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Monthly Archives: November 2014

Christmas and The Rosh Hoshannah Kid

30 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Christmas, Hannukah, humor, Jewish, Jewish holiday

imageIf you have read my blog a few times, you might recall how I was born on Rosh Hoshannah and delivered by Dr. Nathan Steinberg, an Orthodox Jew. If not, you can go back to September’s posts and learn how I, The Rosh Hoshannah Kid, learned to respect Judaism because of him.

As I grew, ‘Jewish’ to me was still, as I like to say, just another ‘ISH’. And in the Second Street neighborhood in Philadelphia where my dad grew up, and where my brother Harry and I spent many happy times, especially holidays, there were Jewish people we knew well. Like Mr. and Mrs. Bellow, who ran the deli/candy store at the corner; Julius the butcher, who had some funny writing on his store window (dad said it meant Kosher Butcher); Harry Zweig, the painter and paper hanger across the street; and the Weinsteins at the shoe store where we got our school shoes (Buster Brown).

They were JewISH, we were IrISH, and some neighbors were PolISH. As it should be.

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One December day, walking with dad through the forest of Christmas trees for sale at Lamplugh’s (Irish) fruit and vegetable store, I mentioned with seven-year-old concern that it was awfully close to Christmas but Julius and Mrs. Bellow didn’t have their Christmas decorations up yet.

Dad chuckled. “Well, they’re Jewish.”

I knew that. Yeah, so what?

“Jewish people don’t have Christmas.”

How can that be? We ALL have Christmas….let’s not be selfish….we should let them have it, too.

He delivered the news that shook little me right down to my Weinstein Buster Browns:

They don’t want to.

Whoa. Unbelievable. I will never forget the shock! They don’t WANT to? Dad was a great kidder, but that’s not funny. How can they not WANT Christmas?

That was the first time I learned that Jewish wasn’t just an ‘ISH’, but a belief in God, and that Christmas was a religious holiday that had to do with a different belief in God.

Took me many years to come to terms with that but I was a little mollified when I discovered there was a Jewish holiday, Hannukah, happening around the same time as Christmas. It took even longer to grasp the fact that the two are not at all related……but still…..a winter celebration.

Now I’m ready to celebrate everyone’s winter holidays. It’s all about the return of the light to clear the darkness. Always good.

I guess that long ago revelation cleared up a little darkness for me! The Rosh Hoshannah Kid and The Big C: lesson learned!

In honor of Dr. Steinberg, the Bellows, Julius, and the others, I hang a dreidel on my Christmas tree every year, and a little bag of gelt. I think they would like that.

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Merry Christmas!

 

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Giving Thanks

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

1944, 308th Engineers, 83rd Infantry, Battle of the Bulge, combat engineers! Luxembourg, history, memoir, Steinsel, Thanksgiving, World War II

November 1944. The Allied armies continued to take Europe back from Hitler’s iron fisted grip. Success followed success and the Americans had pushed from the beaches of Normandy all the way to Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Hopes were high that the end of the war was near.

In Luxembourg, the 83rd Infantry Division continued to patrol east of the Moselle and Sauer Rivers between Bollindorf and Sierch Les Sains. The 308th Engineer Combat Battalion supported the infantry regiments with mine removal, obstacle removal, road reconnaissance, bridge construction, ferry operation, road repair, and instruction in booby traps and mines.

Co. C, 308th, was stationed in the little town of Steinsel. To the GIs, it was a little slice of heaven. Neat, clean, friendly……with a bakery that turned out the freshest, most delicious bread they could imagine. Sure beat the heck out of K-rations.

The fellas patronized the bakery so frequently, in fact, that the lieutenant had to order them to cut it out. There wasn’t enough bread for the townspeople when the GIs bought it all up.

The people liked the young, friendly American boys and when they discovered that November marked the celebration of that most American of holidays, Thanksgiving, they wanted to do something to show their appreciation to the soldiers far away from home. So the Steinsel folks invited individual GIs to share a Thanksgiving meal at their homes.

My dad, SGT Harry J. Kirby, was off duty, hanging out with some of the other engineers in the town center. Some young boys approached and with a few words in English and German, plus lots of gestures, the fellows understood that they were invited to dinner. One of the boys tugged at Harry’s arm. ‘Come with me,’ he urged. ‘My home. Please, eat.’

That was how dad spent Thanksgiving 1944, at the home of the Pleimling family, feasting on rabbit with all the trimmings Luxembourg could manage. He never forgot that kind gesture, and talked of it often to us when we were kids. Luxembourg was his favorite memory.

In 1994, we took dad to Europe to mark the 50th anniversary of the D-Day Invasion. On the itinerary was a visit to Luxembourg and well, it’s not very big…..why not go back to Steinsel?

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With two other engineer vets who had been in Steinsel in ’44, he found the town, not much changed in fifty years, still neat, friendly, beautiful.

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He also found the Pleimling family. And again, they invited the GIs into their home. Josef Pleimling, descendant of those other generous Pleimlings, had not been born yet in 1944, but he, his wife, and son served coffee and cakes from that long-remembered bakery to three old soldiers who still were surprised at the warm welcome they received.

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At the Pleimlings’ home in Steinsel, June 1994: my dad, Harry Kirby, Mrs. Pleimling, Josef Pleimling, their son; Al Silverio and Quinto DiAntoni, also engineers from the 308th.

Thank you, Pleimling family….and all the liberated citizens of Luxembourg who made it a Happy Thanksgiving 1944 for the 83rd Infantry.

You gave these engineers from the 83rd some warm and pleasant memories they were able to take with them when, only a few weeks later, they took part in the Battle of the Bulge.

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Semper Fi

09 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

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birthday of the Corps, history, Philadelphia, Tun Tavern, US Marines

Wishing a Happy 239th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps, created in 1775 at the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia

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Over There: Remembering A Veteran of The Great War

06 Thursday Nov 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

IBEW, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Philadelphia, The Great War, Veterans Day, World War I

Poppies growing in a field in France

Poppies growing in a field in France

In 1918, at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the guns in Europe went silent. The Great War, the war to end all wars, was over, taking with it almost an entire generation of young men. But some came home. My Uncle Jim was one.

This year, the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, I remember him in particular.

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James Aloysius Lynch, second son of Thomas and Hannah Lynch of Philadelphia, was born in October 1888.

A big, handsome Irishman, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1917.

Uncle Jim, a master electrician in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), soon found himself on the way to join Gen. Black Jack Pershing in France in a Repair Unit in St. Nazaire.

After the war, he came home, married our wonderful Aunt Irma, and built himself a small farmhouse across the river in New Jersey. Built it himself, with friends from the building trades and our relatives, all by hand.

It was his weekend retreat, where he grew grapes, pears, apples, and flowers–lilacs, roses, Lily of the valley. When he was old enough, my brother spent many a weekend tagging along with Uncle Jim on his adventures. It sure was different from the city.

Jim wasn’t one to talk much about his Army days. And when I was a little kid, there had been two more wars, World War II and Korea, that were the ones I remember hearing about.

One thing I will always remember, though, is Uncle Jim’s enormous generosity and his efforts to support the soldiers then fighting in Korea. Two little kids, my brother and I, loved climbing up to the dining room table to help Uncle Jim make boxes of treats to send to the “boys overseas.”

First, tape the box together with a lot of packing tape…those boxes had a long way to go. Then the fun part: stashing the loot inside. Bags of hard candies, razor blades, soaps, powder, toothpaste, tobacco and cigarettes…..all the reminders of home. Week after week, we packed those boxes and he mailed them off. Good memories.

Uncle Jim worked as an electrician in Local 98, IBEW, in Philadelphia until he was 74. We thought he would be antsy in retirement, and we were right! But he chugged along, making up his own routine and spoiling the kids in the family whenever he could. He and Aunt Irma never had children of their own.

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Miss you, Uncle Jim. You, too, Aunt Irm. Thank you for all you did.

1914: Some of the fellows from the unions. From left, J. Molloy, Bricklayer. J. Lynch, Electrician. J. Kelly, Bricklayer. W. Clark, Carpenter. Herrman, Bricklayer. Dewey, Scotch Terrier

1914: Some of the fellows from the unions. From left, J. Molloy, Bricklayer. J. Lynch, Electrician. J. Kelly, Bricklayer. W. Clark, Carpenter. Herrman, Bricklayer. Dewey, Scotch Terrier

J. Kelly, standing beside Jim, is the father of Grace Kelly.

Postcards from training posts

From New Rochelle, New York

From New Rochelle, New York

From Jacksonville, Florida

From Jacksonville, Florida

The French government gave the doughboys this little book to familiarize them with the French language.

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I’m Welcome! Now Leave Me Alone!

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by Marianne On a Mission in Uncategorized

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Tags

annoyances, Facebook, funny stuff, humor, marketing, Shopping

I made a post about this on my Facebook page and it generated a lot of chat. Let’s see if you Musings followers agree.

I went into the drugstore to pick up a few things. Here’s how it went:

As soon as I walked in, a voice said, “Welcome to XXX.” I smiled and waved in the general direction of the voice.

About ten more employees continued to Welcome me. After the first Welcome, I’m good. I feel welcome. Okay? Still smiling.

Another five or six relentlessly cheerful people almost followed me through the aisles, making sure I was Welcome and checking to see if I needed help finding anything. All smiles stopped together.

No. I’m browsing. And suppose I was shopping for, say, Heavy Duty Odor Eaters or Maximum Strength Depends? Again, I’m fine. Thanks.

At least two more, after making sure: 1) I felt Welcome and 2) did not need guidance, made sure I was aware that I could get a flu shot, or even shingles vaccine, at the pharmacy, should I be in need of such.

I appreciate your concern for my health. But stop. I got this.

I know this is a marketing strategy, and the corporate marketing powers think this approach makes shoppers feel, well, Welcome. Instead, it is SOOOOO ANNOYING! I feel like I’m being stalked. No, really.

Welcome to my blog. Can I help you find the perfect post today? Oh, sorry, no flu shots here.

When I made this post on Facebook, it immediately generated ten ‘likes’ and comments from everywhere!

A Friend from Jersey, UK, has the same experience when clothes shopping. ‘Can’t I just browse?’

From Virginia: ‘I’d like to know whose master’s degree thesis in Marketing generated this idea.

From New Jersey: ‘Take them by the hand and say, “Oh, yes, I’m looking for the industrial strength Wart Remover! “‘

I don’t mean to criticize the employees so much as I mean to take a swipe at the policy of customer intrusion.

What do you other Musings followers think? Have you had this experience? Is it helpful? How do you respond?

Followers in countries outside the USA, do you have this when you shop? Tell us by commenting here in the blog.

I’m finished the rant now. You are Welcome to reply.

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Marianne Kirby Rhodes

Marianne Kirby Rhodes

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