(no subject)
Yesterday was THE day. The one when I met Bill Guarnere. \o/
I arrived at his place a little bit before 2pm, and since I didn't want to come empty handed, I brought him a bottle of French wine. (I have no idea if it's a good one or not, but let's hope it is.)
First thing he did was to show me his schedule, so I could see that yes, I was in it. This is where I should mention that this was the busiest. schedule. ever! People come to see him every single day. In April he had 2 days off, and so far in May: none at all. Crazy! And he receives about 150 letters a month and answers to every single one of them. Yes, that's Bill Guarnere, and as my icon says, he's made of awesome.
I stayed there for 5 hours. We talked about the war, obviously, and the movie, the books, the box of candies he received for his birthday (I can't remember if it was from Tom Hanks or HBO), the good relationship he has with the people at HBO who send him stuff (like a limo when he has to go to an event), how Hanks, Spielberg or the actors call, how that Kurt Curt Schilling guy from Rhode Island (a very famous pitcher who's in the Hall of Fame - what? I don't know anything about baseball!) called to ask him to come to an event and sent a jet (yes, this one: http://twitpic.com/17025c !). My mind clicked when he said "jet". I was like "wait a minute: jet + Rhode Island + 2 months ago = the Cudlitz pic "Bill and Babe have arrived!" Awesome!" lol. (http://www.timgraymedia.com/index.php/2010/03/original-band-of-brothers-to-attend-fund-raising-event-hosted-by-red-sox-legend-curt-schilling/)
He still has his original jumpwings, and they're estimated at $15,000. His original uniform with his name on it? $50,000+.
The Scottish band from the YouTube vid auctionned the kilt and the money Bill received from it was supposed to go to Shifty. But when he died, Bill gave it to the police and firefighters.
Bill told the story of how he met McAuliffe in the late 1940's and was very surprised when he discovered that the General knew who he was. (Because he was featured in a book.)
He talked about how, in the 1940s, (almost) none of the Easy guys had been to college but they won the war and brought freedom but nowdays kids go to college but none of them want to join the army, and he thinks they're cowards (I didn't really argue with that but it doesn't mean I agree), how he stays away from all things politics and thinks they're all crazy.
He's a technophobe. No computer, no cellphone, no answering machine. Either he's at home and answers his phone, or he isn't and doesn't. Simple. Btw, Barbara, the woman who posts the videos on YouTube? She's his neighbor, lives right accross the street.
He has Frank John Hughes' address and phone number. (Ngl: my thoughts when he said that were: "I wanna know!!!" lol.) He also has a black and white picture of FJH as him framed. (I can't remember if it was autographed or not.) He also has big versions of these 2 pictures on his wall:
The cops came by, just to say hi and see how things were going. Bill said they often do this, they all know him and come check on him regularly.
Just a little bit before they came, the worst-reporter-in-the-world © called. He was doing a piece for the Philadelphia Enquirer. Except he's never seen the movie or read the books. And kept asking some stupid, basic questions. Even one look on wikipedia could have saved him embarassing moments but no, too much work I guess. Oh and the best question of all: "When you jumped out of the plane, were the Germans shooting at you?" *facepalm* No, they were offering coffee and saying welcome. Moron. The guy was on speaker so the policemen (who were waiting for the call to end) and I were trying our best not to make noise while laughing, but there was a lot of smiling at the "journalist"'s expense during the whole thing. Bill himself was like "what kind of questions are those?" lol.
More than 110 people came to his birthday last month.
He calls Babe "Grumpy".
My shoulder has been hurting for a couple of days, and I kept touching it during the afternoon. Which led him to ask questions about it. He was concerned about my health! And it led us to the health system and how expensive it is. (His niece has a level 4 cancer. If you want to send him your prayers...)
His way of getting rid of journalists who call when he doesn't want to answer? "Send me $1000 first!" Haha, smart move.
Like Malarkey, he's not a fan of Webster either. He said he was book-smart but not people-smart and was a low rank, pretty bad soldier. Contrary to Bill himself, who got promoted to sergeant on D-Day (even though he didn't want to.) He knows the names of everybody in the company, and the names of the wives, and some of the children too. He has a very good memory.
We also talked about how he grew up in a tough neighborhood and knew how to deal with pretty much anything. He joined the army at 15 (lying on his age with the help of his mom) but went to college when he came back from the war and studied enginering.
Facts time: he's lived in his house for 65 years. At the street level: the living room, the kitchen (with the boxes of letters), and small restroom. Upstairs, (I guess) the bedroom and bathroom. He didn't "buid" his house, but he's the one who made all the changes inside. (And is proud that the 3 or 4 houses he did build are still there.
His wife, Frannie, died 13 years ago. He started to drink at 2 (!), and was smoking not very long after.
He went to Iraq 2 years ago and discovered that the recruits now aren't allowed to get tatoos. WTF? They hire criminals, but not tatooed people? Doesn't make any sense!
He also told the story of 2 pathfinders during the war, who were captured by the British before they could do their job. The Brits wouldn't believe the 2 soldiers were American and thought they were German spies. They were only released weeks after, when things were over in the area. Crazy!
"The Pacific" had a premiere in Philadelphia and Bill, who's been through hell, says what they went through there was even worse.
Btw, he said that if it hadn't been that cold in Bastogne, him and Toye would have bled to death. But since it was (literally) freezing, the blood froze and that's what saved them.
2 things I learned:
We knew Winters is cut from all things public, but he has a bad case of Parkinson disease (not that there's a good one) and is also cut from the men. Guarnere himself can't reach him. So sad. :(
Shifty was blind when he died. Sad irony it is.
Talking about eyes, Bill will have eye surgery in June, because his right eye is failing him. He'll spend a week at his son's after that, before going back to his sharing stories duty.
At the end, when I said I was leaving, he offered to drive me to the train station (where I had to take my bus). A ride from Bill Guarnere! But I declined because I wanted to walk. (Besides, I realized afterwards, one eye working and you drive? Isn't that a very bad idea? Anyway.) We hugged (I hugged Bill Guarnere! lol) and left. And after walking up 2 streets, I realized I had forgotten something. So I went back, and asked him for a picture. I couldn't leave without a pic!
He's making a weird face on it and it doesn't look like him. Anyway, here it is:
While we're in the pics section:
this is his street
And here's what I came back with:
my book autographed
(Haha, I'm a "broad".)
Stickers
A cap signed by Bill...
... and Babe
Pins
(The "Currahee" one? Directly from his hat.
When I left, as it was starting to rain and I was only wearing my t-shirt, he wanted to give me an umbrella. Awww. (I declined.)
There was also an Airborne sewing patch but somehow I lost it between Philadelphia and New York. :( I'll ask him if he could send me another one.
He's an extremely generous man. I think that's what struck me the most. He gives. His time, obviously, but also objects or money. And he's very easy to talk to. Yes, he's one of the toughest guys on the planet, with this amazing personality, and you know you better not mess with him, but at the same time it's hard to imagine that he killed people. (Until he takes his crutch to simulate a gun, lol.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but I can't find out what right now. So that's gonna be it for today.
So to conclude, if I had to pick one word to describe him, it would be "generous". And awesome. :)
I arrived at his place a little bit before 2pm, and since I didn't want to come empty handed, I brought him a bottle of French wine. (I have no idea if it's a good one or not, but let's hope it is.)
First thing he did was to show me his schedule, so I could see that yes, I was in it. This is where I should mention that this was the busiest. schedule. ever! People come to see him every single day. In April he had 2 days off, and so far in May: none at all. Crazy! And he receives about 150 letters a month and answers to every single one of them. Yes, that's Bill Guarnere, and as my icon says, he's made of awesome.
I stayed there for 5 hours. We talked about the war, obviously, and the movie, the books, the box of candies he received for his birthday (I can't remember if it was from Tom Hanks or HBO), the good relationship he has with the people at HBO who send him stuff (like a limo when he has to go to an event), how Hanks, Spielberg or the actors call, how that Kurt Curt Schilling guy from Rhode Island (a very famous pitcher who's in the Hall of Fame - what? I don't know anything about baseball!) called to ask him to come to an event and sent a jet (yes, this one: http://twitpic.com/17025c !). My mind clicked when he said "jet". I was like "wait a minute: jet + Rhode Island + 2 months ago = the Cudlitz pic "Bill and Babe have arrived!" Awesome!" lol. (http://www.timgraymedia.com/index.php/2010/03/original-band-of-brothers-to-attend-fund-raising-event-hosted-by-red-sox-legend-curt-schilling/)
He still has his original jumpwings, and they're estimated at $15,000. His original uniform with his name on it? $50,000+.
The Scottish band from the YouTube vid auctionned the kilt and the money Bill received from it was supposed to go to Shifty. But when he died, Bill gave it to the police and firefighters.
Bill told the story of how he met McAuliffe in the late 1940's and was very surprised when he discovered that the General knew who he was. (Because he was featured in a book.)
He talked about how, in the 1940s, (almost) none of the Easy guys had been to college but they won the war and brought freedom but nowdays kids go to college but none of them want to join the army, and he thinks they're cowards (I didn't really argue with that but it doesn't mean I agree), how he stays away from all things politics and thinks they're all crazy.
He's a technophobe. No computer, no cellphone, no answering machine. Either he's at home and answers his phone, or he isn't and doesn't. Simple. Btw, Barbara, the woman who posts the videos on YouTube? She's his neighbor, lives right accross the street.
He has Frank John Hughes' address and phone number. (Ngl: my thoughts when he said that were: "I wanna know!!!" lol.) He also has a black and white picture of FJH as him framed. (I can't remember if it was autographed or not.) He also has big versions of these 2 pictures on his wall:
The cops came by, just to say hi and see how things were going. Bill said they often do this, they all know him and come check on him regularly.
Just a little bit before they came, the worst-reporter-in-the-world © called. He was doing a piece for the Philadelphia Enquirer. Except he's never seen the movie or read the books. And kept asking some stupid, basic questions. Even one look on wikipedia could have saved him embarassing moments but no, too much work I guess. Oh and the best question of all: "When you jumped out of the plane, were the Germans shooting at you?" *facepalm* No, they were offering coffee and saying welcome. Moron. The guy was on speaker so the policemen (who were waiting for the call to end) and I were trying our best not to make noise while laughing, but there was a lot of smiling at the "journalist"'s expense during the whole thing. Bill himself was like "what kind of questions are those?" lol.
More than 110 people came to his birthday last month.
He calls Babe "Grumpy".
My shoulder has been hurting for a couple of days, and I kept touching it during the afternoon. Which led him to ask questions about it. He was concerned about my health! And it led us to the health system and how expensive it is. (His niece has a level 4 cancer. If you want to send him your prayers...)
His way of getting rid of journalists who call when he doesn't want to answer? "Send me $1000 first!" Haha, smart move.
Like Malarkey, he's not a fan of Webster either. He said he was book-smart but not people-smart and was a low rank, pretty bad soldier. Contrary to Bill himself, who got promoted to sergeant on D-Day (even though he didn't want to.) He knows the names of everybody in the company, and the names of the wives, and some of the children too. He has a very good memory.
We also talked about how he grew up in a tough neighborhood and knew how to deal with pretty much anything. He joined the army at 15 (lying on his age with the help of his mom) but went to college when he came back from the war and studied enginering.
Facts time: he's lived in his house for 65 years. At the street level: the living room, the kitchen (with the boxes of letters), and small restroom. Upstairs, (I guess) the bedroom and bathroom. He didn't "buid" his house, but he's the one who made all the changes inside. (And is proud that the 3 or 4 houses he did build are still there.
His wife, Frannie, died 13 years ago. He started to drink at 2 (!), and was smoking not very long after.
He went to Iraq 2 years ago and discovered that the recruits now aren't allowed to get tatoos. WTF? They hire criminals, but not tatooed people? Doesn't make any sense!
He also told the story of 2 pathfinders during the war, who were captured by the British before they could do their job. The Brits wouldn't believe the 2 soldiers were American and thought they were German spies. They were only released weeks after, when things were over in the area. Crazy!
"The Pacific" had a premiere in Philadelphia and Bill, who's been through hell, says what they went through there was even worse.
Btw, he said that if it hadn't been that cold in Bastogne, him and Toye would have bled to death. But since it was (literally) freezing, the blood froze and that's what saved them.
2 things I learned:
We knew Winters is cut from all things public, but he has a bad case of Parkinson disease (not that there's a good one) and is also cut from the men. Guarnere himself can't reach him. So sad. :(
Shifty was blind when he died. Sad irony it is.
Talking about eyes, Bill will have eye surgery in June, because his right eye is failing him. He'll spend a week at his son's after that, before going back to his sharing stories duty.
At the end, when I said I was leaving, he offered to drive me to the train station (where I had to take my bus). A ride from Bill Guarnere! But I declined because I wanted to walk. (Besides, I realized afterwards, one eye working and you drive? Isn't that a very bad idea? Anyway.) We hugged (I hugged Bill Guarnere! lol) and left. And after walking up 2 streets, I realized I had forgotten something. So I went back, and asked him for a picture. I couldn't leave without a pic!
He's making a weird face on it and it doesn't look like him. Anyway, here it is:
While we're in the pics section:
this is his street
And here's what I came back with:
my book autographed
(Haha, I'm a "broad".)
Stickers
A cap signed by Bill...
... and Babe
Pins
(The "Currahee" one? Directly from his hat.
When I left, as it was starting to rain and I was only wearing my t-shirt, he wanted to give me an umbrella. Awww. (I declined.)
There was also an Airborne sewing patch but somehow I lost it between Philadelphia and New York. :( I'll ask him if he could send me another one.
He's an extremely generous man. I think that's what struck me the most. He gives. His time, obviously, but also objects or money. And he's very easy to talk to. Yes, he's one of the toughest guys on the planet, with this amazing personality, and you know you better not mess with him, but at the same time it's hard to imagine that he killed people. (Until he takes his crutch to simulate a gun, lol.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but I can't find out what right now. So that's gonna be it for today.
So to conclude, if I had to pick one word to describe him, it would be "generous". And awesome. :)