D-Day, June 6, 1944

“Wars do not make men great, but they do bring out the greatness in good men.” – Major Dick Winters

It was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. On June 6, 1944, the Allies landed on the shores of Normandy to create a new front against the Nazi war machine. The 101st Airborne dropped into Normandy the night before.

Few people care about D-Day anymore. Google which changes the graphics on their web page to recognize special days always ignore D-Day. D-Day represents good over evil.   It’s up to older Americans to share with younger Americans the history of the struggle for freedom from the beach at Omaha to Gettysburg to Yorktown.

Every summer we watch the Band of Brothers (HBO series) which follows E Company of the 101st Airborne.

Today a twelve foot statue is to be unveiled in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont in the likeness of Major Dick Winters who only agreed to be the model for the statue if it honored all junior U.S. military officers serving on June 6th, 1944. Major Dick Winters dies last year at the age of ninety-two.

It was no picnic on Omaha Beach where the Americans took heavy losses:

“D-Day Omaha Beach Battle Scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan” posted by TheTimesNOW:

The Sleestaks Are Back!

Sleestaks are mythical creatures from the Land of the Lost, also known as our home.

Now that school is out for summer vacation, my sons have reverted to standard stay-up time. They wander about the house very late at night foraging for food while playing on their computers and sleeping in very late during the day. The lazy days of summer but the active nights of summer.

In Hoc Anno Domini (In the year of our Lord)

When Saul of Tarsus set out on his journey to Damascus the whole of the known world lay in bondage. There was one state, and it was Rome. There was one master for it all, and he was Tiberius Caesar.

Everywhere there was civil order, for the arm of the Roman law was long. Everywhere there was stability, in government and in society, for the centurions saw that it was so.

But everywhere there was something else, too. There was oppression—for those who were not the friends of Tiberius Caesar. There was the tax gatherer to take the grain from the fields and the flax from the spindle to feed the legions or to fill the hungry treasury from which divine Caesar gave largess to the people. There was the impressor to find recruits for the circuses. There were executioners to quiet those whom the Emperor proscribed. What was a man for but to serve Caesar?

There was the persecution of men who dared think differently, who heard strange voices or read strange manuscripts. There was enslavement of men whose tribes came not from Rome, disdain for those who did not have the familiar visage. And most of all, there was everywhere a contempt for human life. What, to the strong, was one man more or less in a crowded world?



And the voice Then, of a sudden, there was a light in the world, and a man from Galilee saying, Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's.

And the voice from Galilee, which would defy Caesar, offered a new Kingdom in which each man could walk upright and bow to none but his God. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. And he sent this gospel of the Kingdom of Man into the uttermost ends of the earth.

So the light came into the world and the men who lived in darkness were afraid, and they tried to lower a curtain so that man would still believe salvation lay with the leaders.

But it came to pass for a while in divers places that the truth did set man free, although the men of darkness were offended and they tried to put out the light. The voice said, Haste ye. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you, for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

Along the road to Damascus the light shone brightly. But afterward Paul of Tarsus, too, was sore afraid. He feared that other Caesars, other prophets, might one day persuade men that man was nothing save a servant unto them, that men might yield up their birthright from God for pottage and walk no more in freedom.

Then might it come to pass that darkness would settle again over the lands and there would be a burning of books and men would think only of what they should eat and what they should wear, and would give heed only to new Caesars and to false prophets. Then might it come to pass that men would not look upward to see even a winter's star in the East, and once more, there would be no light at all in the darkness.

And so Paul, the apostle of the Son of Man, spoke to his brethren, the Galatians, the words he would have us remember afterward in each of the years of his Lord:

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14, December 25, 2010

Kids - Why we speak English today, The Battle of Britain

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” -Winston Churchill

Seventy years ago in August 1940, civilization as we know it almost ended. In late August 1940 the British Royal Air force (RAF) was about to collapse from the onslaught from the Nazi Luftwaffe who were attacking their RAF airfields, radar centers, and support installations. The Luftwaffe sought air superiority over England so they could provide air cover for a Germany invasion of England, the last free country in Europe standing against the Nazi war machine. August 30th and 31st were among the worst attacks of the battle.

Below is the trailer for the movie “The Battle of Britain” which shows the RAF air fields being pounded by the Luftwaffe.



Few individuals realize that one in eight of the fighter pilots during the Battle of Britain were Polish. The Polish pilots helped England fight Germany after the collapse of Poland. The Polish fighter pilots had a 6:1 kill ratio against the Nazis compared to 3:1 of the British.



On August 24th, 1940 a German bomber accidently dropped its bomb payload on the city of London. It was an accident and everyone knew it. But Winston Churchill saw an opportunity to goad the Nazis into changing their attack strategy and ordered the RAF to bomb Berlin at night continually after August 24th.

By September 4th, an enraged Adolf Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to focus their attacks on London rather than on attacking RAF installations, a fatal error. This gave the RAF just enough time to recover to continue fighting. The Nazi’s did not realize how close they came to destroying the RAF and England herself.

[Credit to video posts from Soundtrackcollector and Henryvkeiper]

TX-MI Houston and Detroit Zoos

The Detroit Zoo was one of the first in the United States to be cageless designed after the Tierpark Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg Germany. There are few cages in the Detroit Zoo animal exhibits. Anything that may resemble a cage is usually glass enclosed. Even most of the birds fly free in the Matilda Free Flight Avery and penguins swim free in the Penguinarium.

The great exhibits in the Detroit Zoo include the Great Apes of Harambee, Amphibiville, the Holden Museum of Living Reptiles and the River Otter Exhibit. The crown jewel is The Arctic Ring of Life with free swimming polar bears and seals above your head as you walk through an underwater tunnel.



We visited the Houston Zoo last week but noticed they have many cages. We still have a lot to learn about the Houston Zoo and we became members. Important to any zoo visit for the boys is food. Below is feeding time at the zoo for Steven and Anthony eating their core food source: pizza.

[Photo credit of The Arctic Ring of Life to http://blog.mlive.com]

Kids - Blues Brothers on a mission from God

It’s probably been a year since we’ve watched the Blues Brothers starting John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Hard to believe it’s been thirty years since they first released the movie in 1980.

So many “old” actors made appearances in this film such as John Candy, Carrie Fisher, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, Henry Gibson and even Twiggy. My sons didn't recognize any of these actors, even Carrie Fisher who played Princess Leia in Star Wars.

Steve asked me how do I knew all these people. Dad’s been around the block.

One of our favorite scenes below, the mall chase.



[Video post by battaginemon.]

Kids - Deo Gratias for Father Solanus Casey

One of my greatest heroes is Father Solanus Casey. I was four years old when he died on July 31, 1957 at the age of 86. What inspires me most about Father Solanus was his simple but powerful faith and belief in the goodness of God. Father Solanus described atheists or anyone who doubted the existence of a higher power as “spiritually insane”. Carved around his grave are the words “Blessed Be God In All His Designs.” He is in the process of becoming a saint but probably not in my lifetime.



Solanus could never become a Catholic priest today. He would be deemed intellectually and academically unqualified and a failure by most standards. Having spent ten years studying to become a priest he barely completed and performed so poorly his superiors made him a “simplex” or mass priest. Considered intellectually deficient he was barred and prevented from hearing confessions, instruct classes in religion, or deliver doctrinal sermons. He became a sacristan who basically took care of the church linens, usually a role for a lay person and something of a put down for a priest. After several years of being a sacristan he received a big promotion to doorkeeper. It seemed he had a whole lot of time on his hands and he used it to strengthen his relationship with God.

To make a long story short he personally knew God. Perhaps as many as 1,000,000+ people have asked Solanus to talk to God on their behalf. Me included. Maybe a quarter of a million people met and spoke with Solanus during his lifetime. Solanus never worked a miracle. He asked God and people to perform miracles. Other times he would tell people not to expect any miracle such as my grandmother Pearl Paultanis.

When Solanus grew old the Capuchins tried to shield him from people seeking his prayers by retiring and transferring him to Huntington, Indiana. My grandmother Paultanis developed diabetes resulting in blindness. My Uncle Vince drove my grandmother from Detroit to see Solanus. Even though in retirement, he met with her immediately. My impression is that my grandmother was friends with Solanus. Solanus told her the blindness was God’s will and accept the blindness which she did with great solace.

He is associated with thousands of miracles, most undocumented and untold. I was once speaking with one of my physicians about Solanus. He told me when he was a little boy he had a terrible ear ache problem which the doctors could not cure. In desperation his mother took him to St. Bonaventure’s to meet Father Solanus. Solanus blessed his ear and the pain ceased. The doctored looked at me in amazement and said, “Now that I think about it, I have never ever had an ear ache in my life since that blessing.”



For the first time in years we have missed the Father Solanus Anniversary of this Death mass held at St. Bonaventure in Detroit now that we are in Houston. But Solanus is always in our hearts and minds wherever we are.

Father Solanus Guild

[Photo of Solanus tomb by Ottenbreit, Solanus portrait by Solanus.org]