Willie Nelson - with the Beach Boys?

The remaining Beach Boys, the founders, actually, have launched another tour this summer, a reunion tour, I guess, and were featured on CBS Sunday Morning.  A YouTube search to find a sample tune uncovered this great irony, especially after the post about Willie Nelson last week.

He may have some of the same bad habits as some of the Beach Boys had in their lives, and a different format for his music, but music is music, bottom line.  Still, an interesting juxtaposition.

CBS Sunday morning headlines them as "Catching Another Wave" which I'm sure they will do.  The audience in the clips played this morning?  They are us.  Here is the full CBS Report . . .

The Beach Boys On Tour - 2012

Willie Nelson - 1965

I had to look hard to recognize the face, but it's there...   the voice, on the other hand, is almost instantly recognizable.  The Class of '65 might have seen this live at the Grand Ole Opry.

Furnish Me Vintage

Mad Men inspires the throwback or retro look, to the degree that there's even a furniture store in St Petersburg, FL, that showcases nothing but that retro look.

You can click on the photo here for a larger view, and if you're really interested in checking out what they offer, go to their website, by clicking here.  They advertise, of course, on Mad Men.

There may be other furniture stores in the country that offer these furnishings, and you may have one in your hometown, wherever that may be.  If not, you will recall your youth by browsing their offerings.  In the most recent episode, Pete Campbell and his wife hosted a dinner party during which Pete was bragging about their neat new stereo,  one very similar to the Vintage RCA Victor VHT33W in the bottom row of the above photo.

Unfortunately, it has been sold and is no longer available.  But they do have more.

Old news from the Anchor

April 12, 1962

N-K school senior Christina Helvick, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bernie Helvick, has been awarded a merit scholarship at Iowa State University, Ames, for the 1962-63 school year. The merit scholarship pays the full tuition at ISU.

April 19, 1962

N-K students Charles Helgeland and Arlyn Morse will attend the annual Economic Conference for Young Adults to be held in Minneapolis April 26-28. They are sponsored by Northwood State Bank, which will pay all expenses of the trip. They will join 200 high school students from throughout the Midwest.

Richard Brunsvold and James Trainer, delgates from the Northwood-Kensett FFA Chapter, were awarded Iowa Farmer degrees at the annual Future Farmers of America conference held at Waterloo last week. Only 200 out of 10,000 FFA students throughout the state of Iowa were awarded the coveted degree.

Doris Johnson, 1919 - 2012

Doris was our Latin teacher, a course presumably dropped from the curriculum years ago, and no longer available but for a few secondary schools, primarily private.  She may also have taught English but I don't recall for sure.

What I do recall is that on one occasion she marked me down in Deportment, and it was the only time my mother ever defended me in front of a teacher.  Since my other teachers had not marked me down, she asked Doris why I had gotten a lower grade from her.  The answer she gave was something to the effect that I just deserved it.

When the folks came home and told me that, I didn't tell them - Doris was right.  But hey, I never tipped over desks or blew anything up, so how bad could I have been?

I also have to give her credit for being committed to accuracy in language and loving her subject matter.  She wanted us to learn, for sure.  For her full obituary, click here.

a letter from a Marine

Lee,

This all reminds me a quote from a WWI Belgium man who as a kid was liberated by the US Army. He came to America, became a famous architect and married into wealth. To thank the USA for all this he established a military museum and library in Santa Barbara, Ca. Asked about his special feelings for the military he said: “I still feel an obligation to the United States, especially to the military. That’s why I am behind the idea of a Museum to honor the soldiers who died. To be killed in a war is not the worst that can happen. To be lost is not the worst. To be forgotten is the worst.” 

The Pierre Claeyssens Veteran’s Museum and Library Foundation is committed to carrying out the mission of building a world class destination Museum to carry on Pierre’s dreams that American military history will never become lost in the fog of time.

Don was a very good man, special to both Joe and me and I hope and trust Shane found some roots and peace from your hard work. You guys have done very well with this project. Thanks for caring enough to make the connections and remember our long ago friend. Thanks to you he will never have the worst thing happen to him, to be forgotten.

As combat veteran Marines, most of us have a condition known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While it would be untruthful to say we think about our lost comrades every day, we do have some special days where we are a bit extra stressed/depressed. Those dates are the annual anniversary dates of battles where friends like Don were lost. For me the dates of April 30, July 21, August 21, December 9, 10 & 28, are firmly embedded in my brain. Every year I get these trigger dates to remember and reflect about the guys who were KIA on those days. Most of my reflections are about how they were as people and not just the method and manner of their deaths.

I have been so blessed to have survived and to be given another chance. I have a wonderful family and life. At least I now know that Don too has a wonderful son. Hopefully he will stay in touch with his other extended family, the guys from 2nd Platoon, Mike Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines.

Semper fi and God Bless!

Ray Calhoun

Where he died

Through Ray Calhoun we have gotten background on the military movements, topography, and location of the ambush where Donald Woodward McNamara died.  The photos and italicized commentary below came courtesy of Calhoun.  There may be question as to the suitability of including this information with Project McNamara but it is the initial horrible reality that put this project in play.  Note all photos should open in a new window and a larger version if you click on them.

The battle on July 21, 1967, took place at the far end of this valley, near the river that runs the distance.  According to Calhoun the exact location is about one inch below the "S" in "Sahn."

This is the basic map where Donald and I operated. We spent the majority of our time between the Rockpile and Khe Sanh. Donald was KIA just east of Ca Lu on the road to Khe Sanh. Sadly my squad was on the eastern or southern side of the Thach Han River. We couldn’t do much except to coordinate air strikes.

This map is a topo to show where we spent most of our time around the Rockpile and Razorback. You will hear about locations like Old Payable and the Dustbowl so now you can put them into perspective. Route 9 is at the SE tip of this map.

This photo is showing an air strike that we called in to try and give Donald's part of the platoon some support. You can see the distance and foliage to get a sense of what was going on. To my knowledge this may be the only photo from that day. When you are busy no one is taking many photos.

Had Ray Calhoun's squad made it across the river to support the Marines being ambushed, this story may have ended differently.  Or had Donald's parents not moved to Albert Lea shortly after he joined the Marines, NKHS Alumni would have been more aware of his ultimate sacrifice.

As it is, the Freeborn County Courthouse in Albert Lea, MN, has honored him in a Memorial Walk where a brick with his name has been placed in the KIA section.  It's as if he knew his fate when a photo was taken when home on leave, perhaps his last, as if he knew the brick would one day be there.

Project your own thoughts on his frame of mind here regarding his family, his mission, and his future.

The face has pride, confidence, satisfaction, maturity, and the inner peace his fellow Marine reported in a Remembrance.  By all accounts, his death was a huge loss.   He belonged at home and not in the valley pictured above, but it's where the world took him.

For the Class of '62 he's the schoolmate we didn't know - until it was too late.