Notable Passings

[Story]

Mario Traverso, who died on January 4 aged 94, was a leading officer in what is generally considered to be the last successful battlefield cavalry charge, on the Russian front at Isbuschenskij on August 24 1942; after the war he created a highly successful knitwear company

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituar ... erso.html#

[Brian P.]

Frank Buckles, the last US WWI veteran, passed away yesterday morning at the grand old age of 110. RIP.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022800165.html

[Pat Holscher]

Frank Buckles, the last US WWI veteran, passed away yesterday morning at the grand old age of 110. RIP.

110 years old. A solider in World War One, and a prisoner of the Japanese in World War Two.

That's a lot of history.

[Couvi]

Mayhew "Bo" Foster, a retired brigadier general of the Montana National
Guard who flew captured Nazi leader Hermann Goering into Allied hands at the
end of World War II, has died at 99.

Capt. Bo Foster had an extraordinary mission: Fly Nazi leader Hermann
Goering to the 7th Army's headquarters for interrogation.

It was May 9, 1945, the day after World War II ended in Europe. Goering,
Foster and officers from the Army's 36th Infantry Division gathered on an
airstrip outside Kitzbuhel, Austria, to transport the war prisoner back to
Germany in a two-man reconnaissance plane.

In Nuremberg, Hermann Goering was found guilty of war crimes. Sentenced to
hang, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule.
"They wanted to get him back where he could be debriefed," Foster said. "He
just acted as though it was a nice, friendly trip."

Mayhew "Bo" Foster, now 99 and living in a Missoula nursing home, recently
recounted his rare encounter with one of the most wanted Nazi leaders.
Foster later became brigadier general of the Montana National Guard and was
awarded the French Legion of Honor for his World War II service, but it was
this mission that stood out as the highlight of his military career.

Goering, 52, had surrendered to the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division the
day before, and was now being delivered to Foster for transport.

Foster, then 33, said he didn't fear getting shot down or Goering trying to
wrest control of the aircraft away from him.

The main problem, Foster said, was getting the two of them off the ground.
Goering weighed 300-plus pounds, and the nimble, lightweight Piper L4 that
Foster piloted in his artillery spotting missions wouldn't support both him
and Goering.

They'd have to upgrade to an L5, a slightly larger aircraft Foster hadn't
flown in years.

Goering settled into the back seat, and when the seat belt wouldn't stretch
across his belly, he held the strap in his hand, looked at Foster and said,
"Das gute!" - that's good.

The two men spent the 55-minute flight from Kitzbuhel to Augsburg, Germany,
conversing in a mix of German and English.

"He acted as though he was going on a sightseeing tour, or really as though
I was going on a sightseeing tour and he was showing me where he grew up,"
Foster said.

He described Goering as sharp, friendly and witty, even cracking a joke when
Foster asked him when Germany began manufacturing jets.

"Too late," Goering replied.

There was just a single jeep at the airstrip to meet the arriving flight.
Foster rode with Goering to the gates of the 7th Army Headquarters and
formally turned him over to the intelligence officer without ceremony.

Sixty-five years later, Foster is trim, sharp and carries himself as a
former military officer.

He still reflects on his rare insight into the Nazi leadership, and he
recognizes that the experience had shifted his perceptions of the enemy. It
allowed him to see the human side of those he had only known as caricatures.

[Pat Holscher]

Claude Choules, the last serviceman known to have served in combat in World War One died on May 5. He had joined the Royal Navy at age 14. He later transferred to the Royal Australian Navy in 1932, and never returned home to the land of his birth thereafter (after having been in the navy since age 14, the navy was probably his practical home and homeland). He served in World War Two in the Australian Navy. After being retired upon reaching the maximum age for service in the Royal Australian Navy of age 50, he transferred to the Royal Dockyard Police and served an additional five years, retiring in 1956. His wife of 80 years preceded him in death.

Choules, having served in two wars, would not participate in Armistice Day celebrations as he felt they glorified war, and having served in two of the worst, he was a near pacifist.

He was not, as some have reported, the last known veteran of World War One. At least two remain, and I'd guess that there may be as many as ten or so in actuality. He was, however, the last known combat veteran of the Great War.

And so not only a chapter, but now a book, is closed.

[Couvi]

Medal of Honor Recipient Van T. Barfoot Passes Away at 92

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C., March 2, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Earned Nation's Highest Award for Valor during World War II

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announces that Colonel Van T. Barfoot, Medal of Honor recipient, passed away Friday, March 2, 2012 in Richmond, Virginia at age 92.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor by Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch III in Epinal, France, on September 28, 1944.

His heroic action occurred near Carano, Italy on May 23, 1944. Army Technical Sergeant Barfoot served as a Platoon Sergeant, 45th Infantry Division, 3d Platoon, Company L 3d Battalion, 157th Infantry.

Securing a bazooka, Sgt. Barfoot took up an exposed position directly in front of 3 advancing Mark VI tanks. From a distance of 75 yards his first shot destroyed the track of the leading tank, effectively disabling it. He continued onward into enemy terrain and destroyed a recently abandoned German fieldpiece with a demolition charge placed in the breech. While returning to his platoon position, Sgt. Barfoot, though greatly fatigued by his Herculean efforts, assisted 2 of his seriously wounded men 1,700 yards to a position of safety. Sgt. Barfoot's extraordinary heroism, demonstration of magnificent valor, and aggressive determination in the face of pointblank fire are a perpetual inspiration to his fellow soldiers.

Funeral services are pending. There are 82 recipients alive today.

About the Congressional Medal of Honor SocietyThe Congressional Medal of Honor Society was chartered by Congress in 1958 and consists exclusively of the living recipients of our nation's highest award for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor. Those who wear this light blue ribbon and Medal around their neck are "recipients" of this prestigious award; they are not "winners." Although it is common to refer to the Medal as the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is simply named the Medal of Honor, although, as stated, the Congress did establish the Society as the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

[selewis]

Ave atque vale.

[Pat Holscher]

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/201210 ... =mobileart

[Pat Holscher]

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20121010/NEWS01/710109913&template=mobileart

And another, just before him:

http://obit.funeralnet.com/obitdisplay. ... rialchapel

[Pat Holscher]

Charles Durning, character actor notable for such roles as the crooked policeman in The Sting and Governor Pappy O'Danial in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, passed away at age 89.

Mostly known as proficient character actor, During was a combat veteran of World War Two. As the New York Times noted in his obituary:

Then came World War II, and he enlisted in the Army. His combat experiences were harrowing. He was in the first wave of troops to land on Omaha Beach on D-Day and his unit’s lone survivor of a machine-gun ambush. In Belgium he was stabbed in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier, whom he bludgeoned to death with a rock. Fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he and the rest of his company were captured and forced to march through a pine forest at Malmedy, the scene of an infamous massacre in which the Germans opened fire on almost 90 prisoners. Mr. Durning was among the few to escape.

By the war’s end he had been awarded a Silver Star for valor and three Purple Hearts, having suffered gunshot and shrapnel wounds as well. He spent months in hospitals and was treated for psychological trauma.

[Pat Holscher]

General Norman Schwartzkopf, who served in the Vietnam and first Gulf Wars, during the latter of which he was the senior commander, has died at age 78.

[browerpatch]

Harry Carey, Jr., aged 91.

http://www.freep.com/article/20121228/N ... BUSINESS01

[Pat Holscher]

I hadn't realized that Carey played Marshal Fred White in 1993's Tombstone. A remarkably long career really. And with some real classics in the first 20 years of his career.

[FtValleyPS]

I hadn't realized that Carey played Marshal Fred White in 1993's Tombstone. A remarkably long career really. And with some real classics in the first 20 years of his career.

I was in e-mail contact with him until a couple of years ago, I think, had found him through his website sometime back, where he was generally accessible through that site's e-mail address as "Yo". He was easy to talk with, we discussed Monument Valley a bit, horses and other things. I tried to avoid what I thought were maybe the same old questions, which he seemed to appreciate. His back was apparently really bad, so he said that as much as he wanted to ride Monument Valley again, he couldn't take me up on my offer to put the trip together. Of course, whenever we chatted by e-mail I kept thinking about who he was, what he'd done and seen, and how neat it was to be communicating with him. Sad loss, time passes.

[Pat Holscher]

http://iw.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/Inf ... OTkuNDAuMA

[Pat Holscher]

Margaret Thatcher, age 86, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

[Pat Holscher]

Jonathan Winters, noted comedian, and World War Two Marine, has died at age 87.

[Gordon_M]

Margaret Thatcher, age 86, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

There's a very vocal minority that ( with some justification .... ) resented her, but she had something about her.

Someone here said;

" born above a grocers shop in Grantham, died in her own suit at the Ritz - must have done something right "

Her grand-daughter ( Sarah ? ) by all accounts did a sterling job at the funeral oration, rather better than the current Prime Minister - it has been said.