BACK, SAFE & SOUND

Paul Naples recently has surgery for prostate cancer and is back home in Worcester, NY. His doctors in Detroit gave him a clean bill of health and said the cancer was contained to his prostate and all margins around it are clear! He made the trip with his daughters and they slowly made their way back through Canada to NY. Hooray for Paul! See you in June, old buddy!

OLE'

I just talked to David Ohler. He was one of the original 809th Comm. Sq. Atlas cable splicers. When I arrived, he was already there with Busby, Jarvis, Walraven, Boyce, Sgt. Valley Joe, Sgt. Yamamoto and others. Dave's in Idaho and in the process of selling his home and then moving to Joplin, MO. Welcome aboard Dave....see you in June!!!

SHANK !!

I located Garry L. Shank, West Chester, PA. Garry and his wife, Flo, are retired and traveling around in their RV. When I spoke to him he was at his son's in Lynchburg, VA. After a short visit they will be traveling down to Florida to visit his daughter and then stay in Florida for the Winter. He also plans to attend our reunion next year in Cheyenne.

SAY A PRAYER

Paul Jeter Naples recently had an ICD (defibrillator) put in and everything went well. Today, he goes in for prostate surgery and will be back home on Sept. 25th. Please keep him in your prayers.

LABOR DAY

The holiday originated in Canada out of labor disputes ("Nine-Hour Movement") first in Hamilton, then in Toronto, Canada in the 1870s, which resulted in a Trade Union Act which legalized and protected union activity in 1872 in Canada. The parades held in support of the Nine-Hour Movement and the printers' strike led to an annual celebration in Canada. In 1882, American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto. Inspired from Canadian events in Toronto, he returned the USA, to New York and organized the first American "labor day" on September 5 of the same year.

The first Labor Day in the United States was celebrated on September 5, 1882 in New York City. In the aftermath of the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the US military and US Marshals during the 1894 Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland put reconciliation with Labor as a top political priority. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. Cleveland was also concerned that aligning a US labor holiday with existing international May Day celebrations would stir up negative emotions linked to the Haymarket Affair. All 50 U.S. states have made Labor Day a state holiday.

Have a safe and great Labor Day weekend!