The Voice of Innocence
Donnie Dunagan joined the Marines when he was 18, did three tours of duty
in Vietnam, won a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, and finally retired
as a major. Yet in his 20-plus-year military career, he never told anyone about
his connection to one of Hollywood’s quintessential tearjerkers. When he
was six, Dunagan was the voice of Disney’s young Bambi.
theguardian.comsince. The 40 pounds
of dye can linger in the
water for up to a few
days, depending on the
wind.10
More than
10,000 Catho-
lics took to
the streets of Belfast in
1998 to hold the first
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
in the long-divided
Northern Ireland city.
In hope of encouraging
Protestant involvement,
the parade organizer
told the fife-and-drum
bands not to play any
anti-British music.11
Corned beef
and cabbage is
the quintessential
St. Patrick’s meal,
right? Actually, in pre-
famine Ireland, beef
was a rare delicacy—the commoners typi-
cally ate pork. But
when Irish immigrants
came to the United
States, they reportedly
noticed their Jewish
neighbors and fellow
immigrants buying
brisket from kosher
butchers and followed
suit. The Jews even
slow-cooked their
Passover meal with
potatoes. (The Irish
threw in the cabbage.)12
Franklin and
Eleanor Roose-
velt were
married on St. Patrick’s
Day in 1905, in New
York City. They picked
that day because
Eleanor’s uncle was
giving away the bride
and he couldn’t miss
the big parade. Uncle
Teddy was PresidentTheodore Roosevelt.
“He wants to be the
bride at every wedding,
the corpse at every
funeral, and the baby
at every christening,”
his daughter Alice
Roosevelt said.13
The festivities
reach the
highest eche-
lons. Ireland’s prime
minister gives the U.S.
president an Irish cut-
glass bowl filled with
shamrocks, the three-
leafed sprig that is one
of the state’s emblems.
The tradition dates
back to 1952, when the
first Irish ambassador
to America, John
Joseph Hearne, report-
edly dropped off a
box of shamrocks for
Harry Truman (who
was out of town).Reader’s Digest 13 Things
40 march 2019