Passing of one of the last of Merrill's Marauders.

[Eagle4ty]

There was a an interesting article in my local newspaper this evening about one of the last four remaining members of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), better known as Merrill's Marauders (Code name: Galahad) passing away recently. Jim Nayes was a resident of Chippewa Falls, WI, a local community near here, and he had just received a Congressional Gold Medal for his service in this special unit on his 99th birthday and passed away the next morning. His service with the 5307th had involved their actions at Walawbum, Naphum Ga & Myitkyina after which time he was hospitalized for several jungle diseases (out of 2750 that entered Burma on that mission only two were never hospitalized for wounds or severe illness after the campaign). My VFW Post & I were fortunate enough to have his son present us with unit patches for display.

For those of you in the U.S., PBS is airing a documentary about the 5307th narrated by Tom Brokaw (former NBC News anchor & author of 'The Greatest Generation') around this Memorial Day, 30 May. It is supposed to be called, "They Volunteered For This: The Story Of Merrill's Marauders"

 

[Gordon]

Sad news. There's a passage in the Epilogue of Rick Atkinson's "The Guns at Last Light":

"No war is really over until the last veteran is dead," a rifleman in the 26th Division would conclude. Of the 16,112,566 Americans in uniform during the Second World War, the number still living was expected to decline to one million by late 2014, and, a decade later, in 2024, to dip below a hundred thousand. By the year 2036, U.S. government demographers estimated, fewer than four hundred veterans would remain alive, less than half the strength of an infantry battalion."

Here's to the greatest generation.

 

[Yuri0352]

For those of you in the U.S., PBS is airing a documentary about the 5307th narrated by Tom Brokaw (former NBC News anchor & author of 'The Greatest Generation') around this Memorial Day, 30 May. It is supposed to be called, "They Volunteered For This: The Story Of Merrill's Marauders"

Thanks for the heads up, I'll be looking for this.