"We can't all be heroes, someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by." ~ Will Rogers
Gentle Readers and Loved Ones,
So, Rowdy and I have been staying the last week up here in our family's pleasant cabin in the NW Wisconsin woods that I written of many times. We've been socially distancing and working on our team-work and bird dogging skills as the Woodcocks came through.
We took a break today as the wintry mix hit and went on a road trip - avoiding almost all human contact - up to Poplar, WI. It's a trip I've been meaning to do for a few years now. Specifically to the Poplar Cemetery to pay our respects to Medal of Honor winner and leading WWII Air Corps Ace, Major Richard I Bong.
His story is here. Jokes about his name are plentiful, but he is still a hero up here in NW Wisconsin.
Forty years ago, when I was a cadet at USAFA there was a wall that you had to walk by everyday when you went to the post office to check your mail. The Hall of Heroes as I recall held a picture and short bio of every Ace that the USAF had. Major Bong's picture was in the upper left corner, the leading Ace of WWII.
He grew up in Poplar, WI and was a graduate of the college in Superior, WI, just across the bay from Duluth, MN. The bridge that connects the two cities is a big, loopy soaring construction, very pretty, called "The Bong Bridge."
Back when we put the deposit down on Rowdy, I had intended to name him "Bong" in honor of the Major and because I hoped we would be doing a lot of birding up here in Bong territory.
Neither I nor Ann, however, could bring ourselves to naming a dog in such a fashion that we would be running about the neighborhood yelling, "Bong! Here!" So, we sadly chose differently. But, in my mind I always tenuously connect Major Bong and Rowdy. Please just give me this one, ok?
Entering the cemetery through the southern side.
I had some concerns about finding the grave but it's well marked.
So here is Rowdy visiting the Major's grave...
On that note, I remain,
Dad/Geoff
