Tuesday, November 11, 2025
1918, The Allied nations and Germany signed the armistice ending the fighting in the Great War, which had killed more than 15 million people
1939 Kate Smith first sang Irving Berlin's "God Bless America"
1961 "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller was published
2018 On the centenary of WWI Armistice Day, French President Macron urged the world to reject Nationalism in a speech under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
In bed at 10, awake at 5, up at 4:25. Left ankle area again seems to be improved, still swollen and red, with some discomfort, but no significant pain. 29°, wind chill 16°, high of 41°
Meds, etc. Morning meds at 7:15 a.m.
My FB posting on Veterans Day.
On my way into Sendik’s yesterday, I bought a red poppy from a member of the Disabled American Vets. I schmoozed with him for about 10 minutes and learned that he was a fellow Vietnam vet, a former soldier, and a fellow patient at the VA Medical Center here in Milwaukee. The chat reminded me of the ready fellowship that exists among so many veterans, perhaps especially among those who served in war zones. Most of us Vietnam vets were born in the 1940s or early 50s, so simply by virtue of age, we are a diminishing lot, living in a world that is in many ways hard to keep up with. We’re falling behind and eventually we fall off. Veterans Day, falling as it does at the beginning of the holiday season, reminds me of Thanksgiving and Christmas in Vietnam in 1965 and of this memory recorded in my journal a year ago:
I read Joseph Heller's Catch-22 sometime between 1961, when it was published, and before 1965, when I was in Vietnam, remembering it. I was sitting in the Officers' Mess in an old French Army building at the Danang air base. It was nearing Christmas, and I had walked into the mess hall alone to get a late lunch. The mess hall was empty except for me and the head chaplain of the 1st Marine Air Wing, an Episcopalian priest and an O-6 Navy captain. He was hanging tinsel on an artificial Christmas tree, and he sang loudly to himself as he decorated the tree: “Christmas is a'coming and the goose is getting fat, please to put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny then a ha'penny will do. If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you.” I had been "in country" for 5 months by then, already sensed that no good would come of the war, and, as I sat alone eating my lunch and listening to the chaplain belting out his carol, I thought of Catch-22. I still vividly remember thinking that, when I read it, I had believed that the novel was pure fiction, all made up, but then I knew it to be true, or at least based on fact. All the crazy shit that Yossarian experienced in WWII, the absurdities, the insanities and inanities (Major Major Major Major, Milo Minderbinder, Chaplain Tappman) that kind of stuff really happens! We had started the long process of dropping more high explosives, incendiaries, and teratogenic defoliants on the people of Vietnam than the Allies had dropped on Germany and Japan in all of World War II, and here was a Christian chaplain hanging tinsel on a fake tree and singing about a Christmas goose getting fattened up for its holiday killing. I was reminded of Catch-22's protagonist's view of God during WWII:
"And don't tell me God works in mysterious ways", Yossarian continued, hurtling over her objections. "There's nothing so mysterious about it. He's not working at all. He's playing or else He's forgotten all about us. That's the kind of God you people talk about – a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did he ever create pain? … Oh, He was really being charitable to us when He gave us pain! [to warn us of danger] Why couldn't He have used a doorbell instead to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes right in the middle of each person's forehead. Any jukebox manufacturer worth his salt could have done that. Why couldn't He? … What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. …"
Some folks gained faith in war, others lost it. Some memories stay with us, easy to resurface on days like Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Most of us veterans appreciate the civic memorials and all the expressions of gratitude for our service, especially as we recall some of the costs of our service, to ourselves and to our government-designated 'enemies,' but we also remember at least some of the absurdities, insanities, and inanities of military life, especially in war zones, and especially when we are the aggressors.
My comment on JJA's FB post on the Marine Corps Birthday celebration at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA.
Thank you so much for taking and sharing these great photos and especially the videos. I haven't been back to Quantico since I graduated from Basic School in 1963, and my last formal Marine Corps birthday celebration was in 1964 at MCAS Yuma AZ. I try to remember what we did, if anything, in Danang in 1965 to celebrate the day, but I'm drawing a blank. I think we were still just 'getting our s--- together" for the job at hand. Your photos and videos give us a sense of why it's said "Once a Marine, always a Marine," though I remember my Dad writing me one of the only two letters he ever wrote me, back in 1961, discouraging me from opting to take my commission in the Marines rather than the Navy. His service in the Corps on Iwo Jima only 16 years before then, soured him on everything having to do with war, including the Corps. For most of us though, it's still true: Once a Marine, always a Marine. [Col. Lawrence O. Anderson, USMCR, MULS 1970, in a business suit]
The Brits don't want to be parties to murder at the ICC: UK suspends some intelligence sharing with US over boat strike concerns in a major break. Natasha Bertrand, CNN online.
The United Kingdom is no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The UK’s decision marks a significant break from its closest ally and intelligence sharing partner and underscores the growing skepticism over the legality of the US military’s campaign around Latin America.
For years, the UK, which controls a number of territories in the Caribbean where it bases intelligence assets, has helped the US locate vessels suspected of carrying drugs so that the US Coast Guard could interdict them, the sources said. That meant the ships would be stopped, boarded, their crews detained, and drugs seized.
The intelligence was typically sent to Joint Interagency Task Force South, a task force stationed in Florida that includes representatives from a number of partner nations and works to reduce the illicit drug trade.
But shortly after the US began launching lethal strikes against the boats in September, however, the UK grew concerned that the US might use intelligence provided by the British to select targets. British officials believe the US military strikes, which have killed 76 people, violate international law, the sources said. The intelligence pause began over a month ago, they said.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, said last month that the strikes violate international law and amount to “extrajudicial killing.” The UK agrees with that assessment, the sources told CNN.
Before the US military began blowing up boats in September, countering illicit drug trafficking was handled by law enforcement and the US Coast Guard, Cartel members and drug smugglers were treated as criminals with due process rights — something the UK was happy to help with, the sources said.
But the Trump administration has argued that the US military can legally kill suspected traffickers because they pose an imminent threat to Americans and are “enemy combatants” who are in an “armed conflict” with the US, according to a memo sent by the administration to Congress. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion, which is still classified, reinforcing that argument, CNN has reported, and Trump has designated a number of drug cartels as “foreign terrorist groups.” The White House has said repeatedly that the administration’s actions “comply fully with the Law of Armed Conflict,” the area of international law that is designed to prevent attacks on civilians.
But legal experts say the Law of Armed Conflict would still apply to civilian drug traffickers, and the designation of a group as a foreign terrorist organization does not automatically authorize the use of lethal force. Several boats hit by the US have either been stationary or were turning around when they were attacked, CNN has reported, undermining the administration’s claim that they posed an imminent threat that could not be dealt with through interdiction and arrest.
Senior US defense officials have also expressed skepticism of the military campaign. The commander of US Southern Command, Adm. Alvin Holsey, offered to resign during a tense meeting last month with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after he raised questions about the legality of the strikes, CNN has reported. Holsey will leave his post in December, just one year into his tenure as the SOUTHCOM chief.
Virginia “Ginny” Rose Vanden Branden of Green Bay passed away Thursday, October 9, 2025. She was the daughter of Arnie and Irene Moder. Ginny grew up in Green Bay with her five brothers. She attended Annunciation Elementary School and was a proud graduate of Green Bay West High School. She attended the Outagamie County Teachers College. She married the love of her life, Richard Vanden Branden on September 22, 1955. Ginny worked at the telephone company and as a bridal consultant at the HC Prange store in Green Bay. Ginny fulfilled a long-held desire to become a teacher when she began her education at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay in 1972. She graduated from UWGB with high honors in 1976. She began her career as an educator at St. Louis School in Dyckesville, where she enjoyed the challenge of teaching combined grades in one classroom. She then taught for many years at Notre Dame of De Pere Middle School. . . .
In 1986 Ginny continued on her path as an educator in the Wisconsin Prison system where she worked for nearly 3 decades. She touched many lives and looked for the best in everyone. She began teaching at Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution and later at the Green Bay Correctional Institution. She attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh while working at GBCI. Ginny was involved in creating nationally recognized programs to help reduce recidivism. She received state and national awards recognizing her contributions. Her program was studied and integrated into corrections programs internationally after visits from foreign prison officials. When the state cut the budget for her program, Ginny privately fundraised to continue to provide the educational services that changed lives. She was known for her powers of persuasion. Many people who found themselves surprised to be speaking in a maximum-security institution became lifelong friends and supporters. Ginny found great satisfaction in her career in corrections and continued working into her 80s.
The words in her obituary, though accurate, can't do justice to the work she did with and for prisoners. I visited her classroom a few times with Janine, and Geri joined us for one visit. I always came out of her classroom and out of the prison a wiser, humbler, and better person than when I went in. I learned from the prisoners who spoke of their lives that reminded me that they were children once, innocent and abused and neglected. Many of their personal stories put human faces on William Blake's "Every morn and every night, some are born to sweet delight. Every night and every morn, some to misery are born. Some are born to sweet delight. Some are born to endless night." I also learned from the tales told by the victims of crime in those classroom gatherings how wide the circle of victimhood extends. It is never just to 'the identified victim of a criminal wrongdoing, but also to their children, their parents, their spouses, their neighbors, their friends, and their community. Ginny and her friend and colleague Harriet, made all that learning and growth possible in the prison, and Janine contributed wisely and profoundly to their program, and all who benefited from it, including me.. All of them were "doing God's work," as Howard Eisenberg used to say, and I was saddened to hear of Ginny's death.
No comments:
Post a Comment