ALL ABOUT - OLDWARRIOR

Writing colleagues have asked about my background and why do I have such a wide diversity of articles in my Port. The best way to describe me is to reprint this article ran in our local newspaper about me.

God Bless and good writing!

Oldwarrior



Who is Oldwarrior

By Lee James Jeffers

Editorial Columnist



Oldwarrior (Gene Ladnier)  is a VERY VERSATILE MAN. One would be hard-pressed to find a motto for his final resting place: except perhaps: "Been there, done that, so Lord, I'm coming home!" Truly, going to heaven is probably the only experience he hasn't accomplished, though I'm sure he has come very close after being wounded 7 times.

Oldwarrior is AN AMERICAN SOLDIER and TEACHER. He Joined the US Army in 1963, and spent two tours in Vietnam, serving with long-range reconnaissance and later the Arctic Rangers. He was platoon leader in manybattles; including 5 major battles. He has made a cavalry charge in Tombstone; a commando raid from a submarine, parachuted into Normandy on an exercise. He is a Ranger, Pathfinder, Master Instructor, Airborne, and Paratrooper who has jumped over 840 times and as high as 10,000 feet. He received 3 Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars for Valor, a Silver Star, a Cross of Gallantry, 28 decorations and 87 citations. His secondary specialty in the Army Miliktary Police. He was stationed in Alaska, Fort Bragg, Fort Huachuca, the Atomic Support Agency and Fort McClellan. He also taught Military Science to ROTC Cadets at St. John's University.

Oldwarrior is A DISABLED AMERICAN VETERAN who spent months in the hospital recovering from land mine shrapnel that littered his body, destroying one lung, damaging the other, and survived several gun shot wounds; Yet never considers himself a hero.

Oldwarrior is AN ADVENTUROUS AND COURAGEOUS MAN. He has traveled the world; spent 14 years overseas and speaks several languages. He has seen more adventure than Nick Dundee, and survived more dangerous missions than James Bond; yet he remains as humble as Forrest Gump. His many adventures from being chased by a polar bear and attacked by an alligator. He attended a French ball at Versailles, climbed the Eiffel Tower, parachuted onto the Polar Icecap, spelunked in deep caves, and hang-glided off 11,000 cliffs. Did I forget to mention that he also worked on a shrimp boat!

We'll have to wait until "His Gump movie" comes out before realizing the full scope of this man's talents and escapades.

(Other incredible experiences) Oldwarrior has rappelled from a helicopter, quelled a riot, was shot, arrested a criminal, survived in hostile jungles without food, slept in leech infested areas, ate snakes, dogs, bugs, and drank blood. He dug in the Roman Forum, slept in a Russian home, skied across Alaska, drove the Alaska Highway, climbed an iceberg and part of the Swiss Matterhorn, sailed across the Atlantic and Pacific, bicycled across Europe, rode on a camel in the desert, rode on horseback for several weeks long journey, took a Caribbean cruise, and shook hands with Mickey Mantle.

Oldwarrior is A DEDICATED AND HARD WORKING MAN. During breaks in military service, he was a private investigator and bodyguard. He finally quit playing around after retiring from the Army and became an Editor for the Southern Sentinel from 1985 to 1987. Moving to New York, he was Plant Manager for a Canadian company with over 600 employees; and he was Manager of a chemical company in Florida. Returning to Mississippi, he has been Managing Editor of the Southern Advocate for the past 12 years with "77" Mississippi Press Editorial Awards in all categories of newspaper production. (Plus 29 Advertising Awards) Updated!

Oldwarrior is also AN AUTHOR, ARTIST and CHEF. He has oil portraits in several museums and recipes in several cookbooks. He was born in Chattanooga, TN, and grew up on an Indian reservation with his Sioux Grandmother. His other grandmother was full blood Cherokee. Part of his youth was spent in Pascagoula Mississippi, (Where his life was saved by his friend, Senator Trent Lott when he was young), and in Oklahoma and with an uncle in New Mexico. A family in Pascagoula, MS, adopted him when he was 13 but after being placed in a seminary to study for the priesthood, he ran away to Chicago and lived on the streets as member of a street gang called The Scorpions and lived (Illegally) in the Museum of Science and Industry and History. Here in the silence of the museums, he became enchanted with history and found expression through writing. His love of history, his travels, and war experiences have furnished him with the desire and compassion to write six novels. His recently published 376 page Civil War novel, "Fame's Eternal Camping Ground (The Civil War Battle of Brice's Crossroads), is the result of his hard work and in-depth investigative reporting of true facts concerning that historic battle. Oldwarrior is A MODEST MAN. Fortunately, there is a flip side that would make many doubt what Oldwarrior has said and done in the past. If you knew that this calm, soft-spoken man cried at a Nazi death camp (on a visit in 1982), and is AN ORDAINED MINISTER and  Doctor of Divinity, you probably wouldn't believe he has been a bartender and bouncer, a male strip-teaser, drank beer in a German guest house, fought in an English pub, and smoked with Chinese soldiers. Neither would you believe that this man, so heroic in battle and skilled in the art of killing, is also an artist, with portraits in museums...when he can find the time to paint.Believe it or not - I have only scratched the surface...Can't wait for his biography to come out!

Oldwarrior is a complex man; (HE IS NOT QUITE PERFECT) but he is a dedicated husband, a father, a citizen patriot, and AN AMERICAN VETERAN who just happens to be "IN LOVE WITH OUR COUNTRY", and is willing to fight to protect the freedom we hold so dear. It is our honor to know OLDWARRIOR. He is a great Mississippian and fanatically proud to be from our great state.

You might want to get his autograph before he becomes a famous movie star or famous writer, or before some scientist start cloning him to save our country. Then we can say, "I knew Oldwarrior....WHEN HE WAS JUST AN ORDINARY MAN!"

UDC-Oldwarrior                    O Copyright, Lee James Jeffers



Oldwarrior's note: This was written several years ago and updated when I recently retired. All of it is true! There is also a considerble amount not covered in this small space.



Novels by Gene Ladnier

Omnivictus - a rewrite in novel form of the old classic movie “Them”, about giant ants who try to conquer the Earth. URL:  http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/omnivictus/11106838

Paradox-Hitler’s Granddaughter – Critics say it starts off like a Dan Brown mystery and explodes into a Clive Cussler thriller. A thriller that covers the globe and time itself. URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/paradox-hitlers-granddaughter/9188811

Glory II -The Civil War Battle of Brice’s Crossroads – Researched in fine detail, a fictional, but very accurate, account of the famous battle between Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, and Union General Benjamin Grierson (The Horse Soldier).URL:  http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/glory-ii/9187296

Rebel’s on a Lost World – Book One – A modern day community is teleported to a distant world. URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/rebels-on-a-lost-world-book-one---tops-rebels...

Rebel’s on a Lost World – Book Two – URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/rebels-on-a-lost-world-book-two-rebels-reveng...

Rebel’s on a Lost World – Book Three – URL:  http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/rebels-on-a-lost-world-book-three-rebels-reso...

Restoring Honor – a mixture of Ladnier’s poetry, short stories, articles and essays. URL: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/restoring-honor---an-oldwarrior%e2%80%99s-mem...