Episode 17: A Memorial Tribute to All Who Came Home Alive During Operation Magic Carpet Shouting, "Home Alive in '45!"

<p>Operation Magic Carpet was the most extensive combined air and sealift ever organized during wartime. Elmer A. Struss, my father, was an officer in the Navy, one of many assigned this task and helped bring back home millions of soldiers at the end of WWII. It was called… by all the servicemen and women, as the scope expanded worldwide, as <strong>“Home Alive By ’45!”</strong></p><p>My special presentation on this Memorial Weekend is of the First Nighttime Torpedo Drop in Naval History, Operation Magic Carpet, and action in the theater of Northern Africa. Today, my words are a tribute to the patriotism about <a href='https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/eagle-lake-tx'>Eagle Lake, Texas’</a> Three Musketeers, as they were known in school in the 1920s and 1930s… <a href='https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=122634035'><strong>Robert Jack “Coogie” Ney,</strong></a> <a href='https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?n=elmer-a-struss&amp;pid=822006'><strong>Elmer A. Struss</strong></a> and <a href='https://post-register.com/fred-r-frnka/'><strong>Freddie R. Frnka.</strong></a></p><p>&quot;Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn&apos;t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.&quot; - <strong>President Ronald Reagan</strong></p><p>&quot;As we set today aside to honor and thank our veterans, let us be mindful that we should do this every day of the year and not just one.&quot; <em>– </em><em><strong>Beth Pennington</strong></em></p><p>&quot;Our flag, Old Glory, doesn’t fly because the wind moves it. It flies proudly with the very last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.&quot; - <a href='https://sidneystjames.com/'><strong>Sidney St. James</strong></a></p><p><a href='https://anchor.fm/sidneystjames' rel='ugc noopener noreferrer' target='_blank'>Anchor.FM</a></p><p><a href='https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sidney-st-james-writer-of-novels-a