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David Mitchell

Happy Easter to all.

And now it's time for confession.

Everybody in the room  - raise your hands if you had some baby chicks for Easter.

C'mon now, fess up.

I was too young to remember what we did with them but somehow they went away. I think we gave them away to someone who could care for them. They sure wree fun to hold - weren't they?

And then I got a rabbit. You will never guess what I named him - never in a million years!

I named him Peter !

And we kept him for a while. But he was some sort of "giant" breed. He got huge and heavy and strong enough to break my grasp. He coud dig under the old box "cage" we rigged up for him and he would get out and run all over the yard and we woud have to chase him. My dad got tired of that and we took him out to a farmer on the edge of town that my dad knew - and yes - we gave Peter away too.

From there you graduate to dreaming (and starting a savings account) to buy a pony. But that takes a while, and while you are waiting, you discover how to throw a spiral pass            - a jump shot - a fastball - - and girls!  

And God says, "you are not a little boy anymore". 

James Hamilton, M. D.

The Cicadas Are Coming!

The invasion is predicted to be massive and will mainly affect the Midwest, Northeast and parts of the South.

Please post some photos which will be appreciated when the swarms occur! Also get some close-ups of the red-eyed bugs if you can. 

Jim

John Jackson

Jim, we had a big cicada year about five years ago and the major NJ "broods" are not supposed to emerge here this year.  But when it's a big year, they're everywhere.  When you walk on a sidewalk, it's almost impossible not to squish one with every step.

Joseph D. McCarthy

David Mitchell

Jim and John,

I just saw a TV news report that said we will have the emergence of two broods of cicadas for the first ime in over 200 years. When I first moved to So. Carolina we had large "emergence" (if that's what you call it) of cicadas along with a species of bees that I had never heard of - "Cicada Killers". The "Cicada Killers" were the biggest form of bee I had ever seen and would come out of nowhere and strike the cicadas in mid-air, killing them instantly. Freaked me out until some local guys explained it to me.

David Mitchell

I want to close the "loose ends" I left on my story about Major Johnston and my buddy Jack Abbott from my previous story about that crazy 6 or 8 minutes picking up Bob Tow. 

I'll share Jacks' story tonight and Major Johnston tomorrow. (it's late) 

Jack Abbott (who poked his face into that burning cockpit) died of severe complications from Agent Orange about 2 years ago, and I drove up for Roanoke VA for his funeral. He had lived in nearby Charleston, SC for several years and we were abIe to strike up the old friendship. How I re-connected with him after all thos years is another crazy small-world story that's long and too unbleiveable to tell here.

I was invited to share with the guests at a reception after the ceremony.

I had driven up there, hoping to share the story I shared with you, about Jack running over to get Bob Tow and his Observer out of the burning cockpit. And I was allowed to share that story. But I had in mind to use a sort of tag line to begin the story with the phrase "Jack was one of those guys who had the crazy idea that you run towards the danger instead of away from it." 

So we are sitting in the funeral chapel and the celebrant Catholic priest starts into a story about Jack, beginning with the phrase, "Jack was one of those guys who would run towards the danger instead of away from it."

I was caught completely off-guard by this (and I said so - laughingly - afterwards when I spoke at the reception). But what followed was even more of a shock. The priest goes on to relate a story about how Jack was awarded the highest medal for valor in a "non-combat" situation - the "Defense Distinguished Service Medal". Not only had I never known that Jack was a recipientof this medal, I had never even heard of the medal itself. And you will never guess why he received it.  

Jack had been serving with a helicopter Squadron in Fort Campbell, KY before he ever arrived in Vinh Long, and had rushed over to a crashed helicopter to pull pilots out of - wait for it - a burning cockpit!

He never shared any of that story with any of us in his 18 months with our unit.

John Maxwell

David Mitchell

We all remember what the letters "LBJ" stood for, right? (think again)

The rest of the story for Major Johnston is quite different.

From the scene of the frantic pickup, we had flown past our base at Vinh Long, directly back to the big "Binh Thuy" Field EVAC hospital in Can Tho (where I later enjoyed a 3 day "vacation" with horrible Shigella Dysintery) to drop Bob and his observer at the emregency room for observation - a flight of about 20 minutes from where it all happened. After dropping them we headed home to Vinh Long - another short 20 minute flight. All the way home, Major Johnston sat calmly in his seat, never uttering a word. I was at the stick all the way - Major Johnston showed no interest in taking the controls. Back home, he received his jeep ride from the flight line while the rest of us shut down all the ships and rode the truck back to our baracks.

I was still in turmoil over what had happened.

By dinner time I was so anxious to share the story that I offered to buy dinner for two buddies at the Officer's club.  note: (Dinner at the squadron "Mess hall" was free, but crowded, and loud. Dinner at the "O-club" was cash, but quieter and more private). I really needed to talk to somebody. 

I shared the story with my two "dinner guests" and realized they were not buying everything I was tellling them. The three of us walked back to our hooch with no conversation. I was frustrated. How could my good buddies doubt me?

Three days later, on Major Johnston's next day as AMC (Air Mission Commander) he threw another crazy fit in the cockpit, but with a different co-pilot. Now my two buddies came back with "now tell us again what you were saying?" And on hs next rotation as AMC - a third panic episode - with another co-pilot. That time with a good friend who carried more credibiity with his story, and now the whole Troop was buzzing with questions.

The following morning, on a "down day" (day off). I was sleeping in and heard a very strange conversation going on right outside my hooch. I got up and sauntered outisde in my underwear to ask what was going on.

Major Johnston was gone, and so was our First Seargeant.

They had both been arrested and taken away in the middle of the night. They had been caught drag racing in our two company jeeps out on the main fixed-wing runway at 3:00am, in their underwear, drunk as skunks. And using the two jeep radios to tease and taunt one another. Those radios were always tuned to "squadron frequency" - so everybody down at headquarters (at the far end of the airfied) was hearing them.

They had both been flown - in 2 separate ships - in straight jackets and under heavy sedation - to a place north of Saigon (Long Binh - the main American military headquarters for all Vietnam) where the American military jail known as "LBJ" - Long Binh Jail was located. 

When you were sent to LBJ your military carreer was over! We never heard word of either one again.

David Mitchell

$20.00 an hour to flip hamburgers?

P.T. Barnum must be laughing in his grave today.

David Mitchell

Jack,

living in the Carolinas I'll have to go with National Pecan Day, but I also like National Burrito Day.

Joe,

I wonder what lens they are focusing through? 

John Jackson

I wanted to take some time to think before replying to Larry’s post 13738. 

This forum is a place for people to talk about things that are important to them.  Larry is interested (and gifted) in painting and I’m sure that all of us are glad that he shares his talent with us.

My own interests are my engineering work (which would bore most/all of you if I talked about it), music (which a few of you may find interesting) and politics/public policy which has been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember.  

I post about politics because I think what is happening in our country today is unprecedented (at least in our lifetime) and ideas and behavior that would previously be considered utterly unacceptable are becoming normalized and accepted in public life.  What’s happening isn’t going to affect an old fart like me much, but I’ve got kids/grandkids and I’m really scared for what kind of political system us baby boomers are passing on to them.

So I’m sure some of you (especially those who disagree with me) will agree that my posts are “pompous and bombastic".  But I plan to keep plugging away although, as I’ve said many times before, I recognize that it’s wrong for politics/public policy to be the major focus here.

And Jack, since I'm always looking out for my own self-interest, I’ll cast my vote for National Husband Appreciation Day.

Michael Boulware

I believe that all of us have respect for each other. I believe that all of us are going to have differing points of view and should express our opinions. I've looked over our posts and I do not see any posts that are "pompous and bombastic". Larry Foster is a great guy and I have always considered him a great friend. Obviously, one of us has offended Larry. 

I am so sorry that you were offended Larry. I sure hope you continue to exercise your superb talent and share your work with the class of '66.

Michael Boulware

One of the very best people I have ever known just received the Last Rites . Pleae keep Mr. Pat Mannion in your prayers. Don't give up on him . He is a fighter. Mr. Mannion is at St. Anne's in Westerville. NO VISITORS PLEASE. I will keep you posted about his progress through this website.

David Mitchell

Mike,

Sorry to hear the news about Pat Mannion. He was one of my favorite teachers. I had a slight connection with him even before I entered his History class. My oldest sister dated a guy who was one of his best friends, and he told me what a good guy he was.

I have a favorite memory of my time in Mr. Mannion's history class. We were assigned to read our own choice of books about history and I chose this book about Charlemagne. The book was way over my head and far above our reading level - long, thick, and tiny print - college level at least. At first blush, I knew it was way over my head. I could not get into it at all, but I went ahead and wrote my report on the book - based on the summary on the back cover and a few school notes I had gathered in class.

 Mr. Mannion called each of us to his desk one at a time, to critique our papers. I knew I was a dead giveaway and approached him expecting the worst. He looked at me and said something like "This is pretty ambitious of you. But you didn't read the book did you?"  He had me dead to rights. I said "No" and he just smiled at me. I think he gave me a "D" as a gift and urged me to do better next time. I walked back t o my desk with my tail between my legs and a shrug of relief. 

John Jackson

By and large, we were fortunate to have the teachers we had at BWHS, but Pat Mannion was an especially good one.  

Janie Albright (Blank)

Freshman History with Mr. Mannion was the best class ever. We had to subscribe to Newsweek and I continued that until it went out of print. We took his class during the Cuban Missile Crisis and if I recall spent about 20 min a day on current events. Something I've also continued to spent (way too much) time on to this day. 

Thanks for the heads up Mike. Prayers being said. 
 

Daniel Cody

He was an outstanding teacher and coach! One if the best at WHS during my time.  Btw a good Akron boy!

Daniel Cody

I spoke with Fr Jerry Rodenenfels ( a St Charles classmate ) who was his pastor and current neighbor who found him the other day.  He is not optomistic about his prognosis.  He asked me to have our classmates offer a prayer for him.

Michael McLeod

Let me pitch in here as the other Mike:

I remember a single encounter with Mr. Mannon. I was being an idiot and he called my attention to it. Gently.

I can't piece the details together but it was just the two of us in a hallway, Whatever I was doing was childish and loud -- and instead of talking AT me, yelling AT me for whatever it was, he utterly startled me by conversing with me, however briefly, in such a way that - almost as if we were equals -- he wanted to pose a question for the two of us to consider. He said something along the lines of: "You're acting like an idiot. Is that how you want to lead your life?"  He posed that question as if the two of us were on equal footing when it came to trying to figure it out. By doing so, looking back, I realized he was tacitly saying to me: "You're actually not an idiot," which struck me as a novel notion, particularly coming from a grownup. I often felt like an inmate in high school; like nothing much was expected of me except trouble. Then suddenly there was a grownup talking to me as if I was a grownup, too, or at least a viable candidate to become one if I could work the kinks out.

He made me feel, in that moment, like I was worth something, that I was better than how I was acting, and that I should behave accordingly. 

Dave: Your Jeep story was a classic military tale in what I call the "insanity in uniform" genre.

War in general is insane, so there are many, many permutations and entries in that particular category.

I've never seen it done but I bet you somewhere at some university some inventive modern lit professor has taught a class entirely devoted to insanity in uniform.

It would start with "Catch 22" or maybe "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Then maybe "Slaughterhouse Five" and "The Red Badge of Courage" and of course The Illiad and the Odyssey and my favorite, Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" - lord knows how many stories than man wrote about war - and oh of course "Gone with the Wind" and I suppose if we wanted to get really dark we would have to include passages from "Mein Kampf." 

All this makes me want to take some books off the shelf and just read all afternoon instead of correcting papers.

Adn finally: Has anybody else gotten a new air conditioning system installed lately? 

I just did. I have future shock. Guess I was living in the past with my old system. I feel like I'm in a space ship.  

I haven't posted for a while, hence the length.

ps Yo Larry. Lighten up. 

John Jackson

Word of the day:  syzygy

David Mitchell

Okay John,

I'll bite.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Hmmm... that word eclipses my knowledge!

Jim

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

❤️❤️❤️ my Yankees!
 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/UnKNxRdk179f8cK6/?mibextid=UalRPS

Michael Boulware

Pat Mannion passed away at 10:52 with the basketball game on TV. 

Mary Margaret Clark (Schultheis)

"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24 

Eternal rest grant onto him O Lord, and may the perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.