Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

It’s my favorite holiday!

I hope youse guys are enjoying it with your families!

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day: The Funeral of John Smith

MamaM said...

What came up for you when you thought a lot about this Memorial day?

I thought about a lot of things.

I thought of Mike the guy who lived on the top floor of the brownstone on Tompkins Place in the 1960's when I was a kid. He was the coolest guy I knew. He had a Mustang Convertible. Dated cheerleaders and the hot daughter of one of the local mob guys. He went to Vietnam and had both of his legs shot off.

I thought of the quiet guy who I used to say hello too at Church. He was quiet and unassuming and helped when we had to stack chairs or bring in Christmas decorations even though he was in his seventies. He never talked about his life. When he died we found out that he was a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attacks and served on the Arizona.

I thought of my Uncle V who served in the Navy during World War 2 and was stationed on Guam for a year. He developed a fondness for Spam and fish that he tried to pass on to his nephews even though it never took. He did give me a peacoat and a machete/saw that I have to this day.

I thought of my Dad who ran away to join the Army when he was sixteen and had to use his brothers ID.  He spent a lot of time in Korea as an MP. Served in Alaska and Hawaii. Never talked about it. Never bragged about it. He just served. 

I thought of all the guys who are represented by Trooper John Smith. I have posted that video before. It is instructive how Confederate soldiers were looked at when John Ford made that movie. They were considered gallant foes who were terribly wrong but still our brothers. Now they would be destroyed by the social justice warriors. Captain Brittles would lose his commission for honoring him. It beggars belief.

I thought of where we are today. Where Karen's and social justice warriors with I-phone cameras call the tune. Where honor duty and country were important. Where we honored our warriors.

Yeah I thought about a lot of things.

I think about them every Memorial Day.

It doesn't seem to be the same

I thought a lot about this Memorial Day. It seems different than other ones. People just don't seem to care. Notice the lack of comments on our Memorial Day Post. There used to be a lot more. People who wanted to pay tribute to the men and woman who put their lives on the line to protect and defend us. Most of the blogs I follow didn't have a Memorial Day post or just a cursory one. People just don't give a shit. They are all tied up with this bullshit virus.

President Trump went with his wife to lay a wreath. He at least showed some respect. He later played some golf and the press made a big deal out of it as usual. I think we have to rethink our priorities.

I know I have.

WKRLEM Happy Memorial Day!

To all of our veterans I want to wish a Happy and Healthy and Peaceful Memorial Day.

WKRLEM:Highlanders advance at the Battle of New Orleans, 1815

From an excellent little movie called "The Buccaneer." The story of Jean Paul Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans. Starring Yul Brenner.. With hair! And the great Charlton Heston as General Andy Jackson in what he claimed was one of his favorite roles.

I saw this movie in grammar school. It was on movie day and it was considered a good movie from Catholic School kids to watch by the nuns.

The Heroes of the War of 1812 are forgotten of course. Jackson. Lafitte. Winfield Scott. Oliver Hazard Perry.

Just like the heroes of all the rest of our wars.

Say a prayer for them on Memorial Day.

WKRLEM: Respect for Trooper John Smith Two

There were many Galvanized Yankees in the Army of the Plains. Soldiers from the South who could not go back to civilian life. The choice was the Outlaw trail like the James and Younger boys or the Army.

Having a general serve as a private was an exaggeration to be sure.

But many of them re-upped to fight in the Spanish American War. Led by fighting Joe Wheeler the boys of the South were always ready for a scrap.

WKRLEM: Respect for Trooper John Smith

This was the respect paid for the people on the other side. When this movie was made there were still people alive who had fought in the Civil War. The wounds were still very fresh.

It makes you laugh at the poesuers who tear down Confederate statues these days.

KLEM FM

linky

My folks had that 45 rpm when I was a kid. I think my brother has it now. I haven't listened to it in maybe 40 years.  I vaguely recall it had something appropriate for Memorial Day and sure enough, Wiki delivered:

The lyrics were written in honor of Green Beret US Army Specialist 5 James Gabriel, Jr., the first native Hawaiian to die in Vietnam, who was killed by Viet Cong gunfire while on a training mission on April 8, 1962. One verse mentioned Gabriel by name, but it wasn't included in the recorded version. link

WKRLEM: The Rouge Bouquet

In a wood they call the Rouge Bouquet

There is a new-made grave to-day,

Built by never a spade nor pick

Yet covered with earth ten metres thick.

There lie many fighting men,

Dead in their youthful prime,

Never to laugh nor love again

Nor taste the Summertime.

For Death came flying through the air

And stopped his flight at the dugout stair,

Touched his prey and left them there,

Clay to clay.

He hid their bodies stealthily

In the soil of the land they fought to free

And fled away.

Now over the grave abrupt and clear

Three volleys ring;

And perhaps their brave young spirits hear

The bugle sing:

“Go to sleep!

Go to sleep!

Slumber well where the shell screamed and fell.

Let your rifles rest on the muddy floor,

You will not need them any more.

Danger’s past;

Now at last,

Go to sleep!”

flag, Astronauts on the Moon

The large garage door lifted and I walked under it and out like a king except onto an alley facing a parking lot and right off caught glimpse of little brown bunny tucking under a parked vehicle woefully displaced in this urban parking lot. At nine thirty looked up to a blue sky and saw the moon up there like a tiny round cloud just waiting to be noticed by somebody. A woman walking in front of me noticed. "Hey, look at the moon." 

So I did. 

Visitors to the U.S. remark, "Boy, they sure do like their flag. And we do. But not any more than the person saying that. It's just they haven't noticed the same thing in their own country. And if that were uniquely true about Americans as they suppose then these balconies would be covered with flags, and you see only one. Right in the middle. 

My sky. I feel so ensconced. 

I decided to read a book about when America was great. Won't take long, it's a pop-up book.

When was America ever great? A provocative unhappy person asked that on Twitter. 

We could say, maybe back in 1979 when this book was published. When the country was united in a single project. Except for the people against the project, the people who protested spending all that money on space, mostly Democrats,  and insisted better use can be made of it right here and who considered the entire program one gigantic corporate welfare project on an industrial scale. Back when civil rights was a wrenching national issue. When feminism really took hold. Back when free sex opened the door to AIDS. Back then when both parents working and latchkey kids became the norm, during that period of lynchings and riots and anti-war unrest. The golden years when America was great. A nostalgia developed for those less trying times.  

A time when even pop-up books were simple. V-mechanism, V-mechanism, V-mechanism. Except for the pod. We could make this whole book easily in our first class. I'm not knocking it, I'm describing it and encouraging your own abilities.

I saw Obama posters in the windows one time but never any American flags. The business across the street will have a whole block with a line of American flags in a row, but not on the people's balconies. 

Memorial Day

Edward "Butch" O'Hare, WW2 Naval ace & Medal of Honor recipient for whom O'Hare airport is named. Died 11/26/43 pic.twitter.com/QpUknxb9gI

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 30, 2016

When traveling through O'Hare, visit the Grumman Wildcat exhibit honoring Butch O'Hare in Terminal 2.

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) May 30, 2016

A great movie to watch this Memorial Day Weekend!

I always love to watch movies on a long holiday weekend. I am not much of a movie guy because I much prefer episodic television. I don't want to invest the time in a crappy movie. Unless it is an old favorite that I watch over and over again. I have a bunch I love on Memorial Day and I watch at least two of them every year. "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon." "Fort Apache." "The Dirty Dozen." "The Devils Brigade." "The Fighting Kentuckian." "The Alamo." "Go Tell the Spartans." "The Longest Day." "They Died With Their Boots On." "A Bridge To Far." "The Guns of Navarone." They are all available somewhere. On demand. Netflicks. Amazon. Hulu.

But this weekend I saw a movie that was just great  and I highly highly recommend it for this weekend. It is about the most overlooked of the Armed Services. The Coast Guard.

It is called "The Finest Hours." I know it On Demand on most cable services. It stars Chris Pine the New Captain Kirk as well as Casey Affleck and Eric Bana. It chronicles the rescue of the sailors on the USS Pendleton off the coast of New England in 1952.

I love everything about this movie. It is set in my favorite era the 1950's. It shows the heroism of a much neglected service the Coast Guard. I don't know if you have ever had any experience with the Coast Guard. The are terrific and unsung heroes. They have to go out in the worst most dangerous weather to rescue idiots who don't know jack about the sea. When I was a kid my uncle forced my cousins and me to take a Coast Guard safety course. It was run by a crusty old salt who had a lot of hilarious stories about idiots in the Atlantic and the Sound. This movie shows what these guys do and it is both inspiring and moving.

The story is incredible and I won't spoil it for you. But take it from me if you are going to rent a movie in the next few weeks this it one to see. Especially on Memorial day.

John Basilone

Military service...

Guadalcanal

During the Battle for Henderson Field, his unit came under attack by a regiment of approximately 3,000 soldiers from the Japanese Sendai Division. On October 24, 1942, Japanese forces began a frontal attack using machine guns, grenades, and mortars against the American heavy machine guns. Basilone commanded two sections of machine guns that fought for the next two days until only Basilone and two other Marines were left standing. Basilone moved an extra gun into position and maintained continual fire against the incoming Japanese forces. He then repaired and manned another machine gun, holding the defensive line until replacements arrived. As the battle went on, ammunition became critically low. Despite their supply lines having been cut off by enemies in the rear, Basilone fought through hostile ground to resupply his heavy machine gunners with urgently needed ammunition. When the last of it ran out shortly before dawn on the second day, Basilone held off the Japanese soldiers attacking his position using his .45 pistol. By the end of the engagement, Japanese forces opposite their section of the line were virtually annihilated. For his actions during the battle, he received the United States military's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor.
Afterwards, Private First Class Nash W. Phillips, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, recalled from the battle for Guadalcanal:

Basilone had a machine gun on the go for three days and nights without sleep, rest, or food. He was in a good emplacement, and causing the Japanese lots of trouble, not only firing his machine gun, but also using his pistol.

Iwo Jima

John Basilone's headstone in Arlington National Cemetery

After his request to return to the fleet was approved, he was assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division during the invasion of Iwo Jima. On February 19, 1945, he was serving as a machine gun section leader in action against Japanese forces on Red Beach II. During the battle, the Japanese concentrated their fire at the incoming Marines from heavily fortified blockhouses staged throughout the island. With his unit pinned down, Basilone made his way around the side of the Japanese positions until he was directly on top of the blockhouse. He then attacked with grenades and demolitions, single-handedly destroying the entire strong point and its defending garrison. He then fought his way toward Airfield Number 1 and aided a Marine tank that was trapped in an enemy mine field under intense mortar and artillery barrages. He guided the heavy vehicle over the hazardous terrain to safety, despite heavy weapons fire from the Japanese. As he moved along the edge of the airfield, he was killed by Japanese mortar shrapnel. His actions helped Marines penetrate the Japanese defense and get off the landing beach during the critical early stages of the invasion. He was posthumously awarded the Marine Corps' second-highest decoration for valor, the Navy Cross, for extraordinary heroism during the battle of Iwo Jima.
Based on his research for the book and mini-series The Pacific, author Hugh Ambrose suggested that Basilone was not killed by a mortar, but by small arms fire that hit him in the right groin, the neck and nearly took off his left arm completely.

Dams and Bridges

[originally posted here a few years ago. I changed some the time references as the trip was some time ago now]

A few years ago my wife and I took our kids on a crazy road trip adventure to retrace the history of water conservation in the Great American Southwest. The trip was inspired by our reading Colossus, which retells the story of taming the Colorado River and building the Hoover Dam.

First stop was the Salton Sea which is just a little over a 100 years old and was created by accident when an irrigation canal went awry in 1906. I traced down the exact spot where the accident happened which was right outside of Yuma, Arizona. There wasn't much to see. We drove on a levee alongside the old Colorado River bed, following an old 1906 map and Google Earth. Two Border Patrol agents' trucks were parked nose-to-nose on the levee as we peered into Mexico. We drove the Chevy to the levee but the levee was bone dry. The Border Patrol guys gave us such mean looks that I was afraid to even take a photo.

We stayed overnight in Yuma which is a very old and dusty town bisected by what's left of the Colorado River. I took some high-res ("artsy") photos of an old hotel there which I'll post separately. Heading further upriver, we reached the Hoover Dam:

Hoover Dam taken from Tillman Bridge

The last time I was at Hoover Dam was pre-9/11. In the old days, the main route between Phoenix and Vegas still passed over the dam. We did that journey then with one kid and one in the oven while driving our glorious 1963 Thunderbird (that car deserves more that passing mention so I won't mention it further). There was something new this time that wasn't there in 1999--the new Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge:*

Tillman Bridge taken from Hoover Dam

The bridge is stunningly gorgeous. It's part of the main road now between Vegas and Phoenix, but you can park and walk it too for no charge. I felt a little acrophobic as I took that photo of the dam from the bridge.

____________________

*I dedicate this blog post to Corporal Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004).

Added:  A 1930's artist captured the same view of Hoover Dam from the imaginary bridge:

More old stamps:

It must be Climate Change again

Portage Lake, ME right now. Even for Maine this is kinda messed up. #MemorialDayWeekend (HT @TomMooreTWC) pic.twitter.com/F4ljI6fjoT

— Keith Carson (@KeithCarson) May 23, 2015

Breckenridge, Colorado.

Memorial Day

You may not know that Kris Kristofferson joined the U.S. Army and achieved the rank of Captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School.  During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.  It was during this time that he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, when his tour of duty ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English Literature at West Point.

On this day, and every day, I miss my father and my uncle Nick, both Navy veterans.

Dad fought on Guadalcanal.  He was one of forty in his battle group who survived.  Uncle Nick went in as a Pharmacist's Mate, served in combat, and stayed in the Navy to become a Psychologist who treated vets at several VA hospitals for decades after the War.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for remembering the men and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces. The holiday, which is celebrated every year on the last Monday of May, was formerly known as Decoration Day and originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the war. By the 20th century, Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died while in the military service. It typically marks the start of the summer vacation season, while Labor Day marks its end.

Many people visit cemeteries and memorials, particularly to honor those who have died in military service. Many volunteers place an American flag on each grave in national cemeteries. (read more)

Wikipedia