ONE BRAVE MAN OF THE GREEN BERETS

Born in Oklahoma as the son of a soldier, 71-year old Mike Linnane grew up in Massachusetts and Colorado.  In 1982, he moved to Greensboro.  He has a cache of interesting stories about construction, building, gardening, travel, veteran advocacies and grandchildren.

MIKE LINNANE WEARING HIS MOST HIGHLY ESTEEMED
AWARD -- THE GREEN BERET

As a former enlisted man who retired as a Special Forces Major, he has a few Army stories as well.  Some of these, he shares – others, he maintains -- are best left untold.

One of his stories, I found on his plaque at the Special Forces Hall of Fame at Fort Bragg, into which he was inducted in 2013. 

MIKE LINNANE'S PLAQUE AT SPECIAL
FORCES HALL OF FAME

Reading from the plaque, “Linnane successfully led a small force of Special Forces, indigenous soldiers, and a U.S. tank platoon in a continuous 10-day battle against a North Vietnamese Army Battalion, which was reinforced with 10 Soviet tanks.”

For future reference, that battle was at Ben Het, and the indigenous soldiers were Montagnards.

Linnane was combat wounded in Vietnam.  He was hospitalized and convalesced for five months, “while in the hospital, they mailed me a bronze star, purple heart and combat infantryman’s badge.”  At his request, he returned to duty with Special Forces in Vietnam.

Nearly 11 years of Linnane’s 20-year Special Forces/Army career were spent overseas.  That included over nine years in Europe and behind the Iron Curtain, where he was recognized for his involvement in the Cold War.  It also included service in Belgium, England, Spain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Austria, France, and “other locations,” as Linnane prefers.

A LINNANE DAUGHTER CORRALLED MANY OF
HER DAD'S PERSONAL AWARDS AND MADE
THIS SHADOW BOX FOR HIS OFFICE

Special Forces personnel are recognized by their distinctive Green Beret.  Per Linnane, “I may have been the only slick-sleeved private to earn a Green Beret in 1962 – it remains my favorite award.  I was promoted to PFC the day after graduation.”  

After my first three years on an A Team overseas, I completed Officer Candidate School and became an instructor at Jump School, and subsequently qualified as a Master Parachutist, Pathfinder, and HALO.”  He explained, “HALO is an acronym for High Altitude, Low Opening – I made a number of jumps of that sort.

The HALO tactic was used typically for night infiltration from 25-30,000 feet -- today, even higher.”

Linnane has five balloon jumps to his credit, as well as dives from submarines with SEAL Team II.  He made jumps at Fort Benning as a private and as a lieutenant, “I asked why enlisted men got $55 per month jump pay, while officers were paid $110.  I should have known the answer.  Officers get twice as scared!”

When Linnane leads the discussion, he talks mostly about his family, “A brother-in-law, niece and three nephews graduated from service academies.  Several cousins served in Viet Nam.  My father and my wife’s father, and several of our uncles served in World War II or Korea.

Two of my sisters, Barbara Ryan Guest and Jeanne Love, are Gold Star Wives, having lost their husbands from Vietnam War service.  The husband of my third sister, Joan, served with the Seabees in Vietnam.  The son of my fourth sister, Carol, is a West Point graduate and has served in Iraq.  One of my brother’s daughters served as a Marine Corps sergeant in the liberation of Kuwait.”

As for 30 years of owning and operating a construction company, “I spent 20 years blowing things up and 30 years putting things together.  I probably bought, sold, built, or fixed over 300 properties in Greensboro.”

Not that Mike Linnane needed re-energizing, but the events of September 11, 2001, did just that, “I shut down the project we were on, paid the workers and told them to go home to their families.  I wrote tons of emails to my children, preparing them for survival mode.”  

Later, they suggested Linnane compile the emails into book form, which he titled, HOW I PREPARED MY FAMILY TO SURVIVE  A TERRORIST ATTACK.

Thousands of copies were printed, enough for all the Linnanes and his Special Forces buddies.  The IOSSS (Inter Operational Security Support Staff) purchased all remaining copies.

Mentioned at the outset was Linnane’s battle at Ben Het, which was supported by Montagnard volunteers.  Here is the rest of that story, “We had 400 Montagnard warriors at our small base.  They went out when we went out – we could have hardly done without them – and they needed us too.”  

In return, Linnane helped found the Save The Montagnard People Organization.  Since 1986, he has personally sponsored 13 families and 30 single warriors from Ben Het, all of whom have resettled in North Carolina.

For years, Linnane’s desk held a, “The Army Is Behind You” desk plate.  “I never knew such a simple saying could have so many meanings,” he says.

-

THE BATTLE THAT CHANGED THE WAR IN VIETNAM

From the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam’s Central Highlands came this poignant response, “If he’s that crazy…bring him on in.”  The responder was Lt. Col. Harold G. “Hal” Moore, commanding 1^st Battalion, 7^th Cavalry, 1^st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).

The request had come from a persistent UPI war correspondent who had watched the first day of the battle with observers from an over-flying helicopter.  That afternoon, he slipped aboard a troop helicopter, only to be replaced by an urgently needed medic.  Now, he was requesting permission to be inserted into the most dangerous spot on earth aboard an evening supply helicopter.

His name was Joseph L. “Joe” Galloway, who had earned his combat correspondent credentials after seven months of combat coverage with the Marines.  “That night, I rode into the pages of history sitting on two cases of grenades.”

AS A WAR CORRESPONDENT, JOE GALLOWAY
HAS BEEN THERE, DONE THAT!

   Galloway, 74, and a native Texan, now resides in Concord, North Carolina with his wife, Gracie, and their animal-rescue Poodle, Jacques.  As for what he’s done lately, “The most I do nowadays is grow about 25 tomato plants each summer and a few rows of corn.” 

GALLOWAY HOUSEHOLD CHAIN OF COMMAND:
JACQUES, GRACIE & JOE

Even if his tomatoes and corn are of Guinness proportions, vetting such a gross understatement is beyond the purview of this column.  However, what Galloway did between riding in on the grenades and gardening in Concord is where we are at the moment.

Much of what Galloway did in this interim involves the New York Times best-seller he wrote -- in collaboration with Moore -- We Were Soldiers Once…And Young.  “It took six months to write this book, but 10 years to research it – actually, it’s a soldiers’ story told in their own words,” says Galloway.  It has been printed in six languages and over 1,300,000 have been sold.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLER IS REQUIRED
READING IN MANY MILITARY CIRCLES

The enthusiastically received book spawned a popular movie, We Were Soldiers, produced in 2002.  Moore was played by Mel Gibson, Barry Pepper played Galloway, who confides, “The movie is 75% reality, 25% other ingredients.”  (Note – “other ingredients” is a paraphrase.)

Written from the first person perspective, the 455-page book by Moore and Galloway about the first major battle in Vietnam is graphic, authoritative, and meticulously researched.  It is required reading in numerous military circles.

Our grandson’s 8^th grade history teacher even classifies the book as scholarly.  A recent assignment: “Lessons learned from Ia Drang, Old America vs. New America mindset, miscreant Hollywood productions, our attitude towards North Vietnam – then and now, and is it good or bad that school children aren’t being taught about great battles?”

What the book does not say is informative as well.  Per Galloway, “I did not go to Vietnam to cover politics – I went to cover soldiers on the front-lines.  These troopers served valiantly.  Many were wounded, hundreds were killed, all had their lives changed at the first sound of war.

 

For them to be advised to return home out of uniform and not to interfere with fellow Americans protesting and burning their draft cards is too ludicrous to print.”  Adding salt to their wounds, the Vietnam GI Bill was termed, “retrograde in its philosophy,” by the New York Times.

As a Vietnam War primer – U.S. support for the war was undermined by a credibility gap between two successive presidential administrations (Nixon and Johnson) as to prosecuting the war.  Additionally -- whether cause or effect -- a strong anti-establishment counter-culture arose to compete with the patriotism which had permeated our country in wars past.

Galloway was awarded a bronze star with valor device for rescuing a badly wounded soldier in combat.  His was the only such award made by the U.S. Army to a civilian during the Vietnam War.

GALLOWAY'S BRONZE STAR WITH VALOR DEVICE

Moore and Galloway returned to the Ia Drang Valley 30 years after the battle.  This visit resulted in their second book, We are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam, published in 2008. 

GALLOWAY ISN'T ADVERSE TO A BIT OF LEVITY
HIS CAVALRY COVER MAY BE THE ONLY ONE
WITH THE MARINE CORPS EAGLE, GLOBE & ANCHOR

Galloway will be in Greensboro on June 1, 2016 to talk about his career as a war correspondent.  The luncheon event, sponsored by the West Point Society of the Piedmont, will be held at the Grandover Resort.  Per Galloway, “I have invited my friend, Joe Marm to join us – I believe he will.”  (Marm lives in Goldsboro -- he won a Medal of Honor during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley)

Reservations are required and may be made at https://secure.west-point.org/wps-piedmont/luncheon/

 

   

      

B-17 NAVIGATOR NEVER FELT HE WAS FLYING ALONE

B-17 pathfinder navigator, 1^st Lieutenant Joseph L. “Joe” Jones, had reason to be upbeat the evening of October 5, 1944, even though he was deep in the heart of the war zone.

NATIVE ALABAMAN JOE JONES LOVES CALLING
ASHEBORO, NC HIS RETIREMENT HOME

First, he learned his wife had delivered their first child 10 days earlier, but neither name nor sex was mentioned. 

Secondly, he was scheduled to fly his 29th combat mission the next day – after 30 missions, he would rotate stateside.

Lastly, he was aware B-17 crews nearing the completion of their tours were often given less hostile targets.

Backtracking a bit, Jones and his freshly-trained crew picked up a new B-17 in Nebraska and flew it to England via the northern route in March, 1944, “We flew over lots of water – as the navigator, I received lots of attention!

It’s just as well that we gave up our new B-17 to a senior crew upon our arrival in England, because the aircraft we flew on our first mission was badly shot up and damaged.  Two or our gunners were wounded and did not fly again.

 

By D-Day, I had been designated as pathfinder navigator.  To insure complete secrecy of the mission, those of us briefed the day before were clustered and could not leave our ward.

On June 6, we bombed Omaha Beach at 6:59 a.m. and returned for a second mission inland that afternoon.

Those were the exceptions -- most of our missions were deep inside Germany – our average mission was over eight hours per run.”

 

Now back to the almost perfect scenario mentioned earlier.  “Actually, it turned into more like a perfect storm.  We were surprised when given Berlin as our target.  It was one of the most fiercely defended.  We had been there twice before, and shot up both times.

As the 11 B-17s in our squadron approached Berlin, we met heavy flak and 75 Luftwaffe fighters.  They made three passes at us and all 11 of our bombers went down.  Our aircraft caught on fire and the bail-out signal was given.  The hatch was jammed when I went to jump so I went back up front to help the bombardier who was yelling for help.

Suddenly, the aircraft exploded.  The bombardier and I were blown from the ship at 31,000 feet.  Even with head, shoulder and leg wounds I regained consciousness at about 12,000 feet.  Miraculously, the Lord had opened my parachute.

The bombardier’s chute had also opened and one gunner had parachuted safely.  The gunner was crying from shock and because his shoes had flown off during the jump.  I told him he could have my extra flight boots, but first we were going to get on our knees and thank the Lord that we survived the explosion – the other seven members of our crew perished.”

Jones was imprisoned with other Allied aviators in Stalag Luft III at Sagan, Poland for several months.  He was actually housed in the north compound, from which The Great Escape had been made earlier.

STALAG LUFT III PERSONAL RECORDS CARD FOR COL JONES

As the Nazis considered Allied aviators valuable for future negotiations, Jones and his peers were moved westward in January, 1945 as the Russians closed in, “At three a.m. we were told the camp would be evacuated in two hours.”

After four prisoner of war camps, three inhumane days on forty & eight rail cars, two forced marches and eight months later, Jones was liberated.  He credits Psalms 91 for surviving his POW experience.

JONES SERVED 33 YEARS DURING WW II, KOREA & VIETNAM

Jones wasn’t quite homeward bound yet, “They needed officers to help round up our enlisted men from forced labor camps scattered over the area.  We gutted a cheese factory and manufacturing plant to provide temporary housing – they deemed our food and hastily constructed bunk beds to be luxurious.”

On June 8, 1945 Jones arrived in Boston and called home.  He learned his first child was a daughter, and her name was Glenda, “My family wrote often about her and sent me packages but nothing got through.  I wrote them several cards and letters but they only received one postcard, notifying them I was a POW.”

Jones’ illustrious Army career spanned 33 years and three wars.  Among his personal awards are three Legions of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart.  He retired in 1975 as a colonel, and now resides in Asheboro.

Saved at the age of 12, Jones remains a strong man of faith at 93.  He helped start Raleigh’s Providence Baptist Church in 1978 and Cary’s Colonial Baptist Church in 1987.

COL JONES' "BRAG BOARD" IS IMPRESSIVE -- THREE LEGIONS OF MERIT,
DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, PURPLE HEART

Not that he needs help, but his wives may have helped him keep his faith.  After losing his first wife after 69 years of marriage, he married Betty McDowell.  Her father and grandfather were pastors, as are her son, grandson and brother-in-law.

  

     

    

MR. ED DEFINES SENIOR GOLF

Edward “Beany” Mitchell and I met early on a Wednesday morning.  Realizing he had played golf on Tuesday and would play again on Thursday, I appreciated him giving up Wednesday golf for our interview.

REST IN PEACE, EDWARD MITCHELL -- Passed away November 30, 2015

It wasn’t the fastest interview on record, but not much dust settled.  I understood why when escorted out of the Mitchell home – two sons-in law were waiting in the driveway to take Pop-Pop out for a round of golf.

Fair disclosure – A daughter provided, “Beany.”  The sons-in-law and one grandson  offered, “Pop-Pop.”  Cedarcrest Golf Course owner, Becky Lowdermilk, knows him as “Mr. E.”  I’m sticking with “Mr. Mitchell.”

Actually, the Wednesday event appeared more of a mission than a golf outing.  Mitchell has seven holes-in-one trophies in his den, but has saved space for one more.  Hopefully, it came today, but I haven’t heard.

This wasn’t a typical golfing week for Mitchell, now in his 98^th year – he customarily only plays two days a week.  Although he now uses a golf cart, his trim and slim physique belies thousands of rounds of golf in the walking mode.

Born the son of a post office supervisor, Mitchell followed his Dad’s footsteps. He worked 34 years for the Greensboro post office and has now been retired 44 years.

That’s worth a read-again.  He worked 34 years and has been retired 44 years.  While baby boomers might find the fact he has been retired longer than he worked unfathomable, nonagenarians such as Mitchell think it’s pretty cool.

Similarly, Mitchell doesn’t consider shooting his age on the golf course particularly noteworthy, even though that is something neither Tiger Woods nor Jordan Spieth have ever done.

In 1940, Mitchell married Margaret Lassiter, the daughter of Randolph County Sheriff, W. P. Lassiter.  They were married in the home of Rev. and Mrs. J. Clyde Turner, iconic pastor of Greensboro First Baptist Church – Dr. Turner officiating.

Margaret Mitchell was a hair stylist for Greensboro’s Eula Mae Beauty Shop on North Elm Street.  She passed away in 2000, after 60 years of marriage.  

The couple had four children, eight grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.  Per Edward Mitchell, “We had one child and another on the way when l was drafted.  

They sent me to the Philippine Islands.  I was working in a bombed out Army post office in Manila when the war ended.  Neither of us knew it at the time, but my brother, Clyde, was stationed there too.  He was an aerial gunner instructor in the Army Air Forces.  We were able to get together one time for a short visit.”

EDWARD MITCHELL – WORLD WAR II

Another of Edward’s brothers, Earl, served with the Army’s 25^th Infantry Division during the Korean War.  Harris Mitchell, the oldest of the Edwards brothers, died in 1998 at 85.  The four Mitchell brothers have one sister, Mary.  She is 93 and lives in New Mexico.

The Mitchell family lived at 703 North Eugene Street.  Edward Mitchell worked as a paper boy.  Undoubtedly, he made timely deliveries and started early on his way to becoming an outstanding postman.  A certificate from the school year of 1925-26 reads, “Prompt and steady attendance, neither absent nor tardy.”

After graduation from Greensboro Senior High School, he was awarded a band scholarship at Culver Military Academy in Indiana, “I played the French Horn in high school and at Culver.  All our children were musically talented as well,” says Mitchell.

Mitchell attended UNC-Chapel Hill during the Depression Years, “At the time, the job at the post office looked too good to pass up, so I dropped out of college, came home and went to work.”

A strong connection with First Baptist Church continues with the Mitchell brothers, Edward, Clyde and Earl.  Edward Mitchell joined May 13, 1928 at the age of 10, “Long-time members were recently honored at First Baptist – they said I had been a member longer than anyone else.”

Mitchell is not the oldest First Baptist parishioner – that honor goes to D. B. Cobb, who is 103.

Those who have attended the John Willett Men’s Bible Studies over the years will remember the “Mitchell table,” which was usually manned by all three brothers.

98-YEAR OLD EDWARD MITCHELL IN HIS NATURAL HABITAT

“We count Mr. Ed as family at Cedarcrest,” says Becky Lowdermilk.  “He was a paying member for many years but several years ago we made him an honorary member with complimentary golf for the rest of his years.  Even our ducks loved Mr. Ed – he often went by the bakery and bought them something to eat.”

  

  

LONG ISLAND G.I. CELEBRATES 70 YEARS IN GREENSBORO

Most G.I.s pleaded to be sent home after VE-Day, but Sydney LeBrun’s plea was just the opposite, “Please don’t send me home yet.  My mother must not see me like this.”

75^TH INFANTRY DIVISION HEADED FOR BASTOGNE

“THAT’S ME WITH THE BIG BUTT,” SAYS SYDNEY LEBRUN

While six German bullets had shot away 16 cubic inches of his flesh during the Battle of the Bulge -- leaving a horrendous scar across his face -- the wounds were slowly healing.  Even so, he thought his mother best not see him yet.

PFC SYDNEY LEBRUN -- 1943

The Army agreed.  After treatment in field hospitals, two months in a body cast, and two more months in Army hospitals in Belgium, France and England, LeBrun was posted to an Army Detachment near Paris, “I rode with French Gendarmes.  We rounded up G.I.s and French girls for various reasons.  With the assignment came free time and passes to interesting venues – and even the use of my own Army command car at times.”

LeBrun researched his family tree roots.  He visited World War I sites, Metz and Nancy.  He visited Nice, on the French Riviera, and certainly did not neglect Paris.  “I did Brussels and crossed over into Germany, just to say I had been there, but I enjoyed Switzerland most of all.  At Davos, I learned to ski – that became a lifelong obsession.”

As the adage goes, that good thing came to an end for LeBrun -- abruptly, “The Detachment moved out while I was away.  A buddy told me I could be considered a deserter and shot.  I told him I had been shot six times – if they wanted to shoot me for a seventh time, let them go ahead.  ! didn’t care.”

He was not shot, but sent home on a victory ship, based on the points he had accumulated.  He attended Syracuse University briefly but dropped out due to his wife’s illness.  His mother had always hoped he and his brother would start a business together.  In 1946, Sydney LeBrun joined his brother, Bernard, in Greensboro.

“Bernard was a terrific salesman and had saved a few bucks -- I had $100 in mustering out pay.  He loaned me $3000 and we started producing solid cedar chests.  Later, we made solid cedar bedroom furniture and finally moved to solid Cherry and Maple case goods.

Along the way, we purchased and expanded an ORD gymnasium.  That housed our offices and manufacturing operations until we sold out to Ridgeway Clocks.”

LeBrun spent more time skiing after selling the business, but was open to new job challenges.  “Judge Rufus Reynolds offered me a job as Trustee in Chapter 11 Bankruptcies.  The pay was competitive -- the experience quite challenging.  Emerald Pointe Water Park and the chain of Royal Villa Hotels were two of my largest projects.”

Over the years, LeBrun has volunteered with International Executive Service Corps (IESC).  “On the model of a higher echelon Peace Corps, I did consulting work in furniture manufacturing in such countries as Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadimes, Kenya, Ecuador, Mexico, Romania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Honduras, Belize, and other countries I may have forgotten.”

When LeBrun introduced me to Dali and Samantha, the LeBrun cats, he explained the ground rules under which they live, “This is my house and they can scratch wherever they please.”

Dali is named after the artist.  Memories of bankruptcy work involving a Salvador Dali painting led to his cat-naming. 

LeBrun owned and operated a postage stamp vending machine business for almost 30 years, “I had hundreds of machines around the Carolinas, but sold out when I became 85 – the guy who bought the business was only 80.”

Now 91, he has two daughters, a deceased son, and two grandchildren.

FURNITURE EXECUTIVE SYDNEY LEBRUN,
“I REMEMBER THE BULGE ALMOST AS IF IT WERE YESTERDAY!”

He can’t say enough about Army Medics who risked their lives to save his.  Or, about Army doctors who performed miracles with his injuries.  Or, about the Army Chaplain who prematurely gave him his last rites.  “Right pew, but wrong church,” LeBrun (who is Jewish) maintains.  Or, the Army Nurse who calmly said, “Soldier, glad you made it.”

He has less serious memories too.  “My father advised me to tell the Army that the NMI in my name meant, “Not Militarily Inclined.” 

“My French Forty & Eight railcar ride was certainly memorable.  A soldier bayoneted a wine barrel on a nearby railcar and caught the leaking wine in his helmet. We all did the same.  The next day, we all had dysentery. 

Forty & Eights did not have bathrooms, but the doors were exactly two G.I.s wide.”

His health isn’t the best, but even after quadruple heart bypass surgery, four back operations, and a severe stroke, LeBrun is active and on the go, “I am a lucky guy to be here – great friends, great family, great cats -- my life is very full!

OL'HARRY

  

   

     

Nina Morgan Earned Her Veteran's Status

“Pearl Harbor had been attacked, it was the patriotic thing to do,” Nina Wiglesworth Morgan replied when asked why she moved to Washington, D.C. as a teenager.  Secretarial and book-keeping skills landed her a job with the Veterans Administration, “I was good at shorthand, too,” she added.

She thinks patriotism and a “Free a Man to Fight” poster may have had something to do with her joining the Marine Corps in 1943.  “From Boot Camp at Parris Island, I went to Camp Lejeune as a clerk-typist.  After completing Quartermaster School, I spent the rest of my Marine Corps time as a Supply-man.”

It could have been patriotism that led her to spend time getting to know Ernest Wiglesworth, a Marine assigned to Camp Lejeune for well-deserved rest and recuperation.  A Pearl Harbor survivor, he was also a decorated combat veteran of Midway and Guadalcanal.

“We fell seriously in love, but Ernest was sent back to the South Pacific for the Battle of Peleliu.  I promised to wait -- he sent my engagement ring in the mail.”  Nina Mae Johnson and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ernest Woodrow “Buddy” Wiglesworth were married on November 28, 1945.  She had been honorably discharged from the Marine Corps 13 days.

Ernest Wiglesworth left the Marine Corps in 1947 and moved his wife and young son, Ernest Jr., to Greensboro.  Five other children were born into the family – Jim, Keith, Lee, Lynn and Kathleen.  The broader family includes 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.  Ernest Wiglesworth died in 2000 – he and Nina had been married 54 years.

In 2008, she married Ray Morgan, a retired Army combat veteran of Korea and Vietnam.  He died in 2011.
While becoming a Gold Star Mother was the most patriotic event of Nina Morgan’s life, it was, by far, the saddest.  

Boatswain’s Mate 3^rd Class Ernest “Skip” Wiglesworth was killed in Vietnam on March 14, 1968 when his riverboat struck a Viet Cong mine.

Ironically, the young petty officer had written a letter to the Greensboro Daily News.  He wanted people to know the Navy was working hard in Vietnam, getting shot at and running into enemy mines.

The letter was published March 16, 1968 – the same day Navy officers came to the Wiglesworth home to notify them their son was missing in action.

According to his mother, “Skip was scheduled for rest and recuperation on April 4.  His wife had already made airplane reservations to meet him in Honolulu.”  A huge portrait of her oldest son hangs prominently in Nina Morgan’s living room, along with his personal decorations.

She reflected, “Skip was born during his father’s last year on active duty as a Marine.  He wanted desperately to be a Marine like his Mom and Dad, but they would not take him at 17.  The Navy did.  Those were the days of the Vietnam War – I thought he would be safer in the Navy – but you never know.”

Another Wiglesworth son, Jim, perhaps better known as Jungle Jim of the Old Rebel Show, is an Army veteran.
Born in Reidsville and graduated from high school in Raleigh, Nina Morgan has spent most of her 92 years in Greensboro, where she and her husband raised their family.

She has faced more than her share of adversity.  Her father was born blind, as were two of her sons, as a result of Norrie Disease (A hereditary disorder that leads to blindness in male infants, according to the National Institute of Health).  

“All my siblings are gone.  I guess you can say, I’m left holding the fort, but I sure am thankful for the years the Lord has given me,” Morgan reflected recently.

Whether from patriotism or dedication, every Wednesday evening finds Nina Morgan at American Legion Post 53, where she has served as Post Commander.  “I don’t play bingo, but I keep the books and handle the finances.  It’s a non-paying job, I just enjoy doing it.  Players buy their cards from me and I hand out whatever they win.”

Even poor television scheduling on the part of Survivor producers doesn’t give pause to Morgan’s American Legion chores.  According to her daughter, Lynn Wiglesworth, “I pull up the show on demand for Mom -- she watches the Wednesday show faithfully on Thursdays.”

Morgan’s grand-daughter, Kelly Wiglesworth, won $100,000 for her second place finish in the show’s original series.  She is currently contending in Survivor: Cambodia – Second Chance. 

Kelly doesn’t need reminding – her grandmother is pulling for her.

Our country shouldn’t need reminding either – Nina Wiglesworth Morgan represents the finest of what Veterans Day is all about.

Harry Thetford is a retired Sears Store Manager who enjoys writing about veterans.  

MOORE BROTHERS SERVED THEIR COUNTRY

Floyd Vernon Moore, an 88 year old disabled veteran, doesn’t mind sharing memories about growing up with five brothers and three sisters on their family farm near Robbins, NC.

 

He doesn’t mind sharing stories about his 30-year career as a Greensboro mail carrier.  He tells how anxious he is to get back on the golf course and test his brand new knee.  He even talks about appreciating his pastor at Lawndale Baptist Church.

But when asked about his WW II story, Moore draws a few lines.  “I will tell you about going in, and I’ll tell you about getting out, but that’s all,” Moore asserted firmly.  I was resigned to take what I could get, so Moore began with his, “going in, and getting out,” military story.

“I graduated high school in May, 1943.  Three months later, I was invited into the Army.  My letter read, “Your neighbors have chosen you to report to Ft. Bragg.”  After less than a year of training in OK and KS, I was in England, assigned to the 310^TH Field Artillery BN of the 79^th INF DIV.” 

PFC VERNON MOORE -- 1943

Vernon wasn’t the first, or the last of the Moore brothers to be invited to serve their country. 

In June, 1942, George Winton Moore, left for the Army.  Also assigned to the 79^TH INF DIV., Winton Moore was wounded in action.  He brought home shrapnel which was never completely removed.  He died a few years after the war, in a VA hospital, from “far advanced tuberculosis.”  According to Vernon Moore, “the family always thought he died from lead poisoning from the embedded

shrapnel.”

In September, 1942, another Moore brother, James Harding Moore, left home to become a paratrooper and chemical warfare specialist with the 82^ND Airborne.  During the Battle of the Bulge, he was killed while attacking an enemy machine gun nest.

If you are keeping score, as Mrs. Vanda Moore surely was – three of her six sons had left for the Army in just a few weeks over one year.  A year later, those three sons had picked up purple hearts – one posthumously. 

A younger Moore brother, Henry Coleman Moore, left the family farm later and served with the Navy during the Korean War. 

Given these threads, it is surprising that Vernon Moore had the patience to continue our conversation with his “getting out” part.  A large photograph on the living room mantle made me think he might continue – it was of him and his family, taken at Normandy’s Utah Beach. 

“We went ashore after D-Day with our 105mm howitzers, and started shelling German targets a few miles inland.  I was wounded along the way.  I didn’t know it at the time, but my platoon sergeant put in for me a purple heart.  What bothered me the most was an intestinal bug I picked up.  That put me in the hospital at Reims, France for several weeks.

They almost sent me home, but when I got better they put me in a rear echelon military police outfit that escorted German and Italian prisoners of war.  We had lots of them, so that kept me busy until after the war ended.”  Moore is not hesitant to mention that God had a plan for him, or he would not have made it home.  

Mission completed – Vernon Moore told about getting in, and getting out, and a few extras.  Like many of his WW II peers, he is under-appreciated, under-recognized, and thanks to paperwork snafus and lost records, he is under-awarded.  While he doesn’t care to talk about WW II, he would not have the cause forgotten.

After the war, Vernon Moore attended Kings Business College in Greensboro.  He married the daughter of a Robbins textile mill family of five daughters and one son.  Next year, Dorothy and Vernon Moore will celebrate their 66^th anniversary.  They have three children and two grands -- all of whom live in the Greensboro area.  Dorothy Moore retired from Greensboro City Schools, after 40 years of service.

DOROTHY & VERNON MOORE -- 2013

Vernon Moore will have to scramble to come up with an appropriate anniversary celebration.  They have toured England, Europe, Hawaii, Alaska, and many Caribbean Islands. 

I commended them on their hard-working yard man.  Dorothy Moore quickly exclaimed, “He is not a yard man – he is our wonderful next door neighbor!  He mows our yard twice a week and will not take a penny for it.”

As does the Moore neighbor -- appreciate a WW II veteran today.  They are a national treasure – and slipping away all too soon.