Stars and Stripes – Decorated World War II and Vietnam War veteran turning 100

BRADENTON, Fla. (Tribune News Support) — For the duration of Planet War II, Paul R. Atherton survived a mine blast that sank his troop ship at Espiritu Santo in the Pacific. He was wounded by artillery fire at Anzio in Italy and once again whilst crossing the Rhine River into Germany.

In the Vietnam War, a Viet Cong bombing of the Brinks Hotel in Saigon wounded him and about 60 others. Two People died in the blast.

Most not long ago, the retired Army colonel survived a bout of COVID-19 that floored him for about 6 months.

For someone who has had additional than his share of brushes with dying, Atherton, who turns 100 on July 15, stays remarkably match and mentally sharp. He physical exercises and swims every day, and nonetheless drives his car or truck.

And, be warned, his sharp perception of humor is locked and loaded at all situations.

“What we are performing is celebrating the 2nd anniversary of my 50th birthday,” he mentioned.

Following a army career of additional than 30 yrs, he and his spouse, Virginia Rose, moved to Bradenton in the early 1970s, in which he worked as a authentic estate broker and appraiser ahead of retiring in the late 1990s.

So, what’s the secret for these kinds of a very long, balanced and effective lifestyle?

The solution can be uncovered in his long marriage to his spouse Ginny, who misplaced her everyday living to cancer in 2010.

“Her foot prints are all over my careers in the armed service and the genuine estate brokerage/appraisal business,” he mentioned.

Because Ginny’s dying, his daughters Nancy Atherton and Sandy Atherton, and other family members associates have embraced and supported Paul.

“It’s a godsend getting family members members all over,” he mentioned.

Grandson John Holder, 50, was inspired to be a part of the Army by his grandfather’s case in point.

“Grandpa’s tales offered me correct into it,” Holder claimed of his individual 20-12 months career that provided a deployment to Iraq. “Our whole spouse and children is very little but navy.”

Holder’s wife, Melissa, marvels at Paul Atherton’s mental agility and memory.

“He is so sharp,” she mentioned, including she feels blessed to have Paul in her lifetime, particularly due to the fact her individual grandparents died when she was youthful.

“He is the first a person I have had the honor to contact granddad,” she explained.

Paul Atheron joined the Army Countrywide Guard in 1939 in Vermont. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, his Guard device was federalized and despatched to Camp Blanding, Fla., for coaching. Later his device properly trained at Camp Shelby, Pass up., and Fort Ord, Calif., in advance of getting despatched to the Pacific with the mission of augmenting American fighters on Guadalcanal.

But although placing into port at Espiritu Santo in 1942, the ship, the S.S. President Coolidge, strike two mines and sank. When there was little decline of lifetime amid the 5,000 troops on board, all of their materials and tools had been missing.

“The captain experimented with to run the ship ashore, and succeeded partly. The ship sank in about 50 minutes with minimum decline of lifestyle,” Atherton mentioned. Atherton expended the up coming six months on Espiritu Santo where dysentery and dengue fever had been frequent afflictions, together with an occasional Japanese bombing attack.

Although on the island he uncovered he experienced been approved into Army Officer Applicant University. He returned to the United States by ship and graduated from OCS at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1943 as a 2nd lieutenant, what some identified as a “90-day wonder.”

Initially assigned to Italy, he took part in the fight for Anzio, in which he was wounded by exploding artillery. He was subsequently reassigned to signing up for the combating in France.

In March 1945, Atherton gained a battlefield marketing to 1st lieutenant for major his patrol in battle from German defenders in Ostheim, France.

In the advice for advertising, the commander of the Seventh Infantry Regiment reported that Atherton led three platoon users across the Fecht River to locate enemy positions and defenses in advance of a prepared attack. The intelligence he gathered was employed with great achievement when his battalion attacked throughout the river two times later.

The advice also describes in depth an motion of Jan. 25, 1945, when Atherton led his platoon in an attack on Bennwihr, France, closing with this assertion:

“Leading his assault squad through point-blank hostile rifle fire that hardly missed him, Lt. Atherton cleared close to 15 structures and captured no fewer than 40 prisoners inside of a two-hour period.”

Atherton skipped the conclusion of the war, currently being significantly hurt in an artillery attack whilst crossing the Rhine River. He worked himself back again into shape for the duration of the future 12 months and was allowed to proceed his army vocation.

In the early times of his Army provider, he satisfied the beautiful Virginia Rose Greenwood of LaCrosse, Wisc., and married her soon after a whirlwind romance. His mother and father didn’t know about the marriage until finally they confirmed up alongside one another at their dwelling.

But it was 1 of those marriages when the couple just knew that it was correct.

It was a marriage that would consider them into some harrowing times soon after Environment War II in Austria, which was then occupied by Russia and the other allies right after the German defeat, as properly as other assignments around the United States and the entire world.

In 1964, he was assigned to Vietnam, and was in the Brinks Resort, when the Viet Cong, disguised as Republic of Vietnam soldiers, drove a car packed with explosives into the hotel parking compound. The bomb, detonated by timer, collapsed quite a few floors of the lodge.

News agencies close to the entire world carried reports of the Christmas Eve attack on the hotel, which was mainly used for officer quarters. The bombing served as statement by the Viet Cong that they could assault anywhere and no one was harmless.

Atherton’s photo appeared in Life magazine, showing him stumbling out of the rubble, his deal with protected in blood. For a couple times, Atherton’s household feared that he had perished in the assault.

Atheron recalled that he was in his area getting ready to meet Bob Hope, who was in Vietnam to entertain troops, when the auto bomb exploded.

The blast knocked Atherton out and sent him to the medical center for the evening. Hope visited him there, acquired his home handle and sent a good notice to Atherton’s spouse and children.

In 1969, the Military notified Atherton that it was making ready to mail him to Vietnam for a second tour.

“He informed us he experienced his orders and it was up to us regardless of whether he went to Vietnam or retired,” his daughter, Nancy Atherton, recollects.

The news was induce for a family members assembly all over the eating space desk. Ginny and her girls despatched Paul out of the room though they debated their upcoming.

“My mother did not want him to return to Vietnam, but she would by no means test to quit from executing some thing he felt he desired to do. She honored this nation as a lot as he did,” Nancy Atherton said.

Paul returned to Vietnam for his second tour and returned safely and securely dwelling in 1970. In 1973, he retired from the Army and the family moved to Bradenton.

Ginny was a common military spouse, supporting her husband’s job though rallying her small children by means of recurrent moves and reassignments.

“Every time we moved we have been fired up about it simply because of her,” Nancy reported.

Melissa Holder recalls that Paul would never ever say “he” obtained a promotion.

“He would say ‘we’ received promoted,” she explained

Paul mentioned that his daughters had been supportive of his job and the repeated moves.

“Many kids would rebel if they commonly experienced to go away their college and their good friends. My girls had been often very supportive,” he explained.

His quite a few awards and decorations contain the Battle Infantry Badge, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, 3 awards of the Bronze Star Medal, and 3 awards of the Purple Heart.

In addition, the The United States Army Officer Applicant Faculties Alumni Association installed Paul in its Hall of Fame in recognition of his distinguished profession.

Hunting again on his job, invested principally with the armed forces police, alternatively than the infantry, is a humbling encounter, he reported.

“I was specified the honor of commanding troops from the squad amount to the brigade amount in the course of my vocation,” he explained.

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