Patriot Stories
Chapter 1919’s Patriots are combat wounded veterans from every battlefield (or at least every theatre of operations) where American troops have fought, from the first shots fired in WWII up to the present time. The personal experiences of these veterans are individually interesting and collectively awesome. Their stories, strung together, would be a wonderful part of American History. Biographical Sketches of some of our nearly 600 chapter members start on this page.
The Purple Heart is awarded for sacrifice, not for heroism; however, many who receive it were doing heroic service when wounded.
Famous or not, proud of them all, Chapter 1919 is looking for more combat wounded veterans to sign up!
Patriot Stories By Service
Most Recent Patriot Stories
From Our Newsletter
JAMES P. (JIM) BRYANT
James P. Bryant was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1930 and he grew up there, attending St. Pauls 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...
ROY P. BENAVIDEZ
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...
MILTON B. (MILT) CARR
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...
JOHN P. McMAHON
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;...
ROBERT “ALLEN” LEATHERWOOD
Allen Leatherwood was born in Austin, Texas in 1983 but he grew up in a country home near Elgin where he attended public schools. In high school he was a 3-year varsity Football letterman and was also on the Power Lifting Team. As a 17 year-old during his senior year,...
MORT SHEFFLOE
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...
KEITH C. CARTER
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...
GABRIEL TAMAYO
Gabriel Tamayo was born in Lockhart, Texas in 1925. He grew up there and attended public schools. He was still in high school when his draft notice came in 1943, but Gabriel didnt wait. He dropped out of school and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve instead. He...
VINCENT (VINCE) RIOS
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...
AUBREY D. DISMUKES
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...
KERRY L. ORR
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...
CHARLES E. BONNEY
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...