My great uncle was in WW2, Korea, and served 2 tours in Vietnam.  He told me last night he had 6 purple hearts, a distinguished service cross, 3 silver stars, 6 air medals, a distinguished flying cross, and some others while we were talking.

Today I googled his name and here he is;

Caption reads; Caption LTC Michienzi receives Silver Star from BG Smith

secinfreg.org/photogallery/vietnam/c22/imagepages/image14.htm

Way too cool.  He's 82 now and you wouldn't believe it.  He's out flyfishing in MI last week and works out all the time.  I've never met someone so youthful who is that age before.

He is a Great American.

God Bless him.



Max

Thank you for sharing such an American Hero with us.  Next time you see your uncle, give him a hug for me.  Patty

Hell, it is amazing he survived all that.  What an ass kicker!  Maybe I will run into him when I am fly fishing.

Quoted: Hell, it is amazing he survived all that.  What an ass kicker!  Maybe I will run into him when I am fly fishing.

Definately amazing.  Entered ww2 at age 18 with the 82nd ABN, he volunteered for a 2nd tour in VN.  Real shy about what he says about it all, but I don't blame him.  I'm surprised at how easy it was to find a pic of him online, took me about 5 minutes of googling his name and came up with 3 hits.

Please shake his hand and thank him for me.  He is a real man.

Now, I challenge you to spend as much time as you can with him.  Document his experiences.  Record his life's history.

Far too many veterans have passed on, leaving precious little to remember them by.  History is life's greatest teacher and heroes like your great uncle possess some of the most valuable history available to our generation and generations to come.

Honor him and do your children and grandchildren an immeasurable service by passing his experiences down to them.

Unfortunatly I have only met him a few times.  He lives in North Carolina and I'm in northern Wisconsin.  It sounds like he'll be back in the area within the next year (maybe sooner?) to go fishing so I'll see him again.

As far as documenting his history, he said one of the other relatives talked to him about that but he's not interested in doing it.  He has pictures and some other things.. He said he would send me some info on what units he was with and when.

He said he entered WW2 with the 82nd ABN at age 18, went to college afterwards, then was commisioned and served in Korea, then in VN as an advisor, then a 2nd tour as a Battalion Commander for the 101st ABN.  

I can't find any info on the 101st stuff, I'm guessing his first tour was with the 1st ID as seen in the above picture.

Was led to another pic by someone who served under him;



Caption; Daring 6 in the thick of it; Standing on his command track in the center of the picture LTC Michienzi observes Charlie Co repel an NVA ambush on hwy13, just north of An Loc in January 1969.

OUTSTANDING!

Now that's pretty dang cool!

Sweet.