11. September 2008 by James.

Hi BOB,

Hope all of you and yours are well.  I’m concerned about Ike hitting the Texas coast and watching that closely.  My daughter spent 12 hours in Houston traffic trying to evacuate during Rita and I hope that sort of thing doesn’t happen again.  Mostly I hope everyone stays safe and dry.

Lynn and I just returned from Yellowstone.  I now understand why it is the most popular US national park.  We went on a 4.5 mile hike which went along the crest of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River, through a field of geothermally active boiling mudpots, by a lake where a wolf was cooling off after a fresh kill and then though a grassy plain - just unbelievably beautiful.   Crowds were gone since it was after Labor Day, so it was as if we had the place to ourselves.  We were only there four days, but you could spend a lifetime there.

 I’m doing a little research for two upcoming family reunions (father and mother’s side) in WV and MD at the end of this month.  My work was made a lot easier when I found a distant cousin whose great grandfather was my great grandfather’s brother.  She had already written a book about my mother’s side of the family and much of the part of it that I was interested in was posted on the internet.  It was a real joy to correspond with her. 

Reed, that was a fantastic story about Desert Storm.  Thanks for sharing that.  Chuck, thanks for all the time and energy you put into this effort to connect crewdogs.  I think it is worth the effort. 

Best Regards

James

PS  Chuck, is there an easy way to upload pictures?  I went into the help menu and my eyes glassed over about halfway through the preliminary section:)  Using the upload box on the Manage view, the image took over the entire screen.  I know I’m missing something.

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | 1 Comment »

11. June 2008 by James.

Hi everyone,

Chuck, I’m sorry to hear about your daughter’s job troubles. At least you are there to help. I often wonder how people without a family support system survive. That must have been some severe weather to flood cars on base. I remember going to a promotion ceremony at the O’Club one summer day during a storm and the road paralleling the flightline was like a river near the T-4 Bldg.

Lynn and I just returned from a trip to New York City to celebrate our fifth anniversary. We had a great time. We took the Amtrak train up which was fun in itself and stayed three nights in a midtown hotel. We walked everywhere and saw so much of the city. We flew back out of LaGuardia and relearned the lesson that it is good to show up to the airport early. Our original flight was cancelled, but because we were over two hours early, we were able to catch an earlier flight to Atlanta after running to the gate. If we hadn’t made that flight, we would have been spending the night in either Atlanta or NYC at our expense since the plane was cancelled for weather.

Did everyone else get their anti-suicide letters from the VA? I got two of them and Lynn got one, so they must think we are high risk:)

I must say I was surprised to see that the USAF Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the USAF were fired. That’s two Chiefs of Staffs in the last 18 years.

Last month I enjoyed archiving all my father’s papers by scanning them into my computer. After putting them all in order, I got a much better picture of his life in all its phases. It was particularly interesting finding military sponsor letters, travel and PCS orders and general military correspondence with names like Earl Wheeler, Creighton Abrams, George E. Pickett IV and a couple of other famous names on them. There were many surprises. For example I found paperwork showing he successfully completed six credit hours at the University of MD (on post college in Germany). I had no idea he had any formal post high school education.

I read an article in AARP magazine (it’s very good, don’t laugh!) which talked about the passing of time through the phases of life. It said that the time from 50 to 80 is measured in seconds, not minutes, so enjoy every bit of it. I think the article is correct.

Enjoy your summer! Hope to hear from everyone soon.

James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | No Comments »

17. May 2008 by James.

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the late post, but I was in West Virginia and Ohio visiting relatives. I was without internet in both places for about a week and somehow managed to survive.

I had a great time in WV visiting my father’s side of the family in central WV. Life is much different there as coal, timber and subsistence farming are the only real opportunities there. The place is crawling with Osbornes though. I met two other James Osborne’s! I searched through a couple of old family cemeteries in the middle of nowhere and found my grandfather (1889-1974), great grandfather (1845-1912) and my great great grandfather (1815-1884). I found my Cherokee great great grandmother’s (1815-1866) grave with a relatives help in the woods after four wheeling several miles up a railroad right of way. The story of why she is buried there is the subject of an annual outdoor drama presented by my relatives which has attained some notariety in the state. At the courthouse I went through the old records and found my grandfather’s death certificate and, to my great surprise, I found out that my father had three sisters (stillborn) and a brother that died at age 2. So, he was the only child of five to survive infancy. It occured to me that for me to be here, my father had to survive when 80% of his siblings didn’t and then he had to survive the Depression in Appalachia and WWII. There is much to be grateful for! It was neat going through the records at the county courthouse. To get to some of the books, I had to scoot the locked ballot boxes of votes away from the shelves. This was a couple of days after the WV primary. It’s hard to explain, but I got a real sense of what democracy is by being so close to the raw votes of the people of that county.

Bob, I missed you in Houston a few weeks ago. I spent a few days with my daughter to see how she is doing. She is basically a lieutenant in the restaurant business and is working harder than I ever did. She is doing fine and enjoys the work. Congratulations on your graduation and hanging out your shingle.

Reed, good luck on the house hunting. You are really into astronomy with a 22″ Dobsonion. As a kid I remember some friends of mine grinding the lenses for a large telescope, but it wasn’t 22″.

Andy, that’s another great model. I particularly like the mottled camouflage. I’m sorry, but I just can’t eat duck. I’ve tried, but it tastes like duck! Your recipe might make the difference though.

Chuck, I hope you are enjoying your job at 8th. Grandchildren certainly keep you busy.

I’ll talk to you next month.

James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | No Comments »

11. April 2008 by James.

Hi everyone,

Sorry about your vehicle, Chuck. I used to not believe in extended warranties, but I think that these days, they might be a good idea. It certainly worked out in your case!

My dad’s funeral in Arlington National Cemetery on 20 Feb was simply awesome. I am so glad we decided to bury him there. It was a little bit of effort for everyone to drive up there, but what a source of comfort for the family it was. The soldiers of the Old Guard are so good at what they do.

I’m now clearing out my dad’s huge backyard workshop of 40 years of accumulated stuff. One of the guys that used to work for him when he was a general contractor agreed to empty the place out and fix up my mother’s house for cost. So far he has carted 6 heaping pickup truck loads of stuff to the dump and taken many of the tools and supplies. For example my father had 1000 pounds of nails in there. I’m hoping that in 6 months the workshop can be emptied, the house roof fixed and the fence replaced. At that point the house should be able to be sold and my 81 year old mother can move into something easier to take care of than a 40 year old, 4 bedroom house.

I’ve run in a couple of 10Ks in downtown Savannah recently, but the guys in my age group, 50-54 don’t seem to be slowing down. One of these days, if I get into a race with a small enough field, I hope to win!

Savannah Sand Gnats have their home opener this weekend, so I’m attending. I’m visiting my daughter in Houston in the first part of May, so I look forward to that.

Anyway, I hope to hear from everyone soon.

James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | 1 Comment »

11. February 2008 by James.

Hi everyone

I’d like to thank everyone again for your kind emails and cards.  It’s hard to believe my father passed away over a month ago.  Next week we all travel to Arlington National Cemetery for his funeral on 20 Feb.  We are really looking forward to the ceremony. 

On 2 Feb I ran the Tybee (Savannah Beach) 1/2 marathon.  I met my goal of finishing under 2 hours and even my secondary goal of running faster than a 9:00 pace (1:55:59).  I’m sure John ran the Myrtle Beach Marathon at a faster pace though! 

I received a call from a guy in Seattle last week who is writing a book on the 103 AS (Lafayette Escadrille) and got my name from an author of another WWI aviation book who I had written to months ago.  He wanted to know about my research on MG Frank O’D. Hunter, WWI ace from Savannah.  We had a great conversation and turns out he had an uncle in my father’s WWII division.  He had even visited Colmar, France which is a place I’d like to get to someday (of Colmar Pocket fame, Jan - Feb 45).  Anyway, it got me interested in finishing my research, though  I’ve been spending a lot of time researching the 3d ID WWII exploits from Aug 44 to the end of the war.  Retirement is great, but there isn’t enough time for everything I want to do!

 That’s it for now.  Jim, I hope you’re healing quickly!  Chuck, thanks for all the work you’ve put into this blog!

 James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | 2 Comments »

11. January 2008 by James.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Yak, Ted and Steve.  It’s great to reconnect with you all.

 Thanks to everyone for their condolences on the passing of my father.  It has been very difficult these past few weeks, but already the healing process is well under way.  I visited my father on New Year’s Eve for a couple of hours at the home and he was relatively fine.  I brought Krispy Kreme doughnuts and he really enjoyed the chocolate covered one.  I took him outside in the courtyard and he liked the blue sky and warm breeze.  Later that night he went into the hospital for severe pneumonia.  There were ups and downs, but he finally succumbed on 4 Jan at 0130.  Thank God the suffering and indignity is over.  It still hurt though. 

Here’s the obituary that my brother, sister and I collaborated on.  We were happy with how it sounded:

Paul E. Osborne - SAVANNAH - Paul E. Osborne was born in Glasgow, WV on August 1, 1923 and died in Savannah, GA on January 4, 2008. He entered the US Army in 1943 serving with the 7th Infantry Regiment 3rd Infantry Division and participated in the liberation of Europe fighting in the Rome Arno, Southern France, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns. Rising from private to Technical Sergeant he earned the Silver Star Medal for gallantry in action, 3 Bronze Star Medals for valor and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. Following his war service he received a direct commission and spent the 1950’s in Germany as the Cold War heated up. His US tours of duty included Fort Knox and Fort Hood with a final combat zone assignment in Vietnam in 1962 as one of the earliest military advisors under the Military Assistance Command. After serving as active duty advisor to the Maryland National Guard he concluded a distinguished career at Hunter Army Airfield in 1969 and retired with the rank of Major. He is survived by his wife of over 62 years - Mary Gwendolyn Osborne; his daughter Paulette A. Quinn and her husband Carl S Quinn; his sons, Richard Hays Osborne and James David Osborne and his wife Annette Osborne; granddaughter, Sarah Rachel Osborne; and sister, Gloria Moats.. His family and friends will suffer the loss of a yet another member of the Greatest Generation to whom we owe so much as husband, father, brother, friend and warrior.  Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

The idea for an Arlington burial just popped into my mind when my brother and sister were upset that my mother wanted to put him in a plot in Hagerstown, MD that they bought in 1947 when their second baby died.  They didn’t think they would ever get to visit the grave in a small town 700 miles away in a town we no longer have a connection to.  After some research and phone calls to the office at Arlington, we were given a 20 Feb/0900 date.  We are all very happy and we know he would have been greatly honored to rest there.  He certainly loved the Army.

In other news my daughter, Sarah, did graduate the University of Houston on 14 Dec and is now starting a job with a small hotel in Houston.  It’s not exactly what she wanted, but she realizes it’s a start.  I’m very proud of her.  Bob Goss and I had lunch while I was in Houston and it was great to see him again after many years. 

Anyway, I hope all of you are doing well and I’ll talk to you again soon.

 James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | No Comments »

11. December 2007 by James.

Hi BOB,

Just a short note since Lynn and I are on the road this week travelling to my daughter’s University of Houston graduation on 14 Dec.  Stopped by in Shreveport and noticed the phenomenal growth in areas of the city. 

I ran a 10K in Savannah last weekend and it motivated me to train a little harder for the Tybee Beach Half Marathon in February.  I’ve got a lot of work to do judging by the way I felt after the race.  It was a beautiful day though running through downtown Savannah and over the bridge and back.

 Good luck Chuck with the job situation.  I’m sure it will work out just fine.

Merry Christmas to everyone and talk to you again in 2008.

 James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | 1 Comment »

11. November 2007 by James.

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re having a good Veteran’s Day.   Spent a few days in DC last week visiting a friend who was attending a convention.  Saw the WWII memorial on the mall.  It is very nicely done.  I especially liked the bas-reliefs.  Walked Arlington National Cemetery and found the grave of an airman who was in my ASOS squadron at Fort Stewart.  He always led us in PT and was the epitome of gung ho.  After becoming an enlisted terminal air controller and going through all the Army schools he could (Airborne, Air Assault, etc.), he left the AF, joined the Army and learned to fly OH-58Ds.  He was shot down by small arms fire in 2005 and now rests in Section 60.  I’ve been to Arlington many times, but never saw anyone I knew while they were alive.  It was a moving experience especially since there were several people in the same area standing over their family member’s or friend’s graves.  It made me realize that all of those graves in Arlington once had people mourning over them. 

 Went to the Air and Space Museum on the mall as well as the annex near Dulles.  If you’re reliant on public transportation to get to the Dulles annex as I was, the easy way to go is take the bus from L”Enfant Station to Dulles and then get on the VRTA bus to the Museum.  That will cost you only $7.00 round trip and saves a lot of time.  The annex was exceptional and I particularly liked the Enola Gay display.  At the Air and Space Museum on the mall, Space Ship One is hung next to the Spirit of St. Louis.  I remember watching its record setting flight into Space at the scheduling desk in the 11th with Reed. 

A few weeks ago Lynn and I met her sister and husband in Atlanta to attend the Nascar race.  What an experience!  We all had a great time and enjoyed the race.  One neat aspect of the race was that the flyover was done by a B-52 from Minot. 

I’m still anxiously awaiting confirmation that my daughter Sarah will actually graduate on 14 Dec.  I’ve heard horror stories from other parents who made expensive arrangements to attend a graduation ceremony and then find out that their child didn’t pass a class or for some other reason didn’t graduate.  I’m fairly sure graduation will happen though.

Hope everyone is doing well.

James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | No Comments »

11. October 2007 by James.

Hi BOB,
 
Chuck, this blog may be a little too high tech for me.  Next thing you know you’ll be advocating getting rid of Peachtext and 5.25 discs on our Z100s and moving over to Wordstar
 
Sorry about your Boeing job.  It may still work out just fine.  Who knows?  I’ve heard horror stories from my civilian friends about their work organizations.  One friend of mine from college who has been in mid level textile manufacturing his whole career was once sent on a two week tour of a Chinese manufacturing plant only to learn upon his return that he was let go for unknown reasons.  I guess in the AF we had to deal with the occasional so-so commander or vagaries of some MPF system, but the personnel problems never seemed that bad to me.   

We had a fairly busy month.  We traveled the 1000 miles to Whiteman AFB to see Gary Harencak’s change of command ceremony.  Gary took over from Greg Biscone who is going to be Deputy J3 at Centcom.  He’ll be busy.  Gary’s kids were in the audience.  His son, Michael, is a cadet at the Academy.  His permanent party commander is Major Kathy Winans.  What a small AF!  Bill Winans is also stationed at the Academy. 

We moved into a new apartment about 10 minutes from our old one in a growing section of Savannah.  A friend of mine with a truck helped us move all the small stuff and we hired “All My Sons” to move the furniture.  It was strange moving without going through Transportation to handle everything.  This move worked really well though.  Four guys showed up, wrapped all our furniture and drove it straight to the new place.  There was no inventory, other than mental, and the whole process was over in two hours.  There wasn’t a scratch on anything.  We were very pleased.

My father is doing okay at the nursing home.  We go daily for a few hours to feed him, etc.  After six months of observing how the nursing home works, and I assume this place is typical, I’ve learned it is vital to have a family or friend presence in the home.  It’s easy for the staff to ignore people and their needs otherwise.  Sad, but true. 

The anniversary of the Revolutionary War Battle of Savannah was a couple of days ago and there were several celebratory events leading up to it.  I attended one lecture at the Savannah History Museum on the French participation in the Revolution.  We could have done without D’Estaing, but we might still be having afternoon tea if it wasn’t for Lafayette, Rochambeau, their Navy and other resources. 

Oh, and one thing I learned this month is that it is very important to carefully thread your Maytag washer input hoses onto the water inlet valve.  Otherwise, you might strip the threads on the $22 water inlet/valve part and incur a $118 Maytag Repairman visit (He actually does work sometimes!)

Talk to everyone next month.

James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | 1 Comment »

11. September 2007 by James.

Hello BOB,
 
Welcome Doug Barnard!  Doug was my aircraft commander for awhile at Castle and I still recall that the instructors had a great time and the students received great training.  Being in SAC didn’t have to be hard!
 
Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and prayers concerning my father.  They really do help.
 
Chuck, I fully expect to see you on CNN/FOX/CBS/NBC/ABC discussing military issues soon.  Why not?  Your opinion is at least as good as anyone else’s on the news shows.  The

Minot nuke thing is perplexing.  I don’t have a lot of sympathy after being the PRP monitor.  Just dealing with the paperwork of people’s temporary medical suspensions kept me hopping for at least an hour a day.  I can’t imagine the inattention to detail involved in sending warheads without authorization.  John, you must be the busiest retired person around.  With your 100 mile commute, new house, new wife, new school year and personal trainer jobs, you definitely exceed the retiree limits.  AARP will not be happy:)  Congratulations?! on your daughter’s wedding.  I hope great things happen for them.  Andy, is the 8th AF job you are interested in connected to the IW command being fought over by Texas, California and Louisiana?  Jim, researching your family history must be fascinating.  Meeting your distant, unknown relative at the library is incredible.  I agree with your comment on the white top in front of the alert aircraft to make sure everything goes okay.  My brigade commander when I was an ALO who is now LTG Whitcomb used to say that if a commander wants his vehicles to work properly, he has to spend some time at the motor pool.  Bob, if I ever need an attorney, I’d hire you!  Britt, that’s interesting about the Kentucky white squirrels.  I wonder if one of them crossed the border into Ohio and migrated to my mother in laws house.  I imagine the F-35 pilots you train are pretty happy about flying a brand new plane.  Reed, I had to wince while reading about your snow shoveling back injury.  Good luck on the Edwards job.  I remember Tom Jones from another one of his Diego deployments in 2003.  Doug, sounds like you’ve had a great time since retirement!  Congratulations on making it to Europe finally. 
 
Does anyone know if Stan Buelt, Tom Tighe or Eric Johnson ever made it to the airlines?  Any news on them at all?   I just found out that Col John Robinson is CV at Whiteman.  I know that Lance King is looking at a job in Germany too.
 
I’m going to the Whiteman change of command on 14 Sep to see my friend, Gary Harencak, take command from Greg Biscone.  John and Melvin, I’ll say hello for you!  Anybody know why Whiteman is a place where guys who have been successful wing commanders at other bomber bases get another wing command?  It’s obviously considered a step up, but I really don’t know why.  I’m not being sarcastic, just wondering.
 
Lynn and I went to Mike Geasley’s daughter’s wedding (Mike was a friend of mine from Blytheville) in Pensacola on the beach.  I was skeptical of a beach wedding, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Everyone was so laid back and the setting was beautiful.  We also visited the Naval Museum at the NAS and enjoyed it very much.  Even my daughter liked the museum which is very unusual.  My favorite plane was the Corsair - just a beautiful aircraft.  They also had a model of a Breguet XIV B2 with a 96 BS patch on it.  The 96th Daylight Bombing Squadron flew them in World War I.
 
My father has recovered from his urinary tract infection which is a real killer for geriatrics and he actually seems a bit stronger than he was before.  Unfortunately, he just lays in bed now and only responds to questions occasionally.  Some days are better than others, though.  For example when I saw him today and asked how he was, he said, “Okay, son.”  Doesn’t sound like much, but his response showed that he knew how he felt and he at least knew that I was one of his sons.   
 
It’s time to start ramping up for the Tybee (Savannah Beach) Half Marathon in February.  I usually only run 3 miles at a time, but I’ll start adding a mile a week to the daily run.  If anyone is interested in joining in on the half marathon, let me know.
 
Our move to the new apartment is now 2 October.  We’ve had our stuff boxed up for over a month now in preparation, so we’re more than ready to get the move over with.
 
I finished Bruce Catton’s, “Reflections on the Civil War.”  I liked his style so much that I’m reading his “Stillness at Appomattox” now.  I’d like to eventually read the entire Army of the Potomac trilogy (Mr. Lincoln’s War, Glory Road, Stillness at Appomattox).
 
I’ve included a few pictures of our Pensacola trip.  Talk to everyone next month.
 
James

Posted in Band of Brothers | Print | No Comments »