Tuition for a Taco

Have you ever had a friend you have known for a long time – 30 years or more – for which you could always reconnect no matter how long you hadn’t seen each other?

I had 2.

Christmas Eve, 1944

The interesting thing about history is that some events have been known, well, since the event. Whether it was 100s of years ago or a few days ago. Sometime ago, I read an excellent book on the history of the First World War. Also known as “The Great War”, or the “War to End All Wars”.

Along with the history and origins of the Spanish Flu, the author went into great detail on the unofficial Christmas Armistice that broke out all up and down the line of the Western Front on Christmas Eve, 1914. German and British soldiers with hesitance came out of their trenches and sang together and exchanged simple gifts. Even had a few football matches amid the barbed wire.

Other bits of history, long suppressed and known only to the few who were there, come bubbling to the surface years later through the remembrances of one of the principals.

I wrote about one of these times that became known 50 years later, when the “puzzle was finally solved”.

This is another one of those incidents, remembered by a man who then was a 12 year old boy. It only became public through a 1970s Reader’s Digest story.

He and his mother were waiting for their father to return to their cabin in the forest, when they had some unexpected visitors. And for one cold and snowy evening all hearts were open to the true meaning of Christmas.

Whether you are the man for whom this site is dedicated, and on a Christmas Eve in 2008 had “had a hole in his life that would not be filled on this side of the veil“, or a serviceman (or woman) “on the line” today somewhere in the world thinking of home and loved ones, may you find joy and peace.

Whisper: Open Thread

By Whisper, on March 7th, 2012

When Lex “left the keys in it” for me to be a guest blogger here about a year ago, we didn’t discuss what to do in this occasion.  I am at a loss.  I did feel the need to provide one place for your tributes and condolences to collect.  So here it is.

As Lex would say, talk amongst yourselves.

Very Respectfully,

Whisper

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From The Editor: Lex referred to his readers – The Lexicans – on more than one occasion as “some of the best friends I’ve never met”.

I wonder if he ever knew how many of those were out there.

From his San Diego neighbor who knew Carroll LeFon but did not know the identity of Neptunus Lex, to a serviceman in Afghanistan to a young Frenchman,  many came to show their grief from around the world. They were grandmothers, truck drivers, active duty military, retired military, retired policemen, a friend of 20 years, even the Secretary of the Navy. 

They are here, in a .pdf file that will download. 

There is at least 1 on that list who didn’t know Lex in life but became a friend after reading some posts the next day,  realizing what a good man he was. 

We had all lost a good friend.

My thanks to advokaat and ColoComment for helping me with the .pdf file.

Bill Brandt

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Epilogue – Neptunus Lex

It’s funny where life takes you. Sometimes the smallest step takes you in an unforeseen new direction. I had never heard of Carroll “Lex” LeFon, until that fateful day at chicagoboyz when David Foster told his readers of Lex’s accident. He linked a few of his favorite Lex posts, and from my very first Lex post I was off in a new direction.

How could I have foreseen that from one click on a link over 5 years ago I’d be writing about Lex today? How could Lex have foreseen 14 years ago that for nearly 9 years he’d be telling readers stories of his life and opinions of the day? Or that he would come to consider many of his readers to be “the best friends he never met”?

I found his writing to be addictive. I had, however, been trying to understand for quite a while why his writing was so enjoyable for me.

Thanksgiving Conversation

I would say that the typical family get together for  Thanksgiving has almost become a subject of comedy when it comes to conversations around the table. Google the subject and you will find literally dozens of posts on how to avoid the pitfall of political conversation among family who have converged from far and wide.

My family is a bit different.  First of all, you could count my extended family on less than the digits of  both hands (for most people). And with the death of my father a couple of years ago it is that much smaller.

Secondly we have never been so set in our ways as to shut off all communication with those who have different opinions.

So it came to pass (sounds a bit Biblical in that opening phrase) that my 93 year old mother and I had Thanksgiving dinner with some friends of many years as guests.

The guests were more of the leftish persuasion, having voted for Obama while my mother, an avid Trump hater, claims to be a conservative.

Me? Well, I supported Goldwater when I was 14 and walked precincts.

And the subject at our table this year?

Sex.

One thing my mother has in common with her friend on the other side of the political spectrum was an admiration for Charlie Rose. And I was thinking with the recent revelations to be a young woman and have to see Charlie exit the shower (with an invitation to join him!) well, that would be, as my late aunt from West Virginia would say, “enough to make a dog throw up”.

And then Harvey Weinstein?   There is nothing new about the “casting couch” and Hollywood – just read up on Louis B Meyer or Harry Cohn just as a couple of examples.  They keep falling these days. Here is the latest.

” I met them all. Some were vicious and crooked. But … you saw Hollywood with their eyes — an overcrowded brothel, a merry-go-round with beds for horses.”

Marilyn Monroe

I mentioned too that women – and men – use sex as a weapon.  Blackmail. It wouldn’t surprise me today that among all of the accusations flying, at least a few are seeing a cash reward.

The smarter people in Hollywood – or Washington – might want to adopt the Billy Graham rule, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. I don’t see a lot of that happening, but you never know. They laughed at Mike Pence in the campaign for his refusal to have dinner with any woman without his wife present.

They aren’t laughing now.

If you are a woman, Lex had a simple test on how to evaluate men.

That conversation was a lot more interesting than politics.

A reminder

By lex, on August 6th, 2006

A propos of nothing in particular, just one of those occasional public service announcements…

Your scribe, over the course of the few years and many days that he’s been blogging, sharing his opinions, expressing his concerns, weaving the occasional tale of nautical derring-do, has had the opportunity to disagree from time to time with some of those whose opinions grace his comments boxes. Sometimes that disagreement will be explicitly – even vigorously – enunciated, as in the case of rectifying an obvious error, expounding upon a cherished opinion, or upon the opportunity of extending a productive philosophical debate. It is hoped that such events will be experienced as they are intended – a healthy and open exchange of ideas among people generally pleased with each other’s company.

Ferrari vs. Pinto

One of my minor regrets in life was my nature of being a bit too “practical” and cautious during my youth. Particularly when it came time to pick cars. I can remember for my first car – with an open mind – looking at a 1962 Alfa Romeo Spyder in 1969.

The engine made a sound – bellissimo – some have compared it the most beautiful this side of a classic Ferrari V12 – and all I could think about was “where am I going to get it serviced? “

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

My New Year’s Celebration tonight consists of Rogue Brewing Dead Guy Ale and The Los Angeles Kings at the Calgary Flames.

That being said, Missus ORPO and I send Best Wishes for an Outstanding New Year!

I wish The Captain and MSGT Buck were still here………….Yeah, I miss both of them. So I did have a little toast to both of our dearly departed friends……………………………gettin dusty in here all of a sudden.

From theBrigade: USS Ronald Reagan visiting Pearl Harbor Memorial (25 HQ Photos)

Special Greetings to OldAFSarge and The WSO.
That day almost one year ago now, will always be so very, very special.

Among The Joshua Trees

As most of my followers know, I was fortunate to be able to spend a day on this Fine Ship last April 9(2014) with Christopher Goodrich and his Daughter, the WSO. It was, except for the marriage of my children and the birth of my grandchildren, The Best Day since I retired from the US Navy in September of 1993.

This is a somewhat solemn post as when we enter or leave Naval Station Pearl Harbor, Honors must be rendered with the Traditional Manning The Rail…………in Dress Uniform…………………….Attention To Port! Hand Salute………………………..Too!

In the old days we would exit on the opposite side of Ford Island and do the very same for The Utah.

Pride

Tradition

Service

A few samples follow………………………………

The USS Missouri and The USS Arizona Memorial. The two ships that represent the beginning and the ending of World War 2.

It has been a long time since…

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Something missing………………………………….

Easier to just link it………………………………………..

http://oldretiredpettyofficer.blogspot.com/2015/02/something-missing.html

A comment on Facebook……………from OldAFSarge………

“As another great man might have said, “It is to weep.””