Raoul Lufbery Funeral- living veterans

Dear All, I have just returned from Florida where I interviewed a 100 year old American veteran of Co L, 101st Infantry, 26th division. This Division spent 205 days at the front, the second longest stay at the front of any US division. the Ist Division was there only two weeks longer. The man I met had a spectacular memory. One of his most notable stories was how he served as one of the honor gaurd that fired a 21 gun slute at Lufberry's funeral. He sai that during the service a German plane flew over and dropped flowers. He commented that "those pilots might have tried to kill each other but they had a lot of respect for each other." He said his picture was published in a Boston Newspaper along with the others of the honor guard at the funeral. I would be interested to hear if anyone has seen this picture and also if anyone knows of other veterans I could interview. I am continuing to seek out veterans for a documentary and welcome any leads. Thanks to all, Kirk Goolsby 6772 Foster's Fork Road, #1 Warrenton, VA 20187 USA kgoolsby@gmu.edu (540)341-7878

[mike_baram]

Kirk,
Nice story, especially the part about the German dropping flowers. I can believe that even in the midst of hostilities, there are still warriors who have the decency to show respect to a fallen enemy. (I remember a documentary about Americans and Viet Cong who fought at - I think it was a place called "An Khe" - who met 25 years later and actually hugged eachother and shed tears over the loss of friends in that battle.)
As for the picture in the Boston paper, you should check the archives of the Boston newspapers...it's probably microfilmed, assuming that the newspaper is still in existance.
Regards,
Mike

[mike_baram]

Sorry about the use of bandwidth....the Vietnam experience was probably the Ke San (sp?) valley. There was a book on that battle - "They Were All Brave Young Men" or something similar.

[Shooter]

Mike:

The reunion of which you speak was of the the Battle of Ia Drang Valley. It involved elements of 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) and an NVA division of which I am woefully ignorent. The title of the book (and the TV show) was "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young."

The siege of Khe Sanh occurred over two years later. To my knowledge, no one has proposed a reunion of those veterans yet.

[mike_baram]

Shooter,
Thanks for setting me straight..I saw the show on TV a couple of years ago, and got confused with the place name. But I'm sure that the book was written by the son of a well known correspondent, Merriam Smith, who was a private with that division.
I could have saved myself some grief by using as an example Chamberlain's order to "port arms" as the defeated Confederates filed past at Appomattox.
Yours,
Mike

[Shooter]

Mike:

The book, "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young" (ISBN#0-06-097576-8, in paper binding), was written by LtGen H. G. Moore USA/retired(he was Bn CO of 1/7 Cav in 1965) and Joe Galloway, the noted war correspondant.

A Pvt Jack P. Smith was listed as a member of Charlie Co, 2/7 Cav, but I could have sworn that his father was Howard K. Smith, the TV reporter.

The book is comprehensive and heavily detailed. Recommend it highly

[mike_baram]

Thanks, all.
I'm doubling my daily dose of Ginko Biloba....looks like I'm gonna be needing it.
Mike