Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Merryl Tengesdal is the first African American female U-2 pilot in history and is the first African American woman to fly the Air Force's U-2 Dragon Lady Spy Plane. She is the only black woman alongside five white women and two black men to fly spy planes.
Tengesdal was born Merryl David in 1971 in the Bronx, New York. She excelled in math and science classes in grade school and high school and graduated from the University of New Haven in Connecticut in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. She completed the U.S. Navy's Officer Candidate School in 1994.
In her first assignment as a Naval Aviator at Naval Station Mayport in Florida, Tengesdal flew the SH-60B Seahawk helicopter, a derivative of the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk. The SH-60B Seahawk is used for anti-submarine warfare, search and rescue, anti-ship warfare, drug interdiction, cargo lift, and special operations.
Tengesdal participated in combat operations for the U.S. Navy from 1997 to 2000 in the Caribbean, South America, and the Middle East. That experience led her to become an instructor pilot on the T-6 Texan II for the Joint Student Undergraduate Pilot Training program at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in the early 2000s. She then cross-commissioned in the U.S. Air Force in 2004. After undergoing the rigorous U-2 pilot training program for nine months and conducting training missions aboard the TU-2S, Tengesdal emerged as one of few to qualify to fly the Lockheed U-2S Dragon Lady at Beale Air Force Base in Northern California.
Flying 70,000 feet above the earth's surface in a single-seat, single-engine, near-space aircraft, Major Tengesdal supported U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia). Her flights provided high-altitude intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in direct support of U.S. military objectives.
While stationed at Beale Air Force Base, Major Tengesdal was 9th Reconnaissance Wing Chief of Flight Safety and 9th Physiological Support Squadron Director of Operations. She later served as Commander of Detachment 2 WR/ALC in Palmdale, California, where she was in charge of flight test and Program Depot Maintenance for the U-2S aircraft. Tengesdal later worked at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) J8 staff. She returned to Beale AFB in 2013 as a Lieutenant Colonel and became the Deputy Operations Group Commander, then Inspector General of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. She was the Director of Inspections for the Inspector General of the Air Force at the Washington D.C. Pentagon from 2015 to 2017 before retiring from the Air Force in 2017 as a Colonel.
Colonel Merryl Tengesdal broke racial and gender barriers as a U-2 pilot in a field that is still dominated by white males. As such, she is an inspiration to young women and particularly young black women.
War inevitably equals mass casualties, whether numbering in the dozens or the hundreds, or the hundreds of thousands - this truth that has accompanied war for thousands of years. A generally accepted fact is that these casualties, whether civilian or military, are usually the direct result of enemy soldiers attacking, disease, and famine in the wake of an invasion.
Sometimes, however, other means account for mass deaths in war. Such was the case of Saipan's Battle in the Second World War when it became apparent that Americans would take the island. Around one thousand Japanese civilians - men, women, and children, old and young - tragically chose to take their own lives rather than surrender.
The Battle of Saipan began on June 15, 1944, when around 8,000 US Marines landed on Saipan's island on the first day of the invasion. Naval bombardment of the island had started two days earlier on the 13th and had some effect in weakening Japanese defenses. Still, no amount of shelling could shake the Japanese soldiers' resolve.
As soon as the Marines started their amphibious landing, they were met with ferocious resistance from soldiers who had been conditioned to do only two things: win or die. The fighting was intense, with every inch of territory on the 185 square kilometer island that was wrested from Japanese control being won at the expense of many American lives.
The Americans had learned many lessons from their earlier invasions of the Japanese-controlled islands of Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok, and they put this knowledge to use on Saipan. As hard as the Japanese fought to repel the invaders, the US Marines fought with equal fervor and grit, determined to take the island.
The ferocious fighting saw acts of brutality on both sides. Owing to the island's topography, with its many mountains and caves, retreating Japanese troops could take cover in ravines, cliffs, and caves and use them to ambush the Marines, often with devastating results.
In retaliation, Marines took to clearing out caves with flamethrowers, sometimes not checking first to see if they were occupied by Japanese troops or Japanese civilians, of which there was a sizable population on the island. The Japanese soldiers exacerbated the problem of getting noncombatants killed by deliberately using civilians as decoys in their ambushes.
Emotions were running high on both sides as the battle progressed.
After a few weeks of fighting, it was obvious that the Japanese had lost the battle. By the end of June, the remaining Japanese forces and civilians had been corralled into the island's northern tip.
Most other nations, in such a position, would have surrendered at this point. Not the Japanese, though. Emperor Hirohito, who the Japanese revered as a demi-god, issued what was to be a tragically fateful imperial order when word reached him that Saipan was sure to be lost.
The order stated that all Japanese citizens - soldiers and civilians alike - on Saipan were to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans. To the average Westerner, raised in a secular nation, such an order would seem utterly insane.
However, WWII-era Japanese were raised in a culture in which ritual suicide was a perfectly acceptable, rational means to avoid dishonor, reverse disgrace, and restore disrupted social order. The concept manifested itself in wartime Japan through kamikaze and banzai attacks against their enemies, as well as seppuku suicides by officers who lost battles, which was called kakuro no jisatsu ("suicide of resolve").
Accordingly, Lieutenant-General Yoshisugu Saito ordered all the remaining Japanese troops on the island to amass and die in honor of the Emperor, in a mass banzai charge at the American forces.
In what was to be the largest banzai charge of the entire war, 4,000 Japanese troops - with the most able-bodied at the front, down to the sick and wounded at the rear, hobbling or limping along without weapons, along with a number of civilians carrying improvised bamboo spears - engaged the American Marines and Army forces in a suicidal frontal charge.
The ensuing battle lasted fifteen hours, and almost all of the Japanese troops were killed - but not before they killed or wounded 650 American soldiers. The banzai charge took place on July 7, and on the 9th, Admiral Turner made the announcement that Saipan was officially in American hands.
Saito and the other senior Japanese officers who remained committed seppuku in a cave with their swords. After a month of fierce fighting, the American troops, weary of battle, though it was finally over. However, there was no relief from killing and brutality for the Americans, though - indeed, some of the worst horrors they would witness lay ahead.
Not only had the revered Emperor Hirohito ordered the civilians to commit shodan jiketsu ("mass suicide"), but the Imperial Japanese Army had also spread terrifying propaganda about what would befall Japanese civilians should they fall into American hands. According to the propaganda, they could expect to be raped, tortured to death, or even cannibalized by the savage enemy.
As the Americans pressed onward after their military takeover, the remaining Japanese civilians started to put the emperor's fateful order into action.
Many suicides took place at Marpi Point, at the northern tip of the island. Here, hundreds of people jumped to their deaths from two high cliffs - later named Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff. Entire families leaped to their death. Sometimes the parents would slit their children's throats before throwing them over the edge and then following them to their doom.
Other individuals and families simply walked into the ocean until the waves swallowed them. Other groups huddled together around grenades they obtained from Japanese soldiers, with one person pulling the pin.
In a desperate attempt to stop the senseless deaths, American troops got captured Japanese civilians to shout out to their compatriots over loudspeakers, assuring them that the Americans would treat them kindly if they surrendered and give them food and shelter.
Some chose to surrender after hearing this, but others remained stubbornly steadfast in their fanatical commitment to their emperor and took their own lives - and the lives of their loved ones - regardless.
Meanwhile, out at sea, US naval forces decimated the Imperial Japanese Navy, sinking three aircraft carriers along with the hundreds of aircraft on board. Any hopes that the Japanese troops may have had for relief were dashed.
The order stated that all Japanese citizens - soldiers and civilians alike - on Saipan were to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans. To the average Westerner, raised in a secular nation, such an order would seem utterly insane.
However, WWII-era Japanese were raised in a culture in which ritual suicide was a perfectly acceptable, rational means to avoid dishonor, reverse disgrace, and restore disrupted social order. The concept manifested itself in wartime Japan through kamikaze and banzai attacks against their enemies, as well as seppuku suicides by officers who lost battles, which was called kakuro no jisatsu ("suicide of resolve").
The ferocious fighting saw acts of brutality on both sides. Owing to the island's topography, with its many mountains and caves, retreating Japanese troops were able to take cover in ravines, cliffs, and caves and use them to ambush the Marines, often with devastating results.
In retaliation, Marines took to clearing out caves with flamethrowers, sometimes not checking first to see if they were occupied by Japanese troops or Japanese civilians, of which there was a sizable population on the island. The Japanese soldiers exacerbated the problem of getting noncombatants killed by deliberately using civilians as decoys in their ambushes.
Meanwhile, out at sea, US naval forces decimated the Imperial Japanese Navy, sinking three aircraft carriers along with the hundreds of aircraft on board. Any hopes that the Japanese troops may have had for relief were dashed.
After a few weeks of fighting, it was obvious that the Japanese had lost the battle. By the end of June, the remaining Japanese forces and civilians had been corralled into the island's northern tip.
Most other nations, in such a position, would have surrendered at this point. Not the Japanese, though. Emperor Hirohito, who the Japanese revered as a demi-god, issued what was to be a tragically fateful imperial order when word reached him that Saipan was sure to be lost.
There is no official count of how many civilians took their own lives at the end of Saipan's Battle, but estimates usually range from 800 - 1000 civilian deaths by suicide. It was one of the many great tragedies of a war that was marked by mass deaths of combatants and non-combatants alike.
Today, the mass suicides have become a place that many Japanese visits on a pilgrimage to console the souls of the dead. Local islanders say that no white birds lived on the cliffs prior to the war, but now they are full of flocks of them - and each white bird, they believe, represents the soul of a person who tragically lost their lives there.
Everyone knows about the first bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Less well known, however, was the second attack. And there was almost a third.
The first one was just a warm-up. The Imperial Japanese Navy planned several more attacks on the U.S. mainland - starting with California and Texas. It was called Ke-Sakusen (Operation Strategy), better known as "Operation K."
Its aim was four-fold:
(1) to assess the damage at Pearl Harbor;
(2) to stop the ongoing rescue and salvage operations;
(3) to finish off targets unscathed by the first raid; and
(4) to test their new Kawanishi H8K1 flying boats.
Code-named "Emily" by the Allies, these planes were built for long-range reconnaissance missions and could land on water. Heavily armed with ten machine guns and 20mm cannons, they could also carry eight 550-pound bombs; so, you can see how they earned their other name, too - "Flying Porcupine." They literally bristled with weaponry.
Able to travel for up to 24 hours without refueling, they were ideal for Operation K - or so the Imperial Japanese Navy hoped. Five were to fly to the French Frigate Shoals (Kanemiloha'i) - less than 500 miles from Pearl Harbor. There they'd be refueled by submarine I-23 for the next leg of their flight to Oahu.
To light their way, they were to reach Pearl Harbor on the night of a full moon - March 4, 1942. Their primary target was the "10-10 Dock" (so named because it measured 1,010 feet long).
The mission was so important that the Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched another three subs to the area. As secrecy was essential, they kept radio communications to an absolute minimum. In fact, they were too successful at this; no one realized that I-23 and its entire crew had vanished - most t likely after February 14, 1942. Its fate remains a mystery to this day.
As well as refueling the flying boats, I-23 was supposed to assess the weather over Oahu based on decrypted US Navy codes. But the Imperial Japanese Navy hadn't heard from the submarine, so they assumed that the skies over Pearl Harbor were just dandy - so Operation K was on!
Except that the Kawanishis started acting up, which left them with only two. In command was Pilot Lieutenant Hisao Hashizume aboard the Y-71, with Ensign Shosuke Sasao flying the Y-72 - both members of the elite 801 Kokutai Fighter Squadron.
On March 3rd, they flew to the Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where they were each given four 550-pound bombs and refueled for the next leg of their trip. Neither were given an escort because Japan had no other planes capable of such a long-range flight.
Fortunately, American codebreakers figured out what was happening - just as they had with the first bombing. Unfortunately, they were again ignored.
Thankfully, they couldn't ignore radar. The Women's Air Raid Defense (WARD) picked up the Kawanishis coming in from the northwest of Oahu, so fighter planes flew out to welcome them.
Sadly, radar technology wasn't so good back then. The U.S. military believed that a mass fleet was headed their way - a repeat of the first attack. Worse, the weather was lousy, and there was a very thick cloud cover.
This meant they couldn't find the Japanese. This wasn't entirely a bad thing, because it also meant that neither Hashizume nor Sasao could see where they were going.
They did make it to the coast of Oahu at around 2 AM - avoiding ng the Americans, though not by design. Visibility was so poor that Hashizume became desperate and radioed Sasao, telling him to fly north so they could bomb Pearl Harbor together.
But Sasao didn't get the message. He instead turned south. So now the Kawanishis were approaching Pearl Harbor from two different directions, while the Americans continued their desperate search.
Following the first bombing, all of Hawaii was under a blackout - making it even more difficult for Hazishume to find his target. Getting frustrated, he dropped his bombs from 15,000 feet, six miles shy of his target. They fell on the side of the Tantalus Peak (an extinct volcano) near the Roosevelt High School - shattering windows and leaving four craters some 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Mercifully, no one was there.
Sasao didn't fare too well, either. His only point of reference was the Ka'ena Point lighthouse, which he had used to bank south. Using guesswork, he dropped his bombs closer to Pearl Harbor, but into the sea. Again, no one was hurt or killed.
As previously arranged, Sasao then flew back to the Wotje Atoll, but Hashizume couldn't. His Y-71 had problems even before take-off, and it was starting to show. So Hashizume instead flew to the Jaluit Atoll (also in the Marshall Islands) for repairs.
Reporters in Los Angeles went berserk. A radio broadcast claimed that the second attack on Pearl Harbor killed 30 people and wounded another 70 - which never happened. The IJN intercepted the report, however, congratulated themselves, and deemed Operation K a success.
So, they planned a third attack for May 30th. This would spearhead their invasion of the Midway Islands - part of Hawaii, but roughly between the US and Asia (hence the name). Submarines I-121, I-122, and I-23 were sent there on May 26th to await further instructions from the Americans.
The U.S. had already figured out that the Japanese were planning to invade Midway and use it as their launching pad to Hawaii. On May 29th, Toshitake Ueno, commander of the fleet, raised his periscope, only to find two US destroyers on the surface.
If we sank them, it would confirm that the Japanese were indeed planning an invasion of Midway, so he ordered a retreat. The problem was, no one else knew because Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had imposed a complete communications blackout.
This was why Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, head of the First Carrier Striking Force, made his way toward Midway. He thought that the Americans were still in Pearl Harbor.
This time, however, America listened to its codebreakers. Nagumo sailed into a trap, losing four of his large aircraft carriers, while the U.S. lost only one destroyer and one aircraft carrier.
The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) cost Japan dearly - not just losing irreplaceable carriers, but also because they could no longer hope to use Midway or Hawaii as a springboard to the U.S. mainland.
Since 2008, more than 60,000 U.S. Veterans have taken their own lives, with more than half of those deaths via firearms.
When Soldiers return home from war, they may feel that the worst is over. They made it back alive and are now free from the fear of dying in combat.
However, the reality is much more complicated and alarming: More U.S. Veterans have committed suicide between 2008 and 2017 than the number of U.S. Military that died during the entire Vietnam War. According to the defense news site Military.com, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shared these alarming rates in a September 2019 report.
The U.S. suffered around 58,000 fatalities over the course of the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975. This number has now been eclipsed by the more than 60,000 U.S. Veteran suicides in a recent span of just 10 years.
This statistic serves as a stark reminder that Soldiers need mental health treatment just as much as medical care for their physical injuries.
The VA's 2019 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report also revealed that more than half of these Veterans committed suicide via firearm. Female Veterans used guns 43.2 percent of the time, while male Veterans did so 70.7 percent of the time.
The rate of Veteran suicide continues to increase with each and every passing year. In the worst year on record, 6,139 Veterans killed themselves in 2017. This marks an increase of two percent from the previous year - and a total increase of six percent since 2008.
Shockingly, almost 70 percent of Veterans who killed themselves did not receive healthcare services from the VA in the lead-up to their suicides.
The report also found an unnerving number of suicides among former National Guard and Reserve members. These Veterans were never "activated," as the military describes it, and thus have no access to VA services. Within this group, there were 919 suicides in 2017 - a rate of 2.5 suicides per day. In total, around 12.4 percent of all military suicides in 2017 came from this group.
While the VA's report didn't account for how effective its mental health programs have been, Veterans are clearly in need of better care.
The VA statement accompanying their report underlined just how complex of an epidemic this really is. Officials in charge explained that the department is simply incapable of addressing the issue and that it needs help from the private sector to tackle it properly.
"We cannot do this alone," said Dr. Richard Stone, the Executive in Charge of the Veterans Health Administration. "We call on our community partners to join us in this effort."
"VA is working to prevent suicide among all Veterans, whether they are enrolled in VA health care or not," said VA Secretary Robert Wilkie.
"That's why the department has adopted a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention, using bundled strategies that cut across various sectors - faith communities, employers, schools and health care organizations, for example - to reach Veterans where they live and thrive."
However, the Government Accountability Office reported in December 2018 that the VA left almost $5 million of its suicide prevention outreach budget unused. Social media posts, public service announcements, billboards, and advertisements all declined in 2017 and 2018 - though this trend began to increase in 2019.
Psychologist and leader of the National Center for Veterans Studies, Craig Bryan, explained that organizing a thorough study of Veteran suicide statistics could make budget allocations to tackle the issue more effectively.
"The benefit of separating out subgroups is that it can help us identify higher-risk subgroups of the whole, which may be able to help us determine where and how to best focus resources," he said.
According to the Federal Register, President Trump signed an Executive Order in March 2019 to do just that.
Order 13861, or the "President's Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide" (PREVENTS), created a task force led by Wilkie to help consolidate federal funds and make suicide prevention more effective. The task force will offer research grants to state and local governments as well as collaborate with the private sector to address this issue.
"Veteran suicide requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to preserve the lives of our Veterans who have served our country," said Wilkie. "This is a call to action."
If you or a veteran in your life is in need of assistance, please call 1 800 273-TALK and press 1 for Veteran.
My wife Cathy and I had the pleasure of meeting Sailor Jerri in 2017 at the largest Hot Rod and custom car show in the Midwest. It was in Columbus, Minnesota, not far from where we live. At the event, I was to do a photoshoot and write an article for an automotive magazine and was on stage to get a few shots of the large group of attendees. 
That allowed me to have a nice conversation with Sailor Jerri before she stepped up to the microphone. I learned that during her time in the Navy, she was an Aviation Mechanic and worked on F/A 18's with the VFA 83 Rampagers. She served from 2002 - 2006. During my 4 year Navy commitment, I told her that I had been an Electricians Mate in Vietnam and San Diego.
Shortly after she began singing and playing a great sounding 6 string acoustic, it didn't take long for anyone there to learn she is a gifted guitarist with a great voice. As a musician, it's obvious she is a quick study. Jerri started playing the guitar in August of 2016. She said, "I feel that music is therapeutic, and everyone should learn to play. I hope that seeing my struggles to learn and seeing the progress I've made will encourage others to take the time and spend the time and energy". I asked Jerri about her favorite musical artists and was interested to hear that, early on, Patsy Cline became a favorite, and she also likes AC/DC, Reba McEntire, and Brooks and Dunn. Cathy and I have CDs that range from Jerri to the Beatles and Willie Nelson, so we find her favorites a nice mix.
The Minnesota car show where we met was a 'Cruise For The Troops' event to benefit Veterans. One of the songs Jerri performed was 'Hallelujah Veterans Version.' After the last note, there was a long, loud 'appreciation ovation' for the very pro-veteran song. Her support of fellow Veterans was obvious to those fortunate enough to have been there. Initially, she began playing and singing for those in long term care at the VA as well as groups online where they would meet and give each other support. She said, "They're 100% behind me. That is an amazing feeling". No doubt. Although I didn't serve with any of the Swift Boat Sailors Association members, the Vietnam Veterans group I have been with for years, there is an immediate bond among us at our every-other-year reunions is airtight. Jerri wrote and posted the 'Hallelujah Veterans Version' in April of 2017. It only took a year for the song to be viewed more than 125 million times and downloaded in 22 countries worldwide. Her musical career took off like the jets she worked on.
Since that turning point, she has been busy writing some new songs (she's good at that, too) in the studio. 'No Rules in Sight,' her initial CD was released on April 13, 2018, and went to #14 on the country charts, an impressive debut. One of the tracks is 'I'm Going Anyway.' Two of her friends had joined the Navy, and she opted to 
do that, too. Some family members tried to talk her out of going into the military, and her response was how that song got its title. It was released in September of 2018 and has been viewed 210,000 times and counting. If you go to her website www.sailorjerrimusic.com and click on 'Videos,' you can check out 'I'm Going Anyway.' I thought it was appropriate that a former Aviation Mechanic filmed it in her squadron's hangar at Naval Air Station Oceana. Her follow-up CD, 'Screen Doors and Steel Guitars,' was released in May of 2019. Once again, her talent as a vocalist and guitarist shines through. I have followed sports and music for decades. When you meet those in either profession and are performers you enjoy, it is so nice to discover they are as enjoyable and approachable as talented.
Sailor Jerri began 2019 with a February 'No Vet Alone Music Saves Life' concert with Elliott McKenzie at The Rhythm and Riffs Lounge at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Elliott served in the United States Marine Corps and joined just 5 days after graduating from high school. He is an Iraq war Veteran and served as a civil affairs specialist with the Army Reserve and has earned a Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Science as noted on Sailor Jerri's site "No Vet Alone" teamed up with Mandalay Bay, Kings of Music Las Vegas, Feyline Entertainment and KLAS Channel 8 to showcase Veteran performers and the power that music can have in preventing suicides and improving whole health". Veterans in the entertainment world will take 
part in the No Vet Alone initiative. Jerri began her 2019 tour with a stop at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Her calendar quickly added 50 concerts in 17 states. In November of 2019, Jerri joined Reba McEntire on stage at the Country Music Awards in Nashville. They introduced Dierks Bentley and Sheryl Crow. Jerri was featured along with her band performing her song 'Won't Be For Nothing'; it was shown on the video screen. She had done shows with George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Randy Hauser, and an impressive list of other great artists during the year. Her 2020 concert schedule opened in North Dakota and is followed by events around the country. Sailor Jerri can catch her breath after a late October concert in Texas.
As a music fan, I appreciate that Jerri's music is multifaceted. When you hear it, the entertainment aspect of it is as crystal clear as her voice. Additionally, she utilizes her music to help and inspire her fellow Veterans. Jerri has established a partnership with Crown Royal and Thomas Rhett to announce the Purple Bag Project. They have pledged to pack and ship one million Crown Royal bags filled with the frequently needed essentials to the military serving overseas. She has said, "As long as they want to listen, I'll keep singing." Having enjoyed a wide variety of music since the '50s (as a point of clarification that would be the 1950's), Jerri will be singing and playing her guitar well into the future. Music fans are fortunate; that is the case. Her first two CDs, 'No Rules In Sight' and 'Screen Doors and Steel Guitars,' are a great start. Much to the delight of her growing number of fans, Sailor Jerri is working on her third CD. That's great news, and we're looking forward to it being underway - hand salute to a very caring and talented Veteran.
In 2005, I was in a multivehicle collision in Iraq, during which I severely injured my right ankle. Two weeks later, my Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb, leaving me with a traumatic brain injury that, unknown to me, affected my nervous system in a way that would make it impossible for my ankle to heal properly. I spent the next 14 years living with chronic pain until last summer when I underwent a voluntary major limb amputation during a procedure called osseointegration.
I went into this surgery without any expectations, but there was one outcome that truly surprised me. While stumbling around Walter Reed's campus in 2008 with two black eyes and bruises up and down my arms from the IVs after my brain surgery, I was still treated like a supportive military spouse by other patients - mostly amputees. Even though my injury was severe, most people's attitudes toward me, a woman with no visible wound, made me feel like an outcast—no one considered closed-brain trauma a problem yet. Even with the evidence of hemorrhaging and permanent damage from the I.E.D., it took another four years, a new unit, and medical staff to persuade my former commanders to process Purple Heart paperwork for me. Once out of the service, I fought hard to look "normal" and rehabilitate my busted leg and brain, so I got used to entering a VA hospital and being asked, "Who are you here to visit?"
The first time I entered the VA following the amputation, I was treated completely differently by other veterans. Now there were encouraging words as I learned to walk again in the facility's hallways. I no longer had to explain a pause at the top of the stairs or my gliding along a wall to walk straight, letting them assume it was for my leg and not to steady my vision. Suddenly this recovery felt a lot more manageable compared to the years of brain rehab I had endured.
The VA did its part in easing recovery. Once I had an extension on my peg that reached the ground, they put in the orders for a climbing foot and reassessed my gait. The team was fascinated with the implant and what it could mean for future amputees and regularly asked what I could feel and what we could improve. And because of the VA's breakthroughs in understanding blast waves the past years, all of this was done with my brain injury in mind (yes, pun intended).
On this anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the day that triggered the series of events that led to my eventual amputation, I have no regrets: I am proud of my service, of those with whom I served, and of all those who made a sacrifice.
Elana Duffy is a guest contributor to the At War newsletter. She is a Purple Heart veteran with 10 years of service in the U.S. Army. She also founded the A.I. company www.pathfinder.vet to help members of the military and veterans connect with local benefits and resources.
On June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was freed by US forces, rejoined the fight, crossed Europe as a battlefield interrogator, and participated in a concentration camp's liberation. Although he was an American soldier, less than ten years before, he had been an enthusiastically patriotic German-Jewish boy. Rejected and threatened by the Nazi regime, the Angress family fled to Amsterdam to escape persecution and death, and young Angress then found his way to the United States.
In Witness to the Storm, Angress weaves the spellbinding story of his life, including his escape from Germany, his new life in the United States, and his experiences in World War II. A testament to the power of perseverance and forgiveness, Witness to the Storm is the compelling tale of one man's struggle to rescue the country that had betrayed him.
Reader Reviews
As a World War II buff, this book provides great insight into an area underrepresented in most history books, that of the immigrant soldiers serving the US army in various capacities. This story highlights one man's journey as a German Jewish refugee in the US, who joined the army to become a German integrator under the 82nd airborne. Brought back to the European theater, Tom Angress parachuted into Normandy, fought in the battle of the bulge, and describes in amazing detail the horror, the excitement, and even the humorous aspects of being an interrogator, sometimes behind enemy lines.
It also happens to be my Father's story, but the reader should know that this autobiography was written by a future history professor. His meticulous focus on detail will leave the reader with a great appreciation for his journey, as evidenced by the fact that he kept a diary of events from the moment he dropped into Normandy even while captured by the enemy. It is a fascinating tale that I encourage you to read.
~ Dan
Werner T. Angress analyses his situation as a boy and teenager in pre-war Berlin, even going so far as to explaining why he regretted not having been eligible for the Hitler Youth and describing how the Jewish youth organizations used the same blood-and-soil rhetoric as the Hitler Youth. Then his family's narrow escape to Amsterdam where the Gestapo finally caught his father, and then - with a lot of suspense - his activity as an American Soldier on D-day and in the Ardennes.
All reported very level-headedly, with little emotion and no exaggeration, sometimes even with a little sympathy for the misled German Soldiers and civilians, in spite of the atrocities that he witnessed in the Wobbelin concentration camp.
~Jens
About the Author
On June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was freed by US forces, rejoined the fight, crossed Europe as a Battlefield Interrogator, and participated in the liberation of a concentration camp. Although he was an American Soldier, less than ten years before, he had been an enthusiastically patriotic German-Jewish boy. Rejected and threatened by the Nazi regime, the Angress family fled to Amsterdam to escape persecution and death, and young Angress then found his way to the United States. In "Witness to the Storm," Angress weaves the spellbinding story of his life, including his escape from Germany, his new life in the United States, and his experiences in World War II. A testament to the power of perseverance and forgiveness, Witness to the Storm is the compelling tale of one man's struggle to rescue the country that had betrayed him.
https://ritchieboys.com/EN/boys_angress.html
Tengesdal was born Merryl David in 1971 in the Bronx, New York. She excelled in math and science classes in grade school and high school and graduated from the University of New Haven in Connecticut in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. She completed the U.S. Navy's Officer Candidate School in 1994.
While stationed at Beale Air Force Base, Major Tengesdal was 9th Reconnaissance Wing Chief of Flight Safety and 9th Physiological Support Squadron Director of Operations. She later served as Commander of Detachment 2 WR/ALC in Palmdale, California, where she was in charge of flight test and Program Depot Maintenance for the U-2S aircraft. Tengesdal later worked at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) J8 staff. She returned to Beale AFB in 2013 as a Lieutenant Colonel and became the Deputy Operations Group Commander, then Inspector General of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing. She was the Director of Inspections for the Inspector General of the Air Force at the Washington D.C. Pentagon from 2015 to 2017 before retiring from the Air Force in 2017 as a Colonel.
Sometimes, however, other means account for mass deaths in war. Such was the case of Saipan's Battle in the Second World War when it became apparent that Americans would take the island. Around one thousand Japanese civilians - men, women, and children, old and young - tragically chose to take their own lives rather than surrender.
The ferocious fighting saw acts of brutality on both sides. Owing to the island's topography, with its many mountains and caves, retreating Japanese troops could take cover in ravines, cliffs, and caves and use them to ambush the Marines, often with devastating results.
The order stated that all Japanese citizens - soldiers and civilians alike - on Saipan were to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans. To the average Westerner, raised in a secular nation, such an order would seem utterly insane.
The ensuing battle lasted fifteen hours, and almost all of the Japanese troops were killed - but not before they killed or wounded 650 American soldiers. The banzai charge took place on July 7, and on the 9th, Admiral Turner made the announcement that Saipan was officially in American hands.
Many suicides took place at Marpi Point, at the northern tip of the island. Here, hundreds of people jumped to their deaths from two high cliffs - later named Suicide Cliff and Banzai Cliff. Entire families leaped to their death. Sometimes the parents would slit their children's throats before throwing them over the edge and then following them to their doom.
Most other nations, in such a position, would have surrendered at this point. Not the Japanese, though. Emperor Hirohito, who the Japanese revered as a demi-god, issued what was to be a tragically fateful imperial order when word reached him that Saipan was sure to be lost.
Code-named "Emily" by the Allies, these planes were built for long-range reconnaissance missions and could land on water. Heavily armed with ten machine guns and 20mm cannons, they could also carry eight 550-pound bombs; so, you can see how they earned their other name, too - "Flying Porcupine." They literally bristled with weaponry.
On March 3rd, they flew to the Wotje Atoll in the Marshall Islands, where they were each given four 550-pound bombs and refueled for the next leg of their trip. Neither were given an escort because Japan had no other planes capable of such a long-range flight.
Following the first bombing, all of Hawaii was under a blackout - making it even more difficult for Hazishume to find his target. Getting frustrated, he dropped his bombs from 15,000 feet, six miles shy of his target. They fell on the side of the Tantalus Peak (an extinct volcano) near the Roosevelt High School - shattering windows and leaving four craters some 30 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Mercifully, no one was there.
If we sank them, it would confirm that the Japanese were indeed planning an invasion of Midway, so he ordered a retreat. The problem was, no one else knew because Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had imposed a complete communications blackout.
However, the reality is much more complicated and alarming: More U.S. Veterans have committed suicide between 2008 and 2017 than the number of U.S. Military that died during the entire Vietnam War. According to the defense news site Military.com, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shared these alarming rates in a September 2019 report.
Shockingly, almost 70 percent of Veterans who killed themselves did not receive healthcare services from the VA in the lead-up to their suicides.
"That's why the department has adopted a comprehensive public health approach to suicide prevention, using bundled strategies that cut across various sectors - faith communities, employers, schools and health care organizations, for example - to reach Veterans where they live and thrive."
"The benefit of separating out subgroups is that it can help us identify higher-risk subgroups of the whole, which may be able to help us determine where and how to best focus resources," he said.
That allowed me to have a nice conversation with Sailor Jerri before she stepped up to the microphone. I learned that during her time in the Navy, she was an Aviation Mechanic and worked on F/A 18's with the VFA 83 Rampagers. She served from 2002 - 2006. During my 4 year Navy commitment, I told her that I had been an Electricians Mate in Vietnam and San Diego.
do that, too. Some family members tried to talk her out of going into the military, and her response was how that song got its title. It was released in September of 2018 and has been viewed 210,000 times and counting. If you go to her website 
part in the No Vet Alone initiative. Jerri began her 2019 tour with a stop at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Her calendar quickly added 50 concerts in 17 states. In November of 2019, Jerri joined Reba McEntire on stage at the Country Music Awards in Nashville. They introduced Dierks Bentley and Sheryl Crow. Jerri was featured along with her band performing her song 'Won't Be For Nothing'; it was shown on the video screen. She had done shows with George Strait, Jamey Johnson, Randy Hauser, and an impressive list of other great artists during the year. Her 2020 concert schedule opened in North Dakota and is followed by events around the country. Sailor Jerri can catch her breath after a late October concert in Texas.
I went into this surgery without any expectations, but there was one outcome that truly surprised me. While stumbling around Walter Reed's campus in 2008 with two black eyes and bruises up and down my arms from the IVs after my brain surgery, I was still treated like a supportive military spouse by other patients - mostly amputees. Even though my injury was severe, most people's attitudes toward me, a woman with no visible wound, made me feel like an outcast—no one considered closed-brain trauma a problem yet. Even with the evidence of hemorrhaging and permanent damage from the I.E.D., it took another four years, a new unit, and medical staff to persuade my former commanders to process Purple Heart paperwork for me. Once out of the service, I fought hard to look "normal" and rehabilitate my busted leg and brain, so I got used to entering a VA hospital and being asked, "Who are you here to visit?"
On June 6, 1944, Werner T. Angress parachuted down from a C-47 into German-occupied France with the 82nd Airborne Division. Nine days later, he was captured behind enemy lines and, concealing his identity as a German-born Jew, became a prisoner of war. Eventually, he was freed by US forces, rejoined the fight, crossed Europe as a battlefield interrogator, and participated in a concentration camp's liberation. Although he was an American soldier, less than ten years before, he had been an enthusiastically patriotic German-Jewish boy. Rejected and threatened by the Nazi regime, the Angress family fled to Amsterdam to escape persecution and death, and young Angress then found his way to the United States. 
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