Blast from the past: Pipes play funeral songs of courage, defiance

From The People Sentinel, Sept. 19, 2001 edition

People were starting to turn away from their television sets on Saturday.

Four days of being bombarded wih image after image  began to be too much.

So maybe they missed the first of many, many funerals we will be watching in the months to come.

A funeral mass was held for Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan priest, chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. The New York City Police Department’s Emerald Society, a band of bagpipers, played. They played the easily recognized Amazing Grace. They played other pipe tunes.

As they brought his casket in to the church, however, they played a particular tune, an Irish tune. It wasn’t religious, which one might play for a priest.

He was Irish, and it was Irish.

I was talking to a friend about it. He said his sister-in-law and her husband were OK. He did it to stop me, because I forgot, and so forgot to ask. They live in Washington D.C. and work in government.

I had been focusing on New York, of course.

But again, the attack is so far-reaching. I don’t know why I always make these things personal. But this is personal.

Those that did this evil not only jarred my present. They have stolen something magical from my past, and robbed a bit of my future.

I was a Boy Scout, and my brother was still a Cub Scout. The pack rented a bus and drove downtown. We went to the World Trade Center, went up to the observation deck, went up to roof, which has an observation tower. We touched the clouds.

We went to a fire station downtown as well. An old one, I believe it was fire company 10, a hook and ladder company. It was an old station kept in active service. There I learned for the first time the real hazard of firemen, and learned what firemen do when they hit a place on fire.

Head to the top. The sooner they get to the top, they can open up the roof to get in as much water as possible. Running through flames, they head to the top.

We went to the Statue of Liberty as well. We also went up to 27th and Lexington Avenue, to the National Guard Armory. It is the armory of a storied regiment, an Irish regiment, the Fighting 69th. The 69th fought in the Civil War, fought in World War I. My father,when he was in the National Guard, was in the unit before transferring to the Air Force.

They didn’t sing it, just played it slowly on the pipes. But I know the tune, I have the words.

It is a song of courage and defiance called the Minstrel Boy.

I don’t think I have yet really dealt with the attack on the United States, and particularly the destruction of the World Trade Center.

The attack is so far reaching. We still are just guessing how many people have been killed and injured in both places. But the attack hit the fabric of our lives in other ways. Sports games were cancelled, but thankfully, our local boys played on, giving some a break from horror.

Sooner or later, you will probably find someone you know who was there, near there, or someone you know knows someone. It will hit you.

Yesterday, I got through to my cousin Jimmy’s wife Molly. They had no business being anywhere near the World Trade Center and weren’t. But people kept asking. Jimmy works in Midtown Manhattan, so he shouldn’t get that far downtown. Until yesterday, who knew?

The little fire house was in the shadow of the World Trade Center. It is not shadowed any more. The armory has become a center for people to come to get information about those lost and those fallen and those still missing.

The Twin Towers are gone.

I’m at a point now when I don’t think I will ever move back to New York City, but you never know. I always planned to return, someday, with any kids I may be lucky enough to have, to recreate for them the wonderful day I had when I was young and the world was safer.

That trip is on hold until they restore the towers, which I hope they do, only higher.

All this, and more, I was thinking as I watched the funeral mass for Fr. Judge, as I heard the pipes play and ran through my mind the words to a song of courage and defiance.

“The Minstrel Boy to the war has gone in the ranks of death you will find him. His father’s sword he has girded on and his wild harp slung behind him. Land of song, said the warrior bard, though all the world betray thee – one sword at least thy rights shall guard one faithful harp shall praise thee.

"The Minstel fell but the foeman’s chain could not bring his proud soul under. The harp he loved ne’er spoke again for he tore its chords asunder and said “No chains shall sully thee, thou soul of love and bravery! Thy songs were made for the pure and free, they shall never sound in slavery!”

I have no shortage of defiance. I’m looking for courage.

REPOST: Casualties of war: From the first to the 41st

You know who George Buggs is, though you probably don't remember. But I remember.
In 2003, I was the managing editor of The People-Sentinel in Barnwell. When the war broke out, the publisher said we had to do something for the troops. that's it. Something. No explanation or ideas.
i brainstormed with my lone reporter, and we came up with an idea.
Just days into the war in Iraq, a story was foisted on the American public about a little girl from West Virginia in a military convoy gone astray who bravely fought off swarming Iraqis until she ran out of ammo. She was later rescued by a special ops team.
Turned out it wasn't quite true. She was captured, but never fired a shot. She had broken legs It was a cynical attempt to manufacture a heroic symbol. The worst part of it was others were killed in that convoy, but they were ignored, and are, in many ways, still forgotten.
George Edward Buggs was in that same convoy with Jessica Lynch. He might have been in the same vehicle. We'll never know for sure what really happened. But while Jessica Lynch survived and was rescued, George Buggs was one of eight soldiers killed in that action, the first soldier from South Carolina to be killed in either of these latest wars.
Because of what we had done in our paper, we should have been prepared. But Buggs' family had not filled out a little slip of paper nor given us his photo. We had to go find them to get their story.
Over the course of two weeks and three papers, we covered the story of his life and death as well as any paper.
Like a good community paper, we not only wrote stories, but we helped the funeral home with some of the things they needed. We enlarged the few, poor Polaroids the family had, for one thing.
Because he was the first Palmetto State casualty, S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford attended his funeral and spoke at it, hopping down from a stage to give a Palmetto State flag to George Buggs' son.
It was a big event. The death scarred the community a little.
When the war is over, they are supposed to do something special for him and all the men who served.
When the war is over. Some now might call that a cruel joke.
George Buggs was career military. He left behind a wife and a son.
When I heard how Buggs used to love to take his son to the movies, I was tempted, so tempted, to fill that void. I love movies, after all.
I wasn't to stay much longer in Barnwell, it turned out. But my heart went out to the son, the wife, Buggs' parents, and the community.
At that time, I didn't understand why a boy was left without a father, a mother without a son, a wife without a husband. A few months later, another young man died, an Allendale County native.
Orenthal Smith was his name. He was the fourth South Carolinian killed in the war. I sat down in my office and talked for a while with his mother and sister. We got the reaction of friends, family,
I remember having again the thoughts. Why?
It is more than three years later. I'm in another community, and I have to retrace some of my old steps to tell a story that I've told in some ways before.
Spc. D. Logan Tinsley is apparently the 41st person from South Carolina to die in this war. But he is the first from Chester County.
He is the first war zone casualty involving a Chester County man since the Vietnam War, his ROTC instructor said. So the county might not fully be prepared for this. We don't know what will happen to the community. His mother doesn't even know for sure when his body will be brought home.
I talked to my mother the other day. It was Christmas after all. I don't know in what context it came up, but at one point, she said she believes in miracles. Her faith is a tower. Mine isn't even the straw hut blown down by the big bad wolf.
But I flash back, sitting in a crowded school gym and at the graveside with the family of the first man from our state killed in this war, I remember sitting there with the family of the fourth, in my office, talking about a lost loved one. And here I am again, sitting in the home of the 41st young man killed in this war.
I don't know why and can't fathom why this happens.
But I hope my mother is right, that there are miracles. I pray Logan Tinsley will be the last from South Carolina to die in this war.
But it will take a miracle.

Joint committee seeks more control over development | Fort Mill Times - Fort Mill, SC

Joint committee seeks more control over development | Fort Mill Times - Fort Mill, SC

Spock is not impressed with Dabo or Clemson

I saw a link to a blog called "Spock is not impressed." http://spockisnotimpressed.tumblr.com/
I will be submitting this to them next up.

PalinRevereCommentary.mov

Duel.mov

The Birther Issue: Why it's NOT OVER

10. Sure, the birth certificate shows Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Hawaii. But how do we know this is the same guy? Have you been with him every moment from 1961 to present?

9. Sure, the birther thing started out with people who thought he wasn't a citizen BECAUSE he was born in Hawaii, but Hawaii wasn't yet a state, so ... But a full examination reveals that he isn't a citizen because Hawaii isn't REALLY a state. They just brought it in so we could have an even number of stars on the flag.

 8. BHO. What kind of initials are BHO? That's presidential disqualification right there.

7. His ears are too big for a president. (Sure, George Washington's ears were bigger, but he hid them behind a powdered wig.)

6. He's too confusing to be president. Every time he says, "Let me be clear, " he isn't clear. It's very confusing.

5. What kind of a name is BARACK? Jewish? Don't want to be seen as anti-Semitic, but Israel has paid people to spy on the U.S. Is he an anchor baby for Tel Aviv?

4. As a side note, where was Joe Biden born? Can you PROVE it?

3. Kids who want to grow up to be President are not allowed to leave the U.S., and Barry Soerto lived in Indonesia for like, a LONG time.

2. There was a temporal causality loop: (See Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Five, Epipsode 20, Cause and Effect for fuller explanation) over Hawaii that day, and he was actually born 20 years earlier, then delivered back in time to his mother, so he's actually 69 years old, but born in the TERRITORY of Hawaii.

1. Anybody can make up any piece of paper on the Internet, get it certified by state officials in Hawaii

But the real reason it isn't over yet ...

MORONS DON'T STOP BEING MORONS WHEN PRESENTED WITH FACTS.