Everyday Patriot

Flight Officer Jackie Coogan was born John Leslie Coogan on October 26, 1914, in Los Angeles, California. His father was a successful vaudeville performer, and as a child, Flight Officer Coogan would perform with his father.  Flight Officer Coogan's talent attracted the attention of Charles Chaplin. He soon moved over to silent films, taking on a few small parts before landing the role of The Kid in Charlie Chaplin's movie "The Kid." Flight Officer Coogan worked steadily as an actor until he was ten. Then, he began attending the Urban Military Academy. He also, during this period,  participated in a charity called Near East Relief. Which provided clothing, food, and other sundries to Armenia and Syrian victims of the Ottoman Empire. Flight Officer Coogan briefly attended several California universities but struggled to settle down in academics. When Flight Officer Jackie Coogan was twenty, he was the only survivor of a severe automobile accident that took the lives of...

Private First Class Eugene Arnold Obregon was born on November 12, 1930, in Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in June of 1948 and then enlisted in the US Marine Corps that December.  Private First Class Eugene Obregon trained as a fireman and spent his first couple of years at the Supply Depot in Barstow, California. When the Korean War began, he was reassigned as an ammo bearer, transferred to the 1st Marine Provisional Division, and deployed to Pusan, Korea. On September 26, 1950, he earned the Congressional Medal of Honor during the assault on Seoul after he ran into a firefight, armed only with a pistol, to rescue another fallen marine. Private First Class Obregon shielded the other marine, returning enemy fire with both his pistol and the other soldier's carbine, and kept the enemy pinned down during the evacuation of the wounded. Private First Class Eugene Obregon was mortally wounded during the fight and died shortly after the evacuati...

  Specialist Michael Reinert Blanchfield was born on January 4, 1950, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. While he was young, he and his family moved to Wheeling, a suburb of Chicago, and specialist Blanchfield graduated from Wheeling High School. He enlisted in the US Army in 1967, shortly after his high school graduation. He was assigned to the 503rd Infantry Division of the 173rd Airborne, and then Special Michael Blanchfield deployed to the Binh Dinh Province of Vietnam for the Vietnam War. Specialist Michael Blanchfield earned a Congressional Medal of Honor on July 3, 1969, during a search and destroy mission. A Viet Cong soldier threw two grenades into his unit's location, and Specialist Blanchfield smothered one grenade with his body, saving the lives of his team. He rests at the All Saints Catholic Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois. * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* **************************************** a.d. elliott is a wanderer, writer, and photogra...

  Major William Johnson Twining was born on August 2, 1839, in Madison, Indiana. He initially had plans to graduate from Yale University but fell ill during his first winter. After recuperating, he accepted the vacant Indiana candidacy for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point instead of returning to Yale. Major Twining graduated in 1863 as an engineer and was immediately deployed to fight in the Civil War. He served with the Engineering Corps during the Battles of Chickamauga and Chattanooga and as the Chief Engineer for the Army of Ohio during the Battles of Nashville and Columbia. Major William Twining would be cited for gallantry during the Battle of Nashville. After the war, he was assigned to West Point as an assistant Engineering professor. He remained at the Academy until 1867, when Major Twining was assigned to the Dakotas as Chief Engineer, where he surveyed the routes through those territories. After the Dakotas, he was assigned to inspect the Nation's lighthouses. In ...

Major George Herman 0'Brien Jr. was born on September 10, 1926, in Fort Worth, Texas. After graduating from Big Springs High School in 1944, he went to work as a merchant marine for a couple of years before enrolling in Texas Technical College in 1946. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in geology and began a career in the oil and gas industry as a petroleum geologist. Major 0'Brien also enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps reserves. On November 27, 1951, Major George O'Brien was called to active duty. After completing further combat courses and Officers Candidate School, he was assigned to Company H, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, and then he deployed to Korea for the Korean War. Major O'Brien earned a Congressional Medal of  Honor on October 27, 1952, during the recapture of a hill known as "The Hook." While wounded, Major O'Brien continued to lead his unit through a grueling fight that would ultimately descend into hand-to-hand combat. The US Marines would ev...

  Brigadier General Hazel Winifred Johnson-Brown was born on October 10, 1927, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Tredyffrin East Down Senior High School. She struggled initially to find placement in her secondary education, she wanted to be a nurse, but the West Chester School of Nursing was not accepting African Americans during this period of time. Hence, Brigadier General Johnson-Brown had to relocate to New York to attend the Harlem School of Nursing. She graduated in 1950 and spent several years working in the Harlem Emergency Room before she enlisted in the US Army in 1955. Brigadier General Hazel Johnson-Brown was initially assigned to nursing and training posts at the 8169th hospital in Japan, Walter Reid Medical Center, and Fort Sam Houston. She also continued her education during this period, earning a Bachelors's degree in Nursing from Villanova in 1959 and a Master's degree in Nursing Education from Columbia University in 1963. Her first significant ...