Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Thanksgiving wrap up........
Well, as I proceeded to work the Saturday of this Thanksgiving weekend, a giant swell hit Central Florida. What a dream for midshipmen home from school to catch this. It was a family fun event as Tommy and Matt Grimison joined Dylan and Ryan for a shred sesh. As a Dad, even though I have tears in my eyes that I missed this swell event, it feels as good when your kid catches a wave. This is the weekend I would’ve killed for as a KP midshipman!!!
Friday, November 23, 2018
A fun fish photo
Turkey Trot 5k, starts Thanksgiving right
After the run, the preparations continue for the festive gathering at our household for the Grimison family. This year, we hosted 36 family members, and prepared 3 turkeys for the masses. We grilled one at the neighbor across the street, Scott and Lisa, cooked one, and Eric G. Brought another one. Sadly, after dinner we had to watch the Redskins get beaten by Dallas, however, the traditional game of Trivial Pursuit which pits male against female was once again won by the guys. After that, we played song quiz on the Alexa app. A great time and a wonderful event courtesy of Rebecca’s diligent work as hostess
Thanksgiving pics from 2018
Carving the bird (1 of 3)
Gathering at the table
The “kids” table, not so much anymore
View from the table side
Grimison siblings
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Coast Guard Football Game Nov 2018
November 5, 2018 France tour
I made it to France on the AF flight, and it was with little sleep. The A 380 was pretty cool to fly in, and surprisingly it deplaned pretty quick for close to 500 people. After landing, I left my keyboard on the plane, and another passenger saw it and ran up as I was going up the elevator , so the blog lives on.
The Charles de Gaulle airport is pretty large, and I walked a lot of it trying to find out where the rest of the group was, and finally found them at the Avis rent a car counter in 2C or D or something like that.
Q, Marcus, Bernie, and 2 Mikes.
We loaded up and headed to the first place Thiepval Memorial for lost soldiers. 78,000 missing, but something like 500,0000 per side killed. A very nice day with a ton of laughs from the crew.
We got advice on where to eat, and ended up at Ocean Villas at Avril’s Tearoom. She had a refurbished farm house with a trench that had been excavated in back. Very cool. The town was actually called Auchenvillers, but the “Tommys” from WWI Britain called it ocean villas.
Our travels were in mostly agricultural field after field and the GPS routed us through a lot of single lane roads through the fields. Fields of sugar beets or something, with large piles of harvested ones were almost everywhere.
We got to Dunkirk, and the Ibis hotel, all the group showed up and it was a veritable homecoming party in the lobby.
Great being with the buds again and rehashing old stories.
November 6, 2018
Up pretty early in the Ibis hotel in Dunkirk, and went down for the breakfast buffet. Of course, Q, being the wild man that he is had already gone for a run. Our attempt was to go to the Dunkirk beach at low tide, but that was about 1 hour before sunrise, so we got down there just after sunrise. The low tide attempt was since there was purportedly some ship remains from the Operation Dynamo that were visible, and sure enough, we observe them as the tide was pretty low, and they were marked by yellow buoys. Apparently it was the wrecked Crested Eagle, an old English paddle wheeler sunk on 29 May 1940. There were also gun turrets in the sand dunes on the beach town of Dunkirk.
In search of a public lavatory, we went to a coffee shop instead and had espressos before heading to Essex Farm, the location where John McRae wrote the poem In Flanders Fields. He was a Canadian army doctor in WWI who wrote the poem which starts with “In Flanders Fields where the poppies blow” and launched the poppy as the symbol for veterans. I.e. VFW.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Next we went to the second stop in Belgium, which was Sanctuary Woods and Hill 62. Apparently the farmer who owned this land kept it intact with tunnels and trenches just like WWI, and there was even a propped up tree which was there 100 years ago, as well as a great museum. Selling none other than Belgian Waffles. One of many group photos taken of our group by Dan Smith, who has a full tripod set up, and with his many corrections, etc. it gets a little tedious. The artifacts in the museum were very cool, uniforms, weapons, helmets, etc.
Just up the road was another Canadian sponsored monument, at Hill 62 with a great view of Ypres.
We hit Ypres for a little touring, and had lunch at an open air cafe, very relaxing in the cobbled old village.
After lunch, we headed to Flanders Field American Cemetery, which is the largest cemetery for WWI casualties. The striking thought that I had was how much sacrifice the U.S. gave to Europe in the first and second WWs. The First War being called the “Great War” because there was never a break in the fighting, and it was the first time that battles of a war were not basically scheduled, and therefore it was fought continuously.
After this cemetery, we got on the road for the 2 1/2 hour drive to Bastogne, which I had not anticipated. Our car, which we have deemed the “cool car” is driver: Q, navigator, Marcus, passengers, me and Dutch Peale. Lots of laughs and jokes and hero stories from back in the day.
Our hotel for this evening is the Leo Wagon which at first was hard for us to find. A little larger room than last nights with a rain shower that is “to die for”
Ate and drank at the bar “Le Nuts” across the street which is named after the response to the German General from the American commander in WWII when the German asked for surrender. Nuts was the message given.
Also in the bar they served Airborne beer. Named after the Airborne unit of the Army since while stationed there a story arose from a WWII event. In this event, a GI from the Airborne Division had a moment where there was a break in the action, and filled his helmet with ice and beer and brought this up to his comrades in the foxholes. This story went viral and now the beer is locally famous, and served in cups shaped like Army helmets.
Marcus is my roommate, and so thoughtful and cat like that I barely heard him get ready this morning and sneak out to breakfast.
Full days, lots of touring, knowledge gained, and laughs laughed.
The Airborne story:
A young paratrooper named Vincent Speranza was assigned to the 101st during those fateful days in Bastogne. His good friend Joe Willis had been wounded and was lying in a makeshift casualty collection point in the ruins of a church. Willis asked Speranza for a drink, to which Speranza politely responded by reminding him that their unit was surrounded. There were no supplies coming in. Luckily, the makeshift medical facility was not too far from the ruins of a pub. Speranza rooted through the tavern and at last came to an untouched, tapped barrel. He looked around for glasses, but all had been destroyed in the bombing. Speranza turned then to his trusty M1 helmet. He filled his helmet with beer and rushed back to the hospital. Needless to say, every wounded GI was enthralled at the prospect of a swig of Belgian beer, even if it was out of a helmet. Private Speranza would make two more trips bringing beer to his comrades before an officer caught wind of what he was doing and stopped him, since the beer could prove fatal to those with intestinal wounds. Nonetheless, the actions of Private Speranza proved to be a morale booster for the wounded troops of the besieged 101st. The story would continue to circulate, not just among troops, but also among local Belgians. Decades later, the story would spawn the “Airborne Beer.” Brewed in Bastogne by a local brewer, the beer’s label depicts a smiling American GI marching gleefully with a helmet full of beer. It’s served in a ceramic miniature American helmet. You can still order an “Airborne” in many taverns across Belgium.
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