Who They Are, Part IV

Marine Aviators: John Glenn, Ted Williams, Jerry Coleman

So let's start with the biggest name of those three Marines. John Glenn. When I was a kid, I didn't know that John Glenn had been a Marine fighter pilot, I knew him as an astronaut. One of the first astronauts, John Glenn was also the first American to orbit the Earth. When I was a lad, being an astronaut trumped everything. Including being a fighter pilot.

When Senator Glenn passed away in December of 2016, I felt he deserved a spot up on the masthead. In truth, he represents all of the American men and women who have gone into space, pushing back that final frontier.

Yes, he became a politician, a Democrat no less, but I still respected the man and his accomplshments. No list of American heroes would be complete without him.

Ted Williams and Jerry Coleman went up on the masthead back in March of 2016, I wrote quite a bit about that here. (Joe Foss went up on the masthead around that time as well, and I wrote about him in that same post. But I'm going to mention him again when we get to the Medal of Honor holders, officer category, later on. Yes, there's a separate category for the enlisted MoH holders. Note that I didn't say MoH "winners." It isn't a prize, most of those who have been awarded that medal were dead when the medal was awarded.)

I also mentioned Ted and Jerry the other day, so I don't feel the need to go into any more detail on that. Suffice to say, both men impressed me enough to make the header.

This series of posts, for those who are wondering, will eventually be combined into one big post which will have its very own page (over on the sidebar) for those of you who like to keep track of such things. Also a good place to refer the newbies when they pose the question of who are those folks up there? Why are they up there?

I'm still mulling over Beans' idea of the Hall of Heroes, again a separate page over on the sidebar. For those who access the blog with a smart phone, you need to go to "View web version." which is what the Android calls it, Lord knows what the iPhone calls it. We no longer have one in the house. I'm tempted to call that page Valhalla. But some of the folks in the Hall of Heroes are still alive, so no go on that thought. (I just finished the latest season of Vikings on Amazon, hence the Valhalla reference.)

The eyeball surgery has not been scheduled yet, though I have given Doc One the "go" sign. That will no doubt occur within the next couple of months. But not mid-October as my Mom's birthday is in that region. Also I hear tell that Juvat will be in my AO during that time frame. As we have never met in person, I don't wish to miss that. (Tuna has been in my AO more than once, I've been in his. We've met multiple times.)

So as I mentioned yesterday, posts are gonna be short in nature for a while. My morale is high, it's not that I'm antsy about the surgery (much), I am kinda short on material and I'm not ready to inflict share more of my fictional efforts with you.

Remember, I'm trying to learn how to play the drums as well. Renaissance Man, that's me.

Kinda, sorta.