tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188488381835628442024-03-14T00:46:27.063-04:00Don Robert Underwoodknowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-25535332475345508212014-06-15T22:52:00.004-04:002014-06-15T22:52:57.442-04:00Sketch for World Trade Center Replacement (2002)<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was with an engineer's "Let's fix this" kind of thinking that Dad responded to the destruction of the World Trade Center towers with a sketch of his own. Though he would be completely unsurprised to learn that the replacement ultimately did not open until June of 2014, and represented an arduous set of <a href="http://bit.ly/1n1OQ6l" target="_blank">compromises and negotiations</a>, he took seriously the notion that every citizen could participate somehow in forging a suitable design. Though he had little experience with the scale of compromise that was required, or the political wrangling and anguished hand-wringing that ensued, he perhaps unconsciously sent the message that he, or his children, could made a difference even in places far removed from one's self-important humdrum and bother.</div>
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That is, with sufficient persistence and effort.</div>
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He succeeded in passing on a work ethic that likely exceeded his own expectations for his children and to this day bedevils the friends and spouses of each of the six of us.</div>
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You can <a href="http://bit.ly/1i2GRd6" target="_blank">read his letter and see his rough sketch</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TWRO9gILNC4/U55axtnISsI/AAAAAAAAL4U/qPQXsytAwI0/s1600/DRU-WTC-proposal-letter-p1-200202.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TWRO9gILNC4/U55axtnISsI/AAAAAAAAL4U/qPQXsytAwI0/s1600/DRU-WTC-proposal-letter-p1-200202.png" height="614" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-1553010198935238622013-08-03T15:51:00.000-04:002013-08-12T13:14:11.741-04:00DRU Mother's Service Documentation from World War I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy9dymkomb8/Uf1fBK_B9qI/AAAAAAAAHls/jdvw29feyr8/s1600/ellen-rentzmann-navy-nurse-svc-19170001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy9dymkomb8/Uf1fBK_B9qI/AAAAAAAAHls/jdvw29feyr8/s640/ellen-rentzmann-navy-nurse-svc-19170001.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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Facsimile of Original Letter from Dept of the Navy (1917)</div>
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Bureau of Medicine & Surgery</div>
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Navy Department,</div>
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Washington DC </div>
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October 17, 1917</div>
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To: Ellen C. Rentzmann</div>
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18 Taylor</div>
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Oak Park Ill.</div>
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Subject: Enrollment in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve,<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>(Class 4.), U.S.N.R.F</div>
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1. You are hereby enrolled in the provisional grade of nurse, in the Naval Coast Defense Reserve (Class 4), U.S.N.R.F., in accordance with the Act of Congress making appropriations for the Naval Service for the fiscal year ending June 3, 1917, and for other purposes, approved August 29, 1916, to serve for a period of four years from September 18, 1917.</div>
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(Signed) W.C.Braisted.</div>
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By Direction.</div>
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Oath executed.</div>
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Before. (Signed) A.C. Nordil</div>
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Date. 9-24-17</div>
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Commission Expires May 4, 1919.</div>
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<u>ALWAYS KEEP THIS PAPER</u></div>
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Certified to be a true copy.</div>
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signed by Ellen C. Rentzmann</div>
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<h2>
Historical Notes</h2>
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1. W.C. Braisted referred to <a href="http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/b2/bumed/nmhistory/Documents/NavyHistory/Exhibits/SurgeonGeneral/SG_Braisted.html" target="_blank">Navy Surgeon General William C. Braisted</a> (who had been born the year before Lincoln was assassinated). While the War effort was uppermost, an even greater challenge lay ahead for the Navy's caregivers. The story is <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1362052/pdf/amjphealth00244-0022.pdf" target="_blank">retold by Braisted himself</a>, but a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2862337/" target="_blank">2010 NIH report</a> offers this shorter account:</div>
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. . . in the fourth dreadful year of the war, as the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) assumed fighting strength and prepared their first great offensive against the Germans, the flu struck. By the War Department's most conservative count, influenza sickened 26% of the Army—more than one million men—and killed almost 30,000 before they even got to France.2,3 On both sides of the Atlantic, the Army lost a staggering 8,743,102 days to influenza among enlisted men in 1918.4 (p. 1448) The Navy recorded 5,027 deaths and more than 106,000 hospital admissions for influenza and pneumonia out of 600,000 men, but given the large number of mild cases that were never recorded, Braisted put the sickness rate closer to 40%.5,6 (p. 2458)</blockquote>
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<br />knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-84168213681277350592012-08-07T23:51:00.002-04:002013-08-03T15:54:23.504-04:00DRU in Borneo RaidSister Kris recently went through newspapers that DRU saved -- all without comment or annotation by him, so far as I could detect. Since tomorrow would have been his birthday, I thought all would be fascinated to read an account of a Borneo raid he flew, reportedly, in July 1945. The story appeared in his local newspaper on the front page of the <i>Nogales International</i>. The "Crusaders" were a nickname for the <a href="http://harrydole.com/42nd/" target="_blank">42nd Bombardment Group</a> of the Army Air Force.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yH_HYFsqAvY/UCHfeAVNVVI/AAAAAAAAE6I/3Bcxz6fVPFk/s1600/borneo-raid-cover-jagged-circle-mrg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yH_HYFsqAvY/UCHfeAVNVVI/AAAAAAAAE6I/3Bcxz6fVPFk/s640/borneo-raid-cover-jagged-circle-mrg.png" width="372" /></a></div>
<br />knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-69299139150136423602012-07-21T12:18:00.002-04:002013-08-03T22:55:47.353-04:00The Unspoken-of Front<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/North_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bomber,_Inglewood,_Calif.jpg/300px-North_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bomber,_Inglewood,_Calif.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="151" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/North_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bomber,_Inglewood,_Calif.jpg/300px-North_American_Aviation's_B-25_medium_bomber,_Inglewood,_Calif.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">B-25 via Wikipedia</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When this <a href="http://nyti.ms/MOMyWM" target="_blank">belated factoid</a> appeared as a correction in the NYT, I wanted to pick up the phone and call the house in Tucson where I still picture him sitting. From that spare and uncomfortable roost, he would probably have given a glancing, indirect account of how friendly fire incidents were discussed and reported in the World War II theater where he served as an Army Air Force B-25 pilot. It was a mistaken B-25 strike that killed the NYT reporter and U.S. troops on that day in 1942. Or he would have simply said, "Yes," in a tone of voice that hinted at horrors he witnessed, or feared, and, silently, "Speak of it no more this day."</span></div>
knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-63380136014020825242012-07-18T23:39:00.001-04:002012-07-18T23:45:05.059-04:00DRU Tamale Recipe (unedited)<b id="internal-source-marker_0.7299809597898275" style="font-weight: normal;"></b><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">rolled with chopped beef and pork</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">served on chili sauce, radishes, lemon juice</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">masa, beef, juice ground corn like pancake</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">onions</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">cook in a corn husk, meal spread over the husk</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">ends folded over and immersed in steam</span></span><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></b>knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-54273807433584185802012-07-01T17:59:00.005-04:002012-07-01T18:29:00.998-04:00Obituary<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don Robert Underwood</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">82, died peacefully at home April 19, 2005. Born August 8, 1922 in Nogales, Arizona to Timothy Irve and Ellen Christine. He is survived by his children <a href="http://knowlengr.com/" target="_blank">Mark</a>, Kris, Cele, Page, Beth, Ross and their mother, <a href="http://www.billieunderwood.com/" target="_blank">Billie Jeanne</a>, and six grandchildren. He is also survived by brothers <a href="http://www.donrobertunderwood.com/p/related.html">John</a>, William, Gerald, three nieces and two nephews. His brother, Allan Underwood, preceded him. He retired after 42 years from the telephone company where he developed lifetime friendships, especially Hal Cunningham, Jon Smith, and Wally Macafee (<a href="http://adairfuneralhome.frontrunnerpro.com/runtime/3395/runtime.php?SiteId=3395&NavigatorId=57651&viewOpt=dpaneOnly&ItemId=270971&op=tributeObituary" target="_blank">Glenda</a>). Services are private. Memorial donations can be made in his name to your favorite charity.</span></div>knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1218848838183562844.post-38187746623023128392012-06-30T18:24:00.004-04:002013-08-03T22:57:25.573-04:00Launch<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Don Robert Underwood (aka Don R, Joe Rangus, Bob and various other names), lived until April 19 2005. That was more than seven years ago as I launch this site, but it seems like just a few months ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Several of us -- his six children -- referred to him simply as "DRU," and I've adopted that for my purposes here.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DRU Postcard to MAU (1994)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A devotee of casual correspondence, DRU wrote to all his children, as well as to grandchildren and spouses. His concerns varied, as did the quality of his expressions, but the breadth of them, and especially his devotion to the medium seemed to make this a worthwhile endeavor. He understood that quantity was as important as quality in such matters -- as a way of maintaining contact. In later years, he did phone at times, though he ignored inbound calls with ease. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">His parenting style in his years as a young parent was traditional, which meant that it could veer on the severe at the extremes. Later he recalled this pattern with regret, and the correspondence was at times apologetic, emotional and supportive -- in ways he must have once felt difficult. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div>
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knowlengrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01857586646777639084noreply@blogger.com0