I know I made a big stink, but...

sometimes I get reality checked a bit and my perspective gets re-aligned. When Michael Jackson died, I got very upset at a lot of the negativity that came from people who had differing opinions of the man than I. I was and am a fan, and it seems I was swallowed up by the media frenzy and my own ideocentricity. Apparently, MJ was not the only person who died that day that impacted my life. Sometimes that impact happened waaaay before we were even glimmers in our grandparents eyes. Here is an email I received from my mother today. it was a "Fw: Fw: Fw.:RE: Fw:" type email, so whos to say if this is a legit story or not, but an honest to goodness American Hero passed away at the same time as Michael, and I was too busy to notice. Perhaps a thread on a cheap car enthusiast forum isnt the most honorable a memorial, but when I was reading it, the only people I knew would appreciate this as much as I did were you guys. Its easy to get caught up in 401k hullabaloo, GMs new whatsitz and stockmaket tomfoolery, but there really is more to the picture than those silly news of the moment stories. Enough from me, here it is. I hope it is as humbling for you all as it was for me.

Some email contained: One of the "Band of Brothers" soldiers died on June 17, 2009. We're hearing a lot today bout big splashy memorial services. I want a nationwide memorial service for Darrell Shifty" owers. Shifty volunteered for the airborne in WWII and served with Easy Company of the 06th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Infantry. If you've seen Band f Brothers on HBO or the History Channel, you know Shifty. His character appears in all 10 episodes, and Shifty himself is interviewed in several of them. I met Shifty in the Philadelphia airport several years ago. I didn't know who he was at the time. I just saw an elderly gentleman having trouble reading his ticket. I offered to help, assured him that he was at the right gate, and noticed the "Screaming Eagle", the symbol of e 101st Airborne, on his hat. Making conversation, I asked him if he'd been in the 101st Airborne or if his son was serving. He said quietly that he had been in the 101st. I thanked him for his service, then asked him when he served, and how many jumps he made. Quietly and humbly, he said "Well, I guess I signed up in 1941 or so, and was in until sometime in 1945 . . ." at which point my heart skipped. At that point, again, very humbly, he said "I made the 5 training jumps at Toccoa, and then jumped into Normandy . . . . Do you know where Normandy is?" At this point my heart stopped. I told him yes, I know exactly where Normandy was, and I know what D-Day was. At that point he said "I also made a second jump into Holland, into Arnhem." I was standing with a genuine war hero . . . . and then I realized that it was June, just after the anniversary of D-Day. I asked Shifty if he was on his way back from France, and he said "Yes. And it's real sad because these days so few of the guys are left, and those that are, lots of them can't make the trip." My heart was in my throat and I didn't know what to say. I helped Shifty get onto the plane and then realized he was back in Coach, while I was in First Class. I sent the flight attendant back to get him and said that I wanted to switch seats. When Shifty came forward, I got up out of the seat and told him I wanted him to have it, that I'd take his in coach. He said "No, son, you enjoy that seat. Just knowing that there are still some who remember what we did and still care is enough to make an old man very happy." His eyes were filling up as he said it. And mine are brimming up now as I write this. Shifty died on June 17 after fighting cancer. There was no parade. No big event in Staples center. No wall to wall back to back 24x7 news coverage. No weeping fans on television. And that's not right. Let's give Shifty his own Memorial Service, online, in our quiet way. Please forward this email to everyone you know.

do with this as you see fit

Man, I so could have gotten into 24 hour news coverage of his life. It would have been worth it to switch seats with the person sitting next to him just to hear some of his stories.

Thanks for sharing

Darrell Powers was a real person and he did pass away on June 17, the week before Michael Jackson, although I don't know if this particular event happened or not.

EastCoastMojo wrote: Man, I so could have gotten into 24 hour news coverage of his life.

+1 would have been worth far more than being force-fed the details of everything that was in MJ's medicine cabinet and bloodstream.

Stew, I am a big BoB fan, so Im very familiar with his story. Im just kinda ashamed to say I didnt notice this at the same (or nearly same) timeframe because I was too hung up on other stuff...

The anniversary of D day came and went, and all I did was listen to Billy Jean a bunch

I think you made up for right now....I hope Shifty is remembered for the hero he always will be

I usually detest that kind of sob-story chain-mail crap, but this is different. At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket, while a notable war hero's death goes unnoticed.

I am once again amazed-surprised-disgusted-miffed at how the media covers a story. How do they establish priorities and the pecking order importance of stories?

Dan

It's always sad when we lose real heroes.

914Driver wrote: I am once again amazed-surprised-disgusted-miffed at how the media covers a story. How do they establish priorities and the pecking order importance of stories? Dan

Money determines it.

-Rob

I'm going to add another great hero to this, he died the same day as Jack-o

Copied from and e-mail sent to me by my father:

Ed Freeman He died the same day as Michael Jackson so the media didn't bother with a real hero. You're a 19-old kid. You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam . Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medevac helicopters to stop coming in. You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn't seem real because no Medevac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medevac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medevacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out, through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses. And he kept coming back, 13 more times, and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out. Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died on Wednesday, June 25th, 2009, at the age of 80, in Boise , ID. May God rest his soul.

This is not the reason I started this thread, but people always have to go there...

Luke wrote: At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket

As if MJ did nothing of value while he was here

http://brainz.org/16-michael-jacksons-greatest-non-musical-achievements/

4cylndrfury wrote: This is not the reason I started this thread, but people always have to go there...

Luke wrote: At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket

As if MJ did nothing of value while he was here http://brainz.org/16-michael-jacksons-greatest-non-musical-achievements/

There is a difference between a Philanthropist and a Hero.

914Driver wrote: I am once again amazed-surprised-disgusted-miffed at how the media covers a story. How do they establish priorities and the pecking order importance of stories? Dan

What will attract viewers/readers?

The sad fact is that MJ brings in more viewers/readers than Shifty.

If people ignore the latest celebrity gossip, it goes away. But they don't.

People think the media reacts according to some bias or grand conspiracy, but really, they're just in it for the money.

JFX001 wrote:

4cylndrfury wrote: This is not the reason I started this thread, but people always have to go there...

Luke wrote: At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket

As if MJ did nothing of value while he was here http://brainz.org/16-michael-jacksons-greatest-non-musical-achievements/

There is a difference between a Philanthropist and a Hero.

Unless youre a kid who has AIDS and in the late 80s and no one understands the disease, so youre kicked out of school and your entire family is ostracized from your community, and then this big music star comes and is willing to play basketball and go to the movies and be seen in public with you...or your kid is critically burned in a fire and your town has no decent burn unit, so this big music star comes in and opens up a state of the art facility for burn trauma...

perspective sir...thats my whole point of this thread.

Like I said, everyone has to go there.

Shifty was an amazing marksman and had a brave soul. He used his talent to do the most good he knew how to do in the world. MJ did the same. He donated 100% of the profits from year long concert tours to charity. He used his fame to try to make people with nothing to live for feel hope again. He used his talents to do the most good in the world he could. Im not saying the media frenzy was justified, cuz it wasnt. Like Tim said, its greed of the media producers. Shifty absolutely deserved as much and more hype as MJ. but its not the way it went down. Dont take it out on someone who doesnt deserve it, and dont discredit what he did.

With all due respect, 4cyl, if the whole point of your thread is perspective, then you certainly understand that a lot of people have a different perspective than you.

I admire your admiration of MJ, and am not opposed to being enlightened. But I am also closely related to the president of a major TV network who knew him personally, and refused to read or follow any of the media hype, because he had no remaining respect for him.

Again, no slight on your admiration. Just a different perspective.

Thanks for sharing the info on Shifty, a man who most of us share the perspective that he was a true American hero.

4cylndrfury wrote:

JFX001 wrote:

4cylndrfury wrote: This is not the reason I started this thread, but people always have to go there...

Luke wrote: At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket

As if MJ did nothing of value while he was here http://brainz.org/16-michael-jacksons-greatest-non-musical-achievements/

There is a difference between a Philanthropist and a Hero.

Unless youre a kid who has AIDS and in the late 80s and no one understands the disease, so youre kicked out of school and your entire family is ostracized from your community, and then this big music star comes and is willing to play basketball and go to the movies and be seen in public with you...or your kid is critically burned in a fire and your town has no decent burn unit, so this big music star comes in and opens up a state of the art facility for burn trauma... perspective sir...thats my whole point of this thread. Like I said, everyone has to go there. Shifty was an amazing marksman and had a brave soul. He used his talent to do the most good he knew how to do in the world. MJ did the same. He donated 100% of the profits from year long concert tours to charity. He used his fame to try to make people with nothing to live for feel hope again. He used his talents to do the most good in the world he could. Im not saying the media frenzy was justified, cuz it wasnt. Like Tim said, its greed of the media producers. Shifty absolutely deserved as much and more hype as MJ. but its not the way it went down. Dont take it out on someone who doesnt deserve it, and dont discredit what he did.

I'm not taking anything out on anyone....just letting you know that there is a distinction between one who funds/enables charitable causes, versus one who puts their Life on the line for others.

If a celeb said "yeah, I'm goingto donate everything but 50,000 a year to charity", I would find that interesting and admirable. If I had 2 billion, and gave a away a billion (a good deed, no arguing) I would still be a billionaire, and never want for a thing again. Give it all away, that's a truely honorable act. Giving some, while great, doesn't carry the same weight with me.

Joey

4cylndrfury wrote: This is not the reason I started this thread, but people always have to go there...

Luke wrote: At the end of the day, MJ was just a pop star, and it's unfortunate his passing caused such a media racket

As if MJ did nothing of value while he was here http://brainz.org/16-michael-jacksons-greatest-non-musical-achievements/

Yikes! I certainly didn't intend to 'go' anywhere. It was an off-hand comment on my part, not meant to cause any offence or uproar.

I am totally in your corner about having the right to your opinion about MJ .... me , I never liked the Jackson 5 not did I like his music or him... buts that's my opinion.... but this is what always comes to mind when I think of when I hear his name....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aiAqR5jF2s&NR=1