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
GEORGE C. CARRUTHERS
George Carruthers was born in Dallas, Texas in 1923. His family moved to Tyler shortly after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression, and George attended Public Schools there. Before December 7, 1941, as a freshman at Tyler Junior...
JOHN T. (JACK) HODES
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...
WILLIAM J. (Bill) DALLAS
William J. Dallas was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1922. He was called into active duty in 1940 and then transferred to the Army Air Corps in 1942. He went through flight training and after receiving his wings as an Army Aviator Bill was assigned to the 303rd Bomb...
KERRY G. MERRITT
Kerry Merritt was born in Luling, Texas in 1925, the youngest in a family of three brothers. The Merritts 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...
RODOLFO (RUDY) ALANIZ
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 Rudys older brothers were drafted in WWII,...
ERNEST G. (ERNIE) BANASAU, JR.
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 1930s, and then went on to serve as an...
JAMES L. (JIM) BROWN
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...
CHARLES S. (CHUCK) GAEDE
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...
DAVID L. PENNINGTON
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...
DANNY BAKER
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...
ARNOLD E. (ANDY) KAUFFMAN
Arnold E. Kauffman was born in New York City in 1922. He grew up in Yonkers and joined the New York National Guard in early 1941. After several months in the Guard, he volunteered for service in the Army Air Corps and on August 21, 1942, he entered active duty. He...
HAROLD W. (BUFF) RADEMACHER
Harold W. Rademacher was born in Salem, South Dakota in 1930. He doesnt know how it started, but at an early age his family began calling him Buff and that nickname has stuck all the way through school, his Air Force career, and retirement, right up to the present...