Eideard

Sinking of the USS Yorktown in the Battle of Midway

Roger Spooner, the farmer who appeared today on news shows backing up Shirley Sherrod’s story, and who was accused by Andrew Breitbart of being a liar and a “plant,” is not just a lifelong friend of Sherrod; he’s also a veteran of the Battle of Midway.

It’s been more than 67 years since Roger Spooner stood on the deck of the U.S.S. Yorktown, watching an air parade of kamikaze pilots dive into the carrier while he loaded 54-pound shells to fire at circling Japanese planes in a frantic attempt to keep the ship from sinking at the Battle of Midway.

While 165 men on the Yorktown died that day, 85 survived. Some of them remember portions of that day in June. Others remember most of what happened.

“I remember all of it,” Spooner said.

Spooner can almost smell the sea water mixed with oil when he talks about the day the Yorktown was sunk. Spooner and many of his mates spent about 10 hours bobbing up and down in the Pacific in nothing more than their skivvies and a life jacket.

“The dive bombers were coming down right on top of us, straight out of the sun,” Spooner said. “There was nothing we could do with them.”

Spooner said he remembers abandoning the Yorktown and diving into the ocean at about 2:30 p.m. He was rescued by a cruiser about 10 hours later.

That’s a long time to be alone with your thoughts.

“I thought about Iron City,” said Spooner, who joined the Navy in late October, 1941. Two weeks later, Pearl Harbor was bombed and Spooner was thrust straight into the war with no time to go home. “I didn’t think I was ever going to get back.”

I thought this might be the case the first time I saw Roger Spooner and his wife Eloise on TV. Not too many folks get to walk around with that Yorktown hat. Not too many left alive.

Creeps like Brietbart need to take their libertarian teabags and stick them where the sun don’t shine.

This is a real hit at our home – not because we have any babies around; but, we have at least one of our dogs who matches this guy note for note.

The Boyd sisters have been raised singing the national anthem every day, but a New Brunswick school has silenced their morning ritual.

These days, the only time Julia Boyd, 11, gets to belt out the anthem’s lyrics is at monthly school assemblies, other special occasions or at home with her older sister Kara. That’s because singing O Canada is no longer a daily morning event at Belleisle Elementary. The school’s principal has dropped it in response to concerns from other parents.

“It makes me sad, upset,” Julia said. “I didn’t feel very good about it.”

The change started more than a year ago, but their mother said she didn’t find out until Julia started forgetting some of the lyrics…

Erik Millett, principal of Belleisle Elementary School, said some parents complained about the singing of O Canada each day. The anthem is no longer a daily ritual, but he said perhaps the education minister should decide on a provincial solution. Erik Millett, principal of Belleisle Elementary School, said some parents complained about the singing of O Canada each day. The anthem is no longer a daily ritual, but he said perhaps the education minister should decide on a provincial solution.

Erik Millett, the school’s principal, said he made the decision partly to accommodate parents who didn’t want their children taking part in the daily anthem. He would not say why the parents didn’t want their kids taking part, citing privacy reasons.

Weird. I feel strongly about individual rights to choose – and all the way back to my own high school daze I refused to take part in school prayers when they were introduced. But, I never tried to force other students to do anything other than make up their own minds.

UPDATE: The principal’s decision has been reversed by the district super.