Memorial Day Heroes Around the Zodiac
I ‘listed at home for a Lancer
Oh, who would not sleep with the brave?
I ‘listed at home for a Lancer
To ride on a horse to my grave.
A.E. Houseman
A time has come
and it is now
Will you take a stand
or bend your knee and bow?
Lydia Preston
Aries– Joe Foss was the first to tie Eddie Rickenbacker’s WW-I kills record of 26 in World War II. He did so flying the F4F Wildcat, a plane in some ways inferior to the Japanese Zero, their mainstay.
Taurus– Marine General Holland “Howling Mad” Smith led many of the amphibious landings on islands—Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima among others– in the Pacific Campaign.
Gemini– Lieutenant Audie Murphy was our most decorated soldier in the second World War. He told a tank destroyer crew their position was poor. After it was knocked out by fire from advancing German soldiers, Audie leaped atop the turret to man a .50 caliber machine gun. Shielded by smoke from the burning vehicle, Murphy saw a dozen Germans in a ditch and killed them. He then called an artillery strike on his own position to stop the enemy attack. For this singular act of heroism, Audie Murphy received the nation’s highest combat decoration, The Congressional Medal of Honor.
Cancer– After raiding the English Isles during the Revolutionary War (1775-1783), John Paul Jones engaged a superior vessel, the frigate Serapis. Initially taking the worst of it, he was asked if he wanted to strike his colors and surrender. Jones replied, “I will never surrender. I have not yet begun to fight.” The tide turned; his Bonhomme Richard won the day.
Leo– During our Civil War (1861-1865), General George Thomas rallied broken and scattered units to prevent a route and earned the sobriquet “The Rock of Chickamauga” for his heroics. At the Battle of Nashville, his troops decimated the Confederate force.
Virgo– Daniel Inouye was a U.S. Senator from Hawaii and another Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. He served with the famed 442 Combat Regiment during World War II. This unit was comprised entirely of Japanese Americans. In April of 1945, Lieutenant Inouye led his platoon on an assault on a German held ridge in Italy. Three German machine guns opened fire. Daniel was struck in the torso, but advanced with his men and threw grenades. He crawled within five yards of the enemy emplacement and threw two more, knocking out the enemy. Inouye next killed the crew of a second machine gun with his own automatic weapon. As he prepared to throw a grenade at the third German nest, an enemy soldier fired a rifle grenade at him. It smashed into his right arm, exploded, and badly mangled it. Prying the grenade from his now useless limb, Daniel lobbed it at the German. He continued to move forward with his men and fired his weapon with his left hand. Struck in the leg by a bullet, Inouye lost consciousness. When it was regained, he directed his men to deploy in a defensive position in case there was a counterattack.
Libra– Major Dick Bong was our aces of aces in World War II with 40 confirmed kills. He flew the twin engine P-38. It was called the Fork Tailed Devil by the Japanese because it had an unusual design, was fast, and possessed heavy armament in its nose which allowed concentrated fire.
Scorpio– William Barker Cushing was hailed as Lincoln’s Commando by one author. He attacked the Confederate ironclad Albemarle in a picket boat with a spar torpedo attached. The ensuing explosion threw him into the water. The ironclad immediately sank. Cushing received the thanks of Congress for his actions.
Sagittarius– Jimmy Doolittle and his raiders flew B-25s, medium bombers, from a carrier to strike Tokyo in 1942 to help ease the sting of a string of American defeats by the Japanese in the early part of our war in the Pacific. They crash landed their planes in China after running low on fuel.
Capricorn– Lieutenant Ruppert L. Sargeant, an African American, observed an entrance to a tunnel during the Viet Nam War with two others. The cover was booby trapped. Sargeant attempted to blast the trap with grenades, but this did not work. Suddenly a Viet Cong emerged and threw two grenades. Sargeant fired three shots at the enemy; then he threw himself over the two grenades. He was mortally wounded but saved the lives of his two comrades. For his selfless actions Ruppert received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Aquarius– General Hal Moore was a lieutenant colonel and battalion commander when he led his helicopter troops at the Battle of la Drang in Viet Nam in 1965. He had told his troops “I will be the first one on the battlefield and the last one to leave.” His battlefield leadership was memorialized by Mel Gibson in the movie We Were Soldiers.
Pisces– In 1836 Sam Houston defeated a superior force led by General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. His men yelled “Remember the Alamo” during the one-sided struggle. This engagement led to Texas becoming part of our union.