Our Daily Dead

Meanwhile…back in Atlanta…the LA Times reports that William Diehl author of “Sharky’s Machine” and “Primal Fear” died in the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. He was 81. The Times article goes on to inform us that Diehl “…lied about his age to join the Army Air Corps at 17 and served as a ball turret gunner on a B-24 during World War II. His conduct in that perilous job earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart and Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.” Serious stuff that as we have read that there was no scarier place than the ball turret.

And then there this nice Diehl tidbit: “According to family lore, Mae West was once his baby-sitter, before she became a Hollywood sex symbol.” This begs the question - did his standard issue Mae West life preserver bring him comfort down there in the ball turret?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: LA Times, William Diehl, Sharky’s Machine, Primal Fear, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, ball turret gunner, B-24, Mae West

Dang! We TOLD you strange things were afoot and the next thing we know a WEEK disappears! Egad.

Okay, sit up straight and pay attention. We are going to do our ODDly level best to keep you abreast of recent departures with no tit-for-tat required on your part. And where better to start than with Robert Brooks, chairman of the Hooters Restaurant chain. Natural causes the coronor says did catch up with Mr. Brooks. A curious note in one article had that “Brooks, 69, was found dead Sunday by his wife and a neighbor after he failed to show up at their usual Sunday breakfast, Coroner Robert Edge said.” Um, where were the wife and neighbor before breakfast?

One of the Second World War’s top flying aces, Wing Commander Robert Carl ‘Moose’ Fumerton, died at Muskoka Landing in Huntsville last Monday at age 93. Between 1941 and 1944, Wing Commander Moose shot down 14 enemy planes, damaging one other aircraft. He was shot down twice and survived due to his own skillful flying ability.

Dave Walter, an author and Montana Historical Society research historian, died Wednesday night after suffering a heart attack earlier in the week. He was 63. Mr. Walter was well-known for his Speaking Ill Of The Dead: Jerks In Montana History book and recently published the sequel Still Speaking Ill of the Dead: More Jerks in Montana History.

And finally the big finish. In fact let us go out with a bang and bring you Dr. Nicholas Bartha and his solution to the division of property during a divorce. Somehow this reminds us of old westerns and pledging to die with one’s boots on.

(P.S. Oh yea, “Mickey Spillane” died too just in case you were off-planet last week.)

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Robert Brooks, Hooters, Wing Commander Moose, Dave Walter, Montana Historical Society

We’ve spent a few days ODDly scrounging around for notable deaths.

Ted Berkman, died at age 92 from cancer. Claim-to-fame? Well, he wrote “Bedtime for Bonzo,” that famous film associated with notably dead President Ronald Reagan. Closest we ODDfellows came to a scene with a lower primate was in a bar, in Tijuana, in 1987…—oh never mind.

Then there’s Paul Gleason, dead at 67 (so far, so near) from cancer (mesothelioma). Anyone out there in ODDland remember “The Breakfast Club?” Well, Gleason played the grouchy principal. Okay, any one remember “Die Hard?” Of course you do, but do you remember Gleason playing the deputy chief-of-police? ODDthought-of-the-day: chief-of-police = “cop.” Hummmm.

Which brings us to Donald Rudolph, who has died of Alzheimer’s in his 86th year. Rudolph won a Congressional Medal of Honor in WW II. Here’s how the New York Times described what he did: He hurled a grenade through an opening in the first pillbox, tore away the wood and tin covering with his bare hands, then dropped another grenade inside. He then grabbed a pickax and used it to pierce a second pillbox, which he took out with rifle fire and a grenade. He destroyed six more pillboxes, and when his platoon was attacked by a Japanese tank, he climbed to its top and dropped a white phosphorus grenade through the turret, killing the crew.

So when’s the last time you charged a machine gun?

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Ted Berkman, Ronald Reagan, “The Breakfast Club?”, “Die Hard?”, Donald Rudolph, New York Times