Hershel i was born and raised in the country. At the time of growing up, myhed father was in the dairy business. We were farm people, and we lived in a farm community. There were 11 kids born to our family. Some of them back in the teens, and when the flu hit in 1918, the epidemic came along, we lost most of them. But five of us survived. I wasnt born yet. I wasnt born until 1923. Of course, the flu epidemic ended in 1919. But we had no military influence in our community at all. There was no bases. People who went in the army back at that time, and we didnt know there was any other branch of the service, because we thought everybody went into the army. The army was the army and included everybody. The army or military service was not too well thought of in those days. You went in the army because you were in trouble with the law or you were too lazy to work. Thats the only reason you went into the military. We had a couple of fellows in our community who apparently didnt like to farm.
Up up, my father was in dairy business. We were farm people and we lived in a farm community. We had 11 kids born to our family. Some of them back in the teens and when the flu hit in 1918, the epidemic came along, we lost most of them. But five of us survived. I wasnt born yet. I wasnt born until 1923. Of course the flu epidemic ended in 1919. We had no military influence in our community at all. There was no bases. People who went in the army back at that time and we didnt know there was any other branch of the service. Because we thought everybody went into the army. The army was the army and included everybody. The army or military service was not too well thought of in those days. You went in the army because you were in trouble with the law or you were too lazy to work. Thats the only reason you went into the military. We had a couple of fellows in our community whoa apparently didnt like to farm. They didnt like hoeing corn and putting up hay and whatever. Those two fellows thou
Gunman opened fire at the garlic festival. The spirit isnt broken and they will rebound. First that new information, the Coroners Office said it was a self inflicted gunshot that killed the gunman. He was hit several times by the deputies bulleteds. The new information does not alter what happened. It changes nothing, the officers got there fast, engaged him fast, drew his fire and eliminated the threat. If he fired the final shot or not checks nothing. The information comes as people are working to move forward as a united community. Many people we spoke with say they are in shock, they wont let what happened keep the town hostage. They are trying to figure out to not forget what happened but keep the town gilroy strong. Its been a tough week for the people of gilroy. Shock to disbelief to outright tram tyization. Tram iced. People are trying to put their lives back together. Weve served 350 victims at the family assist abs center. In downtown people are trying to find a sense of norm
We aim to be the best of the best and we volunteered to be the best of the best. When you volunteered for rangers, what changed from your training as a regular army soldier . Aonard i have to go to ranger school, to begin with, that specialized in many things regular troops do not have to submit to. It is altogether different, a specialized field, a specialized mission, and you have to cope and train for that mission or whatever it may be. When did you actually Enter Service . June of at was in 1940 two. Right after pearl harbor. Your first combat action, was that in normandy . Leonard my first combat action, yes. About,dont you tell me from your training in the states , tell me about your trip over to england and the preparation you made for the normandy invasion. Lomell i have to tell you that from my point of view, because i dont think the troops of which i was a part of had any knowledge, advanced knowledge, that dday would be our first combat. ,e were ready for combat then but the
Training as a regular army soldier . Mr. Lomell i have to go to a ranger school, to begin with, that specialized in many things regular troops do not have to submit to. It is altogether different, a specialized field, a specialized mission, and you have to cope and train for that mission or whatever it may be. When did you actually Enter Service . Mr. Lomell that was in june of 1942. Right after pearl harbor. Your first combat action, was that in normandy . Mr. Lomell my first combat action, yes. Why dont you tell me about, from your training in the states, tell me about your trip over to england and the preparation you made for the normandy invasion. Mr. Lomell i have to tell you that from my point of view, because i dont think the troops of which i was a part of had any knowledge, advanced knowledge, that dday would be our first combat. We were ready for combat then, but they were going to give us specialized training, so the training i got after i entered the rangers was generalized