| General Fiction posted July 27, 2020 | Chapters: |
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What did Delaware? I dont know, Alaska.
A chapter in the book Attack of the Fifty States
Attack of the 50 States:Delaware
by Bill Schott
The state of Delaware has come into my life three times that I know of. It would be four times if I were to include this article. So, I guess it's four.
When I was young our parents decided to go on some road trips for summer instead of our usual trip up to northern Michigan and a week of roughing it. The time spent in a rustic cabin in the woods, and extensive time on the beaches of the Great Lakes was replaced with a five by two foot space in the rear seat of a Buick Skylark. This I shared with my brother as we were taken along on a trip to discover America.
In the previous year, when I was twelve, we went out West to see the history there. On this summer we were traveling around New England. During this time I'm certain we passed through Delaware. Of course, these states are all pretty close, so we may have passed through two or three times while traversing the pre-Highway 95 roads.
I don't recall anything from Delaware that stuck with me, as I spent most of my time vying for space in the back seat with my growth-spurting, older brother and his wish-I-was-with-my-girlfriend-not-you attitude. His misery made my misery miserable.
In a fast-forward move, I take you with me on a C-5 taking off from Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. It was 1991 and we were the advance party for 4th Battalion, 12th Marines. We had come there to pick up, among others, a battery of artillery from 10th Marines, who had flown up from 2d Marine Division in North Carolina.
To back up just a bit, we were at Dover AFB as part of the weirdest trip I had ever been on.
Desert Shield was happening in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of January that year. I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and not scheduled to participate, as 2d Marine Division from Camp Lejeune was running the show for the Marines. However, they wanted a fourth battalion, so my battalion offered our artillery battery to augment a new battalion to go to war in Kuwait.
We left as an advance party from Japan, but were not authorized to fly over China. So, we flew around the world the other way, touching down on Wake Island, Hawaii, Alaska, and Delaware, before continuing to Brussels, and then Saudi Arabia.
I especially remember Dover AFB, not as a standout location, although the scene of hangars full of combat troops headed for war was exhilarating, but as the place I mailed my last letter.
Throughout our ridiculous trip from Okinawa to this air base, I had chronicled it all in a letter to my wife. It had become quite lengthy, and I had developed the idea in the back of my mind that I might not return home. Searching, I found a mail box and sent my huge letter out so she would know I was thinking of her, always.
Then we were off to Desert Shield/Desert Storm. You probably read about it in the papers.
I visited Delaware two more times in the last two years. My oldest brother, Leonard, a widower, had decided to remarry at the age of seventy-four. Charlu, his new bride, and he invited us to the nuptials. It was quite life affirming. My second visit was to say goodbye to my brother the next year, as he had developed leukemia that was not reasonably treatable at his advanced age.
Not to end this visit to Delaware on a sad note, Pamela Spice, aka Pam(respa), sent me some data about Delaware that you will find interesting.
Delaware is called the First State because it was the first state to ratify the constitution.
Pam was from the town of Magnolia. It was basically a rural town with farms, growing soy beans and corn. There were a number of orchards, as well, but much later, those gave way to developments.
Her father was in the Air Force, and that's how she ended up in Delaware. He was a mechanic on the C-5 planes.
Also, many people may not know that the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base is where remains of those killed in action are processed and returned home.
Corporations establish residence in Delaware because there is no sales tax, and the cost of living is not high. DuPont and Latex Corporation are examples.
The Delaware Blue Hen is a blue strain of American gamecock. It was adopted on April 14, 1939, as the state bird of Delaware. It is one of three U.S. state birds that is not a species native to the United States.
Thank you, Pam, for the additional information and interest in my Attack of the 50 States series.
Thanks to everyone else who is following along. Can you guess where we are going next?
The state of Delaware has come into my life three times that I know of. It would be four times if I were to include this article. So, I guess it's four.
When I was young our parents decided to go on some road trips for summer instead of our usual trip up to northern Michigan and a week of roughing it. The time spent in a rustic cabin in the woods, and extensive time on the beaches of the Great Lakes was replaced with a five by two foot space in the rear seat of a Buick Skylark. This I shared with my brother as we were taken along on a trip to discover America.
In the previous year, when I was twelve, we went out West to see the history there. On this summer we were traveling around New England. During this time I'm certain we passed through Delaware. Of course, these states are all pretty close, so we may have passed through two or three times while traversing the pre-Highway 95 roads.
I don't recall anything from Delaware that stuck with me, as I spent most of my time vying for space in the back seat with my growth-spurting, older brother and his wish-I-was-with-my-girlfriend-not-you attitude. His misery made my misery miserable.
In a fast-forward move, I take you with me on a C-5 taking off from Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. It was 1991 and we were the advance party for 4th Battalion, 12th Marines. We had come there to pick up, among others, a battery of artillery from 10th Marines, who had flown up from 2d Marine Division in North Carolina.
To back up just a bit, we were at Dover AFB as part of the weirdest trip I had ever been on.
Desert Shield was happening in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of January that year. I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and not scheduled to participate, as 2d Marine Division from Camp Lejeune was running the show for the Marines. However, they wanted a fourth battalion, so my battalion offered our artillery battery to augment a new battalion to go to war in Kuwait.
We left as an advance party from Japan, but were not authorized to fly over China. So, we flew around the world the other way, touching down on Wake Island, Hawaii, Alaska, and Delaware, before continuing to Brussels, and then Saudi Arabia.
I especially remember Dover AFB, not as a standout location, although the scene of hangars full of combat troops headed for war was exhilarating, but as the place I mailed my last letter.
Throughout our ridiculous trip from Okinawa to this air base, I had chronicled it all in a letter to my wife. It had become quite lengthy, and I had developed the idea in the back of my mind that I might not return home. Searching, I found a mail box and sent my huge letter out so she would know I was thinking of her, always.
Then we were off to Desert Shield/Desert Storm. You probably read about it in the papers.
I visited Delaware two more times in the last two years. My oldest brother, Leonard, a widower, had decided to remarry at the age of seventy-four. Charlu, his new bride, and he invited us to the nuptials. It was quite life affirming. My second visit was to say goodbye to my brother the next year, as he had developed leukemia that was not reasonably treatable at his advanced age.
Not to end this visit to Delaware on a sad note, Pamela Spice, aka Pam(respa), sent me some data about Delaware that you will find interesting.
Delaware is called the First State because it was the first state to ratify the constitution.
Pam was from the town of Magnolia. It was basically a rural town with farms, growing soy beans and corn. There were a number of orchards, as well, but much later, those gave way to developments.
Her father was in the Air Force, and that's how she ended up in Delaware. He was a mechanic on the C-5 planes.
Also, many people may not know that the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs at Dover Air Force Base is where remains of those killed in action are processed and returned home.
Corporations establish residence in Delaware because there is no sales tax, and the cost of living is not high. DuPont and Latex Corporation are examples.
The Delaware Blue Hen is a blue strain of American gamecock. It was adopted on April 14, 1939, as the state bird of Delaware. It is one of three U.S. state birds that is not a species native to the United States.
Thank you, Pam, for the additional information and interest in my Attack of the 50 States series.
Thanks to everyone else who is following along. Can you guess where we are going next?
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