This Post Was Written By Cindy

Pearl Harbor was originally a shallow embankment called Wai Momi (Pearl Water) or Pu'rloa (long Hill). It was considered the home of the shark goddess, Ka'ahupahua, and her brother, Kahiuka. Tradition says that Keaunui, the legendary chief of the Ewa chiefs is the one w ho created a navigable channel near the present day Pu'uloa saltworks. The estuary known as "Pearl River" was then accessible to shipping. It was never used for large shipping because of the shallow entrance. As whaling and trading began to use the islands as a half-way point in the Pacific, by 1820 the US was looking for a major harbor. It was not until the turn of the century that Pearl Harbor began to be refitted for larger naval vessels. The naval base we know today was formally opened when the dry dock was open to flooding on August 21, 1919.

As early as February 1, 1933, the Navy staged a mock attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. The exercise was a disaster. Even in 1933 it was known that Pearl Harbor's defenses were considered, after the mock attack by Japan, a failure. It makes the events of December 7, 1941 even more heart-wrenching. The War Department knew the attack was coming. They did not know when. They did not realize that Pearl Harbor, which was basically a sitting duck, was to be the location of the attack. It was assumed the attack would come in the Philippines.

Click For Full Size
Photo taken by a Japanese plane shows Battleship Row at the beginning of the attack, along with the strike on the USS Oklahoma

"...Under the command of Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, the attack was devastating in loss of life and damage to the U.S. fleet. At 06:05 on December 7, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 183 aircraft composed mainly of dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 07:51. The first wave attacked military airfields of Ford Island. At 08:30, a second wave of 170 Japanese aircraft, mostly torpedo bombers, attacked the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor. The battleship Arizona was hit with an armor-piercing bomb which penetrated the forward ammunition compartment, blowing the ship apart and sinking it within seconds. Overall, nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged. Three of the 21 would be irreparable. The overall death toll reached 2,403, including 68 civilians, and 1,178 injured. Of the military personnel lost at Pearl Harbor, 1,177 were from the Arizona. The first shots fired were from the destroyer Ward on a midget submarine that surfaced outside of Pearl Harbor; Ward sank the midget sub at approximately 06:55, about an hour before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan would lose 29 out of the 350 aircraft they attacked with...."

One of the greatest of all time. So how have I not posted them before now? Shame on me. Before I knew anything about Rush I'd always thought that was a chick singing. Hell, I didn't know. I just knew they kicked ass.

Fly By Night by Rush

Fake Military Death Notices

2011-09-23T18:03:00.001-05:00

The Oklahoma Army National Guard is warning the families of military personnel of a hoax involving fake death notifications in the Oklahoma City area.

This is sickening. I hope they find the people doing this and that they don't see the light of day for many, many years.

Wednesday Hero

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sgt. Dakota Meyer
23 years old from Greensburg, Kentucky
Embedded Training Team 2-8

On September 15, Sgt. Dakota Meyer was awarded the Medal Of Honor by President Obama for his actions on Sept. 8, 2009 in the Ganjgal Valley of Afghanistan when he and Staff Sgt. Juan Rodriguez-Chavez saved 36 fellow Marines when they, and the Afghan military members they were helping to train, came under attack by Taliban insurgents.

His citation reads: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the repeated risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a member of Marine Embedded Training Team 2-8, Regional Corps Advisory Command 3-7, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, on 8 September 2009. When the forward element of his combat team began to be hit by intense fire from roughly 50 Taliban insurgents dug-in and concealed on the slopes above Ganjgal village, Corporal Meyer mounted a gun-truck, enlisted a fellow Marine to drive, and raced to attack the ambushers and aid the trapped Marines and Afghan soldiers. During a six hour fire fight, Corporal Meyer single-handedly turned the tide of the battle, saved 36 Marines and soldiers and recovered the bodies of his fallen brothers. Four separate times he fought the kilometer up into the heart of a deadly U-shaped ambush. During the fight he killed at least eight Taliban, personally evacuated 12 friendly wounded, and provided cover for another 24 Marines and soldiers to escape likely death at the hands of a numerically superior and determined foe. On his first foray his lone vehicle drew machine gun, mortar, rocket grenade and small arms fire while he rescued five wounded soldiers. His second attack disrupted the enemy’s ambush and he evacuated four more wounded Marines. Switching to another gun-truck because his was too damaged they again sped in for a third time, and as turret gunner killed several Taliban attackers at point blank range and suppressed enemy fire so 24 Marines and soldiers could break-out. Despite being wounded, he made a fourth attack with three others to search for missing team members. Nearly surrounded and under heavy fire he dismounted the vehicle and searched house to house to recover the bodies of his fallen team members. By his extraordinary heroism, presence of mind amidst chaos and death, and unselfish devotion to his comrades in the face of great danger, Corporal Meyer reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

In addition to the Medal Of Honor, Sgt. Meyer has also been awarded the Expert Marksmanship Badge for Rifle and Pistol, Purple Heart, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal w/ Valor Device and Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal.

You can read more about Sgt. Dakota Meyer and his actions here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Missing WWII Airmen Identified

2011-09-20T17:54:00.001-05:00

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced that the remains of nine servicemen, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Air Forces 1st Lt. William J. Sarsfield of Philadelphia; 2nd Lt. Charles E. Trimingham of Salinas, Calif.; Tech. Sgt. Robert L. Christopherson of Blue Earth, Minn.; and Tech. Sgt. Leonard A. Gionet of Shirley, Mass., will be buried as a group in a single casket on Sept. 21 in Arlington National Cemetery, along with remains representing previously identified crew members 2nd Lt. Herman H. Knott, 2nd Lt. Francis G. Peattie, Staff Sgt. Henry Garcia, Staff Sgt. Robert E. Griebel, and Staff Sgt. Pace P. Payne, who were individually buried in 1985. These nine airmen were ordered to carry out a bombing mission over Rabaul, Papau New Guinea (P.N.G.), in their B-17E Flying Fortress nicknamed "Naughty but Nice", taking off from an airfield near Dobodura, P.N.G., on June 26, 1943. The aircraft was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and ultimately shot down by Japanese fighter aircraft. A tenth man, the navigator and only survivor of the crash -- 2nd Lt. Jose L. Holguin -- was held as a prisoner of war until his release in September 1945.

In 1949, U.S. military personnel in the area were led by local citizens to a B-17 crash site on New Britain Island. Remains were recovered but couldn't be identified given the technology of the time. The remains were buried as unknown at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

In 1982 and 1983, Holguin returned to the area and located the crash site. A fragment of the aircraft nose art was recovered and is displayed in the War Museum in Kokopo, P.N.G. In 1985, the remains were exhumed and identified as Knott, Payne, Garcia, Peattie, and Griebel. In 2001, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated the site and found additional human remains and crew-related equipment.

Music Monday

2011-09-19T08:00:00.000-05:00

"There's a long road, I've gotta stay in time with, yeah. I've got to keep on chasin' that dream though I may never find it. I'm always just behind it"

This always gets me all worked up when I listen to it. Brad Delp(RIP) makes me wish I could actually carry a tune so that when I sing along I didn't screw it up. And the guitar on "Long Time"... forget about it. They just do it like that anymore. Bitchin' song. And yes Rock and Roll Hall of Lame, induct Madonna, Grandmaster Flash and Run-D.M.C. but not Boston. Morons.

Foreplay/Long Time by Boston

National POW/MIA Recognition Day

2011-09-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

To date, there are still over 80,000 Americans still missing. We can never rest until everyone of them is brought back home.

Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office

Wednesday Hero

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Seaman Sha'Quanda Jacobs

Religious Programs Specialist Seaman Sha'Quanda Jacobs rings the bell during commemoration ceremony of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States at Naval Air Station Oceana.

Photo Courtesy U.S. Navy Taken by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Terah L. Mollise

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Music Monday

2011-09-12T08:00:00.000-05:00

"Would it kill you to play a little Foghat once in a while?" - Jim Carrey at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards. Hell yeah. One of my all time favorite songs. And one of the best endings.

Slow Ride (Live) by Foghat

September 11

2011-09-11T07:46:00.000-05:00

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past. - Thomas Jefferson

Ten years ago almost 3,000 innocent humans were murdered in a horrible act of terrorism. The images and feelings of that day will never be erased from our memories. Nor should they. So today we remember, and mourn for, those lost. We hold them close to us and let them know that they'll never be forgotten. But it's also a day when we begin to move forward. We are a resilient group of people who are able to come back from anything. It's what's made this country, and it's people, so great. That "You May Hurt Me, But You'll Never Beat Me" spirit. We have risen up from that horrible day, and we will continue to do so. The future is unknown but there's nothing stopping it from being brighter and better. United We Stand.

National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

George & Diane Simmons, Great Falls, Va
American Flight 77

In her retirement from the Leesburg Xerox offices, Diane Simmons loved to travel. On Sept. 11, she and her husband, George, boarded a flight at Dulles International Airport headed for Los Angeles, the first leg of a journey to Hawaii, where Simmons planned to spread her father's ashes alongside her mother's.

For almost seven years, Simmons helped take care of her father, William J. Helm, a retired military man, during his stay at a Sterling nursing home. He died in May, and Simmons volunteered to go the island of Kauai ahead of the rest of the family.

She and her husband, a charismatic manager of sales training who also retired recently from the Xerox training center in Leesburg, were among the passengers killed on American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon.

You can view their Legacy guest books here and here.

September 10

2011-09-10T09:00:00.001-05:00

Kristin Gould White, 56, New York, N.Y.
United Flight 93

Kristin White had sailed down the Nile, seen the ruins of Sicily and visited Turkey. She spoke Latin and ancient Greek. White, a 65-year-old widow, planned to visit San Francisco to visit friends and wine country. Her airplane, United Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania. For 40 years, White, a freelance medical journalist, had lived in the same brownstone apartment in New York City. For almost three years, she had been researching early contributors to medicine and science from Ivy League schools. "She was a sponge," said her daughter, Allison Vadhan. "She could tell you everything about current events, ancient history. She was the most intellectual person I ever knew." On the morning of Sept. 11, Vadhan was driving to work when she noticed smoke coming from one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center. She pulled over and saw the second plane fly into the second tower. She rushed home. Then Vadhan started wondering about her mother. Was she flying Monday? Tuesday? Wednesday? Vadhan dialed into the Internet and checked the itinerary her mother had sent her on electronic mail. She saw "Flight 93" on the e-mail at the same time the flight number and the crash flashed across her TV screen.

Her Heroes Of Flight 93 page

September 9

2011-09-09T09:00:00.000-05:00

David M. Charlebois, 39, Washington, D.C.
American Flight 77

David Charlebois, 39, the first officer on American Airlines Flight 77, died while flying one of his standard routes when his plane was crashed into the Pentagon.

Friends described Charlebois, an Arlington native who graduated from Yorktown High School, as a warm, friendly man who took pride in his job, his appearance and the life he had built.

"He was handsome and happy and very centered," neighbor Travis White said. "His life was the kind of life I wanted to have someday."

Charlebois and his partner bought a large row house two years ago and turned it into one of the best-looking homes on the block, friends said. On weekends when he wasn't flying, Charlebois could be spotted landscaping.

He was very fond of what he called his "pound puppy," a border collie named Chance, and had been a core member of an informal dog-walking club at Meridian Hill Park.

September 8

2011-09-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Timothy Ray Ward, 38, San Diego, Calif.
United Flight 175

Timothy Ray Ward came into the world on Valentine's Day in 1963, and immediately became the love of his mother's life. "He was everything to me," said his mother, Susie Ward Baker.

Mr. Ward, 38, lived in Scripps Ranch, Calif., with his longtime companion, Linda Brewton, and worked for Rubio's Baja Grill, a chain of Mexican restaurants based in Carlsbad, Calif. He was a systems administrator overseeing the chain's computer networks. On Sept. 11, he was aboard United Airlines Flight 175, heading home from a long weekend on the East Coast.

The tall, blond Mr. Ward loved animals, his mother said, starting with his shaggy white West Highland terrier, Sherman. He was a devoted fan of the San Diego State Aztecs, and would travel around to their football games even after he graduated. At the tailgate parties, people knew to check out what Mr. Ward was serving. He was an accomplished cook, who might pack two kinds of caviar in his picnic basket, along with a chocolate confection he had whipped up himself.

You can view his Legacy guest book here.

September 7

2011-09-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

Jamie Lynn Fallon, 23, Woodbridge, Va
Pentagon

Petty Officer Third Class Jamie Lynn Fallon's career began with basic training at Great Lakes, Ill. From there, the 23-year-old Woodbridge native spent three months at the Naval Technical Training Center in Meridian, Miss., followed by a stint at the naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Bahrain.

Fallon spent more than two years on the USNS Concord, a fleet support ship, before moving to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Support Activity at the Pentagon.

You can view her Legacy guest book here.

Wednesday Hero

2011-09-07T05:30:00.000-05:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Michael

Maj. Albert Brown
105 years old from Pinckneyville, Illinois
Oct. 26, 1905 - Aug. 14, 2011

At 105 years old, Albert Brown was the oldest living living survivor of the Bataan Death March.

In April of 1942, then Capt. Brown and 70,000+ American and Filipinos were marched 66 miles to POW camps on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines with little food or water. Many were beaten and killed along the way and left where they fell. “One 18-year-old I knew, he fell down,” Mr. Brown said. “A guard came along and put a gun to his head, pulled the trigger and walked away.”

Capt. Brown spent 3 years as a POW where he was beaten; thrown down stairs, seriously injuring his back; and struck in the neck by a rifle butt, causing a fracture. When he was finally freed he weighed just 90 pounds. “We were listed in groups of 10. If one escaped out of the 10, they eliminated the rest of them, killed them. So, at night, just before roll call, you tried to find out if your 10 were still there.”

You can read more about Maj. Albert Brown here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

September 6

2011-09-06T09:28:00.001-05:00

Berry Berenson Perkins
American Airlines Flight 11

Hers was a life of almost fairy tale proportions. She was a granddaughter of the French couturier Elsa Schiaparelli. She was an intimate of Halston; a photographer for Glamour and Vogue; a model with Vermeer- blue eyes and golden hair; an actress; the sister of Marisa Berenson; the wife of Anthony Perkins; the mother of their two handsome boys.

But ask friends and family members what Berry Berenson Perkins was, and the answer comes to one word: angel.

"If there was ever a person who could be called a living angel, I think Berry was," said Gale Parker, a friend. Her sister, Marisa Berenson, used the word, too. "She touched everybody who met her," she said.

Mrs. Perkins, 53, was devoted to her two sons, Oz and Elvis. But she had experienced her share of pain, having nursed her husband for two years before his death in 1992.

In 1994, while visiting Jamaica, she met Albert Parchment, whom friends know as Coot. He was guarding the gate to a party, and she didn't have a ticket. She sneaked by, so he went for her and gave her a ticket. "We stayed up all night talking," he said. Then he took her back to her hotel and went home. "I couldn't wait for daylight to come to get to see her in the morning."

The two fell in love, and soon she was living between homes on Cape Cod and in Jamaica, where they ran a bar in Treasure Beach.

You can view his Legacy guest book here.

September 5

2011-09-05T09:24:00.001-05:00

Robert Hayes
American Airlines Flight 11

Robert Hayes sported a year-round tan because almost everywhere he went, he also sported his surfboard. It did not matter whether he was headed for business or pleasure.

In fact, his wife, Debbie Hayes, said it was not uncommon to see him walking through Logan International Airport in Boston in a business suit with a briefcase in one hand and his black-and-white surfboard in the other.

"It was kind of funny to see him," she remembered.

It was at Logan Airport that she saw him for the first time, actually, although she did not think he was so much funny-looking as cute, she said.

It was 1989 and he had missed his flight. She was the Trans World Airlines customer service agent who had the pleasure of re- booking him. She said that after he returned from his trip, he began to call her at the ticket counter — and it had nothing to do with air travel.

Twelve years and two children later (Robbie, now 14 and Ryan, 10), Mr. Hayes, who was 37 and lived in Amesbury, Mass., devoted his time to his family, his work in sales at Netstal Machinery, a maker of compact disks, and, of course, surfing.

He walked through Logan Airport for the last time on the morning of Sept. 11, headed to Los Angeles for a business meeting.

You can view his Legacy guest book here.

Music Monday

2011-09-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

Big. Over the top. Amazing. I love 70's Rock. It was, I believe, the last decade for truly great music. Classic after classic after classic. It was a time when the way you looked was less important than whether or not you were good. You didn't need auto-tuning or any of that other crap. Most of the stuff now just doesn't have that magic. Even the songs I like sound like they came off an assembly line. Talent. Something that's sadly lacking today. I'm starting to sound like a cranky old man. "Back in my day..." But the music was better.

"My heart is black and my lips are cold. Cities on flames with rock and roll. Three thousand guitars they seem to cry, My ears will melt, and then my eyes". A helluva lot better than "It's Friday, Friday, Gotta get down on Friday, Everybody's lookin' forward to the weekend, weekend". Dear God shoot me. Plus that evil guitar.

Cities On Flames (Live) by Blue Öyster Cult

September 4

2011-09-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Jimmie Ira Holley
Pentagon

Martha Jackson-Holley waited seven weeks to bury her husband. Jimmie Ira Holley, an accountant for the Army, was missing after the September 11, 2001, attack on the Pentagon. For weeks, Jackson-Holley waited for her husband's remains to be identified, as other families buried their loved ones from the Pentagon, often in proper military ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. When Holley was finally identified October 18, 2001, by DNA tests on fragments of bone, his widow cried.

Then she started making arrangements. She wanted a heartfelt memorial service at Holley's church November 3, 2001, then burial at Arlington. A fitting tribute to a former Army sergeant who had served in Vietnam and spent almost 30 years working for the government as a civilian.

You can read his Legacy guest book here.

September 3

2011-09-03T07:41:00.000-05:00

Shannon Lewis Adams
World Trade Center Tower 1

He had his business card that gave his address as Tower 1, 101st Floor, World Trade Center," Gwyn Adams said of her son, Shannon. "He was so proud of that, coming from a town where his high school class had 34 kids. It doesn't even have a red light. It has a couple of stop signs."

It was his longstanding dream to leave Star Lake, N.Y., population 860, for something a little bigger.

"He was going 100 miles an hour all the time, it seems like," said his father, Lew Adams. "The city seemed to satisfy that a lot better than the northern Adirondacks."

Shannon Adams, 25, a fixed-income accountant at Cantor Fitzgerald, set up the perfect bachelor pad in Astoria with two friends in the finance world.

"They had their huge big TV screen with all their sports, their full music wall," his mother said. "They had a huge fish tank with man-eating fish or whatever they're called." And they had a favorite bar where his friends gathered for an Irish wake. And when they went up north for his memorial service, they filled up all the motels in a 15-mile radius.

September 2

2011-09-02T09:31:00.001-05:00

Wanda Anita Green
United Flight 93

For almost 30 years, Wanda Green followed her childhood dream. "As a teenager, she always wanted to fly, so she finally got her wings," said her mother, Aserene Smith.

As a young woman, Wanda Green sought her mother's blessing to become a flight attendant. Though Aserene Smith was hesitant, she finally relented, and Wanda Green became one of the first African-Americans to join United Airlines as a flight attendant, according to her mother.

Green, 49, was aboard United Airlines Flight 93 when it was hijacked and crashed in Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001

A mother of two--Jennifer, then 21, and Joe Benjamin, then 18--Green loved to travel and regularly planned trips to Europe.

Her mother spoke to her the night before the doomed flight. "I said `I love you and I'll see you tomorrow,' and that was it."

Missing Vietnam Pilot Identified

2011-09-02T09:22:00.000-05:00

Air Force Major Thomas E. Reitmann of Red Wing, Minn., will be buried on Sept. 8 in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1965, Reitmann was assigned to the 334th Tactical Fighter Squadron deployed out of Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., to Takhli Air Base, Thailand. On Dec 1, 1965, he was flying a strike mission as the number three aircraft in a flight of four F-105D Thunderchiefs as part of Operation Rolling Thunder. His target was a railroad bridge located about 45 nautical miles northeast of Hanoi. As the aircrew approached the target area, they encountered extremely heavy and accurate anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). While attempting to acquire his target and release his ordnance, Reitmann received a direct AAA hit and crashed in Lang Son Province, North Vietnam. Other pilots in the flight observed no parachute, and no signals or emergency beepers were heard. Due to the intense enemy fire in the area a search-and-rescue team was not able to survey the site and a two-day electronic search found no sign of the aircraft or Reitmann.

In 1988, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) repatriated remains to the United States believed to be those of Reitmann. The remains were later identified as those of another American pilot who went missing in the area on the same day as Reitmann.

Between 1991 and 2009, joint U.S.-S.R.V. teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), analyzed numerous leads, interviewed villagers, and attempted to locate the aircraft. Although no evidence of the crash site was found, in 2009 and 2011 a local farmer turned over remains and a metal button he claimed to have found in his corn field. The remains were a match to Maj. Reitmann's brother.

September 1

2011-09-01T08:29:00.001-05:00

It's hard to believe it's already been 10 years since America was attacked and 2,996 innocent men, women & children lost their lives. To mark the day I will, starting today, be profiling a victim of that terrible day everyday for the next eleven days. These post will also be going up over at Hooah Wife if you would head over there and "Like" them that would be fantastic.

Jason Sekzer
One World Trade Center

Jason Sekzer started going to Camp Sussex as a boy, one of hundreds of city children who grabbed the chance to spend part of each summer in the country in New Jersey.

Then, bit by bit, the camp became an ever larger part of his life. He graduated from camper to waiter, waiter to kitchen helper and finally to chef. "He used to say that he could cook for 400 but he couldn't cook for 2," recalled Robert Silver, executive vice president of Camp Sussex.

After he got a job at Cantor Fitzgerald, and could no longer spend summers at the camp, Mr. Sekzer joined its board of directors. "It was something special," said his wife, Natalie Makshanov-Sekzer, 31, whom he had met there; the couple married in January of 2001. "The camp and the friends we made there were a major support to me after Sept. 11," she said.

Mr. Sekzer, 31, the son of a New York City police officer, began at Cantor Fitzgerald as a clerk and worked his way up to vice president. "Every year he got promoted; he was doing very well," his wife said. Once a year, Mr. Sekzer combined his job and his camp: he invited executives from Cantor Fitzgerald to play in a charity golf tournament raising money for Camp Sussex.

Semper Fi

2011-08-31T21:48:00.000-05:00

On September 15 President Obama will award the Medal Of Honor to Cpl. Dakota Meyer. On Sept. 8, 2009 Meyer risked his life multiple times during a firefight in Ganjgal, Afghanistan to rescue Afghan soldiers his unit was training and find three fellow Marines and a Navy corpsman who went missing during the battle. Cpl Meyer will be only their third living recipient of the award.

Wednesday Hero

2011-08-31T07:00:00.005-05:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Kathi

Russell E. Tucker Sr.
72 years old from Buffalo, New York
1899? - 1971

Seven years shy of a century later, Russell E. Tucker Sr. got his due Friday at a ceremony where he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal for wounds he suffered as a Marine in World War I.

In June of 1918 Russell Tucker and his fellow Marines marched into German machine gun fire in Belleau, France and drove the enemy back. Russel, then only 19-years-old, was shot in the temple and in the right hand losing part of his knuckle on his index finger. But because there was no such award as the Purple Hart at the time it's taken almost a century for it to finally be awarded.

You can read more about Russell Tucker, Sr. here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Music Monday

2011-08-29T09:36:00.002-05:00

No one better than Daft Punk.

Da Funk/Daftendirekt (Live) by Daft Punk

Wednesday Hero

2011-08-24T07:00:00.004-05:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Michael Golch

RMC Thomas James Reeves
46 years old from Thomaston, Connecticut
December 9, 1895 - December 7, 1941

On December 7, 1941, Radioman Chief Thomas Reeves was aboard the U.S.S. California. During the attack he helped load the anti-aircraft ammo, by hand, until he was overcome by smoke and fire. For his actions that day RMC Reeves was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

His citation reads: "For distinguished conduct in the line of his profession, extraordinary courage and disregard of his own safety during the attack on the Fleet in Pearl Harbor, by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. After the mechanized ammunition hoists were put out of action in the U.S.S. California, Reeves, on his own initiative, in a burning passageway, assisted in the maintenance of an ammunition supply by hand to the antiaircraft guns until he was overcome by smoke and fire, which resulted in his death." In 1943 the destroyer escort USS Reeves was named in his honor.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Music Monday

2011-08-22T09:05:00.000-05:00

James Murphy is a musical genius. I love this band. Every time I listen to them it puts me in a good mood because their music is so vibrant and peppy. Even their songs that aren't so cheery still have this magic where you can't help but feel happy. So when they broke up a few months back I was heartbroken. "I'm losing my edge to the art-school Brooklynites in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered eighties." Gotta love that line.

Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem

Hooah To Oklahoma's 45th Infantry

2011-08-18T08:00:00.001-05:00

In the last couple of weeks Oklahoma's 45th Infantry has lost seven soldiers while on deployment in Afghanistan. That's double what they lost since September 11, 2001.

"It's a very dangerous mission," Major General Myles Deering said. "They all knew that going in, but that doesn't make it any easier. And we all suffer a little bit with the losses that they have had."

Major General Myles Deering says the 45th is spread out all over eastern Afghanistan and they're engaging in frontline combat.

It's been almost a daily thing to turn on the 5:00 news and hear another report of an Oklahoma Soldier either killed or being laid to rest and sadly I don't think we've seen the last just yet. God bless these Men and their families.

Music Czar Monday

2011-07-18T09:18:00.000-05:00

One of my top 3 bands. The way they were able to take two totally different styles of music, orchestral and techno, combine them and make it work so perfectly blows me away. Techno symphonic? Whatever you call it, it's awesome. On a side note. If you haven't seen the movie yet you need to.

TRON: Legacy (End Titles) by Daft Punk

Wednesday Hero

2011-07-13T07:00:00.002-05:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Cindy

Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry
31 years old from Santa Fe, New Mexico
2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment

Yesterday, July 12, Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry became the second living recipient of the Medal Of Honor from the War On Terror.

On May 26, 2008 Sgt 1st Class Petry lost his right hand when the enemy grenade he threw back, saving the lives of two of his fellow Soldiers, detonated. Despite the injury Sgt 1st Class Petry managed to tie a tourniquet around his arm and continued to fight.

You Can Read More About Sgt. 1st Class Petry Here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

2011-07-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

I've only posted an entire album once before. Coincidentally enough, it was Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. Animals is one of the most underrated albums of all time. It just doesn't get the recognition and credit it deserves. Hell, even the band aren't too fond of it. Which is sad because it's a great album.

Pigs On The Wing, Pt. 1
Dogs
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Sheep
Pigs On The Wing, Pt. 2
Animals by Pink Floyd

Missing Vietnam Airman Identified

2011-07-07T17:59:00.000-05:00

Air Force Maj. Richard G. Elzinga of Shedd, Ore., will be buried on July 8 in Arlington National Cemetery. On March 26, 1970, Elzinga and his co-pilot went missing when their O-1G Birddog aircraft failed to return to base from a familiarization flight over Laos. Fifteen minutes after the last radio contact, a communication and visual search showed no sign of the men or their aircraft. Search and rescue missions continued for two days with no results.

Between 1994 and 2009, joint U.S.-Lao People's Democratic Republic teams led by Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, analyzed leads, interviewed villagers and surveyed possible crash site locations. During several joint field surveys, teams recovered human remains, aircraft wreckage, and crew-related equipment.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of his aunt and cousin -- in the identification of Elzinga's remains.

Hooah

2011-07-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

Three names you're likely not to hear in a newscast tonight.

Staff Sgt. Joshua A. Throckmorton
Spc. Jordan C. Schumann
Spc. Preston J. Suter

Thank you for your service.

Wednesday Hero

2011-07-06T07:00:00.002-05:00

This Weeks Post Was Suggested By Michael

2nd Lt. William Edward Metzger, Jr.
22 years old from Lima, Ohio
729th Bombardment Squadron, 452nd Bomb Group (Heavy)
November 9, 1944

On May 16, 1945 2nd Lt. William E. Metzger was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions six months earlier. His citation reads:

"On a bombing run upon the marshaling yards at Saarbrücken, Germany, on 9 November 1944, a B17 aircraft on which 2d Lt. Metzger was serving as copilot was seriously damaged by antiaircraft fire. Three of the aircraft's engines were damaged beyond control and on fire; dangerous flames from the No. 4 engine were leaping back as far as the tail assembly. Flares in the cockpit were ignited and a fire roared therein which was further increased by free-flowing fluid from damaged hydraulic lines. The interphone system was rendered useless. In addition to these serious mechanical difficulties the engineer was wounded in the leg and the radio operator's arm was severed below the elbow. Suffering from intense pain, despite the application of a tourniquet, the radio operator fell unconscious. Faced with the imminent explosion of his aircraft and death to his entire crew, mere seconds before bombs away on the target, 2d Lt. Metzger and his pilot conferred. Something had to be done immediately to save the life of the wounded radio operator. The lack of a static line and the thought that his unconscious body striking the ground in unknown territory would not bring immediate medical attention forced a quick decision. 2d Lt. Metzger and his pilot decided to fly the flaming aircraft to friendly territory and then attempt to crash land. Bombs were released on the target and the crippled aircraft proceeded along to Allied-controlled territory. When that had been reached 2d Lt. Metzger personally informed all crewmembers to bail out upon the suggestion of the pilot. 2d Lt. Metzger chose to remain with the pilot for the crash landing in order to assist him in this emergency. With only 1 normally functioning engine and with the danger of explosion much greater, the aircraft banked into an open field, and when it was at an altitude of 100 feet it exploded, crashed, exploded again, and then disintegrated. All 3 crewmembers were instantly killed. 2d Lt. Metzger's loyalty to his crew, his determination to accomplish the task set forth to him, and his deed of knowingly performing what may have been his last service to his country was an example of valor at its highest."

2nd Lt. Metzger's pilot, 1st Lt. Donald J. Gott, was also awarded the Medal Of Honor for his actions that day. A video tribute to the three men lost.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Happy 4th

2011-07-04T08:30:00.000-05:00

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Today we celebrate 56 Men signing one of the most important documents in the history of mankind. In doing so they not only effectively signed their death warrants, it being treason, but they set in motion the idea that we the people are the masters of our own fate and that we have the right to live our lives free from tyranny and oppression.

Music Czar Sunday

2011-07-03T10:12:00.000-05:00

I was going to use this in my 4th post tomorrow but it didn't fit in. Happy Birthday, America.

God Bless The U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood

Wednesday Hero

2011-06-29T07:00:00.003-05:00

Lance Cpl. Matthew Kirkman, a radio technician with 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, is the newest member of the 2nd MLG Color Guard and currently serves as a rifle bearer. Kirkman is a native of Birmingham, Ala., and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2009.

Photo Courtesy Marines.mil Taken By Sgt. Justin J. Shemanski

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Music Czar Monday

2011-06-27T09:19:00.000-05:00

Bon never sounded better than he did on this one. Sadly he never got to truly enjoy the success. Mutt Lange's work on this album is pure genius.

Highway To Hell by AC/DC