http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/070822-N-3642E-751.jpg
070822-N-3642E-751 BOUGAINVILLE STRAIT (Aug. 22, 2007) - Eroni "Aaron" Kumana and the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), the Honorable Dr. Donald C. Winter cut a welcoming cake aboard USS Peleliu (LHA 5). Eroni is credited with the rescue of Lt. John F. Kennedy, nearly 18 years before becoming president, and the rest of PT-109's crew following the ship's collision with the Japanese destroyer Amagiri near Plum Pudding Island on August 2, 1943. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shawn P. Eklund (RELEASED)
http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/070823-N-9864S-001.jpg
070823-N-9864S-001 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 23, 2007) - An SH-60 Seahawk, from Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 14, releases flares at part of an air power demonstration above USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). The demonstration was not only a showing of the capabilities of the aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 5, but was also intended to entertain those aboard. USS Kitty Hawk is in her third month of deployment from Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joseph R. Schmitt (RELEASED)
This photo serves as a good illustration for my artificial and symbolic memories of the hood over the engine of my 1967 Ford F-100 pickup flying up as I was driving down the road. Those artifical and symbolic memories represent the canopy lifting up and flying off behind the aircraft as I was ejecting from the aircraft. In the case of that red Ford, the color of the paint is because, in the U.S. at least, the color red is typically associated with high-performance vehicles. The year 1967 is because that was when I first flew a jet aircraft by myself and the F-100 model is because the jet engine of the F-16 Falcon is model F100. The engine in that 1967 was a straight-block 6-cyclinder and it had only one exhaust pipe. The F-16 Falcon is a single-engine jet aircraft and also has only one exhaust structure. The second automobile I had, in the context of my artificial and symbolic memory, was 1967 blue Chevrolet pickup truck and that was because of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and because of the F-14 Tomcat, which is a double-engine jet aircraft.
http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/070822-N-3271W-001.jpg
070822-N-3271W-001 INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 22, 2007) - Marine Corps Maj. Nathan Miller, #7 pilot of the Blue Angels, greets his VIP rider Vitor Meira, Indy Racing League driver. The Blue Angels are in Indianapolis for an air show, which coincides with festivities of Indianapolis Navy Week, one of 26 Navy Weeks planned across America in 2007. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Gary Ward (RELEASED)
JOURNAL ARCHIVE:
----- Original Message ----
From: Kerry Burgess
To: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 6:24:22 PM
Subject: Re: Journal May 27, 2006
I was thinking about these times when the hood flew up on my red Ford as I was traveling down Hicks Road. It was lucky we didn't crash. The woman holding the torch during the intro for Columbia pictures looks a lot like a girlfriend I used to have. 1980. That was the year we moved from DeQueen to Ashdown. I think it was '81 when we moved onto Hicks Road. I started school at Ashdown Jr. High in '80. We had our 10 year reunion in '94 at the junior high school. I was teaching myself how to read Russian that year. Received a Science award. Started shaving. 14 years old when we moved there. Michael and I constructed a tall television antenna to get better reception. We put an American flag at the top. As we were admiring our work, Michael commented something similar to: "we sure are some patriotic s.o.b.'s aren't we?"
JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 03/17/07 1:39 PM
Is that connected to my "memories" of the hood flying up on my red 1967 Ford as I was flying down Hicks Road approaching that 90-degree turn? That happened twice but I can only visualize that one time near that turn. I can't "remember" where the other one occurred or which happened first. There were also those times I wrote about with the wheels popping off my blue 1967 Chevrolet. That one time might represent catapault pulling off the front landing gear as I was launched off the carrier. It is also clever how I think my "memories" of where I parked near the house on Hicks Road represent launching from a carrier deck. One time I would pull straight up onto the road and I think that represents the forward catapault. Another time, I would pull up onto the road at an angle and I think that represents the waist catapault, which launches aircraft off to the side of the carrier.
http://www.conceptcarz.com/view/photo/19380,5348,0,0/photo.aspx
1967 Ford Pickup
JOURNAL ARCHIVE:
----- Original Message ----
From: Kerry Burgess
To: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 10:01:46 PM
Subject: Re: Journal May 25, 2006, Supplemental
And maybe that means I am 47 instead of 40. That means I would have graduated HS in 1977 instead of 1984. If I went to college, I would have graduated in 1981, and maybe that is when I went into the Navy, if I did. Maybe that LT talking about being in the Navy for 12 years was me, although I don't know when that would have been, 12 years from when? From 1981 would be 1993.
oh shit shit shit shit that 67 red ford. my mother told me one time, after i had the 67 blue chev., she told me to remember what happened last time i took out the seat.
I crashed my '67 red Ford one day during an activity we called a fox hunt, which isn't very much like the British activity, or so I guess, I've never seen the British version. My passenger in the truck, whom I don't believe is a real person, was Donald Gene Chauncy, a family friend. I was a field judge in the exercise, working to get to the location where the dogs crossed a road so I could write down their numbers and score them on various attributes of the chase. I was driving too fast down a gravel road, the truck started fish-tailing, and I hit a stump that flipped the truck upside down. I can still remember seeing Donald Gene flopping around as the truck flipped. I had a box of shotgun shells on the dashboard although we didn't actually shot at the foxes. Then I'm trying to get out and there is gasoline pouring out next to me, I had an almost full tank having filled up not much earlier. I had a serious scrape on my arm that my step-father, D.D., poured alcohol over, and seemed surprised that I didn't cry in pain. So anyway, some time later, I sold that damaged pickup bought the '67 Chevrolet from one of the Chauncey's. One day, I was taking out the seat of the Chev. to clean the cab and my mother told me to remember what happened last time I took out the seat. Just before I crashed my red Ford, I had taken the seat out of it. I have this crazy notion in my head that this pickup's represent aircraft and the seat I took out of the Ford, was actually the ejection seat of a jet.
How can this be though? When did I do all this? Who the hell am I?
That was I believe 1982. In my memory, I was about 16 at the time. But if I am indeed 47 instead of 40, that means I was about 23. Donald Gene didn't suffer any injuries. My step-father, Denzil, and Donald Gene's father were following a few minutes behind us in Denzils gray Ford, I think it was a '78. Donald Gene's father jumped out of the passenger side before Denzil could even stop.
JOURNAL ARCHIVE:
----- Original Message ----
From: Kerry Burgess
To: Kerry Burgess
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2006 4:42:03 PM
Subject: Re: Journal May 26, 2006
The fox hunt organizers and the adult field judges were complimentary about my performance because I really got out there and scored the dogs. Micheal laughed during my first fox hunt when I asked if we used a shotgun or a rifle to shoot the fox. I can remember early on after I started judging, when I was still traveling with an adult, I hauled ass across this open field to get the number of a dog out by itself. We hadn't seen much that day and I wanted to score something. The dog came over to lick my hand and I disqualified it. Another time, we were around a campfire one cold night and I was lying on my back on the cold ground and he told me I was going to get sick. We always wore coveralls when we were out there. I have kept a set of those coveralls in all the years since. I think even in my Jeep until I lost it last year, I had a set of those coveralls. I can almost remember feeling naked without them. At one event, the shocks failed on my blue truck and someone commented later he thought I was going to bounce off the road because the chassis was shaking so much from any pothole I hit. Another time something went wrong with the brakes and they were screeching incredibly loudly. I can think of a lot of things like that happening. The frustration of waiting for the gas station to open up, my step-father telling me about how he had almost run out of gas in his truck.
There was that dialog with Donald Gene after I wrecked my Ford. I said: You all right? He said: Yeah, you all right? Yeah, I said. Let's get the hell out of here! I think his door opened but I had to crawl through the window because mine wouldn't open and gas was pouring out next to me.
One day, I "launched" my '67 blue Chev. out onto Hicks Road. Earlier, I had been doing something with the front wheels and apparently, I forgot to tighten the lug nuts. I got about a half mile down the road and the front end started shaking violently. Just as I was about to cross over this small wooden bridge, I saw the left front wheel shot up and away down to the edge of the creek I was about to pass over. The truck dropped over to the left a little bit and I managed to keep it from running off the bridge where I stopped on the other side. I left a groove in the road from that incident.
That happened again sometime later on the way to school. Micheal had told me something looked wrong with the left wheel but I drove anyway. Shortly after that, I saw that familar sight of the wheel shooting up and away to the left as the front end slammed into the pavement. This time the spindle had broken off because it hadn't been greased. Mt future-brother-in-law went out into the field and got the wheel for me. Then a schoolbus came by. My buddy who was later an Air Force mechanic, gave me a ride to school in his midget car. Not sure what kind of car that was. Denzil was at home on vacation that day and he sent out a tow truck to get my truck.
