WARNING LONG POST- A BIT OF BINGHAM FAMILY HISTORY...
Preface: 45 years ago, when my mom was 4 years old, her "daddy" hadn't been feeling to well. He went to the doctor and never came home. While he was at the doctor's office, he suffered a major heart attack and died instantly. The day my Grandpa Bingham was buried, any talk of him was buried with him. Therefore, my mom has never known anything about her dad.
Grandpa served in the 141st Infantry in WWII, which for any of you who aren't familiar with the 141st infantry, they are known as "The Lost Battalion." They were caught behind enemy lines for 7 days in the Vosges Mountains in France. They were under attack daily from the German troops that surrounded them. Hundreds of men of the 442nd Infantry were killed trying to rescue the 141st. Two pilots were killed trying to drop supplies into the Lost Battalion.
This past Thursday, my mom went to lunch with her two sisters. While at lunch her oldest sister, Priscilla, mentioned that the 141st infantry (Grandpa's infantry) was being inducted into the Texas Armed Forces Hall of Fame the following day. My mom felt an instant urge to go to Austin, TX to attend this symposium and to learn about this vital section of her Dad's life.
Well, when my mom came home on Thursday from the lunch (at about 7 PM) she told me about the symposium. Seeing as that my mom has no memories of her dad, and hardly knows anything about him, I have no knowledge of my Grandpa. When I heard about the Symposium, I felt so strongly this urge to go and learn about him. Within a few hours, dad and I booked flights and hotels and got everything set to go to Austin. We flew out at 8 AM the next day.
At the Symposium, the Texas Armed Forces Museum was introducing new items that they were adding to their museum from the 141st infantry. Two of these items have had such an immense impact on my life. While the troops were trapped, the Allies were trying everything they could to get supplies into them.
Since it was November, in the Vosges Mountains, there was low visibility and therefore, flights were out of the question for the majority of the time. So they launched basically missiles that were filled with medical supplies and food and batteries. Unfortunately this method failed because the artillery would dig so deep into the ground that they couldn't dig it out.
So one day when the weather seemed to be a bit more clear, the air force deployed 12 pilots (after having 3 previously failed attempts) to drop belly tanks full of medical supplies, etc. to the Battalions. Well, two of these belly tanks actually made it to the troops and not into the hands of the Germans. These two tanks, rusted, battered and beaten, were discovered by two brilliant historians and archaeologists, and was transported to Austin to be placed in the Museum.
It was so moving to see these belly tanks and picture my grandpa being one of the men that was pulling out all of the supplies, the supplies that saved their lives.
At the symposium there were 4 speakers. 1: The author of the book "The Lost Battalions" it was very informative and full of historical background. 2: The Forward Artillery leader of the 141st Infrantry, A Company (My grandpa's infantry and company). His speech was all about what it was like to be behind enemy lines. His wife informed mom and I later that day that he hasn't talked about it, but when this symposium came up after 64 years, he pulled out all of his old war stuff and was able to talk about it. It was incredible to hear from somebody who was right there with my Grandpa. It was incredibly. 3: Arch Archilla, he was one of the pilots who dropped supplies in. It was so incredible to shake the hand of a man who helped to save grandpa's life. 4: A member of the 442nd Infantry who, until this weekend, never received credit for all they did because they were Japanese-Americans. Once again, it was so incredible to shake the hand of 4 different men who were on the ground at hand to hand combat fighting to save the lives of the men who were trapped.
I could truly go on for hours, but I won't! :) All in all, it was an incredible weekend! I cannot even describe how it feels to finally be able to get a glimpse into my Grandpa's life and to finally be able to understand what he went through and what an incredible man he is. It was a huge blessing to both mom and I to be able to go down there and I am so grateful. I am so grateful for all the service men/women both past a present who risk their lives daily to protect our freedoms. I am so grateful for those brave men of the 105th Fighter Squadron and the 442nd Infantry for risking their lives, hundreds of lives were lost, in order to rescue the men trapped behind enemy lines.
