(Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris visits a monument in Hanoi, Republic of Vietnam. It depicts the landing spot of an American pilot shot down in a raid on what was then the capital of a divided nation. It was not publicized that way. The pilot depicted hanging in the straps of his […]

Making History is hard work. I thought we had some interesting times in the post-Vietnam era, the two Superpowers glaring at each other. Now it is everywhere, and we have a man in the Presidency who sinks his ship and then brags about how cool the lifeboats are. We have talked about 1968 a couple […]

The Writer’s Section was edgy this morning. “Is it over yet? Can we get back to something pastoral and pleasant? It is the height of a mostly lovely summer, the warmth and vitality of the Piedmont summer is flowing all around us. We have identified native eagles that fly above these sweet green pastures. We […]

If you have not been part of the planning process on what is called a “Noncombatant Evacuation Operation (NEO)” you have missed a lot of fun. A pal summed it up nicely in our own little committee of Vets this morning in the first flurry of notes. “We have all planned, and most of us […]

(At left in the above Air Force image, the workhorse of the Pacific War, the B-29, is posed with the B-36 Convair Peacemaker just after the establishment of the United States Air Force in 1948). I walked with some determination from the bunkhouse down to the Loading Dock at the farm to grab a Marlboro […]

I had one of those dreams in the pre-dawn that left me unsettled as I wandered with divided focus down to the Loading Dock. I had been changing planes in a foreign airport, the international standards apparent, but with something behind them that wasn’t at all like home. I was a little disoriented, and partly […]

The Writer’s Section had some wistful smiles this morning, since it looks like the hurricane is going to hit New England rather than the Old Dominion. The smiles were a bit thin, perhaps, given all the other stuff we are supped to be worried about. But Marlow’s piece from his Coastal Empire this morning brought […]

I don’t recall much about local coverage of the Carter Administration. I joined the Navy in March of 1977, and spent a year in an assortment of entry-level training. The most memorable figure in that interlude was Drill lnstructor hSSGT Ronald C. Mace, USMC, who remains one of the most memorable characters in any of […]

Exciting week, right? You should see the pile of digits reflecting the thoughts and raw emotions of people who have dealt with the litany of memorable actions with which America has played a major role down through the years. Some of the Writers Section participated in the evacuation of Saigon, now 46 years in the […]

There was quite a flurry of anguish in the stack of electronic mail yesterday. Last week everybody seemed to be on vacation, and the summer breeze was laden with moisture and seasonably warm. The crop of corn and barley are coming up in the fields, a joyful linkage between natural bounty and human engineering to […]