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Seeing an eagle, remembering a veteran

Livingston County News - 12/21/2017

Well, I can check this one off. What happened to my old cat Shemp? Answer ... Sitting 30 feet up in my backyard this a.m.

First person I thought of was my buddy John Cipolla of Greece. It was about this time of year 73 years ago when the embattled and beleaguered bastards of Bastogne, were cut off and surrounded, with little food, ammo or winter gear.

Anyway, there it was... The symbol of our Great Land, the American Eagle. Perched above my favorite fishing hole, he kept looking left, then right. I think he was waiting for my buddy, John Cipolla to descend from the clouds as he did 73 years ago. Dec. 16, was the start of the worst fighting in World War II. The Battle of the Bulge.

John was wounded three times in the wilds of the Ardennes Forest in Belgium.

I was really ecstatic a few hours ago (listening to Robin Trower-Day of The Eagle) but now the reality of this symbol has brought a tear to my eye. What those guys went through!

Imagine laying in a foxhole - if you were lucky enough to have one - in weather like today for six weeks, no winter clothing except for what you could take from the dead.

Some of the guys in the 501 P.I.R.. used to say "I know where I was ... but where the hell am I going?"

My early morning visit today only lasted for three sips of coffee, but it was long enough to be very thankful for our veterans and guys like John Cipolla.

When this beautiful raptor spread his enormous wings and flew away, I could hear him and John say "Currahee, Currahee!