Hell is for Heros

Feeling better today. A little stuffy, but the Flonaise helped. My cough is about gone, as is the tickle in my throat. My head, heavy and cloudy the last couple of days, is beginning to clear up.

I’m sitting in my living room. It’s Veteran’s Day and a holiday for me. My wife is taking a nap after getting up early with our granddaughter (who is also taking a nap). It’s a beautiful, sunny day here on the “high desert.” The air is cool, but the sky is clear. The leaves are transitioning from the color change stages and are falling from the trees. The leaves form a carpet at the base of the trees; a small golden shag rug. The grass is still green and looks very lush and inviting in the sunshine.

I’m drinking a piping hot cup of Tcihbo Exclusive coffee. A very smooth, rich-tasting coffee produced in Hamburg, Germany. I enjoy European coffees. They’re typically bolder and more satisfying than coffee blends produced in the United States. I take my coffee black, but will sometimes add a bit of cream to soften a bitter taste (most notably when served “old” coffee in a restaurant).

As I write, I’m watching “Hell is for Heros,” an old war movie released in 1962. The movie stars Steve McQueen, Fess Parker and Bobby Darin. There’s also a very young Bob Newhart as a clerk typist who offers some comic relief. The action takes place in France in 1944. Private John Reese (Steve McQueen) is an experienced soldier assigned to a platoon close to the front. Although a very good soldier, he’s a rebel (a typical character for Steve McQueen) and has been busted for insubordination. As the company pulls back, Reese and five other men are left behind to hold a position against a very large German force. They used their ingenuity to trick the Germans into thinking there’s a much larger American force in front of them. My favorite “trick” is the tinkering with a jeep to make it sound like several different military vehicles, including a tank! Naturally the movie ends with a full-scale attack against the German position by a reinforced American force. Steve McQueen meets his demise during the attack and dies heroically after detonating an explosive charge inside a pillbox that had fallen short of it’s target.

Hollywood doesn’t make movies like that anymore!