I Was There in The Gulf of Tonkin

                                                      

 I Was There

I was there in the Gulf of Tonkin on Aug 5^th 1964 aboard the USS Constellation CVA64 . Today was my birthday. It was sunny and calm out at sea. All of us on catapult # 1 and 2 were waiting around for the next launch, just routine. All of a sudden we heard “General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands man your battle stations. This is not a drill.” It sent shivers through our whole bodies. “What’s going on,” someone said. No one knew what the hell was happening. We all went to our assigned battle stations. My battle station was out on the flight deck on catapult #1 with the rest of my crew. As we waited for the launch we saw that all of the aircraft were loaded was bombs and rockets. Actually we were a little scared because we didn’t know if we were about to be attacked by enemy planes or what. Not knowing what is going on is the worse. Our adrenaline was up as they brought the aircraft forward so we could hook them up to the catapult. Once they were on the catapult our job began, hooking up the cables from the catapult to the aircraft. It was strictly business at that point and doing our job. We couldn’t afford to have our head up our ass or someone would get killed. 

 The launch went perfect. It was quiet now that all the planes were in the air. Since we were at battle stations we couldn’t leave the flight deck. We took off our ears that protected us from the sounds of the jet aircraft and stood there. We were trying to find out what was happening but no one around us knew anything.  After a while we heard, “Secure From General Quarters.” That meant that we could get back to our normal routine. We had other launches during the day but not under General Quarters. The planes were still being loaded with bombs and rockets though. It wasn’t until after our last launch sometime during the night that the Captain came on the load speaker. “I guess you have been wondering why we went to General Quarters today.” “Yeah, we sure are wondering,” I thought to myself. He went on to say that we had launched an air strike against North Vietnam, sinking 21 torpedo boats. 

  From that day forward, every combat aircraft that we launched were fully loaded with bombs and rockets for the rest of our cruise.  

USS Constellation (CV-64)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_%28CV-64%29

Operation Pierce Arrow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pierce_Arrow

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mothers Day to all those who brought us into this world. To my Mom who will always be remembered. Love !

"If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on, is to never stop loving them. Buildings burn, people die but real love is forever."

Why Did I sign up for This Thing?

Why Did I sign up for This Thing?

Gad, I'm not use to getting up this early but Al and I are headed out to toss some Bean Bags at the casino this morning. Yeah they have a contest going. It's free and a chance to win from $750 for 5th place all the way up to $5,000 for 1st place. Al  is a pro when it comes to tossing bean bags. We even had a practice session out in his back yard the other day. I hope I can hold up my part. We'll let you know what happens when we get back

  

 (Later that Night)

I got to the casino a half an hour before Al.  When I walked into the room where they were going to have the tournament, I saw them measuring the distance between the Cornhole boxes. I was surprised when I saw that they looked exactly like the ones Al has in his back yard. I waited around and then some of the guys started practicing. WOW, these guys were TOO GOOD!!!  I saw this one guy get 6 of the bean bags in the hole one right after the other. WTF have I got myself into. While waiting I overheard that these guys were pros. They were coming in from all over the country. Right then and there I knew we didn’t stand a chance in hell of winning any kind of money.

http://s262.photobucket.com/user/bkauf/slideshow/Casino/Bean%20Bag%20Tournament

They finally started signing up the people. When I saw Al walk in, I told him about how I saw this guy get 6 bean bags in the hole. He laughed. Al signed up and then we stood there watching the guys toss. We had time to practice so Al and I got on either end of the boxes and started tossing the bean bags. Well I couldn’t even toss them to the box which was 33 feet away. I looked around and saw a few girls practicing and thought to myself, “The only way we’re going to have a chance to win is if the other team are girls.” Don’t get me wrong Al is good. It was me that I am talking about.

When the tournament began they called off who was going to play with whom. The other team were two girls. “ALRIGHT,” I thought to myself. At least we have a chance to win this first round. I sucked as usually. Even the girls were better than I was but Al was the one who won it for our side. We beat them.

Then we waited around for the next match. This time we were up against to guys who looked like they knew what they were doing. The match started and the guy standing next to me got most of them in the hole or at least on the deck. I watched the way he would toss so I tried to imitate him. I still looked like a moron tossing. Al was doing good but these guys were tossing like world series good. It didn’t take long and the match was over.

     Matt Guy

       5 Times World Champion

We sat down waiting to play in the loser’s tournament. The one guy that was standing next to me at that last match was sitting next to me. Al said, “I here that there is a guy that is a 5 times world Champion here.” The guy smiled at us and said, “That’s me.” Both Al and I started laughing hysterically. We had no idea that we were playing against 5 times world Cornwhole Champion Matt Guy. “Now I don’t feel so Bad,” I told him. At least Al and I lost to the best of the best. But I wished that I would have done better than I did. I still couldn’t toss the bags far enough to reach the box. I’m getting old I guess.

Then they announced that we were to start playing on box number 7 which was right where we were sitting. I began to toss and still no good. The 5 times champion got up and came over to me and gave me some tips on how to toss the bags. It seemed to help because I was getting them to the box anyway. Only 1 of them went in though. In the end we lost and that was that. Al had fun. He enjoyed himself. Me, I just wanted to go play some craps. At least I knew how to do that. Al and I said goodbye and went home and I went into the casino.

                                                     

Blackhawks Superfan Party

 The Blackhawks Superfan Party


The Blackhawks Superfan Party at the Grand Victoria went like this. I met my friend Al over at his house and practiced tossing the dice on his craps table. Everything looked good after about 25 minutes of practice. The Grand Victoria Casino was only 10 minutes from his house and we got there at 4:50. There was a line of people waiting to get into the Fox River Room. They were a little late opening the doors. Once we entered they gave us a Red Blackhawks hat. 

 

  Stan Mikita

Tony Esposito

Stan Mikita

People started lining up in the back of the room to get whatever they brought to get autographed. You were only allowed one item  to get signed by the three great Blackhawk players, Tony Esposito, Steve Larmer and Stan Mikita. Al and I stepped up and stood with all three players and had our picture taken. The photo will be ready on line at the Grand Victora's web site in 2 weeks.

 I had brought my grandson's hockey shirt. He played in a team in Des Moines Iowa called the Blackhawks so it was really cool that all three players signed his shirt. Al got his red Blackhawks Cap signed by the three players.

 

TonyEsposito

 

  Stan Miktia

Steve Larmer 

  They had a buffet set up with Italian beef sandwiches, Hot Dogs, Hot Chicken Wings, and Bar-B-Que Beef. All the stuff Chris Farley and "Da Bears" fans here in Chicago love to eat. Dessert consisted of several kinds of cookies and Ice Cream Sundaes. It's a good thing I go to Cardiac Rehab 3 times a week.

   They had a big Screen set up in the River Room when the Blackhawks hockey game began. Al and I watched for a little will but we decided to go into the casino and play at the craps table until they had this drawing during intermission after the 2nd period. They had a drawing for 3 signed jerseys. Al stayed at the table while I went back to see if I won anything at the drawing. Of course I didn't win. With my luck there could have only been 4 entries in the drum for 3 signed jerseys and I still would have lost. I was hoping to win some tickets but they didn't draw for them,  (Sorry Charles). When that was over the 3 Blackhawk Players left and I went back to the craps table and met back up with Al again. I was down $15 during the drawing. Al and I didn't stay long but long enough so that I made +$45. That's always cool.

 

 I took a few pictures while I was there. In fact when the Blackhawk players went up to speak to everybody, I turned on my camera and I thought I had a pretty good video but when I went to look at it after I shot it, I discovered that my camera somehow focused on this bald man's head sitting just in front of me. The interview of the all three Blackhawk players turned out blurred. I have a great shot of a bald man's head if anyone wants to see it. Needless to say I was pissed when I found out.

 Well it was something different to do and I had fun.