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Joined: Apr 2004
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,950 Likes: 16 |
Funny, you'd never know it from talking to her, but the lady across the street from me, is in her 80s... tall and walks ever day with her husband who had to have a heart bi pass last fall...
she and he have matching Corvettes ( paint wise) she drives a 63 and he drives a 64... they were both always car people... they keep them stored most of the time....
but on their RAV 4, I noticed a USMC sticker in the upper rear window recently...I told her I didn't realize her husband had been a Marine... she responded he wasn't....
so I asked if the sticker was on the vehicle when they bought it used or something...
she responded NO, I put that up there... I was in the Marines..
Really I responded a little surprised...
yes she said... I did 24 years in and retired as a Lt Col...
goes to show, you never can tell what kind of history some of these old folks have.. yet she and her husband are again, the most down to earth humble folks ya ever wanna met...
She is from San Francisco and has a degree in Science of some sort, from U Cal Berkeley...
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,497 |
If you get a chance, thank her for me for all her service and support of servicemen and women.
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 10,896
Campfire Outfitter
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OP
Campfire Outfitter
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Thanks fellas she has a laptop,think I will log in this weekend and let her read some of your posts.She feels she has accomplished nothing spectacular but as many of us know that just isn't true.Should you want to post her a message just address her as "Billie" that's actually her nickname...thanks W
You better be afraid of a ghost!!
"Woody you were baptized in prop wash"..crossfireoops
Woody
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
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Thanks fellas she has a laptop,think I will log in this weekend and let her read some of your posts.She feels she has accomplished nothing spectacular but as many of us know that just isn't true.Should you want to post her a message just address her as "Billie" that's actually her nickname...thanks W Your neighbor sounds just like my aunt. My aunt Sally was a flight nurse in the AF and did the same. My aunt was written about in Readers Digest in 1967 in an article called "Our Flying Nightingales in Vietnam". They were special young women. She retired as a LTC as well.
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Joined: May 2004
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2004
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Way cool. Hope she writes some of it down. God bless her.
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 9,517
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 9,517 |
Way cool. Hope she writes some of it down. God bless her. Or someone can write her story for her. I find the same folks. Little old people, frail and quiet. Sitting apart, waiting patiently for their table at a resturant, or sitting in the library. Get to know them a little. Your life will be enriched for the effort. They saw and did things that other generations would never dream about.
"wanna hear God laugh? Tell Him you have complete control now!"
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Joined: Nov 2004
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2004
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You guys have no idea just how truly fantastic the Service Nurses were/are. When I was in 17th Field Hosp in Anh Khe my second time hit, a kid in my ward was dying and scared. A lovely new in-country Texas girl was the ward nurse. She sat with him and held him when he got his orders to Stand Down. Woody, tell Billie that I Love her.
Be afraid,be VERY VERY afraid ad triarios redisse My Buddy eh76 speaks authentic Frontier Gibberish!
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Joined: Mar 2006
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2006
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Thank her for me as well Woody!
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Nov 2005
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 5,731 |
I ran into someone when I was teaching in New Hampshire and it turned out he was the head of "Veterans helping veterans." I knew him about 5 seconds and he started asking for money. There's a veterans home in Manchester that needs this and this and this.... Then he said there was a woman's veterans home that needed this and this and this.... I wondered... "Woman's veterans home." Hmmm. I volunteered for years at our vets home when I was little. I held the American flag for mass in the chapel. Anyway, Woman's veterans home intrigued me because I never heard of one. He said there were 5 or 6 ladies there. He said they have been driving him crazy for a tea service. I bought them one, and a big basket of tea, crumpets, muffins, jam... He said they liked it. There are Woman's Veteran's homes too.
"I didn't get the sophisticated gene in this family. I started the sophisticated gene in this family." Willie Robertson
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2009
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Way cool. Hope she writes some of it down. God bless her. Or someone can write her story for her. I find the same folks. Little old people, frail and quiet. Sitting apart, waiting patiently for their table at a resturant, or sitting in the library. Get to know them a little. Your life will be enriched for the effort. They saw and did things that other generations would never dream about. Here is the opening page of the story about my aunt Sally.
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Joined: Jan 2012
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 26,719 Likes: 13 |
Please thank her and I thank all of you that have served!!
FJB & FJT
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2007
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Billie,
Thank You! For your years of service to this country and for all the good you did for our people serving!
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,497
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 19,497 |
And, to Whitebird's Aunt Sally:
A hearty Thank You! for your service, also!
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 191
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 191 |
Special lady. We may have met. I was once medevac'd to the 93rd Evac which was north of Tan Son Nhut at Long Binh. Spent about 2 weeks there before going back on the line. Was medevac'd another time to 3rd Surgical at Bin Thuy which was southwest of Tan Son Nhut.
The nurses treated me well - except for one older one at the 3rd Surg. I was medevac'd by Huey out of Cambodia. I had had 4 syrettes of morphine in the field. Two dudes carried my stretcher off the huey and set me down in what I assume was a triage area. A big ol' nurse walked up to me and said "Can you stand up?". I said "Yes Ma'am". She said "Well, stand up and get your god-dam clothes off". I stood up, took my clothes off, and then puked. So much for pleasantries.
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Posts: 19,497 |
Great bedside manner there. But, it sounds like it worked!
Retired cat herder.
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 16,447 Likes: 3
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Jun 2006
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Woody, please give "Billie" a kiss on the cheek from me. God bless her - and all like her! Mark
I've always been a curmudgeon - now I'm an old curmudgeon. ~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
Joined: Jan 2009
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Woody, thanks for sharing this touching story. This story should make the national evening news. I don't know how to go about initiating the process. Perhaps others or you do. Just a thought.
John
NRA Benefactor Lifetime-Texas State Rifle Assoc. Lifetime-American Motorcycle Assoc. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assoc.
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Campfire Outfitter
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OP
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Woody, thanks for sharing this touching story. This story should make the national evening news. I don't know how to go about initiating the process. Perhaps others or you do. Just a thought.
John Probably would make a great story but don't think it has the slightest chance.She like so many other retirees who reside in this area have experienced what most of us cannot or will not ever comprehend,since getting to know her she'll just be content to live out her days with a bucket load of memories. There's plenty more info about her but I've probably overstepped my bounds already on a public forum.All any of us can do is remember these folks for their deeds,convey to our children and grandchildren that "Heroes" has no gender and freedom comes with a price...finally thanking all that have and still wear a uniform in the service of their country.
You better be afraid of a ghost!!
"Woody you were baptized in prop wash"..crossfireoops
Woody
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,950 Likes: 16
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,950 Likes: 16 |
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 12,712 Likes: 12
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 12,712 Likes: 12 |
Sometimes we just don't know the stories behind the faces we see everyday.My neighbor's wife recently took in her beloved elderly aunt from Georgia to live with them as she has health problems and needs out patient care but above all just to have her close....Lets just call her "Billie".
Last Saturday morning I brought them some fresh tomatoes and was invited in for a chat and morning coffee.I had seen Billie on the the front porch in the evenings after it cooled down reading and enjoying her new home in the country but never really got to know her with my busy schedule so thought it was about time to be neighborly...so I pulled up a chair.
This frail 80's something of a woman begins to tell me about her 24 years in the military.She enlisted in the AF did four years,went to school,got her degree in nursing then commission and finally joined the Army for 20 more.Three Vietnam tours as an ER nurse [decorated] and CO of a MASH type field hospital north of Ton Son Nhut.Spent time in Germany,Brooke Army Medical Center at Ft.Sam Houston TX and finally her remaining years at Walter Reed.
Needless to say there's a very special lady living down the lane whose heart has always been with care for the troops..I am so honored to have crossed paths with such a humble American hero.God Bless her for all those she's helped for those many years in the service of her country.
Just thought I needed to share this with you. Sounds like a lady deserving of flowers and big God Bless card. If you will do the honor of handling the order I'll be happy to send my part. If 20 of us send 5 bucks each or so that should amount to a whopping big arrangement. Just a thought.
“When Tyranny becomes Law, Rebellion becomes Duty”
Colossians 3:17 (New King James Version) "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
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