Vietnam

ROY P. BENAVIDEZ

ROY P. BENAVIDEZ

Jan 1, 2019 | ,

Roy Benavidez, a Medal of Honor recipient, died November 29, 1998, at age 63. He had been a member of Chapter 1919, Military Order of the Purple Heart for two years at the time of his death. An extract, only a part of the wording from the citation of his award tells this story. The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of the Congress the Medal of Honor to: MASTER SERGEANT ROY P. BENAVIDEZ, UNITED STATES ARMY, (RETIRED), for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty: On May 2, 1968, Master Sergeant (then Staff Sergeant) ROY P. BENAVIDEZ...

MILTON B. (MILT) CARR

MILTON B. (MILT) CARR

Jan 1, 2019 | ,

Milton Carr was born in Clarksville, Texas in 1938. He grew up on a farm in North Texas in Archer County and graduated from Megargel High School in 1956. He then enrolled in Midwestern (State) University in Wichita Falls, and upon graduation there in 1960, was commissioned through the Army ROTC as a Second Lieutenant and ordered to active duty in the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, Texas. During the next twenty-nine years, he served in the various positions of command and staff that are normal for a career Army Officer and attended the appropriate service schools. He held command assignments from platoon through battalion; served in staff officer positions from battalion...

JOHN P. McMAHON

JOHN P. McMAHON

Dec 1, 2018 | ,

John Paul McMahon was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota in 1947. He was the oldest of five children in the McMahon family. He got the first name, John, because his father, a WWII veteran who had been the navigator on a B-17 bomber, had lost his brother John during the war; and his middle name, Paul, was chosen for an uncle on his mother’s side, Paul, who had been killed in action during the war. John grew up and attended schools in St. Cloud, and graduated there from Cathedral High School with the Class of 1965. During his childhood years John had a best friend, Dave Nelson, who also graduated from high school in 1965. At the time, knowing that being drafted for the war in Vietnam...

VINCENT (VINCE) RIOS

VINCENT (VINCE) RIOS

Jul 1, 2013 | ,

Vincent Rios was born in Houston, Texas in 1945. After WWII his family settled in Bryan for several years and then, when Vince was eight, they moved to Fort Worth where, from second grade on he spent his growing up years. He was attending Diamond Hill Junior High School in 1960 when he first met Cheryl, the girl who would become his wife. He liked being on the football team in high school, but Vince describes those times as “tumultuous” and says he was a “high strung” teenager. Among his misadventures he spray painted his school’s initials on a rival team’s bus (Castleberry High) and that got him kicked off the football team and out of school for a week. Nonetheless, Vincent...

AUBREY D. DISMUKES

AUBREY D. DISMUKES

May 1, 2013 | ,

Aubrey De Layne Dismukes was born in Temple, Texas in 1947. During his childhood, the family moved to Mountain View, California (near San Francisco, in the bay area) where Aubrey graduated from Mountain View High School with the Class of 1965. The next year, he had taken his physical for the draft, but then enlisted for the Aircraft Maintenance specialty, and entered active duty in the Army on November 14, 1966. He completed Basic Training at Fort Lewis, Washington followed by Advanced Individual Training in the U.S. Army Aviation Center and School at Fort Rucker, Alabama, then proceeded to Fort Sill, Oklahoma upon being accepted for Officer Candidate School. He graduated...

KERRY L. ORR

Feb 1, 2013 | ,

Kerry Orr was born in 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up there, graduated from Patapsco High School with the Class of 1966 and then enrolled in the University of Baltimore. He initially had a student deferment from the draft, but gave it up and almost immediately received his draft call. He was inducted into the Army July 7, 1967. Private Orr went through Basic Combat Training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He scored high in testing and was offered the opportunity to go to Officer Candidate School. While taking the time allowed to consider his O.C.S. offer, all the others with him in basic training received orders to proceed to Fort Gordon, Georgia for advanced training...

CHARLES E. BONNEY

CHARLES E. BONNEY

Jan 1, 2013 | ,

Charles Bonney was born in McCamey, Texas (Upton County) in 1938, but soon after his family moved to Ranger and he grew up there. He graduated from Ranger High School in 1957; then attended Ranger Junior College, graduating in 1959. Charles says, “Thereafter, I graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1961 with a BA degree. I then graduated from the UT School of Law in 1964 and was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in the same year. I was selected to serve as briefing attorney for Judge W.A. Morrison, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin. In October 1964, I married Betty Menn and in 1965 we departed Austin for Houston where I became an Assistant DA for Harris...

ERNEST G. (ERNIE) BANASAU, JR.

Mar 1, 2012 | ,

Ernie is proud of his Native American roots and his long family history of military service to the nation. He is descended from a Chiricahua Apache grandfather who was a wrangler for the U.S. Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas in the 1930’s, and then went on to serve as an artilleryman in the Pacific during WWII. At least one earlier family member had served as an Indian Scout for the U.S. Cavalry during the campaigns of the late 1800’s in the southwest. Ernie’s father was a career Air Force NCO who, during WWII, was a gunner on a B-24 flying long range Anti-Submarine missions over the Atlantic, during which he was credited with shooting down three German flying boats for which he...

JAMES L. (JIM) BROWN

Feb 1, 2012 | ,

James L. “Jim” Brown and his twin brother, William D. “Bill” Brown, were born in San Saba, Texas in 1946. The Brown family lived in Llano during their early years and they completed elementary school there. In 1957 they moved to south Austin where the two brothers completed grades 7 through 9 at Fulmore Junior High School. During Jim’s high school years he formed friendships with schoolmates that endure today in Chapter 1919 with Patriots John Eli and John Burkhardt. During the summer breaks he began doing construction work with local companies. Jim and Bill both graduated from Travis High School with the Class of 1964 and both immediately took a full time job in...

CHARLES S. (CHUCK) GAEDE

Jan 1, 2012 | ,

Charles S. Gaede was born in Olney, Illinois in 1944 and he grew up on a farm in Edwards County near West Salem. In his first five school years, he was one of four students in his class in Shelby School, a one-room country school. He moved up, attending the West Salem School through 9th grade, and then Edwards County High School in Albion, where he graduated with the class of 1962. He enrolled in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in October 1964 joined the Marine Corps Platoon Leader Course. He graduated from the university in January 1967, was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve on February 10, 1967, and entered active duty May 31st....

DAVID L. PENNINGTON

Dec 1, 2011 | ,

David L. Pennington was born in Dodge City, Kansas in 1947. He grew up on a farm about mid-way between there and Meade, Kansas and attended public schools in Meade. After his third year in high school the family moved to Dodge City and he graduated from Dodge City High School with the Class of 1965. He had taken a year’s training in Auto Mechanics in high school and decided that’s what he wanted to do. So, he completed the course with another year in Vocational Training School. However, before he could get started in an auto mechanics career, the war in Vietnam was requiring increasing manpower and David received his draft notice. He reported for the draft and was far along...

DANNY BAKER

Oct 1, 2011 | ,

“I was born in Dayton, Ohio and lived there or in Kettering, for most of my pre-military experience. I graduated from Kettering Fairmont High School in 1964, started work at General Motors, married my first wife, and started back to school part-time. I was living a pretty normal life until March 17, 1968 when I was lucky enough to receive the letter from the government that read "Greetings". I was married, working, and going to school part-time and definitely not expecting to receive a letter like this on Saint Patrick's Day. So much for Irish luck! I reported to the Cincinnati draft board, took my physical, returned home then returned to be sworn in. From there it was on to...