Saving Hallowed Ground

Just Two days after the Beirut Bombing Grenada 25 October 1983. Their names are inscribed on the Beirut Memorial

We are partnering again this year with the Daughters of the American Revolution Independence Hall Chapter to honor our Veterans. This year a Virtual Parade

Yesterday, Modified Funeral Honors with Funeral Escort were conducted for U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Pvt. 1st Class Charles Miller in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery. Miller was killed in the Tarawa Atoll during World War II at age 19. Excerpt from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) press release: In November 1943, Miller was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, which landed against stiff Japanese resistance on the... small island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll of the Gilbert Islands, in an attempt to secure the island. Over several days of intense fighting at Tarawa, approximately 1,000 Marines and Sailors were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded, while the Japanese were virtually annihilated. Miller died on the third day of battle, Nov. 22, 1943. He was reported to have been buried in Row D of the East Division Cemetery, later renamed Cemetery 33. In 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company centralized all of the American remains found on Tarawa at Lone Palm Cemetery for later repatriation. However, almost half of the known casualties were never found. No recovered remains could be associated with Miller, and in October 1949, a Board of Review declared him non-recoverable. In 2009, a nonprofit organization discovered a burial site on Betio Island believed to be Cemetery 33, which has been the site of numerous excavations ever since. In March 2019, excavations west of Cemetery 33 revealed a previously undiscovered burial site that has since been identified as Row D. The remains recovered at this site were transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii. Miller’s remains were officially identified for on May 19, 2020. (U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser)

Happy Birthday, NAVY!!

Happy 245th birthday!

The Hall of Valor is the world’s largest public database of American military award citations. All recipients in the database are verified by source material such as official award citations, narratives and/or synopses from individuals or records from the National Archives. https://valor.militarytimes.com/

Help us remember Robert J. Newman today. World War II Service # 32342174 Private First Class, U.S. Army 385th Engineer Battalion... Entered Service From: New York Date of Death: October 8 1943 Buried: Plot F Row 14 Grave 10 North Africa American Cemetery, Tunisia See more

Help us remember William K. Davis today. World War II Service # 6394109 Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Forces 48th Materiel Squadron... Entered Service From: Florida Date of Death: October 7 1942 Buried: Plot F Row 13 Grave 70 Manila American Cemetery, Philippines See more

October 6, 1912: Remembering the brilliant and courageous Susie King Taylor on the 108th Anniversary of her death. She was born a slave on a plantation in Liberty County, Georgia. When she was seven years old, her owner allowed her to go to Savannah to live with her grandmother, Dolly. Despite Georgia's harsh laws against the formal education of African-Americans, Susie attended illegal schools for black children in Savannah and soon learned how to read and write. Susie's... education ended when she was forced to return to her mother on the Isle of Wight after her grandmother was arrested at a suburban church meeting for singing "freedom hymns." In April 1862, she and many other enslaved African-Americans fled to St. Simons Island, occupied at the time by Union forces. Taylor impressed the Union officers with her ability to read and write and was offered a position running a school for children and adults on the Island, and she became the first black teacher for freed African-American students and went to work in a freely operating freedmen's school in Georgia. While at the school on St. Simons Island, Susie married Edward King, a black non-commissioned officer in the First South Carolina Volunteers, the regiment led by Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson. For three years she traveled with her husband's regiment, serving as nurse and laundress, and teaching many of the black soldiers to read and write during their off-duty hours. Susie outlived her husband and was married in 1879 to Russell L. Taylor. She moved to Boston with her new husband that same year, where she would live for the rest of her life. In 1902 she wrote the book, "Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S.C. Volunteers." She was the only African-American woman to publish a memoir of her Civil War experiences. Mrs. Taylor's book was "gratefully dedicated" to Colonel Higginson. In return, he wrote the introduction for her: "Actual military life is rarely described by a woman, and this is especially true of a woman whose place was in the ranks, as the wife of a soldier...The writer of the present book was very exceptional among the colored laundresses, in that she could read and write and had taught children to do the same; and her whole life and career were most estimable, both during the war and in the later period during which she has lived in Boston and has made many friends. I may add that I did not see the book until the sheets were in print, and have left it wholly untouched, except as to a few errors in proper names. I commend the narrative to those who love the plain record of simple lives, led in stormy periods." Susie King Taylor died in Boston on October 6, 1912. She was 64 years old. https://archive.org/details/blackwomanscivil0000tayl IMAGE: Susie King Taylor in the 1880s.

Help us remember Linas Willis Duffany today. World War I Private, U.S. Army 58th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division Entered Service From: Vermont... Date of Death: October 5 1918 Buried: Plot A Row 39 Grave 4 Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, France See more

I remember this day, 27 years ago today, these two gladiators of freedom fearlessly and selflessly defended the pilot of a downed Blackhawk helicopter, literally armed only with a rifle and pistol each. They defended the pilot against hundreds of Somali militia. Due to their actions, Blackhawk pilot Mike Durant survived. Both Shughart and Gordon were finally overrun sustaining multiple bullet wounds and finally died. Both were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. ... Look, I see a lot of talk about heroism. This is it. This is what it looks like at the highest level. Don’t forget that men like this existed and exist today. De Oppresso Liber. Luis Spades Castillo

Help us remember Livingston O'Toole today. World War I Corporal, U.S. Army 308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division Entered Service From: New York... Date of Death: October 4 1918 Buried: Plot A Row 29 Grave 29 St. Mihiel American Cemetery, France See more

Today 3 October in 1949 WERD became the first radio station owned and programmed by African Americans. The station was established in Atlanta, Georgia, broadcasting on 860 AM Photo: NAACP President William Boyd was a news analyst for WERD

Help us remember George A. Hansen today. World War I Private, U.S. Army 333rd Machine Gun Battalion, 86th Division Entered Service From: Minnesota... Date of Death: October 2 1918 Buried: Plot C Row 5 Grave 8 Brookwood American Cemetery, United Kingdom See more