Off to sunny Parris Island
Category: Personal Experiences
What was I thinking of?
The Patriot's Salute
Category: Poetry
General patriotism
B-2 stealth bomber flies over the 2020 Rose Bowl game
Category: Visual Arts
At the conclusion of the National Anthem, a B-2 Spirit (Stealth Bomber) flies over the 106th Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California.
A DOVE AMONG EAGLES
Category: Books
As we approach Christmas, I'm reflecting on what this time of year means to me and my family. It was December 1967 when my brother Joe wrote his last letter to me, asking that I enlist San Mateo, CA, to adopt his unit -- the Army's famed #101stAirborne #ScreamingEagles -- so their morale could "soar as high as the clouds." That was Joe's final Christmas. One year later, I traveled to #Vietnam to spend Christmas with Joe's unit, where I became the adopted "sis" to all the brothers Joe left behind, and where I fell in love with my husband Steve. This is my book, but it is THEIR story. Everyone we lost in Vietnam. Everyone who came home. Everyone who has continued to serve. This book is for all of you. I hope I have done you proud.
Why Stand?
Category: Personal Experiences
"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech." - First Amendment to the United States Constitution
GUT REACTION
Category: Poetry
Poem titled "Gut Reaction" by C. N. Buchholz
Veterans Appreciation Day 2019
Category: Personal Experiences
American Legion Post 240-Daleville, Va hold Veterans' Appreciation Day
Child Safety Awareness Day
Category: Personal Experiences
Child Safety Awareness Day
Finding Gilbert, a Promise Fulfilled
Category: Personal Experiences
Could I find my father's French orphan, Gilbert, from WWII in France and tell him that Dad never forgot him?
"All Present and Accounted For"
Category: Books
It was late November, recognized as one of the coldest periods to be on a ship near Alaska. The Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis had run aground during a severe storm and was taking on water. Temporarily patching the hole, the ship attempted to sail toward safer waters when all hell broke loose from an even more violent storm. The patch broke free, and the engine room began to fill with water, soon disabling the engines. Out on the deck, the crew was taking a pounding from mother nature. The ship was taking severe rolls from the wind and the high seas; at one time, struck with a sixty-degree roll. Communicating with each other was extremely difficult or impossible due to the environment; crewmembers had to rely on training and instinct to perform their jobs. The water level in the engine room was the same as outside, all engines were dead, no fresh water, with very little cooking. Combined with the exhaustive and lengthy working conditions in the filthy water, the lack of hot water, and heat, crewmember sanitation needs were severely ‘lacking.’ Captain Wooley surveyed the situation: the engine room was flooded, resulting in the loss of power; ‘mountainous seas’ and gale force winds were pounding the Jarvis, and freezing working conditions had caused several of the crewmen to show signs of sickness. To make matters worse, the ship was floating toward a rocky coastline that would destroy it and probably kill most, if not all, of the men. With the ship in peril, Captain Wooley ordered an emergency message be sent to the Seventeenth Coast Guard District Office in Juneau requesting Coast Guard assistance. Within minutes, the District office replied there were no Coast Guard assets near enough to provide immediate help. At 7:04 pm, for one of the few times in Coast Guard history, a ‘MAYDAY’ call for help would come from a Coast Guard vessel.