Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

military

Have A Safe And Thoughtful Memorial Day Weekend

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by Kimberly A. Cook                 (Twitter@    WarriorTales)

This Friday I wanted to let you know about an amazing place called Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. While most folks know the iconic images of this hallowed ground, to me it’s the honor and reverence by The Old Guard (3d US Infantry Regiment) and the cemetery staff that most folks don’t see that is truly respectful.

The first video shows The Old Guard performing the “Flags In” they do every year for Memorial Day, putting flags on every grave site on the more than 600-acre cemetery to remember and honor those at Arlington. The second is an hour-long National Geographic television special about Arlington National Cemetery and The Old Guard.

Have a wonderful long weekend for those of us not working this weekend. A thank you to those military and law enforcement personnel on duty across the globe so we can honor the sacrifice of our fallen this weekend. Be happy, be safe and hug somebody and your pets this weekend. Freedom isn’t free.

Here is the link to the National Geographic Special “Arlington: Field of Honor.”

https://youtu.be/EyOSpMjwZps

 

Take A Moment To Remember On Memorial Day

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by Kimberly A. Cook                  (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Next Monday is Memorial Day and many of us will be off work. In this age of Memorial Day sales and the rush out-of-town for a long weekend, take a few moments to reflect on what Memorial Day is really all about.

The Vietnam Wall at night on November 5, 2005, in Washington, D.C. The blue folder contains the War Stories I left there from my veteran writing students.
The Vietnam Wall at night on November 5, 2005, in Washington, D.C. The blue folder contains the War Stories I left there from my veteran writing students.

This national holiday was put into law to remember and honor the sacrifices of the men and women who died while in military service. It is also a time we can remember those who have served and passed on after war and peace. It’s also a time to honor and never forget those who never came home and are still Missing In Action or Prisoners of War, their fate never to be known.

Thumbing through the back newspapers from my vacation on Sunday, I came across an article that one of my former veteran writing students, Phillip Leveque, had passed at the age of 92. Phillip was a character in every sense of the word and never failed to entertain us all with his stories and brought tears to our eyes when telling the truth about his service during World War II.

He served with the 89th Infantry Battalion as a Battalion Scout and earned the Combat Infantry Badge. As he told it, “he walked from Luxembourg to near Dresden mostly under fire.”

In Oregon he is better known as the “Pot Doc,” a name he preferred to be remembered by as he introduced medical marijuana to Oregon and later lost his license issuing cards for users. In a news story in February of this year while he was on hospice he stated he was “very proud” that medical marijuana would be legal in Oregon this July, especially for veterans with level five and above PTSD.

It was an honor to coach Phillip for three years in my class and read his stories. Later he published his own book of war stories and I wish I had a copy. Life goes by quickly enough, so on this Memorial Day take a few moments to remember the men, women and military animals who gave their all to keep this country free.

Then go have a great picnic and celebrate the day in honor of those who are no longer with us. I know they are with us in spirit and would want us to play and have fun with family and friends, because those are the most important things in life after all. So raise a hot dog, beer or s’more in toast to them all on Memorial Day.

Those we’ve lost are watching from the true high ground and will be cheering us on. Land of the free, because of the brave.

Special Note: For all those now riding across the country on Run For The Wall to participate in Rolling Thunder in Washington, D.C. the day before Memorial Day, God Speed and ride safe.

Armed Forces Day and Elvis

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by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@   WarriorTales)

Since I returned from vacation and posted about Elvis, seems like all things Elvis are popping up. Saw the “Hawaii Five-O” tv show On Demand with the Elvis impersonators. Today’s paper had an article about a local couple who won their dream wedding at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas with Priscilla Presley as their Matron of Honor. And Graceland has an exhibit of Elvis memorabilia on display in Las Vegas.

Since tomorrow is Armed Forces Day, thought folks might like to hear from Elvis about what it was like to be in the Army. Even Elvis had to pull kitchen police, or KP as we call it. Happy Quirky Friday and have a great weekend!

Wishing Our Military Service Members And Veterans Around The World Peace On Earth

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by Kimberly A. Cook                          (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

While much of the nation heads into the heart of the holiday season today, I want to remember and thank our active duty, reserve and guard service members keeping watch at home and around the world to keep us safe. One of my all time favorite marching band salutes seems appropriate to let them all know we are thinking of them and their families during the holidays. A big thanks to my fellow veterans and always remembrance of the service members and families who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep us free. Wishing all Peace and Goodwill.

http://youtu.be/MjPmmCtHmfE

(P.S. In the Coast Guard tribute the boat is upside down for the other side of the grandstand. Of course here at the Oregon Bar where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean, the Coast Guard’s special surf boats are designed to flip upside down and roll back up again. Yikes Coasties!)

So best wishes to all and let’s pass on some fabulous California Raisins for some holiday cheer for the troops!

http://youtu.be/Gs–phzj2TQ

 

Can You Be A Veteran Detective?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

With the holidays only hours away, perhaps you can be a veteran detective this year. What’s that? If you’re with family members or friends who are veterans, see if you can get them to tell you a story or two. Some may not want to talk about their experiences, perfectly okay, but if you can find out their military unit and what years they served, you can do research on your own.

Maybe someone will remember a stash of military letters this holiday season, like these found by my family in my Dad's dresser drawer. Gold mine!
Maybe someone will remember a stash of military letters this holiday season, like these found by my family in my Dad’s dresser drawer. Gold mine!

Many times we don’t ask people about their military stories and they are lost forever.

When journalist Mark Bowden interviewed the soldiers and wrote the book about Somalia  titled “Blackhawk Down,” he found that out first hand. When he asked the military personnel involved why their amazing stories had not been told before, they replied, “Nobody asked.”

If you have time this holiday season, ask some questions and find out a few stories you can write down to keep for memories and t0 honor the veteran who told them, whether she or he even thinks they’re important. Truly listening to someone is an act of love. What better way to celebrate the holidays?

Update: Promised to let you know how the great military records hunt turned out. I filled out the forms and sent them off for my Dad’s World War II records. Found out his were in the fire which destroyed many WWII Army records. I paid $25 to have copies made of what they had and it turned out to be about six pages, two items we already have. So now, more hunting. I’ve actually got more than the archives from Dad’s personal record stash.

We requested my Mom’s military records and she received those. Now I am waiting for my grandfather’s and uncle’s.  Here is the link to the blog post I wrote about how to request military records. https://kimberlyacook.com/2014/07/22/know-how-to-request-military-records/

Wishing all of you a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Blog Programming Note: I’m posting an early Quirky Friday blog post on Christmas Eve, so I’ll be posting again next Tuesday. Thanks for reading!

 

Unleash The Pie Baking!

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by Kimberly A. Cook                              (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

My favorite time of year arrives again, Pumpkin Pie baking time. One of the great things about Thanksgiving is being grateful for all the people, family and friends in our lives; sharing pumpkin pie seems the perfect way to celebrate.

Pie logistics! Moving troops or pastry, you've got to have your supplies. Unleash the bakers!
Pie logistics! Moving troops or pastry, you’ve got to have your supplies. Bunny cookie jar and Match Dandy are on sentry duty. Unleash the bakers!

I’ve gathered my ingredients and will be in a baking frenzy tomorrow night. So while I am mixing pumpkin and pouring in evaporated milk, eggs, spices and sugar, it’s a good time to thank everyone who reads my little blog here. At last count there are 69 twitter folks and 161 WordPress folks following my activities.

Thank you for your kind attention to my work. Thought I should have a name for us. When I was volunteering for the USS Ranger Foundation I decided to use Team Ranger to describe our volunteers, board and staff. At the time the whole vampire “Twilight” thing was going on, so it wasn’t a far stretch.

I thought perhaps we should be Team Quirky. Then I realized that might lead  to all kinds of trouble I didn’t want to deal with online, down a slippery rabbit hole so to speak. So in the interest of keeping this relatively clean and fun, I’d decided on Team Cookie. My nickname in the Army was Cookie and so was my Dad’s when he served, so I feel it’s a family tradition. But I tried Team Cookie and Google told me someone else has the name. Figures.

Perplexing problem. Will have to think on it some more. But thank you all for being a part of Team to be named later with a high draft pick choice, I hope.

Since I can’t send crumbs through the digital media, how about pie? For those of you who live by a Shari’s Restaurant, they have this new program the Shari’s Café Club. I was so excited to find out about this since I’m not yet eligible for an Honored Citizen card for several more years. They’ve merged the two programs and now anyone can get a Shari’s Café Club card at Shari’s.

When you register you get a piece of free pie in that month and then another free piece of pie for your birthday. I’m already up two pieces of pie! So if you want free pie, trot over to Shari’s and get one of those cards. You earn points for every dollar you spend at Shari’s. I’m thinking earning future pie dollars….

No matter what is happening in your life right now, know I appreciate your support and did my best to get you free pie as a thank you. Hugs all around. Have a great Thanksgiving everybody!

www.mysharis.com for info.

(I am not getting pie kickbacks for this either. Rats!)