D-Day 75th Anniversary

Today marks the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Normandy invasion that helped liberate Europe. This year there seems to be more exposure to this event than in previous years, or, it may be just that I am paying more attention. I am seeing a lot more articles and stories on what happened and more stories on the under-represented minorities that helped fight this battle of WW II. Native Americans, Black only units, both male and female. Women who were nurses and pilots. All willing to give their lives for a greater cause.

I am proud of my heritage and those in my family that served their nation in the armed forces for however long. I have those that were in only for a short time and decided it was not for them and I have those that did 20 years to retirement. Either way, they all had the calling at some point. Every one of my 3 brothers enlisted in different services. 2 in the Army and 1 in the Air Force. I myself did 20 in the Navy.

As I search my ancestry, I found a few people that served in the military. From the Civil War to current. What a long history. Sometimes I wonder if in the Civil War if any of the ancestors actually fought against each other. Neither of them knowing what the future of their lineage had in store for them. Wow, can you imagine!

I would like to give a shout out to those in my line that served in World War II

Hiawatha H. Bland – Great Uncle

Vernon Nichols – Great Uncle

Victor Bland – Great Uncle

May you Rest in Peace – Thank you for your service!

The Tides of March

I took a hiatus from the blog. March 2019 was not a good month for the Garcia/Coy family. The Garcia side (my side) lost a brother and my mother – within a week of each other. The Coy side (wife’s side) lost her mother – within a few days of me losing mine. Rough month – March 2019. My family needed some time and closure, so we decided to take three weeks and drive across the U.S. and visit family and friends. We went to our favorite place first – Walt Disney World – and spent a few days there resting at the Shades of Green Hotel. We then headed to Mobile, Alabama for a one-night visit with one of the wife’s brothers. Good time with him, his family and some of their friends. We then drove to Texas and spent one evening visiting one of my sisters and her family in Houston. Very good visit, but I do have to say that Houston traffic is a little scary! We then ventured to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to do a little sight- seeing. We also stopped and visited a first cousin and his family in Mt Pleasant, Texas. I had never met this cousin in person before - online chats when I was doing some family searching. It was a great thing. I have read about people meeting relatives online and then they finally get to meet them in person. My turn and it was awesome.

The family and I are back home – so we will get back on track blogging soonest!

The Blackface Drama

So, the Virginia governor is under a lot of pressure to resign the office because of a picture of two people standing next to each other, one in blackface and the other in a KKK type outfit, in a yearbook, on pages dedicated to the governor. There are several innuendos with the picture and one can assume that since the picture of the two individuals is on the yearbook pages with the governor’s name and his picture, that one of the individuals in the picture is the governor. Although now, the governor is saying that this picture is not him, but he does admit that he had been in blackface once before when he was trying to imitate Michael Jackson.

In 1983 while stationed in Scotland I was invited to a play in the town of Arbroath that was being put on by a local group. I agreed to go and check it out having no ide what the play was or what it was about. I figured it would be some theater ply and it would be something fun to do and meet some of the locals.

As I walked in the theater the crowd suddenly got silent. Being the naïve sailor that I was I only assumed it was because 1) - I was a sailor from the base at RAF Edzell and/or 2) - I was a person of color (probably didn’t help I was wearing some off-white colored 3-piece suit). Anyway, I noticed the silence but paid it no mind and went to my seat with my date. The Seats were stage center, third row back.

As the lights dimmed and the curtains opened, I just stared. I could not believe what I was seeing. My poor little brain was having a hard time processing what my eyes were witnessing and all I could say – in typical sailor speak was “What the f###!”. On stage came 4 or 5 actors in blackface with white around their mouths.

They started speaking in their version of the stereotype black southern house servant. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I thought this type of play had gone by the wayside in the 50’s or 60’s. I had seen some of this on television when I was young on cartoons and weekly shows and had read about it in books but never did I dream I would actually see something like this in real life in the 80’s.

I can tell you my emotions were all over the place. I couldn’t believe it. It was just wrong. I was angry. I almost got up and left but pride – proud of who I was – made me stay, watch the play and try to understand.

Were these people that far out of touch or just insensitive?

So, believe me, I understand the anger people are feeling towards Governor Northam. Was the governor wrong? Yeas. Has he changed? I hope so.