Brooklyn Bridge

On September 28, 1924, German immigrants Henry and Ella Borgman arrived in New York Harbor along with hundreds of others who dreamed of a better life in America. A year later, on their route home across the Brooklyn Bridge in the middle of a New York City traffic jam, Ella goes into labor and gives birth to a son. They named him Brooklyn “Brooks” Borgman after the bridge, which, to them, embodied the American “can-do” attitude they had come to love.

Life wasn’t easy for the Borgmans, but they trusted “the good Lord,” worked hard and “got by with a little help from their friends” in the small town of Anomie, Kansas, where they are forced to move after the depression. Henry becomes an airplane mechanic, and Brooks starts spending lots of time with Dad at the hangar, where he develops an aptitude for flying planes. Shortly before his 19th birthday, Brooks is drafted into the army during World War II. It soon becomes apparent that both the providence that ordered his parents’ lives and his own has been preparing him for his time in the service. Brooks quickly distinguishes himself as the best of his class and is pressed into dangerous duty. Against overwhelming odds, Brooks selflessly volunteers to put himself in harm’s way to aid a crucial mission, earning him the love of his fellow soldiers and the respect of his superiors. It will also win him the hearts and admiration of his countrymen, but will he live to see it?

Author:

Meet Gary Guest.  His family and friends consider him a storyteller.  And now this storyteller is anxious to share his tales with the rest of the world.  In this, his first offering, "Fertilizer For The Funnybone," Guest hopes to induce laughter from all its readers.  Some of the short stories and antidotes will make you think and reflect on a simpler time not that many years ago.  Almost all of the content you find here centers around Guest's agricultural life.

     Gary and his wife Denise have called southern Illinois home all their lives in and around Washington County.  There they have raised four children and ten grandkids (so far). Their small grain and cattle farm sustains their family and faith first lifestyle and creates more than enough incidents for the author to make fun of himself.  Gary loves making new friends and is fond of saying, "I have friends all over the world...Most of them I just haven't met yet."