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Lifting Battle Weary Eyes to the Heavens

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Some 60 years ago this week. A well-traveled paratrooper with good reason to wonder why.

Official caption: “14 August 1966. SP4 Ruediger Richter (Columbus, Georgia), 4th Bn., 503 Inf., 173 Abn Bde (Separate), lifts his battle-weary eyes to the heavens, as if to ask why? SGT. Daniel E. Spencer (Bend, Oregon) stares down at their fallen comrade. The day’s battle ended, they silently await the helicopter which will evacuate their comrade from the jungle-covered hills in Long Khanh Province.”

By Pfc. L. Paul Epley, 1966 National Archives and Records Administration, Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer (111-SC-635974)

Richter, 25 years old at the time, had a long and winding history before the above image was captured. One that had included surviving Allied bombers in WWII as a youth, running away to the sea at age 14, then accepting a “join or go to prison” stint in the French Foreign Legion under a new name, before heading to America.

From a 2014 article, by which time he was a 73-year-old grandpa in Georgia, finally in a quiet time.

Born in Berlin in February 1941, when Hitler’s Nazi troops already had been marauding across Europe for years, Richter’s earliest memories are of bodies outside bombed-out bunkers and bright flares dropped by Allied bombers.

“We called them Christmas trees. They were beautiful,” he said. “You could hear the sirens going off all over Berlin.”

Richter said when the war ended in 1945 and the Allies sliced the city into sectors, he was fortunate enough to live in the American district, where GIs were a soft touch for a young German boy begging for food. With few options in Berlin, Richter said, he joined the German merchant marine at age 14. That three-year stint ended when his ship docked in Calais, France, where he and other sailors were arrested after a bar fight.

“They put us in a dungeon with water dropping down, just like in a movie. There was just a little window with bars,” he said.

After three days in lockup, a judge gave the penniless Richter a choice: Stay in prison or join the French Foreign Legion, which was battling rebels in French-controlled North Africa. He was too young to join legally at age 17, Richter said, so he was given a new name — Horst Timm — and allowed to enlist.

Richter does not know how many men he killed with the Legion, or how many night-long marches he made through Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria. But after five years, he left the Legion and regained his true name. An aunt and uncle living in Columbus suggested he come to America to restart his life, so he did in 1964.

Richter grew bored with his job constructing helicopter landing pads, so he enlisted in the Army in 1965.

Thanks, Mike!

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The animated film Heavy Metal premiered in the United States and Canada on August 7, 1981, making it 45 years young this month.

As any Gen Xer can vouch, HM and the magazine that went along with it were transformative.

Besides perhaps the Harry Canyon segment, the most affective, at least to me, was the B-17 Pacific Pearl segment, and we wouldn’t have had it without illustrator Michael G. Ploog— who knew guns and militaria firsthand.

Ploog, born in Mankato, Minnesota during WWII, signed up with the Marines in 1958 and remained on active duty for ten years, working on the Corps’ Leatherneck Magazine, among others.

Working for Filmation and Hanna-Barbera, he did side work for  Will Eisner on the Army’s PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, guide.

A typical spread from Will Eisner’s U.S. Army publication PS, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly #224 (c. 1971), with art attributed to Ploog.

Of course, Mike went on to work with Marvel (Man-Thing, Ghost Rider, Werewolf By Night, et al), DC (The Spirit), Dark Horse (The Goon), and clocked in on the amazing 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings, and so on.

He is still around and deserves to be honored in the likes of Frazetta, Wrightson, and Moebius.

Army Jungleers making a GOYA comeback

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The Army is getting a newfound interest in jungle warfare.

COL Keith W. Benedict and CPT Christian M. Hert have a great article in Line of Departure (How Panama’s Crucible is Yet Again Testing Soldiers’ Mettle) detailing how legendary jungle training has returned to former Fort Sherman, Panama– now a Panamanian aeronaval base, Cristóbal Colón– after more than two decades of hiatus.

Before the doors closed in 1999 and the course moved to Hawaii, the Fort Sherman-based “Green Hell” Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC) was training up to 9,000 personnel annually and awarding the Jungle Expert patch to successful units. JOTC also offered a 10-day air crew survival course and a four-week engineers’ course.

Today the course is back as an 18-day event, using lots of old-school sweat, blood, and mud, blended with new technology.

U.S. service members and Panamanian partners, all candidates of Jungle Operations Training Course – Panama, make it to the finish line of the green mile at Aeronaval Base Cristóbal Colón, Panamá, July 2, 2026. The event tested participants’ endurance, teamwork, and ability to move equipment through physically demanding jungle terrain under stressful conditions. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Carolyn Dodge)

Moreover, the Army has announced it is making the Jungle Tab, retroactively to 1990, a permanent tab.

The GOYAs Return

The U.S. Army is reactivating the historic 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion as a full regiment, with sequenced ceremonies at Fort Benning and in Panama, set for 14 August.

The new unit will comprise four battalions to support joint training under the United States Army Western Hemisphere Command– which in itself was stood up last December, uniting U.S. Army Forces Command, U.S. Army North, and U.S. Army South into a single, four-star operational headquarters.

The 551st was one of the independent PIBs established by the Army in 1942-43, formed at Fort Kobbe, Panama Canal Zone, on 26 November 1942. After a stint in Panama, they were sent for more training at Camp Mackall, North Carolina, and then moved up to recently liberated airfields in Italy in 1944 to join the 1st Airborne Task Force. By that time, they had earned the nickname GOYAs, which, depending on who you talked to, meant “Great Outstanding Young Americans” or “Get off Your Ass(es).”

On 15 August 1944 at 1804hrs local time, the 46 officers and 796 NCOs and enlisted “GOYAs” of the 551st PIB conducted their only combat parachute assault during WWII into Drop Zone “A” at Valbourges near Le Muy in Southern France during Operation Dragoon.

Marching 5km through the night, they liberated the French town of Draguignan the next morning, fighting on foot all the way into the Alps.

By the Battle of the Bulge, they had been attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 96 remaining men from the 551st PIB, not dead or in hospital, were folded into the 82nd in March 1945, erasing the hard-fighting “Lost Battalion.”

Forgotten by history, they only recived their hard-earned Presidential Unit Citation in 2001.

It will be nice to see the old 551st returned to service– this time with Jungle Tabs.

Yankees Across the ETO, 1944-45

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And in a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the ‘Minutemen’ of the old 328th, here is a second piece from the TEC4 William Faucett collection: the Grapevine unit newspaper of the 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division from October 1945, which details the outfit’s march from Utah Beach to Czechoslovakia and Austria. The 328th was one of the 26th’s three infantry regiments, along with the 101st and 104th, all of which are touched on.

Fresh off the scanner!

These are large images, so be patient.

Remembering the ‘Minutemen’ of the old 328th

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The U.S. 328th Infantry Regiment was a war baby.

Initially stood up at Camp (now Fort) Gordon on 25 August 1917, it made it “Over There” as part of the 82nd (All American) Infantry Division, back when they were “legs” and fought in the Lorraine, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne offensives. One of their members you may have heard of was one Sgt. Alvin York.

Reformed as a USAR unit in the 1920s, it was carved away from the 82nd in 1943 when the Army switched from four-regiment “square” divisions to three-regiment “triangular” divisions. This saw the 328th ordered into active federal service on 12 February 1943, and shifted to the forming 26th (Yankee) Infantry Division in preparation for deployment to Europe.

That brings us to our tale here today.

A good family friend is the septuagenarian daughter of the late William Earl Faucett of Warrior, Alabama, who served in the 328th for the duration of WWII, ending his enlistment in 1946 as a TEC4.

Among TEC4 Faucett’s war chest was this great booklet, compiled by Sgt Jermoen Theise and printed by Verlagsdruckerei Weis (Weis Publishing House) in Austria in early 1946, before the 328th came home. The unit was disbanded in July 1946, some 80 years ago this month.

I scanned it in preparation for sending the scans to the 26th Infantry Museum and the CMH, but thought you guys would also appreciate it.

You can thank TEC4 Faucett for keeping it safe for decades and his daughter for continuing to do so, in his honor.

 

 

The Forgotten Coast Guard Paras of WWII

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Sure, everyone knows about at least two of the five U.S. Army Airborne Divisions (11th, 13th, 17th, 82nd, and 101st) that stood up in World War II, along with several separate parachute infantry regiments and battalions (like the stand-alone segregated 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion).

Plus there were the three short-lived battalions of “Para-Marines” in the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, and the Navy Parachute School (founded in 1924 no less!) at the NAS Lakehurst, which schooled thousands of riggers and both blimp and aircraft crews in the art.

Add to that the covert secret squirrel types of the OSS and their off-books school at Area A-2 in Virginia’s Prince William Forest Park, training to drop into occupied Europe and Asia.

But did you know the Coast Guard also stood up a specialist airborne unit during the war? No, we aren’t talking about aircrew training to “hit the silk”; we are speaking of the USCG’s Para-Rescues.

I can’t find a ton of information on the subject, but the background is that at least a few dozen Coasties underwent parachute and survival training in the U.S. Forest Service’s smokejumper program (which started in 1939) to be dropped into the harsh Alaskan wilderness for extreme search-and-rescue missions.

As any WWII buff knows, the Alaskan theatre went from being a backwater in June 1942 to being an active frontline, and the military buildup in the territory saw aircraft go missing almost every day. For instance, in the Aleutian campaign alone, the USAAF lost 225 aircraft, with only 1:6 of those in combat.

The National Archives and WWII Museum have some great images to help color the tale. All official captions:

Coast Guardsman M. L. Nelson, parachute rigger third class, Canton, Illinois, is one of this group of hardy, aerial trained to leap into the Alaskan wilderness to ‘bring-.” No date WWII Museum 2015.063.081

USCG Grumman JRF Goose. Original caption: (July 1945) The search is on — A twin-motored Coast Guard plane skims the rugged, ice-crusted mountains of Alaska in an effort to spot wreckage of a missing aircraft. Aboard the Coast Guard plane is a para-rescue squad that will drop into the desolate area when the survivors are sighted to administer first aid and guide the victims to safety. The para-rescuers are thoroughly familiar with the northern country and are equipped and trained to live for days in the icy wilderness. USCG Image 26-G-4397. National Archives Identifier 205592335

July 1945. Original caption: Men Against the Icy Wilderness — After jumping from a Coast Guard plane, these Coast Guard para-rescuers pit their hard-won experience of the north against a maze of snow, woods, and mountains as they search for plane-crash victims in a bleak section of Alaska. Laden with enough supplies to last for many days, the husky para-rescuers trudge through heavy snow banks to the spot where they located the wreckage while still in the plane. After administering first aid to survivors, the Coast Guardsmen will tackle the giant job of moving them to safety. USCG Image 26-G-4398. National Archives Identifier 205592344

July 1945. Original caption: Mercy Mission — This is how a fully equipped Coast Guard para-rescuer looks as he gets set to leap from a Coast Guard plane to carry aid to plane-crash or other victims swallowed by Alaska’s rugged expanse of mountains, timber and ice. Outfitted and trained to master the wilderness for days, husky para-rescuers provide food and medical care for survivors and move them to safety. USCG Image 26-G-4396. National Archives Identifier 205592341

July 1945. Original caption: Mountain-top Vigil — Search for plane-crash victims carries a Coast Guard para-rescuers to a vantage point atop a mountain towering over a snow-and wood-covered valley. Other mountain peaks punch through a thick sheet of fog, which teams with snow, ice, and woods in hindering the searching party. Dropped into the Alaska wilderness from a Coast Guard plane, the para-rescuer carries a heavy pack of emergency rations and other equipment to help care for survivors until they can be moved to safety. USCG Image 26-G-4399. National Archives Identifier 205592347

July 1945. Original caption: “That’s the Spot” — as a Coast Guard rescue plane hovers over snow-covered Alaska woodland, Coast Guard Paratrooper Bruce Johnstone (left), of Ketchikan, Alaska, points out the spot where he believes a missing plane has crashed to Lt. Comdr. Joseph F. McCue (center), of Washington, D.C., and Ensign James P. Gwynn, of Red Bank, N.H., Coast Guard pilots. Johnstone is a member of a para-rescue squad which will bail out to care for crash victims and move them to safety. The rugged para-rescuers are trained and equipped to exist for days in the bleak expanse of ice, snow, and woods. USCG Image 26-G-4393. National Archives Identifier 205592338

While Cold War experiments towards fielding “fully-qualified para-scuba rescue men” occurred (keep in mind the service sent crews to fly Air Force Jolly Greens on C-SAR missions in Vietnam), the concept was never put into use by the USCG.

Today, no Coast Guard units are actively trained or equipped for tactical parachute insertion, which is probably a shame. Still, Coast Guard Aviation Survival Technicians (Rescue Swimmers) have to prove themselves in other ways that would make some airborne guys weak in the knees.

Raise one for Flora-bama Pat

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If you spent more than 30 seconds involved in Naval Aviation in and around Pensacola for the past 40 years, you know of the Flora-bama, a (formerly) tiny (formerly) biker bar on the Florida/Alabama Gulf Coast line between Orange Beach and Perdido Key. 

Purchased by Pat McClellan in 1984, the hole-in-the-wall honky tonk bar had a transformation and became nearly infamous for its events such as the “Inter-State Mullet Toss” and New Year’s “Polar Bear Dip,” while, alternating with McGuires in P-Cola proper, becoming a Mecca for young naval aviators, who had a habit of returning when they came back as an instructor, then circling back around once after they retired.

Pat has a lot to do with that.

A University of Minnesota (NROTC ’71) alum, Pat went through the Navy Flight Program and ended up spending four years on the Blue Ghost, Pensacola’s own USS Lexington (AVT-16), as PAO back once upon a time when studs pulled their first traps on T-2C Buckeyes.

Quick with a joke and a little rough around the edges, my favorite observation of ol Pat was sitting in the dining room at the Flora-bama years ago, back before the big expansion, and watching him handle a complaint from a very fired-up tourist lady, who had pressing concerns about every single thing in the bar.

After listening patiently to her for about five solid minutes, Pat sat back and concluded.

“I’m sorry, I don’t think you ate here,” he told her confidently, “because we don’t serve bitches,” and walked away.

Pour one out for Pat, who just picked up his helmet bag for the last time and went to a Tailhook party somewhere where the visibility is unlimited, and, of course, the bar is open. If they don’t already know how to make bushwhackers, I’m sure Pat is already on that.

Pour one out for Mr. Reilly

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Unless you are under a rock, you have no doubt heard of the passing of Irish-born Kiwi actor Sir Nigel John Dermot “Sam” Neill.

While everyone else is talking Jurassic Park, we, of course, remember Mr. Neill as the fictional though composite Australian commando Sergeant Dan Costello in Attack Force Z (his first movie) and as the very real Sidney George Reilly in the BBC’s Reilly, Ace of Spies, before moving on to Capt. Vasily Borodin in The Hunt for Red October.

Even as a lad, the extensive use on-screen of a suppressed M3 Grease Gun was nothing short of magic, while Reilly was even more Bond than Bond.

While Mr. Neill never served in the military, his pop was a Sandhurst-minted career officer in the Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria’s) for over 20 years, including WWII, and the actor was born near and grew up in the regimental depot in Gough Barracks, Armagh.

In 2013, he purchased a Bannockburn vineyard and renamed it ‘‘The Fusilier” in honor of his father and the regiment itself, which had been amalgamated out of existence in 1968.

So, be it a New Zealand pinot or a nice Irish whisky, raise one to Sam, lads.

Here’s hoping he found his “round American woman, rabbits, pickup truck, and recreational vehicle.”

Clouds on Cape Cod: The (Four of the) Five Sisters Cup Finish

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The 400-mile run from the Hudson through the Cape Cod Precautionary Area to Boston by four of the Gorch Fock-class training barques over the weekend was won by Gorch Fock II, which also won the original OpSail76 Five Sisters Race and is the current holder of the Tiffany Trophy.

Ironically, the ship’s skipper, Capt. Elmar Bornkessel is a USN vet, sort of, having previously served as an exchange officer aboard USS Lake Erie (CG 70) from 2004 to 2006.

German Navy ship Gorch Fock transits Boston Harbor during the Sail250 Boston Parade of Sail, July 11, 2026. Sail250 Boston is a global gathering of tall ships and military vessels in Boston’s historic waterfront to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States. This milestone maritime festival includes more than 50 ships from around the world. From the first Continental Navy to today’s global force, the Navy’s story is America’s story — one of courage, innovation, and an unbreakable commitment to winning and preserving independence. Sail250 Boston honors the maritime heritage that helped build the nation and the Navy’s enduring role in protecting freedom, preserving prosperity, and defending America’s independence. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Coronado)

The Five Sisters’ Cup is awarded to the ship that has the fastest time from New York to Boston as part of Sail250 celebrations July 9-10, 2026. German Navy training vessel Gorch Fock won the cup in 1976 and again in 2026. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Rajesh Harrilal)

The USCGC Eagle (ex-SSS Horst Wessel) came in second while NRP Sagres (ex-SSS Albert Leo Schlageter) and NS Bricul Mircea brought up the rear.

Marine Traffic showed the quartet running– canvas only on the final 57-mile leg- between 6.5 and 8 knots, which isn’t surprising as they were tacking upwind (south-westerly, Force 4–5 on the Beaufort scale) while off the Cape.

All in all, the event produced some epic images.

A mix of USCG and Romanian Navy photos:

Seaman Matheus Kirchner, a deck member assigned to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle (WIX 327), climbs down from the shrouds to the main deck while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, July 8, 2026. Eagle is participating in the Five Sisters Race from New York to Boston as part of Sail250. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashly Murphy)

Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Trader, left, and Petty Officer 3rd Class Jacob Haslem, boatswain’s mates assigned to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Eagle (WIX 327), replace the flying jib staysail aboard Eagle while underway, July 8, 2026. Eagle carries spare sails for each sail aboard to support continued operations. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashly Murphy)

The USCGC Stone served as escort for the Sisters

Among the souvenirs and tokens exchanged, the skippers of the three allied square riggers all recived a painting of Eagle via the USCG’s Art Program

Of course, the “one owner” German-manned ship is much newer (1958) than the other three circa 1930s ships, built to an improved design, and has a Constant Speed Propeller on her auxiliary diesel which can be feathered rather than freewheeling like her older sisters, but it was a close-run event and a perfect day for sailing.

And waiting for them in Boston was the Navy’s oldest commissioned warship and only frigate, USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.”

All in all, Sail250 was just all-around outstanding.

George M. Neal, Arriving

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The U.S. Navy christened the future Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS George M. Neal (DDG 131) during a ceremony at Ingalls in Pascagoula on Saturday, after launching back in April.

She is the first warship named for Ohio-born Aviation Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class George M. Neal, who was awarded the Navy Cross for his heroism during a search-and-rescue mission over North Korea.

While serving in a detachment of Helicopter Utility Squadron One (HU-1) deployed aboard the Australian carrier HMAS Sydney in 1951, Neal volunteered for a perilous mission deep in enemy territory to rescue a downed aviator. After their helicopter crashed under heavy enemy fire, he aided his fellow crew members in evading capture for nine days, enduring subsequent imprisonment as a POW before his release.

Her sponsor was AMM3 Neal’s daughter, Kelley Neal Gray, who saw the ship for the first time this weekend. The elder Neal passed in 2016 at age 86 and is interred at Arlington (Section 76, Grave 1082), as he should be.

The fourth Flight III Burke and, amazingly, the 62nd hull of her class (36 of them delivered by Ingalls already), Neal is expected to be commissioned in 2027 after fitting out, trials, and delivery.

Ingalls has delivered two FIIIs already: USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and Ted Stevens (DDG 128).

Flight IIIs currently under construction in Pascagoula include Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129), George M. Neal (DDG 131), Sam Nunn (DDG 133), Thad Cochran (DDG 135), and John F. Lehman (DDG 137). Ships in pre-planning include Telesforo Trinidad (DDG 139), Ernest E. Evans (DDG 141), Charles French (DDG 142), Richard J. Danzig (DDG 143), Intrepid (DDG 145), Robert Kerrey (DDG 146), and Ray Mabus (DDG 147).

By the way, looking at the list above, I would like to stress again that destroyers should only be named after naval heroes, not politicians or previous ships not named after heroes.

Flight III Burkes were ordered to fill the AAW Commander gap in carrier strike groups with the block retirement of the Tico-class CGs. As such, they will be the most advanced air defense escorts in the world and the first to field the new AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) and the Aegis Baseline 10 Combat System.

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