Whipped Cream Difficulties

Father Watters was born in 1927 and ordained in 1953. He served in various parishes around New Jersey.

He was also a licensed private pilot. In 1962, he joined the New Jersey Air National Guard as a chaplain. In 1964, he went full time with the US Army, and started his first tour of duty in Vietnam in July of 1966. During this tour, he was awarded the Air Medal and a Bronze Star for Valor.

Armed only with his camera, Fr. Watters didn’t hesitate to jump into a violent battlefield with the “Herd,” as the 173rd was sometimes called. When his unit was rotated to the rear for rest, he would stay in the field with the troops still facing imminent danger. Fr. Watters truly believed his duty was to remain alongside the soldiers doing the fighting. He would tend to both their physical and emotional needs by saying Mass, joking with them, providing spiritual comfort and tending to grievous wounds. The word quickly spread about the dedicated priest in the 173rd who routinely risked his life for his men. He sealed his legendary status on February 22, 1967, when he joined 845 fellow paratroopers in their jump during Operation Junction City, the largest such airborne assault of the war to that date, and the only major combat jump of the entire war.

At the end of this first tour (July of 1967), he volunteered for a six-month extension, “simply stating, ‘His boys needed him.’”

On November 19, 1967, his unit became involved in the battle of Dak To.

Chaplain Watters was moving with one of the companies when it engaged a heavily armed enemy battalion. As the battle raged and the casualties mounted, Chaplain Watters, with complete disregard for his safety, rushed forward to the line of contact. Unarmed and completely exposed, he moved among, as well as in front of the advancing troops, giving aid to the wounded, assisting in their evacuation, giving words of encouragement, and administering the last rites to the dying. When a wounded paratrooper was standing in shock in front of the assaulting forces, Chaplain Watters ran forward, picked the man up on his shoulders and carried him to safety. As the troopers battled to the first enemy entrenchment, Chaplain Watters ran through the intense enemy fire to the front of the entrenchment to aid a fallen comrade. A short time later, the paratroopers pulled back in preparation for a second assault. Chaplain Watters exposed himself to both friendly and enemy fire between the 2 forces in order to recover 2 wounded soldiers. Later, when the battalion was forced to pull back into a perimeter, Chaplain Watters noticed that several wounded soldiers were Lying outside the newly formed perimeter. Without hesitation and ignoring attempts to restrain him, Chaplain Watters left the perimeter three times in the face of small arms, automatic weapons, and mortar fire to carry and to assist the injured troopers to safety. Satisfied that all of the wounded were inside the perimeter, he began aiding the medics–applying field bandages to open wounds, obtaining and serving food and water, giving spiritual and mental strength and comfort. During his ministering, he moved out to the perimeter from position to position redistributing food and water, and tending to the needs of his men. Chaplain Watters was giving aid to the wounded when he himself was mortally wounded.

Father Watters was with the 503rd Infantry, 2nd Battalion, Charlie Company, as they started the ascent to take Hill 875. He was given the option to stay behind, as many chaplains would do. He chose to stay with his boys, as he usually did when combat was likely. They would follow one of the steep ridges the area was known for. Delta Company to the left, Charlie on the right, Alpha Company would bring up the rear. Delta and Charlie companies quickly came under intense fire from what seemed to be invisible soldiers attacking from expertly camouflaged bunkers. By 3:00 p.m., Charlie Company was completely surrounded by 200-300 NVA regulars, with mortar rounds, automatic weapons fire and B-40 rockets continuously raining down on them. Throughout the day, Watters repeatedly risked his life to retrieve injured soldiers, even though it always meant leaving the relative safety of his own company’s perimeter. In one documented incident, a wounded paratrooper suffering from shock was standing in front of assaulting forces. Chaplain Watters ran forward without hesitation, ignoring numerous attempts to restrain him, picked up the man on his shoulders and carried him to safety. Futile attempts to resupply the company in this inaccessible area saw six helicopters shot down. Desperate calls for airstrikes were made as the sun set. One 500 lb. bomb dropped by a U.S. Marine fighter-bomber just arriving on station struck only 50 meters from Charlie Company, killing 25 NVA troops preparing for a night attack. Tragically, however, another 500 lb. bomb from the same aircraft struck the company’s command post and aid station. Some 42 Americans, many of them wounded already, were killed and 45 more were wounded in the war’s worst “friendly fire” incident. According to a survivor’s account, Fr. Watters was on his knees giving last rites to a dying paratrooper when the errant bomb hit, killing him instantly.

He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.

Sticking with our theme, I thought I’d do some WWI history for reasons. WWI really isn’t a war that I’ve been all that interested in until fairly recently, having seen “They Shall Not Grow Old” and read A Rifleman Went To War (affiliate link to the Kindle edition. 99 cents? Really? How can you pass that up?).

“The Battle of the Somme” from something called “Epic History TV”.

And as a bonus: “The Battle Of Passchendaele” from the ” Timeline – World History Documentaries” folks.

I haven’t paid enough attention to firefighters. Let me fix that.

Vintage LA Fire Department propaganda film from 1949. Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

And the senses shattering part 4:

Bonus: LAFD and the 1st Interstate Bank Fire.

Extinguishing this blaze at the 62-story First Interstate Bank Building, 707 West Wilshire Boulevard, required the combined efforts of 64 fire companies, 10 City rescue ambulances, 17 private ambulances, 4 helicopters, 53 Command Officers and support personnel, a complement of 383 Firefighters and Paramedics, and considerable assistance from other City departments.
It is humbling and terrifying to realize how close we came to losing control of this fire!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Here’s a little slice of history for all of you “Emergency” fans out there: “Sirens In the Night”, a 1972 documentary about the Jacksonville Fire Department. Jacksonville was (according to the YouTube captions) the first fire department in the US to provide EMS services.

In November 1967, Mayor Hans Tanzler placed emergency ambulance service permanently in the care of the Jacksonville Fire Department. The Rescue Division began with six station wagons, each staffed by a chief and two firefighters, equipped with first aid kits and folding Army cots for stretchers. Within a few months the department equipped and staffed six new modular transport vehicles for continuous 24-hour service. Crews soon became aware that they were in over their heads due to the nature of the calls, a large proportion of which were cardiac related, so the department connected with area doctors eager to provide better training. With advanced medical training and better equipment, the Jacksonville Fire Department saved more lives, and Jacksonville became known as the ‘safest city in the world to have a heart attack.’

…

Notable accomplishments of the JFRD are:
1. Establishing one of the first Advanced Life Support (ALS) service in the nation;
2. Establishing the first Hazardous Materials team in 1977;
3. Becoming the first fire department to successfully extinguish a fully involved petroleum tank fire

Bonus video: from 1959, Mike Wallace interviews Rod Serling.