Thanks, Joe and Joanne!!

Here is the story of the Battle of Antietam.

Antietam resulted in nine times as many Americans killed or wounded (23,000 soldiers) as took place on June 6, 1944--D-day, the so-called "longest day" of World War II.* Also consider that more soldiers were killed and wounded at the Battle of Antietam than the deaths of all Americans in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, and Spanish-American War combined.

Read this   Battle of Antietam

It must have been an awesome scene!

Submitted by Warren Mooers

PHOTOS NEEDED

Any photos of any of the
first four reunions
would be greatly appreciated.

Photos can be e-mailed,
preferably as jpegs or gifs:
To: Jim Saldutti

Flag Made of Flowers!

Each star is 24 feet in diameter; Each stripe is 30 feet wide.

This Flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants with 4-5 flower stems each for a total of more than 2 million flowers.

You can drive by this flag on V Street,  south of Ocean Ave. in  Lompoc, CA.  

Photo courtesy of Bill Morson

 
Before You Go

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood. Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach , Fla., eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man,
"Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot.

The mournful "Before You Go" does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. "Every ethnic minority would be dead. And the soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry,"wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss "the unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzi o, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web. They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington. Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web.  They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.
 
 
Turn up your volume and please visit:
http:beforeyougo.us

Wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery at Christmas Time

Today, dear Lord, I'm 80 and there's much I haven't done,
I hope, dear Lord, you'll let me live, until I'm 81

But then, if I haven't finished all I want to do,
Would you let me stay awhile, until I'm 82.

So many places I want to go, so very much to see.
Do you think that you could manage, to make it 83.

The world is changing very fast, there's just so much in store,
I'd like it very much to live until I'm 84.

And if by then I'm still alive,
I'd like to stay till 85.

More planes will be up in the air, so I'd really like to stick.
And see what happens to the world, when I'm 86

I know dear Lord, it's much to ask, (and it must be nice in heaven)
But I certainly would like to stay, until I'm 87.

I know by then I won't be fast, and sometimes will be late,
But it truly would be pleasant, to be here at 88.

I will have seen so many things and had a wonderful time,
So I'm sure that I'll be willing, to leave at 89……..maybe.

                                                                         Mark Corcoran

Submitted by another good friend, DON TRACY - shipmate, U.S.S. Harry Lee