Memories Of The Vietnam Era

It was the summer of 1963 and my friend Pete and I left Miami for Bessemer, Alabama to take some things to Red Farmer, one of the original Alabama Gang founders. I had only heard of the Vietnam War.

It was a great summer, working on Red's race car and racing at Dixie, Montgomery and Birmingham International speedways. We skied, swam and fished in the Warrior River with Red, Joan and the Farmer family, along with Jackie and Faye Evans and Donnie Allison. Although we had a ski boat, Red also brought up his airboat and it was funny to see the reactions of people who had never seen one.

Pete and I returned to Miami three months later and although every man had to register for the draft, politics and war were not the highest topic of conversation, especially when you're 18 years old. My first job paid $5 dollars a day and I got a raise after two weeks to $6 dollars a day. Not much money considering I took a bus to work.

Later, I found a job at Pierce-Simpson Plastics that paid $1.25 and hour and in November, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Some time after that, I got a better paying job and eventually bought my first car, a two door midnight blue Ford coupe. It was a stick shift, which I immediately converted to floor shift.

One day, I got a notice from the draft board to come for a physical, which made me very nervous. after a few calls to my buddies, it turns out that all my buddies were getting the same letters. It was then that I started really perusing the news. One by one, my buddies either joined the armed forces or were drafted.

Fortunately, my brother and close friends came back safely, but a lot of men came home in black plastic bags. In all. more than 58,000 men and women gave their lives in Vietnam, along the missing-in-action and the countless others who were wounded.

Today, I give my honor and respect to the veterans of the Vietnam War, along with the heroes of all of the wars who laid everything on the line to defend America.

The News As I See It: Pope Francis brought a rabbi and a Muslim leader with him when he traveled to the Holy Land this week. Or as bartenders put it, "We've been expecting you."

Spoiler Alert: In the new "Godzilla" they're finally able to control Godzilla when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie closes down the George Washington Bridge.

After an earthquake damaged the Washington Monument, they had to do some sandblasting, have the graffiti removed and fill in the cracks with some sort of sealant. It's the same thing they're doing right now for Hillary Clinton."

This Date In History: 1521; Martin Luther's writings were banned by the Edict of Worms. 1868; President Andrew Johnson avoided conviction for impeachment charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors" by one vote.

1940; Allied troops began the massive naval evacuation of troops from Dunkirk, France, during World War II. 1959; Pittsburgh Pirates’ Harvey Haddix pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves before losing, 1–0, in the 13th.

1977; George Willig, "the human fly," scaled the World Trade Center in New York City by attaching himself to the window washer mechanism and walking straight up until falling into police custody when he reached the top. It took Willig three and a half hours to make the climb, and $1.10 in fine, a penny per floor.

1978; The first legal casino to be operated in the United States outside of Nevada was opened in Atlantic City. 2003 Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution that instituted a balance of power between Hutu and Tutsi.

2011; Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general responsible for the massacre of over 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, is found and arrested in Lazarevo, a farming town north of Belgrade, Serbia.

Picture Of The Day: The fallen.....never forget.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) My therapist told me "Time heals all wounds". So I stabbed him and now we wait... 2) After having lived in terror all these years, Gloria Estefan's threat finally came true. I turned on my car radio and was brutally attacked by the rhythm. 3) I shot my first turkey Sunday. Scared the shit out of everyone in the frozen food section. 4) For the past two nights my stomach sounds like cat purring when I lay down. I'm terrified to Web MD this. I'm too young to have kittens. 5) The Great Wall of China is one of the 7 wonders of the world just because it's a Chinese product that's lasted more than a month.....and that's five !

Today's Horoscope: Gemini - May 26th: Chin up, best foot forward, that is, assuming you know which foot is best. If not, give it your best guess.

Three times a lady is a hell of a lot of lady, you might think. But later on this week you might thinking, "Well, now that just seems like a fairly standard amount of lady." And if you think that, well then, I will have done my job.

Birthdays: Washington Augustus Roebling, engineer 1837, Isadora Duncan, dancer 1878, Al Jolson actor, singer 1886, Dorothea Lange ,photographer 1895, John Wayne, actor 1907, Miles Davis musician 1926, Stevie Nicks singer 1948,
  

Dr. Sally K. Ride, American astronaut, the first American woman to travel outside the Earth's atmosphere. Her outer space voyage on the Challenger from June 18-23, 1983, was the third in the history of space exploration by a female astronaut or cosmonaut. She was preceded by two women in the Soviet space program, Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982) 1951.


The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar And Grill: An old guy walks into a doctor's office with a 5 iron wrapped around his neck and 2 black eyes. The doctor asked,"What happened to you?"

The old guy said, "Well it all started when my wife and I were golfing and she accidentally hit the ball into a cow field. When we went to investigate, I saw the ball in a cow's ass. I went and lifted the tail of the cow and that's when I made my mistake."

The doctor looked puzzled and asked, "What mistake was that?" The old guy answered, "I said, 'Hey this looks like yours hun!'"

A man was being interviewed by a liberal journalist, an animal rights activist. The discussion came around to deer hunting. The journalist asked, "What do you think is the last thought in the head of a deer before you shoot him? Is it, 'Are you my friend?' or is it ‘Are you the one who killed my brother?’"

The man replied, "Deer aren’t capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, what am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the Democrats in Congress."

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: A helicopter was flying around above Seattle yesterday when an electrical malfunction disabled all of the aircraft's electronic navigation and communication equipment. Due to the clouds and haze the pilot could not determine his position or course to steer to the airport.

The pilot saw a tall building, flew toward it, circled, drew a handwritten sign and held it in the helicopter's window. The sign said "Where Am I?" in large letters. People in the tall building quickly responded to the aircraft, drew a large sign and held it in a building window. Their sign said, "You Are In A Helicopter."

The pilot smiled, waved, looked at his map and determined the course to steer to the Seattle airport and landed safely. After they were on the ground, the co-pilot asked the pilot how the "You Are In A Helicopter" sign helped determine their position.

The pilot responded, "I knew that had to be the Microsoft building because they gave me a technically correct, but completely useless reply.

A farmer goes in half with a friend to buy a bull so he can increase his stock. A couple of weeks later the friend comes by to see how his investment is doing.

The farmer complains that the bull just eats grass and won't look at the cows. His friend suggests that a veterinarian have a look at the bull. The following week his friend returns to see if the vet helped.

The farmer looks delighted and says, "The bull has taken care of all my cows, broke through the fence and has even serviced all my neighbor's cows! His friend says, "Wow! What did the vet do to that bull?"

The farmer said, "He just gave him some pills'." His friend asked, "What  kind of pills?" The farmer said, "I don't know, but they sort of taste like peppermint."

That's it for today, my little buffalo chips. Remember, thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

More on Wednesday.

Stay Tuned !