Lost for decades, a World War II hero comes home to L.A. – Los Angeles Times

A tombstone with an American flag planted in front of it sits in a cemetery. Last year, Jacob Cruz’s niece received a phone call at work: Her uncle was coming home. The news was so impossible to believe that she hung up to gather herself.

A telegram from the United States Marines said the 18-year-old private was killed in action but divulged little else. The ongoing Pacific campaign meant Jacob would be buried in a temporary grave in the Tarawa atoll, where he and more than 1,000 other Marines and sailors died fighting the Imperial Japanese Army.

Weeks turned into months and into years. The military finally admitted it couldn’t find Jacob’s burial place. His name was etched at the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.

On March 24 at the Los Angeles International Airport, a contingent of Marines, Los Angeles police officers and airport workers stood silently alongside the Cruz family as the flag-draped casket descended from an airplane.

Mike pushed his mother in a wheelchair so she could be the first to welcome back Jacob. She gently touched the casket with her hand.

“To have a sibling that still remembers one of these soldiers is rare,” said Windish, who accompanied the family that day. “Ruth was holding my hand and looking into my soul. She kept saying, ‘Thank you so much for bringing my brother back.’”

Isaac Cruz III shows his tattoo on his arm that reads "Jacob Cruz" and "1925-1943"

Source: Lost for decades, a World War II hero comes home to L.A. – Los Angeles Times

Eye Witness Account to Okinawa

Pacific Paratrooper

This story was contributed by fellow blogger, Mike Tuggle, in tribute to his father, who sailed his final voyage this past Saturday.

My account of the Invasion of Okinawa

By:  Clayton C. Tuggle

I was one of the approximately twelve hundred men aboard the USS Birmingham CL-62. We set out for Okinawa in March, 1945.

Clayton Tuggle

Arriving in Okinawa, we were stationed about five miles from shore. We bombarded the island with 6-inch guns at night hitting several ammunition dumps and shore guns of several sizes. This went on until the invasion began on April 1, 1945. This battle was something entirely different from any the Navy had experienced. Torpedoes were exploding all around our ship, the skies were full of explosions from guns on both sides.

On the 5th of May, 1945, I was cleaning officers’ quarters when the captain [John Wilkes] came on the PA system…

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Derinchi

Weekend Stories by Trishikh

Derinchiwas your everyday midget – the but-end of ‘short’ jokes. A daily dose of entertainment for the village bullies. Growing up with short stature, the dwarf had learnt to live a life of indifference and mockery. Take his name for instance -Der-inchi,which meant one-and-a-half-inch in the native tongue, was enough to add fuel to the constant misery in his ‘minuscule’ existence.

His small and obscure villageGhuti, a tiny dot in the foothills of Eastern Himalayas, was cut off from the rest of humanity by the 315 Km long and mightyTeestariver. Connectivity was also missing in terms of telephone or internet, which were pretty rare for the surrounding geography in the early eighties.

The only thing that connected this pristine and secluded hamlet to the rest of the world was a two-hundred-foot-long, meter wide, pinewood planked, steel cable anchored, swaying suspension bridge. This marvel…

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Omul din La Mancha

Designated in the cultural circuit as the capital of Spanish abstract art, Cuenca emerges in the wilderness of the Castilla La Mancha region from a majestic and intimidating place.

ore de drum

Cuenca, 2017

Venea din Manila și ținea morțiș să se instaleze în Spania cu vasta lui colecție de artă contemporană. Era prin anii 50, când la Cuenca abia că începeau să se renoveze clădirile dărăpănate de război și sărăcie.

Desemnat în circuitul cultural drept capitala artei abstracte spaniole, Cuenca se ivește în pustietățile regiunii Castilla La Mancha dintr-un nicăieri majestuos și intimidant.

Mă încântă amplasarea neobișnuită a orașului construit de mauri în secolul 7 pe o stâncă, într-un defileu îngust, suspendat în timp și spațiu. În acest masiv calcaros, eroziunea a desenat himerele care i-au înflăcărat imaginația lui don Quijote, ca și cum destinul a vrut să prefigureze identitatea acestei așezări deloc banale.

În timpul medieval, principala activitate a comunității a fost prelucrarea textilă începută în jurul anilor 1100, când era cetate arăbească. Prin secolele 15-16, atinsese nivelul maxim de prosperitate, iar în secolul 17 a survenit declinul. Omul care…

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Jane Goodall — Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

O ser humano é uma criatura extraordinária, mas o modo como ele chegou aonde está não importa. A evolução por si mesma não têm sentido se não formos capazes de fazer coisas grandes com o que somos agora.” Jane Goodall aamenteemaravilhosa.com.br Marii Freire Pereira https://pensamentos.me/ VEM comigo! imagem: Pinterest. Flickr Santarém, Pá 16 de abril […]

Jane Goodall — Pensamentos.me/VEM comigo!

The human being is an extraordinary creature, but the way he got to where he is does not matter. Evolution itself is meaningless if we are not able to do big things with what we are now. ”

Kindness – Wisdom💥 Gandhi ~ Lesson

“Mr. Gandhi, if you were walking down the street and found a package, and within was a bag of wisdom and another bag with a lot of money, which one would you take?”

Without hesitating, Gandhi responded, “The one with the money, of course.”

 Mr. Peters, smiling sarcastically, said, “I, in your place, would have taken wisdom, don’t you think?

Gandhi shrugged indifferently and responded, “Each one takes what he doesn’t have.”

Wit always wins over anger.

Source: Kindness – Wisdom💥

« En l’absence du sacré, tout est à vendre. » “In the absence of the sacred, everything is for sale.”— Barbara Crane Navarro

Forêt tropicale le long du fleuve Orénoque, Amazonas, Venezuela – photo: Barbara Crane Navarro «L’environnement n’est pas par ici. L’environnement n’est pas là-bas. Vous êtes l’environnement. Ce que vous appelez vos ressources naturelles, nos gens appellent nos parents. » – Oren Lyons, Nation Seneca Nous devons à nouveau adorer la forêt, les rivières, le ciel […]

« En l’absence du sacré, tout est à vendre. » — Barbara Crane Navarro

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