Last Full Measure Of Devotion

March 29, 1973 Tan Son Nhut Airport, Saigon Under the terms of the negotiated peace agreement with North Vietnam, all U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam. U.S. troops filed into a C-130; Army Master Sergeant Max Beilke was the last in line to board the aircraft. Colonel Bui Tin, head of the North Vietnamese observer team, […]

I Wear Xtratufs, Swallows Do Not

St. Joseph’s Day came and went. Not as big a celebration day as St. Patrick’s; but important, nonetheless, to fathers, carpenters, Sicilians, and fava bean farmers. Joseph was the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, making him stepfather to Jesus. He was a carpenter, and tradition says he saved Sicilians from starvation during a […]

To Hear Birdsong

Last night I dreamed about our old neighborhood fire station, again. It is a dream I have off and on, with no particular point to it, or message from it that I can discern. I am just happy when I do dream about it, and always wake with a sense I have been home. In […]

To Mr. Putin, With Love…

The Budapest Memorandum, January 14, 1994: The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine … to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine…. Yours Truly, Bill Clinton, John Majors, Boris Yeltsin, Leonid Kuchma And here we are […]

The Gift Of Thirty-Seven Stars, President Grant, Little Big Horn, and More

During a conversation with my friend this morning, we meandered into observations of noticeably different characteristics between her generation and mine, especially regarding computers, social media, and information technology, in general. We both really happen to like all things electronic, and are each other’s go to person when one of our technological toys runs amok. […]