A common enemy

Gen. Eisenhower really needed something for his men: 3 million bottles of Coca Cola. And bottling plants to refill them. Eisenhower’s requisition was sent to the Coca Cola company on June 29, 1943. Robert C. Woodruff complied. He set up dozens of bottling plants across Europe, and U.S. servicemen were able to buy Coke for a nickel, Coke’s history … read more A common enemy

Farm boys at the airfield

When Dad was 22, he had never been on an airplane or been anywhere but Ohio. He was a farm boy before World War II. He was processed through Dayton at Wright-Patterson with thousands of other farm boys, and I guess that’s where he got a few days of training to be an air traffic controller. Then he … read more Farm boys at the airfield

The mother of Mother’s Day

I was up late last night, pondering the meaning of Mother’s Day. I learned this, from National Geographic: It all started in the 1850s, when West Virginia women’s organizer Ann Reeves Jarvis held Mother’s Day work clubs to improve sanitary conditions and try to lower infant mortality by fighting disease and curbing milk contamination, according to … read more The mother of Mother’s Day

There will be more

In Iraq yesterday, as part of our new mission to “train and advise” local soldiers fighting the Islamic State, the U.S. led a commando raid to rescue 70 hostages. The Army Times today reported the name of the American soldier killed in the raid: Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, died Thursday in Iraq’s Kirkuk province from wounds … read more There will be more