Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran David Guralnik, who served in North Africa, France, the Philippines and Japan during World War II.
David Guralnik was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1921. Before enlisting in the Army, Guralnik worked at the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia under the War Department. In 1942, he left his job and enlisted in the Army. He then went to Maryland to start his training. Because he had experience in the War Department, Guralnik went to California to help start a new training facility for soldiers. This facility helped soldiers learn how to complete specific tasks overseas. These tasks included everything from working with bomb disposal units to repairing and retrieving disabled tanks.
After helping start the training facility, Guralnik served with the 142nd Ordnance Battalion in Texas. There he received some additional training before going back to California for more training. Guralnik was one of about 2,500 men who traveled from Virginia. They landed in Oran, North Africa, but soon went off to Marseille, France. Guralnik landed in France to a bombing attack from the Germans. He then went to Langres in France from there to set up an ammunition drop. While there, he and his battalion took command of several hundred German prisoners of war. Guralnik and the 142nd Battalion continued to move across Europe until the war in the European front was over.
Afterward, he traveled to Japan along with his outfit. When the atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki, Guralnik was ordered to go to the Philippines. There, he worked with the Philippine Army by giving them food, vehicles, and ordnance equipment. After serving in the Philippines, Guralnik promoted to master sergeant and moved to Tokyo, Japan. In 1946, Guralnik shipped back to the United States after being honorably discharged from service. Guralnik is still very active in helping the military and dedicates his time to giving back to the Veteran community.
For more about Guralnik’s service, go to http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc2001001.82309.
We honor his service.
Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay
Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.
It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.
Veterans History Project
This #VeteranOfTheDay profile was created with interviews submitted to the Veterans History Project. The project collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war Veterans so that future generations may hear directly from Veterans and better understand the realities of war. Find out more at http://www.loc.gov/vets/.
Contributors
Writer:
Editor: Essence McPherson
Fact checker:
Graphic artist: Kimber Garland
Topics in this story
More Stories
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Navy Veteran Ken Mattingly, who served as a pilot during the 1950s and later became an astronaut during the Apollo missions.
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Air Force Veteran Gavino Cavazos, who served from 1949 to 1973 during both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
This week’s Honoring Veterans Spotlight honors the service of Army Veteran Howard Brown, who served during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1969 and the Gulf War from 1969 to 1992.
We honor the service of David Guralnik.
My deceased younger brother Lt. Col Rodney S. Griffith is a potential candidate for Veteran of the day.
He served two tours in Vietnam as a USAF helo pilot. He also flew helo in President Jimmy Carters attempt to rescue American Embassy personnel from Iran [1979, I think] that was grounded by Sand Storm. After retirement for several years he was called back to Washington and was given presidential citation for rescuing more personnel [both American and S. Vietnam] from behind enemy lines than any prior patriot in military history.
He died of metastatic kidney cancer at age 63 in 2003.
Posthumously, the Texas Legislature named him a genuine Texas Military Hero. I can send news clippings if you consider him to be a candidate.
I served 2.5 years as USNR flight surgeon on the USS America during the Vietnam conflict. After military service I served 3-year residency at Baylor College of Medicine and VAMC, Houston. I joined Baylor and VA, Houston faculty upon completion of medical training. I retired 6/30/2019 from VA Service [exactly 1 year ago, today] following 34 years of federal govt service. I was Urology Service chief at MEDVAMC, Houston until above date. I remain a weekly volunteer.
I have patented a new urinary catheter–that will potentially prevent “Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection” [CAUTI]. CAUTI is recognized by FDA, NIH, CDC as being one of the most prevalent and most expensive to treat infectious diseases in USA and perhaps the world. I also have access to a second antimicrobial technology–invented by a female PhD infectious disease scientist in New England. The combination of device and antimicrobial each enhance the other.
VA, FDA, Baylor College of Medicine Institutional Review Boards and other regulatory and economic hurdles slow advancement of both the device and the antimicrobial technologies. These two technologies may never reach the clinic and patient care—because of the regulatory and economic hurdles. I have contacted 10 medical drug and device companies about some—but not the lastest–developments in both technologies. No Pharma company is ready to “join in”.
We seek VA advocacy!—and review our two individual, but mutually enhancing technologies!