Memorials
December 7, 1941 – a day for remembrance and teaching
Good Saturday morning December 7, 2024. . . Over the last 32 years I have asked my students of all ages what happened on this day in History and I have found that as the years went by fewer and fewer of them knew what this date meant or even what Pearl Harbor was all about. Very discouraging. History is something that you need to remember so you will not make the same mistakes again. I fear we are still doing that today. Skip Leonard.. The List This day in Naval and Marine Corps History 1941 – In [...]
Hymn to a Humble Hero
Testimony of Pilot # 35 https://youtu.be/mgkqWsGGUwY
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day -Reflections
Testimony of Pilot #34 War and remembrance No matter the old, “smart” decision makers No matter the politics Or “statecraft” of the DC pundits It was our war We fought it Some lost years Some lost lives Some lost family As young’uns we never set out to buy but still … We own it Band of brothers and sisters WE SHALL EVER BE National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day is today, March 29th, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of this special memorial observance. This is the purpose: “As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect [...]
A Gift of Wings – Forever Young
Testimony of Pilot# 23 Be courageous and be brave And in my heart you'll always stay Forever Young, Forever Young, Forever Young Rod Stewart Throughout our lives we receive multiple gifts, many simply because we are loved. But for aviators, we must love first, pursue a dream, and finally, through diligence earn the gold or silver wings. Only then will come the exposure to so many gifts over time. However, the wings are not the gift, rather they bestow special gifts upon the wearer, not the least of which is a never ending pursuit of perfecting the gifts - the [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]
Testimony of Pilot: “I Am a Dragon, America the Beautiful Like You Will Never Know”
Testimony of Pilot#3 From AIRSHIPS; Testimony of Pilot by Barry Hannah … Through Lilian I got the word that Quadberry was out of Annapolis and now flying jets off the Bonhomme Richard, an aircraft carrier headed for Vietnam. He telegrammed her that he would set down at the Jackson airport at ten o’clock one night. So Lilian and I were out there waiting. It was a familiar place to her. She was a stewardess and her loops were mainly in the South. She wore a beige raincoat, had red sandals on her feet; I was in a black turtleneck and corduroy jacket, [...]
Remembered Sky: A Naval Aviator Lies in State
You Only Live Twice “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonians, thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I’ve tried to serve our country honorably…” John Sidney McCain III A Naval Aviator lies in state today – since 1852 only 30 people have done so before him. Yet social media continues to extrapolate their dislike and even hatred backwards to his military career, no matter the truth of those times – found in [...]
Veterans Day 2017: What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Burns and Novick The Vietnam War – A Counter Anthology The PBS documentary The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick has received critical acclaim and has been recommended for showing in schools. It follows Burns reputation well as a work of film art. For all its ‘truth telling,’ I simply cannot get in tune with its overall context. This Veterans Day post focuses on the Vietnam veteran with remembrance of all. “This documentary succeeds in vividly evoking sadness and frustration. But that is not all there was to the story. “The Vietnam War” strives for a moral equivalence [...]
Memorial Day 2015: Mondo and Arlo
Sometimes on days like today, I find myself lost in the abstract -service to country, freedom, sacrifice, the flags, the tombstones of Arlington. The feelings are not wrong, indeed they are most important and necessary, but at the base are people who laughed, cried, drank beer - sometimes too much - told dirty jokes, howled at the moon, chased women, and jousted at a few dragons, all the while loving their wives, kids, dogs, squadron mates, .... and their country. The video below was just published on You-Tube on 14 May. It provides the memorial service on USS Midway in [...]
Not on My Watch – In Memory of Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly
I attended the Celebration of Life for Dave Snako Kelly on Saturday 3 May on-board USS Midway.Hot afternoon but not nearly as hot and humid as it was 42 years ago in the Gulf of Tonkin. Dave and all the rest of us were about to learn about real air war over North Vietnam. We were about to become “these good men.” Dave was a great friend, superb Naval Aviator, member of VA-115 flying the A-6 Intruder off of Midway on the ’72 war cruise. He is also the author of the recently published story of his flying years Not On [...]
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Memorials
December 7, 1941 – a day for remembrance and teaching
Good Saturday morning December 7, 2024. . . Over the last 32 years I have asked my students of all ages what happened on this day in History and I have found that as the years went by fewer and fewer of them knew what this date meant or even what Pearl Harbor was all about. Very discouraging. History is something that you need to remember so you will not make the same mistakes again. I fear we are still doing that today. Skip Leonard.. The List This day in Naval and Marine Corps History 1941 – In [...]
Hymn to a Humble Hero
Testimony of Pilot # 35 https://youtu.be/mgkqWsGGUwY
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day -Reflections
Testimony of Pilot #34 War and remembrance No matter the old, “smart” decision makers No matter the politics Or “statecraft” of the DC pundits It was our war We fought it Some lost years Some lost lives Some lost family As young’uns we never set out to buy but still … We own it Band of brothers and sisters WE SHALL EVER BE National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day is today, March 29th, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of this special memorial observance. This is the purpose: “As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect [...]
A Gift of Wings – Forever Young
Testimony of Pilot# 23 Be courageous and be brave And in my heart you'll always stay Forever Young, Forever Young, Forever Young Rod Stewart Throughout our lives we receive multiple gifts, many simply because we are loved. But for aviators, we must love first, pursue a dream, and finally, through diligence earn the gold or silver wings. Only then will come the exposure to so many gifts over time. However, the wings are not the gift, rather they bestow special gifts upon the wearer, not the least of which is a never ending pursuit of perfecting the gifts - the [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]
Testimony of Pilot: “I Am a Dragon, America the Beautiful Like You Will Never Know”
Testimony of Pilot#3 From AIRSHIPS; Testimony of Pilot by Barry Hannah … Through Lilian I got the word that Quadberry was out of Annapolis and now flying jets off the Bonhomme Richard, an aircraft carrier headed for Vietnam. He telegrammed her that he would set down at the Jackson airport at ten o’clock one night. So Lilian and I were out there waiting. It was a familiar place to her. She was a stewardess and her loops were mainly in the South. She wore a beige raincoat, had red sandals on her feet; I was in a black turtleneck and corduroy jacket, [...]
Remembered Sky: A Naval Aviator Lies in State
You Only Live Twice “My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonians, thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life that service in uniform and in public office has allowed me to lead. I’ve tried to serve our country honorably…” John Sidney McCain III A Naval Aviator lies in state today – since 1852 only 30 people have done so before him. Yet social media continues to extrapolate their dislike and even hatred backwards to his military career, no matter the truth of those times – found in [...]
Veterans Day 2017: What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Burns and Novick The Vietnam War – A Counter Anthology The PBS documentary The Vietnam War by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick has received critical acclaim and has been recommended for showing in schools. It follows Burns reputation well as a work of film art. For all its ‘truth telling,’ I simply cannot get in tune with its overall context. This Veterans Day post focuses on the Vietnam veteran with remembrance of all. “This documentary succeeds in vividly evoking sadness and frustration. But that is not all there was to the story. “The Vietnam War” strives for a moral equivalence [...]
Memorial Day 2015: Mondo and Arlo
Sometimes on days like today, I find myself lost in the abstract -service to country, freedom, sacrifice, the flags, the tombstones of Arlington. The feelings are not wrong, indeed they are most important and necessary, but at the base are people who laughed, cried, drank beer - sometimes too much - told dirty jokes, howled at the moon, chased women, and jousted at a few dragons, all the while loving their wives, kids, dogs, squadron mates, .... and their country. The video below was just published on You-Tube on 14 May. It provides the memorial service on USS Midway in [...]
Not on My Watch – In Memory of Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly
I attended the Celebration of Life for Dave Snako Kelly on Saturday 3 May on-board USS Midway.Hot afternoon but not nearly as hot and humid as it was 42 years ago in the Gulf of Tonkin. Dave and all the rest of us were about to learn about real air war over North Vietnam. We were about to become “these good men.” Dave was a great friend, superb Naval Aviator, member of VA-115 flying the A-6 Intruder off of Midway on the ’72 war cruise. He is also the author of the recently published story of his flying years Not On [...]