February 18, 2007

  • War

    The planes got closer.  The air was tense.  Bodies went flying in the air.  Bombs went off all around me.  I fell to the ground with my hands over my head.  Several of my Navy buddies did the same.  Enemy aircraft continued their attack.  Screams were heard all around.  A central voice shouted instructions.  Water began to splash from explosions hitting it.  More bodies went into the air only fall to the ground.  The wounded became evident.  More bodies fell to the ground, motionless.  A central voice continued to shout instructions.  The roar of the planes was frightening.  Men were running all around.  It looked like chaos.  The planes dissapeared into the horizon.  Human carnage was all around.  Men and women in uniform were limping and obviously hurt.  I rose from the ground.  A central voice shouted, "Cut".    I was a Sailor in the mini series, "Winds of War".  It was a movie shot by hollywood and it was a lot of fun.  It was the Pearl Harbor attack scene. I saw Robert Mitchum take cover. 

    Heir Force                      I started off by asking everyone who had a Bible.  The 4 kids that had a Bible I gave them a dollar.  I then asked them what the lesson title was and told them the winner got a can of pop.  It took them about 30 minutes and a boy finally got it right.  They gave a lot of good answers but the correct one was, "Put the Bible 1st".  We played a game of shoes.  If you answered the question correctly you could keep your shoe and pick someone else to throw their shoe in the pile.  Get it wrong you lost your shoe.  Everyone lost their shoes, including me, except one girl.  It was a fun class. 

    Just talked to my Grandmother on the phone.  She's in a Nursing Home.  I had a good talk with her.  She was lonely - I'm glad I called. 

Comments (102)

  • Wow... very cool. Ang

  • cool  hope u weren't wounded 

  • cool  hope u weren't wounded 

  • very cool...who woulda though? hope you weekend is going well..

  • LOL! Great story.... Nothing exciting happens in my life! LOL

  • Can you be picked out in that show?    I have Winds of War  on DVD.    While I was in NY I saw War and Remembrance on DVD too.

    I remember when The Winds of War was on TV.  It was around Christmas time of 1982, or maybe the spring of 1983.   I was in the Navy at the time and we couldn't see it on the ship's televisions.

  • Ah that reminds me when Will Smith was filming his new movie at Brooklyn Bridge around a few weeks ago.

  • Well, that is very cool.

  • I saw that movie!!!! DID YOU GET PAID??

  • In 1998 I was at a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game. They were playing the Atlanta Braves; this was the season where Mark McGwire would eventually set the single-season home-run record. McGwire had been disagreeing with the homeplate umpire most of the game about balls and strikes. It reached the point where they were face-to-face and McGwire got thrown out of the game. When this happened the sold-out crowd (somewhere over 50,000 people) erupted with disgust and began throwing things onto the field. I thought there was going to be a riot; people were pretty crazy about those home-runs back then. I was, too, but I didn't throw anything onto the field.

    A year ago I was almost the stand-in for Johnny Knoxville in the yet-to-be-released film "Kill Shot." I'm just a bit taller than he is.

  • That is INCREDIBLE!!!  That must have been an awesome experience!!  My husband would have loved doing something like that.  Can I get your autograph????

    Have a wonderful evening!!

  • that sounds exciting.  I just posted something on my site that maybe didn't have as much ammo or crowd appeal but it was life changing none the less.

  • I wonder what the kids think about when they're in combat?  I know it was a movie, but it made me sad.

  • that would be on http://www.xanga.com/OJesuslovesyousomuch  Sorry about that

  • kewl. Look Enya up on google and listen to her  celtic songs. Judi

  • Awesome, Randy!

    I liked "The Winds of War", but I think his best work was "The Caine Mutiny".

  • Ah...well I guess this period of time is alright not the best but hey God put us in this time period for a reason! haha

  • So good you got a chance to do that ....I have always wanted to be a *

    Thanks for all your good thoughts on my site!  Nancy

  • Wow how interesting...might have to get that movie...since I am a movie buff!  LOL.

  • The paragraph is so realistic that I didn't expect that! Very cool. I think you should put up that scene in YouTube.

  • I'd say that was an excellent day... wish you had my camera, bu then again, you put me there.

    who needs a camera with imagination

  • Cool story. :)

  • Wow!

     I love KJ 5-2.  I also love Spirit 102.3.

  • More radioactivity tomorrow! LOL!

  • neat!

  • ok. i know i may be sometimes blonde but i didnt get it ^_^ were you really in the war or were you in a movie?
    ohhh shit britney shaved her head :( fucken drugies man

  • WAY COOL!!!!

  • I am feeling better, thanks for asking! Wow... you certainly have a way with words, so realistic! I bet that was fun... Gonna have to see the movie now! ;) Blessings!

  • wow.  talk about plot shift.  i was all involved in the war and everything and then all of a sudden it was a mini-series.  i love it.

  • HARD CORE. That really is cool. Since I now live in the Mini Hollywood, I hear a lot of people being "extras" stories. In the movie the Guardian, one of the kids I rode the bus with had a sorta speaking role in the bar scene as one of the guys to egg Ashton on. Also, a Civics field trip I took last year was in the same bus as the one Sandra Bullock used in her movie Premonition. The list goes on and on.

    There's always something being filmed around here. =]

  • Cool! It's nice to know a celebrity.

    larry

  • RYC - Wow. Quick response.

  • I don't usually enjoy war stories but that was a good one. Try the Oprah bookclub.

  • That's totally cool...Can you be spotted easily?

  • Ah I wish, there were supposedly all these prop battleships and helicopters at the set on Brooklyn Bridge too.

  • Wow.  Never saw that movie...may have to now!

    Have a great weekend

    Christy

  • funtimes on the movie set!
    bet you got a nice lunch!

  • That is too cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • far out, randy!

  • Interesting story. Battle scenes are especially hard to write about, but here's my opinion: Maybe you could make it appeal to the senses more? When I read stories that appeal to my senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, the story is much easier to experience and more enjoyable.

    "Shrieks of terror rang in my ears. My head throbbed and pulsated from the ever-present threat of death. I could taste the bitterness of blood on my face and smelled the toxic aura of uninvited darkness...." <- or something like that. I just came up with that, so it's probably a bit cheesy, but you get the idea.

  • Randy,

    RYC I have had a few war stories in my life..Times which were rough, but with God's help, I got thru them.. The following was one of those times:

    <TABLE class=blogbody cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0>
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    I had a close friend who died of cancer when she was 30 y/o. I was 32. The anniversary of her death is in October..so that is what compelled me to write about her.. It happened many, many years ago!!

    Marguerite was a home ec teacher at a local High School. She was always cheery and I always left her feeling better about the world and my life. She had a ready smile and a very giving personality. We both wanted children and would talk for hours about this goal. She had lovely brown eyes, brown hair and was a very pretty girl. She was very health conscious and never smoked nor drank alcohol. She fixed healthy meals.

    I met Marguerite and her husband, Steve, when my husband and I joined a Young Married's Sunday School class. We would always sit together and just laugh and crack up about the silliest things!!

    The Fall of 1983 we went to Branson and went to Silver Dollar City. I have a picture of her sitting on one of the benches there... It was the last picture I took of her because I was too heartbroken to take a picture of her once she'd lost her hair to the chemotherapy. After we got back home from Silver Dollar, she mentioned to me that she was losing weight and had this nagging cough. Thinking it was pneumonia, I told her she'd better go and see a doctor.

    Her doctor saw her and took a chest x-ray. He, too, thought she had pneumonia.. He prescribed an antibiotic and our lives went on.

    In November, Marguerite told me that she was no better and her cough was worse. She went back to the doctor who prescribed a different antibiotic.

    Approaching Christmas, Marguerite was no better. Now, I could tell she was much skinnier--skin and bones. She was losing more weight and she went back to the doctor. This time, the doctor told her that he wanted to do a bronchoscopy (a diagnostic test where the doctor uses a bronchoscope to look down the two main airways leading to the lungs). She decided that she would enter the hospital on Jan 2, 1984.  A week later, we knew. She had cancer of the lung. Not the type of cancer which smokers get. She had the type of cancer, adenocarcinoma, which older folks contract.

    She started on radiation therapy first and then had chemotherapy for the next year and a half. I'd take her to the appts when I could, because her mother-in-law took her if I didn't. Her mother-in-law once told her that she could smell cancer and that Marguerite smelled like cancer. It was a thoughtless remark which had devastating impact on my friend. I would have shaken her mother-in-law if I thought it would do any good.

    Marguerite's husband was at a loss. He loved his wife and didn't really know how to take it. Mostly, he worried about what the effects on HIM would be during her illness. I felt sorry for him since he really didn't have the capacity or ability to support her during this rough time.

    I knew things were turning the corner--into oncoming traffic--when Marguerite called me. She was lost and couldn't find her way back home from the doctor's office. She had been there many, many times before, but I knew that this confusion was probably due to metastasis (spreading of the cancer) to her brain. I was devastated.

    Marguerite had several admissions to the hospital when she would get worse but she always made it out again. I was trying to remain hopeful. In the meantime, I found out that I was pregnant.  I hated to tell Marguerite because that had been our shared goal.

    Marguerite's last admission to the hospital was to ICU. She was becoming more confused, at times. I knew that she may not make it and it filled me with such a sense of loss....

    She was finally discharged from ICU and went home on a Saturday in October. I talked with her that day and she was her usual cheery self, but I noticed that she sounded breathless. I believe I talked to her at 11am.

    At 4pm I got a call from her family. After lunch, she'd taken the proverbial "turn for the worse" and had been rushed to a local hospital ER. She died there. She was only 30 y/o. I sobbed uncontrollably.

    The year after her passing was difficult and exciting. Difficult because my best friend was gone... Exciting, because I delivered my little bundle of joy. This opened a new chapter in my life.

    Even now, 22 years since she died, I miss her. Every once in a while something will remind me of her and I will bawl like a baby. Even now. So long since she died. A couple of years ago, her mother contacted me (we exchange Christmas cards each year) and told me that Marguerite would have wanted me to have Marguerite's cross. I was excited to receive such an awesome gift.

    I wear it with pride.. It is a memory-filled cross.

    Go home and tell someone you love how important they are to you today!!! You never know..You may never have another chance.

  • Ok........that is cool.............hugs.

  • ha you kind of had me going there for a second

    that must be cool being an extra in a movie

  • How did you find your way to a movie set?

  • Dude, that's awesome. Robert Mitchum rocked, and even besides that it would be cool to do extra work.

  • Thank you very much...cool story!

  • Wow a movie star!  Interesting read.

  • Cool!  But can you imagine what the terrible, real thing must have been like?

  • That story sounds awesome!! When was that?

    Carlton Pearson is the biggest modern day heretic that I know of. He used to pastor a large charismatic church, until he started preaching his "gospel of inclusion", and he has since been disfellowshipped from several prominent ministries, and lost a good portion of his congregation. However, he still has a decent number of followers, and has gained new ones since his "revelation from God." In short, his name and the name of his ministry USED to be recognized favorably, but now draws shudders. You can read some more official sounding information at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Pearson. It's just one of those situations where he has a lot of people who trust him & believe what he says, and is using his influence to lead them completely astray.

  • Wow, how neat!

  • I have always wanted to know how one can be an extra in a movie. How? And how much do they pay people?

  • woah! Nice! how did you managed to get to play a sailor? Did you apply or did they ask you?

  • How fun to have experienced that!  I loved "Winds of War!" Thanks for stopping by my site, Randy!  Nice to finally meet you!

  • So you were playing in this movie about the attack of Pearl Harbor . I guess you have lived this experience as real . I wonder how they could make the bodies fly in the air . They were  obviously false bodies for the movie . It remain this should be impressing .
     By the way yourself have been raised off from the ground . This intrigues me .

    In friendship

    Michel

  • Wow, that must have been so interesting to see the production of a film with this magnitude.  It is very scary to think that this sort of thing is going on right now, at this very moment, except that the bombs and bodies and screams are real.  

    I'll admit that I have some difficulty watching war films, because I've known (and still know) men and women who have been impacted in the worst sort of ways by the horrors by war.  I pray that movies and t.v. series about war help people learn why we need to try to prevent war, and that these films can help those of us who have not directly been in war gain a better understanding of what war survivors have been through.  I think it's great that technology can help us watch events in history unfold, as well as learn from what we watch.  

  • Great story. Hope you are having a fantastic weekend!

  • Hilarious. Did you lose any limbs in the process?

  • Wow!  That must have been a lot of fun, and very exciting to take part in!!!!! 

    When did you do this?  What fun!!

  • I am glad you had fun with your experience. I can't imagine it was too much fun for people like my grand father who was in Navy stationed IN Pearl Harbor when it happened. He was not the same man when he came home from what I am told. I can't even imagine how scary that must have been in real life.:(

  • I have started to search data banks on where he was and his division. I haven't gotten too far, but I have wondered if there are others still alive who were there with him. He came home from the war just to find his mother had sold everything he owned. He sent EVERY pay check home to her and that was the thanks he got. He was such a bitter man for a long time but for some reason he wasn't with me. I was always his apple. I wish I could have asked him more.

  • ayee,, not bad, not bad...

    quite interesting there

  • i thought it was one of those ads made by the governments to trick you into joining the army

  • wow! u reply fast! btw I really like your post haha good stuff

  • god has touched so many ppl's lives,, it's so cool`

  • Have a fun Sunday!

  • neat !!!!!!!

  • how cool is that? I remember winds of war...

  • you're so sneaky...with the twist at the end!

  • RANDY,

    RYC  Yes, Marguerite was my very best friend and she died when she was 28 y/o. Had a profound affect on me. Yet, I had a newborn baby to care for and my daughter helped me deal with some of my sorrow at losing my best friend. I was just 29 when Marguerite died.. I have lost several other ppl in my life since then..And, somehow, the loss of Marguerite was difficult for me.. She was my age, she wanted to have children--but that was not to be--and she was a good human being who loved God. It was hard to make sense of it. I read the book, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People" and that helped a little knowing that death didn't always make sense to others, either...

    Have a good and prayerful day, Randy.

    Thanks for stopping by.

    In HIS grace and LOVE,

    Your sister in Christ,

    Christy

  • Hmm interesting =)

  • NICE STORY!

  • Uh Hi?

  • Thanks you!

  • How cool you got to do that :)

  • neato!

  • I love stories like that. Did it really happen? I also love to write. That's a good piece.
    God bless.
    Oh, and thanks for the invite.

  • Cool story.  I also love KJ52. Was listening to it on the way home from church just now.  Do you think he is judging Jessica Simpson?  Ha ha.  I think you should do a report on East London, South Africa.

  • That must have been exciting!!  You've had some good posts lately.  I would like to say tho about your post of T. R., you stated he was a great man, but not a good father.  I beg to differ: you can not be both a great man and a bad father.  To me, they go together.  Take care & God bless!

  • thanks!

  • niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice

  • Happy Chinese New Year.

  • Sounds like fun!!!!

  • Oh my gosh! This is so cool! What a great story and what a great memory! That is the only kind of war I would like to be apart of. Teehee! Fun!

  • thanks for your comment !!

    i put a new update on today.

  • HELLO

  • You are welcome my Brother....knew some guys at a previous job that were extras for a movie, "Unecessary Roughness" that was filmed at Univ of N TX, they were students there and were hired to be part of the crowd....I have never done that, with my background and looks I am sure you know what kind of movies I might be selected to be a part of, capish?, hehehe

    Be Blessed this weekend!

    Mike

  • Very neat :)

  • huh?  so you were in a movie??  wow!  such fame among us Xangans!

  • lol! Im not a big fan of war. too goorrrryyyy. =) but great writing. i love the detail =)

  • so you with an agency too? I'm with Central Casting.

  • uh hi tnkx

  • randy r u there

  • hello

  • thats awesome. I saw the part of the making of "After the Sunset" with Peirce B. (007). it out in Cali. when I was visiting my sister. That sounds very cool though.

  • May you be kind enough to leave a comment in this xanga?
    To greet her birthday ^^...

    http://www.xanga.com/veronlam_0526/

  • war is not something very cool. People forget that wars to happen and that it is a bigger deal than the movies make it to be. it has some very big consequences that people don't realize and they should be.

    adbusters . may/june 2005 . #59 . vol. 13 number 3
    "i was just watching a documentary on the effects of agent orange still wreaking havoc on the poor people in Vietnam long after the war. Causing babies to be born without eyes, flippers for hands and feet dieing lonely horrible deaths flopping around on the floor All the while their parents who are dying of cancer can't even feed themselves let alone take care of their mutilated children. All they can do is cry and watch each other die! Monstan/Monstanos the manufacturer of agent orange says that the government compelled them to make and sell stuff so they are not in any was responsible!!!"

  • Man, I thought you were describing a battle in Vietnam, but then you'd been about 12-16, so that was out. Then you mentioned the Navy....it was only when I read "Cut" did I finally realize what it was about.

    Did you meet Robert Mitchum?

  • I love that movie.  Cool.  You already heard my war story on New Years Day.

  • I do remember Winds of War!  That and Roots were my favorite mini-series.  That was way back when they first started making mini-series.  Hubby loved WW II movies, and we were riveted to the TV during Winds.  Did they have to do more than one take of the scene you were in?  Did you have to do any action yourself?  Or were you just standing there?  Hubby would have loved to be an extra in a Western movie.  But the opportunity never came up here in Wisconsin!!  lol  Once, when we visited the movie set at Old Tucson, Ken was dressed in western garb, as he always is when he goes out.  He was approached by several kids asking him for autographs, thinking he was part of the cast that put on "street shootouts" at Old Tucson.  He loved it!!  Our sons and I just rolled our eyes.  lol

  • What a story!

    I was in a training video for PA State Police on handling school shootings. I got shot in the hallway of my Dad's high school-- right in the forehead. Dramatic and a great time. I still keep in contact with the EMT who was in charge of our costume/makeup.

  • Interesting. =)

    ~ glitterglory^_^

  • "Put the Bible 1st"    Shouldn't it be "Keep seeking first the Kingdom " ?

    That is the only hope for mankind. God's original purpose for man to live on earth as stated in Psalms 37 is going to happen by way of this kingdom with Jesus as it's King. A real government as stated in Daniel 2:44. The good news of the kingdom will be preached in all of the inhabited earth and then the end will come. That's the Kingdom we pray for in the Lord's prayer.

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