Pvt. Henry Ward
We've heard the veterans of World War Two, described as the greatest generation. Well, just a few years ago my grandfather was recognized and honored by the State of Arkansas for his service to his country. This was the introduction from that night....
The 32nd Infantry division fought 654 days in New Guinea and the Southwest Pacific. More than any other division in WW II.
The 32nd was the first Division to fight against the Japanese in the South West Pacific.
11 Medals of Honor, 157 Distinguished Service Crosses, 845 Silver Stars, 98 Air Medals, and 11,500 Purple Hearts were awarded it's heroes.
It was a background of fever-ridden swamps and jungles. Soldiers lay, day after day in waterlogged foxholes, or crawled through murderous fire toward enemy positions.
New Guinea was the story of the courage of GIs who could always be counted upon to move forward. It was the ordinary soldiers who endured the worst deprivations that the jungle climate could offer. It was the lowly GI who was the brains, the muscle, the blood, the heart and soul of the great army that came of age in the southwest Pacific in 1943 and 1944.
Fight after fight, he never lost a battle. Those accomplishments and sacrifices are forever his and deserve to be remembered by ALL Americans.
But it was not without it's price - over 14,000 soldiers were killed.
Japanese snipers were killing off most of A Companies soldiers as they attempted to cross a river on a rope guide. That's when one soldier, convinced his platoon leader that he could go up river and lead his squad across by swimming against the currents, and utilize them to bouy across. He had learned these swimming skills as a young boy, swimming across Red River in Miller County Arkansas, and yes, he was successful in their crossing and they quickly defeated the Japanese snipers and took out all of the enemy machine-gun nests.
Many of these young Americans were killed trying to cross the river, but that young soldier from Miller County survived the horrors of WW II, and he is here tonight. He was sent to an Army Hospital in poor physical condition, and with total hearing loss in one ear. After several months of medical care, he ws shipped home, and he has worked for the last 60 years running a successful business, and providing for his family.
Ladies and gentleman it is my honor to introduce, a true American Hero from WW II...
Pvt. Henry Ward.
My Grandfather is gone now, and I miss him. I never actually just said, "Thank You" to him for his service to our country. I wish I had. I want to say Thank You to all of our American veterans. Thank you for what you did, for what you are doing now, and what you would surely do again if asked. Thank You.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
ADVENTURES IN ANTIGUA
Well, I was invited to do my radio...show...thing, at another Sandals resort in the Caribbean. This time the crew, Lisa, John, Wes, Laura, Cindy and I went to the awesome, Sandals Grand Antigua Resort & Spa. WOW!!! This place was amazing. We stayed in the new 70 million dollar, all-suite, Mediterranean Village. We are talking pure luxury from top to bottom. Before I tell you about the resort, I want to start at the beginning…
I started out by being late to our local airport, and almost wasn't allowed to board the plane. Apparently if you are a couple of minutes late, it's YOUR fault that American Airlines overbooked the flight by 16 tickets. I could probably understand over booking a flight by one, maybe even two seats, but 16??? Fortunately, there was a lot of folks later than me, so they let me fly. It was a pretty bumpy flight to Dallas. You would be surprised at how much one of those air-sickness bags can hold, just ask Lisa.
We got to DFW and decided to get a bite to eat before flying out to San Juan, mainly just to mess with Lisa, who was still a little ill from the flight. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been teasing Lisa so much. You know, Karma and all? I was eating one of those pig in a blanket type pretzel things, and broke a tooth in half. Broke it in half, and my crew seemed to make it a point to tell everybody it was a soft pretzel....why didn't they just say look at that old bastard right there. DAMN!!! Weird thing is, that I had just gone to the dentist the week before the trip, to fix a filling in that tooth, because I didn't want to take a chance on having a problem on my trip. It didn't hurt as much as it worried me about being on a tiny island for a week with a broke tooth, and the thought of Cindy getting felt up by security in San Jaun again, seemed to keep my mind off of it.
We touched down in San Juan sideways. That's right. The plane was a little sideways when it hit the ground. It was pretty freaky but everybody was cool about it and didn't say a word, until I did. We had to go outside of the airport and gun a quick smoke before heading out to Antigua. On past trips, Cindy seems to always get rubbed down and felt up by security in Puerto Rico, but not this time. This time it was Lisa's husband John. Now John is hilarious. He has a great sense of humor. Airport Security does not!!! John finally makes it thru, and we barely get back inside in time to catch our flight to Antigua.
We landed in Antigua while it was still daylight, and gathered all our luggage and headed for customs. You heard on the show, that John got into a fight with a midget. Here's how it happened. We were in line, moving toward customs to get into the country of Antigua, and this midget starts shoving his way through the line. He muscles up to us and tries to move around us. Nobody wants to be rude to a midget, I'm sorry he wasn't a midget, he was a dwarf. There is a difference. Anyway, I say "Hello little fella, ain't you cute." This guy just glares at me. John asks him, "Do you have a problem?" The little guy says, "I ain't happy." Then John says, "Well which one are ya???" That's all it took. It was on...like a little bitty chicken bone. He had these little tiny fists of fury, but John just put his hand on the dude's head and the wee fella was swinging at the air. Having witnessed all of this, Antiguan Customs officers took the little guy away, and placed him at the back of the line. We slip on thru customs, and WE ARE IN ANTIGUA.
We catch a van to the resort. Our driver was a really friendly guy by the name of Dudley, he drove us around and showed us some really cool stuff, and taught us a lot about the island on our way to The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa.
This resort is unbelievable. It is absolutely amazing. They put us in the All-New, All-Suite Mediterranean Village with rooms fit for royalty. Marble floors, fully stocked bars, giant king-sized four post beds, Jacuzzi tubs with separate glass and brass showers, and every suite has an ocean view with a cool balcony to hang out on. I mean, luxury to the hilt. John and Lisa just moved into their room. Un-packed their clothes and filled the drawers, and was set to stay...FOREVER.
It's pretty much become tradition that our first day at a new Sandals, we spend it on the beach. So, that's what we did. We sat on the beach and drank rum punch, and Wadadli Beer. That is all of us but Laura. She wasn't drinkin'??? Ms. Cindy and I played in the water, sat on the beach and did nothing, and it took ALL day to do it.
Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the Cocktail party the Vanessa's were puttin' on for us. It was around this time that I mentioned my tooth breakin' on a pretzel on our way down to the island. My friends made sure everybody knew it was on a SOFT pretzel… the swine. The folks at Sandals said they know a great dentist, and would take care of it first thing in the morning...WOW!!!
Well, we go on out to eat at Eleanor's. Awesome Caribbean Cuisine...( I'm not sure how to spell Cuisine, but you couldn't just call it food. It was better than that.) Our waitress, I can't recall her name. Remembering names and Rum don't mix well. That's why all of the pirates have nicknames... Blackbeard, Redbeard, Hook, etc... Our waitress suggested I order the Shrimp Balls...??? I didn't even know shrimp had balls. I ain't never seen a shrimp's balls. I've had Bull Nuts and Mountain oysters, so what the hell. Bring'em on, but you better bring a couple hundred of'em cause I'm hungry. I have to tell you, Shrimp Balls are delicious, and a lot bigger than you would think.
All of the nine restaurants on the property are fantastic. All of them 5 Star Diamond rated. Amazing service, and the presentation of the food, the way they decorated the plates and all, was so cool. We partied on into the night, having a great time laughing our asses off. We were all drinkin' and smokin' big cigars... everybody but Laura???
So, the next morning we strolled down to the Bayside for breakfast. Real good omelet's made to order, the sweetest fruits, and the best Jamaican coffee, and this is when I'm told that I have a dentist appointment at 10AM. It's 9:30 and I start to thinkin' that this is a really small Island. Uh-Oh!!! What have I gotten myself into? We took off in a van across this island past these little tiny shops and what not, and I start to imagine pulling up to some hut in the rainforest, and a witch doctor jumpin' out, blowin' ashes in my face to knock me out and snatching the tooth out of my head. But we rolled into a nice little office outside of St. John, and I met Dr. Sengupta, who just happens to work on one Eric Clapton, when he's at his home in Antigua. All in all it worked out pretty good. He fixed me up, charged half of what it would cost in the states, and had me on my way by 11.
Cindy and I got back to the resort and met up with everyone else in our little group. I made up some story about a witch doctor whittlin' a tooth out of a coconut, and had everybody goin' pretty good until Dr. Sengupta showed up. He was not amused.... Sorry Dr. Sengupta.
We went down and checked out the broadcast tower above the main pool, and participated on some of the international broadcasts that were going on, they all loved my accent, but I can't hear it. Yall, You all...it sounds about the same to me. We met the tech folks and made sure all of the equipment was ready for the next day. Then, to the beach.
This beach at The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa, has been voted the best on the island. Antigua, is an island with 365 beaches. There is literally, a beach for everyday of the year, and the one at Sandals on Dickenson Bay is the best of them all. We really couldn't get enough of it.
The next day we did our broadcast and had a lot of fun with all of the guests the the Vanessas lined up for us. I told them you were listening. So, if anybody asks, you heard it!!! The Vanessas are Vanessa LeRouge with Sandals, and Vanessa Goodis with Clear Results Marketing. They lined up a tour for us to Stingray City for Friday morning. One killed the croc hunter... so think on that a couple of days. We recorded some stuff for Sandals, and finished up the show for Wednesday and got all dressed up for dinner at Mario's, the Italian Restaurant. Again, I just don't know the words to describe how good the food was, but I took pictures and posted them on the websites.
The next morning, we hooked up with the guy that took me to the dentist, Roger. He drove us all over the island to see the sights. If you can get to Antigua, find Roger Roberts' Taxi Service. He taught us so much about the history of the island, and the culture. It was fascinating. He took us to "Betty's Hope" and old sugar plantation that still has a working windmill. We stopped for beer at on of the local shops in a small fishing village. Laura had Ice cream??? Then we went to the south end of the island to the Atlantic coast. We went to the Devil's Bridge. That's where the Atlantic has crashed into the limestone coastline, and has formed a natural bridge. Legend has it, if you stand on the bridge and toss two eggs into the water, the devil will cook them and spit one back up to you. I crossed the bridge as a storm was coming onto the island. To hell with the devil, it's my bridge now. That's one of the coolest, and dumbest things I've ever done. Check out the pics on the web pages, www.myspace.com/thejce , or at http://www.kygl.com/.
Then we headed north thru the capitol city of St. John, and back to the resort to "work".
That night a terrible storm blew in and dumped more rain in 3 hours, than the island had received in the last 3 months. This caused a few problems at the brand new Mediterranean village. There were a couple of drainage issues, and a few minor things that I didn't think they could possibly have been prepared for. But, they were. You should have seen these people jump into action with hoses and pumps. I saw the General Manager, Jim Allmond, workin' a shovel. I knew from our interview, that he would do anything to keep his guests comfortable and happy, but I want to tell you he was WORKING that night. We went over and volunteered to help and he wouldn't hear of it. That night in the rain, lightning, and thunder, we dined at "Barefoot by the Sea", with amazing seafood, and white glove service. It was almost perfect. We were like like kids, playin' in the rain, and havin' a ball.
The next morning, bright and early, we took off for Stingray City. We get to this small building by the water with a couple of boats, and they go over some safety tips for swimming with the stingrays. YES, those kind of stingrays. Probably the most important tips our guide John Wade gave us, was to not get stuck in the heart with the barb that's on their tails, and don't breathe the water. We get into a boat, and head out to sea. After about ten minutes, we get to this big netted area out in the middle of nowhere, and sure enough the netted area is on the shallow part of a reef and it's full of Stingrays, Turtles, Lobsters, Fish and other sea critters. We put on our Snorkel & masks, and John, Wes, and I jump in. This is now the coolest thing I've ever done. Cindy wasn't feeling well, and she had a little bit of a fever...probably from playin' in the rain the night before. So, she wasn't getting into the water. Laura just said No Way??? Lisa was a little terrified, but she got in and even held them. You have got to see the pics of this, it was wild.
We got back the The Sandals Grand Antigua, and finished up our last day of broadcasting. We went on some of the other radio shows and told our stories about fightin' midgets, witch-doctor dentists, and shrimp balls. Cindy went to the Red Lane Spa to be pampered. She was going to meet us at the broadcast tower but never showed up. She was so relaxed from the spa, that she fell asleep getting ready for dinner. After the show I took off to find Cindy. She had crashed back at the room.
Then we all got dressed up again for our last dinner on the island at the OK Corral, in the Caribbean Grove of the resort. We had Akheem, from the restaurant, on our show. He said he could grill the best steak I would ever have. I can honestly say it WAS in my top 5, but the Grilled Swordfish was the best I've ever tasted. Akheem is a good kid, when he was on the radio he talked about how much he loved his mama and it was really good getting to meet him. After dinner, Sandals brought in the Antiguan National Dance Company to perform, it wore me out just watchin'. The costumes were wild and all the pretty girls were amazing dancers. I didn't think I would enjoy the show, seeing that there wasn't a stripper pole in the place, but it was really good, and we had a blast.
We strolled back to the Mediterranean Village, smoking cigars, and sipping cocktails took a few more pictures, then we all went to our suites to pack, we had to be on a plane the next morning at 8AM.
If you want a vacation that you will never forget, go to The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa, on the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. You will not be disappointed!!!
And CONGRATULATIONS to our good friends Wes and Laura…
The baby is due in July!!!
I started out by being late to our local airport, and almost wasn't allowed to board the plane. Apparently if you are a couple of minutes late, it's YOUR fault that American Airlines overbooked the flight by 16 tickets. I could probably understand over booking a flight by one, maybe even two seats, but 16??? Fortunately, there was a lot of folks later than me, so they let me fly. It was a pretty bumpy flight to Dallas. You would be surprised at how much one of those air-sickness bags can hold, just ask Lisa.
We got to DFW and decided to get a bite to eat before flying out to San Juan, mainly just to mess with Lisa, who was still a little ill from the flight. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been teasing Lisa so much. You know, Karma and all? I was eating one of those pig in a blanket type pretzel things, and broke a tooth in half. Broke it in half, and my crew seemed to make it a point to tell everybody it was a soft pretzel....why didn't they just say look at that old bastard right there. DAMN!!! Weird thing is, that I had just gone to the dentist the week before the trip, to fix a filling in that tooth, because I didn't want to take a chance on having a problem on my trip. It didn't hurt as much as it worried me about being on a tiny island for a week with a broke tooth, and the thought of Cindy getting felt up by security in San Jaun again, seemed to keep my mind off of it.
We touched down in San Juan sideways. That's right. The plane was a little sideways when it hit the ground. It was pretty freaky but everybody was cool about it and didn't say a word, until I did. We had to go outside of the airport and gun a quick smoke before heading out to Antigua. On past trips, Cindy seems to always get rubbed down and felt up by security in Puerto Rico, but not this time. This time it was Lisa's husband John. Now John is hilarious. He has a great sense of humor. Airport Security does not!!! John finally makes it thru, and we barely get back inside in time to catch our flight to Antigua.
We landed in Antigua while it was still daylight, and gathered all our luggage and headed for customs. You heard on the show, that John got into a fight with a midget. Here's how it happened. We were in line, moving toward customs to get into the country of Antigua, and this midget starts shoving his way through the line. He muscles up to us and tries to move around us. Nobody wants to be rude to a midget, I'm sorry he wasn't a midget, he was a dwarf. There is a difference. Anyway, I say "Hello little fella, ain't you cute." This guy just glares at me. John asks him, "Do you have a problem?" The little guy says, "I ain't happy." Then John says, "Well which one are ya???" That's all it took. It was on...like a little bitty chicken bone. He had these little tiny fists of fury, but John just put his hand on the dude's head and the wee fella was swinging at the air. Having witnessed all of this, Antiguan Customs officers took the little guy away, and placed him at the back of the line. We slip on thru customs, and WE ARE IN ANTIGUA.
We catch a van to the resort. Our driver was a really friendly guy by the name of Dudley, he drove us around and showed us some really cool stuff, and taught us a lot about the island on our way to The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa.
This resort is unbelievable. It is absolutely amazing. They put us in the All-New, All-Suite Mediterranean Village with rooms fit for royalty. Marble floors, fully stocked bars, giant king-sized four post beds, Jacuzzi tubs with separate glass and brass showers, and every suite has an ocean view with a cool balcony to hang out on. I mean, luxury to the hilt. John and Lisa just moved into their room. Un-packed their clothes and filled the drawers, and was set to stay...FOREVER.
It's pretty much become tradition that our first day at a new Sandals, we spend it on the beach. So, that's what we did. We sat on the beach and drank rum punch, and Wadadli Beer. That is all of us but Laura. She wasn't drinkin'??? Ms. Cindy and I played in the water, sat on the beach and did nothing, and it took ALL day to do it.
Before we knew it, it was time to get ready for the Cocktail party the Vanessa's were puttin' on for us. It was around this time that I mentioned my tooth breakin' on a pretzel on our way down to the island. My friends made sure everybody knew it was on a SOFT pretzel… the swine. The folks at Sandals said they know a great dentist, and would take care of it first thing in the morning...WOW!!!
Well, we go on out to eat at Eleanor's. Awesome Caribbean Cuisine...( I'm not sure how to spell Cuisine, but you couldn't just call it food. It was better than that.) Our waitress, I can't recall her name. Remembering names and Rum don't mix well. That's why all of the pirates have nicknames... Blackbeard, Redbeard, Hook, etc... Our waitress suggested I order the Shrimp Balls...??? I didn't even know shrimp had balls. I ain't never seen a shrimp's balls. I've had Bull Nuts and Mountain oysters, so what the hell. Bring'em on, but you better bring a couple hundred of'em cause I'm hungry. I have to tell you, Shrimp Balls are delicious, and a lot bigger than you would think.
All of the nine restaurants on the property are fantastic. All of them 5 Star Diamond rated. Amazing service, and the presentation of the food, the way they decorated the plates and all, was so cool. We partied on into the night, having a great time laughing our asses off. We were all drinkin' and smokin' big cigars... everybody but Laura???
So, the next morning we strolled down to the Bayside for breakfast. Real good omelet's made to order, the sweetest fruits, and the best Jamaican coffee, and this is when I'm told that I have a dentist appointment at 10AM. It's 9:30 and I start to thinkin' that this is a really small Island. Uh-Oh!!! What have I gotten myself into? We took off in a van across this island past these little tiny shops and what not, and I start to imagine pulling up to some hut in the rainforest, and a witch doctor jumpin' out, blowin' ashes in my face to knock me out and snatching the tooth out of my head. But we rolled into a nice little office outside of St. John, and I met Dr. Sengupta, who just happens to work on one Eric Clapton, when he's at his home in Antigua. All in all it worked out pretty good. He fixed me up, charged half of what it would cost in the states, and had me on my way by 11.
Cindy and I got back to the resort and met up with everyone else in our little group. I made up some story about a witch doctor whittlin' a tooth out of a coconut, and had everybody goin' pretty good until Dr. Sengupta showed up. He was not amused.... Sorry Dr. Sengupta.
We went down and checked out the broadcast tower above the main pool, and participated on some of the international broadcasts that were going on, they all loved my accent, but I can't hear it. Yall, You all...it sounds about the same to me. We met the tech folks and made sure all of the equipment was ready for the next day. Then, to the beach.
This beach at The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa, has been voted the best on the island. Antigua, is an island with 365 beaches. There is literally, a beach for everyday of the year, and the one at Sandals on Dickenson Bay is the best of them all. We really couldn't get enough of it.
The next day we did our broadcast and had a lot of fun with all of the guests the the Vanessas lined up for us. I told them you were listening. So, if anybody asks, you heard it!!! The Vanessas are Vanessa LeRouge with Sandals, and Vanessa Goodis with Clear Results Marketing. They lined up a tour for us to Stingray City for Friday morning. One killed the croc hunter... so think on that a couple of days. We recorded some stuff for Sandals, and finished up the show for Wednesday and got all dressed up for dinner at Mario's, the Italian Restaurant. Again, I just don't know the words to describe how good the food was, but I took pictures and posted them on the websites.
The next morning, we hooked up with the guy that took me to the dentist, Roger. He drove us all over the island to see the sights. If you can get to Antigua, find Roger Roberts' Taxi Service. He taught us so much about the history of the island, and the culture. It was fascinating. He took us to "Betty's Hope" and old sugar plantation that still has a working windmill. We stopped for beer at on of the local shops in a small fishing village. Laura had Ice cream??? Then we went to the south end of the island to the Atlantic coast. We went to the Devil's Bridge. That's where the Atlantic has crashed into the limestone coastline, and has formed a natural bridge. Legend has it, if you stand on the bridge and toss two eggs into the water, the devil will cook them and spit one back up to you. I crossed the bridge as a storm was coming onto the island. To hell with the devil, it's my bridge now. That's one of the coolest, and dumbest things I've ever done. Check out the pics on the web pages, www.myspace.com/thejce , or at http://www.kygl.com/.
Then we headed north thru the capitol city of St. John, and back to the resort to "work".
That night a terrible storm blew in and dumped more rain in 3 hours, than the island had received in the last 3 months. This caused a few problems at the brand new Mediterranean village. There were a couple of drainage issues, and a few minor things that I didn't think they could possibly have been prepared for. But, they were. You should have seen these people jump into action with hoses and pumps. I saw the General Manager, Jim Allmond, workin' a shovel. I knew from our interview, that he would do anything to keep his guests comfortable and happy, but I want to tell you he was WORKING that night. We went over and volunteered to help and he wouldn't hear of it. That night in the rain, lightning, and thunder, we dined at "Barefoot by the Sea", with amazing seafood, and white glove service. It was almost perfect. We were like like kids, playin' in the rain, and havin' a ball.
The next morning, bright and early, we took off for Stingray City. We get to this small building by the water with a couple of boats, and they go over some safety tips for swimming with the stingrays. YES, those kind of stingrays. Probably the most important tips our guide John Wade gave us, was to not get stuck in the heart with the barb that's on their tails, and don't breathe the water. We get into a boat, and head out to sea. After about ten minutes, we get to this big netted area out in the middle of nowhere, and sure enough the netted area is on the shallow part of a reef and it's full of Stingrays, Turtles, Lobsters, Fish and other sea critters. We put on our Snorkel & masks, and John, Wes, and I jump in. This is now the coolest thing I've ever done. Cindy wasn't feeling well, and she had a little bit of a fever...probably from playin' in the rain the night before. So, she wasn't getting into the water. Laura just said No Way??? Lisa was a little terrified, but she got in and even held them. You have got to see the pics of this, it was wild.
We got back the The Sandals Grand Antigua, and finished up our last day of broadcasting. We went on some of the other radio shows and told our stories about fightin' midgets, witch-doctor dentists, and shrimp balls. Cindy went to the Red Lane Spa to be pampered. She was going to meet us at the broadcast tower but never showed up. She was so relaxed from the spa, that she fell asleep getting ready for dinner. After the show I took off to find Cindy. She had crashed back at the room.
Then we all got dressed up again for our last dinner on the island at the OK Corral, in the Caribbean Grove of the resort. We had Akheem, from the restaurant, on our show. He said he could grill the best steak I would ever have. I can honestly say it WAS in my top 5, but the Grilled Swordfish was the best I've ever tasted. Akheem is a good kid, when he was on the radio he talked about how much he loved his mama and it was really good getting to meet him. After dinner, Sandals brought in the Antiguan National Dance Company to perform, it wore me out just watchin'. The costumes were wild and all the pretty girls were amazing dancers. I didn't think I would enjoy the show, seeing that there wasn't a stripper pole in the place, but it was really good, and we had a blast.
We strolled back to the Mediterranean Village, smoking cigars, and sipping cocktails took a few more pictures, then we all went to our suites to pack, we had to be on a plane the next morning at 8AM.
If you want a vacation that you will never forget, go to The Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa, on the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. You will not be disappointed!!!
And CONGRATULATIONS to our good friends Wes and Laura…
The baby is due in July!!!
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