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LLefteft ttoo rright,ight, SShelleyhelley CChilders,hilders, JJordanordan RRuggiero,uggiero, JJordanordan KKlein,lein, DDaiseyaisey AAiram,iram, JJohnohn LLandgraffandgraff aandnd MMichikoichiko CCapelleapelle lleadead tthehe KKwajaleinwajalein HHighigh SSchoolchool CClasslass ooff 22008008 ttoo tthehe IIslandsland MMemorialemorial CChapelhapel fforor tthehe BBaccalaureateaccalaureate sserviceervice SSundayunday eevening.vening. FForor mmore,ore, sseeee PPageage 66.. ((PhotoPhoto bbyy DDanan AAdler)dler) The Kwajalein Hourglass www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/hourglass.html commentary Tales of bravery shouldn’t be forgotten Editor’s note: Today is the 64th anni- would attempt to do the next morning versary of D-Day. Although 64 years is was the biggest gamble in the history a long time, what brave men did to free of mankind. the world of Nazi Germany and Impe- At 3:30 a.m., June 6, 1944, the men rial Japan should never be forgotten, or were brought up on the decks of the fade with the years. The men who lived ships. through that day and the days that As the dawn broke in a misty fog, followed are dying at the rate of 1,000 the sea had calmed and the men were per day. Soon, there will be none of at their stations. They peered through them left, and it will be up to us to keep the fog and the smoke of the big Navy the memory of what they did alive. guns and the Air Corps bombs that had Omaha Beach. This commentary was fi rst printed in pounded the land for hours and saw The battle-hardened German 352nd the June 7, 2006 issue. We felt it was the coast of France. Infantry Division waited behind some appropriate to print it again on this day. On the expanse of shore the ships 15,000 concrete bunkers and machine Also, see Page 4 for more on D-Day. were spread out along, the men could gun nests positioned for criss-cross fi re see places that history would call Juno, over the beach, all sitting atop a 150- Gold, Sword, Utah and one that was foot bluff. In addition, anti-personnel The ships sailed through the dark code named ‘Easy Red.’ It would be and anti-tank mines had been planted night. There were gale force winds, known as Omaha. They were the fi ve under the sand and razor-sharp con- sheets of rain and huge swells that beaches the troops would land on. certina wire had been strung on the tossed the men tightly packed on As the covering fi re lifted, the men beach. board the vessels. climbed down the nets into landing That place was about to become Those men were in agony with sea- craft and began the long journey to the ‘bloody’ Omaha. sickness. There was hardly any space shore. As the landing craft approached below decks where it didn’t reek of The men of the U.S. 1st Infantry the beaches, the men could hear the vomit and sweat. Division and the U.S. 29th Infantry What those sick, miserable men Division headed for six-mile wide See BRAVE DEEDS, Page 12 The TV and Entertainment Guide is published on Fridays and can be found in the gray boxes at the post offi ce, in To submit a letter to the editor: Keep letters to less than 300 front of Surfway words, and keep com ments to the issues. No personal and in front of Café attacks will be printed. Letters must be signed. Pacifi c. However, names will be withheld if requested. We will edit for Associated Press style, grammar and punctuation and if you THUMBS DOWN exceed the word limit, will be edited for space. Limit one letter To the Café Pacifi c customer who used a drinking container as a tissue every 30 days. Send your letter to: The Hour glass, P.O. Box 23, putting sinus secretions into a drinking glass. The worker who had to Local; or hourglass @kls.usaka.smdc.army.mil. clean it was very upset. TThehe KKwajaleinwajalein HHourglassourglass The Kwajalein Hourglass is named for the offi cial views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Gov- Printed circulation:1,500 insignia of the U.S. Army 7th Infantry Division, ernment, Department of Defense, Department E-mail: [email protected] which liberated the island from the forces of of the Army or USAKA. It is published Fridays in Imperial Japan on Feb. 4, 1944. accordance with Army Regulation 360-1 and us- Commanding Offi cer......Col. Stevenson Reed The Kwajalein Hourglass is an authorized ing a network printer by Kwajalein Range Services Interim Public Affairs Offi cer ..........Andy Roake editorial staff. publication for military personnel, federal em- Interim Media Manager...................Dan Adler ployees, contractor workers and their families P.O. Box 23, APO AP 96555 assigned to U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll. Con- Phone: Defense Switching Network 254-3539; Reporter..........................................Yael Beals tents of The Hourglass are not necessarily Local phone: 53539 The Kwajalein Hourglass 2 Friday, June 6, 2008 Bush presents Medal of Honor By Gerry J. Gilmore “From the Minutemen at Bunker selfl ess service than this,” he said. American Forces Press Service Hill to our warriors in Iraq and McGinnis’ father and mother, Afghanistan, our history is fi lled Tom and Romayne McGinnis, at- Medal of Honor recipient Army with stories of individuals sac- tended the Pentagon event. Tom Spc. Ross A. McGinnis joined a se- rifi cing their own lives to secure McGinnis spoke a few words. lect group of military heroes during for us the profound gift of peace “Ross is the reason that we’re a Pentagon ceremony here today. and freedom,” England observed. here. And, the reason that Ross is Deputy Defense Secretary Gor- “U.S. and allied troops stormed not here is because his Army bud- don England hosted the event the beaches of Normandy in north- dies were more important than that added McGinnis’ name to ern France during World War II’s life itself,” Tom said. “We appre- the roster of other Army Medal D-Day on June 6, 1944,” England ciate all the memorials, the gifts of Honor recipients. Army Secre- recalled. The tens of thousands of (and) the special attention that tary Pete Geren and Gen. Richard servicemembers who participated we’ve been given since Ross died.” R. Cody, the Army’s vice chief of in the successful amphibious land- Tom said people’s kind words have staff, also attended the event at ings helped to ensure the collapse greatly helped him and his wife the library and conference center. of Nazi Germany and the return cope with the loss of their son. Yet, Medal of Honor recipients of freedom to Europe,” he said. he added, it’s important to remem- “are our nation’s most-revered “Their courage decisively changed ber U.S. servicemembers that are heroes,” England said. “And the course of history,” England still serving at home and abroad. every time a name is added, said, adding that four U.S. troops “Our troops also need our sup- that individual’s story enriches earned the Medal of Honor for their port,” McGinnis’ father empha- the significance of this award.” actions on the Normandy beaches. sized. “They put their lives on McGinnis was an excep- “Ross was securing those very the line for us — sometimes for tional, selfless soldier who freedoms for Americans and the four years, sometimes for two gave his life so that his com- people of Iraq when he made the years, sometimes for 20 years. rades could live, England said. ultimate sacrifi ce,” England said. but, when they get home Then Pfc. McGinnis died at age Ross McGinnis “had decided that they also need our support.” 19 in northeastern Baghdad on the lives of his friends were more President George W. Bush pre- Dec. 4, 2006, while protecting his important than his own,” Geren sented the Medal of Honor to comrades from an enemy grenade observed. “Our duty to Ross and McGinnis’ parents yesterday that was thrown into his Humvee. to the memory of Ross and our at a White House ceremony. McGinnis, who’d been riding top- duty to his family is for all of us “The Medal of Honor is the side in the vehicle’s gunner hatch, to live lives worthy of his sacrifi ce. nation’s highest military distinc- dropped down and used his body to His memory will live in this tion; it is given for valor beyond absorb the effects of the exploding Army forever,” Geren vowed. grenade, thus saving four fellow sol- McGinnis and his comrades anything that duty could require diers: Sgt. 1st Class Cedric Thom- braved insurgents’ bombs and or a superior could command,” as, Staff Sgt. Ian Newland, Sgt. Lyle sniper fire almost every day in Bush said, before presenting the Buehler, and Spc. Sean Lawson. Baghdad, Cody said, “because they medal to McGinnis’ parents dur- knew we must ing the East Room ceremony. defeat al-Qaida in “America will never forget those Iraq, to keep not who came forward to bear the bat- only our country tle,” Bush vowed. “America will al- safe, but to pro- ways honor the name of this brave vide the Iraqis a soldier who gave all for his country.” safe and secure McGinnis enlisted in the Army at environment so age 17 on June 14, 2004. At the they could rebuild time of his death, McGinnis was a their country.” private fi rst class assigned to 1st When McGin- Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, nis acted to pro- 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st In- tect his fellow fantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Ger- soldiers from the many.

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