The Raid Upon Vinh, Remembered at Marjerle's Bar and Grill

Daddy, have your ever cried?

*    *    *    *    *
Too often now after forty
and the third or fourth drink of the day
I remember the raid upon Vinh.

Large ships silently, swiftly
race from the dark Gulf of Tonkin
and into the day
and the bay before Vinh.

Far from the shore
out in the bay
small open boats with their fishermen
already at work in the morning
away from their homes here at Vinh.

Puzzled men stop to observe us
and stand as they brush past our sides
in our haste we can barely avoid them
as we rush on our way in toward Vinh.

Still far out in the bay
old coast guns start to range us
tall gray palms start to grow near the ships
the line turns port for the mission
and our guns come to bear upon Vinh.

From the cruiser black orange volcanoes
great bullets that can almost be seen
rapid fire joined by destroyers
blast the troops and the trucks in the convoys
as they make their way south here at Vinh.

With age you should fail to remember
what it was that was long in the past
the men in their boats
the shock and despair in their eyes as they watched us
and the smoldering City of Vinh
their smoldering City of Vinh.

The Black Angel

Years ago a black man knocked on my grandmother's door. 
Are you Ms. Josephine Cain?
No, I'm her sister, Ellen?  What can I do for you?
I work in the insane asylum in Connecticut.
There's a man there who says he's a friend of Miss Josephine Cain.
His nephew had him committed, but he's just old.   Sane enough to me.
He asked me to go find Josephine Cain and ask her to help him.
Thank you, Ellen said, I'll see what I can do.
The old black man lifted his hat, nodded his head and was gone before she could say another word.
She grabbed her own hat and umbrella and headed for the train to Hartford.
When she got there she went to the governor's office and sat in the waiting room until someone would see her.   They released the old friend to her custody and she took him back to New York where she and Josie found him a comfortable place to live out his life.

Crusaders in Oregon

We were 50 miles from Nowhere
and when you got to Nowhere
all the girls had gone to the beach for the summer.

The old hand told us boys
the summer help
Don't worry about them cows
they won't bother you.
Just don't get between a cow and her calf
or a cow and a dog.

He was right
most times those sweet, dumb animals
wouldn't let you near them
they'd just drift away if you tried
unless you had a sugar cube
then you could walk right up to one
and scratch her hard black head
while a big pink tongue slopped your hand
and took the sugar.

Then one day while we were moving irrigation pipe
a dog hopped merrily into the pasture.
An old cow spotted that dog
and lit out after him like an angry brahma bull
chasing a hapless rodeo clown.
She'd have got him too
except her milked filled udders slapped against
her hind legs and slowed her just enough
so the dog could make his getaway under a nearby barbed wire fence.
Pretty funny sight to see
unless you were the dog.

On the other hand
the dog had been around a while
knew just how fast an old cow could run
and exactly how far it was to the barbed wire fence.
I'd allow since the dog was 50 miles from Nowhere too
and couldn't go to the beach for the summer either
he was drumming up a little fun
to break up the monotony of another day on the farm.
50 miles from Nowhere.

Greatest Moment in Holy Cross History

Without doubt, the greatest moment in Holy Cross History was passage of the Vinson-Walsh (Two-Ocean) Navy Act in July, 1940. Sponsored by U.S. Senator David I. Walsh, HC 1893, the act increased the size of the U.S. Navy by 70 percent, including 7 battleships, 18 aircraft carriers and 15,000 aircraft. The United States Navy saved the world and democracy from fascism during World War II.

*   *   *   *   *

It was a closely kept secret at the time and even less known today, but Holy Cross College was on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1960s.   Thanks to Walsh's influence the Navy placed an officers' training program at the college during World War II and an at the time coveted ROTC unit.  During the war and in the 1960s, ROTC scholarships and the Navy ROTC unit helped keep the college financially afloat.

*    *   *    *    *
The rival for the Greatest Moment is when the Healy brothers, slaves according the laws of Georgia, walked onto Mount St. James at Holy Cross for the first time.  Michener called them America's most remarkable siblings next to the Adames.

James Healy -- First Valedictorian at Holy Cross,  first Catholic bishop in America of African descent, pastor St. James Church, South Boston
Sherwood Healy -- First African-Ameican to earn a doctorate, Director Troy Seminary, Rector Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston
Patrick Healy -- President of Georgetown, who transformed a small college into a major university
Hugh Healy -- died at 21 in New York City
Michael Healy -- Captain of the Revenue Cutter Bear, real life hero of Michener's Alaska, inspiration for London's The Sea-Wolf.  Commissioned by Abraham Lincoln as a Third Lieutenant in 1864.

Desiccant and the Battle of Dong Hoi Gulf

The old chief had me scurrying all over Southern California

picking up parts to make his radar work

the last box of stuff just kept things dry

what’s going on

… I just don’t want to go back, Sir

I can’t tell the Commodore that, Chief

Fix the damn radar so we can deploy.
 

  *  *  *  *  *
 

The jets burst from the shore cover

they were on us in an instant

in the blink of an eye

the Lenah S. Higbee was burning and sinking