The Patriot News
The Newsletter of the Maine Military Historical Society
Volume 2, Issue 3
Maine Military Historical Society
www.mainemilmuseum.org
January - March 2012
A Word From The Chairman
33 State House Station – Camp Keyes
Augusta, Maine 04333-0033
Dear MMHS Members:
Officers
Chairman: MSG David B. Googins (Ret)
Secretary:
Treasurer: Mrs. Soraya Umphrey
Board of Directors
BG Albert White Jr. (Ret)
COL Donovan Lajoie (Ret)
I hope Santa was good to everyone, and I hope you have a very Happy
New Year!
For those who took the time to attend our Annual Meeting this past
October, Thank You. It was a pleasure to get so many great suggestions
and positive feedback.
This is the time of year where we begin to focus on the upcoming year,
implementing plans and programs. There is one significant issue that will
affect us all and we need to act.
Mr. Gary Burns
LTC Peter Ogden (Ret)
LTC Dwaine Drummond
MSG Daniel Masessa
CPO David Potter (Ret)
Mrs. Louise Dorr
Our future will change dramatically within the next five to six years. The
museum will need to move out of its present location, not because of space
issues but because the building will no longer be available for our use. This
is due to reorganizations taking place at Camp Keyes. How we rise to this
challenge will determine whether the Society & Museum will continue to
exist as an organization.
Historical Advisor
Dr. Thomas Desjardins
Presidents Emeriti
We have a duty to continue to preserve Maine’s proud military history,
which spans centuries, and to tell the many stories of Maine’s brave
servicemen and women and that of their families. We can not let that
mission falter.
MG Donald H. Marden (Ret)
BG Richard Tuttle (Ret)
COL Donovan Lajoie (Ret)
Newsletter: MSG David Googins (Ret)
and
Curator:
CW5 Ronald Roussel (Ret)
Inside This Issue
1
A Word From the President
2
Membership Renewal
2
Did You Know…..
3
New Members
3
Calendar of Events
3
Dates in Military History
4
Membership Survey
4
A Birthday Surprise
5
Courageous Bridgton Soldier Gave his Life
to Save Fellow Soldiers
The Board of Directors and the Facilities and Displays Committee, are just
beginning the process of exploring options and courses of action.
In order to prepare for the inevitability of our move, we need to earnestly
begin fundraising over the course of the next several years, to grow our
membership, and to increase corporate sponsorship. We desperately need
you, our members, to rally around this cause and help. Volunteer by serving
on one of our committees or get involved with fundraising. Ask how you
can help. It’s a critical time in our organization.
Dave
Newsletter 1
Membership
Membership renewal reminders went out with the
newsletter in Oct and most recently in Dec.
If you have not had a chance to renew your
membership, please do so. For convenience sake you
may renew online through our website or, if you prefer,
by check through the U.S. Mail.
surrounding the controversy of the awarding of the
medal early on and how the law changed to protect
America’s most revered military decoration. The book,
originally published in 1966, has been out of print for a
long time however I highly recommend this book to
anyone interested in the Civil War and/or the Medal of
Honor.
For those who are Lifetime Members, we really need
your continued support. There are many members
who are Lifetime Members, which equates to no
revenue coming in.
We would like to ask each Lifetime Member to
consider making a donation, either a lump sum or
donating each month in what ever denomination is
comfortable. We need everyone’s support!
Did you Know……..
By Dan Masessa
th
During the Civil War, the 27 Maine was awarded 864
Medals of Honor, one for every member of the
regiment.
What brave actions did the soldiers of the regiment
perform to deserve such an award? They
volunteered to remain in service after the term of
service of the regiment had expired! As crazy as it
sounds, they actually earned the Medal of Honor as
the law was written at the time.
th
The story of the 27 Maine and the Medal of Honor is
captured in the book Shower of Stars by Maine author
John J. Pullen. While researching his book about the
th
20 Maine, John Pullen came across information
th
indicating the 27 Maine, a group of nine month
volunteers from York County, was issued a Medal of
Honor for every member of the regiment. Seeing how
th
the famous 20 Maine earned four Medals of Honor at
th
Little Round Top, how could it be that the 27 earned
over eight hundred medals and then fell into obscurity,
unknown to history?
Shower of Stars is not only an excellent story of the
th
27 Maine but also a great history of the Medal of
Honor. John Pullen uncovered tons of information
Newsletter 2
Army Medal of Honor, first design, 1862
Dates in Military History
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS
THE MMHS WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME:
JANUARY
1781 – American forces under BG Daniel Morgan defeated the British at
Cowpens, SC.
1782 – British Troops withdraw from Wilmington, SC.
1815 – MG Andrew Jackson defeated British Troops at the Battle of New
Orleans.
1862 – The first union Ironclad warship, the USS Monitor was launched in
New York City.
1943 – The last Japanese troops were forced of the island of Guadalcanal by
US troops.
1966 – US plans resumed bombing of North Vietnamese targets after a 37 day
pause.
1968 – Beginning of the Tet Offensive by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
FEBRUARY
1676 – Indians led by Wamponoag Indian Chief King Philip attacked a
CALENDAR
OF
EVENTS
settlement at Lancaster, MA during King Philip’s War.
1704 – Abenaki Indians attacked the frontier settlement at Deerfield, MA,
BOARD MEETINGS - 2012
massacring more than 50 people.
PLACE: MMHS MUSEUM
1836 – Mexican General Santa Anna began his siege of the Alamo with
TIME: 4:00 PM, 10 JAN, 14 MAR, 9 MAY, 12 JUN, 12 SEP, 10,
approximately 3,000 troops. 187 defenders held out until March 6, when
OCT, 14 NOV
surviving defenders were massacred.
1898 – The Battleship Maine is sunk in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
VOLUNTEER DAY – 2011 -2012
1942 – A Japanese Submarine surfaced off the coast of Ellwood, California,
PLACE: MMHS MUSEUM
TIME: 4:00 PM, EVERY OTHER W EDNESDAY. SEE CALENDAR OF
shelling the coastline. Little damage was done.
EVENTS AT WWW.MAINEMILMUSEUM.ORG FOR MORE INFO AND TO
1943 – Women’s Marine Corps Auxiliary established.
SIGN UP.
1945 – U.S. Marines begin the invasion of Iwo Jima.
MARCH
2012 HERITAGE TOUR
PLACE: TBD
1770 – The Boston Massacre took place, the British killing 3 men and mortally
TIME: OCTOBER TBD
wounding 2 others.
ANNUAL MEETING/BANQUET - 2012
1802 – Congress established the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY.
PLACE: TBD
1814 – U.S. Troops under General Andrew Jackson defeated Creek Indians at
TIME: OCTOBER TBD
the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, AL, ending the Creek War.
1942 – The first American “Seabees” saw action in New Caledonia.
Know of a special event? Please let us know so that we
can inform our membership.
1960 – First Women Paratrooper
1965 – First U.S. ground combat force, the 3500 man 9th Marine
Expeditionary Brigade, arrived at Danang, South Vietnam.
Newsletter 3
.
Online Membership Survey
On our website, we have posted an online survey for
our members to take. As mentioned in “Words from the
Chairman”, this will help us in getting this year’s
activities put together based on our members input.
There will also be space provided for any additional
comments on how we may serve you better, ideas you
may have for the museum, or whatever you would like
to comment on.
That’s right! The MMHS is now on Facebook! Stop
by and “Like” us!
We look forward to hearing from you.
Birthday Surprise
In October the family of a World War II veteran,
surprised him with a visit to Camp Keyes to celebrate
his 90th birthday.
Harry Grimm was a medium tank driver and had the
urge for a number of years, to see a newer tank. So
the family had made arrangements for him to visit the
tank parked out side of Camp Keyes, which he nimbly
climbed aboard.
He was also presented with an award, by State CSM
Terry Harris and SGM Shawn Thibodeau. Later he
was provided a tour of our museum by Ron Roussel.
Harry Grimm enlisted in the U.S. Army on June 1,
1942, and was honorably discharged on Nov 1, 1945.
He was a tank driver in the 7th Armored Division,
serving in the Battle of the Bulge and all over Europe.
While his unit was capturing a town in France, he ran
into an enemy convoy. After destroying the convoy and
going through some of the enemy vehicles that
remained, a cache of weapons was discovered in the
back of a truck and were liberated by our troops.
A couple of weeks after his birthday celebration, Harry
Grimm came into the museum with the Walther PPK
pistol he liberated that day and donated it to the
museum. Thank You, Mr. Grimm.
Admin Note
Please be sure to keep us up to date. Send in any changes
to your address or email address. It’s important that we
keep our records as current as possible.
Please drop an email to Tammy Googins at
[email protected], or contact us at
www.manemilmuseum.org.
Newsletter 4
Courageous Bridgton Soldier Gave his
Life to Save Fellow Soldiers
From Discover Maine, Volume 7, Issue 10
By James Nalley
On June 25th, 1950, after the North Koreans attacked South
Korea, elements of the U.S. Army’s 24th Infantry Division
were the first to arrive. Known as “Task Force Smith”, it
consisted of the 1st Battalion, an infantry regiment, anti-tank
teams, and members of Charlie and Delta Companies.
According to the U.S. Army, the orders were simple: “When
reaching Taejon, move north…stop them where you find
them.” Included in this task force was a sergeant who had
already survived combat in World War II, but felt honored to
re-enlist for Korea. Within a month, his heroic actions would
resemble something out of a movie and would also make him
the first Congressional Medal of Honor recipient during the
Korean War.
George D. Libby was born on December 4, 1919 in Bridgton.
After honorable service during World War II, he re-entered
the army in Waterbury, Connecticut, as a member of Charlie
Company in the 3rd Engineering Combat Battalion of the 24th
Infantry Division. For the first 18 months of the war, the
division was heavily engaged on the front lines against both
North Korean and Chinese forces. By the wars end, its
casualties exceeded 10,000.
One of the early battles in the Korean War was the Battle of
Taejon (a major city and transportation center) that occurred
form July 14-21, 1950. Army forces attempted to defend the
headquarters of the 24th Infantry Division which were under
attack by North Korean forces. The 24th Infantry, already
exhausted from the previous two weeks of fighting, tried to
make a final stand near Taejon by holding a line along the
Kum River, east of the city. Hampered by a lack of
communications and heavy weapons, the American forces
were outnumbered and pushed back from the river bank.
Although they could not hold the city, the 24th Infantry
Division achieved a strategic victory by delaying the North
Koreans, thus providing time for other American divisions to
establish a defensive perimeter around Pusan further south.
On July 20, 1950 Sergeant Libby was riding in a truck in the
Pusan Perimeter. As his vehicle approached an enemy
roadblock it encountered tremendous enemy fire, which
disabled the truck and killed or wounded each of the
passengers except for Libby. After exiting the truck, he took
cover in a ditch. As the enemy continued to fire its weapons
at the truck and road, he crossed the same road twice to
administer first aid to his wounded fellow soldiers. Afterwards,
he hailed a passing M-5 artillery tractor and one by one,
Newsletter 5
helped the wounded aboard. As they pulled away, the
enemy directed small-arms fire at the driver. At that point,
Libby (realizing that no one else could operate the vehicle),
used his body as a shield to protect the driver. During this
action he received several bullet wounds in his arms and
torso. As the tractor continued through the town, it made
frequent stops as Libby helped more wounded aboard.
Finally at the last roadblock, he continued to shield the
driver with his wounded body, as it received more bullet
wounds. Refusing first aid, he held that position until he lost
consciousness and died. According to the U.S. Army’s
citation, “SGT Libby’s sustained, heroic actions enabled his
comrades to reach friendly lines. His dauntless courage
and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon
himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S.
Army.” His body was returned to the United States and
buried in Section 34, Lot 1317, at Arlington National
Cemetery.
Today several monuments in his name are located in the
United States, such as an elementary school in California
and a monument in Waterbury, Connecticut. But perhaps it
is the 1000-foot Libby Bridge over the Imjin River in Korea
that is the most poetic. The bridge forms a connection
between the village of Chang-Pa-ri (in the south), the
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and North Korea.
SGT George D. Libby
Foot Note: The Libby NCO Academy at the U.S. Army
Engineer School, Ft Leonard Wood in Missouri is named
for SGT Libby.
PLEASE
Letter From the Editor
VISIT OUR PREFERRED
VENDORS
We need Your Input!
As we get corporate sponsors, we will list these as preferred
places to shop.
We would like to ask all members for their personal
stories, histories, pictures or events that they would
like to have published within these pages. Maybe you
have a funny story about Annual Training or a story
about deployment or you would like to tell someone
else’s story.
Articles should be no more than 300 words. Any
photos submitted should be JPG or BMP.
Please submit any articles or comments to:
[email protected]
PRESORTED
US POSTAGE
PAID
AUGUSTA, ME
PERMIT #114
33 State House Station – Camp Keyes
Augusta, ME 04333-0033
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Newsletter 6