Philip Spiess

To be honest, Larry, not having any Jack Daniel's in the house, I was swigging Jameson Irish Whiskey, having discovered we had two unopened bottles in the house (thanks to my son).  But, as you've tackled onto, I wax most nostalgic about the dear old halcyon days in Cincinnati after midnight and after my second nightcap.  It was, after all, Mark Twain who said, "Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough."  (And, as a follow-up to the next morning, it was jazz musician Eddie Condon who said, "For a bad hangover take the juice of two quarts of whisky.")  As to brownies, you'll notice that most recipes refer to one of the ingredients as a chocolate "bar"!

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Phil darling - are you about a Level 3 hoarder or do you just have a house the size of Califormia? I put myself at about Level 2 hoarder. I can't get rid of stuff from happier times, and books - hoo ha, another level entirely.....

Philip Spiess

Judy:  We live in the modest one-floor Rambler that we've lived in since we got married (1978).  It was to be our "starter" home, but it's convenient to downtown Washington, Old Town Alexandria (VA), and the mountains of the Shenandoah Valley (I've canoed the Shenandoah River many times), so we're still here.  A few years after we moved in, we enclosed the carport to make it into the library, given that my folks were moving from the house I grew up in in Cincinnati, and some 40 boxes of my books were headed our way.  The library collection has continued to grow (I calculate some 10,000 volumes, though a number of them are narrow pamphlets); the third bedroom has been for many years the library stacks.  Then there is the "museum objects" collection -- weird historical impedimenta that I used in all of the years I taught Museum Studies and later when I taught 5th and 6th Grade History (but we had built cabinets in the library to house that!) -- we won't discuss the sound recordings collection (cylinder, 78 rpm, 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, tape, CD, etc.), or the slide collection (historical architecture and engineering, historical images of museums, and the "history of the bathroom" images), or the classic movie collection (VHS, DVD, etc.), or the liquor collection -- being a Cultural Historian is hard work (yeah, right!).

So that would seem to make me some sort of a hoarder, wouldn't it?  I keep hoping my wife has given up on the idea of my "weeding" the book collection before we retire to New England (after my mother passes) ("But dear, now that I'm retired, I'm planning to use all of those books in my research and writing!").  On the other hand, I have started sorting through and getting rid of some 50 years of paper files and records, so I guess I'm not too far gone (but you saw I still had those WHHS math pad covers, didn't I?)!

Other "hoarders" in our midst?

Nelson Abanto

To Larry Klein, Evan Burkholder, Urulee Watson and all other Marines in the class:

Happy Birthday!

"Every day's a holiday, every meal's a banquet."

David Buchholz

Speaking of Marines..

George Bush declared war on Iraq on March 20, 2003. Five days later Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick O'Day's tank overturned and this twenty year old from Santa Rosa was the first California soldier to pay the ultimate price. In the midst of the media circus that surrounded his funeral I was asked by the family to record the day's events for them and his pregnant widow. In this photograph his widow is presented with the flag that covered his casket, a meaningful and appropriate reminder of the real meaning of Veterans' Day.

Larry Klein

I'll second Nelson's birthday wishes for all the Marines in the class of '64.  Also best wishes for all our Veterans on Tuesday for Veteran's Day.  Enjoy all the free meals.  I hope to get to the casino for the buffet.  Last year I nearly got snowed in down there.

Here's another shot from our observation hill #142 in the An Hoa Valley south of Da Nang.  I had an aerial observer checking out some suspicious activity in the valley and asked him to fly by for my platoon.

Philip Spiess

All:  Although I was not in the military (blind luck:  my eyes apparently kept me out of the Vietnam draft), I applaud all of you veterans on Veterans Day.  May I add an historical note?  When I was down in the grades (this is probably true for most of you, too), the holiday was still known as "Armistice Day," referring to November 11, 1918, when the cease-fire sealed the conclusion of World War I.  As many of you no doubt know, the surrender (capitulation) of the German forces to the Allied forces, particularly those of France, was signed in a railway car at Compiegne, France, an act which the Germans (particularly Hindenberg) later called "the stab in the back."  The French premier, Clemenceau, especially revelled in this surrender, seeing it as the rival force majeure to the Germans' defeat of the French in the Franco-Prussian War, and thus the railway car was preserved at Compiegne as an historical landmark and war memorial.  Which is why Hitler, in 1940, on conquering France, forced the French to sign the articles of surrender in the very same railway car at Compiegne (there are movies and photographs of him actually executing a little dance when the French signed).  After the signing and the press pictures, Hitler had the railway car removed to a museum in Berlin, where it was destroyed by Allied bombing in the last days of World War II.  O tempora!  O mores!  ("So geht es alles in eine fremde Stadt!").

Philip Spiess

Hmm!!  Nelson:  I'm suspecting your phrase:  "Where every day's a holiday, and every meal's a banquet!" is something from Marine training.  Curiously, it was also central to my fraternity's (Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji) pledge class Hell Week experience!

Laura Reid (Pease)

A day to honor all who have served, including my Dad, my Father-in-law (WW2, Navy) and my husband, (Vietnam, Navy).

Thank you also to all in the class of '64 who helped preserve our freedom; we honor you all today and every day!!!

God Bless America!

Evan Burkholder

Thanks, Nelson! Happy Birthday, Devil Dogs!

Nelson Abanto

No, Phil, that one belongs to us.  I expect one of your fraternity brothers had been a Marine.

And David, that scene which you photographed is painfully familiar.  When I think back on those days, I have many beautiful memories but I also have so many painful memories.  I guess that's part and parcel to the whole experience.  The experience defined me, but it came at great cost.

Philip Spiess

Well, of course, you're right, Nelson, as I actually said in my statement.  And I had a number of Marines among my fraternity brothers; I suspect, however, that the phrase we're discussing came from World War II veterans in my fraternity.  Studying history even then, I learned that many of the 1950s Fijis at Hanover College were there as a result of the GI Bill; they were older and wiser than the other undergraduates, and very experienced in life -- as you might guess; I'm sure they introduced the phrase.  Anyway, it was something of a shock (surprise?) to see it again (as I have had no military experience, but only the fraternity pledge experience) after all these years.

[Nota bene:  My grand nephew, my younger niece's son, graduated last spring from the Naval Academy; he is about to go into the submarine corps, but first, he is the star of the Naval Academy's Rugby team, and may become part of the first U. S. Olympic Rugby team; we're waiting to see.]

Evan:  Good looking picture!  Weren't you a philosophy major in college?  Did you ever do anything with it?

David Buchholz

As an inverse to Phil's comments, which are often responses, clarifications, explanations, and supplemental information to comments that precede his, I read the comments, then turn to images....Phil's great nephew is the star of the Naval Academy Rugby Team.   This is one of my favorite rugby photographs—a post game team shot from 1998, taken with a real camera and real film. (John, my son, is standing, second from left).

Paul Simons

Looks a lot like you at that age Dave.

John Danner

Paul is right, he does look like you

Philip Spiess

Dave:  Since you've been kind enough to mention him, my great-nephew with the Naval Academy rugby team is Rickey Neel Feller. 

David Buchholz

OK, now it's rugby...I lied about that last photograph being my favorite rugby photograph.  I think this might be.  This was taken two years ago in a match in Bermuda as the US played France.  All of the players were members of their country's national teams, most of whom played in at least one World Cup.  It began to sprinkle.  My kid has the ball.  

Michael Hunting

Can't look like Dave....NO FLAT-TOP!

Richard Winter (Winter)

Thinking of Veterans Day and all the classmates who have been mentioned here -- or describe military service in their profile -- I am deeply moved by the service you have given to our country.   

I think also of my father-in-law, who flew many missions over Germany in World War II; the uncles (my wife's and mine), who served in North Africa, the North Atlantic, the Pacific and all around the world.  And others in the family who served in other ways:  my brother-in-law, who served as a doctor in forward locations in Vietnam; and, my father, a mechanical engineer, who spent World War II working 12-hour days, six and seven days a week, building the tanks and planes we needed to fight the war.    

So many of us share a family story something like that.  

Here are some excerpts from the last speech at West Point by General Douglas MacArthur:

Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; .... These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.

You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. ... The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

This does not mean that you are war mongers.

On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."¹

The shadows are lengthening for me. ...But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.

Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

For anyone in the class who did service for our country -- whether in the Marines, the Army or any other branch -- I am immensely grateful.     

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

I am touched by the postings about our classmates who served in the military. My father served in WWII as well as 4 of my uncles.  My husband served during Vietnam, only escaping being deployed to Nam by a last minute need for someone with his MOS in Europe.  My brother and my son also enlisted in the service and served.  It seems to be the defining experience of all their lives.  Today we lost my sister's husband.  He died from squamous cell carcinoma ( skin cancer). He was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago.  He was the only family member we had who served in Vietnam.  Fred was exposed to agent orange while there, and his disease was the result of that exposure.  I am proud to say this brave but very modest man was my brother in law.  To all of you who served, thank you. 

Philip Spiess

Richard:  Thanks for quoting Gen. Douglas MacArthur.  He was my very first hero (at the age of five), and his speeches are truly eloquent.  His tomb (and museum) in Norfolk, Virginia, is worth a visit.

David Buchholz

Susan, I'm very sorry to hear about your loss.  You have had more than your share.

Paul Simons

Just thinking about war and military service. I didn't go. It was Vietnam, right after college, and at the draft physical a knee recently injured in a motorcycle accident kept me out. I was glad - knew I would probably not do well. It appeared then and appears now to be a concentrated transformative experience. If you served and came back with life and limb intact, it seems to have provided inner strength, inner discipline, self confidence, all useful in life. Those who lost life or limb or mental clarity, and their families and loved ones, paid an enormous price for everyone else that benefits from what this country provides. Either way thank you all for your courageous actions. We all want to put an end to war but look around, it appears that the kind of evil that can be stopped only by overwhelming force rises up constantly. Those of you that are warriors will always be needed.

Susan Patterson (Schramm)

Thank you, Dave.  My reason for posting about my brother inlaw's death was to say that even those who returned from the war with body intact are not immune to the later effects that may arise long after the war.  They are due our lasting gratitude for their sacrifice.  

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

Susan, I echo David's sentiments. May you and your family remain strong as you grieve your brother-in-law's passing. We all hold you in our thoughts and prayers. My best, Gail