![]() ![]() (Courtesy photograph)Īt the memorial, Speranza explained to the uninitiated that the term “buddy,” has a spiritual meaning. Hunter, an Emmy-winning filmmaker recently completed a documentary that featured McBride titled “Rendezvous With Destiny,” about the World War II exploits of three 101st Airborne veterans. Young enough to be his grandkids, Hunter and Lindley were often by his side at events. ![]() And we all wept with grief and joy, at the chapel or livestreaming the service on video.Īll the way into 2022, Dan McBride was accompanied by his friends and escorts, Tracie Hunter and Dale “Friday” Lindley. “Oh, Danny boy, the pipes are calling, oh Danny, how I love you so.” Leaning on his cane, the old Screaming Eagle vet stepped down from the pulpit. ![]() Recently, at Dan’s memorial celebration in Silver City, N.M., his buddy, “Vinnie,” sang a different song, a clear-throated rendition of “Danny Boy” that would make the Irish weep. Of the paratrooper anthem, he said, “That song wasn’t meant to inspire us.” Remembering his jump school days in 1943, he said, “The words in the song was a sort of psychological warfare, meant to scare us and make us quit Ö But I wasn’t going to quit.”ĭan and his 101st Airborne buddy, Vincent Speranza, could sing all the words, whether at reunions or joined with fellow paratroopers celebrating in Normandy commemorations of recent years. We ache even though he lived until 97 and was sharing the enjoyment of life with friends and family until the end. Many in the paratrooper fraternity who got to meet him are aching at the loss of Dan, a sergeant with Fox Co., 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. He ended the war to end the Third Reich at Hitler’s redoubt in Berchtesgaden. Daniel McBride, a leathery native of the Buckeye State, was a veteran of jumps on D-Day, Operation Market Garden in Holland, and the defense of Bastogne, all recounted wonderfully in the epic miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Dan, a super ambassador of the “Greatest Generation” veteran, was decorated with three awards of the Purple Heart, and a Bronze Star. Two World War II paratroopers I know of could sing all the words all the way into their 90s. “Blood On The Risers,” composed during World War II, is sung to the theme of “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and the chorus is, “Gory, Gory, what a helluva way to die and he ain’t gonna jump no more!” Most paratroopers can only remember the chorus about the rookie jumper who fell to his death. military who aspired to jump from perfectly good airplanes. But I only know of two who could remember all the words to “Blood On The Risers,” the morbid drinking anthem of any in the U.S. At any time, there are a couple million paratrooper veterans. ![]()
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