The family that ran the bus company owned a house in a village between Whitewater and Lake Geneva. I decided to move to an upstairs apartment there when it came open. It was now 1981. Heide and I had set a date to get married that coming fall. The old fella that started the bus company lived in the down stairs of the old house, and mainly did retired activities. One day when Heide came to visit, I was still at work. She said the only thing he ever said to her the whole time she knew him was, "Hey, you want some carrots?" as he pointed to a whole trailer full of fresh garden carrots.
"Hey, there is 'Old-want-some-carrots,'" she would always say when she would see him shuffling about the place.
The wife of the big guy that lived in the apartment next door, had just had a baby. The walls were paper thin. Each night when he came home he could be heard saying, "Bounce a baby, bounce a baby." This as he presumably bounced the baby up and down on his knee. Heide promptly named him, "Bounce-a-baby."
The old fella that owned the house was the father of the wife of my boss Jack. Confused yet? I asked Jack to be my best man. Jack divorced his wife and took up with the estranged wife of Want-some-carrot's daughter's brother. In other words, Want-some-carrot's son's x-wife. All these players and actors worked at the bus company and still spoke to one and other.
One day I was in downtown Whitewater taking a break between driving a bus route and working in the bus shop. I stopped into one of the greasy spoon cafés the college town nurtured. To my surprise I met Ol' Don and his new delivery partner from the furniture store in Beloit (Ninth Job of Bob - Part II). We talked and had breakfast. It was nice to see someone sane again. It was the last time I ever saw Ol' Don.
One day as I ground the paint off a dented warranty bus, my boss and friend Frank from the Lake Geneva bowling alley stopped in. He was taking classed at the university in Whitewater. He walked up to me and just stood. This was not like him. He was usually a hoot and a cut-up. He looked like someone had just shoved a piece of sharp metal in his side. "Young Mike from work has been killed in a car wreck," Frank said with tears in his eyes. I was stunned and did not answer. When I finally caught my composure Frank was gone.
Young Mike's funeral was one of the first serious events Heide and I attended as a couple. It was in Illinois. Heide knew Mike as well. We were all a gaggle of kids in those days. It was hard to tell the bar workers from the patrons. The funeral was a visit to a reality most of us, other than the DJ Murry-of-'Nam, had ever visited.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Private First Class Isaiah R. Hunt, 20 of Suamico (just north of Green Bay) died when the driver of his military vehicle accidentally struck another vehicle north of Baghdad, Iraq, on November 15, 2004. Isaiah was a member of the 782nd Main Support Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was a driver and gunner in Iraq. Pfc. Hunt was thrown from the turret of his vehicle when it collided with a civilian contractor vehicle. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Hunt died en route to a hospital. He joined the military in July 2003. Isaiah graduated from Bay Port High School in Green Bay Wisconsin. He is the son of former Green Bay Packers linebacker Mike Hunt who played for the Packers from 1978 to 1980. Pfc. Hunt is survived by his dad Mike and mother Pamela. Private First Class Hunt was the 28th Wisconsin soldier to die in Iraq since the start of the War in Spring, 2003.
3,840 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
445 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
28,327 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,682 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
81 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
5 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
119 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
