Last Weekend…

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Captain Charles A. Lindbergh (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on May 20-21, 1927, From New York City to Paris, France. His citation reads:

For displaying heroic courage and skill as a navigator, at the risk of his life, by his nonstop flight in his airplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, from New York City to Paris, France, 20-21 May 1927, by which Capt. Lindbergh not only achieved the greatest individual triumph of any American citizen but demonstrated that travel across the ocean by aircraft was possible.

Captain Darrell R. Lindsey (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on August 9, 1944, at L'Isle Adam railroad bridge over the Seine in occupied France. His citation reads:

On 9 August 1944, Capt. Lindsey led a formation of 30 B-26 medium bombers in a hazardous mission to destroy the strategic enemy held L'lsle Adam railroad bridge over the Seine in occupied France. With most of the bridges over the Seine destroyed, the heavily fortified L'Isle Adam bridge was of inestimable value to the enemy in moving troops, supplies, and equipment to Paris. Capt. Lindsey was fully aware of the fierce resistance that would be encountered. Shortly after reaching enemy territory the formation was buffeted with heavy and accurate antiaircraft fire. By skillful evasive action, Capt. Lindsey was able to elude much of the enemy flak, but just before entering the bombing run his B-26 was peppered with holes. During the bombing run the enemy fire was even more intense, and Capt. Lindsey's right engine received a direct hit and burst into flames. Despite the fact that his ship was hurled out of formation by the violence of the concussion, Capt. Lindsey brilliantly maneuvered back into the lead position without disrupting the flight. Fully aware that the gasoline tanks might explode at any moment, Capt. Lindsey gallantly elected to continue the perilous bombing run. With fire streaming from his right engine and his right wing half enveloped in flames, he led his formation over the target upon which the bombs were dropped with telling effect. Immediately after the objective was attacked, Capt. Lindsey gave the order for the crew to parachute from the doomed aircraft. With magnificent coolness and superb pilotage, and without regard for his own life, he held the swiftly descending airplane in a steady glide until the members of the crew could jump to safety. With the right wing completely enveloped in flames and an explosion of the gasoline tank imminent, Capt. Lindsey still remained unperturbed. The last man to leave the stricken plane was the bombardier, who offered to lower the wheels so that Capt. Lindsey might escape from the nose. Realizing that this might throw the aircraft into an uncontrollable spin and jeopardize the bombardier's chances to escape, Capt. Lindsey refused the offer. Immediately after the bombardier had bailed out, and before Capt. Lindsey was able to follow, the right gasoline tank exploded. The aircraft sheathed in fire, went into a steep dive and was seen to explode as it crashed. All who are living today from this plane owe their lives to the fact that Capt. Lindsey remained cool and showed supreme courage in this emergency.

Technical Sergeant Jake W. Lindsey (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on November 16, 1944, near Hamich, Germany. His citation reads:

For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 16 November 1944, in Germany. T/Sgt. Lindsey assumed a position about 10 yards to the front of his platoon during an intense enemy infantry-tank counterattack, and by his unerringly accurate fire destroyed 2 enemy machinegun nests, forced the withdrawal of 2 tanks, and effectively halted enemy flanking patrols. Later, although painfully wounded, he engaged 8 Germans, who were reestablishing machinegun positions, in hand-to-hand combat, killing 3, capturing 3, and causing the other 2 to flee. By his gallantry, T/Sgt. Lindsey secured his unit's position, and reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.


Just a reminder that some of you need to get something to me by the end of the week. Thank you to those who have already done so.

I had a GREAT time this past weekend in Rock Hill for the 20th Anniversary of the Nu-Upsilon Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. I joined Kappa Sigma in the fall of 1998, a semester after Nu-Upsilon’s 5th Anniversary. At that time there were still a few founders and brothers from the early pledge classes either at Winthrop or living in the Rock Hill area, but most had already moved away to get started with their lives. Over this past weekend I was able to meet many of them and I had a blast. I actually had a chance to meet a lot of brothers young and old and reconnect with guys I hadn’t seen in a while. Of course, I spent about 90-95% of the time with Jeremy and 3 other guys we probably keep in touch with the most… but it was still fun. What was great was that even after all of these years we could tell the same stories/jokes and still laugh. It was also great hearing new stories. There was some sadness as we remembered brothers (3) who were no longer with us… but this was eased with alcohol and stories about said brothers. We stayed out later each night than is normal for me, but that (as I’m sure you realize) was all Jeremy’s fault. But that was a good thing. To give you an idea of where things stand… Each pledge class is named after a letter in the Greek alphabet. The first three letters for us (Alpha, Beta and Gamma) were the founding fathers of the chapter. So the first “real” pledge class (in my opinion, at least) was the Delta pledge class. So if you accept that Delta is the first pledge class, then Jeremy was in the 8th pledge class (Lambda) and I was in the 11th (Xi). The last class to get in before I graduated was the 18th (Phi). The latest pledge class to be initiated was the 40th (Alpha Tau). We are now at a time when pledges (and younger brothers) are younger than the Chapter. I realize none of this probably interests you, but you should realize this blog is about me. I won’t go on and on about the fraternity, but I will say that I can trace just about most of what I have right now to Kappa Sigma. Perhaps I’ll go into more detail about that later. For now, let’s look at some pictures!


Picture Tuesday

 

Walk around the Winthrop campus enough and you'll see that I have a brick there (fyi... I also have one on another college campus in South Carolina)

I also got one for The Wife... I don't think she likes hers as much as I like mine...

 

I was able to catch some of the Winthrop baseball game on Saturday... it was a nice day but the game could have been better.

A picture of the Nu-Upsilon Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity... See if you can find me in the picture (hint: I'm not wearing glasses... I am wearing a dark suit)...

Where we were Saturday night... This room (and the building it is in) didn't exist when I was in school...

They also have a movie theatre on campus now... That would have been nice when I was an undergrad...

So... On Facebook leading up to this past weekend I made a joke that there was a time when I lived with a brother who was born in England and one who was born in Spain, yet everyone thought I was the one born outside of the USA.  Late Friday night my Big Brother in the fraternity (Jason Wheatley) found himself in The House with a "Made in Mexico" sticker and a composite picture (with me in it) on the wall.  Here we see what he did. 

I posted the previous picture on Facebook Saturday morning when I saw it... so another brother put a sticker on my name tag... Kids can be so mean (even in their 30's and 40's).  Haha...

Wheatley and Me... True story, The Wife hates Wheatley.  I don't know why... I think he's a pretty good guy (and I think Jeremy would agree).  If anything, I would think that she would like the fact I make fun of him more than I do her...

Here is a picture of where The House stood when I was in school.  The building you see to the right is an elementary school.  They complained about us a lot... so at some point after I graduated they bought The House and torn it down.  This is kind of odd because when I was an undergrad I thought we should buy the school and tear it down.  Guess they beat us to it.  Well played, school.  Well played.

This is where the Chi-Omega house stood when we were in school.  The Wife lived there for a year.  I'm not real sure who they pissed off, but empty land is all that's there now.

This was set up in the room on Saturday night to honor the 3 brothers who have died in the short 20 years that we've been around.