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Pastimes : Things That Amuse Me -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mr.mark who wrote (834)	12/3/2000 6:08:19 PM
From: PMS Witch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12669

I like frosty mornings... I was up early this morning and caught the first rays of sunshine peeking over the horizon. A good time to get out for a bit of a drive: I won't wake anyone at home, and I can grab a coffee. I took a spin in the country, and the whole world was frosted: Trees, fences, grass, and bushes. The sun hitting the frost made it sparkle. There was no traffic, and it was cold enough the cops remained in the donut shops, so I could really motor. The roads were totally bare and dry. Rain we had a few days ago washed the salt away. Bugs don't hit the windshield in winter. The Oldies station played delightful tunes from my teens: Berry, Holly, Supremes, Orbison and other pre-Beatle artists. Life can be grand. The Amish horses created their own unique clouds as they ran through their breath, otherwise, the air was so clear I could see for miles. I covered nearly a hundred miles. By ten o'clock, the sun had burned the frost away, leaving only memories. I can remember driving to work on such mornings and wishing I could just enjoy the scenery instead of burrowing into the cubicle farm. It seemed these days never fell on a weekend. Cheers, PW.

To: mr.mark who wrote (834)	12/4/2000 3:32:52 PM
From: Volsi Mimir	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12669

Did you watch the fight? I don't get PPV. Man, Trinidad took out De La Hoya and Whittiker and now Vargas, he got to be the best. Hope they re-broadcast the fight somewhere. Would like to see that one. Death before Dishonor and winning The Navy Cross cimorelli.com On the night of October 24, 1942, the weapons man of the hour was "Manila John" Basilone, the platoon sergeant of the heavy .30-caliber machine-gun platoon attached to Co. C, 7th Marines, 1stMarDiv. Basilone was everywhere at once, clearing jams, calming nervous gunners, replacing parts, and repositioning guns. John Basilone inspired all who saw him that night: he became the glue that bound Co. C together, and for that he earned the Medal of Honor October on Guadalcanal by Eric Hammel...Leatherneck Oct 1992 But newspapers and radio told millions of another D-Day loss [on Iwo Jima] - Gunnery Sergeant John Basilone. Already a Marine Corps legend as the first Leatherneck to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II, "Manila John" was leading his machine gun platoon through the fury of Red Beach II when a mortar cut him down. In 1942, on a black October night in the steaming jungles of Guadalcanal, Basilone had single-handedly wiped out a company of Japanese trying to overrun his position on the Tenaru River. With a Colt .45 pistol and two machine guns - one cradled in his arms after the other was knocked out - he stopped a screaming banzai attack and held out until dawn, when reinforcements came up. Nearly a hundred sprawled enemy dead were around his cut-off outpost. Basilone was dark complexioned and handsome, had big ears like Clark Cable, and a wide grin. His Italian parents beamed with pride on a very special afternoon in 1943 when 30,000 well-wishers honored him at a gala celebration on the 2,000-acre estate of tobacco heiress Doris Duke near Raritan, New Jersey, his hometown. "Manila John" blushed when photographers snapped his picture while being kissed by a Hollywood starlet, smiled broadly when an oil portrait was unveiled in the tiny brick town hall, and was shyly grateful for the $5,000 was bond neighbors gave him. He turned down the bars of a second lieutenant. "I'm a plain soldier," he said, "and I want to stay one." From earliest memory, Basilone had wanted to be a professional fighting man. He had done a hitch in the Army before joining the Marines in 1940, and had served in the Philippines - hence his nickname. To millions, Basilone was a hero, one of the first of the war, and could have remained stateside training troops and selling was bonds. Instead, he said farewell to his new wife, also a Marine, and joined the Fifth Division. Staying behind, he told buddies, would be "like being a museum piece." And it wouldn't seem right, he said "if the Marines made a landing on the Manila waterfront and 'Manila John' wasn't among them." Now, with the invasion ninety minutes old, the intrepid sergeant had one thought. "C'mon, you guys! Let's get these guns off the beach!" he yelled at the gunners just behind, backs hunkered low and straining under the heavy loads of weapons and ammunition amid the blistering fire. The wasplike whir of an incoming mortar sounded its eerie warning; then a shattering blast. Basilone lunged forward in midstride, arms flung outward over his head. He and four comrades died in that instant. On his outstretched left arm was a tattoo: "Death before Dishonor!" 'Manila John" wouldn't see Dewey Boulevard again, but he had won the Navy Cross, The Marine Corps' second highest decoration for valor. IWO JIMA - Legacy of Valor by Bill D. Ross