TheBlackHand
10-10-2004, 11:36 AM
I posted this on another website a year or so ago. I think it fits in here too (hope it's in the right forum).
I've never experienced premonitions or any other so-called psychic stuff. However, I have seen a few things that could definately be classified as ghosts or UFO's. I've always felt that seeing is believing...if not neccsarily knowing. I have no idea what I saw, heard, felt. I just know I saw, heard and felt it....and it wasn't like nothin on this earth! No kiddin. I'm still skeptical as ever, but experiencing something like this tells me there's a whole lot more happening than what's currently written down in physics...or psychiatry.
Take for example, these two supernatural stories of precognition experienced by Marines in WW2.
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"The conversation with Hillbilly reassured me. When the sergeant came over and joined in after getting coffee, I felt almost lighthearted. As conversation trailed off, we sipped our joe in silence.
Suddenly I heard a loud voice say clearly and distinctly, 'You will survive the war!'
I looked first at Hillbilly and then at sergeant. Each returned my glance with a quizzical expression on his face in the gathering darkeness. Obviously, they hadn't said anything.
Like most persons, I had always been skeptical about people seeing visions and hearing voices. So I didn't mention my experience to anyone. But I believe God spoke to me that night on that Peleliu battlefield, and I resolved to make my life amount to something after the war."
- E. B. Sledge, "With The Old Breed" -
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...and this, from "Bloody Tarawa", by Eric Hammel.
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Two hundred yards out, Pfc Stan Kazmierski heard a disembodied voice ask, 'Do you want to live or die?' And Kazmierski heard himself mouth words in favor of life. The voice told him to move his head to the right, and he did. An instant later, a bullet plowed into his bayonet handle, in direct line
with where his head would have been. Stan Kasmierski rejoiced, certain that that had been THE round with his name on it. He felt that he might become maimed beyond use, but he was certtain he would not die at Betio.
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Here's one from Vietnam.
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"A voice told me to calm down or I was going to go into shock," Miller said in an earlier interview with the Tampa Tribune. The disembodied voice was one he recognized, that of Sgt. Roy Bumgardner, who had been his combat mentor in Vietnam. "It was like a religious experience. I knew something had happened. I was actually falling and thinking, "Why am I falling?" When you see that much blood, and you know that it is yours, it has a tendency to scare you." He pulled himself to his feet and held off two more attacks before reinforcements arrived.
Miller and two others survived, and he received the Medal of Honor from President Nixon.
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Some were saved from flying bullets. Some were told they'd survive the war. Others were warned of their impending doom.
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Another Marine we lost was our battalion commander, Lieutanant Colonel Aquilla (Red) Dyess. I think he was from Georgia. He was killed by a sniper right at the end of the campaign. And this brings up the old story of death premonition, which would sometimes come true and other times would not.
You see, one day when we were aboard the transports, Colonel Dyess asked to see me in private. We went over to the fantail and he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Buck," he said, "I know you're a lawyer. I also know that I'm going to be killed on this operation. I want you to help me make out my will."
"Oh come on, Colonel," I answered, "I'll be glad to help on your will. My fee will be your picking up the check when we have dinner after the war back in the States. You're not going to get killed."
"Thank you, Buck, but I just feel in my bones that I am going to get killed."
And, of course, he did.
-Col. Buck Schecter, as told to Henry Berry in "Semper Fi, Mac: Living Memories of the U.S. Marines in World War II"-
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This is from "With Fire and Zeal" a regimental history of the 276th Infantry in WWII. The action described takes place during the battle for Hill 415 in the Vosges mountains, January, 1945.
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As 2nd Battalion fought off the inevitable German counterattack, an incident that ocurred to H.J. Vickery, a heavy machine gun section seargeant in Company H, that illustrated the value of tough individual training. Vickery had been hit in the right cheek, and the 7.92mm Mauser slug that took him down had exited just below his rights ear. Fighting to retain consciousness, he looked up to see his boss, Lieutenant Hank Rolfing looking down at him.
"Man, he was giving me hell. Rolfing told me to get off my butt, that I was needed. My men were scared and running all over. After Hank had given me Hell, I crawled out of the bunker. As the men saw me coming back to take control of the situation, they lost being 'confused.' We then threw everything we had at the enemy. With the early cold sunshine, we could count the buttons on the enemy's coats and their bayonets looked ugly and long."
Vickery and his .30-caliber Browning watercooled gun crews went on to beat back another German assault.
Several years later, serving in the troubled border section of Trieste, Vickery ran into Rolfing - both of them were still in the Army. As old soldiers always do, they got talking about their war over a drink or two. Vickery finally worked the subject around to the battle in the Bois de Lichtenberg; 'Hank, I sure appreciate what you did for me on January 11th, 1945' he confessed, '...I was so scared.' Rolfing paused and ordered another round. When the drinks came, Rolfing looked Vickery in the eye and reminded him that he had been transferred to another company weeks before the battle in the mountains...
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While most would probably attribute occurences such as these to "tough training", combined with little sleep and much stress...it still makes you wonder.
These are from Mark Bando's "The 101st Airborne At Normandy".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God Takes a Hand
While moving up to rejoin his company on 13 June, Sgt. Lou Burton crossed numerous hedgerows. One in particular will always remain in his memory. As Burton was about to hurdle himself over the top, "someone" grabbed his combat harness from behind and jerked him violently backwards. Stunned, Lou landed on his back, just as a burst of German machine gun bullets shredded the leaves at the top of the hedge -- right where he would have been. The mysterious part of the story is that when Burton looked around to thank the man who had saved him, there was no on there. Even more curious was the fact that he had been pulled back so strongly that there were red burns on his shoulders from the web suspenders scraping against them.
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A bit later on...
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Sgt. Burton was talking to a group of his buddies when he saw Yochum, another F Company man, standing about 75 yards away. Yochum was waving and calling him to come over and talk. Burton left the group he had been standing with and walked over to see what Yochum wanted.
When Burton asked what he wanted, the puzzled Yochum answered, "I didn't have anything to say to you."
"Well then why the hell did you call me over here?"
"I didn't call you over here."
At that moment, a mortar shell exploded amidst the four troopers Burton had just walked away from. All were hard hit by shrapnel and concussion.
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Wow! Sounds to me like Sgt. Burton has a guardian...something.
Gotta stop short at saying that everyone has a guardian angel, however. Or else, the four angels tasked with guarding the other guys under the mortar fall must've been talking amongst themselves while that bomb slipped through. You'd think that Sgt. Burton's angel would've tapped them on the shoulders too...but, I guess it's sense of duty didn't extend beyond the one it was tasked to guard.
O'well.
Some people call it God, some say it's a guardian angel, some say it's ghosts, some say it's just coincidence or biology. Who really knows? Whatever it is, it sure is interesting.
Personally, I like the theory that consciousness, memory, and all that stuff is stored outside of the body somewhere before & after the body dies. Every once in awhile this "spirit" stuff seems to be able to find its way into "our" little world. Now, this goofy philosophy doesn't really change the way I live my life or anything. It just gives me something to think about while I live it.
Anybody else got any Strange but True, Weird War Tales?
I've never experienced premonitions or any other so-called psychic stuff. However, I have seen a few things that could definately be classified as ghosts or UFO's. I've always felt that seeing is believing...if not neccsarily knowing. I have no idea what I saw, heard, felt. I just know I saw, heard and felt it....and it wasn't like nothin on this earth! No kiddin. I'm still skeptical as ever, but experiencing something like this tells me there's a whole lot more happening than what's currently written down in physics...or psychiatry.
Take for example, these two supernatural stories of precognition experienced by Marines in WW2.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The conversation with Hillbilly reassured me. When the sergeant came over and joined in after getting coffee, I felt almost lighthearted. As conversation trailed off, we sipped our joe in silence.
Suddenly I heard a loud voice say clearly and distinctly, 'You will survive the war!'
I looked first at Hillbilly and then at sergeant. Each returned my glance with a quizzical expression on his face in the gathering darkeness. Obviously, they hadn't said anything.
Like most persons, I had always been skeptical about people seeing visions and hearing voices. So I didn't mention my experience to anyone. But I believe God spoke to me that night on that Peleliu battlefield, and I resolved to make my life amount to something after the war."
- E. B. Sledge, "With The Old Breed" -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...and this, from "Bloody Tarawa", by Eric Hammel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two hundred yards out, Pfc Stan Kazmierski heard a disembodied voice ask, 'Do you want to live or die?' And Kazmierski heard himself mouth words in favor of life. The voice told him to move his head to the right, and he did. An instant later, a bullet plowed into his bayonet handle, in direct line
with where his head would have been. Stan Kasmierski rejoiced, certain that that had been THE round with his name on it. He felt that he might become maimed beyond use, but he was certtain he would not die at Betio.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's one from Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A voice told me to calm down or I was going to go into shock," Miller said in an earlier interview with the Tampa Tribune. The disembodied voice was one he recognized, that of Sgt. Roy Bumgardner, who had been his combat mentor in Vietnam. "It was like a religious experience. I knew something had happened. I was actually falling and thinking, "Why am I falling?" When you see that much blood, and you know that it is yours, it has a tendency to scare you." He pulled himself to his feet and held off two more attacks before reinforcements arrived.
Miller and two others survived, and he received the Medal of Honor from President Nixon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some were saved from flying bullets. Some were told they'd survive the war. Others were warned of their impending doom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another Marine we lost was our battalion commander, Lieutanant Colonel Aquilla (Red) Dyess. I think he was from Georgia. He was killed by a sniper right at the end of the campaign. And this brings up the old story of death premonition, which would sometimes come true and other times would not.
You see, one day when we were aboard the transports, Colonel Dyess asked to see me in private. We went over to the fantail and he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Buck," he said, "I know you're a lawyer. I also know that I'm going to be killed on this operation. I want you to help me make out my will."
"Oh come on, Colonel," I answered, "I'll be glad to help on your will. My fee will be your picking up the check when we have dinner after the war back in the States. You're not going to get killed."
"Thank you, Buck, but I just feel in my bones that I am going to get killed."
And, of course, he did.
-Col. Buck Schecter, as told to Henry Berry in "Semper Fi, Mac: Living Memories of the U.S. Marines in World War II"-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is from "With Fire and Zeal" a regimental history of the 276th Infantry in WWII. The action described takes place during the battle for Hill 415 in the Vosges mountains, January, 1945.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As 2nd Battalion fought off the inevitable German counterattack, an incident that ocurred to H.J. Vickery, a heavy machine gun section seargeant in Company H, that illustrated the value of tough individual training. Vickery had been hit in the right cheek, and the 7.92mm Mauser slug that took him down had exited just below his rights ear. Fighting to retain consciousness, he looked up to see his boss, Lieutenant Hank Rolfing looking down at him.
"Man, he was giving me hell. Rolfing told me to get off my butt, that I was needed. My men were scared and running all over. After Hank had given me Hell, I crawled out of the bunker. As the men saw me coming back to take control of the situation, they lost being 'confused.' We then threw everything we had at the enemy. With the early cold sunshine, we could count the buttons on the enemy's coats and their bayonets looked ugly and long."
Vickery and his .30-caliber Browning watercooled gun crews went on to beat back another German assault.
Several years later, serving in the troubled border section of Trieste, Vickery ran into Rolfing - both of them were still in the Army. As old soldiers always do, they got talking about their war over a drink or two. Vickery finally worked the subject around to the battle in the Bois de Lichtenberg; 'Hank, I sure appreciate what you did for me on January 11th, 1945' he confessed, '...I was so scared.' Rolfing paused and ordered another round. When the drinks came, Rolfing looked Vickery in the eye and reminded him that he had been transferred to another company weeks before the battle in the mountains...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While most would probably attribute occurences such as these to "tough training", combined with little sleep and much stress...it still makes you wonder.
These are from Mark Bando's "The 101st Airborne At Normandy".
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
God Takes a Hand
While moving up to rejoin his company on 13 June, Sgt. Lou Burton crossed numerous hedgerows. One in particular will always remain in his memory. As Burton was about to hurdle himself over the top, "someone" grabbed his combat harness from behind and jerked him violently backwards. Stunned, Lou landed on his back, just as a burst of German machine gun bullets shredded the leaves at the top of the hedge -- right where he would have been. The mysterious part of the story is that when Burton looked around to thank the man who had saved him, there was no on there. Even more curious was the fact that he had been pulled back so strongly that there were red burns on his shoulders from the web suspenders scraping against them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A bit later on...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sgt. Burton was talking to a group of his buddies when he saw Yochum, another F Company man, standing about 75 yards away. Yochum was waving and calling him to come over and talk. Burton left the group he had been standing with and walked over to see what Yochum wanted.
When Burton asked what he wanted, the puzzled Yochum answered, "I didn't have anything to say to you."
"Well then why the hell did you call me over here?"
"I didn't call you over here."
At that moment, a mortar shell exploded amidst the four troopers Burton had just walked away from. All were hard hit by shrapnel and concussion.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Sounds to me like Sgt. Burton has a guardian...something.
Gotta stop short at saying that everyone has a guardian angel, however. Or else, the four angels tasked with guarding the other guys under the mortar fall must've been talking amongst themselves while that bomb slipped through. You'd think that Sgt. Burton's angel would've tapped them on the shoulders too...but, I guess it's sense of duty didn't extend beyond the one it was tasked to guard.
O'well.
Some people call it God, some say it's a guardian angel, some say it's ghosts, some say it's just coincidence or biology. Who really knows? Whatever it is, it sure is interesting.
Personally, I like the theory that consciousness, memory, and all that stuff is stored outside of the body somewhere before & after the body dies. Every once in awhile this "spirit" stuff seems to be able to find its way into "our" little world. Now, this goofy philosophy doesn't really change the way I live my life or anything. It just gives me something to think about while I live it.
Anybody else got any Strange but True, Weird War Tales?