D-Day. Omaha Beach. Killed In Action. Forgotten. Filthy Headstone.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- Fay Bolding was arrested Sunday 8 Dec 1940 by Sheriff D. C. Dix for operating a moonshine still and possession of both liquor and beer. Fay was denied probation and sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in jail. Sheriff D. C. Dix of Franklin County, AL set a state record for arrests for violations of prohibition laws.
He served his jail sentence from 14 May 1942 until 15 May 1943. No probation. No slack. No mercy. A full one-year and one-day in jail courtesy of the Alabama state record holder for prohibition arrests Sheriff D. C. Dix despite the fact he was law man of a sparsely populated county in comparison to other counties in the state. Hmmmm.
A little more than two-months later on 29 Jul 1943, Fay Bolding enlisted in the United States Army for World War II. He was assigned to Company G, of the 175th Infantry Regiment, of the 29th Infantry Division, aka The Blue and The Gray.
Less than 11 months later on 6 Jun 1944, the 29th Infantry Division would lead the attack at Omaha Beach on D-Day opening the Allied Invasion of Normandy, France. Two regiments of the 29th Infantry Division stormed the beaches while the 175th Infantry Regiment was held in reserve. Following the other two regiments of the 29th Infantry Division, the 175th landed at Omaha Beach during the later hours of D-Day or early morning hours of D-Day +1.
The eyes of the world were upon this young fighting man, an ex-convict moonshiner from Red Bay, Alabama. I hope Sheriff D. C. Dix thought long and hard about his boastful state record for prohibition related arrests and his throwing the book at Fay Bolding as the world leaned in to their radios listening for news about America's finest sacrificing themselves against Hitler's Atlantic Wall.
Private Fay Bolding fought them on the beaches. He fought them in the hedgerows. He fought them house to house. But on 12 Aug 1944, his mother and father laid their son upon the alter of freedom. Private Fay Bolding was Killed In Action. His twin brother Foy most likely sensed it. According to a hand-written note by his father James Bolding as viewed at Ancestry.com, the Army buried him in the temporary battlefield cemetery at Marigny, France in the 10th Row, in Grave 183.
Private Fay Bolding, Killed In Action, recipient of the Purple Heart Medal, Hero to the World, was dug up from his battlefield grave almost exactly 4 years after giving his life blood for you. His body was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean and delivered to his family in Red Bay, Alabama. There was no National Cemetery in Red Bay, Alabama, so his parents did what most every other Gold Star families did, they buried him in his hometown cemetery. They buried him on 19 Sep 1948. It was a Sunday. His father and five brothers would have carried him to his final resting place with his feet facing east to await a glorious resurrection.
His father James completed the application for his government-furnished white marble veteran grave marker on 18 Sep 1948.
While visiting Red Bay, AL for services on his Tiffin Motorhome, Trae Zipperer, Founder of By Memorial Day, walked the sacred grounds of Red Bay Cemetery and came upon the white marble ground level veteran grave marker of this American hero, a World hero, covered in disgraceful biological filth. The best way to describe it is black algae. The death year of 1944 left no doubt.
They deserve better than this. Trae cleaned him up, installed a pvc pipe flag holder, and displayed a new grave flag. Trae produced a TH-cam video for Fay Holding requesting a full pardon from the current Governor of Alabama. We'll see.
There was only one 175th Infantry Regiment - what you are referring to as "Regiments" are actually battalions of which the 175th had three. The 3rd Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment was held in reserve during the landings. Pvt Bolding was convicted and served his sentence in full before he enlisted in the US Army. There is no need to pardon for what has already been paid for. Pvt Bolding regretfully lost his life in the service of his country and was awarded the Purple Heart Medal, and the appropriate campaign medal with arrowhead device.
Wasn't he talking about the three regiments of the 29th Infantry Division? The 116th which landed on Omaha first, followed by the 115th which landed second and then the third infantry regiment of the 29th Infantry Division which was the 175th Infantry Regiment.
As usual, great job Trae! I urge everyone to pick a local cemetery and dedicate yourself to clean at least one veteran grave marker. I appreciate everyone's effort!
Thank you for spreading the word! We have 100 living Americans for each veteran headstone, so it is simply a matter of raising awareness with 1%.
I went to my father's grave last year to clean his marker, USN veteran. I also cleaned every Veteran's marker I could find.
Thank you for all you do.
Thank you for your service & gravestone cleaning.🙏
Great video and work! Keep it up. Thank you
I'm editing a few new videos at this very moment. I hope to release my Band of Brothers video in the next day or two.
Since I was a young man, I've always left a coin when visiting a Veteran's grave. My children and grandchildren do this too.
What I love about acts of respect such as cleaning veteran headstones and leaving coins is that it equates to doing the right thing even when no one is watching. I remember going to Andersonville National Cemetery and seeing a specific headstone among thousands where the top was piled with stacks of various coins. The soldier died a POW like the rest of them 160 years ago, but somehow people know to leave a coin there at that headstone. Nobody there but me, but the coins informed me of what was happening when no one was watching.
Thank you for sharing this info with us!
Thank you Trae! It's a great thing you're doing. I send people over to watch your videos to learn the proper way to clean these headstones. I hope the Governor responds and makes things right for Fay and the Boldings. 👍👍👍
Hopefully, someone with a connection to the Governor of Alabama will show her this video! I think she will take action once she becomes aware of the issue. Pardoning Fay Bolding would certainly create a tremendous amount of goodwill.
Thank you Fay Bolding for your service 🪖🇺🇲
Sorry to hear about your home and tornado!! Hope all is well. Was wondering and worried why you weren't posting videos. Keep it up and hope things work out in that department!
It's unfortunate that local cemeteries are often not maintained because of a lack of money. I'm glad my father and mother are buried in a National Cemetery -this way it will always be maintained.
Per the company morning reports he joined G co 175th infantry as a replacement on 20 July 1944, and was Kia 12 August 1944
Where do you find company morning reports?
@@theyfaceeast currently you ( or a hired researcher) have to go to the National Archives in St Louis to access them. I have access to an index of The 29th division morning reports for 1 June 1944 through the end of the war that I used to find this info. I know they are trying to digitize all the reports and put them on line but it’s a pretty massive effort.
Thanks for sharing a story about a small town, fogotten veteran who gave his life for his country.
84% of veterans are buried in their hometown cemetery. Only 16% of veterans are buried in National Cemeteries.
Contact the service organizations (American Legion, DAV, VFW, etc.) and provide them with all of your documentation and all of the governor's contact information (Mail, email, text, social media, etc.) to collect signatures and submit petitions to have this hero pardoned. Signatures should be limited to just vets but the general public as well. The pardon shouldn't be limited to just this hero but all veterans that have served this country.
The reason why he got time is. They got no tax off him. And all good gangs need to make cash. When you see what Politicans take, is a disgrace to the Country.
Well said! Back then the government was spending every dollar they could collect. Today, they just out-of-thin-air create an additional $1.5 Trillion to spend each year. Eventually, people are going to realize the U.S. dollar is worth less each time the government dilutes the buying power of a U.S. dollar. Nobody is loaning money to the Unites States, so there is no national debt owed to China or anyone else. Instead of drill baby drill, it's print baby print! I'm not sure why they hold themselves back at only $1.5 Trillion additional dollars created each year. Put on your Big Boy pants federal government and print $50 Trillion next year! Spend baby spend!
Yay your back 😊
Our house flooded during Hurricane Ian on 28 SEP 2022. Recovering from a natural disaster took me out of the fight for many months, but I hope to refocus my efforts again.
Thank you for your service to keep us free and safe. I impressed with the way you clean the head stones will you please let us know if it was pardoned thank you
Good to see you again.
Lost our home in the flood waters of Hurricane Ian 21 months ago. Trying to get back to cleaning veteran headstones.
Excellent work.Its nice to know there are others out there.I do this (work) in my local Catholic cemetery in NYC.I concentrate on KIA’s killed in wars past.Most people think I’m a nut to be honest.They just don’t understand why anybody would do this.I use D2 and Orvis that I purchase myself but that’s the least I could do.Some of the headstones are in poor condition and it is very frustrating.My father was a D-Day Omaha Beach veteran .I will be checking out your website after watching this video.
I wanted to ask how do you find out the location of the original location of burial before the soldiers were reinterred in the United States.
I am in so much agreement with you on who should do this work? …WE SHOULD ALL DO IT.
Thanks very much ,you are appreciated and they won’t be forgotten.🇺🇸
I can appreciate that the majority of Americans think we're nuts for cleaning veteran headstones. They think we are nuts, because they have no schema for why this is sacredly important. You and I know the cost of freedom up close and personal. Most do not. I research veterans using Ancestry.com, Findagrave.com, FOLD3.com, and Newspapers.com. I this case, on Ancestry.com I found a handwritten letter, written by his father, where he mentioned the location of his son's burial in France. I just follow the bread crumbs to where they lead me.
@@theyfaceeast Thanks for answering back Mr Zipperer.I just went to your site.Its very well done and will be sending out a donation tonight.I tried sending a message through the site but the verification picture thing kept returning and I don’t think my message went through or if they did your about to get 20 emails saying the same thing from me 🫣.Thanks again.
Thank you, sir.
If he’d have remained in Europe his grave would have been kept in pristine condition and had thousands visit.
From what I've heard, you are correct! I do plan to travel to Europe some day to visit the WWI and WWII cemeteries.
Thanks so much sincerely for honoring Fay Bolding. It is a disgrace that his resting place was left like that.
I found another D-Day veteran who was Killed In Action maybe 40 feet from Fay Bolding's grave. His story will be next. He parachuted into France as a member of the Band of Brothers! 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Pretty incredible to find two of these heroes just steps from each other in little ole Red Bay, Alabama.
I went to cemetery and fixed my uncle dad and grandfathers graves! Went back to pick-up and a mower had hit my uncles grave stone knocked it completely off the the base! He was killed in last few days of WW II! Called first of week they fixed it right up!
BRAVO sir. 👍👍👍
May God Bless, And THANK YOU!!
Good job 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 your history of Fay means more than anything that governor could do, except get up off of her money
Actually, I'm from a small town in ny state and we spent a lot of time in our cemetery, talking about families, leaving flowers. The headstones were always cleaned by the workers.
I rarely walk into a random cemetery to find the veteran headstones in a respectable clean condition. Most every time, the veteran headstones are in distress. Eventually, veteran headstones covered in filth will be a thing of the past.
Thanks for your service Shipmate. OS1(SW/AW) USN Retired...
Its great to see you back , missed you bigtime , please carry on with your true passage for all these veterans who gave all for me and you , lots of Love from Cheshire , England , your a good man please don't leave us for soo long again x
Thank you. We lost our home and belongings in the storm surge flood waters from Hurricane Ian on 28 SEP 2022. It took 18 months to complete our home renovation, which was an absolute nightmare traumatic experience. I am trying to put that experience behind me, so I can get back to where I was on 27 SEP 2022. Making progress! I appreciate you.
@@theyfaceeast Sorry to hear that nice to see back ,take care.
@@theyfaceeast I too am very sorry to hear that and am glad that you can now out that behind you. It was so nice for you to pop up today though. You have been missed, but I know some of us were carrying on due to you and your dedication to teaching us all about this!
Welcome Back!
Thank you. Recovering from a flooded house took me out of the fight for 18 months. Time to get back to work.
I Would, humbly, like to end your title for you ...
" A guy came by and fixed up everything nicely."
There, title is complete
Sounds like a good idea for an eagle scout project ⚜️
I have received several comments from Boy Scouts and parents of Boy Scouts letting me know about Eagle Scout projects! You are correct.
Have you got a petition? Link?
No, but that's a great idea! If you're willing to start a petition to reach the Governor of Alabama, that would be great. A woman in Wisconsin went to a townhall meeting to meet her Congressman to tell him about my proposed amendment to the United States Flag Code. That Congressman just announced a Bill for the United States House of Representatives to allow grave flags at veteran graves 365 days a year! This is a team effort.
Im not too far away in oktibbeha county, MS. Thank you for your service serving our country and for your service you are providing for our fallen heroes. I would like to help with this if i can.
This is a grass roots effort, so visit ByMemorialDay.com, watch all the videos on each web page, read the protocol issued by the National Cemetery Administration, and light the patriotic fire to clean veteran headstones in your local community. If someone already cleaned the veteran headstones in the first cemetery you visit, go on to the next one, and so on.
@@theyfaceeast thanks for the reply! I am currently going through all of the videos on your website and starting a list for supplies. Lets make this happen!
Went to the cemetery originally to clean my own family stones but ended up cleaning as many as I could before running out of water. I took an easier way out though and used a battery pressure washer and ran through some 16 gal. of water. But when done those stones looked new again.
The National Cemetery Administration promotes no pressure washers, no bleach, no acid, no plastic bristle brushes, no metal bristle brushes, and no powered tools. I appreciate you cleaning headstones. I am guilty of not knowing what I didn't know. The preferred way to accomplish the same speed, well actually a faster speed, is to use a battery powered sprayer to apply water first to wet the stones, then apply D/2 Biological Solution to the headstones, then walk away. They won't look clean immediately, but this process creates no risk of damaging the natural stone. Come back a couple months later and the stones will look great!
Thank you for your service. Times two!🇺🇲
Much appreciated
@Northcentral did you see this?
Thanks!
5,200,000 views and you are the SECOND person to make a donation on TH-cam! I salute you. The money will go towards this cause of cleaning veteran headstones. Thank you.
Sidesteps: Adventures into History TH-cam channel, Robert uses a special solvent for tombstones. Works really well.
It should not be up to the Federal to maintain state veteran head graves. The state should have that responsibility or state volunteers.
No. Its one of the few things the Federal Government actually does correctly.
Why grovel to the same government for forgiveness when they demonstrated to not care whatsoever in the first place? I doubt this guy would appreciate this service you provided to his memory being tainted with pictures of present-day politicians and repeated reference to his unjust conviction by the nation that ultimately betrayed him. Reference to his bravery and sacrifice is enough. No validation from governments and statesmen is necessary to revere these peoples' legacies.
And now we live in the most evil times in human history. We were tricked into killing those that tried to save us.
China is working on their aircraft carrier fleet. Russia is already at war. North Korea is now allied with Russia. Israel is under attack for rescuing their people held hostage. Iran is allied with Russia. The enemy is doing everything possible to remove God from the United States. Yeah, we are nearing Sodom and Gomorrah levels of wickedness.
You think the Nazis were trying save you?
What has a pardon to do with anything?
The idea of a posthumous pardon to a young man Killed In Action in service to our country relates to doing the right thing even when no one is watching. If the Governor of Alabama learned about this video, agreed this young man from Alabama is worthy of a pardon (he was a moonshiner, not a murderer), and held a press conference to present the pardon to this soldier's next of kin, it would make headlines nationwide. Does a pardon cost anything? No. Is there anything to gain from a pardon? Yes. First of all, it sends a message to all living Americans who may go into harm's way that they won't be taken for granted and forgotten after they come home in a flag draped casket. Second, it lifts a burden that is worthy of being forgiven. If you believe in the afterlife, then Fay Bolding will know. Third, a pardon in this case would create a TREMENDOUS amount of goodwill for the Governor of Alabama. 99% will love her. The other 1% needs to be shipped off to Iran for a reality check. And finally, the national attention will shine a spotlight on the plight of our veteran headstones covered in filth from sea to shining sea.
This stone will be white as snow soon!
I featured one of my 5th great uncle's headstone in one of my videos. I went there to clean it this spring. Upon arrival at the cemetery I could see it glowing white from a distance. Someone had watched my video and cleaned it up right a few months earlier. It looked brand new!
@@theyfaceeast That is awesome. I can see the ones I have cleaned throughout the cemetery when I go to check on them.They look beautiful. Which cemetery are you talking about? I think you have some in GA, not 100% sure, and I can’t remember where else.
If youre afraid to get chemicals on your hands, whats it doing to the srone?
I bathe with alligators in Florida rivers after midnight and ride bicycles wearing no helmet. The gloves are to keep the grime from getting under my fingernails. The cleaning agent is D/2 Biological Solution with an active ingredient known as a quaternary ammonium compound. QUATs are deadly on biological organisms but gentle on natural stone.
He broke the law , as it stood ,at the time....fair enough....no wrong was done by the courts...Leave well alone , nothing to be gained by anybody ....in this
Oh I beg to differ. You see the government pulled my grandfather out of high school and sent him to the beaches of Normandy. There was no high school graduation for him. What they should have done was given him his stinkin high school diploma when they pulled him out of his school desk and sent him off to get his guts blown out. After a couple hundred days on the front line of a World War, two times wounded in action, a Bronze Star for valor, a man can't go back to a high school classroom with children. He was an E-7 at 19 years old leading 39 men into fire fights most every day. I got him his high school diploma from the State of Florida for his 82nd birthday. The Governor of Florida should have hand-delivered it, but he didn't. It's never too late to do the right thing. Lesser folks receive pardons in America. A man who gave his life for his country earned a pardon.
You have just shown protesters where to go to vandalize soldiers' graves
No. He committed a criminal offense.
A stupid law.