I shook the Governor's hand and wished him Good Luck.

I and several hundred military veterans shook the hand of Louisiana's Governor Edwards last Thursday, 29 March 2018, at the 39th Annual Barksdale Air Force Base Veteran's Luncheon

A part of the patriotic program was marching under an arch of swords. (Air Force Swords). When we came out the arch we were greeted by the Mayor of Bossier City, the Barksdale commanding Officer, the Governor of Louisiana, and many others.

Boy! did we have good cakes.

I really enjoyed the Shreveport Concert Band. They did a great job on music through out the program. I like Band Music.

These two wonderful people (Cheryl and Richard Maxwell) gave me a ride to the program. (About a 60 mile ride.) They are such good company.

Richard had an reunion with friends from the First Calvary Division. Fellow soldiers from the Vietnam War.

Base Commander Ty Neuman.

The Ole PrunePicker got through the swords safely.

Richard Maxwell did too.

Louisiana Governor Edwards.

The removal of the colors and the playing of Taps ended the program. I enjoyed the program. I have attended the luncheon several times. And will again.

My "Desert War Training" in World War II.

My combat engineer outfit finished basic training in 1943. We were loaded into trucks and shipped to San Bernardino. Close to the southern California desert. We were to get training in desert war.

I can remember being involved in a large cement job for a warehouse. First time for me to work with cement. I also remember pulling a days duty as the latrine fly swatter. Stinky job.

During my time (about a month) at the Desert Training Center there was a celebrity golf tournament at the Lake Arrowhead Country Club. I answered the call to volunteer as a caddy. First time for me as a caddy. The celebrity in my foursome was the movie song and dance man, George Murphy. George tended to be serious and the foursome was not much fun. He later was elected to the US Senate. He showed Ronald Reagan the way to politics. George is the only Senator to have a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

I remember two stars in other foursomes. Tarzan and Mickey Rooney. Their foursomes would have been more fun.

After the Golf Tournament a crowd if soldiers sat around the swimming pool and were entertained by Bob Hope. He was funny.

One night while on desert training a crowd of us dogfaces sat at an open air stage in the camp and watched Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in a comedy.

The Army decided that we needed landing craft training more than desert training so we loaded back into the trucks. We headed to Camp San Luis Obispo. We were scheduled to get amphibious training at Morro Bay. From San Berdoo to SLO could be a comfortable days ride. But I guess the officers thought that it would fun to stop overnight in Santa Barbara.

Along Highway 101 in Santa Barbara is a lovely grass covered park. It is a block to the downtown bars and restaurants. So we parked our trucks and pitched our pup tents in the park. Very careful straight rows. It was a lovely sight. We were all excited about a night in lovely Santa Barbara. Guess who was picked to be a MP and patrol the bars?

Yours truly, the old prunepicker! I did feel like an important person with my 45 and the MP symbol. There was only one riot, that evening, between our troops and the locally stationed Marines.

So this was the extent of my training in desert warfare. I guess it is a good thing that I was sent to the jungles of the South Pacific.

Civil War Study Group

My good friend Richard Maxwell drove us over to Vicksburg, Mississippi the other night. Very interesting meeting and good grub. (Vicksburg Country Club).

Marc Thompson, in dress as Nathan Bedford Forrest, gave an interesting talk on the Civil War. I heard about the Wide-Awakes. They were a youth group in the North. The group had 500,000 members in 1860, Their uniform included a six foot whale oil torch. Give them a google.

12th Annual Senior Sheriff's Expo.

Free continental breakfast, free catered lunch. entertainment, informative talks. and many many door prices. Many informational booths.

I went. So did Tommy Speights, a friend from the VFW.

A wonderful quartet from Ruston High.

Sheriff Mike Stone was the MC and announced the prizes.

The Star of the Day was Miss Louisiana. She is beautiful and so talented.

Laryssa Bacquisti (Miss Louisiana) and her dummies even yodeled.

Ricky Davis sang and added to the merriment.

Cynthia Harper and Patsy Bullock sang an inspirational song.

A song by the Ruston High Quartet.

A lot of Lincoln Parish citizens had a real good time!

Eleven years ago today.

My beloved wife, Jackie, passed away on Saint Patricks Day, March 17, 2007. I have and do miss her so much. This picture indicates how sweet she was and how much I love her. Also in the picture is Nancy and Chris, our two oldest children. We are in our student housing at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.

In June I am going to Arlington, Virginia and spend several hours sitting on our grave and visiting. Not so long from now my ashes will also be in the grave.

I love you, Jacqueline Lois (Ireton) Monson.

Smiley Reeves throws the first ball!

Attended a Techster soft ball game last night (3.14.2018). They played against LSU-Alexandria. My swim class instructor of many years (11), Smiley Reeves threw out the first ball. Smiley graduated from Tech in 1985. Knowing her is one of the primary joys of my life in Louisiana.

The following four pics are of the opening ceremony of the game. Sorry about the poor focus. Smiley deserves a better photographer.

Some call March 14 (3.14) Pi day. You know, the circumference of a circle divided by the diameter of the circle rounds off to 3.14.

The lucky girls below were in a pie eqaing contest.

Looks like the Techsters are going to win. It got cold and I went home.

Three man machine gun squad...and I was in charge.

After being wounded on Peleliu I spent some time in a hospital and then casual camps. I was looking forward to rejoining my old outfit. But no luck. When I arrived at Leyte I found that my old outfit was in New Guinea. I was assigned to another combat engineer battalion. It was the 50th Engineers assigned to the 7th Infantry Division. I was promoted to corporal. I had been reduced from PFC to PVT at a court martial when AWOL in California. I was on my way back up in the Army.

We were loading up for the invasion of Okinawa. I was assigned to a three man machine gun squad. And I was in charge. We were to carry an air cooled 50 caliber machine gun ashore and set it up at a Japanese airport. The gun breaks down for carrying into three parts. Barrel, body, and tripod, The barrel weighs 80 pounds and I believe is the heaviest part. I assigned my self to the barrel. At 19 years old I was proud of being picked to lead a machine gun squad.

The invasion force assembled for the invasion of Okinawa was the largest in history. I will always remember looking out at the ships around our ship. As far as you could see there were shops. At night it was an eerie spooky scene. I had a front row seat at an historic event.

The invasion was on Easter Sunday, the first day of April 1945. We had to carry our gun over several hundred feet of sharp jagged coral which was covered with 3 or 4 feet of water. We were not fired on but saw some action the next day. Unfortunately some of the action was the shooting down of an American Plane by friendly  fire.

After the battle, between games of volley ball I lived in the luxurious camp pictured below. Until we were sent to Seoul, Korea.

Tennis at Lake Darbonne State Park.

I was lucky to witness a tennis match between Michael and Rhonda Ray. What verve! What passion! What a hard fought match. They did not keep score.

Lake Darbonne State Park has several tennis courts and a swimming pool at the Reception Center. Michael awaits the serve from his opponent and wife Rhonda.

Rosa Lee Blakley and the tennis players enjoyed a morning snack.

The old Prunepicker was so worn out from watching the match that Rhonda had to help him back to his car.