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
WILLIAM H. MAYS
William H. Mays was born in Round Rock, Texas in 1925. When he was about nine years old, his family moved to Austin where he continued to attend public schools until, at age 17, he enlisted for service during WWII. He was in his Junior year at L.C. Anderson High...
WILLIAM H. MAYS
William H. Mays was born in Round Rock, Texas in 1925. When he was about nine years old, his family moved to Austin where he continued to attend public schools until, at age 17, he enlisted for service during WWII. He was in his Junior year at L.C. Anderson High...
JOHN WILLIAM MORRISSET
John William Morrisset passed into the arms of God on July 13, 2008. John is survived by Elizabeth Morrisset, his wife of 57 years and by his three daughters, Louise, Nancy and Brenda. John was a decorated veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, a successful local...
WILLIAM F. (BILL) KING
William F. King was born in Reno, Texas in 1919. He enlisted in the Army from Fort Worth, Texas and was sworn into service on July 3, 1940 at the Induction Center in Dallas. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division as a member of Service Company, 9th Infantry...
WILL A. BEATTY
Will Beatty was born in 1931 in San Antonio, Texas. He spent all his growing up years there, attending Highland Park Elementary School, Poe Junior High School, and then graduating from Thomas Edison High School with the class of 1949. Will says, Thomas Edison High...
HADRON “IZELL” BANKSTON
Hadron Izell Bankston was born in Malta, Texas (Bowie County near New Boston) in 1925. He has been called Izell all of his life. As a small child his family moved to Kaufman County and while he was growing up they lived variously at Kemp, Blue Bank, Mabank and...
ROBERT N. (BOB) LICHTENBERGER
Chapter 1919s own, Patriot Robert N. (Bob) Lichtenberger, Past National Commander (2004-2005), died at home in Austin, Texas, April 30, 2008, at age 65. Robert N. Lichtenberger was born in 1943 in Corpus Christi, Texas. He grew up in South Texas and graduated high...
EDSELL H. (ED) LONG
Edsell H. Long was born in Parkin, Arkansas in 1925. His mother died when he was five years old and sometime around 1932 his family moved to Paris, Texas for a year and then moved again, to Mesa, Arizona. He had a childhood friend at school named Ben Gregory, but,...
ROBERT L. COOK
Robert L. Cook was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1919. He grew up there and graduated from William Penn High School in the Class of 1937. He then attended Gettysburg College, participating in the Army ROTC program, and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Infantry,...
RALPH D. ERICKSON
The following story was derived from a story written by Karina Erickson about her father Ralph Erickson as a class project at Lago Vista High School. Read Karina's original paper at the end of this Patriot Story In 1922, RALPH D. ERICKSON was born to parents of...
WALLACE E. (PETE) SNELSON
Texas State Senator, Retired Wallace E. Snelson was born in Grandfalls, Texas in 1923, into a pioneer farm and ranch family (He was one of 5 brothers to serve overseas during WWII, and a sixth brother served in the Korean War). Pete, a long-time small town nickname,...
KEN WALLINGFORD
Ken Wallingford was born in Munich, Germany in 1948. He says, My dad was in the Air Force and like most Air Force Brats I really grew up everywhere. I went to school in a lot of places, mostly though in Florida, Maine, and New Mexico. In 1966, Ken graduated from...