I have now given the old girl a semi-proper OD paint job. It's time for some unit markings and such.
Yesterday I made the decision to honor my Grandfather's service to us by using bumper numbers from one of his units. Being former Navy myself, I'm cluless on Army unit breakdown. I decided that for this truck I would use the unit he was in when he earned his first silver star.Please see link.
First Lieutenant Rudolph F.L. Giglio
What I would need is:
Left bumper:
Right bumper:
Hood(Reg#)#(thinking of using his service # here) 063399
Anything else I should add?
Also....He was killed in action under suspicous(my Grandmothers words) circumstances. The Huey he was piloting (crashed) in S.E. Asia while his unit was forward deployed to Korea before the start of official hostilities. I know there must be a way to find info on this incident. Google is not alot of help. He was a LT. COL. when he died at age 36. A Green Beret, he was also a master combat parachutist, fixed wing pilot, combat glider pilot, and fixed wing pilot. His Class A's hanging in my Mom's closet are really something to behold. One of his hobbies was photography. We have some awesome 8mm films of him in the cockpit of a C-119 and then amazing film of him jumping with hundreds of parachutes in the air around him. I really need to transfer that film to DVD!
**EDIT: Just did some digging into some family history. I'm not quite sure why a lot of this info is not "well known" or "talked about" within my family. Could have a lot to do with the fact that my Grandmother never married again and this is still painful to her.
My Grandfather Rudolph(Gil) enlisted in the Army and attended Basic and OCS at Ft. Benning. He then was sent to Sapporo, Japan as part of the occupation force. After only 9 months he was reassigned to the 11th Aiborne division at Ft. Campbell, KY. From here he deployed to Korea, where he was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. Gil was then assigned to the Special Forces, Green Berets in Augsburg, Germany for two years. His last year in Germany was spent in Bad Tolz where he studied the Russian Language. Next assignment was to the U.S. Army Staff College in Leavenworth, KS. He was a Captain at this point. The family then moved to Ft. Rucker, AL where Gil went to fixed wing school and became a Major. Right arter this, he spent time at Camp Walters, TX in helo pilot school.
Gil was then Granted leave to attend the U. of Neb. to complete his degree in Military Science. He was there for about 6 months. Now it was on to the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA. where he became a Lt. Col. Again, the family was onle there for about 6 months.
Gil then recieved orders for Vietnam with the First Cav. Air Assult Division. He was ordered to Texas for training. However, because of the illness of another commander, before going to Texas, he was given the position of Commander of the First Air Assult Battalion training command in Korea for helocopter troop landing missions.
He died as a result of a helocopter accident on Feb. 9, 1965.
Sure does seem like a lot of moving around. Moving and making new friends on post is about all my mom remembers of her childhood.
To any of you Army Vets out there of this era....Does this seem like a typical career path for an officer of the time? I would love to touch base with anyone who might have crossed paths my my Grandfather!
Thanks for any help!
