Wednesday, December 31, 2014

a soldiers duty even on New Years Eve!


Hitler's World Congress....I guarded his underground airport on guard duty New Years Eve 55
and this building spooked me all night long!
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GERMANY! (Finally)

When we got to Bremerhaven, Germany they lined us up and announced that anyone who could type please step forward.  This sounded like a good way to get out of supply...so I stepped forward.
I was sent to a unit that would play a major part in my getting an eventual transfer (unheard of in the military) into Armed Forces Radio.
I became a clerk-typist at the 2nd Armored Division headquarters in Nurenberg, Germany where the famous Nazi war crimes trail took place ten years earlier.
This...for the Army...was good duty. Make that...great!
We were based in an building that had been a key SS headquarters for Hitler’s military...called simply the SS Kasern in south Nurenberg.
The office work was easy...and every night we hit the town for beer and jazz.  They had some great jazz clubs and American soldiers were very welcome...even though  we still used script at the time...which was like monopoly money but good anyway.  
I remember one club had a drummer who, in my opinion, was as good or better than the famous Gene Krupa.  He played so hard he kept having nervous breakdowns but boy was he hot.  He could solo on the drums for about an hour at a time....and nobody would miss the rest of the band!  I’d never seen anything like it.
We bunked between two and four to a room...and most of the guys were smart...well educated and friendly.   Typical was one PFC who’s Dad had invented the plastic dixie drinking cup or owned the the Scott paper company or something like that ...and he had to be rich as hell.  But he didn’t act like it...he was just one of the nicest guys around.  I often wondered what happened to him.  His son is probably running the company by now.

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New years 1955 was approaching and us new guys found out what happened New Years eve.  We were restricted to the barracks but everyone bought a big bottle of their favorite hard liquor...no wine allowed... and the approach to the new year was passed by taking your bottle and a large mug and going from room to room and sampling everyone’s bottle.  Awards were given for the guys who could make it from one end of the hallway to the other and it was a really long, long building!
About 11:30PM we were all goners...weaving all around the place and then a typical Army thing happened.  We heard the call to fall in for formation.
Well...I’ve got to tell you it was something else.  I guess maybe I was the soberest but I was plenty woozy from the mix of the booze and could hardly make it down the stairs to the parade ground standing up straight.
After we sort of composed ourselves in some kind of formation the sergeant yelled that five of us were needed for all night guard duty.
Man ...it was quite a scene.  My buddies kept passing out on the ground and of course nobody volunteered so the Sarg picked five of us...and yep...wouldn’t you know he focused in on me... I guess because I was still standing fairly straight up.
We headed back to our rooms to gather heavy coats and weapons.  But we were not allowed to take any ammunition.  That would be tempting fate with the condition we were in.
A couple of jeeps pulled up outside the barracks and took us to our posts.
    As luck would have it I got Hitler’s underground airport.     Nothing like all the Nazi ghosts in the world gathering around me, all alone, for the next few hours until daylight.    Lucky I was drunk...otherwise it would have got to me.
     Hitler had ordered his architect Albert Speer (of later book fame from jail) to build an airstrip next to the Nazi Rally grounds on Zeppelin Field...but the end of the runway would go underground so Hitler and his henchmen would be safe from allied bombing.  

There were underground walkways from there to all parts of the city of Nurenberg and we were told to be careful because the Germans had mined all of them!  I've wondered if the mines were ever dealt with.  If the city goes up sometime you'll know the rumor was right!
    So there I was...with an empty rifle...barely able to stand up...and in the dark, cold German night all I could see was the outline a Hitler’s half completed World Congress building where he had planned to have the leaders of  his conquered nations meet once the war ended. But it didn’t work out that way.
     Finally, the dawn came and with it a jeep to cart us back to the barracks and badly need sleep.
   But it was a duty and night I’ll never forget.


Where I was stationed & lived 


FANTASTIC PHOTOS OF GERMANY...The best I've ever seen!  Click below


my email:

stanmajor@aol.com
         

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Serving & protecting you from drunk drivers! AND NEW YEARS ON THE BEACH...IN RIO!




Click below...New Years on the beach in RIO
  



I ask our friend Hal to describe working “the beat” on New Years Eve:

"....As far as holidays go, I grew up considering New Year's Eve/New Year's Day to be just another day. I stayed up late the few times my parents allowed it, but figured that sleep was better than listening to, as my Dad called him, Guy Lumbago and his band playing Auld Lang Syne."
  Then I joined the Army and discovered that it was true. Sleep seemed more important than booze and noise.
   It wasn't until I pinned on a badge for the first time that this "holiday" began to matter. I can promise you that it wasn't due to it being "fun" (as in PARTY TIME !!).
  For some reason, in the area where I worked, people couldn't just have a good time. After consuming all the Buttdumber Beer and cheap homemade hard "likker" they could hold...what we later called the "Bar Wars" would erupt.
  The fight igniter could always be ultimately traced back the fire water. Some boozed up guy would grab some cutie's booty or some juiced up gal would goose some guys imagination. As sure as you're reading this, the "one that brung 'em" would witness the momentary alcohol influenced mutual attraction and the battle was joined.
  Then on driving on New Years Eve...over the years, when driving drunk finally became recognized as the public danger that it was, many people changed their celebration patterns, drank less booze and even began having non-drinking designated drivers to take the New Year's revelers safely home.
   This allowed cops everywhere to begin concentrating on removing the other guys...the drunk drivers from the roads.
   By the time I retired, there were programs in place that had gotten the attention of potential offenders and, while not nonexistent, they were fewer and fewer drunk drivers each year. 
However, you could always depend on there being at least one nut who was designated as THE idiot driver of the holiday season.
  One dummy was arrested, more than a decade ago, after numerous calls about a guy standing on railroad tracks, screaming up toward the engine compartment ordering the engineer to either back the train up out of his way or dismount the train's engine and fight him like a man!
  The only problem was there was no engineer on this train. It was just parked there. The drunk had actually driven off the road...onto the tracks for more than a quarter of a mile and managed to stop bumper to cow-catcher before actually colliding with the parked, engine-off, unmanned 
train.
  The moral to this story is simple. If you're determined to be stupid and drinking to excess, don't drive. You could end up in some retired cops memoirs. 
You might not be identified, but you'll know you were the idiot in the story."
thanks again, Hal!
stanmajor@aol.com

Work for the Feds....that's the life. & hello Mia!

Mia Hamm
   
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...I always knew the Federal Government was a good place to work.  Now you can see why.  If you have nerve...click and read this:

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Mia Hamm on tv again!  
HBO ran that 2005 film “Dare To Dream” about Mia and the American women’s soccer team she led to great victories.
I gotta say this...I think almost every guy back in the mid-80’s had a crush on Mia...just like me.  What a FACE and what a player.  Wow.  It was good to get a refresher on Mia...and she still looks pretty good!
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GABBY GK at Arizona

....No she’s not Mia Hamm......but she is a really attractive GK for the University of Arizona soccer team!
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....Steakburger with fries and a strawberry shake please!
Now you can eat Steak and Shake in Santa Monica, Ca!
It should be a smash...but I remember some years back when they opened a few S&S’s in the Chicago burbs and they DIDN’T make it. Did they ever return?
So...we’ll see.  
My son Chris (who loves S & S) will keep me informed of the place...telling me how long a wait he and his gal Stephanie have when they visit.
First 100 customers get FREE stuff for a year! They’ve been lined up for awhile already.
click here:











"Oh what to do with those gift cards!...and incredible photos of our home...Earth!


For PUTIN & OBAMA!

...You’re left with a bunch of gift cards from christmas that for some reason or another didn’t get used.
Well...look out...they COULD be worthless in awhile...so use em at Walmart!
Even Amazon gift cards are good at Walmart...they give you about $94.00 on a $100 card according to this story.  Click below...they list a bunch of gift cards:

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...Beautiful and dramatic photos of our planet..just incredible...
click below:



Happy New Year to all 88 Nations......and our over 65,000 visitors to this blog!
stanmajor@aol.com

Monday, December 29, 2014

THE Jerry Williams didn't like Miami


   Jerry Williams



Jerry Williams gets held up! Literally.                                                 repost
And not for anything he said on the radio!

Jerry Williams hired me for Philadelphia’s FM talk station WWDB in 1980. 
Then...after a few months...Jerry left.  He had asked me how things were at WNWS Miami...and that’s where he ended up after I made a call telling them to hire him.  Jerry and I went way back....all the way to his home in Boston and WMEX in the early 60’s.
After he was there for a few months my phone rang and it was Jerry screaming at me down the phone line:
“What the hell have you gotten me into down here! This is the worst place in the world” he screamed.
Then without explanation hung up the phone.
What had happened and what I didn’t find out about for some time was Jerry had finished his show and opened the building’s front door to leave and was held up at gunpoint.  He could well have been killed...I think he was very lucky.
According to the Miami News report I have from their archives thanks to my friend John Baker who does the Neil Rogers stuff (& mine now) this happened September 23rd 1981.
     One of three men had a small pistol and they didn’t know they were at a radio station.  Jerry (after he gave them his watch and cash) told them Neil Rogers was in the studio doing his program...and they said they wanted to rob him too...but they WERE getting nervous now.
     In fact according to Jerry the guy with the gun said “let’s kill him” but his companions were nervous about that too...and Jerry even walked them into the building to show them Neil in the studio...
      Neil realized something was wrong and said on the air for someone to call the cops and tell them to get over to WNWS fast.  The robbers did not hear that or there might have been a bloodbath then.
They fled the building before a raft of squad cars arrived as a result of hundreds of 911 calls by listeners.  Listeners took Neil’s plea serious and the 911 lines in Miami were overloaded for a time as a result.
The robbers, despite the fast response, were never caught.
Jerry’s unexplained dramatic call to me came soon after the incident.  I had no idea about it...I guessed he was just displeased with the city or the station...but it was more than that!
One time in St. Louis while I was pontificating on the air at WIL one night...someone reported a man with a gun in the building who said he wanted to find me!  St. Louis police scoured the building and I remained on the air but apprehensive and nobody was found.
When I was in Milwaukee during the Father Groppi stuff I had him on as a studio guest and my life was threatened by the note left on my car window...written in red ink.  
“Next time, Major this will be written in your blood!”
And of course when Neil Rogers and I were proclaiming the Cuban boatlift was illegal and down right “wrong” our lives were threatened several times each day to the point that a Miami police squad car was sitting in the station’s parking lot whenever we were on the air!
Just the life and times of not only Jerry, Neil and I but a bunch of other radio and tv personalities simply saying what we felt...and using the first amendment to back it up!
I’m thankful Jerry was safe. He left Miami fairly quickly after that.

stanmajor@aol.com

Sunday, December 28, 2014

"Starman"..the movie....why no sequel? and what bugs me....


STARMAN...the movie

       ...every notice that when you have to change planes at a big airport and the switch needs to be fast...the plane you have to take is ALWAYS at the farthest gate from where you land!
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...that the best looking girl (or guy) you’ve seen in years is always leaving the store or mall just when you get there!
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...that, that game you really wanted to watch is blacked out!
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...that the shoes like Reeboks (or whatever) that you’ve been saving for and finally are going to order online are always “sold out” & “don’t know when will be available!” (thanks Fingerhut!)
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Most disappointing  “non-sequel” never made:
Starman 2

     Karen Allen (hot in panties with a gun!) left with a baby alien or vice versa and NO movie of that! Hollywood has it’s head up its ass!  Just look at the crap out today.

     Here’s an extensive(and boy I mean extensive) critic of the movie STARMAN...from a guy who didn’t like it when it came out...but boy did he grow up! 
     skip the "I am a great authority" crap...about the first 20 paragraphs and get to the actual STARMAN review...it's something else!


stanmajor@aol.com


Christmas in heaven...or is this Beech Mountain?


Beech Mtn N.C.

...What can I say about North Carolina?
In the 90’s we had two favorite places to go up there. 
Beech Mountain for snow and skiing and the Hemlock Inn at Bryson City for...food...trails..horseback riding...you can almost walk into Smoky Mountain National Park...and for the kids...lightning bugs!  That’s right..the parent can just rock away on the rockers on the long front porch with a fabulous view of the mountains while the Florida kids catch lightning bugs for the first time.
Our first trip to Beech was great.  We rented a house for a few days over Christmas...had all the presents wrapped and ready...and fireplace going and food on the table and on our first morning...loads of beautiful snow all over the place.  
We couldn’t believe our luck as it apparently was the first big snowfall in Beech that year. The Florida kids got to play in real snow...and even had to shovel the sidewalk which was a first for them.
They wanted to ski of course...so off we went to the Beech Resort.  I stayed inside the warm glass enclosed upper lounge and watched the kids falling down and having a great time learning how to ski.
Over the next five years or so we would go back to Beech...for the snow and the fun.  This was the good time for me...real family for the first time...a lovely wife Lauri who had everything under control.  A new little boy Chris having the time of his life.
Seemed like the only thing I had to do was pay for everything, of course, and make that big decison to follow North Carolina law and get chains for the tires...which I never did!
North Carolina to us was “heaven sent”.  We loved every minute of it!

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Hand guns under the tree!  That’s right...guns were big this Christmas what with everything going on all over the place. Women were being giving guns for protection and men were getting them for safety of all.
here’s more...click below:


stanmajor@aol.com

Saturday, December 27, 2014

University Hospital Emergency (part 2)





repost

      “Have you been traveling anywhere sir...taken any trips?”

That’s the new question the nice lady asked me at the University Hospital Emergency Department where I was paying a short visit late last night.
I didn’t realize for a few minutes the purpose but then I realized it was the infamous “ebola”.  I wonder what she would do if I had said yes?  
Well not to worry...most of my trips are to Walmart’s and Dollar Tree stores....and Publix of course.
I was led to the inner sanctum and RN Alex came in to chastise me for not writing him up in my first blog. Well here you are Alex...83 nations now know what a great RN you are(my review) and they also should know you are very well informed on everything...but don’t let it go to your head.
Bo the nurse was there and impressed that I got her nickname correct.
No Dr. Ricardo or Dr. Michelle (yes if you write prescriptions and hang a stethoscope around your pretty neck you ARE a doctor!) and no Dr. Ali...but a young doctor from Philly(!) Dr.Tyler (in charge I guess )paid me a few visits and was cordial and efficient.
I tried to persuade Alex to go pre-med and become a doctor but he didn’t seem interested.
Paula came in with the questions list and was nice like the rest of the staff.
Well..Bo I still left not knowing the first name of that absolute knockout brunette I spotted on my previous visit(I may be old but I’m not dead!) 
So do what you can about that will you.  Long beautiful brown hair sitting at the last computer.  I pic of her on my blog would definitely be encouragement for you to have more “action”.  
Not that you guys need it.  You are ALL great!
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cute Juliana

                                 SEE MORE GIRLS FROM MALAYSIA just one of our 88 nations viewing this blog!

click

stanmajor@aol.com

These guys are working this Holiday weekend!


repost...and they deserve it!


88 Nations ....65,000 views!

.....Speaking of hospitals as we were with the baby well wishes
I myself had a medical emergency...nothing bad...and dropped by the University Hospital near here.  This was well after midnight and I was impressed at the staffing there at the late hour.
University...for some reason, not known to me, has had a bad rap in the past with patients choosing hospitals in Coral Springs and Plantation Florida.
But this facility and the way they efficiently operated it even in the middle of the night...could not be beat by anyone. 
A Doctor...Ricardo (first names only here) from Cuba...held forth in the cockpit of this hospital 747 and he was in control.  Not some nurse or intern or even a receptionist not knowing diddly about doctoring!
And Nice guy Ryan administrated my blood test and did well...and I hate blood tests!  He’s from West Boca Raton, Fl...but don’t hold that against him.
Then...I EVEN got a cat scan at 1AM!  Wow...and the tech (sorry missed the name) was great.

A nurse whose name was "Bo" was chastising me for taking a couple of antibiotics for something I shouldn’t have...but in a nice way. She told me to stick to ibuprofen instead.
There was a pretty blondish nurse with a cute ponytail but I only got a couple of glances.
I did have to return the next night and the story was the same with different personal.
My doctor then was Hans...German but raised in Venezuela 
which is interesting.
And the blood test this time was rather extensive along with some other stuff you DON’T need to know about and another Venezuelan administrated all that.  His name was Ali and...I think he was a young doctor too. 
The magic they all performed has seemed to work well.
I will have no hesitation returning to University Hospital in the future.  Oh and they have a pretty extensive cardiac department...but my heart wasn’t the problem!
Thanks to you all there.  (Part 2 coming next)

stanmajor@aol.com