History of Sorts
(Originally Printed) WEDNESDAY. JUNE 16,
Ex-Marine Lena Basilone dies
Obituary: Services Wednesday for longtime Lakewood resident. Lena Basilone, former Marine, tireless volunteer and wife of America&#;s first Word War II Medal of Honor recipient, died Friday. She was
Lena Mae Riggi was born March 7, in Portland, Ore. to Italian Sicilian immigrants. After leaving Oregon, she attended business school. When WWII broke out, she found herself enlisted in the Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton. &#;She served as a field cook (on the base), and her title was Sergeant,&#; said Barbara Garner, longtime friend and roommate. &#;Her attitude was &#;I can do anything they (men) can do.&#; &#;
It was during this time that she caught the eye of a decorated Marine, a man who was the United States&#; first WWII war hero. His name was John Basilone. John had been stationed in the Pacific theater of the war. After defending a narrow pass and annihilating an entire enemy regiment on the island of Guadalcanal in , John was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The medal is the United States&#; top honor for war-time duties.
John returned home to ticker-tape p
Thanks to a character in the recent television series called &#;The Pacific&#;, the name of a female Marine has made an appearance on the pop culture radar: Lena Mae Riggi.
If the name does not sound familiar, you may recognize her married name: Basilone.
She was the wife of John Basilone, one of the famous Marines every Marine Corps recruit learns about at boot camp. He is often discussed in Marine Corps history classes but no one ever mentions that his wife was a Marine too.
The television show featured her as a significant character in the final episode: &#;The Pacific&#; Part 8: Iwo Jima:While he is training a company of recruits in the fine art of killing Japanese, Basilone meets Lena Riggi, a female Marine just turned 30 and cynical as hell about the advances of yet another lonely guy in uniform, especially a celebrity who can get the best tables at the nicest restaurants.
But the cynicism did not last, and Lena and John married in the summer of
(source)
Not long after their wedding he shipped out to Iwo Jima and in February of he was killed in battle. This is where the television show concludes and unfortunately for curious viewers, the show apparently did not
John Basilone Biography
John Basilone(November 4, – February 19, ) was a United States Marine Corpsgunnery sergeant who was killed in action during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal Campaign, and the Navy Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was the only enlisted Marine to receive both of these decorations in World War II.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps on June 3, , after serving three years in the United States Army with duty in the Philippines. He was deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in August , he took part in the invasion of Guadalcanal. In October, he and two other Marines used machine guns to hold off an attack by a far numerically superior Japanese force. In February , he was killed in action on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima, after he single-handedly destroyed an enemy blockhouse and led a Marine tank under fire safely through a minefield.
He has received many honors including being the namesake for streets, military locations, and two United States Navy destroyers.
Early life and e
After John Basilone arrived at Camp Pendleton, where he trained Marines for upcoming Pacific battles, he met Lena Riggi. She was also a Marine sergeant (albeit reservist) who had one less stripe than John. Magdalena ogorek biography Magdalena Ogórek - profil osoby w bazie Filmografia, nagrody, biografia, wiadomości, g: biography. Eunetta t boone biography of alberta Eunetta T. Boone, a writer and producer for popular television domestic comedies who began as a sports reporter for The Evening Sun, died of an apparent heart attack last Missing: alberta. Farida jalal biography in hindi Watch Farida Jalal Biography in Hindi (बायोग्राफी इन हिंदी) and Know about Her Life Story and Unknown ibe for More Biographies - Jorge lopez monge y lorena rojas biography Jorge Monje, el viudo de la actriz Lorena Rojas fue encontrado sin vida en su casa de Miami, este 22 de enero de , según la publicación del medio estadounidense . Sam springsteen biography Sam Ryan Springsteen is the youngest child of iconic musician Bruce Springsteen and his wife Patti Scialfa. Though his parents have attained immense success and recognition in the music . Kanimozhi mp biography Who is Kanimozhi? Kanimozhi Karunanidhi is a politician, poet and journalist. She is a Member of Parliament, representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. Kanimozhi is the daughter of the . Marcy dermansky biography Marcy Dermansky is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Hurricane Girl, Very Nice, The Red Car, Bad Marie, and Twins. She has received fellowships from MacDowell and The .
BASILONE-LENA
James Brady, in his book Hero of the Pacific, quotes Basilone's recollection of the first time he saw the woman he would marry:
"I saw her as I came down the serving line. She was dark - Italian or Spanish kind of dark. Black hair, dark eyes, and she walked around like she owned the place At first it was just a look between us. There was nothing on it. No wink or smile like we knew something special between us. It was just her looking at me from a distance taking stock of me and me looking back at her. I nodded and she might have nodded, or not, but she wasn't falling all over herself, to get to know me. I liked this girl. She was tough. And she was a sergeant, the rules against fraternizing [with enlisted female personnel] didn't apply." (Brady, Hero of the Pacific, pages )
Everyone knew about Basilone's Medal of Honor. He was famous. He'd traveled a
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