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I have been a serious model collector and builder for 36 years now. My dad started me on this journey when I was 8 and I have never looked back since. Since then all my boys, 22 & 18 & now my youngest at 8, have the bug and are quite the accomplished builders in there own right. It is in the blood!
I have been building on my fathers collection ever since I could spend a dollar, and my sons as well. We have gathered a collection that spans roughly 50+ years and counting.
We have together massed a collection of 1,622 aircraft ( 900 are of different designations ), 451 armor, and 181 ships.
One day we will build our own museum out of all of them.
We collect all Military aircraft in 1/72 scale, Armor in 1/72 scale, and 1/700 scale waterline ships as well as sailing ships of different scales. We also collect all reference material to that effect. Whether it be books, pictures, and anything else relevant to our hobby. We also collect military clothing and gear.
Our family has served our great Military and Nation for as long as I can remember. I hope that it will continue.
Our family spans the Marine Corps, my dad, 2nd Marine Div., and my late father-in-law, and my 18 year old son who ships out in November 16, 2009. The Air Force, my late uncle Anthony Senior,Airman First Class, the Navy, my cousin Anthony, Jr. Lt.jg Sub mariner, the US Army, my uncle Stanley, UH-1D Crew chief 2nd Flight, Co. 229 Vietnam 1ST First Cav, and a close cousin on my dad's side, Anthony, LRRPS US Army, and myself US Army tank crewman.
If you have the oppurtunity to meet a Veteran, Please Thank them for thier service.
They derserve it and more.
A few parting words from books that I have read:
"A hero is no braver then an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
" What Man is a man a man who does not make the World better by his actions in life... "
"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, cannot long retain it." - Abraham Lincoln
"The characteristic of a genuine heroism is it's persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits, and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic can not be the common nor the common heroic." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Our Greatest Glory is Not in Never Failing, but Rising in Every Time We Fail" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
" Sucess is not Final, Failure is not final. It is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
“I am a soldier, I fight where I am told, and I win where I fight.” - Gen. Patton
"Some people live an entire lifetime and wonder if they have ever made a difference in the world, but the Marines don't have that problem." - Ronald Reagan
"Untutored courage is useless in the face of educated bullets." - Gen. Patton
" Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result." - Winston Churchill
" Perceiving a victory that does not surpass what the masses could know is not the pinnacle of excellence. Wrestling victories for which All under Heaven proclaim your excellence is not the pinnicle of excellence." - Sun-Tzu
"Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment." - Andre Maurois
"Is any man free except the one who can pass his life as he pleases." - Perseus
"Cowards die many times before thier deaths; the valient never taste of death but once." - William Shakspeare, "Julius Ceaser"
THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY
by Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.
Through the travail of the ages,
Midst the pomp and toil of war,
Have I fought and strove and perished
Countless times upon this star.
In the form of many people
In all panoplies of time
Have I seen the luring vision
Of the Victory Maid, sublime.
I have battled for fresh mammoth,
I have warred for pastures new,
I have listed to the whispers
When the race trek instinct grew.
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
I have sinned and I have suffered,
Played the hero and the knave;
Fought for belly, shame, or country,
And for each have found a grave.
I cannot name my battles
For the visions are not clear,
Yet, I see the twisted faces
And I feel the rending spear.
Perhaps I stabbed our Savior
In His sacred helpless side.
Yet, I've called His name in blessing
When after times I died.
In the dimness of the shadows
Where we hairy heathens warred,
I can taste in thought the lifeblood;
We used teeth before the sword.
While in later clearer vision
I can sense the coppery sweat,
Feel the pikes grow wet and slippery
When our Phalanx, Cyrus met.
Hear the rattle of the harness
Where the Persian darts bounced clear,
See their chariots wheel in panic
From the Hoplite's leveled spear.
See the goal grow monthly longer,
Reaching for the walls of Tyre.
Hear the crash of tons of granite,
Smell the quenchless eastern fire.
Still more clearly as a Roman,
Can I see the Legion close,
As our third rank moved in forward
And the short sword found our foes.
Once again I feel the anguish
Of that blistering treeless plain
When the Parthian showered death bolts,
And our discipline was in vain.
I remember all the suffering
Of those arrows in my neck.
Yet, I stabbed a grinning savage
As I died upon my back.
Once again I smell the heat sparks
When my Flemish plate gave way
And the lance ripped through my entrails
As on Crecy's field I lay.
In the windless, blinding stillness
Of the glittering tropic sea
I can see the bubbles rising
Where we set the captives free.
Midst the spume of half a tempest
I have heard the bulwarks go
When the crashing, point blank round shot
Sent destruction to our foe.
I have fought with gun and cutlass
On the red and slippery deck
With all Hell aflame within me
And a rope around my neck.
And still later as a General
Have I galloped with Murat
When we laughed at death and numbers
Trusting in the Emperor's Star.
Till at last our star faded,
And we shouted to our doom
Where the sunken road of Ohein
Closed us in it's quivering gloom.
So but now with Tanks a'clatter
Have I waddled on the foe
Belching death at twenty paces,
By the star shell's ghastly glow.
So as through a glass, and darkly
The age long strife I see
Where I fought in many guises,
Many names, but always me.
And I see not in my blindness
What the objects were I wrought,
But as God rules o'er our bickerings
It was through His will I fought.
So forever in the future,
Shall I battle as of yore,
Dying to be born a fighter,
But to die again, once more.
A Soldiers Prayer..........
" On this awakening day My Lord God. I Pray that you watch over me and my brothers and sisters. For we are about to wander into harms way. Please keep safe my fellow soldiers as we battle evil. For this day we are all Warriors in your army My Lord.
If one should fall..........,
Please keep them safe in your arms and tell them I will soon follow, and wait for me.
So we can be one again. ' This I Pray My Lord God.' "
God's Speed My Friends and May GOD KEEP YOU ALL YOU SAFE in HIS GRACES!
Best Regards,
Scott E Wisbith, 19E10 ( 1984 )
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