Past The Old Neighborhood

Old Home Week.

Arkansas to New York.

Hot Springs to the Hamptons.

Rolling Photography Files. 

Manhattan from the BQE.

June 17, 2011.

Bonus pics:

Contento Ltd.

Tennessee Through the Windshield -- Big Crosses

At 70 miles per hour.

Previously in the Rolling Photography series:

Texas Through the Windshield

-- Big Panhandle Cross --

All photos courtesy of Contento Ltd.

Andre D. Tyson, Patrick R. McCaffrey, Army National Guard -- Rest In Peace

Andre D. Tyson, 33

Army National Guard, 1st Lieutenant
Based: Southern California
578th Engineer Battalion
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 22, 2004
Balad (near), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Riverside
High School: Santa Maria High (Santa Maria)
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

Tyson was killed alongside Patrick McCaffrey in what the military initially told their families was an ambush by insurgents. Two years later, the military informed the families that the soldiers were actually killed by members of the Iraqi national guard who were on patrol with them.

Read the LA Times article about Army National Guard 1st Lieutenant Andre D. Tyson here.
Visit Lieutenant Andre D. Tyson's Guest Book.


Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr., 34

Army National Guard, Sergeant
Based: Petaluma, Calif.
A Company, 579th Engineer Battalion
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 22, 2004
Balad (near), Iraq
Married, 2 children
Gender: Male
Hometown: Tracy
High School: Homestead High (Cupertino)
Burial: Eternal Hills Memorial Park, Oceanside

Military officials initially informed his family that McCaffrey had been killed by insurgents. They later determined he and another soldier, Andre Tyson of Riverside, were killed by purported Iraqi allies on patrol with them.

Read the LA Times article about Army National Guard Sergeant Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr. here.
Visit the Sergeant Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr. Guest Book.

Paul T. Nakamura, Army Reserve, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Paul T. Nakamura, 21 

Army Reserve, Specialist 

Based: Colorado Springs, Colo. 

437th Medical Company 

Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom 

Died: June 19, 2003 

Iskandariya, Iraq 

Gender: Male 

Hometown: Santa Fe Springs 

High School: Santa Fe High (Santa Fe Springs) 

Burial: Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier 

"He was a rascal -- you would tell him not to do something, and he would do it anyway," said his sister, Pearl Nakamura, 23. She spent a lot of time with her brother, shooting pool, bowling and swimming. They were only one grade apart at Santa Fe High School.

"We got in trouble together," she said.

I will always remember Paul with his red board shorts on top of our ambulances. Oh... and the sight of him launching the FLA over the sand dunes in Kuwait. You will NEVER be forgotten. I miss you.

— Victoria Nguyen

June 24, 2009 at 3:06 p.m.

Read more about Paul T. Nakamura, Army Reserve Specialist, here and here and here.

One day he said, 'Mom, Dad, I'm so proud I was born in the United States.' — Yoko Nakamura, mother, talking about her soldier son

Reposted from Army Reserve Specialist Paul T. Nakamura as last remembered at Boom3 on June 19, 2010.

Thai Vue, Army, Specialist -- Rest In Peace

Thai Vue , 22

Army, Specialist
Based: Hanau, Germany
127th Military Police Company, 709th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, V Corps
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 18, 2004
Baghdad, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Willows
High School: Willows High (Willows)
Foreign Country of Birth: Thailand
Burial: San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery, Santa Nella, Calif.

Twenty-five years after his parents fled a repressive Communist regime in their homeland of Laos, Thai Vue realized that the American dream they had given him was slipping out of his grasp.

The Willows, Calif., teenager had spent much of his senior year in high school partying and staying out late, and his grades showed it. A few days after his graduation in 2001, he drove to Chico, Calif., and joined the Army in hopes of getting his act together. "He said, 'I don't want to go, but I just need to get my life straight -- and get some money,' " his brother, Alan, recalled.

Thai Vue served his three-year stint in the Army, but military officials extended his service this year so he could serve in Iraq, his family said. He was killed June 18 when a mortar round struck a motor pool in Baghdad, where he was working as a mechanic.

With a new sense of discipline instilled by the Army, Vue, 22, had hoped to leave the military to take advantage of the educational opportunities that had attracted his parents to the United States.

His plan was to join his longtime girlfriend, Nancy Lee, 21, and attend college in Las Vegas. "He was going to come back," Lee said. "And we were going to get married and just live our life."

Vue, the third of six siblings and a member of the Hmong ethnic group, was born in Thailand a few years after his parents, Chou Vue and Chia Thao, fled across the Mekong River.

They were among thousands of Laotians who left to avoid the farming collectives and re- education camps of the communist government that was ascendant in Laos in the mid-1970s. Chou Vue spent much of his teenage years fighting the communists. So did his father and brother, who were killed in the fighting, said Thai Vue's older brother, Thor, 27.

In addition to his parents, Alan and Thor, Vue is survived by two other brothers, Kevin, 8, and Vincent, 6; a sister, Mai Yang, 24; and his grandmothers, Dia Yang and Chue Lee.

A traditional, three-day Hmong funeral was planned to start Saturday at Memorial

Read the entire LA Times article about Army Specialist Thai Vue here and find more at Military Times and from Hmong Today and see remembrances and messeges about Specialist Vue at Fallen Heroes.

Shabbat Shalom

Marc A. Retmier, Navy, Hospitalman -- Rest In Peace

Marc A. Retmier, 19

Navy, Hospitalman
Provisional Reconstruction Team Sharana
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: June 18, 2008
Paktika province, Afghanistan
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Hemet
High School: Alessandro High School (Hemet)
Burial: Pacific View Memorial Park, Corona del Mar

His passion was always to be where the action was. He could have stayed at Bethesda Naval Hospital and been a corpsman. My son believed in what he was doing and he kept volunteering. He didn't have to be there.
— Steve Retmier, father

Marc A. Retmier was the 500th Californian to die in Iraq or Afghanistan, and the 7th from the city of Hemet.

Read more about Marc A. Retmier here, here and comments here.
Update: Read this Press-Enterprise account of Marc A. Retmier.

This is from a previous remembrance of Navy Hospitalman Marc A. Retmier in Boom3 on Friday, June 18, 2010.

Nathan W. Cox, Army, Sergeant -- Rest In Peace

Nathan W. Cox, 27

Army, Sergeant
Based: Ft. Campbell, Ky.
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)
Supporting: Operation Enduring Freedom
Died: June 16, 2010
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, USA
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Fremont
High School: Washington High (Fremont)

"Nathan went above and beyond the average soldier in pretty much everything he did," said Stephen Kraft, who served in the same platoon in Iraq.

Army Spc. Nathan William Cox, 27, was fatally injured June 14 when insurgents attacked his unit with small-arms fire at a forward operating base in the Khogyani district of eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, on the Pakistani border. He was a healthcare specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Special Troops Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Ft. Campbell, Ky.

His family flew from their home in the Bay Area city of Fremont to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, where he was in a coma. He died June 16.

After his death, he was awarded a Bronze Star.

Cox's family, friends and fellow soldiers described him as a quiet and thoughtful man who never asked for special attention or recognition, but always seemed focused on solving problems and helping others.

"He had this amazing situational awareness," his brother Patrick wrote in an e-mail. "It's hard to describe his thought process as he kept it internal -- whatever it was, he just did it and did it well."

Born July 15, 1982, in Ypsilanti, Mich., Cox moved with his family to Fremont when he was 5. As a boy, he spoke seldom and loved spending time outdoors. In high school, he played on Fremont's Washington High School water polo team. He was a small player, so he had to play with skill and savvy.

"He couldn't outmuscle you; he would study the game and figure out how to play it with his mind," said his mother, Margaret Cox. "He kind of did everything that way."

Cox joined the Army in 2002 and was first deployed for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. He served as a combat engineer in the 82nd Airborne Division.

The days were violent and full of fear, said Kraft, his platoon buddy. Their unit patrolled dangerous and unfamiliar corners of Baghdad, often searching homes and buildings for the components that insurgents used to build improvised explosive devices.

Despite his youth, many in the platoon came to rely on Cox for his ability to connect and communicate, Kraft said. "I am 10 years older than Nate, but he was a mentor to me," he said.

After that first 14-month tour, Cox was deployed once more to Iraq and then to Afghanistan. He finished his initial four-year enlistment in January 2006. He was 23.

His brother went to Ft. Bragg, N.C., to pick him up and drive him home. During the long trip back to California, Cox spoke about his experience and shared his feelings. He told his brother how he was struck by the kindness of the Afghan people and described the friendship he had formed with an interpreter there.

"Being Nathan, he never directly said he was going back into the Army," Patrick Cox said. "But everything he said hinted that he would return."

Nathan Cox took time to explore other options, his brother said. He enrolled in a commercial diving course at a college in Wilmington and then worked at a hospital in Katy, Texas.

Ultimately, he chose to return to the Army. He reenlisted in February 2008, and completed a combat medic course at Ft. Hood in Texas.

"He wanted to go back and be more useful," his mother said. "He wanted to help his brothers."

In the summer of 2008, Cox was selected to join the Army's elite Special Forces. He completed the initial phases of the intense training program, which included a six-month course in Farsi.

But by January, Cox had grown tired of waiting. He decided to forgo the remaining phases of the Special Forces training and joined the 101st Airborne Division as a healthcare specialist.

Cox arrived in Afghanistan in the first week of May. The next month, not long before he was killed, he asked his family to send pens and paper.

The children in Khogyani loved to write and draw, and he wanted to offer them gifts.

Do read the entire LA Times article about Army Sergeant Nathan W. Cox here. 

Find more about Sergeant Cox at Freedom Remembered 

and visit Army Sergeant Nathan W. Cox's Guest Book.

Married In A Fever

Arkansas -- The Natural State (But we don't recycle all that much.)

Big Time Days In American History

On June 15, 1836, Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state.

The Arkansas territory itself was larger than the state. After statehood the leftover area to the west had post offices that continued for some years to use an Arkansas abbreviation in the postmarks, although they were really in the "Indian Country."

Hernando DeSoto became in 1541 the first European to visit the land that would become Arkansas, which had already been occupied by Native Americans for some 11,000 years. Marquette and Joliet followed in 1673 and in 1682 LaSalle claimed possession of the territory in the name of France. The first permanent European settlement in what is now Arkansas was established by Henri DeTonti in 1686 at Arkansas Post. In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory (including Arkansas) from France for $15 million, bringing Arkansas for the first time under the U.S. flag.

In 1819, the Arkansas Territory was organized and Arkansas was admitted to the Union as a state in 1836.

Lake Hamilton

 Arkansas is bounded on the north by Missouri; on the east by the Mississippi River, which separates it from Mississippi and Tennessee; on the south by Louisiana; and on the west by the plains of Oklahoma and Texas. In size, it stands 27th among the states, with an area of 53,187 square miles. Of these, over 600,000 acres are lakes with 9,740 miles of streams.

Main rivers of the state are the Mississippi, Arkansas, White, St. Francis, Red, Ouachita,and their tributaries—all of which drain to the south and southeast. Arkansas has scores of small streams and lakes, and the plateau section is noted for the many springs. Mammoth Spring, in Fulton County near the Missouri line, has a maximum flow of nine million gallons per hour. More than one million gallons of water flow daily from 47 springs at the base of Hot Springs Mountain in Hot Springs National Park, with an average temperature of 143 degrees Fahrenheit.

Though at my place get all of our fresh, tasty drinking water from the cold spring over on Whittington, at the fountain at the base of West Mountain.

--Text and flag above swiped from some Arkansas web site.
--Lake Hamilton as seen from my deck. Photograph courtesy of Contento Ltd.

Dion M. Whitley, Marines, Lance Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Dion M. Whitley, 21

Marines, Lance Corporal
Based: Camp Pendleton
1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 15, 2005
Ramadi (near), Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Altadena
High School: John Muir High (Pasadena)
Burial: Mountain View Cemetery, Altadena

From the LA Times:

In his teen years, Dion Whitley was known to friends and family as a "gentle giant."

But being big -- too big -- almost got in the way of his dream of enlisting in the Marines.

That wouldn't stop him. Ever since anyone could remember, the Altadena youngster had wanted to be a U.S. Marine.

"He was patriotic. He liked the outdoors. He watched war movies. It was just something we always knew he wanted to do," said his older brother, Arian Whitley, 26.

At every opportunity, the future lance corporal and machine gunner talked about his goal. He even wrote about the Marines in his high school essays.

But recruiters told him he had to shed weight from his 300-pound, 6-foot, 3-inch frame before the Marines would take him.

Whitley threw himself into a daily exercise routine and even trained with the recruiters to show them he was serious. After several months of discipline, "he really slimmed down," recalled Arian. "He looked fit and trim."

The 21-year-old and three [four] other Marines were killed June 15 by an insurgent attack while on patrol near Ramadi, Iraq.

[Also killed were Lance Cpl. Jonathan R. Flores, Lance Cpl. Chad B. Maynard, Cpl. Jesse Jaime and Cpl. Tyler S. Trovillion.]

Becoming a Marine was only the first of several plans Whitley had for his life. He wanted to use his military pay and benefits to go to college, buy a home and start a business.

In his final phone call home, on June 7, he chatted about his future.

"We were talking about getting ready to buy a house for him in Las Vegas," said Arian, also of Altadena. "And we talked about the business we wanted to start together, a barbecue catering business for the film industry. He talked about that all the time."

Arian said his brother did not plan to stay in the military because he was unhappy with the Iraq war. "He wanted to do his duty to his country," Arian said. "But he knew the war wasn't a good war. He was saddened by it because he wasn't a person who wants to hurt other people. He was in good spirits while he was there, but he was no killer."


Longtime friend Josh Smith, 20, of Pasadena remembered Whitley as quiet and shy but someone who loved to amuse people. "He made your hours happy. We didn't even have to go out. We'd play video games, cards, dominoes."


Born in Rock Island, Ill., Whitley was raised by a single mother and lived nearly all his life in Altadena. He thrived in the Boy Scouts and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.


"He set a good example for others," Arian said.

Whitley entered the Marines shortly after graduating from John Muir High School in 2002. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, and was deployed to Iraq in March.

The Department of Defense told his family his unit was preparing to place snipers in strategic positions when his Humvee rolled over a homemade bomb that hit the vehicle's gas tank.

In addition to his brother, his survivors include his mother, Deborah Whitley of Altadena.

The funeral will be Thursday at Victory Bible Church in Pasadena.

Visit Marine Corporal Dion M. Whitley's Guest Book.

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Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan R. Flores -- Rest In Peace

Marine Lance Cpl. Chad B. Maynard -- Rest In Peace

Marine Cpl. Jesse Jaime -- Rest In Peace 

Marine Cpl. Tyler S. Trovillion -- Rest In Peace

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CAMP HURRICANE POINT, AR RAMADI, Iraq – Sgt. Jade C. Hill, squad leader of 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, delivers a eulogy during a memorial ceremony here June 23 in honor of Lance Cpl. Dion M. Whitley and five other fellow brothers-in-arms who were killed while fighting terror in the city June 15. Whitley was a 21-year-old from Pasadena, Calif., and machine gunner with 3rd Squad, 2nd Platoon, Company A. Whitley graduated Marshall High School in 2002 and then enlisted in the Marine Corps. He is survived by his mother, Deborah.

Photo submitted 07/01/2005 Taken by Cpl. Tom Sloan

What's Blooming In My Yard

Flag Day

Michael A. Estrella, Marines, Corporal -- Rest In Peace

Michael A. Estrella, 20

Marines, Corporal
Based: Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii
3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force
Supporting: Operation Iraqi Freedom
Died: June 14, 2006
Haditha, Iraq
Single
Gender: Male
Hometown: Hemet
High School: Hemet High (Hemet)
Burial: Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside

Mike my brother was the best brothers i ever had, i have so many good Memory's from when we were just kids to teenagers. I dred everyday with missing him, and will never forget the day i found out my brother a Marine who was wise,strong ,loving and caring had passed away. I was in my house and heard the door bell ring and answerd the door not knowing who it was and there stood 2 marines and 1 navy soldier and didnt think of it untill i saw the red 4 to 5 inch folder in the hands of one marine, and right there and then i knew right away that something bad had happend to my brother. One of the marines asked me to call my mom and i really didnt want to call her and make her day a living hell but i had no choice but to call her with bad news. A marine dreding to tell my parents the bad news took me to pick up my 3 other siblings from school i didnt know what to expect when they onced steped into the car, my brothers and sister kept asking me what was going on,i sat in the car and said "nothing" i sat there in silence and cryed and cryed trying not to show my brothers and sister i was crying. Once we got home i walked into the house and saw my mom and dad sitting down together and i saw my mom bawling out tears and looking at us and i just looked at my mom and cryed even more knowing my brother wasnt with us anymore, we all sat in the living room as a family, i saw and heard the marine say "im sorry for your loss" the marine was trying not to cry. I felt like there was going to be no tomorow after he said that. My brother who one was 6 didnt understand what was going on until my mom told him. I remeber him saying "why is Michael dead?" i cryed and cryed knowing that he will be asking for a long time until he understood that his older brother got killed in iraq. Until this day i remeber every second of it and will NEVER forget that day on June 14th 2006 when we all as a family found out the bad news. I will always miss Michael, my brother who was always there for me and told me to stay in school and that he wanted to see me graduate one day but that day never came for him to see me so i took a pin with a picture of him and pinned it on my shaw and that same day of my graduation he got to walk with me and i knew he was there. But there are so many memorys in my heart of years and years we had together as kids and as siblings.

Mike i love you and will never forget you, you will always be in my heart and i will never forget that day u asked me for Kool-aid and Menudo in one of my dreams. I love you and i hope to see you soon.

-Jessica
— Jessica Estrella
August 31, 2009 at 12:36 a.m.

Estrella is survived by a large family, including five younger brothers and sisters for whom he would baby-sit while his mother and father worked.

His sister Sasha, 18, said her brother was her best friend, whom she would seek out for advice about boys and other teenage issues.

"I always used to talk to him about everything," she said. "He would always tell me, 'Don't worry; you've got to keep your feet up and keep walking.' He would tell me that he would always be there for me and support me."

Estrella also is survived by about 30 cousins. Last summer, most took a trip to San Felipe, Mexico, where they sunbathed and rode all-terrain vehicles on the beach.

"It was just spending family time together," said cousin Vanessa Lozano, 19. "He was a good cousin and a good friend."

Read the LA Times article about Marine Corporal Michael A. Estrella.

Find more about Corporal Estrella at LA IndyMedia,

the Iraq Page

and Fallen Heroes.

Visit Corporal Michael  A. Estrella's Guest Book.



Portrait of Marine Corporal Michael A. Estrella from Fallen Heroes Project