D-Day, June 6, 1944

Today is June 6, 2008. It was 64 years ago on this date that the Allied nations sacrificed so much in order to begin the end of the war in Europe. Below are a few things I have collected from around the web for you to share today. I have also provided links to other sites for you to visit.

Circular written by General Dwight D. Eisenhower explaining the importance of the Normandy invasion on winning the war. These were distributed to every member of the attacking force the night prior to the D-Day landings. Sergeant J. Robert "Bob" Slaughter, a Guard member of Virginia's Company D, 116th Infantry, passed his copy around among the members of Company D to get their signatures (front and back) as they waited to load aboard the landing craft that would take them to Omaha Beach. By nightfall of June 6, about half of these men were dead or wounded. Courtesy John R. Slaughter

The German pillbox sited on Omaha Beach with the National Guard Association Monument atop of it, 1969. National Guard Education Foundation

The above posters are courtesy of the US Army. These and 2 more posters can be viewed at the their poster gallery. You may also go to their D-Day site for much more good information.
Other sites worth looking at are:

The National D-Day Memorial Foundation

The D-Day Fact Sheet from the Kansas Heritage Server

The D-Day Museum

Eisenhower Archives

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

To the many who paid the ultimate price for all of us to live in freedom, I am forever thankful and grateful. Because of them we live in the greatest country on earth. And to those who are currently defending our freedom on foreign shores, THANK YOU so much for your sacrifices. Our prayers are with you and your families.

© 2008 Barry T Horst

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The End of An Era-Sort Of

Yesterday was the culmination of something that began 282 calendar days ago; August 28th to be exact. Yesterday was the last day of school for the students in Waco ISD. They attended 177 days of school this year. During this time my class went on 5 field trips. We went to the Mayborn Museum at Baylor University twice, the Hippodrome Theatre once, Cameron Park Zoo once, and to Skate World. For each of these field trips we were able to go to Cameron Park to play and have a picnic lunch. We had a grand year and it was hard to see it end.

Several of the students at school yesterday must have thought that school was already out. We had several running in the lower hall this morning. I had to remind several Kindergartner's and 1st graders that we still had rules to follow in school. After that they all settled down and were pretty good. Considering that it was the last day of school my class was very good today.

I did notice though that over the past several days many of my students that I have had for the past 2 years were being especially "clingy." I overheard one of the girls reminiscing about the things we did in Pre-K last year. It's really interesting to hear a 6 year old reminiscing about "old times."

Tuesday afternoon at dismissal I had 2 of my girls left. I had both in Pre-K last school year. I asked them both what they were going to do next year since they would have a different teacher instead of me. Almost immediately they both said, "Be bad." Hmmmm!!! I hope they misunderstood and thought I asked, "How will next year be without me?"

© 2008 Barry T Horst
This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day near the bottom of the left sidebar for free software downloads daily.

A Few Good Things

While researching the pictures that I used on my Memorial Day post I came across some interesting photos. The photos below show some of the good things that our young boys in the military are doing in Iraq. These things are seldom discussed or even mentioned in the news. Since I am finishing up the school year I thought it would be nice to share these with you. Below each picture is a description and proper credit for the photographer.

An Iraqi boy stands near U.S. Army Cpl. Christopher Paukei from 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division outside a park area in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, on May 3, 2008. Coalition and Iraqi forces patrol the area in an effort to determine if new barriers around the city are making the residents feel safe. DoD photo by Tech Sgt. Cohen A. Young, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Aaron Bunting, a medic from 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, provides dental care to an Iraqi girl as her mother looks on at a combined medical engagement in Ney, Diyala Province, Iraq, on April 7, 2008. DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Sean Mulligan, U.S. Navy. (Released)

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. David Hernandez and Tech. Sgt. Joseph Vergona, both contingency aeromedical staging facility medical technicians with the 332nd Expeditionary Aeromedical Squadron, load an Iraqi trauma patient onto an Iraqi air force Huey II helicopter at Balad Air Base, Iraq, on May 14, 2008. Iraqi airmen will transport the patient to the U.S. Army's 86th Combat Support Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. The mission will be the first medical evacuation mission flown by the Iraqi air force. DoD photo by Senior Airman Julianne Showalter, U.S. Air Force. (Released)

Navy Lt. Robert F. Render (left), Battalion Surgeon, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, examines a woman's eyes at the Al Jazeera Elementary School in Northern Ramadi, Iraq, on May 6, 2008. Marines and sailors are at the school to pass out food and provide medical treatment to students and adults. DoD photo by Sgt. Jeremy M. Giacomino, U.S. Marine Corps. (Released)
© 2008 Barry T Horst


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SWAIN or a Story Without An Interesting Name

Not much of a post today. We're winding down at school and I was busy last night going to the store to buy the necessary cupcake preparation supplies and later preparing a slide show for the class today. The slide show was the various pictures taken throughout the year of the students, field trips, etc.

When I sat down to begin work on it I discovered that the program I normally used for preparing slide shows had been lost when the hard drive went south. Sooo, I had to scour the Internet really quick for a program that I could use to make one. I first went to PC World and looked for a free download. Nothing I liked. I journeyed to CNET Downloads. Same result. I decided to bite the bullet and download a program on trial and then possibly buy it if I liked the interface and the results I got.

THEN, I had a brain storm. Well, maybe it was just a brain burp. Anyway, before I download any program on trial I decided to head to Microsoft and look. And there it was, Photo Story 3 for Windows. It was FREE and it was a quick download. I downloaded, I installed, and then I created a great slide show; all within 15 minutes.

That gave me time to finish the faux diplomas (Really just a graduation poem) to hand out to the children at the Awards Assembly later today. While I was doing this Chris was helping by making the cupcakes for my class to have after the assembly. THANKS Chris!

And somewhere in the middle of all this I found time to go out and water the garden in front. All the flowers are looking good and getting better everyday. I will update all on the garden in a later post.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
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Please visit the Giveaway of the Day near the bottom of the left sidebar for free software downloads daily.

Picture Monday, June 2, 2008

Going through the pictures I found a few that brought back memories. At least for me they did. I share them with you and hope you enjoy them also.

This picture was taken in 2005. This is Molly our Black Lab that passed away and Mr. Puss. They are enjoying a rest together. At this time Molly was having trouble with her eyesight. Whenever I took her outside I had to carry her down the steps and then carry her back up later.

Peanut taking a snooze on the router. I know she liked it but I can't imagine using this for a pillow. She also likes to sleep on the cable box. I have had to move it in order to discourage her from sleeping on it. I know she probably likes the warmth; but gee, she sure makes it hard to use the remote.

Puddin' enjoys the warmth of the sun streaming in through the window. She also likes to curl up in the linen closet among the towels.

No, I don't have a bear! This is one of the Baylor Bear mascots. This was taken at the 2007 Homecoming Parade.

This is Puppy. She really isn't a puppy. She is around 4 years old but I've called her Puppy all along and you know what they say, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks!" Her real name is Tiger Lily. The name came from Peter Pan.

This doesn't happen often. All six cats on the bed at once. I guess their union calls for a uniform rest and relaxation break.

© 2008 Barry T Horst


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It's Always A Learning Experience

I have been in the field of education for 22 years. In that time it has never ceased to amaze me the things I hear from the kids. Often times they will be brutally honest. Other times, they are showing their shear innocence. Many times, they end up teaching me that in many ways their lives are vastly different from mine and the way I grew up. You see, I teach at the school in town that encompasses the largest subsidized housing in the city within it's attendance zone. Our attendance zone also has the lowest Socio-Econimic Standard (SES) in the district.

For instance, I will never forget last year when one of my students saw my wife one day and asked if she was my girlfriend. I said, "No! She is my wife." Then the student wanted to know what a "wife" was. I tried to explain, but in their world "Daddy didn't have a wife, Daddy had a girlfriend."

Also last year, I had the student that announced she wanted to be in gang when she was older because her older brother was in gang. Wow! And she was 5 years old at the time. I also had her in my class this year. I haven't heard a mention of a gang at all this year. But I do know that her step dad is not in the picture now and the family has moved from the nearby subsidized housing to another area. Hopefully, she and the family will be able to live in a better environment.

This year has been eye opening also. I remember an assignment I gave my class a few months ago. I asked them to take a piece of drawing paper and draw their house. After all students were finished I asked them to bring their pictures to the carpet and we would look at and discuss them. I got to this one little fella that raised his picture and showed the class a large black box that had been divided into many smaller squares. I asked what the squares were and he proceeded to explain that "....this is the jail where my Daddy is. I went to see him this weekend!" A few days later this student's older sister in middle school came to me to ask if I would write a letter to help get their Dad out of jail. She came to me because The Dad had met me before on a visit to school to discuss his son's behavior. This same boy was absent on the day after Memorial Day. When I asked if he was sick he said he had been to Mexico. I never heard, but have since wondered if Dad got out of jail and has gone back to Mexico.

Yes, that has hit our school very hard also. The teacher next door to me has lost two students this year because one of the parents has either been deported or has otherwise had problems with documentation and couldn't get back in the country.

Please visit Rogers Online for Mandy's post from Friday, May 30. It will give a little more insight to what I am speaking of.

Last Friday after school I left my truck running in the school drive as I went in to get something I left. I left it running so that it would get cool. (No it was not going to get stolen. I left it running but I didn't leave the keys in. I have remote start with a safety interlock.) Anyway, one of the older students noticed the condensation dripping from the AC and thought it was oil. She comment that my truck was leaking oil. Then she said, "All our new cars always leak oil like that."

On a good note; it appears that our campus will be Academically Acceptable on our latest TAKS scores this year. That is good because everyone at our campus, students included, have worked very hard this year to remove the stigma of "Academically Unacceptable."

Congratulations Brook Avenue Elementary!

© 2008 Barry T Horst


This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Please visit the Giveaway of the Day near the bottom of the left sidebar for free software downloads daily.