My father Ralph Moerschbacher Sr. served in World War II and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day at 10:25 in the morning.
He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day as a combat medic and was with a 29 Temperature Division He was first wounded on July 12,1944 during the battle of St. Lo while advancing through Germany and awarded the Purple Heart. Following seven weeks in a hospital in England, he returned to active duty in September and was wounded again while on duty with the First Army in Germany on November 18, 1944. He had been overseas for 26 months at that time. He served his country honorably and came home and married my mother. Dad worked on the railroad for 33 years. I am so proud of him as he is my Hero. He was also awarded the Bronze Star for bravery. This is what America is all about willing to put ones life in harms way for a greater cause.
At age 19, I loved airplanes and that is why I joined the Air Force. I served in the USAF, 20th Tactical Support Squadron from June 1971 to June 1972 as a Radio Operator 29353. My unit was in DaNang, but I was in different places and country as a radio operator. I served in Vietnam in 1970. The most challenging aspect of being a radio operator was making sure that you had the proper coordinates for the targets they had to be bombed. The group picture shows five of my Air Force buddies at the DaNang airbase in South Vietnam. I am third from the right in this picture. My friend, Captain David Yoakum who was a pilot got shot down and killed on June 25, 1972, three days after I left Vietnam. I still keep in contact with his brother and a couple years ago I met his daughter who is three years old at the time and we filled her in on her dad and what a great person he was.
My great, great grandfather was within Company D of the 177th Pennsylvania volunteers in the Civil War. My grandfather was in the Navy and served on a destroyer in World War II. Dad also had a brother, my Uncle Paul who participated in WWII as well. One of my brothers was in the Army and the other was I the Navy. My wife, Linda is also a Veteran and served in the USAF from 1970 to 1974.
In approximately 1985, I met Senator Barry Goldwater in Alaska. With my prior experience as a radio operator, I used to run MARS phone patches through his ham radio station, which was AFA7UGA in Scottsdale, Arizona. What a thrill!
I have a little bit of humor. About three or four years ago I found out that my boss in Vietnam only lives about 40 miles from me, so I went to see him and the first thing he said to me wasn’t “Hello”, but instead he said “You’re still ugly!”
~ Ralph Moerschbacher, Vietnam Vet
STORY LINK: medium.com/@SoldiersWhisper/this-is-what-america-is-all-about-3497e089736f#.gq1rub9px
We are very thankful to Ralph for sharing his story with Comes A Soldier’s Whisper veteran tribute page and invite you to share your service photos and a memory of your wartime experience.
God Bless all who keep us safe.
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