totally surpress everything.......his mouth is about to burst into a big grin (and may have right after the shutter fired).......Paul was at that moment a very proud man.....he had just been told by his main boss that he had done his job really well.

As a former lawyer, prosecutor, JAG CPT and judge..........I rest my case, and show you what I contend is a picture of SGT Paul B. Huff, the first paratrooper to be awarded the CMOH shortly after he was awarded it!! Don't accept my argument...........you have the floor so to speak.........argue your case.

Thank you very much for sending me that picture.....safeguard the original if you have it....you have a very scarce picture, and one that I never saw before, and that Paul did not have........I asked him, and he said......"wish I did, but the ones I gave you are the only ones I had".......God I wish he was still alive.......I would love to show him that picture and see the look on his face.........I think he would have smiled and said "where did you get that". I won't post the others. I think they are funny, and just like him, but I respect Paul........and what he did, and wouldn't want to. I think he knew that I respected him, and I think he also respected me, and I think that is why he gave me the medal that I never asked him for, and would never have, the one that his main boss gave him for doing his job really well.

I can offer no further proof of the circumstances of this picture. Can you offer any proof to the contrary.....or a reasonable alternative set of circumstances?

Ron

Paul Huff shortly after being presented the CMOH by General Mark Clark

[Steve P]

Great Thread Guys...excellent stories and memorabilia!

[KC1]

Hello Ron,

A magnificent story... thank you for taking time and sharing with the many of us the story and photos of CMOH recipient Sgt. Huff.

[Ron C.]

Hello Ron,

A magnificent story... thank you for taking time and sharing with the many of us the story and photos of CMOH recipient Sgt. Huff.

Hi Dan,

You are welcome. Now that I am retired, I may soon be starting to sort some of my stuff seriously......after I get my little problem with my basement fixed so I can....... and possibly help my wife put together some stuff for her potential suit over some botched surgery, which caused her to have to have a liver transplant. In any event the time is getting newer......I don't really want to keep it all anymore. I never really was that much of a buckle collector anyway....may just want to keep a few.......so maybe something you might be interested in....maybe.

Ron

Not SGT Huff's medal .....don't think you collect that anyway.......and I would not want to risk ending up, after a 20 year career as a minor judge in the federal system, in a federal prison anyway.

[Craig Gottlieb]

What a great story - thank you for taking the time to present it.

[Matt A.]

Paul Huff Soldier Page on the 509th PIA website

Hello, I am with the 509th Parachute Infantry Association and manage the official website www.509thgeronimo.org

I have a Soldier Page dedicated to Paul Huff as I do many Veterans. I would like your help to improve his Soldier Page based on the time that you spent with him. I would also like your permission to use the photos you posted here to add to his page. You can view his page at
http://www.509thgeronimo.org/soldierhuff.htm

I look forward to hearing from you.

GERONIMO

[Ron C.]

Hello, I am with the 509th Parachute Infantry Association and manage the official website www.509thgeronimo.org

I have a Soldier Page dedicated to Paul Huff as I do many Veterans. I would like your help to improve his Soldier Page based on the time that you spent with him. I would also like your permission to use the photos you posted here to add to his page. You can view his page at
http://www.509thgeronimo.org/soldierhuff.htm

I look forward to hearing from you.

GERONIMO

Matt,

Or should I call you Major Matt , I would be happy to help you as best I can to honor Paul Huff. I have had a fairly recent stroke (May of 2009), which caused me to retire a bit early.......I am only 70, and had no plans of retiring yet. It has caused some brain damage, and some memory loss.......but a lot of my abilities have seemed to come back (though not all......maybe in time it will get better yet.........maybe........but I ramble a bit etc.). I will do what I can. If you will contact me by PM, I will give you a way to contact me......and I can send pictures to you for your use that may be a bit better than the ones posted here, and you can reduce them to the most appropriate size for you. I will give you permission to use the photos that I took, since I am the photographer, so to speak, who took them, and I did copyright them.

Ron

[Ron C.]

..

[Ron C.]

Apparently I have been unclear in my posting, and I want to set the record straight. I do not blame the people who were confused by my posting......it probably was me, or the results of my stroke......I tend to ramble a bit now.....which of course is still me. This is a copy of the wording of an explanation to but one of the people I confused.

" I am very much afraid that I have not made myself clear enough……maybe it is a result of my stroke……but I will try better. 1st before I go into the other stuff, I am sorry but I do not read or speak French, if that is the language in which the article is written, so, even though I am sure it is a good article, I really don’t know what it says. 2nd, even though I felt like I had known Paul forever, because we really seemed to hit it off, I only knew him for a very short time in our lives. I was not really important in his life and I don’t know if he ever even thought of me……I don’t remember him ever sending me a card, note, Christmas card, and he never called me on the phone. He and his wife, Betty, were very nice people, and were very hospitable to me……but we were not “close” friends in the normal sense…..although I considered him to be a good friend in that he was very friendly to me and he was very good to me, but beyond that I really have no idea how he regarded me…………except I think he liked me, again though I don’t remember him saying so. I think his wife, Betty, though told me he liked me, because, I think she said, that he wasn’t normally that way with the people who came to see him, and that he enjoyed talking with me. I think they always invited me back, but that could be simple politeness. I did bring a friend of mine with me one time though, and SGT Huff and Betty welcomed him as a friend of mine too. 3rd, and maybe the most important. Although I did copyright the pictures I took, and give you the right to use them, I did not get a model release from SGT Huff for the one photo I took of him in his living room that night and so I don’t know if there would be any problems there. I doubt that his family would mind it being used, but I do not have the address of his family, and don’t really even meet any of them except Betty, and I don’t know where she lives……don’t even have his old address. I must have lost it in the fire I had in 1987, or, if not, due to the stroke I can’t remember where I put it; finally, I cannot take more pictures of the engraved medal…….like I said, I think, I don’t have the engraved one, he told me that the engraved one was the one that President Roosevelt awarded him when he came back to the states on the War Bond Tour, and when he asked me if I was to have one which one would I want……..I told him that I would prefer the one General Clark put on him, which I understood to be the un-engraved one…….he smiled and gave that one to me. I never have had the engraved one, I just took pictures of it in his home the night he showed it to me. Here is the letter he signed to me to keep me from having trouble owning the medal…….I removed my name and address from this letter with PhotoShop because I didn’t want people bugging me about the medal….since I didn’t want to sell it etc.. I, of course have the unaltered one, but I still don’t want people bugging me about it, and, anyway, I am not important……he is, so you really don’t need to credit me with anything. I can send you higher resolution scans of my photos…..300 dpi……but I can’t take more……sorry.

****note--picture not included in this post, posted hereinbefore.

If I didn’t send it before, here is a crop of General Clark awarding the medal to SGT Huff, which General Clark sent me, without my name on it. It was taken by an army photographer with the signal corps.



I don’t want to profit in any way or even in the slightest. I am not a professional photographer, and have never made a dime on any of my pictures, nor do I plan to become one, but, if I did, I don’t want to even remotely profit by my taking pictures of SGT Huff’s stuff………so I do not need any credit. Good luck with your project to honor Paul……….he deserved it.

Ron"

I hope this resolves some of the confusion I may have inadvertantly created. I wish I had known SGT Huff longer, lived closer and could have visited him more often (trip was about an 8 to 10 hour drive), I think we might have possibly become "close" friends, and I would have liked that......don't really know about him though, he was sort of a reserved man.......to me he seemed somewhat of a "quiet man"......didn't bragg and etc.., but sort of a quiet proud man.......who knew he had done his job well......no bragg....just fact, but of course he had his opinions and he sure would give you that if you asked! I just happened to agree with most of his opinions

Again I am sorry for any confusion I may have created. Maybe it would be good if I quit posting things.......I seem to be unable to make myself clear, maybe I have not recovered as much as I thought I had from my stroke, and I ramble a bit now. I was going to sort my stuff and start selling some of it myself, as soon as I could determine present fair prices (I am over 25 years out of date)......but maybe I should just let my friends have it to take to the SOS and such to sell for me.......they said it was worth more now than what I thought anyway. I don't want any more confusion.

Ron

P.S. I just realized this is right below Matt's post........it was not Matt that I confused......at least I don't think I did.

[TJ Suter]

.......and I would not want to risk ending up, after a 20 year career as a minor judge in the federal system, in a federal prison anyway.

It wouldn't be so bad, they'd put you in protective custody so you wouldn't have to associate with the riff raff....

Thanks for sharing the story and photos.

[Ron C.]

It wouldn't be so bad, they'd put you in protective custody so you wouldn't have to associate with the riff raff....

Thanks for sharing the story and photos.

SGT I know you are joking, or at least I hope so , but after some of the "upstanding citizens and poor victims of society" I helped put away, I really wouldn't want to be among them.....even in the same building ......not without my friend Mr. Smith, or was it Mr. Wesson. Some might even still be there, and they did make me a promise of sorts.........I told the transporting Trooper to thank them for me for the defense........but they were on to the state retirement facility.....not federal. I was a prosecutor a "few" years back. Besides I want to be around as long as I can for my 12 year old son..........I would like to see him get a start as a young man.

Ron

[Homer Hodge]

Mr. Hodge,

Sorry that I did not notice your post before, and that I am responding so late. So all I can say about SGT Reid is he must have been a hell of a soldier, because his role model was OUTSTANDING!!

Sorry for the late response,
Ron

Ron, No problem re: your late response. As you can see, I just now revisited this thread and saw your posting from a couple of months ago. Yes, SGT Eddie Reid was one hell of a soldier in my opinion - more than a soldier, he was an Airborne soldier. By his fine example and leadership, I was inspired to make a career in the Army. Unfortunately I lost track of him long ago but I know he was with 1st Special Forces Group on Okinawa in the early 60s when the teams of 1st Group were making 6 month TDYs to Vietnam. I don't know where he went after that.
Anyway, I thank you for starting this wonderful history-filled thread about a great paratrooper - Paul Huff.