World War Three

      World War 1 started when Arch-duke Ferdinand was assassinated in September of 1914. World War 2 started in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Our own 9/11 war on terror started in September of 2001. One might get the idea that the worst wars start in September and if my calendar is correct, there is a September every year. This September is just one month away.
      World War 3 has already started, but in a very different way so far. World War 3 may be a cyber war or a more conventional war. It is cyber at this moment, but it may well change in the future. Historians will argue about when it all started for many years. It may be a difficult thing to prove when it actually started. My thinking is when the Stuxnet worm virus was released, (ostensibly by the US and Israel) on Iran in November of 2007, destroying Iran's nuclear centrifuges. There may or will be other events to argue over, like the Russian intervention into our 2016 elections, but they have been doing the same things in Europe for a decade or longer. It could be argued that the Chinese hacking of our military computer systems and our military contractor's computers and our nuclear labs has been a cyber war. The Russian's are now actively working to interfere in our 2018 elections. It could be the Russian hacking into our electrical grid, (which they have already done) and they can shut down our country's electrical grid at any time they desire. Think about no electric in the entire country, how would we survive? What happens when they shut down our electric system and then send in a wave of nuclear armed bombers and missiles during the blackout. And the Chinese are building up their naval strength to take over the east and south China seas and all that is in those seas as far away as the Philippines. In 2006 a Chinese sub surfaced undetected 5 miles in front of a US carrier task force led by the USS Kitty Hawk and in October of 2015 a Chinese submarine tailed the USS Ronald Reagan in the seas off Japan with Russian torpedoes that could have sunk the aircraft carrier and it then surfaced in the middle of a US battle task force, just to let the US know they can sink a carrier any time they want to. Apparently our advanced sonar is not advanced enough.
      Just now Iran is planning its largest naval exercises in the gulf of Hormuz. They have been harassing the Us navy for more than 2 decades now in the gulf and it is possible this will start a big war. The US has declared since early 1990 that oil coming out of Hormuz is of vital interest to us and allies and we will do whatever is necessary to defend traffic in the gulf. Hold onto your hats, this cyber war may just become World War 3 in a more standard way.
      

220618 WAR!

I see the shape our world is in and I find it distressing. There is always a war going on in places around the world. War never seems to end. It is impossible to win a war, because both sides lose soldiers and civilians. During World War Two there were more civilians killed than soldiers. That doesn’t seem possible, but it is true. I believe the USA has been in a constant war since the attack on Pearl Harbor. In a small way even before war was officially declared. Since then if we weren’t in a full scale shooting war we have been in a covert and not so covert war constantly.

I often wonder if those who declare war actually had to lead their troops into battle how many wars would be fought? The answer is not so many, if any at all. I wonder if all men were farmers, would there ever be a war? I do not think if mothers were running the world, that they would not start wars and send their sons and daughters into combat willy nilly as politicians do.

There is an old seventies song, “WAR” I thought was unpatriotic when I was serving in the navy during Vietnam. Now with the benefit of age I realize the song’s value, changing people’s mind on the Vietnam war and its death and destruction. I recognize the bravery of soldiers and marines and airmen in that war. Their war was in my humble opinion the most grueling, mind bending sacrifice in history. 58,000 never came home. Far more lives were changed forever with those families of returning veterans who could not adapt to the life they lived before Vietnam. I believe the war could have been won if the generals had full control of those under their command. Instead, the civilian war materials companies wanted this war to continue so they could fill their pockets. Those same companies owned our politicians who in turn kept the war going on for what was an eternity for those in combat. When the war was over, Vietnam returned to a new normal and it has done well, so why did the USA go in the first place? What was our gain? Was there any gain at all? Is the world any better off? Ask those whose name is on the wall of the Vietnam memorial in D.C.

Memorial Day 2017

Today, May 29 is the designated Memorial Day. This is because of the “Uniform Monday Holiday Act” established on June 28, 1968. The real Memorial day is May 30, established in 1868 to honor those lost in the civil war, there’s an oxymoron, a civil war. Wars are not civil; they are brutal and bloody. Wars are things old men (the world collectively) send our young poor people to die in. Poor people die in wars while rich businessmen become richer still.

We Americans have had our share of wars and some extra to be sure. I was thinking of World War Two yesterday. My father, my uncle Kenny, Joyce’s father, her uncle William all served in combat. My father was in Patton’s 3rd army in Germany. My uncle was in Carlson’s marine raider battalion. Joyce’s father’s ship the USS Brownson DD-518 was sunk off New Britain in the south Pacific. Her uncle William, a gunner on a Mitchell bomber, was shot down over Germany and spent a year in a POW camp. I feel we were very lucky that none of them were killed. They were all changed by the war. Our nephew Patrick (23 years army) has been in combat in Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan and he has changed. Me, in the navy before Vietnam, during and after Vietnam, may have changed but not as much as the boys in the jungles of Vietnam. Writing this today you can see I have a totally different perspective with the wisdom of age. I am not really a wise old man; it’s just a historical perspective.

The Berlin airlift began in 1948, starting the cold war that went on until 1991. The US still has 38,500 troops in Germany, down from 300,000 after the war, but they/we are still there.

Korea flared up just 5 years later. Those soldiers and sailors that were lured into staying on in the army or navy reserve after the world war, were right back in combat. Some soldiers were still part of the occupying force in Japan and went right into Korea. That war ended in time, 1950-1953 (although we still have 38,000 troops there) for a brief rest until...wait for it...

Vietnam started slowly, 1959 and just 700 US advisors in country. In 1963 that number was 15,000. In 1964 the Tonkin Gulf incident gave Johnson the fever and another 185,000 troops jumped into the fray. That ramped up to 540,000 by the Tet offensive in 1968. War continued until 1973 when the first troop withdrawal began and finally ended in 1975.

The Beirut bombing in 1983 killed 243 US marines there on a peacekeeping mission. Now there is another oxymoron, peacekeeping that cost 243 young men’s lives.

The first gulf war began in 1991 and ended in 91.

The war on terror began in 2001 in Afghanistan, still fighting there in 2017. The Iraq war started in 2003, still fighting there.

I have skipped over several more incidents, that have happened with the loss of American soldier’s lives. It’s beginning to look like wars will never end for the US military forces. Geopolitics is the often-used reason for all of this. Perhaps that is the truth, but I offer another thought. Here on the ground, the fat-cat businessmen keep getting fatter and the poor young men keep dying. This needs to stop. Perhaps if the rich and powerful had to defend our country on the front lines, it would stop.

Meanwhile, today we celebrate Memorial Day, commemorating those soldiers and sailors lost in the last 156 years of never-ending conflicts. The young men dying today and every day since the Civil war are just as brave as those 156 years ago and just as dead. Let’s honor those still in service around the world. If I sound bitter and angry over all of this, it’s only because I am bitter and angry that this goes on and on. You may have read in history class about the 100-year war that lasted 116 years between England and France over the wealth and power of the throne. I think we have been in a 156-year war and I am tired of it.

One last thought, something from the Vietnam era, “What if they gave a war and nobody came?”

230526 Memorial Day May 29

Memorial Day was established in 1868.

The day was created to honor those soldiers who died in The civil war, the greatest loss of life in any war in our history. The number of soldiers that died from 1861 to 1865 is estimated to be 620,000. That is a larger number than all who died in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812, the Mexican war, the Spanish American war, world war 1, world war 2 and the Korean war combined.

Memorial Day was originally Decoration day. Decoration day was established in 1868 to decorate soldier’s graves with flowers in honor of those lost in war. Memorial day became a federal holiday in 1971. It has always bothered me that while our government employees take a holiday, soldiers, sailors, marines and air force, never get the holiday. It’s the same for veteran’s day, also thanksgiving, christmas, easter and july fourth. Out at sea there are no holidays; every day is a work day. Even ashore, sailors work on all the holidays. There are meals to prepare, watches to stand, trash to haul, floors to be swept.

I remember one veterans day memorial service atop Point Loma, California. I had to take a vacation day from Burroughs corporation. There is no place I have ever seen that matched the spectacular views from Point Loma, overlooking San Diego bay and the Pacific ocean.

My Father, my uncle Kenny, Joyce’s Father and her uncle William fought in world war 2, all are long gone now. Joyce’s cousin Jim served in the air force. I served for 11 years in the navy, much of my time in the combat zone, during Vietnam. My nephew Patrick fought in Panama, Iraq and Afghanistan. Once I am gone, Patrick will follow many years later and that will be the end of our family's service to this wonderful country of ours.

This post for Memorial Day is in honor of veterans I have known and I am proud to have known them

      I have met more than "a few good men" in my life and many, if not most of the best were in military service. This lineup of heroes that are or were friends is being posted in their honor for the upcoming Memorial day. I have known far more veterans than these below, but lack pictures or enough of their history to write about. There is no particular order. It is being put together as I find their pictures in my messy computer folders, so none is featured over another, except for William.
      Of course my biggest hero remains Joyce's uncle William. His story is already posted on this blog.

      This next hero, is Doug Culwell with his wife Mary. Doug (or Doc as we all called him) was with me in Glynco, Ga. and on Guam occasionally on Sangley Point, Philippines and in San Diego afterwards. Doc was a good friend and a good man. We did a lot of partying and always had a good time and never, well almost never got into trouble. The picture was 2 years before his death.

This was Doc a few weeks after I met him in 1964.

      The next hero here is Cal Potter. Cal and I flew through typhoons together, stood airborne radar watches over the US 7th fleet together, deployed all over the far east together, had more liberties ashore than I could possibly remember and were in San Diego together. Cal does not look much different today. He has been practicing Judo and teaching it for the last 20 years or more.

      This is another picture of Cal when we were on the island of Corregador, in Manila bay. Corregador was the last place American troops surrendered to the Japanese in World war 2. Cal is standing next to a 12 inch mortar still there from the war. He was not trying to hide his face, but rather ingesting a cold San Miguel beer that we brought with us.

      Next up is John Alejandro, my co-worker from the Litton days, who is still a friend and correspondent on a daily basis. John started as a tunnel rat in Vietnam. He later moved to door gunner, both very dangerous jobs during the Vietnam war. John was and still is a comedian as anyone who worked at Litton will verify. I clipped this picture from his Facebook page.

      Next up is Joyce and my nephew Patrick who put 23 years in the US army. He spent most of his years in the 10th mountain division. He did 2 tours in Korea, He completed parachute jump school, severe weather mountain survival school, did 2 tours in Iraq, 1 or 2 tours in Afghanistan, was in the invasion of Panama and more than I know of in his 23 years in uncle Sam's army.

      Next up is James Stoeppler, air force veteran. James served as a nurse during his time in uncle Sam's military. James is a nephew of Joyce's uncle William and a very accomplished gentleman.This picture is from 1958.

      This is Jim just out of basic training in 1958. Jim never got overseas during his 4 years as an army medic, but he did have some combat medical experience. He fought the battle of Minot N. Dakota with winters that regularly went to 28 degrees below zero with high winds, who could survive that? He did treat a lot of battle wounds from bar fights and brawls. He had to take an ambulance out to pick up the remains of an airman who stuck a shotgun under his chin and blew his brains out. I can't imagine much worse than that. It was a very messy cleanup. Jim also ran the ER from 1600 to 2400 in Minot.

      Below is Audie Luna and me in 2003. Audie served in the US Coast Guard. The Coast Guard is more than most people think of when they hear about the service. Coast guardsmen piloted landing craft in the invasion of Normandy during World War 2, They were stationed on far flung Pacific islands, until recently, operating Loran (long range radio and navigation) stations necessary for trans-Pacific air transits. Today they interdict armed drug smugglers on the high seas and provide security for the president when he is at his seaside golf resorts. Audie was my boss at that time and he was presenting me with a certificate for something I had accomplished at Litton. I cannot remember what it was. Audie is a fine gentleman and family man that I have the pleasure of working for and with.

      
      This next picture is, left to right, Doc Culwell, Roy Dordick, David Barth Ken Vaughn. You know about Doc from above. Roy was with me and the others from Glynco, Georgia to Guam, to San Diego, and with me on the Kitty Hawk. Our shop chief used to start the day with "where's Drifty?" He named Roy Drifty because he was usually not around much. I do not know what happened to Roy after he left the navy. David Barth was also with our crew from Glynco through Guam. When the rest of us left Guam David stayed longer and ended up in Vietnam when the squadron moved there. David and I are still in contact on a regular basis; he has had a long marriage and is a great family man who has done well after his navy hitch. The last man in the picture, Ken, stayed in the navy for 30 years and rose to master chief, the highest enlisted rank in the navy. He stayed on flight duty his whole career. He would have stayed in the navy longer, but the navy does not allow enlisted men to stay beyond 30 years.

      This is John Houdek, our crew chief on crew 4 back in 1965. I saw a picture of him at the squadron reunion several years back and John aged very well. He was a really good crew chief.

      
      I almost forgot this one. It is Orie DeBord with Barbara DeBord and the back of Kevin DeBord's head. They are on the pier in San Diego by the USS Oriskany. Kevin's dad had just arrived home from a cruise off the coast of Vietnam. Orie was an aviation ordance man working on the flight deck when the Oriskany caught fire on the 26th of October, 1966. Orie's family heard about the fire on the nightly news and heard there were 44 dead and 156 injured, mostly on the flight deck where Orie worked. They waited more than a week until the Oriskany got to port in the Philippines and Orie could call and tell them he was okay. Orie is and was a hero that day, before and after that day.

      I put this picture in because it was a navy recruiting poster in World War 2. I have no doubt this poster influenced many future World War 2 heroes to join the navy.

      The next two pictures are of Wake Island. Why are pictures of an island here? Wake island was attacked on December 8 of 1941, because Wake is across the international date line Wake was actually attacked and taken over by the Japanese on the same day and time as Pearl Harbor. The marine garrison held out for 15 days under savage attack by a far superior Japanese force and was held by Japanese until after the end of World War 2. The Japanese surrendered Wake on September 4, 1945. The brutality of marine captives led to the hanging of the Japanese commander on Wake in 1947. I could not determine how many marines died during captivity on Wake.
The second picture is the Drifter's Reef bar in 1965 when Cal and I were there. I thought a lot about its history in World War 2 when we were there.

      The drifter's reef was not there in World War 2. That saddens me because I think the marines could have used a few beers waiting between the Japanese attacks. As you can see there wasn't much to the reef in 1965. We did have a great crew party there, with fishing, BBQ steaks and a lot of beer one day and night. The only event during my navy time with officers and men partying together. It still cracks me up when I see the phrase "officers and men" think about that. It is still used in the navy.

      This below is my father in Eichstatt Germany in 1945. He was in Patton's 3rd army as an artillery soldier. He never spoke about it so I know nothing more than he was there.

      Below is my uncle Kenny. He was a marine's marine. He signed up on December 8, 1941 and went to war. He never spoke much about it so I do not know as much as I would like to know. I know he was in Carlson's raider batallion from beginning until they were disbanded. They went into Japanese held areas before scheduled landings to do recon and cut a few throats in the middle of the night. He did say he was sorry about that one night when he was drunk out of his mind. He was later in the invasion of Saipan and shortly after he went ashore on Guam. When sober he was the nicest gentleman any one would ever meet. When he was drunk he was fierce and combative.

      This picture below is VW-1 crew 4 in 1965. At one time I knew every one of these guys, but now only remember a few. I am in the back row 2nd from left. Far left back row is Ronnie Cress, engine mechanic, me, 3rd from left is Casebier, lead tech, 4th is J.J., radioman, he could transmit 60 words a minute using Morse code with a speed key, 5th is Jack Buck (not the sports caster), but rather our radar leading petty officer and my nemesis, 6th I do not remember, 7th is Cal Potter my good buddy, far right is Bill Locher, tech who looked near exactly like me. We were confused by a lot of people. Middle row 3rd from right is Tommy Fincannon, one of the funniest guys ever. The rest I cannot remember, except for front row center was Lt. commander Armstrong our pilot and top dog.

      Below is Joyce's father and her mother in 1945. Her dad's ship the USS Brownson a destroyer was sunk on Christmas Day 1943. They were invading the Cape Gloucester area of the island of New Britain. A Japanese Val bomber dropped a 500 pound bomb down the 2nd stack and the ship sunk in a few minutes. He was plucked out of the water by another destroyer. He was given 30 days survivors leave and then assigned to ferry duty taking LST's on a shakedown cruise from Ohio, down the Mississippi to New Orleans so they could be sent to the Pacific. On an overnight stop in Saint Louis he met Joyce's mother and the rest is history.

220125 Sentinel, Veterans

All veterans have seen and done things that the majority of others, especially the youth in this country today will never experience.
Less than 1% these days will ever have those experiences.
During World War 2 every large city had a multitude of veterans. Through Korea, Vietnam, The first Gulf war, the second Gulf war, Iraq, Afghanistan, less than the 1% mentioned have served their country during war. Fewer than that have been prisoners of war. World War 2 was a time when everyone in this country sacrificed the pleasures of normal life on the home front, with gas rationing, meat rationing and scrap drives. Wives even saved cooking grease to make explosives during the war. These days people don't have to worry about sacrificing as they did in World War 2. These days military wives still have to endure worry, and fear when husbands are away. They have a job that normally is shared by a husband and wife, but they have to face that alone. Joyce did it when I was away and it was as difficult for her as it was for me, even more so than me. Joyce was kind enough to remind me that I while I was living out of a seabag, with meals, laundry, living conditions (poor as they were onboard ship) were all taken care of by the navy.

Joyce had to navigate all of that by herself, take care of Annie, plus pay all the necessary bills and control her finances with not much money to accomplish that.
I was lucky not to have the horrors that some veterans face today. At the end of their tour away from family and friends, they were in combat one day and the next day they were home again, trying to adapt to civilian life and a lot of people who think they are crazy for risking thier lives at this time. For many, that is not a workable situation. For some it takes months or years, it took nearly 10 years to adapt to my new life. For others it is something they have to endure for the rest of their lives. Never forget, it's not the politicians who make your life as comfortable as it is, far from it, it's the veterans that give you freedom, not the government politicians.

World War Two Vets and Pearl Harbor 181207

      Today is the 77th anniversary of Pearl Harbor day, the day America became officially involved in World war Two. A little known fact is the navy was actually in the war on convoy duty a year before we declared war on Japan and Germany. Here's a tip of the hat to the U.S. marine corps (a part of the U.S. navy, though they hate to think about that and do not like to hear it) as they took over defense of north Atlantic weather stations in Iceland when the U.S. navy took on convoy duty in the Atlantic, so the British could use those troops in raids against Germans after they took over the Scandinavian countries. God bless all the soldiers, sailors air corps and marines who served in world War Two, with a special nod to the sailors who happened to be in Pearl Harbor on that fateful day. We lost 2400 of them. They had no warning, due to a failure of naval intelligence. Every other naval and army installation in the Pacific did have a warning.
      World War Two veterans are pretty cool guys. All of the pictures below are family members who were in combat during WW-2. They never talked much about their service until they were old men, decades later.
      The first is Joyce's uncle William. He was in the army air corps as a tail gunner in a B-24 bomber. His plane was shot up over Munich Germany, lost an engine or two and was unable to climb high enough to get over the Italian alps so they bailed out. He was captured and spent a year in a POW camp.

      The next is my father. He was an artillery man, part of Patton's 3rd army. The picture was taken in Germany.

      The next is Joyce's father. He was transferred back to the U.S. after his ship was sunk during the early hours of the battle of New Britain in the Pacific. That is grandma Mickey beside him around the time before they were married.

      The last is my uncle Kenny. He was a marine in Carlson's raider battalion in the south Pacific and later in the assault on Guam.

      I always enjoy talking with the old WW-2 veterans, especially navy vets. Sailors are always proud of the ships they served aboard, so we can swap sea stories.

      
Copyright Bill Weber 2018 and beyond.

Cyber War 2 191024

      I had thought some time ago that the next world war would start with a cyber war.

      My last post about the next world war posted August 4, 2018 stated that I thought the cyber war may have already started. I am posting a link to that at the end of this post.       Right now I am convinced that I was correct that the cyber portion has begun. The evidence is before us every day. The Russian cyber agents have hacked us in our elections and they have been probing the network that controls our electrical grid every day. They may already be able to shut it down any time they wish. Our own CIA has verified that and the CIA went so far as to purchase an electric generating system just to see if it could be blown up by pulsing the electrical controllers to the system. It worked and the generator was exploded into thousands of pieces.
      Now here is something that is terrifying to me and perhaps to you when you consider it. One of our many adversaries, Iran, Putin, China may be working on an electro-magnetic pulse weapon, maybe, probably all three are working on it. A fully developed electro-magnetic pulse weapon could shut down our electrical grid, by aircraft, satellite or even shipped ashore through one of our many ports.
      No electric, no banks! I have already gone into a local bank to make a withdrawal from an account. The power was temporarily shut down for some upgrade and with no computer to check accounts or record transactions the bank would do nothing despite the fact the tellers all knew me and knew I had the money in my account. So consider this: the electro-magnetic pulse weapon shuts down all our internet servers and all our banking data is lost during the attack. All your funds just went up in smoke and could be gone forever. You couldn't even go to a grocery store or fill your gas tank.
      At this point you may be thinking this hypothesis of mine is just crazy thinking and that could never happen. If so, consider this nuclear missile sites around the world were shut down during 1967 and 1968. They were shut down by unknown aerial craft hovering over the sites. If you doubt me, go Google and type in "nuclear missile sites shut down 1967" and read for yourself how it has happened and was reported by any news service you may believe in today.
      Here is the link to that August 4, 2018 post I referred to in this post. World war three starting with a cyber war.
      
      
Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.

All the Gallant Men

I am reading a book (yes I can and do like to read). I have read several books about the lead up to Pearl Harbor (where I have been several times after World War Two) and the attack and aftermath. This book is different because all the other books were written by historians who simply look at documents and naval reports; this book is written by a survivor, Donald Stratton, of the USS Arizona. Don was from a small town called Red Cloud, Nebraska. The population was 1500 people who were born there, grew up there and died there and rarely ever left the area. He wrote that when he and his friends from navy boot camp arrived at Bremerton, Washington and first saw the Arizona they were in awe. They had never seen a ship and the Arizona was a 33,000 ton behemoth that was 608 feet long and 90 feet wide at the beam. The crew numbered 1514, as many as the entire town of Red Cloud.

He is now over 90 years old, but he was a 19 year-old enlisted man on that ship when the attack occurred. He recounts what happened on a personal level and it is powerful. He was burned over 65% of his body from flash burns during the attack.

The Arizona took 9 torpedoes and several bombs before she listed over on her side and sank. 9 torpedoes with nearly 1000 pounds of explosives each blew that ship up to the point it was irreparable. He was lucky in that his battle station was in a anti-aircraft director’s steel compartment 3 decks higher than the main deck. Those below decks were among the 1177 Arizona sailors who list their lives in a 2 hour attack by Japanese aircraft that fatal day. There were 2404 army, navy and marine lives lost from that attack and 1177 of them were Arizona sailors.

His dialogue includes first-hand views of sailors literally blown into pieces, burned until they were cinders, many exploded sailors were tossed with shrapnel onto decks of nearby ships, other sailors who managed to get into the waters of the harbor only to be covered from head to toe with thick black oil and as the oil floating on the surface ignited they too were on fire. Reading his words I can see it all happening in slow motion.

After the Arizona sank he and others were put into launches to go over to the shoreline and loaded onto trucks to go to the naval hospital. Many were on stretchers, he was so badly burned he could only sit on the side of the stretcher.

The best part of the book so far, chapter 6 “Among Angels” is about the doctors and nurses at the navy hospital. The nurses (barely 20 years-old themselves) ran out as the trucks arrived. They showed absolute horror at the sight of so many burned men, but like the angels they were they went about treating wounds as best they could. As the charred survivors piled up outside the hospital, in the worst cases nurses reached into their battle bags to pull out syrettes of morphine to ease their pain. The nurses would use their lipsticks to mark an M on foreheads so other nurses would not overdose those in severe pain.  Quote from the book, “there were so many severely burned men in the hospital the nurses could not keep up with them that first night. The men yelled and screamed, calling for nurses, their mothers, for God. That night severely burned men begged nurses to hit them with their heavy flashlights to knock the men out so they could have some relief from the pain. Many requested death on the spot their pain was so horrific. The hospitals on Oahu ran out of blood and plasma for wounded men so a doctor ran over to the local radio station and made one quick pitch for donors and within minutes there were lines backed up for blocks with donors ready to give blood. The donors came from all over the island, even many Japanese who lived there.

One thing that surprised me was the ladies of the night that made their living entertaining soldiers, sailors and marines down on Hotel street all went to the hospitals to donate blood (in those days they were regularly checked for diseases by the military) not only did the ladies donate all the blood they could but they stayed to work some dirty cleanup jobs in the hospital. I heard many years ago about ladies of the night that had a heart of gold, but until now I never believed the tale, but those gals surely did in 1941.

The days, months and years after Pearl Harbor were followed with great American resolve. Every American had a stake in that war. They had fathers, brothers, sons, sweethearts in uniform. People in towns held scrap drives to help the war effort, they bought war bonds, those too poor to afford a bond bought war stamps. While the war was a horror, as all wars are when a man is on the front lines, never since has America been so united in purpose.

I personally think today’s wars are only a concern of the 1-2% of our population who serve as soldiers and sailors (born of poor families) and those servicemen’s military  families. I think if wars had to be fought by the sons of the wealthy industrialists, congressmen and senators, there would be far less wars in the world.

Back to the gallant men, Donald Stratton was released after nearly a year in several hospitals and then was assigned back to duty in 1943 on the USS Stack, a destroyer and he served during the battles of Guadalcanal in the Solomon islands, the battles of the Philippine islands, New Guinea and Okinawa, some of the worst naval battles in the Pacific.

Of course the young men who served in Korea, Vietnam and  in today’s armed services are just as tough and suffer just as much as those of World War Two and I salute them. Their wounds are just as painful, their emotional wounds are I think more painful than those who were in World War Two. I try to thank all the veterans I meet for their service and I hope our government will improve the services of the Veteran’s Administration and do well by these warriors.

The Sentinel, Veterans 201110

      Okay I have already posted about veterans, but one more before the day suits me just fine. This picture is the harbor in San Diego; it is revalent in the post below.

      I want to send out a big Thank You to veterans around the world that are away from their families and their homes. They do their duty to protect this great country of ours, while our government employees have the day off as a holiday, a holiday which veterans fought and died for during the World War One, World War Two, Korean War (or what was called a police event), the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, the conglomeration of wars on terror up to this very moment.
      I remember when I was in the navy all those years we never had the day off and those men and women in foreighn lands tomorrow will not have the day off. Once I was out of service, I used to take a vacation day to celebrate veterans day. Now of course I no longer work and have the day off every year I have left in this world, but it is a sad day thinking about all those my age and older that are now in graves on this planet.
      One most memorable veterans day when I was in San Diego I took a vacation day and took my daughter to the veterans day services at Fort Rosecrans national cemetery on top of Point Loma, California. It was a beautiful ceremony with a bugler playing “Taps” along with a magnificent view of San Diego harbor. That was the best veterans day I ever had. My daughter was in grade school then and I don’t think she understood what it was all about and maybe doesn’t remember it.
      One last Thanks to those who served and those in service now. I pray God protects you and brings you home at some point.

World War Three Blues

I was listening to an old Bob Dillon song titled "Talking World War Three Blues" yesterday. Talking+World+War+III+Blues

It seemed like the song was prophetic at the time. We are, I think, in World War Three or the cusp of it at the moment. So far there have been no nuclear weapons dropped, but there is always tomorrow or next year.

Right now there is a lot of talk about the upcoming elections and a lot of fear mongering going on. It may be the end of the world (career wise) for political candidates, but it is my hope for us normal people that life will go on and even get better.

It seems our political system is broken and the guys and gals who broke it are still in office. I doubt they will turn around and fix it. So for us normal folks, I say enjoy what we have while we have it.

Lately in the political ads, local, state and national, the candidates are telling us about how well they have run their businesses and that makes them a perfect candidate for government offices. Here is my thinking, when a person runs a business he/she is king of the hill, their word is law. If and when they enter office as a first term office holder, they are a peanut at the bottom of that hill, making for a bad transition.

211108 Sentinel, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day

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It's 3 days until Veterans Day and 17 days to Thanksgiving day.

The picture below is the view from the Veterans cemetery on top of Point Loma, California. The water below is San DIego bay. Half way up on the right side of the picture is the North Island naval air station where I worked ashore before, between and after cruises. Joyce and I had happy years living just outside the base on Coronado. The channel there is where all the navy ships arrive and depart from. It was always a happy day arriving there and a sad day departing from there.I remember sitting on the aft end of the flight deck watching San Diego slowly dissappear as the ship moved ever further away from home.

Veterans day, a national holiday, always seemed strange to me in that while government workers, postal workers, bankers and a host of other employees around the country are enjoying the holiday. Meanwhile, current soldiers, sailors, marines and airforce are all on duty just like any other day.

I personally never had the day off during my navy years or my work in industry. Once when I worked for Burroughs in San Diego I used a vacation day to go to the Veterans cemetery on the top of Point Loma and observe the ceremony there. It was a beautiful ceremony with a bugler playing “Taps” along with a magnificent view of San Diego harbor. That was the best veterans day I ever had. My daughter was in grade school then and I took her out of school that day to see the ceremony. I don’t think she understood what it was all about and maybe doesn’t remember it after 30 plus years.

      I want to send out a big Thank You to veterans around the world that are away from their families and their homes. They do their duty to protect this great country of ours, while our government's civilian employees have the day off as a holiday, a holiday which on which veterans fought and died during World War One, World War Two, Korean War, the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, the Iraq War, the conglomeration of wars on terror up to this very moment.

      One last Thanks to those in service now. I pray God protects you and brings you home at some point.

The Sentinel, fact and opinion 200901

Here is something I found to be interesting. Christmas of 1944 during World War Two there were 32 million Americans in this country. 16 million were in uniform serving our country. Those on the home front were also aiding the war effort, by buying war bonds and even poor were buying war stamps to support the effort. Gas was rationed, meat rationed. Scrap drives were prevalent, everything was recycled, iron, silk nylons, tires even cooking grease was recycled. Everyone at home did their part, all the rest of them.

Somehow today so many are unhappy for every sort of reason under the sun. They want more than what they have; they want more recognition; they want a bigger home; they want to dine in fancy restaurants; it's an endless list of things. Many people have just one thing that is the most important thing in life, themselves. There will never be another selfless effort like there was in World War Two where everyone pitched in and did their share. I would make a bet that most people in our country do not even realize we are still at war 75 years later. Jesus declared there would always be wars. We are in wars around the globe. The difference now is it's not the entire nation in the wars, just a small fraction of the country. There are currently 1,455,391 on duty, that is .oo48% of this nation and those men and women are carrying the load most of the other 300,000,000 are whining about wanting more than they have at the moment.

The last time I checked we are in more than a hundred countries around the world fighting greater or lesser wars around the world. Thank God for army rangers and navy seals and the groups that support them!

Vietnam and its results (more than just the actual war) 190416

      There is a lot more in this post than just the war. I have an idea of why the war started, although it seemed to me it was not the best idea that ever came down the pike. After all the Japanese failed to control the entire country in WW-2. The Chinese couldn't do it. The French could not control the country. Why did the USA politicians think they could do it?

      AT the end of World War Two, soldiers came home to a proud nation with parades and celebrations. At the end of Vietnam, soldiers came home to jeers of, "baby killers" and many were spat upon by draft dodgers. That is saddening to me because they were doing the job they had sworn an oath to fulfill. They fought on in a war that Johnson and Nixon prolonged even when they knew there was no chance of winning the way our soldiers were directed to engage the enemy. As far as I know and I could be wrong, but the navy and air force most likely killed more people than the army did. The carpet bombing, the naval gunfire from offshore and dropping of napalm and agent orange seems to me like that had to have taken more lives.
      A lot of American lives were lost (58,000) and there's no way to tell what those men and women may have done in their lives had they lived. They died while the draft dodgers had had a good life and some of them are now running our country. Sometimes, and this is one of them, there seems to be no justice in this world.
      The soldiers that came home from World War Two came home, went to schools and universities and made America the world leader in manufacturing, finance, innovation, lifestyle and wonderful family life. Now that the draft dodgers are running the country, well manufacturing has declined. With finance, the country is in so much debt we may never climb out. Innovation is still part of our country, but China is leading the way. Every electronic product we have has come from China. Lifestyle, family life, think about this, we are living today when family and friends get together to sit in silence while each individual scans their cell phones. People drive down the interstate highways while looking at their phones and texting other people who may be driving and reading those texts. I too am guilty of spending too much time on Facebook or UTUBE or writing to you right now, but I do not have a houseful of guests or family.
      Mental breakdowns are now the norm rather than the exception. There have always been bullies in schools, but at least they were few in my school days, now they are many. Teens today don't have to go to school to find a bully, they are online and lashing out on other teens in their own homes.
      When I was in the navy, the captain of the ship was responsible for what happened aboard his ship and that worked. Today the draft dodgers are at the helm of our ship of state and for any number of reasons they do not accept responsibility and the ship's rudder has no quartermaster. We are adrift in a massive storm, with no end in sight.
      
      
      
Copyright Bill Weber 2019 and beyond.

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The real Sentinel News, Notes for today 200422

The Sentinel All the news that's fit to print and some that's not.
It's no Secret This reporter is a World War Two student. With the things I have read and documentaries by the dozens I have watched I believe I have a decent understanding of events during the war. I found some similarities between that war and our current Covid-19 war. WW-2 took nearly 2 years to fully ramp up full production of war materials. Covid-19 will take that long to gear up and start winning the war. WW-2 started in Europe and residents in the U.S. did nothing at first, thinking it was just something happening over there and would not come to our shores. Covid started somewhere else (this is still up for debate) people here thought it would not reach our shores. Both cases people were very wrong. We were losing WW-2 for almost a year and we are losing this war for the foreseeable future. In WW-2 the entire country was deeply involved overseas and on the home front. With Covid Americans overseas are certainly involved and here at home we all should be doing our part to win the war. The war ended in Europe, but as long as the Japanese were still fighting we were still in a desperate war. Covid may end in places around the world, but as long as one spot on the entire Earth has cases, the war will not be over.	Typhoon! I remember one time we on the Kitty Hawk were caught at sea in a typhoon. I was up in the shop alone and sitting in a roll around desk chair pondering the mysteries of life. The ship was pitching and rolling constantly and I has an amusement park ride in that chair, rolling from one end of the shop to the other and then back to the start. The other guys were all down below where the effects of the storm were less than on the upper decks. This link is a 1 minute video showing the same ship years later after I left the navy. Note that the flight deck (0-4 deck) is about 80 feet above the sea level and waves are crashing over the deck. No one was out on deck during either of those times. No one could hold on a deck like that.USS Kitty Hawk riding out a typhoon at sea Army, Air Force and Marines all have their stories they like to re-tell and I always like to hear those stories. One of Joyce's Father's stories was when he was in Little Creek Virginia for training in WW-2. I can still see his eyes as he said that place was so bad that even the Chaplin went AWOL (absent without leave) a highly punishable offence in peace time and far worse during war.I always wonder if the Chaplin was ever caught and what punishment was metered out for the event?	Memory Corner This memory just came to me today. Back in my navy days we had something called Cruise Boxes. They were steel sheets that folded flat when not in use. When we went aboard ship we had to take all of our tools and test equipment onto the ship. The steel sheets unfolded and formed a large box, perhaps 3 feet wide and 2.5 feet high There was one hinged handle on each side of the box. Those boxes were very heavy when loaded. It was all two men could do to lift and then carry them up the gangway and then to the shop. Once in the shop it was a matter of where to go with several full boxes of tools and test gear. The shops were small, slightly less than a bedroom. Because we ran 12 hour shifts and we averaged 24 men in the shop, that meant 12 were always working in or out of the shop. There was one chair and a desk at best so sitting was usually on the stacked rows of tool boxes. If we had an all hands meeting in the morning all 24 men wouldn't fit in the shop, some had to listen from the passageway. Though I was still very young there were a few times I balanced as I laid down on those tool boxes for a short nap. The shop chief was usually in the chiefs mess hall, doing his paperwork I imagine. I took the chief's exam 3 times and passed it all three, but due to the weighted scale with what was called "Multiples," which consisted of time in service, awards, time in rank and other things I was getting further back in line, especially after Vietnam started winding down and things got tighter for promotions.

American's Investment in Wars 191030

      What happened to patriotism?

      In world War Two there were 32 million people in the USA. 16 million were in uniform at some capacity. The rest of the country did their part with recycling tires and metals and saving fats from meals for ammunition. The majority of working people worked in the defense industry. Every one had a stake in the war. 50% of Americans were in uniform and 50% did their part on the home front. The country was 100% invested.

      In the Korean War, 1,789,000 servicemen were in theater, that was perhaps 1%, but the Vietnam war had just .3% of the country were invested in the war, a very sad thing to me. I am proud that I and many of my friends did our part in theater. In World War Two, my dad, my uncle, Joyce's dad and her uncle did their part in theater. In today's war on terror those invested are perhaps an even smaller percent, at the moment I heard .05%. The actual numbers may perhaps never be known because this war will never end. Statistics by the Veterans administration.

Copyright Bill Weber 2006-2019 and beyond.

James Thompson, "My Story" 1805

      I was watching a show on Netflix last night about the D-Day invasion in France during World War 2. Those veterans who were lucky enough to live through that horrific day are dying at a rapid rate. Not many are left at this point. When I first enlisted in the navy there were many of them who were in that war and the navy ran like a fine tuned machine, but as they retired, the navy went downhill in a hurry.
      My father and uncle Kenny and Joyce’s father were veterans of that war and they have been gone for a long time. I just heard that James Thompson, another veteran may be on his last sea legs. James joined the navy when he was 18 in October of 1945. My friend Kevin (James’ long-time family friend) wanted to help write his story while he was still able to tell it. James had a wonderful memory of his past, especially for his age. I helped Kevin edit James’ story and that is how I learned about James. It turns out James and I were in many of the same places, NAS Agana Guam, Cubi Point, Philippines, Subic Bay, Hong Cong, San Diego, Midway Island, Pearl Harbor, the USS Kitty Hawk and a few others, just not at the same time. I suppose that is why I felt an immediate kinship with him. We had the same experiences during our navy time. James was in the navy long before and after than I was. He enlisted and later became an officer and rose to Lieutenant Commander (highest rank an enlisted man who gets commissioned will ever rise to). He retired while on board the Kitty Hawk in 1973 after I was there and while I was then aboard the Enterprise off the coast of Vietnam. James is a remarkable man and an American who any man should want to emulate. If James passes on, we have lost yet another of the greatest generation. If you would, remember James in your prayers today/tonight.
      I do not mean to take away from those who served in Vietnam and the young men who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment. They too are a great generation, many of them have seen more combat time than most of the World War 2 veterans, but they are few in comparison to the numbers of men in world War 2. I feel that they are not receiving the gratitude that was there in 1945 and that is a shame. The Vietnam combat veterans had a horrid homecoming and all they did was what their country asked them to do.
      James’ book is a great story, especially for anyone’s first and only book. It is available in Kindle or paperback on Amazon with this link.

The Fighting Lady 180814

      This is a 20th Century Fox promotional film in color made for the navy. It is quite good and very interesting. A lot of it is like what I have written about earlier but in a different war. One thing that struck me was while the pilots had nice flight suits for protection against fire, the enlisted radio operators and gunners just wore ordinary chambray shirts and navy dungarees. I guess the navy did not consider them important enough to have protective gear. The fighting lady is the USS Yorktown, a major asset during world war 2. There are lots of actual combat video, landings (some not so good, some downright dangerous and tragic). The Yorktown as the other world war 2 carriers was much smaller than the super carriers of today. The fleet carriers were about 30,000 tons displacement, 37% the size of those in service today and there were no catapults and no angled decks in those days. There is footage of how people lived on those carriers. I have written before about how the navy refers to stairs as ladders on board ships. In the video when the ship goes to general quarters you will see why the stairs are called ladders. The video is 1 hour and 20 minutes long and like a movie documentary feature. At 45 minutes you will see the battle of the Philippine sea and the retaking of Guam Tinian and Rota, the Marainas island chain. That includes the Marianas turkey shoot where the US navy shot down 600 Japanese planes while losing only 123 US planes, most of them due to landings with planes either running out of gas or landing with severe damage after aerial combat. If you have an hour and 20 minutes it is well worth watching.
      The video brought back a lot of my own memories. Those sailors used manpower pushing planes around, not like in my day when they had tractors to move planes. In those days if a pilot hit the deck but did not catch an arresting wire, there was no way to hit the throttle and lift off again because the other planes were parked up front on the deck. The pilot had no choice but to run into a wire net and damage the plane. Even if you never saw an aircraft carrier, the film is interesting. In my day we didn't have the guns on a carrier like in world war 2. In WW 2 carriers bristled with 5 inch guns like destroyers have along with multiple anti-aircraft guns. During the earlier days of WW 2 carriers didn't have many destroyers with them for anti-aircraft and submarine protection, Most of the destroyers were used in the Atlantic to protect convoys to get supplies to Britain, so they needed guns on board the Pacific carriers in case Japanese aircraft broke through our own combat air patrols.
      My time during the Vietnam war was exciting to me, but I think, I wish I had been aboard a carrier during WW 2, when the adrenaline must have flowed like water over Niagara Falls. I would have wanted a fleet carrier rather than an auxiliary carrier (much smaller, much more dangerous and slow and much more uncomfortably cramped). I would have loved to be a radioman/gunner back then.