September 2011 - Irish American News

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22 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” September 2011A Salute to Ground ZeroOne of the most touching events one canexperience in the naval service is passing theUSS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. Thecrew of an entire naval vessel, be it a tinyminesweeper or a giant supercarrier “mansthe rails” standing at attention while theship’s officers salute the unique Pearl Harbormemorial.The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011has been called this generation’s Pearl Harbor,and thinking back ten years the comparisonwasn’t lost on my Greatest Generation parents.As I saw news of the first World Trade Centertower struck on my computer and learned ofthe second via live television, I made a quickcall home to Northbrook. My mom Audrey wasalways the one to call me with breaking news...this time I barely beat her. “Mom, are you watchingthis? Is this what Pearl Harbor was like?”At then age 83 and two months shy of 84,Mom was still in real estate sales and startedher day in front of the tube.“Oh Good Lord yes, this is exactly what itwas like. We were just shocked. Jim, weren’tyou downtown at the time?”My dad James Henry McClure, 87, shoutedup the stairs “Yeah, I was at the office backwhen I was a bigshot, so what!?” “Dadwas in downtown Chicago working in hisoffice catchingup when I heardthe news on theradio, “Momrelated. “Wecalled and talkedit over andknew nothingwould be thesame from that point.”After the three of us talked nothing was thesame, either from that point on the phone in2011 or the one in 1941. During the surrenderceremony in Tokyo Bay, a beanpole skinny2nd Lt. J.H. McClure of the U.S. Army SignalCorps watched the historic event from aVictory ship loaded with occupation materielalongside the USS Missouri. Dad spent fouryears in the Pacific after enlisting in 1941,missing the death of his father and the birthof his first son.If my dad was somewhat aged in his late20’s my grandfather Tom Corley was a federalmuseum piece.A former World War I artillery captain, hecajoled, bullied and fitness-tested his way atage 44 into a combat assignment as a chiefpetty officer gunnery instructor on a jeepcarrierhe helped save by shooting down akamikaze during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Heand several black cooks manned a gun whoseprevious occupants were cut down by enemyfire. His captain would bring him on chargesfor shooting across the bow, an admiral sawotherwise and gave him the Bronze Star.At age 40 and rising my own less thandistinguished career as a Marine midshipmanon a Notre Dame NROTC scholarship cutshort by a medical discharge after a combattraining injury, was neither the stuff of legendnor of beating 38-year old age limits. “Youknow you can do more with a pen, don’t you?”said Marine Sgt. Major Mac Elvington, mycollege assistant Marine officer instructor asa staff sergeant. Mac’s own reputation waslegendary as drill instructor of two futureMarine generals at Notre Dame, not to mentionseveral generations of enlisted Marines,female Marines, British Royal Marines (androyalty), and several classes at the U.S. NavalAcademy, where Mac was the model for TomClancy’s spit-polish Marine officer instructorin his novel Patriot Games.As usual I didn’t quite follow Mac’s advice(a.k.a. “seeing the (pool) shot”) and spentthe next two years lobbying, cajoling, andimploring National Guard and Naval Reserverecruiters that I was the best old man for thejob. “If you want to go to Afghanistan so bad,why don’t you freelance report? I’ll carry yourcamera bag fer ya,” Mac suggested. Later asthe economy, my public relations career andmy marriage crumbled, Mac would cheerlead.“You bust into that recruiter’s office andtell him you’re Six-Foot-Three of Rompin’Stompin’ Death and Destruction!”It didn’t work. Not in the National Guard,the Naval Reserve, the regular Navy not tomention the halls of Springfield, Washington,D.C., the Pentagon, the local state senator orthe very local Speaker of the U.S. House. Hedid send a very nice commemorative flag upthe Rotunda pole for me just as the letter requestingan age waiver from the acting Secretaryof the Navy was going down in flames.I felt strongly that most of my tail-endbaby boomer generation had paid their duesin Grenada and Kuwait… and some werestriking the mountains in Afghanistan andsweeping into Iraq as I stayed home old, aloneand worn out.I did find my way into the U.S. Naval SeaCadet Officer Corps, which uses volunteerveterans to help teach citizenship and militaryskills to future Marines, sailors and CoastGuardsmen. A couple years back I foundmyself on the deck of the assault ship USSIwo Jima as it steamed into New York harborapproaching Ground Zero. “STAND BY TORENDER HONORS” blared the loudspeakeras thousands of sailors in white snapped to attentionon the rails. Just like Pearl Harbor!“I NEED FOUR OFFICERS FORWARDON THE FLIGHT DECK!” echoed thespeaker. Three were already there… onelooked back at me in my humble Ensign dresswhites. “Well, what are YOU waiting for Mister?”“Sir, I’m just a Sea Cadet escort officer,”I meekly replied as the gaping hole where theTwin Towers were loomed near. “Yeah,” hespat back. “And you’re what the future is allabout… and part of the family. Get your buttover here!”A few seconds later three regular Navyofficers and a slighty disheveled if somewhatout of shape 47 year old junior officer smartlysaluted for ship’s company as we passed theWorld Trade Center.Part of the family.IrishRoverJim@aol.com.Remember the TenBy Pol O’Hearcain (Long Kesh, 1975/1981)On Oct. 2nd, 2011, at the Irish AmericanHeritage Center in Chicago, supporters of the mainbody of Irish Republicanism led by Gerry Adamsand Martin McGuinness will commemorate the30th anniversary of the infamous Long Kesh/HBlock Hunger strike in which ten young men gavetheir lives thattheir comradescould be grantedthe reinstatementof Prisoner ofWar status. Thefight for POWstatus was notnew to Irish Republicans.TheBritish have alwayssought toBobby Sandscriminalise the struggle for Irish freedom, believingthat by doing so they could demoralize theIRA and her Volunteers and break their will toresist British occupation. Maggie Thatcher, thethen Leader of the British establishment, totallyunderestimated the will and courage of the incarceratedIrish Republican Volunteers. Bobby Sands,Francis Hughs, Ramond McCreesh, Patsy O’Hara,Keiran Doherty, Kevin Lynch, Joe McDonald,Martin Hurson, Thomas McElwee, and MichaelDivene gave their young lives that their comradeswould not have to continue to endure conditionsthat were described as being like the “Sewers ofCalcutta” by the late Bishop Thomas O’Feigh whovisited the prison.I recently read an article in this very paper, theauthor of which asserted that Gerry Adams hadconspired to use the hunger strike and the prisonersplight to further his political career. ApparentlyAdams’ plan was to encourage these young mento give up their lives so that he and his party, SinnFéin, could then ride the tide of sympathy. As aformer Irish Republican POW, I was incarceratedin Long Kesh throughout the blanket protests andthe first and second Hunger strikes. During thatperiod, I held the position of Public RelationsOfficer and was in direct contact with protestingprisoners. I can state that at no time were weinfluenced or ordered to protest by the leadershipof the movement on the outside. All decisions toprotest, including the Hunger Strikes, were madeby the prisoners themselves and were influencedonly by the excessively harsh treatment of ourBritish captors.Today, thirty years on, We have come a long…Continued on Page 26
September 2011 Irish American News “We’ve Always Been Green!” 23AA BondsLooks like all the political bullheadswith all their political bullcrap have finallybrought us down. Now they’re investigatingStandard & Poor. Even the Chinesesaid reign in your military and the socialwelfare. Now that the rest of the world isbeginning to realize the game is over, evenCuba is now cutting welfare programs and isturning a blind eye towards small businesses.Capitalism will set you free. We have beenliving beyond our means for quite some time,deficit spending is the poison pill. Obama’sapproval rating has hit an all-time low.Abuse RaphoeDiocese, Co. DonegalAnother church cover-up scandal—RaphoeDiocese, Co. Donegal—20 pedophilepriests over 40 years, you read it right, 40years, abused more than 200 children in 30parishes. Bishop Philip Boyce has cooperatedfully, according to the reports. The civilauthorities were left out of the loop onceagain. Stay tuned for the final report.LixnawAugust 2nd, I took off on AA Flight 92for Dublin. The flight was an hour and a halflate. During the long night, if you walkedup and down the aisle you would see peoplereading their books on their Kindles. Mycousin, Dermot Cooney, met me at theairport and we headed for Bunbrosna inWestmeath. After a good sleep and a cup oftea, I settled in. That evening we went overto the village of Multyfarnham and enjoyeddinner at Weirs Bar-if you like roast duck,there’s none better. Thursday we headedback to Dublin to Cathedral Stamps whereI bought the 1916 Golden Jubilee medallion.One side of the medallion has the GPO,and the obverse has the signatories of theProclamation. This is an extremely rare coinand difficult to find. At 5 o’clock we metour cousin Margaret O’Connor at Bewleyson Grafton Street, where they have thebest iced coffeein Dublin. Onto Trocadero’son St. AndrewStreet, one ofDublin’s finerrestaurants, fora wonderfuldinner. Friday, it’s off to Kerry, with stopsin Moneygall, which is overrun with tourists.We met a couple of Yanks outside ofBarack Obama’s ancestral home, where abronze plaque adorns the wall of the house.At least he’s got the economy moving inMoneygall, enough said!Our next stop, Nenagh in Co. Tipperary,for lunch with our cousin MargaretCooney. The final leg of the trip takes usinto Tralee, Co. Kerry.Friday night, therewas a gathering at the Boyle ancestralhome in Ballinglanna, Causeway. Tomand Josephine Boyle form Burr Ridge, Illinois,and Margie Boyle-Bylund and herhusband Howard from Virginia, and Tomand Kathleen Boyle, our hosts, and theirdaughter Eileen Boyle-O’Sullivan, gatheredto enjoy tea, sandwiches, cookies and cake,and catching up on the family news was theorder of business.Saturday, Aug. 6th, the main event wasthe wedding of Maire McCarthy and NigelO’Leary at St. Michael’s Church in Lixnaw.A reception followed at the Bally RoeHeights Hotel in Tralee. Sunday morningwe went to Mass at St. Brendan’s Churchin Tralee. I was surprised to meet up withCatherine Reidy Cantillon. Catherine waswith her mother Theresa Boyle-Reidy, whois suffering from Alzheimer’s. The familywas surprised when it appeared that Theresaactually knew who I was. She shookmy hand, smiling all the time, and thenkissed my hand several times. Apparentlyshe hadn’t reacted to anybody else in thismanner. Theresa’s my father’s first cousinand they are from Glendhalen, Ballyheigue.I first met them 42 years ago, and I carriedlittle Catherine, then 4 years old, on myshoulders down over the fields to find herfather, Timmy Joe Reidy. After we went tothe antique show at the Carlton Hotel, wespent the rest of the day visiting family.Monday, Aug. 8th, I met up with my oldfriend John Griffin at the Ashe MemorialHall. John headed up the Jeanne JohnstonProject a number of years back, we discusseda new initiative. Lunch followed atthe Brandon Hotel. At 3 o’clock, Tom Boyleand I headed for Adare Manor where we metup once again with Dermot Cooney. Thenit was back to Bunbrosna. Tuesday we wentup to the town of Boyle, in Co. Roscommon,and visited the Boyle Abbey. The man at theinformation booth was Tony Conboy. Smallworld, he has relatives by the name Heaveyin De Plaines, IL. From Boyle, we went toLough Key Forest Park; from there to theArigna Coal Mine in Lietrim. The coal mineis well worth the visit. It was the last activecoal mine in Ireland, and closed in 1990.The working conditions in those mines werepretty rugged. The seam of coal was roughly6 ft. wide and 4 ft. high and the miners had toeither kneel and swing a pick or lay on theirside and swing a pick. The vistas from thetop of that mountain are breathtaking.Wednesday finds us in Kilkenny to meetJohn and Noreen Cooney, Bernadette Marnell,Theresa Brennan and Sr. Judy Kellyfor lunch at Langton’s, where the food issuperb. The Kilkenny Arts Festival was on,but the weather was a little bit on the rainyside. Back to home base, Bunbrosna, andearly to bed as I needed to be at DublinAirport at 7am.Security is more comprehensive at Irishairports. Profilers ask you questions as youcheck your bags. You pass through securitytwice, once with your shoes on, and oncemore with them off. You now clear UScustoms and immigration in Dublin. And asthey scanned my passport I was surprisedto see that they pulled up a picture of mychecked baggage on a computer screen, andasked me to identify it.Moonlight GamblerMayor Rahm Emmanuel now wants aCasino—Gov. Quinn says not so fast. Howmuch arm twisting can the Governor take?Has somebody already sliced up the “insider’sminced pie,” while citizens wince atthe potential for increased crime? Don’t goto the goat’s house for wool.PresidentialIs it possible he inherited Nero’s penchantfor fiddling? I wonder if there are any“Great Whites” off the coast of Martha’sVineyard.FINANCIAL PLANNINGCorrigan Financial Services, Inc.Money Concepts Financial Planning CentreEstablished 1980Retirement Planning SpecialistforIndividuals - Families - BusinessInvestment - Tax - Estate PlanningCallMike & Chuck Corrigan(708)482-3800Member International Association for Financial Planning8th Annual Golf Outing& Fundraiser at PeggyKinnane’s - September 13Join Peggy Kinnane’s Irish Restaurant& Pub for the daylong 8th Annual GolfOuting & Fundraiser to benefit Hospiceof Northeastern Illinois (in memory ofJack Hanley,) which includes breakfastat Peggy’s, best ball scramble at Old OrchardCountry Club Old Orchard CountryClub, 700 W. Rand Rd, Mount Prospect,IL, lunch at the turn, complimentary beerand water on the course, raffle prizes,including 2 hole-in-one contests to win aMercedes Benz and dinner and open barfollowing the outing at Peggy’s. For ticketsand more information visit http://www.peggykinnanes.com/annual-golf-outing.
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September 2011 - Irish American News

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