Opposites Do Attract

 

We met just after my 35th birthday, This year (2021) November 15 will be our 35th wedding anniversary. That means I have known Lolly for 1/2 my life (I just turned 70). 

Every once in a while I get philosophical and look back on my life. I'm not looking for anything special, I just want to make sure that I'm going forward in the right direction, making the right choices. I have made many mistakes in my life, especially when I was younger. It seems that I learn more about life from my mistakes than from academics. I always pray that the lord will help me spot them and show me what I can learn from them. ... One thing that was not a mistake was stepping out one morning and buying a newspaper.  

We were complete opposites. We were born and raised on opposite sides of the planet. Different cultures, environments, societies, ways of life. There wasn't one common thread between us. 

The first thing I remember Lolita doing was, she made the sign of the cross. Not the habitual gesture that I see many Catholics make, Her's was a prayer. The ugliness of war and the society I came home to had all but erased any memory I had of God, religion and church. It wasn't that God didn't exist, He existed, but I felt he just wasn't paying attention to me. I tried to quell the memories of a war that no one wanted with alcohol for almost 10 years.

She was very well educated, she just received a Doctorate degree in education. I just barely made it out of high school, and I HATED school. She was very organized and meticulous, I was very unorganized and messy. 

Although we were opposites, I felt comfortable sitting across a table from her in a restaurant and walking around all the tourist spots in San Diego with her. Much later I felt more comfortable sitting next to her at Mass than I did sitting alone in a Protestant church. 

As I learned about Lolita, I also learned about myself. I had become very different than I was at age 18, and now because of Lolita, was becoming very different than when I was at 34. 

When I graduated from High School I enlisted in the Navy. The Navy turned me into an adult, the war ripped my soul from me. I was lost to God and lost to the world around me...Well, to everyone and everything except Lolita.

Unknowingly at that time, I was learning from Lolita. Through the way she lived her life I was learning what Jesus meant when he talked of "love." A lot of things go into love. Acceptance, respect and caring are all a part of the Love that Jesus talked about. Lolita and I were very different, from birth! But we accepted our differences and respected them, whether we agreed or disagreed with it, we accepted and respected each other's lives - totally. From acceptance and respect comes caring. I was beginning to feel Lolly caring for me (she was the ONLY woman...person to ever get me to go to a Dentist...TWICE!!!!). Being a part of Lolly's life, watching how she handles the good and the bad stuff of daily life helped me to gain my soul back. 

Today I thank God for every day I have with Lolly and I thank Lolly for all she has done for me.  

 

 

USS Oriskany CVA34 - The Last Warrior

As a 3rd Class Petty Officer I served aboard the USS Oriskany CVA34 from July 73 to July 76. Working mainly with the Naval Tactical Data System (NTDS) I was also crypto qualified, HF receivers qualified and Tactical Air navigation System (TACAN) qualified.  

 

Time is cruel to the body and mind, but some memories never fade. I will forever be 20 years old, standing on the flight deck of the USS Oriskany - CVA34, watching the sun set over a calm sea. The smell of salt in the air, its taste in my mouth, the feel of hard steel beneath my feet and an eager anticipation in my heart as I looked out across the sea to my newest adventure. With the coming of the next morning's horizon and the dawn of each passing day I felt like it was a given that I would be there to see it through to each sunset. 

Now I lay my head down each night in anticipation of the next adventure that my dream will create from the gallant stories of that young man. For my body can no longer sail the seas, but my heart, mind and soul will forever be aboard the rolling deck of a ship of war headed for the battle line. There is something about the adventure, camaraderie, danger and personal risk of service aboard a Navy warship that stays with you and gets intertwined with your very being and it never leaves. 

The Oriskany was the last commissioned Essex Class Carrier.  The Essex-class was a highly successful, class of 24 U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, serving as the backbone of the US Navy’s fleet from mid-1943 through the Vietnam War. No Essex Class Carriers were lost to enemy action, though some were heavily damaged, especially by kamikazes late in WWII. Four remain in existence today as museum ships: the Yorktown, the Hornet, the Lexington, and the Intrepid. 

After the WWII, the Essex Class Carriers underwent multiple modernizations and upgrades to handle the new jet aircraft and helicopters of the jet age, including angled flight decks. They continued to form a significant part of U.S. naval air power into the Korean and Thirteen of the Essex carriers were used in action during the Vietnam War. Several Essex-class carriers also saw use in the NASA space program as recovery platforms for space aircraft returning from lunar missions. 

My road to Oriskany began while I was stationed at Naval Schools Command, Treasure Island. That's a small flat island in the middle of San Francisco Bay.  I was maintaining electronic test equipment for an Electronic Technician "A" school on the island. I had just received my orders. Sea Duty aboard the USS Oriskany CVA 34. I had never heard of Her so, I started asking others on the island if they knew anything about this ship. The "CVA" told me that she was an attack carrier of some kind but no one I talked to had ever heard of this "Oriskany" thing.

The orders also stated that before reporting aboard I would spend a few weeks in a "C" school learning something called NTDS (Naval Tactical Data System) SRC-16 radio transmitter - receiver system (one of the Navy's first all digital data communications networks) at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, somewhere close to San Francisco.

When I got to Mare Island and started the school, I also started asking around if anyone knew anything about this "Oriskany" ship. I found one old instructor that knew about her. He broke out into a huge laugh when I mentioned I was going to the Oriskany. He asked me who I pissed off. He said she was the OLDEST THING AFLOAT! Her SRC-16 system was serial number XN1 #1. That meant it was experimental model number 1 and was nothing like the machine I learned in school. Well, at least I now knew something about this thing called "Oriskany."

 

On the 17th of April 1973, I stood at the head of a pier in Alameda California. On my starboard side stood the USS Enterprise. Pride of the Navy, Queen of all the seas. She was all decked out to start her sea tour tomorrow. Today she stood tall sleek and shinny. A necklace of aircraft around her island, She looked like an Ensign standing inspection, not a scratch or bruise on her skin, wrinkle in her uniform, and not a hair out of place. So beautiful and "sexy" - A sailor's "dream boat". I could almost feel her tugging at me, whispering a sweet beautiful sea chantey in my ear, trying to lure me away from my destination on the opposite side of the pier.

On the port side, stood the Old Bitch of the Sea - Oriskany. Just back from her sea tour yesterday. There she stood, Her uniform of grey: dirty, torn, wrinkled and tattered. Her skin scratched, bruised, covered in soot, salt and seagull crap. As I walked up her after-brow I could smell her sweat. Sweat from hundreds of miles in scorching sun and rough stormy seas, sweat from dozens of weeks at Yankee Station with flight ops sometimes going 24 hours a day. She was old, ugly and decrepit and she smelled of death.

At the head of her brow I stopped, turned and saluted her ensign. As I turned a 180, grabbed my packet of papers to hand to the Brow Watch, I thought: What the hell am I doing here? Did I piss off God? Why couldn't I be ridding that sleek young thing across the pier? The world knew her name and who's girl she was. Why am I, just turning 20 years old, why do I have to ride this lonely Old Bitch of the Sea that no one knew, and from the looks of her, no one cared about?

On 14 June 1976, I stepped out on her flight deck for the last time. Slated for decommissioning instead of being cleaned up primed and painted, she was being stripped of all of her equipment. As I looked around I saw Her uniform of grey, still dirty, torn, wrinkled, tattered and Her skin scratched, bruised, covered in soot, salt and seagull crap from Her last Westpac. She was older and probably a bit uglier, but she wasn't the old bitch of the sea that I thought she would be. Once you got to know her she became a Fighting Lady. "The Mighty 'O' "is what we called her. A bitch to her enemy, but a Mighty Fighting Lady to her crew. She was the last of her kind, the last Essex Class Carrier, the last of the mighty fighting ships that took back the Pacific from the Japanese. From Alaska in the north to all the little islands that dot her south, the Essex Class Carriers fought and won the Pacific war. No, Oriskany wasn't the old bitch of the sea, She was the proud mother of the modern carrier, the first "SUPER CARRIER." Without the Essex Class Carriers like Oriskany, we would not have the sassy, sleek and sexy carriers of today.

As I walked down her after-brow for the last time, I walked slowly so that I could savor her sweet sweat from missions to Korea and Vietnam, all the flight-ops involved in those wars along with the storms and typhoons we weathered. Along with her sweat is the always welcoming aroma of Subic bay with just a hint of Olongapo bar-maid perfume mixed with the breeze off shit-river. 

...Sorry, I just couldn't help a little Westpac reminiscing. 

 

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, 'I served in the United States Navy'." - John F. Kennedy at the commissioning ceremony of the USS Oriskany in 1950 (my first ship).

ETN3 Harbit - Proud to say "I served on the USS Oriskany CVA 34" - Relatively unknown to most Americans but highly feared by America's enemy's. 

  

 

January 28, 1973 in the South China Sea…The nuclear-powered attack aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) (Center), the attack aircraft carriers USS America CV-66 (left of center) and USS Oriskany (CVA-34)(above & behind Enterprise), the escort ships USS Bronstein (DE-1037) and USS Fanning (DE-1076) and the destroyers USS Corry (DD-817), USS William C. Lawe (DD-763) and USS Cone (DD-866) cruise together in the multiple aircraft carrier force at the end of the hostilities with Vietnam." Photographer: SA Larry Hayes  

 

As I grow older I realize the magic of "belonging" to some place or time. I was on the USS Oriskany CVA-34 for an incredibly short time considering the length of my life at the present moment (74 years) and I remember the day I came aboard and the day I saluted her ensign for the last time. I did not realize it but I was taking a part of her with me and leaving some of myself behind. I now realize that I will never truly leave her, nor will she ever leave me. She is a part of my makeup today. The things she taught me I have used through out my life. Of all my education, the 3 years aboard her was by far my greatest learning experience. 

She was decommissioned on 30 September 1976. The old girl was slowly torn apart but she did not whimper or cry, she realized she had stood her watch and it was her time to be relieved.

 

She did not die because she lives with in the 10's of thousand of sailors that have crossed her deck during her watch and to me she will always be "the Grand Old Lady ...... the Mighty 'O'. The last Essex Class ship made. The last Great Warrior of WWII. 

ETN3 Harbit OE division, July 1973 - July 1976.

 

 

For more information visit:

A Day in WestPac Aboard the Mighty Oriskany 

America's Mighty Essex-Class Aircraft Carriers Were Almost Invincible

 Oriskany (CV-34)

 Wikipedia - USS Oriskany (CV-34)

Angels of the Oriskany - Fire, 26 October 1966

 USS Oriskany CVA34 on YouTube 

 

A SAILOR'S WORST NIGHTMARE - A FIRE AT SEA!

Although we were surrounded by all that water, fire is what we feared the most.

Time Magazine

Posted Friday, Nov. 4, 1966

Agony of the Oriskany

Amid gentle swells off the coast of North Viet Nam, the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Oriskany swung north ward into the wind. Four A-4E Skyhawk jet bombers soared gracefully off the flight deck. At 7:38 a.m., four more were being readied in a hangar bay far below, when a shouting sailor burst from a 15-ft.-square locker near by. Be hind him was an ominously hissing stack of 700 Mark-24 magnesium parachute flares. He barely had time to dog down the hatch on the locker and race for a phone when the flares began to explode. Fire bells clanged; klaxons sounded the call to general quarters. Loudspeakers shrilled: "This is no drill! This is no drill!"

Helpless Horror. Superbly trained fire crews dragged hoses toward the burning locker. Other crewmen fought desperately to roll four planes to the far end of the hangar deck: three of them were already laden with bombs; the fourth, a tanker, carried 900 gal. of JP5 jet fuel. The fire fighters watched in helpless horror as the steel bulkheads of the flare locker started ballooning under the 7,000° heat inside. The steel hatch blasted open with a great gout of flame that engulfed the hangar and sent fire balls rocketing down every passageway, igniting two helicopters. Five sailors were burned alive.

The automatic sprinkler system opened up, spraying curtains of water into the lower-deck compartments. But the magnesium-fed fire continued to burn, turning sections of the flight deck above into a sizzling skillet. Choking clouds of dense, dirty-grey smoke poured through seven decks of the Oriskany's forward sections. Two more blasts sent flames belching along the flight deck, where red-shirted ordnance experts worked feverishly to jettison 500-lb., 1,000-lb.and 2,000-lb. bombs they dumped dozens overboard into the sea.

The fire caught hundreds of the Oriskany's 3,400-man crew below deck. Worst hit was "officers' country" in the forecastle, where many men had not yet climbed out of their bunks. As the choking fumes billowed into their compartments, they tried to escape, only to be forced back by the deadly smoke and heat in the passageways. Lieut. Commander Marvin Reynolds opened his porthole and managed to alert some hands on the top deck; they handed down a hose and an oxygen mask. Then Reynolds spent three hours spraying water around his oven-hot compartment. Commander Richard M. Bellinger, a 205-lb. jet pilot who was awarded the Silver Star last month, ripped out an air conditioner, wriggled naked through the tiny opening to a burning catwalk and escape. Others were not so lucky.

Flag-Draped Coffins. Again and again, volunteers donned oxygen equipment to go below into the stupefying heat in search of trapped shipmates. Some had to don scuba gear and swim through inky water that rose over their heads in the darkened passageways. They hauled to safety many men who were horribly injured, unconscious or so broken by shock that they could not comprehend where they were. Not until after 3 p.m., more than seven hours after the flares first began their still unexplained sputtering, was the last small smoldering fire extinguished.

That night, looking as if she had taken a direct hit in battle, the 42,000-ton Oriskany limped across the South China Sea, bound for Subic Bay in the Philippines. Shortly after she docked there, honor guards from her crew carried away a seemingly endless line of flag-draped coffins. Thus, only two weeks before she was due to finish her second tour of duty off Viet Nam, the Oriskany suffered in one day the Navy's worst disaster of the Viet Nam War: 35 officers (24 of them combat-conditioned pilots) and eight enlisted men had died, all but six of suffocation. In two years at war, the carrier had previously lost eleven pilots.

It was more valor than luck that kept the Oriskany from going to the bottom of the Gulf of Tonkin. "There were just too many acts of heroism to count," said Skipper John Iarrobino. "There were literally hundreds. If there hadn't been, God only knows what the toll and the damage might have been." Almost everyone aboard performed with distinction, but the kids, the teen-aged sailors of the Oriskany, got particular acclaim for keeping her afloat. Said one seasoned chief: "Those crazy rock-'n'-roll jitterbuggers, they saved this ship today. Getting into that fire and pushing those bombs over the side and volunteering for rescue parties—those kids were everywhere doing everything."

The following officers and men of ORISKANY died in or as a result of the fires that swept her forward compartments on 26 October 1966:

Their names are listed on panel 11e on the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC.

"They are not gone as long as someone remembers their name"

CDR Jack H. Harris
CDR Richard E. Donahue
CDR Harry W. Juntilla
LCDR William J. Garrity Jr.
LCDR Walter F. Merrick
LCDR Omar R. Ford
LT Frank M. Gardner
LTJG Dewey L. Alexander
LTJG Ramon A. Copple
LTJG James B. Hudis
LTJG James A. Kelly Jr.
LTJG Franklin M. Tunick
BM3 Donald W. Shanks
BM3 Alvin M. Shifflett Jr.
SN Robert L. Dyke
SN James K. Gray
SN James A. Lee
FN William Walling
CDR Rodney B. Carter
AA Greg E. Hart
LT Lloyd P. Hyde
LTJG William R. Clements
CDR George K. Farris
LCDR James A. Smith
LT John F. Francis
CDR John J. Nussbaumer
AZAN David A. Liste
LCDR Clement J. Morisette
LT Clarence D. Miller
LTJG Thomas E. Spitzer
ENS Ronald E. Tardio
CDR Clyde R. Welch
LCDR Daniel L. Strong
LTJG James L. Brewer
LTJG William A. Johnson
LCDR Norman S. Levy
LTJG Cody A. Balisteri
LTJG William G. McWilliams, III
ENS Charles W. Boggs
LT Josslyn F. Blakely, Jr.
LT Julian D. Hammond, Jr.
LTJG Gerald W. Siebe
LTJG James R. Welsh
ENS Daniel O. Kern 

 

 For more on the Oriskany Fire: 

 

How Fire and Fatigue Almost Destroyed an American Carrier

USS Oriskany fire

The USS ORISKANY (CVA-34) fire and munition explosions Hell Afloat 

"Fire, fire, fire in frame 42 This is no drill! This is no drill." 

Fire in Hanger Bay 1 

Flaming Flattops: Deadly Fires Struck U.S. Aircraft Carriers  

 

"I can imagine no more rewarding a career. And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction, 'I served in the United States Navy'." - John F. Kennedy 

 

 

USS Oriskany CVA34

 

 

 

Guard Duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

On Jeopardy the other night, the final question was, How many steps does the guard take during their walk across the Tomb of the Unknowns? ------ All three missed it ---

 

The Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is really an awesome sight to watch.

Guard Duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

1. How many steps does the guard take during their walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why? ...21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.

 

2. How long do they hesitate after their about face to begin their return walk and why?...21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1,

 

3. Why are their gloves wet? ...Their gloves are moistened to prevent losing their grip on the rifle.

 

4. Do they carry their rifle on the same shoulder all the time and if not, why not? ... They carry the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After their march across the path, they execute an about face and move the rifle to the outside shoulder.

 

5. How often are the guards changed? ... Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

 

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to? ... For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, they must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and their waist size cannot exceed 30.' Other requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty.

 

They cannot swear in public and cannot disgrace the uniform or the tomb in any way. After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only a little over 600 presently worn.

 

The guard must obey these rules while serving as guards or for the rest of their lives if they choose.

 

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.

 

There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform.

 

Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.

 

The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV.

 

All off-duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis (the boxer) and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, (the most decorated soldier of WWII) of Hollywood fame.

 

Every guard spends five hours a day getting their uniforms ready for guard duty.

 

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

 

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington , DC , our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. 

They respectfully declined the offer, 'No way, Sir!' Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a service person.

 

The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

 

God Bless and Keep the Guards of the Unknown Soldier.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

 

Duty - Honor - Country

 

IN GOD WE TRUST

 

 

In May 1864, one month prior to its establishment as a national cemetery, the first military burials took place at Arlington National Cemetery. The four burials took place in Section 27 (pictured), the oldest section of the cemetery:

 

  

 

Private William Henry Christman, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry: first military service member interred at Arlington.

 

Private William Reeves, 76th New York Infantry: first draftee.

 

Private William Blatt, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry: first battle casualty.

 

Private William H. McKinney, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry: first to have family present at his funeral.

 

Learn more about the history of Arlington National Cemetery.

My First Date

My first date with my first girlfriend was my High School senior prom. This is one instrumental that I will never ever forget. I just heard it, after over 50 years I still remember where I was and who I was with when I first heard it. <sigh> I was wishing I knew how to dance at my High School prom. My date Barbra wanted to dance to this tune soooooo bad.  

I graduated Lincoln-Way High School in June of 1969. By July, I had enlisted in the Navy. It was either enlist in the military or be drafted, I chose enlistment. I ran track, the mile and 2-mile for all four years. ... I thought HS was boring. 

Hearing it again brought back that same feeling...Wish I could dance.

Harlem Nocturne long version by The Viscounts

"Harlem Nocturne" has been recorded by many diverse artists, but this version by the The Viscounts is by far the best.

 

“Harlem Nocturne”  - “Harlem Nocturne” is a saxophone-saturated song born in 1939 that has had a long shelf life –a song that found pop fame 20 years, and again nearly 50 years, after its first release.

 

A Symphony Of The City -  Duke Ellington‘s “Mr. Cotton Club” in Harlem connection to “Harlem Nocturne” is a fascinating tale of musical inspiration and cross-pollination in the jazz world. 

 

“Harlem Nocturne” (1940) Ray Noble and (1969) Ted Heath - Swing & Beyond

 

... Wonder if my Physics teacher remembers who he danced with while this played?  

Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues

Another memory from <God, I can't believe it...> over 50 years ago <sigh> Am I REALLY THAT old? It's amazing what memories a song can bring back. I can't remember what I had for breakfast just a few hours ago, but a song from over 50 years ago can bring back a memory so vivid and clear that it could have just happened.

1969, one hell of a year...Graduated high school, scared stiff over the "draft", gained a "Love", enlisted in the Navy and had no idea of what to expect, went to a high school prom - that dress REALLY accented her bu...bre..."womanly" features, began a career that lasted almost 50 years...and lost a "love".  

Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues, one of the few "popular" songs that made it into my "country music" era. The video above, consists of clips of Paris and the famous monuments there, and the band singing the song from a staircase to in front of what appears to be a statue and a patterned room. The video has over 63 million views since its upload in 2006.

Justin Hayward started writing the song after he was dumped by a girlfriend. Remembering a gift a different girlfriend had given him he eventually wrote a song that became a multi million-selling, era-defining classic.

First released in November 1967, Nights In White Satin was a masterpiece that bridged pop and symphonic music, with a lyric ripped directly from Hayward’s personal life – it finds him caught between ecstasy and despair, between the end of one love affair while embarking on a new one.

“There was a lot of emotion that went into the song,” Hayward affirms. “I was nineteen or twenty at the time, living in a two-room flat in Bayswater with Graeme [Edge, Moody Blues drummer] and our girlfriends. I came back from a gig one night, around four or five in the morning, when the birds were just twittering, I sat on the side of the bed and wrote a couple of verses. The only people writing in the Moodies then were [keyboard player] Mike Pinder and myself. He’d been working on a song called Dawn Is A Feeling, which I’d heard him fiddling around with, and I knew the other guys were expecting something from me at rehearsal the next day.”

Searching for some kind of metaphor for his emotional turmoil, Hayward remembered the recent gift he’d been given. “Another girlfriend, who was neither the one that had just dumped me or the one that I was then going with, had given me some white satin sheets. They just happened to be in my suitcase and I was trying them out in this place that Graeme and I lived in. They were very romantic-looking, but totally impractical.”

Shaped by producer Tony Clarke and arranger/conductor Peter Knight, Nights In White Satin became a sumptuous epic in the studio. It formed the centerpiece of the Moodies’ second album, Days Of Future Passed, a dawn-to-darkness song cycle that made full use of the Mellotron’s ability to simulate an orchestra. Topped off by a spoken-word poem, Late Lament, Hayward’s song clocked in at nearly seven and a half minutes. Nights was duly edited down as a single, although not everyone at Deram, Decca’s new subsidiary label, was convinced of its worth.

The song continues to enjoy a prolonged afterlife. South Carolina’s Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach has unveiled the Nights In White Satin: The Trip - theme park, a sensory experience based on Hayward’s tune, with on-board audio, digital effects and psychedelic imagery.

So, what's MY memory of a ROCK song invading my era of country and western music? Like it's writer, I felt as though I had been "dumped" by my then girlfriend. I remember I was in the Navy, just out of bootcamp and just entered Electronic Technician "A" school at Great lakes, Ill. On a weekend liberty I went to my girlfriend's apartment in Chicago. When I left I kinda felt as if I had just gotten dumped. On the train ride back to Great Lakes I remember hearing the song and the "low and slow" "Oh I love you oh how I love you." Kinda had me down for a while.

The down feeling didn't last long, in a few months when I graduated, I was sent to California...I learned what "I wish they all could be California girls" meant (I later married one). The Moody Blues and hometown girls were quickly forgotten. It's good that when you are young you can just "push the past aside" and start over again. When you get older, it's harder to just "push stuff aside" and start over. Our character might say "forget it - move on" but our emotions, that only strengthen over the years, say "not yet, give it one more try, maybe something can be worked out". ... It's those strengthened emotions that let us smile and shake hands with one of those things that didn't go exactly the way we wanted it to. How we handle memories adds to those qualities that define our character. 

Now when I hear Nights in White Satan, I get nostalgic and remember home - New Lenox Ill., high school, the draft, a girl. Memories remind me that life changes, instead of being sad over lost loves, things that I did wrong or things I should have done or not done, I'm happy that I had an opportunity to just live and add strength to my emotions and build the qualities distinctive to the Pogi Americano. 

 The Moody Blues perform "Nights in White Satin" and "Late Lament" at the 2018 Ceremony

Project Mercury

I remember watching this on our living room couch with my mother. Including all the hype, it was only about 30 minutes long. I was only about 10 years old, so it didn't mean that much to me. 

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

Shepard named his space capsule Freedom 7, setting a precedent for the remaining six Mercury astronauts naming their spacecraft and the format of their names. They selected names ending with a "7" in all the crewed Mercury spacecraft to commemorate the NASA's first group of seven astronauts. the number 7 also was the model number for the McDonnell Model #7 space capsule used in the Mercury Program. His spacecraft reached an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles (116.5 statute miles, 187.5 km) and traveled a downrange distance of 263.1 nautical miles (302.8 statute miles, 487.3 km). It was the fourth Mercury flight launched with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, close to the Atlantic Ocean.

During the flight, Shepard observed the Earth and tested the capsule's attitude control system, turning the capsule around to face its blunt heat shield forward for atmospheric re-entry. He also tested the retrorockets which would return later missions from orbit, though the capsule did not have enough energy to remain in orbit. After re-entry, the capsule landed by parachute on the North Atlantic Ocean off the Bahamas. Shepard and the capsule were picked up by helicopter and brought to U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain.

The mission was a technical success, though American pride in the accomplishment was dampened by the fact that just three weeks before, the Soviet Union had launched the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, who completed one orbit on Vostok 1. In 2017 the first National Astronaut Day was held on May 5 to pay tribute to this first U.S. flight.

Less than 2 weeks after Alan Shepard. returned from the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. President Kennedy, in a special message to congress on urgent national needs said: "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

Then on 12 September 1962 at Rice University President Kennedy said: ""We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." 

We made it to the moon and back in 1969, Why has it been over 50 years before we see the value in moon exploration? 

Barack Obama delivers heartfelt speech at grand opening of new presidential center

So inspirational! I miss common decency in our culture. I miss inspiration in our leaders. Thank you for giving hope again with all that’s going on now.

 

In a tribute to her husband that brought Barack Obama to tears, Michelle Obama called out those who spread “the lies about your birthright, your patriotism,” omitting any mention of then-businessperson Donald Trump’s starring role in amplifying those narratives.

 

 

Now that's how a First Lady should be. Pure class, humble, smart and intelligent.

The Speech That Made a President

When Barack Obama launched into his address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was still an obscure state senator from Illinois. By the time he finished 17 minutes later, he had captured the nation’s attention and opened the way for a run at the presidency.

I really didn't know it at the time, but Obama couldn't speak, I mean, he was the type of speaker that would put a crowd to sleep...Until THAT speech. There is a great article about his speaking skills - Obama’s 'Overnight Success' In 2004 Was A Year In The Making

Memorial Day USA (revised 6/12/26)

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Its been over 40 years since I have given war and it's consequences much thought. I don't know why it is coming back this year. I'm beginning to understand why veterans don't want to talk about war. Civilians talk about the horrors of war, the death and destruction as if they have been there. They think the 6:00pm news tells the whole story. They consider interviews with "heroes" that have come back as gospel. Neither is true. A few minuets of coverage on the news is only a few minutes of an event that lasted several years, it isn't even a summary. Interviews are filtered through a man's life, from birth through the end of the interview, every man tells a different story. 

Why are soldiers interviewed in the first place? They do not start wars. Wars are started by rulers, kings, emperors and presidents. Soldiers only carry out orders of those who wield power over them. In America, during the 1960s our young men upon reaching the age of 18 were conscripted into combat or sent to prison. They did not start the war. In the 1960s, we, the United States were the invaders; and then, as now, it was not called a war, it was a "military action." Then, as now, the soldiers that do the invading are not the ones who started the war. 

Wars and "military actions" are started by governments that either want power or want to display power. Men and women in uniform do nothing more than follow orders sent down to them by governments. 

Yesterday was "memorial" day, a day set aside to honor those who did not come back from war. We at St. Peter Catholic Church had a Mass to honor and remember those who fell in battle. Our Deacon gave a very touching homily, I could tell, it meant a lot to him. But, for some reason, that particular homily left a lingering question that has been hiding in my soul for over 40 years...Who prays for the wives, children, brothers and sisters of the men that I killed? 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. ... If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

I'm an active member of Knights of Columbus, a global Catholic fraternal service organization. It serves as a mutual aid society, providing support and charitable services to its members and their communities. Many of the members of my council are veterans. If I said I pray for the families of those I killed in war, I fear that many of the veterans would say I offend America with such a statement; or worse, accuse me of treason. 

Loving one's enemy is not easy, it has taken me over 40 years to understand and act on those feelings deep inside me. Now, those feelings are bringing up a new question from my soul. Who is my enemy? Those who I am ordered to kill by government agency? Or those who are offended by me praying for the families of those who perished on both sides of the battle line?  

I think many Americans forget "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

I believe and will forever follow that a true Christian man, no matter what religion, should pray for all families of those who fall in battle, no matter which side they were on. This is the will of God. 

Imagination

 

While I was finishing up my degree at Fresno State University in 1999, I posted my first blog post on a new Google application called Blogger. At the time, I felt it was a good place for me to practice my writing skills, share my writings and hopefully gain some insight and pointers about public writing from people of all walks of life. That one blog post blossomed into what is now almost a dozen blogs on various aspects of my life and the interests those aspects have sparked.

I guess I like to write. I'm always at my keyboard, I like to sit and just imagine. Most of the time, those "imagination" articles make sense only to me. 

Imagination operates both spontaneously while daydreaming or during sparks of creativity and deliberately during planning or design. Imagination relies on memory, attention and associative thinking. I sometimes just sit and daydream at my keyboard (like I am right now). Most of those articles don't even make sense to me; but humanity owes a lot to imagination and dreams. Most of our discoveries and inventions were once a dream in someone's imagination. Much like President Kennedy's dream: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." 

I wonder what the world would be like if every person was an academic nerd? I doubt that we would have landed on the moon. Ask anyone at NASA and they will tell you that not all answers come from math, physics and chemistry because sometimes even the problem has to be imagined with solutions coming from an engineer's dream. ... That is how we achieved President Kennedy's dream.

I also write about places I've been and places that interest me. Somewhere on my hard drive is an story about me landing on Pluto, you know, the planet we threw away.  My imagination kind of "ran away" in that article. Although I have not published any of those imaginative and daydream articles, I often go back to them when I am writing factual articles from my research about technology.  After many years spent in technology, I find that dreams and imagination actually lead discovery, fact and solution. So, the next time you see me daydreaming, we could be on our way to Pluto (I'm an engineer ... Retired!). 

I love to research technology. I used to be a "retro" guy, Writing about the old computers and software on a card. I still do, but lately, I have turned to writing about Artificial Intelligence. If you want to let your imagination and dreams run wild, AI is the place to be. 

Take a moment right now, ask yourself, can you get through a day without using any type of computing hardware or software? Everything in your kitchen except, pots, pans, dishes and maybe a 5 year old toaster, has a CPU in it. Your garage door has a CPU, your television and radio have a CPU, your car has multiple CPUs, traffic lights are controlled by a CPU, almost everything in our world today has a CPU (even toothbrushes?). Now, sit back in your chair and daydream and imagine yourself living in the 1800s. Could you do it? The only problem with THAT daydream is that some idiot is going to come along and dream up a CPU, RAM and build a "computer" and you will be back where you started. Sitting back in your chair surrounded by CPUs. 

The hardest thing for me to write about is myself. We are all different. We have different experiences and even if two people have the same experience, they will both interpret it differently. It seems sometimes I always make someone angry with a post. There are many aspects of being human. There's the hardware, consisting of your skin, organs, muscle, and bones; software, consisting of electrical charges, chemistry, and nerve connections in the brain; and firmware of blood and water. Then there are the "feelings". Where do they come from? how are they made? Probably, they come from that same unknown factor that generates imagination and dreams (remember, attention and associative thinking are part of imagination).

 

 

Some folks say I am a contradiction within myself. My early life was hardened by living in a world of racial chaos, war and drugs. During those times I didn't know who I was or why I was here, I desperately wanted the ideals that John Lennon sang of. I wanted peace, unity of mankind and serenity in my life. They say John Lennon wrote this song for the world, but I think he probably wrote it for himself. We should not have to imagine a world in peace, we should be able live it. 

In the 60s, above the roar of race riots, the shouting in Congress and the cries of our men dying in Vietnam, you could hear the shout of the young "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

We achieved Kennedy's dream by pulling together, helping each other out and forgetting our differences. We can do the same for our dream of peace (we all have it!) by stopping our one-up-man ship and forgetting our differences. If we can do that on an individual basis, we will all be pulling together, pulling in the same direction because it won't be a choice, it will be the only thing we can do. 

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

It's always a treat to encounter the Weinermobile! Beside putting a smile on your face, you might get lucky, and score a weinerwhistle too!

The very first Oscar Mayer Wienermobile drove down the streets of Chicago in 1936 to advertise Oscar Mayer hotdogs and has been treating us to a thrill when sighted ever since.The company retired its worn-out Wienermobiles in 1977 to focus on television ads. In 1988, the company decided to make a new fleet of six 23-foot-long Wienermobiles with creature comforts like a microwave, fridge, and even a cell phone.

Oscar Mayer currently has 10 Wienermobiles in its fleet, and an online Wienermobile locator and app can help you find the closest one. You can even apply to become a "Hotdogger" and drive around the country promoting Oscar Mayer. Have you ever encountered the Weinermobile? Did you score a whistle? Do you know the Oscar Mayer jingle?

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,

That is what I'd truly like to be-ee-ee.

'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,

Everyone would be in love with me.