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
JESSE J. FARMER
Jesse J. Farmer was born in Devine, Texas in 1926, the first of three children born to James T. and Bessie (Rogers) Farmer. In his early childhood, his family moved to Uvalde. His father became chronically ill there while working for a car dealership, so they moved to...
JAMES LOGAN (JIM) BROWN
James Logan Brown, a Charter Member who helped in creating Chapter 1919 is an Army Korean War veteran. He was a platoon leader in Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, wounded during the defense of the Naktong River Line, in the early days of fighting...
JAMES LOGAN (JIM) BROWN
James Logan Brown, a Charter Member who helped in creating Chapter 1919 is an Army Korean War veteran. He was a platoon leader in Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, wounded during the defense of the Naktong River Line, in the early days of fighting...
FRANK C. LUDDEN
In WWII, Frank Ludden was a combat engineer, promoted up through the enlisted ranks, making Master Sergeant in record time. Postwar, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering then went on to a highly successful professional career of 42 years. But, despite...
BERN BALLARD
Bern Ballard was born near Inez, in Victoria County, Texas in 1920, one of six sons born to the family of a tenant farmer. Five of the six sons would survive to maturity and the five all served in WWII, with one being killed in action. His father had a serious chronic...
JAY T. KIMBROUGH
Jay T. Kimbrough was born in Dallas, Texas in 1947 and he grew up there, attending public schools in South Oak Cliff. Cloyde Pinson, Jr. was one of his friends throughout his Junior High and High School years and he was close to the Pinson family. Jay was in South Oak...
SAMUEL E. (SAM) BAKER
Samuel Baker entered military service before WWII and served 35 years continuous active duty before his retirement in 1974. Although only wounded once, as a glider pilot in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, he was always a bit unconventional and something of a risk...
FEDERICO (FRED) REY
Federico Rey was born in Parral, Mexico (Chihuahua state) in 1947, the son of Jesus and Aurora Rey. Jesus was a naturalized U.S. citizen who had first come to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1942 for work as an auto mechanic, but then was drafted the next year. He served...
JOHN C. BURKHARDT
John C. Burkhardt was born in Austin, Texas in 1946. He was the youngest of four children in his family while growing up in South Austin and attending public schools. He went through Becker Elementary and Fulmore Junior High, and then graduated from Travis High School...
JOE S. CASTRO
Joe S. Castro was born in 1921, the next-to-youngest born into this large Castro family of Austin, Texas that would send four sons off to war. His younger brother, also wounded in action, was our late Patriot, L.C. Castro (chapter charter member and our first...
SCOTT C. GARRETT
Scott Garrett was born in Macon, Georgia in 1970. When he was a small child his family moved to Pensacola, Florida and he grew up there and attended public schools. He graduated from Washington High School with the Class of 1989, and went on to attend Florida State...
RENESSA GERHARDT
Renessa L. Gerhardt was born in Lubbock, Texas in 1985. When she was five years old, her family moved to Saudi Arabia. They lived in Yanbu (about an hour away from Jeddah) where Renessa attended the Yanbu International School until, when she was age ten, they returned...