11 November 2020

 Somehow sprained my back yesterday and this morning was no fun, but that's no excuse acceptable to the dog for not walking her.

First order of business was screw in the flagpole mount and raise Old Glory to honor those who served. Uncles Ralph and Roy who served in SE Asia and Europe, respectively, John Zeh Jr, my first wife's dad, who landed in Normandy on D+3, friends like RPD Officer Fred "Woody" Woodard who served in the 101st Airborne and had his fill of war in places like Bastogne, Pat O'Brien and Tore Knos who fought in the Vietnam War, Col. Harold O'Grady, who won a DFC flying transports out of New Guinea in the Pacific Theatre, and so many others. A moment of silence to honor those who returned, those who didn't make it back, and those who came back but whose internal wars never ended.

The turnaround for the hike for today was at the confluence of the Saddleback and Chamisa Trails, a very pretty saddle at about 8400 feet elevation. I thought of going on to Windsor but with the back not happy, felt it was wise to stop at the first junction.

Annie, of course, was happy to get out of the house and romp in the mountains.

The start and finish, at the Hyde Park pulloff, is at about 7800 feet altitude. So about 600 feet of climbing. A lovely day all in all, and my back even felt a lot better after bumbling along over hill and dale. Hope all of you had a pleasant and Covid-free day!

My mom's oldest brother, Ralph Bonati, during a lighter moment in SE Asia, where he was an aide to Gen. Raymond Wheeler. Uncle Roy Bonati, second of the five kids, had tougher duty, dodging German 88's on the way through France and Germany in a railway reconstruction battalion. Roy told me that his railroad job didn't insulate them from incoming fire.

On the Anniversary of D-Day: Making World War II Personal

Battles involving hundreds of thousands also involved precisely that many individual stories.

John Tierney

June 5, 2014