Contributed
MERCER
May 17, 2008 05:57 pm
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The 2008 honorees of the Mercer Memorial Day 500 are:
John Blank
Army Air Force 1st Lieutenant, retired
From early childhood, Blank dreamed of flying.
On his 18th birthday in 1942 he joined the Air Force. Wanting to be a fighter pilot, he was rejected because he was too tall to fit safely into the cockpit. He was then assigned to be a pilot in the troop carrier command in Europe transporting paratroopers and airborne infantry to the fighting fronts.
One of his missions was to drop soldiers behind enemy lines, distracting the German army from the impending invasion of the beaches at Normandy.
June 5, 1944, found him flying paratroopers over the Nazi-held coastline. Flying low at 300 feet, his plane was riddled with more than 1,500 bullet holes, one missing his foot by a mere inch.
Yet, he fulfilled his mission and many others, delivering soldiers safely to their assignments, dropping paratroopers in southern France, Germany and Italy. He remembers the Italian people waving instead of shooting at him.
Richard Craig
Army Company B, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Old Guard, retired
Craig was one of 55 highly trained men in the Presidential Honor Guard, often referred to as the president’s own troops.
Stationed at Fort Myer, Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery, Craig served his country from 1951 to 1953.
The Guard was charged with forming a cordon around the perimeter of the president when arriving or departing National Airport, ready to fire if necessary. During those maneuvers, the Secret Service escorts the president, while the Honor Guard protects the Secret Service and the president.
High points of his military career were delivering orders from the president to Gen. Taylor, his appointment to command the military forces in Korea, and marching in front of President Eisenhower during his inauguration parade.
Craig believes we are all responsible for protecting the country’s freedom, defending it and continuing it as our forefathers scripted it –– at all cost. He believes that his training provided him the satisfaction of knowing that he could be successful in life regardless of obstacles.
Ralph Hudspeth
Army Staff Sergeant, retired
Hudspeth served with the 398th Anti-Tank Company, 100th Division, which attacked the Maginot Line, miles of German-occupied steel and cement forts near Bitche, France.
His platoon, the Blue Raiders, was to cross enemy lines and bring back German prisoners for interrogation.
His platoon leader was killed in a mine field, his replacement was hit by a sniper’s bullet. Tech Sgt. Hudspeth became a second lieutenant when the position became his. He led his platoon with others reducing the forts and occupying the town.
During the bitterly fought Heilbronn engagement, he and his men crossed the fire-swept Neckar River in assault boats in the wake of intense evening shell fire, then moved their guns forward to thwart a German tank attack.
The 100th Division was one of the longest on the firing line, in continual combat for six months.
Because he provided optimum support to his battalion and put his own life at risk, he received a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster. During the German occupation, Hudspeth served as defense counsel on the court-martial board.
When you come to thank him during the Veterans Reception on Memorial Day, remember to ask him about his “miracle story” he found in France.
James A. Bailey
Navy, 2nd Class, and Army, CW4
Serving in both World War II and Vietnam, Bailey began his military career at age 17 aboard the USS Helena, a heavy cruiser, part of the Pacific Fleet.
After being discharged from the Navy, he joined the Army and served seven years as a paratrooper with the 11th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and completed 84 jumps.
He went on to flight school and graduated as a warrant officer pilot, choosing the helicopter for his military career. Bailey and three of his brothers achieved accreditation for solo flight, the most for any one family to achieve.
He volunteered for three tours of duty in Vietnam, the last over the safety of retirement. While commanding a helicopter, it struck a tree during takeoff, crashed into a river and he drowned.
He hadn’t taken on the military as a job, but as a life’s passion. He died for a cause in which he strongly believed and thought was necessary. He wanted to be remembered as a pleasant person and did not want others to mourn his passing, believing their obligation should be to the living.
Bailey’s story reminds us that we sleep safely because others stand the watch.
POWs also get their due
Surviving former prisoners of war Abie Abraham, Wayne McClelland, Jim Zimmer, Harold “Curly” Beerblower, Harold Andrews and Dailey Halsey will also be honored during the ceremony.
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