"I have no illusions about what little I can add now to the silent testimony of those who gave their lives willingly for their country. Words are even more feeble on this Memorial Day, for the sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them.
Yet, we must try to honor them—not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice.
Our first obligation to them and ourselves is plain enough: The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we—in a less final, less heroic way—be willing to give of ourselves."
You got it right President Reagan.
21 May 2009
Memorial Day
I can't pass this one up. Memorial Day is coming and significant as it goes, Memorial Day is just about the major one. Originally called "Decoration Day" because they "decorated" the graves with flowers. Here's the original order from the President:
Memorial Day Order Memorial Day Order
I. The 30th day of May, 1868,is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.
If other eyes grow dull and other hinds slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.
I. The 30th day of May, 1868,is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form or ceremony is prescribed, but Posts and comrades will, in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.
We are organized, Comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers sailors and Marines, who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than by cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead? We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security, is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.
If other eyes grow dull and other hinds slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain in us.
Let us, then, at the time appointed, gather around their sacred remains, and garland the passionless mounds above them with choicest flowers of springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledge to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon the Nation's gratitude—the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.
Another Intellectual theft from Doug G
Leon once again embarressed his parents and most other relatives and friends at 3:31 P.M.
Lazy Days - IDOL - My singing...
It has been quite a week for most of us here at the School. Actually, nothing much is going on as we wind down one course and get ready to receive the largest class ever here and just in time for the 100 degree South Carolina summer.
Oh well...even though I predicted that Adam Lambert would win IDOL I knew it was over when the Gokey was voted off. Right then you had to know that the Gokey votes would go to the other guy. But he is very talented. Don't worry America...Adam has a huge future and probably has agents lined up right now trying to get him out of the IDOL Contract.
I could always sing pretty well for some reason. Had a knack for it and had a fairly good range and pitch. I assume it's because of all the yelling we brothers did back and forth and the cool, crisp PA air that I think is the only reason I am now 53 years old and have had few ailments thus far. Although I played racquetball today for 1 1/2 hours and got hit three times by some blazing shots that leave the funniest marks. It first turns red, then a yellowish ring forms on the outside of the red and then it continues to sting for a few minutes. THEN...your skin tightens around the area and you feel that for about a day. Who hit me? The Chief of Police for Columbia, SC. A former Marine who dislikes Chaplains I guess.
So back to singing. I was sitting in Mr. VanHorn's 4th grade music class at Falls-Overfield Elementary of all places where all you did was sing and if you sang real loud your grades also went up. So I was Mr. America as we sang, the Star Spangled Banner, American the Beautiful, all that. He was a trip. Then we had him for the "tonette" class which to this day I think is only some plastic thing used to pass the time by Soldiers in the Big One, WWII. Our dreams were shattered though when this small, wiry and pretty good looking lady came when I was in 5th grade and she was determined to make us learn music the "right" way. Man...no more singing and grades are going to plummet. But she was good at what she did and alot of us started to come around to playing band instruments pretty well thank you. I thik that's where I may have learned my tone definition. But why am I not a professional? Because I do not practice. And practice is what matters in music. I am either too lazy or getting toward the end of my days and wanting to do things I should have done when alot younger.
Heck - I even dropped out of Mensa because I didn't want to pay the dues. Besides, a guy who can do puzzles all day is not my idea of a really bright guy. How do those guys on Jeopardy do it anyway? They study endless lists and factoids until they're blue in the face then hope to make an audition. I'm not jealous - they're not lazy.
Anyway - back to the porch. Here's where the grandson of a German Immigrant Farmer first learned the art of "OUCHHHHH." My dad, Leon Sr., pole sitting on the farm in Newton, PA around 1928. Man, can you imagine the kind of boredom they must have been experiencing? Makes ya wanna "SHOUT!"
Oh well...even though I predicted that Adam Lambert would win IDOL I knew it was over when the Gokey was voted off. Right then you had to know that the Gokey votes would go to the other guy. But he is very talented. Don't worry America...Adam has a huge future and probably has agents lined up right now trying to get him out of the IDOL Contract.
I could always sing pretty well for some reason. Had a knack for it and had a fairly good range and pitch. I assume it's because of all the yelling we brothers did back and forth and the cool, crisp PA air that I think is the only reason I am now 53 years old and have had few ailments thus far. Although I played racquetball today for 1 1/2 hours and got hit three times by some blazing shots that leave the funniest marks. It first turns red, then a yellowish ring forms on the outside of the red and then it continues to sting for a few minutes. THEN...your skin tightens around the area and you feel that for about a day. Who hit me? The Chief of Police for Columbia, SC. A former Marine who dislikes Chaplains I guess.
So back to singing. I was sitting in Mr. VanHorn's 4th grade music class at Falls-Overfield Elementary of all places where all you did was sing and if you sang real loud your grades also went up. So I was Mr. America as we sang, the Star Spangled Banner, American the Beautiful, all that. He was a trip. Then we had him for the "tonette" class which to this day I think is only some plastic thing used to pass the time by Soldiers in the Big One, WWII. Our dreams were shattered though when this small, wiry and pretty good looking lady came when I was in 5th grade and she was determined to make us learn music the "right" way. Man...no more singing and grades are going to plummet. But she was good at what she did and alot of us started to come around to playing band instruments pretty well thank you. I thik that's where I may have learned my tone definition. But why am I not a professional? Because I do not practice. And practice is what matters in music. I am either too lazy or getting toward the end of my days and wanting to do things I should have done when alot younger.
Heck - I even dropped out of Mensa because I didn't want to pay the dues. Besides, a guy who can do puzzles all day is not my idea of a really bright guy. How do those guys on Jeopardy do it anyway? They study endless lists and factoids until they're blue in the face then hope to make an audition. I'm not jealous - they're not lazy.
Anyway - back to the porch. Here's where the grandson of a German Immigrant Farmer first learned the art of "OUCHHHHH." My dad, Leon Sr., pole sitting on the farm in Newton, PA around 1928. Man, can you imagine the kind of boredom they must have been experiencing? Makes ya wanna "SHOUT!"
16 May 2009
Star Trek and Boston Butt
Hey all...it's been a fun and very busy two days as I worked at the Church festival for missions all day Friday. I was out back with a good friend and retired Colonel Zack who was in charge of cooking boston butts for the BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. It was basically a "work slowdown" day as watching butts cook is akin to watching paint dry...
But today - after mowing the lawn and just missing the rain I go to see Star Trek at Sand Hill. Fantastic flick if I do say so. They even had an Airborne Operation..."All the Way" as we say in the Airborne.
Okay -so I am still enmeshed in a sadness that is hard to describe. More to follow...
But today - after mowing the lawn and just missing the rain I go to see Star Trek at Sand Hill. Fantastic flick if I do say so. They even had an Airborne Operation..."All the Way" as we say in the Airborne.
Okay -so I am still enmeshed in a sadness that is hard to describe. More to follow...
13 May 2009
Another Intellectual Theft from Doug Gillette
Leon again embarrassed himself and his family at 1618 hours, 13 May
Uncle Elmer and the Navy
Uncle Elmer (the big guy)
with his brother and sisters (not on a porch but in PA nonetheless).
What is it that makes a person join the military...complain about it the entire time they are in, then can't stop talking about how great it was when they get out? When we visited Uncle Elmer last summer in PA, his talk was almost always centered around his time in the Navy. He talked about all the great times he had with his fellow Sailors. How he and the guys would have such great times on R&R in places all over the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, Greece - all that. He had a difficult job working in the steam engine room of his old ship 711, a Destroyer. Then all he could talk about in his final years was how good it was to get together with the "guys."
It's like the men who were at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. They visit the site almost every year they are able, then when they eventually die they want to be buried with their shipmates below the harbor waters. I mean - think about it. They are in the Navy for two, maybe three years, do their time, get out, marry, work, have a family, and grow old. They are 80 years old but the most significant event to them was that day in December. And when they die they want to return to be buried with their "Buddies." SGT Joe Toye of the legendary Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division - the Screaming Eagles. He gets his leg blown off in the woods at Bastogne, goes home, gets better, then does all the things I listed above. He's in the Army for all of two years. What does he have put on his tombstone?
SGT. Joe Toye
E Co. 506th PIR
101st Airborne Division.
Here's what his Commander MAJ Dick Winters said at his funeral (in part):
"BASTOGNE - On January 1st the German Air Corps made their last big bombing raid of the war. They smashed Bastogne, they bombed our front lines. Joe caught a piece of shrapnel in his right arm. This was his third Purple Heart. He was evacuated to Bastogne for first aid treatment. By January 1st the 101st was no longer surrounded at Bastogne. Joe could have been evacuated to a rear echelon hospital. Instead, Joe preferred to return to Company E. As he was walking across a snow covered field to the left of the BN CP, I saw him with his right arm in a sling going back to the front line. I cut across the field to stop him. I said, "Joe, you don't have to go back on the line with one arm. Why don't you take it easy for a couple of days?" I'll never forget his answer: "I want to be with my buddies." Two days later he was caught in a heavy artillery barrage and he lost his leg. That kept him from joining his buddies on the front line then, but that did not stop him in the next 50 years from joining his friends at their annual reunion. Today, I know Joe has joined his assistant squad leader Cpl. Jim Campbell, who he lost in Holland and all the rest of his buddies who have preceded him - in Heaven.
Two years of life in the Army and in the end his only remembrances of a better time were when he was in the worst of times.
Same with Uncle Elmer I suppose. Nothing compares to what they did.
12 May 2009
Blogging in General - Hats off to Rosie O
Who follows these things anyway? If Rosie O'Donnell has a butt load of people following her daily rant and repeated delirious stabs at poetry, then she gets one million people following her, does it mean she is right about something or really just a pain in the "A" who knows how to strike a nerve in people to get them boiling because no matter what you say she won't change because it's how she makes her money - then continue to make money on it anyway while living the high and not very eco friendly life in the Big Apple with all the squirrels on her window sill? Now we have Oprah blogging aboard her 48 million dollar private jet and whooping it up at Duke telling the rest of the world the Gore-willian mantra doo-doo of, "do as I say, not as I DO!"
Hypocrites
...and I'm worried about leaving the light off when I go to the bathroom so I can save energy.
Idiot.
Which by the way, if you were in Iraq or Afghanistan you'd know you don't need a light on to go to the bathroom. What, can't find the hole, just follow the effervescent scent of burning diesel fuel. C'mon! You also know that bathroom is not a designated place or space, it's in the head...it's wherever you may find yourself on a cold, desert, moonless night having to go potty in the middle of nowhere (literally) then while you're "pants down and mid-turd," your real good pals drive up in a HUMMV with a loaded 50 cal. and ask "What are you doing over there? Ha - Ha" kind of mucked up stupid question to the obvious...
but I love those guys.
Hey - did I like wearing a chemical suit over 37 days in a row? No...was I glad when I had the excuse to take it off for a few minutes to go potty...YES!!! The little things in life do matter...
But back to Rosie and her ilk...
Sorta like the female comedian - whose name escapes me now - wait - I burped, its Roseanne Barr , who is so popular (NOT!!!) - who desecrated the Country and the national Anthem by even singing it in first place knowing her disdain for the nation, and then grabbing her crotch at the end like we're all supposed to think this is some kind of Jimmy Hendrix National Anthem on the steel guitar moment. What is up wit dat? She really cracked me up...Point being - she has a blog too...probably a good 1/2 million people read it every day...Bet she never lived barefoot on a porch...she probably pays someone to write it anyway.
Anyway, here's another picture. The guy in front with the saucy hat and hands in his pockets is Leon, Senior. He's the father of the three (or four) boys on the porch in PA. Zida, and Edward are there too...Ed's dad was born in Fulda, Germany and somehow got over here on a boat at age 12 in 1852 just in time to fight in the American Civil War...Nuff said...
11 May 2009
Little Head on the Porch
Is there a little head at the bottom of the picture in the porch in PA? Could it be Steve?
Ever hear of Athanasius Kircher...Yes! An Unkle from Wayyy back
Athanasius Kircher By Paula Findlen
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) -- German Jesuit, occultist, polymath - was one of most curious figures in the history of science. He dabbled in all the mysteries of his time: the heavenly bodies, sound amplification, museology, botany, Asian languages, the pyramids of Egypt -- almost anything incompletely understood. Kircher coined the term electromagnetism, printed Sanskrit for the first time in a Western book, and built a famous museum collection. His wild, beautifully illustrated books are sometimes visionary, frequently wrong, and yet compelling documents in the history of ideas. They are being rediscovered in our own time. (Lamenting Leon talking now) He may have been "the last man who knew everything..." Lots of people 'poo-pooed' him at the time...others are finding out now that maybe Unkle Athanasius was on to something...tough to be caught in that great chasm of time between those who didn't read and couldn't and the time when everyone started reading...
Is it bread or is it Body???
Troubling
I know...you're thinking I was being coy by using "Thye" in my last post...somehow being medieval in my rantings about "Thye Porch." I wasn't. I just forgot to run spell check on that one...ha, ha, ha...now who's the smart one?
All I'm trying to do here is give a little perspective on life from someone of very humble beginnings who evolved from what it was on that porch in PA with socks and shirts that don't match holding a camera and smiling while the younger one to my right is looking past me and not at all seemingly happy about...well I'm not either. For one thing, I had socks...he has boots and no socks...what's that all about? Plus, what's up with those shorts?
Listen, I have no axe to grind with anyone and no beans to spill about how awful it was growing up. We was poor fo sure...but we didn't know it. Wow! Never heard that one before...but what is it all about? What shapes us into the people we are today?
I'm not of any political party - except any party that loves the Constitution and the Country. I am wary on what is happening in Washington when it comes to protecting the Nation. That my friend, is the key, and the #1 responsibility of the President and all who we vote into office, protect the nation. Everything else is secondary. STOP! There are enough political blogs out there...I'm not going to add to them...
At least when I turn on my computer every day I can have a screen saver of my lovely wife in St. Mark's Plaza in Venice...that's a world rocker my friend.
10 May 2009
Thye porch in PA (again) Gen'l Patton Visits
Three boys - one with no socks, shorts and wearing boots makes a million dollars? That sucks!!! All of this from a family who can count relatives such as Charlemagne, grandpa Robert the Brus of Scotland and grandma Queen Mary of Scots, two Uncles that crossed the Delaware with Washington (Benjamin and Solomon Overfield), a grandparent who rode shotgun for Goerge Winslow on the Mayflower (George Soule for you nit-picking rump pa pa pum Mayflowers snoots), and a father who got himself shot while serving as a tank driver for Patton in N. Africa in the big one -WWII for you history buffs...you can see dad at left smoking the ever present Camel as Patton bends over him - thankfully dad had a real wound or we'd hear the slap from here to eternity - BTW, this was the second wound he got in the Sicily invasion...luck follows the happy doesn't it? One more wound and dad goes home...that was the million dollar one though - took out a lung...but the cigarettes still won that war...
Mom
It's mothers day and as usual my wife does all the calling, gift buying and card snail mailing...My feelings on the day are not quite so low as you may seem since it is one of the bigger days of the year...who else could have popped out six kids in the matter of 8-9 years and live to tell about it except my mother?
Uncle Elmer and Uncle Rex
I have unfortunately officiated at the funerals for two of my Uncles up in PA this year. Uncle Elmer Swartz in January and Uncle Rex Lott in April...I greet relatives now with, "Hey, glad to see this isn't a funeral!" Oh wait...maybe I spoke too soon...
Elmer was a Navy man and farmer and good at it all...Rex was an outdoorsman who had it figured out...life isn't your work, and your work isn't your life...he died rich...but little money...if you know what I mean by being "rich."
I wonder when I'll go every day. At home? In a hospital bed so drugged up I cannot tell if I'm dead or alive anyway? Some faint touch to my hand by someone who whispers my name? Violent and slow???
Sunday's Lament
Sick and still can't get to a bed because with my ADHD I have to be doing something or I have no self worth...At least it's not the swine flu thing or N1H1 whatever the heck...watching the food network and wondering at the same time if there is a parallel universe where I am not sick and actually in charge of something other than the battle with my conscience - which I lose daily...
funny
From Robert the Brus to bare feet and boots on a porch in PA? What in the world is wrong with this?
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