Holidays & Snow Scenes

Last week while we were getting piles of snow in the Southwest Rocky Mountains, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri were being blanketed with power outages because of the ice storm that swooped through that area last week. Hopeful they have the electricity plugged back in and people are beginning to feel the warmth of their heaters ... again!

Meanwhile... As we reach into this weekend and 10 days before Christmas, we find Winter dumping snow across the mountains & plains from southwest Colorado to Missouri and moving into the New England States. AND... next Thursday looks like another cold front of snow will be coming through here and on your way. I Love this time of year!

The Okielegacy family would like to wish everyone out there a Happy Holidays and thank everyone who has contributed, shared their OkieLegacies and memories in the past years that we have publishing our OkieLegacy Ezine. May your New Year be filled with Hope, Prosperity! Someone was asking me if I added something to our weekly newsletter so that it could not be printed? They couldn't seem to get the Legacy to print last week.

The answer to that question is, "No! We haven't put any coding into the newsletter to keep it from printing out." I tested last week's newsletter to see if I could print it out. It did seem to load in the browser slowly last week, but after it loaded I had no problem printing it out on this end. Did anyone else out there have any problems?

Happy Holidays
It is just 10 days and counting down until that jolly old man comes down the chimneys spreading his hope -- bringing smiles to children all over the world. If, while you are out and about during the evenings, you spot any christmas decorations, get a digital snapshot to share with the rest of us.
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Pioneer George Weaber - Dacoma, OK

Here is a bio of a northwest Oklahoma pioneer that settled in the Dacoma, Oklahoma area. The thriving little community of Dacoma, Oklahoma was especially fortunate in its men of business and finance. Among them no one was held in higher respect, esteem than the energetic, progressive cashier of the State Bank of Dacoma. That business man was George Weaber.

George Weaber was born August 5, 1873, on a farm in Miami County, Indiana, the son of Jacob and Anne Weaber, natives of Switzerland. The father was engaged in agricultural pursuits throughout a long, successful career, died December 31, 1887. The mother survived until October 20, 1895, and passed away at Diller, Nebraska. There were three sons and two daughters in the family, as follows: Elizabeth; John, a resident of Oklahoma City; Henry; George, of Dacoma, Oklahoma; and Ida, the wife of John Brown, a farmer of Lockhart, Texas.

George received ordinary educational advantages in his youth, boyhood being passed much the same as other Indiana farmers' sons. When he was fourteen years old, his father died, and he early became self-supporting, learning the value of self reliance. For five years he was connected with a mercantile concern as salesman, but in 1902 he became the head of a business of his own when he came to Oklahoma and located at Augusta, opening a grocery. George conducted this business with a fair measure of success for two years, but in 1904, recognizing an opportunity, seeing the chance to enter financial operations, he went to Dacoma, Oklahoma and with others established the State Bank of Dacoma, an institution of which he had continued to be cashier to the year of 1916. or so. In 1916, the capital of the State Bank was $15,000, while its average deposits amounted to $81,000. It was located in the heart of a rich farming country, its twelve stockholders, with the exception of two, were agriculturists of this locality.

Mr. Weaber was the dominant factor in the management of the State Bank, under his able direction some might say it had grown and developed steadily, continuing to maintain a high reputation in banking circles of Northwest Oklahoma.

George Weaber was a democrat in politics, but took no very active part in public affairs, save for the immediate affect of the welfare of his adopted place of Dacoma, Oklahoma.

On April 1, 1906, Weaber was married at Dacoma, Oklahoma to Miss Edith Stoner, who was born in Pennsylvania, September 20, 1884, a daughter of Christian and Mary Stoner, natives of the keystone State. George and Edith Weaber were the parents of two daughters and one son: Ivan, born January 5, 1908; Doris, born May 5, 1910; and Gertrude, born August 7, 1912. -- The Standard History of Oklahoma, Vol 4, pg 1545.
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Pioneer Albert Wesley Lewis - Dacoma, OK

Here is another Dacoma, Oklahoma pioneer from the earlier days, Albert Wesley Lewis. Anyone out there remember Mr. Albert W. Lewis?

Albert Wesley Lewis was the manager and treasurer of the Dacoma Lumber Company and the Dacoma Grain Company. Albert was a resident of Dacoma beginning in 1904. Since that time he had participated in all movements that were made for Dacoma's growth and development.

Albert W. Lewis was born on a farm in Iowa county, Iowa, July 19, 1867, a son of William Wesley and Susan Jane (Rogers) Lewis.

Albert's Father
Albert's father was born in he City of Cincinnati, Ohio, of Scotch ancestry, and had spent his entire career in agricultural pursuits. As a young man he removed to Iowa, where he resided until 1877, in that year removing to Kansas and locating on Government land in Pratt County, where he served as postmaster of the Town of Naron for eight years, during 1879 and 1880. In the turbulent period regarding the location of the county seat, he was a member of the board of county commissioners.

In 1888, with his family, he removed to "No Man's Land," a strip ceded to the United States by Texas in 1850, for many years without any government, and now constituting Beaver county, Oklahoma, where he handled cattle on the open range.

In 1892 Mr. Lewis participated in the opening of the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation, taking claims with his four sons in what was in 1916, Lincoln County, where he continued to be engaged in farming for nine years. At the end of that time he moved to Alva, where he was living in comfortable retirement, in 1916.

Mr. Lewis was married in 1850 to Susan Jane Rogers, who was born March 13, 1837, in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Samuel Rogers, a native of the keystone state. Five sons and four daughters were born to this union, as follows: Ida, wife of Henry Burns, of Prague, Oklahoma; Margaret, wife of W. R. Dennison, of Alva, Oklahoma; Dewey, resident of Meeker, Oklahoma; Austin, of Carmen, Oklahoma; George, died in infancy; Columbus W., of Hardtner, Kansas; Albert Wesley, of Dacoma; Carrie, married in 1893 to Jon Godfrey, and died in 1911 at South Greenfield, Missouri; and Laura, died in 1910 at Pawnee, Oklahoma, as the wife of Charles Stevens.

Albert Lewis was educated in the public schools of Pratt county, Kansas, and grew up in the atmosphere of the farm. When he was 21 years of age he accompanied his parents to "No Man's Land," so that he may be said to be something more than a pioneer of Oklahoma. Later he was one of the first settlers of what is now Lincoln county, Oklahoma, himself proving up land, and for a number of years divided his time between farming and teaching in the public schools.

In 1900 Albert entered the employ of Crowell brothers, at Alva, with whom he thoroughly initiated himself into the mysteries of the grain and lumber business, and in 1904 was sent by his employers to Dacoma, to open a branch lumber yard, this city having since been his home.

In 1908 he established the Dacoma Grain Company, which in 1914, handled almost 1, million bushels of wheat. The officers of this large concern being: George W. Crowell, president; George Weaber, secretary, and Albert W. Lewis, manager and treasurer.

The Dacoma Lumber Company was organized in 1913, with main office at Dacoma and branch yard at Hopeton, Oklahoma. The officers of this enterprise being the same as those of the Dacoma Grain Company. For eight years, Albert Lewis served as Mayor of Dacoma, Oklahoma.

On October 9, 1888, at Englewood, Kansas, Albert Lewis was married to Mary B. Kees, who was born September 17, 1870, in Ohio, daughter of A. W. Kees, of Gate, Oklahoma. At the time of their marriage, the young couple were living in "No Man's Land, " where there were no courts of record, nor clergy, and Mr. Lewis and his bride went to Englewood, Kansas, to have the ceremony officially and legally solemnized. They were the parents of four children:

Indians of Oklahoma

We found this little bit of history of the Indians of Oklahoma in A Standard History of Oklahoma, Volume 1, by Thoburn. They stated that there was evidence to prove that certain parts of Oklahoma were inhabited by people of the Indian race long before the discovery of America by Columbus.

There were the Earth-House People, Cave & Ledge People, Mound Builders, Other Prehistoric Peoples, surviving indigenous tribes, Caddoan, Stouan, Shoshonean, and Kiowas & Plains Apaches Tribes.

The prehistoric stock was the most numerous. There were ruins and remains which gave evidence of its activities which during a period of many generations' duration inhabited the region now embraced by over twenty counties in the Eastern and Southeastern parts of the state, as well as the entire State of Arkansas and parts of several other adjacent states.

Earth-House People
The evidence shows these people indicate that they were sedentary and agricultural in their habits and were well advanced in the scale of civilization. They excelled in the art of making pottery. They dwelt in strongly built, timber-framed, dome-shaped houses, which were covered with sod or turf. When these mound houses collapsed a new mound house was built within a convenient distance. The collapsed mound house naturally fell in the form of a low, circular mound. These mounds still remain to this day in numbers so vast as to cast serious doubts in the minds of many as to the possibility of their being of human origin.

Cave & Ledge People
This tribe of people made their homes or abodes under the shelter of projecting rock ledges and in the open mouths of caves. These people lived in a more restricted area in the Northeastern part of the state. The cultural development of the Cave and Ledge people was not equal to that of the Earth-House people. They were not nearly so numerous, and it was probable that they lived almost exclusively by hunting and fishing.

Mound Builders
In the Valleys of the Red, Arkansas, Grand, Illinois and other Oklahoma Rivers there were large mounds similar to those found in the Valleys of the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and it seems not improbable that they were built by the same race of prehistoric people. The mounds were in various forms, some being conical, some pyramidal, both being truncated more often than complete.

Caddoan Tribes
The Caddo Tribe, which represents a consolidation of several closely related sub-tribes or bands, originally inhabited the Valleys of the Sabine and Red Rivers, in Texas and Louisiana, and extending northward into the Southeastern confines of Oklahoma. Above this tribe, along the Valley of the Red River was the Keechi Tribe, though its range extended southward to the Valley of the Trinity River in Texas. Still farther West in the vicinity of the Wichita Mountains and in the Valley of the Upper Red River and those of its principal tributaries lived the Wichita and kindred tribes the Waco and Towakony. The people of these tribes were always more or less sedentary in their habits, living in fixed villages and depending upon the cultivation of the soil for a large part of their sustenance.

Siouan Tribes
The Osage and Quapaw tribes were closely related. Their language being the same with slight variations. They were a part of the Great Sioux of Dakota stock. Their ancestors migrated from the East and it is believed that they arrived in the Trans-Mississippi country over 700 years ago. The Osages lived in Missouri, Eastern Kansas, Northern Arkansas, and Northeastern Oklahoma. The Quapaws lived South of the Osages, along the Valley of the Arkansas and in the Eastern part of Oklahoma. The Osages retained a distinct tradition to the effect that their ancestors had driven out and dispossessed the Caddoan tribes when they came into the Arkansas Valley. Both Osages and Quapaws sold their lands in Oklahoma to the Government over hundred years ago.

Shoshonean Tribes
The Comanches were an off-shoot of the Shoshones of Wyoming and Idaho, with whom they maintained fraternal relations. They were supposed to have drifted out on the Great Plains about the time of the first Spanish Explorations and they were known to have occupied or overrun the region between the Arkansas River and the Lower Rio Grande for at least two centuries past. They were a type of nomadic Indian of the Plains, in that they lived entirely by the chase and roamed over a vast region in search of game and in making war. A small area in the Valley of the Upper Cimarron, in the Western part of Cimarron County was included in the habitat of the Utes, who were mountaineers. The country bordering upon the Valley of the Cimarron in that part of its course is semi-mountainous, thus making it possible for the Utes to penetrate farther into the buffalo range in that vicinity than elsewhere along the Eastern base of the Rocky Mountains.

Kiowas & Plains Apaches
The Kiowas were from the Rocky Mountains, and were living in the region at the source of the Missouri River at the beginning of the historic period. They had drifted out on the Great Plains in the vicinity of the Black Hills of South Dakota. About the time of the American Revolution, the Kiowas were driven South of the Platte River by the Cheyennes, who in turn were giving way before the pressure of superior numbers on the part of the Sioux. Within a few years the Kiowas began to range South of the Arkansas River, where they came into conflict with the Comanches. About 1795, they made peace with the Comanches and entered into an alliance with them which has been maintained ever since, the two tribes acting in unison in all matters of common interest, such as the making of war and entering into treaties.

With the Kiowas came a small band of Indians of Athapasean stock, who, because they spoke a language somewhat similar to that of the Apaches of New Mexico and Arizona, were called Apaches, though it is evident that they have been separated from any other tribe of that stock for hundreds of years. The last of the Utes left the Cimarron Valley about the time that the big buffalo herds disappeared from that region, removing thence to join the main body of their tribe in Southwestern Colorado.
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Pioneer Henry Turner Miller - Chickasaw Nation

Here is another Oklahoma pioneer, Henry Turner Miller, who settled around the Purcell and Norman area that brought a pioneer printing, newspaper plant from his former home in Kansas. This newspaper, The Territorial Topic, was the third newspaper ever printed in the "Old Chickasaw Nation." Maybe this little bio of Henry T. Miller will jog some memories from present Oklahomans out there.

"Early in 1889, before the original opening of Oklahoma Territory, Henry T. Miller, a well known business man of Oklahoma City, had brought in a pioneer printing and newspaper plant from his former home in Kansas and had established it at Purcell, Indian Territory. There he began the publication of The Territorial Topic, which had the distinction of being the third newspaper ever printed in the old Chickasaw Nation.

The Territorial Topic esposed and was an ardent supporter of the interests of the intermarried disfranchised citizens of the Chickasaw Nation, and for this fact, and also because it was an excellent medium of news, the paper attained a wide and influential circulation. By its championship of the cause of intermarried citizens, it became a power for the development of the old Chickasaw country.

While Miller's first location was at Purcell, he was also a real Oklahoma eighty-niner, having made the run at the opening on April 22 from Purcell and securing a claim adjoining the Townsite of Norman. In 1894 Miller removed his newspaper plant from Purcell to Norman and it was subsequently merged with The Democrat under the name Democrat-Topic. Miller's original claim has since been platted and in 1916 was a part of the Town of Norman.

In 1890, Miller issued the call for the first meeting of newspaper men of the Oklahoma and Indian territories. As a result of this call the First Territorial Joint Press Association was organized April 30, 1890. Miller was chosen president and he was also secretary of the first commercial club ever organized in the old Indian Territory, and effected at Purcell. Since 1906, when he located in Oklahoma City, Miller had given his time and attention to the real estate and insurance business.

Henry Turner Miller was born December 17, 1860, on a farm in Howard County, Missouri, and belonged to a family of fine old pioneer stock in that section of Central Missouri. Miller's parents were John and Mildred Elizabeth (Boulware) Miller. John Miller was born in Virginia in 1813, and the grandparents were natives of the same state.

At the age of eighteen, his father, John Miller, went out to Missouri, a frontier state, and took charge of the plantation of his uncle, John Miller, in Howard County. This uncle gained distinction as governor of Missouri from 1826 to 1832." -- The Standard History of Oklahoma, Vol 4, pg 1372.
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Icy Weather In Oklahoma

"Good morning (December 10, 2007)! About two weeks ago all the smiling faces on local TV stations began telling us how they were getting prepared for the winter storms that might come our way, and they were optimistic that there would be fewer power outages this year (among other things) because they were 'ready for anything mother nature could throw our way'. WRONG! It hit yesterday and is getting worse in the OKC area.

WOW! A vehicle just slid into the Mr. Convenience building but there are no injuries. Mr. Convenience is a gas station, grocery store, etc. that's been in business in Perry for about 25-30 years on Fir Avenue just east of Charle's Machine Works (the DitchWitch plant).

We've had "thunder-sleet" (lightning & thunder during a sleet storm), followed by freezing rain, and I just heard on my 'police' scanner that some power lines are beginning to fall in Stillwater (25 miles from here) because of the weight of the ice. OKC area has over 100,000 customers without power, and more than twice that many from southwest Oklahoma in a band stretching towards the northeast part of the state. More expected. Jones, Oklahoma has lost their high school. It began burning (from unknown causes) about 6 hours ago and is expected to continue burning for at least 4 more hours because power has been off in that town since yesterday, and since the pumps cannot operate, there's no water from the fireplugs. They're having to truck water in to pour into a holding-tank and pump from that.

Many local schools are closed today and probably tomorrow because of bad roads and the lack of electricity (mine is just fine so far). We're expecting it to warm back up into the 40's by Wednesday.

I'm very thankful for my living-room wood-stove (it's similar to the old "Warm-Morning" stoves of yesteryear). It is one of the many antiques that I've accumulated over the years. I use a small fan pointed at it to distribute the heat throughout this room and the adjoining kitchen. I wish the church next door had not removed my 'brush-pile' that I was saving for kindling. They found it when they dismantled and hauled off the storage building that separated our two properties. This is the second time they've hauled off my pile of kindling (to clean up the area). I now keep one inside my privacy fence instead of next to my carport.

They say this ice storm is the worst in our history and this makes a new record for the most disasters in a year for Oklahoma! I'm not too sure that we want to break this record. I also saw on the news last night that several other states have sent in electric crews to aid in the restoration of electricity to the folks who have none. This includes Louisiana who stated that this was partial payback for our aid in the "Katrina" disaster. We're presently in a warming trend but are expecting snow this coming weekend. We hope that it's only a few inches. I guess that's all to report for now. Stay warm." -- Roy
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Growing Up In Oklahoma & Mince Meat Pie

We are in the process of taking down Kenneth Updike's stories and ramblings of "Growing Up In Oklahoma" because Kenneth asked us, "To remove all of my previous writings to you about my Ramblins. Personal stories that I told you and your readers. My Son has had all of my writings, and notes copyrighted so that we can put them in a book or booklet. His idea. I really have no objections to this, but he insists we can be viewed by more people. I leave it up to him. Thanks for your help in the past, and I still read your Okie Legacy nearly every week."

If you find some of Kenneth's Ramblings that I have missed, Please email me the link with Vol. and Iss. numbers so that this NW Okie can remove them. Thanks for your help!
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SW Colorado Mtn Snow

"By noon on Monday (Dec. 10), we had an accumulation of 12.5 inches of snow. Wes came and plowed for me about 3:00 that afternoon. By 10:00 Tuesday morning, we had 6.5 inches of new snow. The low last night was 9.7 degrees." -- SBW
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Weather In Westmoreland (KS) America

"We are okay here. Our electricity came on about 1:18 p.m. today (Dec. 14, 2007) --- that was three days without power --- it went off on Tuesday at about 1:18 p.m.. We bought an electric power generator and ran a light, the coffee maker, the refrigerators (2 each), and tried to run a small heater. The heater was not big enough capacity to help so we wrapped up in blankets and sat for a while before finally going to bed and there we were warm under a thermal blanket, feather comforter, and another cover of the bed spread. So we discovered new meaning to the phrase "a long winter's night"! How much sleep can one get going to bed after dark (dark by six thirty, in bed before nine o'clock) and the next morning when it gets light at about seven thirty?? Sure should be rested up. The only phone we had was our cell phone and, of course, no internet!

We came home from a morning meeting in Manhattan (KS) at about 1:10 or 1:15 p.m. to get ready for a funeral and hadn't been in the house but just a few minutes when the power came on --- sure did feel good to have heat running. The house is getting warm. G'day Mate." -- Marian & Jim Bradley
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Waynoka 2008 Collectors Calendar

"The 2008 Waynoka Historical Society Collectors Calendar is ready for purchasing! The cover is from a very early color postcard of the Waynoka Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House. The back cover, also in color, is a photograph taken March 20, 2007, showing the men from BNSF Railway and Hulcher Services and the GP 10 locomotive that they moved to Waynoka Station. Inside are vintage pictures of Harvey Girls, the Dog Creek Orchestra, Waynoka businesses, W.D. Lindsley's aeroplane which was patented in 1911, and more. Calendars may be ordered by mail for $7.95 plus $.71 sales tax, and $2.50 for mailing. For ordering more than one, add $.50 postage for each. Send orders to Waynoka Historical Society, PO Box 193, Waynoka OK 73860. The calendars are also available at the Museum Gift Shop. Thanks very much." -- Sandie Olson, Waynoka Historical Society - phone: 580.824.5871
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Jimmy Franklin & Jet Boosted Waco UPF-7

"This is the guy and airplane that I have a picture of you standing with at the Fairview, OK airshow that is hanging on my wall. He and the plane saw a tragic end in a midair with another plane, flown by Bobby Younkin, in an airshow three years or so ago (they had an act called the "Masters of Disaster"). Their sons, Matt Younkin and Kyle Franklin, now work together doing airshows like their fathers did, flying their fathers other planes and some of their own. A couple of the their acts is Kyle Franklin flying his dad's famous Waco Mystery Ship that has been in their family forever (it is like the red one only is black and doesn't have the jet engine hanging underneath) (the red one with the jet engine was later painted black also), and Matt Younkin flying the famous Black and Red Twin Beech 18 of his dad's doing very smooth and graceful aerobatics which is really neat and touching to see being performed to music in a tribute to their fathers. They are very young but very good airshow pilots. They have performed here at Alva, OK the last two years. There are other clips there on YouTube of Jimmy Franklin, so watch them all." -- Buddy L. - Jet boosted Waco UPF-7
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Man who invented 'Okie'

"I received this reply from Richard Reddick, Ben Reddick's son and thought it might be of interest to you." -- Lois

Email to Lois: "Probably truth to all points on the issue... but Dad was credited when, as a young journalist doing features on the Great Depression and the dust bowl emigrants to California's San Joaquin Valley. He was early to discover and point out in his photographic coverage, beginning in mid-1930s all those dust bowl refugees arriving here with Oklahoma license plates were not from Oklahoma, but in passing thru many obtained gasoline and licensing compliments of your state. The news folks and some Oklahomans credited him with creation of the moniker "Okie." My mother being one (Sapulpa born) probably helped or confused things." -- Dick - Man Who Invented "Okie" Dies
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An Alvan's Webcam

You can view Dan's Amazing Alvacam by clicking on this link. It looks to be pointing towards the corner of 11th & Locust Street. Am I correct?
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Women's Roll in the 1950's

"I was married in 1955, and I can assure you that most wives then didn''t follow those rules. Men usually got a smile when they got home, and wives appeared happy to see them. They usually listened to what you had to say, seemed interested in your day, and asked a lot of questions. But young husbands and wives were much more on an equal footing than that article indicates. That was also my experience in my early with my mother and father when I was growing up in the 1930's and 40's.' -- Lou W. - Women's Roll In the 1950's
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Alva, OK Snow

Northwest Oklahoma gets snow this weekend, in Alva, Oklahoma. These photos courtesy of Robert Wagner, at the Corner of 11th & Maple Street. See more of the snow pictures from Alva, Oklahoma over at our OkieLegacy - My Albums folder. -- Robb View/Write Comments (count 1)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

A Different Christmas Poem!

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts.
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always
remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall"

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S. service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities. Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of hat we owe. Make people stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us." -- LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN, 30th Naval Construction Regiment, OIC, Logistics Cell One
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