Thank You for Your Service Posts
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE POST #4:
PVT EDWIN CLAUD HICKS (ARMY)
After his own company had been relieved, Pvt Hicks voluntarily remained behind to protect his squad leader as he installed an automatic rifle position. When the enemy unexpectedly launched a counter-attack to regain their lost position, Pvt Hicks immediately opened fire but his rifle jammed. He grabbed an enemy rifle and continued firing. Facing overwhelming odds, he remained in his position repulsing the enemy, killing several Germans and capturing two prisoners. Once the enemy had been driven back, his squad leader ordered a withdrawal. Moving down a ditch, Pvt Hicks heard a noise and saw a wounded German attempting to leave the area. Exposing himself to
artillery and small arms fire, Pvt Hicks grabbed the German by the legs and pulled him into a ditch. He aided in capturing a fourth prisoner before reaching friendly lines. For his actions Pvt Hicks was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism. The DSC is one of the highest awards for military valor, second only to the Medal of Honor. Private Hicks' grandson told me: “He never talked of the war. We learned of his combat record by reading his obituary. He was a great man and is missed by all who knew him. R.I.P. Big Daddy.” Click here to nominate someone you know for a Thank You for Your Service Post today.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE POST #3:
PFC ROBERT C LIRA (MARINES)
On April 5, 1969, when he was 19 years old, Robert Lira enlisted in the Marines, joining his father and two older brothers in military service, each of them in a different branch. While on a search and destroy mission in Quang Nam Viet Nam, PFC Lira was shot through the heart by a Viet Cong sniper, just hours after he had gone to Mass and received Communion. Back in the US, as his mother slept, she dreamed that Robert walked into her house, hugged and kissed her, and told her he was home now. The morning after her dream, the Marine Corps officers arrived to deliver the terrible news. After his father Salvador learned of his son’s death, he wore black clothes for the rest of his life. Before Salvadore died, he asked to be buried in his son’s blue suit since he would no longer be in mourning. PFC Lira was nominated for this post by Jack O’Brien who wrote, “there isn’t a day goes by that I don’t think of you, my friend; may you Rest In Peace.” SEMPER FI PFC Robert C Lira
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE POST #2:
PVT GEORGE SHIELDS (ARMY)
Awarded Bronze Star for heroic achievement at Luzon, Philippine Islands, 6/10/45: Private Shields and Private Elmo Chesney were acting as platoon scouts during an advance through a heavily wooded draw when they heard a noise made by the cocking of a machine gun. They maneuvered up a hill toward the sound and observed the position. Suddenly the hostile gun opened fire. The two men, recognizing the helplessness of their comrades in the draw below, courageously exposed themselves. Crashing rapidly through the dense brush and bamboo thickets, they came abreast of the pillbox and destroyed the gun and the three Japanese soldiers manning it with hand grenades and rifle fire.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE POST #1:
SSGT. TIMM GUNDERSON (ARMY)
SSgt. Gunderson served 3 tours in Iraq. On his first tour, he was 10 feet away from a suicide car bomber when the bomb exploded. He and five other soldiers were wounded. SSgt. Gunderson completed first aid on all the others before taking care of himself. As the person who nominated SSgt. Gunderson put it, “he would reenlist all over again if need be to protect us and the Constitution of the United States; he deserves this more than anyone I know.”
