Saturday, April 20, 2013

Had a great time last weekend visiting with old friend Bob and Patty Walls in Richmond. On Sunday Bob and I went out to Malvern Hill to see view the work the CWT had done preserving the land there and up the road at Glendale (Fraysers Farm). Sunday night Patty prepared a wonderful dinner and we got time to exchange grandchildren stories. We traveled to Historic Jamestowne on Monday for a tour and to deliver the APG check for the work on the Jack of Plates project. https://historicjamestowne.org/news/jack_plate.php

Patty, Bob and Beverly Straube Senior Archaeological Curator
Preservation Virginia
viewing some of the over 2 million artifacts uncovered at Jamestowne.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

My old friend, Bob Walls, from Richmond talked me into trying my hand again at plastic modelling. He showed me a kit he had of a 1/72 scale LVT from WW2. I was pretty impessed with the detail and I'm an LVT fan so I picked one up. Actually I got 2 and a conversion kit. I started it today and immediately lost to parts to the carpet monster. Fortunately I had the second kit so I didn't have an excuse to end the build. More as I make a bit more progress.

Thursday, March 14, 2013



It's been a while since my last visit here. 2 granddaughters and lot's of other cool stuff happening. I'll post more as time goes by.

Here's a peek at a bust my friend Matt Wellhouser painted for me. Reminds me of back in the day like around 1970 in the RVN. I carried a radio just like this for a short time.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

While in Wisconsin I had a chance to visit the Wisonsin Veterans Museum. Lots of good stuff and many life size exhibits. Here are a few.



Marines at Chosin

Federal Drummer






Very nice CS kepi.








Captured Maryland drum from th Civil War












Union soldier in camp





Monday, September 27, 2010

Brooks Lyles retired LtCol USA and fellow Red Team member visited the east coast last week from his home at Ft Leavenworth, KS. Brooks was here for a number of reasons one being to hunt down the grave sites of some of his ancestors. Brooks has direct lineage to the Penn family that includes a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Rev War Colonel, and a CS officer that commanded the 42nd VA at the Battle of Sharpsburg (Antietam). I talked Brooks into taking a side tour to the Guilford Courthouse Battlefield in Greensboro, NC while here. His Rev War ancestor, Col Abram Penn, led the Henry Co militia during the war. We thought that Col Penn's militia fought at GCH but found out different while at the visitors center. The Henry Co militia arrived the day after the battle but did go on with Gen Greene and fought at Eutaw Springs, SC later in 1781. The picture shows Brooks at the marker at tour stop one at GCH. The marker locates the position of the NC militia at the 1st line of defense. You are looking from the NC position down the New Garden road and the direction of the British attack.

Guilford Courthouse is on the north side of Greensboro on Hwy 220N and a must see if you are in the area. The core area is well preserved and there is a very nice visitors center and bookstore. You can walk, bicycle, or drive the battlefield via trail or paved road. http://www.nps.gov/guco/

Downtown Greensboro also has a very nice Historical Museum that is hosts a collection of 150 Confederate Arms as well as some original Troiani paintings. http://www.greensborohistory.org/exhibits/collector.htm

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Another trip to Quantico and other locations.







About 2 weeks ago I took a 2 day trip to Quantico with my good friend Mike Grzebien. Mike is retiring from the Air Force and is home on terminal leave. He drove up to VA from NC and we both drove up to Quantico on Sunday. My daughter Gretchen arranged for us to meet with the Aviation and Ordnance Curators for a tour of the storage and restoration facilities. We spent about 2 hours looking at armor and aircraft in various stages of restoration and condition. Mike is an avid modeller and was like a kid in a toy store. (OK I was too but only in the armor building)We got lots of photos and inside scoop on what's going on behind the scenes. We also got over to the museum to see the new gallery that opened in June. The swords that th APG are on display and branded with labels acknowledging the APG participation. On the way back we stopped at Brandy Station Battlefield to hike one of the trails the CWPT has put in on property they've preserved. We also stopped at the Cedar Mountain Battlefield on the way home. A full 2 days but lots of fun.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010