A Memorial To My Dad

May 2004, just a week before the WW II Memorial in Washington D.C. was to be dedicated, I took my Dad down to see it. At 85, he was a little unsure on his feet so I borrowed a wheelchair so I could push him around the Mall. My Dad was excited to be going and was even looking forward to the ride in on the D.C. Metro.

It was one of those perfect May days; bright sun, warm and not a cloud in the sky. On top of the perfect day we had a perfect tour guide with us. My friend Tom knew the Washington D.C. landmarks well, and ever the teacher, would regale us with bits of history and trivia that we weren’t aware of.

A little about my Dad: Born in St Louis, Missouri on November 7, 1918, he was drafted into the Army soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground. The buildup to D-Day was in full gear, although as my Dad would say many years later, that no one knew the extent of the Normandy invasion because it was kept so secret, for obvious reasons. From APG, my Dad was transferred to Ft. Jackson, South Carolina for further training and then to Ft. Dix for processing before being shipped out to Iceland from the Port of New York. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), that he was assigned to, was ordnance supply and specifically ammunition. He thought that he was placed there because he had worked in a car repair garage prior to being drafted and the Army thought that he had some mechanical ability. That the Army recognized this in my Dad was a benefit to both him and the Army. Continue reading A Memorial To My Dad

Maryland’s Unheeded Memorial Day Moment of Silence

Several years ago, after asking a group of school children touring our nation’s Capitol what Memorial Day meant to them and getting the response, “That’s the day the pools open,” a distraught Carmella LaSpada knew she needed to do something. She needed to start a mission.

So LaSpada, founder of No Greater Love, an organization devoted to promoting the true meaning of Memorial Day, contacted Harford County Del. B. Dan Riley for help with her mission. That mission, quite simply, is get people to remember Memorial Day. Here is a description of the organization from the No Greater Love web site:

Founded in 1971, NGL is the only humanitarian, educational, non-profit organization in the United States solely dedicated to providing annual programs of friendship and care for those who lost a loved one in the service to our country or by an act of terrorism.

In response to her request, Riley headed to Annapolis and put together House Bill 111 during the 2000 General Assembly. Here is a synopsis of the bill: Continue reading Maryland’s Unheeded Memorial Day Moment of Silence

The Iraq Conflict by the Numbers

4,023: The number of dead U.S. G.I.s and Marines as of 04.07.08 http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

296,281: The number of U.S. wounded as of 04.07.08 http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

1,194,935: Iraqi deaths due to U.S Invasion http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html

3,884: The number of dead U.S. G.I.s and Marines since “Mission Accomplished” http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

$506 Billion: Cost of Iraqi Conflict http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

$341.4 Million: Cost of Iraqi conflict per day http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home

Continue reading The Iraq Conflict by the Numbers

Aegis Launches Ink-Saving Campaign - Truncates Week-Old Letter

Homestead Publishing Company, parent of the Aegis and Record newspapers, announced Friday morning that, in order to save ink, letters to the editor would be arbitrarily truncated – particularly if those letters make mention of a certain local news and commentary website peopled largely by ex-Homesteaders.

In order to save costs at the printing press, The Aegis today cut a few words from a letter to the editor written by former legislative aide and former District C county council candidate Brian Young. The (almost) same letter was published here February 19.

Here’s the closing paragraph from Young’s letter, as posted on The Dagger:
Continue reading Aegis Launches Ink-Saving Campaign - Truncates Week-Old Letter

I is for International Imbroglio

Starting this is hard. I promised to have this done by Sunday night, and here it is Saturday night and 20 words down. I needed a deadline to actually produce, so I told Matt Sunday night. So here I am, the wife and baby asleep, trying to produce.Matt asked me what I was going to write about. “Something geopolitical,” I said. Smart sounding way a of saying I’m not sure. “Something geopolitica,l” it can really cover an endless body of blathering, as I hope we will soon find.

Maybe an introduction first, I’ve been on the boards but this is my first story. My name’s Joshua. 34, married 7 years, one daughter. Professional journalist, photojournalist in detail. Been in “the business” 8 years, now working at a daily newspaper in the Baltimore/DC area. No, not that one. Not that one either. The plan was to slowly move up the ladder and land at one of the big guys, then sit back and work for thirty years. It seems, however, that when I wasn’t looking the ladder had caught fire and maybe it wasn’t going as high as we were led to believe in the first place.

Continue reading I is for International Imbroglio