Sixth Infantry

Re-Enlistments: Wayne Mueller (Sixth Infantry 1936-39), C. E. Lemonds,
Robert Lamont, Dean Newton, Isaac Smith, James Nutter,
SFC Robert Jaskowak

Donations: Wayne Mueller, Robert Lamont, Isaac Smith, James Nutter,
SFC Robert Jaskowak

New Members:      Richard R. Bradley       Duane Oakley
1982 Scenic View Loop    42089 Jason
Lakeland, Fl. 33810      Clinton Township, Mich. 48038-2250

Deceased: Ross Hayward died October 1, 2009 from an infection
during open heart surgery.

Several members have emailed me and want their emails available for
other members. As of now the list is:

Name                       EMail Address               Era
========================   ========================== ==============
Jan Milles                 janmilles@hotmail.com       'Nam and Berlin
Charles Farrell            cturkfarrell@aol.com        Berlin '68-69
William Zirkel             ziirkel@earthlink.net       Berlin '57-59
James Porter               ms8x60s@yahoo.com           Vietnam '68-69
Gary Kirsten               garykirsten@snet.net        Berlin '53-55
John Frye                  JFrye13@tampabay.rr.com     Berlin '70-74
CSM Stanley Thornburgh     Stanley39us@yahoo.com       Berlin
Charles McDonald           cmcd5052@sbcglobal.net      Berlin '67-69
CSM Mike Foreman           mandbforeman@aol.com
Thomas Lynn                lynn9493@bellsouth.net
Don Wilson                 donniew32@verizon.net       Berlin '53-55
James Sim                  Simj@Comcast.net            Berlin '62-63
Lawrence Simonson          vikingls36@yahoo.com        Berlin '57-60
Lt. Col. Todd Mercer       todd-mercer@us.army.mil     Germany 87-89
Peter Carroll              gmwh@epix.net
Dr. Virgil Likness         vlikness@yahoo.com          Berlin '55-56
Danny Brosnan              dbrosnan@cox.net            Berlin '51-53 & '60-62
LTC Lynn D. Baker          whiteriverwoodturning@yahoo.com 1/6 Vietnam

Quite a few of the above are in my list of contacts for emails. Someone
hacked into my computer and sent emails to some peope. To date I know of
three people who recieved them. One person told me the message was that I
was in England and lost my wallet and would they send me money. If you got
one of those messages, I sincerely apologize.

The military has agreed to review the records of recent veterans discharged
with PTSD to decide if they were improperly denied benefits. Legal notices
are being mailed to about 4,300 veterans informing them they can "opt-in" to
a laqsuit until July 24 to be part of an expedited review. A law requires
the military to assign a disability rating of 50% to those discharged for
PTSD. If you are one of those 4,300, take advantage of this opportunity and
don't stop at 50%. Once you go after 100%, take advantage of the GI Bill
and get a college education. It's very possible that with a bad case of PTSD
you might never be able to work for a living, but that education is free. Go
get it. The lawsuit originated with 7 veterans who were given 10% or less on
discharge. A good friend with whom I worked, Calvin Grimsley, convinced me
in 1972 to go get a college education and I graduated in 1976 with an index of
3.76 and received their award for economics. Those years at Fordham were
probably the best years of my life.

crest for the 6th Infantry. I received a letter from the Institute of
Heraldry, Department of the Army dated January 19. "It soon became obvious
that the workload of changing and amending insignia would be impracticable.
Consequently, the Department of the Army instituted a policy to only change
insignia when an error exists or if the symbol later became associated with
something offensive or inappropriate. In 1963, the policy was modified to
permit design changes for those units' insignia that were prepared prior to
the units having combat service." It then went on to say the coat of arms
and insignia of the 6th Infantry were authorized in 1921 and 1924, respect-
ively. So, the Berlin Wall will never be added to the insignia. Ar least
I tried.

Many thanks to member Paul Andert of Tulsa for sending me two books, one on
the 2nd Armored Division. Paul fought in the seven campaigns and two invasions
in which the 2nd fought in WWII. Their campaigns were Africa, Sicily, Normandy,
Northern France, Central Europe, Ardennes and Germany. The 2nd was the first
American unit in Berlin, arriving on July 4, 1945. Paul received the Silver
Star, three Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and the French Croix de Guerre.

The VA has finally wised up and is reopening claims for Gulf War Syndrome.
They have a lot of vets out there who have been suffering for 20 years.

A friend of mine in the northern suburns of Detroit filed for dependant care
(DIC) for her mother. She was told when all of the paperwork is filed, it will
take about 10 months for a response. I guess the VA is waiting for her mother
to die like the rest of us.

President Obama has just completed the unholy and anti-American trifecta:
-The first president in 110 years to miss the annual Army-Navy football game.
-The first president to not attend any Christmas religious observance, and
-The first president to stay on vacation following a terrorist attack.

St. Patrick's Day brought back memories of Wildflecken, Germany on the night
of St. Patrick's Day, 1968. It was the only time in my life I saw lightning,
thunder, hale and snow all at once. Wildflecken was a place where the Nazis
trained the SS. The buildings had spikes on them on which to place cut trees
to camouflage the buildings. The roads were painted camouflage. Fortunately
the Allies didn't find the place till right before the war ended. There was
a field with concrete slabs in them. Each slab of concrete had a steel slab
in them. The slabs of concrete were leaning on an angle with another slab.
Then there was a third slab to cover the back. Thet were intended for
machinegun nests. Each nest was guarded to the rear on the left and right by
other nests and there was one directly behind the first nest. It went on like
this for miles. It could have made for a huge killing field. By the time we
got there the war was over. In 1968, I was told we tried to bomb it after the
war, but the bombs bounced off. I saw that field again in March, 1969. By
then Uncle Sam had brought in equipment to tear down the slab formations and
left them lying in the grass. The slabs in 1969 were grown over with weeds.
Unless one had seen it in 1968, one wouldn't have realized the intent of that
maze of machinegun nests.

The VA has granted their first disability associated with the water at Camp
Lejeune. That first claim associated benzine in the water with a vet's cancer.

The VA responded to my letter to President Obama. They wrote in regards to
the ashes of Delbert Hahn, his wife and mother-in-law that were found in a
dumpster in Tampa. This was among the obituaries in the last newsletter.
Delbert and his wife were buried in the National Cemetary in Bushnell, Florida.
A monsignor of a Catholic Church in Chesapeake, Virginia saw the same article
and contacted the Tampa Police. The ashes of the mother-in-law are now in a
mausoleum in Chesapeake, Virginia.

It appears that the VA will raise the copayment for drugs for a non-service
connected disability to $9 on June 30.

The following was in the Army Times of April 19. I published the Medal of
Honor citation of Sgt. York a few years ago. If anyone would like to see it
again, please let me know.

York's charge on a German machine gun nest in the Argonne Forest, France,
turned to legend during and after World War I.

On Oct. 8, 1918, then-Cpl. York, serving with G Company, 2nd Battalion, 328th
Infantry, 82nd Infantry Division,in Chatel-Chehery participated in a flanking
maneuver through a valley on a strong German position.

His battalion met heavy resistance and was surrounded on three sides, turning
the valley into a deathtrap. York's platoon was detached to suppress the
enemy guns. The detachment surprised an enemy battalion headquarters and
forced its surrender. But shortly after, the Germans counterattacked and
knocked out half of York's platoon.

With only seven other combat-effective men in his platoon, he took command and
led a charge on the machine guns that were shredding the remnants of his unit.
York is credited with killing as many as 20 of the Germans, eliminating up to
35 machine guns and taking 132 prisoners, including 4 officers.

York, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions, died in 1964. He wanted
not to be remembered just as a war hero but for his contributions to education.
Later in life, York, who had an elementary school education, donated much of his
wealth to start a high school in his home state of Tennessee.

On April 29, 1945, the 45th Infantry Division liberated the concentration camp
at Dachau. It is about 14 miles north of Munich. I visited it one Sunday
morning about 15 years ago. If you've never visited one of those camps, it
will leave you speechless. About 28,000 prisoners were murdered there.

Four friends spent weeks planning the perfect back woods camping and fishing
trip. Two days before the group is to leave Frank's wife puts her foot down
and tells him he can't go. Frank's friends are very upset that he won't be
with them, but what can they do. Two days later the three friends arrived
at the camp site, only to find Frank sitting there with a tent up, firewood
gathered, and fish cooking on a roaring fire. He was drinking a cold beer.
"Damn man, how long have you been here and how did you talk your wife into
letting you go?" "Well, I've been here since yesterday. The day before
yesterday, I was sitting in my chair watching TV, my wife came up behind me
and put her hands over my eyes and said "Guess who?" I pulled her hands off
and she was wearing a brand new see through nightie. She looked gorgeous.
She took my hand and led me to our bedroom. The room had two dozen candles
and rose petals all over. She had on the bed, hand cuffs and ropes! On the
night stand were all kinds of sex tools. She told me to tie and hand cuff
her to the bed and I did. Then she said, "Do whatever you want." So here I
am."

An old man goes into a drug store to buy some Viagra and asks if they can cut
it into quarters. The pharmacist says, "I can cut them for you but a quarter
tablet will not give you a full erection." The old man replied, "I'm 96.
I don't want an erection, I just want it sticking out far enough so I don't
piss on my shoes!"

We got a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he
doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts
themselves from it, signed by a president who also hasn't read it and who
smokes, with funding administered by a Treasury Secretary who didn't pay his
taxes, all to be overseen by a Surgeon General who is obese, and financed by
a country that's nearly broke. So what could possibly go wrong? Welcome to
change. The only thing that has changed is the size of the national debt.

An Amish boy and his father were in a mall. They were amazed by almost every-
thing they saw, but especially two shiny, siler doors that could move apart
and then slide back together again. The boy asked, "What is this, Father?"
The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen
anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is." While the boy and
his father were watching in amazement, a fat old lady in a wheelchair moved up
to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled
between them into a small room. The walls then closed and the boy and his
father watched the small numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They
continued to watch until it reached the last number, and then the numbers began
to light in reverse order. Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24-
year-old blonde stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young
woman, said quietly to his son. . ."Go get your mother."

Ozone20 created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest
country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California.

White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's
third language,

Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but
President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.

Postal Service raises the price of a first class mail stamp to $17.89 and
reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.

Global cooling blamed for citrus crop failure for third consecutive year in
Mexifornia and Floruba.

Robert Lewis Howard - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U. S. Army, 5th Special Forces
Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. Place and date: Republic of Vietnam,
30 December 1968. Entered service at: Montgomery, Ala. Born: 11 July 1939,
Opelika, Ala. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action
at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 1st Lt. Howard
(then Sfc), distinguished himself while serving as platoon sergeant of an
American-Vietnamese which was on a mission to rescue a missing American
soldier in enemy controlled territory in the Republic of Vietnam. The
platoon had left its helicopter landing zone and was moving out on its
mission when it was attacked by an estimated 2-company force. During the
initial engagement, 1st Lt. Howard was wounded and his weapon destroyed
by a grenade explosion. 1st Lt. Howard saw his platoon leader had been
wounded seriously and was exposed to fire. Although unable to walk and
weaponless, 1st Lt. Howard unhesitatingly crawled through a hail of fire
to retrieve his wounded leader. As 1st Lt. Howard was administering first
aid and removing the officer's equipment, an enemy bullet struck 1 of the
ammunition pouches on the lieutenant's belt, detonating several magazines
of ammunition. 1st Lt. Howard momentarily sought cover and then realizing
that he must return to the platoon, which had been disorganized by the enemy
attack, he again began dragging the seriously wounded officer toward the
platoon area. Through his outstanding example of indomitable courage and
bravery, 1st Lt. Howard was able to rally the platoon into an organized
defense force. With complete disregard for his safety, 1st Lt. Howard
crawled from position to position, administering first aid to the wounded,
giving encouragement to the defenders and directing their fire on the en-
circling enemy. For 3 1/2 hours 1st Lt. Howard's small force and support-
ing aircraft successfully repulsed enemy attacks and finally were in suffi-
cient control to permit the landing of rescue helicopters. 1st Lt. Howard
personally supervised the loading of his men and did not leave the bullet-
swept landing zone until all were aboard safely. 1st Lt. Howard's
gallantry in action, his complete devotion to the welfare of his men at the
risk of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military
service and reflect great credit on himself, his unit and the U. S. Army.

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Colonel Howard was awarded two awards of
the Distinguished Service Cross, with all three awarded in the same 13 month
tour in Vietnam, the Silver Star, the Defense Superior Service Medal, four
awards of the Legion of Merit, four Bronze Stars and eight Purple Hearts.
He served five tours in Vietnam for a total of 54 months.

Thomas R. Norris - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U. S. Navy, SEAL Advisor, Strategic
Technical Directorate Assistance Team, U. S. Military Assistance Command.
Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 10 to 13 April
1972. Entered service at: Silver Spring, Md. Born: 14 January 1944,
Jacksonville, Fla. Citation: Lt. Norris completed an unprecedented ground
rescue of 2 downed pilots deep within heavily controlled enemy territory
in Quang Tri Province. Lt. Norris, on the night of 10 April, led a 5-man
patrol through 2,000 meters of heavily controlled enemy territory, located
1 of the downed pilots at daybreak, and returned to the Forward Operating
Base (FOB). On April 11, after a devastating mortar and rocket attack on
the small FOB, Lt. Norris led a 3-man team on 2 unsuccessful rescue at-
tempts for the second pilot. On the afternoon of the 12th, a forward air
controller located the pilot and notified Lt. Norris. Dressed in fishermen
disguises and using a sampan, Lt. Norris and 1 Vietnamese traveled throughout
that night and found the injured pilot at dawn. Covering the pilot with
bamboo and vegetation, they began the return journey, successfully evading
a North Vietnamese patrol. Approaching the FOB, they came under heavy
machinegun fire. Lt. Norris called in an air strike which provided sup-
pression fire and a smokescreen, allowing the rescue party to reach the
FOB. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, undaunted courage,
and selfless dedication in the face of extreme danger, Lt. Norris enhanced
the finest traditions of the U. S. Naval Service.

Michael Edwin Thornton - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Petty Officer, U. S. Navy, Navy Advisory Group.
Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 31 October 1972. Entered service at
Spartanburg, SC. Born: 23 March 1949, Greenville, SC. Citation: For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and
beyond the call of duty while participating in a daring operation against
enemy forces. PO Thornton, an Assistant U. S. Navy Advisor, along with a
U. S. Navy lieutenant serving as Senior Advisor, accompanied a 3-man Viet-
namese Navy SEAL patrol on an intelligence gathering and prisoner capture
operation against an enemy-occupied naval river base. Launched from a Viet-
namese Navy junk in a rubber boat, the patrol reached land and was continu-
ing on foot towards its objective when it suddenly came under heavy fire
from a numerically superior force. The patrol called in naval gunfire sup-
port and then engaged the enemy in a fierce firefight, accounting for many
enemy casualties before moving back to the waterline to prevent encirclement.
Upon learning that the Senior Advisor had been hit by enemy fire and was
believed to be dead, PO Thornton returned through a hail of fire to the
lieutenant's last position, quickly disposed of 2 enemy soldiers about to
overrun the position, and succeeded in removing the seriously wounded and
unconscious Senior Naval Advisor to the water's edge. He then inflated
the lieutenant's life jacket and towed him seaward for approximately two
hours until picked up by support craft. By his extraordinary courage
and perseverence, PO Thornton was directly responsible for saving the
life of his superior officer and enabling the safe extraction of all
patrol members, thereby upholding the highest traditions of the U. S.
Naval Service.

Aljandro R. Renteria Ruiz - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U. S. Army, 165th Infantry,
27th Infantry Division. Place and date: Okinawa, Ryuku Islands, 28 April
1945. Entered service at: Carlsbad, N. Mex., Birth: Loving, N. Mex. G. O.
No.: 60, 26 June 1946. Citation: When his unit was stopped by a skillfully
camouflaged enemy pillbox, he displayed conspicuous gallantry and intre-
pidity above and beyond the call of duty. His squad, suddenly brought
under a hail of machinegun fire and a vicious grenade attack, was pinned
down. Jumping to his feet, Pfc. Ruiz seized an automatic rifle and lunged
through the flying grenades and rifle and automatic fire for the top of
the emplacement. When an enemy soldier charged him, his rifle jammed.
Undaunted, Pfc. Ruiz whirled on his assailant and clubbed him down. Then
he ran back through bullets and grenades, seized more ammunition and an-
other automatic weapon, and again made for the pillbox. Enemy fire was
now concentrated on him, but he charged on, miraculously reaching the
position, and in plain view he climbed to the top. Leaping from 1 opening
to another, he sent burst after burst into the pillbox, killing 12 of the
enemy and completely destroying the position. Pfc. Ruiz's heroic conduct,
in the face of overwhelming odds, saved the lives of many comrades and
eliminated an obstacle that long would have checked his unit's advance.

Edward Henry O'Hare - Medal of Honor

Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U. S. Navy. Born: 13 March 1914, St.
Louis, Mo. Entered service at: St. Louis, Mo. Other Navy awards: Navy
Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross with 1 gold star. Citation: For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in aerial combat, at grave risk of
his life above and beyond the call of duty, as section leader and pilot
of Fighting Squadron 3 on 20 February 1942. Having lost the assistance
of his teammates, Lt. O'Hare interposed his plane between his ship and an
advancing enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers.
Without hestitation, alone and unaided, he repeatedly attacked this enemy
formation, at close range in the face of intense combined machinegun and
cannon fire. Despite the concentrated opposition, Lt. O'Hare, by his
gallant and courageous action, his extremely skillful marksmanship in
making the most of every shot of his limited amount of ammunition, shot
down 5 enemy bombers and severely damaged a sixth before they reached
the bomb release point. As a result of his gallant action - one of the
most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of
combat aviation - he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage,

Obituaries:

Miep Gies, 100, the woman who hid Anne Frank and her family from the
Nazis, died January 11 in Amsterdam.

Retired Air Force Col. Jack Pitchford, 82, a fighter pilot from Mississippi
who survived seven years in the Hanoi Hilton, died December 2, 2009 after
battling a brain tumor.

Retired Lt. Col. Robert Purcell, 78, an F-105 pilot and the 17th American
taken prisoner during the Vietnam War, died December 6, 2009. He spent 17
months in solitary confinement and then was in the Hanoi Hilton until his
release in February, 1973. Other POWs credited the "stubborn, tough as
nails" Purcell as the one who raised spirits as some 50 POWs faced the in-
famous Hanoi March through angry, rock-throwing crowds by quipping, "Oh, I love a parade."

General Frederick C. Weyand, 93, former Army chief of staff and the last commander of U. S. military operations in the Vietnam War, died of natural causes February 10 in Honolulu. He oversaw the withdrawal of U. S. military forces from South Vietnam before becoming Army Chief of Staff in 1974. He also served in World War II in the China-Burma-India theater and Korea. His military honors include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit.

John Babcock, 109, the last known Canadian veteran of World War I, died
February 18 in Spokane, Washington where he lived since 1932. The U. S.
has one surviving vet from WWI, Frank Woodruff Buckles, 109, of West Virginia.

General Alexander Haig, 85, died February 20 at Johns Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore. He was Secretary of State under President Reagan.

Willie E. Jenkins, 85, died March 30. He was a member of the Tuskegee
Airmen. He was presented the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bush
in 2007. He served as Florida A&M's dean of university relations from 1968 to 1986.

Morris R. Jeppson, 87, one of the two weaponeers who armed the atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, prompting the surrender of Japan, died
March 30 at a hospital in Las Vegas. He was a 23 year old Army Air Corps
second lieutenant when he boarded the Enola Gay for what would be his first
and only combat mission. He helped arm the bomb in the first 30 minutes of
the flight. Then they waited 5 1/2 hours before the plane jerked upward,
signaling that the bomb had been released. The flash came 43 seconds later,
killing and wounding more that 100,000 Japanese.

Arthur Parker, 91, died April 11 at Bay Pines VA Hospital, Florida. He
served in the 377th Parachute field artillery, 101st Airborne. He made
combat jumps on D Day and in Operation Market Garden. He was awarded the
Silver Star, a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. During the Korean War he served in the Air Force.

Please remember them in your prayers.

SIXTH INFANTRY REGIMENT ASSOCIATION AND AUXILIARY NEWSLETTER

May 1, 2010

Robert Lewis Howard - Medal of Honor

Thomas R. Norris - Medal of Honor

Michael Edwin Thornton - Medal of Honor

Aljandro R. Renteria Ruiz - Medal of Honor

Edward Henry O'Hare - Medal of Honor