Visiting the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial

Photo from Vietnam Veterans Memorial of San Antonio website

 

Since we're doing Modern History for school this year, I took the kids to see a Memorial from the past century. The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is in downtown San Antonio.

I did a little research about the Vietnam War, so I could "Ted Talk" to the kids on the way there. I didn't realize it lasted 20 years! The older kids and I had just completed Band of Brothers (WWII). It makes me sad to think how Vietnam was treated so differently from WWII. The veterans were not honored like WWII vets were. The outlook toward both wars was very different. It's got to be hard to serve in a war that is hated back home. 

I had not put two and two together that my Grandpa, James Joseph Clouse, had won his medals in Vietnam. He was a flight engineer in the Air Force and served in Korea and two tours in Southeast Asia. A 3rd cousin of mine wrote about him at Check-Six.com:

....Lindabury, disoriented as a result of focusing exclusively on the ground fires, developed vertigo and went from a straight-in descending approach to a nose-high unusual attitude. Before Conran could take corrective action, the helicopter settled into one hundred foot trees. The blades striking, the aircraft then fell to the ground like a rock, and the helo rolled on its side and caught fire. 

Conran, Lindabury, and Clouse escaped, but after hearing screaming coming from the rear of the helicopter, Conran and Clouse returned to the fiery wreck. Although the flames were intense, and ammunition was exploding around them, the two Americans managed to extricate a fourth crewmember - gunner Bill Sawyer - trapped in the helicopter. The helicopter blew up as soon as Conran and Clouse took the immobile crewman from the area.

Clouse received the Airman’s Medal - the highest decoration an Air Force member may be awarded for non-combat heroism - along with Major Conran for their actions.

A month later he rescued five crew members who had been shot down and were under intense fire. 

And a year after that Grandpa was on a Stateside mission and died in plane crash over Nebraska. My dad was 12 years old.

He left behind a great family ~ seven kids and Grandma Shirley. There are 25 of us cousins and holiday get-togethers hold the happiest of memories for me. Proud of you, Grandpa!

 

So Many Milestones & Missouri

 

We had our first day of school August 3rd. 

This is a sad first day of school picture (you can't even see Harrison!), but it's the best one I've got. My phone camera is really wanting lately. And I really should try harder. 

Happy First Day, kids! 

We've got a College, High School, Jr. High, and Elementary student. That's crazy, ya'll.

The first week went great! It was a lighter week to ease us in, and it was pleasant. 

Liz cleaning up spilt coffee grounds.

This is right before we were leaving for MO and college, and I thought I'd get a picture of one of her last messes at home. :-) We just finished baking the last of her cookie dough that she had in the freezer. What will we do without her? 

The Paul Gore Farm in 1972.

Phillip figured out a way to scan in this really large picture of the Old Place where he spent his first 10 years. He has a lot of memories here.

The view from the New Place.

We were so glad to be in Missouri! It was so green and beautiful and much cooler (though more humid). And so many stars at night. It was a refreshing to our souls. No one wanted to go back to Texas. 

Mr. Reese at our alma mater.

By the way, did you know alma mater means generous mother? Now there is something to contemplate.

We went to Moberly to see who we could see. 

We visited with Phil Marley, Sherry Wallis, Mr. Fincher, Mr. Reese, Chad Summa, and Adrian and Lula Sanchez showed up! (I believe Lula and I were pregnant together in a Reese class.) Mr. Reese says he's going to teach 2 more years (or did he say 3?). His classes were among my favorite when I was there. I should have taken more, even if just to audit.

We stopped at Russ McCoy's business: ARTDEPT+Benton. He's got some cool stuff going on over there.

We stopped at Timberlake (the old Union Ave Christian Church), and then went to Mary's house to see her for a bit. She is amazing and was a home-away-from-home for many people at college. 

Seeing old friends is a bit like what a reunion in heaven will be, I imagine. You walk around and say, "Oh, yea, I remember you! How you doing?" And then unexpected friends show up and it's exciting and heart-warming. Central holds lots of good memories for both of us. We appreciate them.

Phoebe swinging on the swings Papa puts up for the kids. 

Harrison is the only one small enough to ride the battery car. I think Jon and Phoebe got in there anyway, but Harrison mainly drove the car around. He likes drifting on that big blacktop driveway. 

Shirley and I.

I met Shirley at a Bible study on the campus of Moberly Area Community College. A group from the Bible college had started a study there, and I somehow got connected with it. I got to baptize Shirley in the baptistry at UACC. She ended up getting a degree from Central after she finished at MACC. She is very involved at her church and loves to take mission trips to Moldova. She gave me some Moldovan candy, which the kids and I quickly ate up. We decided it had been about 15 years since we last got together, and we had a grand time sharing a Greek salad and Bruschetta pizza.

The Capitol in Jefferson City.

We ate at a restaurant right across from Missouri's state capitol. I want to take the kids to see it when they're done working on it. It's been several years of construction. Maybe the next time we visit, they'll be done. 

Papa, Phillip and Harrison in the living room. 

We met up with Uncle Lee and Aunt Doris at a restaurant. 

Paul and Lee at the far end there are eight years apart. They spent a lot of years farming together. 

Liz photography.

She nosed around the garment factory in Vandalia. Mimi used to work there. 

Our last day in Missouri, saying goodbye to Liz at Ozark Christian College. 

These times of Covid are sad times at times. But, "there's a time to cry," so it's okay for there to be sad times. We found out several weeks ago that only two people per student were allowed on the campus, which left us with not a great plan of what to do with the other three kids while we attended the Parent Track and Banquet. Also, not all of the family could go up and see the dorm rooms anyway. 

I cried. But Liz was fine driving down to Joplin from Mimi and Papa's house by herself. It's a four and a half hour trip. She unpacked herself and got her room set up and attended all the stuff on her own. (To be fair, we had none of this Parent Track stuff when I went to college, so it seems over-the-top to me, but times change I guess.)

We drove down the next day to have lunch with her. All of MO that we had been in thus far had been very lenient about restrictions and mask wearing. Joplin is not lenient. We decided on Chik Fil A for lunch and then arrived and recalled that their dine-in isn't open. So we got our food to-go and sat in the Home Depot parking lot and ate lunch together. 

And then we dropped her off at her dorm and drove off...... 

This barn was behind our hotel in Oklahoma. 

We got home safe. The drive was fairly leisurely ~ 7 hours per day is pretty nice after you've driven it all at once in the past.

As soon as we got home, Jonathan had a doctor visit to get his vaccines (he's technically underweight! Which cracks me up. He's the same size waist as Phillip and Papa were at his age, so he's fine). And we were able to schedule a DPS appointment for him to get his driver's license. Whew!!! 

And Phoebe and H got haircuts today. And Phoebe found a chair at Goodwill that will work nicely in her newly spacious room. And tomorrow we meet up with people at the Vietnam Memorial downtown. 

I'm sure this blog often seems like a checklist of accomplishments. Sorry about that. It's the way my mind works. Checking things off a list is one of my favorite things. 

Hard to Believe Jon is 16

Summer is a-comin' to an end! 

We start school tomorrow.

Gavin got back from his time in Florida! 

We were all glad to see him. He's a good buddy to Harrison. I've been reading two chapters every day from the Chronicles of Narnia series to Harrison. If friends happen to be around, they get to listen quietly too. And so far they've all enjoyed it. Gavin especially asked what the books were called and wondered if they were in graphic novel. So I think we may have to help him get his hands on some graphic novel Chronicles of N.

A last girl's date at a new place in Bulverde before Liz heads off to Joplin, MO for college. 

We had brunch at Hatch 5 Market ~ Croissants and Jalapeño Kolaches and Blueberry Muffins and drinks. You've got to wear a mask everywhere if you're entering a place or standing in line. But once you sit down, Covid isn't contagious anymore so you get to take the mask off.

Jonathan celebrated his birthday with two friends. 

Liam has been sick (non-Covid), so he wasn't able to be there. He's usually the tallest. But the other two are camp buddies and they were all glad to get together, especially since this was the very week they would normally have been at camp. 

They played mini-golf at Landa Park, then swam in the spring-fed pool. We passed through Austin to take Remi home and they rode the Lime scooters around downtown Austin for a bit. That was a little freaky. No shops were open. I tried to find a place nearby to sit and wait for the boys, but I saw only one place open, and they were taking reservations only. It was an eerie feeling to be in downtown Austin and not see hardly anyone. 

We were behind an accident on the way home and so we had a long wait in traffic. But we saw truck flags flying!

My friend Eve and I went out for lunch. My first time at Genghis Grill. I would go again!

Alec's family was here from WA visiting him. They all came for lunch on Sunday and then invited us to swim with them. They found Boerne City Lake was open (other lakes near their Air B&B were closed), so the kids got to get out their swim gear again and have a good time in some water.

Harrison is such a goof sometimes! 

He was cold.

Liz' new laptop! It's in rose-gold.

Boys at Comanche Lookout. 

Sunset at Comanche Lookout.

Jonathan's birthday! Happy 16, my boy. 

Covid is forming his soul for good, I do pray. He does not enjoy "going with the flow" or having things cancelled. It's not his strong suit. But he's handling it well despite deep disappoints.