My Dad was a Ranger in WWII. He had the distinction of belonging to the 29th Ranger Battalion and The Fighting 29th I.D. The Blue & Grey Division.

The 29th Rangers were formed in England and trained by British Commandos. History, and my Dad says they never went on an official mission and were disbanded and assimilated back into the regular units they belonged to before they became Rangers.

What really happened once they were back in their regular units, was they were still used as Rangers.

My Dad was an avid Bar B Quer, every Friday night he had his Pit fired up and was cooking meat. He had two friends that were in the 101st. Once they had the meat going and the toddies flowing, they would run us boys out of the kitchen and the war stories were shared. Of course we eves dropped.

This is where I saw saving Private Ryan for the first time. The stories my Dad told about the invasion were identical to SPR.

His tools of trade were the Fairbairn Combat Knife, a three foot piece of piano wire with a handle on both ends and a Thompson.

One story he told that sticks in my mind was when he received orders that the C.O. needed intelligence, and that intelligence should be a German Officer. His squad, infiltrated by night a German camp and captured an officer without being detected.

He was captured briefly but escaped as they were being marched to where ever they were being taken. They were on a winding road and as they came upon a curve he made his escape.

He came out of WWII with a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star. Served in Korea when I was two and finished up his 12 years at Fort Benning.

I know of no better man than my Dad. He was truly a hero in my eyes and to many men in the town I live in.

He passed in 1988.