Category Archives: War Stories

COVID has clearly spread rapidly this summer. Cases are averaging almost 150,000 per day, a level that was first reached late last fall. We left those levels behind in early February, we thought for good, but the virus waxes and the virus wanes. The virus is gonna do what it is gonna do despite theContinue reading “COVID: What’s Next?”

It had been more than forty years since my father had been back to West Point.  He had returned for his fifth reunion, making the trek from Fort Benning.  He returned a year or two later when his brother was stationed there.  But he had not been back since; he talked about attending the fiftiethContinue reading “Chapter 6: Reunion”

After Naples, my father was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas where he prepared for his first tour in Viet Nam.  Sandwiched in between trips to Viet Nam, a six-year period, were a tour at Fort Monroe, Virginia, working with some unit called CONARC, classes at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, and aContinue reading “Chapter 5: Winning the War”

My father certainly met a lot of famous people during his career.  At the West Point graduate luncheon in Charleston, he might sit next to “Westy”, Westy being General Westmoreland, the allied commander in Viet Nam.  And he often played handball with that somewhat famous guy who was an instructor at the Naval War CollegeContinue reading “Chapter 4: O Sole Mio”

War movies often provide a spark for my father.  When we watch together, it doesn’t take long before he has a story to accompany the action on the screen.  The Big Red One, a chronicle of the exploits of the First Division during World War II, sparked lots of commentary. “If you are going toContinue reading “Chapter 3: Rambo”

My father remembers the depression, World War II, and other cataclysmic world events. The major events of his youth were ones that affected everyone. Today we live through wars and disasters vicariously via television, but back then these events were so momentous you could not isolate yourself from them; they were not as distant andContinue reading “Chapter 2: Beast Barracks”

A hired killer, a grunt, an infantryman, my father calls himself. After thirty years of military service, he can lay claim to other titles as well: ranger, paratrooper, company commander, battalion commander, and G-something-or-other. Of course, these days he is primarily known as Grandpa, having retired from the Army many years ago. Commemorating his experiencesContinue reading “Chapter 1: Hired Killer”

This is a memoir of my dad’s life, from the time he was a teenager growing up during WWII through his thirty plus years in the military, including his time in Viet Nam. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ War Stories: Glimpses From the Foxhole ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Prologue Chapter 1: Hired Killer Chapter 2: Beast Barracks Chapter 3: Rambo Chapter 4:Continue reading “Table of Contents”

This is a memoir of my dad’s life, from the time he was a teenager growing up during WWII through his thirty plus years in the military, including his time in Viet Nam. “I was six when my mother died. She died in childbirth. My father sent Brian to Salem–to live with my aunts. HeContinue reading “Prologue”