260819 Bug Juice

Bug Juice

I was watching TV today during a half hour program about foods served in the United States Navy. It brought back memories and even some surprises. 1963 navy bootcamp mess hall food and drink. One staple was a greenish like Kool Aid which recruits labeled “Bug Juice”. I never drank it; I either had milk or water. I found out today that “Bug Juice” was served from World War 2 through Vietnam. I remembered it in Vietnam.

The next familiar dish served in navy galleys around the world was chipped beef in gravy poured onto a slice of bread. Sailors ate it, despite the fact that the common phrase for the dish was; “Shit on a Single”.

The one thing that was always popular was called a “Slider” which was a hamburger. On the USS Kitty HAWK there were 2 galleys. One had meals like you would have at home. The other had hamburgers, hot dogs and French Fries. That was my favorite place on day shift, 7am to 7pm. I, unfortunately, worked the night shift 7pm to 7am and had no hamburgers. I usually ate in the midnight hours, called “Midrats” midnight rations. The food wasn’t the best, but when I was hungry I ate what was available. The beauty of Midrats was there were no lines to go through.

On my daily trips to the Aldi’s grocery store, I’ve usually walked sidewalks and then on the highly trafficked road to the store.

There is an open field across the street from my apartment to the Aldi’s store. I found that walking over open ground is better for walking than on sidewalks and streets. The open ground exercises leg muscles that are not exercised on pavement. Going over rough terrain has strengthened my legs well.

2607141 1895

This is very different than anything I have ever written.

This post includes a man's entire life.

Year, 1895

Place, New York City

Person, Anna Cheronski

Event, place out of wedlock baby boy on the steps of a convent; rang the bell and left.

The good nuns of the convent took the boy in and raised him, gave him a name, John, until he was 8 years old. That was 1903.

The nuns put the boy on an orphan train and sent him west. NYC was over crowded, but out west needed people, especially farmers needed children to work the farm, other times it was just some family who wanted a child.

There were designated stops along the way. The train would stop, the children were made to exit the train and stand so people could pick the child they wanted.

As the train made their regular stops more children were released to people they did not know.

The train stopped near Saint Joseph, Missouri. The children left were becoming fewer and the further the train got away from New York the less children were left to pick from.

John was selected by the Rohlman family. The family wasted no time giving him the name William and letting him know he would not be a family member, but rather he would be a companion for their son Frank.

Years later, William would leave the Rohlmans and head south for Saint Louis. There William met Bessie McMahon and her 2 sisters Rose and Gen. William began courting Bessie (an Irish lass, fresh from Ireland and with a fierce temper.)

William and Bess had three children, Maryann, Tom and Rose (Rose despised the name Rose, so she changed her name to Regina.)

Bessie’s Irish temper kept her in battles with their neighbors and consequently kept them moving at least once every year.

The children grew up and were married. Maryann to Kenny, Tom to Irene, Regina to Bobby.

World War 2 came along. Kenny joined the marines; Tom was rejected due to a heart murmur; Bobby was drafted into the army. When a man entered the armed forces they were told to write their full names down on paper. The man could write whatever name they wanted. Bobby changed his name to Rober.

Robert wanted to marry Regina and they did enter wedlock. Robert was sent to Colorado for artillery training. Regina traveled there to be with Robert. Regina became pregnant and Robert left the USA on the Queen Mary, the fastest passenger ship in the world. Robert ended up in Patton’s 3rd. army. Regina had a baby boy, she named him William. When the war ended, Robert was on the top of the list to go home because he, like other men with children, were the first to leave Europe.

Robert came home from the war and they lived with the Rohlmans for 6 months until Robert bought a house.
The Rohlmans moved in with them, and never left. Bessie hated Robert. She lived in his house, but would never acknowledge Robert’s presence. Bessie had several heart strokes and became an invalid. She sat in a chair and drooled all day. Robert and Regina’s son would sit on the floor and watch Bessie.
Bessie died in 1957 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Saint Louis.

At night, William would sit at his desk reading Readers Digest. Nearly every night Regina’s son would go into William’s room and sit on the hardwood floor and talk to William and ask William questions. William would answer or reply he did not know the answer. Every night before bed, William would kneel and pray the rosary, something he may have learned from the nuns in NYC. The author of this piece has said that rosary beads are missing, links have been twisted and repaired with pliers.

Wherever Robert and Regina moved to, William went with them, he was Regina’s father and she would have him with the family no matter what.

When the first son left home, one of the siblings, a female, took over where the first son had left off, learning from William.

In 1974 William passed away in a hospital bed after visiting hours. When nurses changed shifts and checked on patients, the nurse saw a huge catfish head under William’s bed. She called Regina and asked if this was some religious ritual? Regina replied it was not and the nurse could throw the catfish head away. She knew it was Kenny.

Kenny had been in a Marine raider battalion and was adept at sneaking into Japanese camps at night to cut the throats of sentries on guard to scare soldiers and let them know he could do that to any one of them on any night. So Kenny could easily sneak into a hospital after hours and sneak back out.

William had a ceremony in a Catholic Church before being taken to his burial place. It was interesting, all the non church goers filling the church. The Lord in heaven could have come down and smote them all in one fell swoop! HE declined to smote them.

Regina provided a limousine for the priest and the 2 altar boys. The priest told her that wasn’t done much anymore as they had their own cars to go to the cemetery. Regina told the priest that William had been an altar boy and he was always thrilled to ride to the cemetery and back in a limo, so Regina wanted that for the priest and altar boys.

At the cemetery there were 6 pallbearers, all grown men all experiencing crying for the first time in their lives. William was the kind of man who everyone respected and loved.

I’m sure big funerals with massive graves still happen somewhere.
This writer intends to be cremated as are his loved ones. What happens from there, only God knows.

Looking at Life

I suppose that looking back over my last 80 years there’s a lot to consider and reconsider.

On August 8 of 1945 I was 8 days old, the first atomic bomb was exploded in a war.

On August 9 of 1945 I was 9 days old, the second atomic bomb was exploded to end the second world wa

On day 1 of every month, I have to pay my rent.

On the 31st day of July I’ll be 81 years old.
My mother lived to be 82 years old, so I won’t be the longest living family member until I get to be 83 years old. That’s another 3 years.

September 14th of 2021, I lost the only woman I ever loved or ever will love. My bride was only 76 years old. I still talk to Joyce, but she hasn’t talked back, YET.

December 1st of 2006 I/we lost Grandma Mickey. She was one of a kind and there will never be another like her. If I knew everything in her life, it would be a great book.

September 4th, 1963 I raised my arm and took an oath to defend this country from enemies both foreign and domestic. I arrived at the naval training center at Great Lakes, Illinois. All of a sudden, I thought; What did I do? Two days later I thought I’d never make it through this training. One of the trainees, a guy named Charlie Rose, took me under his wing and he got me through the 12 weeks of training.

November 22nd of 1963 I graduated from boot camp. Some of you may know what happened on that day. That was the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

June 6th 1974, I mustered out of the United States Navy after 10 years and eight months. There were a lot of great times in those years. I was and still am proud of what I did in the navy.
I was 29 years old. That was 52 years ago.

I’m not going to live forever. I have Joyce’s ashes and Grandma Mickey’s ashes in my closet. When I die that will be three boxes of ashes.
Mom and Dad are in the veterans’ cemetery in Springfield. It might not be bad for the three of us to join them there.
I remember both days when they were buried. I cried over losing them. I went back two times to be there beside their graves. That was it, I couldn’t even drive past the cemetery because I cried each time and that’s a busy street and I needed to have both eyes clear enough to drive. My solution was simple, I’ve never driven past there for the last 50 or so years.

I’m trying to decide if I was a good enough man in my life so far. I could have been better; I could have been worse. I’ve still got time to sort that out.

260625 Ghosts of the Future

This post is not something I have dreamt up to frighten you. It is what I experienced many years ago when visiting an old WW2 hero.

Think about this piece of reality.

Ghosts of the Future

I was in St. Louis years ago, and while there, went to the old folks home. It is an experience. If you have never been in one, you have quite an eye opener ahead of you. The sight of all of these once vibrant people now in states of physical and mental breakdown is chilling!

You may remember the scene in the movie or the book ‘A Christmas Carol’ where the ghost of Christmas future visits Mr.Scrooge. In it he is terrified by the prospect of what he sees and asks, “is this the things that will be or is it just the things that may be?” When I was there at the home, I, like Mr.Scrooge, am asking, “are these the things that will be or is it just the things that may be?”

I suppose that if I am lucky, I will be walking out to pull a weed, or better, returning with a freshly picked flower for my love when I fall over dead as a stone. In my current state, I’m hoping for the end, whenever it may be, to come swiftly and without a lot of pain. As I sit here I dread the thought of just hanging on in a purgatory of endless years with a decaying body and a mind that suffers from Dementia.

The scene at the home is, to me, remotely similar to an artists’ rendition of Dante’s Inferno, with the suffering souls thrashing about. The home and staff are just fine, no complaints there at all. The suffering is in the minds of the residents.

We are born helpless, we are cared for and we grow. On the other end of the line all that we have accomplished and grown into, slowly diminishes and we return to the helpless state and eventually to the state of non-being on this plane. That is the plan and there are no changing seats.

This below is what I saw in the home.
One of the ladies there still carries her purse as though she is going somewhere and eventually sits down and has this blank look on her face like she just doesn’t know what is going on at all. Another stands from her wheelchair and sets off an automatic alarm that brings the staff to reseat her. From the look on her face, she never figures out what is happening. Another woman just sits there in a dream-like state singing a little song and moving her arms about as though she was providing a perch for butterflies or a bird to land on. One resident barked orders non-stop. He went on and on for an hour and a half. He was in his mind still in world war two commanding a group of soldiers.

Not being a trained professional, but rather an observer, I think all of the activities reflect what was locked in their past, but now is being re-lived in a state of semi-delirious living. There are many retired Nuns there. They are the calmest of all. I’m guessing the deep and abiding faith through the years is still working today. They are impeccably dressed in their robes and habits.

There is another wing of the facility where the residents are in a lock-up situation. I assume this prevents those with a penchant for wandering away from completing their goal. For all I know they may have violent tendencies that preclude them from sharing the facility with the other residents. The staff are under paid and over worked but all seem kind and caring in every situation. The home is really a good place. The problem is the requirements for being a resident are a loss of physical and/or mental function. The scary part is we are all headed in that direction. In some respects we all have the beginnings of mental problems. We all do abnormal things.

So before you get depressed, think for a moment. What we are today is the determining factor in what you will be tomorrow. At some point, when the conscious thought processes disappear, what we have left are the deep sub-conscious thoughts we have held and nurtured for some or most of our lifetime.

So plan your trip today. Think nice thoughts and enjoy yourself. Calm down and give yourself a memory of a friend or love to carry you through the scary times ahead. And when you get there don’t worry, I’ll have already been there and I’ll leave a light on for you.

260525 Memorial Day

Once a year we stop to give thanks to those Soldiers, Sailors and Marines who gave their lives to protect ours.

I’ve been to a few places where war was fought, Corregador, Singapore, Phillipines, Japan, Midway Island, Wake Island, Vietnam. Those places where many many fought and died to protect our USA.

I manned the rails on the Kitty Hawk as we entered Pearl Harbor, looking down over the USS Arizona. It’s a sight to see.

My father, my uncle and Joyce’s father all saw combat in WWII. They are gone now. My nephew spent 23 years in the army, in Iraq, Iran, Panama, South Korea and many other places around the world.

Thanks to Dave Barth (Who I served with many years ago) this is a 6 minute video of places where soldiers fought, died and were buried in WWII. You needn't see all of it, but watch enough to get an idea of how many fought and died during WWII
Memorial day
God bless them all.

250821 It Could Happen

I was watching TV this morning when up comes an old episode of the show “60 Minutes". The episode was from 1973 and it was about submarines. I’ll watch anything about subs, from WW-1 until modern day. Submarines fascinate me for some unknown reason. If I was offered a ride on a modern sub, I’m not sure if I would go underwater on one of them, despite the fact that modern subs are very safe.

As I watched the show, one thing that impressed me was the fact that as far back as 1973 one US or Russian submarine could destroy the big cities of the world and using all of its missiles destroy a large part of the world. That would bring the other sub to retaliate and between both subs the world would be destroyed.

That was 52 years ago. By now, submarines are far more powerful and better armed with more explosive power than was available back in 1973. Mutual destruction is the only thing that keeps Russia back from attacking the USA. That makes me think that we are living by a razor thin line in the sand between two of the three great powers in the world.

One terrible comfort in this situation is that while a nuclear war would end us in short order, non nuclear bombs, common bombs, would leave thousands of casualties and suffering instead of being dead.

250625 Working on a flight deck

This is one of the E2A planes I worked on.

Danger!

I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, many of which are war movies and I like those which are about the navy. I see how the navy operated in WW-2.

I spent a lot of my navy years on aircraft carriers and I enjoyed it. Most of the planes were jets, while my squadron flew the E-2A airborne early warning planes. They had 2 enormous propellers, each prop was about 8 feet in length and the props were almost down to the deck, leaving just about 3 feet between them and the deck. It was scary walking by them in the daytime and worse at night. One time I was up on deck in the plane at about sundown. I was always the last man out of the plane. It was my job to ensure everything was working prior to takeoff and if there was something not working, I had to repair it before the plane would launch. That particular time I came out of the plane and it was pitch black everywhere. I had forgotten my flashlight to see with and I had to get across the flight deck to the island. I had to get down into a pushup position and do an alligator walk to stay under those propellers. I did get back safely otherwise I wouldn’t be here to write this story.

When I watch those WW-2 navy movies I see every plane on their decks was propeller driven. 80-90 planes with their propellers engaged and the sailors on those decks had to dodge all of those props to get to safety. Of course in WW-2 planes didn’t take off or land after dark, but I can’t help but wonder how many sailors on those decks may have been killed by those spinning propellers.

Back in WW-2 and even today, working on a navy flight deck is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. The E2 planes are the only planes with propellers, but walking behind a jet is as dangerous as it was when planes were all prop driven.

William A Hero's Srory

      William is now gone. He died on the 4th of July, 2002. Such is fitting for a true American hero. This is his story.

Here is William's certificate from President George W. Bush in honor of William's service to his country.

      The Early Years.

      William was born February 15th 1921 to Marcus and Amelia Stoeppler. He was the 5th and last child in the family. William was from early on always testing limits. If you told him he could not do something, he would have to prove to you he could. William was very bright, but was perhaps too independent for school. William was no stranger in the principal's office. He learned first hand how the board of education worked. (Spanking was an accepted form of corporal punishment.) He graduated from grade school at 15, not because he was slow, he was just interested in other things.

      He registered and started High School but never found time to attend. No matter, Dad had work that needed to be done. William soon discovered the money was to be made away from home. Right after finishing the chores at home, he went into the work force. His first job was at a lumber yard, but William liked the fast lane so he left and went to work for Andy Berger Chevrolet. He delivered cars for the company. That lasted until his Uncle Sam called in the October draft of 1942. William answered the call.

      The War Years:

      His parents were ready to take the family to Canada if William did not want to go to Uncle Sam's party. William was not one to shirk his duty to our country. He showed up for induction into the army and went to Colorado for aerial gunnery training (a military occupation with minimal future during the European theater of war). After training he went home on furlough. William was a handsome man in 1942; he had that Clark Gable movie star look.

      The picture here is William home on furlough. He is standing beside his sister, Joyce's mother. After his furlough, he left and went to Brazil with his squadron for further training before going into combat in North Africa. After the German army was defeated there the allies invaded Sicily, once secured, William's squadron was moved there. From there they started bombing Germany. William was next sent to Italy.

      This picture below is William in Italy between missions. He had already made staff sergeant. William has already matured and looks very little like he did when he was inducted into the U.S. army air corps.

      The plane below is a B-24 Mitchel bomber, the type William flew in as a gunner in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.

      William flew 49 missions out of Italy and into Germany. William was about to complete enough missions (50) to earn a furlough home. He was awarded the Mediterranean theater ribbon with battle star, three oak clusters and the air medal. On his last mission, bombing Munich, Germany his plane was hit by German anti-aircraft gunners. The plane was damaged and on one side the engines were out.

      They tried to limp back to Italy after being hit by German flack guns, but could not climb high enough to get over the mountains, so they bailed out into the snowy alpine heights. They had not been trained in evasion tactics, so William and his buddy Foxy were following a stream down a mountainside at night when a bank of blindingly bright spotlights turned night into day. They had walked right into a water powered electric generating station. Foxy, the tail gunner, had the presence of mind to snap to attention and shout "Heil Hitler." William said later, had Foxy not done that the two of them may have been shot right then. He and Foxy were taken prisoner on June 13, 1944. They spent the next year in a German prison camp.



      The picture above was in the Saint Louis Post Dispatch, Thursday June 14, 1945. William is in the front row second from left. This began a dark time for William. It took a long time to get over his experience in that prisoner camp. He was not the boy who went to war. As the story goes, there were several nice girls in the neighborhood who were available and interested, but William was more interested in chasing something he missed while he was in that prisoner camp. The family was more than a little worried about him; but those years ended and William was back to his old self, as close as any combat war veteran can be.

      The Later Years:

      It took a while but William finally met the right girl and married her. William's boyhood smile returned and he and Marie were married 38 years.

      His sister, (Joyce's mother) said Marie was the best thing that ever happened to William. Once William was back to what was normal for him, he still had that impish nature that always made him push things to the edge of the envelope and then just a mite further. He was never a bad man, just one to press on to see how far he could go with whatever he did. I have pictures of William when he was in the nursing home, but they are all in my head. This picture above is the way I want to remember him.

      William left this existence on July 4, 2002. He fell victim to Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, heart disease, heart stroke and old age.

      The spirit that could not be conquered during the great depression, World War Two, the dark years just after the war, changing fortunes in life, was consumed by old-age maladies. A great generation, of the greatest country ever in the world, has for all intent slipped away from this world.

      William was always "the golden boy" in the family. His mother cried during the time he was in the POW camp. One of the reasons that saddened both parents was because William hated sauerkraut and when he was a boy they forced him to eat it and he being in a German prison camp he was likely surviving on it. William never talked about the war until late in life when the families grandchildren asked him about the war for a school assignment.

      This piece has been written by gathering information from his family members, their stories and pictures I found. The presidential certificate was sent to me by his wife Marie.

      I was never living close enough to see William more than a few times in my life, but he had a profound effect on me, so much so that I stopped drinking for two years and five months from that day onward. I can say that never happened before or since.

249329 Wonderful

We live in a wonderful world.

This world is so good that we tend to take it and everything in it for granted. The first thing and the most important of all is oxygen. We need oxygen for breathing. Breathing is important, if we stop we die. We go to sleep every night and let our subconscious take over. The main thing it does all night long is keep us breathing.

Grocery stores are another thing we take for granted. They are always there and always stocked, but what if they suddenly weren’t there, or the shelves were nearly empty? Would we be struggling with someone for the last can of tuna? Remember the pandemic, when toilet tissue took on a whole new value, because there was none to be had?

Fossil Fuels are something we take for granted and yet they are vital to our survival. With our suburban lifestyle, we need gas to get us to work, to the doctor, to the grocery and the hardware store. Fossil fuels that we take for granted supply our gasoline, our electric service, our cooking fuel and our jobs.

This list goes on with so many essentials that we rarely think about. The essentials could all be taken away in any number of ways. War is the first thing that comes to mind. Missiles and bombs can ruin a person’s day. We in the USA don’t think about that happening. There is another way that does not require bombs. It’s called a cyber attack. Our adversaries have been working on ways to shut down our power grid. No power, nothing works, we can't pump gas without power. We can’t buy anything without electrical power. The scanners in stores won’t work, the registers won’t work. You can’t use a credit card or use cash money because the register won't work to take the money.

231223 A Christmas Long Ago

‘Christmas With Dad 1987’

Christmas is a unique holiday. It evokes unparalleled joy and often sadness. I remember the wonders of the day as a child. My Father never said: “I love you.” He wasn’t one for hugs all around. You were just supposed to know by what he did, not what he said.

My Dad never came out and said it as such, but he showed all of us the important thing to him was his family. He kept the peace. He kept the family together. We have not all been together for the day since his death, and likely never will.

I’m sure a psychologist would be able to come up with a host of reasons why he was what he was from the harsh upbringing he had. As a child he worked to support himself and his Mother. He did his time in the Army during World War II. He drove an ambulance on the graveyard shift after the war. He drove a truck in St. Louis for most of his adult life. Once a year his true self escaped. For that one magical day a year, he was free to display his love for all in the way he could, with gifts. The rest of the year, he was very private. He gave, he loaned to those in need throughout the year, but only at Christmas was his generosity obvious to all. I wish it were possible to know just how much and to how many he gave in his lifetime.

Dad was no saint. He was very authoritarian. He was often difficult, to put it mildly. But he died with six children that loved him, and that is becoming a rarified accomplishment in our world of today.

As I relive the Christmases, I can sit here with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes, at the same time. As the years slip away there are fewer of the people who made the memories left to share those memories with.

This picture was taken on Christmas of 1987.

Dad had learned it was okay to show some affection. Dad passed away some 28 or so years ago. The hand tools he gave are a reminder of him every time I use them.

After dad had his stroke and he was recovering from it, we would sit together for long periods of time without saying a word. I look at the picture and I’m seeing him in better times. When I see the picture, I feel a void in my life that can never be replaced.

So this Christmas, I’ll be here in this apartment, perhaps with Annie and Rhett and of course Dad. He’s always on my mind at Christmas.

230728 Dollars and Sense

I purposely used the word sense instead of cents in my title for this post.

I don’t mean to be whining about my situation in this post. It is what it is and what it is, struck me this morning while paying my bills. I will make it through this and overcome whatever befalls me. The worst thing that ever happened to me was 23 months ago and I have survived it.

I was raised in the fifties and sixties. Times back then were totally different than they are today. I could buy a Coca Cola for 5 cents. A milkshake was 20 cents. A pack of cigarettes was also 20 cents. A comic book was less than a quarter and a used one was a dime.

I worked two different jobs from 1961 until 1963 the pay was a dollar an hour and no overtime and no pay raise. Things got worse when I enlisted in the navy in September of 1963. My pay went from a dollar an hour to $2.46 a day, or $74 dollars a month. That included a place to sleep in a crowded barracks that was made in World War Two. Every day was filled with classes and drills on a grinder outdoors. The outdoors drills were okay until winter rolled into Great lakes, Illinois. Then things weren’t so good outdoors.

It took me from 1963 until 1965 before I was making $100 a month as a 3rd class petty officer and getting flight pay for being on an aircrew. By the time I was discharged from the navy I was a 1st class making about $800 a month.

After the navy things got better working at Burroughs corporation and later at Litton. Joyce and I both worked during those times and we made good money for the time, but times have changed a lot since then. These days new people going into the workforce are making more an hour to start than I ever made in 49 years of working jobs.

I was lucky to have Joyce by my side through the years. She was a good money manager, while I was like my father, if there was enough money to pay the bills, I was fine with that. Any extra was fun money. Joyce got us to begin saving what we could even through the ever rising cost of living expenses. Without her I would be broke and living on the streets these days. Though she got us to start saving some money, that was long ago and what we saved doesn’t go as far as it once did.

My cost of living for this month is well over $1500. That only covered rent and groceries. That’s before anything else. That amount may sound like peanuts to many people, but it’s a lot on a fixed income. During the month, I only did one thing out of my normal expenses, but that was not included in my monthly expenses, it was a separate issue, a one time only thing. I did not eat out at a restaurant this month, did not go anywhere but to the Walmart store and to Aldi’s for groceries.

The times are changing and they may catch up to me before my life is over. In bygone days men had to say, “Hey brother can you spare a dime?” I may have to ask for a little more than that. How about, “Hey brother can you spare a 100 bucks?”

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.

230507 Heroes

We in America seem to be mixed up on the subject of heroes.

We idolize movie screen characters that race around in cars, crash into cars, shoot and kill bad guys. I find this disturbing. The so-called heroes in those scenes mostly aren’t the actual guys that do the fantastic scenes, they are done by other guys called screen doubles. They are stunt men who practice how to make those scenes work.

Now I want to write about real heroes. After WW-2 real heroes came home from the war, there were parades for them, they couldn’t buy a beer in a tavern because some grateful citizen wanted to buy it for them. Those heroes went back to school or went to work and built this country’s economy.

After Korea, there was little fanfare and those heroes went to their families and went to work, sadly worse for the wear after the war ended.

Then Vietnam happened. Those soldiers came home to protesters who hassled them, pushed them, spat on them and called them baby killers. Those soldiers fought in the worst jungles on earth, they not only fought a determined foe, but the jungles were filled with the deadliest viper snakes, deadly insects and leaches that sucked the blood from them. They slept on the ground in those jungles and if they avoided getting killed by the enemy, many died from the snakes or the insects or from heat exhaustion. WW-2 combat troops were pulled off the front lines occasionally and were sent to rear areas to get away from the fighting. In Vietnam they were allowed one week or so away for rest in 13 months of daily combat. They are the unrecognized heroes. Many have ended up being homeless or committing suicide. The horrors they faced were too much to bear when they came home.

Today we have heroes around the world who have fought in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Bosnia, Africa, Panama and more places I don’t know about. America’s military makes up about one percent of the population. One percent to defend against colossal potential enemies, Russia, China and Iran to name a few. The soldiers of today are modern day heroes. They too have gone into harm's way to protect this country from its enemies. They do it to serve this country. They are the men and women who stand up and protect the movie heroes, the families and those ordinary workers who have much higher paychecks and don’t support those who serve.

I see veterans every day that don’t get recognition for their service and it makes me sad, especially for Vietnam vets and those in service today. We are more interested in cell phones than people who sacrificed to protect us.

Maybe I’m just a sad old man who thinks differently from the rest of our nation. I hope I’m not alone in my thinking.

Flight Deck

Working on the flight deck of a U.S. navy aircraft carrier is classified as one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Not by the navy but by the federal government bureau of labor.

In peacetime as well as wartime, a navy flight deck is a dangerous place to work. No one told me that when I went to sea on the USS Kitty Hawk, working on the flight deck as a 21 year old sailor. Had someone mentioned that I may have been scared, but then at 21, I didn’t give it a thought.

Something should have clicked and given me pause when on my first time at sea we were out off the coast of San Diego running a racetrack pattern up to Los Angeles and then back to San Diego. I was in the cockpit of an E-2A one late afternoon listening to Wolfman Jack playing tunes on the radio as I watched planes land on the deck about 75 feet away from where I was sitting. The last plane to land was another E-2A from my squadron. The co pilot was in control during a qualifying landing aboard the ship. He touched down on the port side (left) of the arresting wire. A plane has to touch down on the centerline of the deck for a successful landing. He did not, so the plane skidded over the deck edge and the wheels were in the steel safety cable. The arresting wire was pulling the plane back on a downward slant, while the first half on the plane was pulling down toward the ocean. The result was the plane cracked in half and fell overboard. Out of five crew members two were saved. Had the co pilot landed to the starboard (right side) of the centerline, I would not be writing this story today. The crash and resulting fire would have taken the entire crew and me with them. That should have been lesson enough for any sane individual, but not me. I continued being in one of the planes all through the cruise and the next cruise.

During the qualifications off San Diego I never carried my flash light up on deck at night (like I was supposed to do) the flight deck still had landing lights and some upper lighting, enough for me to see well and do my work. When we reached yankee station off the coast of Vietnam I went up on deck for an evening launch, just before dark. It was our first operation in the war zone. I was the guy inside the plane to ensure all of the radio and navigation systems were working before take off. If there was a failure I had to run across the deck and swipe a working unit from one of our other planes to install in the plane before they could take off. That launch was ready to go. My last duty was to step out of the door, latch it shut and get out of the way. In the short time I was inside the plane it went from dusk to pitch black and there were no more lights anywhere on the flight deck. There I was on the wrong side of two spinning turboprops and beside our plane there was an old AD-1 attack plane with its giant propellers spinning. I was scared; I could hear the ominous roar of those props and I had to get past them to safety by the Island on the other side of the flight deck. There was a steel safety net just a few feet away, but I could not see it and one misstep and I would be 60 down into the Pacific ocean. I had to make it to the island. The only thing I could think to do was get down into a pushup position and make my way on my hands and toes to the Island. I did so and again had I not done what I did, I would not be writing this today.Those were some, not all of my incidents on the Kitty Hawk.

Now I want to write about the USS Forrestal out at sea on yankee station at the time we were. The ship was preparing for a daytime launch. All of the attack planes were on deck, all fueled, all armed. The investigation into the incident determined that a zuni rocket was tripped and fired by an electrical glitch on deck. The missile shot across the deck to a line of A-4 attack planes loaded with 500 pound bombs. The missile hit an external fuel tank, igniting the fuel. The burning fuel spread across the deck igniting other external tanks and cooking off some of the 500 pound bombs. It was an inferno of death. 132 crewmembers died that day many more were injured. I don’t know if the video of this incident is still on the internet. We saw everything that happened from the flight deck cameras as did every other carrier in the fleet. It was a gruesome thing to watch, guys running in to fight the fire, then an explosion and those guys were vaporized.

The USS Enterprise had a similar incident on Yankee station with similar results. This was before I was onboard. This is why flight decks are dangerous. Out at sea when a fire starts, there is nowhere to run and get away from the fire.

One more thing I’ll write, what happens when an arresting wire snaps and breaks apart. This doesn’t happen too often but when it does, there is a four inch diameter steel cable cracking like a whip across the deck. I have seen videos of this from the navy. One video two sailors were standing by the Island, one saw the cable break and he managed to leap into the air high enough to let the cable pass under him the other sailor didn’t. Imagine this, both ankles cut off by a four inch diameter knife. There was no way to repair what happened to that sailor.

120217 Games

I suppose games have been around almost as long as there have been people on earth.

Games are good fun and are very good for us older, retired people to keep our minds working. The game called GO was invented in China 2,500 years ago and is still popular in China today. It is a complex game of strategy. Chess is popular in Europe and in the USA. It is another game of strategy. I suppose all games have some strategy involved.

The first computer game was a game called Space War, developed by Steven Russell at MIT in 1962. It was played on a PDP-1 computer the size of a car. These days there are a myriad of games played online and people love them!

I remember being in Hong Kong back in the sixties, watching elderly Chinese men sitting on the sidewalk playing Mahjong. I thought the game was interesting. Now I have found an online Mahjong game that I enjoy playing every day. I usually play 2 or 3 games a day. It is fun when I win and frustrating when I lose, but it keeps the old gray matter inside my skull working.

I used to play Pinochle aboard ship and later with my grandfather, parents, uncle and aunt, Joyce and grandma Mickey. That was a lot of fun! Joyce and I started going to the casinos in Oklahoma in 2005. We played card games at poker tables there.

Games are fun for people around the world. For a while I thought playing games on a computer was a waste of time, but not anymore. They help retired folks with not much else to do, stay busy and keep the mind occupied and most importantly, active. As Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians used to sing, “Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think.”

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.

220529 Sentinel, Memorial Day

Tomorrow is the day we honor the fallen and hopefully those still serving.

Did you know this? Memorial Day was originally called "Decoration Day." In 1869, the head of an organization of Union veterans, Maj. Gen. John A. Logan, established Decoration Day as a way for the nation to honor the graves of those who died in the Civil War with flowers, according to the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department.
Today I will celebrate and remember my father,(Patton's 3rd Army artillery WW-2) my uncle Kenny, (Carlson's Raider battalion, Marine Corps WW-2). Along with Joyce’s father (USN USS Brownson, WW-2) he survived his ship being sunk on Christmas Day 1944) and Joyce’s uncle William, (Army Air Corps B-24 gunner WW-2) his B-24 was damaged during a mission over Munich, Germany. They were limping back to their base in Italy but did not have enough power to get over the Italian alps. They bailed out and he was captured shortly after landing in his parachute in a deep snow bank. He spent a year in a German POW camp until the end of the war. Joyce’s family suffered greatly for that year. William finally made it home after the war. He was a changed man. It took a long time for him to return to who he was before the war, but he did and was another great man I knew.
I also want to celebrate Joyce’s cousin Jim, (US Air Force) He served as a male nurse I think that was in the late fifties and early sixties. He is a very accomplished man and is still going strong, despite being older than I am, he is still playing on a soccer team and does charity work. This is what veterans do in service and beyond their service time.
I am also celebrating my nephew Patrick (23 years in the Army) he served in Iraq, Afghanistan two tours, Korea two tours at the 38th parallel just a short distance from thousands of North Korean soldiers waiting to invade South Korea. Patrick also served in Somalia, the invasion of Panama and more places than I can remember. I spent 11 years in the Navy expecting to see the world, but only saw one half of it. Patrick saw all of it.
I also celebrate my neighbor Pete, (retired Army tank operator, who was in the first Gulf War as a tank driver. He later saw most of the world traveling everywhere the USA sold tanks to other countries, Pete was there to train their tank crews. I feel lucky to have known all of these veterans I mentioned and countless sailors, shipmates I knew and served with during my years in the Navy. out of the hundreds I served with I only met 2 turds that challenged my belief in humanity. I believe that says a lot about the character of those who have served. I don’t know about the other services, but Navy guys I served with knew how to work hard and party hard. They were great to know and serve with.
One last veteran I forgot, Barry Litchfield, who served on the USS Ponchatula an Oiler during Vietnam and of supreme importance in keeping our carriers fueled and our aircraft fueled. Oilers are hard and dirty work. Those poor guys really get a soaking refueling carriers. The wake from a carrier bounces their bows up and down, showering the sailors on deck with seas spray and of course the fuel spills. during refueling. We were both in station at the same time period.
And one last vet I know and worked with John Alehandro, a helicopter door gunner in Vietnam. A crazy dangerous job hanging out an open door on a helocopter and shooting at bad guys or using supression fire to protect his copter from Viet Cong ground fire. Thanks John

220527 Sentinel, Savages

We live in a savage world.
Back in 1912, William Congreve said: “Music has charms to soothe a savage beast.” I take umbrage with mister Congreve on his statement. We live in a world at war, we did before Congreve and we do today. Today there are 40 wars going on in this world. We have had two world wars already and may be inching closer to world war three, a war that could (would) end this wonderful world that God has given us. I found out last night that in this country there have been 213 mass shootings in 21 weeks. Apparently we don’t have enough soothing music going around in our country, much less the entire world.

I believe people have a reason, a right if you will, to have a gun to protect their families. Do we need automatic rifles to protect our home and family? I would think that in a confined hallway a person with a high-powered automatic rifle would tear up his house, he could squirt off 30 rounds, empty the magazine and not hit the perpetrator in the home, especially if he is not well versed in the proper use of the rifle. I believe a semi-automatic weapon is easier to use in a tight situation and would not waste ammo. My preference is a 38 cal snub nosed revolver with hollow point ammunition, no chance of the pistol jamming and that thing lights up the night when fired.

If there is an answer to this savage world’s problem, I don’t know what it may be.

220415 Sentinel, Hyper Inflation

In Germany after World War One, they had HyperInflation.
People went shopping with wheelbarrows full of German Marks.

We are not there yet, but who knows what will happen these days? Everytime I go to a store everything I buy has a higher price than it did weeks ago. This scares the living crap out of me and should do so for everyone retired these days. We live on Social Security and any fixed pension or savings so few have these days. I used to say I might end up living on cat food, but that is more expensive than groceries these days. Hopefully hot dogs loaded with fat and grease will still be affordable. I could end up going to food pantries, if they continue to operate. There’s always the dumpster at taco bell to scrounge out of, if I can beat away the others dining there. I’m not able to beat anyone away, but maybe I can still swat away any flies feasting on my dinner source. Time will tell. I read once that people starving eventually lose their hunger and then slowly pass from this earthly plane of existence, besides if everyone is in the same boat as I may be, I’ll have a lot of company. I hope the ones I meet at the Taco Bell dumpster aren’t ex body builders.
Would God let this happen? He did with Germany and His way is difficult for we humans to comprehend. My question is will I still be around if or when hyperinflation happens?

220304 Sentinel, Slaughter

As of today the war in Ukraine continues on.
Casualties and destruction rains down like a monsoon.

I continually ask myself why human beings bring fire and destruction upon each other? Animals act purely on their instincts, preying on other animals to survive. Are we humans better than animals? It would appear we are not better than they are, in fact we are lower than them because we choose to fight and kill others. We don’t eat others to survive, we act out with hatred for others.

I believe God created heaven, earth and humans, but did He mean for us to kill each other? I think not. He has mysterious ways and why he allows this carnage of humanity, I do not understand. I do not know His plan for us, only He knows what that will be.

I am grateful to be here in this country and not be suffering in the Ukraine as so many on both sides are. I try to imagine what is going on there and I fail to comprehend what that must be like for the people there. This in Ukraine and our ever tensing relations in the China seas may bring about World War-3. That would end all life on this planet. My hope is that all sides realize in a full-scale nuclear war there can be no winners, only losers. For all will perish.