A Special D-Day: The Baghdad Bad Boys Reunion at Beulah Hill

D-Day, June 6, was "The Longest Day," the day of the successful Allied invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe and the beginning of the end for his supposed 1,000 year Reich. My father, Marvin E. Loyd, helped keep his flight of P-47 Thunderbolts flying that day in support of the infantry invasion force.



This was an appropriate day to honor and recognize another group of America's finest. The Baghdad Bad Boys, some bluegrass pickin' men and women in uniform recently returned from a 15 month tour in Iraq, had a reunion at Beulah Hill Baptist Church. The reunion was the brainstorm of my friend Greg Rawlings, and the day was a blessing to the soldiers and their families as well as scores of church members and other well-wishers from the surrounding community.



Even amidst the bluegrass, an underlying theme of patriotism and love of country was pervasive this day.

Our philosophy is that you can't make music OR listen to it on an empty stomach. Many cooks provided more than enough chow to feed an army. Literally. Barbecue pork was the meat of the day, with dozens of side dishes, salads, and scrumptious desserts supplied by many talented chefs.

The serving line stretched around the entire fellowship hall, even with scores of folks still outside. The crowd seemed to exceed that of the biggest homecomings we could remember.

People continued to enjoy the food all afternoon, but after a while the Baghdad Bad Boys, plus friends from Beulah Hill and the RDU Session Players, were ready for some serious and not-so-serious strummin' and pickin.'

There were guitars, fiddles, bass, dobro, banjos, harmonicas, and mandolins. And one keyboard. They bent the rules a little to let me play my keyboard. I was aware they could pull the plug on me anytime I didn't behave myself.

Here Greg carefully sets Frances Oldhams final "Care Package" on the ground. During the 15 month tour, Frances faithfully shipped boxes of apple turnovers and other treats to Greg, who shared with his comrades.

This photo was taken when the Bad Boys were still deployed in Iraq.These representatives of the group had flown in from as far as Washington state. They look a lot more carefree now that they're stateside, and we're thankful they're safely home.

On my keyboard I placed these historic American flags from different eras to honor service men and women of past and present.

The P-47 was in special honor of Daddy, the Orange Tails of the 358th Fighter Group, and all those who participated in D-Day exactly 65 years ago.

The emblem of the Bag Boys is a tangible reminder that America's armed forces have always been made of of "citizen soldiers," with families, and lives and interests beyond the military. And music is a language that brought a closeness and fed the spirits of those that played it and heard it in Iraq, when families were far away.

No wonder it was an emotional day for all of us present. The red, white, and blue flag is the perfect backdrop for the music makers. They're just ordinary Americans, but to us they're extraordinary!

Jessie holds my mascot monkey pal Chipper, who is dressed up in his G.I. fatigues for this occasion (the army jacket I wore when I was a boy to re-fight WW II through our woods and backyards).

Not surprisingly, Ashlyn came prepared to join in on the music.

And like most children, she can't resist the tantalizing lure of my keyboard.

What a great day it was. Some of the Bad Boys played from 1:00 well into the evening, not knowing when they would get an opportunity like this again.

If you Google Baghdad Bad Boys, you will find numerous clips with their music and interviews.

Don't Miss the Triple Post

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FYI: I posted THREE different posts dated Thursday, June 4. Be sure you don't miss the one about 2nd Grade Tree Huggers on the Nature Trail, because it was posted most recently but appeared before the two about my nieces and my singalong/snake show/story-telling with third graders.

"I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree. . . .

Because I'm having trouble getting my "tree" pictures on Facebook, I decided to just do a quick post of some of the most interesting trees in my "collection."

This massive tree is the focal point of a small park in old downtown Galax, Virginia.
This one is close to home, near the shore of Aberdeen Lake. Obviously a nice home for trolls, elves, or other "little folk."This lumpy giant tree is really leaning as much as it appears. It is on the Nature Trail at my school, and we affectionately call it "Old Man Poplar." I would not be surprised to see it fallen across the trail at any time.

Our three-in-one favorite on the Nature Trail is called "Jack, Will, and Tom" after the characters in Richard Chase's beloved "Jack Tales." The three huge trunks emanate from a single base.

This is the view kids and adults love!

This one we call "The Slingshot Tree."And here is St. John--better known as simply "The Toilet Tree."

The final free photos are of the ancient tree my father identified for me at his grandfather's house, the mystery house of my "Mystery at the Loyd Homeplace." It is a gargantuan elm tree that was already huge when Daddy was a boy. and he's 95 now!

This tree was around long before the Civil War, the Battle of Atlanta, and maybe before the Loyd family built their house here.

I was especially delighted to see one of my favorite plants growing along this huge limb: Resurrection Fern. If you pick a sprig of it you can let it totally dry out, with no water. Then place it in a dish of water after weeks or even months and it will revive, unfold, and look like new. At school, I would do this repeatedly with the same sprig. It never ceased to amaze the children--AND me!

Resurrection is an amazing concept, and few organisms are better at surviving the rigors of time and weather than trees. Hug a tree today.

Two Nieces = Good Times!

All spring, Judy and I have been looking forward to having Emma and Jessie over for an afternoon, and Wednesday was the day! It was a perfect time to celebrate school almost being out and End-of-Grade tests successfully behind them--with the emphasis on successful!



Nothing like a good snack to rejuvenate you after a long day at school, and nobody can fix a better snack than Judy. Blueberries, strawberries, mint chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate milk. I sure can't beat that, can you?

We knew the time would fly by and there were many activities to choose from. First we were off to the old magnolia tree. It was several degrees cooler under its broad shady umbrella. The limbs are perfectly smooth and well-spaced for climbing. But without the ladder, no one could make it up to the lowest limbs! This was one of Jennifer and Amanda's favorites "hideouts" in years gone by.

Emma's the first one to take the challenge.

Jessie's never far behind.

We wouldn't have needed to buy yearbook pictures if we'd thought of this.

Yes. Priceless. And I know it.

These girls are still gymnastics queens.

Amazingly limber and flexible!

But it was a hot day, so we found several play items on the porch and took them indoors. Emma constructed awesome structures with magnets and giant Tinkertoys.

Jessie used Super Duper Music Looper to compose original music on the computer, full of her own specially chosen instruments, rhythms, and sound effects. She also set up the medieval castle with knights, catapults, and all.

All four of us joined in for a game of "Guess Where?" which is similar to "Guess Who?" and "Clue." It was great fun.

Emma helped Judy prepare Pigs in a Blanket for supper and then the girls headed back out until suppertime. They swung on the tire swing, walked on stilts, and rode a bike.

The supper call came quickly and it was al delicious. We all had to hustle, because it was church night. But hopefully it won't be too long before we do something like this again, because the time went all too fast.

Back on the Nature Trail with 2nd Grade Tree Huggers!

I thought I'd share a little bit more about the Nature Trail at Sandhills Farm Life School that I'm always talking about. The second graders who recently explored it with me sent me some thank you notes. I thought I'd use some of their comments as captions, along with my own.



Come on in. And watch out for snakes!

Big Rock.

• "I defly like Big Rock it was cool."


• "I liked when we got to Big Rock. I think he has got real bigger."


• "I think Big Rock is the biggest rock in the world."
• "He was humugies and in humugies I mean very very very BIG!"
  

Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

• "Oh, when will Jack-in-the-Pulpit fully ripen?" (end of summer, see two pictures of seed clusters below)


• "Jack and the Pulpit I did not see becouse Kayjuan was in my way a lot."

Old Man Poplar.

• "He looks like he might fall anytime."


• "When will he get tired of leaning?"
  

Jack, Will, and Tom.

• "I was wanndering if we could go and see Jack, Will, and Tom. Why don't we do it again?"
• "I never thought three trees could be stuck on one tree."
• "When we looked up it looked like the trees went all the way to space and we were the tinyest things on earth."
  

We didn't see a snake that day, but we could have. We did do JUMBO LIMBO by going under a tree like this one. Snakes can go under almost anything, but not leaning backwards! (This shot was taken by Amanda three years ago when she went with me to release this nice black rat snake specimen.)

Ferns. At least 8 varieties grow on our trail. Most, but not all, are pictured below.

• "The ferns were relly prity."

• "I liked Fern Valley and was wondering how long it took to grow?
  

• "Thank you for showing us six kinds of ferns."

Lady ferns in Fern Valley.

Bracken Fern.


Christmas Fern, displaying its abundant spores.

The unfurling ferns are called "fiddletops."

Royal Fern.

Cinnamon Fern, not yet in bloom.

Netted-chain Fern, from a pattern on the frond's underside.

The ferns, mosses, wildflowers, and damp humus could make you think you're padding along a path on the Appalachian Trail.
The Bridge and The Stream.

• "How did you and your class ever build the bridge?"

• "You took us on the brige but I didn't like the brige part."

• "Was the river we saw a creek or a stream?"
  

Kudzu.

• "Kudzu might take over the entire nature trail so we can't go on it any more."
  
• "Kudzu was awesome because if he grew any bigger school would be canceled."
  

My favorite parts were the closings and 'thank yous.'

• "Thanks for the amzing trip throgt the nature trail."
• "I wonder how you lern all of this. You are the best."
• "I never expected the nature trail to be so fun. Thanks again."
• "It was so cind of you to spind your time showing us all the nature trail."
• "You are nice to lots of kids. I think you are a great person in this school."
• "Thank you Mr. Loyd. You're the best sience teacher."
• "If you still worked at SFL I would want you as my third grade teacher."
• "I like it when you come to our school and give the kids new experiences. Thank you for taking me. It was a very inspirational walk."
• "I'm happy you showed me the Nature Trail because now I can show my family and tell them all about it."
• "You rock!"

Now, I'm sure you all see why I loved teaching so much!