Hershel W. Williams obit

Hershel Williams, last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient, dies at 98

Legendary soldier was awarded medal for service at Iwo Jima.

 

 He was not on the list.

Hershel W. "Woody" Williams," the last of fewer than 500 soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II, died on Wednesday. He was 98.

Williams was awarded the distinguished medal for service during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945, during which he took out several Japanese machine gun nests.

Born in 1924, Williams was 22 when awarded the medal. Several years ago described receiving it as a "lifesaver," as it "forced me to talk about the experiences that I had, which was a therapy that I didn’t even know I was doing."

The soldier served in the Marines for 20 years subsequent to World War II, eventually working for the remainder of his professional life at the Veterans Administration.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday said Williams would "go down in history" in his home state as "one of the greatest West Virginians who ever lived."

"[W]e salute him for everything he gave to our state and our nation," Justice said.

Williams, the youngest of eleven children, was born in Quiet Dell, Marion County, West Virginia, on October 2, 1923, and raised on a dairy farm in the area. At birth, Williams weighed 3+1⁄2 pounds and was not expected to live. His mother, Lurenna, decided to name him after the doctor who arrived at their farm several days after his birth. By the time he was 11, his father, Lloyd, had died of a heart attack and several of his siblings had died due to a flu pandemic.

Williams worked a series of odd jobs in the area, including as a truck driver for W.S. Harr Construction Company of Fairmont, West Virginia, and as a taxi driver. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was working in Montana as a Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee.

Williams received his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. Upon completion, he was sent to the Camp Elliott training center in San Diego, where he joined the tank training battalion on August 21, 1943. The following month he was transferred to the training center's infantry battalion for instruction as a demolition man and in the use of flamethrowers. The training, Williams said, was technical and focused on the flamethrower's design: three tanks, two of which held a mix of diesel fuel and aviation gas, and a third tank that held compressed air. There was little training on the operational use of the weapon. "We had to learn that ourselves", he said.

Williams was assigned to the 32nd Replacement Battalion on October 30, 1943, and left for New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific on December 3 aboard the M.S. Weltey Reden. In January 1944, he joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In July and August 1944, he was attached to Headquarters Company and participated in action against the Japanese during the Battle of Guam. In October, he rejoined Company C.

Jim Pappin obit

Former Chicago Blackhawks player Jim Pappin dead at 82

 

He was not on the list.

Former Hawks' player Jim Pappin dead at 82 originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago.

Former Chicago Blackhawks winger Jim Pappin died at the age of 82. He was born in
Sudbury, Ontario.

The news of his death was shared by another one of his former teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Pappin won the Stanley Cup with the Maple Leafs in 1964 and 1967.

After spending his entire career with Toronto up until that point, Pappin joined the Hawks in the 1968-69 season. He had a solid first campaign where he played 75 games, scored 30 goals and contributed 40 assists. His best season came in 1972-73 where he played 76 games and scored 41 goals alongside 51 assists.

The Hawks also expressed their condolences.

He played seven seasons with the Hawks, tallying 466 games, 216 goals, 228 assists and 444 points. With his 216 goals, Pappin ranks 17th in all-time goal scorers for the Hawks. During his time with Chicago, he never finished a season scoring fewer than 22 goals.

Pappin finished out his NHL career in 1976 with the Cleveland Barons.

He played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Black Hawks, California Golden Seals, and Cleveland Barons from 1963 to 1977. He won the Stanley Cup in 1964 and 1967 with the Leafs. Pappin led the league in playoff goals and points in 1967 with four goals and six assists in the Finals, including the Cup-winning goal in Game 6 on May 2, 1967.

After playing for the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League (AHL) in the early 1960s, Pappin played in 767 NHL games between 1963 and 1977, scoring 278 goals and 295 assists for 573 points. The 1972–73 season was his statistical best, when he scored 41 goals and 92 points with Chicago.

Pappin was added to the Toronto Maple Leafs roster during the 1963–64 season. He made his NHL debut for the franchise on November 23, 1963,[8] against the Boston Bruins at Maple Leaf Gardens. He continued to go back and forth between the Leafs and its Rochester affiliate throughout his tenure with the franchise. He won his first Stanley Cup in 1964, and played in his first NHL All-Star Game later that year.

During the 1966–67 season, Pappin led the league in game-winning goals and finished eighth in shooting percentage (15.3) and power-play goals (6). He went on to win his second Stanley Cup championship that same season, scoring the series-winning goal in Game 6. At the time of his death in 2022, it was the Leafs most recent championship-clinching goal. Although his shot was deflected in off the skate of teammate Pete Stemkowski and credit was given to the latter at first, they privately agreed to give Pappin the goal as he was in the running for a contract bonus should he score the most goals in that year's Stanley Cup playoffs. Pappin reportedly accorded Stemkowski with unlimited access to the backyard pool that he constructed with the bonus payment.

Pappin appeared in his second All-Star Game in 1968. He was traded to the Chicago Black Hawks on May 23 that same year in exchange for Pierre Pilote. The move aggrieved Pappin and spurred him to give his 1967 championship ring to his father-in-law.

During his first season with the Black Hawks, Pappin finished fourth in the NHL in game-winning goals (7) and fifth in shooting percentage (17.7). In the 1972–73 season – arguably Pappin's best season as a professional – he recorded career-highs in goals (41), assists (51), and points (92). He finished third in the league in shooting percentage (22.5), sixth in goals, seventh in goals per game (0.54), eighth in points per game (1.21), and tenth in points. He was also named to his third All-Star Game that year. Pappin proceeded to lead the league in games played with 78 the following season, and was again selected to the All-Star Game that year. He played in his fifth and final All-Star Game in 1975 and posted the second-best shooting percentage (23.1) in the NHL that year after Peter McNab.

Pappin was traded to the California Golden Seals on June 1, 1975, in exchange for Joey Johnston. He played his final two seasons for the franchise, which relocated to Cleveland to become the Cleveland Barons in 1976. He played his final NHL game on December 11, 1976, at the age of 37. Three days later, he notified general manager Bill McCreary Sr. of his retirement.

After retiring from professional hockey, Pappin worked as a scout for the Black Hawks. He continued in that capacity until the middle of the 1984–85 season, when he was hired as a replacement head coach of the International Hockey League's Milwaukee Admirals. During his tenure, the team posted a record of 12 wins and 14 losses. He subsequently returned to the Black Hawks as its director of U.S. scouting. He later scouted for the St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks

Aside from hockey, Pappin had a keen interest in harness racing and owned several standardbred horses. He also became a ran a tennis facility in his hometown. In 2007, his lost 1967 Stanley Cup ring was found by treasure hunter Mark DesErmia in the Gulf of Mexico. Pappin eventually struck a deal with the treasure hunter and the ring was returned for a reward.

Sonny Barger obit

Hells Angels motorcycle club leader Sonny Barger dies at age 83

Barger founded the Oakland chapter in 1957 and became the group’s US president, bringing them to international notoriety

 

He was not on the list.

Sonny Barger, a leader of the Hells Angels who was key to bringing the outlaw motorcycle club to international notoriety, died on Wednesday from cancer. Barger was 83. He was born in Modesto, California.

“If you are reading this message, you’ll know that I’m gone. I’ve asked that this note be posted immediately after my passing,” a post on Barger’s official Facebook page said. “I’ve lived a long and good life filled with adventure. And I’ve had the privilege to be part of an amazing club.

“Although I’ve had a public persona for decades, i’ve [sic] mostly enjoyed special time with my club brothers, my family, and close friends. Please know that I passed peacefully after a brief battle with cancer,” Barger also said. “But also know that in the end, I was surrounded by what really matters: My wife, Zorana, as well as my loved ones. Keep your head up high, stay loyal, remain free, and always value honor.”

Fritz Clapp, Barger’s former attorney, said that he died at home. Barger was previously diagnosed with stage four liver cancer, Clapp said.

“He’d lived a long life, and he’d been ill for some time,” Clapp said on Thursday. “Everybody around him had pretty much been prepared emotionally for it.”

Barger founded the Oakland, California, Hells Angels chapter in 1957, almost one decade after the club’s first chapter began in Fontana, California. Barger became the organization’s national president shortly thereafter, as the Fontana chapter founder, Otto Freddi, was imprisoned, according to the New York Times.

When Barger helmed the Hells Angels, he got into scrapes, took drugs, and raced his Harley-Davidson, Sweet Cocaine, along California’s expansive freeways. His rap sheet included arrests for drunk driving, assaults with deadly weapons, kidnapping, drug-dealing and racketeering, and he wound up spending time behind bars for drug counts.

Over the following decades, the Hells Angels became known as a violent outlaw gang with outposts spanning the globe. Barger’s tenure at the helm of the Hells Angels ended when he went to prison, according to a prior report in the Guardian.

But in an autobiography published some two decades ago, Barger said the Hells Angels were not a collection of cutthroat, anti-social bikers. Rather, Barger claimed, Hells Angels mostly behaved themselves, enjoying their out-of-date motorcycles and hard-partying.

Barger wrote that the Hells Angels had evolved dramatically since their inception. In the 1950s, they came together to ride motorcycles and party. In the 1960s, they were thrust into fame as emblematic of counter-culture rebellion, Barger said.

The next decade, Hells Angels evolved into a gang organization, spurring widespread condemnation. In the 1980s and 1990s, Barger said, Hells Angels were punished for the crimes they did and “and some we didn’t”.

“His loyalty to the club was unwavering for half a century,” Clapp also said.

Barger also appeared as an actor, including in the biker series Sons of Anarchy and film Angels from Hell. The latter depicted “a destructive ex-motorcycle gang leader [returning] home from Vietnam to resume his life. His desire to form a powerful gang has the police running scared,” according to imdb.com.

Filmography

Hell's Angels on Wheels (1967)

Hell's Angels '69 (1969)

Gimme Shelter (1970)

Hell's Angels Forever (1983), featuring Sonny Barger, Jerry Garcia, Scott Barnes, Johnny Paycheck, Willie Nelson

Sons of Anarchy television series, (2010–2012), played recurring character Lenny "The Pimp" Janowitz

Dead in 5 Heartbeats (2012)