[LadyX]

Another story many have heard is when I entered the U.S.Marine Corps at the Naval Base in Jacksonville, Florida, 25 June 1952.
Going from the hotel to the base for the paperwork and physicals, I had made an unthinking error, using the bathroom before we left, never having had a real physical before!
We all were finished, with my exception...yep..I had to drink from the water fountain, pace, drink again - repeat - everyone glaring at me for the holdup, until FINALLY I could 'produce'..:)

They nonetheless entrusted the other 7 women to my care, giving me the train and meal tickets for the train ride from Jax to Yemassee, SC - the Florida East Coast Railway station nearest to Parris Island.

There we transferred to a "Super Deluxe Conveyance" - a steam engine with four WIDE OPEN cars and bench seats, to take us the 23 miles to Port Royal, near Parris Island!
You cannot imagine how hot and noisy it was; how loud the clacking wheels - the steam and grit blowing back on us - and of course, no a/c in SC's humid June heat...(

Debarking at Port Royal, we were met by our DIs and buses to take us to the base.
It was at that moment I first heard the um...term of endearment... from male recruits, waiting also...
HOORAY! BAMS!!

Which, freema, I hastily concluded *MUST* be interpreted as BeautifulAmerican Marines..:))

[LadyX]

A different topic here - email I just received from
Senator Bill Frist, since I'm on his mailing list:

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"Just a quick note to let you know that the Senate will debate the “Flag Protection Amendment” in the end of June. If it passes -- and I will do everything in my power to see that it does -- this constitutional amendment will give one of our Nation's proudest and most treasured symbols the protection it deserves.

Polls have shown that roughly 80% of the American people want to vote on the right to protect the flag. In addition, all 50 state legislatures have passed resolutions asking Congress to pass an amendment -- to be sent back to the states for debate and ratification.

Clearly, the American people have spoken. It’s time for the Senate to listen.

Battles have culminated in the raising of that flag. Countless U.S. soldiers have – using their last breaths – labored on the battlefield to hoist that flag. And desecrating it is an insult to their memory, and their sacrifice.

That flag represents all that we are -- all that we stand for. Freedom. Liberty. It represents so much to so many. And I believe we have a moral obligation to rise as a body and declare that it is wrong to burn the flag of the United States of America.

If you'd like to comment on my blog on the need to protect our flag:

- - Click Here - -

[ or else go directly to: http://www.volpac.org/index.cfm?FuseAction=Blogs.View&Blog_id=201 ]

Bill Frist, M.D.

VOLPAC
Post Office Box 158552
Nashville, TN 37215
Office: (615) 386-0045