Honoring a wounded soldier, making cannons, and remembering wives’ excuses
MIDDLEBURGH — The Middleburgh Diner was the meeting spot for this week’s edition of the OMOTM breakfast. In a continuation of last week’s column with regards to the end of the traditional summer, the OF’s were heard to be talking about the speed of the passing of yet another summer.
It really does seem as though the Memorial Day Parade was just yesterday. Many colleges and some high schools are already open, and the rest will open in one week. This weekend is Labor Day weekend for goodness sake!
Vacations really are winding down and our visiting relatives and friends are heading home, except for one last party with family and friends over the weekend to celebrate the end of a great summer. September looms before us with its own bucket list of things that must be done, or some things that have been put off until after the fun of summer is over which now must be done.
A proud moment
On Sept. 12, a very important event, and a very proud moment for the family of an Old Man Of The Mountain, Frank Dees, will occur. Frank’s older brother, First Lieutenant Timothy Roy Dees, was severely wounded while fighting in battle and a year later, to the day, after much rehab, he received his honorable military discharge.
There is an organization that honors a group of these men and women from their geographic area, by providing an expense-paid flight to Washington, D.C., then taking them on a tour of the Vietnam Wall, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, Navy, Air Force, Lincoln, and Iwo Jima memorials, as well as the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns, all this and more, before heading back to the plane for the flight home.
While in the service, all soldiers always looked forward to “mail call.” In that spirit, the OMOTM of the Hilltowns around Albany, New York would like our member, OF Frank, to make sure that his older brother Tim gets this column along with our heartfelt thanks for Tim’s service to his country.
Many of the OMOTM also served, or have family members who served, many suffering wounds and some even paid the ultimate sacrifice. The Old Men of the Mountain know all about this, they lived it, and they appreciate what the Dees family will be feeling on Sept. 12.
The real deal
Also heard and seen on Tuesday morning, Aug. 27, was a show-and-tell discussion about a local man and friend of one of our OFs who makes cannons! Our OF had several pictures of some of the cannons his friend has made.
He also makes the two-wheeled trailers to mount the cannons on.
It all looked exactly like what I see in old photographs from the Civil War or on the ships of that era. Those cannons, with the cannons mounted on them, were towed behind horses when the armies moved to the next battlefield.
And these cannons work! They are the real deal. They are full size, not toys . He even makes the cannon balls! All by himself.
No big factory here, just him and his small shop. Fascinating. You just don't know what you will find up here in the Hilltowns.
Memory Lane
Your current scribe has mentioned before that, on occasion, he will dig back in the archives and see what was going on way back when. So here we are.
Looking back with John Williams, Scribe Emeritus for the OMOTM:
This part of John’s column on March 12, 1998 dealt with the wives’ response to a question posed to them by the Old Men as to why they were not joining them for breakfast:
“We can't afford it.”
“I don't get that much of a kick out of waitresses. They don’t sit on my lap.”
“Why would I want to go out with a lot of old women and talk about old times?”
“That’s my day to go shopping without him following me around saying ‘Aren't you done yet?’ or ‘Do we need that?’”
“Who's going to run the business? He spends more in a week than we make in a month.”
“That's my morning to sleep late. I don’t have to get his breakfast.”
“I use that day to pick up and put away what he has dragged out all week.”
The Old Men decided they better let well enough alone.
John’s list of members present that morning in March in 1998, included Herbie Wolford (Founding Father), Mike Willsey, John Williams, Gerd Remmers, Myron Filkins, Harold Murphy, Ivan Baker (Founding Father), and George Washburn. They all met at the Alley Cat Diner in Schoharie. (Yesterday’s Alley Cat Diner is today’s Your Way Café, located in the same place.)
And that’s it for this week’s column from the Middleburgh Diner. Those enjoying breakfast on this fine morning in August 2024 were Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Ed Goff, Wm Lichliter, George Washburn and John Williams (both of whom were here today and on March 12, 1998), Miner Stevens, Gary Schultz, Roland Tozer, Bradley and Bruce and Brian McLaughlin who were family guests of Miner Stevens, (welcome guys), Marty Herzog, Jake Herzog, Waren Willsey, Frank Dees, Jack Norray, Gerry Cross, Dick Dexter, Lou Schenck, John Jaz, and me.