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Tigre_fish
08-23-2017, 04:52
I was going through a bunch of old family stuff and ran across this page from an article about "the Flash boys" - four South Louisiana brothers who served proudly and with distinction in WWII. One of the brothers, Mr. Joe, worked with my dad, and his youngest son was my best friend in Jr. High and High School, and we still stay in contact to this day, he is an accomplished Cowboy Action shooter in his retirement. Mr. Joe (J.E. Flash, Jr.) was an educated, intelligent, thoughtful and quiet man, he was a deacon at the Baptist church, and I never saw him lose his cool, drink a drop of alcohol, smoke or say a cuss word. Reading what he went through as a young 1st Marines Mortar platoon leader on Pelelu, New Britain, and Okinawa probably had something to do with that. His obit said he received a number of awards including the Silver Star for his service in combat, but I never heard him talk about, let alone boast about, any such high recognition. Not his style. Mr. Joe was one hell of a man, who saw hell early in his life.

Thought I would just post this so that Mr. Joe might receive a little recognition as an old warrior from some folks who would appreciate what he did.

TF
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dryheat
08-24-2017, 01:17
I appreciate it. Flash is an odd name. He sounds like the guy that wrote the book about Pelelui(The Old Breed). The newspaper article is one of the best descriptions of a wartime situation I've seen. I guess a certain kind of person can survive that experience and come out the other side with their same persona. Tobassco huh?

IditarodJoe
08-24-2017, 05:12
Interesting article Tigre_fish. Thanks for sharing it.