12 July
Today we received a call from a guy that I served with
while on active duty at Loring Air Force Base.
George and Anne-Marie Lechner live near Highland NY, about an hour north
of the campgrounds and we have stayed in touch for the last 42 years. They wanted to come down and visit, and then
go out to eat. It was great to see them
and get caught up on their family.
George and Anne-Marie were there at the same time Michelle was born, in
fact Anne-Marie was a pediatric nurse and was the first female other than
Doreen to hold Michelle after she was brought home. We talked all afternoon and then headed into
a small town near West Point for dinner.
We made plans to get together later in the week. One of the places we wanted to see not far
from their house is the site of the Woodstock Music Festival on 15-18 Aug 1969.
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| Anne-Marie and Doreen |
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| The Gang from Loring |
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| Ed and George |
13 July
Most of the morning was spend doing some RV preventive
maintenance while Doreen worked inside.
When we were at the Jayco factory and I had the opportunity to talk with
their lead service technician, he gave me some maintenance tips for our
slide-outs. One was using Lemon Pledge
on the rubber gaskets and seals around the slides! I also cleaned the slides and waxed the
surfaces that touch the gaskets.
In the afternoon we traveled back north to New Windsor NY
and visited the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor. It was closed previously when we
stopped. Pays tribute to the recipients
of the Purple Heart who were wounded or lost their lives in defense of our
Country.
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| Beautiful stained glass window in the museum |
There is a large hall with
photos, firsthand accounts and displays such as the only known Military Badge
of Merit, the predecessor to the Purple Heart medal, presented by George
Washington to his Soldiers at this site.
They have computers here to look up names of Purple Heart
recipients. I looked up my dad and found
him listed. USMC Platoon Sergeant Lowell
E. Schellhase was wounded in action fighting the Japanese on Saipan, Marianas
Islands in the South Pacific on 27 June 1944.
Also wounded on the same days was is brother, my uncle Bernard
Schellhase. Interesting fact they were
both evacuated to the hospital ship USS Thuban for treatment and both were
awarded the Purple Heart. As the story
goes, neither knew the other had been wounded or was on the ship and they found
themselves nearly side by side there.
Also located at the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor
is the New Windsor Cantonment area, the last post of George Washington’s
Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
This is where approximately 8000 soldiers, artisans and their families
endured the winter of 1782-1783, anticipating returning to the
battlefield. Many of the buildings have
been reconstructed and contain artifacts from the era.
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| One of the reconstructed buildings |
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| Oven within the fireplace |
Reenactors helped us better understand the
lives of those who stayed here in the final days of our first war. One young lady explained the tools and
apothecary items used to treat injury and illness.
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| She was very knowledgeable. |
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| The chemicals and compounds they used to treat to soldiers |
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| Surgery tools |
Another young man taught us about using the
musket and actually fired it for us.
Many artillery pieces were displayed.
As with many of the places we have visited, we have a lot of pictures we are not posting, but some very interesting sites.
Interesting facts about Grandpa! Very neat to see the history
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