Our Noble Experiment - Democracy

John Adams wrote, in 1814, "Democracy never lasts long, it soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a Democracy yet, that didn't commit suicide." The next 2 months will tell us if he was right, or wrong.

Now the Democrats will start the Court challenges. As would the Reublicans had the outcome been reversed. Remember, they said they would accept the outcome. Of course, now they won't. Here is something to think about before our country descends into Civil Unrest.

The total death toll of the American Civil War is generally accepted to be around 620,000 soldiers and approximately another 130,000 civilians, for a total of 850,000 in the 48 months from April 1861 through April of 1865. Then it took a century more to recover from that conflict, and arguably that recovery is still going on today.

Comparatively the total deaths incurred during the 45 months of the Second World War, from December 7th, 1941 to the first week of September of 1945 was far less,  approximately 113,842 in both Europe and the Pacific combined. And when the war was over we recovered almost immediately,  into a post war boom both socially and economically.

The lesson to be learned is quite simple; we lose more when we fight amongst ourselves than we do when we are fighting others. Think about that.

Bert Shepard

True baseball fans will know this story. I hope my post will do justice to all who face adversity with the inner strength this fellow did. I first ran across him in a book several years aago.

While flying a P-38 over Germany during the war, Bert was shot down. As a result he was taken prisoner, lost his leg and was later traded in a POW exchange with Germany in early 1945. I know, you’re saying “So what? A lot of guys were wounded, maimed and came home when the war was over.” And you’re right about that. But there’s something special about Bert’s story.

On August 4, 1945; only 7 months after being exchanged as a POW; Bert was home and working. He had mastered the art of walking on an artificial leg while a POW in Germany. So, when he came home he was quick to return to work. Actually, it was kind of an extension of his old job.

The night of August 4, 1945 saw the Washington Senators baseball team being soundly whipped by the Red Sox. In the 4th inning the score was already 14-2. Bert was watching the game anxiously; he really loved the Senators and wanted the team to win. But things weren’t looking too good on that score. (Forgive the pun.)

While Bert probably wasn’t that surprised at the manager’s decision to put in a relief pitcher, he was surprised at the choice of the man who would be pitching. It would be Bert.

You see Bert was a pitcher before the war; and afterwards; in only 7 months’ time, he had become the Pitching Coach for the Washington Senator’s. And on the night of August 4, 1945, he made history; when he took the pitcher’s mound and became the first man with an artificial leg to pitch in a Major League Baseball game. You may know him as Bert Shepard.

"Man the Boats" by Robert Williams

 It was "Man the boats" and "Lower away!"

nerves of steel ignoring the sway,

and the roar of the boats as they cut through the spray,

wondering if they'd survive ...

80 pounds upon their backs,

with the air shattered by bullets crack,

all that distance to wade ashore,

hoping to go home alive.

And back at home the people sleep,

they wake up, shower and eat,

later on, they'd stop and weep

but never stumble or fall...

While on those beaches, far from home,

the price was paid by those who know,

the cost of freedom - though never low -

means that some of them gave all .

Two Tough Guys - Bogart and Gabin

One of my favorite Humphrey Bogart stories is of the time in 1942, when Bogart matched the antics of an unnamed French Resistance fighter, who may or may not have been the French actor Jean Gabin, often referred to as "the French Bogart." His most famous film was 1937's "Pepe le Moko", in which he plays a French jewel thief hiding in the labyrinth of the Casbah in Algiers. The film was remade in the United States as "Algiers" in 1938 starring Charles Boyer. It was also Hedy Lamarr's first film.

Gabin joined General de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Medaille Militaire and a Croix de Guerre for fighting with the Allies in North Africa. He was also part of the French force which fought to liberate Paris. In between he was in Hollywood making "Moontide" with Ida Lupino, Claude Raines and Thomas Mitchell in 1942, the time during which this story takes place.

The event took place at a Hollywood dinner party with Bogart, when the Frenchman approached Bogart and challenged him to "Do smething tough."

Bogart responded with, "You've got the wrong guy." The Frenchman retorted with, "I can eat glass." He then proceeded to eat his wine glass. Bogart applauded. The Frenchman then added, "I can also eat razor blades." Reaching into his pocket he produced two of them and put them in his mouth. After that he told Bogart, "If you cannot do that, let us match drinks."

Bogart, now on more familiar ground, proceeded to mix a concoction of brandy, Creme de Menthe, Scotch, Gin, Bourbon, Vermouth and Champagne. The two matched one another drink for drink.

At the conclusion of this contest the Frenchman said, "Well, I still do not think you are so tough. You cannot eat the glass." Bogart's response was a slurred, "Oh, I can so." He then proceeded to eat his own wine glass, beginning at the top and working his way down to the stem. Blood gushed from his mouth.

"Well", said the Frenchman, "I guess you are all right at that! We are both very tough men. Come, let us go and insult the women together. That takes real courage!"

I have run across this story several times, most notably in Joe Hyam's "Bogie: The Biography of Humphrey Bogart." That book was authorized by Lauren Bacall. Another book which relates the tale is "Tough Without a Gun" by Stefan Kanfer. Both are well written and contain good Source Notes.

The Cokes at Vanatuan

At the end of World War Two the United States left the Vanatuan islands off Australia, after occupying most of them as a base during World War II. In doing so we were forced to leave behind  roads, buildings and runways.

The base at Espiritu De Santos was established as a  supply base, naval harbor and airfield after the attack on Pearl Harbor. For the remainder of the war it was used as a launch site to attack the Japanese fleet. Parts of Vanuatu were still under British and French colonization.

But, in leaving,  we were also were going to leave behind millions of dollars of goods in the form of tanks, jeeps, heavy equipment etc. We offered to sell it to the French and English at the rate of 6 cents on the dollar. They refused, believing that the Americans would simply abandon the items and then they could be gotten for free. But, that's not how it worked out.

Instead, the United States spent 2 days and nights dumping everything they could into the sea. And when they were done with that, they drove the tanks, jeeps and  heavy equipment off the piers at "Million Dollar Point". Today it is a popular destination for scuba divers to marvel at this veritable underwater museum of World WarTwo hardware. Mixed in with all of this are tons of cases of Coca Cola bottles. Even these were dumped into the ocean off "Million Dollar Point." But remember, they had orders to do so.

Meantime, halfway around the world, at Adaban in the Arabian desert, American War Correspondent Howard Fast wrote the far different story about the fate of the Coca Cola bottles filling the C-46 he was flying aboard when leaving the Middle East.

In his 5 page short story, aptly titled "Coca Cola," Howard Fast tells us about the plane not being able to gain enough altitude, instead barely skimming the tops of sand dunes as they flew towards their destination.  Time and again he asked, and then demanded that the pilot dump these tens of thousands of empty Coke bottles in order to gain altitude.

The pilot informed him that since they were private property he had no authority to do so. Now, had they been jeeps or tanks; no problem. But since he had no authorization to do so, they would continue the journey at the dangerously low altitude, simply hoping for the best. And, miraculously, they made it.

The whole episide reminds me of the scene in "Dr. Stranglove" when Peter Sellers needs 20 cents to avert a nuclear war by phoning the White House. His only hope is to have Keenan Wynn shoot the lock off the Coca Cola machine. The folliwing clip is a pretty realistic potrayal of the military mind set involved in such an endeavor.

https://youtu.be/RZ9B7owHxMQ

"X Troop" by Leah Garrett (2021)

This is a book which should be read by all who wish to study the Second World War more completely. It is at once a story of sadness and the subjugation of the Jewish people, and then becomes the story of a group of young Jewish men from Germany and Eastern Europe who are fortunate enough to escape the Nazis, albeit with no clear future before them.

From there it becomes the story of a group of men who have lost everything. Their homes, their futures, their families and even their names. They are strangers in a strange land; Britain. There they find themselves refugees, moved around from one refugee camp to another. Some are even shipped to Austrailia along with German POW's, who, as combatants have more rights via the Geneva Convention than the victims they sought to annihilate.

The POW's have the required living space and food specified by law. The refugees are packed, like cattle, into the hold of the ship, fed only scraps of food and only allowed on deck 15 minutes per day. They are harassed by the POW's as well as the Britush crew members. Their meager belongings are confiscated and, when not stolen, are thrown over the side, into the sea, lost seemingly forever, just as with their identities.

Once in Australia they are kept in Concentration camps, little better off than the labor camps they sought to escape in Europe. After a time there they are returned to England and things become a bit better. Some are placed in the country side and grow food which the British need to feed their troops. But some, not many, have a different fate before them. These are the men who become Commando fighters, serving as "X Troop".

The book is replete with characters, who, if not real, would be unbelievable in a novel. Take for instance "Fighting Jack Churchill" aka "Mad Jack", no relation to Sir Winston, who fought in the war with a longbow, a hilted Scottish broadsword, and a bagpipe. He would help train, and lead, these mostly intellectual half starved refugees into a fighting force no writer could invent.

It took more than two years, much of the time spent in Wales and Scotland, climbing sheer rockfaced mountains, running 53 miles with full packs before swimming back to base in freezing waters to mold them. And they met every obstacle fueled by hatred and revenge for the Nazis, not knowing if their families back home were still alive.

Forced to virtually abandon their own religion, they had to learn to speak English with no trace of an accent. Then, to perfect this, they were quartered in private homes with families who hardly recognized them as refugees.

Interwoven in all this is also the story of the Rothschilds, particularly Miriam, who was self educated by virtue of her grandfather and father. She spent 16 hour days at Bletchley Park, cracking the German's Enigma Code. And along the way she fell in love with Captain George Lane, one of the refugees and a member of X Troop.

They married in secret, and she was carrying his child when he was captured in France. It was there he faced the greatest danger. He was interrogated by Feld Marshal Rommel, in the country mansion which was his secret headquarters. They even shared a cup of tea as Rommel tried to figure out when and where the invasion of France would take place.

From there, rather than being executed, as he expected, Captain Lane was sent to a prison camp in an abandoned castle. There was no food, but there was an extensive library, from which he was able to identify Rommel's headquarters. And with the aid of a secret radio transmitter constructed by the prisoners he was able to get that information back to Britain, resulting in a bombing raid which would have  killed Rommel had he not committed suicide after being implicated in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler in October 1944.

In this same transmission he was also able to alert Miriam that he was still alive.
Reunited after his escape, the two remained married until 1957 when they seperated. They had two sons and four daughters. Rothschild was a leading world authority on fleas, butterflies, and pyrazines and chemical communication, all self educated. But that story is another book altogether.

Even today, in Wales, there is a monument, erected to these extraordinary men, whom the town fully embraced as their own. When not on duty they were feted at town dances, and some romances and unlikely marriages resulted from this.

These men were trained in counterintelligence and advanced combat, the result being a highly trained suicide squad. They would literally stop at nothing to defeat the Nazis.

The author avails herself of declassified records, and interviews with the last surviving members, to follow this extraordinary group to the beaches of Normandy,  battlefields of Italy and Holland, and finally to Terezin concentration camp, where some came face to face with the skeletal, living remains of their own parents.

And after all the battles, the deprivations, the re-inventions of themselves, they faced an even bigger battle after the war was over. These men, without whom D-Day could have gone on as scheduled, are forced to fight Parliment to become citizens of the country they so honorably served. Of all the challenges they faced, and all the odds against them, this was perhaps the most despicable of all.

"China" (1943) with William Bendix, Alan Ladd and Loretta Young

William Bendix is a favorite old black and white actor of mine. Known largely for playing  tough guy roles, as well as in other fims, he is legendary. Two of my favorites are "A Dark Corner", opposite Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb. Or in this film, "China", with Alan Ladd, where the two adopt a young Chinese girl orphaned by the Japanese.

In this film Alan Ladd is often credited as being the template later used for the character of Indiana Jones, complete with leather jacket and hat. In addition to his costume,  Alan Ladd plays a character named David Jones, further cementing the connection.

With William Bendix at his side, the two confront obstacle after obstacle as mercenaries in war torn China on the eve of Pearl Harbor. Also of note are that Sen Yung, Richard Loo and Soo Yong are just some of the actual Asian actors who played roles in this film. And not as stereotypical typecast characters, but as dedicated heroic guerillas fighting the Japanese.

You will also remember Bendix as the tough guy from Brooklyn in just about every World War Two classic war film. Always out front, and always the most likely to be killed while defending a buddy.

A pal of James Cagney he played the bartender in Cagney's early self produced adaptation of the play "Time of Our Lives", which also starred James Barton, Ward Bond and Broderick Crawford.  In that  film all of the actors played off type roles.

Produced by Cagney's brother Bill and starring his kid sister Jean, it lost the $250,000  which was spent to make it. Cagney, an avid theater lover and good "hoofer", put his money into this one simply because he thought the play, by William Saroyan,  hadn't been given a fair shake by the critics.

Bendix was also known for his early TV sitcom "Life of Riley", on which he reprised the character he played for several years before it's successful transition to TV. The series was so well loved by all age groups that the character of Riley was even turned into comic bar star in 1958.

He even played "Babe" in the film, "The Babe Ruth" Story". And, he also played baseball for real, in a way. He'd been a bat Boy as a teenager for the Yankees as a teenager in the 1920's He wasxfired for not getting Ruth all the hotdogs he was wanted before that days game began and worked as a grocer in the1930's.

One of his other well known roles was in "The Glass Key", which featured Brian Donlevy, Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake in the leads. He drew real notice in Alfred Hitchcock's "Lifeboat", in which he played "Gus",  a wounded and dying American sailor.

But my all time favorite Bendix role is in the film, "Macao" as an undercover NYC police detective opposite Robert Mitchum, who plays a broke and wandering ex Naval Officer  who cannot go back to America due to having killed someone. With Jane Russell as the female lead, doing her own singing live, on the soundstage, that film rocks.

He is also in his element in the film, "Crashout",  as the head of a prison break by 6 men. No long intro leading up to it, the film starts immediately with no flashbacks, and moves all the way to it's inevitale conclusion.

Crisply preserved, many of his films are available at my favorite price of free, on You Tube. I love bringing these film out by voice command on my tablet, and then "casting" them to my  TV,  in my case, a 49" Roku. Modest but great for they type of films i enjoy most. Black and white.

Spain, Hitler and Nuetrality

Hitler and Mussolini had helped Spain fight the Communists in the 1930's Spanish Civil War. But, as the Axis Powers could not convince Spain to join them, by 1940, the Spanish relied on US oil and grain to meet her needs. Also the British controlled Gibraltar and access to the Mediterranean. In effect, Spain, a Facist nation, was surrounded physically, and economically, by the Allied Powers.

While the Germans and Italians had supported Fascist Spain in the 1930's Civil War,  the US officially remained nuetral while allowing Americans to form the Lincoln Brigade to fight on the Communist side against Franco and the Axis Powers. This later came back to haunt the American volunteers in the McCarthy era, when they were considered to be Communist sympathizers.

Twice, between 1940 and 1944 Franco met with Hitler. In 1940 he formed the Blue Brigade to help Hitler, but that Brigade was only to be used to fight Russia on the Eastern Front, not against any other Allied nation. The Spanish could hardy refuse, because they owed the Germans $212 million from the Spanish Civil War, and simply didn't have the funds to pay it back.

The US then scaled back their support, guaranteeing only a 10 week supply as long as Franco was helping Hitler on the Eastern Front. When America and Britain won North Africa in 1942 Franco switched back to complete neutrality, and our full economic support returned.

In return, Franco agreed to keep a fortified border in the Pyrenees and Iberian Mountains to deter the Nazis from entering Spain, which was now bounded on all 4 sides, by the Atlantic to the West, the mountains to the East and Britain and the U.S. to the North and South at Gibraltar, the gateway to the Atantic as well as the entrance to the Mediterranean.

In 1944 when Franco was approached again by Hitler, the US  again imposed an embargo and cut aid. By that time the Axis powers could not provide Spain with the needed goods and so those talks went nowhere, forcing the Spanish to stay neutral.

Spain was not the only neutral country in the Second World War. The Chinese supplied Germany with tungsten for steel, and in turn, Germany provided China with money and arms to fight the Japanese, at the same time as the the US was conducting the  Flying Tiger ops against Japan. Essentially China profited from both sides. It was the only time that the US and Germany were on the same side during the War.

The Portuguese provided Hitler with the tungsten steel needed. They also provided tungsten to the Germans from their colony of Brazil in South America. The rest of South America followed Mexico against the Nazis after Germany sank 2 Mexican oil tankers. Brazil and Argentina were the only exceptions. After the war Argentina was the country to which the Nazis fled to avoid prosecution for War Crimes.

It was a diplomatic mess, which also kept Ireland from entering the war against Germany, even while sending workers to Britain to work in the war plants for much needed employment. Hatred of Britain due to the Bloody Sunday incidents before and between both WW1 and WW2 also played a major role in this decision by Ireland to take this stand.

The Swedish, who could not rely on Britain to protect them from Russia or Germany,  led to their nuetrality even as they provided Germany a safe haven for her finances. At the same time, they played this exact financial and humanitarian role for the US. and its Allies with the Geneva Convention. In addition, Germany, by now fighting Russia, provided the Swedish with protection from that end.

All of these factors make the 2nd World War a complex study. In literature and film, all of these facts are portayed in books such as Hemingway's "For Whom the Bells Toll", and films such as "Casablanca", and even the post war classic "Gilda." All of which first piqued my interest in the subject of nuetrality.

General Sherman said "War is Hell", but it sure creates some great literature.....

The Laconia Sinking - 1942

 On 12 September 1942, 130 miles from Ascension Island, the British ship Laconia was hit by a torpedo from  German U-boat U-156. The ship was carrying 1,800 Italian POW's. In addition there were also 160 Polish guards who were tasked with the care of those prisoners. There were also 268 British Sailors, soldiers and nurses, the majority of whom were women. There were approximately 2,200 souls aboard her. 

The ship was a Cunard liner pressed into service for the war  She was hit by a second torpedo and sank.

The ship's Commander, Captain Sharp, ordered the women, children and injured into what was left of the lifeboats, most of which had been destroyed by the second torpedo. The Italian POW's were mostly killed, though a handful did survive, along with some of their Polish captors. The Italian survivors were denied entry into the lifeboats and some were even shot and bayoneted by the Polish guards. Only 415 of the 1,800 POW's survived. Most of the British and Polish survived.

The ship then sank and Captain Sharp, along with the remaining Italian prisoners were still aboard. Those who escaped were adrift in shark infested waters along with the few remaining lifeboats, which were all full of the women, children and injured. There was little hope of rescue. It was just 40 years after the loss of the Titanic.

Here is where the story takes an interesting turn. The U--boat Commander, Kapitanleutnant Werner Hartenstein, upon realizing that there were civilians, as well as POW's aboard the lifeboats, and some adrift in the water, ordered his U-boat to surface and commence rescue operations. In addition he sent for other U-boats to come and assist in this operation. 

Again, another tragic twist of fate ensued. The other U-boats who came to assist him all flew Red Cross flags as required, and even signalled that a rescue operation was underway. In spite of this, by the following morning, with rescue operations still ongoing, a USAAF B-24 Liberator sighted the U-boats and the survivors. 

In spite of the Red Cross flags and the non coded message concerning the rescue, even listing the coordinates of the U-boats, in violation of their orders to remain at radio silence to avoid detection, the B-24 attacked both the U-boats and the survivors of the Laconia. 

Hartenstein even radioed the plane to apprise Captain Richardson on the B-24 of the situation. His message was ignored and the attack continued.  Later, when Richardson said he never received the original communication from Ascension, this proved that he was not telling the truth and that there was no excuse for his actions, which forced the U-boats to submerge with their decks crowded with injured and other survivors, including the lifeboats being towed.

The result of this incident led to the Laconia Order by Admiral Donitz, which stated that hereafter his U-boat commanders were not to rescue survivors after attacks. 

Even with Vichy French ships subsequently rescuing 1,083 persons from the lifeboats and taking  aboard those picked up by the four submarines, only about 1,000  survived the sinking. The rest were lost. As a result of Captain Richardson, as many people died from the Laconia's sinking than were lost by the Titanic. In total, 98 crewmembers, 133 passengers, 33 Polish guards and about 1,400 Italian POW's perished. 

Of Titanic's total of 2,240 passengers and crew, only 706 passengers and crew survived. 1,500 were lost.

War is hell, and this incident highlights the savegry of both sides. It also highlights the assertion that in war, there are no real winners.

"Hangmen Also Die"

"Hangmen Also Die!" is a 1943 film directed by the Austrian director Fritz Lang and written by John Wexley. It originated as a story by Bertolt Brecht (credited in the film as Bert Brecht) and director Fritz Lang. This is their only known collaboration.They were both German Refugees of the Holocaust.

The film, based on the real life story of The Hangman, stars Hans Heinrich von Twardowski in the title role of the real life German leader Reinhard Heydrich. He was a high-ranking German SS police official and a principal architect of the Holocaust. For his full, inhumane story just Google his name.

Walter Brennan, usually cast in character roles and more widely known to many as Grandpappy Amos on the TV sit com "The Real McCoys", is cast here as a well respected Professor and member of the Czech underground in Praque.

Not since the film "Swamp Water" had he played such a serious dramatic role. When compared to films such as "To Have and Have Not", the screen adaptation of Hemingway's novel of the same name, written for the screen  by William Faulkner, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, had his true range of acting been so plainly revealed.

During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovokia, a well respected Surgeon named Franticek Svoboda (Brian Donlevy) assassinates the Hangman. Dr. Svoboda escapes with the aid of history professor Stephen Novotny (Walter Brennan). He, along with 400 other Czechoslovakians, are then betrayed by Nazi sympathizer Emil Czaka (Gene Lockhart). The Czech prisoners are told that if Svoboda does not surrender, they will all be executed.

Finely restored from the original silver nitrate film, this story is the story of the never ending struggle of Good and Evil, which still goes on in 2022. This was my first encounter with this gripping film.

https://youtu.be/WiQFkEM1H00

Ian Fleming and Pearl Harbor

In August of 1941 Cdr. Ian Fleming was attached to the BSC - British Security Commission. In that capacity he brought over to the United States another British agent named Popov, a Yugoslavian by birth, but a Brit by citizenship.

Popov had earlier supplied information after the German disaster at Tarino on Sicily. In that attack, the British used carrier based aircraft to annihilate a good portion of the German fleet. The Japanese quickly sent over a team to assess the damage done, and, more importantly, try and get a better understanding of how the attack was mounted.

A month later Popov had information concerning the Japanese. They were requesting information from their local Hawaiin agents as to the strength and positioning of ships berthed at Pearl  Harbor, the progress of the channel dregding, the depth of all channels and anti aircraft capabilities.

This information, coupled with the earlier intelligence, were pretty good indications that Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor. It was only a question of when.

This information became the property of J. Edgar Hoover at the FBI. He was not pleased with the Presidents directive that he share information with the British. He was a notorious Anglophobe, which is to say that he, like the Japanese Colonel Sato in "A Bridge Over the River Kwai", hated the British. So, this info was locked away in August of 1941, having been dismissed by the Director as "nonesense."

In reality he was disgusted with Popovs playboy lifestyle and had even told others on more than one occassion that he considered the Yugoslavian to "be a double agent, using German and American money to live like a degenerate playboy."

And thus was born that old story about how FDR knew in advance of Pearl Harbor and did nothing. J. Edgar Hoover told him it didn't matter. That was in August.

Kristallnacht - The Excuse Behind the Glass

Kristallnacht; like all things; has a beginning. We know the end result; the looting and burning of Jewish synagogues and businesses by ordinary Germans. These are the people who later said they knew nothing; kind of like Sgt. Schultz in the TV sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes”.

But the people doing the looting and burning that night were not in uniforms, and some may not have even really embraced the Nazi ideology. So how then did they wind up with bricks and bats in hand, smashing windows, looting and burning; beating people in the street who they merely suspected of being Jewish?

Many "reasons" have been manufactured over the years as to just what triggered Kristallnacht. Excuses have been invented to explain away the sudden outburst, which grew from something else which had been brewing. The following is the story of the actual incident which served as the spark which ignited Kristallnacht.

As it turns out, the incident; which served as that spark; took place only hours earlier, in Paris. It serves to remind us all that everything we do, no matter our intentions, must be undertaken with a look to the unintended consequences of our actions.

Kristallnacht was an abhorent display of hatred. Make no mistake about it, with or without this incident, the Holocaust which grew from it was going to happen anyway. This night was merely a taste of what was to come.

So, the following is not an excuse, nor an explanation. It's just the story of what happened in Paris which ignited the already noxious gas in the air that night back home in Germany.

Here then, is the story.

In 1938 the Germans began to deport Jews who were not born in Germany. “Germany for Germans!” was the cry. But there was a snag; the Jews being deported by the German government were refused entry back into Poland; which had not yet been conquered by the Nazi’s. That would be the next year. You have to marvel at the fact that the Polish people seemed to agree with Hitler’s stance against Jews, but when he conquered Poland one year later, he became evil incarnate.

Anyway, a Jewish man in Paris; Herschel Grynszpan, born of Polish-Jewish parents who lived in Germany; was outraged at the thought of his parent’s being involved in this game of political football. Moreover he decided to do something about it. His parents names were Riva and Sendel Grynszpan.

Taking himself to the German Embassy he asked to see someone; anyone. Now, that should have been a clue. But when you’re a member of the “master race” you don’t really think anyone is going to hurt you, so he was ushered in to see a low level attaché; a man named Ernst Vom Rath, who had spoken up in defense of the Jews before.  The young Jewish man living in Paris knew nothing about this German official and shot him dead.

Back in Germany the Brown shirts were grinning from ear to ear. Now the Jews weren’t only taking jobs away from the German people; they were killing them! They were killing them in foreign countries! They were killing even the moderate Germans who supported them! No longer could the people afford to wait. They must act now! They must send a clear and decisive message that the world would never forget.

Of course the irony is that; although the world would never forget; after the war was over you couldn't find a single person in that city who remembered where they were on the night of Kristallnacht. Like Sgt. Schultz; they knew nothing.

Happy Veteran's Day - My Family Gallery

This is my paternal grandfather William Shone Williams, Private US Army in World War One. He arrived here in the US from Wales in 1906 when he was about 3 years old. Here he is during basic training at Spartanburg in 1918. He was just in time for the last push and was wounded sometime after the action  at the tunnels of St. Quentin just parallel to the Hindenburg Line. He was a "stringer" which is the guy who runs the lines fro the communications they were using back then. He was wounded shortly after that, suffering a head wound requiring a metal plate which plagued him until his premature death at age 43. He was a New York City Police Officer at the time of his passing.

This is my maternal grandfather Pincus Max Marcus who arrived in America in 1911 and left to fight in the Allenby Brigade in Palestine on the Ottoman front in 1916, even before the Americans  officially joined the war in 1917. He served with Distinction in the Kings Fusiliers, 38th through 42nd Regiments and, along with his brother Jack, was awarded the French Medal of Legion with Palms. When the war was over he had to re-enter the United States through Canada via Scotland. He went on to make and lose several fortunes before his death in the 1970's. 

World War Two came and my father's brother,Uncle Roy, served in the Navy as a Machinist Mate. He was awarded a Navy Cross for action in the  North Atlantic. After the war he went on to become a Captain and commanded his own ship.

On my mother's side her brother Walter Marcus was training for the infantry in Alabama when the war came to an end. He was always very candid about being glad he didn't have to go. But he was ready. He went on to a career as a professional gambler and lived in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Here's my Dad who had already done time in the Naval Reserve, diving on the submarine USS Torsk out of Connecticut in the late 1940's. He felt very put upon when the Korean War broke out and he was called back up for active service in the Army! This explains the unhappy expression he wears in the photograph.

And here I am in the late 1970's, doing my bit taking bearings on the USS Milwaukee in Panama. You can tell that I was facing danger at every turn just by the expression on my face. 

The point is that, in war or peace, the veteran has always been there. Even when they may not have agreed with the policies with which they were tasked; they were there. And that willingness to serve, in itself, is a testament to our system.

"The Lonely Sea" by Alistair MacLean

"The Lonely Sea" is a collection of stories by Alistair MacLean. In this collection of stories you will find all his usual charm and sometimes even tension, as he spins yarn after yarn. For a lover of the sea like myself this book is a gift. For lovers of the English languauge it is a rare treat. His inimitable style is in rare form here- these are the sentences your English teacher told you were so wrong, but when reading them you can see that they are perfect. It's all in his punctuation.

Mr.MacLean saw heavy action in the Second World War, serving in the Royal Navy in both the European and Pacific theaters of action. This experience undoubtedly is what lends reality to his ability to chronicle life at sea.

Several of his novels were made into sucessful movies during the 1960's and his books have been read by millions worldwide. But I have always loved his short stories best.

Printing this following story, "The Gold Watch" is the only adequate way for me to even attempt a review of this book. Long one of my favorite authors, Mr. MacLean outdoes even himself here. It would be impossible for anyone but Mr. MacLean to have written it.

So here it is - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

"The Gold Watch" by Alistair MacLean

His watch was the pride of our captain’s life. It was of massive construction, being no less than 3 inches in diameter; it was made of solid gold; it was beautifully engraved with cabalistic designs of extraordinary intricacy; and finally, it was attached to a chain, whose dimensions, with regard to both length and circumference, had to be seen to be believed. The chain also, needless to say, was made of gold. Anyone who had the temerity to doubt this last fact, was handed the chain and coldly asked to observe for himself that it was stamped on every link.

In addition to the aforementioned merits, the watch, our captain claimed, was completely moisture proof. We had, on several occasions, urged him to prove his words by submerging the subject of discussion in a basin of water, but on each occasion, the captain’s reply, uttered in a very injured tone, was to the same effect, namely, that if we did not believe his statement, he was not going to stoop to demonstrate it’s truth to us. From this, we could only conclude that the captain, like ourselves, had his doubts as to his watch’s ability to defy the ravages of water. It was indeed, we knew, a very, very sore point with our captain, one which he longed, with all his heart and soul, to prove, but lacked the courage to put it to the final test.

Usually, this watch was hidden from the plebian gaze- and fingers- in a locked case, which in its turn, lay in a locked drawer in the captain’s cabin. But today, it reposed in the captain’s waistcoat pocket, while the chain, such was its length, seemed almost to girdle the area of the captain’s maximum circumference. Waistcoats are very uncommon with “whites”, and it was maliciously rumored that the captain had had his specially made for the purpose of accommodating and displaying the watch and its accessories. Be that as it may, here was our captain, this blistering June afternoon, going ashore for his last interview with his Basrah agents, wearing a genial smile on his face, and, about two feet further south, his beloved time keeper.

When he came back a bare two hours later, his launch nosing its way through the date laden lighters surrounding our vessel which was anchored in mid-river, his genial expression was no longer there. Neither was his watch, and our deduction, that the latter accounted for the former, proved to be correct. Having solicitously helped the red faced, perspiring captain on board, we waited patiently.

He was, at first, incoherent with rage, with his clearly visible, ever mounting blood pressure, we feared an apoplectic stroke. Fortunately for him, he at last recovered the power of speech, and this undoubtedly relieved, to a great extent, his almost over powering feelings. He was very bitter. His language, in addition, was shocking, but we had to admit that he had full justification for it.

He had, apparently, been walking peacefully back to the ship from his agents, with malice in his heart towards none, but nevertheless, taking due and proper precautions for the safe guarding of wallet and watch, when among the riff raff of the street bazaars. Once clear of them, he had dropped these precautions, deeming them needless, and, at the entrance to the docks, he had had to push his way through a group of Arab sailors, whom he, in his great and regrettable ignorance, had thought to be as honest as himself. (His bitterness, at this juncture, was truly remarkable) Suddenly, he had been jostled in the rear with great violence, and on turning to remonstrate with the discourteous one, had not felt his watch and chain being slipped from their moorings, with that dexterity and efficiency which bespoke of long and arduous practice, so that, when about to resume his journey, he found his watch no longer there.

At this point he again lost the power of speech, and to our fearful and dreading eyes, his entire disintegration appeared not only probable, but imminent. Recovering himself with a masterly effort, however, he resumed his narrative. Although unable to espy the actual perpetrator of the theft, who had, with commendable discretion and alacrity, completely vanished, he had realized that the jostler must have been his confederate, and had pursued the said confederate for over half a mile, before being eluded by the Arab in a crowded thoroughfare. This, we realized, accounted for our captain’s complexion and superabundance of perspiration.

Here again, having once more relapsed into incoherency, he was left to his vengeful meditations, alternately muttering “My watch” and “the villain”, the former with a touching pathos, and the latter, preceded by some highly descriptive adjectives, with an extraordinary depth of feeling.

Thirty hours later found no appreciable dimunition in our captain’s just and righteous anger, although he could now speak like a rational being, albeit forcefully, concerning his grievous misfortunes of the previous afternoon. We had loaded our last case of dates just on sunset, and, early that morning, even as the first faint streak of grey in the eastern sky heralded the burning day, had gratefully cleared the malodorous port of Basrah. We were, by this time, fairly into the Gulf and proceeding serenely on our way, South by East, through the stifling tropical night, the darkness of which was but infinitesimally relived by the cold, unthinkably distant pinpoints of stars in the moonless night sky.
Our captain, whose outraged feelings evidently refused him the blessed solace of slumber, had recently come up to the bridge, which he was now ceaselessly pacing, very much after the manner of a caged leopard, all the time informing us as to the dire retribution which he intended meting out to the present illegal possessor of his watch, should he ever be fortunate enough to lay hands on him. The lascar Quartermaster, very zealous in our captain’s presence, was poring over the compass box, while in the bows, the lookout man was either thinking of his native village in far off Bombay, or had found sleep vastly easier to come by than our captain.

This last, was of course, pure conjecture, but it must have approximated very closely to the truth, for the first the lookout knew of the dhow lying dead in our path, was when a loud splintering crash, accompanied by even louder frenzied yells, informed him that our steel bows had smashed the unfortunate dhow to matchwood.

“Don’t say we’ve run down another of these bloody dhows,” groaned our captain wearily (it is a surprisingly common occurrence), ringing the engines down to Stop, and bellowing for a boat to be lowered with the utmost expedition. This was done, and then minutes later the lifeboat returned with the shivering, brine soaked crew of the erstwhile dhow; the captain, duty bound, went down on deck to inspect them, as they came on board.

The rope ladder twitched, and as the first luckless victim- how luckless, he did not then completely realize- appeared over the side, the captain’s jaw dropped fully two inches, and he stood as if transfixed.

“That’s the gentleman I chased yesterday,” he ejaculated joyfully (“gentleman”, as will be readily understood, is employed euphemistically) then stopped, staring, with rapidly glazing eyes, at the second apparition, who had just then topped the railing. Dependent from this, the second, “gentleman’s” undeniably filthy neck, and reaching to his waist, was a most unusual ornament for an impoverished Arab- no less an object than our captain’s purloined watch and chain, thus miraculously restored to him, by the joyful caprices of Fortune.

With drawn breath, and with sincere pity in our hearts, we waited for the heavens to fall, for the captain to execute the oft repeated, blood thirsty promises, for, in short, the instant and complete annihilation of the Arabs (four in all) who were regarding the captain with the utmost trepidation, which they were at no pains to conceal.

To our small astonishment- and it may be added, relief- the expected Arab massacre failed to materialize. Instead, stepping quietly forward and lovingly removing his watch and chain from the neck of the cringing, violently shivering Arab, the captain, in a strangely gentle tone, in which there seemed, to us, to be a barely repressed inflection of triumph, merely said, “Take these men below and give them something warm to eat; we’ll hand them over to the Bahrain police, in the morning.”

We were astounded. We were amazed. We were utterly and completely dumbfounded.
Our modest comprehension could not grasp it. What, we asked ourselves, wonderingly, was the reason for this incredible change of front? We were not left long in ignorance.

Swinging round on us, and brandishing his watch on high, the captain shouted: “See!- er, I mean, hear!” We heard. The clamorous tick tock, tick tock of his watch would have put any self respecting alarm clock to shame.

“Waterproof!” he cried exultingly. “Waterproof, you blasted unbelievers! Waterproof!”

It was, I believe, the supreme moment of our captain’s life.

"Ida" - A Film by Pawel Pawlikowwski (2015) Polish

In this film from Poland, Agata Trzebuchowska  plays the role of Anna , a novitiate nun in 1960s Poland. She is about to take her vows when she is summoned by the Mother Superior and instructed to go home to visit her only living relative; her mother’s sister. When Anna meets the woman who is her Aunt she is perplexed as to just why she is there.  Aunt Wanda, played by Agata Kulesza, works as a judge for the Polish Government and informs Anna that she is a Jew, just as her mother was.

When the Nazis took over Poland they didn’t have too much trouble convincing the people to turn on the Jews. The Catholic Church did hide many of the children of the Jews who were transported to death camps. But they raised them as Catholics to protect them. When the war ended many were never told of their true identities. The Polish people were not very interested in giving back the properties which they had acquired after the Jews were expelled.

But some churches let God decide the issue by releasing the refugee children and requiring them to go back home before making the decision whether to remain a Christian or return to the religion of their birth. Anna’s story; although fictitious; is emblematic of those stories. The film is starkly realistic in it’s filming. Poland of the early 1960’s was a bleak place under Communist rule and the film captures that expertly.

There is a lot to learn from this film about people and how they act under extraordinary circumstances. After briefly tasting some odf the outside world which she has missed while in the convent, Anna must finally make a choice for her future based on the experiences of her past.

"FDR's Funeral Train" by Robert Klara (2010)

Today is the 70^th anniversary of Franklin Roosevelt’s passing.  This is a re-post from 2010;

My mother used to tell me about the day that FDR died. She said that the whole sky went black, just like it does on a summer's day before a storm. But this was early April, though it had been unusually balmy for the last week or so. It was late afternoon before she recalled hearing the news on radio that the President had died earlier.

As preparations were being made for his funeral in Washington, DC and, his later internment at his home in Hyde Park, NY, a drama was being played out that would remain largely unwritten about for several decades.

The President had been at his usual retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia when he was fatally stricken with a heart attack. This was not unexpected, as he had been in poor health for many years. Along with his paralysis, his blood pressure at the BEGINNING of the War was 250/140. There were no drugs available for the doctors to counter this pressure, which surely built up over 3 full terms as President. He was literally a ticking time bomb.

Where the drama begins is the fact that The President's long time lady friend, Lucy Mercer Rutherford, was with him at the time he passed. And the drama continues as the First Lady seeks to uncover the truth about who was with her husband at the time of his death. With her detective skills in sharp order due to having served as her husband’s legs and ears on several cross country trips, she soon cracks the mystery. But the story continues on from there.

The President had a specially designed train for protection. The Presidential Pullman Car was named "The Ferdinand Magellan" and Roosevelt made regular trips on it; mostly to his home in Hyde Park, and sometimes out West. The car was 142 tons in weight. There was no precaution too great to take in protecting the President. These things are all well known.

What is less known are the special trips he made to side spurs along the way. There the President would remain for almost 12 hours at a time dallying with Ms. Rutherford. This was all about to become known to Mrs. Roosevelt as the train crossed the country, first from Washington to Warm Springs, then back to Washington for the State Funeral. From there the train would be loaded up again for the final journey to bury the President at Hyde Park, NY.

The trip was filled with even more high drama as the newly sworn President Truman tries to figure out the secret everyone is trying to keep from him. He needed to be told about the A-bomb but no-one wanted to be the one to breach security and tell him first. At the same time there is a suspected Soviet Agent on board, trying to find out what everyone else is whispering about. That all this occurs as the nation mourns the loss of the President while the country is still at war really ups the stakes.

Well researched by the author, Robert Klara has given us a slice of history that has been denied us until now. Using recently released documents and old diaries and letters, he has pieced together a story that would be the envy of any author of fiction. That it is real makes it all the better. It is also reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel, from the setting on the train to the wild cast of characters, who are, in this case real.

"The Train to Crystal City" by Jan Jarboe Russell (2015) A Review/Commentary

This is a very well written book. It takes on a very emotional topic. Therefore, this is not an ordinary review. But before I begin I want to say that; with the exception of the chapters dealing with the treatment of the Internees in America; I found this book to be very informative. 

The American policy at the end of the Second World War in regards to Displaced Persons has not been explored enough by past authors. Ms. Russell has done an excellent job in reporting on that aspect of our history. The apologist’s portions of this book are what made it difficult for me to do a "straight" review of it, without commenting on that aspect of the work. 

Note:  This paragraph is from a Wikipedia page about the Santo Tomas Internment Camp in the Philippines.  It is important that you read this paragraph before reading this book.

“Santo Tomas Internment Camp was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila was utilized for the camp which housed more than 4,000 internees from January 1942 until February 1945. Conditions for the internees deteriorated during the war and by the time of the liberation of the camp by the U.S. Army many of the internees were near death from lack of food.”

Contrast the former description of Santo Tomas with the conditions, as described by the author, of the conditions in the Crystal City Internment Camp;

“In Crystal City the weather was sultry and hot and life settled into endeavors at normalcy. Eb and his crew worked overtime to keep iceboxes full. At Federal High School, fourteen students in the freshman class organized the Service Club. They worked in the library, distributed school supplies, cleaned blackboards and repaired desks.”

In addition, I have searched high and low for the death rates due to starvation and disease related to poor health and sanitary conditions in the Internment Camps in the United States. I have come away from that search empty handed. It is important to know these things before reading this book.

The story of the American internment camps of World War Two was not something openly explored in school when I was a kid. We had heard about the Japanese camps; which seemed somehow acceptable on two levels. The first was obvious; the Japanese had attacked us. The second was a bit more subtle. They were Asian. They were different. So, we put them in internment camps; interrupting lives, and in a way betraying our own beliefs.

But there is more to that neatly filed away story; the story of the Germans and Italians who were rounded up as well; even though their homelands had not attacked us. Even though; in many cases; their homeland was the same as ours. In this finely written book author Jan Russell opens that old sore and takes us for a look inside a darker chapter of our own history not often lit.

To begin with, let us agree that the internment camps in the United States were not the type of camps used by any of our enemies during the war. These were, for the most part, well thought out places that were even built with the advice and council of some of the leading citizens of the ethnicities who would be living in them. They were equipped with schools, hospitals, beauty parlors and athletic facilities.

They grew their own food and used the surplus to supply the nation’s war effort. Photographs taken by the inmates themselves bear all this out. Dorothea Lange photographed the Japanese aliens at the point of embarkation in San Francisco. The guards do not have weapons trained on the women and children; or the men. This was not Germany. And, neither were we the Japanese.

The memory of the Black Tom explosion of 1916 during the 3 years prior to our entry into World War One was still fresh in the minds of most Americans. Even today it still stands as one of the biggest disasters in American history. The ships were being loaded with ammunition bound for England and France. That explosion was the work of saboteurs working for Germany.

The Zimmerman telegram was still also at the forefront of many people’s minds. That was the telegram between the Germans and the Mexicans exploring the possibility of having Mexico stage an incursion on our southern border; drawing our attention away from the War in Europe and leading the way for a possible German invasion. Mexico would receive the return of the territories lost in the War with Mexico in the 1840”s.

When the Second World War broke out in Europe in 1939, it was considered to be an extension of the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles had left Germany reeling under an agreement to pay back the damages the war had inflicted on the European continent. It was believed that such a hard treaty would make it financially impossible for Germany to ever re-arm herself for a war of aggression.

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor prematurely, she awakened the United States to the dual dangers facing the world. One in the Pacific; the other across the Atlantic in Europe; where we had been supplying the British with the materials of war for about 2 years under the Lend-Lease program. 

 

The author concentrates on the memories of the children from several displaced families in making her case against the United States and the Internment program. Two particular examples offer an insight into the experiences of a German family; while the other is Japanese.  The German family was headed by Mathias Eiserloh, who was married and had 3 children. He appears to have been a hardworking man who was trying to build a life for his family here in America. He emigrated here from Germany to live in the Cleveland area, where his sister had already begun a family.

The FBI had begun an investigation of him in 1941 before the war began at Pearl Harbor. A co-worker had given his name to the FBI based on the hysteria of the times; news columnists were already talking about the presence of “Fifth Columnists” in America. Indeed, one of the best movies of the year was about that very subject. It was called “All Through the Night” and starred Humphrey Bogart.

But, beyond that hysteria there were some facts that are still troubling, and no doubt contributed to the FBI’s interest in Mathias. Prior to the attack on Pearl, as well as the actual implementation of any Internment plans. Mathias was a former German officer in World War one; and this new war was nothing but the unfinished business of the first one. In 1935 a German official had traveled to the home of Mathias and presented him with the Iron Cross; which he had earned in the war.

And, in addition to this, Mathias was a vocal Anti Semite who railed against Roosevelt because he was really a secret Jew named Rosenfeld. He also expressed his support for Germany as she advanced across Europe in the early days of the war. He was visibly; and vocally; pro-Nazi.  Not the best example to have used in trying to engender sympathy for the subject at hand. While none of these things justify the abuses of the laws which took place; they do help in seeing why he was under suspicion to begin with.

Another German internee was Fritz Kuhn, who was the head of the Nazi Party in the United States. With over 100,000 members, this group paraded in uniform in NYC, and had collected money which Kuhn presented to Adolph Hitler in a visit to Germany in 1936 Olympics. These are hardly the actions of an innocent immigrant; to be sure. 

Then there was also Karl Kolb, who organized the prisoners and had the American flag torn down in the cafeteria and inside the compound. Much to the credit of the American in charge of the camp, the flag was removed to placate the radical Germans.

Some of the other examples used by the author are of Japanese families, and Italians; all of which contained something that compromised their “innocence.” One Japanese man used as an example of our “barbarism” was a member of the Konkokyo Federation of North America, which was a Shinto cult. They believed in the dogma of the militant leaders in Japan who launched the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

The author claims to have interviewed over 50 former internees in writing this book and I have no reason whatsoever to doubt that claim. What puzzles me is why she chose to use the examples she did; which did nothing to gain my empathy.

But the book does work very well on the level of giving a good insight into just how the various camps came about and how they were organized. Particularly of interest is the main camp; Crystal City; located in Texas. The history of the area, and the site itself, make this book worth reading for that alone. These portions of the book; those without an agenda; were a pleasure to read. And, the book is carefully researched and contains a good index of the author’s sources. I just have a problem with the revisionist history concerning the camps themselves.

As for the subtitle of this book; "FDR's Secret Prisoner Exchange"; Towards the end of the war and right after, some of the Internees were repatriated back to their homelands at the invitation of our government. But others, like Kolb, were sent whether they wanted to go or not.

The ones selected had all failed the test of democracy. Kuhn had even tried to blackmail Helena Rubinstein in 1939, just 3 years after giving Hitler that check. His ruse with Ms. Rubinstein was that she was to give him $5000,000 or her sister in Poland would be killed by the Nazi's. He was the leader of the American Bund at the time. He was arrested later for other crimes. He, along with other undesirables, was traded for American fighting men and barred from returning to the United States. Although the author may be troubled by this, I have no problem with it, whatsoever.

In short, while I agree that the steps taken to place Japanese, Italian and German immigrants in detention camps was not our finest hour; I do have to look at this subject in the context of the times in which it occurred. We were expecting war when the plans were formulated. And we had been viciously attacked when those plans were then put into motion.

Even as we buried our dead, we continued to do everything reasonable to protect ourselves and the immigrants. We continued the education of their children; and we saw to it that they were fed and clothed properly. We did all that we could to make life as normal as possible for the people who were related to the very people who were torturing and killing our sons and daughters in a bid for the conquest of the world.

The public sentiment in the hours after Pearl Harbor was attacked lent itself to vigilante actions. Conversely, there was also tremendous concern for the safety of the immigrants. It is always easy to play Monday morning quarterback; it requires little imagination to see the “could’ve; would’ve; should’ve” of history. But that’s all folly.

You see, in the end I just re-read the description of the Civilian Internment Camps run by the Japanese; and then I look at the Concentration Camps of the Nazi’s; and then comparing them to our own, I don’t feel bad about anything. As a matter of fact, I’m proud of the actions which my country took to save the world. 

Note: For a far more sympathetic picture of the Japanese Internment question, you could do no better than to see the film "Bad Day at Black Rock" with Spencer Tracy. Although it is fiction, it makes the same point as the author is trying to impart; in a far more sympathetic way.

Bert's Story

While reading the book “The Train to Crystal City”; which I will review here on Monday; I ran across a new character who had heretofore been unknown to me. That’s a long way of saying I never heard of him before. What a story! I mean both the book; as well as the story of this man named Bert.

While flying a P-38 over Germany during the war, Bert was shot down. As a result he lost his leg and was traded in a POW exchange with Germany in early 1945. I know, you’re saying “So what? A lot of guys were wounded, maimed and came home when the war was over.” And you’re right about that. But there’s something special about Bert’s story.

On August 4, 1945; only 7 months after being exchanged as a POW; Bert was home and working. He had mastered the art of walking on an artificial leg while a POW in Germany. So, when he came home he was quick to return to work. Actually, it was kind of an extension of his old job.

The night of August 4, 1945 saw the Washington Senators baseball team being soundly whipped by the Red Sox. In the 4^th inning the score was already 14-2. Bert was watching the game anxiously; he really loved the Senators and wanted the team to win. But things weren’t looking too good on that score.

While Bert probably wasn’t that surprised at the manager’s decision to put in a relief pitcher, he was surprised at the choice of the man who would be pitching. It would be Bert.

You see Bert was a pitcher before the war; and afterwards; in only 7 months’ time, he had become the Pitching Coach for the Washington Senator’s. And on the night of August 4, 1945, he made history; when he took the pitcher’s mound and became the first man with an artificial leg to pitch in a Major League Baseball game. You may know him as Bert Shepard.

"The Phantom Killer" by James Presley (2014)

This is a case which they still speak of in Texas. It has never been solved. The Phantom Killer; so dubbed by the local press in Texarkana; is America’s Jack the Ripper. We think we know who did it; but then again, we’re not quite sure. And the fascination with the case may be more entertaining than actually finding out who really did it. It’s kind of like JFK and Dallas. We want to know, but then what would we do about it?

The town of Texarkana straddles the two states of Texas and Arkansas. The old joke was that a man could stand in the center of town with his mule and claim he was in Texas while his ass was still in Arkansas. With the advent of the oil industry; and later the war; work was plentiful and Texarkana was somewhat of a boomtown. But with all of the quick money came increased crime and a transient population. 

The author; James Presley; is the nephew of Sheriff Bill Presley; who was the the chief investigator on the case and; as a trained historian with a Pulitzer Prize nomination to back him up; has taken all of the eye witness accounts and affidavits from the investigation, distilling them down to a very convincing argument as to who the Phantom was. In addition he draws upon his knowledge of the local folk lore and geography to paint a portrait of the town; as well as the effects the crimes had upon the average citizen.

Eventually, after the town has been literally terrorized as they wait for the next killings; which occur with regularity; every African-American is pulled in for questioning. Eventually, though, the leads all point to a white man named Youell Swinney and his girlfriend Peggy. But catching him proves difficult, until his alibis don’t seem to match up. And just as the noose is tightening in the case against him, he marries Peggy, thus avoiding her having to testifying against her new husband. But, still their stories don’t match the facts and the investigation continues for years.

Swinney had a rap sheet going back decades by the time he was prosecuted again in 1981 for other violent crimes. Fans of CSI will be aghast at the way the investigation was done; with officers from 2 counties trampling over evidence and not roping off crime scenes. They even allowed the public to swarm all over the terrain where the killings took place; rendering any evidence gathered useless.

In the end Swinney walked free. But he continued to have problems with the law until 1981, when he was finally convicted of larceny. This is a great insight into the way that justice has changed; along with crime detection; over the last 6 decades. It is also look at what society was like in the heady days after the end of World War Two, when life sometimes seemed more perfect than it was. And to this day no one has been proven guilty of the 5 murders that terrorized the entire town in the summer of 1946.

  

The USS Mason - Fighting Jim Crow

Most of America fought two different enemies in World War Two. That was hard enough. But the men of the USS Mason- DE 529, a Destroyer Escort, had the added burden of fighting a third enemy, Jim Crow.

At the outbreak of World War Two the Armed Forces were segregated, just like half the country was. This would not change until after the war was won, but during the war there were some courageous efforts on the part of some, to integrate America's fighting force. The story of the USS Mason is the story of one of those efforts.

Built in the Boston Navy Yard and launched in 1943, she was commissioned in March of 1944 under the command of Lt. Commander William Blackford, a white officer. He would command the Mason with a handful of white officers and an all-black crew.

After a successful shakedown cruise off Bermuda in the spring of 1944 the Mason headed into action. They escorted a convoy from Charleston, SC to the Azores, arriving on July 6th. The ship then put into Belfast; Northern  Ireland, for Liberty ashore. The crew was astonished at how well they were received by the locals. Even in England they were denied access to many facilities, but the Irish, albeit neutral in the war, welcomed these men as "Yanks" rather than "Tan Yankees" as they were referred to by the British.

But her greatest story was yet to come. On September 19th, 1944 the USS Mason left New York City with Convoy NY 119. They were to protect her from the German U-boats which had been sinking ships as close as 10 miles off the coast of the United States.

This convoy was done during one of the worst months of severe weather that the North Atlantic would experience in the 2oth Century. In less than a month the weather had claimed 16 of the convoys vessels. The only way to prevent more loss was to send the smaller, faster ships ahead with an escort. The USS Mason was the ship chosen for this duty.

Attempting to lead the ships into Bishop Rock, England the ship was beaten by severe weather that actually split her deck and collapsed main beams. The Mason was a step away from sinking.

Calls for assistance were ignored and the crew of the Mason were left to their own devices to stay afloat. And stay afloat she did. Within 2 hours the ship was repaired and leading the convoy safely into port. She then turned around again and returned to the remaining ships. The two British ships assigned to help in this endeavor turned back, leaving the Mason to struggle alone to bring the convoy in. It would take three more days, and nights, in harrowing weather to accomplish this task.

The ship and its crew were recommended for Unit and Individual Commendations for these efforts by their Captain, Lt. Commander Blackford, as well as Convoy Commander Alfred Lind. The crew would not learn of these nominations for almost 50 years, during research for the book "Proudly We Served."

As a result of the book the crew was awarded the Citations in 2003. Former President Bill Clinton would present the awards on the deck of the latest USS Mason in New York City.

A movie was made of this story with Ossie Davis as Signalman First Class Lorenzo DuFau. The movie was riveting, especially the storm scenes. The story is told from Mr. DuFau's perspective when his grandkids wake him up late at night with some loud music. He tells them the story in a flashback that encompasses not only the story of the Mason, but of the segregated makeup of our nation, even as we were fighting to liberate the world at large.

The Mason story has been told in other books about the war, but never so vividly as in the book and movie. And for a real quick look at what these guys did you can drop in on them at their web site www.ussmason.org/

That this crew, made up of city kids and farm boys, some of whom had never seen an ocean, banded together in facing the Germans, as well as the forces of the sea, and won, make this one of the greater sea stories ever told. That they did it while under the thumb of Jim Crow is simply incredible.