Author Topic: Great Americans  (Read 159195 times)

Primemuscle

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 41739
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #325 on: November 23, 2023, 11:46:05 AM »
I admire this person. And to think Roman McConn is only 10 years old. Amazing!

Lucy, my 16-year-old Rat Terrier is deaf like me only worse because, as far as I know, there are no hearing aids for dogs. On the plus side, Lucy used to be an annoying barker. Since losing her hearing she never barks. I know she still has a voice because when she doesn't like something or slips and falls, she yelps.

A cousin of mine is a retired airline piolet. He has his own small craft airplane with he uses to rescue pups from all over the country and bring them to Colorado which is a no-kill state. Although many of these dogs are seniors, they find homes and are either permanently adopted or in foster care until a permanent home can be found for them.

My good friend Nancy adopted a senior Golden Lab who is such a sweet dog. Because of her experience, if Lucy passes before I do, I may decide to adopt a senior dog. It makes more sense than starting out with a puppy that would likely need to be housebroken and require a lot of exercise.

At no time in my life have I not had a pet - almost always dogs, save for one cat, a couple of horses, some rabbits, two goats, turtles, tropical fish (boring), briefly a baby alligator and multiple Peruvian guinea pigs. I prefer dogs as pets. They are truly man’s best friend.

Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #326 on: November 23, 2023, 08:06:49 PM »
I admire this person. And to think Roman McConn is only 10 years old. Amazing!

Lucy, my 16-year-old Rat Terrier is deaf like me only worse because, as far as I know, there are no hearing aids for dogs. On the plus side, Lucy used to be an annoying barker. Since losing her hearing she never barks. I know she still has a voice because when she doesn't like something or slips and falls, she yelps.

A cousin of mine is a retired airline piolet. He has his own small craft airplane with he uses to rescue pups from all over the country and bring them to Colorado which is a no-kill state. Although many of these dogs are seniors, they find homes and are either permanently adopted or in foster care until a permanent home can be found for them.

My good friend Nancy adopted a senior Golden Lab who is such a sweet dog. Because of her experience, if Lucy passes before I do, I may decide to adopt a senior dog. It makes more sense than starting out with a puppy that would likely need to be housebroken and require a lot of exercise.

At no time in my life have I not had a pet - almost always dogs, save for one cat, a couple of horses, some rabbits, two goats, turtles, tropical fish (boring), briefly a baby alligator and multiple Peruvian guinea pigs. I prefer dogs as pets. They are truly man’s best friend.

I have a Border Collie.  Incredibly smart and athletic.  He's a handful.  Like having two dogs.  He's like a human.  And dogs are often better than people.  I would kill for my dog. 

Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #327 on: January 01, 2024, 08:06:43 PM »


Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson BREAKS INTERNET With Fiery Speech Slamming Biden, BLM, and ANTIFA

Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #328 on: January 19, 2024, 10:37:52 AM »
Honorary Great American Ricardo Montalban.


SOMEPARTS

  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 16407
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #329 on: January 19, 2024, 12:08:14 PM »
Now that Hunter's laptop has been proven 100% real by US Dept of Justic filings...the guy with the computer shop that turned it in should be recognized as a patriot instead of being hunted by the various alphabet agencies.




Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #330 on: April 03, 2024, 01:08:05 PM »
Lou Conter, last survivor of the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, dies at 102
April 3, 2024
By:  Vanessa Romo


Lou Conter, pictured at the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, in 2016, died on Monday. He was the last living survivor of the USS Arizona battleship that exploded and sank during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. / AP

Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, has died at the age of 102.

Conter, who was a 20-year-old quartermaster at the time of the naval assault, was on the back decks of the battleship on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces decimated the U.S. Pacific fleet. The unprecedented attack killed 1,177 on the Arizona, with over 900 of those individuals never recovered.

As the bombs rained down on the naval base, one landed between two main guns at the front of the Arizona. The explosion ignited a huge store of TNT black powder that was used for the ship's battery guns.

"There went a million pounds of powder," Conter recalled in a 2018 interview with the American Veterans Center. "It blew up!"

The explosion was so intense that it split the ship in two, "and the bow came up about 30, 40 feet out of the water and fell straight back down," he remembered.

The strike was catastrophic and it only took about 10 minutes for the ship to sink, David Kilton, a spokesman for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, told NPR.

Meanwhile, amid the chaos, Conter abandoned the ship and eventually made it to safety, only to be ordered onto a rescue boat to help pull bodies from the water. "Some of those were individuals in distress, trying to figure out how to swim around the huge quantities of oil that had leaked out and the flames that were on the water," Kilton said.

"Guys were coming out of the fire, and we were just grabbing them and laying them down," Conter later said. "They were real bad. You would pick them up by the bodies, and the skin would come off in your hands."


The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples over during the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The attack drew the U.S. into World War II. / AP

Conter's life mantra in and out of battle was simple: Don't panic
Shortly after the horrors in Hawaii, Conter was selected for flight training and became a Navy aviator. He flew some 200 combat missions in the Pacific throughout WWII.

Ed Bonner, a family friend who wrote the foreword for Conter's autobiography, The Lou Conter Story, described the war veteran as a warm man who never lost his cool — even when being shot down during a mission.

In September 1943, Conter was given orders to drop flares over the Japanese fleet off the coast of New Guinea to keep them awake, Bonner told NPR, sharing one of his favorite war stories of Conter's. But as they were flying over the base, Conter's plane was struck, crashing into the ocean. "And as they hit the water – about six miles off of New Guinea — the co-pilot tells the 10-person crew, 'Say your prayers, boys. We are all going to die.' "

But Conter wasn't having that, Bonner laughed.

Instead, he ordered the terrified crew not to panic. In fact, Bonner said, that was Conter's life mantra: Don't panic.

So, as they were going down, Conter tried to calm his men with a plan. "He said, 'Get ready to swim. We're going to just paddle slowly and if a shark comes up to you, punch it in the nose.' "

That's exactly what they did, escaping about a dozen sharks on their way to the shore, according to Bonner.

"Eventually, they got rescued. They had dinner, went to sleep and got up and flew another mission the next night. And that is how we won the war. It was men like that," Bonner declared with admiration.

After WWII, Conter went on to serve in the Korean War. Later, he became the Navy's first SERE officer — an acronym for survival, evasion, resistance and escape. For years, he helped establish the program, training Navy pilots and crew how to survive if they were shot down in the jungle and captured as prisoners of war.

By the end of his 27-year career in the Navy, in 1967, he'd risen to the ranks of lieutenant commander. He then moved to California, became a real estate developer, and married his second wife, Valerie. They were together for 47 years.

Conter passed away on Monday at his home in Grass Valley, Calif., following congestive heart failure.


Lou Conter's death prompted a a statement from President Biden, who said, "He never forgot all the brave men he served with on board the Arizona. Until he was nearly 100 years old, he attended annual memorial services at Pearl Harbor." / AP

The nation mourns Conter's passing
On Monday, President Biden reacted to Conter's death.

"He never forgot all the brave men he served with on board the Arizona. Until he was nearly 100 years old, he attended annual memorial services at Pearl Harbor," Biden said in a statement.

The president added: "The women and men who serve in the U.S. Armed Forces are patriots in the highest sense. Like Lou, they risk their own safety for the safety of their fellow Americans. Like Lou, they bravely undertake dangerous missions to defend our nation's freedom and future. Like Lou, they believe deeply in their duty to their country and their fellow service members and will go to the ends of the earth to fulfill that duty. Our nation owes them all a debt of gratitude we can never repay."

Pearl Harbor National Memorial Superintendent Tom Leatherman also mourned the loss of Conter

"The passing of Lou is the end of an era and so hard for the many of us who have gotten to know him over the years," Leatherman said.

"Now more than ever we must find a way to keep the legacy of Pearl Harbor, that Lou championed for so many years, alive. We owe it to him and all those who served and lost their lives to make sure they did not die in vain," he added, noting that the flag at over the USS Arizona Memorial will be flown at half-staff in honor of Conter's life and service until the day of his interment.

Conter's family said funeral arrangements are being made, and there will be a ceremony with full military honors.

https://www.gpb.org/news/2024/04/03/lou-conter-last-survivor-of-the-uss-arizona-in-pearl-harbor-dies-at-102

Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #331 on: April 15, 2024, 04:41:12 PM »
A hero’s surprise: WWII POW who survived D-Day, Battle of the Bulge celebrates 100 years
Ken Axelson spent three months as a prisoner of war in Germany until April 2, 1945 — his 21st birthday.
By Liz Collin -April 11, 2024


Ken Axelson marks his 100th birthday earlier this month in Rochester. (Alpha News)

At Golden Living Center in Rochester, Ken Axelson’s 100th birthday earlier this month was for much more than marking a century. It was a day of reflection, on a life of selflessness and service from southern Minnesota.

“You can’t ask for much more of that service than what he gave in his time,” family friend Brian Danielson remarked about Ken’s incredible story of survival.

After graduating from Red Wing High School in 1943, Ken Axelson was inducted into the Army.

“I guess if you go back a little bit, you’d say that someone who knows so much about guns would make a good infantry man, so the Army made him a medic,” Danielson joked to the crowd that gathered for Axelson’s birthday celebration.

But that assignment may have saved his life. His first medic mission came a year later — Omaha Beach on D-Day where more than 2,500 American soldiers died in the Allied invasion of Normandy in WWII.


Ken Axelson spent three months as a prisoner of war in Germany until April 2, 1945 — his 21st birthday. (Alpha News)

Two weeks and five practice jumps later, he went on to be a paratrooper with the 101st Airborne Division. He then survived the Battle of the Bulge where 19,000 American soldiers lost their lives and Axelson was taken captive.

He spent three months as a prisoner of war in Germany until April 2, 1945 — his 21st birthday.

“Once the Allies came and liberated him from that camp, he sent a telegram to let his family know that he was OK. He told me on that day that his dad was walking to the church to plan Ken’s funeral. And he stopped by the post office, and he got the telegram that said Ken was alive and coming home,” Danielson remarked.

“My mother was a person who prayed a lot and that was a comfort to me in the fox hole. Knowing that she was praying for me,” Axelson said.

Danielson is certain Ken Axelson is a real-life hero.

“I also know him as Ken from Wanamingo who spent the rest of his life serving his community that I got to take advantage of as a kid growing up. My dad was an MIA from Vietnam and Ken was a POW. He was just very understanding of me as a kid struggling with knowing answers and loss in war. I never forgot that. It meant a lot to me,” Danielson said.

A retired Navy fighter pilot himself, Danielson wanted to make sure his hometown hero received a proper celebration when he turned a century.

“He told me one day last fall that his favorite pair of boots were his jump boots and he had to turn them in, and he never got a replacement pair,” Danielson recalled of the conversation.


Ken Axelson marks his 100th birthday earlier this month in Rochester. (Alpha News)

“I called the Army, and I told them you missed your jump boots … the Army was able to find a pair of jump boots to give you,” Danielson told Axelson.

Axelson was delighted to see a fresh pair of jumpers that were just the right size.

“These will last me the rest of my life,” Axelson joked.

Larry Van De Walker also considers Axelson a good friend.

“Can you imagine what mom and dad went through thinking they’re going to plan that funeral? And here he comes walking in, for goodness sakes. I just say never forget, that’s kind of the deal with all of this. Some gave all, he came close to being one of those guys who gave all. He gave more than some. Never forget,” Van De Walker said.

Update: Alpha News has learned that Axelson passed away peacefully Thursday, April 11.

“Ken lived an amazing life and how wonderful to know that the significant historical events that marked his service were only a small part of a larger legacy of raising a wonderful family and giving back to his community,” Danielson said.

“I was very lucky to know him and enjoyed all of our conversations. It was an honor to share his story with others and I am happy for those who got to find out how special he was.

“I think the perfect comment would be one from Ken himself. As he witnessed so much carnage and destruction in war and in a German Stalag, he said, ‘What came to mind was the question: What is truly important in life? At the top of the list is to love and be loved.’

“A very good reminder for us all. And if you knew him at all, you can see his infectious smile to accompany that quote. RIP, Albert ‘Ken’ Axelson. Your legacy lives on and thank you for your honorable and faithful service.”

https://alphanews.org/a-heros-surprise-wwii-pow-who-survived-d-day-battle-of-the-bulge-celebrates-100-years/

Dos Equis

  • Moderator
  • Getbig V
  • *****
  • Posts: 65378
  • I am. The most interesting man in the world. (Not)
Re: Great Americans
« Reply #332 on: July 22, 2024, 01:06:33 PM »