American Legacies Organization, Inc.

By Stephen Saalman

Cannelton, Indiana

124 years ago this week

Rained 15" in 10 hours

Author Unknown

Those of us old enough to remember when the phone was wired to the wall, usually in the kitchen, can relate to this story. I loved this read.

When I was a young boy, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box.. I was too little to reach the telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to it.

American Legacies Org, Inc., is a Non-Profit organization that has been in existence since 1996 and is dedicated to preserving life’s historical memories. We accomplish this by talking with Senior Citizens and collecting personal stories about their own lives as they were growing up. We also collect stories that have been passed onto them from parents, grandparents and others.

The second time I ever flew in an airplane, I jumped out of it. I was a 25-year-old surgical intern when World War II broke out; convinced that there would be more romance in Europe than in the Pacific theater, I volunteered as a battalion surgeon to join parachute regiment 506 of the 101st Airborne Division, also known as the "Screaming Eagles." From D-Day, to the invasion of Holland, to the Battle of the Bulge, I learned firsthand what it means not just to treat casualties of war, but also to become one.

D-Day