Category Archives: Historical

Posted in Historical

November Brings the Holiday Spirit

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by Bob Sparrow

Few months offer the interest and complexity of November.  Most love the month as it unofficially opens the ‘holiday season’ as we come down from a sugar high from Halloween, then salute our veterans and finally devour some turkey. Additionally, there are lots of good football games to watch for those with a proclivity for such things. I’ll not mention the election days that kick off November as we try to avoid politics here at ‘From A Birdseye View’.

Spinster L.M. Alcot

First, some detractors of the month of November. Author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, was not a fan, saying, “November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year.” But one must consider that Ms. Alcott lived in the northeast where Novembers can be rather harsh and she had no one to cuddle with on those fridged winter evening, as she never married. Emily Dickinson wasn’t much a fan of November either, saying, “In November the noons are more laconic and the sunsets sterner. November always seemed to me the Norway of the year.” Having never left New England, I assume Ms. Dickinson imagined Norway as a cold and foreboding place. To her point, it can be – Northern Norway’s average high temperature in November is between 28-35 degrees Fahrenheit!       

     That’s hard to imagine as we here in Orange County had high 80s, even low 90s in the first week of November this year. I’m sure Louisa May Alcott would have found it most disagreeably hot. The name November itself is a bit of a novelty as it takes its name from the Latin word novem, which means nine, as it was the ninth month in the Roman calendar. But then those pesky Gregorians came along with their own calendar and added two more months, January and February, making November the eleventh month. I understand that none of the above is probably going to help you get into the ‘Holiday Spirit’, although living in someplace other than northern Norway during this time of year, may help.

King Tutankhamun

If you haven’t gotten into the ‘holiday spirit’ yet, here are some alternative events that perhaps you could celebrate.

  • For those into ‘boy kings’, King Tutankhamun’s tomb was discovered in November of 1922. King Tut assumed the throne as a nine-year-old and died when he was 19, only a couple years sort of drinking age, but we can raise some spirits to him. Those who like Egyptians, boys or kings can now celebrate this.
Stray dog, Laika – last photo alive
  • For those pet fans, you can celebrate ‘Laika’ (which means ‘barker’ in Russian), a stray dog, who became the first animal in space as she was launched by Russia in November 1957. Unfortunately, she died just hours into the launch as insulation in the capsule tore and she overheated. If you’re surprised at hearing she died during the mission, it’s because the Russians claimed that she survived the entire trip. Celebrate your pet, or a pet near you, this month.
  • Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first meets with Aztec emperor Montezuma II in November of 1519. Cortes kept the meeting friendly, but several days later he took Montezuma hostage. Celebrate famous explorer and conqueror, Cortes, or Montezuma’s Revenge.  
  • Sadie Hawkins Day. While it technically was last week (November 13) not too many people know that so you can still celebrate this ‘holiday’. It was created in the Li’l Abner comic strip in 1937, where unmarried women would chase bachelor men and if they caught him, they would get married. Today, if the lady catches the man, she asks him to do the laundry.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff you get from me when I’m not traveling. Hopefully it will give you more things to celebrate this month, or tell us what you celebrate in this ‘Norway of the year’.

Posted in Blog Info / Up-dates • Historical

Is China Watching You? We Know They’re Watching Us!

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By Bob Sparrow

Several months ago, we started seeing a significant spike in the hits to our blog. We thought, Yippee!! More people are finally starting to follow us. As a reference we usually get between 50 and 100 hits on Monday, the day each new blog posts. The count typically decreases as we get further into the week.  Recently we started to see hits in the hundreds, which, of course, we attributed to our spectacular writing. But then the hit numbers jumped to the thousands; our biggest one-day hit was over 4,000. We finally realized, we’re not THAT good of writers! So, I Googled what causes a spike like this and of course, Google had the answer, several of them in fact:

In terms of possible ‘positive’ reasons it said:

  1. You may be doing some successful marketing.  No
  2.  An influencer or news source may have mentioned or linked to your blog. No way
  3. Your blog may contain content of specific interest to those who go to the effort of using a Virtual Private Network. Huh?  No
  4. You have a growing audience in a foreign country. Hell No

Since none of those answers seemed reasonable, I asked Google what some of the ‘negative’ reasons might be for this increase in hits. The short answer was:

The most likely cause of an unprompted and large influx of traffic from a specific country is bot activity. In recent years, China has been a significant source of malicious web bots. This bot traffic is often not from genuine users and could be a sign of security threats. 

So, what is a bot? A computer program that performs automatic tasks.

As I was learning about bots, I looked further into Google Analytics that support our blog to see where in the world these hits to our blog were coming from. Past analytics for this data would show that the majority of our hits come from the U.S., followed by the some from the United Kingdom and then a few scattered around the globe from places like Brazil, Australia, South Africa and other countries. Currently our analytics showed two things, 1) China by far had the most hits – in the thousands, and 2) the hits were mostly on one particular blog, Suzanne’s Loyalist or Patriot? that she wrote in July 2023. Why that particular blog? Interestingly enough, is about Ben Franklin’s son, William, who, while his father was busy helping the U.S. break away from England, William remained a loyalist to the crown and ultimately moved to England to live out his life and never spoke to his father again. If you’re interested in reading or re-reading, her entire blog, go to our Archives on the right and click on July 2023.

So, what is the Chinese’s fascination with this story that shows an iconic American family divided over which country to support? Of all the blogs we’ve written over the past 13 years, this one about divided patriotism is the one they’re hitting. They could just as easily have landed on her blog about Dash the Wonder Dog. OK, maybe not, but it’s just a little spooky that the Chinese have a particular interest in that blog. And why does the bot keep hitting it?

So, I’ve done a little research into ‘bot protection’ and while there are some good programs out there that would hopefully eliminate the bots, I’m a little hesitant as I don’t want to lose thousands of our readers. But I will caution you that if you ever comment on our blog, make sure you’re not saying anything that will jeopardize our national security.

Posted in Family • Historical

The Amazing History of Cal-Neva Lodge

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by Bob Sparrow

The ‘Rat Pack’ at Cal-Neva

I must admit that I am somewhat obsessed with the Cal-Neva Lodge and Casino, as it was part of my young adult experience in a most idyllic place. For those unfamiliar with Cal-Neva, it is a hotel, with an additional 11 cabins on the property, built in 1926 on the sparsely populated, north coast of Lake Tahoe’s Crystal Bay, directly on the California-Nevada border. In fact, the main dining room had a line down the middle that shows one side in Nevada and the other side in California – same with the swimming pool outside.

Cal-Neva pool – right on the border

While gambling was not legalized in Nevada until 1931, part of the reason for the hotel’s sparsely populated location was that gambling was going on at the hotel before that. A story about silent film star Clara Bow says that in 1930 she had a gambling debt of over $13,000, which in today’s dollars would be about $250,000. She claimed that she thought she was playing with chips worth fifty cents each, when they were worth $100 each! In 1935 a 13-year-old Judy Garland performed for the first time at the Cal-Neva Lodge.  

Marilyn was a frequent visitor

Fast forward to the 1950s when Cal-Neva was sold for $1 million (about $13 million in today’s dollars) and was frequented by Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable as well as the Jack and Bobby Kennedy, who weren’t going there to gamble, but rather to enjoy the ladies. Cal-Neva was also frequented by Frank Sinatra, who eventually was part owner of the resort and added the ‘Celebrity Room’ where he and his friends, “The Rat Pack”, performed.

Dad, Mom & Dick dressed for ‘The Line’

My interest and connection to Cal-Neva comes from spending parts of every year at Lake Tahoe from the time I was about 10 years old (mid-1950s) to after graduating from college. My Dad’s best friend, ‘Uncle’ Dick, was a life-long bachelor and sort of adopted our family as his.  In 1952 he bought a cabin just outside of Tahoe City, at the north end of ‘The Lake’ and we spent every vacation, every season, every year at that cabin, despite the six-hour drive at that time from Novato to Lake Tahoe. The routine was, we’d leave home on a Friday night after they got home from work, get there very late on a Friday night, spend Saturday there, when, that night, Dad and Dick would dress up in coat and tie and Mom in a formal dress and ‘Go over to the line’, referring to the California-Nevada state line and spend the evening at Cal-Neva dining, dancing and gambling. We’d then get up early Sunday morning and drive home. Years later, brother, Jack, bought a home and a restaurant (Off Shore Bar & Grill) on the lake in Tahoe City and lived there for several years.  Roommate, Ken Poulsen, who you may have seen a couple of weeks ago here in a photo at Kezar Stadium, and I, bought a cabin in the 1970s, right next to Dick’s cabin. We sold it years later after a tenant had left a couch on the floor furnace and went skiing; when they returned, the house was burned to the ground. Ken managed the rebuilding of it and then we sold it.  

Yes, I got to park fancy cars like this!

Another personal note is that when the Rat Pack was performing at Cal-Neva in the mid-sixties, they needed to hire more valets to manage all the cars. A friend of mine, Dale Aman’s mom, worked in the accounting department at the hotel, and she called Dale and Dale called me to go to Cal-Neva and valet for the Rat Pack show.  It was the first and only time I worked as a valet. Fortunately, there were no crashes! We made rather good money (about $25 – Hey, that was like $325 in today’s dollars!), but after we were done valeting, we went into the casino and gave it all back!         

Sinatra’s friend, Dean Martin, was also a shareholder in the hotel as well as another Sinatra friend, Chicago mobster, Sam Giancana. When Sinatra built the Celebrity Room, he re-utilized Prohibition-era smuggling tunnels beneath the property to allow mob members to move around the property without being seen by the public. One tunnel led from the main building to Sinatra’s private chalet overlooking Lake Tahoe. In 1962 Marilyn Monroe was in one of Cal-Neva’s private cottages and overdosed on drugs, but was found in time to save her life. A few weeks later she was found dead in her home in Los Angeles.

Lucy & Desi

During the early and mid-60s, Sinatra’s Cal-Neva had lots of visits from celebrities such as Liza Minnelli, Kim Novak, Shirley MacLaine, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz and Richard Crenna. During this time, Giancana was spotted on the premises and Sinatra’s gambling license was suspended. So, Sinatra had to sell the property; he tried to sell it to Howard Hughes in 1967, but that didn’t go through. The property was bought and sold a number of times to real estate investors but ultimately closed in 2010.

It sat dormant for eight years, then Oracle owner and billionaire, Larry Ellison purchased it in 2018 for $35.8 million. After not being able to rebuild due to being held up in bankruptcy court by creditors’ protests, he sold it in 2023 for around $55 million to Denver real estate developer, McWhinney, who plans to open it in 2027.

Cal-Neva in winter

So, why has it sat dormant for so many years? In addition to bankruptcy issues, the three magic words in real estate are, location, location, location. Cal-Neva is in a remote location; Reno, the closest, largest city (less than 300,000 population) is about 45 miles away and Reno already has plenty of places to gamble. During the winter, North Lake Tahoe can get severe storms that can drop several feet of snow in 24 hours. Additionally, there is only one two-lane road leading to and from Cal-Neva, so often it’s not very accessible. 

Because of my history and interest in this iconic place, I have sent an email to Troy McWhinney of the McWhinney company letting him know some of my history with their property and my interest in being among the first guests at the hotel when it opens in 2027. I mentioned that I am 81, so I am hoping that the opening date of 2027 is achieved. I also let them know that I would be available to valet if needed.

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Posted in Historical

The Cost of Living, Then and Now

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by Bob Sparrow

With all this talk about tarrifs, recessions, continued high prices, I thought I’d share some information from an article I recently read about the cost of several things being less today than years ago. That was hard to believe, but we’ll examine that later.  Generally, prices continue to rise as does income, but mostly not at the same pace. So, I did a little research of my own. I decide to look back to the year 1975. I picked that year mostly because it was easy math to go back 50 years.  

In 1975 I was five years into my ten-year teaching career, at Tustin High School. I can’t remember what my salary was in 1975, but I do remember that when I left teaching in 1980 my salary was $19,000, yes, a year!  Sounds ridiculously low, but I checked and the average salary in 1980 in all of Orange County was only $21,000.

Average Orange County home in 1975

In 1975, the average income in Orange County was $7,396; while today the average is $136,000 – that’s a growth of 18 times.  But, the average price of an Orange County home in 1975 was $41,600, today it is $1.2 million – that’s a growth of 29 times! In 1975 the average home buyer was 29 years old, today it’s 38 years old. If you were going to rent a nice four-bedroom house instead of buy, in 1975 the rent would have been around $400 a month, today, closer to $5,000.

The average price of a new car in 1975 was $4,800 – just take that times 10 to get today average price.  OK, I’ll do the math for you – $48,000. The price of everyday goods and services, as measured by the CPI, saw a 586% increase from 1973 to 2023. In other words, ‘Purchasing Power’ decreased; meaning that $13 in 1975 had the same buying power as approximately $83 in 2025.

OK, OK, enough with the numbers, where’s the information about how much cheaper things are today?  Here you go . . .

Clothing: In 1975 the average American family spent about 10% to 12% of their household income on clothing. Today, that figure has dropped to around 3%. It’s not because people are buying less, it because more and more clothes come from out of the county, and thus cheaper. Same logic goes for toys that are now cheaper because most are made overseas.

Televisions: A ‘big’ screen TV in 1975 cost around $3,500.  Today, a big screen TV with high-definition cost less than $500

Air fares: I only found the rate in 1941 for a fare from L.A. to Boston – $5,000!  So, in ’75 maybe it was down to $2,500.  Today you can find it for $300-$400

And, finally what you’ve all been waiting for, the price of . . .

Bananas: For those living during the Civil War, bananas were $3 a pound!  In 1975 they dropped to .20 and today they are .55 a pound, so while bananas are cheaper than they were during the Civil War, they are more expensive today.  But I kept them on the list for those Civil War vets.

So, if you’re looking to save money, go buy clothes to wear as you’re either flying from L.A. to Boston, or watching that new high-definition TV. Eating bananas while doing either is optional.

Posted in Historical

The Fall of Saigon and The Greatest Beer Run

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by Bob Sparrow

North Vietnamese tank at the Presidential Palace

Last week, April 30th marked the 50th anniverary of the North Vietnamese tanks crashing through the gates at the Presidential Palace in South Vietnam’s capital, Saigon; ultimately marking the end to the twenty-plus year Vietnam War.   It’s hard to even think about that day and that war, without so many emotions being stirred; heartache for those lost or mentally or physically affected on both sides, sadness for all the chaos and ruin it brought to a beautiful country, as well as, for those around my age, all the turmoil and division it caused in our country.  For those younger, who think our country is divided now, I have to say I believe it was more divided back then, between those supporting the war and those protesting against it.

Kent State shooting

Soldiers returning to the states after their tour in Vietnam were encouraged not to wear their uniforms for fear of being spit on or physically accosted by those protesting the war.  On the other side, last Sunday marked the 55th anniversary of the Ohio National Guard firing into a crowd of student protestors on the Kent State University campus, killing four students and injuring nine more.  Americans protesting the war were burning draft cards, faking physical injuries to avoid the draft or moving to Canada.  An interesting aside relative to the Vietnam draft is that our three Vietnam ‘draft-elegible’ presidents all claimed student deferments and/or physical disabilities that precluded them from being drafted; Clinton, said he was joining the National Guard, but didn’t and continued his education and student deferment, Trump used a student deferment, then cited a bone spur in his heal, and Biden used a student deferment, then cited a childhood asthma condition.

Most people around my age know a name on this wall

In the end, the protestors were right, we were in a war we couldn’t win and it costs us 58,220 American lives, with many, many more affected by both physical and mental issues.  There are also nearly 1600 Americans that are still unaccounted for from that war. The total number of all deaths from the Vietnam War range up to 3,000,000!  Not to mention, depending on how you’re counting, the $176 to $352 billion it cost the American taxpayers.  Probably another thing that made that war so unpopular and repulsive was the fact that the horrors of it were televised into our living rooms, in living color, via the news every evening.  Aside from all the military losses, my tour last November through the Vietnam War Museum in Saigon brought home the brutal reality of all the physical and mental devastation that was suffered by the local civilian population.  We all certainly hoped that we had learn from the many mistakes made during the Vietnam War, but Afghanistan and Iraq would seem to indicate otherwise.

An interesting story to come out of the Vietnam War is a book, made into a 2022 movie, called ‘The Greatest Beer Run Ever’ by John “Chickie” Donohue. He is a Marine Corp veteran, who, in 1967 learned of one friend being killed in action and another who had gone missing; so he decided he wanted to do something to bring up the spirits of his other New York buddies who were still in Vietnam.  He signed on to a ship sailing to Saigon with a duffle bag full of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.  It’s a very interesting story based on real events, and while the title is a bit whymsical, the story still includes the horrors of that war. You can watch the movie, starring Zac Efron and Russell Crowe on Apple TV+.

May all who made the ultimate sacrifice rest in peace.

Posted in Historical • travel

Hollywood, The Mob and Ghosts at Lake Arrowhead

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by Bob Sparrow

Bracken Fern Manor

Yes, they’re all part of a most fascinating history of this pristine alpine lake that I had the good fortune of hearing about from an interesting character and owner of the Tudor House and Bracken Fern Manor, John Connor; more about him later.

Notorious mobster, ‘Bugsy’ Siegal got the Chicago Mob to fund the Atkins Brothers building of a resort in the mountains – Bracken Fern Manor, an alpine inn in the San Bernardino mountains just above Lake Arrowhead, which opened as ‘Club Arrowhead in the Pines’ in 1929.  It catered to the rich and famous, including many film stars.  Back in the day, many from Hollywood came to Arrowhead as  Bracken Fern Manor offered gambling, illegal liquor, as this was during Prohibition, and ‘ladies of the evening’.  The brothel continued operation through World War II.  An interesting side note is that when authorities realized that many of the mafia men spoke Italian, they offered them a ‘get out of jail free card’ if they would use their language skills to spy on the Italians, who were part of the Axis powers. 

The Tudor House

Gambling continued as a profitable business with a move across the street to the ‘speakeasy’/casino, called the Tudor House and continued operations until 1955.  This is the building where our group watched the football games on a big screen on New Years Day and were served drinks, pizza and desserts by John Connor and Bridger Zadina, more about him later too. The Bracken Fern Manor was turned into a 10-bedroom hotel which was said to be haunted by the ghosts of a ten-year-old boy, who was struck by a car and a prostitute who jumped from an upper-story window.  Enough hotel guests had paranormal experiences that both OC Ghosts & Legends and Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures have broadcast from the hotel.  Owner, John Connor gave us a tour through, what is today, the hotel, starting in the wine cellar and working our way up to the second floor where there was a secret window where one could ‘peek’ into the room and watch the goings on.  The rooms were small and shared a Jack & Jill bathroom.  We won’t be checking in anytime soon!

While walking back to the Tudor House from the Backen Fern Manor, (It is said there were secret tunnels connecting the two buildings to accommodate brothel customers stealthily moving between them), John showed us where the first power lines that brought electricity to Lake Arrowhead from San Bernardino were put up using live Ponderosa pine trees as telephone poles.  Look closely at the photo to see the ‘make-shift ladder’ still attached to the tree.  The grounds also include a wedding venue and an amphitheater seating four hundred for summer concerts.

OK, what about John Connor and Bridger Zadina?

John (with cigar) and Bridger

John is an 80-year-old energetic man who was born on a farm in Maryland and worked on it until he was 17, then decided that he didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do, but he knew it wasn’t working on a farm.  As it turned out, he was quite brilliant and went to Drexel Institute of Technology and earned a degree in particle physics, where he unknowingly worked on a neutron bomb for the Department of Defense.  He attended graduate school at Duke University, was recruited by the US Air Force to develop weapon systems during the Vietnam War (he gets pretty emotional talking about this), worked for the Environmental Protection Agency, worked on some of our very first computers, helped with the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline, was on Ronald Reagan’s transition team, started his own tax consulting firm, moved to Montana to retire and do some ranching, then moved to Arrowhead to open the Tudor House and Bracken Fern Manor, making it a theater, restaurant and hotel.  During pauses in the action of the football game we were watching, he would sit down at the piano and play a few show tunes – a true Renaissance man and a real character.

Wishing you a happy new year from the Lake Arrowhead Hotel

Bridger Zadina is a 30-year-old, who was very unassuming and always had a smile on his face.  He mentioned that he helped put on and act in some of the local theater shows that are done at the Tudor House theater.  Other than just being a nice guy, he just smiled and made sure we had plenty of food and beverages.  What we found out later is that he was born in Wisconsin and came to California to be an actor and model.  He’s had TV roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Bosch and Better Things; he also starred in the 2014 movie Sins of Our Youth.

An alpine lake, beautiful mountains, memorable characters, and a fascinating history made this a most memorable start to the new year.

PS: The last time I was at Lake Arrowhead was about 30 years ago and it was dead, with vacant buildings and empty streets. No longer – the place was happening; stores opened and lots of people.  

Posted in Family • Historical

Recalling Vietnam

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by Bob Sparrow

Warrant Officer Dale Barnes

I recently read the novel, The Women, by Kristin Hannah, which is a #1 bestseller and an excellent read about a woman who volunteers for the Army as a nurse and joins other women nurses in Vietnam during the war. These women were on the receiving end of those MedEvac helicopters that delivered the wounded soldiers to the closest mobile hospital.  It got me thinking about my brother-in-law, Dale Barnes, who was one of those helicopter pilots delivering those wounded soldiers.  When I was back in Minnesota for his mom’s 98th birthday, I had a chance to sit down with him and have him talk about his Vietnam experience.

Dale joined the Army in May 1969, enlisting for helicopter training, as he was always fascinated with helicopters from watching them as a boy on the family’s farm in Minnesota.  He started his basic training in Fort Polk, Louisiana, then went for basic flight training at Fort Walters, Texas, and then to Fort Rucker, Alabama for advanced flight training, where he earned his wings.  He was then sent to Fort Sam Houston, Texas for medical training, as everyone in a rescue helicopter needed to know basic medical procedures.

In August of 1970, he was deployed to Chu Lai, Vietnam, where he was initially a co-pilot on a UH-1H (Huey) helicopter doing MedEvac operations, which meant flying into combat zones, with no gun on board, only a red cross on the chopper, that the Viet Cong ignored.  He soon moved up to the pilot position, with a crew on the Huey consisting of a pilot, a co-pilot, a medic, and a crew chief (sort of a handyman, maintenance guy, who could hopefully fix things that got damaged on the aircraft).

The term given to these pilots was ‘Dust Off Pilot’; DUST OFF was the ‘call sign’ that came from the very first Evac helicopter unit, the 57th Medical Detachment, Medical

Services Corps, U.S. Army.

Dale’s UH-1H “Huey”

If you Google ‘Dust Off Pilot’ here’s what you get:

“During the Vietnam War, 90 Dust Off pilots were killed and nearly 380 were wounded; 121 crew members were killed and 545 were wounded. To be a Dustoff crew member was to accept a 1 in 3 chance of being killed or wounded. Yet everyone who volunteered to fly these missions of mercy accepted the grim odds”

Wow!!!  After I read that, I thanked Dale again for his service!

Most of the time when they were called in to pick up the wounded, they were escorted by gunship helicopters that went in before them to help quell any enemy fire.  But, gunships weren’t always available, so the pilot would have to ask his crew if they still wanted to go in, as they could say ‘No’ and they would not go in.  Dale says there were a number of occasions when they didn’t have gunships go in before them, and everytime he asked his crew if they still wanted to go in to pick up wounded soldiers, they always said ‘Yes’.

I asked ‘Chopper’ (Dale’s call sign) about a typical day in the life of a Dust Off pilot in Vietnam during the war.  He said there really wasn’t a ‘typical day’, as one day you may have a

‘Jungle Penetration’ pick up

clear landing zone, without enemy fire, so it’s a routine pick-up, but that rarely happened.  A typical ‘day’, might be at night, when they always flew ‘dark’ (no lights at landing), no GPS, all visual flying.  Or they might be asked to do a ’Jungle Penetration’ pick up, where there is no landing zone, so the helicopter hovers over the trees and lowers a long cable with three seats on it for pickup of men who did not need to be on a stretcher and could hold on to the cable while being lifted into the helicopter.  Dale estimates that during the year he was in Vietnam, he flew about 750 missions!  During that time, he was shot at all the time, but his helicopter was never shot down and he was never injured.  He says he’s most proud of never recieving a Purple Heart!  His closest call was when he had a bullet fly about a foot over his head and rattle around in the cockpit.

Dale, as civilian Medivac pilot

After his tour of duty, he came back to the states and remained in the Army the next 20 years doing various jobs – being a flight instructor, flying VIPs around, as well as tours of duty in Japan and Germany.  After retiring from the service, Dale became an AirEvac pilot in civilian life – doing that for the next 24 years! 

There’s an old pilot adage that says, “You always want your number of landings to equal your number of takeoffs.”  In just over 45 years of flying a helicopter, Dale flew over 12,000 hours WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT and without being injured!

Thank you for your service, Dale, for saving countless lives, both military and civilian!

 

Posted in Historical • Sports

He Could Do More Than Just “Play Ball”

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by Bob Sparrow

Williams, throws right, bats left

I have heard that baseball season is well underway.  I must admit my interest in baseball has waned over the years, not unlike most Americans, who haven’t voted baseball as America’s #1 Pastime since 1960!  But I do like the history of the game and particularly some of the stories of the great characters of the game.  One of those characters is Ted Williams, a southern California boy from San Diego, whose life was quite interesting.

His real name was Teddy Williams, named after Teddy Roosevelt, but he later legally changed it to ‘Theodore’ so he could just be called ‘Ted’.  He was 6’3” and 205 pounds and nicknamed. “The Splendid Splinter”.  What most people don’t know about him, is that his mother was Hispanic, a fact that he kept from the public as he knew he wouldn’t be offered the same opportunities, if they knew he was part Hispanic.

He was a great high school baseball player and had offers out of high school from the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees, but his mother thought he was too young to leave home, so he signed with a local minor league team, the San Diego Padres.  After one season with the Padres, he was pick up by the Boston Red Sox at 19 years old . . . and the rest is history!

Marine Corps Captain Ted Williams

In his first four seasons (1939 – 1942) at age 20-23, he made the All-Star team three years and had two second place finished for the MVP of the league and one 4th place finish.  On the last day of the 1941 season, he had a batting average of .400 and was asked by his manager if he wanted to sit out the last day of baseball, a double header against the Athletics, so he could remain at .400 for the season; he declined to sit out and went 6 for 8 in his final at bats and finished with a .406 average – which was the last time a major league player hit .400 or over!  As a point of reference, only 11 players in the 2023 season hit .300 or better!!

After his fourth season, America was involved in World War II, and although at the time a college degree was required to become a pilot, and Ted had only a high school diploma, during WWII exceptions were made, so Williams was allowed in the Navy/Marine Corps pilot training program.  His tremendous reflexes and hand-eye coordination (he had 20/10 vision!) made him an outstanding pilot (as well as an outstanding hitter), so they made him an instructor, and by the time he was eventually sent for combat duty, the war was over.

After the war, he rejoined the Red Sox and became the MVP in the league in his first year back.  For the next six years he was on the All-Star Team every year, won two MVP Awards and had a batting average of .339.

F-9 Panther

In 1950 the U.S. was once again at war, this time in Korea, and Ted was recalled by the Marine Corp and sent to South Korea where he flew the F-9 Panther jet in 39 combat missions where he was asked by future astronaut, John Glenn to be his wingman.  His plane was hit by enemy fire on three occasions and on one of those he had to make a crash landing.

He returned to full-time baseball in 1954 and spent the next seven years compiling a career of award:

 

  • Three-time American League Most Valuable Player
  • Eight-time Golden Glove Award (for best defensive player at his position)
  • Six-time American League batting champion – the last two at age 39 and 40.
  • 19-time All Star Team
  • Two Triple Crown Award (best batting average, most RBIs and most Home Runs in the league)
  • Lifetime batting average of .344
  • Only Hall of Famer to serve in two wars

All that after missing nearly five full seasons due to military service.  Now, that’s a baseball player!

 

Posted in Historical

The Interesting Month of April

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Ogden Nash

April has been the subject of many great writers from Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Robert Browning, T.S. Eliot to Edna St. Vicent Millay, to name a few.  But, for me, the zany Ogden Nash, summed April up best with his poem, Always Marry an April Girl (which I did!):

“Praise the spell and bless the charms,

I found in my April arms.

April golden, April cloudy,

Gracious, cruel, tender, rowdy;

April soft in flowered languor,

April cold with sudden anger,

                                                            Ever changing, ever true —

                                                        I love April, I love you.”

Nash is famous for his short poems and observations; the one that speaks to me the loudest is:

“You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.”

He also came up with:

“Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.”

And, he also offers up some really good poetic marital advice:

“To keep your marriage brimming with love in the loving cup,

Whenever you’re wrong admit it, whenever you’re right shut up.”

and

“There is only one way to have a happy marriage, and as soon as I learn what it is, I’ll get married again.”

Here’s one he wrote many years ago, but is apt today:

“I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people”

Lots of other things happened in April, but before we leave Mr. Nash, an interesting factoid is that the city of Nashville, is named after his forebearers.

Many famous and infamous people were born in April, from William Shakespeare to Adoff Hitler; and of course, the most famous to me, my wife, Linda!

RMS Titanic

But what I really wanted to write about this week, was a great historic event that occurred exactly 112 years ago, on April 15, 1912, the sinking of the Titanic.  It took over 70 years to find her as she lies 12,600 feet under water.  Of the 2,224 passengers on board, 1,496 died, in part because the ship was supposed to have 64 lifeboats on board, but only had 20, and those ended up being filled to only 60% capacity!

Aside from the 13 couples who were celebrating their honeymoon on board, there were several famous people who died, John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man on board and Benjamin Guggenheim, along with several other titans of industry in the day.  The luckiest people were those who purchased a ticket for the Titanic’s maiden voyage, but ended up having a conflict that kept them from getting on board – Milton Hershey, who gave us the Hershey Bar, J.P. Morgan and George Vanderbilt to name just a few of the eight very wealthy men who luckily didn’t make it on board.

Not the iceberg’s fault?  Recent evidence has shown that a fire of 1800 degrees had burned in the ship’s hull for three weeks prior to the ship’s departure, thus weakening the hull and ultimately was responsible for the hull splitting when it hit the iceberg.

The longest living survivor of the disaster was Millvina Dean, who was the youngest survivor on the Titanic at two months old. She died at the age of 97 in 2009.

Hoping your April is more Nutty Nash than Tragic Titanic!

 

Posted in Historical

Sadly This Will Be Our Last Blog

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by Bob Sparrow

Suzanne and I have made a tough decision, based on personal factors, after nearly 13 years of first, Morning News in Verse, which appeared every Tuesday and Friday from August 2011 to March 2012, then From A Bird’s Eye View, which has appeared every Monday morning from March 2012 until today, that this will be our last blog . . . this week.

 OK, when I haven’t been traveling, the history of the most current holiday seems to attract my attention, and this week, rather than try to explain why we celebrated the resurrection of Christ by hiding colorful bunny eggs, I decided to explore April Fool’s Day.  I know it’s not really a holiday, it’s a . . . well, I’m not sure what it is!!  But, I’m sure you are sitting on pins and needles wondering, “What the heck is the incredible history of this crazy day?”  Well, wonder no more.

Or maybe you better keep wondering, as April Fool’s Day’s true origin is unknown and probably unknowable.  What you may not know is that the day is celebrated around the world, in many different ways.  To wit . . .

In Ireland, it is traditional to entrust the victim with an “important letter” to be given to a named person. That person would read the letter, then ask the victim to take it to someone else, and so on. The letter when opened contained the words “send the fool further”.

Danes, Finns, Icelanders, Norwegians and Swedes celebrate April Fools’ Day with most news media outlets publishing one false story on the front page of their local newspaper.

In Poland, April 1 has been a traditional day of pranks, where very sophisticated hoaxes are perpetrated by people, media and even public institutions.  Serious activities are usually avoided; every word said on April 1st could be untrue, as a day of pranks is a centuries-long tradition, but it only lasts until noon.

In France where the fool was called an ‘April Fish’ instead of an ‘April Fool’; due to the prank of taping a paper fish to someone’s back without them knowing it. (Replaced by ‘Kick Me’ in the U.S.)  On a possible historic note, in France, in 1564, Charles IX decreed that the new year would no longer begin on Easter, as had been common throughout Christendom, but rather on January 1. Because Easter was a lunar and therefore moveable date, those who clung to the old ways were the “April Fools.”

In Scotland, the day is Gowkie Day, a day for fools and may have been associated at one time with sexual license.  The PG rating for our blogs prevents me from any further explanation.

In England there is reference to April 1st in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, where the rooster, Chauntecleer is tricked by the fox.  Also in England, on April 1st, starting in 1698, people were tricked into going to the Tower of London to “see the Lions washed”.

Hope you had a Happy Easter, and if you were duped on April 1, you’ve joined a worldwide brotherhood of ‘Fools’.   And sorry for those who had hopes of not having our drivel pop up in their email every Monday morning, but we’re not increasing our prices!