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M Bando
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Hello All- My name is Mark A. Bando, some of you have seen me as a talking head on the History Channel.

I started interviewing WW2 vets in the late 1960s and in the past almost 1/2 century, I have 1,035 interviews with WW2 101st Airborne veterans, over 300 with 2nd Armored veterans, and a couple hundred with veterans from other miscellaneous units and branches. As such, I started researching the 101st almost 3 decades before SPR and Band of Brothers started a tidal wave of interest in that unit. Sadly, about 95% of the veterans I've interviewed are now deceased.

I've written and published 6 books on the 101st and one on the 2d Armored. Unfortunately, most of those titles are currently out of print, but used copies can be found on Amazon.com or with misc. used book dealers, by searching my name as an author. In 2008 and 2010, I was an embedded journalist with the 21st Century 101st Airborne in Afghanistan and I'm almost finished writing a book about that. (I was with the same company both times- the new Easy Co. in the 2/506th IN). To expand my research I also made 15 parachute jumps between 2005-2008 with the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team, most of them at low altitude, from a C-47. I guess I will post my 2 cents on various pages here in the future, when I feel I have something to contribute, and I have a tremendous resource of stories, facts and photos from the 101st and 2nd AD and also a collection of WW2 militaria, which is largely acquired from the many veterans I've met and interviewed.

I'm also the culprit responsible for devising the Type numbering system for 101st Airborne eagle patch variations. So I will share some of my collection here and am available to answer or try to answer specific questions pertaining to 101st or 2nd Armored history. I can also converse on the deployment experience to the middle east, in the GWOT. My next 2 book projects which are already in progress, are a collector's guide to WW2 'Screaming Eagle Artifacts', using mainly artifacts from my collection, and a photo book on 'Hell on Wheels from Normandy to Berlin.' I acquired some very nice photos from 2nd AD vets in the 1990s, when I was conducting interviews for my 3rd book, and since many of them were taken by individuals with their own cameras, there will be a bunch that are not Signal Corps or previously-published images. Also have some good untold stories to go with them.

Btw, in 2012, I finished and published a reference guide to collecting Waffen SS insignia co-authored by the late Michael Beaver , so I have some resources and info on Third Reich collecting, as well. I hope I will be able to bring some info and photos of value to this community in the future. If anyone has questions in my area of knowledge, just ask and I will tell you what I can.

If you are wondering about my ethnicity, I'm a 3rd generation Japanese-American, was born in Detroit and have never been to Japan, nor do I speak the language. In don't read chicken scratch writing, so can't help anyone with translations on swords or battle flags. My parents were also born in the states and they met during WW2, as a result of being interned in a relocation camp for Nisei citizens at Topaz, Utah.

As to career, I was a patrol officer on the Detroit Police Department for 25 years, 1974-99.

One last thing, my only son, 32 year old Christopher A. Leinonen was one of the 49 victims murdered in the PULSE night club, massacre in June of 2016. My life since then has been difficult and one of my major means of coping has been to immerse myself in historical projects and activities. The attached photo of me and my son was taken in December, 2015.

 

Regards to all, Mark B.

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BigDogMilitaria

Welcome Mark! The forum is a better place with you and your knowledge on it! You were one of the mentors who gave me a start in this hobby. Looking forward to reading your future posts

 

Jason Str@sz

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carrabassett

Welcome Mark! A pleasure and honor to have you as a member on this Forum. Thanks for your contributions to the hobby as well as preserving history!

Jim

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Welcome to the Forum Sir! I look forward to learning from a highly recognized and respected member of both the collecting and history fields.

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dave peifer

hi mark and welcome...............we met at one of the camp toccoa 101st reunions,my wife and I were there with paul miller medic hq co506th.you were there at the Saturday evening banquet and came to our table to show me the oss wing you had there,that was 2006 or 07.hope you enjoy your time here as much as I have....................dave

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Thanks for the friendly welcome posts, your kindness really is appreciated. I've run into some really hateful and

sarcastic trolls on other forums and am hoping I don't catch any of that negativity here. In my current state of mind,

dissension and bickering is the last thing I want to deal with. As to the photo of me with my son that I made referenceto in my initial post, it doesn't appear for some reason, so I'm going to have to figure out what I did wrong.

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Thanks for the friendly welcome posts, your kindness really is appreciated. I've run into some really hateful and

sarcastic trolls on other forums and am hoping I don't catch any of that negativity here. In my current state of mind,

dissension and bickering is the last thing I want to deal with. As to the photo of me with my son that I made referenceto in my initial post, it doesn't appear for some reason, so I'm going to have to figure out what I did wrong.

 

Welcome to the forum Mark,

One of the great things about this forum is the fact that all the negative, hateful sarcastic nonsense you found elsewhere is not put up with here. Not to say it doesn't happen on occasion but it is taken care of very quickly by the awesome moderating team.

As far as photos are concerned you have to upload directly to the forum as no outside photo hosting sites will work.

Here is a great tool for resizing and posting photos to the forum.

http://ben-major.com...usmf-resize.php

 

Chuck

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Chuck-I followed your directions for resizing an image and as far as I can tell, I accomplished that much. But I don't see anything that says 'add attachment.' Would that be one of the icons or what? At this point, I can't go any farther.

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Mark,

 

Welcome aboard.

 

Your name and your work is often quoted on here. Now that you are on board you can answer ALL of the questions on the 101st!

 

As far as adding photos, at the bottom of the posting frame you should see a button that says "More Reply Options".

 

When you click on that, it gives you the options to "Choose Files". This will open a window to the files on your computer.

 

When you click the button that says "Open", that will upload the photo.

 

You can repeat this and add more than one photo.

 

Or you can open an additional posting window and add additional photos there.

 

That is quick and dirty.

 

You can find additional tips in our Photo section:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/forum/24-photos-imaging/

 

Again, welcome aboard.

 

 

 

A 101 Airborne 12.JPG

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Welcome aboard, sir! Your reputation precedes you, and a hearty thank you for joining our group!

 

I heard about your loss when news of the PULSE tragedy struck. Please accept my sincere, heartfelt condolences.

 

I'm located down in Toledo, and have seen you at some shows. I'll have to introduce myself next time I see you.

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Thanks for the friendly welcome posts, your kindness really is appreciated. I've run into some really hateful and

sarcastic trolls on other forums and am hoping I don't catch any of that negativity here. In my current state of mind,

dissension and bickering is the last thing I want to deal with. As to the photo of me with my son that I made referenceto in my initial post, it doesn't appear for some reason, so I'm going to have to figure out what I did wrong.

We try to control the dissension here Mark so that this place stays a friendly and fun place. We've always enjoyed your informative posts on the APF, so I know you will be providing the same here! Welcome aboard!
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Welcome and sincere condolences.

 

I've been a fan of your site for many years

 

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions

 

Lee

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