50+ Lifestyles

Just Saying…

By Q.C. Jones

Patriotic Potpourri

First, allow me to share, it’s Flag Day. As I sit hunched over this keyboard plunking on the keyboard, I am feeling patriotic. With very little effort I can close my eyes, let my mind wander and conjure up the sounds of John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever March. Meandering down this neuron path, I get a swelling feeling of both pride and nostalgia. I have so many warm emotions but for some reason lack the words to express them. Writer’s block may have struck.

In an effort to break the ice and get things flowing, I decided to make a quick trip around our Quad-Cities to suck in some of the patriotic sites. Nothing like a road trip to get the creative juices flowing.  With this in mind, let me give you the “nickel tour” of my adventure.

The Soldier’s Monument at 11th and Main in Davenport was my first stop. Taking indecent liberties with a hasty and perhaps illegal parking job, I hopped out of the car to soak in the view. While I sincerely doubt if he’ll ever brag about it, the granite soldier at the top of the 50 foot obelisk has one of the best views of the Mississippi River on the planet. I noted there is an inscription on the river side that says, “Erected by Grateful Citizens of Scott County In Memory of the Fellow Citizens who Died in Defense of the Union 1861-5”. (I can’t explain the strange use of capital letters but it is written in stone.)

Iowa is a patriotic state. During the Civil War 76,242 Iowa men (out of a total population of 674,913 in 1860) served in the military. 13,001 died of wounds or disease (two-thirds of the total). 8,500 Iowa men were wounded. These were some pretty darned patriotic guys.

I toured across the river to Arsenal Island. No place speaks to me like the Rock Island National Cemetery. The cemetery was established during the Civil War in 1863 as a place to inter the remains of Union soldiers. The current location is actually a short distance from the original cemetery. The original location was much closer to the Arsenal facilities and interfered with needed expansions so the hallowed remains of the soldiers were moved to this spot. Further, Civil War veterans from the Iowa side were originally buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Davenport, but they were later disinterred and moved to the National Cemetery. But that’s not the only cemetery on the island.

While some might argue, I believe the soldiers of the Confederate States of America were patriotic. Many of them traced their lineage to the original American founders.  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers were their heroes and Southern-based chroniclers referred to the Civil War as the second war for American Independence. Without thinking state’s rights, slavery or the rights and wrongs, these gentlemen displayed the ultimate in patriotism.

Let me detour the trip story for a moment, in a recent conversation with the Arsenal’s Sargent-Major, I was informed that local residents can now get annual visitors passes which greatly simplify and speed the process of getting onto the island. For those of you with Facebook.com accounts, they now have a page which lists activities and how to get around the island.  If you, like me, used to enjoy an occasional site-seeing trip around the grounds, this is an awesome thing.  Thanks, Sargent-Major I hope our paths cross again soon.

As I drove back to my office high atop the 50+ Lifestyles building, I couldn’t help but notice dozens maybe even hundreds
of Old Glory’s perched on my neighbors’ porches and flagpoles. My mind shifted from Flag Day to the Fourth of July. Once again nostalgia grabbed my unconscious thoughts. I hit one of Davenport’s perpetual road bumps and did a double take on a anner for a soon to open fireworks stand.

In QC Jones’ warped and twisted mind, nothing is as American as Mom’s apple pie, the girl next door and a little boy with a great big bag of firecrackers. I can still cut back through my cluttered mind to a time 58 years ago when I earned the right to light my first firecracker. Back in the early 60s a firecracker called “the lady finger” was the rage, perhaps surpassed only by Ovaltine amongst the 5 year old set.  My dad, being one of the biggest little boys in the town, bought what seemed like an endless supply of these dainty pyrotechnical devices.  I became the firecracker king for the rest of July.

But, as with many kings and kingdoms, overthrow was just a few years away.  At age 10 I lit a creation called a “Bumble Bee” which is sometimes called a “chaser” because of their unpredictable flight paths.  My particular Bumble Bee upon liftoff made a beautiful aerial arch then made a “bee line” toward my childhood friend and neighbor Susan.  I managed to zip down her blouse and explode causing no permanently lasting harm except for the loss of my firework’s crown.  I was banished from fireworks for a very long month of July.

Flags, Firecrackers and John Philip Sousa… July is a great time to be alive and living in America.  Just saying…