The Patriot Files :: Dedicated to the preservation of military history

When the Iraq War started, I was assigned to a logistics unit at Fort Drum, serving as a battalion operations officer. From as early as September 2002, in light of the new crisis with Saddam, I knew we might deploy. After months of speculation, those deployment orders officially were published in February 2003.

Note: by Captain Andrew DeKever 11221 Reads

Into the Valley of Death

It was a hot, sunny day, the tenth of June, the year Nineteen Eighteen, that I voluntarily answered the call of my country, which was then plunged into the greatest and most terrific war mankind has ever known. I enlisted at Camp Beauregard, and through the kindness and assistance of a friend of my sister's, Sergeant Whitmel Reed, was assigned to the Intelligence Section, Headquarters Company, 156th Infantry Regiment, 39th Division. A few days after my arrival I was equipped in olive drab, and soon made a full fledged soldier of "Uncle Sam".

Note: by Pvt. Mathew Chopin, 356th Inf., 89th Div. 12588 Reads

807th MASH, Dec. 1990 - Mar. 1991

The mission began as it should, with prayer. Members of our unit and our family and friends assembled at the drill hall on 17th Street in Paducah, Kentucky for a prayer service. It was a time to think about the mission that lay before us the hazards that would be endured. We prayed for the strength to carry out this important mission, as well as for a quick and safe return home.

Note: by Brian Ginn 15470 Reads

Pacific Task Force

The details of the following story are based on an actual happening, and have never before been related. It is a tale of tragedy at sea, and of the heroism displayed by men thrown together in a common lot by the fortunes of war. The setting is in the "Graveyard of the Atlantic", that frigid gray expanse of the North Atlantic in the land of the midnight sun, a hundred miles south of the polar ice packs.

Note: by Robert T. Shaffer, 1/c R Division 10617 Reads

Combat in the Battle of Saipan

On June 15th 1944 the 2nd Armored Amphibian Bn invaded the Island of Saipan. The 2nd Armored was the first amtrac to be fitted with a open turret and a 75 mm canon, and was to be used as an assualt weapon to get heavy fire power to the beach before the infantry landed. We left the LST's with 72 Armored Amtracs, and only 23 made it all the way to the beach. The Japanese had zeroed in on exact places on the reef, and as the armored tanks got to that spot, they opened fire with heavy artillery and heavy mortars.

Note: by Bill Hoover 9657 Reads

War Diary: Private H. E. Broun

20. 1. 1916
Troopship Runic embarked at 6.15 a.m. put out into mid-stream at 9 a.m. had dinner was paid one pound and afterwards went on deck. Mother and Rose with Doris was out in the launch to see me weigh anchor at 20 min to 4 o’clock. Cleared the heads at 4 p.m. Last of dear old Manly for a while. All’s well everything O.K.

Note: No. 3769, 19th Battalion, AIF 8900 Reads

Mission 87

On my 87th mission, I flew a reconnaissance mission deep into North Korea. My primary target was an area of troop emplacements just north of the front lines and consisted of a requirement to photograph the area with vertical camera coverage in what is known as "mosaic photography".

Note: by Norman E. Duquette, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF 9889 Reads

Stalag Luft I, Barth

There were various ways tried by prisoners to get beyond those double barbed wire fences; climbing them, slipping between the wires, cutting through, tunneling under, or some sort of disguise to pass the guards at the gates.

Note: by Edwin Dunlap 10629 Reads

16th Tennessee Infantry

In 1861, when the war clouds obscured the sky I was a boy of 17, living in Tennessee. In common with all the boys of my age, whether living north or south I had the military spirit and at the first opportunity placed my name upon the rolls as a soldier, volunteering to fight for my native state. On the 21st day of May, 1861, I enlisted in company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry, under Col. Jno. H. Savage, and was sent to Estil Springs, on the N. C. & St. L. railroad, where we stayed a few days, and then went to Camp Trousdale, north of Nashville on the Louisville & Nashville railroad, near the Kentucky line.

Note: by Robert C. Carden, Company B, 16th Tennessee Infantry 19653 Reads

Poc Time

I don’t know if those of you that were in Viet Nam during the war remember the custom of poc time. If you remember, this will be a refresher. If you never heard of poc time, well it’s time you learn about this Vietnamese tradition. What follows are my observations based on my brief time in country.

Note: by Robert D. Pryor, Detachment A-344, 5th Special Forces Group (ABN) First Special Forces. 11255 Reads

Delta Tactics

My experiences are those from the perspective of a gunship pilot. I flew Cobras with the 235th Aerial Weapons Company (the Delta Devils) out of Can Tho in '68 and '69. The 235th was an all-Cobra company and we gunship drivers were used as hired guns for anyone in the Delta who wanted helicopter gunships to come and shoot up stuff. We nearly always were dispatched as a single light fire team (two Cobras).

Note: by Ira Will McComic 11294 Reads

World War One Diary

May 20th 1917. Enlisted
June 3rd 1917. Arrived Ft. Thomas Kentucky. Sworn in service.
June 22nd 1917. Arrived Ft. Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. 1st class private. Co G 46 Indiana #17
September 6th 1917. Arrived Camp Sherman Ohio. 322 FA. Supply Co #11. Made corporal. Made sergeant. RO # 33. Oct 14-18

Note: by Sergeant Ross A. Buchman, Supply Company, 322 Field Artillery, AEF 12725 Reads

Outpost Hotel

Det 6 was staging out of Song Ong Doc. It was going to be a dark night with no moon, so as we watched the sun slip below the horizon, we knew we would be flying that night. Sure enough, the scramble alarm went off around midnight. The AMY, a series of support barges for PBR's, was the command post for our area of operations. The AMY activated the alarm.

Note: by Jim Plona 9685 Reads

Square Needles

I had the pleasure of being assigned to Ft Lewis from 3/67 to 6/68. During that time I worked at the post dispensory and occasionally had the bad luck of being assigned to the dreaded "shot line".

Note: By Jim Calbreath 10455 Reads

Diary, U.S.S. Oregon, G. W. Robinson, Fireman 2nd Div.

U.S.S. "Oregon" San Francisco Cal. March 19th 1898 Weighed anchor at 4.45 .m. and got under way passing between Angel island and Alcatraz. Almost every whistle in the city and every ship on the bay saluted us as we headed for the Golden Gate at a 14 knot clip, even the little government tug "Gen McDowell" added her mite from the wharf at Alcatraz while the military prisoners on the "Rock" waved their hats and we could feel that they were cheering although too far off to be heard.

10890 Reads

In light of current and foreseeable conflicts is it wise to continue with base closures?