Random picture thread for Friday

The Bellagio's Conservatory and Botanical Garden, An Oasis of Tranquility Along the Las Vegas Strip as Experienced This Week in Las Vegas

In this below linked three video playlist experience the peaceful tranquility of the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Garden, an oasis offering rest and respite from the hustle and bustle of the hectic Las Vegas Strip.

The current design theme is "Springtime Symphony: Music in Motion. The carousel and ballerina exhibits best incorporate the "Motion" emphasis with both spinning and rotating. There is a redesign each season with the next season beginning June 6th

The first video captures the moving carousel as horses circle above the bubbling waters of a fountain below.

The second video displays lighted stained glass panels and large Fabrerge' style eggs positioned above bubbling waters. The eggs are made from thousands of flowers.

The third video offers a captivating view of a dancing ballerina surrounded by floral arrangements, large birds and butterflies.

Together they provide an artistic and moving picture of a beautiful oasis located in the Bellagio Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Link to 3-Video Playlist of Current Displays at the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Garden:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLtb5zi734BfYqvnt-ieWQYBBmYchOqYDU

Concurrently taken photos:

The route to the Conservatory and Botanical Garden passes through Bellagio's Hotel Lobby with its Artistic ceiling:

Viewes inside the Conservatory and Botanical Garden:

The Conservatory's current centerpiece, a massive whimsical spinning carousel:

The Fabrege' Style Eggs made from thousands of flowers:

The Dancing Ballerina featured in the Conservatory's current design:

Botanical Garden Flowers in the Conservatory:

Ceiling Art Consisten with the current Springtime theme:

Bodie, Ca. is very close to the Nevada border and Mono Lake. It’s a 90 minute drive from Mammoth Ca.

Yes that’s me. I am the buffalo chief.

On This Memorial Day Remembering Those of "The Greatest Generation" Who Served

Above, Pearl Harbor View of USS Missouri, The Ship on which the final Peace Treaty of World War II was signed in Tokyo Harbor.

Below, Rainbow over Naval Station Pearl Harbor:

Some of you have had the opportunity to visit the memorial at Pearl Harbor where the names of those who lost their lives on the U.S.S. Arizona are listed on a wall within the memorial which sits over the sunken ship there in the harbor. Among the names within that memorial is the name of one who shares my last name. Sharing the same name I wanted to know more about this person.

After returning from a visit to the memorial I posted an inquiry on the geneology forum, “Gen Forum” asking if anyone knew more about him. Some time later I received a responsive posting from Robert, a relative who advised that the name at the Memorial was his uncle who was killed at the age of 19 and had been born in Covington, Kentucky. I further learned that Robert had a younger brother who was named in honor of him. In November of 2008 I responded back by posting: “Thank you for the information. It is certainly an honor to share the same name with one who served his country and gave his life in that service. Ironically, I just got your message as Veterans Day is starting.”

In 2004 I had the opportunity to attend the commencement of one of our sons at his graduation from Northwestern University just outside of Chicago. Speaking at the Commencement was Tom Brokaw, the NBC news anchor, who had just completed his book, “The Greatest Generation” in which he wrote of those who served in World War II. In his remarks he paid tribute to the young men and women who had 60 years earlier fought for freedom in that war and challenged the graduates before him to become the next “greatest generation.” My own father and four of his brothers were among those members of “The Greatest Generation” that Tom Brokaw referenced as having served their country in World War II.

I would like to share some experiences from several of the life stories of those five brothers with regard to their service for their country. The five brothers served in the following branches of the United States military during World War II: Harold, my father, in the Navy; Paul in the Air Force; William (“Bill’) in the infantry to include the Alaska National Guard and the Army; Gerald, the Coast Guard; and Roy in the Army artillery. As one of them stated, they “all came home in one piece.”

While they served, a banner with five blue stars hung from their parent's Nevada home.

Even though several did receive wounds of varying degrees, all were able to return, raise families, contribute to society, and enjoy eventful lives.

I will begin with excerpts from my father’s life story:

“After Pearl Harbor Day, I decided that I would prefer to serve my country in the Navy, and enlisted in the Navy in Salt Lake City.”   At the time he lived on a ranch near Elko, Nevada. 

My father went into the Navy as an apprentice Seaman and completed his service as a Chief Petty Officer which is the highest rank for a non-commissioned officer.  He went to San Diego for six weeks boot camp and then traveled to Chicago where he spent nine months in aviation metalsmith school there on Chicago’s Navy Pier which had housed the training schools.  During that time he attended church in Chicago where he met my mother who was a student at the University of Chicago.  He then went on to Providence Rhode Island and eventually overseas to Peurto Rico where he spent his final two years in the Navy until the war ended.

My mother also served her country as a part of the war effort even though without stripes.  She worked in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. where she worked as a Classification Analyst in Civilian Personnel.  I guess I would have to say that I owe a lot to the service my father gave to his country as it was responsible for my parents getting together and allowing for the eventual coming into this world of their eight children,  myself included.    

Recently I acquired a copy of a book titled, “Alaska National Guard, 297th Infantry Battalion WWII:  In the Defense of Alaska”  authored by John H. Grainger who served with the battalion.  In the preface my father’s oldest brother - my uncle William is quoted.  The narrative reads:

“Lieutenant Colonel William ....., Commanding Officer of the 297th Infantry wrote:

“The 297th Infantry saw more of Alaska than any other group of soldiers during World War II. ‘When the 297th was not being used for guard duty, it unloaded ships, helped build military bases, fished for the Army, operated boats, tested equipment, and trained soldiers.  It performed search and rescue missions and carried out hundreds of other vital military assignments.

“The men of the 297th were especially talented, self-reliant and innovative, able to do anything required of them.  Outstanding personalities and characters?  The battalion was full of them.”

In the body of the book itself there is an account contained in Chapter 16  describing an expedition that took place from December 1943 to March of 1944 that my uncle headed.  Here are a few excerpts from the book:

“Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel William .... , Commanding Officer of the 297th Infantry, Battalion (Separate), 300 troops from units at Fort Richardson volunteered for winter maneuvers to test winter warfare equipment.  The maneuvers extended over eight weeks, and entailed a march of 140 miles in deep snow with temperatures well below zero, and over some of the roughest terrain in Alaska. 

…..

“December 21 – Talkeetna to Mt. McKinley.  Lieutenant Colonel ... talked to us yesterday about the expedition.  ‘We will be entrained at Fort Richardson for Talkeetna, then march from Talkeetna up the Susitna River Valley and overland to Mt. McKinley Park.’  The maneuver is unprecedented in number of men, time and distance covered under winter conditions.

“Volunteers Challenged.  Parties of the Alaska Scouts have just returned from a preliminary survey of our route.  Three are hospitalized for frostbite.  They state flatly ‘that we will never make it.’  In eight weeks on the march in the mountains we will experience Alaska weather at its worst a number of times.”

After detailed descriptions of the events of the expedition as it progressed the chapter concludes with a reporting on the success of the maneuvers reporting that although at the outset 20% casualties were expected, and although none of the Sno-cats or tractors completed the trip, the troops made it with a casualty list of less than 1%.  The narrative concludes:

“As mentioned before LTC ....., CO of the expedition worked the hardest and suffered the most.  He traveled alone with his pack.  Prior to the war he had been a mining engineer and foreman in a gold mine at Juneau.  He was an expert woodsman as well as a dabbler in wrestling.  He was older than any of us at age 39.  He built snow caves to sleep in at night and was one of our casualties [suffering a bout of snow blindness.] ”

From reading  this  account it is evident that my Uncle Bill was the type of leader who wouldn’t ask his men to do anything that he wasn’t willing to do himself.   After his time in Alaska he went on to participate in the occupation of Japan.  On a personal note, I recall our family  taking him and his wife to Portage Glacier here in Alaska on a return visit just before he died.  He pointed out where he and his men had walked over the glacier ice from Valdez to Portage and how the now existent lake fronting the Visitor Center had been glacial ice on which they marched.  He left to my family an artifact which we continue to treasure that  incorporates turn-of-the-century trading beads and a medallion as made by Japan’s indigenous Ainu people and which is called a shitoki.  It had been given to him by the Japanese people in gratitude for his kindness and just and fair treatment of them as he administered the United States military’s occupation  in Hokkaido,  the northern part of Japan.

I would like to also share the experiences of another  of those five brothers whose service to their country was represented by the cloth stars that once hung  within my grandparents’  home in Nevada.  While the oldest  brother was involved with the war time effort in Alaska,  a younger brother was landing on the beaches of Normandy. 

Paul was the last of the five to survive.  I vividly remember him telling me about being one of the first Americans to greet the prisoners of Buchenwald Concentration Camp as their Nazi guards had fled and how he offered sips of water from his canteen and what food he had to those starving there as the cremation ovens continued to burn.  His obituary read in part, “Paul ..... passed away September 7, 2012, from the accumulated wear of a well-lived life of 95 years, enjoying the landscape and people of Northeastern, Nevada.  He served in the Air Force Communications Branch, 9th Air Force, 8th Tactical Communications Squadron.  His communications group landed in Normandy the morning of June 7 (D Day 2) and was on the move with the Army across France, Belgium, and Germany.” 

I will share one additional of his experiences. The United States Army had advanced within 50 miles of Paris and were encamped. With nothing else to do, my Uncle and his sergeant used their jeep to go get water and had time available to explore the nearby countryside. As the sergeant drove, my Uncle noted that the river they encountered was named the Seine. Looking on his map he told his companion that it looked like they were approaching Paris. The sergeant said, “Oh no, that can’t be as Paris still has not been taken.” Shortly thereafter they encountered a 14 year old boy who spoke some English and offered to show them around. He joined them and soon after crowds began to surround the jeep and someone handed the boy an American flag which he began waving from the jeep. People began cheering and soon they saw that they were in fact in Paris as the Eifel Tower loomed in the distance. They then encountered a small caravan of cars which they were requested to follow. The vehicles stopped when they reached Paris’s Arc de Triomphe. The two U.S. Soldiers were requested to stand at attention as dignitaries stepped out of the cars. They stood and saluted as the the eternal flame on the memorial to the unknown soldier there at the Arc de Triomphe was being lit for the first time since it had been extinguished as a consequence of the German occupation of Paris.

Later after returning to camp, the commanding officer asked where they had been.  When he heard that they had been to Paris he first responded that no one was supposed to go on into Paris as the Americans were waiting for France’s  de Gaulle to arrive so he could go in and be given credit for the liberating of Paris.  He then added, “Why didn’t you take me with you?”  Of course no one had previously shared this information with my Uncle or his  sergeant, so they ended up liberating  Paris two days earlier than what the history books show!  (As a footnote, when my Uncle told me this account directly he noted that while there were  lots of pictures being taken of them at the time, he has never seen one that was allowed to be published after the fact.)

There were also unintended consequences of World War II that have affected the individual lives of United States citizens following from technological innovations that came about because of war needs.  Included are the modern computer that was preceded by “The Colossus,” a computer that was used to crack code; Tupperware and other plastic products that followed from polyethylene being used as a substance to insulate wiring in wartime products; Duct Tape that was created as a way to waterproof ammunition boxes; and the popularity of M&Ms which went on to become the most popular candy in the United States due to its having been supplied to soldiers in the war.

Related Photos:

The USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor:

On a lighter note, World War II was responsible for the popularity of M&M's as noted above:

New Route 66 sign: 100th Anniversary.

Traditional 'BEGIN' sign across the street from Chicago's Art Institute.

Missouri

Kansas

Oklahoma

continued...

Texas

New Mexico

Arizona

California

Memorial Day at Boston common. 37,000 flags for every service member who died in battle all the way back to the revolutionary war.