Flag Day

Remember the Pledge of Allegiance to the “grand old Flag”
on Flag Day, June 14 and the next 364. Fly her proud as a symbol both to those who defended her and a reminder to those who would destroy her.
Never forget Life, Liberty, Freedom, Pursuit of Happiness and God.

The Flag at Ground Zero

Replicas of the Star Spangled Banner Flag (15 stars, 15 stripes) are flown at two sites in Baltimore, Maryland: Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine and Flag House Square.

Marine Corps War Memorial (Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima), Arlington, Virginia

Lexington, Massachusetts Town Green

The White House, Washington, D.C.

Fifty U.S. Flags are displayed continuously at the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C.

Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington, Virginia

By Congressional decree, a Civil War era flag (for the year 1863) flies above Pennsylvania Hall (Old Dorm) at Gettysburg College[citation needed]. This building, occupied by both sides at various points of the Battle of Gettysburg, served as a lookout and battlefield hospital.

Grounds of the National Memorial Arch in Valley Forge NHP, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania .

At U.S. Customs and Border Protection Ports of Entry that are continuously open.

Washington Camp Ground, part of the former Middlebrook encampment,

Bridgewater, New Jersey, Thirteen Star Flag. (Act of Congress.[citation needed])
By custom, at the Maryland home, birthplace, and grave of Francis Scott Key;.

At the Worcester, Massachusetts, war memorial; at the plaza in Taos, New Mexico (since 1861); at the United States Capitol (since 1918); and at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota.

Slover Mountain (Colton Liberty Flag), in Colton, California. July 4, 1917 to circa. 1952 & 1997 to present.

At the ceremonial South Pole as one of the 12 flags representing the signatory countries of the original Antarctic Treaty.

The surface of the Moon, having been placed there by the astronauts of Apollo 11,
Apollo 12, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16 and Apollo 17.

Nashville National Cemetery, Nashville City Cemetery over the grave site of Sea Captain William Driver who in 1831 nicknamed the 24-star flag "Old Glory" and hid the famous flag from Rebels during the Civil War.

June 6 - Sixty-six Years Ago

June 6, sixty-six years ago the Allied Invasion of Normandy, FR - a fight for democracy at the cost of thousands of lives.

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough” said Robert Capa, photographer, who landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Taking over 100 picture of the event then sending the film to London for processing. A London darkroom technician dried them to quickly, the emulsion melts and less than 12 usable pictures told the landing at Omaha.
In 1954, Capa lived his own words. He died after stepping on a land mine in Indochina.

Crossword puzzles were the focus of British intelligence weeks before the invasion. The London Daily Telegraph published the answers to one that included key code names. “Overload” and “Neptune” (code names for the over-all operation and the landing operation) “Utah” and “Omaha” (the two American invasion beaches), and “Mulberry” (the code name for the artificial harbors planned after the invasion).
British Intelligence interrogated Leonard Dawe, a school headmaster and puzzle-maker. Conclusion, it was just a coincidence.

D-Day “Bigots“. was the code word for anyone who knew the time and place of the invasion. Reverse it and “to-Gib” used on papers of those traveling to Gibraltar for the invasion of North Africa in 1942.

The Allied forces hoodwinked Hitler in a unique way. Ingenuity and diversions. Its effect created two phantom fleets of bombers out of thin air.
First, parachuting dummies outfitted with firecrackers that exploded on contact behind enemy lines. Then Allied planes dropped strips of aluminum foil cut to a length to match German radar waves.

D-Day secrets almost exposed in Chicago at a postal sorting office when a package sent from Supreme Headquarters in London arrived a few months before the invasion and was accidentally opened. Critical invasion timetables and locations were seen by many unauthorized Chicago postal workers who were put under surveillance. The FBI concluded the U.S. General’s Aide, of German decent, was overtired and mistakenly addressed the package to his sister.

General Eisenhower said a single person “won the war for us”. Not Gen. George Patton or Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It was Andrew Higgins who designed and built the amphibious assault crafts used by Allies to storm the Normandy beaches. A shortage of steel prompted him to buy the entire 1939 crop of Philippines’ mahogany and his New Orleans company produced these now famous crafts.

This U-505 is on display at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. On June 4, the U.S. forces captured the sub off the African coast fearing a key code was broken and the Allied war effort compromised. The captured sub and its crew were hid until the end of the War and the Germans assumed it was lost at sea.

Freudian slips and D-Day remembrances. 2004, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin referred to the “INVASION OF NORWAY” instead of “Normandy“. Last year while attending an event with President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown refereed to “OBAMA BEACH” instead of “Omaha Beach”.

MEMORIAL DAY

REMEMBER THEM

If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and one backward glance when you are leaving, for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not always have. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.

Written January 1, 1970 by Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
Dak To, South Vietnam

Recited by Tom Selleck upon receiving the 2009 TV Land Hero's Award for Magnum, P.I. An OGR gentle hero in his own rite and an accomplished actor who once again pulled unexpected audience emotion, uncontrollable tears and unbounded patriotism.

Though he insisted he is not worthy of that same category as there are others more deserving, he was proud that the Smithsonian recognized Magnum, P.I. as the first series to portray the Vietnam Vet in a positive light. " Now in today's world our vets are treated with respect and we know it wasn't always that way."

His real life crusade is the "Wall that Heals", part of the Vietnam War Memorial, a 45-foot aluminum trailer that travels across the country to people who may not have the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Actor Tom Selleck, left, attends an event unveiling a traveling exhibit called "The Wall That Heals", part of the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Museum, in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2009. At right is U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Nick Adams, 21. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin).

This Memorial Day take a quiet time to reflect on our friends and family who served, returned or proudly remember as the "gentle heroes you left behind".

The ABC's of Grown Old

Dedicated to our Moms who first taught us the Alphabet and then these life-lesson ABC's.
How many of these TV Moms can you recognize??


Lucille Ball "I Love Lucy" 1951-57
Accept your body as is.
Bold is beautiful.
Cherish your health.

Jayne Wyatt "Father Knows Best" 1954-60
Don't worry about wrinkles; they're just antique smiles.
Enjoy the simple things in life.
Find an age you like and stick with it!


Donna Reed "The Donna Reed Show" 1958-66
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.
How old you are is your own business!
Its easier to get older than it is to get wiser.


Barbara Billingsly "Leave It To Beaver" 1957-63
Just remember...what was I saying?
Keep the faith.
Lie about your age.


Yvonne DeCarlo "The Munsters" 1964-66
Mend fences.
No one said getting older is easy!
Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.


Florence Henderson "The Brady Bunch" 1969-74
Pick your friends wisely.
Quit whining.
Remember the good ol' days.


Carolyn Jones "The Addams Family" 1964-66
Surround yourself with what you love.
Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

Marian Ross "Happy Days" 1974-84
Until you make peace with who you are,
you'll never be content with what you have.
Volunteer...everyday.


Elizabeth Montgomery "Bewitched" 1964-72
When you say I'm sorry, look the person in the eye.
Xpect happiness in life.


Reba McEntire "Reba" 2001-07
Young at heart (slightly older in other places).
Zzzzzzz...take plenty of cat naps

Happy Birthday and Mother's Day, Mom!!!

TWINKIES!!!

No, no, not the slang term - ITS Twinkie, that sweet snack cake that turned 80 this year. Picture 80 candles a Twinkie - next to impossible.

One of my wonderful memories as a kid was running to the snack counter for this treat. Gems, those two small, golden sponge cake cream filled morsels. A special treat along with my chocolate Kayo drink or 8 oz. bottle of Coke on a Saturday night. Nutrition value, ha-ha, 300 empty, sugar laden Twinkie calories weren’t even on the radar back then.

Created by James Dewar a bakery manager for Hostess (Continental Bakers) and, yes, made in Chicago. Hostess still cranks out over 500 million each year. Got to wonder if you did a term of existence experiment, which would have a longer shelf life a Twinkie or a can of Spam. I’d wager, Spam cause just on appeal alone, Twinkies wins.

Did you know that in the ‘50’s Buffalo Bob hawked them on the Howdy Doody Show?

Archie Bunker (“All in the Family ’70’s sit-com) had one every day in his lunchbox. Hell for Edith to pay the one day she forgot to include Twinkies in Archie’s lunch.


The phrase “big Twinkie” is introduced in the ‘84 “Ghostbuster” movie.

Pinky and the girls in ‘78’s movie “Grease” talked about Twinkies and wine at their pajama party.

In ‘94, “The Simpsons” Apu proved “you cannot hurt the Twinkie it always regains it form.

In “Zombieland”, 2009, a quest for Twinkies goes head-to-head with the undead.


And if that isn't enough, theTexas State Fair introduced the fried Twinkie. It quickly spread to other state fairs across the U.S., as well as some establishments that specialize in fried foods.
Just freeze the cake, dip it in batter and drop it in the fryer.

What an American icon!! Yep its off to the fridge for a cold glass of milk and you guessed it!!

Chow and Ciao for now!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!

(circa 1907)

What I learned from the Easter Bunny!


Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Everyone needs a friend who is all ears.

There's no such thing as too much candy.

All work and no play can make you a basket case.

A cute tail attracts a lot of attention.

(circa 1910)

Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day.

Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits.

Some body parts should be floppy.

Keep your paws off of other people's jelly beans.

Good things come in small, sugar coated packages.

The grass is always greener in someone elses basket.

To show your true colors, you have to come out of the shell.

The best things in life are still sweet and gooey.

May the joy of the season fill your heart.


(circa 1915)

AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!
Happy Easter!