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11/08/16 08:50 PM #398    

 

Joseph Donahue

asdf jkl;


11/08/16 09:28 PM #399    

 

David Mitchell

Ahhh, typing class. The only class I was forced to take. My dad said you're taking it - Period! I had no choice. But to my surprise I was seated next to a new girl by the name of Tess. Cute as she could be - and sweet too. My buddy, Tom McKeon kept giving me notes to pass on to her for himself. But I had my own interest. We dated for a while - and to this day I feel guilty for getting in the way of what was later to become a beautiful marriage. I owe an apology to two of my favorite people. I should have told my dad "No".

 

Joe, Isn't there a misprint in the article on YIG day?  It says you were also from OLP????

I can clearly recall that big day when we held our two party meetings, chose our candidates, and went out on the floor of that big hall to give speeches. I can't remember Jack Worland's intro, but Mike Yarbrough got up and had them eating out of his hand. The crowd loved him!  But then our (Fed) Bob Faehnle got up and just absolutely bombed at the podium. He was so scared he could hardly talk. Then Mike Radcliffe followed and was not much better - nervous as a cat. I remember looking down at the floor and realizing it was over right then and there at the start. The impression made on that crowd was all it took. The weeks of campaigning in the school halls was not going to help. Later, another article (which I had, but lost) came out with the results - we Feds had only won 3 out of 20 offices. The tag line above the heading was my sarcastic quote to a reporter that day at city hall - "held them to 17 offices".  My mother read it and laughed out loud at the dinner table. I was somewhat less amused. 

Note an intersting connection in the names -  John Jackson was the overall General Chairman, while near the end it lists the head of the "secretarial squad" - Carol Plank (as in Plank's Beer Gardens). Mr. & Mrs. Jackson remain my good friends and send me their annual family Christmas letter. Wish we could drag them to a reunion one of these centuries. 

* Funny story about watching Carol being interviewed on national CBS evening news (years ago in Denver). There was a class action suit against the SAT testing company about bias against women in the Math section. When they got to court and realized Carol was the author of the questions in the math section it sort of took the thunder out of their lawsuit. It took me a few seconds until I jumped up from the couch and yelled to my wife, "OMG, that's Carol!" (I think she taught appraisal and financial math at Princeton for the early years fo their marriage)

 

And Joe, after a session sitting in the city council chambers, I think we both hung out with the Mayor's office - mostly with his show-off (idiot) son - who spent a lot of time showing us the trinkets and music boxes his dad had collected as gifts from supporters. Yes, he would have made a great politician today. We could all use more music boxes in these troubling times. In fact, right now I could use more cowbells.

 


11/09/16 08:15 AM #400    

 

Joseph Donahue

I had moved to Henderson Road junior year, thus the OLP reference. 


11/09/16 12:59 PM #401    

 

David Mitchell

Clare,

Amen to your subtle typing class "message". (nice timing)

YIKES!       Today I really need more cowbells!  


11/09/16 01:13 PM #402    

 

Linda Weiner (Bennett)

It was Sr Julie for typing. 

I found my report cards, but nothing for senior year--no electronic report. Hmm?


11/10/16 02:26 PM #403    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

I never took typing but I wish I had. Fortunately, I married an expert typist!

Does anyone remember "Career Days" (junior and senior years?) when persons of various occupations came to discuss their jobs with us? We were allowed to choose three sessions of which to attend. One of the most popular among the boys was auto mechanic. Most of us had just recently obtained our "permanent" drivers licences and were car crazy to some degree. I don't recall if the military was represented but I doubt if that would have been as well attended just because we all were getting our draft cards.

11/10/16 04:12 PM #404    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Because tomorrow is Veteran's Day I wanted to take this time to say "THANK YOU" to all the members of the Watterson class of 1966 who are veterans.  I especially want to thank those that took Uncle Sam's invitation to visit tropical Southeast Asia for what was referred to as a "POLICE ACTION", which we know it wasn't for many.

I should mention that during part of this time, after graduation, I was enjoying the "good life".  It started with approximately eight months North of Chicago, but then I moved to the Virginia Beach area where it was a little warmer.  The Virginia Beach area was home for almost a year and a half; however I did take some ocean cruises to Florida and the Bahamas.  Then a fun cruise to Naples, Italy, with a stop in Gibraltar.  I stayed in Naples for about eight months.  While in Naples I did get to go skiing in the Italian alps and visit the Island of Capri, and visited Rome where I spenta day at the vatican.  After returning to the Virginia Beach area I decided that Charleston, South Carolina would be a nice spot to venture forward from; so I relocated.  Then it was time for more trips in the Caribbean  I spent time in Puerto Rico, my twenty-first birthday I spent visiting bars, so I was told, on St. Thomas.  I then returned to Charleston so that I could take a long cruise to the Mediterranean, with stops in Gibraltar, Cannes, Spain, Italy, three cities in Greece, and the island of Crete.  Then back to Charleston where I decided one more trip too the Caribbean before I would start college.

How did I get so "lucky" to take all these "Exotic" trips.  After boot camp in Glakes, Illinois, North of Chicago, I was asked a simple question, "What do you want to do in the Navy?". And I immediately responded" RIVER PATROL BOATS in Viet Nam".  After reviewing the rest of my info the Naval personnel decided to naturally do the opposite.

Joe

 


11/11/16 04:12 AM #405    

 

David Mitchell

Jim, I was just thinking of Career Day, and yes, there was always a guy from the miitary in one of the sessions.

 

And Joe,

I would like to add my gratitude to the group - and to you for taking the lead on this. The list is missing one Tom Litzinger - who served a tour at the large air base in Da Nang. You guys all ROCK !  

And to you Joe especialy, my sincerest sympathies. I am deeply saddened that your "tours" were so boring and in such un-enjoyable locations. Had you only gotten your wish you could have experienced some of the excting pleasures that I was priviledged to enjoy. Like our daily low-level (read 6 to 8 feet) aerial tours over millions of small earthen dike lines, separtating millions of picturesque rice paddies. And such warm and welcoming locals - except for certain groups of (mostly) male residents, usualy wearing black pajamas, and all of whom seemed oddly to go by the same first name - "Charley". And there was an occaisonal group of their "cousins from the north", who seemed at times, most inhospitable. I recall these "cousins" all wore the same khaki uniforms with little helmets on which they liked to place small branches of local fauna and flora - silly as it appeared. And they had the burdensome habit of carrying something we simply called "a fifty", used to knock down as many "birds" as they could. They were quite skilled at "bird hunting". When especially irritated, they would often launch small projectiles at us as we passed over, which, if our paths conflicted, could cause infortunate stress to our aircraft - and even holes therein. Most annoying!

But the real highlight was the food. Oh boy!  "Filled" milk and "powdered" eggs in our elegant "dining" hall (officially called by another less complimentary military name). And the chance, (if you got there early enough), to choose your own small cardbord box of gourmet "C" rations - a humorous euphemism for "picknick" lunch out on the scenic banks of a nearby canal during the day's "mission" (another euphemism for "fun and games").  

And the accommodations - wow. Where to begin? Our rustic (un-air-conditioned) "cabins" sat strangely in the direct path of their occaisional late night celebrations of fireworks sent by way of small "tubes", and which rained down uncomfortably close to our quarters with very loud booms. But let me just leave it at my favorite feature - cold showers. 'Nuff said. 

But I did have to suffer one simliar hardship that you did. On a short 7 day visit to Sydney Australia, I had to endure a 3 day trip to Thredbow, a ski resort where I skiied with friendly Aussies among the local "Gum Gum" trees. For those of you who remember my passion for skiing, this was just something I felt I had to endure and take it for the team. I'm sure you would agree, you do the best you can.

p.s. We occaisionally did need to use your buddies "River Boats" for emergency fueling - on several occaisions in neighboring Cambodia - another very exciting locale. 


11/11/16 10:03 AM #406    

 

Mark Schweickart

Joe and Dave,

Thanks for Veteren's Day reminiscence, Boy, you two sure know how to put the iron in irony. I found myself reading along with an amused smile but also with an unavoidable lump in the throat. 


11/11/16 12:15 PM #407    

Timothy Lavelle

Since 9-11 there has been a new fad in 'Murica. We now say, "Thank you for your service". As fads go, it is not a bad one. 

For over forty years I have heard many men say outright, or give the impression if left unspoken "I wish I had gone". As though they had let themselves or the rest of the nation down somehow by staying in school or otherwise remaining free from the military. While those of us that did go did not totally waste out time, I firmly believe there is no reason, none whatsoever, for those who stayed free to feel remorse. There are a gazillion reasons why some of us joined but I would venture that none would claim they went because it was "the right thing to do". I believe we were far too young to even know the right thing to do. Hell, we couldn't even get a bra off with one hand...as though the chance ever presented itself! For myself, I went because I could not cut it at Ohio State at 18 years of age.

I hated the Army. From the time in basic training when a drill instructor said "Your heart belongs to Momma but your ass belongs to me" through periods of painting rocks white and the base idiocy of the famed "hurry up and wait". So fellas....and especially to Mark, I have sensed from your writing and our discussions that you are one who feels like he didn't do what was later imagined to be "the right thing"...you didn't miss squat. You do have some mates who filled dangerous boots and carried weapons with the intent to fight. They learned lessons. They would tell you, none of us need to know those lessons. I was not one of those tasked in that way.

What we did was live through lonliness and home-sickness. Dear John letters and pictures of Thanksgiving Dinner back home. We might have been awarded with just a bit thicker skin, a little earlier than most. But we also laughed; my god how we laughed.

A friend of mine stole a jeep and offered to take me along. We would  "go scouting". The Marines - bless those crazy men - had just retaken Hue from the NVA. So we drove up Highway 1 from Phu Bai (8th RRFS) to the city side of the still existing road bridge over the Perfume River. It was not much of a river and damn sure did not justify the name Perfume. We could see the city and it was wounded to the point of a WWII photo of Germany. It was very quiet and we were not really very bright. Deciding to take pictures off the bridge itself, we walked back out onto one of the spans, stopping at a little glass-cart on wheels where a woman was selling small loaves of bread.  I took my small loaf and walked on out to take some pics. I couldn't focus while also holding the loaf so I casually stuck it between my legs, focused the camera upstream and took the shot. From the quiet came laughter. I sort of lurched around to see many Vietnamese women by the bread cart laughing at he 'Murican GI with the loaf of bread sticking out the front of his pants. Yeah, sure, you had to be there. The very rare strong laughter is what I recall fondly from that period of my life. The rest I have always tried my best to forget.

If you want to honor a vet, truly honor a vet, give them your best salute whether you served or not and send a buck or two to the organizations who help them regain their mobility or put them on a path to a brighter future.  If you want to be proud of some nameless guys, search The Battle of Hue and remember those Marines.

 


11/11/16 01:04 PM #408    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

To all our vets, including those among our classmates and all others:

Whether your service was voluntary or not you did a job that was requested by your country. You may or may not have agreed with that mission but you did it anyway.

No, I never served in the military but I spent the majority of my career working with those who did. I had the honor of treating men and women from World War I  through Afghanistan and heard their stories from an eyewitness perspective. Some were true warriors having experienced the horrors of war on the bloody battlefields, in POW camps and MASH units. Others were never near the actual fighting. Many were scarred for life either physically or psychologically. But all served and did their jobs.

So I do thank all of you who were in the military and appreciate those who are telling your stories on this forum. I also am thankful that so many of you who served are still with us today and are able to tell us about the war that so affected our generation.


11/11/16 09:55 PM #409    

 

Linda Weiner (Bennett)

 Veterans, Thank you for your sacrifice in the service of our country.

Where would we be without you!


11/12/16 11:26 AM #410    

 

Mark Schweickart

Tim-  Very thoughtful post, my friend. It's lovely how you can slip in so much heartfelt wisdom while at the same time distracting us with your wacky one-handed-bra-removal comments and mama-sans sniggering about your penis-loaf. You always lead with the laughter, but (to borrow a Woody Allen word) your "heaviosity" is not far behind, elevating your comments to a LaVelle level of serious reflection. Thank you for that.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist saying "LaVelle level.")

On the topic of Veterans, I highly recommend Ang Lee's new movie, "Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk," that just came out. If you read about it in film reviews, the discussion often will focus on this new format he used, which was to shoot everything  in 4K resolution at 120 frames per second while also using 2 camera 3-D. My point is that, as cool as this part is, it does not matter whether you see it in this new projected format, or in the more normal way it will be projected in theaters throughout the country.  What does matter is how poignant a story he has told here about young Iraq-War veterans. Check it out.

 

 


11/12/16 12:21 PM #411    

Timothy Lavelle

I will take a month off writing here because for me it is habit-forming (yeah, I can hear you say "No Sh!t LaVelle?") and so that others may feel some much-needed breathing room to exercise their own wit and/or demons on these pages. Maybe with "demons" that should be exorcise??

Mark - you are as always, far too kind. But this morning I am going to break a sort of secret pact and give something to you all that made me very emotional and proud of another of my friends. I received an e-mail and a U-tube link from Maggie Schultheis. ((Aside to audience: One of the things I love about Maggie is that we have 100% opposing views on politics and we still like each other. How GD special is that now?)) So please read and watch and arm yourself with a hanky and be ready for your chest to expand beyond XL. Watch for Crick.

Hi Tim......I couldn't let this Veterans' Day go by without sending you my humble thank you for your selfless service in defense of our freedoms.  I went to see Hacksaw Ridge a couple of nights ago, and its impact on me and every family member who saw it with me, was profound.  Mel Gibson certainly knows how to tell an extremely graphic, yet compelling and emotionally moving story.  I have seen Lone Survivor, American Sniper, 13 Hours, Saving Private Ryan, but I have to say that this movie is in a class all its own.  As I was driving home, alone in my car, I felt so humbled thinking of my Dad (who rose to rank of Major while serving under Patton in the Battle of the Bulge.....the youngest to haver reached that rank), of my brother, Jimmy, of my uncles, nephews, cousins, friends such as you, and of course, I was also thinking of Crick.  I am not known to be a crier.....although in the past 5 years the tears have definitely flowed......but I cried all the way home for the selfless bravery, the deprivations, the devastating injuries suffered by so many to secure liberty and freedom for the rest of us.  
I put this video together a couple of years ago as my way of sharing my heartfelt gratitude for every. single. veteran.  Perhaps I have shared it with you before, if I have, I hope it is deserving of a repeat viewing because it comes directly from the bottom of my heart.
I salute you!!󾓦🗽
Maggie

11/12/16 04:01 PM #412    

 

David Mitchell

Tim (and Mary Margaret),

First, a bit of housekeeping, Your posts will NEVER become too much for us to listen to. I have enjoyed every single one of them and I hereby take back every single, foul-mouthed, dirty, rotten, nasty comment I ever said about you - even the one's behind your back. (lol) 

In fact, it is myself who has been hogging the "airwaves" lately. I find writing addictive and words are magic (if used for some reasonably good purpose). AND after all, why should we be apologizing when it's really Janie's fault. She set up this cursed (read: wonderful) forum. IT'S HER FAULT MAN. SHE DID IT!

Moving backwards in the conversation, I too just saw "Hacksaw" (haven't seen the other one yet). It is of course a "hollywood" film - albeit well done - (beware the graphic violence!). But the actual story of the man is quite moving. I have been a sap for a heroic story ever since I first heard about David and Goliath. 

"Lord, just help me get one more"  is a line in the film that resonates in my heart.

But your shared conversation (her note) about the two human acts - First: serving in a way that puts one's self in harm's way for another's benefit or protection, and Second; receiving an acknowlegement for that service. These are two powerful instincts of the human spirit. To serve, to protect and defend, are always worhty of acknowledgement. And I add my own gratitude to hers for you and all of the rest of the guys from our class. This Veteran's day seems to have struck a nerve for all of us who have just survived a bitter "noise" in our sysem of democracy (and I find myself hurting, wanting, dismayed - I thought we were better than this) 

But I think Mary Margaret's beautiful acknowledgement seems to take on an extra layer of importance to our age group becuase of the bitterness we all came home to. A bitteness that caused one of our clasmates to greet me at a holiday party in late 1969 (at Juilie Carpenter's house I think, 6 days after being shot down in a rice paddy) with one of the nastiest insults I have ever received. And a bitterness that caused a young man to spit on me (and two Navy guys I was boarding a plane with on my way home) at the San Francisco airport in 1970. 

I have only recently managed to climb out of the "slavery" of PTSD and see life through different eyes. I held a reunion a few years ago out on nearby Hilton Head and spent four days with a group of guys I flew with and hadn't seen in 45 years. It was magic! Sort of a love in. We could listen to, (AND HEAR) one another like no one else can. It was gratifying in a way I had not experienced since coming home. We were giving each other the "sacrament" of affirmation - something very lacking in my life. My heart began to stir. And then last March I finally bowed (after ten years) to the urgings of an old buddy from Denver and attended my first "MARKED MEN FOR CHRIST" retreat. Wow! Just Wow! I was able to throw all the old "junk" away (and there were truckloads of it) and start over with a new view of life. It was "life-changing" for a guy who had grown up under what my father (a very reverent Cathilic) often referred to as the "Vatican Control Syndrome" of rules for the sake of rules, obligation, guilt, fear, and shame. Sorrry, but those are not  HIS promises of joy and victory and freedom.

I do however have some differences from your experience. I did think I was doing "something for good" (I think those were your words). I was raised in a very religious and patriotic home (maybe too much so at times), and I had also been exposed to my father's Air Force reunions (he was a B-29 Flight Surgeon in Asia and the Pacific during '44 adn '45), and I had been "imprinted" with their fascinating "avaition" stories fom India, China, and finally Tinian.  

But I would be lying if I said those were my real motives. It was simply about my life-long craving, flying! I had asked to join the student flying club at the U. of Denver but my father forbid me to until my grades improved.  I HATED college that first year! I had no more business being there at 18 than joining a traveling circus. So I came up with the clever scheme to over rule my dad - deiberately flunk out!  GENIUS!  I started skipping all my classes and bought a book about handicapping and odds-making for horses, and started going to the dog track north of Denver (yes, bettting illegally under age). And I came home the summer of 1967, 19 years old,  flunked out, healthy, and thus "4A" in the draft. I knew I had to choose something quick before they chose me. I found the Army's "Warrant Officer/ Rotary Wing" program the only aviation option for a non-college graduate. I could not sign up fast enough. 

So my tour and a half in Vinh Long was a crazy period of flying the little "Loach" Scout helicopter in a "hunter-killer" team in the Delta. Without boring you with the details, it was as bizarre a mission as ever concieved and pulled us close together as brothers. So my experience was full of both the wonderfully rewarding, and sometimes the horribly tragic. I can agree with you some of the time when you say you hated it. There were times when it made me sick. But I also disagree for the times that it gave me a special sense of "brotherhood" under stress. Absurd as it sounds, I LOVED flying this crazy mission. There is something about the "rush" of living on the edge that is impossible to explain. 

Whe you said some of us learned lessons no one should learn, I would agree and disagree. But I hope we all learned that life goes on, and it is a gift to cherrish and share and enjoy. (Like holding high school reunions -thanks again Janie and Clare - wow it was fun!)  

Finally, I would agree with your statement about guys feeling bad about not going - like they had missed something, or shirked their duty. They did what their conscience led them to do and no one can do any better than that. I have even partially resolved my animosity toward the guys who "ran" for the border, but I have no sympathy for the insults and the taunts. Forgiveness yes, sympathy, no.  

Tim, (and all the rest of our group) "You numba one G.I."


11/13/16 02:12 AM #413    

 

David Mitchell

I want to add a couple comments I forgot on my last entry. Then I will TRY to be quiet for while.

I wanted to add that we also laughed. If you knew the whole story you would understand why it was so important to laugh. We would get together in our hooch every night (about 8 of us), sitting around in our underwear with a coke or a beer, and tell about the day's mission with a self-depricating humor that was intended to make light of the situations - the risks - the near misses - etc.. The guys who did not fly that day would sit around and mock us and make it seem even more ridiculous. Sometimes we laughed like fools. Forty five years later at our reunion we laughed together again. And we realized that that was a "gift" of respect and honor that we gave to one another.  (I am sorry that so many guys I know never experienced such a bond.)

* Secondly, and more importantly, one of my daughters has written a few nice Veterans articles on two blog sites with links to information about donating to Veteran's causes. One of my favorites is "HOMES FOR OUR TROOPS", a site that is involved with the building of specially designed homes for severely wounded troops - (and also severely financially burdened troops, I think?). Another good site is "WOUNDED WARRIERS".

 Check them out when you have a moment for these young "defenders".

  (and don't forgget Margie Davis' donation site for her Mission in Haiti ) 

 

 


11/13/16 12:48 PM #414    

 

Mark Schweickart

I just read Tim and Dave' posts, and watched Maggie's YouTube video. I certainly am one of those types Tim and Dave describe, who managed to avoid the Viet-Nam experience, but have a bit of survivor guilt for having backed out of going. I was all signed up to join the Marines, but on the morning I was to be officially sworn in and inducted, I could not go through with it. I didn't show. That was high school graduation year, before the war had become the polarizing cultural divide it quickly became in the next couple of years. Once I had time to reflect more on what was going on over there, and read about the origins of the war, I became unaterably opposed to what the U.S. was doing, and did not  feel bad about using my student deferment, and then luckily, a high draft lottery number to avoid the military experience. Nonetheless, it is something that gnaws at one. I cannot help but wonder how different my life would have been.  I take solace in the fact that I probably had a 99% chance of having had a much worse life, given the amount of fatalities, body maiming, and PTSD involved.

Maggie's video reminded me that a couple of years ago, I also posted a YouTube Video which similarly uses still images and a song, (one that I wrote and performed). Even though I never served, I hope it will not be too much of an affront that I put myself in the song as if I were a returning veteran. A rather large slice of the creative license pie, I know.

Maggie's video was a wonderful outpouring of heartfelt gratitude honoring those who served. Mine, I am afraid is a bleaker look, trying to imagine what it must be like struggling with PTSD and a much truer survivor guilt than the vague regret I earlier labelled myself as having.

If you want to check it out, here is the link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGcfGeckNBg

or just type in the song title in the YouTube search -- Boo Coo Dinky Dau

 

 


11/13/16 12:49 PM #415    

 

Michael McLeod

Being a journalist I am a sucker for the real thing.

Here is a documentary -- it's not polished but it's powerful just the same -- that tells you the story of the man upon whom the movie "Hacksaw Ridge" is based.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfkRC7WU5bg&feature=share

My dad served in WW2 and went to Okinawa, where Hacksaw Ridge took place. It was among the most horrific places to be during the course of that war, Okinawa. Horrendous circumstances and some of the bloodiest hand to hand combat. He rarely spoke of it but after his death I ran across a cache of letter he had written to my mom.  One spoke of standing on the shore and watching Japanese zeros being shot down. He must have been at a safe distance because he characterized it as something that relieved the boredom..

I lucked out by comparison to others in our generation: The class before us went to Vietnam; we said "whew" when the orders came down and most of us were assigned to Germany, where I spend a couple of years carrying documents around a NATO HQ near Heidelberg. Call me a draft dodger: I was drafted, but by the luck of the draw I dodged Vietnam.

Dave, I'd be interested to know if you have read any of Tim O'Brien's books, though I do not know if it would be healthy for you to do so, depending on the level of trauma you experienced and may still be experiencing. Some fiction. Some not. All of it quite compelling.

Oh, and Mark: Billy Joel was not a vet either but I've had vets tell me that his song evoking the bonds and the experience was dead-on with what they went through.

 

 

 


11/14/16 04:52 AM #416    

 

David Mitchell

Mike,

I have not read any of Tim Obrien's books. My oldest daughter has been asking me to read "The Things They Carried"  for years. I hope to get around to it someday, but I am about 8 books behind on my list of books to read right now. 

As for the "Hacksaw Ridge" story, which is terrific, I would like to add a somewhat related story from something I observed. You have all heard and probably seen film clips of "Medivac" helicopters. These were the Hueys with the big Red Cross painted on the sides that performed thousands of heroic rescues in combat situations. We did not use them ourselves as we always picked up our own guys with our own ships when we were shot down. But we did occaisionally call on them to come into sitiuations where we supported ground troops who sustained wounded on the ground. We refered to them over the air as "Dustoffs", which was their radio call sign. They performed some of the most daring rescues you can imagine (we did some of our own too, but only for ourselves - because we had to, and because we could). I recall two incidents in which we used them that were absolutely hair raising - one very successful (and even a bit comical), and one that went horribly wrong.

But this is the point I want to explain here: As with most Hueys, they carried the normal configuraton of two pilots and two guys sitting in the side door seats (facing out) where normally the "door gunners" sat. But these were "medics" who sat exposed without the protection of the side-mounted 30 caliber machine guns. (At least they wore the same "chicken plates" that we wore). And get this, we found out that a number of these medics in a couple of the nearby "Dustoff" units were actually C.O.s. - Consciencious Objectors, who refused to carry, or fire a gun. When I first learned this fact I was practically dumbfounded! 

Think about that for a minute!            (Me thinks Pvt. Doss would be proud)


11/14/16 11:59 AM #417    

 

Michael McLeod

Holy crap, Dave. I did not know that. About the Med CO's.


11/16/16 09:35 AM #418    

 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Guess what happened in 1948!!?? Yes, most of us were born that year. But there was also the last Super Moon. That is, until this past Monday when that phenomonen again occurred. It will be 2034 before it will be seen once more. We will be 86.

If you did not see it, here is how it appeared as it rose over the eastern edge of Colorado Springs:


11/17/16 09:30 AM #419    

Joseph Gentilini

Jim, the photo of the Moon was beautiful.  Thanks for sharing.  When I looked in the sky the other evening, it was cloudy, although I could see it through the clouds.   Your photo is better. Thanks for sharing.  Joe Gentilini


11/17/16 10:54 AM #420    

 

Michael McLeod

Well I wonder if any of us will be tempted to paraphrase Mark Twain and say: "I came in with the super moon, I'm going out with the super moon."

 

He made a prediction about his own demise in connection with Halley's comet. And lived up to it. Was born on a year when the comet appeared and died when it came back around.

Speaking of celestial objects, I'm soon going to be writing about a scientist who is involved in that project to grab a sample of dust from an asteroid to analyze materials that date back to the origin of the universe. Fascinating stuff. He's also involved in a possible project to capture an asteroid and put it in orbit around the moon for further study. I'm thinking that one might scare people - as in "what could possibly go wrong here."

 

 

 

 


11/17/16 12:54 PM #421    

 

Janie Albright (Blank)

Beautiful shot of super moon. These I shared that someone took in Puerto Vallarta. 


11/17/16 12:55 PM #422    

 

Janie Albright (Blank)


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