This Week in SigEp Patriot History, VOL 13/14, 26 MAY – 01 JUN

Brothers,
Greetings from the home office in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In this edition, the SigEp Patriots Project (SPP) highlights the lives, accomplishments and sacrifices of military brothers from 23 chapters, who served in at least one of six major conflicts over the course of 97 years. We remember 26 Brothers, one of which we salute for completing his military obligation, four that we added to our Facebook group, and honor the passing of the first SigEp killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

28 MAY 1917
Dropping out of Cornell, NY Beta Brother James Meissner enlisted in the Army Signal Service (the branch of the Army then tasked with flying) as a Private First Class on this date. One year and two days later, First Lieutenant Meissner was awarded his second Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism while in aerial combat over Jaulny, France during WWI. 

01 JUN 1939
On this date, World War I Veteran, U.S. Congressman (Virginia) and VA Eta Brother Private Joel Flood, U.S. Army was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia. He would serve in this capacity until elected as a judge to the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Virginia.

Brother Leonard Gerow

01 JUN 1942
"I believe they [the troops] are as well prepared for battle as any troops we have ever sent into action."

These words were spoken by Vera Cruz & World War I Veteran, VA Theta Brother Leonard T. Gerow, (then) Brigadier General and Chief of the U.S. Army War Plans Division, while observing maneuvers of American forces in Southwest Britain.

29 MAY 1943
KS Gamma Brother Raymond L. Childers began his WWII service with the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps on this date.

Last Week in SigEp Patriot History, 24 - 30 OCT

In this “Last Week” edition:
- A World War I Ace’s activity over France
- Birth of the internet by SigEp Citation recipient
- Death of World War II Veteran and Congressman
- A Brother who made the ultimate sacrifice
- Two more SigEp Patriots passed away this week
- A Brother safely returns from a successful Afghanistan deployment
- The SigEp Patriots Project and the official Facebook group continues to grow

28 & 29 OCT 1918
World War I Veteran and Ace NY Beta Brother Major James Armand Meissner, U.S. Army Air Service had his seventh and eighth (final) aerial kills over Bantheville and Buzancy, France, respectively.

26 OCT 1922
U.S. Army World War II Veteran OH Gamma Brother Robert W. Bishop was born on this date in Cleveland, Ohio.

26 OCT 1936
On this date, MI Alpha Brother First Lieutenant George Henry Cress, U.S. Army was born.

25 OCT 1964
Operation DESERT STORM Veteran MO Lambda Brother Jay Scott Danner, U.S. Air National Guard (Missouri) was born on this date in Maryville, Missouri.

29 OCT 1969
On this date the internet was born when U.S. Navy World War II Veteran and SigEp Citation Recipient OR Alpha Brother Dr. Doug Engelbart’s ARPANET (the precursor to the internet) computer at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) received the first message sent between two nodes. The message, sent from the SDS Sigma 7 computer at UCLA to SRI's SDS 940 computer, was supposed to consist of the word "log", followed by Engelbart's reply of "in", thus spelling the word "log-in". The computer at UCLA crashed after sending only two characters — "lo" — but those letters were instantaneously received at 10:30 PM local time on 29 OCT 1969 at Engelbart's SRI laboratory, making it arguably the birthplace of the internet.

26 OCT 1997
World War II Veteran, FL State Representative, U.S. Congressman and FL Alpha Brother Captain Donald Ray Matthews, U.S. Army died on this date in Gainesville, Florida. Born in Micanopy, FL on 03 OCT 1907, Brother Matthews was a school teacher, principal and member of the Florida state house of representatives before serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Discharged at the rank of Captain, Don served as an alternate delegate from Florida to the Democratic National Convention in 1952, and went on represent the Florida 8th District in the U.S. Congress from 1953-67. Respect can be paid to Brother Matthews at the Hawthorne Cemetery, Hawthorne, FL.