OLD IRON JAW

            One of the toughest men ever to grace planet Earth was born on Jan. 1, 1920.  Basil Plumley enlisted in the Army on March 31, 1942 at age 22.  He became a paratrooper in the 82^nd Airborne.  He made four combat drops in WWII –  Sicily, Salerno, D-Day, and Operation Market Garden. In the last of those he was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in the hand.   He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.  He served in the Korean War and made his fifth combat jump.  By the time of the Vietnam War, he was a Sergeant Major and had acquired the nickname “Old Iron Jaw” for his gruff, monosyllabic  personality.  It is doubtful that anyone ever called him that to his face.  He was the terror of all privates who crossed his path.  Plumley would have remained relatively unknown except for the movie “We Were Soldiers”.  In that true story of the first battle of the Vietnam War, he is played by Sam Elliott.  Some of his lines were straight from Plumley’s mouth.  Like when he responded to “Good morning” with “who are you, the [bleepin’] weatherman?”  He did tell photojournalist Joe Galloway that he couldn’t take pictures while lying on the ground.  Plumley was awarded a Silver Star for the Battle of Ia Drang.  He was a big reason why the outnumbered Americans did not panic under the onslaught.  He retired in 1974 after 33 years and 40 decorations.  Despite his justifiable reputation for being a hard-ass, he was married for 63 years. So let’s give a little respect to Deurice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_L._Plumley

https://www.historynet.com/farewell-to-csm-basil-plumley.htm

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/vietnam-war/we-were-soldiers-the-amazing-sergeant-major-basil-l-plumley-veteran-of-wwii-korea-vietnam.html