Thread: Heroes

This was my aunt's aunt. She never talked about having done this.

Suella Bernard Delp was a 1937 graduate of Waynesville High School. After receiving nurses training at Springfield City Hospital School of Nursing Suella enlisted with the Army Air Corps in 1943. She was assigned to the 816 th Medical Air Evacuation Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II. She was one of the first two nurses to fly into Normandy after the D-Day invasion when she participated in a Ninth Air Force evacuation mission. She was the first nurse to cross into Germany after the battle for Ludendorff Bridge near Remagen, Germany. Days after being captured intact, the Ludendorff Bridge, the only remaining bridge across the Rhine into Germany, collapsed, effectively cutting off the American forces on the German side of the river – including Lt. Bernard.

On March 22 nd, 1945, with a growing number of critically-wounded soldiers, the decision was made to try to evacuate them by glider to a rear hospital. The WACO CG-4A glider had brought in supplies and was reloaded with litters to hold the wounded. Suella alone volunteered to fly across the Rhine River to the Remagen bridgehead to pick up the wounded. Her return, if it worked, would be via an aerial snap tow from a C-47. With Bernard crouching in the narrow aisle, the craft was jerked into the air making her the only woman in World War II, allied or axis, to participate in a glider mission. She was awarded the Air Medal for her service.

Bernard’s claim to fame is not likely to ever be challenged as combat gliders were quickly superseded by the helicopter. Lieutenant Bernard would later receive a second Air Medal for flying fifty air-evac missions.

On May 10, 2007 Suella Bernard Delp was honored at the annual Nurse/Technician Week Appreciation banquet at the Hope Hotel at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. During this presentation she was referred to as “A quiet angel on silent wings”, an “unheralded hero”, and a “pioneer”.

Anyone else here have stories like this in their families history?

C'mon. No cool war stories? Funny ones?

My Father. Invaded in Africa moved against Rammels army and he and his fellow soldiers defeated him there. Then involved in the invasion of Sicily and then to mainland Italy where he was involved in one of the wars bloddiest invasions that at Anzio. They then pushed north and ultimately into Southern Germany. My Father's Father was born on a boat that brought him from Germany to the USA.

My Dad was decorated with the purple heart, a bronze star and a silver star. But he was most proud of his sharp shooters pin. My Pop was a deer hunter before the war.

My paternal grandma claims I am a descendent of Robert E. Lee and my mother has two relatives who signed the DOI. Don't remember the names tho.

Sorry war criminals for the most part but luckily either on the winning side or given bulletproof papers to change their identities. Dad was in New Guinea and very few prisoners on either side survived in the PTO. I decided early on that I had no need to know or ask but he blurted out witnessing/participating in the beating deaths of Japanese attempting to surrender on more than one occasion. My family possesses many forged landgrant papers, family bibles, letters and other documentation that my brother discovered to be fake in his attempts to trace our family tree. The one I love best is my great-great- grandfather acting as cupid for his daughter my great grandma and her future husband. Only the letter was written on paper from the wrong theater of war. I've always wondered what sort of service could result in that kind of expenditure by the losing side.

Many members of my family have served in combat, but none will talk about it. Most have passed away, so I will never know their stories.

I also attended a Marine Corps high school. Most of the stories I heard there were second hand. Very few of the individuals of the individuals spoken of cared to talk about their experiences. There were three notable individuals. One was a precision shootist (sniper), one was a hand-to-hand combat specialist, and the third was one of the few winners of two Congressional Medals of Honor. Although none ever spoke directly of their experiences, many of the things they did suggested that the stories were true. The sniper was an alcoholic and insomniac, who some military historians say was the first to shoot another person from over a mile away. I've seen him take some amazing shots and heard him say things that scared the sh*t out of me. The hand to hand combat specialist is the most polite human being I have ever met. By rumor, he was on of the few soldiers survive the ambush at Chosin. Also, by rumor, he had 27 confirmed hand to hand combat combat kills during that campaign. This man, as I knew him, ran a half marathon every morning before work, while wearing ankle and wrist weights. He is 5'2". I saw him disable four football players who were menacing a girl -- prostrated all of them in no more than ten seconds. The third, the double medal of honor winner, is a true leader. If anyone is interested, I will speak of him in a future post.

My grandparents survived 3 years in Gross-Rosen (Concentration Camp) in Poland where 1/3 of the 120K+ prisoners died.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn.

Paris Hilton,shes hot!

My hero is my Uncle - Layton T. Banks, and his fellow crew members that were on board the USS Oklahoma - Dec. 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

He died on that day, he and his other shipmates lost that day - will never be forgotten.

USS Oklahoma BB-37