Bottom Gun BBSSubmarineSailor.com
Find a Shipmate
Reunion Info
Books/Video
Binnacle List (offsite)
History
Boat Websites
Links
Bottom Gun BBS
Search | Statistics | User listing Forums | Calendars | Quotes |
You are logged in as a guest. ( logon | register )


At random: A submarine often navigates by sound when submerged. Sound can travel 3,000 nautical miles or more through water.
A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress
Moderators:

Jump to page : 1
Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page]
   Forums-> Submarine DiscussionMessage format
 
Sewer Pipe Snipe
Posted 2019-05-13 6:13 PM (#94001)
Master and Commander

Posts: 1795

Location: Albany, GA.
Subject: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

https://www.wcax.com/content/news/Oldest-Medal-of-Honor-recipient-dies-at-98-in-Oregon-509877601.html

BEND, Ore. (AP) — World War II veteran Bob Maxwell, the nation's oldest Medal of Honor recipient, has died in Oregon more than seven decades after grabbing a blanket and throwing himself on a German hand grenade in France to save his squad mates. He was 98. Maxwell died Saturday in Bend, The Bulletin newspaper of Bend reported. The death was confirmed Monday by U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, a Republican from Oregon, who said Maxwell represented the "best of what Oregon and America have to offer." Maxwell earned the nation's highest military honor while fighting in Besancon, France, on Sept. 7, 1944, the newspaper reported. The bomb severely injured him, but the blanket saved his life by absorbing some of the impact. He was also awarded two Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and two French combat awards — the French Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur — for his service in World War II. Maxwell had been the oldest living recipient of the Medal of Honor, which is bestowed for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty." Born on Oct. 26, 1920, in Boise, Idaho, Maxwell was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. Though he was a Quaker, he declined conscientious objector status and entered the service in Colorado. Trained to string heavy wire for telephone lines at the battlefront, he served in Italy and then France, becoming a technician fifth grade and wearing two stripes — the equivalent of a corporal. Prior to throwing himself on the grenade, Maxwell sustained a leg injury in Italy in January 1944 while maintaining telephone wires under intense artillery fire. He spent several months in a hospital in Naples, returned to his unit and was sent to France. After the war, Maxwell became a car mechanic and taught classes on auto repair and service at a Bend high school and two community colleges. In 2000, at age 79, he received his high school diploma. He also served as director of the Bend Heroes Foundation and helped efforts to build veterans' memorials throughout Oregon. A bridge in Bend is named after Maxwell and he was present last year to watch as an Oregon Medal of Honor Highway sign was unveiled on U.S. Highway 20 near Bend.

mike652
Posted 2019-05-13 6:31 PM (#94002 - in reply to #94001)
Great Sage of the Sea

Posts: 715

Location: Conway, NH
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

How many people around the world knew his name? How many knew who the actress was?
Bob Mahon
Posted 2019-05-13 10:58 PM (#94005 - in reply to #94001)


Great Sage of the Sea

Posts: 932

Location: Milford, PA
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

#1 … Sadly, not enough.
#2 … Many more.
Publicity is the game and, unfortunately, draws the attention.
MAD DOG
Posted 2019-05-14 3:56 AM (#94006 - in reply to #94001)


Master and Commander

Posts: 1262

Location: Va.Beach,Va.
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

Sad indeed.
Holland Club
Posted 2019-05-14 6:03 AM (#94008 - in reply to #94002)


Master and Commander

Posts: 2490

Location: East Coast of Wisconsin
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

Tue enough but it isn't right that military people are largely ignored and often shunned while the Hollywood trash enjoy slavish adoration by the entertainment seeking vent riders of the country.

Edited by Holland Club 2019-05-14 6:04 AM
GaryKC
Posted 2019-05-14 6:21 AM (#94009 - in reply to #94001)


COMSUBBBS

Posts: 3660

Location: Kansas City Missouri
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress





(Grumpy Old Man Club.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments Grumpy Old Man Club.jpg (57KB - 551 downloads)
Runner485
Posted 2019-05-14 9:14 AM (#94010 - in reply to #94001)


COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2667

Location: New Jersey
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

Guys, Sorry to burst you're bubble, but Maxwell's obit was in today's NY Times. Read on...

In the early hours of Sept. 7, 1944, Robert Maxwell, an Army communications specialist, made a split-second decision that was virtually certain to bring his death.

Technician Fifth Grade Maxwell and a few other G.I.s were on observation duty outside their battalion headquarters near the city of Besançon in eastern France when German soldiers got within yards of their outpost and opened fire.

The Germans blasted away with automatic weapons and even antiaircraft guns, seeking to destroy the stone house where the battalion commanders were stationed. The G.I.s on sentry duty were armed only with .45-caliber automatic pistols, but they fired back.

And then a grenade was hurled over the fence in front of the house’s courtyard and landed beside Technician Maxwell. Using an Army blanket for protection, he fell on the grenade.

Advertisement

“I could hear it fall right near my feet,” Mr. Maxwell told the cable TV station COTV of Bend, Ore., long afterward. “I didn’t know for sure where it was. This was between 1 and 2 in the morning. I groped to find it and throw it back, but I knew it was too late to do that. I was already crouched down, but I did have my blanket, shoved it down on my chest and dropped where I was.”

The grenade exploded, knocking him unconscious, tearing away part of one foot and peppering his head and left arm with shrapnel. World War II was over for Technician Maxwell, but he received the Medal of Honor. It cited him for inspiring his fellow G.I.s to join with him in a firefight that delayed the German onslaught and then, having “unhesitatingly hurled himself squarely upon’’ the grenade, “using his blanket and his unprotected body to absorb the full force of the explosion.”

The citation called it an “act of instantaneous heroism” that “permanently maimed” him but “saved the lives of his comrades.”

When Mr. Maxwell died on Saturday in Bend at 98, he was the oldest surviving recipient of the medal, the military’s highest award for valor.

Advertisement

His death, which was announced by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, leaves three veterans who received the medal for valor in World War II still alive.

Mr. Maxwell, seated, reunited with retired Maj. Gen. Lloyd Ramsey in 2010 at a retirement community in Roanoke, Va. General Ramsey had been Mr. Maxwell’s battalion commander when their unit was attacked by Germans in World War II. “You saved my life,” he told Mr. Maxwell.CreditMatt Chittum/The Roanoke Times, via Associated Press
Image
Mr. Maxwell, seated, reunited with retired Maj. Gen. Lloyd Ramsey in 2010 at a retirement community in Roanoke, Va. General Ramsey had been Mr. Maxwell’s battalion commander when their unit was attacked by Germans in World War II. “You saved my life,” he told Mr. Maxwell.CreditMatt Chittum/The Roanoke Times, via Associated Press

Robert Dale Maxwell was born on Oct. 26, 1920, in Boise, Idaho. He dropped out of school in the seventh grade to help his family run a farm in western Kansas during the Depression.

He entered the Army in July 1940 and joined the Third Infantry Division. He was a “wire man,” tasked with stringing telephone lines between his battalion headquarters and front-line troops wherever the fighting happened to be. It was formally a noncombatant role, but bullets and shells might be whizzing over his head while he was atop poles, trees or roofs going about his work.

He saw action in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, followed by Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France, in August 1944.

Cyril McColl, one of the G.I.s in the Besançon courtyard, told of Mr. Maxwell’s heroics in falling on that live grenade in an article in the June 1945 issue of Collier’s magazine.

“While the rest of us were blown off our feet, we got up without a scratch,” Technician McColl remembered. “We started to pick him up and beat it, but he made us leave him and keep on fighting. Only when the battalion commander and his staff had moved out of the house would he let us hustle him back to an aid station.”

The besieged American commanders and enlisted men retreated that day. The Germans occupied the stone headquarters house, but American artillery obliterated it hours later.

Advertisement

In addition to the Medal of Honor, Mr. Maxwell received Silver Stars for his coolness under fire at Anzio, Italy, and at Besançon.

After the war, he settled in Oregon and taught automotive mechanics at community colleges.

His survivors include four daughters, Verda, Linda and Sharon Maxwell and Bonnie Spies, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His wife, Beatrice, died in 2015.

In October 2010, Mr. Maxwell visited a retirement community in Roanoke, Va., for a reunion with retired Maj. Gen. Lloyd Ramsey, who had been the battalion commander inside that stone house at Besançon. (General Ramsey died in 2016 at 97.)

“You saved my life,” General Ramsey told Mr. Maxwell, The Roanoke Times reported. “I’d like to say thank you a million times for all you did for us. You’re a true soldier.”

But Mr. Maxwell told COTV: “It’s not the case I was brave or a hero. I just did what the only alternative was. There was nothing else to do.”

Sewer Pipe Snipe
Posted 2019-05-14 11:06 AM (#94014 - in reply to #94001)
Master and Commander

Posts: 1795

Location: Albany, GA.
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

For what little it is worth, there was absolutely no mention of his death around here. Not on TV, Radio or Print. Yet all these news sources went on and on about Doris Day. While the NYT may be your basis for comparison, it isn't mine. You might say I am even biased against the NYT. 
Pedro
Posted 2019-05-14 5:48 PM (#94018 - in reply to #94014)


COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2974

Location: Liverpool, England
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

One thing is certain, neither Bob Maxwell nor Doris Day ever planned on their joint departure from this life at the same time or the amount of publicity they would receive when they did. Mr. Maxwell will deservedly remain in that unique pantheon of heroic MoH recipients who will be honoured forever in the U.S.A. Miss Day, on the other hand, will be remembered for successfully portraying onscreen the all American girl next door in her many movies and giving the nation the entertainment it desired. I'm sure given the choice she would have willingly taken second billing to a WWII hero, but it was never within the remit of either of them. RIP Robert Maxwell and Doris Day.

Pedro
Holland Club
Posted 2019-05-14 7:41 PM (#94019 - in reply to #94018)


Master and Commander

Posts: 2490

Location: East Coast of Wisconsin
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

And toss Tim Conway into the mix. RIP all.


ave my own grief here, 2 men that I interfaced with daily plus a work mate from the power plant and now my son in law's brother all gone in one week.
Runner485
Posted 2019-05-15 3:39 AM (#94020 - in reply to #94019)


COMSUBBBS

Posts: 2667

Location: New Jersey
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

Oh man. Sorry to hear that Ron. That's a bunch of bad news for a year, no less in a week. RIP to all
Holland Club
Posted 2019-05-15 2:20 PM (#94022 - in reply to #94020)


Master and Commander

Posts: 2490

Location: East Coast of Wisconsin
Subject: RE: A real hero gone without the coverage extended to an actress

Amen, Joe.
Jump to page : 1
Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page]
Printer friendly version
E-mail a link to this thread
Jump to forum :


(Delete all cookies set by this site)
Running MegaBBS ASP Forum Software v2.0
© 2003 PD9 Software