14 JUL 09

The 4th came... and went... quietly, this year.
There was no family get-together, as has been the norm in past years.
The wife and I watched, "A Capital Fourth" and Macy's fireworks display
on TV... then went, tiredly, to bed.
I did remember our anniversary though!
Surprised her with pearls.
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Last week, I happened to be watching The History Channel this one particular day.
First, there was a program on the WWII battle for Okinawa.
This was followed by a program detailing Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa."
As it happens, I knew people who were participants in both.
My step-father, Don, was with the First Marine Division in 1945
and while in Berlin, I lived next door to a former Wehrmacht tank driver who was with the Panzer Divisions that invaded Russia in 1941.
My step-father survived the battle and returned home to continue his education
at Princeton University. He was to become a chief managing engineer at RCA and
lead the team which developed the ranging radar for the Lunar Module (Known, then, as the Lunar Excursion Module, or LEM.) on the Apollo Eleven (and susequent) missions.
My Berlin neighbor, Heinz, was less fortunate. He was captured by the Russians and spent seven years as a POW.
When I knew him, he worked as a security guard at the
Berlin airports (First, at Tempelhof... later, at Tegel).
Neither spoke much of their war experiences but would answer a specific question,
if asked. I never did pry though. They are both gone now... merged with history.
And I think it almost passing strange that I am a living link to both.

That's it for today.

'Til later, folks.
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AND YET... some more musings...

Three of my grandchildren were here, with their mother, yesterday afternoon.
I always pay attention to their doings and whatever it is they say.
I find them ever interesting and almost always entertaining.

Why is that?

From the book, "The Kalahari Typing School For Men," by Alexander McCall Smith:
"They are all different," agreed Mma Potokwane. "Brother and sister - it makes no difference. The recipe for each child is just for that child, even if it is the same mother and father... Every child is different."

Based on close, personal, observation... truer words were never written.

-Fini