Veterans Day 2010

It doesn’t take a special day for me to remember our veterans, but on this Veterans Day, I would like to remember my father who lost his life during WWII. I vaguely remember his face; after all, I was very young when his B-17 went down at Davis-Montham A.F.B. in Tucson, Arizona. It was called the Army Air Corps at the time and he was carrying atomic bomb components destined for Japan when his plane’s tail section fell off. His name was Captain Walter Wigley and I remember the crash and explosion that followed. I also remember my mother and twin brother crying. At the time, I wasn’t sure why they were crying, only that it was expected…so I cried too.

My mother always made sure we were on hand when Dad was leaving on a mission. It wasn’t until many years later that I learned what the missions were and their significance in the surrender of Japan. To this day, his records are sealed.

It wasn’t long afterward that my mother married my dad’s best friend and we moved to California. My step dad was a Navy veteran and right up to his death of cancer in 1980, I could have not loved him more. He was the only dad I really knew and he treated us with love and respect.

Today is the first time I have officially remembered my veteran biological father on Veterans Day. I want him to know how much I appreciate his sacrifice for our country and freedom. I also want him to know how much I love him for being my father. I was truly blessed.

I’m just saying,

Milton Andrew Wigley Winstead

From There to Here

The newest hobby my ex-Navy daughter has taken up is cooking from scratch while trying to juggle a full-time job and full-time studies at Northern Arizona University.

After a twelve-year stint in the Navy, which included a tour in Iraq, she is close to a college degree. When she left the service and joined her stepmother and me here in Camp Verde, Arizona, she had enough credits for most degrees, but unfortunately they were not the specific ones necessary. It is hard to take the proper classes when you are traveling around the world in a nuclear submarine tender and then on a nuclear aircraft carrier.


The positive side from my perspective is all the homemade food my wife and I get to enjoy because we have a ready- made chef less than a block away. There have been some disasters, but they are rare indeed. We discreetly dispose of failures while praising the triumphs.

I really don't know what we are going to do once she graduates and moves away into her future. We are really quite spoiled, you know. Perhaps a diet to start? Oh well, in the meantime; yum, can you bring more Cornish game hens, or how about some more biscuits? "Don't forget the mac and cheese," my wife calls out over my shoulder. And, I get the last word with; "cream cheese filled tarts would be nice."















After leaving for the walk back to her house, she is probably thinking, "Good grief, chief, what kind of food monsters have I created?"

I'm just saying,

Mittster