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Thanks to I Like The Cut Of His Jib for alerting us.  It would have been Admiral Zumwalt's 90th Birthday on Saturday. If you click on the link, you'll see the Navy Log of Admiral Zumwalt, the 1994 Lone Sailor Award recipient.  The Admiral's son wants to get a postage stamp issued commemorating Admiral Zumwalt and his immense service to the Navy and to his country.  If you read the blog, you'll see the address to which to write your letter of support.

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The Naval Intelligence community mourns the loss of Cdr Robert (Bob) Fleming  - his service spanned WW2 and the Korean War - a link to his Navy Log is here.  After leaving the Navy, Cdr. Fleming went into business and continued to serve his community.  In 1987, The Commonwealth of Virginia General Assembly passed a house resolution lauding him "… for his exceptional civic leadership, his outstanding dedication and his unselfish service".  Our condolences to his family and many friends.  For more information concerning burial services please go to : High Point Enterprise - Obituaries November 14

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At the 13^th Annual Veterans Conference held at the Navy Memorial, I asked one question of many of the participants – Who was the one person or group that made you say “wow, I’m in the same room with ______________” The answers, and the reasons, were very interesting!

Two young female cadets from one of the military academies were quick to tell me – the men of Band of Brothers – they study them, the strategies, the relationships between the men. Two others – wearing AirForce Blue – told me they were most impressed by the Tuskegee Airmen, they helped break down the barriers and began the dismantling of the barriers to women serving in the AirForce (they did say they were looking forward to meeting the WASP who was scheduled for later in the day and might change their mind then!)   The Tuskegee Airmen were cited most often for breaking down barriers to service, as was Ben Kuroki “they had to fight the system, to fight the enemy”.  Others were most impressed by Yogi Berra, the veterans of Iwo Jima were cited by all the former Marines in the crowd and Medal of Honor winner Ron Rosser was cited by many of the young ROTC cadets. As one young man told me, Rosser was just like a video game – he just kept going and going, and lived through it all!

One young cadet, who is hoping to go into Military Intelligence was most impressed with General Singlaub, and when I saw him later, talking to General Singlaub, he was grinning from ear to ear – reminded me of a kid at Christmas when he got his picture taken with the “super spook” of OSS and CIA.   Watching the young men and women meeting those men and women they have studied or read about, was marvelous. The awe in many faces was palpable, and some of them told me that they appreciated hearing from their heroes. Some of these stories were new to them, or they only knew the names from movies or TV shows. The group of men who had won the Congressional Medal of Honor were most often characterized as modest, quiet and honorable by everyone. It’s pretty awesome, as one cadet told me, to shake hands with the man who received that highest honor!  The Doolittle Raiders – to see the real person whose exploits were shown in the movie “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo” was a thrill, and to hear the real stories of how they managed to accomplish that strike, and without any leaks to media or the enemy, was inspiring.

Meeting the storied Band Of Brothers members was a TV moment for a lot of us. Many of the older men and women said they’d love to sit down with Babe Heffron, have a beer and just listen to his stories, the man can tell a GREAT story! After talking to many women in the audience, we agreed that Don Malarkey is still a very very handsome man, with a twinkle in the eye that hasn’t dimmed from the famous picture on the cover of his book. 

Who was it for me? Oh… I’m in the “all of them” camp – I was inspired, honored and dumbstruck by so many of them, I can’t pick just one. But I’ll tell you who I want to sit and talk with – Kayla Williams, the US Army linguist/intel specialist who wrote a wonderful book about Iraq “Love my Rifle More Than You” and Col Susan Luz – the Nightingale of Mosul. They could give me the insight to the veterans of the current wars, especially the women.   But, I’d love to sit down and pop a brew with Babe Heffron as well, or with David Ballavia, or Ron Rosser, - great storytellers!  

It was such an honor to be there. 

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Sis and I took a lot of pictures. When the camera came up, Mom insisted that Dad take off his hat. So many pictures were delayed or retaken because Mom was busy fussing with Dad, trying to get him to take off his hat. We’d start to line up a shot (maybe even be ready to shoot) when Mom would say, “Bill, take off your hat! Your hat! Bill! Take your hat off! They’re taking a picture. Take off your hat!”
Mom, it’s ok. Let him have his hat.
“Bill, take off your hat! Your hat! Bill! Take your hat off! They’re taking a picture. Take off your hat!”
Mom, we will be able to tell who he is. Let him keep his hat.
“Bill, take off your hat! Your hat! Bill! Take your hat off! They’re taking a picture. Take off your hat!”
…
*snap*
The day of the Memorial Tour was no different.
Waiting in the lobby with all these other Navy Veterans, Dad had plenty of people to talk to. “Navy,” or “My hat,” or he’d try to tell his Navy story using his (or someone else’s) hat.
The buses pulled up in front of the hotel and Dad was ready to hurry out and board, afraid we might miss our ride.
On the bus, he was presented with both defended and defenseless hats. Defended, by those who’d already experienced Dad’s attempts at taking them; defenseless by those who had not. Sis and I tried to interfere, but at least 2 hats were snatched, and returned. Dad even managed to grab one and place it atop his own hat only to realize there was something in the way. Removing them both, he was confused by what he found. We’d return the stolen hats and apologize.

One of our stops was at the WWII Memorial. I took Mom and Dad around to find the Ohio pillar, wanting a picture of them in front of it. Our tour guide offered to take the picture for us using my phone. I handed him the phone, showed him how to use it, and lined up for the shot with them. “Ready? Say cheese!”
Mom, carrying a plastic shopping bag, reached up to remove Dad’s hat, saying, “Bill, take off your hat! Your hat! Bill! Take your hat off! They’re taking a picture. Take off your hat!” and hit Dad in the face with the bag just as the camera snapped.
The guide suggested taking another picture, but I insisted that this one was nearly perfect:

We attended the dedication at the Navy Memorial and got pictures of Mom and Dad with the Destroyer Escort Bas Relief and The Lone Sailor:

I’ve looked at all the pictures I took on this trip. In about half of them, Mom succeeded in getting Dad’s hat off his head. (In only one is there evidence of an assault!) In about half of them, Mom is wearing her Transitions glasses – which darken with camera flashes and in daylight.
Many years ago, when these lenses started becoming more abundant, Mom complained that everyone’s eyes were darkened out because of them. Sometimes she’d insist she couldn’t even tell who they were because of their dark glasses. Whenever pictures were going to be taken, Mom would remove her glasses, and insisted that others do the same. (We used to tease Mom about her outdoor pictures looking funny… something about them… hmm… what was it? Oh, yeah, SQUINTING in the bright sunlight. Much better than the dark glasses!)
Even years later, when she no longer had Transitions lenses, she still usually removed her glasses. When we got her last pair of glasses, she decided she wanted Transitions, again. Now, she thinks to remove them about half the time. These times only coincided with Dad’s hat being off in about half of the pictures. So I have an fairly even mix of hat on – glasses off, hat off – glasses on, hat on – glasses on, hat off – glasses off. (I should see if Sis found the same mix.)

After the tour, we returned to our room for a nap. It wasn’t to be.
to be continued…

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There will be a dedication of a portion of a state highway in New Mexico to the Code Talkers.  This is a 16-mile stretch of State Route 264 from  Yah-Ta-Hey to the Arizona border, and the dedication will take place at the intersection of State Route 264 and US Route 491 near Yah-Ta-Hey at noon on Wednesday, November 10.  Officials from the Navajo Nation, New Mexico and some of the Code Talkers will be there.

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There will be a dedication of a portion of a state highway in New Mexico to the Code Talkers.  This is a 16-mile stretch of State Route 264 from  Yah-Ta-Hey to the Arizona border, and the dedication will take place at the intersection of State Route 264 and US Route 491 near Yah-Ta-Hey at noon on Wednesday, November 10.  Officials from the Navajo Nation, New Mexico and some of the Code Talkers will be there.

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Two of Today’s Heroes, David Bellavia and Marco Martinez came to speak to the 13^th Annual Veterans Conference. (one of the others who was on the panel couldn’t be there, he became a father the previous day!)

 

Then SSgt. Bellavia told us why he joined the military. And that was a surprise!  Who would have thought that he was a theatre major in college, a huge fan of Steven Sondheim and that after re-writing one of Sondheim’s plays, he was sued for copyright infringement. Sondheim won the case, Bellavia owed over $18,000 and was unable to pay it. As he put it, “I looked around, there was a 20,000 enlistment bonus” and that was that. He even brought a hairdryer to Basic Training!  He did send Sondheim a copy of his book telling him “thank you for helping me grow up.”

 

David Ballavia is also a very funny man, talking about a lot of unfunny things; a raconteur, with a self-deprecating sense of humor. He claims the only reason he’s been noticed and awarded these medals, was that he had a Time magazine reporter with him! He went into a house in Fallujah without anyone other than the reporter. At the time he thought there were only 2 fighters, there were actually 6 and he ended up having to kill the last one with a penknife.  

 

When 1^st ID went to Iraq, they all thought the war was over – he thought that they would never get to shoot anyone.   He remembers that when the first firefight happened, and he realized he was under fire and saw the first dead men, he thought – holy cow, THIS is my job! Dumb luck that it wasn’t me!   Bellavia told us about the Jihadists in Fallujah – from the passports they included Chechnyans, Filipinos, Italians, French, Bosnians, even a guy from Michigan. The insurgents had interpreters! They called them  the “global jihadist all star team.” 

 

Sgt. Marco Martinez, USMC, recipient of the Navy Cross for valor in Al Tarmiya, who wrote a book about this tour in his book, Hard Corps.   He went into Iraq very early in the war, they lived off the land, because they were moving so fast they out paced their supply convoys. They went from one end of Iraq to another.   Sgt. Martinez described the incident for which he was awarded the Navy Cross, and it was stunning.   The room was completely silent when he talked about killing a man in hand to hand combat “ it takes a heavy toll on the soul, you are so close, you can see them, you can smell them, if they have dandruff, the color of their eyes.”  He told us about finding needles, vials of adrenaline, they were shooting up adrenaline and smoking khat, so it took 5-6 shots to take them out – “it was scary,  they just kept coming at you. “ There were Republican Guard, then Fedayeen who dressed all  in white, “that messes with you psychologically.” Some of these fighters were trained, some not.  When the Marines  threw grenades, the Fedayeen would throw them back, so the Marines learned to milk the grenades. Martinez learned how to operate an RPG on the fly. 

 

Sgt. Martinez also told us why he joined the military – it was the family business. His father was an Army Ranger, but Marco was a gang banger until his junior year in High School. After narrowly escaping being arrested because he didn’t go along with the gang one night because he had a date, he had an epiphany. Martinez realized he had to get out of the hole he had dug for himself, and remembered his old dream of being a Marine.

 

When they talked about reintegration, they both told us it takes time. You don’t come back the same person. Since Sgt. Martinez came back, he has been diagnosed with a post concussive injury. They both discussed PTS, they both vehemently decry the use of the term “Syndrome”.

 

These young men are both impressive examples of this generation of military heroes. 

 

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