Loyalty Day

Just a reminder to fly your flag on the following days if you have one. The turmoil in our wonderful country seems to be increasing daily and this is one way I express my gratitude for where I live, The Greatest County In The World. It is also another chance for me to honor all who served to keep us free. Our VFW Honor Guard, including me, is marching in a Loyalty Days Parade this Saturday. The day to actually fly your flag, for this little remembered day, is May 1st. Here's a little history on Loyalty Days and a list of days when flays should be flown.

Loyalty Day is an opportunity to express and reaffirm our loyalty to our country. It was meant to express allegiance to our Nation and its founding ideals and to ensure that the blessings of liberty endure and extend for generations to come." It dates back to the 1920's.

On Loyalty Day, we reaffirm our allegiance to our country and resolve to uphold the vision of our Forefathers. We should also take a moment to appreciate the members of our armed forces who are displaying the ultimate in loyalty and service to protect our freedoms, and liberty, and our way of life.

Loyalty Day was first celebrated in the 1920's. Communism was on the rise, and feared in America. At the time, May Day (May 1st) was perceived by some as a Communist holiday. In a sense, Loyalty Day was intended to counter this.

The U.S. Congress made this an official holiday on July 18, 1958 with the signing of Public Law 85-529. Then President Dwight D. Eisenhower, proclaimed May 1, 1959 the first official observance of Loyalty Day.

Flag Flying Days

　

January 1 New Year's Day

January 20 Inauguration Day (every fourth year)

3rd Monday in Jan Martin Luther King, Jr., Birthday

3rd Monday in Feb President's Day

(Variable) Easter Sunday

April 6 Army Day

April 13 Thomas Jefferson's Birthday

May 1 Loyalty Day

2nd Sunday in May Mothers Day

2nd Monday in May Peace Officers Memorial Day

3rd Saturday in May Armed Forces Day

May 22 National Maritime Day

Last Monday in May Memorial Day

June 14 Flag Day

3rd Sunday in June Fathers Day

June 27 Korean War Armistice Day

July 4 Independence Day

August 19 National Aviation Day

1st Monday in Sept Labor Day

September 11 Patriot Day

September 17 Constitution Day

3rd Friday in Sept POW/MIA Recognition Day

Last Sunday in Sept Gold Star Mothers Day

2nd Monday in Oct Columbus Day

October 27 Navy Day

November 10 Marine Corps Birthday

November 11 Veteran’s Day

4th Thursday in Nov Thanksgiving Day

December 7 Pearl Harbor Day

December 25 Christmas Day

God Bless You and God Bless America

　

　

Just Connecting Words: Please Contact ............

Just Connecting Words: Please Contact ............: Please contact your U. S. Congress Person and Senator and ask them to think about their lower class and middle class constituents that will ...

Please Contact ............

Please contact your U. S. Congress Person and Senator and ask them to think about their lower class and middle class constituents that will be hurt by their decision not to make a compromise on the fiscal cliff.

Did you know the following? Of your 100 Senators 66 are worth 1 mil to 231 mil; 16 are worth $999,999 to $500,000; 8 are worth to $499,99 to $250,000 and 10 are worth less than $100,000.

There are 435 voting members of Congress. 250 are worth over 1 million; 100 are worth over $500,000 and 50 are worth over $250,000 leaving 35 members having a net worth of less than $250,000.

Do they have any idea of how hard it is for the majority of people to exist on a low to middle class income? I don’t think so. They probably don’t even know what a loaf of bread costs.

Please contact them, wish them a happy holiday and ask them to think about the majority of people in this great country that will be affected by their realistic compromise or lack of and not just how much their rich contributors will not give them if they make a truly thoughtful decision. Or maybe they were just hoping we would all disappear yesterday. Didn't happen! Now they have to finish the job they got elected to do.

PEARL HARBOR DAY

This post is to honor my deceased dad and two uncles that served in the U.S. Navy during WWII and my 89 year old father-in-law who served in the Army Air Force in England. None of them were at Pearl Harbor, but I think that day, “The Day That Would Live In Infamy”, December 7, 1941 was their inspiration for serving their country. For those not familiar with the date, the Japanese orchestrated a surprise attack on the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii killing over 2400 service men and women including civilian children. The United States declared war on Japan the next day and the United States was officially involved in WW II. We had been neutral to the conflict that had began two years prior, but Pearl Harbor was the catalyst for what I feel was one of the few just wars.

16,000,000 men and women served during WW II, 290,000 killed in action and 640,000 were wounded. Sacrifices were also made on the home front by the majority of those that could not serve. They referred to it as the “War Movement,” consisting of “Victory Gardens” rationing and women going to work in factories because of all the men that had gone off to war. This was also economically hard on the population of the United States because the Great Depression had just ended about two years prior to Pearl Harbor.

The are refereed to as the “Greatest Generation” because they showed true patriotism in a truly United States, suffered the emotional consequences of being in combat and came back to re-build the United States into the most prosperous and greatest country in the world.

I was born in 1947 so the above is from what I’ve read and heard from people that participated in WW II either as civilians or military personnel like my parents, grandparents, other relatives and WW II vets I have met through my participation in the VFW. I only hope it doesn’t take another day like Pearl Harbor or 9/11 to get the citizens of this country back on track, working together for a truly United States. I think we have to remember the famous quote of the late President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country!” Volunteer if you can.

Isn’t it time for us, Democrats, Republicans and Independents, to become more aware of each others needs and stop being so rigid about party lines. We are lucky to live in the best country in the world, partly due to the efforts of “The Greatest Generation.” With cooperation and concern for those less fortunate this country cold be even better. No one in this country should have to go without food, shelter or medical care, but we should establish programs to educate and train those that feel they don’t have to in some way work for these benefits if physically able.

Thank You WW II vets for your service! We can only hope to live up to your example.

CONGRATULATIONS 2012 NaNoWriMo WINNER

Instead of being “all about me” I want to give a “Shout Out” and “Well Done” to my daughter who has participated in and completed the NaNoWriMo challenge for the second time.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and the challenge is to write a 50,000, that’s right, fifty thousand, word novel in the month of November. She has done this in 2010 and 2012 and I am so proud of her because I know from the experience of writing two books and trying to get a daily blog out each day just how hard it is to get that many words down on paper in a specific amount of time, especially when it’s only one month. I know this isn’t an easy time commitment for her with four children and all of their many activities and varied schedules. A big thanks to my daughter’s husband and Beth for all the help and support they give her while she is participating in this writing challenge.

She continues to ask me to participate in this challenge and perhaps I will next year when I once again am typing with both hands.

You are my writing inspiration

One Proud Dad

HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Home for the holidays means different things to different people and to me the meaning has changed as I journey through this life time. When I was a child it meant going to Grandma and Grandpa Baumann’s home on Christmas Day with the anticipation of presents and having our traditional German dinner of Sauerbraten, potato dumplings and spiced apple slices. My most memorable one was Christmas 1966. I had graduated from boot camp at Great Lakes, IL. On Dec. 21 and would be home for two weeks before going to my first duty station for six months in Pensacola, Florida. I not only got to celebrate the holidays at home, but also got to see many of my friends that I felt I probably would not see for a couple of years.

Christmas 1967 was spent in Taipei, Taiwan, half way around the world at my first duty station, being very home sick, but the group I was with since June managed to make the holidays memorable with many work and house parties and lots of treats at work. I went home on a 30 day leave in September of 1968 and met the love of my life on a blind date and got engaged eleven days later. Christmas 1968 was spent in Yokosuka, Japan where my ship, the U.S.S. Oklahoma City was home ported. Some of the guys had their families there so I volunteered to take a couple of extra watches so they could enjoy the holiday with their families. I remember feeling very sorry for myself because I would not be able to spend Christmas with my fiancée. I ended up eating Christmas dinner by myself at the base restaurant between watches. I had spent almost a weeks pay on a very satisfying phone call home to my fiancée where we told each other we would be together for the next one and all of the rest after that and we have for the last 43 years.

I took leave in June of 1969, flew home, got married and my wife went back to Japan with me as a Navy wife for the last year and a half of my Navy commitment. Home for the holidays, Christmas 1969 is probably one of my most memorable. We pulled into port in Yokosuka, Japan on December 21, I knew I would be off on December 25 and couldn’t wait to celebrate our first Christmas as husband and wife, even though we were apart from family and friends. Lauralyn had waited until I got home so we could put up our first Christmas tree together. Her mom had sent us a two foot high bottle brush tree that we put on our chow table in the front window and decorated with lights, ornaments and of course tinsel. Relatives had sent us so many presents that I wasn’t sure how we were going to get every thing home. We also had received about 50 Christmas cards that we opened together before Christmas and tacked up to one of the walls. Still one of my favorite pictures because it showed how much our relatives and friends cared for us. Our first Christmas will always be one of my most memorable, just because we were together.

I got out of the Navy in September 1970 and we couldn’t wait to get home to family and friends and spend Christmas with all of them. Before Christmas we had to do Thanksgiving and both families wanted us with them on that day. We ended up doing the whole turkey dinner at noon at my parents home and then again at my in-laws. We knew we had to do something different for Christmas because it was way too much food and way to much relative time all in one day. Luckily my parents usually did Christmas on Christmas Eve and her parents preferred to have theirs on Christmas Day so it was going to work out fine. Daughter came along in 1971 and son in 1975 and that put a whole new spin on home for the holidays. We enjoyed being with relatives, but we also wanted some alone time with the kids in our own home. We started to learn how to balance our time between everyone that wanted us with them and we really did enjoy the holidays.

Then came a work transfer to Green Bay, Wisconsin and a four to five hour road trip home to Milwaukee in the middle of normally snowy winter, with the car packed to the top and two kids, are we there yet? After six years I got transferred back to Milwaukee and lived in historic Cedarburg for the next ten years. It made the holidays so much easier and more enjoyable because we didn’t have the stress of the winter road trips. We were indeed once again home for the holidays.

Then came my last work transfer to Madison, Wisconsin and we ended up buying a home in Waunakee, Wisconsin about a two hour ride from parents and friends. It was easier for us now because the children were gone, there were just the two of us to road trip and the ride was only two hours. Grand children began entering our life in 1998 and that once again changed our Christmas get together. Along with the addition of grandchildren, the next generation, came the loss of our mothers and my dad. The memory of my mother’s passing about a week before Christmas and my Dad’s on January 1, has changed the meaning of home for the holidays, but it has gotten better for me with time and with knowing how all the grandkids look forward to Christmas as I did as a child.

For a while I cooked breakfast brunch with the entire family at our daughter’s home the weekend before or after Christmas because everyone had work commitments and everyone wanted to be at their own home for Christmas Day and it started a new tradition. In recent years we have gone back to having Christmas at my father-in-laws home because it is getting harder for him to travel and we want to make sure he is included.

So what does it mean to be “Home For The Holidays?” To me it means memories of holidays past, getting together with friends and family, enjoying good food, even if it’s no longer sauerbraten, lively conversation, very energetic children and just simply being together. We should never take these times together for granted because they are creating memories for our future generations and I‘m hoping they will all be fond memories. Only time will tell how or where future Christmas’s will be celebrated, but I know we will some how find a way to get together and in our hearts we will be “Home For The Holidays.

REMEMBERING JUNE 1965

It’s Saturday June 23, 2012 and I’m sitting in our family room watching the June Sprints from Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It brings back a lot of memories, even though it’s been 46 years since I’ve been there. I graduated from high school that June with friends that I had known since kindergarten.

I don’t remember who came up with the idea, but we decided to road trip to The Road America June Sprints, a sports car race, at Elkhart Lake, WI. At that time drinking beer at 18 was legal out side of Milwaukee County. We would be in Sheboygan county where it would be legal for us to drink beer. The first race was held there on June 23, 1950 for you trivia buffs. What could go wrong with a plan like this. One of our mothers even let us use their station wagon and camping equipment. Problem was that most of us had never camped outside our back yards. This caring mother even threw in a case of beer for the five of us to take along. Little did she know we already had a couple of cases of beer and a quart of liquor a piece stashed away in the car. If I remember correctly it was Tom, Jack, Ted, me and the other Tom or Geno. Sorry I can’t remember guys, but you know who you were and why I probably can’t remember.

We went there on Friday and found a camp site right on the lake a few miles from the track. Set up the tent, had some dinner, and drank moderately into the night probably telling lies about what we were going to do with our lives. The next morning came early and we wanted to get to the races. We all enjoyed the race and I for one was ready to buy a sports car. In our life times I think Jack owned a Austin Healy, I had an MGB and Ted had a corvette. I blame it on that weekend, although it was one of my favorite cars and I’d love to have it back now.

We went back to the camp ground after the races on Saturday and probably had a nice dinner over the camp fire. I say probably, because my memory gets a little foggy at this point. Three of the guys were going into town to check out the local girls and Jack and I volunteered to stay in camp and protect the liquid refreshments. You know how you sometimes make bad decisions in your life. This was probably one of my worst. Some where between the time the three left for town and returned, Jack and I almost finished a bottle of 151 proof Jamaican Rum. I don’t know why, but we thought they would be mad at us for drinking it all up so we took 7 Up and filled up the bottle thinking they wouldn’t notice the difference. I think our condition gave us away. Later that evening when they were walking us to keep us awake and probably alive, they explained that they found us sitting on the picnic table talking when they returned. That in itself would not have been so bad, but the picnic table was in the lake. Don’t know how it or we got there, but after that I should have learned that drinking too much never ends well. It took me a few more years to learn moderation and now I’m lucky to have a drink or two a week and never more than one if I’m driving.

　

It turned out to be the last time we were all together until I got married on June 28, 1969 and they were all part of my wedding party. No we did not do the June Sprints for a bachelor party because I arrived from Japan on leave just a couple of days before our wedding and that was probably a good thing. We got together a couple of years ago and reminisced about all those past memories, including our road trip to Road America. I’m happy to say I’m still in contact with these guys, although we don’t get together very often and hopefully we will all be together to celebrate our 50^th high school reunion in 2015. I’m thankful I still have friends that I have know for over 60 years. Thanks for the memories guys!