60528 Remembered

On September 2nd 1958 while on a routine aerial reconnaissance mission, a U.S. C-130 tail number 60528 was shot down by four MIG-17s after inadvertently straying into the Soviet airspace over Armenia. Local villagers who witnessed the crash say the C-130 was on coarse to crash into the village of Sasnashen, and through the efforts of the pilots and crew the C-130 changed corse just before impact causing the C-130 to crash less than 200 meters from Sasnashen. The Villagers believe that the actions of the crew saved countless live. Even now the people of Sasnashen pay tribute to these fallen heros. This year I had the honer to be present for this ceremony, I was deeply moved when the class rings that belonged to two of these brave crew members were returned to the U.S. by the family that had discovered and hid them from the Government Officials of the Soviet Union.

Mother and Son that have kept the class rings

Maj Kyle walks to the Memorial Site followed by the people of Sasnashen

Presenting the rings

Returning to Sasnashen after the ceremony

Slackers Remorse

I have faced the facts and done the time in rehab... I can now truthfully admit to myself and the world that I have been a blog-slacker. Here in no particular order are a few of my kinda recent photographs.

The Ghost of Carnivals Past

This winter while driving out to visit our friend and partake of a traditional Xash (pronounced Ha'ash) breakfast when we noticed this old broke down amusement park. Although not revelent to these photographs, here is a little background on Khash. Khash is one of the most festive Armenian dishes eaten mostly in the cold season. Its cooking and consumption is highly traditional and is usually eaten in the morning with good amounts of garlic and mass quantities vodka. Khash is made from cows' feet, stomach and Armenian ingenuity. To prepare the cows feet for cooking all hair must be stripped off and cleaned until it is translucent. Then, the cow feet are boiled all night until they reach a gelatinous state where the flavor and smell is pleasantly pungent and the flesh (mainly tendons) flake off the bones.

Noy

Noy is the Armenian word for Noah, as in Noah and the Ark. Mt Ararat is the mountain that was once located in Armenia, but after WWI was give to Turkey as a gift from the Soviet Union. The Armenians Believe that Mt Ararat is the location where Noah's Ark landed, therefore making them the direct descendants of Noah. Although this post has nothing to do with where the Ark landed, Noy is the name given to the neighborhood in which I reside. A few months ago Becca wanted to capture certain aspects of our neighborhood and post on her blog. I took my camera along and took the following pictures. One of the many stray dogs that call our neighborhood home. This one has been affectionately named Pus because of the cist that ruptured leaving his fur a nasty greenish color.

Repairs or being stripped of every usable part... it is anybody’s guess with this van.

The ultimate mobile home. This is a bus that was converted into a home that up until recently was lived in.

Coffee injections Anyone?