“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for
having broken the taboo against killing,
a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier's sense of shame for
having
fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of
civilians.
Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that
made
the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you
get
your proverbial walking time bomb.”
It was written by guitarist
Jerry Cantrell for his father, who served in the
Vietnam
War. His nickname was "Rooster."[2]
The nickname most likely originated from men who used machine guns (see the
second verse, first line) as when it would strafe an area the tracers would make
a pattern that looked like a rooster's tail, but there is speculation that it
may have been in relation to the
101st Airborne Division, in which Cantrell's father served. The 101st
Airborne wore patches on their arms featuring a bald eagle. There are no bald
eagles in Vietnam,
so the closest thing to which the
Vietnamese could reference them was the chicken. They referred to them as
"chicken men".[3]
In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry
Cantrell said of the song:
It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all
that damage that
Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there.
The first time I ever heard him talk about it was when we made the video and
he did a 45 minute interview with
Mark Pellington and I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally
calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it. It even brought him to
the point of tears. It was beautiful. He said it was a weird experience, a
sad experience and he hoped that nobody else had to go through it.[1]
PRAYER REQUEST:
From Buster Vest ('63) of VA -
05/17/10, 11:08 - "Prayer List":
Carol,
I would like to add Susan Whitt Vest, class of '67, to the NNHS
prayer list. She fighting for her life with brain cancer. Today is
Susan's birthday; she is the wife of Eddie Vest ('68).
Sister-in-law to Buster Vest ('63) and Donna Marie Vest
Hagerman ('71 - of VA).
Thanks,
Buster
Oh,
Buster, I'm so very sorry to hear this! Certainly we'll keep Susan - and
Eddie - in our prayers!
May 17, 1940 - The old city centre of the
Dutch town of
Middelburg was bombed by the German
Luftwaffe to force the surrender of the Dutch armies in
Zeeland.
May 17,
1941 - German planes bombed British forces in Iraq.
From Alex Nicol (June,
1949) of VA - 05/16/10, 11:06 AM - "spelling
of last name":
On (the Newsletter page
for) 05/13 you have Joe Toley instead of
Joe Tolly
('56).
P.S. I missed leaving a post.. Joe and I had worked
together years ago.
Yours truly,
Alexander Nicol
OH, NO!
That no doubt happened when I was wishing I knew how
the name was pronounced - "TAH-lee" or "TOE-lee".
Thank you, Alex; I fixed it!
And it's never too late to post a remembrance.
The Daily Press gives you a full month from the day
the obituary is first carried (hopefully I'll have
all the entries updated in a few days...).
Just enter the name on the search box. After one
month, you can add a note onto any Memorial
Newsletter just by sending it to me; they have no
expiration date, and are kept online permanently.
Have
I mentioned I haven't been feeling over well in the "mind"?!?
From David Whitley ('67) of VA - 05/17/10,
7:10 AM:
Hi
sweet thing, how are ya doing? Hope you are
feeling more betterer.
Here’s some useless trivia about John Wayne ( I’m assuming your son
Brent (Harty
-
Hillsboro HS,
IL - '90 - of TX) likes “the Duke”, right?). Years ago, after going
through some difficult times caused by PTSD, I was contacted by a local
guy, Steve Yedinak, who had gone through a similar period years earlier.
Steve had been a Green Beret and is the author of “Hard to Forget”, a
book chronicling his time in Viet Nam. Anyway, after meeting him &
spending a little time at his house, I saw some black & white pictures
on his wall of (a much younger) him & John Wayne. Come to find out Yed
was the technical assistant for John Wayne’s 1966 movie “The Green
Berets”. Yed later sponsored me into an organization of combat veterans
called “A Band of Brothers” (not associated w/the HBO series), which
was mentored by the late, great Col. David Hackworth, also an author,
“Steel My Soldiers Hearts” and a real American hero (at the time he
passed away, a few years ago, Hack had been awarded the most medals of
any living soldier). I feel so honored to be able to call both these men
my friends & brothers, but that’s another story for another time.
I have a deep admiration & love for Yed. He’s mostly responsible for my
climb out of that horribly dark pit in which I was stuck for too long.
love, d
P.S. And oh yeah, you cute thang, before you even ask, I will tell you,
my dear, feel free to use any or all of this as you see fit.
Well, in
that case, you gorgeous creature, I shall use it all! Thank you so much,
David - for everything!
ABBREVIATED ALERT:
From Jane
Chambers of VA - 07/01/09 AND 02/07/10 - "CNC BOOK BROCHURE & AD"
AND 61-62 DECADERS ADDENDA:
The other day, Nancy and I got into some petty argument. (I say it was
petty. She would have said it was Armageddon.) As is our nature, neither
of us would admit the possibility that we might be in error.
To her credit, Nancy finally said, "Look. I'll tell you what. I'll admit
I'm wrong if you admit I was right."
"Fine." I said.
She took a deep breath, looked me in the eye and said, "I'm wrong."
I grinned and replied, "You're right."
*************
Fairy Godmother
A Fairy Godmother told a married couple: "For being such an exemplary
married couple for 35 years, I will give you each a wish".
"I want to travel around the world with my dearest husband" said the
wife.
The Fairy moved her magic stick and abracadabra! two tickets appeared in
her hands.
Now it was the husband's turn. He thought for a moment and said: "Well,
this moment is very romantic, but an opportunity like this only occurs
once in a lifetime.
So.....I'm sorry, my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years
younger than I am".
The wife was deeply disappointed, but a wish was a wish. The Fairy made
a circle with her magic stick and.....abracadabra!... Suddenly the
husband was 90 years old.
Reminder: Fairies are Female!
DATES TO REMEMBER:
1. Saturday, June 12,
2010 - George Wythe
Schools Closing Celebration.
Contact Glory Gill (Wythe school nurse) at 727-2965 /
ggill@sbo.hampton.k12.va.us
with any questions or to contribute old memories -
OPEN TO PUBLIC
2. Friday and Saturday,
August 6 and 7, 2010 - The NNHS Class of 1970 will hold its 40-Year
Reunion. Saturday night will be at the Kiln Creek Golf & Country Club.
For details, contactCarol Comer Cutler
at
ca23comerww@aol.com
or visit the reunion website at
NNHS1970Reunion.myevent.com
-
CLASS OF 1970
3. Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday, August 6, 7, and 8, 2010 - The NNHS Class of 1960 will hold
its 50-Year Reunion at the Marriott Newport News at City Center. For
details, contact Karen Weinstein Witte at
kwitte@tampabay.rr.com -
CLASS OF 1960
4. Saturday, October
9, 2010 - The NNHS Class of 1963 will celebrate their 65th Birthdays at
a Party on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at the Virginia Power Clubhouse,
1701 Waterview, Yorktown, VA from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM. For details,
contact Susie Overton Jones at
tnsjones@charter.net -
CLASS OF 1963
5. Friday and
Saturday, October 15 and 16, 2010 - The NNHS Class of 1965 will hold its
45-Year Reunion. For details, contact Dave Arnold at
captarnold@vprj.net -
OPEN TO ALL CLASSES, HOSTED
BY THE CLASS OF 1965
6. Saturday, April 30,
2011 - The NNHS Class of 1954 will have a LUNCHEON. Mickey Marcella
mcmiceli@verizon.net (757)
249-3800, Betty Hamby Neher,
bjneher@cox.net (757) 898-5099 and Dr. Harry Simpson
hdsdds@aol.com (804) 694-0346 will
be the team leaders. -
CLASS OF 1954
7. Saturday, July 9, 2011
(6:30
PM - 11:30 PM) - The
Class of 1971 will hold its 40-Year Reunion at Point Plaza Suites and
Conference Hotel, 950 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard, Newport News. For
details, contact Richard Rawls at:
Richard@Rawls.com -
CLASS OF 1971
Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat
Seems every path leads me to nowhere
Wife and kids household pet
Army green was no safe bet
The bullets scream to me from somewhere
Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster
You know he ain't gonna die
Walkin' tall machine gun man
They spit on me in my home land
Gloria sent me pictures of my boy
Got my pills 'gainst mosquito death
My buddy's breathin' his dyin' breath
Oh god please won't you help me make it through
Here they come to snuff the rooster
Yeah here come the rooster
You know he ain't gonna die
Animated Tiny Birthday Cake clip art courtesy of Sarah Puckett Kressaty ('65) of
VA - 08/31/05
Thanks, Sarah Sugah!
Army Seal clip art courtesy of Al Farber ('64) of GA - 05/24/06 (still
missing...)
Thanks, Al!
Replaced by Norm Covert ('61) of MD - 02/09/09
Thanks, Norm!
THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS:
