A Call For Donations€¦ · like the celebration of the pharaohs as “gods,” the Greeks were celebrating their gods and goddesses. Ancient Romans were the first to celebrate birthdays

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Cover Page .......................... 1

Inside The Chapter ........... 2

Winter Soldiers! ................ 3

This Month In History ...... 5

Tragedy at Sea ................... 6

Featured Story ................... 7

Contact Page ....................... 11

President

“JJ” Justice

Vice President

Joan Sheline

Volume IV, Issue 3 Volume IV Issue 5 May 2020

Views and opinions expressed in The Mission Newsletter are those of the editor, and do not necessarily reflect those of Rolling Thunder® Inc. or Florida Chapter 1. If you have any concerns about any material presented in this newsletter, please contact the editor at [email protected].

A Call For Donations

Do you have something you’d like to share with our world-wide readers? If so, just send a note to the editor along with a picture or two, and we’ll be happy to include it in an upcoming issue.

Ed: [email protected]

The Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard Transitional Facility,

700 E. Fee Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32901, is in desperate need of

outdoor furniture. What little they have is old and weather beaten. If

anyone can help out with outdoor chairs, benches, tables, or umbrellas,

that would be great!!! All donations are greatly appreciated. If you can

help out, please call (321) 409-8167. For more information, please visit:

http://www.vietnamandallveteransofbrevard.com/transitional-

housing.htm

House resolution

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano (Calif.) and Ranking Member Dr. Phil Roe (Tenn.) introduced legislation (H.R.6612), which would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to appoint at least one licensed hearing aid specialist to each VA Medical Center in the country.

This legislation builds on the Veterans Mobility Safety Act of 2016 which granted the VA authority to appoint licensed hearing aid specialists at their medical centers, though they have so far failed to exercise that authority.

This bill would mandate the VA hire these specialists in a timely manner. Please support this initiative.

Bob Ericson 05/03

Cindy Flowers 05/08

Maggie Bloomer 05/08

Tommy Hembree 05/08

Wendy Paul 05/10

Mike Schulze 05/16

Julie Coloñ 05/20

Gerry Harden 05/24

Dee Ann Miller 05/26

Matt Cobb 05/28

Gary McClain 05/29

Lisa Price 05/31

Page 2

May 2020 INSIDE THE CHAPTER

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate birthdays? When you think about it, they’re really just an opportunity for your friends and family to come together and congratulate you for surviving another year. So how did this celebration come about? Although research on the exact origin of birthdays and birthday cakes remains inconclusive, there is enough of a consensus to piece together an approximate history.

When pharaohs were crowned in ancient Egypt they were considered to have transformed into gods. This divine promotion made their coronation date much more important than their birth into the world. Scholars have pointed to the Bible’s reference of a Pharaoh’s birthday as the earliest known mention of a birthday celebration (around 3,000 B.C.E.), but Egyptologist Dr. James Hoffmeier believes this is referencing the subject’s coronation date, since that would have been the Pharaoh’s “birth” as a god.

The Greeks offered moon-shaped cakes to Artemis as a form of tribute to the lunar goddess. To recreate the radiance of the moon and her perceived beauty, Greeks lit candles and put them on cakes for a glowing effect. The Greeks most likely took the idea of birthday celebration from the Egyptians, since just like the celebration of the pharaohs as “gods,” the Greeks were celebrating their gods and goddesses.

Ancient Romans were the first to celebrate birthdays for the common man (but just the men). The prevailing opinion seems to be that the Romans were the first civilization to celebrate birthdays for non-religious figures. Romans would celebrate birthdays for friends and families, while the government created public holidays to observe the birthdays of more famous citizens. Those celebrating a 50th birthday party would receive a special cake made of wheat flour, olive oil, honey and grated cheese. Female birthdays still weren’t celebrated until around the 12th century.

Around the 4th century, Christians began to celebrate the birthday of Jesus as the holiday of Christmas… and it has been a celebration ever since. So now you know.

Page 3

Stand with the Winter Soldiers!

Campaign

May 2020

INSIDE THE CHAPTER (Continued)

The coronavirus crisis has impacted all of us, and a group of Brevard County citizens has banned together to provide county-wide support to those on the front lines of the crisis—our first responders and medical personnel. This group, consisting largely of military veterans and their spouses, has taken as their motto, "Stand with the Winter Soldiers!"

The Winter Soldiers were those brave, hardy souls who stuck by our young country when it was on its last legs in late 1776, going on to win victories under General Washington which secured our freedom.

Today's Winter Soldiers (WS) are our brave first responders and medical personnel, who are risking everything to fight the coronavirus scourge. They deserve all the support that we can offer them in this crisis, and that is precisely the intention of our campaign.

We have seen many stories of Americans in our county and country finding ways to help the new front line warriors. Over the past two weeks our campaign has partnered with Health First Hospitals and Urgent Care facilities; the Hospice of St Francis (HOSF); Brevard County Sheriff's Office; Brevard County Fire and Rescue; several city Police and Fire units; and other First Responders and medical facilities. In addition, so far, more than 30 local restaurants operating takeout meals have volunteered to join the mission.

Currently, the WS Campaign consists of 30 Brevard County citizens, operating under the umbrella of the Military Officers Association of

America Canaveral Chapter (MOAACC), a 501(c)(3) organization.

The volunteers are organized into five regional groups around the county, to provide timelier and focused support to the first responders and medical personnel in their area. The support falls into two categories: food and medical supplies (primarily

personnel protective equipment - PPE). Our

volunteers are working with a growing number of restaurants around the county to donate prepared meals, and will deliver the donated food to the first responders and medical personnel. As for PPE support, the campaign has arranged with the HOSF to serve as the single point-of-contact for both donations and delivery of PPE to first responders and medical organizations in need. They have three donation centers in Titusville, the Veterans Memorial Center on Merritt Island and in Melbourne. Contact the HOSF web site for more details or call Amanda Hernnkind (321) 634-2492 for more information.

No one can predict for how long or how hard COVID-19 will impact Brevard County. But, the campaign to support our Front Line Medical and First Responders is ready and will stay the course, including being reactivated next Fall if needed.

To learn more about the "Stand with the Winter Soldiers" Campaign, or to volunteer to join the effort, contact: Alex Goodale (703) 338-8362, or Donn Weaver (757) 871-6576.

Rolling Thunder Florida Chapter 1 is a proud volunteer in this campaign. Won’t you join us?

The Battle of Trenton -- Charles McBarron

Page 4

May 2020

CHAPTER 1 SELFIE COLLEGE

INSIDE THE CHAPTER (Continued)

Doing our part during this trying time - staying home.

Our ‘selfies’ are: Top row L-R: Lisa Price, Tommy Hembree, Billy VanDoren, Colleen Ward, Walt Marshall, Bill

Johnson, Dee Ann Miller.

2nd row L-R: Larry Horn, Lance Armstrong, Donn Weaver, Marylou Wade, Jim Wheatly, Jerry Lipson.

Center row L-R: Bob Ericson, Chip Hanson, Flo Walter, John Juliano, Sybil Tyndall, Beverly and Peter Puzzo.

4th row L-R: Larry Tyndall, Cindy Flowers, Wendy Paul, Denny Wilcox, Jim Justice.

Bottom row L-R: Shaiann Hudson, Tom Mann, Patrick Ward, “Dee O Gee”, Mike Schulze, Rich Bolognini, Coleen

Seiter.

Page 5

If you have a need, please seek the advise or service of those who support and sponsor this publication.

May 2020

THIS MONTH IN HISTORY

May 4, 1494 - During his second journey of exploration in the New World, Christopher Columbus discovered Jamaica.

May 5, 1961 - Alan Shepard became the first American in space. He piloted the spacecraft Freedom 7 during a 15-minute 28-second suborbital flight that reached an altitude of 116 miles (186 kilometers) above the earth. Shepard’s success occurred 23 days after the Russians had launched the first-ever human in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, during an era of intense technological competition between the Russians and Americans called the Space Race.

May 7, 1915 - The British passenger ship Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland, losing 1,198 of its 1,924 passengers, including 114 Americans. The attack hastened neutral America's entry into World War I.

May 10, 1869 - The newly constructed tracks of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railways were first linked at Promontory Point, Utah. A golden spike was driven by Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific, to celebrate the linkage.

May 11, 1862 - To prevent its capture by Union forces advancing in Virginia, the Confederate Ironclad Merrimac was destroyed by the Confederate Navy. In March, the Merrimac had fought the Union Ironclad Monitor to a draw. Naval warfare was thus changed forever, making wooden ships obsolete.

May 14, 1607 - The first permanent English settlement in America was established at Jamestown, Virginia, by a group of royally chartered Virginia Company settlers from Plymouth, England.

May 17, 1875 - The first Kentucky Derby horse race took place at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

May 20, 1862 - President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act opening millions of acres of government owned land in the West to "homesteaders" who could acquire up to 160 acres by living on the land and cultivating it for five years, paying just $1.25 per acre.

May 27, 1937 – Two hundred thousand people celebrated the grand opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco by strolling across it.

We thank all our sponsors of this publication. Your generosity makes it possible for us to continue our mission of “educating’ the public” about our prisoners-of-war,

and missing-in-action, while at the same time, promoting your cause or business.

Page 6

In some cases, veterans of the sinking had difficulty proving that their injuries resulted from the sinking, because there was no publicly available documentation that the event even occurred. It wasn’t until the passage of House Concurrent Resolution No. 408 in October 2000 that the soldiers and sailors aboard Rohna received U.S. government recognition for their courage and sacrifice.

May 2020

Little Known Tragedy At Sea

On the 26th of November 1943, a German Henschel Hs-293 radio-controlled, rocket-boosted glide bomb hit and sank His Majesty’s Transport (HMT) Rohna off the coast of Algeria, resulting in the deaths of 1,149 crew and passengers, including 1,015 U.S. Army troops (plus 35 U.S. soldiers who subsequently died from wounds.) The loss of Rohna constituted the greatest loss of U.S. life at sea due to enemy action.

Following the landings at Salerno in September 1943, the Allies had become painfully aware of the development and employment of German guided bombs and the limited means to counter them. In order to prevent the Germans from learning how effective the guided bomb had been against Rohna, the entire matter was classified and

wartime censorship was used to delay any public revelation of the number of casualties and to prevent specific details from becoming public knowledge. The secrecy prevailed for many years after the fact, and until the 1960s, only those who were involved in the incident had significant knowledge. The tragedy was not covered in the standard histories of World War II.

Henschel Hs-293 radio controlled glide bomb.

HMT Rohna

Page 7

May 2020

James R Hunt 11/05/1927 - 06/23/2016

U.S. Navy - U.S. Army - U.S. Navy

JAMES R HUNT - POW

FEATURED STORY

He originally went to Japan as part of the 24th MP’s but was later transferred to Co. C, 19th Infantry, 24th Division when it became apparent that hostilities on the Korean Peninsula were on the brink of an explosion. Stationed so close-by in Japan, it’s not surprising that the 24th Division were some of the first United Nations troops on the ground in Korea. Hunt recalls that “The 24th Division was under-strength and poorly equipped.” “Most of the ammunition was for practice, with no explosive power.”

When the War started, he was with his division… on maneuvers in northern Japan. Towards the end of June, they were suddenly told to pack-up everything and were immediately shipped out to their home base in Kokura. There were some rumors going around about a war in Korea and it was presumed that this was why they were suddenly leaving their maneuvers. And… he was right. On July 5th, 1950, the 24th Division landed at Pusan, South Korea. They were told that their mission was to help stop the invading North Koreans, and would be home for Christmas. However, the Army didn’t specify what year’s Christmas he would be home for.

Hunt’s first brush with Korean opposition began on or about July 13th, as they were watching the sunrise overlooking the Kum-gang River. There was a village there that appeared to be deserted. They saw North Korean soldiers who seemed to move around the village. Suddenly someone yelled that there was someone crossing the wire down by the river. They looked down and saw an elderly Korean woman and a girl who was maybe 17-18 years old. Hunt’s Lieutenant, yelled for him to come up to where the Lt. was standing, looking down toward the river. “When I got there, I saw the woman and a girl, both dressed in Korean clothes. Lieutenant McGill told me to tell them to get out of there and I yelled down to them to move back out away from our camp.”

Instead of moving away, the women reached under their long dresses and pulled out

Continued on Page 8

Tiger Death March

POW’s recollection of North Korean captors

“I keep hoping that it will go away, but I guess that I will always have the fear of betrayal and the deep fear inside me that I cannot lose… that the Tiger is still out there, still looking for us POW’s who managed to escape his grasp.”

The Korean conflict began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean army invaded South Korea. Four days later, on June 29th the first group of American civilians was captured near Seoul. On July 5th the first American soldiers were taken prisoner. As the North Korean army moved north to secure their captives, more and more people, both civilian and military, were added to the group. Some were women and children; some were missionaries accused of being spies.

Jim Hunt was born on November. 5, 1927, in Clearfield County, PA. When he was young, the family moved to Tidioute and then to Russell where Hunt graduated high school. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March 1945 and served on various ships in the Pacific and in Guam.

He was discharged two years later and in 1947 re-enlisted in the U.S. Army, attending MP School and criminal investigator’s training at Carlisle, Pa. The next year, at the age of 23, he went to Japan as an MP translator. “To this day, I cannot truly say how I learned Japanese and became a translator,” he said. But it was that move that would put him on a path to Korea.

YN1 James R Hunt, USN

Page 8

May 2020

what looked like a Chinese burp guns. Without thinking twice, Hunt aimed his carbine at them and fired, hitting them both. Hunt and his Lieutenant went down to where they lay, and discovered that not only did the girl have a rifle, but the old woman was holding a hand grenade.

Two days later his division was hit with artillery. Hunt said later that “The explosion of the shells was deafening and we sat stunned as the dirt fell on top of us. I watched in horror as the head of one of my friends, blown from his body, came rolling down the slope toward my feet.”

The artillery was just the prelude. A bugle call unleashed the North Korean infantry. An unknown number of enemy soldiers descended upon his position. It was reported that here were so many that the soldiers didn’t even have to aim to hit one. After a firefight that lasted the duration of the morning, the division was given an order to withdraw. That’s when Hunt’s combat experiences ended, and his personal battle for survival began. The following day, Hunt was captured by North Korean troops.

Hunt and eight other POW’s attempted to escape through some nearby rice paddies, when Hunt was shot in the leg by one of his guards. They were able to escape to a farm house, waited until dark when they planned to continue their escape. However, a couple of North Korean soldiers were heading towards the house, and as fate would have it, one of the Korean soldiers walked into the room where they were hiding and recaptured Hunt and his comrades, taking their belongings and throwing their dog tags near the bodies of other dead American soldiers.

As POW’s, they marched… always north. They went from village to village staying at each location just a day or two. Early during this period, Hunt came down with dysentery.

Hunt had been in captivity for about two

Featured Story (Continued from Page 7)

and a half months when they finally took him to an empty cornfield on October 31st. On that very cold Halloween night, a North Korean soldier, Major Chong Myong Sil, took over the command of the prisoners. The prisoners called him “The Tiger.” because the major was sadistic, and he enjoyed the killing and the suffering. That night is when Hunt met the Tiger, and the Death March began.

The group of around 845 prisoners gathered in that cornfield, and included military and non-military, men and women. They began their torturous 120 mile march in the village of Manpo-Jin and eventually arrived at a village called Chunggang-ni. During the march, there was no food, and the only water was snow one could manage to scoop off the ground, without being caught by one of the guards. Those that could not keep up were shot and left by the side of the road, Including three women, two of whom were nuns. There was no mercy. North Korean guards removed soldiers’ dog tags so their bodies would be harder to identify.

The execution of 2Lt. Cordus H. Thornton occurred during the march when several POW’s could not go any further and sat down on the side of the road. As punishment, the major executed the officer in charge of most of the men who had fallen out of line. 2Lt. Thornton was that officer, and The Tiger put a bullet in the back of his head. His remains were never recovered.

Although the March ended nine days later, 89 people had died... 46 murdered by The Tiger. A year later, less than 300 of the 845 would still be alive.

When they arrived at the village of Chunggang-ni, there were three nearby camps,

referred to as the Apex camps. These were the farthest north of all the POW camps in North Korea, and held only the Tiger Death March prisoners. Hunt and his fellow POW’s remained in Chunggang-ni from November 9th through November 16th, 1950.

Continued on Page 9

Russian PPSh-41 - “burp”

During their week-long stay at Chunggang-ni, the prisoners were housed in a schoolhouse. The civilians were given straw to sleep on, and the military POWs slept on the bare floor.

Many of the military POWs died when flu hit them. They were already weakened by months of marching across Korea. Their starvation diet, the

severe cold, and constant diarrhea took it’s toll. After November, the ground was too frozen to bury the dead.

Then, on November 16th, the group was marched northeast to Hanjang-ni, some still in bare feet, and held there from November 17, 1950 through March 27, 1951. When an individual died during this time, their clothes were removed to be used by the living. Early in 1951 however, a standard Chinese winter uniform was issued to each POW. At some point they were allowed to steam their clothing and a disinfectant was used on the huts, either because of lice or feces, or both. In January The Tiger was replaced, and gradually beatings by the guards became less common.

On or about the March 27, 1951 the group was moved back down through Chunggang-ni to the third camp at An-dong (also referred to as Camp 7). This time all the sick were moved in ox-carts. At first the entire group was housed in a large stone structure of ten or twelve rooms, thought by the POW’s to have been a hospital, and nearby buildings, all part of a fenced-in compound. The entire area measured about 800 by 400 feet and was surrounded by a five foot high barbed wire fence. Although conditions and treatment improved from the winter months, the dying continued. There were 69 military deaths, and at least 1 civilian.

Page 9

May 2020 Featured Story (Continued from Page 8)

The prisoners were held at An-dong from March 27 to October 9, 1951. Then on October 10th, 1951 The military POWs were marched to the Yalu River and sent down the river on barges and turned over to the Chinese Army. The officers were sent to Camp 2 and the enlisted to camp 3 at Changsong.

Continued on Page 10

The treatment they received from the Chinese was, overall, less violent, as Hunt recalled later, “All in all, the food here was an improvement over the Korean rice balls.” But he also said that “This camp, like many run by the Chinese, was loosely guarded - there was no place to run.” “The Chinese had told the Korean villagers that they would pay a bounty for any prisoner who had escaped and returned to them. For any villager that aided a POW, they guaranteed them and their family one thing… death.

At the new camp, the days turned to weeks. And the week to months. Then in August, 1953, Hunt and the other POW’s were loaded into trucks and driven to Freedom Village, where he was released.

He was flown via helicopter

Ariel view of the Apex camps,

circa 2009

Aerial view of camp 7 at An-dong, circa 2009. This camp was the

closest to the Chinese main army HQ, Virtually nothing has changed

at this camp since 1951.

POW’s in 1951 after being

given Chinese army clothes.

Page 10

May 2020

to a medical ship – the USS Haven – the same ship that he had served on during his initial service in the Navy. The Haven then sailed to San Francisco.

Together, with another POWs mother from Dunkirk, NY, Hunt’s mother made plans in August 1953 to travel to San Francisco to see the ship. The pair traveled by train, and the Russell community raised the funds to cover the cost.

When they arrived where the ship was to debark, his mother was escorted to a seat by a high-ranking Army official. Hunt’s mother later asked who the man was, because he did not introduce himself, and Hunt told her that the man who helped her was United States Army General Omar Bradley. She never did get a chance to thank him, but General Bradley never had a truer admirer.

After Hunt’s reunion with his mother, he found out that the Army had visited his mother shortly after he had been captured, and told her that her son had been killed in action. They also offered to help her with paperwork and the serviceman’s insurance money. His mother however, declined both - believing that her son was still alive.

Hunt was awarded two Purple Hearts – one for his leg wound and the other awarded in 1998 on POW Day for wounds and beatings sustained as a POW.

Amazingly, Hunt’s military career did not end with his repatriation. He re-enlisted the next year – 1954 – in the Navy and saw duty in Vietnamese wasters before his retirement in 1969. He then entered the civil service as a federal law enforcement officer until his retirement in 1990.

His translating skills earned him a citation from President George H.W. Bush in 1991. The citation credited Hunt for “helping to save other lives through your translating.”

Hunt was a Prisoner-Of-War for 1,127 days - from July 16, 1950, until August 16, 1953. His weight had dropped from 165 pounds down to 88 pounds.

Hunt’s final call came in June 2016 at the age of 88. He is buried in his hometown of Russell, at the Pine Grove Cemetery.

∞

Hospital Ship USS Haven

Jim Hunt, center, pictured with his sister, Phyllis, and

his mother in a Jamestown Post-Journal article

published after he returned home to Russell in 1953

Featured Story (Continued from page 9)

.

Rolling Thunder® Inc. Florida Chapter 1 James M Justice, President

825 Lakewood Circle Merritt Island, FL 32952--5887

https://www.RollingThunderFlorida1.org

https://facebook.com/RollingThunderFL1

[email protected]

Page 11

May 2020

CONTACT INFORMATION (321) 720-5032

Let us know what you think of this newsletter . You can also read our blogs on the website

Volume IV Issue 5

Putting the COVID-19 pandemic into perspective

Imagine you were born in 1900. On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. Twenty two million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. Fifty million people die from it in those two years.

On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts.

On your 41st birthday, the United States is fully engaged in WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people die in the war. At 50, the Korean War starts and another 5 million perish. At 55 the Vietnam War begins. On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, should have ended, but great leaders prevented that from happening. When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends, leaving 4 million people dead.

This is a very trying time, but let's try to keep things in perspective.