Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: May, 2013

S/Sgt. Michael Anthony Lacche

In honor of Memorial Day: May 27, 2013.

Mike Lacche Boxing joins the community in honoring all the brave, dedicated, patriotic Americans who throughout their lifetimes of this great country put the lives of the country above their personal life and safety. Thank you for enabling millions of Americans to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer was part of a crew that for years would take part in invasions, pick up troops, and get the badly wounded back to the hospital ship. Click here for audio version.

"We had four doctors and one dentist on board during invasions; we had three operating theatres and would usually take on board about 400 of the worst casualties. Needles to say, we had to bury some at sea - those who didn't make it.



Joseph "Joe" N. Ermer, WWII

At first my GQ station was in Damage Control, but I tried as a gunner on the 20 mm and I did quite well. They sent me to Gunnery School at Espiritu Santo in New Hebrides. After that, my GQ station was gunner on the 20 mm on top of Carpenter Shop near the fantail. I really liked the gun. It was the largest one-man gun, although I had a sightsetter and a loader. The gunner was strapped in and could fire in any direction, even directly overhead.

When we would run through a drum of shells, the loader would quickly change drums. The sightsetter would be given the range from fire control and would set it on the gunsight. The gunsight was electronic and would show the target in the middle of a lighted reticule. The site would actually compute the lead by figuring the travel and range together. However, when planes were too close, we would fire by instinct. There wouldn't be any point in using the sight.


The whole mount would be raised or lowered, like a barber chair, to fit the height of the gunner. Since I was tall, I'd have it up pretty high, which enabled me to fire down at the water. That was handy when the torpedo planes came in.

If the gun got too hot, it could jam. We had an extra barrel in the tube welded to the side of the gun tube. It was the job of the loader and sightsetter to put on asbestos gloves and twist out the six-foot-long barrel and replace it.

Things got difficult when the Japanese started using Kamikaze tactics. Sometimes there were as many as 300 planes attacking the fleet at once. During the invasion of Leyte, in the Philippines, we got to do some mine clearing. We were one of the lead APQ's and we streamed paravanes. They looked like underwater kites from the bow. We had to maintain a steady speeds to have them run properly. If the cable encountered a mine mooring, it would slide to the paravane and cut loose. The mine would come to the surface and we had sharp-shooters to blow them up.

We made quite a few landings in the Philippines. In one of them, we were involved in a night battle with a Japanese Destroyer off Manila Bay. During the Leyte Invasion, we were almost caught by the Japanese. The home fleet came down from the north and the East Indies fleet came from the southwest. They were after the transports off Leyre. That is the famous episode where they baited Halsey out with a flint in the north. He bit and rushed away, leaving the invasion fleet with just some escort carriers and a couple of cruisers a destroyer flotilla and some torpedo boats (JFK comes to mind).

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: April, 2013

Mike Lacche Boxing readers, by country, April, 2013

Welcome new readers: Mike Lacche Boxing welcomes all our new readers. At time of publication, this site has 1,730 unique readers in 10 countries.

We also appreciate all our readers who have/ who currently serve in the United States Armed Forces -- we thank you for your sacrifice, service and commitment.

West Point Boxing prepares for playoffs:

The 2013 NCBA National Championship will be held at Fox Woods Casino and Resort on April 4-6. Come see the Army Team fight to Victory! Tickets can be purchased at http://www.ncbaboxing.org/Tickets.aspx

Click here to see the West Point Boxing Facebook page.

Memories of Mike: Long before Mayweather, Ray Leonard, Mosely and De La Hoya was the World Welterweight Champion, Freddie ' Red' Cochrane. The pride of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Cochrane and was the reigning Welterweight champion in 1942 but would not get to defend his title until the war ended.

The WWII and Korean War eras marked a unique time in American sports history where many

Mike Lacche was an amateur but trained with the knowledge the Fort Kamehameha Boxing Championships could be his last. At the end of his journey, Mike would be an Army Champion - and then join his soliders overseas in the real fight of his life.
professional athletes joined the Armed Forces and would compete there in the sports they championed. This was perhaps the greatest unified venue of American athletics in our country's history.

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: March, 2013

Social media and family connections: Our story is same as many, and exciting because social media has enabled Mike Lacche's family to unite after some 50 years. Mike Lacche's older brother Nick Lacche spent most of his life in Pennsylvania and had an amazing daughter and subsequently many children that are now reunited under the Lacche family. Mike would have been thrilled.

Count down to 100: T-minus 11 months until the centennial celebration of Mike Lacche's birth. It will also be a celebration of his achievement as a past U.S. Army base boxing champion. Stay tune for more details.




Photo Credit: Wikipedia.org

When reflecting on his boxing career, Mike Lacche stressed the importance of boxing being a thinking sport; Mike compared boxing with chess except "when the king fell someone would get really hurt."

All of the Army athletes competing for the title were in good shape -- eight hours a day PT training in courses that most civilian athletes today would gladly sit out or only attempt one portion.

Part of Mike's training involved innovative uses of sand -- Fort Kamehameha was a short run from the Pacific Ocean and sandy beaches offered a good venue to train legs and core. Mike also practiced punching into sand to harden and develop muscles that his opponents may otherwise ignore.

Mike was a confident boxer but always approached each bout with the assumption his opponents were bigger, stronger and better. That 'me versus the world' attitude kept Mike alive during his 1942 title run, as well as, throughout World War II

February 13, 2013 | Happy Birthday, Mike Lacche

February 13, 2013

Happy Birthday, Grandpa.

Thanks for teaching me the value of family,

 and the importance of writing about it.

Be well, Justin.

 

Mike Lacche Boxing Magazine: February, 2013

February 13, 2013 -- Happy 99th birthday anniversary, Mike Lacche! We all can look back at when we were very young and find those people who in such a natural and giving way inspired us to dream big, be proud of our own histories and to believe we too are a part of a greater journey.

I'm confident if Mike Lacche were alive today, we would say something to the effect of, "write about someone important." My grandfather had no idea that he was important, that like many from the Greatest Generation, jumping out of an airplane in WWII into enemy territory was bravery that no medal can capture. My grandfather could have no idea that everyday getting up to work until the stars were at night, just so his family could have a better life, was a gift that is alive and well three generations later, and counting.

Mike Lacche always described himself as a "simple man" but I stand here, now one year from his 100th birthday anniversary, to tell you that he was a great man because anyone willing to repeatedly risk their life, dreams, and golden years to help enable the next generations is simply a hero. I proudly spend every day of my life sharing his story.

Mike Lacche -- thank you, Sir. Happy birthday.