This page gets its name from what my seventh graders used to call Current Events where I would talk about people who had died, but whose lives touched ours or who live an interesting life.
LEIGH SILLS 1930-2008
A history buff and a driving force for getting Chicago's Old Town designated a historic district. Died Dec. 9th.
She took her history seriously. From Dec. 12th Chicago Tribune: "Unable to date historic homes in Old Town through building permits, Leigh Sills pored through the city's sewer logbooks from the 1870s,looking for sewer connections on homes rebuilt after the great fire that destroyed much of Chicago in 1871."
We need more folks like her.
GEORGE S. MORRISON 1919-2008
Commanded the fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin incident that led to the escalation of the Vietnam War and whose son was Jim Morrison of the Doors. Now there is a combination.
Aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard on August 2, 1864 when the destroyer USS Madddox engaged three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. President Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam and Congress gave him the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that greatly expanded his powers to wage the war.
Obviously, his relationship with son Jim was strained.
Graduated from the Naval Academy in 1941 and as an ensign was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked Dec. 7th. In the last year of the war, he flew combat missions over Wake Island and Japan. After the war he was an instructor at the secret nuclear weapons projects at Albuquerque. He also organized relief effort for the 100,000 Vietnamese refugees in 1975.
Died Nov. 17th in Coronado, California.
FRANK L. ERL 1918-2008
Died Dec. 8th in Wheatin, Illinois.
During the Normandy Invasion, Army Captain Frank L. Erl led his troops in a ditch to seek cover from enemy fire. It is hard to say who was more surprised, he and his men or the group of German soldiers already in it. They dropped their weapons and surrendered.
A trained engineer, he also defused explosives and co-piloted glider planes, known as flying coffins for their crashes. He received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during the war. He definitely lived a dangerous life.
After the war, he joined Acco Industries in Chicago, and designed and installed the first luggage conveyor system at O'Hare Airport.
The Greatest Generation
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