my cousins military history and tools of the trade

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terryl308
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my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by terryl308 »

This story doesn't have much in the way of knives, but I am proud of my cousins military history and will send some photos and part of his long record with the Army and Marine Corp. He started his career with the Maritime Service (Merchant Marines) in Oct. 1944 as radio officer on the US Burgess hauling ammo, bombs, and etc to Phillipines/Okinawa, and Japan. Got drafted into the Army in 46 then enlisted in the Regular Army and was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland to attend CIC Agents course (camp Holabird, Marylalnd) Then in Sept of 46 was sent to Camp King Oberursel, Germany (7707th ECIC MP Platoon) for the purpose of guarding Nazi War Criminals. In 1949 he was assigned to the Berlin CIC Det. until 1952 (he was there during the Berlin Airlift) Then it was back to Holabird for specialize wire tap training. March of 53 he requested line duty in Korea and was assigned to Operation Big Switch to interview returning UN POWS. In april of 54 he was one of four US Army men selected for assignment to the 181st CIC Det. 1st Marine Div, Fleet Marine Force, he had to turn in his Army uniforms for Marine Corp uniform and equip. Then I believe in 1969 went to Viet Nam to serve with the 101st Airborne Div.
included in the photos are his lock picking tools which I still have along with a huge box of paper work. His merchant marine hat with ensignia and serval photos of him , the last one on the right is when he was in Korea. I am very proud of his service and thought I would share this with any military buffs out there. He passed away several years ago and his head stone has his military record on it, WW11, Korea, Viet Nam. I think he served 26 years in one branch of the military or another.
Thanks for reading and looking, as always, Terry Landenberger
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Colonel26
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by Colonel26 »

That is amazing. He sounds like he was a real interesting guy to have been around. You are fortunate to have his things.
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terryl308
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by terryl308 »

::handshake:: thanks col. He was a very private man, when he and my aunt and uncle would come down to visit I would be the only one he would talk to, mostly about guns, knives, and planes. We shared a lot of "war stories" but I was only in the Army for a couple of years but we still had a lot in common. I have his Marlin 39 yet and a hobo knife that he gave me years ago. A lot of the work he did in the Army was classified and he couldn't talk about , so I never bugged him about it. He was a real interesting person though. Terry
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by Mumbleypeg »

Terry, thanks for posting that. You are indeed fortunate to have some of his things, and the memoirs are priceless.

My father nearly his whole life did not talk about his experiences in WWII. Mom kept his medals including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart in her cedar chest. When he was in his eighties, my sister finally convinced him to write about it. It was like someone finally opened the floodgates, and he wrote enough to fill a small book. My sister typed it, made several copies and had them bound into booklets. It is a priceless treasure for our family.

I would courage you to do something similar with your cousin's memoir. ::tu::

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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by jerryd6818 »

Terry, that's just neater than cougar poop. Thank you for sharing it.
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terryl308
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by terryl308 »

Thanks Ken and Jerry, It would be a good idea to put all the material together in book form, but I'm missing a lot of it although I have a box about 16"x 24"x 10" deep that is packed full and I have just gotten though about half of it. There is a lot more to the story than I told, especially the last half of his career. He got into hot water for turning in a co worker for covering up a high ranking officers communist connections, but that's another story. I have numerous letters to senators, congressmen and even presidents and a signed letter from J. Edgar Hoover trying to straighten up his career history. ::handshake:: Terry
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by bestgear »

Thanks for sharing your uncle's story - sometimes we forget the family that supported our service men and women and the history behind their careers. Very cool stuff.
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by glennbad »

Really interesting stuff, Terry. You should be proud to be a custodian of some of the family history!
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by Quick Steel »

Terry I can hardly tell you how interesting I found your post. I actually enlisted for the CIC and was heading for Holabird after Basic and AIT. But I got off track being offered OCS. To be a CIC officer required 3 years in a combat arms. I chose Armor and never got back to CIC. In RVN as an Advisor, I had some significant contact with a task force of the 101st. Do you know if your cousin served near Phan Rang, on the coast? If yes, kindly let me know and, if you know, what year(s) he was in NAM. I'll then send you a PM with some details.

Your cousin certainly had an exceptionally interesting career: Berlin Airlift...CIC...Vietnam etc.
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terryl308
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by terryl308 »

Qs, His vn history is kind of missing, I can't find any info but I believe he was there in 66-67 but I'm not real sure. He did send me a couple of letters but I haven't located those yet. If I can find those his return address should be on it but maybe just a apo number. I'll keep in touch, Terry
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by FRJ »

A great post, Terry. I have enjoyed it. ::tu::
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by RobesonsRme.com »

Your cousin's next of kin can request his military records from DOD Personnel Center in St. Louis.

Also request a survey of any and all awards and/or medals for which he was qualified. They will send you those, free of charge.

Since he served in different branches, you might have to query each one.

This can all be done on-line.

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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by LongBlade »

Terry - Just an awesome story, and his military record and duty is indeed one that deserves great respect and honor ::tu:: ::tu::
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terryl308
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Re: my cousins military history and tools of the trade

Post by terryl308 »

thanks Charlie and Longblade, I'll give the DOD a shot when I get a little time. ::tu:: Terry
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