Veteran's Day 2009

My father, in his army uniform, circa 2002, with his college picture in the background over his right shoulder, and service medals over his left ... I flashed on this photo, which was totally unposed, when I was talking with Horst today ... Click it to enlarge it. It is one of my most favorite images ...

Horst, with his painting, 'The Garden', at a show opening a couple of years ago ...

This one is for my family, my friends Horst and Tom, my brother Maurice, and all the many others who have served our country over the years.
Horst came by today to pick up my scrap wood to burn in his studio fireplace, a job he's been doing for, I don't know, 15 years? 20 years? Who knows? A long time. He is friend and our former neighbor at our old house on Red Mountain Road. You can often see prints of his paintings in the background of the photos of my shop. He stopped to chat, telling me he was on his way to visit our friend Tom, another ex neighbor of ours who often would tell us his war stories of being shot down as a bomber pilot in WW II, about being captured behind enemy lines, and about subsisting on mangelwurzels in a German prisoner of war camp for a year or so until he was liberated by Allied forces. They were great and amazing stories. Horst didn't speak much of his service time today, but shared with me that his brother was killed in World War II when the troop ship he was on was torpedoed in the North Atlantic. I didn't know that. He asked about my father's World War II experience, which he knew vaguely about, and we talked briefly about that. My father was in the China Burma India theater, in charge of operating one of the first radar installations anywhere ever, in Chickiang, China, monitoring air traffic, friendly and enemy, flying supplies 'over the hump', (the Himalayas) from India. He never spoke much about his war experiences there except to tell amazing stories of the industriousness of the Chinese people. Two of my favorites were one about runway construction (as I recall now it was 1500 feet long, a 3o' fill at one end, and a 20' cut at the other, many people, many picks and shovels and carts, one month) and the other was about the time a B29 went off the end of that runway and the Chinese people carried the entire plane (in what I recall was a very short time) a piece at a time up the 30' fill at the end of that runway where it had come to rest ... We know our father did a good job there because he was awarded the Bronze Star for his efforts. He was a quiet and peaceful man, like many others who serve their country. We thank them all today for their efforts ....

My father's Bronze Star certificate

Our friend Tom and his wife Ruth, circa 1984

My mother and father and my brother Marce and his wife Edie, spring 2005 ... I've got my brother's picture in a uniform somewhere, but it's not in a handy place ...