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description= The musings & rants of 3 retired military (2 USAF, 1 USN), 1 former WSO, and 1 AF brat. Old AF Sarge, Juvat, Tuna, LUSH, and Beans.;
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he us on his 15th mission he was tasked to be the lead bombardier on a mission the bombing procedure at the time was the lead bombardier would find the target aim point and when the time came to drop he would trigger off his bombs every other bombardier in the formation would do the same thing at the same time when they saw him drop i m not sure exactly why this was the methodology other than possibly with a hundred or so aircraft in tight formation and a hundred or so bombardiers trying and literally flying to get the aircraft in the right position to hit the target mid airs might be a reason besides a large flight of b 17 s sometimes several hundred on a mission and up to 8000lbs of bombs each the tactic of dropping all at once could be very effective especially if the target was large to say the least in any case he was the bombardier in the lead airplane as the formation approached the target aaa became very dense and the lead plane was hit lt mathis was severely injured his right arm was shattered and badly wounded in his right side and abdomen realizing that the attack would fail if he didn t release the bombs properly he dragged himself back to his position found the target and released the bombs the rest of the formation followed suit unfortunately the wounds to lt mathis were fatal and he passed away shortly thereafter lt jack mathis s brother mark was also in his squadron albeit assigned to a different crew he requested to be transferred to his brother s crew which was granted he was killed in action a couple of months later rest in peace warriors source citation for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy over vegesack germany on march 18 1943 1st lt mathis as leading bombardier of his squadron flying through intense and accurate antiaircraft fire was just starting his bomb run upon which the entire squadron depended for accurate bombing when he was hit by the enemy antiaircraft fire his right arm was shattered above the elbow a large wound was torn in his side and abdomen and he was knocked from his bomb sight to the rear of the bombardier s compartment realizing that the success of the mission depended upon him 1st lt mathis by sheer determination and willpower though mortally wounded dragged himself back to his sights released his bombs then died at his post of duty as the result of this action the airplanes of his bombardment squadron placed their bombs directly upon the assigned target for a perfect attack against the enemy 1st lt mathis undaunted bravery has been a great inspiration to the officers and men of his unit 1 posted by juvat at 12 00 am 14 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels medal of honor saturday june 6 2026 sarge where the hell have you been oafs family photo that s my dad in the photo and my oldest kid brother the olde vermonter running around the trail of the artillery piece said artillery piece being a howitzer which in those days were measured by the size of the bore and not the weight of the shot what i refer to as a cannon or gun the terminology differs from country to country but i ll let the real gunners weigh in on that was measured by the weight of the shot anywhere from the little 3 pounders up to the big boys used for sieges firing shot weighing 24 pounds and up i believe that photo is from around 1958 60 or so at fort ticonderoga in upstate new york which new yorkers tell me means anything north of nyc if you look closely you ll see a pair of legs to the right of the howitzer ahem behind it in the photo that would be your humble scribe even then knowing to stay out from behind a field piece about to be fired though dad today is his birthday he would have been 98 today was in the army he was in the signal corps his knowledge of the feeding and care of black powder artillery was lacking one does not straddle the carriage of a cannon or howitzer or gun take your pick as when fired that piece is going to roll backwards a few feet the actual distance depends on the size of the piece but you will note that dad has a handkerchief wrapped around his head gunners did do this but the cloth should cover one s ears as those cannon or howitzer or gun take your pick were noisy sumbitches when fired so dad at least did pay attention to paintings of artillery being fired i m guessing the date the olde vermonter probably knows the exact date as it is no doubt stamped on the back of the photo now the olde vermonter looks to be four or five years old maybe as young as three which would make it 1958 but no more than five 1960 you can t see me duh so i would be anywhere from five to seven years old we visited fort ti as we called it bitd a number of times when i was nobbut a lad a place i truly enjoyed haven t been there since 1982 i think when we returned from korea and i learned that a bagpipe competition was taking place there as was and perhaps still is my wont i packed the missus herself and the naviguesser into the trusty old vw beetle and off we went to the fort about 80 miles and an hour and forty minutes by volkswagen it was that day that i learned that one does not travel without providing for provisions and beverages for the crew that was my thing hare off into the wild and buy whatever i needed when i arrived at wherever i was going i don t think the missus herself has cured me of that habit completely though she has tried very hard to do so over the years sigh oafs photo so yeah where have i been well right here at chez sarge is the simple answer manning that beast in the previous photo twice a week since we returned from maryland a cuppla weeks ago springtime is no time to let the grass grow as it will damhik but the lawn is once again under control until the next time i need to cut it lawn mowing aside i haven t felt like writing as of late i ve been busy reading playing games on my computer and hanging out with friends to have any time or desire to sit down and write today obviously being an exception now juvat has gone hog wild posting about medal of honor winners mostly air force recipients but i note that there are a few army guys sprinkled in there as well prior to 1947 the air force was of course part of the army this post series seems to have taken on a life of its own which is good those folks need to be remembered but i daresay juvat s not going to write about all of them there are over thirty five hundred moh recipients i mean sure that would give me a nice long break from blogging but yeah i don t need that long a break oafs photo another tradition at chez sarge is to quaff a brew when the cutting of the grass is done found the beverage above in the refrigerator and as it was the only one in the fridge i drank it okay there was a guinness but i won t drink guinness out of a can unless i absolutely have to i m not a barbarian okay i am but not that big of one i was too lazy to find my guinness glass so brigadeiro it was the brew was most delicious when i went looking for where i could get more seems that they don t make it anymore at least not locally i do believe the musician my youngest kid brother might have gifted me that brew for christmas so woe is me i may not have that one ever again welp there are plenty of other beverages i like so be it so yeah not writing it was starting to feel like work something i had to do and that grated on me and relaxing to the full extent allowed by law i guess that means i have to wear clothes i ll get back to it sometime probably sooner rather than later but please don t hold your breath i m fickle like that be seeing you posted by oldafsarge at 11 44 am 22 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels sarge awol john a chapman moh source as you may have realized with sarge on vacation hint hint that when i get writer s block i refer to the usaf list of medal of honor recipients for their story i think those stories are important for americans to know freedom isn t free well folks that s the post for today the recipient this time has two different reasons for this posting one he is the most recent recipient of the medal of honor and two as you may recognize from his picture he s enlisted ok three one more reason his story is one of the most courageous descriptions of ground combat that i ve read suffice it to say i read a lot of stories like that given that i ll shut up and post the data the president of the united states of america authorized by title 10 section 8742 u s c awards the air force cross to tsgt john chapman for extraordinary heroism in military operation against an armed enemy of the united states as a 24th special tactics squadron combat controller in the vicinity of gardez in the eastern highlands of afghanistan on march 4 2002 on this date during his helicopter insertion for a reconnaissance and time sensitive targeting close air support mission sergeant chapman s aircraft came under heavy machine gun fire and received a direct hit from a rocket propelled grenade which caused a united states navy sea air land team member to fall from the aircraft though heavily damaged the aircraft egressed the area and made an emergency landing seven kilometers away once on the ground sergeant chapman established communication with an ac 130 gunship to ensure the area was secure while providing close air support coverage for the entire team he then directed the gunship to begin the search for the missing team member he requested coordinated and controlled the helicopter that extracted the stranded team and aircrew members these actions limited the exposure of the aircrew and team to hostile fire without regard for his own life sergeant chapman volunteered to rescue his missing team member from an enemy stronghold shortly after insertion the team made contact with the enemy sergeant chapman engaged and killed two enemy personnel he continued to advance reaching the enemy position then engaged a second enemy position a dug in machine gun nest at this time the rescue team came under effective enemy fire from three directions from close range he exchanged fire with the enemy from minimum personal cover until he succumbed to multiple wounds his engagement and destruction of the first enemy position and advancement on the second position enabled his team to move to cover and break enemy contact in his own words his navy sea air land team leader credits sergeant chapman unequivocally with saving the lives of the entire rescue team through his extraordinary heroism superb airmanship aggressiveness in the face of the enemy and the dedication to the service of his country sergeant chapman reflects the highest credit upon himself and the united states air force holy crap talk about large gonads advancing by himself and destroying a manned machine gun position then turning and doing the same to a second position while severely and ultimately mortally wounded and this was the citation for the air force cross i d highly recommend reading the story here it took until 2018 for the air force cross to be upgraded to the medal of honor suffice it to say the politics and quid pro quo involved is a bit sickening i ve read a lot of moh stories this one takes the cake source greater love has no one than this to lay down one s life for one s friends john 15 13 niv boy no kidding lord i don t feel a need to be presented with a situation like that but if you say so please don t let me screw it up i ve said a prayer along those lines a time or two under some troubling instances in my day fortunately it was never needed peace out y all posted by juvat at 12 00 am 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels heroes medal of honor friday june 5 2026 and so it has begun february 27 2026 ok campers the fun has begun the construction was supposed to start on may 27th but things came up now it s this week but the weather forecast is for rain every day this week the horse barn construction will begin as soon as the weather cooperates a couple of reasons for the horses first plan first the horse area is located on the farthest end of the property from the gate and road better to keep them from getting out of the pasture and going partying on the road second they ve been boarded until now you d have thought they d been staying in the four seasons hotel george v in paris based on the boarding fee but it wasn t quite that good ok not even close yes beans boarding horses is expensive but they will be free to roam in a much larger area than where they ve been cooped up in since we moved here in december so we and they have that going for us now that our builder got back from his vacation the pouring of the slab ceremony will soon be celebrated and construction of our home begun well when the rain stops the forecast is for rain the next 6 days bummer dude completion date is still maybe december but completion is easier to estimate once building has begun as they get organized with the building teams and their schedules my brother s cottage will also be started it ll be about 900 sq ft which is bigger than the cottage he was living in on our property in fredericksburg so onward and upward at some point they ll put in my wood shop and mrs j s sewing cabin and that will be that until we think of something else we need just to give y all a feel for the property enjoy so that s life around here these days speaking thereof tomorrow i ll begin traveling my 72nd turn around the sun i have no plans to call it quits that s up to the guy upstairs thank you lord peace out y all posted by juvat at 1 00 am 18 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels construction thursday june 4 2026 air to air combat i ve been posting air force medal of honor recipient stories for a week or so sarge needed a break i find them interesting especially the ones i m unfamiliar with so you ll be seeing a few more soon however i decided i d resuscitate a posting from one of the first posts i put up 13 years ago or so through the years we ve discussed one of my heroes a few times here s one of my favorite stories about him unfortunately source so off we go air to air combat is fun and exciting in practice i suspect that when it s for real the fun part drops off tell me if i m wrong ed rasimus and i were both assigned to the 435tfts at holloman afb nm suffice it to say that even though i was qualified as an experienced fighter pilot flying time wise i learned a lot more from ras during flight briefings and debriefings and in the air than i thought possible some of the most important things i learned from him were taught in the squadron bar after he pcs d to fort carson for his last assignment in the air force as an alo i lost touch with him and didn t reconnect with him until i saw his book when thunder rolled on amazon bought it immediately and started reading it was like being in ...
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