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John Jackson

Dave, by sheer coincidence I’m in London today getting ready to go to Southampton tomorrow for work.  Relative to Trump hunkering down in Paris yesterday rather than attending the ceremonies at Belleau Wood in France commemorating the carnage there and marking the end of WWI a hundred years ago, you’d appreciate the front page headline in The London Sunday Times “Trump Goes Missing in Action as Rain Falls on His Parade”.  The article also offered this quote from Sir Nicholas Soames, a CONSERVATIVE member of Parliament and grandson of Winston Churchill: “They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate Donald Trump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects”.  It’s reassuring the emphasis our President places on keeping the Atlantic Alliance strong.

By even more coincidence, my hotel is a block from Trafalgar Square and I went to the square at 11 AM today, the precise time the armistice went into effect 100 years ago.  The square was thronged with people of all ages but what caught my eye were the surprising number of old guys (many even older than us!) wearing their military ribbons.  At 11:00, the crowd fell utterly silent and Big Ben slowly tolled 11 times, the first time it has been heard since New Year’s Eve (it’s been silent since then for major repairs).

When I was growing up, even though we were the baby boomers, World War II seemed long ago though there were countless movies to remind us about the war (and some, as I recall, on the Korean War).  And the first World War, that seemed like ancient history – how could it possibly be in the same century?  But when you think about it, we were all born just in the shadow of WWII and only 30 years after WW I – not long at all.  Funny how your perspective changes with the passage of time…

Another recollection - after the ceremony this morning, I took a ride on the Underground (subway) and I had to re-learn that in England on crowded sidewalks or corridors you walk on the left.  If there’s one thing I remember from our Watterson orientation, it is that you ALWAYS, without exception, walk on the right (even if the hallway is empty).   Fighting back years of conditioning, I followed the crowd, but my 1950’s Catholic sense of guilt kicked in and I kept asking myself  “Isn't wrong wrong when everybody’s doing it and right  is right…”   

David Mitchell

John,

Us poor Catholic school boys are all stuck in those old rules and traditions - silly us. Sure hope you can manage to find your way. And I hope you took your umbrella with you.

I recall my first trip into London, years ago on a business trip to Gothenburg Sweden and then back to Manchester via London. I was traveleing with my best friend and office partner, a Lawyer who is still a good buddy. He's the same guy who asked me to make a Marked Men for Christ retreat (for 10 years! - how wished I had listened to him earlier).

We took the "tchube" from Gatwick Airport into Victoria Station and got out to wander around for a few hours before proceeding on to Gothenburg. We came across a little park with an interesting statue. I foget the name of the park (or "square") but the statue was a dedication to the "Eagle Squadron" - I was unfamiliar with the story.

Bob and I stood and read the plaque. In brief, the Eagle Squadron was a group of RAF combat pilots formed by American pilots who wanted to fight the Nazis but had to "flee" to Canada to join the RAF in order fly for England in the war before we actually got into it. They were instrumental in turning the tide against Hitle's air force. 

What a concept? Fleeing to Canada to get into the war. There are always some crazies who feel the need to run towards the danger, instead of away form it. Silly them.

Kinda reminds me of a crazy group of guys I used to know.

I may have posted this before, but I'd like you to meet a segment of the "Scout Platoon" (LOACH pilots - read: dumbest pilots in the outfit) of Comanche Troop, of the Blackhawk Squadron, 7th of the 1st Air Cavalry (not related to the famous First Cavalry - confusing). This is in back of our "hooch" at Vinh Long Airfield about early 1969. The group fluctuated members over time as guys left and new guys arrived. (Many rows and columns of these 8-man "hooches" behind the camera - ours was the very first one.)

They are some of the guys I lived with, ate with, slept with, drank with, laughed with, and some days - gritted our teeth and hung on for dear life with. I was in the air several times when guys did things to help one another in trouble that bordered on the ridiculous! Trust me, going in to pick up a downed crew under fire will get your attention. Been there - done that. (Both sides of that exciting little "excercise".)

Not a single grain of common sense in the bunch - thank God!

(after all, we were 20 and 22, an wore Army Aviator's Wings on our chests. Of course we were invincible, right?)

(we called oursleves the "Flying Circus" after Von Richtoven's group in WWI. We had all read the same novel about him and our own Eddy Rickenbacker and all those WWI flyers. I forget the name of the book.

Note: In this silly "pose" there are 20 or 21 times shot down - two of these guys 4 times each, 3 of them 3 times each - several more as the group changed personel - one good buddy not pictured here was shot down 5 times himself !  And get this, one of our two sister Companies ["Troops"] had a worse track record than we did.) But in reality, this may be one of the only serious moments this bunch of jerks ever shared. When not flying we split most of our free time between utter boredom and hilarious laughter. 

Bozo, the wonder pilot, with the world's weakest stomach, 2nd from left. Will follow this with a story about the guy second from the right in this photo.

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

My heartfelt tribute to all those who have sought to preserve liberty for ALL Americans.....men, women, white, black, conservative, liberal, Christian, Jews, atheists. Perhaps our greatest honor of them would be to stop allowing ourselves to be divided into competing groups and to begin to search for and promote the common good of ALL.

https://youtu.be/41QxnSd7LeQ

Michael McLeod

John: Good luck with all the protestant pedestrians on that side of the pond.

Thanks for the Brit take on our Prez. 

Dave: thanks for the smu film and your continuing Ken Burnsmanship on your experience in country. 

Getting chilly down here. Breaking out my corderoy shirts. Still too early for sweaters.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Folks,

Thanks to all the veterans among our classmates on this Veterans Day, 2018, and to all of our parents and relatives who also answered the call in times past.

Below are a couple of plaques that stand at the entrance to my old workplace that I photographed a few years ago. I knew and had the honor of caring for so many servicemen and women (at least one who had actually fought in WWI) and heard their stories and those of their fellow military who were not as fortunate.

For the record, I, too, was disappointed that President Trump did not visit Belleau Wood and Aisne-Marne Cemetery. I do understand the problem with the weather and helicopter flights (we had many days at our hospital when we could not air-evac patients to the old Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center in Denver for the same reasons). Some say he should have been driven the 50 or so miles which would have most likely presented security issues. I will say he and his administration have improved the lives of not only veterans, but also active duty personnel and the military in general more so than his predecessors. So I will cut him some slack.

Again, although trite, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. Lots of snow falling here today - maybe we will have a good winter this year.

Jim

David Mitchell

Warning: this is another one of my long ones, but I urge you to hear this story all the way out. I think my friend Bob's story is worth it.

I want to salute a special veteran today. He is my friend, Bob Buffington from Georgia (you may also recognize the "new guy" on the right.) In this photo, we are taking a break at a little airfiled up on the Cambodian border called Moc Hoa ("muck wha"). On an earlier post I showed the kids who often visited me at lunch along the air strip at Moc Hoa. We "visited" there often. The photo will be 50 years old in January. 

 Photo from my local newspaper here in Bliuffton / Hilton Head - I posted the whole article way back in the Forum.

Continue below photo

Bob was a few months ahead of me in my Scout Platoon in Vinh Long with the Comanche Company ("Troop" in Cavalry terms). We shared about 8 months together before he finished his tour and went home. We were never in touch again until I held a reunion in the fall of 2014 on Hilton Head. Most of our small group of 10 (and 5 wives) had not seen one another for 45 years, but Bob and I clicked almost immediately. Bob was that "all-American" boy - Handsome, bright, friendly, courageous, and by-the-book. He had the heart of a "volunteer". I learned a bit from him as I flew on his (and others) "wing" when I was new. He was alwasy a good guy to be around.

Bob and I flew the crazy "Loach" portion of our "Hunter Killer" teams - a pair of us, one "lead" and one "wing" (following the lead and covering their back side) at very low levels - about 6 to 10 feet and normally slow speeds to search and to locate VC or NVA out in the Delta counttyside - mostly open rice paddys, shallow treelines, canals, and occasional bits of forest - never very populated areas - but sometimes quite near them. Once we sighted them - often under masterful camoflauge - we attempted to induce them to fire at us - if they didn't already start shooting as we came close. Understand, we (usually) were not allowed to fire first in our mission. We also had a pair of Cobra Gunships circling above at about 1,500 feet, waiting to hear our radio call (or scream), "receiving fire" and then dive on the target with lots of fire power - rockets and mini-gun.

The tricky part was then being called back over the spot (by the C&C - "Command & Control", a Huey at 500 feet, directing the whole mission). The C&C would say, "Okay one eight, go back in and check it out."

That was always the more stressful part. I refer to it as the "fear of the second pass". Now you know he's down there. And you know he (they) knows that you know he's there. So now you are going back in over him (them) with his trigger ready - no longer holding his position, but waiting for you to come close so he can open up on you with his AK. It's really quite stressful!  Sometimes the "guns" got them on the first run, but often times not all of them. The VC were often in small teams - 2 or 3, maybe 6 or 8. But the NVA only traveled in large units - whole platoons (40-ish) and occasionally whole companies, 160 to 200 guys. That got really intersting!

I forgot something important. I am adding this after realizing that it would be misleading if I left it out.

Once we were fired at that first time, we were free to fire back. We did not go back in the seccond time, or third, or in one case for me, a 4th time, without being ready to fire back. We had a non-pilot "observer" in our left seat with (usually) a C.A.R. 15, and several bunches of 4 different types of grenades for him to lob out the door as we sometimes hovered over them. And I had a trigger on my cyclic stick (right hand - lateral and directional control of the ship) to fire our mini-gun, mounted on the left sdie of the ship (Bob has his foot on it) which fired at a "reduced" rate of only 2,200 rounds per minute. (yes, the same one I managed to jamb with my "discarded" lunch that third day in the cockpit).

Once we were shot at it was game on. We would make the raido call "Comin' hot" and go in shooting. I just didn't want anyone reading this to think we were naked and defenseless. We were only crazy, not stupid.

Anyway, Bob was shot down 3 times in his one year tour. When this happened the C&C would come down with the "guns" covering him on the way in. Then we would simply crawl out of our cockpit and run over and jump into the back floor of the Huey while it hoverd next to your ship. Then they climbed out and dropped us back at the air strip where we were working out of that day.  It was usually pretty quick and simple, but not always. I got to practice both ends of this drill in my 18 months.  

One of Bob's episodes was pretty messy - trying to rescue a wounded ground soldier and taking really heavy fire right underneath them. Not a very pretty result. But he survived.

Now the story gets really interesting.

Bob came home to marry his sweetheart and wanted to get a job flying a helicopter. The Atlanta police department was buying their first helicopter and Bob got the job. But as often happened back then, City of Atlanta realized how crazy expensive helicopters are to maintain, and after one year, they dropped the program in a budget crisis. Bob was now a new cop but without an assigment. So he stayed on the force and became a Narc detective (also did "Crimes against children" - which eventually drove him off the force - he simply couldn't stomach some of those horrible cases). Meanwhile that first wife took him to the cleaners financially, divorced him, and turned her two sons completely against Bob (even to this day).

So anyway, Bob and his partner started to smell something "fishy" inside the department itself. They secretely started tailing a couple of senior officers and cuaght them in a drug deal, late one night on the outskirts of town at a junk car lot. They jumped out of hiding and ran over and attempted to arrrest the cops doing the drug deal. Oddly, within moments, several patrol cars rolled into the lot and a senior ranking captain steps out of his car and threatens to put Bob and his partner into "internal affairs" if they don't release the guys to him right then and there. Suspicions rise!

I gotta shorten this - sorry.

So Bob and his partner went higher and got permission to continue their tracking. After weeks of an informant calling in "tips" to Bob and his partner, they start watching this certain sports bar and get a warrant for a group arrest. They go out one night to the bar with warrant in hand and 2 other detectives that they trusted and 4 SWAT team cops to surround the bar and make the arrest. 8 guys covering the entire building.

The "bad guys" walk out and Bob aproaches one of the two leaders with Arrest Warrant in hand - a cop he knows well for years. As Bob approaches and hands him the Warrant, the guy pulls a pistol out of his coat and shoots Bob in the chest at point blank range. Bob goes down on his back and just as the guy walks over to shoot him in the head, one of Bob's partners jumps out from behind this guy and shoots him dead in the back. Then a full scale gunfight erupts in this parking lot between good cops and bad cops - about 14 guys altogether, like the OK corral. Bob arrived at the ER, D.O.A., but they revived him!

So Bob still has he bullet right next to his spine, too close for surgery to remove it. He went back to work FULL TIME on the force for 10 years!  Finally retires due to a horrible case of multiple little black boys being serially murdered that got so political Bob could not take it anymore.

Today, Bob is remarried to a wonderful wife with two grown step-sons that worship him. (nice guys, I have met them all.). But he and his partners are still fighting the City of Atlanta for their full health benefits in a mind-boggling legal case that has lasted 25 years! 

** When I get down and think life is not going my way, I often think of Bob. To this day, he is one of the kindest, friendliest, happpy, up- beat people I have ever known. Now he is on so much pain medicine he can no longer drive himself.

Bob is the Veteran I wish to remember today.

Thanks for reading another of my long-winded posts.

And Happy Veterans Day to all my classmates who served and all my classmates who had family members who served. 

Photo from my reunion 4 years ago. Bob and Gloria (white sweater) are front left - he's in wheel chair with blanket.     It was warm but his legs get cold all the time.

John Jackson

Mike, thanks for your illuminating response – I’d never considered that the right/left walking/driving thing was all a Protestant plot to undermine us.  Was this one of Martin Luther’s 95 theses?

David Mitchell

John and Mike,

You think that's bad?

It's almost a bad as that "Aussie" plot to confuse us all. On my R&R to Sydney (to go skiing in July),  I discovered all the toilets down under flush with the whirlpool spinning the opposite direction - really scary! 

Michael McLeod

John: re: Martin Luther I just checked the cathedral door. It's not up there any more. Somebody must have taken it down. 

Dave: Your picture reminds me of the only thing I miss about military life. The hats.

Michael McLeod

PS to Dave:

I swear to God you should write a book.

David Mitchell

Forgive me. I left something important out of post #4310. If you are not uttery bored out of your mind at my post, I added it back in red ink so you won't have to hunt for it. It occured to me a few hours later and I didn't want to creat a false impression.

--------------

Mike,

I was always a big fan of hats too - all kinds of hats including a feather war bonnet I had back in the day.

David Mitchell

Reading the news accounts of the staff trying to evacuate the patients at the hospital in Paradise Californian are Frightening! Unbelieveable! Amazing!       Talk about courage?

David Mitchell

Sorry if I broke the "Forum".

Can somebody tell a joke? 

Mark Schweickart

There once was a pilot named Dave

Who told tales of his buddies so brave

They flew helicopters

With the swagger of pop stars

Taking turns saving or being saved

John Maxwell

David Mitchell

Jack, et al

(OMG!  It actually took me a minute for your joke to sink in- ha)

WWI was a horrific war and seems to have flown under the radar of most Americans today. It was the first war with "portable" machine guns (gatling guns existed before), tanks, nerve gas, flame throwers, and aerial bombing (droped out of open cockpits by hand). The world had never seen any such "technology" in warfare before that. Adding to that he filth of the trenches were enough to sicken many of the fighting troops. But it may have been the arrogance - and utter lack of practical sense - of the German, French, and British Generals snd Politicians that were the worst enemy. It wiped out a huge portion of Western Europe's male population.

If you read "Fall of Giants" by Keneth Follett, it gives a wonderful description of the fatal pride (and chaos) of that war and it's complete upheaval of Western society.   

Having said all that, Jack, just exactly how does one get greater distance throwing apples with a stick?

Lawrence Foster

World War 1 Photos.

It has taken me a few days but I have managed to post a dozen or so photos over in the User Forum.  These were taken by a distant cousin, Harry Latham, when he served in France during WWI and even got a few miles into Germany according to the writing on one of the ones at the end. 

There is a description that had been on the back of each photo that is posted with it.  They are a bit blurry and hard to read.  I am only a couple days behind the Veteran's Day posts that were put up.  Sorry about that, but still, I hope you find them interesting.   

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

Do I see myself in this parody??!!  Pretty often, but..... "I know I'm right"!!!  This video is, IMHO, brilliantly done.....a little self-deprecation on both sides is good for the soul

https://youtu.be/IABRgZH12YA

Janie Albright (Blank)

MM that was a great parody! I am tempted to post it on the Bexley Buzz. Things can get a little contentious on there too. ;)

Mark Schweickart

MM -- Loved the parody of Bohemian Rhaposody. I urge everyone to check it out.

Larry -- Loved the pictures you added on the User Forum -- I likewise urge everyone to check these out as well. Fascinating photos and captions, most of which I could decipher. Quite an archival find. Am I wrong or do I see some family resemblance to you in the first photo?

David Mitchell

Mary Margaret,

I regreat to inform you that your lital videeo "Parady" has crossed over a lane in da sand wiff me. If it wren't for teh fact that I was born with a pewter spoon in my moth (and therefore perrfvect), I might not recognize teh klever "fake news" refferencis laced throughout teh vid. Da fak dat I am perfvect, and derefore knoe a whole lot more dan the ress of you makes it hard to see dis kinda stuff without feeling unloved.

It's sad.

As you all can planely C, I has tried to keep from hogging dis Ferum, an keep my posts brief and consise (Oh yea!). At lease as brief as any ordunary 70 year-ole raving dipsomaniac is sposed to. But today I am speekin' oout for da truth tha you all must axept. He who posts most is da winna!  (Or is that weiner? Or whiner?)

Can I hear an Amen?

Social media forever!

Peace, out.

David Mitchell

Great stuff Larry (class historian)

Frank Ganley

After seeing the queen movie (very good) and having all the hits of them rattling thru my head, nascar is also using them in their ads for the cup championship, up comes this imcredible paraody. Weird al was or is or has ever been this clever.  If i may include one political point, i am so embarassed to be a member of the voting public in florida once again. One concedes then says no, recounts , recounts , lawsuits back and forth.  Mixing valid and invalid ballots. The joke of a grandfather who only voted republicans till he died now votes a straight dem ticket from the grave. I praise the race in arizona when mrs mcsally saw the numbers said enough, you win, that was a legal recount by % . There must be a solution to this problem. We all want our candidate to win but we only get 1 vote.  Lets stop the fighting and get back to doing the governments business, health care, too high college tuitions, figuring how to be better people. Lastly thank you for all your kind notes and prayers during my last episode in the hospital with pnemonia . THis was one of those God’s talking directly to you talks without having to say much, he lets doctors to tell you to change some of our low down ways. Not on the down low lol. 

Michael McLeod

Good for you, Frank, to listen when a messenger appears. Many do not.  And good luck in your reassessment and recovery. 

James Hamilton, M. D.