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
HARRY A. SWAN
Harry Swan was born in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1921, and he grew up there. He was inducted into the Army at Newark on February 20, 1943. He stood six-foot-two, weighed in at 195 pounds, and was a hard as nails twenty one year old. The Army thought he would make a...
MILFORD R. DAVIS – USMC – WWII
Milford was a North Texas school teacher and football coach for seven years before the beginning of WWII. His advantages from that maturity and experience quickly advanced him from draftee to Captain in command of an Infantry Company in combat in Europe. It may also...
ARTHUR MANN – USMC – Vietnam
Arthur Mann was in the Brown Water Navy, and the engineer aboard the type of small river patrol boat made famous in the movie Apocalypse Now. He earned a Silver Star along with his three awards of the Purple Heart. Here is that story in brief. In 1967 and 1968,...
BILL KERR – ARMY – WWII
After the fighting in North Africa, Bill Kerrs hometown newspaper in Missouri carried a feature article announcing his award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star and the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. Here are some excerpts (in italics) of that...
WILLIAM H. DECKER, JR. – Army – Korea
William H. (Bill) Decker, Jr. entered service in the Marine Corps, June 29, 1948. He served in Korea in the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. They were part of the summer offensive in 1950 that carried all the way to the Manchurian border. Bill Decker was part...
JOHN STAVAST – AIR FORCE – WWII
John is a veteran of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. His experiences could fill a book, but, this article will only detail one very moving experience that he had in France with the infantry in WWII, and a few facts about his nearly 6 years as a POW during the war in...
MAX L. NOE – ARMY – WWII
Max Noe was born in Uvalde, Texas in 1916 and he was raised in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. His family moved from Rio Hondo to Austin in 1934. Max graduated from Austin High School and went to work for the Post Office. He had five years experience as a postal employee...