BS: Odd

Subject: BS: Odd
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:09 AM

Just found this information but saw no thread for posting.

America's real heroes sometimes hide from us in plain view and in packages that we'd least suspect. Quite a few of us grew up with Captain Kangaroo, as you or your children probably did. I knew nothing of his background, only that his show was both entertaining, educational, and as kids, we looked forward to it with great anticipation. Captain Kangaroo turned 76 recently, which is odd, because he's never looked a day under 76 . (DOB: 6/27/27) It reminded me of the following story. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Some people have been a bit offended that Lee Marvin is buried in a grave alongside 3 and 4 star generals at Arlington National Cemetery. His marker gives his name, rank (PVT) and service (USMC). Nothing else. Here's a guy who was only a famous movie star who served his time, why the heck does he rate burial with these guys?

I always liked Lee Marvin, but did not know the extent of his Corps experiences. In a time when many Hollywood stars served their country in the armed forces, often in rear-echelon posts where they were carefully protected, only to be trotted out to perform for the cameras in war bond promotions, Lee Marvin was a genuine hero. He won the Navy Cross at Iwo Jima.

There is only one higher Naval award... the Medal Of Honor. If that is a surprising comment on the true character of the man, he credits his sergeant with an even greater show of bravery.

Dialog from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson: His guest was Lee Marvin. Johnny said, "Lee, I'll bet a lot of people are unaware that you were a Marine in the initial landing at Iwo Jima... and that during the course of that action you earned the Navy Cross and were severely wounded." "Yeah, yeah... I got shot square in the ass and they gave me the Cross for securing a hot spot about halfway up Suribachi...bad thing about getting shot up on a mountain is guys gettin' shot hauling you down. But Johnny, at Iwo I served under the bravest man I ever knew... We both got the Cross the same day, but what he did for his Cross made mine look cheap in comparison. The dumb bastard actually stood up on Red beach and directed his troops to move forward and get the hell off the beach. That Sergeant and I have been lifelong friends. When they brought me off Suribachi we passed the Sergeant and he lit a smoke and passed it to me lying on my belly on the litter and said, 'Where'd they get you Lee?' Well Bob... if you make it home before me, tell Mom to sell the outhouse! Johnny, I'm not lying... Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew..... Bob Keeshan... You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo."

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But Mr. Rogers was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long sleeve sweater to cover the many tattoo's on his forearm and biceps. A master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat. He hid that away and won our hearts with his quiet wit and charm.

America's real hero's don't flaunt what they did, they quietly go about their day to day lives, doing what they do best. They earned our respect and the freedom's that we all enjoy. Look around and see if you can find one of those hero's in your midst. Often, they are the one's you'd least suspect, but would most like to have on your side if anything ever happened.

We search for answers to violence in humans while denigrating in passing our own cultures. Often, I have found, the few who bore the most seek to teach our children of all things bright and beautiful. After six years of war my father wanted no more than the peaceful life as a librarian. Years later, my working group is still faced with the problem, there must be a Rule of Law in a Nuclear World, but who shall enforce the Rules? Should we, as Americans and British ask for UN observation of our elections. The French, the Germans?

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:40 AM

Sorry.......Urban Legend.

Keeshan turned 75 on June 27, 2002

Bob Keeshan and Lee Marvin both served in the Marines, but never together.

Marvin was wounded at the battle of Saipan, two months prior to Iwo Jima. He received the Purple Heart, not the Navy Cross, for his injuries. There is no record of him serving at Iwo Jima.

Keeshan enlisted in the Marines in June, 1945 - four months after Iwo Jima. In fact, he never saw action during the war. He was never awarded the Navy Cross.

I have a feeling the Fred Rogers stuff is equally bullshit as well as I can find no record of it anywhere. I did find that he wasn't a sniper and never served in the military.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Cluin
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:44 AM

It's odd, Doug because it's all bullshit.

Lee Marvin never served at Iwo Jima (though he was wounded in the ass, got the Purple Heart and is buried at Arlington) and never served with Captain Kangaroo anywhere. See the Snopes article here.

And Mister Rogers wasn't a soldier at all. He was a o either. He was a Ordained Minister who was never in the military (but he WAS a pretty hot piano player). Look about halfway down the page in this Snopes article on John Denver's alleged military sniper past.

Or check out this other Snopes article debunking other rumours about Mister Rogers apparently being a covicted pedophile and giving the finger to his audience on his farewell show.

And, as an aside, no, Frank Zappa isn't really the son of Mr. Greenjeans from the Captain Kangaroo Show, see? (although the rumour as I remember it from when I was a kid was that it was Alice Cooper who was Greenjeans Jr.)


Always check with www.snopes.com for these things first (as I have learned from a few mistakes myself).

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:52 AM

Hey Cluin....We kind of cross posted, but thanks for the links as well. I also use one called "Break the Chain" and another at the AFU and Urban Legends Site Pages.

I really hate the bullshit like this. Fred Rogers was a real hero by anyone's standard and doesn't need phony hero status.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 08 May 03 - 04:19 AM

Good grief! By any means delete this thread as it came from (I thought) trusted sources. If allowed, I shall copy your responses and confront the source.

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 08 May 03 - 04:35 AM

Never seen Captain Kangaroo, I think the only memory most people in UK will have of the name is from the song:
"Counting flowers on the wall,That don't bother me at all.
Playing Solitaire till dawn,With a deck of fifty-one.
Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo.
Now, don't tell me I've nothing to do."

Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 May 03 - 04:49 AM

Hey Doug....No sense in deleting this as sometimes this too is a good way to break the chain. All of us have ben had at one point or another so no need to be embarassed either. As a matter of fact, we have had some of these threads before that have been really informative and eye opening. Some of this stuff actually pre-dates the Internet, but the net makes it so much more powerful. After awhile you'l get so used to checking the stuff first that you begin to doubt everything!!!

One of the threads I recall well brought up the meaning of "posh" which most of us have known since childhood as being an acronym for "Port Out, Starboard Home" having to do with which side of the ship to book when travelling to India from the UK. Man, we were all in shock as this one turns out to be total crappola!!! So don't worry about it......Try to enjoy reading the Snopes and other sites as well. It's amazing how many things we only think we know. Pf course that's kinda' what all folklore is about anyway!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: catspaw49
Date: 08 May 03 - 04:58 AM

Here s an old thread (CLICK)
that you might enjoy Doug! In it you'll see a few debunked and me boldly saying that I am positive of POSH until Sourdough comes along and explains things.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 08 May 03 - 06:16 AM

Thank you, Cat, your responses have been more than enligtening and informative, but gentle as well. Perhaps I should let the last paragraph of the original stand alone as a personally observed fact and no more.

Years ago I gave a young man a ride home and one thing led to another. He was a veteran of a different division and wanted very much to pay for the lift at his third story walk-up wood flat and meet his family. It was as though he sought verification. He drove a septic pump tank truck and most of all wanted to share his poetry. It was not child'ish' as much as child 'like' and there were many school-type binders of it. I finally begged off as there were several hours left to the trip. Yes, I enjoyed his company for there was no agenda, no stage.

National service is a humbling experience. Maybe the thread should be "National Service for Two Years Between High School and University". Armed Forces, Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity. I'm sure you can add more.

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 May 03 - 08:23 AM

The ones who have "been there" are the quiet ones. Real heroes don't boast about what they did, they simply do what is needed and then go on. And they aren't all in the military -- Fr. Judge at the WTC comes to mind.

And so do those who, each day, go to mind-numbing jobs they hate so that their family can survive. So does the mother -- single for whatever reason -- who works a night shift and comes home to get her kids ready for school, cleans the house, sleeps a few hours, and wakes to get dinner for the kids and spend some time with them before she goes to work again (or, yes, it could be a father).

Is the firefighter who rescues someone from a burning building more heroic than the "special athlete" who gives his or her all only to come in last, but with a big grin because they tried?

Maybe heroism comes when someone transcends themself. I don't know, but I do have a lot of respect and admiration for heroes, both military and otherwise. And there are more of them out there than we think, because they do rather than talk.

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 03 - 10:37 AM

In spite of the dubious references, your intitial post has some transcendant value in the conclusions it offers.

Individual humans all have to learn the fundamentals of living among other individuals -- the etiquettes and protocols of basic common survival and basic decency.

Individual nations do, as well. A rule of Law can only prosper when it is subscribed to out of a sense of mutual survival. Nuclear weapons are an extremely contra-survival vector for any nation to pursue, and there is no rationale which justifies them -- not even the Big Cop image of projected force being sent around by the current US Administration.

Not that this has much to do with heros -- unless you can identify as heros those who succeed in bringing enlightened self-interest to the leaders of nations. This is accomplished by quiet people who engage in education in myriad ways, rarely by those who practice the use of force.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: GUEST,pdc
Date: 08 May 03 - 10:37 AM

A real one:

We have an elderly neighbor named Ernie, who is the quietest, gentlest, most unassuming man you can imagine. He delights in his wife, children, grandchildren, garden, and his small dog. Ernie is a small man, and shy.

Imagine our astonishment in 1995 when Ernie's picture, complete with medals, appeared in our local newspaper on the 50th anniversary of a WWII battle (doesn't matter which one). He had, single-handedly, and against orders, dug into a huge pile of earth left by a bomb that had just exploded, as he thought that some soldiers might have survived. His lieutenant told him to get out of there, as bombs were falling all around the area. Ernie refused, dug down, and found three soldiers, alive, who had been protected by a sheet of corrugated metal. They certainly would have died had he not dug down for them.

All the people on our street shook Ernie's hand while he was working in his garden. All he said was, "Well, everyone did what they had to do."

Ernie is near 90 now, very frail, probably weighs less than 100 pounds, has had to give up his driver's license. No one, looking at him, would ever guess what this quiet man actually is.

So he's not famous, at least not past our street. But he's a real hero.

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Cluin
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:42 PM

Well, if you want to see something really odd, go here.

(It's a Shockwave/Flash presentation. Click on a horse to start him up, click again to shut him up)

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 08 May 03 - 03:58 PM

There was a thread recently titled Fakelore, 56390, which contains some of these stories. Sometimes they bear repeating, because new suckers for false stories are born every day- I am often one of them. Fakelore

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 May 03 - 04:16 PM

That's cool, Cluin!

Our smallest cat really digs that horse on the far right!

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: GUEST,ghost
Date: 08 May 03 - 09:30 PM

That was pretty bizarre Cluin.

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Alba
Date: 08 May 03 - 11:13 PM

Good one Cluin!
ROFL
A:>}

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Charley Noble
Date: 09 May 03 - 01:04 PM

Horsefeathers!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Odd
From: Cluin
Date: 09 May 03 - 01:19 PM

Well, they're all a horse of a different colour (and voice) anyway.