Patriot Stories from the United States Army

JAMES P. (JIM) BRYANT

JAMES P. (JIM) BRYANT

Oct 1, 2019 | ,

James P. Bryant was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1930 and he grew up there, attending St. Paul’s Grammar School and Snyder High School. As a fifteen year-old in high school, he worked for about a year as an usher in the Bergen Theatre in Jersey City. Leaving school early, as soon as he turned seventeen he enlisted in the Army. He later went into the service, “to avoid a dead end situation in a bad section of Jersey,” and he was determined to take control of his own future. He entered active duty November 3, 1947 in New York, NY, did his 13 weeks of Basic Training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and then was sent to the Transportation School at Fort Eustis, Virginia where he...

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...

MORT SHEFFLOE

Sep 1, 2017 | ,

Mort Sheffloe was born in Crookston, Minnesota in 1924. He attended public schools there, had a paper route, was in the Boy Scouts, and had the usual childhood growing-up experiences that one might expect in just about every way except for one thing. Today he says, “I had four sisters, so I never ever had to wash dishes.” During his senior year in high school he worked a part time job with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. He received his draft notice when he was a senior but was allowed to finish (just barely) the school year and graduate with the Crookston High School Class of 1943. So then, in May 1943 he along with 35 others of his classmates, reported in at Fort...

KEITH C. CARTER

KEITH C. CARTER

Jul 1, 2017 | ,

Keith Carter was born in Cleveland, Liberty County Texas in 1925. He grew up there and graduated in 1943 as Valedictorian of Cleveland High School. He worked for six weeks with a geophysical crew exploring for possible petroleum prospects. As expected he soon received his draft notice, reported to Fort Sam Houston and was inducted there on September 9. After his processing he was sent to Fort Benning Georgia in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). After 13 weeks basic training he was enrolled at Purdue University as a mechanical engineering student. Six weeks into the program, the ASTP was abruptly cancelled in March 1944 for all the students at various universities....

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...

JOHN T. (JACK) HODES

Oct 1, 2012 | ,

Patriot John T. “Jack” Hodes, a Korean War wounded Army veteran, died April 16, 2012 at age 85. He was born at Fort Laramie, near Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1926 and grew up in an Army family (his father having been the late General Henry I. Hodes). Jack was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1949. He was wounded on April 4, 1951 at Chunchon, Korea when assigned to Company F, 8th Cavalry Regt., 1st Cavalry Division. He also had overseas assignments in Germany and Vietnam during his 30 years active duty before retiring in the grade of Colonel at Fort Hood, Texas. At Fort Hood, Colonel Hodes founded and helped build the first two recreational...

KERRY G. MERRITT

Jul 1, 2012 | , ,

Kerry Merritt was born in Luling, Texas in 1925, the youngest in a family of three brothers. The Merritt’s moved to a farm at Lockhart, three miles out on the San Marcos road, when Kerry was about a year and a half old. During the great Depression, the family operated the “Merritt Dairy.” Starting at 4 a.m. they milked thirty cows, bottled the milk and delivered it to people’s doorsteps, ten cents a quart. The father drove the truck and youngest son, Kerry, delivered the milk and picked up the empties at the homes along the route. Then, it was time for the boys to go to school. There are no days off for a dairy and the family never had a vacation break during the years the...

RODOLFO (RUDY) ALANIZ

May 1, 2012 | ,

Rodolfo Alaniz was born in 1928, the fifth of 13 children of Roque and Sara Alaniz of Mission, Texas. The children grew up there, in the Rio Grande Valley town of Mission and five of the sons served in the military. Two of Rudy’s older brothers were drafted in WWII, and Ricardo, a rifleman in the 8th Infantry Division, was killed in Germany in the spring of 1945. The loss of his brother deeply affected sixteen year-old Rudy and he says, “I presented my brother’s flag to my mother. That was the saddest part of my life.” Rodolfo enlisted in the Army as soon as he turned 18. He entered active duty on October 23, 1946 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky...

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...