“Sto Lat,” the traditional Polish song that says “may you live 100 years,” was one of my dad’s favorites. We sang it every year on his birthday – and he nearly made it to that milestone, dying at 95 in 2019. February 17 would have been his 100th birthday. My brother-in-law Ralph texted me recently and... Continue Reading →
Memorial Day 2020: Remembering the ‘Men of the South Pacific’
By Daniel Lienert From his Navy destroyer escort, the USS William C. Miller, my grandfather Chester Pyzik saw combat in nearly every major Pacific battle in World War II, from the Gilbert and Marshall Islands to Iwo Jima. Over the ensuing decades, he romanticized his war stories to focus on such details as the high-quality... Continue Reading →
Toilet Paper Shortages and ‘Nothing’ Cake
Some people in Newport, Oregon are calling 9-1-1 when they run out of toilet paper and one acquaintance tells us his elderly father is urging him to hoard whiskey and cigarettes to use for barter in an emergency. But at my house we’ve resolved to keep calm and carry on during the coronavirus pandemic, panic... Continue Reading →
Memorial Day 2019: Fighting with His Fingertips
My dad Chester Pyzik saw combat action in nearly every major World War II battle in the Pacific, from Operation Galvanic in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign to Iwo Jima, all the way to the Japanese surrender at Toyko Bay. But he never fired a single shot. Instead, as a Navy yeoman first assigned... Continue Reading →
Detroit Journal: The Telltale Tattoo
So macho is my father that he once removed an ingrown toenail with a hand-held drill. My brother Mike and I watched him use his fists to break up trouble at places like the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit or at Little League playgrounds in our northwest neighborhood during the 1960s. As a cop, he... Continue Reading →