Hoist a glass to Red today

[never cry wolf]

Quite the nice editorial in the Tribune this morning. After reading I think you'll agree Red was a liberal.

snip------------

Not so with Red. When he died almost eight years ago, his daughter, Patricia, wrote an obit that wove Red's military experience into the rest of his life. She knew he had advanced, island by island, with U.S. troops approaching Japan in the weeks before two atomic bombs ended World War II. Not until after Red's death, though, did she learn that he had earned a Bronze Star for combat heroism. He'd never mentioned it.

The obit was submitted to the Des Moines Register, where it charmed a young reporter who came across it. He shared it with a few friends. Since then, ever-fainter photocopies have quietly circulated throughout the Midwest. Here, with Patricia Anne Madsen's permission, is an excerpt from her celebration of her father's life:

Harry N. "Red" Madsen, 76, retired railroad brakeman, died Sept. 15, 1996, in Audubon, Iowa, 13 miles from where he was born.

After graduating from Audubon High School, he moved to Chicago. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Army, which put him in the Signal Corps. During training, he met Betty Kaplan of Brooklyn, N.Y., and married her in Stuart, Fla., before he was shipped to the Pacific. When the Army finally let Red go in 1946, he and Betty settled in Chicago. He returned to Audubon and Westphalia, Iowa, working as a custom butcher. He later worked the railroad, most of the time for the Chicago & Northwestern. He married three times, with two of his spouses passing away.

Red Madsen loved his wives, his kids, everybody else's kids, his family, dogs, fishing, whittling, doodling, reading (especially Mark Twain), Cord automobiles, hoisting a few with friends and telling stories. It pleased him that mischief might break out at any time, but it distressed him if anyone got hurt by it, unless maybe it was some powerful S.O.B. who deserved it.

more-------> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0505300131may30,0,2566018.story?coll=chi-newsopinion-hed

Please read it all, quite poignant.

Here's to you, Red!

[Historic NY]

1. To Red....

:toast:

sounds a lot like my father...island by island in the Pacific. Would give the shirt off his back to anyone.

[never cry wolf]

2. deserves a kick, read about red... n/t