Charles Norman Shay, Combat Medic - HISTORY

Native elder Charles Norman Shay was a combat medic with 1st Infantry or “The Big Red One” – one of the first units to land ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day. It was his very first day of combat in his life.

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In a Mail Call video, R. Lee Ermey answers a question from Rusty of Laurel Hill, Florida, who wants to know what the first helicopter used in combat was. Ermey explains that Russian emigrant Igor Sikorsky was the inventor of this helicopter, called the R-4. The year of 1943 was when Sikorskys R-4 became the worlds first helicopter to go into mass production; it was also the first helicopter in U.S. Military service and the first to operate from a ships deck. After a few modifications, the helicopter became the YR-4B and on April 25th, 1944 it became the first helicopter to ever fly in combat. Pilot LT. Carter Harmon used the YB-R4 to rescue 4 men who had crash landed in extremely rough terrain.

In this video clip of History's Mail Call, host R. Lee Ermey takes a look at what kind of rockets were the first used in combat. In 1807 William Congreve created the Congreve Rocket which was used in the Napoleonic Wars. It weighed 32 pounds and could fire 2,000 yards in about 29 seconds.

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