In Memoriam

Once again I'd like to remember our beloved who were lost in war. 

The first memorial day was celebrated in 1868 to honor the fallen of the Civil War, union and confederate at Arlington National Cemetary.  After WWI, the honor was changed from those who died in the Civil War to those who gave their lives in any US war. 

At our house, this is a time to remember our family members who have served (and serve) in the US military.  My husband is a veteran of the Air Force, his father served in the Army Air Corps and our nephew is serving in the Army now.  My dad, uncles, brother all served in the Navy.

On our recent trip to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, we got to visit the cemetary there and meet a good number of the solders serving in the Army there.  When we returned home my husband starting digging into the old boxes of pictures and memorabilia that his mother had saved.  We found that his father had received the Service Medal and seven Bronze Stars for his service in both the european and pacific theatres of WWII.

The Seven Bronze stars represent these areas of his service:

• Normandy
• France
• Rhineland
• Ardennes
• Central Europe
• Asiatic-Pacific
• African-Middle Eastern

The Service Medal is a medal of valor, the criteria for the medal are: "The Soldier's Medal is awarded to any person of the Armed Forces of the United States or of a friendly foreign nation who, while serving in any capacity with the Army of the United States, distinguished himself or herself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy." (Army Regulation 600-8-22). The distinguishing criteria for the award of the Soldier's Medal as per Army Regulation 600-8-22 states that "The performance must have involved personal hazard or danger and the voluntary risk of life under conditions not involving conflict with an armed enemy. Awards will not be made solely on the basis of having saved a life." It is the highest honor a soldier can receive for an act of valor in a non-combat situation, held to be equal to or greater than the level which would have justified an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross had the act occurred in combat.

Here is a re-type of the newspaper article:

St. Louisan Wins Soldier's Medal as Heroic Volunteer

Sergt. Harold C. Waite, son of Mrs. Ella Waite, Halliday Avenue, was awarded the Soldier's Medal, as one of four men who volunteered to remove a 2000-pound blockbuster which had fallen from the bomb bay of the "Patty Anne II" as it was being "bombed up" in England, May 28, for an early morning mission.  Announcement of the award was made from a British air base yesterday.

The bomb fell on the ship's tail, its nose resting on the cross beam inside the bomber.  It's fuse started: "If that bomb had exploded it would have destroyed five Flying Fortresses and killed several men," an officer commented.

"By flashlight," Waite wrote his mother,  "the bomb was lifted, the bomber inched back and Lieut. Schneider, the pilot who was caught in the bomber, removed the fuse.  It took 45 minutes and that seemed like as many hours to me..."

This is my salute to the father-in-law I didn't get the opportunity to know, a man truly loved by his family and especially the children he left behind when he died suddenly at the age of 40.

Although you've been gone almost 50 years, your memory lives on.  Rest in peace, father.