From Miss Ladybug, via an email list I am a part of:
This is my dad's uncle. My dad commented that all he was awarded was a Purple Heart (though I don't think it was from this incident). I need to get around to requesting Uncle Floyd's military service records. He never married, so has no decendents to remember him...
Miss Ladybug
For a scan that might be a bit easier to read - click here. Miss Ladybug continued:
This is my dad's uncle. My dad commented that all he was awarded was a Purple Heart (though I don't think it was from this incident). I need to get around to requesting Uncle Floyd's military service records. He never married, so has no decendents to remember him...
I never spent much time with Uncle Floyd. We only lived in San Antonio from about 74 to 78, and he passed away when I was in college. He apparently never really spoke about his experiences. Never married, lived alone, likely dealt with "shell shock" all those years. My dad is going through a bunch of stuff that belonged to his mother. So far, he's unearthed three variations on that one article and an old photo of Uncle Floyd in uniform holding my dad as a little boy. It's amazing how much he looks like my dad. Guess that confirms which side of the family he takes after ;-)
I have to quibble with Miss Ladybug a bit - Uncle Floyd has a niece who remembers him. And now, here at Castle Argghhh!, where we make a mini-industry out of remembering the not-famous everyday joes and janes and who put their lives on hold and at risk in the service of the nation, Uncle Floyd has a whole new group of people who know him, and honor his service.
Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam of Private First Class Floyd E. Bonn, who, while serviing with the 7th Infantry Division on Okinawa, killed a Japanese soldier with that soldier's own bayonet in order to save his buddy's life. You can't ask for more of a man than that.
This is my dad's uncle. My dad commented that all he was awarded was a Purple Heart (though I don't think it was from this incident). I need to get around to requesting Uncle Floyd's military service records. He never married, so has no decendents to remember him...
Miss Ladybug
For a scan that might be a bit easier to read - click here. Miss Ladybug continued:
This is my dad's uncle. My dad commented that all he was awarded was a Purple Heart (though I don't think it was from this incident). I need to get around to requesting Uncle Floyd's military service records. He never married, so has no decendents to remember him...
I never spent much time with Uncle Floyd. We only lived in San Antonio from about 74 to 78, and he passed away when I was in college. He apparently never really spoke about his experiences. Never married, lived alone, likely dealt with "shell shock" all those years. My dad is going through a bunch of stuff that belonged to his mother. So far, he's unearthed three variations on that one article and an old photo of Uncle Floyd in uniform holding my dad as a little boy. It's amazing how much he looks like my dad. Guess that confirms which side of the family he takes after ;-)
I have to quibble with Miss Ladybug a bit - Uncle Floyd has a niece who remembers him. And now, here at Castle Argghhh!, where we make a mini-industry out of remembering the not-famous everyday joes and janes and who put their lives on hold and at risk in the service of the nation, Uncle Floyd has a whole new group of people who know him, and honor his service.
Now is the time at Castle Argghhh! when we dance: In Memoriam of Private First Class Floyd E. Bonn, who, while serviing with the 7th Infantry Division on Okinawa, killed a Japanese soldier with that soldier's own bayonet in order to save his buddy's life. You can't ask for more of a man than that.
Other than the story itself, what surprised me was the language used in the article- Jap and Nip? Could you imagine an article today describing a similar incident between an American and a Camel Jockey, Towel-Head, or the like? I can't. I guess the MSM has come a long way.
Don't let the Pentagon budget weenies see this story. They will use it as proof that we don't need to waste all that money buying guns and bayhoents for OUR troops when they can use those provided bythe enemy. Leaves more money for "social programs" that way...
Yes, the second observation is a different post- you are correct. But my first observation is that there's a buddy out there who will never forget what Floyd did that day, nor will his family. That is, and should be, the focus. I can't imagine the fear and simultaneous bravery he faced that day.
Uncle Floyd, the youngest of eight children, passed away at the age of 77, in 1994.
He indirectly saved many more US lives -- Marine fighter squadrons operating from Yontan and Naha later shot down many of the 2,000 kamikazes attacking the fleet around Okinawa that never made it to their targets.
Technically, he's my great-uncle. You know your WWII history better than I. I wouldn't have known that. I do still want to request Uncle Floyd's records. I have my grandfather's (was able to get them without having to pay anything, since I could have my mom sign off on the request), but I've no idea how much it might cost me to get the full record for Uncle Floyd. There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to do all the things I want to do ;-)
At *night*. Which meant he had a better chance of surviving landings on a flare-lit runway than on a blacked-out carrier.
Dad *hated* carrier landings in an F4U...
My grandfather, on the other side of the family, was a Hellcat pilot in the Pacific. I need to finish cross-referencing his "combat diary" with dates of actions, along with this military records, and try to see how all this fits together...
A brief history of the 7th Infantry Division in WWII. There are probably better, official histories, but this was the first one I came across, and I, personally, like Wikipedia.
There's an echo in here, _Armorer_.
I, too, like Wikipedia - for non-controversial entries. You still have to read 'em, because the high-schoolers like to put in jokes, like the entry on Jeremy Bentham where it averred that:
He went to Westminster School, and after defeating the Decepticons in 1760 his father sent him to The Queen's College, Oxford, where he took his Bachelor's degree in 1763 and his Master's degree in 1766. He trained as a lawyer and (though he never practised) was called to the bar in 1769. He became deeply frustrated with the complexity of the English legal code, which he termed the "Demon of Chicane".
I assume it would be the same as how we requested my grandfather's records, from the place in St. Louis...
As for the time we were near to Uncle Floyd, my dad was in the Army, so we were most often not in San Antonio, and when we were, I was just a little girl.
You assume correctly, except that it can all be done on-line. I'll get the URL from my sister tonite.
Thank you, RJ, for saving me the time!
Thanks, RJ, for saving me the time!
You're welcome, Lam
You're welcome, Lam
I didn't mean to steal your thunder there, but I have it bookmarked on my machine here, and I shamelessly took the opportunity to show off my copy/paste skills.
Well, considering that the suckers tended to constantly pull to one side I can imagine he would. One mother of an engine in the strange looking bird.