Training complete as a battlefield Medic. Proud for the opportunity, ready for deployment to England in anticipation of the Allied landing on the European continent, and War on the front.
This is from the beginning of Dark November. We can assume, since the author mentions his platoon buddy, Demo, several times, that their exact assignment was the same.*******************************
When my Father, WWII Veteran - European Theater, Purple Heart recipient, POW, was buried in 2014 at the age of 91, 7 old men came out from God knows where and stood at attention in the hot sun to honor him with a 21 Gun Salute. I'll never forget that, and never forget my Father, and what he did on the front lines of battle. He's the guy on the left in second photo below (with glasses)....Veteran's Day: We honor those who pledged in uniform, with their lives on the line, to always be ready, to protect our Liberty.
At the Cemetery before Burial
At His Honorable Gravesite
Demo received 2 Purple Hearts: 1 for the Hand Grenade blast on the battlefield when he emerged from his foxhole to go retrieve a fallen soldier, he himself then felled by the blast and shrapnel. The 2nd for severe frostbite during the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. Thus, in lieu of a second actual physical medal of the purple heart, he received the OLC (Oak Leaf Cluster), see explanation below. He received the very honorable Bronze Star for Courage and corages acts in the face of the enemy.
The Soldier in Training for Battlefield Medic. Texas Late 1943 or early 1944. The shadows make an interesting effect to his stately Saluting. We see in shadow his commanding Officer that he is presenting himself.
What these Men did in the World War, the sense of Duty and their Courage, in the face of the enemy of Freedom and the evil of Hitler and the Nazi war machine, is ever to be honored.
Our Father (Grandfather/Great-Grandfather, etc.) of the Stathis line, was one of those Men.
And she, his Wife, for their whole lives since his return from War; she knew...she knew what kind of Man she had married and with him, gave unto the world 10 children with.
Demothenes C. Stathis, U.S. Army Platoon Medic 1943-1945
