You Are Alone When Trouble Comes

Here’s a great post by Michael Kennedy on the murder of 30 British tourists in Tunisia.

Back on The Verandah…………………………….For Buck

Many will understand
It was something that was part of the bond between MSgt Buck and I. It was time again.

Among The Joshua Trees

It has been too long since I did a Beer Blogging Post from The Verandah at Casa de Glenn y Sharon………………..

Too Long

It wasn’t the same without The Exile In Portales…………………………………………….

Yes, the eyes are a bit misty now……………………..as I think of my dear friend who is no longer with us……………..and I do think of him regularly

The first Verandah Post this year is for the memory of our friend and one of my blogging mentors……………………..Master Sergeant Buck Pennington……………………………May His Memory Be A Blessing

Red Hook ESB and a Cuesta Rey Captiva

Back on The Verandah at Casa de Sharon y Glenn

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A true hero has flown West

Nels Tanner died last week and will be buried in Covington, Tennessee on June 16th.

Maybe you don’t know about Nels.

Here’s his story.
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Hero of Vietnam War, Cmdr. Nels Tanner, dies

Cmdr. Charles Nels Tanner, 82, a hero of the Vietnam War and Covington, Tenn., native, who endured torture at the hands of the Vietcong in the dreaded Hanoi Hilton during his six and a half years of captivity, died today in Florida.

Patriot Park in Covington was created to honor his legacy of service and valor. He is survived by his wife Sara Ann. The family is coming to Covington to make funeral arrangements over the weekend. He is expected to be buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

Tanner was tortured while imprisoned, including having his shoulders pulled from their sockets until he couldn’t use his arms. He proved to be an embarrassment for the Vietcong leaders, noting in a written confession for war crimes that he recalled two pilots would not bomb innocent civilians, a Lt. Clark Kent, the alter ego of the character Superman, and Lt. Ben Casey, a television character who was a surgeon and the centerpiece of a medical drama at the time.

Tanner’s confession was released and a Japanese journalist was brought in to interview him and another prisoner of war. While talking to the Japanese journalist, they deliberately stuffed their mouths with food in the manner of famished men to imply to the journalist that they were starving (in fact, living on a diet of soup, they nearly were). The interview also proved terribly embarrassing for the Vietcong leaders.

Once the interview was released and the confession was revealed to be a fake, Tanner endured more torture at the hands of his captors.

His grit and unbreakable spirit in the face of that kind of torture led to Tanner being called one of the “Alcatraz Eleven” or the “Alcatraz Gang,” names used by the U.S. media to describe 11 high-level captives in the Hanoi Hilton as being unbreakable by the enemy and who were noted as being leaders of a resistance movement. The name came from making an association with the toughest prison in Vietnam and the infamous U.S. prison off the coast of San Francisco.

Born in 1932 and raised in Covington, Nels Tanner entered the Aviation Cadet Program in the U.S. Navy in 1953. The next year, he graduated as an Ensign and later that year was designated as a Naval Aviator. For his first assignment, he was stationed in Alameda, Calif., and he remained there until 1959 when he went to Moffett Field, Calif., where he eventually served as an F-8 Crusader instructor pilot. By mid-1960, he was in Miramar, Calif., and was stationed there until 1965 when he was deployed to Southeast Asia.

While flying missions there, he was shot down and taken as a prisoner of war on Oct. 9, 1966.

He spent 2,339 days in captivity, nearly six and a half years, before he was released during Operation Homecoming on March 4, 1973, when he returned to the Naval Air Station in Millington after spending some time recovering from injuries.

His last assignment was as the Chief of Staff of Foreign Training in Pensacola, Fla. He retired from his storied career on Oct. 1, 1985.

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Rest in peace, Commander. We salute you.

A Quick And Memorable Learning Experience

Over at OldAFSarge’s site, he is talking about the time he almost went into the Army, but for some stubborn recruiters. Don’t know why it stirred an unrelated Army memory in me, but it did.

Come to think of it, there was for many years a retired psychologist in my car club. He wasn’t just any psychologist, but worked with felons in the California Dept of Corrections. He told me that he thought I was an interesting study.

While I think the observation was funny, it’s probably best not to delve to deeply as to why he thought I was interesting .

Something To Ponder if You’re Having A Bad Day….

Lexicans RV at Duxford, Cambridgeshire

Took the opportunity to meet Comjam a couple of weeks ago. He was on a visit to Air Expo 2015 and so a meeting was on the cards. When he advised me of his visit to Duxford, a mere 80 minute hop on my trusty motorcycle, the die was cast:

Cirrus arrives on a beautiful day, a little crosswind, but otherwise perfect.

An international incident over the price of aviation fuel in the UK was narrowly averted 😉

Comjam and Hogday finally meet in person!

Until we meet again….

Pre-flight check….don’t forget to unchain the car park…

Can’t let the D-Day Anniversary Pass Unmentioned…

We all have some regrets in life … I have some big ones and some small ones. One of my smaller ones involved an opportunity years ago of accompanying my parents to a Thanksgiving dinner at their friend’s home – the Millers.

I had a prior commitment and begged off.

The next time I saw my parents my mother mentioned their dinner, and after dinner over some good wine Dusty revealed something he rarely talked about – his being in the 2nd wave ashore at Omaha Beach.