Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Veteran's Day Remembrances

Thread to discuss people who should be remembered.

Mine was a fellow I worked with when I was 18. One of his friends referred to him as "Saipan Al" and mentioned that he had been a decorated Marine. Being 18 and dumb, I never got up the nerve to ask him about it. He was a slight and unassuming fellow, who while pretty outgoing, never brought up his military service. I remember hearing he died in the 90s, contracting cancer from what he attributed to exposure to radiation while serving is the Occupation Forces in either Nagasaki or Hiroshima.

Years later with the advent of the internet I was able to find what is posted below, which would have occurred when he was 20. Sure wish I would have been able to get the whole story from him. Regardless...

RIP. Well done Marine.


"Silver Star
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING World War II
Service: Marine Corps
Rank: Private First Class
Battalion: 1st Battalion
Division: 2d Marine Division
GENERAL ORDERS:
Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force Pacific: Serial 6068

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Private First Class Alfred B. Sharafinski (MCSN: 809717), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving as a Radio Operator of Headquarters Company, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Tinian, Marianas Islands, 31 July 1944. When his company was under a heavy enemy counterattack and wire communications were severed, Private First Class Sharafinski voluntarily followed the wire from his company to the adjacent company to find and repair the break and, although told he could spend the night there, elected to return to his own company. Encountering a small group of the enemy while en route back to his company with a comrade, he participated in a fire fight in which five Japanese and the other Marine were killed. His courage and devotion to duty reflect the highest credit upon Private First Class Sharafinski and the United States Naval Service.

I just saw this. I hope enough politicians can stop the bickering long enough to pass it.

I hope they do also. It would the right thing!

Seems like something that should be made to happen

Your thoughts are honorable and correct, but Veterans' Day is for the living. Memorial Day is when we honor those who have died.

That is entirely correct. It is even more important to remember that on Memorial Day - it sort of detracts from the ultimate sacrifice of those for whom that day is intended to include those who served no less honorably, but did not make the ultimate sacrifice.

I have the highest respect for veterans and admiration. That being said, I have a couple of comments or questions.

So to guys like digitaldan and others here, hats off and bottoms up.

What concerns me is the what some define as veteran. I know a guy that says he is a veteran and has ptsd. I said oh yeah? Seen some combat did ya? He said no, just a vehicle accident in Germany during the Cold War. WTF I am thinking. I says to him ya everyone probably has some ptsd. I said I have it from being married to a psycho for 25 years. 😂

So does being in the service automatically make a person a veteran? I guess in my mind a veteran is an individual who served overseas in a time of actually war time setting. Just asking for clarification. And again no disrespect towards anyone.

Yep.

One does not have to be shot at by an enemy to see bad stuff or get seriously maimed or killed.

More likely 18 and respectful, considerate and not intrusive.

you are right about PTSD, especially from marriage.

The combat status is why there is an American Legion, for all those who have served, and the Veteran's of a Foreign War, for those that saw combat.

I am grateful that there are kids today who even consider serving. I just met a young lady, a sergeant in the Air Force Reserve. She is in Finance branch. She is not likely to get awards for Valor in combat but she is part of the effort to defend America. What is admirable for me is that she is from a lower class area near Los Angeles, where the anti-American sentiment is overpowering. Being 1st generation American, she had no ties or family history of service. She joined because of the opportunities service could provide and "that it seemed the right thing to do."

Even those who went to a combat zone have not necessarily been in actual combat. Estimates are that from 60% to 75% of those who served in Vietnam never had a shot fired at them. It takes a whopping great number of support people to make every combat person capable of fighting. Supply, food service, clerks, hospital staff, maintenance, and dozens more - and they all contributed to the effort even if they never "saw the elephant."

And they are all veterans.

All Veterans are those that have served in Uniform....

as I normally say to those, that don't think you are a Veteran if one hasn't served in a combat zone...

Every one of us, went where were we told, did what we were trained to do, and did what we were ordered to do..

we all can't be Rambo....

at times around here, I'm asked to prove my veteran status... I show my D/L which has it stamped on it...
They don't want to believe that, they ask for my VA Card...I tell them I don't have one..
they will tell me then I'm not a veteran.. to which my response, not all of us who serve, manage to hurt ourselves to where the Federal Government is responsible for all of our medical care until we die...

I have no active duty related disability issues......and I'm not alone...
but I do have a DD 214, that verifies I served my country, active duty and reserve for 6 years...

When you consider less than 1.5 % of people alive today have served their country....it pisses me off when someone questions someone's veteran's status....I tolerate them questioning mine... but not any other veteran....

Seafire, you don't need to be disabled to register with the VA. Doing so is a damn good idea, in fact. If you are ever in need of medical care that Medicare or your insurance doesn't cover, the VA can and will. Examples include if you get hurt or sick while abroad. If you ever get cancer, the VA considers almost all of it service-related.

I have a perfectly good family doctor, eye doc, skin doc, etc. But I also am in the VA system and find that they seem even more interested in my health than the civvie providers. I know that others have different impression of the VA, but here in Utah at least, they are first rate.