Pearl Harbor Day

Perhaps it's because there are so
few of us left that remember WWII,
the attack on Pearl Harbor that Sunday morning, and all of the Japanese atrocities that precluded it and continued throughout the war.

The 1937 capture of the Chinese city of Nanking gave the world an early indication of the type of enemy we were engaging. During a six week period, the Japanese Army systematically murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians, raped between 20,000 and 80,000 women, bayoneted babies, cut pregnant women open to kill their infants.


Then there was the infamous Unit 731. The special Army medical unit that experimented on live humans, injecting them with lethal diseases and cutting them open while awake to determine the results. The estimates are that over half a million people died in this manner.


The United States prisoners suffered greatly under the Japanese Army. The Bataan death march in which Imperial Army officers rode up and down the lines of marching prisoners, randomly slicing off the heads of many for sport while others had their throats slit, were bayoneted or disemboweled, all the while being starved.

I remember these things...just as I remember my father, like most other men, joining the Army and going off to fight. Every household had a father, son, or brother in the military. Women took over the jobs of the men who were overseas, working on the factory floors and coming home to care for their children. I remember blackout shades to cover the windows lest any light escape and give enemy planes guidance to their targets. I remember the ration books that limited the amount of food that each family could have.

Today, of course, our President asks nothing from us. No increase in taxes to pay for this war...or the one in Iraq for that matter. No military draft to alleviate the terrible burden placed on our overstretched Army and Marine Corps. Nothing at all that would cause the country to wake up and take notice. It's a terribly important war, you know...just not quite that important. And don't you just love it when those in power say "we" are fighting this war.

Perhaps because I'm old and remember these times past, I found this behavior by our President so terribly unseemly. Many people have defended it as a gesture of courtesy. I can't accept that...nor, I'm certain, can others of my age. I voted for him...consider the options...but I'm disappointed.

When You Get Old and Sick

So...here's what you do when you get H1N1 and you're sick as a dog at home alone...you go to Amazon and buy stuff to keep you occupied...here's what I got over the last two weeks:

A new 32" HDTV for my bedroom:


A new Home Theater System for my bedroom:


and a new PS3 Slim for my bedroom...


...so...now all I need is a bedpan...

Cold Day In San Diego

The date of this photo is 5 February 1966, a Saturday. The ship is the LPD5, USS Ogden at the pier in San Diego getting loaded for her maiden voyage to the Republic of Vietnam.

My unit, 4th Battalion, 11th Marines, was driving in a convoy from 29 Palms. I was driving a Jeep with another Marine riding shotgun. The rear was filled with our radio gear. We didn't have the canvas sides for some reason and it was cold, especially early in the morning leaving the high desert. Fortunately, we rarely got up to 50 mph because the trucks, (deuce-and-a-halfs and 5 tons), were constantly having minor breakdowns along the way.

We were an artillery unit, self-propelled 8 inch and 155 mm guns which had to be transported on heavy duty trailers.

A few months prior to our departure, the first unit to leave the base for Vietnam, the 1st LAAM Battalion, embarked. The whole procedure was quite dramatic with wives and other relatives of the Marines being called to the base theater where the base commander informed them of their loved ones' destination.

Then, it was our turn. Sergeants handed out boxes of RIT dye, three or four colors of green and brown that, when properly combined were supposed to result in some kind of jungle green. We mixed then all in a clean GI can and tossed our underwear, (skivvies), in. After an appropriate length of time, we pulled them out with a stick and carried them out to dry on a clothes line outside the barracks. Apparently each barracks received a different dye combination because the shades of green were humorously different.

When we got to the port, the ship had turned and lowered its rear loading gate so that our vehicles could drive in. I remember it being somewhat like driving into a parking ramp but instead of going up, we went down into the ship perhaps two or three decks.

Our accommodations were absolutely first class considering we were Marines. Individual bunks with sheets and pillows and reading lights. It was, after all, a brand new ship. I learned to appreciate how great we had it when, on the next trip to the war zone, I traveled in a Korean War era LST.

All together we spent 29 days aboard the Ogden. When the weather was nice we were allowed on deck to enjoy the sun, clean our rifles and write letters home. We got a break when we got to Pearl Harbor and pulled liberty for a couple of days. After that, just lots of days at sea the only excitement being one night when a Russian trawler came alongside and shone a huge spotlight on our ship. Our decks were covered with the artillery pieces and trucks. Eventually, two US destroyers came in sight and the Russian pulled away.

At any rate, the Ogden was a good home for that month in '66. The sailors treated us well and even kept the mess deck open 24 hours feeding us steak and eggs when we got to the war zone and were off-loading. Driving onto a Mike boat in the open sea as the waves pulled the ship's loading platform in and out was an experience I'll not forget.

I read with some sadness that the Ogden, having served her country well for 40 years, was sunk off Hawaii in naval gunnery practice a year or so ago. I guess I'm next...

Liam Clancy

We lost the last of the great Clancy Brothers today. Tommy Makem left us in 2007. I hope you enjoy my favorite song from their reunion tour...

Hopelessness

A soaring deficit...a widening gap between rich and poor...a failure to address the corruption in our financial system...and an ever-increasing burden on our over-stretched military personnel...this is the "change" we got in the 2008 election.

Under Paulson, then Geithner and Summers, Wall Street firms have received over 17 trillion in loans, guarantees and assorted bailouts. Goldman Sachs gives approximately 15 billion in bonuses...best year ever. Unemployment reaches 10.2% and 6 million homes have been foreclosed on.

The "Surge"...(where have I heard that before?)...is estimated to cost the taxpayers an additional 30 billion per year. How are we to pay for it? The Army and Marine Corps have already been stressed to the breaking point. Continuous deployments to Iraq and now Afghanistan are destroying the hearts, minds and bodies of our young men and women.

In 1966 and 1967 when I was serving in Vietnam, the tax rate was 70% on income over $200,000; today, it's 35% on incomes over $311,950.

In 1966 and 1967 we had a military draft. During a normal enlistment of 3 or 4 years, (2 years for draftees), a soldier or Marine would normally face only one deployment to the war zone; today, 4, 5, or even 6 deployments are possible and enlistments can be extended.

In 1966 and 1967 our banking and financial system was protected by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which limited the actions of banks, brokerages, and insurance companies. In 1999, under Clinton and a Republican Congress, that act was repealed.

The great financial powers of today have stolen the birthright of my children and grandchildren. The United States has become a financial fiefdom with the Masters of Wall Street it's lords. The poor must subsist as they can...providing the nobility with what they require...money for extravagant living styles...and children for never-ending wars.

I had hoped for courage. Courage to stop Wall Street from raping American citizens. Courage to reestablish the great democratic concept of fairness for all citizens. Courage to understand that a war requires sacrifice...not from just a few...but from all if we are to call ourselves a country.

But, I fear, the opposition is far too strong. There really is no hope.

So...what's different about this year?