Allow me to share a story that was told to me some time ago by a very dear family friend. His name is Wesley Coletrane. He grew up with my father in Durham. He is a retired Army Lt. Colonel who now lives in Warrenton. When I owned my restaurant in New Bern he and his wife then lived in Emerald Isle, they would frequently drive over and have lunch with me and he is one of the best story tellers I have ever met. When the second Gulf war started we would watch the news together, it was like having my own personal military adviser. Now this guy did two tours as a Huey pilot for the Army Air Cav in Vietnam and as if that wasn't enough, ended up in the Airborne division at Fort Bragg. I guess landing helicopters under fire in the jungle was not enough, he then wanted to jump out of airplanes.
He recalled to me one day the retirement dinner for a General who was in WW II. The General started out as a Lieutenant and was one of the first guys to jump into France the night before the D Day invasion. As the General told this story he said that one of his first jobs was to find a Sergent that had battle experience. He found the roughest one he could find. He was also told that one of his first duties after he hit the ground was to find an equipment parachute that was yellow. The yellow parachute was designated for radio equipment. It was explained to him that it was vital for him to get the radio up and call in his position. Red parachutes meant machine guns and green was for ammunition.
He jumped from his plane, which was under fire, and landed in a field of tall grass. The tracers buzzed over his head as he tripped over his Sergent who was on his hands and knees looking for a parachute. "Have you found the yellow parachute? We have to get that radio up." The Lt. asked.
The Sergent did not even raise his head, "No sir. I'm looking for the red parachute."
"Sergent!" The Lt. barked. "We have to find the yellow parachute and get the radio working!"
The tracers whizzed over the field as the Sergent calmly replied, "With respect sir, you can't shoot no fuckin radio."
What a great story, and I hope I did it justice. Years ago Mr. Coletrane told me he was writing a book and I'm sure that one will be in it.
Thank you to all of our Veterans.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
The Stoning of Soraya M
Well it has been a few weeks and i have to say that there has not been a whole lot to write about. Until last night. I decided o wait 24 hours to cool down. I usually do not let movies get me going but this one boiled my blood. I discovered this movie watching a Charlie Rose interview a few months ago. The title is The Stoning of Soraya M.
This is the story of a woman living in a village in Iran after the Shah has been removed and the Ayatollah has taken over. She is married to a man that no longer wants to be her husband. He wants to marry a 14 year old girl that was offered to him, by her own father, to get himself out of being executed. Soraya would not allow the divorce, despite beatings and her husbands demands to only take his two sons with him and leave their two daughters behind. Her husband then concocts a story that she had taken a nap in another man's bed. Now according to the Quran and the people in this village this is a crime punishable by death by stoning.
She is taken from her home at gun point and her arms are bound at her elbows, she is then forced to kneel in a hole and buried up to her waist. The villagers then stand about 15 feet away and throw rocks at her until she is dead.
After some online research I discovered that this still takes place. And like the perfect storm of anger after the movie is over I flip by PBS and there is the President of Iran explaining that his country's search for nuclear power is for peaceful purposes only.
Now I will be the first to tell you that our society is not perfect. This practice still goes on and it has long before, as some would like to believe, America screwed things up.
Now here is a representative of a people that some want us to make peace with. Here is a people that think it is a crime, punishable by an atrocious death, to take a nap in another man's bed. Here is a woman being pelted to death by rocks as the crowd chants "God is great!"
After watching this I say, fuck those people.
This is the story of a woman living in a village in Iran after the Shah has been removed and the Ayatollah has taken over. She is married to a man that no longer wants to be her husband. He wants to marry a 14 year old girl that was offered to him, by her own father, to get himself out of being executed. Soraya would not allow the divorce, despite beatings and her husbands demands to only take his two sons with him and leave their two daughters behind. Her husband then concocts a story that she had taken a nap in another man's bed. Now according to the Quran and the people in this village this is a crime punishable by death by stoning.
She is taken from her home at gun point and her arms are bound at her elbows, she is then forced to kneel in a hole and buried up to her waist. The villagers then stand about 15 feet away and throw rocks at her until she is dead.
After some online research I discovered that this still takes place. And like the perfect storm of anger after the movie is over I flip by PBS and there is the President of Iran explaining that his country's search for nuclear power is for peaceful purposes only.
Now I will be the first to tell you that our society is not perfect. This practice still goes on and it has long before, as some would like to believe, America screwed things up.
Now here is a representative of a people that some want us to make peace with. Here is a people that think it is a crime, punishable by an atrocious death, to take a nap in another man's bed. Here is a woman being pelted to death by rocks as the crowd chants "God is great!"
After watching this I say, fuck those people.
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