Soldiers’ Stories, Vol. II

After reading the Miller Family’s first volume OF SOLDIERS’ STORIES, I was excited to receive Volume # 2. I was not disappointed.

Not only was I, as usual, proud to see 4 pages of my own Father’s stories in print, but even discovered another member of the 11th Airborne Division represented among the other memoirs.

Most of my readers tell me that they find the personal stories and letters from my father and other veterans to be their favorite posts. In this book, readers are privileged to have over 300 pages of such tales.

The many photographs give you a personal perspective, both humorous and educational, of a time that dramatically altered the entire world. Men and women alike are included in this well constructed journal for the generation we are so quickly losing.

Every branch of service, in each theater of operation, is represented…

Those with national health insurance can read this and chuckle. For the rest of us . . . .

An article appeared today in Employee Business News regarding consumer bias against high deductible health plans (HDHPs), and that these plans represent a better value than traditional plans for many people.(1)

That may be true if

1. You have a choice about the type of plan.
2. You have access to a Health Savings Account or other tool to pay the expenses the HDHP doesn’t.
3. You have the money to put into a Health Savings or Health Reimbursement Account without impacting what you need for rent or food.
4. And/or you have a pile of cash and can self-insure against what HDHPs don’t pay.

In other words, if you healthy and rich, an HDHP may make sense. Or concierge care. Or self-insurance.

When people talk about how good a health insurance plan is, they…

Main complex for Unit 731

Warning !!  There are pictures in this post that may be very upsetting.  

In the 1930s-‘40s, the Japanese Empire committed atrocities across Asia, such as the Rape of Nanking. German crimes such as human medical testing committed in concentration camps tend to receive more attention than Japan’s crimes against humanity, as more research has been done and more historians have spent time looking back and studying these horrific acts. However, the Japanese too played a part in human medical testing in a secret project called Unit 731.

Begun in 1937, Unit 731, located in Harbin, China, was created with legitimate intentions by the Japanese government. Started as an agency to promote public health, Unit 731 was meant to conduct research that would benefit Japanese soldiers, such as learning more about the ways in which the human body can withstand hunger and thirst and fight diseases…

Desmond Doss

The President of the United States, in the name of Congress, awarded more than 3,400 Medals of Honor to the Nation’s bravest Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard personnel, since the decoration’s creation in 1861!

This article was compiled from a variety of resources to honor one such person…

Desmond T. Doss:

Desmond T. Doss was born on February 7, 1919 in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA as Desmond Thomas Doss. He was married to Frances Duman and Dorothy Schutte. He died on March 23, 2006 in Piedmont, Alabama, USA.

Doss receives Medal of Honor from Pres. Truman

Rank & Unit: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry Regiment, 77th Infantry Division
Place & Date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945

He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion, 77th Infantry Division assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As the…

n a dramatic painting by Roy Grinnell, Lieutenant (j.g.) Willis Hardy, a member of Crosby’s VF-17 Squadron from the carrier USS Hornet, flames a Japanese kamikaze plane that was on its way to attack the American naval task force off Okinawa, April 6, 1945. The Hellcat’s distinctive “white checkerboard” markings show it belongs to the USS Hornet (CV12).

As Ted Crosby watched, Yamato’s giant, 18-inch guns hit the water, their enormous weight probably helping the battleship capsize. Suddenly, Yamato’s No. 1 magazine exploded, sending up a huge coil of smoke and flame that could be seen for over 100 miles. It was a strange foretaste of the atomic mushroom clouds that would envelope Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months later.

Watching from above, Crosby had no feeling of elation. “I was thinking of the Japanese crew,” he said in a 2011 interview. “Three thousand lives lost.”  As a former…

Att ständigt få ryggdunkar glada hejarop! bra jobbat härliga gjort du är bäst osv! ja det glädjer mig oerhört! men jag kommer ingen stans med det jag stampar kvar där på min samma plats! den snälle den arbetsamme den som man alltid kan lite på! jag följer regler och lagar och gör det som ska göras! Men det värker i hjärtat när man ständigt ser sig bli överkörd utnyttjad och på annat sätt få fördelar av att tänja på regler ta genvägar och så vidare! varför ska man bli straffad för att man spelar efter livets regler! och inte bara tar enklaste vägen, och inte är den som hörs och syns mest! det svider när det är alltid den som inte är så nogräknad vinner! ja livet är inte rättvist, men jag har i alla fall ett hjärta som säger att jag gör rätt när jag foljer regler och visar…

Method: 1 Cut pomegranates.  Gently pull seeds away from the white centers.

2. Place all seeds in a glass container

3. Pour the alcohol over the seeds.  Close the lid. Let it age for two weeks  in a cool dark place.

4. After 2 weeks, heat the water with the sugar . Disolve very well

5. Strain through fine wire mesh and discard all the seeds.

6. Pour the cold syrup into the liqueur and mix with a spoon

7. Tranfer in a clean glass bottle.

It is ready to be served alone or added to cocktails such 1 to 1 with vodka or 1 to 1 with sparkling wine and cinnamon syrup.   With tequila and cranberry juice. You can added it in a  glass of warm red and spiced sangria (mulled wine) to accompany roasted chestnuts. The possibilities for use are endless. Enjoy!