Class of 1943

I have not been active in alumni affairs, but in 1993, I attended my 50th class Reunion at Rutgers University. I was a Depression kid and couldn’t afford college, but I was admitted on a full tuition scholarship. One of the more sobering moments was a visit to the monument on campus dedicated to those of my class of 1943 that had been KIA in WWII.

Rutgers was a land grant college and had an Infantry ROTC program that was mandatory for the first two years. At the start of our 3rd year, we had the option of taking the advanced course for the next two years with the promise of a 2nd Lt commission upon graduation in the branch of service we chose. I was one of about 50 from my class that did.

But when America went to War, the rules were changed.. We were not given a choice of branch, we were all assigned to the Infantry. And we wouldn’t be commissioned upon upon graduation as promised, but rather would be admitted to Infantry OCS at Ft. Benning. If we successfully completed the intensive 3 month program, we would be commissioned 2nd Lts. Inf. About 40 of us from Rutgers made it through OCS., ten did not. Those classmates who did not measure up to the standards set by our Tactical Officer, were pulled out and sent to Infantry Replacement Centers with the rank of Corporal. Those of us from Rutgers that did make it, were commissioned 2nd Lts. Inf. on September 20, 1943. (There was a song we sang with bravado, while marching to our training area each day.) It was sung to the tune of “High Above Cayuga’s Waters,†an old college song. But the words we sang were: “High above the Chattahoochee, Near the Upatoy, Stands an old abandoned brick house, Benning School for Boys. Onward ever, backward never, Follow Me and Die. To the port of embarkation, Next of kin goodbye.â€

I show below, the inscription engraved on the campus Memoprial

I stand in the Grove of Remembrance, Silent.

Only the whisper of a breeze gently caressing the tall and stately trees

Disturbs the peace and serenity of my trance.

Through my reveroe and the swirling mist of memory

I hear the shuffle, shuffle, shuffle of marching feet

A gentle cadence, a steady beat.

Louder and louder, closer and closer it comes,

And through the mist I vaguely see

the 20 and 10 of “43

All are marching home.

(The names of 30 classmates follows)

No bugles proclaim their immortality.

No medals adorn their memory

In our hearts, we loved these men,

And in this grove we are all together again.

Who recalls the 20 and 10?

Only those who still remain.

And when We are gone who will remember them?

No one. No one

When the Angel of Death has called the roll of '43

And we are gone, save one

That man shall say:

"Oh Lord our God,

The class of '43

Some 300 men,

The Class of '43 is together again."

by Irv Pape - '43

Russ Cloer 43, Lt & Cpt. WWII survivor.

Here is WW2 funny about us and same thing in England

I heard a similar one about the 8th Airforce based here in the UK.

1943, and a bomber stream coming back from a raid, the badly shot up aircraft take priority, so the calls are coming in, 'coming in on 3', 'coming in on 2', bear in mind these are B-17 4 engine bombers, then a British voice comes over the air saying that he is coming in on 2, so they give him priority to land,and down comes a Wellington, with BOTH his engines working fine

I don't know if this is true but it is said to be. A 4-engine bomber base at Sebring Florida men were sitting around talking, when the radio started receiving a call saying "coming in on one engine, coming in on one engine". The field got ready for the plane, soon in comes a plane -- one engine. It was a fighter – a one-engine plane. Now if this were true, the commandant of the field would have to wait until the 1-engine plane pilot got out and took his flight clothes off and make sure the pilot did not out-rank him. We had some high-ranking pilots in WW2

Yes, the same with the RAF, very often the station Co was only a Wing Commander, and the Pilot was a Group Captain, or even higher. Leigh-Mallory would often fly around in HIS Hurricane, and he was an Air Commodre (thats a 1 star General)

cadeat6

Benny S. Tagliareni - WWII Navy veteran

TAGLIARENI, BENNY S., 84, passed away July 12, 2005. Originally from Bayonne, NJ, came to Miami in 1947. He retired from Magnum Marine as a supervisor. Survived by his wife of 59 years, Katherine; two sisters, Mary Hennessey and Josephine Manzella of Bayonne; two brothers, Frank Tagliareni of Iselin, NJ and Sal Tagliareni of Boca Raton, FL; and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Parkinson's Foundation. Visitation 2 - 4 PM and 7 - 9 PM Sunday at VAN ORSDEL CORAL GABLES. Funeral Service, 11 AM Monday at the Woodlawn North Mausoleum Chapel. VAN ORSDEL - CORAL GABLES 4600 SW 8 St (305)446-4412 Family Owned Since 1924

To visit this Guest Book Online, go to http://www.legacy.com/HERALD/LegacySubPage...rsonID=14532215

Published in The Miami Herald on 7/15/2005.

-------------------------------

My condolences to my dear friend Jim Hennessey and his wife Dolly.

What I Saw at Gitmo

By Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu

June 27, 2005

Last week, I was privileged to be part of a Department of Defense trip to the Joint Task Force - Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I got to see the operations of this “controversial†facility up-close – something particularly important after Sen. Richard Durbin’s comparison of its guard to Nazi stormtroopers and calls of leftists to shut the center down. Our group went to GITMO to check out tales that the military was being too tough on these terrorist detainees. We left convinced that America is being extraordinarily lenient – far too lenient.

After speaking with soldiers, sailors, and civilians who collectively staff Gitmo, I left convinced that abuse definitely exists at the detention facilities, and it typically fails to receive the press attention it deserves: it’s the relentless, merciless attacks on American servicemen and women by these terrorist thugs. Many of the orange jumpsuit-clad detainees fight their captors at every opportunity, openly bragging of their desire to kill Americans. One has promised that, if released, he would find MPs in their homes through the internet, break into their houses at night, and “cut the throats of them and their families like sheep.†Others claim authority and vindication to kill women, children, and other innocents who oppose their jihadist mission authorized b! y the Koran (the same one that hangs in every cell from a specially-designed holder intended to protect it from a touching the cell floor – all provided at U.S. taxpayer expense). One detainee was heard to tell another: “One day I will enjoy sucking American blood, although their blood is bitter, undrinkable….†These recalcitrant detainees are known euphemistically as being “non-compliant.†They attack guards whenever the soldiers enter their cells, trying to reach up under protective facemasks to gouge eyes and tear mouths. They make weapons and try to stab the guards or grab and break limbs as the guards pass them food.

We dined with the soldiers, toured several of the individual holding camps, observed interrogations, and inspected cells. We were impressed by the universally high quality of the cadre and the facilities. While it may not be exactly “Club GITMO,†as Rush Limbaugh uses to tweak the hard-Left critics who haven’t a clue about reality here, GITMO is a far cry from the harshness experienced even by maximum security prisoners in the U.S.

Meals for detainees are ample: we lunched on what several thought was an accumulated single day’s ration for detainees. “No,†the contract food service manager said with a laugh, “what you’re looking at there is today’s lunch. A single meal. They get three a day like that.†The vegetables, pita bread, and other well-prepared food filled two of the large Styrofoam take-home containers we see in restaurants. Several prisoners have special meal orders like “no tomatoes†or “no peanut products†depending on taste or allergies. “One prisoner,†General Hood said, “throws back his food tray if it contains things he has specifically said he doesn’t want.†How is he punished for this outrageous behavior? His tray is numbered, the food he requested is put on it, and the corrected “order†is delivered to his cell.

The detainees are similarly catered to medically. Almost every one arrived at GITMO with some sort of battlefield trauma. After all, the majority were captured in combat. Today they are healthy, immunized, and well cared for. At a visit to the modern hospital facility – dedicated solely to the detainees and comparable to a well-equipped and staffed small-town hospital with operating, dental, routine facilities – the doctor in charge confirmed that the caloric count for the detainees was so high that while “most detainees arrived undernourished,†medics now watch for issues stemming from high cholesterol and being overweight. Each of approximately 520 terrorists currently held in confinement averages about four medical visits monthly, something one would expect from only a dedicated American hypochondriac. Welcome to the rigors of detention under American supervision.

Of the estimated 70,000 battlefield captures that were made in Afghanistan, only a tiny percentage, something on the order of 800-plus, were eventually evacuated to GITMO. These were the worst of the worst. More than 200 have been released back to their home country – if the U.S. is assured that the detainees would not be tortured by local authorities upon return. These men were freed because they were deemed by ongoing official military review processes to no longer pose a threat, or to possess no useful intelligence. And this process has proven too generous at times: more than 10 released GITMO detainees have been killed or recaptured fighting Americans or have been identified as resuming terrorist activities. Still, the process is up and running for review of cases, and if a Washington DC circuit court approves a government appeal, the system for military tr! ibunals will get started. All mechanisms are in place and ready to go as soon as DoD gets a green light.

There is a good reason these unlawful combatants are being confined. They are evil and dangerous individuals. Yet these thugs are treated with an amazing degree of compassion: They are given ice cream treats and recreational time. They live in clean facilities, and receive a full Muslim religious package of Koran, prayer rug, beads, and prayer oils. An arrow in every cell points to Mecca [Modest At Large Suggestion: How about a second arrow to point the way for these Islamist scum to Hell!?!]. The call to prayer is played five times daily. They are not abused, hanged, tortured, beheaded, raped, mutilated, or in any way treated the way that they once treated their own captives – or now treat their guards.

Some questioned whether it were wise to give these radical Islamic fundamentalists the religious supplies that ended up landing them in Gitmo in the first place. “Giving them the Koran is simply something that we think we ought to do as a humane gesture,†said second-in-command Brigadier General Gong. “We’re Americans. That’s how we operate.â€

When we challenged military authorities about the seemingly plush environs these would-be murderers receive, the commanding officers stated this was the most productive course. JTF-GITMO commanding officer Brigadier General Jay Hood radiated confidence and determination when fielding challenges from our group about his overly lenient treatment. “It works,†he says simply. “We do not allow torture or mistreatment, period.†How to they guarantee this? By rigorous, on-going training and constant oversight up and down the supervisory chain. As proof that “establishing rapport†with the detainees is far more effective than coercive techniques, General Hood refers skeptics to the massive amount of usable intelligence information JTF-GITMO continues to produce even three years into the program.

You are right to worry about inhumane treatment taking place at GITMO. But your concern should be for the dedicated, well-trained, highly professional American men and women who are subjected to a daily barrage of feces, urine, semen, and spit hurled at them along with vile invective as they implement a humane, enlightened system of confinement on men who want nothing more than to kill Americans. These quiet professional Americans, who live under the motto “Honor Bound for Defense of Freedom,†deserve our utmost respect and concern. Shame on anyone who slanders or disrespects them for short-term and short-sighted political advantage.

Lt. Col. Gordon Cucullu has been an Army Green Beret lieutenant colonel, as well as a writer, popular speaker, business executive and farmer. His most recent book is Separated at Birth, about North and South Korea.

Gen. Patton statue at Ettlebruk, Lux, is vandalized with yellow paint.

C.E.B.A. calls it a cowardly act.

Attached Files

  pattonvandalized.JPG (Size: 183.58 KB / Downloads: 0)