A Sneak Preview Of Heaven.

I was driving home from the hospital listening to the AM radio station in Shreveport when I heard the opening notes from Twilight Zone by Golden Earring. Then, all of a sudden, I heard the voice of Rush Limbaugh. Since I'd just posted that link on the previous post, I laughed out loud to myself and thought, "Hell, Rush is reading my blog".

After I took an afternoon nap, I got up and began running errands. Later on, as I was driving home, I turned the radio on again. This time, I heard another talk radio guy talking about the Founding Fathers and the things they would say if they were here today. It was Mark Levin. He's the guy that Hannity refers to as "The Great One".

I listen to AM radio more than FM because they have the best sports stuff around here and I like it a lot. I will confess that quite some time ago, I'd heard Levin talk about the Founding Fathers but I really didn't pay much attention to it because I had not experienced any contacts from Washington, General Lee or anybody else for that matter. But this time, it was different.

It occurred to me that there may be lots of people thinking about the first and second Continental Congress. It was only upon hearing Limbaugh and Levin that I thought they were in the same loop I was and that they had been contacted as well.

I listened to Limbaugh when I was still on the road and spent lots of time everyday driving from customer to customer. I never even heard of Mark Levin but after the recent references to the Founding Fathers, I'll go buy a radio and put it in my den for future reference.

I'll admit that I've had some real strange experiences since the brain surgery, but this time, the voices aren't just coming during sleep or moments of day dreaming. Now, they're coming from the radio and coming from people that millions of Americans listen to. I don't know how many listeners they have but there's lots of stuff on the news that refer to some of the things they say on their programs. I can't help but wonder if they are in contact like I've been and are just too scared to mention it for fear that somebody will lock them up in the Loony Bin.

I don't have that fear because I'm already certified and in fact, am a card carrying, certified, disabled veteran who often refers to the "Great Doctor's Excuse" that I have for experiencing things like this. In addition to that, I sometimes sign off from emails with "Half a Brain Butler".

Despite the craziness and the dangers of malignant brain cancer that I've recently experienced in my world, I have thought about Heaven all my life. It was a constant source of comfort for me especially during July, November and December of 1970 when I was so close to death in Vietnam and so many times after that when we were looking death in the face everyday in Cambodia. Despite the countless thought of Heaven I've had, I never once was able to see what it looked like.

Back then, I had a thought or two about the Pearly Gates, angels floating on clouds, streets of gold and a land of milk and honey. Now, things have changed. I've visualized Heaven as something that is real and in color. It makes perfect sense to me. Death one day and Heaven the next isn't something that occurred to me in color or the kind of detail that these recent images have produced. I would really dig it if Heaven was located somewhere around Philadelphia, and I say that as someone who has never been to Philly.

I'm not trying to say that I have some kind of vision that indicates my impending death. Everybody will meet the Grim Reaper sooner or later but when my time comes, I'll be equipped with a better vision of Heaven than I've ever had before. It has to be cool and angels floating on clouds is only a part of it, not the whole thing.

I have a very long list of people that I hope to see when I get there. Many are from my days during flight school, Vietnam and Cambodia but that's just a small part of the group I want to see. School mates, college buddies, old neighbors that have gone before me and countless others.

Joe Messina, the World War II veteran that gave me my first ride in a Piper Cub. Mr. A.B. Chapman, who was my instructor pilot during helicopter flight school, Terry Femmer, one of the pilots from the 199th that taught me how to fly and survive and even Jernigan and Stearns, the two guys that Wolman and I watched die on July 4, 1970. I would also like to see Gorski, the pilot I replaced when he was killed shortly before I began flying for Fireball Aviation.

In any event, I've been off of the site for a few days as I've had a bit of bad weather and computer problems that sometime comes when your electricity goes out. I haven't had any more communication from the Continental Congress unless you consider Limbaugh and Levin some kind of a link. I'll have to send them an email or something to see if they're having these visions, too. Until then, I'll just say hang on or "Standby for News". More coming later.

Regards, Half a Brain Butler







 

Continental Flashbacks at Warp Drive Speed.

Last night was another night without a "Ping" but it was not another night without communications from the Founding Fathers.

This one was one of the weirdest of all. It happened so fast that the words "Warp Drive Speed" flashed across my mind as it was unfolding in far less time than the 7 minutes and 53 seconds that it took to make the demonstration that was being shown behind the podium in the Continental Congress.

It all started with the familiar voice of Stormin Norman when he said: "It is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you, the two men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their Country and the men under their protection. Please make welcome, the heroes of Benghazi, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods".

As the two men approached the podium, there was a rousing applause from all the members. The usual cheer of "Bully, Bully" came from Teddy Roosevelt. I could make out the heavy English accent of General Bernard Montgomery as he chanted "Good show, ole boy, good show".

There were lots of whistles, clapping and tapping of walking canes on the wooden floor but there wasn't any of the bedlam that came the night the members invaded the stockade when Norman gave the illegal immigration expense reports during his opening speech to Congress.   

Before the two Navy Seals even reached the podium, Norman dropped a sheet that was behind the podium and pushed a button on his lap top. I'm not sure how he put it all together but it appears that he either had some kind of a projector hooked to the laptop or he linked the sheet with the laptop so the following presentation appeared for the entire Congress to see.

If you drag your mouse across the link below, the identical address should drop down one line and you can click that to open the same screen that Stormin Norman was showing the Congress. I don't know what Norman has on his mind but it's clear that this is beyond any expense report from any agency. You click, you watch, you make up your mind and let ME know. I'm just trying to pass along these things but just because I have the connection doesn't mean that I have the answers.     



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylGkm2EHHvE

Twilight Zone, When the bullet hits the bone.

I don't remember what I was watching on tv last night when I fell asleep. I'd been getting dose after dose of the Zimmerman trial and couldn't seem to get away from those newscasts nor get in touch with the guys from the Continental Congress.

All of a sudden, there it was. I didn't get another "Ping" but despite that, I did get another message. It started when I heard the words: "When the bullet hit the bone" and then, almost immediately after that, I heard the words "Twilight Zone".

Even though I never took a direct small arms hit to my body, I landed an OH6 full of bullet holes more than once. From that standpoint, I didn't connect the song with anything that had happened to me personally. I was however, able to see a connection with the me to the words: "Twilight Zone".

Most of my friends and family members would tell you that they think I've been living in the Twilight Zone ever since the day I threw the eraser at one of the nuns at St. Joseph's Elementary School.  Despite all the thoughts about the messages I was receiving, I wondered to myself: "What in the hell kind of message is this"?

Since there were no further communications, I turned off the tv, took a dose of Lorazepam and went to bed. It must have worked because I didn't wake up until 9:30 this morning. Despite the hours and hours of sleep, before my feet hit the floor, there it was again: "When the bullet hit the bone".

As I made my way to the kitchen, I turned on the computer, began the morning ritual of making coffee and went back to the PC to open my email. The first thing I saw was an email from my flight school buddy, Bob. He sent a video from a guy named Bill Whittle and I think that it's important enough to put a link to it here. Take a minute and watch this but try to keep in mind, while you are watching it, that this is the first thing I've seen since the words: "When the Bullet hit the Bone" began to haunt me.   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C372wVaBM-s

Shortly after watching that, I went to google and typed in "When the bullet hit the bone". That took me to a you tube link that added the words "Twilight Zone". I clicked on the link and began to watch the music video.  I'm not trying to be lazy but I think it would be easier on everybody if you just google "When the bullet hit the bone" and watched the video yourself. If you do that, you might wonder like I do if there's some subliminal message from the Continentals for me to watch all this and after doing that, attempt to make contact with them again.

I don't think there is much sense in trying to continue with this until I get a better picture of what's going on. I'll take another nap and see if anything happens to clarify all this stuff before I add anymore reports here.

Don't forget to click the youtube link above but BEFORE you do that, do a google search for the song: "When the bullet hits the bone". I think you will all be better served if you do the song first THEN do Bob's link above.    

We want something permanent, something that can't be taken away.

I went to see Roger at the hospital yesterday and talked to him about these voices and visions from our Founding Fathers. As my primary counselor, the guy I've spent more time with than any other, the one who knows all of the details of my history, he obviously wanted to know about the details.

After a brief period of time, we concluded that watching the musical entitled "1776" probably had something to do with it. When I told him that I'd watched it twice and, in effect, spent 5 hours and 4 minutes watching and listening, we more or less decided that I'd overdosed on all the information and stories of the Continental Congress, the people and the circumstances of the times.

I confessed that the first night was so real to me, that I considered the voices to be real even though I eventually considered that they were simply coming from the back of my brain. Despite that, they were so clear and crisp, I considered them to be more real than simple recollections of the movie. As I thought about that, I recalled a couple of other movies I'd seen and realized that other voices had visited me before.

"Go ahead, make my day" was only one recollection from Clint Eastwood. John Wayne's "Fill your hand, Pilgrim" was another. "Yippee Ky Yea, mother fucker" was another and the list went on an on. I wondered how many movie goers had ever experienced any recollections of those kinds of statements from those kinds of actors and movies.

With those recollections in mind, I began to wonder about the prescription of Lorazepam I have to take during some of the more troublesome times I experience with my post brain surgery, chemo and radiation situation. I immediately looked at my logbook and saw that I had been following doctor's orders and taking the pill as ordered. Last night, since I'd heard nothing from the Continental Congress, I decided not to take one.

After a long afternoon nap, I decided that I would try to focus on the difference between taking the meds and not taking the meds. Since I hadn't heard a peep from George Washington, John Adams, Ben Franklin or any of the other key players from those days, I thought about the new arrivals. I didn't give much thought to the older new arrivals like Teddy Roosevelt or FDR but Stormin' Norman continued to occupy my mind.

At that point in time I began to see a correlation between the reactions of the Continentals during certain reports of bad news that came when Washington sent posts directly to the Congress. If it was bad news, they would raise all sorts of hell because, at that time, the issue of Independence had not yet been voted on by the Congress. With that thought in mind, I considered the aftermath of the report that Stormin' Norman gave.

If you will recall, a number of the members went to the stockade where Santa Anna was locked up with others from that time frame. Those who were incarcerated received the brunt of the revenge motivated visit and all hell broke loose. That's when the light bulb went off and I recalled a total state of disarray existing in the hall where the members typically hung out.

I went to my DVR, clicked on "Recordings" scrolled down to "1776" and started watching it for the 3rd time. When I got into it, I realized that it was a musket shot and not a pistol shot that rang out when the Speaker was trying to regain order in the hall.

At that point, I realized that there had been so much disorder and argument in the Hall, there probably had been a recess called to calm things down a bit and maybe that was the reason I'd not heard anything. With that realization, I came up with a plan that might help me regain contact with them all.

I turned off the TV, stood up, put my hands on my hips, spread my legs just a little so I could at least look like I was standing in the military position of "AT EASE" and I shouted:

"What in the hell do you want with me"?

To my surprise, I received a two sentence response. A voice came through and it said: "We want something permanent, something that can't be taken away. That's the whole damn reason for this Declaration of Independence".

That was all that was said but it was enough for me to go to the medicine cabinet and grab a late night dose of Lorazepam. I found it, logged it in my book and began looking for my doctor's appointment list to see when my next visit with Roger would be.

It's only 9 a.m. on a Thursday morning so I think I'll get a shower and try to make some sense out of the rest of my day. For you hard corp followers of this blog, be advised that I see Roger again next week but if I hear anything else from the Ghosts of the Continental Congress, I'll let you know.

Thanks to all who have sent emails of support during this very weird time especially Mike and Sharon.  

       

It's not just the Continentals, everybody's pissed.

I can't believe that I fell asleep on the couch again. That's two nights in a row. I don't know if I had one too many, so to speak, or if I was just exhausted from all the mania that's going on after hours.
Tonight, like so many other nights that I've crashed on the couch, I was awakened by the noise.

I initially thought that it was nothing more than another overly loud television commercial that was produced at a higher level of volume control than normal, but that wasn't it. The old Continental Congress and all of it's visitors, new members, guests and inmates, were raising so much hell, the drunkest fraternity party on campus, would have been unable to compete.

The ruckus was so loud, I didn't have time to wake up at an even pace. I was wide awake the moment the hell raising began and the noise invaded my sleep. There were far more men inside the old halls of Congress than there were during my first call, and the noise, confusion, everybody yelling at once, with all the echos that were coming out of the acoustically void building, was like waking up to a bomb blast.

I could faintly hear the tap, tap, tap of the gavel and a voice screaming out the words "Order, order, order in this chamber". After several minutes of the demands for "order" went unanswered, someone fired off a pistol shot. In the typical fashion of so many Veterans, you could hear men diving for cover with chairs being overturned and tables crashing to the floor.

Only a moment passed before I heard the gavel hit the table again. This time it was followed by the demand: "Silence, silence, silence on the floor. I said silence on the floor, you bunch of fatherless bastards".

In an instant, I could at least hear myself think. Someone called for everyone to shut up and take their seats. Again came the sound of the chairs and tables being put back in their proper position. Above that, I heard the distinct sound from a pair of boots, complete with spurs, as they walked up the wooden stairway and made their way to the center of the stage where the podium always stood. When they stopped, I heard a gravely voice beginning to speak. I don't have a clue who was doing the speaking.

"Gentlemen, the commotion is over, the problem is solved and there's no more reason for concern".

Over the next few minutes I heard the damnedest explanation of what had happened after a budgetary presentation had been made to the members by the Chairman of an un-named committee for budgetary considerations. I then learned, that shortly after the meeting adjourned, the "Special Guest Accommodations", located just inside the stockade, ended up being the location of choice to discuss some of these financial matters.

With that, the negative aspects of the report and the blame being pointed at some of the prisoners who were already shackled and in no mood for any hassles from their captors, one hell of a fight broke out.

To further calm the crowd, the familiar voices of John Adams and John Hancock made it's way through the mumblings of the crowd.

"Gentlemen", Adams said, " Let's all calm down and give Hancock a moment to explain what has happened. I assure you, once you know, you'll be okay with all of it and we can get back to the normal course of business". With that, Hancock took the podium and began to speak.

"Earlier this evening, it appears that several of our somewhat inebriated members decided to pay a visit to the stockade. It was their premeditated purpose, to not only visit some of the nare do wells there, but to take out their vengeance for the financial reports they'd just been given."

"In short, Mr Hitler, Benito Mussolini, General Tojo, Herman Goering, Genghis Khan, Santa Anna, Jack the Ripper and The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, have all sustained injuries and have been transferred to the stockade infirmary".

"All of them have regained consciousness and Doctor Mengele has been summoned from the root cellar to attend to the various blunt force trauma cases as well as the uh, shall we say, to make an attempt to do something with the foreskin from the Grand Mufti that was taken by Jack the Ripper".

At that point a very loud cheer was heard from the gallery and a short version of "Him, him, fuck him" was sung. After that subsided, unrestrained by the speaker, John Hancock spoke again.

"I wish for this body to know of a few changes that we've made to insure there will be no more outbursts of this kind". First and foremost, Generals Patton, Pershing and MacArthur, as well as Teddy Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin, have been restricted from any further contact with the prisoners for a period of time not to exceed 12 hours".

"In addition to that, there will be no more chaining of prisoners such as Jack the Ripper to anyone of middle eastern origins or combat experience in the first World War. As a final note, providing Jack the Ripper with standard eating utensils, such as a knife, fork and spoon will no longer be permitted".

Somewhat frustrated, Hancock left the podium and, of all people, General Stormin' Norman Schwarzkopf took his place. Once squarely placed at the podium, the General began to speak. I was shocked and totally unaware that he'd already arrived at the old building and been heartily received by its members only moments before the attack. I missed all of that.

"Gentlemen, I am once again humbled to be in your presence. I wish to inform you all that I am not discouraged or disappointed with your reactions to the financial reports that I presented during my first address to this astute and famous group of men. Had I known that none of the new members had brought a lap top with them when they arrived, I would have more properly explained it's function so that each of you would understand how and where I came upon the data".

"I realize now that it was a complete shock to all and in the interest of clarity, I would like to suggest a thing or two that will allow me to accomplish a couple of goals. The first is to read it again and the second is to call for a recess as I know this has been an all night long affair that almost mandates a break".

Once again, the assembly broke out with a number of comments that ran from "Here, Here, and Bully" to one course of "He's the jolly good fellow". With that, the General began to speak again: He said:

"Gentlemen, with regard to the financial information surrounding the costs of illegal immigrants that I distributed last night, I will make this very short and to the point. I will start with welfare. Those vary from  year to year but we typically use 11 to 22 Billion per year. We spend another 22 billion on food stamps and school lunches. There's another 2.5 billion on Medicaid, 12 billion on primary and secondary education and a staggering 17 billion on anchor babies".

He paused for a moment as he noticed that some of the members were beginning to whisper to their counter parts and he didn't want to see that take off to include all the members and another run to the stockade. After the pause, he continued with:

"Believe it or not, 30% of all Federal Prisoners are illegals and that costs 3 million dollars per day. Worse than that, there's 90 billion dollars spent on welfare and social services and a million sex crimes committed each year. To finish this, I will add two things and then call for the break". More cheers came with that statement and the General acknowledged it with a small bow from the waist.

"They are sending 45 billion dollars to the countries of their origin and causing 200 billion dollars of suppressed wages within our own work force". Those costs total 338.3 billion dollars. I will provide the explanation of an http address later this week, illustrate how I bring those reports to the screen, but for the purposes of the report, that's it. Now gentlemen, it is break time".

I'm more than a little anxious to have my next visit, whenever it comes. I'll get back with you then and bring you up to speed. These people are serious and it's so much fun to sit in on the conversations even though some of them are pretty ugly. Standby for whatever comes.









 

This time it was Benjamin Franklin.

I'm guilty as sin. Instead of thinking that I'd had some kind of weird reaction to all this brain surgery and that it had progressed to a point where I was beginning to have hallucinations, I found myself seriously preparing for a conversation with men who had been dead for a long time with some of those being dead for hundreds of years.

I spent hour after hour waiting for the next communication from the founding fathers. I found myself turning down the volume on the tv, looking out the back door, checking the clock, turning off the tv, checking my cell phone, looking at my inbox, and otherwise, doing some really weird stuff and wondering somehow or another, if I'd missed their call. Regardless of how many times I attempted to send some kind of a subliminal message to them to let them know I was ready, I fell asleep on the sofa.

Sometime around midnight, I heard that "Ping" sound again. I shook the cobwebs out of my head and a couple of minutes later, with both feet on the floor, I heard that voice. It was Benjamin Franklin this time. He said: "Mr. Speaker, I call for the report from the Geographic and Population Committee".

Almost immediately, I heard a loud "Seconded" and that was followed by another, somewhat louder exclamation of: "Bully, I say again, Bully". I knew that was Teddy Roosevelt.

Whoever was acting as Speaker last night, loudly announced the call and ordered:

"The report from the Committee of Geographic and Population data has been called and seconded. Would the following members please step forward and take your seats at the main conference table: Boone, Crockett, Pershing, both Roosevelt's, Theodore and Franklin D, George Patton, MacArthur, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sam Houston and, of course, the Honorable George Washington."

I thought that was the end of it as I heard chairs sliding backward as the men left their positions and began to take their place at the main conference table. At that time, the Speaker gave an additional order. He said:

"Would the Sargent at Arms please go to the stockade, unlock Santa Anna, cuff him and bring him to this chamber".

By that time, I hadn't been addressed nor did I make any comments. I just sat there listening to the sounds of all the chairs being moved about and the footsteps from many of the men who were scurrying about as they followed the dictates of the Speaker. Shortly thereafter, with the sound of movements disappearing, The Speaker said:

"Having assembled a majority of the members from the Geographic and Population Committee, I will now invite the Honorable Sam Houston to address this body". With that, Sam Houston took the podium and began to speak. He said:

"Gentlemen, for the purpose of this report we have established certain rules of conduct. I wish to reiterate that it is totally permissible for General Patton to reach across the table to Santa Anna and deliver another of his famous, uh, what's the phrase, uh, in any event, be advised that it's perfectly okay for General Patton to address Santa Anna and Bitch Slap him at any time he deems appropriate".

After much cheering, applause and several replies of "here here", Sam Houston began to speak. He said:

"On February 2, 1848, a sum of fifteen million dollars was paid to the Mexican Government. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and the Neuches River Border was changed to the Rio Grand. This included California and all of the territorial claims that were north of the Rio Grand. In conclusion, I would like to add that this amount was identical to the cost of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 that also went for fifteen million dollars".

At that point in time I heard someone slap Santa Anna and immediately thereafter, back hand Napoleon Bonaparte. I'm not sure why that was included as I am just reporting what I heard. Almost immediately after the comment about the Louisiana Purchase was made, Sam Houston thanked the men for their uninterrupted attention to his report and then he introduced the next speaker.

"Gentlemen, I will now transfer the podium to General Black Jack Pershing, Commander of the Population portion of our committee". With no small amount of applause, Black Jack Pershing took the podium and delivered his report.

"Respected Members, friends and Former Chief Warrant Officer Butler, this report, in view of our upcoming work load, will be very short and to the point. We will speak of its relevance shortly but for now, here are the numbers":

"The population of the United States of America, from 1790 till now, are as follows: In 1790 we had 3.9 million people here. In 1900, which was only 110 years later, we had 76.2 million people. In 1950, we had grown to 152.2 million. By the year 2,000, we hit 281.4 million and by the year 2011, we had reached a total population of 311.5 million people. I must add at this time, especially in view of the problems we are having across our southern border, the following information will track the increases in population from then until now".   

With that, General Pershing said:

"The population of New Mexico has grown by a factor of 106 times. Arizona has grown by a factor of 52 times. California is 35 times larger, Texas is 9 times larger but Louisiana is only 4 times as large as it was when we began tracking all of that. The critical point I wish to make surrounds the closeness of the Mexican Border to those States with the highest increase in population. I would also like to say that I intentionally do not use the word "illegal" when I report the millions of people who are living in the above named States. Thank you very much. I will now return the podium to our next speaker".

With that, the first words addressed to me were delivered. It was a quiet voice and I couldn't make out who was saying them. It simply said: "Mr. Butler, we'll get back to you shortly but in the interim, please pass along this information".

That was it. It was over as instantly as it began. I guess I'll take a nap and then start looking at the clock and wondering when the next communication will begin.











.

 

230 year old email/phone call.

You're not going to believe this.

Last night, I received what I initially thought was an email from Robert E. Lee, George Washington, John Hancock and a boat load of other guys from back in the day. It was really weird. I didn't even have my computer on. As a matter of fact, I was watching tv, sitting in my Lazy Boy recliner and quite content with myself. Then, all of a sudden, I heard this little "Ping" go off in my ear and before I knew it, General Lee started talking. It was some kind of an intergalactic phone call.

I don't know if the good Lord set up a deal where all the founding fathers can hang out and observe everything that goes on in the Country, but I think that's what happened. Maybe it's Mount Vernon or somewhere else with mountains, I just don't know.

It may even be somewhere near Philly where all those meetings took place when they were trying to hammer out the Declaration of Independence. At this point, I don't really care as I was totally blown away by a visit with all the guys from the late 1700s.

After a short introduction of everyone, introductions made by General Lee, George Washington began to speak. He was quite nice and spoke with the tone of a gentleman. He acknowledged my service in the Army, he told me he was quite proud of my conduct during Vietnam and then added: "Including that little run in with Captain Minix".

The moment he said that, I heard a very strong "Bully" in the back ground and asked General Washington if that was Teddy Roosevelt. With that, they all started laughing. General Washington laughed as well and said, "You've done well with your studies of history and more than anything, that's why we picked you to talk to".

I responded with a "Thank You, sir" and let them go on with their speech.

General Washington said: "Tim, we've gathered some of your favorites here and I think you'll be most comfortable with the conversations. We have everybody from John Hancock all the way to General Pershing and George Patton. We even brought George Scott along as he and Patton have become good friends and have been ever since Scott made the movie Patton".

"Davey Crockett and all his boys are sitting on the front row and they're most interested in putting in their two cents. If you'll stand by a second, we'll get them all lined up and start this thing. You may well understand that Patton and Pershing are raising hell over who gets to go first but don't sweat it, we'll get it all lined out". With that, I answered again with "Yes Sir".

The apparent problem with who would be the first to speak was further compounded by someone from the 1st Continental Congress who was quoting some bits and pieces from the debates that came during the efforts to finish the Declaration of Independence.

"Is anybody there, does anybody care. There will be hell to pay through all the gloom and doom. Does anybody see what I see? I hear the bells ringing out. I hear the cannons roar. I see all Americans free". Finally, I discovered it was someone they referred to as Mr. Adams and I'm sure it was John.

Someone else piped in with :"A representative owes the people not only his industry but his judgment, and he betrays them if he sacrifices it for their opinion". He said it was written by Edmond Burke, a member of the British Parliament.

Soon after those recollections were made, Ben Franklin said: "I beg you consider what you are doing".  John Adams said: "Mark me Franklin, we give in on this issue then posterity will never forgive us". At that time Franklin said: "That's probably true as we will all be long gone. We're men, no more than others, trying to get a Nation started. If we don't give into that, what difference will the rest make?"

"It would be a pity for a man who has handed down hundreds of wise decisions from the bench to be remembered only for the one unwise decision he made in Congress". I believe it was James Wilson and if he voted against Independence, he would have stopped it. Hell, I didn't even know who James Wilson was or how he played in a role for Independence.

With that, after the vote, someone said: "The count, being twelve to none, the resolution on Independence is adopted". Someone said: "Step right up gentlemen and sign. Don't miss your chance to commit treason".

John Dickinson refused to sign it but left Congress after voting Yea. He left by saying that he would instead, join the Army and fight even though he felt it was hopeless.

By this time in the conversation, my eyes were crossed and I realized that I didn't know as much about the members of the Continental Congress as I should have.

The interruptions were as bad or worse than the ones that come on late night television shows where multiple guests talk at that same time and you can't really get a good sight picture on either point they are trying to make.

Despite that, I was digging the fact that I was a part of conversations with everybody that made a major play in the development of our Country as well as it's defense in later years. Talk about cool. It was great.

I asked for a bit of understanding about my fatigue but was stopped in the middle of my request for pardon by John Adams. He said: "Don't worry, Tim. You ought to see Ben Franklin. He's been nodding off to sleep during most of this and I highly suspicion that he's had too much to drink". We're all pooped out but don't worry, we will continue this later, at a time more conducive to accomplishing the original goal we set when we decided to contact you".

I thanked him, told him that I would get some rest and would be available for further comment when everybody was up to it. It wasn't long after the conversation that I managed to lay down and let my recollections of all that seep in and put me to sleep.

I hate to stop now but rest assured that I will make contact again as soon as they call back. I'm sure that it will include another talk fest as I can faintly hear some of the back ground noise between Davey Crockett and Black Jack Pershing. I bet that will be an interesting witness. Stand by. I'll get back as soon as they call.

July 4, 1970 in South Vietnam, Wollman, Jernigan and Stearns.

On July 4, 1970  I had only been in Vietnam for six weeks. I was a co pilot with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade and was stationed at Fire Support Base Mace which was located at the foot of a mountain that was located on the east side of a small town named Xuan Loc. That's pronounced "Swan Lock".

We referred to the mountain as "Signal Mountain" even though there was already another Signal Mountain further north in I Corp or II Corp. I recall that the mountain's name was Gia Ray or Ghia Rey. You can google earth Xuan Loc and see it just east of the town.

We had an observation post and a radio communication station at the top of that mountain and it had a helipad that was on the very top of it. It was one of those hand made helipads and certainly not something that was chiseled out of the rocks. It was wooden as I recall, and there was no room for error if your approach went bad. Some of the copilots said: "You either got it right or you got it dead".

At that point in time I had already experienced several combat hours flying Nighthawk Gunships. Those missions were logged as "night time combat operations". They were mostly close air support missions for the guys who were stationed at remote fire bases out in the jungle and were under attack by NVA or Viet Cong.

We would be called in to fly over the burm surrounding the fire base, locate the direction of fire from the bad guys, and provide protection for our guys by using a 4,000 round per minute mini gun, a 50 caliber or two M60's that were hung by rubber straps called "Monkey Straps". We never failed to stop an attack and we were held in very high regard by the guys on the ground.

Most of my flight hours over the first six weeks of my tour, were consumed by learning our area of operations by flying a number of daytime missions. I would fly to each of those fire bases during the day and would deliver everything from mail, food and ammo all the way to Donut Dollies that brought donuts to the guys that lived there 24/7.

On July 4th, I was on standby to fly Command and Control missions if any attacks around the area began. We were already well into the day when a call came to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC) advising us that an ambush of our convoy was underway. We ran to the Huey, cleared the covers from the intake side of the turbine, removed the blade tie down strap and hopped on board to prepare for a take off.

The Colonel came running out of the TOC, jumped on board and we began to spool up the turbine and fly to the site of the ambush which was only a few minutes flight time from the TOC. On that day, we were using the C&C ship which had a huge radio set behind the pilot and co pilot's seat. For that reason, we had no mini gun or 50 caliber. There were only two M60s that we could use as offensive weapons.

We took off, turned north and began to follow the dirt road that our convoy used to get to their objective. Almost immediately, we saw smoke on the ground from a burning vehicle and several aircraft orbiting the battle site. They were on the east side of the road and the Colonel ordered us to orbit the battle on the west side of the road.

We arrived over the ambush site on the west side of the road, began a north to south holding pattern and observed the green and red tracers as fire was exchanged between the enemy and our guys on the ground.

Since I was still a newbie co pilot at this time and the battle below was a very serious one, I was relegated to monitoring the radio traffic, making cross checks of the instrument panel and checking for aircraft that might be making gun runs on the target. On our second or third northward pass, I noticed a AH 1G Cobra lining up to make a gun run on the target area. I didn't know it at the time but it was being flown by a couple of Warrant Officers named Jernigan and Stearns.

The copilot's window was now the best place to observe the entire battle as we were heading north and my seat was on the east side of the ship. After repeated cross checks of the instrument panel, I took my eyes out of the cockpit and saw the Cobra begin his rocket run on the target. In less time than it takes to write about it, my eyes went back to the instrument panel.

When I took my eyes off the instruments and looked toward the east, I saw a huge ball of fire, the largest one I had ever seen. It was the result of the Cobra hitting the ground at 190 knots. I already knew that they carried 38 high explosive rockets as well as a lot of mini gun ammo and some 20 mm rounds.

When you add that to fuel tanks that were close to full, you might be able to imagine the size of the explosion. I can remember the surprise at seeing that ball of flame to this very day and have known, for over four decades, that I will take that sight to my death bed.

So, with regard to the idea of Independence Day celebrations, I think more about those that paid the price for it than those who enjoy it. It makes a lot of sense, in my eyes, to focus more on the sacrifices and the price that must be paid to keep it than the unconscious celebrations that are more often than not, focused on partying instead of maintaining.