What a challenge its been getting here. Only took about 13 years in my research so far.
To get here I travelled by car, then by ferry, then by taxi, then by light rail, then by not one but two flights and then a rental car to get me just five from the airport. Turns out the five mile trip remaining was more like 40..but no one kept tabs anyway. And folks, if the next three weeks is anything like the first three days, then I have to say that every inch of the 6,000 mile journey is going to be worth it. In fact a thousand times over.
But where to start?
How about the computer, the tablet, the camera all going crazy on me, and of course at exactly the wrong times. Surmounting them, I've had to learn how to send and receive E Mails on the laptop, get used to wifi, deal with a motel light bulbs not working, nor a room phone functioning, find my way in the dark etc. Boy, folks sure wanted me to feel at home.
But that's not why you have come to my blog I expect... so on with the job.
My primary function today was to shake out the sleep from my eyes after about a 27 hours of being awake and finally getting into a king sized bed at about 3 pm yesterday and having a great sleep. I woke up this morning thinking part of the bed was in another state...it was SO big.
Today was the brick unveiling, a brief meet and greet with 9 Medal of Honor recipients, the town mayor and other dignitaries including the GREAT FOLKS at the Main Street Gettysburg Society and the 2013 Congressional Medal of Honor Convention Society.
These folks and others have brought together the Congressional Medal of Honor members to Gettysburg for their annual conference and to do so at such a historic town on the very 150 anniversary year of the UNCIViL War. At the same time the Main Street Gettysburg society thought it would be a most opportune time to honour the very large family of Medal of Honor recipients by dedicating a memorial to those recipients still alive. When the planning was started there were 80 members of this most exclusive club of heroes. Sadly a few have recently passed, but none the less, I believe all 80 now have their names engraved and memorialized in brick and mounted in a wonderful display, that I am told sent chills up the spines of many of the workers and officials that had a hand in building the memorial.
To get here I travelled by car, then by ferry, then by taxi, then by light rail, then by not one but two flights and then a rental car to get me just five from the airport. Turns out the five mile trip remaining was more like 40..but no one kept tabs anyway. And folks, if the next three weeks is anything like the first three days, then I have to say that every inch of the 6,000 mile journey is going to be worth it. In fact a thousand times over.
But where to start?
How about the computer, the tablet, the camera all going crazy on me, and of course at exactly the wrong times. Surmounting them, I've had to learn how to send and receive E Mails on the laptop, get used to wifi, deal with a motel light bulbs not working, nor a room phone functioning, find my way in the dark etc. Boy, folks sure wanted me to feel at home.
But that's not why you have come to my blog I expect... so on with the job.
My primary function today was to shake out the sleep from my eyes after about a 27 hours of being awake and finally getting into a king sized bed at about 3 pm yesterday and having a great sleep. I woke up this morning thinking part of the bed was in another state...it was SO big.
Today was the brick unveiling, a brief meet and greet with 9 Medal of Honor recipients, the town mayor and other dignitaries including the GREAT FOLKS at the Main Street Gettysburg Society and the 2013 Congressional Medal of Honor Convention Society.
These folks and others have brought together the Congressional Medal of Honor members to Gettysburg for their annual conference and to do so at such a historic town on the very 150 anniversary year of the UNCIViL War. At the same time the Main Street Gettysburg society thought it would be a most opportune time to honour the very large family of Medal of Honor recipients by dedicating a memorial to those recipients still alive. When the planning was started there were 80 members of this most exclusive club of heroes. Sadly a few have recently passed, but none the less, I believe all 80 now have their names engraved and memorialized in brick and mounted in a wonderful display, that I am told sent chills up the spines of many of the workers and officials that had a hand in building the memorial.
The image on the left is the famous Wills house and was owned by a prominent lawyer of that name who was quite instrumental in the creation of the very cemetery known today as the Gettysburg Cemetery. You are looking at the front of the building. The second image is a statue of President Abe Lincoln greeting another fellow whilst presumably during his trip there in November of 1863. The third image is the results of an earlier Main Street Gettysburg program to raise the awareness of former military and other folks and raise funds for their worth while ventures in the town. The forth is a plauque mounted on the side wall of the building overlooking the town square. It tells the story of how the President slept the night here and then went off to the cemetery to deliver his famous Gettysburg Address the next day. Readers of past blogs will remember that a future Father of Confederation from Canada spent the same night in the hotel as a guest of the President and accompanied him to the address as well. In touring the building I saw the very room that the president slept in. Someone has made the bed since.
This first image is again the front of the Wills house. The second image is of Deb. Adamik, President and Pat Rucker, Operations Manager of Main Street Gettysburg and both have just unveiled for the first time... a sneak peek of the beautiful marker that identifies those names below it as being the last living MOH recipients. I was the first apparently, other than workers and officials involved in the project to actually see it I was told. A closeup of the plague is at far right. The third image shows the plaque and in the grey outlined square below are the names of the 80 recipients.
This image shows the brick honouring Sgt. Peter Lemon, Toronto born, Medal of Honor recipient. It is on the second bottom line and 2 from left corner. Peter is the last living MOH recipient from Canada. I donated the funds for this brick and am assured am the only Canadian who purchased any of the bricks in this memorial.
The centre picture is of nine MOH recipients. There is slight confusion about a few of the names so for now, I with hold off on identifying each of these world class heroes. On the right I am pointing to Mr. Lemon,s brick and on the left I am taking a sit-down. It has been an exhausting day and my blog, that is supposed to be posted by 4 pm is now hitting the net and it is 11.20 pm.
sorry folks and good night.
Bart
sorry folks and good night.
Bart
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