In September 1939 my mother wrote, Eva Barbacka was a typical Slavic type—a very pale complexion, a round sweet face, large grayish blue eyes and a head of reddish brown waving hair. To tell the truth I had always been a little afraid of her. At that time I did not know that the Slavic …
Memorial Day at a Little Country Cemetery
I stood in the rain this morning and listened to the minister outshout Herefords and Angus cows across the fence. Apparently some calves had wandered off, the moms lowing and the calves replying. It’s natural on Memorial Day to remember back, and as the dripping flag fluttered I recalled the first military cemetery I visited …
Remembering My Brother, Randy
It’s sad how we so often let everyday events obscure our past. I received an email message from one of my brother’s crewmates that April 26 was the 37th anniversary of Randolph Leonard Affield’s death in a plane crash, bodies lost at sea. I knew that but had forgotten. In our family of nine children …
6 February 2015: Revisiting the Past
I recently reconnected with Beverly Dawson, the lady I met at Glenview History Center in 2007. This Starlifter picture is from her book, Images of America, Glenview Naval Air Station. (Page 108). Note the bus with the red cross backed up to the back of the medevac aircraft; that’s what we were loaded on to, …
22 August 2007: Revisiting the Past
Have you ever been troubled by an event in your past? Troubled enough to revisit it? I did. I needed to make sense of why antiwar protestors would attack a hospital bus carrying wounded troops. The discoveries I made have had far-reaching effects. Here is the story, published in Vietnam magazine about my 2007 visit. …
My Mother’s PTSD
I’ve prayed so much that her life would straighten itself out – the more I think of it the more I feel it is possible her war experience unconsciously to her was eating out her vitals – how tragic life is for the world. Henry O. Philips, January 23, 1943 Written by my grandfather, a …
Chickenhouse Chronicles—-Genesis
A few months after my mother, Barbara, died in 2010 I discovered a time capsule—including my grandparent’s urns— locked in the chickenhouse on our old homestead in northern Minnesota. (I stopped calling her Mom the spring of 1962. In 1960 she had been committed to Fergus Falls State Hospital—we children had been sent to foster …
Angie’s Story
“If it will save one widow from going through what I have experienced,” Angie told me recently, “People need to know.” Angie is a tiny, reserved lady. She speaks Ojibwa as a second language. Her goal is to pass traditional values on to her children and grandchildren. Angie and her family, 2014 Christmas. Two oldest …
Remembering Deland
It was a poignant moment this evening as I stood holding this infant girl. Her grandfather, Deland, has been gone fifteen years now. How I wish he could be holding this new life, proud of his youngest daughter’s child. Baby Deeonna, her mother, Shelia, and Me. Deland was a Vietnam Veteran who died from Agent …
Muddy Jungle Rivers Book Discussion Wednesday, April 23, 2014
(Written by Patt Rall, Bemidji Pioneer Previews, published Sunday, April 20, 2014.) •Northern Exposure to Lifelong Learning continues their spring season of talks with “A Healing Journey with Wendell Affield,” who is the author of “Muddy Jungle Rivers.” Affield will talk about his life after publication of his book, and his speaking engagements when he …