Robert Ruybal of North Port was finishing up his senior year at the University of Colorado in 1968 when he bombed the last semester.
From U.S. Army Airborne
Barney Jimerson, a Seneca Indian, joined 11th Airborne during Cold War
“Barney” Jimerson of Gardens of Gulf Cove, south of Englewood, Fla., is a full blooded Seneca Indian, born in Elco, N.Y., He grew up, graduated from high school in the Jamestown, N.y. area and volunteered for the draft in 1955 when he was 21.
1st Lt. Andy Carrico and the 511th Parachute Infantry fought the Japanese on Leyte
1st Lt. Andy Carrico’s D-Company platoon, part of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, trained for five months on New Guinea in preparation for their assault on the Japanese-held island of Leyte. When his regiment landed on the beach at Leyte the enemy was nowhere to be found. But Carrico and the rest of his airborne…
Billy Reid was destined to be ‘Screaming Eagle’ serving in Special Forces in Vietnam
Billy Reid was born to be in the 101st Airborne, the “Screaming Eagles,” and an Army Ranger in Vietnam. He followed in the footsteps of Claude and Joe, his older brothers, who were paratroopers in the Korean War. Claude also saw action in Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces.
Sgt. Dave Rockow in 82nd Airborne during peacetime became recruiter and vets service officer
Dave Rockow has dedicated his entire adult life to the military, service personnel and veterans. He joined the 82nd Airborne as an 18-year-old, spent four years in the paratroopers, got out re-upped in the regular Army and spent almost 20 years as a National Guard recruiter, these past three years he has worked as an…
Andy Hackleman served in 18th Airborne Corps during Granada invasion
Andy Hackleman was a clerk typist attached to the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps. He had just graduated from jump school at Fort Benning, Ga., when his unit, together with a contingent of Marines, was deployed in October 1983 to Granada to quell a communist takeover of the country.
Bob McDonald was ‘Screaming Eagle’ who served in peacetime 101st Airborne
A belt buckle from his cousin’s Army Airborne uniform is what helped launch Bob McDonald’s service career in the “Screaming Eagles,” the 101st Airborne, and propelled him into becoming an avid collector of military paraphernalia for life.
Al Bond helped liberate POW camp in the Philippines during WW II
Their objective: Los Banos Internment Camp, a prisoner-of-war stockade on the island of Luzon in the Philippines, where 2,147 Allied POWs were languishing. The 1st Cavalry Division and the 37th Infantry Division were fighting to take the northern part of the island. A couple of dozen 11th Airborne troops jumped behind enemy lines into the…
12-year-old North Port, Fla. student loses dad to roadside bomb in Iraq
Twelve-year-old Slade Tully talked to his dad, Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Michael Joseph Tully, by phone from Baghdad for the last time Aug. 18, 2007. The sergeant was killed by a roadside bomb.
Harry Kaplun, part of 11th Airborne that captured Japanese Prison Camp
Harry Kaplun, who has lived in Venice, Fla. for more than 30 years, was a 22-year-old paratrooper who made a number of jumps as a member of the 457th Field Artillery Battalion of the 11th Airborne Division while fighting in the Pacific during World War II.
Pvt. Dan Hartnett jumped with 82nd Airborne in largest action in World War II
“WITH AMERICAN AIRBORNE FORCES, in Germany, March 24, 1945 — The greatest single airborne operation in all history was successfully launched east of the Rhine shortly before noon today by cooperating British and American forces.
82nd Airborne was still an elite outfit in ’55 despite the fact there was no war
When Randy White went into the Army and eventually joined the 325th Paratroop Regiment in 1955 his unit was a far cry from the one that flew into Normandy, France in gliders on D-Day to fight the Germans.
He survived Battle of Ripcord with 101st Airborne in Vietnam
Dale Tauer of Punta Gorda, Fla. was a member of the 1st. Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division–The Screaming Eagles. In July 1970 he fought on a hill top in The Battle of Ripcord, the last major battle involving Americans in Vietnam’s A-Shau Valley against the 324th Division of the North Vietnamese Army.
‘Cold War’ warrior returns home after fighting dictators, drug runners south of border
Former 1st Sgt. Ken Drew was a “Cold War” warrior. He spent most of his 23 years in the Army as a Spanish-speaking, military intelligence expert who served 14 of those years fighting South and Central American dictators and drug lords. Toward the end of his service he did a hitch in Iraq during the height of “The Surge,” interrogating high profile Iraqi detainees.
War Tales 