tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69704988087041708212024-03-05T08:46:27.095-06:00Inspiration and Meditations Prompted by WWII Nurses, Humble Heroes & HomefrontThoughts inspired by the lives and ideals of parents, relatives and friends during WW II.Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-21899253927393503982015-05-07T21:35:00.001-05:002015-05-07T21:41:15.402-05:00
VE DAY
Here in Kansas we are
finally getting lovely spring rains.
Flowers and garden look so much happier than they did a week ago.
Unfortunately the moisture is probably too late for much of the wheat crop. Farming---a very difficult, risky profession with
often intangible rewards. The peaceful mornings and evenings, seeing wondrous
sunrises Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-7456513247427370682015-05-06T15:36:00.002-05:002015-05-06T15:40:05.149-05:00
Never Say Never
Last Friday evening/night
I traveled from St. Louis home to Hutchinson. The evening was beautiful, and
the ride relaxing and inspiring as we chugged along the Missouri River on a
tranquil spring evening. A year ago, I
swore, even with a complimentary ticket, I would never again ride Amtrak after a
horrendous trip --- 9 hours just from St. Louis to KC. (That is a longGerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-30590322876504724032015-04-16T09:56:00.000-05:002015-04-16T09:56:25.945-05:00
Liberation of Buchenwald ---continued
<!--[if gte vml 1]>
<![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->This famous picture of prisoners of Buchenwald was taken
70 years ago today. Reading the date of
the photo on different sites, I wondered why the prisoners were still in these
dreadful bunks five days after the camp was Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-83208756171094445432015-04-13T12:56:00.001-05:002015-04-13T13:02:46.935-05:00Buchenwald Liberated
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do
nothing. &Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-13656512443012073432015-04-08T14:09:00.002-05:002015-04-08T14:09:52.057-05:00When Books Went to War
75
Years Ago—Apr. 8, 1940: Gallup poll: 84% of Americans want Allies to win, 2% want German victory, only 23% want US to join war.
I
found the above information quite interesting.
On second thought, realizing how many Americans in the area where I was
raised were only 1 generation from being born in German, it is almost
surprising that more were not Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-5956518931537477752015-04-01T20:41:00.001-05:002015-04-01T20:41:23.510-05:00
On April 1st, 1940
the British Minister of Food announces Dig for Victory campaign to
encourage growing food at home.
Reading that note reminded me of my parents’ garden.
They would have laughed at the idea someone had to suggest growing a garden.
They would also have laughed at how clean the gardener on the poster looked. When
we came from the garden, we used to be covered w/ dust Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-16586431328803767422015-03-25T10:51:00.003-05:002015-04-13T12:59:57.126-05:00
Today is the 70th
anniversary of the final strategic mission flown by the 15th Air
Force stationed in Italy. “ 650 bombers hit Prague and
Cheb, Czechoslovakia.” Can you imagine seeing that many bombers in the
sky overhead and the devastation they would cause?
My uncle Ben Wetta was part
of this group. He was lead pilot on 16
of 34 missions, each of which was made up of 24-Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-19189662677049210652015-03-23T15:45:00.002-05:002015-03-23T15:45:47.963-05:00
Springtime---time for new birth
With
the new season, I'm turning over a new leaf and am resurrecting my
blog---FOR REAL---this time. If you have checked in anytime in the past 3 ½ years,
I apologize for disappearing. After trying to spread myself too thin, I made a
decision to focus on finishing the manuscript for my book before I tried to
consistently post to a blog and not do eitherGerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-62357969316328390862012-06-06T22:51:00.000-05:002012-06-08T14:18:40.164-05:00Uncle Willie and the Merchant Marines
Uncle Willie and Aunt Anna
have also found a way to sneak into the book I am writing. Amazing how my muse
or the spirits of so many people seem to be telling me what needs to be in the
story. Last evening I finally visited with my cousin, Duane, about his dad’s
military service during WWII, and I was surprised with what I learned, not only
about Willie, but about a branch of the military that IGerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-52289106190926933452012-05-15T15:09:00.001-05:002012-05-21T09:01:30.071-05:00Relieving Stress
When I’ve
had an especially stressful day,
relaxing in a nice warm bath is the most wonderful way to ease my mind and wash
away worries and put problems aside, for at least a little while. No matter
what has happened with students or other concerns in my life, I doubt that I
will ever experience the stress the pilots of WW II faced during each mission.
Not only did they have to fly for Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-10276016629796136582012-05-01T11:53:00.001-05:002012-05-01T12:26:45.378-05:00Wrong Perceptions Amazing how the media colors our thoughts
and perceptions, and we presume we know something only to learn that we are
completely wrong. In any movies I‘ve seen about WW II, even old ones, the pilots
lived in barracks, not fancy, but at least offering a little protection.
Reading the little details we have about Uncle Ben’s life while stationed in
Italy, that “knowledge” was Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-37484478604115911872012-04-30T13:46:00.000-05:002012-04-30T14:55:20.760-05:00Ben Wetta---inspiration
Why Don’t You Write?
Sounds like
the beginning of a letter from a neglected friend or lover to most people, but
it was the question of the day of a writers’ blog that I enjoy. . . My first
answer is that I get too busy, but then I realize that I allow myself to be so
busy because I don’t take myself seriously as a writer, even after receiving a
small check and Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0Hutchinson, KS USA38.272688535980969 -101.95312516.577933535980968 -142.3828125 59.967443535980969 -61.5234375tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-46475364848667604932012-04-12T14:22:00.001-05:002012-04-12T14:41:56.365-05:00Beautiful Gifts My Excuse for Blogging AbsenceWe have been graced with two beautiful new grandchildren in the past six months. Both are the third child in the family, so they arrived to much love. Since helping family and friends is fundamental in my life, lending a hand with these angels has taken precedence over writing. Because Mom still relished caressing “those precious little hands” of babies when she died two years ago, I know Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-81320944004762034522012-04-10T13:56:00.001-05:002012-04-10T15:18:07.826-05:00Honoring Military Veterans
Well Golly! The last time I wrote I said I would add to the blog every week---that was the end of October! It is now the end of March. In the meantime life and dedication to family has been more essential for me than writing the blog. I guess this is meaningful because the people who are the central component of my book held family, church, and country as most important in their lives. Family Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-91319473098864225072011-10-09T13:20:00.000-05:002011-10-11T11:51:47.543-05:00Back to bloggingIt is raining! I will take the rain, after months seeing no real precipitation, as motivation to renew this blog that has become stagnate while I worked on finishing the novel. The first and part of the 2nd draft are finished, and I am in the process of major revisions. Rereading some sections, I often think, Was I asleep while writing this? It is awful! This is humbling work, always Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-40119222231449431162011-10-09T13:04:00.000-05:002011-10-09T13:04:05.134-05:00
Father John McHugh---WWII POWA few months ago, my daughter Kristine called to tell me that she had met someone who had to be included in this book (at that time, I was still thinking “short story). She had been to a dear friend, Bernadette Cathers Valsquez, wedding, and had met Fr. John McHugh. Kristine told me that Fr. John is a riot, and so personable to visit with, but that was Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-29498734968229493292011-07-11T10:21:00.000-05:002011-10-07T17:11:16.014-05:00Aggie (Agnes Beat)--laughing flight nurseRemember when we were really young, and anyone 10 years older was OLD. Remember when we were 40, and 75 was old. You get the picture--age is so relative.
Last week Aggie--beautiful blonde soldier pictured on this blog---came over to play cards with some other friends. We never did play cards; we got too busy visiting and laughing so much, and enjoying each othersGerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-91926482692934484082011-07-05T09:49:00.000-05:002011-10-07T17:12:27.642-05:00Mom---"a complicated character"I recently entered the first two chapters of the book I am endeavoring to write in a national contest, and I had been notified a couple of months ago that it was a finalist. Received notice last week that it did not win, but the wonderful thing was the notice came with critiques for improvement---something I really welcome. However, these were not very helpful.
One Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6970498808704170821.post-14832185434439269142011-06-23T19:05:00.000-05:002011-07-11T20:26:45.028-05:00Honoring unsung heroes and heroinesHi All,
Ever since I read Tom Brokaw's wonderful book The Greatest Generation which details the sacrifices of military men (mostly), I have felt that a book needed to be written about the people on the homefront and what they did to keep the war machine moving. I know some books have been published, but none had the stories that my parents told--some funny, some poignant. What Gerrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08564016487050674546noreply@blogger.com0