In reply to Rongagin71 Here are a couple of quotes from Gay's book Sole Survivor on some points here:

First is related to leaving A&M.

"There are many reasons I didn't want to go back to college for my junior year. Money was one. I knew it was draining my folks just to keep me there, and with Hitler running wild in Europe it was obvious the U.S. would have to bail things out again. Somehow, what I was doing at school just didn't seem to be what I would want to do if I had to fight in a war. So I decided to go home and talk things over - this did not seem to be something to discuss on the telephone"

Here are a few sections where he talks about Midway.

"I cannot tell you the sequence in which the planes went down. Everything was happening at once, but I was consciously seeing it all. At least one plane blew up, and each would hit the water and seem to disappear."

"Waldron was shot down very early. His plane burst into flames, and I saw him stand up to get out of the fire. He put his right leg outside the cockpit, and then hit the water and disappeared. His radioman, Dobbs, didn't have a chance. Good old Dobbs. When we had been leaving Pearl Harbor, Dobbs had orders back to the States to teach radio. But he had chosen to delay that assignment and stay with us."

"Much to early, it seemed, Bob Huntington said, "They got me!" "Are you hurt bad?" I asked. I looked back and Bob was slumped down almost out of sight. "Can you move?" I asked. He said no more."

"The cable, or mechanical release, came out of the instrument panel on the left side, designed to be pulled with the left hand. But those damn Zeros had messed up my program. My left hand did not work. Anyway, it was awkward, and I almost lost control of the plane trying to pull out that cable by the roots. I can't honestly say I got rid of that torpedo. It felt like it. I had never done it before so I couldn't be sure, and it the plane pitching like a bronco, I had to be content with trying my best"

"God, but that ship looked big! I remember thinking, "Why in the hell doesn't the Hornet look that big when I'm trying to land on her?"

Lots more in about watching the carriers get hit and surviving in the water. Good book and worth having with the connection to A&M.

In reply to Murder Hornet

Murder Hornet said:

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Cen-Tex said:

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LMCane said:

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The Confederate Rebel Yell sounded like a pack of hungry hyenas

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Liked the Don Troiani artwork in the clip

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Any truth that our Whooping is based on the rebel yell?

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Maybe. Seeing as how the first umpteen-years would have had sons and grandsons of Confederate veterans attending the college.

In reply to JABQ04

JABQ04 said:

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Maybe. Seeing as how the first umpteen-years would have had sons and grandsons of Confederate veterans attending the college.

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Faculty was likely 90% Confederate veterans as well

Mind blowing personal history fact - my brother in law is about my age, 60.

His grandfather was part of General Pershing's expedition into Mexico chasing after Pancho Villa and was too old to be shipped out for WWI. Also, his uncle died in the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.

Having a dad and granddad each having sons in their 70's does odd things to time perspectives.

In reply to Hogties

Hogties said:

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Mind blowing personal history fact - my brother in law is about my age, 60.

His grandfather was part of General Pershing's expedition into Mexico chasing after Pancho Villa and was too old to be shipped out for WWI. Also, his uncle died in the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918.

Having a dad and granddad each having sons in their 70's does odd things to time perspectives.

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Mind blowing personal fact:

- I'm not even 60 and had an uncle (not great uncle) that fought in the Spanish American war.

- My wife's grandfather was Pershing's personal driver when he was on the border. Member of an Iowa unit sent to assist. Pershing sent him an engraved artillery spent shell casing at the end of WWI that he had made into an ash tray. Pershing said it was one of the last shells fired. It's in the possession of my BIL. We have about 50 old pictures of the Iowa boys during their deployment there….none of which have ever been published.

- I had an uncle (not great uncle) that died in an Army Air Corp crash in 1928 in San Antonio.

My great great grandfather served with Pershing going into Mexico after Pancho Villa and also with him in the Philippines in WWI. This is the only known picture of him. Also the program for the Christmas meal in 1914 from the Philippines.

My grandfather told me he was Pershing's personal interpreter. He was apparently also a cook as the program says. I would like to find a way to corroborate that story and learn his history of service. My grandfather always spoke very fondly of him.

One story is that when he joined the army, he only spoke German and had a very thick accent. They could not understand him well and misspelled his last name. When he died, his wife tried to make sure his name was spelled con his tombstone. It still got messed up, so the family just changed the name to the more common Groesbeck instead of Groesbach. He is buried ant Ft. Sam in San Antonio very near the flag pole at the main entrance.

There has been someone from every generation since in the family serve in some capacity. All the way down to my nephew who is a senior in Parson's at aTm. I intend to get the pieces of this picture framed and give to him.