Spring 2022 3001 Class intros

[Elle Barre]

Hi I'm Elle. I've been attending the GRC classes for the past year and a half at half time. I'm a mature student in my sixties, having come around again and again in my life to media production of some kind: I started with desktop publishing in the 1980s, calling the shots over the shoulder of a real graphic artist who taught me some Publisher (InDesign) and Illustrator. It's been dabbling here and there for the 30+ years since then. I had a baby at age 41, she's almost 23; I raised her on my own and loved every minute of it. I live just out of town on a hillside that overlooks all of Reno, Mount Rose, Peavine Mtn and part of Sparks, and I catch incredible sunsets and cloud formations, and lightning storms over Reno like it's a snowglobe in the distance. It's windy alot, but the views are sensational. A few years ago, I moved here from Ventura, CA where I raised my daughter (lives in Oregon now, doing great) to live near my aging parents (Dad is 91, a Korean War combat veteran stationed on a Navy aircraft carrier (the Leyte) supporting the men ambushed at the "Chosin Reservoir"--horrible horrible--he NEVER talked about that until a few years ago, and watching your rather emotionless-seeming dad choking up trying to tell his story, you understand why he's stuffed it down for his whole life. Those men were in a BAD BAD spot, and being hacked to death in hand-to-hand combat by the hundreds, vastly outnumbered; they didn't have a snowball's chance in Hey y'all. The Leyte sent planes in to strafe the attacking soldiers (I don't even know what nationality they were, Chinese or Korean or both, or Idk) so that American soldiers could get away. Every man on the Leyte volunteered to be taken over to fight on the ground--they heard the pilots talking on the radio loudspeakers and were practically jumping overboard to get over there and help our men. The first black Navy pilot was stationed on Dad's ship: he went down unfortunately and survived for a time, but was badly hurt. Another pilot literally crash-landed to get down and protect him from being torn to bits by enemy--with his HANDGUN! One day a couple years ago, someone saw my dad at a gas station here in Panther Valley, wearing his Leyte Navy cap, and this old man sent his adult son to ask if he'd wait for HIS father to hobble over to speak to him, which he did, of course, though my dad is not Mr. Friendly. The other old man approached my dad, and they introduced themselves--they were both at Chosin... Dad on the aircraft carrier, the other man a Marine on the ground. He said to my dad, through tears, "I want to THANK YOU! You're a gd hero! You and the men on your ship meant everything in the world to us on the ground, just knowing you were out there, trying to save us." I AM NOT CRYING! The first pilot died, but the one who tried to save him won the Congressional Medal of Honor for that, so, he DID miraculously get out. Mom is 87, brilliant artist, real estate broker, and law school grad at age sixty-inspiring two of my siblings to go to law school in their forties and become lawyers. They've been married for 67 years, achieved a lot and paved the way to careers in real estate, building and law to my seven siblings, who've in turn, borne about 20 or so kids and grandkids of their own here in Reno Sparks and one in Ventura. Covid has taken a huge bite out of our family's socializing together: kids are growing up by miles and the old folks are so lonely for all their wonderful grands and great-grands. I'm not that good of company for them: I'm obsessed with my own loneliness for MY daughter. :- ( It's been a year and a half since I've seen Apple (her nickname) in person. A Covid scare snatched our planned January visit... now, I look to going to see her right after this semester.

My plans in this field are to create multimedia presentations on subjects that matter to me, some anecdotes from our family history, social commentary, self-awareness, entertainment. I have a youtube channel for posting my little photo slideshows to music and some projects, nobody watches but extended family to look at the genealogy videos, but, it's practice putting myself out there. Slideshows put on youtube, just pics and video and titles is how I view my old and new photography nowadays: the photo albums of yesteryear are no more, so youtube is my albums. Also, I would like to create multimedia for paying customers, I hope to figure out how to do that soon. I admire the magic of the new ways of doing things, but I am confident that simplicity is the strongest framework to put a message in. It's like the fashion credo: "Get all dressed up in the total outfit and then, before you walk out the door, take off one piece of jewelry." "A painter must know when to stop painting." "A writer should toss out their whole first page (Believe it or not, I did. I just added on more at the end, it's a feedback loop, I give up.) :- )

[Instructor]

Welcome to GRC 175, Elle. I think you are going to have a good time here. The skills you'll pick up in here will help you with getting your message out especially when you want to build a website to direct traffic to your videos. One software we don't teach in this class, but which might come in handy for your burgeoning YouTube career is Adobe After Effects, a software that let's you overlay graphics and do visual effects in your videos. There are some great tutorials on it on YouTube and Lynda.

Those stories about your father in Korea really resonated with me. My grandfather was a Marine Corps Aviator in Korea flying photo reconnaissance missions in F4Us and F7Fs during the early days of the war over Chosin and the Pusan perimeter. His unit (Headquarters Squadron, MAG-33) was the only arial recon unit in theater for months and they earned their spurs. Given how tiny the naval aviation community is, I suspect they knew some of the same people. He had some wild stories! It was from him that I heard the tale of Jessie Brown and Thomas Hudner. He was the one who got me into aviation and military history which are two of my hobbies to this day. The Corsair will always be a special plane to me beciuase of the stories my grandfather told about it.

I hope you get a chance to see your daughter after the semester. Hopefully COVID will have abated some by then. *fingers crossed*

If you have any questions or need any clarification, don't hesitate to reach out to me via email, Canvas, or this forum.

[Elle Barre]

I'm going to try this again... lost a whole long response to you about my dad with a few more stories, like how he got a kiss from newlywed Elizabeth Taylor, then 18 years old, on her honeymoon with Nicky Hilton in Cannes, France in 1950. His ship, the USS Leyte aircraft carrier, "a capital ship" (and its 19 escort ships: destroyers, fighters, cruisers, etc.: The 6th Fleet) was on a 'goodwill tour' before the Korean War broke out, hitting all the ports in the Med. Dad was the bandleader of the ship--he was only 20, leading about 18 other men, all in their early 20s, too. At each port, Nice, Cannes, Crete, western Italy (forget the name, might be closed now), Athens, a Turkish island, Beirut. The unusually high-ranking Leyte chaplain arranged a concert at each port, and welcoming parties of young people (women) for the sailors to dance with. The band was always front and center. So with the 3,000 sailors and airmen on the USS Leyte, and all those in the almost 20 support ships in the Fleet, they anchored at Cannes when Elizabeth Taylor was there. He doesn't know how it was that Elizabeth came to do this, if she asked or it was a prearranged photo op, but, she and Nicky were brought out on a vessel that was attached to the Leyte, climbed up the gangplank, and were formally greeted by the Captain and other top brass, and then came to the hangar deck where a big dance area was ready. She brushed right past him as he led the band, danced with several lucky sailors, and then she asked my dad to play a certain song, and planted a kiss on his cheek for the favor. Dad was a dancer, too, he must've wished he wasn't the bandleader, but then, it got him that kiss. She was 18, at her most adorably beautiful and Dad was a handsome soldier of Norwegian extraction.

The Leyte and Dad were later the 7th Fleet, so, just ftr. He was attached to both the 6th and the 7th consecutively. It's incredible what our fathers experienced in the Navy of the 1940s and 50s. 52,000 soldiers, sailors and airmen were KIA in the Korean War. That's about SEVENTEEN USS Leyte's full of people. I talked to Dad (George) this afternoon; he'd read that article you linked me to, and it livened him right up to talk to me about it. He confirms that future Medal of Honor awardee Tom Hudner did indeed purposely crash land after Airman Jesse Brown went down, because he and all the other “recon” pilots in his group could see the enemy closing in on downed, and trapped in his plane, pilot Brown: otherwise he might have been rescueable by the coming rescue helicopters--and these enemy soldiers were armed only with crude implements: swords, homemade bayonets, and the like, not guns. Out at sea, the USS Leyte captain opened up the inter-pilot radio coms to the ship’s loudspeaker, all hands at battle stations, ready for anything, and it was clear that Hudner was crash landing to protect Brown with nothing but his .45, and when he got on the ground, he was SHOOTING at the enemy, they were that close. Only when the helis arrived could they strafe back the blade and club-wielding horde.

This is what made all the sailors just apoplectic to swim over there and HELP (they'd have died in the frosty seas, plus FAR FAR from shore). In the telling me, Dad suddenly lunged up from his reclining position, and choked up as he tried to get that sentence out of his mouth, “He went down there and fought them off with his 45!” his 'gun finger' shooting in fan of firing. Sound could not even come out; his lips were enunciating, but no sound. The look on his face was more intense than I've ever seen him express; wild eyed. The men aboard the Leyte must have been screaming and bellowing, HELPLESS and HORRIFIED what was happening to THEIR airmen, and Dad went right back there to that moment today. The fear for their shipmates, the elite airmen all the boys looked up to; just a year or two older than them--they must have been freaking out. Airman Brown alone but alive on the ground there, and the absolute crazy heroism of Airman Hudner, purposely crash-landing to HELP him, so terrifying was the alternative: watch him be mobbed.

It had to be harrowing to LISTEN to on the loudspeaker, trying to maintain, as they would say, “Maintain!” [composure]. An aircraft carrier full of fighter planes, guns and ammo, but their two airmen were on the icy ground, one little .45 fighting off hordes of oncoming brutes--until rescue helicopters got there and strafed the enemy lines back. I am not totally surprised that the Navy didn’t make a public note of how horrific that circumstance really was for all concerned, and didn’t mention that specific part, but it is the part that stuck in my dad’s throat: Hudner was fighting off a horde with a .45 pistol. Medal of Honor winner. I think Reality Winner (ironic name of a REAL person who is also a HERO) should be awarded the Medal of Honor. Look her up: she is BRAVE, BRAVE, BRAVE. Only because of HER bravery, the entire nation knows about Russian interference in our elections. Only because of HER taking a HUGE risk for US.

Anyway, it's here in these conversations that the truths and pain of our old soldiers will be remembered and respected, no matter how one feels about war, the soldiers who sign up or are drafted are doing it for patriotism. Pearl Harbor happened when Dad was 11 in Pasco, Washington, a farming /ranching small town. He was out playing in the streets when suddenly EVERYONE in Pasco flooded out of their houses when they heard the radio announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Imagine, playing ball in the streets, and suddenly the entire population of the town runs out of the their houses, crying, shocked, and then young men RUNNING to sign up to be soldiers. It was terrifying. Every boy over 4 years old wanted to sign up for the military that day.

Elle okay here goes, I'm about to press submit...

[Instructor]

Wow! Now see those are some great stories. Thank you so much for sharing!

Every vet I know from my generation and earlier has a string of wild stories like those. My grandfather had a ton of them too. I consider myself fortunate to have heard so many of them. And now I have a few more from your father to add to my collection. I'm glad I could liven up your father's day.

A kiss from Elizabeth Taylor. Heh. Burned into his brain that is.

[Elle Barre]

It's quite nice for Dad. I sent all my writing and the websites to all my siblings, too. They love it. I don't know why I was compelled to go into it on my Class Intro, but SO GLAD I did, for what you connected me to. I've looked now on YouTube and there are many bios about Hudner and Brown... none as colorful and emotive as my dad's retelling of it from the POV of men on the ship... and, different facts about the role of Hudner's .45. I choose to believe Dad's story. :- ) He's never been an exaggerator AT ALL: instrumental music teacher at middle schools for many years before switching to real estate developer. And not just any middle school at just any time in history, but that's a story for another time. Please write about your grandfather's stories! How fascinating it would be! And what a way to honor him, and all the others who are still hanging on. I watched old vets talking about their Korean War experience... some I found on YouTube... the 'forgotten war' vets. I bumped into this trying to figure out 'signatures' so I don't have one yet....