The lonliest holiday

We all celebrate as the last of the US troops left Iraq this past week, ending nearly 10 years of war. For over 4000 though there will never be a celebratory homecoming. I shared this photo a few years ago and I think of Mrs. Walton frequently. Her husband Lt. Col. James Walton was killed in June 2008, 2 days before their 4th anniversary. Every year while the world celebrates, she has only a cold grave stone to hug.

As you celebrate this joyous season with your family and friends, please take a moment to remember those who will never celebrate another holiday and their families who are left with an emptiness that even time cannot heel.  Hug your family and friends extra tight. While we celebrate the end of the war in Iraq and Christmas homecomings for their families, remember that there are still thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines standing guard around the world.

Moving Day!!!!!

Oh, my peeps, moving day has arrived. Or at least it will in the morning (it's almost midnight as I type). I may be offline for a few days (GASP!). I'll be back soon though and I'm sure I'll have loads of stories about the movers, what got broken and what a pain in the arse it is to move. I may just have to spend the next few days with a few bottles of wine. Cross your fingers. I hate to move.

Veterans Day

This is (mostly) a repost of last year's Veteran's Day.  I should note that Frank Buckles passed away this past February 27, at age 110.   He was a huge lobbyist for a national WWI memorial in Washington D.C. which 93 years after then end of the war, we still do not have.

Sixteen year old Frank Buckles enlisted as an ambulance driver in the Army. The year was 1917. He sailed to France in late 1917 on the Carpathia, the ship that rescued survivors from the Titanic in 1912. He was just 17 and still serving in France on Nov 11,1918 when the Armistice went into effect.  With his death an entire generation is lost forever.   You can read more about him in this post I did just after his death.

It is estimated that of the 16 million Americans who served during WWII, less that 3 million are still alive today. Their stories are dying along with them.

Edited to add:  The gentleman in the red shirt is John Finn.  He passed away in May of 2010.  He was the last surviving Pearl Harbor Medal of Honor winner.  You can read more about him in this post.


The Korean vets are of an age with the WWII vets. Some of them were WWII vets.

The spunky, misunderstood, often angry, Vietnam Vets are now grandfathers.

One day, the young men and women serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will be old and have only stories and memories.

This is one of my favorite Veterans Day photos of all time.  It's also incredibly sad when you know the story behind it.

This was taken at the dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial in 1982.  The man shown is John Ambrose.  He was 86 at the time and a WWI vet.  The flag he is holding covered the casket of his son who had been killed in Korea.  Not only are vets amazing people, but they often raise children who are patriotic and feel bound to serve their country.


If you know a Vet, your father, grandfather, mother, uncle, sister, whoever, talk to them. Ask them to tell you what they remember. Tell them you're grateful for their service and sacrifice. Honor those who came back. Remember those who didn't. Never, ever, ever forget.


There are many vets in my life, chief among them James Bond and my dad, and I am grateful that I know such amazing people.

RTT: Meetings

James Bond did not know today was Tuesday. We actually argued about it until I reminded him of what he told me he did yesterday at work. Read on:

*James Bond has a...job. I have a very vague idea of what the job is (I obviously know he's in the intel field), but what he does specifically, I have no idea (isn't that weird?). We're not allowed to talk about it, so....we don't. Most of our conversations go something like this:

Me: How was your day?
JB: Fine.
Me: Do anything exciting?
JB: Yep.
Me:  Can you tell me about it?
JB:  Nope.

And that's the end of the conversation. Exciting, right? Yeah, I know, be jealous. One thing I know he does is attend meetings. I swear it is a freaking miracle that the army gets anything done because they are always in meetings (2-4 a day for JB).  He does on occasion tell me that he had a meeting.  I always ask what the meeting was about (thinking he might slip up and tell me-ha!) and he usually says something crazy exciting like "stuff."  Oooooh, stuff?    You don't say?  Anyhoo, yesterday he told me had a meeting and once again I asked what it was about (More stuff?  I'd like to hear about that).  He surprised me and actually gave me a different answer!  What to know what the meeting was about?  It was about a meeting they were having today.  You read that right.  They were meeting to discuss a meeting they were having the next day.  WTF?  I asked JB if this was common and he said that sadly it was.  I asked him what the most bizarre or pointless meeting he'd ever attended was.  He thought about it for a minute and then told me he once to go to a meeting about how to properly hold a meeting.   This is why men should not be in charge.

*Han Solo can sleep through freaking anything, the dogs barking (a frequent occurrence), TV shows, Indy acting like a fool, seriously, anything, except a creaky floorboard.   He can be sound asleep, but the minute he hears a floorboard, his little eyes pop wide open.  Our entire bedroom is creaky floorboards!  You should see JB and I creeping into our room.  It's pretty comical.  And sad.

*We're supposed to move in 31 day.  We can't do anything (and believe me, for even a short move like this will be, there's tons of crap to do) until JB gets orders (official paperwork that says where we're moving, when we're moving, etc, etc).  31 days out and still no orders.  This means we'll be running around like crazy people when they finally do come in.  Sigh. 

*So, the season premier of Castle (SQUEEEE!!!) was last night.   AFN (American Forces Network) won't air it until tonight (though that's a HUGE improvement from being a season or two behind like we used to be).  I couldn't wait to watch, so I watched it on hulu.com today (shhhhhhh, don't tell JB).  It was awesome.  Hulu has commercials though (I don't miss them).  I did laugh at the Jimmy Dean commercial with the guys as the sun (you know what I'm talking about?).  Another commercial really caught my attention though.  It was from Lowe's.  You've probably seen it before, but if not, watch this.  It's only 15 seconds, but cute as can be.



See, wasn't that worth it?

*You know I'm still completely confused by the fact that Robbie Williams is not all that popular in the States (WTH, people?).  This is (IM-not so-HO) this is hands down his best song ever.  Watch the video.  Seriously.



*Do you ever get tired of everything being PC?  I sure do.  I get tired of remembering what I'm not allowed to say or what I'm supposed to say instead of something else.  It's exhausting and taxes my brain.  Sometimes I just want to be completely un-PC.

*Some days I get tired of women's lib.  They ruined some really good stuff.  Listen up all two of my male readers:  if you want to open a door for me, I will not give you a snide look and tell you I can damn well open the door myself.  I will thank you for your politeness (something that seems to have gone by the wayside).

*Finally:

Click the button at the top to read all the other Randoms.  Castle is about to come on here and I have to pretend I don't know what happens!

The slow death

For those associate with the military, force transformation (the shutting down and combining of base) is no surprise as TPTB been talking about it for YEARS. We've known they were happening for a long time, but until now, we've never experienced it. Mannheim, which is about 20 minutes away from us, and was an important industrial center for the Nazis was reached by the Allied ground advance (in this case the US 44th Infantry Division) into Germany in late March 1945, has officially closed its doors. There are still a few units and families there, but not for long. Heidelberg is next and it's like watching something slowly die as more and more services and housing areas are shut down.  Let's go back to the beginning for a short history lesson of this amazing place.

As part of the Nazi military buildup, the German 110th Infantry Regiment was activated in May 1936 and stationed in Heidelberg. The existing Grenadier-Kaserne (now Patton Barracks) was not large enough for the regiment. Accordingly, a new installation was built in 1937 on what was then farmland on the southern outskirts of Heidelberg near the suburb of Rohrbach.
The first Allied troops entered Heidelberg on the morning of Good Friday, March 30th, 1945, and the city surrendered without a fight. The Wehrmacht had left Heidelberg a day earlier but not before blowing up the bridges crossing the River Neckar, which in Heidelberg meant blowing up the old bridge.
The U.S. units that initially occupied Großdeutschland-Kaserne are not known, but by V-E Day, 8 May 1945, the headquarters of the U.S. 6th Army Group occupied the Kaserne.  The Kaserne was formally renamed Campbell Barracks on August 23, 1948 in memory of Staff Sergeant Charles L. Campbell, 14th Infantry Regiment, 71st Infantry Division, who was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism. On March 28, 1945, two days before the surrender of Heidelberg, Staff Sergeant Campbell led a patrol across the Rhine River near Mannheim and was killed while covering the withdrawal of his patrol as it returned to the west bank with valuable information.

Here is a photos circa 1945 when the Americans took over the Kaserne:

Since that photo was taken, Campbell Barracks has grown by leaps and bounds.  The surrounding farmland no longer exists and is now covered with buildings.  Circa 1963:

 These photos were taken just a few years ago (and it don't even show the whole thing).  Look at the difference from the 1945 photo:

The areas across the street from the main gate (at the bottom of the photo) are mostly family housing (called Mark Twain Village), as are the few buildings you can see off to the top right.  This is the section I live in, though my building isn't in this photo.  There are also buildings not shown just off the left of this photo that were at one time also family housing.  Most of them are closed and have been turned over to the Germans.  They have been empty for years (they shut them down around 2006/7) and no one knows what the Germans will do with them.

This is a recent aerial view looking from the rear.  You can see all the buildings across from the main gate.  The smaller buildings are German houses.  The building I live in is just barely visible to the far left about 1/4 of the way from the top.

As of the end of 2012, all of Mark Twain Village, which has 708 apartments and houses about 2000 soldiers and family members, will be shut down.  All remaining families will be housed on Patrick Henry Village, which is about 3 miles away (and a complete ghetto, IMO).  Most of the building shown at the top of the last photo (across the street from the main gate) are completely empty with only 1 or 2 families left per building.  My own stairwell (there are 2 stairwell per building) is mostly empty.

By the end of 2015, the US Army Europe Headquarters, which has been based out of Campbell Barracks since 1952, will officially move to Wiesbaden, Patton Barracks, Nachrichten Kasern (where the hospital is), and Tompkins Barracks will also shut down and US Army Heidelberg as we know it will no longer exist.  Campbell Barracks has been a NATO base since 1993 and will continue to be so after the HQ pulls out.  There will still be a small contingent of Americans here for NATO.

Carved in the stone of the gates that flank the main entry of Campbell Barracks, there are 2 German eagles (one on each side).  Below these two eagles are 2 of only a handful of swastikas still remaining in Germany.  They are covered by the US 7th Army emblem, but if you look at them closely from the sides, you can still see the circle that goes around the swastikas.   I have no idea why they didn't chip them off like most of the swastikas in Germany, but it's interesting to know they're still there.  I tried to find a photo of them (with the emblems of course), but couldn't.  I'd go take a photo, but having a camera around the post is just asking for the MP's to pay you a visit. 

We've been to Heidelberg 3 times now and have incredibly fond memories of it. Both our boys were born here and it makes me sad to know that while we might visit it, we'll never again live in this amazing place.

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And we're moving!!!!

One of the great things about military life is moving. You get to go new places, see new things and meet new people. It's also one of the bad things about military life. You have to leave your home, all the familiar things and your friends.
We've been here in Heidelberg for almost 3 years now and our time was coming to an end (most tours are 3 years). We were hoping to stay in Germany and last night we got the word that we will!!! We will not be staying in Heidelberg as it is shutting down (sadness), but will be moving up to Wiesbaden (just over an hour north of HD). Wiesbaden is pronounced Vees-bah-den BTW.   James Bond is very excited because he wanted to got to V Corps and now he will. I don't know what's so exciting about V Corps (we can't talk about his job), but whatever. I get to stay in Germany, so yay V Corps.
Indy is excited because he's got "more traveling to do." My boy is almost nomadic in his love of travel. He says we need to go to Greece (he thinks we should cruise around the islands), Egypt (of course), England, Scotland, back to Rome and Naples and maybe (meaning definitely) do another Disney cruise.
We've been it Wiesbaden a handful of times and found it to be a lovely city. Mainz, which is only a few minutes away is also beautiful.. I don't have any photos of my own on this computer, but here are a few I found on the interwebs.

Wiesbaden:

Mainz:

Doesn't this look awesome?!?!  I can't wait to see what the next 3 years bring.  Stick around for the next chapter in our great adventure.

Linking to:

D-Day 67 Years Later

The anniversary of the D-Day landings seem to be largely ignored this year, but there are those who will never forget. In the small town of Bedford, VA, they remember D-Day every year. Why, Bedford, VA, you might wonder? Because Bedford lost more men per capita than any other city in the US during the D-Day invasions. When we went to the 65th anniversary Battle of the Bulge Memorial Walk (Dec 09), we were lucky enough to attend a showing of the movie Bedford: The Town They Left Behind. It was incredibly moving and there were many tears shed by those in the audience. This is the trailer for it. If you're interested, it can be purchased at Amazon.com and is also available as an instant download for $2.99.  I don't normally tout movies or products in my memorial posts, but this seems appropriate.  It is an amazing documentary.



 I did a post last year on D-Day with photos of our trip to Normandy.  If you'd like to see them, you can find the post here.   It was a somber and amazing trip. 

Take a moment today to remember all the men who stormed those beaches.  Honor their bravery and be grateful that they were willing to face this almost insurmountable task.   This world could be a very different place if it weren't for them.

In Memoriam

His name was Bernard Brown. He was a Specialist (E4) in James Bond's company and his wife Sherrie worked at the Commissary. They were expecting their first child and he was the friendliest, happiest guy you could ever meet. I don't remember him not smiling. He loved football and laughing and went by his middle name because he so disliked his first name, which was Lunsford.  When James Bond's unit (we were living in Heidelberg at the time) deployed to Kuwait in 2002, Bernard stayed behind as part of the rear detachment (people in the unit who run the day to day and liaise with the forward part of the unit). Since most of the men were gone during our company Christmas party, Bernard volunteered to play Santa. He was the jolliest Santa ever. We all laughed when he came in because, Bernard was a big guy (not fat, just big), but had still put a pillow in the suit and looked like an overstuffed turkey. Here's a photo of him holding Indy:

The company came home just before Christmas and redeployed in Feb. 2003 in anticipation of the Iraq invasion.  This time Bernard did not stay behind, but deployed with the rest of the unit.  Sherrie was due in June and while he was sad that he would miss the birth, he felt his place was with his fellow soldiers and hoped he would see the baby soon.  Sherrie moved back to the States to be with her family and gave birth to a little girl, Amber.  Bernard was ecstatic and a soldier we knew said when Bernard got the news he jumped on top of a Humvee and yelled out to everyone that he was a dad.  He was so excited and couldn't wait to  meet his little girl.  The war was in full swing though and no one knew exactly when they would be coming home.

James Bond had fractured both his feet in Iraq and got sent home the day after Indy's first birthday for surgery and recovery.  While we were thrilled JB was home, we still worried about those left in Iraq.  By Sept, after the first in a series of surgeries, James Bond was well enough to travel and flew to the States to visit his family for a few weeks.  Indy and I stayed behind in Germany.  On the morning of Sept 21, our phone rang and it was rear-d looking for JB.  They need him to call in.  They were doing an accountability because there had been a casualty in Iraq.  My hands shook as I dialed his parent's number.  I spoke to JB briefly and he told me he'd call back as soon as he could.   I sat for a very tense half an hour or so, worrying about our friends when he finally called.  He was crying.  Bernard had been killed in his sleep by a mortar attack.  When we hung up, I cried thinking about Sherrie and little Amber, who was only 3 months old and would never meet her happy, smiling father.  Bernard Brown was 27 years old.

Frank Woodruff Buckles 1901-2011

This is not the post I planned for today, but one I feel I must write anyway. Frank Buckles, the last surviving American WWI vet passed away on Feb 27 at his home of natural causes. If you've read my blog for a while, you know I have a soft place in my heart for Mr. Buckles. I actually shed a tear or two when I read the news that he was gone. An entire generation of fighting men is forever lost to us now.
Mr. Buckles was born in 1901 and lied to recruiters about his age to join the fighting forces in 1917. He told the Army recruiter he was 18, but was really a mere 16 1/2. He served in England and France during WWI, mostly as a driver and clerk. He helped return German prisoners after Armistice Day and returned to the US in early 1920.
During WWII, Mr. Buckles worked for White Star Line Co. and was captured in the Philippines. He would spend 3 years in Japanese prison camps before returning to America.
In his later years, Mr. Buckles took up the cause of a National WWI memorial. To this day, there is not one honoring the approximately 16 million (MILLION) men and women who served during the "War to End All Wars." This was a war that changed the face of Europe and the world in general. It is unbelievable that almost 100 years later there is still no memorial. Mr. Buckles made it his mission to see a memorial built. If you'd like to honor Mr. Buckles memory and help with the funding for the National WWI memorial, you can donate here.  Details of his funeral have not been released, but it is said that Arlington lifted the restrictions that would keep him from being buried there.  As a military veteran, he can have his ashes interred at Arlington, but since he never earned one of the 5 medals required for burial (though in his own words "Didn't I make every effort?"), is technically barred from an underground burial.  I hope they have lifted the restriction for him.  Even if he didn't earn one of the medals required, he is a true patriot and made it his life's work to honor and keep alive the memory of all those who did fight and die during the "Great War."

Rest in Peace Mr. Buckles.  You will be missed.

Names on a wall

If you did a random survey of the military today, asking why someone joined, you'd get a variety of answers. Some joined because they felt it their patriotic duty, some for the steady paycheck (no matter how small) in an unstable job market, some to see the world, some to get off the small farm they grew up on (or away from the big city), and others because they had nothing better to do. Sixty-nine years ago, the answers would likely have been the same. For those joining the Navy, an assignment to Hawaii was likely a dream come true. Travel wasn't as easy or cheap as it is today and a visit to Hawaii was something most of them would never have thought even remotely possible. For thousands of young men (and a few young women) a posting to the Pacific Fleet was the assignment of a lifetime. Outside their duties were beaches, bars, and the opposite sex in a lush paradise. Life likely seemed perfect.
In the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, this dream assignment became a living nightmare as the Japanese dropped bombs over the fleet and surrounding bases. Chaos ensued as sailors, some just boys realy, stumbled from their bunks, many still sleeping or tired from just getting of watch and some still a little hungover from the previous night's carousing. They did not yet know it, but they were in the middle of a major event in world history.
More than 2400 men (and a few women) lost their lives that day. More than 1100 were wounded.
Today, despite the horror and heroics of that fateful day, they are mostly forgotten. Sixty-nine years ago though, they were fathers, sons, brothers, mothers, daughters and sisters. They had families "back home" who loved and cared for them and looked forward to receiving letters filled with their adventures on that far away island. It's easy to forget that they were real people, not just names on a wall or characters played by actors in Hollywood blockbusters. Some were long time Navy vets close to retirement, and others were just at what should have been the beginning of their lives.  On that morning, some of those men became heroes.  Others became a name on a wall.  Remember them today, not as a name, but as a person with hopes and dreams for a life that was cut short in an instant.

Normandy: A walk through history

Sixty-six years ago today a group of young men performed and act of extreme bravery and changed the course of history. That of course was the D-Day landings at the beaches of Normandy. Growing up a Navy brat with a father who is a walking WWII dictionary, I've seen probably every movie ever made about the D-Day landings (it was sort of a Sunday afternoon ritual for my dad to watch as many black and white WWII movies as he could find on TV), and being an Army spouse I've seen Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers more than a few times. Personally I think every high school child in America should be required to see both, bad language and all. Having seen all these movies I thought I was fairly familiar with the beaches at Normandy. I was so wrong.
When my dad came to visit us back in December for the Bastogne Memorial Walk we drove to Reims and then on to Bayeux in the Normandy region of France. For those of you who may not not, Normandy is not the name of a town or city, but a region (kind of like a state in the US). We headed to Sainte-Mère-Église, Dead Man's Corner and Utah Beach.

Replicated Soldier who got stuck on the church after parachuting in

Memorabilia from Lt. Winters at Dead Man's Corner

Dead Man's Corner

 

Utah Beach

We were overwhelmed by all that we had seen, but did not know what was to come.  The next morning donned bitterly cold and we dressed warmly before heading back to the beaches.  Our first stop was Pointe Du Hoc, which was just in the news yesterday.  I knew little about Pointe Du Hoc, but the walking WWII dictionary (my dad) filled us in on the drive there.  The cliffs of Pointe Du Hoc held German concrete bunkers armed with 155mm guns (captured from the French) and would be devastating to the landing parties at Utah and Omaha beaches.  The Rangers were to scale the 100+ feet cliffs and take out the Germans.  A few days prior to the assault the guns were moved inland.  Apparently the "brass" knew this, but did not inform the Rangers as the casemates and bunkers were still a threat to the landings.  There's some debate about all of this, but really, it doesn't play into what happened.
On the morning of June 6, 1944, approximately 230 Rangers scaled the cliffs and fought the Germans at the top.  They went in search of the missing guns and destroyed them.  At the end of almost 2 days of fighting, of the 230 Rangers, only 90 were still in fighting condition; the rest either dead or wounded.  Think about that as you look at the photos below.  Think about these young men scaling these cliffs knowing that they faced the enemy when they reached the top.  Look at the rows and rows of barbed wire.  These were incredibly brave men.

Craters from the bombing raids

Indy and Mr. HH in a crater

After Pointe Du Hoc we headed towards the Mecca of all WWII historical buffs: Omaha Beach.    The landings at Omaha Beach are chronicled in the opening scenes of  Saving Private Ryan which is touted as being one of the most realistic representations of this event ever filmed.  Like I said, I'd seen it several times and thought I had a pretty good idea of what we would be seeing.  What we actually saw took my breath away.  I could not in my wildest dreams comprehend the scale of this beach.  It's not a small beach.  It is huge and deep. I had no idea how far these men had to go once they hit the beach.  Remember that they came in at low tide to avoid obstacles in the water (we visited at low tide too).  As we stood at the head of the beach looking out over the water, my breath was taken away.  The wind was whipping around us, but we walked down to the waters edge, which took us  a good 20-30 minutes and we weren't weighed down with gear, waterlogged or being fired at.

From the top of the beach

This is my favorite photo of my dad at the beach. 

I took this about a quarter of the way up the beach (from the water).  Look how far they had to go.

We were relatively solemn on the beach.  Indy asked a few questions about the battle but was mostly interested in picking up sea shells.   After wandering around we headed to the cemetery that overlooks the beach.  It was more than overwhelming.  I have to say I was so proud of Indy.  He's been to enough military cemeteries to know how to act, and he was incredibly respectful on this day.  As we looked out over row after row of white crosses he looked up at me and said quietly "Mom, there's a real hero under every one of those crosses."  The tears that had been hovering at the edges of my eyes flowed freely after that.  I told him he was absolutely right.  There is so much I could say about this cemetery, but nothing I could say would properly express the emotions we felt.

This cross really brought out the tears.  The letter reads: To the dad I never knew.  A true American hero.

My dad as they were taking down the flags.  I didn't get a photo of Mr. HH and Indy, but they both saluted as well, Indy with the Cub Scout salute.

Sixty-six years ago today the men under many of these crosses stormed a beach at unbelievable odds because the had a job to do.  A job that many of them knew they wouldn't return from.  These men were truly part of the Greatest Generation.  Remember them today and appreciate their sacrifice for our freedom every day.