Let's Move On

Some people just can’t or won’t let go. Fifty years ago a lone gunman, a misfit, shot and killed the President of the United States in Dallas, Texas. For most of November 2013 the news media has given coverage to the eternally suspicious conspiracy speculators among us that Lee Harvey Oswald was not acting alone when he killed President John F. Kennedy. That horrific act still sells papers and promotes television. It’s called titillating the masses. It is good and healthy for a nation to remember, but it is long past the time when we ought to have moved on. Thanksgiving will be next week and something else will lead on the front pages and evening news teasers.  Read and watch.

The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum

Nothing invokes deep feelings like a visit to a museum honoring the fighting men and women who made up The Mighty Eighth Air Force during World War II. My wife, Joyce, and I visited the museum in Pooler, GA., at Exit 102 off I-95, a few miles north of Savannah. The Mighty Eighth was activated January 28, 1942, at Hunter Field in Savannah, and it would become the greatest air armada in history. It is estimated that more than 350,000 Americans served in the 8th AF during the war in Europe. Five thousand planes were processed through Hunter Field, including the City of Savannah, (on display in the museum) which flew 44 missions against the Germans.
I have been in the museum twice before. They constantly add memorabilia and research capabilities for the benefit of the public. Over "nine thousand books significant to the history of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, as well as original manuscripts, photographs, oral history interviews and personal accounts, artifacts and works of art" can be found here. Planes, clothing and equipment are also on view. The Memorial Gardens and Chapel of the Fallen Eagles, modeled on an English chapel, are a setting to reflect on the sacrifice of so many young American men.
The museum "tells the compelling story of ordinary people whose lives were transformed by extraordinary commitment, sacrifice and patriotism."
We took a few pictures, but it takes a visit to the museum to really appreciate this piece of American history and the courageous young men in their flying machines.

A hiding place in the attic of a French home for downed American air crew.

Celebrating victory in Europe, May 1945.

The City of Savannah, the 5,000 plane to join the 8th Air Force in England.

 

 

 

 

 

Did I mention the museum is staffed by volunteers and you can drop a contribution into a box to help keep the place going? You can also schedule a business, social or cultural event in the lobby - including a wedding reception if that is your wish. You may also support the museum and keep these great memories alive by visiting the web site and making a donation. It will make you feel good.

Inappropriate comments in advertising

Dear Ms. Washo

I preferred the "turkey cover" over the tattooed man. That said, I write about another subject: the inappropriateness of Frank Dunne, Jr.'s column in CH2, a magazine designed to acquaint readers with the many services and providers in the Hilton Head area.

Mr. Dunne labeled the national Common Core education standards "a stupid idea" simply because President Obama is a supporter.  He then called Common Core "a bunch of B.S." and said we know this because it is a "federal program." He later refers to the U.S., Department of Education as the "Department of Non-Education," and says its employees are "clowns."

Mr. Dunne is disrespectful to the President of the United States, dismissive of Common Core simply because it is a federal program and insulting to the many fine people who work for his, yours and my government. (Fair disclosure: I am a retired federal security director.)

It is immaterial that a column in support of Common Core was in space opposite Mr. Dunne's disrespectful and obnoxious comments.

I don't object to Mr. Dunne having such views, and some of his comments might be appropriate in a political column on the op-ed page of a newspaper, or some other place pandering to the extreme rightists in our beloved country, but they have no business in a magazine with the obvious goal of CH2.

Obviously, I cannot pick and chose what items flesh out this 120 page advertising medium but I can ignore it in the future and encourage others to do so.