August 16th, 1960, Colonel Joseph William Kittinger II stepped away from his open gondola named “Excelsior” tethered to a massive helium balloon from an unbelievable altitude of 102,800 feet (31,300 m) above the surface of our Earth.

The atmospheric pressure so low, that during the accent, Joe’s pressurization in his right glove malfunctioned, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size.

Taking that one giant step, Joe free fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, slamming into the thicker atmosphere below at speeds up to 614 miles per hour (988 km/h) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m).

Joe’s pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size.

Joseph William Kittinger II was decorated with a second Distinguished Flying Cross, and awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Kittinger later served three combat tours of duty during the Vietnam War, flying a total of 483 combat missions.

May 11, 1972, just before the end of his third tour of duty. While flying an F-4D. Kittinger and his wingman were chasing a MiG-21 when Kittinger’s Phantom II was hit by an air-to-air missile from another MiG-21 that damaged the Phantom’s starboard wing and set the aircraft on fire. Kittinger and 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich ejected a few miles from Thai Nguyen and were soon captured and taken to the city of Hanoi.

Kittinger and Reich spent 11 months as prisoners of war (POWs) in the Hỏa Lò Prison, the so-called “Hanoi Hilton”

Monday, May 31, 2021 is Memorial Day, when we honor those who died while in service of this nation.  We visit their graves, attend Memorial Day ceremonies, and thank their families.  We thank surviving veterans around us and their families too.

Memorial Day’s roots lie in the US Civil War (1861 to 1865). Waterloo, New York is the official birthplace of Memorial Day, but at many places like Savannah and Gettysburg, people made a point of decorating graves of their Civil War dead and often the dead on both sides. Freed slaves held a very large event honoring dead soldiers at Charleston in 1865.

Across several years, these ad hoc events became annualized. Some states adopted commemorations statewide, and these events often went by the rubric of Decoration Day. By 1865, states like Virginia and Mississippi and by 1871 Michigan and by 1890 all Northern states had precedents to Memorial Day or official state holidays.

In subsequent decades, ceremonies expanded to honor the dead of all wars and coalesced around May 30 as the standard commemoration date. The 30^th was chosen because it did not fall on the day of any major battle. In 1967, the official federal name became Memorial Day. The following year, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This moved what is now Presidents Day along with Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day from fixed dates to set Mondays. This made three-day weekends, pleasing the travel industry and travelers and was made effective in 1971. (Note: Veterans Day eventually reverted to the fixed November 11 annual date we still use currently.)

So now, we honor fallen Americans of all conflicts, from the American Revolution to the current War on Terror, and from peacetime service too. They are men and women of all ages and from all branches of the US military. They also include groups you might not always remember, such as military nurses.

• We honor those who died in COMBAT and those who died in SUPPORT.
• We honor those who died OVERSEAS and those who died here at HOME.
• We honor those who died in WAR and those who died in PEACE.

Rough numbers paint an important picture. Across of this nation’s 245 years of history, we have the following wartime casualties:

1. Two-thirds of a million who died due to combat.
2. About the same number have died in war of non-combat losses, such as 60,000 succumbing to influenza near the end of World War I.
3. The total is roughly 1.4 million.
4. Another 1.4 million were wounded in combat.
5. Thus, total wartime casualties are roughly 2.8 million.

In the US Civil War, 520 died every day.  This is considered the highest daily fatality rate.  World War II also had tremendous daily fatalities.  However, the deadliest war based on combat days was probably World War I.  America declared war April 6, 1917, but American soldiers didn’t see combat until late Spring 1918, and then they fought through November 11, 1918. Roughly 116,000 died in seven months of war or roughly 555 deaths per day.

We should also consider armed services’ peacetime deaths.  For perspective, combat is currently not in the Top 5 causes of death in the armed forces. Per recent figures, combat counted for 9% of deaths.  Three times this died of suicide.  More died in homicides and transportation accidents.  This means many things.  But among others, being in the armed forces is a tough job.  It means it never hurts to reach out to someone in the armed forces who may need someone to talk to.  Tell those serving currently you appreciate their service and give them a much-deserved word of thanks.

Please think of veterans all around you: family members, neighbors, strangers, etc. Ponder what they gave up serving our nation in times of war or even in times of peace. 

In many cases, they signed up or were drafted without knowing when they would return home, what conditions they would face, whether they would be in combat or whether they would see their loved ones again.  They questioned if they would come home in one piece.  Sometimes they did.  Often, they didn’t.  And regardless, countless suffered terrible traumas in what they saw or experienced.  They had children they didn’t see.  They had relationships that ended. Many never saw their loved ones again and vice-versa.

It seems virtually all Americans agree we cannot be anti-veteran.  They did what they had to do, vastly simplifying the choice for the rest of us who didn’t serve.  Thanking them on just Memorial Day and Veterans Day isn’t enough.  Thank them any time.  Get to know them.  Ask them their stories.  And listen.

And if you are a veteran, we thank you most profoundly and gratefully.

The May 25 regular meeting of the Alachua County Commission began with Chair Ken Cornell calling for a moment of silence “in recognition of the one year anniversary of George Floyd’s passing.” In the last meeting before the Memorial Day commemoration of those who have died serving in the U.S. military, there was no mention of Memorial Day.

“OK folks, here we go again. The Florida Legislature is in session right now, and we have a couple of legislators who think it’s a good idea to release felons from prison early. That’s right, they want to dump thousands of inmates back onto the streets early, into your neighborhoods, making a mockery of our criminal justice system, and eviscerating our truth-in-sentencing law we have on the books right now.

Today, convicted felons in state prison have to serve at least 85% of their sentence. This allows inmates to receive up to 15% off their sentence for “good behavior.” That’s fair. I like 100%, but 85% is fair.

This irresponsible Senate Bill 472 would allow prisoners to earn up to 20 days per month of gain time! Didya hear me? 20 days out of 30! Inmates will be able to get gain time if they behave—which is what they are supposed to do anyway.

Most importantly, the bill would lower the amount most felons would have to serve in state prison to only 65%. This is just crazy.

The simple, unavoidable fact is that if prisoners are released early in Florida, those felons will commit crime at a predictable rate. Based on a rigorous and comprehensive report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics that looked at recidivism of state prisoners released from 30 states over 5 years, we can expect that 68%–that’s more than two out of three—of those prisoners will be re-arrested for a new crime within three years. And this doesn’t count the actual amount of crime they commit—only the crime for which they are caught.

If felons are released early, we will suffer more crime and there will be more victims than if we had simply kept them in prison. Releasing inmates early is irresponsible—innocent people will get hurt.

This legislation will make us less safe. Please, ask your local house member and senator to oppose Florida Senate Bill 472.

Thank you for your support of common sense laws that help to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

– Grady Judd, Sheriff

Rush Limbaugh was a warm, wonderful man. I was privileged to call him my friend.

Rush is and will remain an iconic, irreplaceable figure in the conservative movement. He was a great American patriot . . . and, as he would be the first to tell you in his inimitable way, his life was a uniquely American story. As is well known, he revered Bill Buckley and was a great friend of National Review. But I will most remember, and keep in the front of my mind, countless kindnesses great and small, as well as hundreds of conversations over the last 17 years, in which his smarts, humor, and love of our country always overflowed.

It has been awful these last months, knowing he was suffering but trying to carry on, and not being able to do a thing to help him. He was never anything but gracious, though. He never complained even though this awful disease was ravaging him, and he stayed relentlessly upbeat and determined to do the job he so loved. As heartbreaking as today is, I am so thankful for that. Prayers for Kathryn and the Limbaugh family, particularly my friend David, Rush’s beloved brother. Rest in peace.