Dec 28th 2011

WASHINGTON (WUSA) -- Two F-16 fighter jets flew over to check on an airplane that lost radio contact, government officials said. 
It happened "in the vicinity of the National Capital Region at approximately 1215 EST today," NORAD said Wednesday afternoon. 
The "general aviation aircraft" had lost radio contact long enough for NORAD to send the jets to check it out. 
"The civilian aircraft re-established communications and was allowed to continue on its way without incident," officials said. Artwork available here.

Tuesday's Gone

Empty warehouse on the corner of Ostend and Warner Streets in Baltimore,MD.

"Ka-Kaw" sayeth the Raven.

American flags flutter in the breeze atop M&T Bank Stadium.

Bob Proudly Flies Old Glory Over Fort McHenry!

Thanks to my wife Candy for this awesome experience!

My son Mike and Park Ranger Paul getting ready to fold the flag after proudly flying it over Fort McHenry.

Father and son folding the 15 star flag of The United States at Fort McHenry.

Thank you, son. Well done.

Thank you Paul!

Fort McHenry Front Range Tower Work

The Flag at Fort McHenry. Read about it HERE.

The Story of Rick Monday

Thirty-five years ago , major-league baseball‘s Rick Monday made what has been called one baseball’s greatest plays. On April 25th, 1976 the Chicago Cub's center fielder took his position on the field at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, not knowing that he was about to make history. On this day Rick would get both a steal and a save on the same play.

 



Monday began his baseball career starring at Santa Monica High School earning league honors.

Tommy Lasorda, then a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers, offered Rick, and Rick's mother Nelda, $20,000 to sign with the Dodgers out of high school in 1963. But Arizona State University coach Bobby Winkles, who was also from the Monday's native Arkansas, convinced them that he would look after Monday.
A star for the Sun Devils under head coach Winkles, on a team that included freshman Reggie Jackson, Monday led the Sun Devils to the 1965 College World Series championship (over Ohio State) and earned All-America and College Player of the Year honors.


Monday was selected with the first overall selection in the inaugural Major League First-Year Player Draft in 1965 by the Kansas City Athletics.


Monday's finest season as a professional came in 1976 as a member of the Chicago Cubs. Batting in the leadoff position, Monday hit .272, establishing career highs in home runs (32), runs (107), RBI (77), total bases (271), slugging percentage (.507) and OPS (.853), finishing 18th in the MVP voting.


1976 was also the year Monday made what has been called one of Baseballs greatest plays:

 

AP Photo/Los Angeles Herald Examiner by James Roark



April 25, 1976, during a game at Dodger Stadium, two protesters, William Thomas and his 11-year-old son, ran into the outfield and tried to set fire to an American flag they had brought with them. Monday, then playing with the Cubs, noticed they had placed the flag on the ground and were fumbling with matches and lighter fluid; he then dashed over and grabbed the flag from the ground to thunderous cheers. He handed the flag to Los Angeles pitcher Doug Rau, after which the ballpark police officers arrested the two intruders. When he came up to bat in the next half-inning, he got a standing ovation from the crowd and the big message board behind the left-field bleachers in the stadium flashed the message, "RICK MONDAY... YOU MADE A GREAT PLAY..." He later said, "If you're going to burn the flag, don't do it around me. I've been to too many veterans' hospitals and seen too many broken bodies of guys who tried to protect it." On August 25, 2008, Monday was presented with an American flag flown over Valley Forge National Historical Park in honor of his 1976 rescue of Old Glory.

Great story.

Trivia

By 1981, Monday was mostly a utility player when another great moment occurred. In the deciding Game 5 of the NLCS at Olympic Stadium in Montreal, he smashed a ninth-inning home run off the Expos' Steve Rogers that proved to be the difference in a 2-1 Dodgers victory. Monday's home run dashed what turned out to be the Expos' only chance at a pennant in their 36-year history in the National League. Even today, heartbroken Expos fans refer to the fifth game of the NLCS as "Blue Monday."

Was the first person ever drafted in the amateur Major League Baseball draft.

Monday is still in possession of the flag he saved from being burned. He was offered a million dollars for it recently but turned it down.

Monday's "Blue Monday" home run (which crushed the Montreal Expos' championship dream) was not forgotten in Montreal. He reported, in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, that when he was a broadcaster, years after the homer, he was unexpectedly held up at Dorval Airport by Canadian immigration officials, missing his connecting flight. When he inquired about the reason, he was asked if he was the former Dodger player, and got a smile.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Our Flag

This was shared with me recently and I thought it deserved to be passed on.

You might remember a news story several months ago
about a crotchety old man
who defied his homeowners association and refused to
take down the flagpole on his property
and the large flag that flew on it.Now you can find out who, exactly, that old man was.



On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born and it probably didn't
make much news back then.Twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot,
who had enlisted in the US Army in 1940, helped set up defensive positions and was sent to conduct patrols to scout the German lines. When his company was ordered to attack on the morning of May 23, Barfoot, now a technical sergeant, asked for permission to lead a squad. Because of the patrols he had made, he knew the terrain and the minefield which lay in front of the German position. He advanced alone through the minefield, following ditches and depressions, until he came within a few yards of a machine gun on the German flank. After taking out the gun with a hand grenade, he entered the German trench and advanced on a second machine gun, killing two soldiers and capturing three others. When he reached a third gun, the entire crew surrendered to him. Others also surrendered and Barfoot captured a total of seventeen German soldiers. He had killed 8.When the Germans launched an armored counterattack later in the day, Barfoot disabled one tank with a bazooka, then advanced into enemy-held territory and destroyed an abandoned German artillery piece. He returned to his own lines and helped two wounded soldiers from his squad to the rear.That probably didn't make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a colonel after also serving in Korea and
Vietnam , a Congressional Medal of Honor.

What did make news was a neighborhood association's quibble with
how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban
Virginia home. Seems the rules said a flag could be flown on a house-mounted
bracket, but,  for decorum, items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were
unsuitable.

He had been denied a permit for the pole, erected it anyway and was facing court
action if he didn't take it down. Since the story made national TV, the
neighborhood association has rethought its position and agreed to indulge this
old hero who dwells among them."In the time I have left I plan to continue to fly the American flag without
interference," Barfoot told The Associated Press.
As well he should.
And if any of his neighbors still takes a notion to contest him, they might want to
read his Medal of Honor citation. 



 It indicates he's not real good at backing down.

WE ONLY LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE...
BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE! MEN LIKE VAN BARFOOT.

Thank you Mr. Barfoot.