Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day

5 comments:

SeaSpray said...

This video says it all.

Thank you for sharing it.

said...

I see you were at OVMC for awhile, so 'twas moi.
What moi found amazing was the hour and a half I spent in OVMC’s ER, having a MAJOR heart attack, and nothing was done until my “I hope everyone here gets there Tomas de Torquemada award.”

Ohhhh, the hour and a half didn’t amaze moi it was the fact that after my comment a dude came into the room and spake thus “No one’s trying to torture you.” (A lot he may know BUT no everything), I doubted that anyone would know who Torquemada was.

As soon as someone decided to run a CatScan everything picked-up nicely and a quintuple by-pass later and, as SNL used to say about Franco, I'm still not dead.

Hey, here's a REAL Memorial Day, past, present and future, video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LubuSAgB5s

Stay on groovin' safari,
Tor

kcd said...

Sid, thanks for this. We cannot thank them enough...i'm warning, you, rant at the end - can't help it:

I have been looking all weekend at my late uncle ernie's high school graduation picture - he went on to Univ of Washington and majored in forestry - became a ranger - then enlisted in the Navy at about age 23. was selected for officer's training school ("90-day wonder") at Columbia u. - but went longer than 90 days - then was a lieutenant, and a captain (sorry- i am not good at rank- ) of LSTs in WWII including Normandy landing. went all over italy but not to where our family is from (lombardy), to sicily, and was in north africa for quite a long time.

my dad was in the USAF band. served out the war in Chico, CA, with a frustrated CO who made the band get up 6 days a week to rehearse from 6am to 8am, then mess, then rehearse outside from something like 11am to 1pm- - in freakin' 110-degree CHICO. he was really frustrated & depressed about that, about not being able to "really" serve.

my auntie Clare was a Navy nurse stationed in the Pacific theater, specifically pearl harbor and the philippines- met her husband (navy) there. the afternoon of dec 7, the nurses on O'ahu were given 1 hour to scramble for an emergency troop shift lift to SF (Letterman maybe? or Treasure Island?) with the worst of the wounded/burned. they were told most of the kids they were evacuating wouldn't survive the crossing. they were allowed only to take their uniforms and one satchel of clothes/toothbrush, etc. she saw so many boys die on that ship (i think it was 5 days to SF maybe?) that she couldn't get past her memories of that for years. she got to be with her family (there were 9 comalli brothers & sisters) in santa rosa and parents for 48 hours, then back on troop ship to HI duty for more wounded.

thanks to all of them and so many others who did all of that for us, so that we have the freedom to impeach or defeat the cocaine-snorting illiterate pitiless nondrinking but nonrecovered sanctimonious alcoholic who has done so much to destroy civil liberties, as well as lives of young kids in a meaningless war, these last 8 years. please god let there be hope!

kcd- - - a mama for obama

ps if anyone knows where near santa rosa, napa, or san francisco, i could go with my therapy dog to visit some of these kids rehabbing from iraq tours, please let me know at dilldillthevillvill@gmail.com.

Sid Schwab said...

kcd: thanks, for two great stories and an excellent rant!

Anonymous said...

Dr. Schwab,
Enjoying your book! What was your wound in Vietnam that led to your purple heart?

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