Bates Area Civic Association

I recently learned that one of our long-term community residents and my next door neighbor, Mr. Richard Briscoe, is one of a handful of survivors of the U.S. Army’s elite Second Ranger Infantry Company.  Six decades before the Navy Seals landed in Pakistan on their mission to hunt down Osama Bin Laden, the Second Ranger Airborne Unit parachutted behind enemy lines in Korea to valiantly capture a strategic hill during the Korean War in March of 1951.  A half dozen survivors of that unit still live in the Greater Washington Metropolitan Area and one of them, Mr. Briscoe, lives right here on P Street.  Mr. Briscoe is an unassuming, fun loving octagenarian and those of us who interact with him know he can always be counted on to make you laugh with a joke or a funny story.  I never realized what a true American hero he is until I read the article in Tuesday’s (May 31st) Metro Section.  There’s even a photo of him and three of his commrades on page B2 getting together to celebrate Memorial Day.  If you still have the paper, check it out.  Way to go Mr. B!