MEMORIAL DAY

[frankderrico]

"Jake was led by love of country"....1st. Sgt. Vesser

In Memory of PFC Jacob Frank Derrico "ABSOLUTE INFANTRY"




Attachment 93620

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Sarge1998]

Both 1st cousins who died in service, Edwin in Vietnam and John's death is classified to this day.

EDWIN FRANCIS TURK JR, SP4 - E4 - Army - Selective Service 11th Armored Cavalry
Length of service 1 years
His tour began on Jan 30, 1969 - Casualty was on Jun 18, 1969
In BINH LONG, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY - ARTILLERY, ROCKET, or MORTAR
Body was recovered
Panel 22W - Line 82

[painter777]

God Bless all

[Bob Womack]

Sergeant Pilot Henry Archer "Harry" Womack, RCAF
Spitfire Pilot
1919-1941
Killed practicing air combat maneuvers near Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, England
Buried at St. Deiniol's Church, Flintshire, Wales, near his station, RAF Hawarden
Probably the first war casualty from Tennessee, USA


Bob

[painter777]

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...47193807-1.jpg

http://www.milsurps.com/images/impor...rystone3-1.jpg
Sergeant Pilot Henry Archer "Harry" Womack, RCAF
Spitfire Pilot
1919-1941
Killed practicing air combat maneuvers near Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, England
Buried at St. Deiniol's Church, Flintshire, Wales, near his station, RAF Hawarden
Probably the first war casualty from Tennessee, USA


Bob

Bob,
Below I found this about HA Harry Womack,
I see he called Johnson City home.
I have many family ties in the area.

His Gravestone Inscription reading :

Because I live, ye shall live also.
St John XIV. 19


Sgt Henry Archer “Harry” Womack, Jr
BIRTH 3 Feb 1919
Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia, USA
DEATH 1 Jul 1941 (aged 22)
Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority, Cheshire, England
BURIAL
Hawarden Churchyard
Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales
PLOT North Section
MEMORIAL ID 68025373 · View Source

Pilot Sergeant Henry Archer "Harry" Womack Jr was Washington County, Tennessee first overseas casualty of World War II. Harry served with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Number 57 Operational Training Unit, Service Number R/67722. He called Johnson City, Tennessee, United States of America (USA) his home.

Harry died in a training accident while practicing aerial dog fighting out of RAF Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales, along with Pilot Officer John Melvin Milmine, RCAF . They now rest side by side in the Hawarden (St. Deiniol) Churchyard, Flintshire, Wales, United Kingdom.

The aircraft crashed at Mill Lane in the village of Upton, a part of Upton-by-Chester, which is a civil parish and a large suburb on the outskirts of Chester, Cheshire, England, United Kingdom.

Harry was 22 years old and the son of Henry Archer Womack and Nellie Parsons of Johnson City, Tennessee, USA.



Civil Registration:
Deaths Sep 1941 Womack Harry A 21 West Cheshire 8a 646.

He is commemorated at Monte Vista Memorial Garden, Johnson City, Washington County, Tennessee, U.S.A. Section F, Lot 348, Space 9. (Find A Grave Memorial# 16726786)



God Bless

Info Link: Sgt Henry Archer “Harry” Womack, Jr (1919-1941) - Find A Grave Memorial

[Bob Womack]

Bob,
Below I found this about HA Harry Womack,
I see he called Johnson City home.
I have many family ties in the area.

His Gravestone Inscription reading :

Because I live, ye shall live also.
St John XIV. 19


God Bless

Info Link: Sgt Henry Archer “Harry” Womack, Jr (1919-1941) - Find A Grave Memorial

Thank you kindly, Charlie! The men of my family visited the grave at Hawarden on a cold morning in November, 1996.



That's me on the right with my father, Harry's little brother, beside me. What you can't see in the expressions is that my father was left the lone male in his family by Harry's death and the accidental death of his father soon after. He suddenly became the man of the household. He ended up giving away his sisters at their weddings. Nevertheless he joined the Navy and served in WWII. The visit to the grave shown above was his and his family's first. He grew very silent. That evening in our hotel room he told me that he'd been forced to sort of put Harry's death to the side and be strong for his mother and sisters. Standing at the grave, the finality of it all hit him for the first time.

If you look closely at the foot of the stone you can see a poppy from the recent Remembrance celebration. His was the only stone in the area that was decorated. A girlfriend, perhaps?


This picture shows the inscription that is engraved to commemorate Harry on the reverse side of my grandparents' joint grave stone in their home of Johnson City.

Bob

[Cosine26]

For Cinders
OFF Topic but may interest you. I saw him go down and do not know how he survived.

The Squadron broke its own sortie record on 15 June 1953 when it flew a total of 88 sorties in the one day, accounting for 90 hours and five minutes of flying time. The only 77 Squadron casualty sustained during these raids was Sergeant D. Pinkstone (A77-982) who was hit by anti-aircraft fire when attacking an enemy vehicle and was forced to bail out of his stricken jet. He parachuted to safety landing successfully in a nearby rice paddy. Other members of his flight saw Pinkstone fold up his parachute and run for the cover of some high ground near a small village. A rescue helicopter was called in but was forced away from the downed pilot by intense enemy ground fire, leaving Pinkstone to be captured and interned as a prisoner of war
FWIW

[mmppres]

God bless every one who ever served in any branch an were for any reason front line back line they all served.

[CINDERS]

To go on a bit with Bob's post during world war II the casualty rates at the OTU's at times got to 50%+ I have a vid here on Lancaster crews training in Canada then going onto operations in ETO in one segment you see a Lancaster vertically plummeting behind trees with a great gout of flame & black smoke rising up killing all on board.
They had to train like it was the real deal just like they do today but even though the training was extensive it never really prepared them for the real deal when they were above say the Ruhr valley being coned by a master searchlight and getting pounded by flak & night fighters scraping through hoping to get to their 30 missions and out of the firing line.

I read from both sides in the air where at least the Allies had a rotational system but for the Luftwaffe their face was well and truly pressed to the grind stone till they died and allot of them did but that's why their aces were miles ahead in their kills than the allied pilots because some of them had been flying combat missions since the Spanish do with the Condor Legion.
So when we get to France they were probably due for a rest but thrown straight into fighting again except this time they encountered fighters nearly their equal the only thing that was not quite up to speed were the skill of the Brit's but they did not stay niave for long and held the Luftwaffe off fairly well at Dunkirk though allot of Army chaps cursed the RAF for a no show.
That's because they were engaged 30-40+ miles inland keeping the hordes away from the beach head so the evacuation could take place "Stuffy" Dowding did the right thing in withholding sending more fighters to France lest they leave Britain exposed with being unable to replace the losses there.

In parting those that serve and have served will always be remembered and respected in this household.

"Auspicium melioris aevi"
Definition - augury of a better age — motto of the Order of St. Michael and St. George

[Cosine26]

Korean War
There was no mention of the Korean War one TV or the newspapers.
Veteran of WWII (USN), Korea(USAF) and Cold War (SAC B-47's)
FWIW




The Korean War was a brutal war; fought against a barbaric enemy in a primitive country under the worst environmental conditions US forces were ever asked to endure. Another Memorial Day and the Korean War remains, the Forgotten War. 33,652 KIA, 103,284 WIA,~8000 MIA (still) in three years of warfare..
FWIW