IN MEMORY OF

IN MEMORY OF: WOMEN OF VALOR

Share your thoughts on military women who are no longer here,
but left behind a legacy.

Posted: 25 JUN 03
"The Handcart Boys"

Yesterday was a sad day. I attended the funeral of 1LT. Tamara Long-Archuleta USAF. She was the copilot of an Air Force HH-60G rescue helicopter that went down in Afhganistan during a rescue mission. There were six aircrew members killed. In this message is a poem "the handcart boys." It was written a few days before 1Lt. Long-Archuleta was killed, but a lot of what happened on that mission is directly related in the body of the poem.

I sent the poem to the minister that conducted the service for 1Lt. Long-Archuleta and asked him, if he felt the poem was appropreate, to please pass it on to the Long family. Yesterday to my surprise the poem was used in the eulogy.

It is becoming very apparent that we can no longer engage in conflict without special ops and helicopters. The helicopter used in rescue, is the modern-day "handcart." The handcart is how, down throught history the dead and wounded were removed from the battle field. Look at the case of PFC. Jessica Lynch and her rescue. It was the "handcart boys" who went in and got her out safely.

In the Army, artillery is known as the king of the battlefield, infantry is the queen of the battlefield but I would say that helicopter special ops and rescue are the Prince and in case of 1LT. Long-Archuleta the Princess of the battlefield.

We just cannot do it without helicopters. Think about it, when Marine One lands on the White House lawn.

It was a sad day yesterday with the loss of 1Lt. Long-Archuleta but it was also a wonderful day because the very mission she believed in and gave her life for, "the handcart boys/girls" safely rescued a fellow military member. There will be one less funeral this week because of the "handcart boys."

Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret.
vanharl@aol.com

"The Handcart boys"

He's lying in the tree line, blood running down his arm.
Listening for the sound of the Handcart boys, to remove him from this harm.
He flew in on a modern jet that got shot down in this affray.
But he is no different than the wounded at Shiloh, trying to survive, till they safely take him away.

In the dark of the night she waits with so much pain to bear.
Injured in the crash of her aircraft and now this seemly endless nightmare.
Where is the chopper that will lift her from the smoke, the fire and the pain?
Where are the Handcart boys, hurry, her life is beginning to drain?

He was wounded when a round slammed onto the "cruiser's" deck.
Shards of metal are protruding from his arm, shoulder and the right side his neck.
The corpsman has stopped the bleeding; he's been prepared, to be extracted in the night.
The Handcart boys are racing his way, and will be there before first light.

Get in, get them out, and hurry back, inside the safety of our lines.
It has been this way since ancient wars, to the battles of modern times.
The two-wheel Handcart is the way the wounded were removed from battles in past wars.
Our modern Handcart has a rotor-blade and sliding doors.

Look at history, look at artwork, recent photos or at movies if you will.
When it came to removing the wounded and injured off of some war torn desolate hill.
It was a Handcart carrying the broken and the dying with their screams of pain.
It was a Handcart transporting at Normandy in the cold June rain.

Every branch of the service has its modern version of the Handcart boys who respond to the call.
They go out for the wounded and dead, bring them back, get them all.
Some times the Handcart boys are brought back in a Handcart not of their own.
Some times they become the wounded & the dying, and for their efforts, they never come home.

There are also women who work these, latter-day Handcarts and their lives too, are on the line.
It is a dangerous mission, but just as their predecessors they to make that recovery in time.
They move out over the desert, into the night as the sand blows and swirls.
These Handcart operators are our Handcart girls.

I have a two-wheeled wooden handcart with an old worn flag sitting out on my front lawn.
It is not a protest, it's a reminder of our dead, who returned by Handcart, lying there upon.
In order to defend this Nation, we will continue to send the brave & young, our freedom they earn.
And we will always have a need for the Handcarts, for our wounded and dead, they must return.

Major Van E. Harl, USAF Ret. 15 March 2003
Vanharl@aol.com

Posted: 25 May 01:

I saw you standing so brave and true
While America's eyes were watching you

You didn't flinch or bat an eye

While they fired those shots up in the sky.

You stood and silently prayed

Knowing it could be you someday

To lose your life in a war

To keep America's freedom forever more.

I saw you watch as they lowered your buddy in the ground

Knowing peace and freedom he has found

I saw you whisper a sad goodbye

While wiping away the tear in your eye.

My heart and thanks go out to all

Who were brave enough to answer America's call

A salute to the red, white and blue

But a special salute to all of you.

Author: Gloria J. Shuttleworth

I feel so honored to have won these awards from my veteran friends. I hope that in some small way I can let you know how thankful I am for our military and veterans. God bless all of you and thank you for keeping me free.

Please email this to any military or veterans that you know online. Thank you.

Posted: 22 May 01:

On this Memorial Day I would like to share my feelings and heart felt thanks with other women who are and have served in the all branches of the Military.

I know that the road seems always uphill and that the challenges you though you met yesterday raise their ugly heads again today, but realize, that what you do today and what we did yesterday, paves the way for those to come. Let us not forget the woman in all branches of the military and in all walks. From the nurses who heal our hearts and bodies, to the Military Police women who protect us and loved ones, from the pilots who fly night and day, to the sailors who spend months at sea. We stand tall beside our comrades, we stumble and yes, we fall to never rise, but we are there. We will always be there to answer the call and protect that which we love.

Thank you to those who came before me and to those that follow, remember we are there for you and when you stumble, do not feel bad we all have stumbled, the trick is to get back up and continue to march. We are proud of

you, God Bless You All.

Anne

Captain, Military Police RET.

Disabled American Veteran

Posted: 21 May 01:

My name is PFC. Howard Chilicky,1st Platoon, 2221st. Co.(Ret), due to disability; the one known as GULF WAR SYNDROME.

I have posted before, yes; but I refuse to allow a year to pass without Her sacrifice being known.

I have already posted here, in regards to one Sgt. E-5 Colleen Primiana. I have made it my simple lot; in my crippled and wishing for better; life; that She not be forgotten; or lost in the ephemera of soldiers that have given..........no. No, I want her sweet and tender name to resound each and every holiday; every simple day set aside for the rememberance of soldiers; I want; nay demand; Her name be shouted; be remembered as She who gave all, as She who gave the ultimate.

I was a Petroleum Systems Specialist; I am a man....as such, I had the honor of not only knowing, but serving with; and on a private note; perhaps loving; this woman who sacrificed everything for the Nation She loved and believed in.....the country She adored......the country that called for Her to die..........Sgt. E-5 Colleen Primiana died; a victim of the "100 Day War"; A Victim; a woman who died; who gave all her tiny soul and body could give. A true hero who would receive no recognition, but would give her sweet life with more valor than any soldier of any war.

I realize that I have posted before; But I will struggle for the rest of my mortal existence to ensure that Her sacrifice was, or will not be; in vain.

I served under Her, I knew her; and yes, I had the privilege of loving Her. I will not rest until Colleen Primiana's Valor is recognized and appreciated.

The Gulf War may have been a CNN event for most of you; but for Me it was anguish; for her it was death.

If you can, or may; salute the valor of Her, and all others this Memorial Day.

Their Restless Souls will appreciate it.

PFC. Howard Chilicky, 1st Platoon, 2221st Qm Co, XXXVIII Airborne Corp., Saudi Arabia Survivors

******

I/We served in Operation Desert Sheild/Storm; She a tiny woman, unsuited for the labor necessary, but always willing to fulfill Her roll. She was assigned to HQ; but NEVER shirked simple sandbag duty.

She served harder than any female or male, wanting to make the best of a horrible situation; wanting to become something from the nothing of the Gulf War.

Well we came home, home to fulfill an empty "CNN" expectation. While most of our Company came home to familiar homes and rewards; She came home to suffer; and eventually; die.

She was killed by a tumor; a tumor that was removed, boxed and mailed to the Pentagon. Do we know what that tumor was........no............she was too young to have the cantaloupe sized tumor that was pulled from her abdomen; to unknowing to have it mailed to Washington; to trusting of her beloved Army to not know her life would be discharged as

irrelevant; to believing that Her sacrifice would be called relevant by the Nation that threw Her away.

Sgt. E-5 Colleen Primiana was my friend, my comrade; and on a personal note, maybe my lover; but most importantly; She was a soldier who gave, not all; but everything.

The best we, as survivors, could hope for; is to lower our caps, drop our hearts; Revere and Beg, that Sacrifices such as Hers are not forgot; That the blood of those, such as She; live forever.

I will salute and love you as long as I shall live.

PFC. Howard Chilicky

Posted: 11 Nov 00:

Please take a look at my latest web page about the women, and fellow WASP, that my mother new for 58 years: http://www.icct.net/~cahailey/lhziler.html

I hope this gives you a feeling of not just the woman named Holly, but also of the women that were/are the Women's Air Force Service Pilots of WWII.

If you were taken blind folded into several rooms, each containing a group of women with some kind of common background/interest, you could easily tell when you were in the presence of these WASP. There is a spirit and strength that just fills the room regardless of how big the room or small the group. They are all my heroes and I hope I have done them honor.

Andy Hailey

Kid of WASPs, Lois B. Hailey & Lois H. Ziler, 43-3

http://www.icct.net/~cahailey/ - My WASP Web Site

Posted: 13 Jun 00: "In Memorium"

This is my first post here, but I just wanted to make sure that our real heroes never went unsung, and were never, ever forgotten.

I served with the 2221st QM CO (Petroleum) out of Tucson, AZ. Our Company was divided into two platoons, 1st (mine), in Globe, AZ; 2nd in Coolidge, with HQ in Tucson. We were of the first NG companies

activated, and we served from Sept. 90 until July of 91. In our company, (2nd Platoon) was a woman I served with for four years. Knew her as a friend and as the professional she always was.

Her name was Colleen Primiana, a Sgt E-5 with HQ. A very tiny woman, she seemed not quite right for the typically "male" world of the army. Yet, and I will always remember; she, more than most men, made things happen; whether it was filling sand bags in Iraq, or making sure the troops got their MRE's on time. A sweet, very human, and very beautiful person.

Sgt. Colleen Primiana is no longer on this earth. Yet, she received no Purple-Heart, no medal of Valor; but this woman stands head and shoulders above any man who did. Instead, she died alone, in a hospital, of inexplicable cancers, and in fact had the very tumor that killed her boxed and mailed to Washington for research.

As so many soldiers who survived the battlefield, only to die at home from the "Gulf War Syndrome" that none of us have; I wish to take this moment; this Memorial day; and ask that all of us reflect on and remember with the love and respect they so deserve; our comrades; and for the first time, not only our brothers, but sisters in arms as well, and not let their supreme sacrifice have been in vain.

Colleen, I shall always remember the laughter, the friendship, and perhaps the love between us. So long as I live, so shall you.

Goodbye my friend. PFC. Howard Chilicky, 1st Platoon, 2221st Qm Co.