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.

220226 Sentinel, War

I wonder if there is ever a time when some country is not at war anymore?

We don’t always hear about it unless it is one of the major powers.
Right now it is Russia invading Ukraine, but who will be next? I keep thinking about George Orwell’s book “1984” where the 3 powers, Oceana, Eurasia and East Asia are constantly at war, the first 2 are against the 3rd power. The wars never end and sometimes allies change in the middle of the day and then go up against the other power. The countries are all totalitarian regimes and all their people are fed propaganda to believe their country is the one which is the just power in the conflict. No one but a few even know who is pulling the strings that control their lives.

If you believe it is Biden in Oceana, Putin in Eurasia, or Xi Jinping in East Asia as it appears to be, we are all likely wrong. It is in my estimation, a group of people who are the beneficiaries of war. If we think about that for a moment, it should become clear as to who gets the money and power in wars or posturing for wars. As in police investigations, the key is to follow the money and you will solve the case.

In World War 2, the Japanese called their conscripted troops Ubin Kitte because that was the value of a postage stamp that supplied the conscripts to fight in their war. It would appear that human lives don’t have as much value as making money and gaining power. I was told once that,”Love makes the world go around, but money greases the wheels.” I didn’t believe that in 1966, but now I wonder if that is not true anymore, especially when I have the love and someone else is turning the wheels and getting the money.

Well this is depressing; I think I’ll go back to dreaming and listen to Louis Armstrong’s song, “What a Wonderful World.” That’s where I want to live. I am sorry I wasted my own time writing this piece and I apologize your time reading it.

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.

220110 Sentinel, Navy Times

My navy time shaped my future livelihood.
I enlisted in 1963.
During my navy years there were three guys that greatly influenced me. Charlie Rose ( not the guy who had a long running TV show.) Charlie and I met on the train from Saint Louis to Chicago on our way to navy boot camp. Charlie took me under his wing and showed me how to get through the ordeal. Without him, I don’t think I would have made it through.

This picture was our last day on Guam; we were headed for NAS North Island on Coronado, Ca. Left to right is Me, Ken Vaughn, Doug's girlfriend, Doug Cullwel and Roy Dordick.

I met Fred Comps when I was first at NAS North Island in 1966. Fred did not socialize with many guys there, but he took me and taught me a lot in just 4 months until he was discharged at the end of his enlistment. I was a 3rd. class petty officer at the time and looking forward to ending my enlistment in September of 1967. Fred signed off on my military requirements for taking the 2nd class exams. I was not going to take the exam and just leave the navy in 1967. It turned out that two other guys I mentored were going to take the exam for 2nd class and I would have ended up working under them. So I took the exam and we all made it. The only hitch was I had to extend my enlistment for 8 months to be advanced, so I did it. That led me to another crossroad. I could have gotten my discharge and went on to civilian life. I thought about that and realized while I was doing well in the navy, I had no way to do well as a civilian. Even after 4 years and 8 months, I still had Joyce and I broke, with no savings to carry us until I could find a job. We would have had to live with my family or Joyce’s mother and accept their charity. That was my dilemma.

As providence would have it the navy was still embroiled in the Vietnam war and sailors were ending their enlistments in the important electronics rates. I was eligible to reenlist in one of the top rates. The navy had what they called a variable reenlistment bonus. For me, it would have been the regular bonus and an additional 3 times more than the normal bonus. I thought that would make for a nice nest egg for us, so I did it. And I went to work honing my craft during the next six years so I would be ready when that time came and by that time, I was ready. Those six years prepared me for the rest of my life.
One more person I have to mention is Peso Pete. I don’t remember his full name, just his first name, Pete. Peso Pete was what everyone called him. He was a party animal and a lot of fun to be with. He was not a good man, but he had a lot of wonderful stories about his adventures around the world they were all funny and knowing Pete they were likely true. Everyone liked Pete and he was one of the men that cemented me in my decision to reenlist in the navy. Pete was a wild man, but so much fun to be with. One night we were sitting aboard the Kitty Hawk berthed at North Island waiting for departure early the next morning. He came by my compartment and said, “Let's go over to the enlisted men’s club and have some beers.” I replied, “I’m in the duty section and I have to be here in case they call us out for muster.” Pete said, “I’m the section leader and I’m not calling anyone for duty tonight, let’s go.” I followed the section leader’s orders that night. I’m not proud of that, but we did have a good time. I met Pete years later at the naval air technical training center. We had a few beers together before he left for NAS Jacksonville, a place that he had said, "When I die, I hope God sends me back to Jacksonville."

211223 Sentinel, Christmas Joys

‘Christmas With Dad’

Christmas is the time when I remember Christmases from my past.

I’ve been writing letters at Christmas for a long time now. Many of them were sad when I was in the Navy and away from home. To those alive in body and those alive only in spirit, I offer my regrets and ask forgiveness. My dad read all of my letters. In all the years, he wrote three to me. But I knew he loved me, as he loved all six of his children. Mom was the writer, and I’ve been told I take after her, more than my dad.

Christmas is a wonderful holiday. It evokes unparalled joy and often sadness. I remember the wonders of the day as a child! My father, “The King of Christmas” kept Christmas like no other person I knew of, except for Joyce. There were times when I was a child, only the top of the tree was visible. The base had a wall of packages for his six children, for in-laws, outlaws, teachers and preachers, people I didn’t even know. 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. On Christmas he always made sure those who wanted to be with us had a ride to and fro. He and Mom made sure there was a gift for everyone who attended. 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 all those in need throughout the year, but only at Christmas was his generosity obvious to all.

Dad was no saint. He was very authoritarian. He was 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 go by, my memories of past Christmases still stir my emotions. The years have slipped away and most of the people who made those memories are no longer left to share those memories with.

This picture was taken on Christmas of 1988.

Dad must have thought it was okay to affection for one time. In the years since he died, that shirt he was wearing had been washed countless times, yet I still felt a bit of my dad every time I wore it. I guess that’s why it was one of my favorite shirts. All but 2 of the shirts he left are worn out and gone. The tools he left me are a reminder of him every time I use them. The farm house was filled with projects he helped me complete. I was reminded of him on a daily basis when I used the stair rails he and I built. Every time I worked on a door, or doorframe on the farm, I felt him at my side.

I had a porch swing in the basement on the farm. I couldn't throw it away, yet I could no longer put it on the front porch. When dad had his first big stroke and he was recovering from it with Joyce and me on the farm, dad and I would sit on the swing for long periods of time and rock back and forth without saying a word. Since then, I couldn't look at it without seeing him. When I think of him I feel the void in my life that can never be replaced.

This Christmas, I’ll be here in this apartment, with Joyce, grandma Mickey, mom and dad having passed away, Annie and Rhett and Hailey, Patrick and Krisy will be here and of course Dad's spirit. He’s always here at Christmas dinner. Bill

211220 Sentinel, Christmas Far Away From Home

Christmas is never fun aboard ship.

Joyce's father's ship the USS Brownson was sunk on Christmas Day USA time in 1943 during the battle of New Britain in WW-2. He spent hours in shark infested water and was one of the lucky ones, only 108 out of over 300 ever made it out of the ship.They were lucky because the captains of the USS Daley and the USS Lamson stopped to pick up survivors, which was not what they were supposed to do. Ships were not to be stationary targets in a battle zone.

I was on Guam in 1965 and aboard ship on Christmas in 1067, 1968 and 1972.

This was me aboard the USS Kitty Hawk on Christmas 1967. I don't know who snapped the picture but had I known it was going to be taken, I would have tried to smile, but I was deep in thought at the time.

Christmas Onboard Ship

Christmas 1972 in the gulf of Tonkin
I was nearly as sad as I’d ever been
Onboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise
Away from all my family ties
The onboard delivery plane was about to land
The postal clerks were there at hand
The air group and sailors aboard
Eagerly awaited letters they adored
Billy Graham was aboard for a Christmas event
Midnight services on an open hangar bay without a tent
One of the world’s greatest preachers was there to see
For hundreds of sailors including me
I could have been tucked away in my bunk
Trying to sleep away my Christmas funk
There was a war going on and I was away
No family for me on Christmas Day
A Christmas without family, no decorations on a tree during a war
Just airplane equipment to repair on the flight deck 04
That was my last Christmas away
But I still think about it this very day 49 years ago and yet I must say
Soldiers and sailors still fight in lands far away
On the day we celebrate the Prince of Peace
The peace is never owned; it’s only on lease
Truth be told, I’ll be dead and gone
But the wars, well they will continue on

211207 Sentinel, War

In 1941 on this day, December 7, the Japanese bombed, torpedoed and straffed Pearl Harbor, Hickam airforce base and Weeler field in Hawaii.

One perhaps little known fact is the U.S. navy was already on a wartime footing in the Atlantic ocean a year before.

Ships and Sailors were assigned duty escorting U.S. and Canadian ships in convoys across the Atlantic to Britain. German U-boats had fired torpedoes at U.S. convoy escorts several times during early 1941. On April 10th the USS Niblack attacked a German U-boat off the coast of Iceland. On September 4th A German U-boat fired a torpedo at the USS Greer, but missed her. On October 17th the USS Kearney was hit by a German torpedo in the Atlantic while escorting a convoy on its way to Britain. The ship survived but 11 sailors were killed and 22 were wounded. Then on October 27, 1941 the USS Ruben James was sunk by a German U-boat. Only 2 sailors survived when the ship sank in a matter of minutes. War was officially declared the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. thus began the most horrific war the world had ever known.

16 million American men and women were in service during WW-2. Every family in this wonderful country had someone in that war. Never before and never since did everyone in this country have a stake in a war. WW-2 was horrific for the world. It is estimated that overall 60 million people over the globe were killed, more civilians than soldiers and sailors were lost.

I'm an old sailor, so my writing in this post is slanted more towards the navy's part in WW-2 than the army's operations. Both services were necessary and the war could not have been won without both services. As the war began, the U.S. government decided to focus on Germany first and Japan later. The U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor had lost 6 battleships and several support ships along with 179 army air corps planes nearby. There were 2403 servicemen killed and 1178 wounded. The navy surface fleet was crippled, leaving only the 4 submarines in the harbor to take up arms against the entire Japanese navy and merchant ships. There were subs at Cavite, PI. that were attacked the next day and a few subs in places around the Asian bases in the far east. It was those submarine sailors that began the first acts of retribution against the empire of Japan.
The picture left was, Pearl harbor. The picture on the right was Hickam air field.

The war in Europe and the one in the Pacific were both horrific. More total lives were lost on the European continent than in the Pacific because it was a continental war with millions of civilians and soldiers, but the Pacific in my opinion had more savage fighting. The war in Europe was an army war, but the Pacific was a navy and a marine corps war.

Admiral Nimitz was given charge of the navy in the Pacific after Pearl Harbor and he was the best man to handle it. He immediately left the continental U.S. to assess the damage in Pearl Harbor. He boarded a navy ship’s boat and toured the harbor. Those there were feeling low at that time after the attack, but Nimitz recognized as he toured the harbor that the Japanese attack was handled all wrong. They missed the navy fuel farm there and the submarines in Pearl. Had they destroyed the fuel farm (an easy target with no defenses) it would have taken six months to a year to rebuild and replenish enough oil for the U.S. navy to begin fighting in the Pacific war. Instead the U.S. subs had fuel to begin to win the war on day one and that is what they did.

It turned out that the Japanese plan was designed to have 3 waves of attack. The first was planned to take out the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the second was to take out the army aircorps planes at Hickam and Wheeler fields. The 3rd wave was to destroy the fuel farm and the submarine base in Pearl. The Japanese commander on scene decided against the 3rd wave, thinking he had been lucky to have lost few planes and aircrews in the first 2 waves and did not want to lose anymore that day. Big, big mistake on his part and a boon to our side. Things would have been much worse had they sent in the 3rd wave of attack.

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.