Obit watch: June 3, 2026.

June 3rd, 2026

Col. Bruce Crandall (US Army – ret.), Medal of Honor recipient and big damn hero, passed away on May 31st. He was 93.

Major Bruce Crandall distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism as a Flight Commander in the Republic of Vietnam while serving with Company A, 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). On 14 November 1965, his flight of sixteen helicopters was lifting troops for a search and destroy mission from Plei Me, Vietnam, to Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley. On the fourth troop lift, the enemy had Landing Zone X-Ray targeted. As Major Crandall and the first eight helicopters landed to discharge troops on his fifth troop lift, his unarmed helicopter came under such intense enemy fire that the ground commander ordered the second flight of eight aircraft to abort their mission. As Major Crandall flew back to Plei Me, his base of operations, he determined that the ground commander of the besieged infantry battalion desperately needed more ammunition. Major Crandall then decided to adjust his base of operations to Artillery Firebase Falcon in order to shorten the flight distance to deliver ammunition and evacuate wounded soldiers. While medical evacuation was not his mission, he immediately sought volunteers and with complete disregard for his own personal safety, led the two aircraft to Landing Zone X-Ray. Despite the fact that the landing zone was still under relentless enemy fire, Major Crandall landed and proceeded to supervise the loading of seriously wounded soldiers aboard the aircraft. Major Crandall’s voluntary decision to land under the most extreme fire instilled in the other pilots the will and spirit to continue to land their own aircraft, and in the ground forces the realization that they would be resupplied and that friendly wounded would be promptly evacuated. This greatly enhanced morale and the will to fight at a critical time. After his first medical evacuation, Major Crandall continued to fly into and out of the landing zone throughout the day and into the evening. That day he completed a total of 22 flights, most under intense enemy fire, retiring from the battlefield only after all possible service had been rendered to the Infantry battalion. His actions provided critical resupply of ammunition and evacuation of the wounded. Major Crandall’s daring acts of bravery and courage in the face of an overwhelming and determined enemy are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.

On Nov. 14, 1965, Major Crandall was piloting one of several unarmed helicopters ferrying soldiers to a remote part of Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam for a search-and-destroy mission. On their fifth trip, they came under attack by enemy mortars, rockets and automatic weapons.
The ground commander ordered the helicopters to abort the mission and return to their command post. According to military records, Major Crandall decided without formal orders to organize a mission to return to the combat site after learning that medevac assistance had been suspended.
“The medevac pilots were all great pilots,” he later said. “But they weren’t allowed to land on a landing zone until it was ‘green’ for a period of five minutes” — meaning safe from incoming fire.
In subsequent landings, he and his wingman, Major Ed Freeman, delivered ammunition to soldiers trapped there and evacuated the wounded. They were credited with saving the lives of about 70 injured soldiers.

…

In the wake of the battle, Major Freeman received the Distinguished Flying Cross, and Major Crandall received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest award for valor. A group of veterans who had fought alongside both men later called for them to receive the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest decoration.
In White House ceremonies, President George W. Bush presented the medal to Major Freeman in 2001 and Colonel Crandall (his final rank) in 2007.
“Fourteen times he flew into what they called the valley of death,” Mr. Bush said of Colonel Crandall. “He made those flights knowing that he faced what was later described as an almost unbelievably extreme risk to his life. In the course of the day, Major Crandell had three different choppers. Two were damaged so badly they could not stay in the air. Yet he kept flying until every wounded man had been evacuated.”

Press release from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. According to them, there are 63 living Medal of Honor recipients.

His military decorations include the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, 24 Air Medals, the Vietnam Service Medal, and numerous other awards and commendations.

Posted in Heroism, History, Obits | No Comments »

Firings watch.

May 29th, 2026

The NYPost is reporting the firing of Sean Hudson as “Director of Community Relations” for the Washington Nationals.

This is actually kind of amusing. Mr. Hudson was apparently fired as fallout from a James O’Keefe video, in which he said “…the team doesn’t use pitcher Trevor Williams in video promotions on social media due to his religious beliefs.”

I don’t have a Twitter account, and I apparently have issues embedding Twitter. So here’s a link from the NYPost article.

“The Dodgers had a group… who were drag queens who sometimes dressed up as nuns. He [Trevor Williams] went on social media like… ‘This is my religion. You all are mocking it.’”
“Because of that, we [Washington Nationals] don’t use him [Trevor Williams] on social [media].”

…

“Like, when they’re like, is a hot dog a sandwich? And like, the players come up, you know what I mean? Like, we [Nationals] don’t ask him [Trevor Williams].”

What? Does that make any sense to anyone?

“If you ever come to a Nats game, there is someone on our team who is responsible for figuring out everything about you and assigning you into a bucket of people. If you’re accepting cookies, we’re getting a plethora of your Google history.”

Well, that’s kind of interesting, too.

Derius Swinton II out as “senior special teams assistant” for the Steelers. He was hired about three months ago. “Reports” say the firing was for a violation of team policy.

Posted in Firings, Religion, Sports | 4 Comments »

Bagatelle (#144)

May 28th, 2026

This made me laugh. By way of Mike the Musicologist:

Posted in Bagatelle, History, Movies | No Comments »

Obit watch: May 28, 2026.

May 28th, 2026

Robert Daley, author and deputy commissioner with the NYPD. He was 96.

Daley served as deputy commissioner of the NYPD in 1971 and 1972, a turbulent period marked by police corruption investigations, organised crime violence, major robberies and attacks on officers. He later drew on that experience in ‘Target Blue: An Insider’s View of the N.Y.P.D.’, giving readers a close look at the inner workings, pressures and contradictions of the force.
‘Prince of the City’ became his most enduring work. The book followed Robert Leuci, an NYPD narcotics detective whose cooperation with investigators exposed corruption within the department’s Special Investigation Unit. The story centred not only on criminal conduct, but on loyalty, guilt and the complicated moral code that shaped police life. Critics recognised its force, with contemporary commentary noting the power of Daley’s portrayal of the flawed policeman as a modern literary figure.

Haven’t read the book, but the movie version of it is…pretty okay. I do think it could have been trimmed down some (the movie comes in at 2:47: “The Best Years of Our Lives” comes in at 2:52).

(Archive.is is still broken. Sorry.)

Posted in Books, Cops, Law, Movies, NYPD, Obits | 1 Comment »

Noted. (Random gun crankery.)

May 28th, 2026

The Revolver Guy blog has a long, but swell, piece up on the “Lipsey’s Exclusive John Taffin Ruger Flattop Perfect Packing Pistol“.

As I said, it is long. But it goes into a lot of detail, putting the PPP into the context of Mr. Taffin’s life, work, and preferences, as well as covering the design considerations that went into it…and even giving a range report.

Previously on WCD. I’ll mention that, since I wrote that piece, I did acquire an actual Ruger/Lipsey’s Perfect Packing Pistol in the 5 1/2″ length, with a stainless steel finish. Not exactly what I wanted, but it’ll do to ride the river with. And the stainless finish is probably better for outdoor use, anyway.

(I have not seen any of the blued PPP guns in either barrel length show up on GunBroker. I do check periodically.)

I also acquired one of the serial numbered PPP holsters from Barranti Leather Co. for the PPP, as well as a second non-serial numbered but same style and pattern holster for the other Ruger. So now I’m a two-gun man. I just need a couple of things to complete the ensemble: I have a hat on order, and Mike the Musicologist is trying to talk me into getting some custom boots made, which I might do after the hat gets here and if things hold together a while longer.

Yeah, I know, but these things are indulgences, and I’ve got some jingle in my jeans. Especially now that Cisco stock is at $119 a share…

Posted in Guns, Holsters, Ruger | No Comments »

And speaking of Catholicism…

May 25th, 2026

…Pope Leo just dropped his first encyclical! And it is relevant to our interests!

“Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time Of Artificial Intelligence”.

6. For this reason it is necessary to begin a shared discernment process for identifying the spiritual and cultural roots of ongoing transformations. If we focus only on contingencies, we risk letting the succession of emergencies dictate the direction of our path. We are living through a rapid phase of transition, a “change of era,” in which — while some are vying for the future of new technologies and others dedicate themselves to reflecting on the matter — most people are watching and waiting, observing from afar and merely hoping for the best. For this very reason, crucial questions impose themselves on our conscience and can no longer be avoided: Where are we going? Toward what goal do we wish to orient ourselves? What direction should we choose as a people and as a human community?

Reminds me of a quote I rather like, and use from time to time at work:

“If you have a routine, you can always deviate from it if something comes up. But if you don’t have a routine, then everything is stuff that comes up.”

–Don Winslow, The Winter of Frankie Machine

Posted in Geek, Religion | No Comments »

Memorial Day.

May 25th, 2026

I got nothing. I’ve been busy, occupied with personal issues, and a little under the weather, and didn’t have time to put together a good (or even decent) post.

So instead, I’m going to point you at a documentary that’s about 30 minutes long: “No Greater Love”.

This covers the four Catholic chaplains who received the Medal of Honor, and who I have written about previously:

Fr. Joseph O’Callahan
Fr. Emil Kapaun
Fr. Vincent Capodanno
Fr. Charles Watters

Posted in Heroism, History, Religion | No Comments »

Obit watch: May 22, 2026.

May 22nd, 2026

The archiving service I use has been having problems for the past few days, and I’m running low on NYT share links.

Kyle Busch. ESPN. Oddly, I don’t see any coverage of this in the NYT: it looks like they’ve shuffled off the coverage to their sports vertical, “The Athletic”, which they make you pay extra to read.

41 seems awfully young these days.

Edited to add: Shortly after this went up, the NYT posted an actual obit in the obituary section. I apologize that this is paywalled, but, as I said earlier, archive.is is having problems and I only have three share links left until June 1. (No, they don’t roll over from month to month. I wish.)

Kirk Foyle. He was a local man: Tuesday night, he was eating on the patio at Green Mesquite (one of our local barbecue restaurants), when a tree fell on him. He died from his injuries the next day.

Tomorrow is promised to nobody, whether you’re a NASCAR driver or a barbecue eater. Be prepared.

Sam Sianis. He owned and ran the Billy Goat Tavern in Chicago, also known as the “Cheezborger cheezborger cheezborger cheeps cheeps Pepsi!” place from SNL. (Though my understanding is that sketch was also heavily influenced by the Belushi family, who were in the restaurant business as well.)

The Billy Goat Tavern is also famous for triggering Cubs fans.

Mr. Sianis’s uncle Billy bought the bar — which was originally across from Chicago Stadium (now United Center) and called the Lincoln Tavern — in 1934. After a goat wandered in the door, he renamed the bar the Billy Goat and adopted the animal as a pet.
The goat, called Murphy, became something of a celebrity himself. In 1945, the elder Mr. Sianis brought him to Game 4 of the World Series, between the Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, at Wrigley Field.
It began to rain. Murphy began to stink. The Cubs’ owner, Philip K. Wrigley, kicked them out.
As he was leaving, Billy Sianis put a curse on the team, vowing that it would never win a championship. When the Cubs lost the Series that year, he sent a note to Mr. Wrigley: “Now who stinks!”

…

In 1984, when the Cubs were contesting the National League championship, the team relented and allowed Mr. Sianis bring a goat onto the field.
But the Cubs did not win a World Series until 2016.
Watching the tiebreaking seventh game that year from the tavern, Mr. Sianis banished the curse by ringing the bell that had been worn by Murphy in 1945. The current goat stood beside him, looking as nervous as the rest of the crowd. Then it urinated on the floor. Mr. Sianis led it away.
“Don’t touch the goat,” one fan said, according to The Financial Times. “It’s bad luck.”

“Then it urinated on the floor.” I cannot tell a lie: one of the reasons I enjoy NYT obits so much is the telling details.

Posted in 1970s, Food, Goats, Mammals, Obits, Sports, TV, Urine | No Comments »

Firings watch.

May 20th, 2026

I’m a little behind, and, to be honest, not feeling great. But Lawrence would give me a hard time if I failed to note that the Dallas Mavericks fired Jason Kidd.

Five seasons, 205-205 overall.

Sorry for the lazy ESPN link, but, as I’ve noted before, the Dallas media is all but unlinkable.

Posted in Firings, Sports | No Comments »

Obit watch: May 20, 2026.

May 20th, 2026

Barney Frank. WP (archived).

The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas.

The restaurant blamed major casinos and “corporate greed” for pricing average Americans out of the “quintessential American experience of affordable indulgence” in Las Vegas, it said.
“Our core value, ‘Eat big and laugh loud,’ no longer fits a city peddling $40 ‘artisanal avocado toast,’” the restaurant said.
“The honest, heavy-duty calories that built our reputation are now considered gauche by a city that has excluded the middle class and lost its swagger in the process.”

Lawrence sent over a report from Fox Las Vegas:

Posted in Food, Obits, Politics | 1 Comment »

Obit watch: May 19, 2026.

May 19th, 2026

Mark Fuhrman.

This is a couple of days old, but worth noting: G. Robert Blakey.

He did the RICO.

In 1969, he was hired as the chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures. It was there that he worked on the RICO law, under Senator John L. McClellan, the Arkansas Democrat who chaired the subcommittee.
The law — Title IX of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, for which Senator McClellan was the driving force — says that a person or group of people who commit certain crimes as part of a conspiracy or criminal enterprise can be charged with racketeering. And it allows those hurt by the enterprise to sue for three times their actual damages.
Previously, prosecutors would charge people for committing single crimes like murder, extortion or gambling, or for conspiracy to commit those individual felonies. “Bob took conspiracy law and broadened it to describe a pattern of racketeering that is committed in furtherance of an enterprise,” Ed Stier, a former federal prosecutor in New Jersey, said in an interview.

…

Some critics have argued that the RICO law is too vague, that it is too widely used and that its penalties are sometimes out of proportion to the crimes being prosecuted.
“It is sort of the white-collar equivalent of capital punishment,” Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, told The Los Angeles Times in 1989 after the conviction of a New Jersey investment partnership for engaging in a racketeering conspiracy involving securities fraud.

Posted in California Über Alles, History, Law, Obits | No Comments »

Obit watch: May 18, 2026.

May 18th, 2026

Peter G. Neumann, computer security guru and a hero of mine.

Dr. Neumann (pronounced NOY-man), who has worked as a computer scientist and security researcher at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., since 1971, has long been a voice in the wilderness warning about a computer industry that has been prone to repeatedly make the same mistakes.
In 2010, Dr. Neumann launched a research project that investigated how to protect against the most common types of security vulnerabilities. Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, the program, known as Cheri, developed a new approach to computer hardware that restricts software programs so that malicious instructions are impossible to execute.
An analogy would be replacing a master key that opens every door in a building with a set of keys that each only open the specific rooms their holder is authorized to enter — and making it physically impossible to copy or modify them.

…

Beginning in 1985, Dr. Neumann served as editor for the Association for Computing Machinery Risks Forum newsgroup, an influential collection of emails from readers reporting computer failures and foibles that has an avid following of hundreds of thousands.
Since then, he has maintained the sprawling compendium of computer failures, flaws, foibles and privacy issues, annotating each of the 3,195 issues with wry comments and the occasional pun. In 1995, the list became the basis for his book, “Computer-Related Risks.”

…

“There’s no limit on the impact that a small team can have if they don’t care who gets credit,” said Patrick Lincoln, the office director of Darpa’s Information Innovation Office, who described Dr. Neumann as routinely working behind the scenes without credit. “The world is just so much a better place for having had Peter.”

Schlitz Beer.

I’m not much of a beer drinker, but this gives me a chance to embed my favorite Sven and Ole joke.

Posted in Geek, Mixology, Obits | No Comments »

Register recordings, not guns!

May 15th, 2026

It would be impossible for me to care any less than I already do not care about Taylor Swift.

I’m not a big Beyoncé fan, either, though my opinion of her isn’t quite at the Swift level.

With that out of the way, some random thoughts about the other 23 new inductees to the National Recording Registry:

  • Weezer? Aren’t they one of those one-hit wonder college whimsy bands?
  • Nice to see Spike Jones and His City Slickers getting some love.
  • The guys get shirts!
  • I have never heard Brother Ray’s “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music” but I have heard good things about it. Maybe I should purchase that.
  • I should also grab the “Chicago” original cast album, if I can find it. For those not familiar with “Chicago” or Broadway, the original cast included Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, and Jerry Orbach. And I like “Chicago”.
  • I loved “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” when I was a child. I still do: I think it would still go in my personal top ten songs list.
  • When I was younger, I thought Stevie Ray Vaughan was overrated. My opinion has softened some in the past few years, and I think “Texas Flood” isn’t a bad choice.
  • ““Doom” soundtrack by Bobby Prince, composer”. In case you were unclear (as I was), yes, this is the soundtrack for the video game.

Posted in Music | 2 Comments »

Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.

May 15th, 2026

It has been more than a minute since I’ve been scuba diving.

And my dive certification came from PADI (which, as we all know, stands for “Put Another Diver In”).

But these people were cave diving?

At 160 feet?

The fark?

I know, it is early, the investigation isn’t complete, and this is the NYPost. But right now, this sounds to me like criminal negligence.

Posted in Obits | No Comments »

Obit watch: May 15, 2026.

May 15th, 2026

Joe Sedelmaier, commercial director.

Among his works:

And this one:

And this one:

I can’t embed it, but here’s a link to his Southern Airways “Steerage” commercial. For some reason, that commercial reminds me of…every Southwest flight I’ve been on.

Claudine Longet, actress and singer.

The enchanting, doe-eyed Longet recorded albums of breathy pop for A&M Records before she sang the Henry Mancini-Don Black song “Nothing to Lose” in Blake Edwards’ The Party (1968), in which she portrayed an aspiring actress alongside Peter Sellers.

I’ve heard this is actually a pretty good movie, but have never seen it.

A onetime Las Vegas showgirl, Longet had married “Moon River” crooner [Andy] Williams in December 1961 and appeared on his long-running NBC variety show and Christmas specials, often with their three children.

After she and Williams divorced (amicably), she took up with a skier named Vladimir “Spider” Sabich.

… Longet and the kids were living with the California-born Sabich at his chalet in Starwood, Colorado, when she shot him on March 21, 1976, in his bathroom with a .22-caliber German‐made gun that had been purchased by his father. She claimed the gun accidentally discharged as he was showing her how it worked.

He died on the way to the hospital. She was criminally charged, but local law enforcement completely botched the case. She ended up being convicted of “criminally negligent homicide”.

She was given two years’ probation, fined $250 and sentenced to 30 days in jail (she was able to serve most of her sentence on weekends).
The Sabich family later filed a civil suit against Longet for $1.3 million, but the case was settled out of court. Longet agreed not to speak publicly about Sabich or the murder and to never publish a book about her life and the trial, and her career as a singer and actress was done.

@jack.hutton

The Claudine Longet Ski Invitational 1976 SNL A classic. #SNL #classic #1976 —

♬ original sound – Jack Hutton

Edited to add: I know the NYT is watching this space. Because as soon as I put up my own obit for someone, the NYT puts up theirs. Guys, let’s not fight. I’d be willing to entertain a job offer, though I would insist on working remotely.

Posted in Movies, Music, Obits, TV | No Comments »

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