In a land far far away
a long long time ago.

COMING SOON!

WWII hero, 1SG Leonard A. Funk, LAUGHED his way to earning a Medal of Honor....

One of the more darkly humorous episodes of warfare occurred on 29 January 1945, in Holzheim, Belgium. Funk and his paratroopers were assaulting the town, and he left a rearguard of 4 men, while he scouted ahead to link up with other units. Those 4 men had to guard about 80 German prisoners. Another German patrol of 10 happened by and overwhelmed the 4 Americans, freeing the prisoners and arming them. When Funk returned around the corner of a building, he was met by a German officer with an MP-40 in his stomach.

The German shouted something at him, and Funk looked around. There were now about 90 Germans, about half of them armed, and 5 Americans, disarmed except for Funk. The German shouted the same thing at him again, and Funk started laughing. He claimed later that he tried to stop laughing, but the fact that the German was shouting in German touched a nerve. Funk didn’t speak German. Neither did any of the other Americans.

Why would the German officer expect him to understand? His laughter and non-compliance caused some of the Germans to start laughing. Funk shrugged at them and started laughing so hard he had to bend over. He called to his men, “I don’t understand what he’s saying!” All the while, the German officer was shouting more and more angrily. Then, quick as lightning, Funk swung his Thompson submachine gun up and emptied the entire clip into the German, 30 rounds of .45 ACP. Before the other Germans could react, he had yanked the clip out and slammed another in and opened fire on all of them, screaming to his men to pick up weapons.

They did so, and proceeded to gun down 20 men. The rest dropped their weapons and put their hands up.
Then Funk started laughing again and said to his men, “That was the stupidest F*#!?#* thing I’ve ever seen!”

Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Bray, a combat controller, was awarded the Silver Star Medal for his part in the Battle of Mogadishu, A.K.A. "Black Hawk Down." Bray coordinated helicopter gunship air strikes throughout the night of Oct. 3-4, developing tactics on the spot to protect his Ranger teammates, who were surrounded by Somali fighters. Unfortunately, Bray passed away this October (2016) at 49 years old. Read about his heroics here:
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While attached to an elite Army Special Operations unit conducting combat operations in support of Task Force Ranger, Bray took part in an integrated ground assault undertaken to support United Nations Operations in Somalia II. While subjecting himself to a steady stream of enemy fire, Bray provided expert surgical fire direction of overhead helicopter gunships to eliminate an enemy militia force that was threatening the friendly assault force.

In response to the downing of a U.S. UH-60 assault helicopter, Bray, while exposing himself repeatedly to enemy fire, developed an ingenious perimeter marking system and called in deadly surgical fire support against concealed enemy targets. He labored throughout the night to keep overwhelming enemy forces at bay until friendly forces could be reached by a United Nations armed relief convoy. On several occasions he expertly coordinated air support less than 15 meters from his position with no concern for his personal safety.

Bray's efforts were paramount in the limitation of casualties and the safe evacuation of all U.S. soldiers in an intense 18-hour long fire fight.

“If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.”
- Bruce Lee

https://youtu.be/Se1y2R5QRKU?si=ofBhA5mx__IUmSQI

Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation:

In this colorized photo taken on the evening of June 5th, 1944, Soldiers from Fox Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division are pictured waiting for their C-47 to take off to Normandy.

Robert “Bob” Noody is pictured second from right with the bazooka. Looking back, Noody said he must have weighed at least 250 lbs., encumbered with his M-1 rifle, a bazooka, three rockets, land mines, and other assorted "necessities".

Fifty feet of rope hung from his chest, which he later used to lower his leg bag to the ground, easing his fall and ensuring he was ready to fight. He landed behind the mayor’s house at Ste. Mere-Eglise. In the ensuing days, Noody utilized his bazooka to destroy a German tank that threatened his unit outside of Carentan. For this action, Robert Noody received a Bronze Star with Oakleaf Cluster. It was his first and last bazooka usage, as he expended the three rockets he carried into battle. A leg wound at Carentan ended his Normandy adventure.

He was only 20 years old on D-Day, and later in the war, Noody made the Operation Market Garden jump and fought with Fox Company from Eindhoven to the Rhine. Noody was discharged from the Army in November 1945 at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and received two Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star for his actions in Carentan, two Presidential Unit Citations, and the French Croix de Guerre.

What a hero!
#FlashbackFriday #militaryhistory #airborne #WWII #DDay

In the SR-71 the temperature change from -55° (35,000 feet.) to over 500 degrees at Mach 3 caused the aircraft to expand up to 13 inches. You can see a corrugation in this picture. How do you run cables and piping from the front to the back? Through the fuel tanks. The fuel system was our heat sink. We always wanted the tankers to have cool fuel, 60° or lower for two reasons 1. we can get more cold fuel into the tanks. 2. For our heat sink.
~ Col. Richard E. Sheffield

The Berserker
January 16, 2023

The last Berserker was a Viking who fought in the Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066) between Harald Haldrada's army and the Anglo-Saxons.

I will hardly recount the battle because they do not give me the characters. The combat took place in the province of York and after several hours of battle Harald's army was being defeated, they had to do something or they would all die.

It is here where "The Last Berserker" comes into play, according to the chronicles, a Norwegian monster of more than 2 meters who went to battle bare-chested and armed with an axe. The berserker positioned himself on the Stamford Bridge that connected the battlefield with an unoccupied field. Harald's army withdrew across the bridge into the open so they could organize a new tactic based on the few men they had left.

The berserker positioned himself on the bridge and with inhuman fury held off the Anglo-Saxon army for approximately 2 hours, killing about 80 enemies on the spot. To defeat him, some Anglo-Saxons crossed submerged in the river that was under the bridge, to finally appear under the berserker and skewer him with their spears, killing him instantly.

By the time they managed to finish him off, Harald's army was already prepared with his new tactic. However, their efforts were in vain as not only did they lose, but King Harald was killed with an arrow to the throat.

What fascinates me most about this story is that it was told and reached our days thanks to the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, being his own enemies who wanted to record his impressive feat.
Cred for the Text to Chloe Giordano