The Uncle I Never Knew–In Remembrance of Uncle Jimmy

Uncle Jimmy was the only Uncle I never met…most of my cousins on my mom’s side never met him either.  We all KNEW Uncle Jimmy, we all heard stories, we all saw the few pictures there were of him.  Most of us remember the small memorial that Grandma Cline had in her living room with a picture of Uncle Jimmy, and if I recall correctly, the purple heart they gave Grandma (although the purple heart might have been in a drawer nearby).  We can probably remember reading the letter from the government about his service, about his death...and how grateful they were for his service, and his ultimate sacrifice.

On this Memorial Day, we pause from our adventures in Alaska, and we remember the members of the military who gave their lives in the defense of their Country, I honor the uncle I never had a chance to meet, James Woodrow Cline.  This is a edited posting of one I did a few years ago…

Jimmy was born in 1920, the fifth of eleven children, Jimmy was 21 years old when Pearl Harbor took place.  His brother Harold was at Pearl Harbor that day, and we are so thankful that he was able to go back to Hawaii and be honored shortly before he passed away.  Jimmy was not as lucky as his brothers who all survived the war.  Jimmy died on May 11th, 1945, aboard the USS Bunker Hill, an Essex Class Aircraft Carrier which was hit by two Kamikaze Pilots on that day, taking the lives of 346 Sailors, including my Uncle Jimmy.

I have vivid memories of visiting my mother’s mother, Grandma Cline, as a child.  She lived in San Jose, when San Jose was just a small city…long time before Silicon Valley was even thought of.  She had a picture of Uncle Jimmy in her living room, and I saw the purple heart, the letter from the United States Government, and I felt the loss that took place so many years earlier.  A family might “get over it”, but they never forget.  And as this great generation dies off, it is up to us to never forget either.

I have been to Washington DC many times in my life, and as soon as the WW2 Memorial opened, I visited it on my next visit.  It is a wonderful memorial, and includes a registry of each and every member of the military who died in the war.  Jimmy is in the registry twice.

 

My Uncle is one of so many who gave his life for this nation, for us who live here.  I only hope that this sacrifice is never forgotten, and always remembered from generation to generation.  God Bless this wonderful country, may his mercy continue to be with us, may our leaders NEVER forget, and NEVER EVER let these fine men and women who gave this ultimate sacrifice down.

       

Our Memorial Day Celebration

My brother-in-law Arny sure knows how to barbeque!  More on that later….

The day starts out much like any other day….dogs wake up, wake us up, but with it being a holiday, they had to wait an hour for their “Uncle Arny” treats they get every morning.  It’s a bit hard to let them out, then get them back in with this little “mouth” (above) shooting off her mouth….but she did pretty well this morning, and Sandy and Arny got a well deserved extra hour of sleep.

When the drapes at the door are open, it is the clue to let the dogs out.  Weekday mornings, with Sandy headed to work before 6 am, the drapes are open very early…today it was around 8:00, and the dogs were out the motorhome door a few seconds later.  Moments later Uncle Arny opens the door with a cheerful “Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning!”, Bubba dances, Skruffy barks, and the ritual begins.

   

Lay out the treats at the table, break them up, give them each a piece, a pat on the head, personalize dog talk, until the treats are all eaten.

Ok, it really isn’t Bubba using the toilet, but it is a fine entrance into our next, unpleasant segment.  This morning, of all days, we had a problem with our Vacuflush Toilet System. 

For who knows what reason, this motorhome has a Vacuflush Toilet System, one found on boats, similar to one I saw on Amtrak once.  We think it is because the drop from the toilet to the Black tank is not good enough for gravity to take care of.  Regardless, today ours backed up.  It ended up being an easy fix by activating the vacuum switch causing a build up of vacuum pressure, enough to unclog the clog.  Thanks for Arny in helping me diagnose the problem, and showing me how to activate the vacuum switch (upper left in diagram above that I found on the Internet.)  We will get a small plunger which research has shown helps too as long as you are careful...but this switch will be first, plunger if building the pressure more does not work.  Never fun to work on toilets so early in the day…but for that fact, neither is it fun in the middle of the day, end of the day, and certainly not during the middle of the night.

It wasn’t long before the family had gathered, the ribs were cooking, and it was time to eat.  Ribs, Marcia’s Baked Beans, Donna’s Deviled Eggs, Coleslaw, Bean Salad…yum, another great barbeque.  Three types of Ribs, dry rub, marinade, and with rub and BBQ sauce...all Arny's secret recipes. 

   

Dad prays over the food and a special Memorial Day prayer.

Sister’s Sandy and Patty dig in first…but it is really them getting mom and dad’s plates for them.

   

Dinner is over before we knew it….the ice cream cake is gone too.  In the picture on the left, with her back to the camera wearing a dark blue shirt is my other sister Donna, with Marcia to her right, mom, dad and Patty fill out the circle.  Picture to the right is Arny and Sandy, of course, Arny is doing what he does best….petting the dog.  That is one of Patty’s dogs.  I was having a hard time getting a picture of the four dogs all together, so Arny got up and said, “Hold on, I know how to fix that!”

So around the circle, left to right….Parker, his brother Charlie…both coming from a shelter, and they are real brothers.  Then Skruffy, and finally Bubba.

The dogs enjoyed their visit, chasing squirrels, birds, sniffing this, sniffing that, showing off who can roll in the grass the best.  (Bubba won if you count the amount of junk one gets on their fur.)   It was a fun, relaxing day for dogs and humans.  Had it not been a bit of plugged up start, and just a little on the hot side at times as it neared 4 pm, it was just a wonderful day.  And each one of us knew that today was brought to us through the great sacrifice by others…..

The Uncle I Never Knew

On this Memorial Day, the day we remember the members of the military who gave their lives in the defense of their Country, I honor the uncle I never had a chance to meet, James Woodrow Cline.  Jimmy was born in 1920, the fifth of eleven children, Jimmy was 21 years old when Pearl Harbor took place.  His brother Harold was at Pearl Harbor that day, and we are so thankful that he was able to go back to Hawaii and be honored shortly before he passed away.  Jimmy was not as lucky as his brothers who all survived the war.  Jimmy died on May 11th, 1945, aboard the USS Bunker Hill, an Essex Class Aircraft Carrier which was hit by two Kamikaze Pilots on that day, taking the lives of 346 Sailors, including my Uncle Jimmy.

I have vivid memories of visiting my mother’s mother, Grandma Cline, as a child.  She lived in San Jose, when San Jose was just a small city…long time before Silicon Valley was even thought of.  She had a picture of Uncle Jimmy in her living room, and I saw the purple heart, the letter from the United States Government, and I felt the loss that took place so many years earlier.  A family might “get over it”, but they never forget.  And as this great generation dies off, it is up to us to never forget either.

I have been to Washington DC many times in my life, and as soon as the WW2 Memorial opened, I visited it on my next visit.  It is a wonderful memorial, and includes a registry of each and every member of the military who died in the war.  Jimmy is in the registry twice.

 

My Uncle is one of so many who gave his life for this nation, for us who live here.  I only hope that this sacrifice is never forgotten, and always remembered from generation to generation.  God Bless this wonderful country, may his mercy continue to be with us, may our leaders NEVER forget, and NEVER EVER let these fine men and women who gave this ultimate sacrifice down.