Better than 'Happy Birthday!'

[Jimmy]

Welcome to civie life..

Thanks for your service...

[Robert P.]

Thanks Jimmy,

One of my closest friends is from Texas. He was in the Rangers, 101st AB, Vietnam era. He went to Texas A&M, became an architect once out of the service. He's 72-years-old, and today he deals directly with servicemen and women being discharged from combat. His life has been, and still is, a life of service. Wonderful gentleman.

Robert

[Jimmy]

Robert

Texas is good...
A&M is good..........
101st is real good......
72 is awesome...............

[Robert P.]

Jimmy,

He always tells me the first thing he learned in school as a kid was the history of TEXAS, not the history of the United States. He's proud to be a Texan. He left the service as a captain with the Silver Star with oakleaf cluster. One of the few 'real' men I've had the pleasure to know in my life.

Robert

[Jimmy]

He's right

Texas history was a required subject in school.
US history not so much.
I think one semester in high school I had both of them.
I Loved history than as much as now.
My high school history teacher was a B-24 crewman in the 15th USAAF in Italy.
I remember him bringing a German helmet to class.
He said he had to trade with an infantry man to get it.
I still remember his name it was Roger Carroll.
He was my only high school teacher who made an impression on me.
"Remember the Alamo" was used a lot back then.
Not so much now-a-days.

[Robert P.]

My Jr. High School science teacher was a Marauder pilot over France and Germany. His 1-hr. classes consisted of fifty minutes of war stories and five minutes of homework assignments. His classroom was filled with sections of German warplanes with swastikas and iron crosses on them. His most memorable story was one I will never forget. He said from the second the B-17's crossed the English Channel over into France the German fighters were swarming them like hornets all the way to Germany and back to the Channel. Later in life I worked with a man whose father was a Marauder pilot as well. His account of how effective the German flak crews were on allied aircraft is in Marc Garlasco's book on the flak badge, page 5. He's still alive today. I gave him an iron cross and a war merit cross one day. He accepted them.

Robert

[Gary B]

Robert,

Congrats on your son's discharge and return home from the Army. I was the Assistant Cermonies Officer for the, then, Military District of Washington, and worked extensiveley with the Old Guard. Being a Tomb Guard is one of the highest honors a mamber of the Old Guard can do.

Gary B

[Robert P.]

Thank you for your service, Gary.

This is his mother having the honors of pinning on his Honor Guard Badge...

Robert

[Douglas 5]

What a proud occasion indeed ... and congratulations Robert .
My dad served (RCAF) and brother (Vietnam) .

Douglas

[Robert P.]

Thanks Gary,

Where was your brother stationed in Vietnam? What years? Do you happen to know?

Robert

[Robert P.]

This is a prize photo. The final step in preparing the uniform for 'the walk' is having a fellow guard look you over from head to toe. He pats you down with tape wrapped around his hand to take any lint or fuzz off of your uniform. Before this a guard hangs his uniform over a chair in the dressing room and burns off any loose threads from the uniform. He does this by spraying hair spray over a Bic lighter, creating a flame thrower. One day my son executed this and left the room abruptly. Shortly smoke came from the dressing room. He had lit one of his uniforms on fire. Well, they evacuated the guard's room after putting the fire out, then left the smoke-filled room to air out. These are a few nicknames they gave my son...

Robert

[Douglas 5]

Priceless memories ........ Jonny nitro !

Well Robert .... Greg's army book I have not seen for a while as it is in the States - but what I know : very destinctive - Ironside triangle patch . Tank/armoured vehicle repair unit ( cogwheel) of the 1st Army division - can't remember correctly - his unit not assigned field combat in Vietnam .... He went anyway with a small group sent for non combat support maintenance purpose . Time frame - 1970 to 71 - about 6 months - do not know where he was stationed - the station closed down after which he was transferred to the old SS Kaserne - Merrell Barracks in Nurnberg - shot up badly from 1945 .
The unit markers are hanging from the balcony - can't identify them .

Douglas

[Robert P.]

Thank you,

I've always had an interest in knowing where others were stationed in Vietnam, since I served there myself from '68-'70. One never knows if those you ask were in the same basecamp/LZ/fire support base you were at. I've found a handful of others in the last 40+ years who were where I was.

Thanks again,
Robert