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Investigating Olivia's History is almost as much fun as riding her!!!!


cowpuc

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The response to the ad I stuck on Craigslist about Olivia has been really interesting.. Lots and lots of inquiry's, some just responding to say - "COOL BIKE", couple comments of "YOU ARE ASKING WAYYYY TO MUCH MONEY" and some along the line of - "cant believe you would sell it so cheaply - gotta be something wrong here".. Typical stuff I guess..

The most intriguing though have been two in particular.. Both of those have been folks who just sent their phone numbers and asked me to call,, which I did.. Interestingly enough, these gentleman, one in California and one in Michigan, seemed a little squeemish about the integrity of Olivia's history... As a result of that, I have been on an internet crusade to discover the real Olivia, trying to accumulate info supporting whether or not her previous owner had the military history as I was told...

Being the sort of person who normally looks for the "silver lining" within dark clouds, I wasnt surprised to find myself actually enjoying the process I am going thru in this research.. That silver lining turned to gold and I about spit my coffee all over my puter screen as I read thru the online Obituary that I discovered while researching the deceased owners history...

I was humbled and honored as I read thru the accomplishments this gentleman presents.. I gotta admit though,, even though it was only a mere gut feeling that told me that somehow Olivia was gonna show up within George's obit,, I was NOT surprised to find this to be the case!! To know from experience and being around her that to know her is to love her and the soul of that love can run very deeply!! Deeply enough that she could even find her way into the sacred obituary of a WW2 Vet who obviously loved the time he spent with her!!

RIP George!!

George Flemming Obituary - FRASER, Michigan

 

 

Its fun swimming in the pool of life where giants have swam,, hope ya enjoy it as much as I do folks!!

Puc

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Hey Puc

 

Don't know if you have seen this site but it is a history of the Bomber Group. There is all kinds of info. on the group, missions, crews, aircraft, bases and losses.

 

http://www.b26.com/historian/chester_klier.htm

So it is the "DIARY OF THE 386TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP"

They have a guest book on the site where past air-crew can post messages. If you check the Guest Book Year 2000 you will find that George A. Flemming made a post. ......as follows. (More confirmation of his service.)

Date:

7/26/00

Time:

3:01:43 PM

George A. Flemming, Flight Engineer 386th, 555th Group. Looking for anyone with pictures or surviving personnel from this group.

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AWESOME TOOCH - THANK YOU!!

Now dig this you guys,,,, George's son, George Jr., is the one who actually sold me the bike.. He and his wife were Executors of the Estate, Olivia was the last item of George's to sell as it took almost a year for them to be able to part company with her..

Anyway,,, Tippy and I spent the better part of a day at George Jr.'s house getting the full scoop and listening to stories the day we went to Detroit and picked her up.. Not all of the stories were about George Sr.. George told me about some of his time in the Special Forces in Vietnam.. He told me about the day he was waiting to rapal out of a chopper, saw the rounds hitting the rear end of it, looked at the pilot and noticed he was screaming and motioning for George to let go.. George did let go and woke up days later in a Hospital.. Found out that the chopper he was in had gone down - all KIA.. A Gunship had thankfully flown in and stayed over George - protecting him until he could be Medivacked out - his buddies saved his life...

George Sr. had painted Olivia HD Blue back in the 50's cause he always wanted a Blue Civilian one.. According to George Jr., his dad immediately repainted Olivia in her Military dress when he heard about his son's survival.. This is when he (Sr.) placed his numbers (386th BG and all that stuff - I know very little of what all the numbers mean BUT I am learning) Olivia, as seen to this day.. This was back in 68ish.. All this is info that George Jr. passed on to me when Tip and I spent the day with them..

In doing more research here I just found out something really really interesting.. I googled George Jr's name, along with Vietnam.. Unreal... I found myself reading a portion of a book titled:

Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri

 

By Robert C. Ankony

 

It is an AMAZING story of one man's account of his time serving as a Lurp in Vietnam.. Here is where the search took me to initially:

https://books.google.com/books?id=vSRD7-r_VuEC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=George+Flemming+vietnam&source=bl&ots=G5H3VWyiTe&sig=FQE4J9WOg6Y7FkfNbnX-u_5rYNg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aOOuVJOmFI-cygS9iID4DA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=George%20Flemming%20vietnam&f=false

 

If your reading this and interested at all, click on the above link and LOOK what I found!! George Flemming received his Special Forces "Flop Hat" (which I am taking to believe means "Green Beret" maybe - again,, I am NO Veteran and have NO place interpreting ANY of this for ANYONE).. I ended up going back and reading everyword of the online stuff in this book (I HAVE to get a copy of this book!! IT IS UNBELIEVABLE!!!).. I also went to the authors website: Robert Ankony in hope of finding a way to contact him and find out if he knows whether or not we are talking about the same George Flemming.. Ironically,, the info at Mr. Ankony's website says he (the author) ended up being a Police Officer in Detroit - right in Georges back yard!!!! It will be almost divine if we are talking of the same person,, even more so if he and George still remain in contact... CRAZY WORLD!!

Doing some reading on the authors website also revealed that he legally sent home automatic weapons from Nam.. Later when he was a Detroit Police, the laws regarding guns had changed drastically and those weapons were confiscated by the Feds,, the guys that confiscated them were later in life found guilty for being scumbags involved in the drug business!!!

What an amazing history study Olivia is taking me on!!!!!

 

God Bless you men and women who have served in the Arm Forces fighting for freedoms sake,, wherever you are, past - present or future,, God Bless each of you and THANK YOU!!!!!!!

 

Puc

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Edited by cowpuc
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Just on a thought Puc, contact Dale at the museum in Maggie Valley. He is quite the early HD guy. If he or Matt is not interested they may put you in touch with a appreciative buyer.

 

Inside joke = What da heck,, are you and Dave/Barbie (another great member here who also suggested this) related? Dave,, if your reading this you gotta be :big-grin-emoticon:,, I get feeling better I will do just that DJ!!

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The response to the ad I stuck on Craigslist about Olivia has been really interesting.. Lots and lots of inquiry's, some just responding to say - "COOL BIKE", couple comments of "YOU ARE ASKING WAYYYY TO MUCH MONEY" and some along the line of - "cant believe you would sell it so cheaply - gotta be something wrong here".. Typical stuff I guess..

The most intriguing though have been two in particular.. Both of those have been folks who just sent their phone numbers and asked me to call,, which I did.. Interestingly enough, these gentleman, one in California and one in Michigan, seemed a little squeemish about the integrity of Olivia's history... As a result of that, I have been on an internet crusade to discover the real Olivia, trying to accumulate info supporting whether or not her previous owner had the military history as I was told...

Being the sort of person who normally looks for the "silver lining" within dark clouds, I wasnt surprised to find myself actually enjoying the process I am going thru in this research.. That silver lining turned to gold and I about spit my coffee all over my puter screen as I read thru the online Obituary that I discovered while researching the deceased owners history...

I was humbled and honored as I read thru the accomplishments this gentleman presents.. I gotta admit though,, even though it was only a mere gut feeling that told me that somehow Olivia was gonna show up within George's obit,, I was NOT surprised to find this to be the case!! To know from experience and being around her that to know her is to love her and the soul of that love can run very deeply!! Deeply enough that she could even find her way into the sacred obituary of a WW2 Vet who obviously loved the time he spent with her!!

RIP George!!

George Flemming Obituary - FRASER, Michigan

 

 

Its fun swimming in the pool of life where giants have swam,, hope ya enjoy it as much as I do folks!!

Puc

Thanks for sharing that Puc. You should print that off and anything from the son that you remember and make it part of her permanent record. No lady should be without her history.

Edited by Pegasus1300
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I just watched an episode of Pawn Stars and they restored an old Indian Military war bike and said it was worth $30 -$35,000. It had the same type of rifle holder and machine gun, but it had a grenade holder too. I hope you get what you need for the old girl. Good luck !

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Well guys,, I just got off the phone with who sounds like a very promising buyer for Olivia :95:.. The person is located in Ohio and, get this,, he does Military re-inactments:thumbsup:!!! He has a Jeep, an Ambulance and all kinds of other stuff.. The gentleman is around my age and sounded very very sincere and passionate about being involved in the support of all Veterans!! If this person does end up providing Olivia with a new home, it sounds like she will be going to a place where she and her history will be honored and loved:301:!! AND,,she will continue to be used - not stuffed in a museum somewhere - wayyy cool:big-grin-emoticon:!! I am gonna give the buyer a link to our site, maybe he will take advantage of a trial membership here, jump on and say howdy and reassure all of us Olivia lovers that she is going to a good home (sounded like our kinda folk gang!!)!!

If nothing else, it was a blessing and refreshing just talking to him!!

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There is a collector of military vehicles a few doors down from me , how cool if it was!

Did he mention the town?

 

I think he said he was down near "Vermillion"... Ever heard of that one Motiv?

 

Tell him about MD.:backinmyday: Ya never know. We might see her there....:7_6_3[1]:

 

GOOD THOUGHT BRO!!! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!! If it flys and he is located near Dons I will try to weasel at least one show up down there as part of the sales agreement, as many Veterans as there are that are part of our family he may very well agree to it!! :usa::canada::happy65:

 

Here are a couple shots he sent me of what he is involved in!! AWESOME STUFF RIGHT HERE!! WOULDN'T OLIVIA HAVE A BLAST!!

 

?ui=2&ik=2c3c1e4590&view=fimg&th=14af467496eb52dd&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ_tODuqAdoP-YSnddjrT2c2RAOEt5_YWbCpMPsea2f5FmWYZ19h_LeAZzwKwwwJwmvTkVSYdWRL-VM3Gejb8fbSCZRBkHUQL3lvjD2JWiyFDQsUdyTuqlQash0&ats=1421439671993&rm=14af467496eb52dd&zw&sz=w1332-h506

 

?ui=2&ik=2c3c1e4590&view=fimg&th=14af467496eb52dd&attid=0.3&disp=inline&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ-zpt-eAAUmzrL3rtvD8vfkbB2j1aoYruf5jMVzu2B4pzRsgvJImUu5Dgcv5yXVz47FYXCcOkzRocF-mki_4Fl1uDudrEI0gArs_AlqS382fdZpgbadXDSJ2oo&ats=1421439671993&rm=14af467496eb52dd&zw&sz=w1332-h506

 

?ui=2&ik=2c3c1e4590&view=fimg&th=14af467496eb52dd&attid=0.2&disp=inline&safe=1&attbid=ANGjdJ-EbfU6bnNUtRxFZOzeWWS7VsLuKKXIZNURyKT5_ivs9TNScKwlc-MY1uyAL9W4dOq3fP5XjErLvCiAeOMy9cPd4BMMk5uxr3G4j2vLGBGpZV7_aH69LGGApRs&ats=1421439671993&rm=14af467496eb52dd&zw&sz=w1332-h506

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Great story Puc,parts of it made me tear up,and that don`t happen,me bein`an old Jarhead and all,I hope that Old bike goes to a good home.

:cold::cold::cold: by the way,I hate Winter--LOL.

 

Awe,, thank you for the compliment on Olivia's story Rick and for your touching response!! Glad you are enjoying following her story and THANK YOU for your service in protecting our way of life Rick!!

TOTALLY WITH YA ON THE WINTER THING - IT WONT BE LONG AND WE WILL BE RIDING AGAIN BRO!!

Puc

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I think he said he was down near "Vermillion"... Ever heard of that one Motiv?

 

 

 

GOOD THOUGHT BRO!!! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!! If it flys and he is located near Dons I will try to weasel at least one show up down there as part of the sales agreement, as many Veterans as there are that are part of our family he may very well agree to it!! :usa::canada::happy65:

 

Here are a couple shots he sent me of what he is involved in!! AWESOME STUFF RIGHT HERE!! WOULDN'T OLIVIA HAVE A BLAST!!

Vermillion is 45 minutes from me and only 25 minutes from Don's place.

Maybe it's me but the pictures of his collection did not survive the digital trip to my puter.:confused24:

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Vermillion is 45 minutes from me and only 25 minutes from Don's place.

Maybe it's me but the pictures of his collection did not survive the digital trip to my puter.:confused24:

 

Thats weird,, they are still showing on mine...... Wonder if I am the only one who can see em..

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Well,, its happening gang!! It appears Olivia is going to her new home in Ohio!! We received a down pay on her today in the mail from the person I was telling you all about!! A very nice letter came with the check, along with some AWESOME pics of her new family :95:.. I never could fiqure out how to transfer the pics her new caretaker sent me via email and make them work here so you guys could see them so I took pics of the stuff he sent me in the mail and THESE should be viewable..

Tippy got all excited when she saw the pics and now has a promise from me that I will take her to one of the re-inactments that Olivia will star in.. I look forward to it BUT I sure am gonna miss her presence around here.. Oh well,, a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do..

If everything goes as planned, she will be residing in the Vermilion (s) Ohio area somewhere.. I am not real familiar with that area but, if its any where near Don's house in Oberlin, it might be fun to all go over in visit her during his maintenance day thingy if some of you wanted to? If you guys do, I will ask him if that would be possible.. Tip and I want to try and make it to his gathering but, with all this crazy health stuff going on - lord only knows how its all gonna play out.. If its not to far from Don's and anyone is interested in visiting Olivia and her family I will inquire about it requardless if we are able to make it down there or not..

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