Bedtime

 

Memorial Day

We remember and honor our fallen comrades on Memorial Day. Semper Fi

Memorial Day is for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May.

Morgan Park High School Alumni 

on the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Our Fallen High School Comrades

Richard James Beck Jr.
Robert Maurice Cunningham
Lawrence Michael Dart
Anthony John Grasso

Richard Henry Green
John L Holstein
Bruce Norman Huff
Alfred Lee McNabb
Mills Craft Miller
Warren Frances Muhr
Robert Dennis Nawrocki
William G Newbold
William Lee Owen Jr

And thanks to the ones we don't know about:

Name	Birth Date	Date of Casualty:	Age	Branch
Richard James Beck Jr	5/19/1947	5/14/1968	20	Army
Robert Maurice Cunningham	11/8/1950	4/18/1969	18	Marines
Lawrence Michael Dart	5/26/1945	11/7/1969	24	Army
Anthony John Grasso	3/8/1946	8/28/1967	21	Navy
Richard Henry Greene	3/18/1948	11/19/1968	20	Marines
John L Holstein (ROTC Sgt)	7/10/1930	12/29/1966	36	Army
Bruce Norman Huff	2/20/1944	5/6/1968	24	Army
Alfred Lee McNabb	12/19/1948	2/2/1968	19	Marines
Mills Craft Miller	12/5/1946	3/16/1967	20	Marines
Warren Frances Muhr	1/21/1946	2/26/1967	21	Army
Robert Dennis Nawrocki	3/30/1948	1/24/1968	19	Marines
William G Newbold	8/15/1948	3/17/1971	22	Army
William Lee Owen Jr	11/17/1944	4/11/1969	24	Army

Photos and more info about our EMPEHI Heroes at 

https://empehiheroes.blogspot.com/

Platoon 350 1967 - Deaths in Vietnam

Name - Boot Camp	Age at	Birth Date	Death
Mar-May 67	Death
Richard William Brooks	20	11/30/47	9/14/68
Otis Bush	19	9/18/48	9/23/67
Thomas Griner	18	1/16/49	12/19/67
Richard Junior Jones	21	9/2/46	10/13/67
Gary Lee Smith	19	8/22/49	9/13/68

_________________

World War II Casualties Co. A, 109th Engineers, 34th Division
Africa and Italy - 35 Killed, About 75 Wounded

KILLED

# NAME Serial # Rank DATE CAUSE

1 Pardy, James G. 20717379 Pvt. 09/13/42 Acc. DNB
2 Bean, Willard W. 32375007 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
3 Christensen, Robert 20717345 CPL 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
4 La Fave, Cleo W. 37036991 Pfc. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
5 Loesch, Roger S. 20717375 Tech 5 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
6 Marchison, Michael 6209408 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
7 Moore, Walter 34118829 Pfc. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
8 ONeil, James J. 37026381 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
9 Ortmayer, Leland R. 20717409 Pfc. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
10 Satre, Wayne K. 20717501 Sgt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
11 Stanton, William R. 11052735 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
12 Thomas, Joseph R. 33059862 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
13 Yaworski, John C. 32376944 Pvt. 03/30/43 Mine Ex. KIA
14 Fitzpatrick, Thomas 32748115 Pvt. 10/31/43 ? DOW
15 Crichton, Scott 0-420183 1st Lt. 06/05/43 Mine DNB
16 Sorenson, Henry 20717471 Sgt. 11/02/43 Plane KIA
17 Koopman, Henry M. 37036762 Pfc. 11/02/43 Plane DOW
18 Weiss, Wilfred P. 37036777 Tech 5 11/02/43 Plane KIA
19 BeJensky, Michael 0-1102622 1st. Lt 12/03/43 Mine KIA
20 Poulos, George 16146150 Pvt. 12/07/43 ? KIA
21 Brenner, Lester M. 36181993 Pvt. 01/04/44 ? DOW
22 Garber, Russell G. 35553055 Pvt. 04/25/44 Mor KIA
23 Loebe, Carl F. 36822200 Pvt. 04/25/44 Mor KIA
24 Comeau, Leo J. 31207277 Pfc. 05/22/44 Mor KIA
25 Spencer, Philip J. 39837388 Pvt. 05/22/44 Mor KIA
26 Minier, Gene F. 20717466 Tech 5 05/22/44 Mor KIA
27 Pahl, Jack A. 20717795 Sgt 05/25/44 ? KIA
28 Cawley, Andrew G. 32394799 Pvt. 06/01/44 ? KIA
29 Waters, Veloris E. 20717489 Pvt. 06/26/44 ? KIA
30 Adams, Houston J. 31024344 Pvt. 07/16/44 R/MG KIA
31 Skala, Leonard C 32251714 Tech 5 08/02/44 ? DNB
32 Haley, George W. 20717488 Tech 5 08/??/44 Mine KIA
33 Horner, Austin V. 0-1695581 2nd Lt. 10/05/44 Mine KIA
34 Rector, Clifford B. 33530954 Pvt. ? ? KIA
35 Nazarchyk, Michael 33357739 Cpl. 12/23/44 cave-in DNB

Great Uncle Walter Anderson 1944https://sgtwalteranderson.blogspot.com/

Great Great Great Uncle James Chapin 1864

https://jameschapin.blogspot.com/ 

Morgan Park High School 1962-70 13 KIA http://empehiheroes.blogspot.com/

Marine Boot Camp Platoon 350 1967  5 KIA https://platoon350.blogspot.com/

Basic School Marine Officers 1969  6 KIA

https://basicschool8-69.blogspot.com/

Clif Hullinger’s Company 1942-45  35 KIA http://109thengineers34thdivision.blogspot.com/

Great Great Great Uncle James Chapin 1864

https://jameschapin.blogspot.com/ 

Great Uncle Walter Anderson 1944

https://sgtwalteranderson.blogspot.com/

And to all the brave men and women who gave their lives for us.

Semper Fi

Memorial Day

Memorial Day - Remembering the People
Who Died
While Serving in the Armed Forces
Including our Classmates

empehiheroes.blogspot.com

Memorial Day 2015 Parade Beverly, Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood 

Video of the Start of the parade.

The parade kicked off from 110th and Longwood Drive and proceeded north. The Color Guard was from 2/24, the Marine Infantry Battalion on the west side of Chicago.  

I marched in a similar parade on Longwood Drive leading a large platoon of Marines in 1973. I spotted my MPHS Russian teacher Miss Petrus. I was in her Russian class in 1964-65. 

We were trained to greet her, so I belted out "Zdravstvuy te, Soyia Sergeavna, a kok vi pushaviatee!!", Which means, "Greetings, Mrs. Petrus, How are you?!"

Soyia Sergeavna frantically looked around trying to find who was calling her, clearly one of her former students. But she did not see me and I had to keep marching in front of the platoon. I am sure she never figured out who I was, considering I was one of her worst pupils. 


Dos Vedanya, Soyia Sergeevna. 

Thanks for posting Empehi Heros again this year. The older I get, the greater impact it has on me. How lucky we really were to get through that and how sad for the guys who didn't. At this age, you truly realize how much of life they missed and what a great sacrifice they made.

Thanks,

Jack Barber MPHS Jan 66

Click to see the Video of The Jesse White Tumblers

The Model A Roadster above looks like the Model A Roadster I drove on Longwood Drive to MPHS in 1965, although the one in the photo is in much better condition.
My Model A at modelahullinger.blogspot.com

Great fun to drive past the school in the morning, throwing the hand throttle with the spark advance to make very loud backfires, announcing that the Model A and I were on the premises.

Click for a Bagpipe Video

My personal favorite - this bus from Smith Village carried a number of World War II and Korean Veterans, including my father Clif Hullinger. 

Video Introductions of the Smith Village Veterans

More about Clif's service in North Africa and Italy at: 

hullingerwwII.blogspot.com

109thengineers34thdivision.blogspot.com

The group above are the Southsiders for Peace.  

southsidersforpeace.org


The dance group below showing some energetic moves.

I'm getting in just under the wire here for this holiday-related blog, which deals in part with the Memorial Day Parade down Longwood Drive.  I'd love to hear what memories of that event others have, to see how they do or don't jibe with my own.

Thanks to all who have served, and absolute gratitude to those who paid for our freedoms with their lives.

Taffy Cannon, June '66
Carlsbad, California

Click below to read a blog post written by Taffy about Decoration Day:

thaliapressauthors.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/decoration-day

Dear Morgan Park friends and classmates,

I have such fond memories of the Longwood drive Memorial Day Parade. We rode our bikes and decorated them with flags and crepe paper, red white and blue.

I along with several of our classmates served in Viet Nam. I was fortunate along with others survived, others did not. I recommend for your reading the book "An American Amnesia" which gives you a full understanding of the Viet Nam War. This book is by Bruce Herschensohn.

War is terrible, there are no winners, only losers. Please remember our servicemen and women who serve with honor and not by political feelings. Blessings to you all. Charlie Van Liere

___________

I marched in the Longwood parade from Cub scouts thru high school.

Capn AL

________________

I am collecting numerous military stories. I am posting them at http://www.militarystories.us/ . If you have a story to share send them to me at craighullinger@gmail.com and I will post them

___________________________

Since we lived at 108th Longwood the Memorial Day parade was front and center for us. My dad served in the Army Air Corps and was at Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41. My husband was in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. We just finished watching on PBS the Memorial Day Concert in DC. Listening to the many stories of soldiers sacrificing their lives for our freedoms always brings tears to my eyes.

Sent from my iPad
Anita Price

___________

2 Jun 2004 Ron Wozniak wrote:

Memorial Day and a Very Important PS

Early Monday morning I gave a concerned look at Katie and wondered why she was not ready for school yet. I knew she had off, but wanted to jack her chain a bit.

She did not fall for it, and looking at me with that "child knowing everything and parent knowing nothing look," she promptly told me it was Memorial Day, and she had no school.

I was surprised she even knew it was Memorial Day, but then asked her what that meant. Well, she didn't know, so then I told her how after the American Civil War, Southern women saw that many Confederate and Union soldiers who were killed in the fighting, did not have marked graves. 

They felt sorry for them, so far from home, and no one to properly take care of their grave, let alone mark it. It started as a tradition and spread till eventually it caught on across the nation, It was originally called Decoration Day, and finally the President of the United States declared the last Monday of May as Memorial Day.

I told her about Punchbowl and how I saw on the news  that the Boy Scouts were out there placing an American Flag at each Veterans' grave. One Boy Scout who was interviewed, placed 200 flags himself, and in all 35,000 small American Flags were put in the ground next to each grave marker. She expressed an interest to visit it, even though she initially said , "Dead people are bad and scary, and would not want to see all the decaying bodies."

The Punchbowl in Hawaii

I explained that they were not bad people, and asked if she thought her Grandparents, who she loved so much were bad people. She really did not mean "bad" as being terrible mean people. I told her the Veterans were buried under the ground and covered with nice grass, and the cemetery had lots of trees, bushes, and flowers. I asked her if she was ever at a cemetery, and she replied, "No." She actually had, but did not remember being at the cemetery when her Grandparents died.

So, we headed out on the Windward coastal ride, took our time, and visited, the Federal VA Cemetery of the Pacific, Punchbowl. There were thousands of American Flags, all in neat rows, up and down the slopes of the dormant volcano overlooking Honolulu...quite a sight. As we drove down one lane I noticed an American Flag that had blown over, stopped the jeep, got out, and up righted it, got back in and continued on. Then we saw there were more fallen over, I stopped again, and eventually Linda and Katie joined me in up righting more flags, and flower pots, that had blown over. I was real proud of both of them.

We visited the immense monument depicting the Battle of the Pacific, and let Katie go at her own pace, asking questions and wanting to "touch"

the mosaic maps of the different campaigns and battles. I think she wanted to touch them just because they were fenced off.

Anyway we got back home about 1800, had Mahi Mahi on the grill and ate outside with the tiki torches going...really nice and relaxing.

Semper Fi,

and God Bless America!!!


Love,

Dad/Grandpa/Ron/Woz

______________

Woz, Beautifully written.

My Great Uncle Walter Anderson died on Kwajalein and is buried in the Punchbowl in Hawaii. On behalf of our family we thank you, Katie, and Linda for your gesture and this story.

Semper Fi

Craig Hullinger

______

 Letters about my Great Uncle


COMPANY G 184th INFANTRY
APO 7, c /O Postmaster
San Francisco, California


20 February 1944

Mr. & Mrs. Peter. Anderson
Murdo, South Dakota


Dear Mr. & Mrs. P. Anderson:

Words are inadequate in trying to express the feelings of the officers and men of this organization over the death of your son, Walter Anderson.

Early in this training phase Walter was singled out as an outstanding noncommissioned officer, and was assigned the duties of Platton Sgt. over numerous senior Sgts. Such an assignment meant that Walter was second in command of thirty-eight men. While serving in such a capacity the men in his platoon soon realized and appreciated his fine qualities, namely, fairness, coolness, and a great deal of common sense.

During the operation S/Sgt. Anderson became platoon commander, again in which capacity he skillfully led his men. For above action I have recommended that S/Sgt. Anderson be awarded the Bronze Star. Walter was struck by rifle fire and died shortly afterward.

Please feel free to call upon me for additional
information you may desire.

Military restrictions are such that any information you may desire concerning grave locations, dispositions of remains, effects, and other related matters will be furnished by the Quartermaster General.

You have the deepest sympathy of the men and officers of this organization in your bereavement.

Yours most sincerely



RENE E. MAYSONAVE
Capt. Infantry
Commanding

________________

Murdo, S. D

December 20, 1991

Dear Craig:

Walt graduated from Murdo High School in 1936, during the worst of the big depression. It was next to impossible to get a job but he worked for Edna and Helmer Liffengren most of the time until 1940.

He was one of the first volunteers for service and left from Murdo in January 1941. Basic Training in Camp Roberts in California, later in Fort Ord, CA. His outfits stormed ashore on an island in the Aleutions, Alaska sometime before 1943, but the Japanese had all left so they went on to Hawaii. Walt was a very good all around athlete so he was picked to take Ranger training while there. A very tough course, so they say.

The Navy had shelled the small island of Kwajelein, about a mile wide and two deep for days until not a tree was standing but when the infantry went in there were still enemy in underground bunkers who came out and shot 3 or 4 hundred of our men. Walt was one of them, on February 4, 1944. His body was buried nearby until the war was over. With the parents request, he is buried in the National Cemetery in Hawaii, the very beautiful Punch Bowl. We were there in 1974.

Paul Anderson (Brother of Walter Anderson,
Uncle to Louise Liffengren Hullinger

______________

My Uncle received the Bronze Star 50 years after he earned it. My cousin knew the story that the award had been recommended, but lost in the shuffle. He wrote to his Congressman. They found the citation, and awarded it to the family.


More on my uncle below:


http://sgtwalteranderson.blogspot.com/

Memorial Day - Remembering the People Who Died While Serving in the Armed Forces - EMPEHI HEROES 

EMPEHI HEROES   empehiheroes.blogspot.com

Memorial Day - Last Saturday in May

Memorial Day
The gravestones at Arlington National Cemetery are decorated by U.S. flags on Memorial Day weekend.
Official name	Memorial Day
Observed by	United States
Type	National
Observances	Remembrance of American war dead
Date	Last Monday in May
2015 date	May 25
2016 date	May 30
2017 date	May 29
2018 date	May 28
Frequency	annual

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the people who died while serving in the country's armed forces.[1] The holiday, which is observed every year on the last Monday of May,[2] originated as Decoration Day after the American Civil War in 1868, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of Union veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois — established it as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.[3] By the 20th century, competing Union andConfederate holiday traditions, celebrated on different days, had merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who died while in the military service.[1] It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries.

Posted 29th May 2016 by Morgan Park