THE FOOTNOTES

Just looked at the Denver Post. Seems there is a NEENAN County which is having a tough time rebuilding its schools.
That's not too surprising when they don't even know how to spell NOONAN!

Here we are back in Willimantic for a farewell to Bob who is going home. This time, we are at the Willimantic Brewing Company which is a nice restaurant housed in the old Post Ofice on Main Street. The place is always crowded. Everybody likes the assortment of specialty beers and the good cooking. Makes me want to take up drinking again!

My   desk  in my high school    Shakespeare  class  was unstrategically  placed directly  in front  of  our  teacher,   Miss  Connors , who  was   from  England,  and  knew a thing or two  about  the  subject.
So  when she asked a question  about a  Shakespeare  reading assignment,   I  had  no  place to  hide.  She was looking  right at  me,  and  naturally   she    figured  I  would  know the answer because  I  knew everything  else.    It  would have been  in my favor if I  had  read  the assignment,  but  feeling  as I  did about  the  strange  lingo this  guy  wrote,  and  conflicts with  my  busy  social  interests,  I  had   deferred  completing  my  responsibility.   It  must be  one of  Murphy's  Laws,  if you don't do the reading,  you will be the  one called  upon  to  discuss it.   Consequently,  she  called on  me.  My  reponse  must  not have been  germane,  since she  inquired,  " Do  you  mean to tell me,  Mr. Noonan
that  you  do  not  undestand  this  passage?"   I  threw myself  on  her cultured  mercy by  saying,"That's what  I.m  trying to tell you."
    So  isn't it  strange  that  69  years  later  I  realize  that  Shakespeare had me in  mind  when  he  wrote his  "Seven  Ages  Of  Man."   The  seventh  age  sounds  a  lot  like my  situation, and I  quote,"Last  scene of  all  that  ends  this  strange,  eventful  history is  second  childishness  and mere oblivion  sans  teeth,  sans eyes,  sans   taste,  sans  everything."

Found this letter from Peggy when she was in Nursing School.

Here we are at Bidwell Tavern in Coventry. Bidwell has been recognized as the best place for  wings in Connecticut. I, myself, prefer a bacon cheeseburger, "don't overcook it," but i'm about the only one in the state. We adjourned to Bob Toombs house where the festivities continued. A very nice evening.

On this date (January 9) in 1945, the good ship, YMS-176, took part in the invasion of Lingayan Gulf in the Philippines. That comes to 67 years, as I figure,
A few things stand ouy in memory. At Lingayen, the Japanese stepped up the kamikaze--suicide bombings, and added a new wrinkle.
Once the landings have been made, the invasion fleet is still at anchor in the harbor, Suicide swimmers attempted to board the anchored ships under the cover of darkness. One night we were underway in the harbor area. A lookout spotted a small boat, like a canoe or something similar. There were two men in it. Our searchlight picked them up like dancers on a stage. They dove overboard, but evidently they were wearing lifejackets and they popped back up. Some our guys began shooting at them. In the meantime our helmsman (the guy steering the ship) began to maneuver the ship in such a way as to run over the swimmers and let our propellors grind them up. As our valedictorian at NBHS might have put it,"That'll learn 'em."

Dad - I found this photo in some of my stuff. Thought I would share it. Perhaps you might remember this day?

Here's what I had to say on the subject to a reporter: Just rediscovered the rest of this article;

In WWII, every male citizen 18 or older was liable for the draft--to be inducted into the armed forces. "Greetings" became a commonly heard expression. Here's a copy of my "Greetings From The President of the United States."

Some of you have heard me say I had a chance to go to Harvard.
The test report shown here was sgned by man named Ulio. Subsequent to this report, I had a letter from, Major General Ulio offering me a chance to be enrolled at Harvard the summer before I was drafted into the Navy. WWII was a time when everybody wanted to fight with those guys, and be in uniform. It was a very popular war,
so, when I was told I would have no uniform, and not get paid, I declined. How's that for guidance? I chose to be drafted early, and wound up in the Navy.

Several friends who opted to go to college instead of going into the active military got surprised when partly into their college careers, it was decided we had enough officers, and one was put into the infantry, and was captured by tge Germans after one day of combat He spent the war in a concentration camp. The other who expected to become a pilot was made an aerial gunner on a bombing plane,
Just think, by not going to Harvard, I wound up meeting your mmother at Teachers College, Had a marriage that has lasted 60 years so far, despite an occasional difference of opinion, had 8 exceptional children and lived happily ever since,

Here's Moe about 3 years old. This is one of the pictures rediscovered in the bottom of the old cedar chest. Without the blog,
this would have languished unknown and forgotten for all eternity. An album in somebody's house might be a little better, but not much. The blog allows things to be accessible to anybody interested and you don't have to travel to see it.

Here's one
you might not have seen.

Uncle Carmen was Marie's brother.
He lived in Maryland, and we seldom saw him. We are not sure of which of his sons are shown in the Naples family picture seen in the next photo. We will research it further.













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Front Row: Marie Lynch; Lena Maietta; Julia Naples; Amelia Vasellina; Carmela Nappi. Back roe: Carmen Naples and two sons
We recently rediscovered more pictures of Grandma Lynch's family. They will be useful to those who want to know more about their origins, or their roots

 

Well, look at me now!
And please don't raise thine eyebrow.
Moe's still learning how.
or as Moe would put it:

"My anger comes out.
Now I know he's in for it
What will he look like?"