Chin Diesel
Power of Love
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Hope everyone enjoys the kickoff to summer. BBQ's, boats, water and everything else that goes with it.
And take a few moments to remember what Monday is all about. Remember those who gave all for our country.
Today one American who gave more than most was laid to rest, Robert Flynn. Flynn was shot down over China in 1967 and spent 5 1/2 years in solitary confinement. In UConn years, that would be akin to going back from today to before Bazz verballed to UConn.
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/05/23/robert-flynn-pow-funeral/9511365/
In a fair world, former POW Robert J. Flynn would have been given five more years of life.
Because what happened to retired Navy Cmdr. Robert Flynn wasn't fair. War rarely is.
We can complain about it now after the fact, after the American hero has been buried with honor at Barrancas National Cemetery. But Flynn didn't complain. Yes, he had to adjust after more than five years of solitary confinement in a Chinese prison camp during the Vietnam War. But he did adjust. And far from living a wounded life filled with what-ifs, Flynn lived life, enjoyed life. He sang in the church choir. He loved and assisted the Jazz Society of Pensacola. He hunted with fellow war heroes.
He survived torture, loneliness, pain, hunger and apprehension with guts. But he lived the rest of his life with gusto.
Flynn was buried Friday at Barrancas National Cemetery, complete with a military flyover and a Dixieland quartet playing sometimes somber, sometimes jaunty numbers that captured the mood — sadness mixed with celebration of an extraordinary life and man.
Now, he's buried near his fellow hero and hunting buddy, Air Force Col. Geroge "Bud" Day, a Medal of Honor winner who died last year. There is only one grave site between those of Flynn and Day — that of Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Walter Richardson, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen.
And take a few moments to remember what Monday is all about. Remember those who gave all for our country.
Today one American who gave more than most was laid to rest, Robert Flynn. Flynn was shot down over China in 1967 and spent 5 1/2 years in solitary confinement. In UConn years, that would be akin to going back from today to before Bazz verballed to UConn.
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/2014/05/23/robert-flynn-pow-funeral/9511365/
In a fair world, former POW Robert J. Flynn would have been given five more years of life.
Because what happened to retired Navy Cmdr. Robert Flynn wasn't fair. War rarely is.
We can complain about it now after the fact, after the American hero has been buried with honor at Barrancas National Cemetery. But Flynn didn't complain. Yes, he had to adjust after more than five years of solitary confinement in a Chinese prison camp during the Vietnam War. But he did adjust. And far from living a wounded life filled with what-ifs, Flynn lived life, enjoyed life. He sang in the church choir. He loved and assisted the Jazz Society of Pensacola. He hunted with fellow war heroes.
He survived torture, loneliness, pain, hunger and apprehension with guts. But he lived the rest of his life with gusto.
Flynn was buried Friday at Barrancas National Cemetery, complete with a military flyover and a Dixieland quartet playing sometimes somber, sometimes jaunty numbers that captured the mood — sadness mixed with celebration of an extraordinary life and man.
Now, he's buried near his fellow hero and hunting buddy, Air Force Col. Geroge "Bud" Day, a Medal of Honor winner who died last year. There is only one grave site between those of Flynn and Day — that of Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Walter Richardson, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen.
