26 November 2020
Happy Thanksgiving! Melinda, a friend, re-posted on Instagram an interesting statement. “I thought 2020 would be the year I got everything I wanted. Now I know 2020 is the year I appreciate everything I have.” Good sentiment! All in all, I’m fortunate that I have a home, food, friends, and health.
Of course, the pandemic still rages and so does Trump – not about the pandemic but the election. I’m very concerned about the number of travelers over the Thanksgiving holiday and the potential spread of the virus. Florida had over 8,000 cases yesterday. Fortunately, Broward county seems to be doing OK on the number of hospital beds and ICU beds – at least for now.
Another thing to be thankful for today is the weather in Fort Lauderdale. Clear, cool (for us) and low humidity. Walking in this is a pleasure. I had good intentions on doing my yoga stretches also this morning and then my abbreviated routine in the pool but decided to take the day off. I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that I need to alternate days of exercise in the pool because of my biceps tendon. Two days in a row of swimming and I begin to get warning signs.
After my last post about crosswords, you might guess that my printing of crosswords has come back to bite me. My printer will not print anything if the cartridge needs replacing – no matter whether it is photo black, regular black, cyan, yellow or magenta. It told me today to “go fish.” I ordered the entire pack on Amazon and with tax – it runs to $75 and change. I always get the manufacturers cartridges. I had a bad experience with off brand and recycled cartridges a few years ago and learned my lesson on those. Even though I have Amazon Prime and supposedly next day shipping, they are only promising delivery on December 1. Where’s my instant gratification?
Today, I’ll Facetime with my cousin Jimmie and her husband Stephen around 5:30 pm. I’ve already prepared cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato soufflé. Later today I’ll add glazed carrots. Desert will be the New York Times recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I made the dough yesterday and for best results, the Times recommends refrigerating over night. Not sure it makes that much difference with all the sugar and chocolate in the cookie.
In my last post, I provided a “movie” of photos of my Dad during World War II. Today, I’m posting his time in Korea. Again, how he survived two world conflicts is beyond me. I thought I was doing pretty good not to be sent to Viet Nam.
My understanding is Dad was not in the infantry in Korea but with the Army Corps of Engineers. Today, the Army Corps of Engineers is best known for flood control in the United States but they are a branch of the U.S. Army and back then, they were like the Seabees, the naval construction group. Also like the Seabees, they fought battles while putting in bridges, paving roads, building revetments, etc. It was dangerous work and could get you killed as fast or faster than a regular infantryman.
This stent with the Corps in Korea kept Dad in good stead with the Mississippi State Highway Department. He worked off and on with them for 33 years and was most often used as a bridge inspector. He was the person who would sign off on the stages of construction of bridges on a job site.
One time, Mississippi had more than its usual share of 80 inches of rain a year and the flooding destroyed some small bridges scattered throughout the counties. The solution was to put to use some World War II surplus Bailey bridges until contracts could be signed to replace the washed out bridges. The state apparently was either gifted these after the war or purchased them at discounts.
Dad was the only person in the entire state that had any experience in construction of Bailey bridges so he was kept very busy that year throughout the state.
Strange as it may seem, many of the construction foremen for the state weren’t too adept at reading blueprints. I remember one summer one construction foreman coming to the house several times to have Dad explain the blueprints to him – even though Dad wasn’t working for the state at that particular time.
Another time, a construction company was trying to build a bridge in Leake county and was having trouble. He went to the job site and found they were trying to excavate the river bed in order to put the piers in to hold the bridge. Dad quickly explained you cannot dig out sand beds in a river – the river will simply refill the hole with more sand immediately. He finally convinced them they had to pile drive the piers.
Even the state engineers were a problem for him. Engineers in the state office seldom went to a job site. They submitted a set of plans to him for drainage for I-20 near Pelahatchie, Mississippi. He immediately noticed the engineers had all the drainage heading south. Pelahatchie creek runs north. The engineers wouldn’t believe him and came out to the sign and ended up much chagrined. He saved the state a whole lot of money with that one episode.
Firmly massage the spotted point, then press and hold it. loved this buy generic levitra This is the most common concern, for which we tend to suffer from varied canadian pharmacy tadalafil kinds of diseases, related to the urinary system. He has viagra buy no prescription a long list of accreditations for his work. If all the safety guidelines are followed then only the benefits of this medication can be enjoyed as the chances of getting it after your 40’s increases dramatically (sadly Ben is 42 and also one of 18% men in the United States of America. viagra cost is available only by prescription.Dad’s experiences in Korea started at the end of WWII when he was discharged. They called the men into a room and said if you didn’t want to be a member of the Army reserve, it would take 3 months to process your paperwork. For those that would sign up for the reserve, you could leave within the week. Dad wanted to get home so he signed up for the reserve.
Unlike Viet Nam, the reserve and National Guard were never called up. Everyone was drafted for that conflict or you were already in the military. During Korea, the first people called up were the reserves.
Dad went through training at Aberdeen Proving Grounds at Havre de Grace, Maryland. This was where the military innovated and experimented with artillery for the army. The family went with him – me, Archie, and Mother. We lived in a trailer and probably spent one of the snowiest winters in Maryland history there. There is also the picture of the snowman we built (and which Archie knocked over to make me cry).
From Aberdeen Proving Grounds the family moved back to Morton, Mississippi with wonderful stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’ve included photos of all three locations. Dad shipped out from the west coast on board the USNS Gen. Nelson M. Walker. The ship headed towards Midway Island – famous for a last stand against the Japanese during WWII. At Midway, he had additional schooling. From there he was flown to Japan for even more schooling before being sent to Korea.
Apparently at one point, Dad was escorting Sygman Rhee to a reviewing stand where the troops passed in review in front of Rhee. There’s also a photo of him at the famous 38th parallel of Korea. Dad never talked too much about WWII and if anything, he talked even less about Korea. I do know that I could never get him back on a plane. He flew several times during WWII and Korea but swore he would never get on another plane again. He made good on that promise.
Once, when our family was staying with my grandmother Ruby, I explored the attic of her house. Ruby would have me go up on occasion and pull something down – Christmas decorations, clothing, dishes – whatever she stored up there. There were two old trunks up in the attic and one day when nothing was going on (and no one was in the house) I went into the attic and explored the trunks. I found all of Dad’s medals and insignias and army uniforms. Today, I only have some of his ribbons. I have no idea what happened to the rest.
I still have one of the trunks.
My song recommendation for today is Patti Page’s Tennessee Waltz. I couldn’t find anything that would be appropriate to the Blue Ridge or Havre de Grace or Korea but at least Patti’s of the right time frame. Oh yea, I also love the song!
Stay tuned and stay safe!
