The chocolate bronze medal was in a century old black enameled kiri wood box. Resting in a faded red velvet bed, the obverse shows the Imperial Mon (or crest), a Chrysanthemum, superimposed between two “Rising Sun” flags of the Japanese Empire. The medal is suspended by a bar from a ribbon of light green with a lighter, almost white green stripe down the center. On the reverse of the medal in four Japanese characters is the title, “Commemorative medal for service in the war.” The inscription around the edge of the obverse reads, “Meiji twenty seventh through eighth years” or 1894 – 1895 in the Julian calendar. The medal commemorates the Sino-Japanese War.
Corporal Lawrence “Larry” Spencer married Ms. Barbara Kelley in 1950, and remained married to her for 62 years until he passed away! [1] But, he was a bachelor during his service in the military. And he enjoyed his leave, and a large portion of his diary is devoted to the women who left an impact on his life. There appears to be a couple of pages torn from the journal, but the ladies that remain are listed below….
OV-102, the first spaceflight capable orbiter in the US space shuttle fleet, shared the name Columbia with the Apollo 11 Command Module. Columbia also has a special place in my heart as I was on crew with the 12th Space Warning Squadron conducting the space surveillance mission when Columbia disintegrated upon reentry during its final spaceflight as part of mission STS-107.
The Things We Leave Behind 