Author: MoonHowler

 

 

 

 

One hundred two years ago, the Principle Allied Powers and Germany agreed that they would stop killing and maiming each other with bullets, bombs and poison gas. At 11:00AM on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, all was quiet on the

Although the United States was only in the war for 18 months, we lost some 117,000 killed and 295,690 wounded. All in all, more than 16.5 million people died and some 21.2 million people were wounded. I remember our Assistant Coach Mr. Ramsey, a World War I veteran, bore the scars of being burned by mustard gas. All of those Doughboys, as they were called, are gone now but the memory of them lingers on.

This national Remembrance Day, once called Armistice Day, is now known as Veterans’ Day, a day to remember all those who have worn the cloth of our great nation. And today we are still engaged in the longest war in our 244 year history; we struggle to find a way to honorably remove ourselves from a conflict that seems to have no end in sight. Over a million veterans have served since we we began the Global War on Terrorism just over nineteen years ago. I have one grandson in the U.S Navy and a second grandson will join the Navy’s ranks this month. I hope their children and grandchildren children will grow up,in a peaceful world.

This is my 87th Veterans’ Day and I hope folks will take just a moment to remember the millions of young men and women who have served our nation and signed that blank check made payable to all of us and cashed too many times by those brave souls laying down their lives for all of us. President-elect Joe Biden has been ending his speeches with, “ God bless the United States and God bless our troops.” This is my fervent prayer.

---

50 years ago tomorrow.  I was standing there in the living room in front of the one and only TV in the house, in Warsaw, Virginia, in my parents’ home.  I was a recent college graduate, just filling in the summer with a  Headstart teaching gig, before coming to Prince William County permanently, to teach.

My brothers and I stood there, watching in total amazement as Armstrong and Aldrin “moon-walked,” a term that was yet to become part of our vocabulary.  We had al held our breath as the eagle silently landed on the surface of the moon, with mission control updating us as to what was really going on.  “The man in the moon” had been something said to me since childhood. Now there really were 3 men on the moon–a slight variation of that childhood expression.

Little did I know that I would be sitting here with my own computer, 2 cell phones thousands of times more powerful than those who put those men on the moon, and that I would be going by my blog name, Moon-Howler.

Today, only Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins are still alive.  Yet, that trip was miraculously amazing.  If you missed “Chasing the Moon” on PBS, it was extremely well done.  This American Experience production showed this country’s participation in the space race, geeky stuff and all.  You can watch it on your computer if you missed it.

So the Summer of 1969 was quite a summer.  The moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, the Stonewall riots, Chappaquiddick, and the trans am making its first appearance. Tricky Dick was in the White House.  (Oddly enough, I didn’t hate the man.  Before I found out how corrupt he was, he did some decent, progressive things for the country.)  Of course, I had my cute little blue Camaro.  Oh I absolutely thought I was hot stuff in that sweet little car.

50 years later, I am supremely disappointed in my country.   Students aren’t rioting in the streets but crowds are filling up stadiums chanting “Send her back” at the president they elected, who happens to be the most morally bankrupt, corrupt, unqualified person to hold that office in my lifetime.  Where is all of this going?  Time will tell.  In 50 years, I would have thought this country would do better, be better, think better.  We have children and refugees being held in detention centers at our border.  We are not a shining city on a hill.  We aren’t representing American values.  We are in a war that has gone on nearly 2 decades.  Where is the outcry?

Please enjoy Summer of 69.  Perhaps it will take us back to better days, although I never thought I would say 1969 was a better year.

enjoy, Love, Moon- the howler

Memorial Day, 2019, by George Harris

Today marks my 85th Memorial Day.  But, of course, I really don’t remember much about the first few, although there are people who would swear I am old enough to remember the first one that apparently took place in1868 when it was known as Decoration Day.  This was the day when the graves of those who died in the service of our Nation were decorated.  A hundred years later, Decoration Day and three other holidays were juggled around to provide long weekends for all and the name was changed to Memorial Day.  Now we mostly celebrate the sales and long weekends these holidays bring.

Today our young men and women find themselves in the far corners of the world, in places some folks can’t even find on a map.  They are supposedly there as “advisors” but more often than not they find themselves locked in mortal combat with a relentless enemy bent on destroying them.  And at other times they are attacked by those they considered to be friendly but alas they turn out to be wolves who have found their way in with the sole mission of killing the “enemy”, our young men and women.

Memorial Day continues to be an important day since we continue to be engaged in the war-the longest war in our history with the exception of our War on Drugs, which has been going on for something on the order of a half century.  Most everyone who reads these meager words surely knows someone who was a casualty of one of these wars.  I have been fortunate to have never lost anyone to the drug war but lost friends in some of the other wars beginning with World War II and on through to today.  In my time in Vietnam, I was unfortunate enough to see the light go out of the eyes of young men who were savaged by that war.  It is a sight and memory that are still with me after more than a half-century.  Once during an oral history session, the historian asked me what I would most remember about Vietnam and without blinking an eye I replied, “The smell of blood.”  It stays with you for the rest or your life.

Our president has chosen to invalidate the Iran Nuclear Agreement, an agreement reached in 2015 between the Islamic Republic of Iran and a group of world powers:  the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, Germany and the European Union.  Now John Bolton, his National Security Advisor is strongly encouraging him to declare war on Iran.  Although the president denies it, it is reported that plans are being made to send 120,000 troops to the area.  As it stands at the moment, Iran has some 800,000+ members in their armed forces (this includes some 200,000 reserves), which gives them a near 7:1 advantage.  Of course, the president says we would send more personnel but I would think it would take perhaps two or three MILLION troops to defeat Iran or risk another decade’s long war.

And there is this ongoing squabble with Venezuela and the rumor mill has it that we might even send troops there to bring about a “ regime change”.   Are we prepared for this as a nation?  Are we prepared for any of this?  Are we prepared to sacrifice more of our young men on the altar of the god of war?   To add more memories to our Memorial Day celebration?  I think not.  We can’t fix our roads and bridges, our Congress can pass a budget, we can’t figure out how to provide reasonable health care to our citizens, we engaged in trade wars and our national debt is growing exponentially.  Our present armed forces personnel and equipment are worn out from more than a decade and a half of fighting.

So perhaps on this Memorial Day, we each can take a moment to reflect on why we celebrate Memorial Day and ask ourselves if we wish to honor the god of war.

God bless our Armed Forces and God bless the United States of America.

Thank you, George Harris for this piece written to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Great War.

 

Music from WWI

Pictures from the WWI Museum in Kansas City