One of the bravest, most extraordinary acts of valor American troops are known to do in combat is throwing themselves on a grenade to save their brothers and sisters in arms. Few survive such a selfless act of heroism. Even fewer get the opportunity to risk sacrificing their lives for a fellow service member twice.
Oscar P. Austin was a Marine who did just that. It happened on the same fiery night in Vietnam, and he did it to save the same person. For his selfless bravery in saving the life of his fellow Marine, he would receive the Medal of Honor.
Austin was born in Nacogdoches, Texas, in 1948, just a couple of years after the end of World War II. As he came of age, American involvement in Vietnam began to ramp up. A few months after he turned 20 years old in 1968, he joined the Marine Corps to do his part. He was a good Marine and was promoted to private first class within six months.
He became an assistant machine gunner, and by early 1969, he was sent to South Vietnam with the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines. Austin and the 2/7 Marines arrived just in time to fight against another massive coordinated attack from the North Vietnamese, similar to the surprise Tet Offensive launched the previous year.
On February 22, 1969, elements of the People's Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong guerrillas simultaneously launched artillery attacks and large-scale assaults across South Vietnam. Their targets were South Vietnamese cities and towns, along with American military installations, like the Marines' bases around Da Nang.
More than 100 targets across the south were hit during the coordinated assaults. They were largely repulsed by U.S. artillery, airpower, and the overwhelming skill of American ground forces. Many American troops lost their lives. 1969 marked a grim milestone for the Vietnam War. It was the year that American combat deaths in the country exceeded those of the Korean War.
Austin and his frien
d, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Douglas Payne were on duty at an observation post near Da Nang on February 23, 1969, when the countrywide assault finally came to them. The enemy suddenly attacked with heavy machine-gun fire, small arms, and grenades. When the shooting started, Austin took cover in a defensive fire position, but he quickly realized Payne wasn't with him.
Payne was down on the ground dozens of yards away, wounded and in the open in the middle of an enemy attack. With complete disregard for his own safety, Austin left the foxhole, covered the ground between him and his friend, and under heavy enemy fire, tried to drag him to safety.
As he approached his wounded friend, Austin saw a grenade land near his friend's wounded body. He instantly threw his body between the explosive and Payne, absorbing the blast and shrapnel meant for Payne. He was seriously wounded himself but refused to quit.
Austin got back up and headed for Payne. As he reached out to his friend, he saw an enemy soldier with his weapon pointed at Payne, who was then unconscious. Once more, without a second thought, he threw himself between his friend and certain death, absorbing a hail of bullets.
Douglas Payne survived the war because Oscar Austin gave his life twice. In August 1970, Oscar P. Austin's mother received her son's posthumous Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony. When the U.S. Navy named a destroyer after Austin, the USS Oscar Austin, Payne was present at the commissioning ceremony with the surviving members of the Austin family.
Few battles in American history resound so powerfully in our collective memory as that of the Alamo. The Battle of the Alamo had everything we could ever want in an epic story. It featured a handful of defenders fighting for freedom, facing down an overwhelming but cruel enemy, and among those defenders were some of America's most legendary names.
When the defenders of the Alamo were killed to the last man, it inspired a country to take up arms and win their freedom, lest they all meet the same fate. The Texians who fought at the Alamo may not have won the battle, but their sacrifice helped win the war and freedom for their country.
For years before the battle, Texas enjoyed a swell of population and the autonomy to grow far from the heavy hand of government from Mexico City. When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna came to power in 1832 and changed all that. By 1835, he consolidated power and tried to rule through a more centralized government. Mexican immigrants across the country took up arms, but nowhere was the rebellion more vocal and violent than in Mexican Texas.
By the end of 1835, Texians had expelled Mexican troops from Texas, convened a governing council, and formed an Army led by Commander-In-Chief Sam Houston. Santa Anna was livid at the losses, declared the new volunteers of the Texian Army to be pirates, and that his forces would take no prisoners. He also mounted a 6,000-strong force called the Army of Operations to quell the revolt.
Standing in Santa Anna's way were an estimated 182 Texians and volunteers under the command of William Travis, manning an old Spanish mission called the Alamo at San Antonio de Bexár. Stopping the Mexican Army at San Antonio was critical because of its strategic 
location at the Texian crossroads. If Santa Anna captured the mission, he could march anywhere in the young country. The volunteers remained in the fort.
When the Mexican Army arrived, there were 18 cannons and 150 men to defend the Alamo. James Bowie met with a Mexican envoy before the battle. Santa Anna demanded the Texians surrender at discretion, which meant the Mexican general would decide what happened to the men after they surrendered. For the Texians in the Alamo, the battle meant victory or death. Travis responded to the terms with a single cannon shot.
Santa Anna Moved on Bexár, occupying the town with 1,500 troops, then raised the red flag signifying there would be no quarter. Over the next two days, the Mexican force fired 200 cannonballs at the fortress as the two sides skirmished outside the Alamo walls. Bowie became ill and bedridden as Mexican reinforcements arrived. There was no word from anyone about Texian reinforcements.
By March 4, the Mexican Army was ready to assault the Alamo, a move the Texians knew was imminent. At 2200 the next day, the Mexican guns went silent, and many of the Texians fell into a deep sleep. Four columns of 1,800 Mexican soldiers prepared to assault the Alamo, with 500 cavalry troops left to prevent any escape. At 0530, they moved, silently approaching the walls and killing three guards who fell asleep on duty. The Texi
ans only awoke when buglers sounded, and the troops screamed, "Viva Santa Anna!"
By then, they were already in musket range. Still, they were at a disadvantage. Texian rifles were much more accurate, and the Brown Bess muskets the Mexicans were using could only be fired by the front row of infantry. Many Mexican soldiers died from being shot in the back by the untrained conscript soldiers.
In mass formations, they were also prime targets for defending artillery. The Texians fired everything they could out of the cannons, including horseshoes. Mexican troops attempted to scale the walls using ladders but were shot for their efforts. Texian defenders were beginning to use so many shots they ran out of preloaded rifles.
William Travis was killed in the first attack. Mexican soldiers fell back and regrouped, only to make a second failed attempt at an assault. In just fifteen minutes since the buglers played, they began to make their third attack. It looked like another failure, but Santa Anna sent in his reserves, who scaled the walls and opened the doors from the inside.
Mexican troops poured into the Alamo, taking the defenders' cannon and each of the walls in turn. Those who could make their way to the barracks and the chapel to make a last stand. Texians who couldn't make the barracks fled toward the San Antonio River but were cut down by Mexican cavalry.
Using the captured cannon, the Mexicans shot open the doors of the barracks and killed everyone inside, some in hand-to-hand combat. Bowie was killed in his sickbed. In the chapel, the last of the Alamo defenders fired their last cannon shot and fired a volley from rifles before being bayoneted. Combatant survivors were executed on Santa Anna's orders.
A third of the Mexican force involved in the attack were killed or wounded. Yet, he still held a six-to-one advantage over the Texians. Combined with the victory at the Alamo, he assumed the Texians would flee, and that would be the end of the Texas Revolution. Instead, Sam Houston's army received hundreds of volunteers.
Houston surprised Santa Anna while his army was in camp, catching it completely by surprise in the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. Within 18 minutes, the Mexican Army was routed, half of it destroyed, and Santa Anna himself was captured the next day. Texas had won its sovereignty.
When a war breaks out on your front lawn, and your chimney explodes from enemy fire, it’s time to find a new place to live. Neighborhoods like those are no place to raise children. That was Wilmer McLean’s opinion, anyway. That’s exactly what he did when the Battle of Bull Run erupted in front of his property.
The first shots of the Civil War were undoubtedly fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Fortunately for the defenders of the fort, no one was killed during the exchange (although one Union soldier did die when the salute cannon exploded).
The real fighting didn’t break out until three months later when the Confederate Army and the Union Army met in the first real engagement of the Civil War at the First Battle of Bull Run… or the First Manassas, depending on which side you were on. They’re the same battle.
Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard commandeered the house of a local man named Wilmer McLean as a headquarters during the battle. As the general and McLean sat in his dining room during the battle, a Union cannonball hit McLean’s chimney, the shot falling right into the fireplace. Beauregard thought it was comical. McLean didn’t think it was so funny.
McLean was too old for military service, but he was a merchant who helped supply the Confederate forces. Despite his need to be close to the fighting, he felt having a house on the actual front lines of the Civil War might be dangerous for his family, so they moved a little distance to the south.
They moved to a little place called Appomattox Court House.
This, of course, was the place where Gen. Robert E. Lee would surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in April 1863. The two men would meet here and discuss the most honorable terms of surrender – and they would do it in Wilmer McLean’s parlor.
After the two generals signed the surrender and left McLean’s house, the lower-ranking officers on their respective staffs began to loot the house. They took whatever they could get their hands on as souvenirs of the surrender. One of them even took a doll from McLean’s daughter.
More than a decade after the war, McLean moved his family back to Manassas, now that it was safe from masses of infantry and his dining room was cleared of artillery shells.
World War II as a global event unfolded over more than a decade, impacting countries in different ways and at very different times. Undoubtedly, Americans identify the war's start consistent with the Pearl Harbor attack and declaration of war by Japan on December 7, 1941, but the beginnings of the conflict date much earlier to 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria. In recognition of their brutal ambitions and the escalating political activities in Europe, the US became deeply immersed in war planning and preparations beginning early in the 
1930s. But, with an overwhelming isolationist stance gripping the US and a resulting lack of Federal funding, those actions identified by the military as critical to national defense had to be deferred. Only with tensions heightening around Japan and the outbreak of war in Europe during 1939 was President Roosevelt able to declare a limited national emergency, and in doing so, appropriate meager funding. The Marine Corps hurriedly formed long-sought defense battalions. One such unit, the 7th Defense Battalion, was deployed to Samoa in February 1941, making it the first US Marine force to ever operate in the South Pacific. Frenzied and facing both shortages of manpower and competing priorities in war preparations, the 7th Defense Battalion was granted authority in May to form the first native reserve battalion, 1st Samoan Battalion USMC. These Barefoot Marines were activated July 1, 1941, and fully expected to defend their beaches at any time facing down an invasion by the Japanese.
War planning conducted throughout the 1930s contemplated aggression from different sources with color-coding to distinguish planning documents, Plan Orange representing Japan. By 1936, one outcome of this planning was a recognition of the need for five defense battalions (nicknamed the Rainbow Five due to color-coded war plans) deployed across strategic US holdings in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor, Wake, Midway, Johnston, and Palmyra Islands. Charged with responsibility for the defense of all Pacific naval bases, the Marine Corps concluded that Guam could not be defended. By manning the Philippines, the Army became accountable for its defense. In contrast, Samoa was viewed as indispensable in the chain of communications linking the US (West Coast), Australia, and New Zealand, making it essential to hold the line against the Japanese extending from Midway to Samoa, Fiji, and Brisbane. So, by late 1941 the newly formed Defense Battalions were deployed, but many battery emplacements were incomplete, and much of the antiaircraft artillery and other weapons had not been unloaded from ships, including Pearl Harbor. As foreseen in war planning, Pearl Harbor and Midway were attacked on December 7, Wake Island, Guam, and the Philippines on December 8. Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese on December 10th and 23rd, respectively, with the ultimate fall of the Philippines on May 8, 1942.
The South Pacific islands are often misleading by their titles. Islands can actually be atolls, coral outcroppings, or island chains (some inhabitable and others not), and Samoa is no different. Samoa is, in fact, a collection of islands comprised of Western Samoa that includes two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima), and several smaller uninhabited islands. Immediately east of Western Samoa lies American Samoa that once again is a collection of islands. In February 1941, the 7th Defense Battalion occupied Tutuila, the largest island in American Samoa and home to the capital, Pago Pago. Following the assault on US Pacific bases in December 1941, there was recognition that Western Samoa was vulnerable to occupation by the Japanese and enabled direct assault on American Samoa. This belief was fueled by the construction of an airfield on Tutuila, completed in three months on a 24x7 schedule and making it a priority target. Accordingly, troops of the 7th Defense Battalion not already consumed by construction on neighboring territories were rapidly deployed to all islands in the group.
For the three hundred fifty men of the 1st Samoan Battalion, their first taste of combat came on January 11, 1942, when a Japanese submarine surfaced at 2:30 am just off Tutuila. The submarine shelled the naval base for approximately seven minutes, submerged, and disappeared into the darkness, having inflicted only minor damage and wounding two marines. Onshore tensions ran high for an extended period, unsure if this was the
beginning of an invasion by the Japanese. But this was, in fact, the only direct attack on Samoa, and it was later suggested that Japanese war plans never contemplated incursion that far south. However, it is more likely that the Battles of the Coral Sea (May 1942) and Midway (June 1942) blunted Japanese ambitions and ensured that Samoa did not become a battleground. Instead, most units deployed to the South Pacific were routed through Samoa, making it the largest base and training center in the Pacific, eventually teaming with more than 10,000 troops.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the men comprising the 1st Samoa Battalion was their uniform. Scantily clad by any military standard, the dress attire consisted of a khaki summer garrison cap, a simple white t-shirt, a khaki, i.e., lavalava bordered in red and featuring an embroidered Marine Globe and Anchor emblem with rank chevrons. Enlisted men were armed with M1903 Springfield rifles and carried M1923 cartridge belts to complete the uniform- no footwear. Fashioned after traditional native garb, the uniform was intended to be welcomi
ng for new recruits while meeting the functional needs of a jungle environment.
By February 1944, the war in the Pacific had moved significantly north to the Marshall Islands (Kwajalein and Eniwetok) and west to the Marianna Island chain (Saipan, Guam, and Tinian). With US forces unilaterally advancing across the Pacific Theatre, orders were given to dismantle the war effort in the Samoa Group. By the summer of 1945, the naval base had reverted to its peace time status as a permanent base, including anchorage facilities, fueling station, repair depot, and weather station. Likewise, the 1st Samoan Battalion was disbanded, and the men returned to civilian life. However, they were changed by their wartime experiences. In 1941, undermanned and with little training, it was recognized the unit could at best defend against a small raiding force but would not be detoured—American Nationals with no obligation to serve. Every man was a volunteer. And for one desperate moment in time, these brothers stood together in defense of their homeland and one another, leaving their fingerprint on history and those who would come after them.
Lt. Col. James Harvey had one wish for much of his Air Force career. He wanted the 332nd Fighter Group - the Tuskegee Airmen - to be recognized for winning the Air Force-s first-ever aerial gunnery competition.
"We were the original -Top Gun,-" he told AARP Studios. "Our competitors didn't think we were real. We were Black and flying this obsolete aircraft. We weren't supposed to win it."
Harvey was drafted into the Army in 1943 as an Army Air Corps engineer. Just a few years earlier, he'd seen a group of Curtiss P-40 Warhawks flying over his home in Pennsylvania, which planted the idea of flying one someday into his mind. So when the chance to apply to the Air Corps- Aviation Cadet Training Program came up, he jumped at it.
In October 1944, he graduated from the Tuskegee Flight Program and was commissioned a second lieutenant. Like many of the new Tuskegee Airmen, he was assigned to replace pilots in the 332nd fighting in Europe. Although Harvey never saw action during World War II, he and his fellow Black pilots continued serving.
The postwar Tuskegee Airmen would make history just a few years later, but their accomplishment went unrecognized for decades afterward.
Despite what the movie "Top Gun" will tell you, the U.S. military's first real-world "Top Gun" program wasn't set up by the Navy. It was an Air Force program that first took place in 1949. Tuskegee Airmen Capt. Alva Temple, 1st Lt. Harry Stewart, 1st Lt. James H. Harvey III and alternate Halbert Alexander, competing in P-47N Thunderbolts, would win it.
In January 1949, the chief of staff of the Air Force put a call out to all USAF fighter groups to send their three top scorers to represent their group at the first Top Gun "Weapons Meet."
The airmen went to Las Vegas Air Force Base, now called Nellis Air Force Base, and pilots competed in five events - aerial gunnery, dive bombing, skip bombing, rocket firing and panel strafing. Lt. Col. James Harvey calls it the "highlight of my career."
Harvey has a reason for being proud of his team-s achievements. Despite flying obsolete aircraft, they led the 10-day event almost every step of the way. Their competitors were flying the P-51 Mustang and the P-82 Twin Mustang fighters.
"It didn't matter, though," Harvey said. "It's the skill of the pilot that determines what's gonna happen. They were there to compete, and we were there to win."
The competition is now called "William Tell," and the winner of the annual event has their name added to the list of past winners in the Air Force Association-s yearly almanac. For 46 years, the winner of the 1949 competition was listed as "unknown." It wasn't until 1995 that it finally listed the winner as the 332nd Fighter Group.
"When it was announced that we, the 332nd, had won the trophy, the room was quiet," Harvey recalled. "There was no applause or anything like that. Because we weren't supposed to win it. Little did I know this was the last time the public would see the trophy for 55 years."
The trophy sat in storage at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, for much of that time. Harvey went on to fight in the Korean War, becoming the first Black jet pilot in combat, flying 126 combat missions. He retired in 1965.
Historian Zellie Rainey Orr discovered the trophy and the story of the 332nd-s epic "Top Gun" victory. In 2004, the trophy was finally put on display in the Air Force Museum. Harvey-s wish that Nellis Air Force Base would recognize the win took a few more years and intervention from AARP.
AARP's Wish of a Lifetime program seeks to change the way society views the values of older people by granting them one of their lifelong wishes. AARP learned about Lt. Col. Harve's story and looked into the true story. The result was that Nellis Air Force Base recognized the victory with a commemorative plaque posted there in January 2022, honoring the achievement of the Tuskegee Airmen.
"It proves that if you believe in something and you stay at it, you'll finally get the recognition you deserve," said Harvey, who turned 98 in 2021. "This plaque, finally, after many years, will be at the top, number one."
When the U.S. military absolutely, positively needs something built in a hurry, they call on the Navy's elite construction crews: the Seabees. With more than 14,000 active and reserve personnel on the roster, there seems to be nothing they can't build -- even if the bad guys don't want them there.
With the motto "Can Do," Navy Seabees have been seen in some of the world's most troubled hotspots. From the islands of both theaters of World War II to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan today, the road to victory was paved by Seabees.
1. "Seabees" is a play on words.
The Seabees' name isn't actually "Seabees." The unit's official name is United States Naval Construction Battalions, or CB, for short. It's much easier to say "CB" or "Seabee" than "United States Naval Construction Battalions" or even "construction battalions."
A name like Seabees also lends itself to the easy creation of morale patches and insignia, which are all the rage in the military, if you haven't noticed.
2. Its original mascot was a beaver.
This makes sense when you think about it. The beaver is an industrious mammal at home in both the water and on land. Frank Iafrate, designer of the original logo, was instructed to create one using a Disney-type character, according to the U.S. Navy Seabee Museum. Iafrate then discovered the beaver runs away when threatened. 
That's not a good mascot for the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II.
"Then I thought of a bee. ... The busy worker, who doesn't bother you unless you bother him. But provoked the bee stings. It seemed like an ideal symbol," Iafrate told CNN in 2015.
3. The Navy needed fighting construction workers.
Even in the days of World War II, the U.S. military had no problem contracting out construction projects to third parties. Unfortunately, civilian construction workers building critical infrastructure aren't allowed to fight back when attacked. Under international law, they could be considered guerrilla fighters and might be executed when captured.
A construction crew that also happens to be a military unit, however, would make a pretty big surprise for any enemy that thought they were about to get an easy win on any given day. Attacking Japanese troops would learn quickly they were fighting construction workers trained by the Marine Corps.
Hence their other motto, "We build, we fight."
4. Seabees were the oldest and highest-paid sailors in WWII.
In recruiting the first Seabees, the Navy was looking for the same seasoned skilled tradesmen found on any major construction site in America. They had to be talented and fast, even if they were a little bit older than other recruits. As a result, they received higher rank upon entering the Navy than most other recruits, too.
In order to fill the Seabees' ranks with these skilled workers, physical standards and age limits were waived for any recruit under age 50. Some 60-year-olds still managed to slip through, so the mean age for a Seabee during the war was 37 when the average age for the rest of the military was just 26.
5. A Seabee unit could do almost anything.
With just more than 1,100 skilled men and officers, a Navy construction battalion could be deployed and build almost anything. It was made up of four companies of construction workers and deployed alongside medical, dental, and logistics personnel, along with all the other kinds of professions a unit needs in the field.
As construction projects became bigger and more complex, multiple CB units were deployed to the same projects. By the end of the war, the Navy had more than 258,000 men working in the Seabees, well short of the number it needed.
6. Black Seabees filled in for fallen Marines at Peleliu.
The need for cargo handlers increased throughout the war; Black men were drafted to fill those ranks in segregated units. The 17th Special CB unit was attached to the 1st Marine Pioneers the day they landed on Peleliu. As Japanese resistance stiffened, the 17th CB began hauling ammunition to the front and carrying the wounded to the rear.
As the fighting on Peleliu ground on, more and more Marines were falling to enemy fire. For three days, the Black sailors of the 17th Special Construction Battalion filled in for those who were killed or wounded by the enemy.
7. The original Seabees built projects in every theater.
Seabees were paving the way to victory for the Allies every step of the way. They built more than 400 projects at the cost of $11 billion in the Caribbean, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, England, France, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, China, Alaska, the Philippines, and most of the islands in between.
An estimated 300 Seabees were killed in action, and another 500 were killed in construction accidents. The Navy's go-to construction crews also earned five Navy Crosses, 33 Silver Stars, and 2,000 Purple Hearts.
I was just 19 years old. The Vietnam War was going fast and furious. The draft was imminent, so I decided to take a four-year hitch in the Navy. I thought a boat sounded better than a foxhole. During boot camp, they ask about your preferences for training and your job. After a visit home, I got my second choice and headed for Naval Air Station Memphis, a training base, to learn the intricacies of becoming a jet engine mechanic.
After five months, for some reason, they designated me as an instructor, and I was sent to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, VA. Not bad duty. I spent just over a year instructing new guys on becoming Plane Captains on the A6A Intruder. It’s a job where you are a Jack of all Trades and a Master of None. You check the planes for their readiness to fly, and if you find any problems, you call in the experts, of which there were many. This plane was an all-weather, carrier-based, sub-sonic bomber. A movie made about it in the 90s, called Flight of the Intruder - you can still see it on Netflix. The Navy and the Marine Corps operated it.
After just over a year, I heard stories about carrier life and wanted to go on a cruise other than the training carrier USS Lexington in Pensacola. After I put in for a transfer to a sea-going squadron, it took the Navy only three weeks to assign me to Attack Squadron 35, onboard the USS Enterprise (the Big E), leaving Alameda Naval Station in Oakland on Jan. 2, 1968. This was arguably one of the busiest times in the Vietnam War.
On the way to the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam, we stopped in the Sea of Japan due to the North Koreans taking our ship, the USS Pueblo. After a couple of weeks of threatening them, we proceeded to Vietnam.
There were a lot of memories of the eight months I spent on this ship, some better than others. When you have planes flying in combat and being targeted, you lose some to anti-aircraft and missiles. And, due to the very nature of landing planes on ships, it’s a dangerous endeavor. We lost our squadron CO and Navigator the third day we were on the line. At the end of the cruise, my squadron only had half of our original complement of 16 airplanes. And, some of our crews were in the Hanoi Hilton for the next few years. So, when something good happens, we really take it to heart.
This particular May day it was a beautiful, clear day. You could see forever. The Air Boss up in the bridge controls all flight activity on the ship, and planes are taking off and landing in the pattern. So, when he announced that a certain young Lieutenant had just won a dog fight with an enemy MIG and requested permission to do a Victory Flyby, we were all excited. The Air Boss mentioned that the plane - an F4 Phantom with two big 
engines and afterburners - would be approaching the ship from Aft, and if we wanted to watch, he would be here in about 5 minutes. Over 5000 men were working on that ship, and I would bet that all but those down in the bowels of the ship were going to do their best to get to a spot where they could see it. It was an unusual request and even more weird that they cleared the pattern and let him do it in the midst of flight ops.
The curvature of the earth can be seen at about 18 miles from the flight deck. We saw a tiny speck just coming over the horizon. And it got to us quickly just over the surface of the water. He was roaring, and when he got just a midship on the port side, he pulled back on his stick and hit the afterburners and twirled straight up in the air till he was a speck again. I thought of a boy with a big toy. When he came around and landed, he was given a rock-star reception, and we all felt as though we had been in that cockpit with him. And that is my best memory of my time in the Navy.
Bob McElroy
email maccat7@gmail.com
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While the United States military and coalition forces prepared for the imminent battle with Iraq's military forces, Operation Desert Storm, January of 1991, a second international crisis unfolded in the famine-stricken country of Somalia, where a full-scale bloody civil war erupted. Warlord General Mohammad Farah Aideed rebel forces were attempting to overthrow the Somali government. The fighting threatened Americans and Foreign diplomatic missions based in Mogadishu, Somalia, as the Somali government was collapsing under the weight of the bloody civil war. This is an incredible story that has not been told of heroism in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The story was simply lost because it occurred in the immediate lead-up to Operation Desert Storm and hardly received any media attention.
On January 2, 1991, Italian officials in Mogadishu made a fruitless effort to arrange a cease-fire among the factions. When this effort failed, U.S. ambassador James K. Bishop realized that he didn't have many options left, and on that day, January 2, 1991, he made the call to Washington D.C. to be rescued. Ambassador Bishop's message was clear and straight to the point. "If a U.S. military rescue force does not arrive in time, there will be no one to rescue"...
This is the untold story and true events of Operation Eastern Exit.
About Trent LaLand
Trent LaLand grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from Arsenal Tech High School in June of 1982.
In December of 1982, Trent enlisted in the Marine Corps, and in April of 1983, he shipped out to Boot Camp, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. In his journey in the Marine Corps, he traveled all over the world.
In August 1990, he was deployed to Operation Desert Shield with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion 2nd Marines, 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, embarked on the amphibious assault ship U.S.S. Guam (LPH-9)
Trent shares the true events of Operation Eastern Exit in his book titled "Night Mission to Mogadishu."
Trent LaLand is a licensed Minister and a member of New Beginnings Fellowship Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He works at R.T. Moore in Indianapolis, Indiana as a warehouse associate. Indianapolis is the place he calls home..
The book is available through Amazon.
Paper Back $10.75
Kindle Edition $4.50
Oscar P. Austin was a Marine who did just that. It happened on the same fiery night in Vietnam, and he did it to save the same person. For his selfless bravery in saving the life of his fellow Marine, he would receive the Medal of Honor.
d, 19-year-old Lance Cpl. Douglas Payne were on duty at an observation post near Da Nang on February 23, 1969, when the countrywide assault finally came to them. The enemy suddenly attacked with heavy machine-gun fire, small arms, and grenades. When the shooting started, Austin took cover in a defensive fire position, but he quickly realized Payne wasn't with him.
When the defenders of the Alamo were killed to the last man, it inspired a country to take up arms and win their freedom, lest they all meet the same fate. The Texians who fought at the Alamo may not have won the battle, but their sacrifice helped win the war and freedom for their country. 
location at the Texian crossroads. If Santa Anna captured the mission, he could march anywhere in the young country. The volunteers remained in the fort.
ans only awoke when buglers sounded, and the troops screamed, "Viva Santa Anna!"
Using the captured cannon, the Mexicans shot open the doors of the barracks and killed everyone inside, some in hand-to-hand combat. Bowie was killed in his sickbed. In the chapel, the last of the Alamo defenders fired their last cannon shot and fired a volley from rifles before being bayoneted. Combatant survivors were executed on Santa Anna's orders. 
The first shots of the Civil War were undoubtedly fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Fortunately for the defenders of the fort, no one was killed during the exchange (although one Union soldier did die when the salute cannon exploded). 
This, of course, was the place where Gen. Robert E. Lee would surrender the Army of Northern Virginia to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in April 1863. The two men would meet here and discuss the most honorable terms of surrender – and they would do it in Wilmer McLean’s parlor. 
1930s. But, with an overwhelming isolationist stance gripping the US and a resulting lack of Federal funding, those actions identified by the military as critical to national defense had to be deferred. Only with tensions heightening around Japan and the outbreak of war in Europe during 1939 was President Roosevelt able to declare a limited national emergency, and in doing so, appropriate meager funding. The Marine Corps hurriedly formed long-sought defense battalions. One such unit, the 7th Defense Battalion, was deployed to Samoa in February 1941, making it the first US Marine force to ever operate in the South Pacific. Frenzied and facing both shortages of manpower and competing priorities in war preparations, the 7th Defense Battalion was granted authority in May to form the first native reserve battalion, 1st Samoan Battalion USMC. These Barefoot Marines were activated July 1, 1941, and fully expected to defend their beaches at any time facing down an invasion by the Japanese.
The South Pacific islands are often misleading by their titles. Islands can actually be atolls, coral outcroppings, or island chains (some inhabitable and others not), and Samoa is no different. Samoa is, in fact, a collection of islands comprised of Western Samoa that includes two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller inhabited islands (Manono and Apolima), and several smaller uninhabited islands. Immediately east of Western Samoa lies American Samoa that once again is a collection of islands. In February 1941, the 7th Defense Battalion occupied Tutuila, the largest island in American Samoa and home to the capital, Pago Pago. Following the assault on US Pacific bases in December 1941, there was recognition that Western Samoa was vulnerable to occupation by the Japanese and enabled direct assault on American Samoa. This belief was fueled by the construction of an airfield on Tutuila, completed in three months on a 24x7 schedule and making it a priority target. Accordingly, troops of the 7th Defense Battalion not already consumed by construction on neighboring territories were rapidly deployed to all islands in the group.
beginning of an invasion by the Japanese. But this was, in fact, the only direct attack on Samoa, and it was later suggested that Japanese war plans never contemplated incursion that far south. However, it is more likely that the Battles of the Coral Sea (May 1942) and Midway (June 1942) blunted Japanese ambitions and ensured that Samoa did not become a battleground. Instead, most units deployed to the South Pacific were routed through Samoa, making it the largest base and training center in the Pacific, eventually teaming with more than 10,000 troops.
ng for new recruits while meeting the functional needs of a jungle environment.
"We were the original -Top Gun,-" he told AARP Studios. "Our competitors didn't think we were real. We were Black and flying this obsolete aircraft. We weren't supposed to win it."
In January 1949, the chief of staff of the Air Force put a call out to all USAF fighter groups to send their three top scorers to represent their group at the first Top Gun "Weapons Meet."
Historian Zellie Rainey Orr discovered the trophy and the story of the 332nd-s epic "Top Gun" victory. In 2004, the trophy was finally put on display in the Air Force Museum. Harvey-s wish that Nellis Air Force Base would recognize the win took a few more years and intervention from AARP.
With the motto "Can Do," Navy Seabees have been seen in some of the world's most troubled hotspots. From the islands of both theaters of World War II to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan today, the road to victory was paved by Seabees.
That's not a good mascot for the U.S. Navy, especially during World War II.
4. Seabees were the oldest and highest-paid sailors in WWII.
6. Black Seabees filled in for fallen Marines at Peleliu.
After five months, for some reason, they designated me as an instructor, and I was sent to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach, VA. Not bad duty. I spent just over a year instructing new guys on becoming Plane Captains on the A6A Intruder. It’s a job where you are a Jack of all Trades and a Master of None. You check the planes for their readiness to fly, and if you find any problems, you call in the experts, of which there were many. This plane was an all-weather, carrier-based, sub-sonic bomber. A movie made about it in the 90s, called Flight of the Intruder - you can still see it on Netflix. The Navy and the Marine Corps operated it.
On the way to the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam, we stopped in the Sea of Japan due to the North Koreans taking our ship, the USS Pueblo. After a couple of weeks of threatening them, we proceeded to Vietnam. 
engines and afterburners - would be approaching the ship from Aft, and if we wanted to watch, he would be here in about 5 minutes. Over 5000 men were working on that ship, and I would bet that all but those down in the bowels of the ship were going to do their best to get to a spot where they could see it. It was an unusual request and even more weird that they cleared the pattern and let him do it in the midst of flight ops. 
Our Mission from the beginning as a non-profit is caring for all - regardless of their ability to pay.
DON’T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT-BELOW ARE RESPONSES FROM THREE RNS SENT TO THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION ABOUT THIS PROGRAM:
While the United States military and coalition forces prepared for the imminent battle with Iraq's military forces, Operation Desert Storm, January of 1991, a second international crisis unfolded in the famine-stricken country of Somalia, where a full-scale bloody civil war erupted. Warlord General Mohammad Farah Aideed rebel forces were attempting to overthrow the Somali government. The fighting threatened Americans and Foreign diplomatic missions based in Mogadishu, Somalia, as the Somali government was collapsing under the weight of the bloody civil war. This is an incredible story that has not been told of heroism in the face of chaos and uncertainty. The story was simply lost because it occurred in the immediate lead-up to Operation Desert Storm and hardly received any media attention. 
About Trent LaLand