Lightning+Joe

MDT = = || = =
 * ~ =General J. Lawton Collin=
 * = Lightning Joe ||
 * = [[image:090706_collins.jpg width="221" height="186" align="center" caption="(If Lightning Joe)"]] ||= Joseph Lawton Collins, otherwise known as Lightning Joe, was born on May 1, 1896 in New Orleans, Louisiana. he first fell in love with the navy. but then he chose to go to West Point for college. when asked why he said, "in the navy you have no home life." He served in World War 2 as a General. During the Korean War he became the Army Chief of Staff during the Korean War. Lightning Joe Collins was known for the his brutal tactics. He died September 12, 1987 at the age of 91 in Washington D.C.. ||

"Ours was not a traditional military family, nor were we old-line southerners. My father, Jeremiah Bernard Collins, had come to America with his parents from their native Ireland in 1862, when he was fifteen years old, following relatives who had emigrated to Cincinnati during the great potato famine in Ireland in the 1840s." page 1. In this quote he explains that his father is not of American birth and that they were not the normal military family that would have every member fighting in some war.

"After Pap's death, our mother quietly took over the leadership of our family. I was too young to know, but Mama had probably always been the sustaining if not the dominant factor in our lives." page 5. In this quote he says that after the death of his father his mother takes over the leading role in his life. But really she always had been he was just too naive to realize.


 * || [[image:NA004888.jpg width="163" height="244" caption="(General Joseph)"]] ||
 * || [[image:NA004888.jpg width="163" height="244" caption="(General Joseph)"]] ||

"Months after the armistice, in May, 1919, orders finally came directing me to report to the Hoboken port of embarkation for transportation to France. I was one of a group of Regular Army majors and colonels being sent over to replace officers due to return home. I was probably the junior man among them, but as the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry was still an active unit, i retained my temporary rank of major, whereas many more senior officers who happened to be with units that had been demobilized following the armistice had returned to their permanent ranks, which were usually on or more grades lower." page 25. In this quote it is saying that he had to more or less just role with the punches. He was the junior of the others, but he would still have to step up and prove he belongs with them.

"Gladys met me at the Nation Airport in Washington. Not knowing until the day before that I was coming home for Christmas, she and our younger daughter Nancy had gone up to West Point, where our son Jerry was a plebe at the Military Academy, to spend the holidays with Jerry and our older daughter, Gladdie, a freshman at the nearby Vasser College. Glayds had returned to meet me. She was a joy to behold." page 175 In this quote it shows that soldiers in combat rarely got to see their loved ones. when they did though, they would be overjoyed and happy to see them for they had been gone for so long.

"The only feasible way to cross in the 13th Infantry zone was by ferries. Despite heroic effoers by corts and division engineers to keep the ferries operating, all were shot away by noon. Heavy counter- battery fire and fighter-bomber support couldnot blast out the concealed and dug-in enemy artillery, mortars, and machine guns." In this quote it is saying that when facing down your enemy, they may be better or more prepared than you. But this cannot stop you from trying to over comoe these odds and succeed.

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Though this assignment i have learned that emigrants have had a much larger influence on our nation than I ever thought to be possible. Lightning Joe was one of the greatest commanders of World War 2 and without him we may not have won, and who knows what would have happened then. Our country would have come to a bitter end most likely. Also our history is riddled with unlikely heroes. Collins did not come from a military family and neither did Washington, or most of the soldiers in the Revolutionary War. This assignment has showed to me that in a time of need we as Americans have thus far always stepped up and playied outside of our skill if you will.
 * __CONCLUSION__**

__Bibliography__ Lightning Joe An Autobiography, Louisiana State University Press, 1979 "LT General Joseph Collins." //YouTube.// YouTube. 18 November 2009. Web. [] Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Lawton_Collins