Happy Veterans Day. My final posting for 2013 today is honoring my favorite Veterans. In the first photo is Tom Szarzynski and Gary Newell, both veterans of the United States Marine Corp, and guys I grew up with. In the middle photo is Albert Sponheimer, originally from Seymour, CT. He is related to the football Sponheimers, and he goes by Spoony as well. Spoony was part of the 2nd wave that landed on Omaha Beach. This picture was taken outside of the Omaha Beach Memorial. It was a very powerful day watching Spoony internally relive memories of that day. He was part of an AAA battery. His sister battery was entirely destroyed prior to landing when a shell destroyed the LST that it was on. Spoony was a combat medic, that no doubt saved countless lives in the war. Spoony has accepted the position as my surrogate father, as my dad passed away in 2000. Theres a lot of Spoony stories to tell, but space here is too small. Suffice it to say that Spoony is a very humble man, and the actions he took during the war were larger than life. I need to mention the service of my grandfather Vic Anderson, a disabled American Navy veteran of WW1. Also, my uncle Vic Anderson Jr, a Navy veteran in the Pacific of WWII, Uncle Ed, who was a US Army Combat Engineer in the island hopping campaign in the Pacific. Both saw serious action. In addition, my uncle Charlie who was a member of the 82nd Airborne, and uncle Tom, who was a member of the US Army national guard. In the last photo, it is my father, SFC Ray Anderson. My dad was an infantry soldier in the Korean War, serving as an infantry Platoon Sgt. He served in Company K, 35th Regiment (Cacti), part of the 25th Infantry Div (Tropic Lightning). He was in Korea from around Dec 1951 to Dec 1952. He saw combat in the Iron Triangle. He did not speak about the war too much, other than about his friends and the good experiences he had. I am looking at a roster he kept, and I am going to give some shout outs to his comrades. His commanding officer 1st LT James Weir, his buddy Proctor that used call at least once per year, along with Berry, Donnelly, Carpenter, Brown, Curtice, Crowell, Dalton, Daley, Abel, Horn, and Haines. Im sure there were many more, but these names are handwritten in a notebook that he kept of platoon assignments. My father had several decorations, but he was most proud of his Combat Infantrymans Badge.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 17:50:03 +0000
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