Storm'n Norm'n: The Last Train Out

Friday, March 25, 2016

The Last Train Out

Memories...

The Last Train Out

I recently came across some pictures of the 1980 Bologna, Italy train station bombing. The last time I saw a picture about this was on the front page of the Stars and Stripes newspaper shortly after the incident occurred... One might ask, "So why are you bringing this up now?" I'll tell you why... I was there!

I was on my way back from Sicily on my way to Germany and had just flown from there to Naples, Italy. Opting to take the train from Naples I called my friend and cousin Phil who was stationed at Aviano Air Base in northern Italy. Phil told me to go to Venezia Mestre (Venice for short) where he would pick me up.
The train from Naples was uneventful with one stop in Rome and then onto Bologna where I have to change trains.
While waiting for my next train...by the way, I'm traveling with my three children...I bumped into some college students from back in the United States. After chatting with these adventurous guys I left them there when my train arrived...their train wasn't due in for some time later.
I tried to get some sleep on this last leg of my journey to Venice but it was difficult in a crowded train noted for high theft rates of foreigner's baggage.
Eventually I arrived in Venice where Phil was no where to be found...but I waited none the less.

After what seemed to be a longer wait than I anticipated Phil drives up front and waves to me and the children waiting on the raised sidewalk. Immediately upon getting out of his car, Phil had the expression on his face that some would describe as 'seeing a ghost'...he yelled out at me, "I thought you didn't make it...I thought you were dead!" I'm totally dumbfounded, "Why?" "What happened?" Have you seen the papers? "It's all over the news!" "They blew up the train station in Bologna!"
You know, I never found out about those college students...and I often prayed that they were safe. All that I knew was that I was on the last train out. ~ Norman E. Hooben

Bologna, Italy Train Station August 1980

1 comment:

Storm'n Norm'n said...: If I talked to you about this leave me a note and tell me where we met.; Thursday, October 13, 2022

Quote Of The Day

“If the truth is just my opinion then the truth will never be known.” ~ Norman E. Hooben

"Massachusetts can survive an Elizabeth Warren. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made her their senator." ~ Norman E. Hooben

"Not since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, and before that the fall of France in 1940, has there been so swift an erosion of the world influence of a Great Power as we are witnessing with the United States." ~ Conrad Black

To make clear that Islam is in fact a military movement rather than a religion, please consider that Islam does not ask one to emulate the humble, kind, peaceful, compassionate, loving Jesus but rather the arrogant, violent, brutal, lustful, savage military commander and beheading ruler Mohammed. It's all in the staging. ~ by Bernie

Our society chooses to pay for bastards and wonders why the number of bastards increases. Our society refuses to support poor families with married fathers in residence, and wonders why the number of single mothers increases. Our society pays for single motherhood, and wonders why we get it. Our society gives stipends to unemployed and/or homeless males, and wonders why we get more and more of them. — Bill Quick (More like this here)

The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president.
The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.” ~ Author Unknown

The real goal of "health care" legislation, the real goal of "cap-and-trade," and the real goal of the "stimulus" is to rip the guts out of our private economy and transfer wide swaths of it over to the government to control. Do not be deluded by the propaganda. These initiatives are vehicles for change. They are not goals in and of themselves except in their ability to deliver power. They and will make matters much worse, for that is their design. ~ November 23, 2009 Cloward-Piven Government By James Simpson

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. - Winston Churchill

Tribute to America's Veterans

"Those Honored Dead"
"Why do you fly the flag today?"
My Grandson wants to know.
I fly it for the graveyards
Where the countless crosses grow.

I fly the flag for children
Whose fathers are a name.
A half-remembered memory
of a face within a frame.

I fly it for the families
of sons and daughters lost.
They know the price of liberty
How terrible the cost!

I fly the flag for veterans
who lost their youth in blood.
And saw their comrades slaughtered
in the carnage and the mud.

I fly it for the ones who marched
In cadence off to war
To close their eyes forever
Upon some foreign shore.

I fly the flag for grief poured out
Upon a granite wall.
The laying-on of hands that heals
The scars within us all.

I fly it for the sound of Taps---
That melancholy tune
That lays to rest those honored dead
Who always die too soon.

Copyright 1994 Marion G. Mahoney

__________

George had the foresight to see the Clintons, CFR, New York Times, and Obama on the horizon.

" ... How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public... " [From George Washington's farewell address.]

Other Quotes:

"Don't worry about genius and don't worry about not being clever. Trust rather to hard work, perseverance and determination. The best motto for a long march is ' Don't grumble. Plug on.'....Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness." Sir Frederick Treves

"...To be clear, the Constitution of the United States of America is the United States of America. They are one and the same. Any individual or agency which seeks to subvert the Constitution and wage political and/or rhetorical war on it, are self-declared enemies of the United States of America, as they are subverting and waging war on the United States of America." - Pat Dollard

The truth to the matter is that Obama lies but he does it with such finess that the easily fooled are easily fooled. ~ Norman E. Hooben

"Going for the grandest illusion of all, [Obama] ... told the New York Times: 'We've actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles.' Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the ground. Everyone knows -- or should know -- that putting more and more of the government in charge of more and more of the economy is entirely inconsistent with free-market principles. This means that the president's statement to the contrary is what is known as a big lie." --columnist Diana West

When you trust a stranger more so than your friend, you become stranger than the stranger; Barrack Husein Obama is a stranger. - Norman E. Hooben

We the people…We the people now have a New World Order that we the people did not order. Norman E. Hooben

"We are now in a great civil war of words and you have the honor of participating as a true patriot. The battle has not been won but you will be there when we are victorious. The pen is mightier than the sword and you will inscribe your name in the book of freedom…and that, my friend is an honor." (Norman E. Hooben in response to a writer who complained of not having the honor of serving in the U.S. Military)

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Winston Churchill

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.
-Ronald Reagan

Back in the days of "The Lone Ranger" program, someone would ask, "Who is that masked man?" People need to start asking that question about Barack Obama. - Thomas Sowell

For those who promote a race they are called, "racists". For those that promote American they are called "American". For 'American' is a 'concept' and no racial tones are tolerated either in shades or sounds. -Norman E. Hooben (In reference to Lourdes Galvan of San Antonio, Texas racial bigotry regarding American military heroes.)

Note to NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA (Hola! I know you are watching): I'm not white, I'm not black, I'm not upper class, I'm not lower class, I'm not middle class, I'm not French, I'm not Irish, I'm not Asian, I'm not European, I'm not Hispanic, My children are not half Hispanic...They are and I am what I am, An American! And I'm not hyphenated! - N.E. Hooben

The Police State of Massachusetts is now imposing laws against nature. Massachusetts is by far the most un-Constitutional government of the State, by the State, and for the State than any among the the fifty that hold a star on the banner of freedom. It is run by Socialists and hypocritical so-called Christians…the worst among them are the Catholics who go to Church on Sunday and forget what they Prayed for on Monday. - Norman E. Hooben - "A proud Catholic proud of my Faith. A proud Catholic NOT so proud of my Church!" - July 16th 2008

Will Rogers never met Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. - N. E. Hooben, July 2008

Harvard University was once an all boys school...today they have no balls at all. - N. E. Hooben
I will stand with the Constitution For The United States of America should the political winds shift in an ugly direction. – N. E. Hooben

Politicians are like vampires...
Whether its blood or money they want to suck it out of you till you die. ~ N. E. Hooben

When a people are satisfied with receiving gifts paid with their own taxes as a way of life Anarchy is sure to follow. - Fred Boutin 2008

From the first time I heard about the boogey-man as a child to the first time I got shot at in Vietnam, nothing in my entire lifetime, THAT'S NOTHING! has put more fear into me than this man Obama. - Norman E. Hooben - July 2008

We are here for only a mini-second in the sands of time. Then we become the dust that makes the sand; and the Hand of God molds us anew. Take care my friend and may God Bless... - Norman E. Hooben on the death of our dearly beloved pet dog, Stirling

The evidence is overwhelming!
In order to save America we must destroy the Socialst Marxist Party... - N. E. Hooben

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." -- Josef Stalin --

When it comes to lying, prudent people are guided by a Higher Authority driven by ‘thou shall not’ written in stone. Whereas Bill Clinton has no Higher Authority to guide him, ‘thou shall not’ has no conscious objections; for without a conscience there is no guilt.” - Norman Hooben

“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” - Adolph Hitler

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. - James Madison, the Federalists Papers

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some Exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back And stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.
In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked,'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly, the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America.
The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.
One should always remember 'There is no such thing as a free Lunch!' Also, 'You can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

You apparently don't share a sense of patriotism, Americanism, freedomism, or whatever kind of 'ism' that true Americans believe in... You do however, display a bit of socialism, communism, marxism or whatever kind of 'ism' that you make excuses for... ~ Norman E. Hooben (in response to an Obama supporter's views about the ACS census)

A nation that knows not from where it came, knows not where it is going! Today, Americans know too little about the foundations of our nation. The result is a nation now in chaos, its people unable to discern what is wrong with the transformation (paradigm shift) of our society and form of government that, if left unchecked, will destroy every facet of freedom, liberty and justice. The price of freedom is vigilance; the price of vigilance is knowledge. Many of America's founding documents are now available on the web. ~

Learn USA