Normal morning, except for the laundry. Ay yi yi. They are in line at 7:15! I run to get our stuff and end up being 4th in line at 7:40am. And they are being so loud in the hallway. Being the Laundry Educator (i.e., police), I ask them to be a little quieter, as there are cabins right there, explaining that if people are too noisy, they’ll keep the laundry closed until 9 – as they have done on cruises in the past. One of the ladies actually gets a waiter to call down and get someone to open early (5 minutes), which works, but still……last one we have to worry about thankfully.
Then we do our norm – decamp to the Cabaret for Dr. Jannie and
‘Traveling the Highways and Byways of Canada.’
A cute presentation on all of Canada. We “fly” to the far territories like Yukon, Northwest territories, Nunavut, etc. Then we drive – with our seatbelts on – across the Trans-Canada Highway from Victoria to St. John’s, the 4th longest highway in the world.
Next up, Dr. Hal with
‘Forensic Detectives – Identifying America’s Fallen Heroes.’
This presentation is all about identifying the unknown soldier from the Vietnam war and answering the question: Was he really unknown? Bottom line: there was a big cover up regarding the remains that were interred in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. People knew the remains belonged to Michael Blassie, a dragonfly pilot on his 132nd mission who crashed in 1972 during the An Loc battle, behind enemy lines.
He was identified in October 1972, when the crash site was finally reached, they found air force survival gear, a flight suit, wallet, air force id card and pictures of family. Even though only 6 bones were left, it was pretty clear who they had. Weirdly, the Blassie family was not notified the plane went down or that Michael was dead, he was just listed as MIA.
When the bones and gear finally got back to states the wallet and id were card gone. DNA testing didn’t exist as it does today, so results were inconclusive. The remains ended up as one of only 3 unidentified remains. Finally identified as Blassie, but they covered it up and told the tech to destroy all evidence – still buried the remains in the grave for Reagan to have his big ceremony in 1984.
Finally in 1994 a POW/MIA activist found the information and asked the question. CBS News broke the story. In 1998 the bones were exhumed and all the artifacts and paperwork pertaining to Michael Blassie were in the casket. DNA was finally used, matching reference samples from sisters and mother to identify the bones. Crazy cover up story!
Fun fact: in WWI there were 1648 unknowns, in WWII 8526, in the Korean War 848 and by the Vietnam war the tracking and technology had advanced enough that there only 4 unknown – or unidentified – dead soldiers.
A quick lunch in Windows, then it is back to the Cabaret for Captain Les and
‘Flying the Harrier in the Cold War.’
Fascinating – for plane enthusiasts – discussion about the Harrier, how it flies, how it hovers and what they did when patrolling in Germany. Nice for Pilot Ed, sort of on the boring side for me.
Finishing out our Cabaret day, the last lecture is with Dr. Jannie and
‘Quaint Quebec City and Marvelous Montreal.’
Lots of history on Quebec province, the largest in Canada. The word means narrow passage or strait in Algonquin, and of course it was home to the First Nations. Quebec Province is 3x the size of France and 7x the size of Britain with 9.1 million population. Interesting facts: Quebec City is the only walled city in North America; Montreal, the capital city, is linked to the mainland by a tunnel and 15 bridges; the street where the Montreal apartment in which we will stay is located was once the Red Light District! Nice to know! Oh, and in Montreal the bagels are boiled with honey and wood fired (definitely a must try) and they are famous for their smoked meat – particularly brisket (another must try).
That pretty much rounds out our day, with down time now before our dinner with Louie, now the HD. Hanging out on the balcony – it’s a gorgeous sunny, if not chilly day – we eventually hit the gym and the Living Room before our appointed dinner time. Arriving right on schedule after his performance in the Liars Club (we’re not going there…..the game shows….eek), he has JR and Francine in tow, along with Jennie and Neil Smith (their dinner partners most nights) and Kristie, and adorable psychologist from Arizona. Dinner is a blast with all of them – couldn’t have had a better table – and we spend far too long in the dining room enjoying the food and the company. So happy we were finally able to have dinner and catch up with Louie as well as officially meet the Smiths and Kristie who is a doll.
Even though we stayed way late at dinner (the privileges of dining with the HD), we have an hour back tonight, so it is still relatively early when we get to the room – giving us time to wind down before hitting the hay.
Andiamo 