Re: Memorial Daze

05/30/10 - posted by Jo Anne Q.

The more I think about it, the more I want to honor specific individuals, who grew up, or moved to, the Outsidelands, and subsequently served...

My Dad: William John Quinn, who served in WWI in the Navy.
My Brother: John Joseph Quinn, who served in WWII in the Navy as a Gunner on a battleship...and lost all hearing in his right ear as a result. (And, he never wanted to talk about his experiences.)
Many of my male college friends, or brothers of women college friends, who served in VietNam. I especially remember learning about Pete Pulis, brother of Mary Ann Pulis (whom I went to school with at Lone Mountain). He was swinging on a helicopter rope during an evac, and smashed into a tree. He ended up being seriously damaged - in body and mind - for life, and, after being hospitalized, I do not know if he came through it enough to survive...
To a VietNam vet friend of my then-husband, whom I met at a wedding reception after he was discharged. When the champagne corks started to pop, he dove under the table, and had to leave...
To St. Cecilia classmates who served in VietNam, and who still prefer not to talk about their service to this day...

These folks did not live in the Outsidelands, but they were family, and deserve mention...
My Dad's Brother: Edward Quinn, who served in WWI.
My Maternal Uncles: Joe, John and Dan Hennessy, who served in WWI.