Our beloved surviving WWII veterans are now in the mid-90s, many each week dying alone and forgotten. In touching and heartfelt requests, some have reached out to the media, requesting birthday and Christmas cards so they will not be forgotten. Others have asked for a visit from a stranger, as many of their families have passed on and these heroes are now left alone. Thousands of us have responded with open arms, often driving hundreds of miles to honor and visit with men and women of our Greatest Generation. 

Still it’s a crying shame these brave souls have felt they had to request such a thing from the rest of us who are still making the best of our lives. Are we really such ingrates, lost souls who would forget those on whose shoulders we now stand? Have we lost our effin’ manners, dammit!? 

Time is often criticized for being a silent killer: it robs us of our coveted youth all too soon and makes mere skeletons of us when we least expect it. But is it really time that reduces us to weeping babes in our advancing age? Or is it the seeming lack of interest and care by those still engrossed in that thing called life?  

In our youth, we are learning all the ins and outs of life, practicing our maneuvers and behaviors that will serve us well as we struggle and thrive. Our parents are the bane of our existence, so we largely ignore them. After all, what the blazes do they know. Well, some of us do that. Instead, we glom onto our grandparents who sort of become our second parents.  

My Opa and Oma were unique in many ways, and they shared with me many of their stories growing up in The Great Depression, WWII, Korean War, and seeing the introduction of automobiles to the hometown, the advent of television and modern communications, and so many more crazy tech devices. They regaled me with tales of seeing Elvis Presley, Bill Haley and the Comets, and many other music acts in local shows and concerts; driving up to New York to ride the Coney Island Cyclone, what still has to be the most bone-jarring roller coaster ever invented; or going down to Florida and sprawling out on miles and miles of empty beaches. 

Those lost times featured thousands of fascinating people whose stories still entertain us today. I’m forever stuck in books on history and biographies about those inventors, politicians, entertainers, combat pilots and foot soldiers, sailors and submariners. The list is endless, and it never disappoints. This year alone I am reading 400 books of all genres, shapes, size and color. Now in mid-October, I am on track to complete my goal. 

As if those great experiences weren’t enough, I’ve also had the pleasure and honor to have met in person and spent quality time with many of our WWII veterans, including General Jimmy Doolittle, General Curt LeMay, Colonel Robert Morgan (pilot of the B-17, Memphis Belle), several OSS agents and operatives (chef Julia Child; my former boss Achille “Mac” Maccarone; and a few others who never wanted to be named), and a few very modest ground-pounders and submariners. To add to that distinguished list, I’ve corresponded with dozens of American and German fighter and attack pilots, too, many of those when I was just a boy. Interestingly, my father-in-law was the German U-Boat ace Corvette Captain Peter “Ali” Cremer.  

My Pops was a young boy in WWII, and he went on to become a distinguished US Air Force fighter pilot in Vietnam. And me? I was an Army Ranger and 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper. The military and combat work are in the blood, so I’m very proud to share with you some really cool news:  

The previously top-secret unit, the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), aka “Merrill’s Marauders,” was just awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. President Trump signed the bill into law on Saturday, October 17, 2020: S.743: The Merrill’s Marauders Congressional Gold Medal Act.  

“This bill directs Congress to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), commonly known as Merrill's Marauders, in recognition of their bravery and outstanding service in the jungles of Burma (Myanmar) during World War II.” 

Merrill’s Marauders are the special-operations unit that gave my old US Army unit, the 1st Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, its honor and lineage. Their unit patch became our Distinctive Unit Insignia. From the US Army’s Institute of Heraldry: 

“The colors blue, white, red and green represent four of the original six combat teams of the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), commonly referred to as Merrill's Marauders, which were identified by color. To avoid confusion, the other two colors, khaki and orange, were not represented in the design, however, khaki was represented by the color of the uniform worn by US forces in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II. The unit's close cooperation with the Chinese forces in the China-Burma-India Theater is represented by the sun symbol from the Chinese flag. The white star represents the Star of Burma, the country in which the Marauders campaigned during World War II. The lightning bolt is symbolic of the strike characteristics of the Marauders' behind-the-line activities.” 

So much backbreaking work has gone into getting this bill designed, researched, written, supported and ultimately signed. The list of those assisting all of us is seemingly endless. Our fearless leader and the superhuman who spearheaded this heroic effort is Ms. Jonnie Clasen (Miss Jonnie), whose dad was Marauder and Korean War veteran Vincent Melillo. Ms. Clasen and I have been corresponding for more than five years, and never once have I seen her slow down or falter. On anything.  

This distinct honor, while having been supported by many in the limelight and background, really is due to the work of Miss Jonnie. And I want everyone out there to know that. Please send her a big kiss and a thank-you! Her email is clasenjonnie@gmail.com. Phone (no texts, please!) is 706.689.0153. Sadly, Vincent passed away a coupla years ago, so please send condolences. 

Miss Jonnie’s father Vincent, along with 3,000 other supermen, served with great distinction during what was the last world war. That we honor Vincent and Company as The Greatest Generation just isn’t enough, you ask me. Having done the combat thing on different levels, I know what you must go through to get the job done.  

But I never ever trekked a thousand miles at once in crappy combat boots with no socks, only to have to engage a superior Japanese force that had previously destroyed all other foes.  

What Vincent Melillo endured for years is tantamount to near-suicide, and we must acknowledge this fact. Kids nowadays would call any of those Marauders cray-cray. Personally, I label them members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers!  

It’s with great honor that I share some of Miss Jonnie’s sentiments from a slide presentation she developed. Her words are also her father’s words, so all this rings true and clear, a brave voice from the past: 

“President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided at the August 1943 Quebec Conference to form a secret American volunteer long-range penetration unit of three battalions assigned to the British to fight behind enemy lines in Burma. The volunteers would not be told their objective or destination. Gen. George C. Marshall, then Army chief of staff, later said the mission against “large numbers of the enemy with few resources was unmatched in any theater.  

“Almost 3,000 men rallied to the President’s call and volunteered from the jungles of Panama and Trinidad, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, New Georgia, Vella Lavella and the United States. They hailed from every state plus the Territory of Hawaii. There were 15 ethnic groups and a Native American code talker. The oldest was a WW I veteran of the Canadian Black Watch Highlanders. One of the youngest was 14 when he enlisted. Another escaped the Bataan Death March and sailed 3,200 miles across the Pacific Ocean in a stolen boat to Australia before volunteering for the mission expecting no survivors. One of the 14 Japanese-American interpreters, or Nisei, in the unit helped capture the United States’ first POW December 8, 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor. The Office of Strategic Services was represented, as well. Several were survivors, sworn to secrecy, from the HMT Rohna sinking.  

“Code-named Galahad, the unit didn’t even have a name when arriving Oct. 29, 1943, in Bombay, India. Under command of Britain’s Lord Louis Mountbatten, the men trained with Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate’s Chindits before assignment to American Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell. On Jan. 1,1944, they became the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), later called Merrill’s Marauders after Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill, their commander. Carrying only what they could pack on their backs or mules, they defeated the much larger and better-equipped elite Japanese 18th Division in five major battles and 30 minor engagements.  

“They were the first American troops to fight the Japanese on land in Asia, and the first Americans to fight there since the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. Denied an American flag and set of colors to carry into battle, they adopted the tiny P-38 can opener that came with C rations as their insignia. Supply drops from C-47 airplanes kept them alive. Small stripped-down Piper Cubs evacuated the wounded from jungle clearings. There were no mechanized vehicles. They made military history by walking farther—almost 1,000 miles—than any other WW II fighting unit.  

“Malaria, mite typhus, dysentery, monsoons, isolation and other jungle maladies plagued them. After men and mules climbed the 6,100-foot Naura Hkyat pass in Burma’s Kumon mountains, only several hundred skeletal-looking and disease-ridden men from the remaining Merrill’s Marauders were fit enough to seize their objective, north Burma’s critical Myitkyina airstrip. Supplies and men could then be flown in to connect the Burma and Ledo roads so a crucial land route could be forged into China.  

“Slightly more than 100 out of the almost 3,000 original volunteers remained in Burma when the unit dissolved Aug. 10, 1944, without even a formation. 

“No other WW II American combat force except the 1st Marine Division, which took and held Guadalcanal for four months, had as much uninterrupted jungle fighting as Merrill’s Marauders. Their legacy continues to be honored by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment who wear the unauthorized Merrill’s Marauder patch as their crest. Camp Frank D. Merrill, where the mountain phase of Ranger training is conducted, is named in honor of their commander. Today, 99.99% of Americans probably don’t even know the China Burma India Theater existed and are unaware of the brave Merrill’s Marauders who fought there. Please help honor Merrill’s Marauders for their courage and resilience. The hardiness of these heroic ‘expendable’ volunteers has resulted in one Merrill’s Marauder living to 102 years old, two reaching 101 and two more living to 100.” 

Well said, my friend! 

In writing this piece, I am hoping veterans who are feeling left behind or whose service or actions were or are not acknowledged will realize that you are never forgotten, and that all of you will feel stimulated by this story.  

We may not say it out loud, but . . . 

We love you. 

We admire you. 

We respect you. 

And we reverently thank you for your service to us all.  

[AUTHOR: BO RILEY]