Wednesday, December 14, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
The Bunkhouse
Chronicle
Craig Rullman
Columnist
To infinity
A man’s life is cer-
tainly more than his cur-
riculum vitae, but the late
John Glenn’s is nevertheless
jaw-dropping and worthy of
reflection.
Fifty-nine combat mis-
sions in World War II; 63
more in Korea, where he had
three aerial kills in the last
nine days of the war, and
where baseball legend Ted
Williams was his wingman.
Test pilot. First transconti-
nental supersonic flight. First
American to orbit the earth.
A return to space at the age
of 77, while still a sitting
Senator, to make himself the
subject of experiments on the
elderly in space.
I suspect, given a chance,
Glenn would tell us that his
highest achievement was
none of those things. I think
Glenn would tell us it was
marriage to Annie, his high
school sweetheart, for 73
years. They were a tough
and inseparable pair. Annie
famously suffered from a
debilitating stutter, but never
gave up to despair, and after
enrolling in an intense three-
week school, managed to
overcome her disability.
Glenn wrote that among
her first words to him were:
“John, I’ve wanted to tell
you this for years. Pick up
your socks.”
But there is more. As a
senator, Glenn was known
for his tireless efforts in
nuclear non-proliferation,
and the cleanup of nuclear
waste facilities. He had
nine honorary doctorates;
six Distinguished Flying
Crosses; 18 Air Medals; and
the Presidential Medal of
Freedom.
Glenn was a famously
devout Presbyterian, but his
experience in space and as
a scientist created in him a
broad perspective. He saw
no conflict between evolu-
tion and a belief in God, and
last year told the Associated
Press he believed evolution
should be taught in schools.
“I don’t see that I’m any
less religious by the fact that
I can appreciate the fact that
science just records that we
change with evolution and
time, and that’s a fact. It
doesn’t mean it’s less won-
drous and it doesn’t mean
that there can’t be some
power greater than any of
us that has been behind and
is behind whatever is going
on.”
That’s a wonderfully
nuanced view that I would
humbly submit we could use
a lot more of.
And Glenn will always be
known for a speech he gave
during the Ohio Democrat
Senate primaries in 1974. He
was running against Howard
Metzenbaum, a self-made
millionaire and up-from-
the-bootstraps business-
man. It was a close race, and
Metzenbaum attempted to
capitalize on anti-Vietnam
War sentiment by deriding
Glenn as “The Colonel,” and
by suggesting to the elector-
ate that Glenn was unquali-
fied because he had never
made a payroll.
A few weeks later, at the
Cleveland City Club, Glenn
had his opportunity to rebut
Metzenbaum’s low political
blows, and turned it into one
of the finer examples of a
natural leader speaking truth
to power. Glenn had been
afforded time to write and
rehearse his response, and
delivered it with exquisite
Mid-western ferocity.
“The Colonel” stood at the
lectern in front of a packed
house, with Metzenbaum
sitting at his right elbow.
He said: “Howard, I can’t
believe you said I have never
held a job.
“I served 23 years in the
United States Marine Corps.
I served through two wars. I
flew 149 missions. My plane
was hit by anti-aircraft fire
on twelve different occa-
sions. I was in the space pro-
gram. It wasn’t my check-
book; it was my life on the
line. It was not a nine-to-five
Bend man
charged with
indecent
exposure
BEND (AP) — A 32-year-
old Bend man is under arrest
on indecent exposure charges.
KTVZ-TV reports that
police say David Walker
Littlehale was booked into
the Deschutes County Jail
on five counts of first-degree
indecent exposure.
Bail was set at $50,000.
Police say Littlehale
exposed himself to women
and girls on at least five
occasions around Bend in
the past seven months. The
most recent incident was
on Wednesday at a video
store.
Police used security foot-
age from several stores to
identify Littlehale as the
suspect.
The sites included the
Regroup Thrift Store,
Blockbuster Video and a
Dollar Tree store.
Family-sized
take-out
for the
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Pick up catering for large
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Hot and cold meals to go
Beer & wine to go
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on e t er 541-549-SPOT (7768)
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job where I took time off to
take the daily cash receipts to
the bank.
“I ask you to go with me,
as I went the other day, to a
veterans hospital and look
those men, with their man-
gled bodies, in the eye and
tell them they didn’t hold a
job. You go with me to any
gold-star mother and you
look her in the eye and tell
her that her son did not hold
a job.
“You go with me to the
space program, and go as I
have gone to the widows and
orphans of Ed White and Gus
Grissom and Roger Chaffee,
and you look those kids in
the eye and tell them that
their dad didn’t hold a job.
“You go with me on
Memorial Day coming up
and you stand in Arlington
National Cemetery, where I
have more friends than I’d
like to remember, and you
watch those waving flags.
You stand there, and you
think about this nation, and
you tell me that those people
didn’t have a job.
“I’ll tell you, Howard
21
Metzenbaum, you should be
on your knees every day of
your life thanking God that
there were some men —
some men — who held a job.
And they required a dedica-
tion to purpose and a love of
country and a dedication to
duty that was more impor-
tant than life itself. And their
self-sacrifice is what made
this country possible.
“I have held a job,
Howard!”
Glenn received a 22-sec-
ond standing ovation, went
on to win the primary by
90,000 votes, and was even-
tually elected to the Senate
carrying all 88 Ohio coun-
ties. He served four consecu-
tive terms.
John Glenn’s life was so
remarkably well-lived that
it seems almost disrespect-
ful to give it such short-shrift
in this column. But we are
living through interesting
times, the air is full of slings
and arrows, and sometimes
it is nice to just sit back and
admire the life and career of
a truly remarkable and self-
less man.