Friday, October 19, 2018

Eighty Years Old And Still Harder Than Woodpecker Lips




For actions 50 years ago this past January.

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to
GUNNERY SERGEANT
JOHN CANLEY
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Gunnery Sergeant John L. Canley (MCSN: 1455946), United States Marine Corps, for extraordinary heroism while serving as Company Gunnery Sergeant of Company A, First Battalion, First Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, during operations against the enemy in the Republic of Vietnam from 31 January to 6 February 1968. On 31 January, when his company came under a heavy volume of enemy fire near the city of Hue, Gunnery Sergeant Canley rushed across the fire-swept terrain and carried several wounded Marines to safety. Later, with the company commander seriously wounded, Gunnery Sergeant Canley assumed command and immediately reorganized his scattered Marines, moving from one group to another to advise and encourage his men. Although sustaining shrapnel wounds during this period, he nonetheless established a base of fire which subsequently allowed the company to break through the enemy strongpoint. Retaining command of the company for the following three days, Gunnery Sergeant Canley on 4 February led his men into an enemy-occupied building in Hue. Despite fierce enemy resistance, he succeeded in gaining a position immediately above the enemy strongpoint and dropped a large satchel charge into the position, personally accounting for numerous enemy killed, and forcing the others to vacate the building. On 6 February, when his unit sustained numerous casualties while attempting to capture a government building, Gunnery Sergeant Canley lent words of encouragement to his men and exhorted them to greater efforts as they drove the enemy from its fortified emplacement. Although wounded once again during this action, on two occasions he leaped a wall in full view of the enemy, picked up casualties, and carried them to covered positions. By his dynamic leadership, courage, and selfless dedication, Gunnery Sergeant Canley contributed greatly to the accomplishment of his company's mission and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.

Stand up when he passes; this is a MAN.





Oh, and BTW, here's the Sergeant, Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez, whose bravery was witnessed by Canley in the same action, and Canley's witness statement was the basis for the same award at the same time:
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein), FMF.
Place and date: Near Thua Thien, Republic of Vietnam, 4 February 1968.
Entered service at: San Antonio, Tex. Born: 23 May 1946, Edinburg Tex.  
Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as platoon commander, 3d Platoon, Company A. On 31 January 1968, during the initial phase of Operation Hue City, Sgt. Gonzalez' unit was formed as a reaction force and deployed to Hue to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered city. While moving by truck convoy along Route No. 1, near the village of Lang Van Lrong, the Marines received a heavy volume of enemy fire. Sgt. Gonzalez aggressively maneuvered the Marines in his platoon, and directed their fire until the area was cleared of snipers. Immediately after crossing a river south of Hue, the column was again hit by intense enemy fire. One of the Marines on top of a tank was wounded and fell to the ground in an exposed position. With complete disregard for his safety, Sgt. Gonzalez ran through the fire-swept area to the assistance of his injured comrade. He lifted him up and though receiving fragmentation wounds during the rescue, he carried the wounded Marine to a covered position for treatment. Due to the increased volume and accuracy of enemy fire from a fortified machine gun bunker on the side of the road, the company was temporarily halted. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Sgt. Gonzalez exposed himself to the enemy fire and moved his platoon along the east side of a bordering rice paddy to a dike directly across from the bunker. Though fully aware of the danger involved, he moved to the fire-swept road and destroyed the hostile position with hand grenades. Although seriously wounded again on 3 February, he steadfastly refused medical treatment and continued to supervise his men and lead the attack. On 4 February, the enemy had again pinned the company down, inflicting heavy casualties with automatic weapons and rocket fire. Sgt. Gonzalez, utilizing a number of light antitank assault weapons, fearlessly moved from position to position firing numerous rounds at the heavily fortified enemy emplacements. He successfully knocked out a rocket position and suppressed much of the enemy fire before falling mortally wounded. The heroism, courage, and dynamic leadership displayed by Sgt. Gonzalez reflected great credit upon himself and the Marine Corps, and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
 A sergeant as platoon commander, and a gunny as company commander; you do the math on that, especially those with prior service who can figure out how many officers and NCOs were taken out above them for that to happen. Gonzalez was 21, and Canley an old man of 30 when this happened. And these guys kept right on going, like they do.

21 comments:

brinster said...

Saw the ceremony, and not ashamed to say I teared up. And he still mentors young marines, I imagine at Ft. Bragg. What a man.
It's also a bit funny that he accepted the MOH from that racist Trump.

June J said...

Semper Fi!

Anonymous said...

Brinster -

You fool... That racist Trump? The cognitive dissonance in your post hurts. Trump has done more for the average black man than Obama, or most other Presidents, ever did. Trump has provided a job, and with that dignity and an identity beyond race. What we are born with is irrelevant, our choices matter. To quote another, "Culture is Destiny."

It literally boggles comprehension to say someone is racist while they award the highest honor to someone that does not share their skin color. Were you dropped as a baby?

- AFOUR

The Gray Man said...

I think he may have been using sarcasm.

Or he's stupid.

I vote sarcasm, though it doesn't always show up well through the interwebz.

Grog said...

Gray Man, I'll agree, appears to be sarcasm.

Even though my agreement means nothing. chuckling

MMinWA said...

Lord, I hope that was sarcasm.

Sgt Canley looks great for 80, holy cow.

brinster said...

It WAS sarcasm.

Anonymous said...

Makes one "proud to bear the title". Friends (later in college) had fought at Hue with H/2/5. Bowden's recent book tells the tale well. Ugly place and valiant fight.
Gunny/SgtMaj Canley is or should be an inspiration to any American. Far too many people earned their medals the way Sgt Gonzales did. Many valiant others were not recognized.
Semper Fi, AYE.
Boat Guy

Anonymous said...

I recognized it as sarcasm the moment I read it.
What a bunch of idiots.

Lee Van Queef II said...

Canley is featured repeatedly in Battle for Hue (Nolan, 1983) including taking shrapnel wounds early on in the battle. He was awarded the Navy Cross specifically for his actions in Hue City.

I am glad he makes it a point to remind people of how poorly these magnificent men were treated by LIBERAL DICKSUCKS if they even made it home.

Jim Scrummy said...

Wow! Just effing wow! Both men. I hope I can get to 80 and look as good as Sergeant Major Canley. He looks like he could knock out 100 pushups as a warmup breaking no sweat. A gunny leading a company and a sergeant leading a platoon...talk about casualties.

Grog said...

Anon at 7:13 am, thank you for the erudite comment.

Go eat a bag of dicks.

Popular Front said...

fyi Fort Bragg is Army, not USMC.

Unknown said...

'You're the emblem of
The land I love.
The home of the free and the brave.
Ev'ry heart beats true
'Neath the Red, White and Blue,
Where there's never a boast or brag...'
Ever so faintly
I thought I saw
Him begin to smile
Yet, he's a humble man.

Anonymous said...

Local radio newsreader pronounced Hue as Hew, like we pronounce the variation of a color. I yelled at the radio "It's pronounced hhhuwhay you jackwagon!" . Made me grouchy all day, not that I need an excuse.

Mark D

Anonymous said...

After you soyflake, you fucking faggot.
You don't like free expression, get the
fuck out of America.

Smith Family Farmstead said...

Semper Fi sgtmaj.

Popular Front said...

It is said that "they don't make 'em like that anymore" but I'm hopeful that somewhere, they do. What a Marine.

Aesop said...

The trouble with mental retardation is the people who have it don't know it, and can't help themselves.

But for the benefit of the people who aren't retarded, just @$$holes, we repost the notice on the front of the blog:

Comments

Comments are appreciated. They require neither prior ID nor screening for content. Anonymous abusive or rude comments will be either mocked mercilessly, or simply deleted into the internet ether, solely at the blog owner's discretion. (That would be me.) If you somehow labor under the misapprehension that free speech applies everywhere, try this experiment: put on a ski mask, go to your next door neighbor's house, urinate and defecate on his living room floor in front of him, and call him a m*****f****** @$$hole, then see whether you receive an award from the ACLU, or an ambulance and police car, who stop momentarily to help collect your teeth. If you don't get this, you're too stupid to be on the Internet, let alone posting comments on my blog. Disagreement is one thing, even ignorance can be understandable, but rude @$$holery will not be tolerated here. I have neither the time nor inclination to imbue what a public K-12 failed to instill in those folks bereft of the ability to reason intelligently or behave like well-adapted human beings in polite society. That's why for you there's a Skid Row.

(cont.)

Aesop said...

(cont.)
In case that wasn't blisteringly clear, like it is for 99% of commenters here:

This blog is free speech for exactly one person: me.
Possessing a keyboard and an opinion does not entitle you to editorial oversight here. Lacking manners on top of an overdeveloped and wholly unmerited sense of your self-importance pretty well renders your opinions to the most transitory of phenomena.

I rarely have to squash rude assholery, but as the number of readers and commenters grows, so does the frequency of me 86ing somebody's little diaper pastry flinging fit of Tourette's. Until a couple of years ago, I could count the occasions on my thumbs.

And notably, in 99% of those occasions, the commenter is someone too chickenshit to self-identify, even with a consistent nom de plume (Hint: if you thought my parents named me "Aesop" on the birth certificate, guess again). If @$$holes love anonymity so much, I figure blotting up their drippy diarrhea is simply honoring their wish to remain unknown.

If you want free speech and editorial oversight, get your own damned blog.
They're free, FFS.
I write this one myself.
It's as much mine as anything else I can think of, and it's my brand.
I'll tolerate quite a bit of give and take, and even a certain amount of nonsense, but I deal with batshit crazy people for a living in the hospital regularly.
So understand as a direct consequence of that:
1) I can spot them (and you, should it apply) in about 0.2 seconds, and
2) unlike the hospital, Blogger provides me with a mute button for your lunacy and ill-mannered shit-fits.

If that twists your panties too tight because your batshit rants and general jacktardery find your attempt to hang your soiled diaper on my refrigerator, and tell me it's "art", swiftly relegated to the dumpster out back in a hot minute, learn a lesson or two:

a) stop doing that
b) post your shit-screeds on your own rant page, and see who listens to the squirrels in your head fighting for dominance.

You should know that when I delete a post, I think about it for about a split second, usually long before I get to the end, and I've been known to go back and wipe everything you posted, or that sounded like your codswallop, from every thread in the archive. So don't waste time replying or wetting yourself after your first yellow-carding, with your reply-rants. No one will read them but you, and your time would be better served in your usual occupation, which appears to be what less enlightened practitioners of psychology and deviant paraphilias used to call "self abuse".

Do not confuse my blog with what you do alone in your bed chamber with porno mags.

If none of this applies to you, you're not the intended audience anyways.
Carry on.

Thal said...

He was being sarcastic. You think a liberal would even comment on this? No. They ignore these things so they can focus on the color of Trump's skin. ��