Tag Archives: vietnam

The Death of Thich Quang Duc – June 11, 1963

Posted on June 12, 2022 by toritto

This repost is for those too young to remember Vietnam, their father’s hell. Memorial to Thich Quang Duc – Ho Chi Minh City Thich Quang Duc was a Buddhist – a Vietnamese Buddhist living in South Vietnam in 1963. South … Continue reading →

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Fifty Years Ago – May 4 – Kent and Jackson State

Posted on May 2, 2020 by toritto

  This Monday, May 4, marks the 50th anniversary of the Kent State shootings involving the killing of 4 unarmed university students by the Ohio National Guard.  It was a time when armed soldiers of the state shot down unarmed … Continue reading →

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The Price of Honor – for Memorial Day

Posted on May 25, 2016 by toritto

a re-post It was the Summer of 1967 and I was in the Army.  My four years of service would be up on November 17, 1967. I had been loading up flat bed rail cars in Texas in 1966 as … Continue reading →

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On My Military Service

Posted on May 17, 2016 by toritto

Toritto in Ethiopia – 1965 I never thought much about my military service after it was over. My young wife and I were glad I was out, discharged after four years in the army on November 17, 1967.  We disposed … Continue reading →

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Green Cathedral

Posted on November 6, 2015 by toritto

The son of the Allentown butcher will lead the way point man on the sweep today through God’s heavenly green cathedral Verdant canopy reaching to heaven flickering sunlight illuminates mottled parrots red and blue on the moss a mantis waits Her … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Enjoy Those Veteran’s Day Sales!

Posted on November 1, 2015 by toritto

A re-post from last Veteran’s Day Veterans Day will soon be upon us. When I was a kid it was still called Armistice Day. It was changed in 1954 to Veterans Day. The original holiday memorialized the signing of the armistice which ended World War I.  … Continue reading →

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Lies

Posted on September 20, 2015 by toritto

Emperors and Kings Princes and Serenities Commissars and Presidents   Chairmen and Potentiaries all lie for it in their nature; Each year I celebrate Westie’s  great victory at Tet marvel that Iraq took only a few weeks ‘til mission was … Continue reading →

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Reunion

Posted on August 1, 2015 by toritto

I saw her at the ’84 reunion a little older, a little grayer, the first fine lines on her porcelain face;   inhabiting the body of a stranger while here in the yearbook we are all preserved; the teen beauty … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Forty Five Years Ago – Kent and Jackson State

Posted on April 29, 2015 by toritto

This Monday, May 4, marks the 45th anniversary of the Kent State shootings involving the killing of 4 unarmed university students by the Ohio National Guard. Jeffrey Glenn Miller was 20 years old. He was 265 feet from the National … Continue reading →

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Tearless the Enemies of Peace

Posted on March 25, 2015 by toritto

Dalton Trumbo with his wife Cleo at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings in 1947. “World War I began like a Summer festival – all billowing skirts and golden epaulets. Millions upon millions cheered from the sidewalks while plumed Imperial … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments