A Child's Eye-View of Retirement

The Minds of Children

By Tom Morrow

 Just before Christmas break, an elementary school teacher asked her young students how they would spend their holidays. One of her students wrote the following:

“We always used to spend Christmas with Pa Pa and Na Na. They used to live in a big brick house, but Pa Pa got retarded and they moved to Florida, so now they live in a place with a lot of other retarded people. They all live in tin boxes. They ride in big three-wheeled tricycles and they all wear name tags because they don't know who they are. They go to a big building called a wrecked hall. But if it was wrecked they got it fixed because it's all right now. They play games and do exercises there, but don't do them very good.

“There is a swimming pool there. They go into it and just stand there with their hats on. I Guess They don't know how to swim.

“As you go into their park, there is a doll house with a little man sitting in there. He watches all day so they can't get out without him seeing them. When they sneak out they go to the beach and pick up shells.

“My Na Na used to bake cookies and stuff, but I guess she forgot how. Nobody cooks they just eat out. They eat the same thing every night, Early Birds. Some of the people are so retarded that they don't know how to cook at all, so My Na Na and Pa Pa bring food into the wreck hall and they call it pot luck.

“My Na Na says Pa Pa worked all his life and earned his retardment. I wish they would move back here but I guess the little man in the dollhouse won't let them out.”

Quite quotable:

“The two most beautiful words in the English language are check enclosed.”  --- author Dorothy Parker

“Don't tell my mother that I'm in politics. She thinks I play the piano in a brothel.” ---Author Jack Higgins, from one of his novels.

Fox news commentator Bret Hume once observed: “An old lawyers’ adage says when your weak on the law, argue the facts. When your weak on the fax, argue the law. When your weak on both, pound the table.”

The great Yogi Berra on what it takes to win: “You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that is not enough, in the second half you give what's left.

World War II's Little Known Facts:

More U.S. servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, an airman's chance of being killed was 71 percent.

Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target.  For instance, Japanese Ace Hiroyo Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane .

 It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round with a tracer round to aid in aiming. This was a big mistake.  Tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds were missing.  Worse yet tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction.  Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. This was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down.

When Allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it.  This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. George S. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act). 

For some good reading, try these two novels:

Below, find my web site link for last minute “Holiday Shopping.” Both of my novels, “Nebraska Doppelganger” and the mystery novel, “Haunted Bones,” for free shipping:

http://www.tomorrowsnovels.com/

Here’s Chapter 10 of my novella, “Dark Angel.”

Chapter

10

       Shamus was at Danny’s desk when the detective arrived back at the station. This time his old mentor was dressed for business – slacks, shoes, socks, but he still was wearing an Aloha shirt. Danny thought it looked like the same shirt as the day before. But, don’t they all look alike? More and more Oceanside men were wearing them, almost year ‘round, as if it were the city’s status symbol or uniform. It definitely was that particular fashion statement for Shamus.

       “I’m glad you’re here,” Danny said to Shamus as he walked into the squad room. “I’ve been giving our sniper case a lot of thought. Maybe we should keep a close eye on known molesters and areas where snipers just might lie in wait to shoot at ‘em,” he said.

       “It’s a nice idea, but it won’t work,” Shamus told his one-time partner. “Do you have any idea how far a good sniper can shoot? The record is 1.5 miles by a Canadian soldier during the Afghan war,” he said. “But, those fantastic distances didn’t start showing up until World War II.”

       Shamus explained that Soviet and German snipers were strategic weapons during the fighting on the Eastern front. The most famous of the German snipers was Major Erwin Konig, who supposedly squared off against Soviet sharpshooter Vassili Zaitsev, a Russian farmer, who became a crack shot hunting rabbits as a boy. Zaitsev is credited with having 114 enemy kills during the Siege of Stalingrad.

       According to a TV documentary, Major Konig was sent to Stalingrad to hunt for Zaitsev, who was creating havoc by knocking off high-ranking German officers. Supposedly it was a duel to the death. At the end of the hunt, both sharp-shooters had each other in their scopes. Zaitsev fired first, hitting Konig with a shot down the scope and into his eye.

       But, as impressive as that shot was, probably the most stunning record was made by a female sniper during World War II, Lyudmila M. Pavlichenko, a Ukranian peasant girl. She killed 309 German troops, including 36 enemy snipers.

The most successful of all World War II snipers was Fyodor Okhlopkov, an ethnic Yakut. He is credited with as many as 429 kills during the winter war between Soviet and German armies on the Eastern front. By comparison, Allied snipers scored a small percentage of these numbers.

       Many of the Soviet-German sniper feats were recorded during the Siege of Stalingrad, as portrayed in a partially fictional Hollywood film, “Enemy at the Gates.”

       “It takes a highly-trained sharp-shooter to do that kind of work,” Shamus explained. “The most important aspect, other than being a good shot, is patience. A sniper may lie in wait all day just to be able to take one shot.”

       Shamus went on to say that even though sniper rifles have been developed to the point they’ll hit their target more than a mile away, during World War II, Korea, and even in Vietnam, a lot of Marine and Army snipers preferred to use the old World War I-era Springfield .303 bolt-action rifle.

       “It was far more accurate and lighter in weight. It did the job,” he concluded. “I would say that all indications point to our sniper friend using a Springfield. The retrieved slug bears that out. It could have been fired from another weapon, but my guess is it’s an old “oh-three.” Besides, it’s far easier to conceal than a more modern sniper weapon.” 

       Danny joined the department 10 years ago after a four-year stint in the U.S. Navy. He attended the police academy after taking community college.

       He not only is the first one in his family to graduate from college, but the first to join a law enforcement agency. Oceanside Police was perfect because he grew up in the city, graduating from Oceanside High before joining the Navy.

       Shamus O’Rourke was an enigma to most of his fellow officers when he worked at the department. Most just knew he had been in the Marine Corps. Few, if any, knew where he grew up or anything about his family.

       Numerous attempts on Danny’s part failed to expand that knowledge too much farther. Since retiring, Shamus kept pretty much to himself, but, he and Danny had many philosophical discussions over more than a few beers.

       Shamus had two secrets and Danny was the only one who knew the basics and little more: he had been in the thick of battle during the Vietnam War, and, he had been married twice with one daughter by the first wife. Probably the reason neither of the marriages lasted is because of the tragic death of the daughter. At age 7, she was abducted, molested, and murdered when Shamus was still a patrolman with the OPD. That much was recorded. Shamus never mentioned his daughter; barely mentioned his first wife; and jokingly referred to the second as a mistake that continues to have a friendly relationship.

       Nothing was said by either for a moment or two. Finally, Danny broke the silence.

       “Do you think our sniper here in town is on a vendetta, trying to right some wrong?”

       “Could be,” Shamus replied. “One thing’s for certain – if he doesn’t want to be caught you aren’t going to find him.”

       “Why do you say that?”

       “From the evidence so far, this guy is military-trained, and that means he knows things about camouflage and hiding tactics that you haven’t even thought about,” Shamus explained.

“You remember us walking up on the ridge?”

       Danny shook his head in the affirmative.

       “Well, he could have been within a few yards from us and we’d never know it.”

       “Do you think he was?”

       “Naw. He probably parked his car down on a street on the south side of the ridge. He did his business, then slipped down the hill and made his getaway. If he were to have been seen by anyone, which is doubtful, he could always use excuses as “I’ve been target shooting” or “hunting.”

       “Even though it’s illegal to fire a weapon in town?” Danny asked.

       “No doubt he’d be so innocent about the situation, probably no one would question it.”

       Shamus got up from sitting on the corner of Danny’s desk.

       “I’m going now. Rest assured, though, we haven’t seen the last of this guy’s work,” Shamus concluded. “And, believe me, this guy considers what he’s doing as an obligation.”