Everyday Patriot

Frank McCourt was born on 19 August 1930 in Brooklyn, New York.  His parents, unable to find work during the depression, returned to Ireland, and he was raised in Limerick. Frank McCourt left school at the age of 13, supporting himself by working as a telegram delivery boy.   At age 19, with earnings he saved and money he had stolen from a former employer, he immigrated back to New York, working at the Biltmore Hotel. He enlisted in the US Army in 1951 during the Korean War. He was sent to Germany, training dogs and then working as a clerk.  With his GI bill and a lot of smooth-talking, Frank McCourt was admitted to New York University, where he graduated in 1957.  He taught at various NY  schools and earned a master's degree from Brooklyn College in 1967. During his retirement from teaching, he began to write his memoirs, titled  Angela's Ashes  and won the Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote Tis and Teacher Man. After his death on July 19, 2009...

Baseball legend Yogi Berra was born Lorenzo Pietro on May 12, 1925, in St. Louis, Missouri. He served during World War II aboard the USS Bayfield as a gunner mate before starting Seaman Yogi Berra's career with the New York Yankees in 1946. A phenomenal ballplayer, Seaman Yogi Berra played 14 world series, 10 world champions, and won MVP three times.  He also hit the first-pitch home run in a World Series. Retiring from a baseball-playing Seaman, Yogi Berra stayed with the sport by managing the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and the Houston Astros.  Seaman Yogi Berra was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. The cartoon character Yogi Bear is named in his honor.  He received the Presidential Medal of Honor in 2015 (posthumously) * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* ****** ********************************* a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia.  In addition to her travel writings a...