Private First Class Floyd K. Lindstrom (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on November 11, 1943, near Mignano, Italy. His citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 11 November 1943, this soldier's platoon was furnishing machinegun support for a rifle company attacking a hill near Mignano, Italy, when the enemy counterattacked, forcing the riflemen and half the machinegun platoon to retire to a defensive position. Pfc. Lindstrom saw that his small section was alone and outnumbered 5 to 1, yet he immediately deployed the few remaining men into position and opened fire with his single gun. The enemy centered fire on him with machinegun, machine pistols, and grenades. Unable to knock out the enemy nest from his original position, Pfc. Lindstrom picked up his own heavy machinegun and staggered 15 yards up the barren, rocky hillside to a new position, completely ignoring enemy small arms fire which was striking all around him. From this new site, only 10 yards from the enemy machinegun, he engaged it in an intense duel. Realizing that he could not hit the hostile gunners because they were behind a large rock, he charged uphill under a steady stream of fire, killed both gunners with his pistol and dragged their gun down to his own men, directing them to employ it against the enemy. Disregarding heavy rifle fire, he returned to the enemy machinegun nest for 2 boxes of ammunition, came back and resumed withering fire from his own gun. His spectacular performance completely broke up the German counterattack. Pfc. Lindstrom demonstrated aggressive spirit and complete fearlessness in the face of almost certain death.
Watertender Harry Lipscomb (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 8, 1910, on board the USS North Dakota. His citation reads:
On board the U.S.S. North Dakota, for extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession during the fire on board that vessel, 8 September 1910.
Captain Angelo J. Liteky (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on December 6, 1967, near Phuoc-Lac, Bien Hoa province, Republic of Vietnam. His citation reads:
Chaplain Liteky distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while serving with Company A, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. He was participating in a search and destroy operation when Company A came under intense fire from a battalion size enemy force. Momentarily stunned from the immediate encounter that ensued, the men hugged the ground for cover. Observing 2 wounded men, Chaplain Liteky moved to within 15 meters of an enemy machine gun position to reach them, placing himself between the enemy and the wounded men. When there was a brief respite in the fighting, he managed to drag them to the relative safety of the landing zone. Inspired by his courageous actions, the company rallied and began placing a heavy volume of fire upon the enemy's positions. In a magnificent display of courage and leadership, Chaplain Liteky began moving upright through the enemy fire, administering last rites to the dying and evacuating the wounded. Noticing another trapped and seriously wounded man, Chaplain Liteky crawled to his aid. Realizing that the wounded man was too heavy to carry, he rolled on his back, placed the man on his chest and through sheer determination and fortitude crawled back to the landing zone using his elbows and heels to push himself along. pausing for breath momentarily, he returned to the action and came upon a man entangled in the dense, thorny underbrush. Once more intense enemy fire was directed at him, but Chaplain Liteky stood his ground and calmly broke the vines and carried the man to the landing zone for evacuation. On several occasions when the landing zone was under small arms and rocket fire, Chaplain Liteky stood up in the face of hostile fire and personally directed the medivac helicopters into and out of the area. With the wounded safely evacuated, Chaplain Liteky returned to the perimeter, constantly encouraging and inspiring the men. Upon the unit's relief on the morning of 7 December 1967, it was discovered that despite painful wounds in the neck and foot, Chaplain Liteky had personally carried over 20 men to the landing zone for evacuation during the savage fighting. Through his indomitable inspiration and heroic actions, Chaplain Liteky saved the lives of a number of his comrades and enabled the company to repulse the enemy. Chaplain Liteky's actions reflect great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.
I’ve been asked about my comment from Tuesday when I said that most of what I have now can be traced to Kappa Sigma. I’m sure I’ve talked about all of this before, but I feel like talking about it again. First, let me take a minute to tell you how close things came to being different. Let’s start with the fact that I grew up wanting to go to Clemson. My cousin Louis was going to be a sophomore and my plan was to join him there. In the end, Winthrop acted like they wanted me to go there while Clemson acted like I should be thrilled to have a chance to go there. As many of you can probably imagine, that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. So I went to Winthrop (I also thought I’d have a chance to play baseball there… I was wrong… who knew so many Canadian baseball players knew where Winthrop was?). Anyway, after planning my whole life to go to Clemson I changed course and went to Winthrop.
In my first year at Winthrop I made one (1) new friend… A fella from Hartsville, South Carolina who went by the name Chris Cassidy. We were both Computer Science majors and had pretty much every class together. My first roommate (I don’t remember his name) moved out after the first semester so that left me with a room by myself during the spring semester. I didn’t want to be assigned some random roommate for the fall semester and Chris had decided he wanted to change roommates so we agreed to room together the next school year. This was important. Why? Because as my second semester up at Winthrop wore on, I was less and less happy. It was at the point where I was seriously considering transferring to Clemson (or anywhere else). I thought about going to school closer to home so I could help out with the JI baseball team. The only (and I mean only) reason I decided to go back to Winthrop for my sophomore year was that I had given Chris my word that I would room with him and I didn’t want him to get stuck with someone else. During our first semester in college, Chris and I said we weren’t going to join a fraternity. It just wasn’t the kind of thing that interested either of us. That changed for him in our second semester when he decided to pledge Kappa Sigma.
Skip ahead to the start of my sophomore year… It’s early in the semester and Rush is going on and I didn’t really have an interest in going to anything, but most of the guys on our part of the 5th floor of Richardson (our dorm) were Kappa Sigmas so I went to a couple of parties. I went somewhere over the weekend (I don’t remember where… maybe a Clemson football game? I don’t remember)… what I do remember is that I didn’t really have to be back in Rock Hill for any reason until Monday morning. BUT, I was so lazy that I wanted to get back early on Sunday in hopes of finding a parking space close to the dorm. I remember walking into my dorm room and Chris getting out of bed, standing up and shaking my hand and inviting me to Tradition Night. I said thank you and asked him to put some clothes on. Haha… just kidding. I don’t think I said anything right away because I was trying to think of a way to say “no”… I’d already told him I wasn’t interested. He asked that I just come to it with him as a favor to him and he said I didn’t have to make a decision about pledging right now. If anything, he said, it was a free meal. Now, I wasn’t as big back then as I am now but I still had a healthy appreciation of a free meal. So I said sure. I went and met even more brothers and received a bid (that I didn’t want) and promised that I’d think about it. That night I was probably 99.99% sure I wasn’t going to accept it. By the next day I was about 90% sure. I prayed about it (no kidding) and talked to some people about it. I didn’t want to be hazed… that was one thing keeping me from saying yes. Then I looked at a group of Kappa Sigs and thought, “There’s no way those guys would have lasted if they had been hazed”. So I decided to pledge (because Jeremy promised me beer and women if I joined them. Haha… just kidding… I just figured I had a better shot at both if I joined).
Here’s what Kappa Sigma gave me… Friends. Yes, I paid for my friends and it was probably the best money I spent in college (or out of college). Along with friends, I found myself going to social events. The Wife will tell you that I am anti-social and, for the most part, she is right. Still, through these social events I met a hot softball player. That was fun. Then I met a Chi-O… then I met a lot of Chi-O’s. I don’t want to brag, so I won’t tell you how well thought of I was amongst the Chi-Omegas. Why does this matter? Because The Wife joined Chi-Omega once she realized that was my sorority of choice.
Fast forward a little and we’re married and start going to Bethany UMC. Why there? I wanted to check out the local Baptist church, but The Wife wanted to go to Bethany because that was where Rebecca was going (or at least planning on going). I was fine with it because Mom grew up in that church. Anyway, I have been able to meet a bunch of people and make a few friends at Bethany in large part because Jeremy and Rebecca are there and I’ve found it’s easier to make friends when I already have a friend around. Maybe that’s strange, but that’s how it is. (Yes, having The Wife there helped too).
I know this was more information then you ever wanted to know, but there it is. One thing that sticks out when looking back on all of this is how close I came to having none of this happen. I think it would be hard to not see God working in all of this. I mean, I should have gone to Clemson if I stuck with my life long plan. Then I make a friend, out of the blue, when I get to Winthrop? Do you know how many friends I’ve made all by myself? 1. Chris Cassidy. That’s it. That’s the list. Because of him I stay at WU and end up joining a fraternity (which I planned to never do). Because of that I meet The Wife. Because of that we move to Summerville… we join Bethany… I meet all of the friends I’ll ever have/need… and we have 3 great children. Amazing.
Thanks for letting me take this little trip down memory lane.
Flashback Friday
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| Xi Pledge class with our BDC (Brotherhood Development Coordinator)... Since you asked, I'll name everyone. Front Row - Brandon Bowen, Grey Young, TJ Stach, John Rouda, Thomas Oliver. Back Row - Brian Randolph, Me, Grant Small (BDC), Justin Bice, Ben Jones. |
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| All of the Xi's (minus Brian) |
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| A bunch of Kappa Sigs at a Chi-O Crush Party (I think) |
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| Me and Thomas - I was the Best Man in his wedding (*Note - the Official Best Man... unlike other weddings when I was the best man, but someone else held that title). |
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| Kappa Sigmas at a formal... |
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| Me and the funny Jason Farr |
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| Thomas, Me and Rouda |
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| Chris Van Ooteghem, Me and Jeremy... True story... up until about 2 years ago I would use VO's name whenever I was put on a waiting list at a restaurant. |
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| The Wife and Me... She couldn't keep her hands off of me... |
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