This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Blue Skies

  • A Delayed Mother’s Day Gift “Comes Home”

    In 1942, a soldier – Dominic O’Gara, or Millville, MA – was preparing for war in CA. He sent his mother a Mother’s Day gift. It was lost.

    Now 73 years later, it’s resurfaced. And though both O’Gara and his mother have passed, it’s made it’s way home.

    A former resident of the man saw an unopened envelope for sale on eBay. Noting the address and date, he bought it for $5.

    The envelope contained an embroidered pillow sham, with “Mother” embroidered on it. Though creased, it’s in perfect shape.

    The purchaser was unable to locate any surviving members of O’Gara’s family. So instead of returning it to the family, they’re trying to get the item framed and hung in the town’s Senior Center prior to Memorial Day. The Senior Center is not far from the neighborhood where the O’Gara’s lived.

    Fox News has an article with more details. It’s worth a read any time – but especially today.

    Happy Mother’s Day, all.

  • Rest in Peace, Yeoman Rand

    Actress Grace Lee Whitney has died. She was 85, and passed away at her home in Coarsegold, CA, from natural causes last Friday.

    While the name may not be familiar, you probably recognize one of her roles. She was the actress who portrayed Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek series.

    Ms. Whitney apparently developed a serious alcohol problem during her life, but eventually kicked it.  After she had, an individual named Nimoy helped her resurrect her acting career.  She afterwards appeared in several of the later Star Trek movies.

    No, this isn’t really a normal TAH story. But since many of our readers are Star Trek fans, I thought I’d put this article up anyway.

    Rest in peace, Ms. Whitney.

  • SEALs die in training accident

    SEALs die in training accident

    SEALs

    The sad news that a second SEAL has passed from his injuries in a training accident at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. 34-year-old Special Warfare Operators 1st Class Brett Allen Marihugh and Seth Cody Lewis were found at the bottom of their Combat Swimmer Training Facility. Lewis died Friday and Marihugh passed yesterday.

    Because of their deaths, the Combat Swimmer Training Facility has been shut down pending a policy review.

    The Navy said the investigation into the incident may take months, possibly longer, to determine exactly what happened.

    Training for war can be as deadly as the war itself.

  • Sgt. Anthony E. Salazar, Air Force reservist killed in OIR

    Sgt. Anthony E. Salazar, Air Force reservist killed in OIR

    The sad news comes that another US service member has been killed in a “non-combat-related incident” while engaged in Operation Inherent Resolve – war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria;

    Sgt. Anthony E. Salazar, 40, died April 13 while serving as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, taking part in a campaign of air strikes in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State, according to the Department of Defense.

    His death is under investigation, according to the DoD.

    Freedom Remembered has his bio;

    He was assigned to the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron, 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group, U.S. Air Forces Central Command. Salazar was a mechanical systems repairman, whose job was to ensure facility operations at an air base in the Gulf region that is supporting operations against Islamic State militants. Salazar was assigned to the 577th Expeditionary Prime Base Engineer Emergency Force Squadron, part of the 1st Expeditionary Civil Engineer Group and reporting to U.S. Air Forces Central Command. The unit’s headquarters is at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, but Salazar’s squadron was assigned elsewhere in the Gulf region.”

  • James Best passes at 88

    James Best passes at 88

    James Best

    The sad news has been released that James Best (born Jewel Franklin Guy) passed yesterday at the age of 88. He was best known for his portrayal of Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane of Hazard County in the popular TV show of the late 70s “The Dukes of Hazard”. What you might not have known about him is that he was a veteran, like most of the folks of his generation;

    While ideas for future creative works percolated, Jimmie, fresh out of high school in 1944, enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps with dreams of being a pilot. But the Air Corps at that point needed gunners and radio operators more than pilots, so Jimmie trained for those duties instead. Once most of the enemy’s aircraft were out of commission and there was less need for him to be fighting in the sky, Jimmie was transferred to the military police to help handle dangerous problems on the ground in Germany. Many of Jimmie’s experiences as an MP contending with the Werwolf resistance in Germany during the war were incorporated into Samuel Fuller’s acclaimed 1959 film Verboten! in which Jimmie starred as Sergeant David Brent.

    It was during his real wartime on the ground in Germany that Sergeant Best became enlightened about how servicemen who entertained the troops as part of Special Services were given better food and living quarters and, most important, got to travel and socialize with the pretty actressesin those units. And he noticed that the folks in Special Services also generally didn’t have people shooting at them.

    Jimmie used his stellar record with the military police as leverage to join the military theatrical company. His first role was playing a drunk in director Arthur Penn’s production in Germany of My Sister Eileen. Jimmie’s show business career was now officially locked and loaded.

  • Felipe Trujillo Roybal; Another Warrior Lost to History

    Felipe Trujillo Roybal; Another Warrior Lost to History

    FELIPE TRUJILLO ROYBAL

    We lost another one of those three-war, two-star, CIB recipients recently. Command Sergeant Major Felipe Trujillo Roybal, 82d Airborne in WWII, jumping in Normandy, a Korean War veteran and Special Forces in Vietnam, made his final jump off into that great unknown March 22d in William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso. CSM Roybal served from 1937 to 1972, a truly historic three and a half decades of American military history encompassing three of the four major wars that American troops served in during the 20th Century. I’m sure the Sergeant Major could have written one hell of a book.

    We are losing these WWII veterans at an increasing rate and I would remind those who read here that if they know of a WWII vet who is capable of travel, you should bust your butt to see that they get to see their beautiful and wonderful memorial in Washington D.C. if at all possible. I took my father-in-law a couple of months after it opened and it was one of the most meaningful experiences of my life which I wrote about here.

  • 19 Marines remembered in Marana, AZ

    19 Marines remembered in Marana, AZ

    Marana ceremony

    Someone dropped off a link to the story of the ceremony in Marana, Arizona for the 19 Marines who died in a plane crash there on April 8, 2000 during a training exercise;

    Wreaths and flowers were laid at the memorial to honor those who lost their life serving our county.

    It’s a job that Dakota Alvarez says makes her proud to call Sergeant Jose Alvarez her dad, but she misses him everyday.

    “It was really kind of heartbreaking my dad died when I was six and I’m 21 now every year it just get harder and harder to deal with I mean I appreciate it it was so beautiful today but it’s just hard,” said Alvarez.

    Tucson News Now

    Because training for war is as deadly as the war itself, sometimes.

  • Another Bit of US History Passes

    Another Bit of US History Passes

    Robert Hite
    One of the last 3 surviving Doolittle Raiders has passed.

    Lt. Col. Robert Hite passed away on Sunday, 29 March 2015, in Nashville, TN. He was 95.

    Hite was one of the 80 men who participated in the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942. That raid was launched from the USS Hornet using specially-trained Army Air Corps crews flying B-25 medium bombers.

    It was also a true “one-way” mission. While the B-25 could take off from a carrier under favorable conditions, it could not land on one. The mission plan was to fly on to China after bombing Tokyo, and land there afterwards in airfields controlled by friendly Chinese forces.

    However, the task force was spotted by a Japanese patrol boat approximately 200 miles farther east than the planned launch point; the raid was executed immediately afterwards.  This meant the originally planned landing fields in China would almost certainly be unreachable before the aircraft ran out of fuel.

    They went anyway.

    Three US personnel were KIA during the raid; eight US personnel were captured and became a POWs afterwards.  Hite was one of these unfortunate eight.  He was held in captivity by the Japanese for 40 months.

    Of those eight individuals captured by the Japanese, 4 died while POWs – three were executed, and one died of other causes. Hite was the last remaining living POW from the Doolittle Raid.

    Hite left the service after World War II. However, during the Korean War Hite returned to duty from 1951 to 1955.

    Hite was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his participation in the Doolittle Raid.   He also earned the Purple Heart during his captivity.  Last year, Congress authorized a Congressional Gold Medal in honor of the Doolittle Raiders. Unfortunately, it is not scheduled to be formally presented until the raid’s 73rd anniversary – less than 3 weeks from now.

    Hite’s death leaves alive only two of the Doolittle Raiders – Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole and SSgt. David Thatcher.

    Rest in peace, my elder brother-in-arms. You’ve certainly earned that.