He was just a janitor
- Thread starter Bowman
- Start date
Snake Charmer
Happiness is a warm gut pile
Thanks Longbow for posting this, It's quite timely to me as I had the honor and priviledge last Monday to meet one of my wifes caregivers father. He was a member of the 82nd airborne division 463 airborne parachute artillery group test battery ( his group figured out how to deploy artillery into combat via parachute as it did not exist at the time he joined) His name is Joseph F Stolmeier from Davenport Iowa (look him up online)
Helen one of my wifes caregivers had told me a little about him over the time I have gotten to know her in the past couple of years and I at one point in time a few months ago began to research his actions in WW2 . I read a bit about his group and realized his contributions were siginifcant to that era. I then asked Helen if I could meet him and she arranged a lunch date for all of us. It was a bit of a challenge as he will 98 years old in a few weeks although he is of sound mind he is a bit weak from day to day.
When the day came he and Helen had arranged we met at his home in Vista and shared lunch. I was priviledged to be able to spend about four hours with him and listen to his recounts of his service and what he had endured. This man is part of America's greatest generation, he did not set out to be a hero but through his actions it would dictate otherwise, he was awarded two silver stars, one bronze star and a purple heart, he did seven combats jumps with two of them at night all of them under fire. His teams job was to drop in with a man portable 75 mm howlitzers in six pieces (1500 pounds) put them together and then direct fire on the enemy.
He was at the battle of the bulge as they were sent to rescue the 101st airborne who were trapped and his battery at one point had to direct fire in a 360 degree field of fire to keep his battery and the members of the 101st airborne from being overun in an all night fire fight. In the morning when the light came up they had destroyed thirteen tanks and an untold (by the hundreds of german soldiers) and they did it as a small battery of a few dozen men with a few cannons.
This is only a piece of what he endured as he fought in north Africa, Italy, France, Belgium and Germany. Absolutley amazing story and if you look at it historically was the end of nazi Germany's ability to wage war. He was discharged in the spring of 1945 and went on to run a flooring business for the rest of his life as well as father fourteen children. He was honored at the Del Mar fourth of July parade this past month and is a happy go lucky guy in every respect.
As a tribute to him I would encourage all of us individually to put together a short letter to him and acknowledge his sacrifices and patriotism. Let me know if you are interested via p.m and I will give usps contact info. I know it would make his day after the meeting I had with him. I could see that it would be a great boost to his day to day life at the moment if we all let him know that his efforts are not forgotten. P.s. I'm going back soon to meet and listen again.
Helen one of my wifes caregivers had told me a little about him over the time I have gotten to know her in the past couple of years and I at one point in time a few months ago began to research his actions in WW2 . I read a bit about his group and realized his contributions were siginifcant to that era. I then asked Helen if I could meet him and she arranged a lunch date for all of us. It was a bit of a challenge as he will 98 years old in a few weeks although he is of sound mind he is a bit weak from day to day.
When the day came he and Helen had arranged we met at his home in Vista and shared lunch. I was priviledged to be able to spend about four hours with him and listen to his recounts of his service and what he had endured. This man is part of America's greatest generation, he did not set out to be a hero but through his actions it would dictate otherwise, he was awarded two silver stars, one bronze star and a purple heart, he did seven combats jumps with two of them at night all of them under fire. His teams job was to drop in with a man portable 75 mm howlitzers in six pieces (1500 pounds) put them together and then direct fire on the enemy.
He was at the battle of the bulge as they were sent to rescue the 101st airborne who were trapped and his battery at one point had to direct fire in a 360 degree field of fire to keep his battery and the members of the 101st airborne from being overun in an all night fire fight. In the morning when the light came up they had destroyed thirteen tanks and an untold (by the hundreds of german soldiers) and they did it as a small battery of a few dozen men with a few cannons.
This is only a piece of what he endured as he fought in north Africa, Italy, France, Belgium and Germany. Absolutley amazing story and if you look at it historically was the end of nazi Germany's ability to wage war. He was discharged in the spring of 1945 and went on to run a flooring business for the rest of his life as well as father fourteen children. He was honored at the Del Mar fourth of July parade this past month and is a happy go lucky guy in every respect.
As a tribute to him I would encourage all of us individually to put together a short letter to him and acknowledge his sacrifices and patriotism. Let me know if you are interested via p.m and I will give usps contact info. I know it would make his day after the meeting I had with him. I could see that it would be a great boost to his day to day life at the moment if we all let him know that his efforts are not forgotten. P.s. I'm going back soon to meet and listen again.