What The Hell Was He Thinking

I have a new installment in the ongoing what the hell was he thinking series. This one comes from Yahoo Buzz.

I admit I read Yahoo Buzz, some of it is entertaining and some stories so outrageous they have to be true. Today I will share two stories that got my attention. The first one being outrageous and the other totally appropriate for Memorial Day.

The first story takes place in Bejing, China involving a 24 year old man heavily in debt and a 66 year old man with a solution.

Chen Fuchao, 24 and in debt to the tune of $290,000.00 was overwhelmed by his situation. So much so that he stood on the Haizhu bridge preparing to end his life. Since April 11 others have used that bridge to commit suicide.

Naturally authorities and a crowd gathered to watch. Traffic was stopped and blocked up. An elderly man ( thank God there is some one still alive I can call elderly) named Lai Jiansheng age 66 was part of the crowd.

Mr. Jiansheng went to the police and offered to try to talk the young man down. The police refused his offer, saying they would resolve the situation.

After 5 hrs of talking and pleading there was still no progress, only more of a crowd, more stalled traffic and more chaos. Jiansheng slipped through the crowd and managed to get up on the bridge where Chen was still debating sky diving without a parachute.

Mr. Jiansheng approached the desperate young man and shaking his hand, pushed Chen Fuchao off the bridge. Fuchao fell approximately 26 feet and landed on a partially filled air bag, sustaining minor injuries.

Of course Jiansheng was arrested for his actions and when ask why he pushed this desperate man he gave an answer that is hard to refute.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lai was quoted as saying by Xinhua. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."

Now you know, what the hell he was thinking. Use the following link to read the entire story. link

This Memorial Day weekend is a time we honor those men and women who have made he ultimate sacrifice in keeping America and much of the world free. It is a time to pay respect to our military forefathers and mothers whose service to this country allows us to enjoy freedoms so many can only dream about and hope for.

Today I will focus on one such man, Frank Buckles, the United States oldest living veteran.

Frank is sole U.S. survivor of what was known as the Great War. We now know it as WWI.

Mr.Buckles was born February 1, 1901 in Bethany, Missouri. Hard to imagine some one who can talk with authority on how things were after the turn of the century, last century.

When Frank was 16 World War broke out and he want to be part of it. He was turned down by the Marines, they felt he didn't weigh enough, so he enlisted in the Army April of 1917.

Frank claims he did not lie to the recruiter, saying he just exaggerated his age. The Army wanted a copy of his birth certificate to prove his age. Frank got by that one reminding the recruiter that Missouri didn't have birth certificates when he was born, the official record then was what was written in the family bible, and he said he would be darned if he was going to bring that down. Frank was accepted into the Army.

History buffs the next part of the story will have you thinking, why do I know that name.

Mr. Buckles join his comrades and was shipped over seas on the RMS Carpathia. Why do you know that name?

Five years earlier in April 1912 the Carpathia steamed into history as the ship that picked up the survivors of Titanic.

During the war Buckles served in England and France, driving ambulances and motorcycles for the Army's 1st Fort Riley Casual Detachment. After the Armistice in 1918, Buckles escorted prisoners of war back to Germany. Following his discharge in 1919, he attended the dedication of the National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, in honor of those Americans who died in World War I. While there, he met General John "Black Jack" Pershing, commander all U.S. forces in France during the war.

In the 1920s Buckles worked for the White Star Line in Canada (the White Star Line had operated the Titanic). During World War II he worked as a civilian for an American shipping company in the Philippine Islands. He was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and spent the next three years in the Los Banos prison camp. He was rescued on February 23, 1945.

Where is Frank today? One would think after all of that , Buckles would be in a retirement home living out his days in peace and harmony. Not Frank Buckles, the man is still active.

He currently lives in Charles Town, West Virginia and is the Honorary Chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation. For more on Frank Buckles use this link

As always you are invited to post any comments you wish to share.