InfoAnda - Obama's Gramps: Backing Patton's army after D-Day

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Entourage creator says movie of hit show will happen | | 29 July 2011
Russia TV pokes fun at ruling tandem in New Year cartoon | 2 January 2011
Cory Aquino dies; Philippine people power heroine | International | | 1 August 2009

Actor Ryan Reynolds buried on film but not by fame | 24 September 2010

">Forum Views () ">Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Obama's Gramps: Backing Patton's army after D-Day

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Search Search: Obama's Gramps: Backing Patton's army after D-Day By NANCY BENAC,Associated Press Writer AP - Monday, June 1 WASHINGTON - Surely, Stanley Dunham was gazing skyward 65 years ago, on D-Day. ADVERTISEMENT Dunham, the man whom Barack Obama would one day call Gramps, was a 26-year-old supply sergeant stationed near the English Channel with the U.S. Army Air Forces when the invasion of Normandy at last began. Six weeks later, he crossed the Channel, too, and followed the Allied front across France. A year later, he was on track to fight in Japan when the atom bomb sent him home instead. Dunham, who died 17 years ago, was the Kansas-born grandfather with the outsized personality who helped to fill the hole in the future president's life created by the absence of Obama's Kenyan father. Sgt. Dunham's war years have been something of a mystery, the details of dates and places lost with the passage of time. The units that he served in were unknown even to the White House. But a life-size portrait emerges from interviews and records unearthed by The Associated Press. On D-Day, documents place him at Stoney Cross, England, in the 1830th Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Co., Aviation. "This was the day we had all been waiting for," Dunham's commanding officer wrote the night of June 6 from their base near the English Channel. "Planes by the hundreds took off and landed at our field from dusk until dawn." His company supported the 9th Air Force as it prepared for the assault on Normandy and took part in the drive that carried the Allies across France. Dunham and the men of the 1830th came across six weeks after the initial Normandy invasion and followed the front through France, servicing airfields known by numbers _ A-2, A-44, A-71, and more _ in places such as Brucheville, Cricqueville, St.-Jean-de-Daye, Peray, Clastres, Juvincourt and Saint-Dizier. On this coming Saturday, the 65th anniversary of D-Day, Obama will visit the gravesites and beaches of Normandy, and look out across the channel that his grandfather crossed from a staging area at Southampton, England. "I knew him when he was older," Obama said of his grandfather in 2007. "But I think about him now and then as he enlisted _ a man of 23, fresh-faced with a wise-guy grin." To the 75 men of Dunham's company, he was a good guy to have around. For one thing, he taught the men how to use their new gas masks. He also came up with a radio, games and books for a day room that Dunham's commanding officer described as "a swell place to spend an evening." And when the 1830th had a party in the gym three days after D-Day, they had Dunham to thank for it. On May 31, 1944, payday, Dunham had taken up a collection of 35 British pounds _ about $150 in today's dollars _ to finance the event. He lined up a convoy of girls from Southampton who, the men hoped, would be "simply smashing," as his commanding officer, Frederick Maloof, wrote in his diary. "The party was a huge success, except that the beer ran out about 10:30 p.m.," 1st Lt. Maloof later reported. "All agreed that the orchestra was good. A few of the die-hards were still crooning over the empty beer barrels at an early morning hour." For all the good times, the strains of war were ever present for Dunham and his fellow soldiers. On the evening after D-Day, Dunham's unit dug 27 foxholes. "This was done in case of a retaliation by the Germans," Maloof wrote. On June 11, the first hospital ships returned from France, bringing tales of the "hardships encountered on invasion day." That same day, Maloof wrote that "our mail has not been reaching home, and the wives and sweethearts are beginning to wonder if we have gone across the channel on the first wave." The wives included Madelyn Dunham, back home in Wichita, Kan., with Stanley Ann, a toddler who would grow up to be Obama's mother. Madelyn, the beloved grandmother known as "Toot" who helped raise the future president, did her part for the war effort, working the night shift as a supervisor on the B-29 bomber assembly line at the Boeing plant. Her brother is part of the war story, too. Charles Payne, Obama's great-uncle, in 1945 helped liberate a sub-camp of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald, which Obama will visit this Friday. Stanley Dunham's older brother Ralph, another great-uncle to Obama, also is a branch in the wartime family tree. Ralph was called up after Stanley enlisted. He landed at Normandy's Omaha Easy Red beach on D-Day plus four, then worked his way through France, Italy and Germany as an assignment and personnel officer. In the months before the invasion, the brothers met up twice in England while on leave. Once, they came across each other by happenstance in London, where Ralph was staying at the Russell Hotel. "I walked down the steps and there was my brother sitting on a settee," 92-year-old Ralph Dunham said in interview with the AP. It turned out that Stanley's hotel had run out of rations and he was sent to the Russell in search of food. The two Kansas boys _ each 6-foot-2, by Ralph's recollection _ spent the rest of their leave together, touring the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace and other sites with a helpful taxi driver. At night, they sampled the London theater offerings. Ralph remembers they saw "Hamlet." The brothers had a double portrait snapped to send home _ after Stanley borrowed a jacket from a fellow member of the 9th Air Force so they'd both be in uniform. The February 1944 portrait is one that Ralph still treasures. Late in July, six weeks after D-Day, Stanley Dunham's unit crossed the English Channel and landed at Omaha Beach. "After looking over the Atlantic wall, with its pill boxes, we all agreed it was a miracle that the Allies were able to land," Maloof wrote. In his autobiography, Obama reports that during the war his grandfather was "sloshing around in the mud of France, part of Patton's Army." That's right, at least for a few months. In February 1945, at Saint-Dizier, Dunham's unit was assigned to Patton's 3rd Army, and Dunham remained in that company until early April. Prior to February, Dunham's unit had supported 1st Army operations. Obama sketches Dunham as a man with a wild streak early on who settled down to sell furniture and life insurance. By the time he joined the Army, he already had lived large. He'd been thrown out of his high school in El Dorado, Kan., for punching the principal in the nose. For three years he'd lived off odd jobs, "hopping rail cars to Chicago, then California, then back again, dabbling in moonshine, cards and women," Obama wrote in his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father." Dunham had also fallen in love with a woman from the other side of the tracks _ the good side _ and married her. He eloped with Madelyn Payne just before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, on Dec. 7, 1941, and he was quick to enlist after the Japanese attack. "He was really gung-ho," remembers Ralph. "He didn't have to go because he was married. He could have held off." He was inducted at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., on Jan. 15, 1942. That November, while Dunham still was stationed stateside, he got leave to come home to Kansas when his daughter, Stanley Ann, was born at Fort Leavenworth. Her unusual name, Obama wrote, was "one of Gramps' less judicious ideas _ he had wanted a son." The family called her Stannie. Later, she would be known as Ann. In December 1942, weeks-old Stanley Ann makes her appearance as a dependent on Dunham's pay records. (He's earning $22 a month, with $6.70 deducted for life insurance.) Dunham spent the first year and a half of his war service stateside, part of it in the 1802nd Ordnance Medium Maintenance Company, Aviation, at Baer Field in Indiana, now Fort Wayne International Airport. He transferred to the 1830th in March 1943, and the unit shipped out to England on the HMS Mauretania that October. "All officers and enlisted men alike tumbled out of bunks and hammocks to get the last view of the good old U.S.A. as it disappeared beyond the horizon," Maloof wrote. The rhythms of life for Dunham and the men of the 1830th emerge in the weekly unit histories recorded by Maloof. Men transfer in and out. There is field training. There is a lecture on mines and booby-traps, another on "sex morality." Typhus shots are administered. The company drills on the use of the carbine. The men take a 3-mile hike and bivouacked overnight. Time and again, they move on from one airfield to the next, supporting the front lines. A number of men go AWOL. Others are charged with drunkenness and disorderly conduct. Dunham's name turns up with surprising frequency, but his conduct generates nothing but praise. "Sgt. Dunham has been doing a good job as Special Service noncom," Maloof takes time to report in September 1944. At Clastres in France, stoves are issued to each tent "as the weather at this base has been very cold." French classes are offered. At Juvincourt, it is worthy of note when a small shower is installed, heated by a boiler found in the ruins of an old building. "It is the best bathing facilities we have had since coming to France," the unit history states. In October 1944, as the front presses forward, the men attend a compulsory lecture in the 367th Fighter Group area on "What to Expect When Stationed in Germany." It turns out Dunham could have skipped that one. On April 7, 1945, one week before the 1830th moves on to Germany and three weeks before Hitler commits suicide, Dunham is transferred "to the infantry," the unit history shows. Further digging reveals he was assigned to the 12th Reinforcement Depot, based in Tidworth, England, where replacements were being trained for depleted combat units. The war was winding down in Europe by then, with air superiority achieved and the Luftwaffe not a major threat. Ralph Dunham says his brother was sent back to the states to prepare for possible transfer to Japan in the infantry. Were it not for V-J Day in August 1945, "he would've been fighting in Japan," says Ralph. Stanley Dunham's military personnel file was destroyed, along with millions of others, in a 1973 fire at the Military Personnel Records center in St. Louis. The AP pieced together Dunham's war years from other records at the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama and the St. Louis center, and with help from historian David Spires at the University of Colorado. The richest details, however, come from Ralph Dunham and the private papers of Maloof, who died in 2005. Maloof's granddaughter, Tamara Maloof Ryman in Houston, searched through page after page to pry out details about Dunham for the AP. Four months after he transferred out of the 1830th, Stanley Dunham was discharged from the Army on Aug. 30, 1945, at Fort Leavenworth. Obama tells the rest of the story in his autobiography. "Gramps returned from the war never having seen real combat, and the family headed to California, where he enrolled at Berkeley under the GI Bill," Obama wrote. "But the classroom couldn't contain his ambitions, his restlessness, and so the family moved again, first back to Kansas, then through a series of small Texas towns, then finally to Seattle, where they stayed long enough for my mother to finish high school." Wanderlust sent the family on to Hawaii, where Dunham and his wife would be central figures in the life of their grandson after Obama's father left the family. Madelyn died last year at age 86, two days before Obama was elected president. Stanley, who called his grandson "Bar," died in 1992 at age 73. His ashes are inurned at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, commonly known as Punchbowl. "It was a small ceremony with a few of his bridge and golf partners in attendance, a three-gun salute, and a bugle playing taps," Obama wrote. That ceremony was 17 years ago. But Ralph Dunham is reminded of his brother every time Obama's face appears on TV or in the paper. "You know," Ralph says, "he looks exactly like Stanley. He looks exactly like my brother, only he's dark." ___ Associated Press writer Betsy Taylor in St. Louis and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: World At El Salvador inauguration, US turns bitter pageAFP - Tuesday, June 2 US, Russia begin new round of nuclear arms talksAFP - Tuesday, June 2 Signal failure indicates 'rapid' Air France catastrophe: officialAFP - Tuesday, June 2 Georgia hails 'successful' NATO war gamesAFP - Tuesday, June 2 First Guantanamo hearing of Obama eraAFP - Tuesday, June 2 Most Popular – World Viewed Last Titanic survivor dies in England General Motors files for bankruptcy Ancient eruption 'killed off world's sea life' Talent judge defends singing sensation Boyle GM aims for restart as Chrysler gets green light View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

Other News on Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Air France flight vanishes; 'very slim' chance of survivors
Jewish settlers rampage in West Bank
Taiwan's PVI acquires e-paper display firm E Ink
Militants kidnap 400 students, others in Pakistan | International |
Signal failure indicates 'rapid' Air France catastrophe: official
GM in bankruptcy, Chrysler gets OK for exit
Georgia hails 'successful' NATO war games
Bomb in Baghdad market kills 4 and wounds 13
Draft text at UN climate talks clears first hurdle
Netanyahu defies Obama call for settlement freeze | International |
Universal And Mattel To Make Monster Musical Together
UK finance minister caught up in expenses scandal | International |
British fugitive said he was 'attacked' by lover
Last Remaining Titanic Survivor Dies At Age 97
Ahmadinejad vows to reveal past government books
Oil price hits seven-month peak above $68
CNS Readers Vote Their Favorite Disney-Pixar Film
US: Unclear troop number remaining in Iraq cities
Afghan roadside bombs kill four ISAF troops | International |
Danny DeVito Sued By Film Backer For $500K
General Motors files for bankruptcy
Susan Boyle Suffers From Emotional Breakdown Over "Britain's Got Talent" Defeat
Israel throws out proposed 'loyalty law'
Cubans face hardship under new austerity measures | International |
Britney Spears Sued By Ex-TMZ Photog For 2007 Hit-And-Run Incident
Bomb discovery forces return of Iranian plane
Taiwan's PVI acquires e-paper display firm E Ink
Natasha Richardson's Will Leaves Riches To Husband, Half-Sister, Employees
Flu crisis boosts Mexican Calderon's ratings | International |
Sony Ericsson introduces Christmas line-up
Octomom Nadya Suleman And 14 Kids To Star In Reality Show
Billy Bob Thornton's Daughter Charged Over Death Of A Child She Was Babysitting
Draft text at UN climate talks clears first hurdle
Venerable US hotel sees future is green
Angelina Jolie Suffers Minor Injury On "Salt" Film Set
Energy from pig slurry helps fight climate change
Climate-change diasters kill 300,000 a year
African officials ask for climate change funding
Pakistan arrests Islamabad attack mastermind
Microsoft adds Facebook, Twitter to Xbox Live | Technology |
Japan's Irie eyes 200m backstroke record
NASA plans launch invitations to Twittering media | Technology |
Indian exports dive but manufacturing, car sales up
At El Salvador inauguration, US turns bitter page
Pakistani students missing after Taliban ambush
US, Russia begin new round of nuclear arms talks
Cinedigm touts Q&A as way of digital cinema future | Technology |
Disney buys mom-oriented websites from Kaboose | Technology |
First Guantanamo hearing of Obama era
US vows 'unshakeable commitment' to Japan security
S.Korea 'not ruling out' island raid by North
Israel PM says 'we can't freeze settlements'
Bangladesh asks for foreign aid after cyclone
Taiwan c.bnk to review monetary policy on June 25
Tired talent star Susan Boyle admitted to clinic | Entertainment |
Greece-set Ruins a bland, sweet-as-baklava comedy | Entertainment |
Cinedigm touts Q&A as way of digital cinema future | Entertainment |
Venerable US hotel sees future is green
Poland's Tatra highlanders make 'Oscypek' the old fashioned way
Harlequin exhibit documents a woman's changing world | Entertainment |
Terry Gilliam ready to take on 'Don Quixote' again
Hats off to Carla: Bruni beats Queen in hat poll
San Francisco Zoo To Award Men Mauled By Tiger $900,000
Catherine Zeta Jones Paid $5,700 Per Second To Star In Shampoo Commercial
Last Titanic Survivor Dies At 97
Murder Convicts Escape Through Front Door Of Arkansas Prison Dressed As Guards
Mysterious Deaths Of Tourists In Thailand Stump Investigators
Elderly Man Found Decapitated In Florida
All abducted Pakistan students freed: officials
EU assembly looks to clean up salaries
Ocean search for Air France jet with 228 aboard continues | International |
EU seeks to twitter continent's youth to vote
Four US soldiers among 28 killed in Afghan unrest
North Korea's Kim moves to anoint youngest son as heir | International |
Google to sell new e-books online
Five reported dead in violence in Iran city
Nigerian militants say British hostage refuses freedom
Fed to allow some banks to repay US for capital
EMC counters NetApp bid for Data Domain
Pakistani army rescues kidnapped students | International |
US newspaper ad revenue slide continues
Oil soars above 68 dollars to seven-month high
Economy Ahmadinejad's big election test | International |
Netanyahu defies Obama call for settlement freeze | International |
U.N. rights team probes Israel's Gaza offensive
Leftist Funes takes over as El Salvador's president | International |
Ban denies U.N. covered up death toll in Sri Lanka | International |
Iraqi sports journalist killed in northern Iraq
Pakistanis negotiate for kidnapped students
North Korea may launch long-range missile in weeks
UN did not underestimate Sri Lanka death toll: Ban
Microsoft unveils new Xbox technology, enlists Facebook | Technology |
Watson stars as Australia see off Bangladesh
Egypt dissidents ask Obama to push Arab democracy
Acer to sell Android netbook PCs in Q3 | Technology |
Intel unveils chip for ultra-thin laptops | Technology |
NKorea apparently moved long-range missile to base: US
At 25, Tetris still eyeing growth | Technology |
Samsung-Sony venture starts $1.5 billion LCD line | Technology |
AMD, Intel play computer server tennis | Technology |
SanDisk unveils netbook-targeted memory, drives | Technology |
Singlehandedly raising a Supreme Court nominee
Nokia says started deliveries of N97 phone | Technology |
Pakistanis recount trauma of living in Swat combat zone
Obama's Gramps: Backing Patton's army after D-Day
Paul and Ringo reunite for Beatles videogame | Technology |
NY offers podcasts of famed film and TV spots | Technology |
Calif. octuplets mom and her 14 kids get TV show
New Zealand, Malaysia in free trade deal: minister
S.Korea govt bonds fall on strong shares, data
Korea Hot Stocks
Seoul shares open higher fueled by econ hopes
S.Korea May FX reserves post record monthly gain
Tired talent star Susan Boyle admitted to clinic | Entertainment |
Miley Cyrus signs on for more Hannah | Entertainment |
NY offers podcasts of famed film and TV spots | Entertainment |
Paul and Ringo reunite for Beatles videogame | Entertainment |
Sade at work on first album in nine years | Entertainment |
Beatles videogame premieres with McCartney, Ringo
Emmy ceremony pushed up a week | Entertainment |
Salinger sues over Catcher in the Rye sequel | Entertainment |
GM's demise foretold, says filmmaker Michael Moore
Disney embraces Pooh for animated feature | Entertainment |
US fearful flier becomes frequent flier
Alyssa Milano commits to Boyfriend | Entertainment |
'Up' soars to the top of North American box office
Monster Garage rebuilt for Motor City | Entertainment |
Boyle rushed to clinic after talent show defeat
Sony Music back catalog comes to eMusic
Greenland eyes self-rule as it goes to the polls
Xbox Live links to Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm
Ubisoft puts players in new fitness videogame
Britain's interior minister to quit scandal-hit government | International |
Somali government forces seize ground in capital | International |
"Tetris" still a videogame star at age 25
Death toll at South African gold mine rises to 61 | International |
Israel's Barak probes U.S. on settlements, missiles | International |
Netanyahu: Call for settlement freeze unreasonable
Stark warnings for those seen traitors in Sri Lanka | International |
Suicide bomber kills six Afghan civilians | International |
Governments under pressure in EU Parliament vote | International |
Xbox Live links to Twitter, Facebook and Last.fm
Traces of cocaine 'found in Red Bull' in Hong Kong
Clinton arrives in Honduras for Americas meet
Pakistan to release cleric linked to Mumbai attacks
First Guantanamo hearing of Obama era opens
Google courts business customers with new products | Technology |
N.Korea's Kim names third son as successor: reports
Publishers look to music lessons on digital content | Technology |
Father of left girl pleads not guilty to murder
RIM pressured as rivals ready new phones: analyst | Technology |
N.Korea's Kim Jong-Il picks successor: reports
Lethal brew kills 25 in Bali: police
Pakistan 'to release' Mumbai attack linked man
RIM's CEO gets U.S. antitrust ok for Phoenix Coyotes | Technology |
Suspect jailed in Kansas abortion doctor's killing
Pakistan rescues kidnapped hostages from Taliban
AG orders protection in wake of doctor slaying
SKorea sends guided-missile ship to border: navy
Videogame makers EA, Ubisoft favor sports, sequels | Technology |
INQ Mobile to roll out Twitter-phone | Technology |
Taiwan dollar reverses upward course to end lower
Air China to inject cash into ailing Macau unit
Japan's Suzuki, Isuzu warn of loan losses to GM
NZ dollar firm but off highs; debt weak
SKorea, ASEAN sign sweeping free trade pact
Seoul shares dip after N.Korea missile report
Geithner says China confident in US economy
O'Brien's Tonight Show a work in progress | Entertainment |
South Korea, ASEAN complete sweeping FTA
China state press slams US debt purchases
FBI Investigating Suspect In Little Rock Army Recruiter Shooting
Australia mulls public funds for obesity surgery
Veteran Republican Rep. John McHugh To Be Appointed Secretary Of Army
Blagojevich's Trial May Begin April 2010
Obama Leaves Tuesday For Talks With Allies In Egypt, France
Update: BAF Says Debris Located; May Be Linked To Missing Air France Plane
Cheney Says Same-Sex Marriage OK If States Agree
Byrd, Oldest Sitting Senator, Still In Hospital With Staph Infection
Four U.S. Troops In Afghanistan Killed In Roadside Bombs
Minnesota Justices Grill Both Sides in Contested Senate Race
Rangel Apologizes For Joke About Obama Not Being Safe In Harlem
Israeli Comedian Dudu Topaz Accused Of Ordering Attacks On TV Executives
Greyhound Bus Passenger Beheader To Be Kept Indefinitely At Mental Health Center
Mel Gibson Goes On "Crazed Rant" At His California Church
House Actor Hugh Laurie Planned To Kill Himself On His 40th Birthday
Johnny Depp Feeds Hot Dogs To Sharks To Escape From Pressures Of Celeb Lifestyle
Daniel Craig's "James Bond" Shirtless Scene Immortalized In Popsicles
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01