Bald Eagle Lands on Grave at US Military Cemetery



Frank Glick, an amateur photographer, captured this amazing image at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota. He thought that the family of the veteran buried at that gravestone might like to have a copy, and did some research on Sgt. Maurice Ruch.

Ruch, a veteran of World War II, was a US Army marksman who served in the Aleutian Islands and earned a Bronze Star. Then he went home, became an engineer and got married. John Tevlin of the Star Tribute spoke with Ruch's widow, Vivian, and best friend, Jack Kiefner:

I told Vivian that some cultures believe the eagle is a symbol, not only of patriotism and dignity, but a messenger between heaven and earth. She nodded solemnly.

"I'd say the eagle had a very good eye when he landed on Maurie, and he was respected," she said.

"I miss him," said Vivian as she picked up the photo. "He was a good man and a good provider."

"The eagle couldn't have picked a better person," said Kiefner.


Link -via American Digest

Comments (33)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

If you compare the shadow of the headstone the eagle is perched on to the headstone in the foreground, they're practically identical...the eagle itself has NO shadow. Photoshopped, but a very patriotic picture for sure!
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I would love to have a framed copy of this photo hanging in my home. Does anyone know where a copy can be obtained?

Perhaps the photo is trying to remind us all of this:

It is foolish & wrong to mourn the men who died.
Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

General George S. Patton Jr.
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I'm not expert in photoshop, but my eye tells me it is. Eagles are very large, but I agree that the pixel halo is definitely off (esp if this guy is using any decent nikon it should be a decent photo clarity, and knowing how to use the basics)and the shadow cast by that particular grave looks a shade lighter than the other shadows and a very crisp outline/ edge on it.
Just go on sites like deviantart to see wonderfully made photoshops, and your magazines.

Perhaps the eagle had flow or swooped by, and it made a great idea for it to have landed. It isn't out of the question that this might have actually happened, and the guy just tried to recreate what he had saw before.
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The Pill may not have fulfilled all its hopes, but it sure made a difference in the size of families. In my experience, it seems that everyone older than me has seven to ten siblings, and everyone younger comes from a family of two or three children (with some exceptions of course). If a person my age is the youngest of the family, he or she often has many older siblings. If a person my age is the oldest, he or she usually only has one or two younger siblings. The Pill gave women the power to decide how many children they birthed.
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"The proper course of courtship was to go steady, become lavaliered, pinned, then engaged."

I didn't know that they gave PhDs in 50s television. Did she do her dissertation on The Donna Reed Show?
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I know for a fact that The Pill is the main reason my mom felt that she could attain a doctorate in economics and not be tied down as soon as she was out of high school. I was born a few years after she got her Masters degree, after she met my dad (her student, actually :P). She was 29 years old by then.
Her PhD was finished by the time I was 7 years old, but if the pill hadn't held off my birth and then my brother's birth, she said that it never would have happened.
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The pill has uses for things other than preventing pregnancy. Like preventing horrible giant cysts, managing heavy bleeding and cramps and lots of other things. Preventing pregnancy is just its original and main use.
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Uh, some of those ''smaller'' families are probably due to something called abortion as well as the pill.

The pill is a good way to control when you get pregnant. Can't say it's been great for girls and women as a lifestyle choice, though.

Pretty much means, now, that girls start having sex at an incredibly young age and have sex with an outrageous number of men by the time they decide to settle down.

Can't see how having more lovers than you can count on one hand (or two) is a good thing.

In any day and age.
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Lulu I think lots of boys pityfully will testify that lots of girls still not have had "outrageous number(s) of men by the time they decide to settle down" like you put it.

I think the pill will have had (a lot of) influence, but also a lot in other areas than strictly the pregnancy control- Lots of females I know use the pill as a way to control, manage and time their period and the moodswings and bellyhurts that accompany that. They still not go all-out in sexual activity, but they use it to just have easier lives as it comes to being able to participate in activities that otherwise would be hindered by their monthly inconveniences. So in that respect I do see that the pill can be great as a lifestyle choice.
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lulu: Kids aren't having sex younger:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/27/health/27well.html

Also, what's wrong with having lots of sexual partners? You're not instantly given a sexually transmitted infection or an unwanted pregnancy after you've had a certain number of partners. As long as people practice safe sex, it doesn't matter how many partners someone has had.
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