Adventures to share from around Ohio and the world!

No one left to keep the "sacred fire"

2010-01-04T15:19:00.001-05:00

Read about the ancient people who kept the sacred fire going at Pecos, New Mexico, and then let it go out, and you will wonder why. But, then it strikes me I can find the same thing happening right now, right this minute at a site in Ohio, a modern, right now site. First, I will relate some of what I know about the site in Pecos, New Mexico. It is just north of Santa Fe, and I discovered it as I read about some soldiers of the Mexican War who spent a night there. In of those soldiers subsequently wrote about what he saw and heard of this place. He said that two types of people maintained the holy "fire" at an Indian church in Pecos many, many years ago. And, remember this was in 1846 that he wrote about it being many, many years ago. No matter, he went onto describe those two groups of people as being very fierce in their protection of the sacred fire they maintained there. One group was supposedly a race of 15-foot tall humans who, certainly, by their size would have scared away anyone who sought to extinguish their sacred fire. The other group, strange as it may sound, was a race of tiny humans, like two to three feet tall. They made up for their small size by being very aggressive and threatening to anyone who might think to extinguish the sacred fire as they watched it. There is no clear record, at least according to the soldiers, when the "sacred fire" went out, but it did, possibly as those two races died out and then the people who remained at Pecos gradually moved to other places or took up other beliefs. The result was the sacred fire went out, and it has never been lit since. Now to the modern example of the same thing, which also revolves around a "sacred fire." It is at Maria Stein, Ohio where since the 1840s an order of Catholic nuns have maintained a convent, church and then a collection of relics of more than 1,000 saints. They have maintained their vigil on the sacred relics in a special chapel built at the end of the 1800s. It is there today. But, alas, there are a few, very few nuns to maintain the "sacred fire" at the chapel that contains all those sacred relics because fewer women chose the holy life. More than that, the church which stands adjacent to the chapel of the sacred relics is big and beautiful, but because of the shortage of priest, there is only one mass a week there. That is at noon on Saturdays. That is for now, but given the continued decline in nuns and the number of priests, there must be a time coming, which like the sacred fire at Pecos, there will no longer be anyone to care for the sacred fire at Maria Stein. Then it will go out and the sacred relics? Well, they, no doubt will move to some other spot because there are other Catholic churches, some of which probably would receive and care for them. Then the sacred fire will no longer be at Maria Stein just like at Pecos.

Who built the Mysterious Staircase at Loretto Chapel?

2009-11-30T19:51:00.007-05:00

Visit Santa Fe, New Mexico and you will hear of the mysterious staircase at Loretto Chapel. The story you will hear and can even find on the Web is that when the chapel was built in the 1800's, someone suddenly realized there was not room to build a staircase from the ground floor to the choir loft.
At that point a mysterious stranger appeared and with great skill built the staircase that spirals from the ground to open onto the choir loft today, and he did it without nails. Then he disappeared without anyone learning who he was.
Who was this mysterious stranger? The first time I visited the chapel, I heard several ideas, but the conclusion most often suggested was it had to be St. Joseph, Mary's husband. He was a carpenter.
The staircase is a marvel of engineering and craftsmanship. That cannot be denied as this photo taken by Ian Harris of Copenhagen, Denmark, on a visit to Santa Fe this past summer shows.
But, I have a flash for you as to the identity of the craftsman who built that staircase.
I found out from a small item in “New Mexico” magazine. The writer said she'd searched high and low for the craftsman's name, and then finally found it among some newspaper obituaries.
The obituary identified him as a certain Frenchy Rojas. It said he'd created the spiral staircase at Loretto Chapel and then some other fine piece of wood work in at another building, perhaps in Albuquerque.
The obituary said after crafting those pieces in northern New Mexico he ended up in Dog Canyon, which is south of Albuquerque. There, the obituary said, he was murdered, and, that fact, that he'd been murdered was featured first in the obituay. There were other details that I have forgotten. One vague recollection is he belonged to some French society along the lines of the Masons, as best I can recall it.
So, if you visit Santa Fe and Loretto Chapel, admire the craftsmanship, but also know you are probably one of the few people among the admirers around you who knows who built it. Thanks for the great photo, Ian.

El Dorado!

2009-11-05T00:19:00.011-05:00

A story of the man who sang the title song for the movie!

I truly enjoy music, music of all styles, and one particular song I enjoy hearing over and over again is the title song, "El Dorado," from the movie of the same name, sung by George Alexander. It is a wonderful movie with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. I like the movie, but I especially love the song because of George Alexander's incredible voice. You can find the music on the web or at a link I have provided. Just click the title above, and it will take you right to the song.
But, to get to the main part of this story, I just happened to find one of George Alexander's nieces, and this is one of her wonderful memories of her uncle:
"I will always remember, whenever we went out to lunch for many years in San Francisco, where we are from, right before the bill would come, it was a family custom, for one of us, the nieces, usually, to ask Uncle George to 'hum' a few bars from El Dorado, which he would do. Then out of the blue, he would belt out the tune, and sing the whole song. People would come in off the street, everyone would stop what they were doing and gather around the table. My uncle had such a wonderfully loud baritone voice that a microphone was not really necessary. I recall bringing a boyfriend with me years ago, and he told me he felt like crawling under the table. Suffice it to say, he did not have an Uncle George in his midst!"
She also told me that her Uncle George, now in his 80s, is in a nursing home. I wish her and her uncle well.

FISH & CHICKEN INN! Great food, Great people!

2009-10-31T16:02:00.005-04:00

If you've never been there, you have to stop by for some excellent food, but also to meet some really nice people!
The place is the FISH & CHICKEN INN at the corner of Hudson Street and Joyce Avenue in Columbus, or more properly at 1828 E. Hudson St.
There you can have a fish sandwich that will impress you as it does the regular customers in the area who know about this marvelous place. And, you can have a lot more, including a gyro. Food is excellent and prices are reasonable. That means you really get value for your money, which is not always the case at a lot of restaurants where they spend more on the decorations and the advertising than they do the food.
Besides the great food, you also will get a chance to meet two of the nicest people you will ever meet Boubker Laassbi and his son, partner and co-owner, Adenane Haimani. No, those are not names you recognize, and you will even have to ask them how to pronounce their names.
They have their names because they are from way, way off, like Morocco, a country on the northwest part of Africa.
Boubker said they started the business about a year ago because they are good cooks, and they know the restaurant business and how important good food and value are, too.
They are also miracle workers in a way, in that they took what once, probably a long, long time ago, was a Dairy Queen, and by their own work turned it into what you can see today.
What you see is a brightly painted yellow building with welcoming signs. The building brightens up the whole neighborhood.
All of those things you must appreciate, plus the fact that Baoubker and his son had the nerve to go into business. Just that alone has to impress you because while going into business is easy, staying in business can be tough. Yet, he and his son have done it.
Go inside the FISH & CHICKEN INN and you will see a place that is clean, really clean. That means you will not only enjoy the food but that you can trust it, too.
“People like it,” Boubker said of the food he offers at the FISH & CHICKEN INN.
Their customers may like the place because the father and son likes their customers.
Why?
“When you treat people well, they like it,” Adenane said. “That's what we try to do, treat people well.”
Boudker especially praises his son's work. "We did everything together equally. We both cook, and we are business partners."
So, next time you are hungry, stop by. You will like the food, and you will like the people behind the counter.
You might also like their story about how with all the world to pick from they ended up in Columbus, Ohio—and also remember to ask why they keeps the front door wide open!
They are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. -- 9 p.m., on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. -- 10 p.m. And then from noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.
If you want to order ahead, or get lost trying to find the you can reach them by calling 478-0675.
Click the picture to make it bigger. They stand outside their restaurant!

Who flew Flying Boxcar 037 to the US Air Force Museum?

2009-10-25T13:36:00.003-04:00

There are two strings of airplanes parked in a sort of air park at the U.S Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, and in one of those lanes is a C-119, no to be precise a C-119J with the nose number 037.
For those of you who do not know, this was one of the first Air Force transport that could be loaded from the rear. Many of the early versions of Air Force transports, the C-47 and C-54, for example, all required side loading—and in the case of the C-47 through a very narrow door.
Also called the “Flying Box Car,” the C-119 at the Air Force Museum was configured for a specific mission, because it has a, well, what I can only call a clamp tail, in that it could be opened up, something like a clamp or mouth. The special tail was created for a special mission, to catch one of the early satellites in the United States space program.
A sign in front of this very unique C-119 says that, indeed on Aug. 19, 1960, made a mid-air recovery of the parachute to which the space capsule was attached. It says the event occurred at 8,000 feet 360 miles southwest of Hawaii. There must have been some jubilation among the aircraft's crew when that happened.

I'm including photos of it, a side view to show the clamp tail and then another that shows a curious configuration of antennas on the nose.
But, to my story and question, about who flew it to the Air Force Museum.
So, far I've had three different people tell me they flew it in.
One was an old friend Jim McMaster who for a long time was the public affairs spokesman for the 302nd Airlift Wing when it was at Rickenbacker ANGB, Ohio. He was a retired Air Force colonel and had had long service flying every plane imaginable during World War II.
Now, Jim, said he was the pilot. Well, since then, including two men I've met at the Air Force Museum say they were the pilots who flew it in, all suggesting to me that they were the pilot as opposed to the co-pilot.
Maybe I should have asked if the other two knew Jim McMaster, but I did not. So, maybe one or more of them weren't the actual pilot but, rather, the co-pilot for the trip to the Air Force Museum. The sign out front says the craft was flown to the museum in 1963.
That is interesting only from the standpoint that they were still in wide use then, at least in the Air Force Reserve, though maybe in active duty units, too.
No, matter, if anyone else out there knows who might have flown this bird to the museum, drop me a note.

Capital Winds: If You Live in or around Columbus, Ohio, You Must Hear Them!

2009-10-20T21:38:00.004-04:00

The Ohio Capital Winds, a champion of wind ensemble music, performs a classic repertoire from masters such as Holst, Sousa, Grainger, and Ohio's own Henry Fillmore.
The musicianship of the ensemble's 30+ professional and semi-professional players is its hallmark.
Concert programs appeal to a wide range of tastes, taking audiences on a journey that blends exuberant crescendos with moments of quiet contemplation.
All that is directly from the group's web site, and all that it means is they are excellent musicians and wonderful to hear.
Their conductor is Catherine Hope-Cunningham, a young woman with a great deal of skill and love for her work.
Check their web site for future performances, to buy a CD of their work for anyone you know who loves great music and to even book them for your next event, social or business. They will bring wonder to any of those kinds of events.

Look for Adventures Right Where You Live!

2009-09-20T12:32:00.005-04:00

A grand adventure for me usually does not begin with something planned or expected but rather something unexpected and unplanned.
For example, one afternoon some years back coming out the back door of the federal courthouse in Columbus, Ohio, I chanced to spot this large, ugly, brown and yellow boulder right in the middle of an otherwise smooth, even expanse of a soft green grass.
Hmmm? The big question in my mind was why would something so ungainly be in the middle of an otherwise beautiful lawn?
I walked over and noticed a weathered copper plaque on one side of the boulder. It said that boulder marked the spot of the first cabin built in what is now Columbus, Ohio. That cabin was built in 1797 by its first inhabitant, John Brickell, who then lived the rest of his life in what became Columbus.
Information on that plaque is mildly interesting, but most interesting is the realization that today it sits in a spot where there are large, modern buildings all around.
Think about it? That man, John Brickell, building a cabin in what in 1797 had to be nearly pure wilderness only a few years removed from the days that Indians camped on that very spot.
Yet, today, think of all that is there that he could hin no way have envisioned when he lived there and what we today could in now way imagine what was there when he lived there.
There is more to the story of the ugly boulder.
The boulder no longer sits in the middle of the lawn. It has its own place and a better place near a sidewalk.
Yet, that ugly boulder may not truly mark the spot where that first cabin was built, and maybe it never did. The boulder was moved from where I first saw it several years ago by more than the length or width of any pioneer cabin. Furthermore, several articles you can find on line about John Brickell say his first cabin was at the site of the former old Ohio State Penitentiary. If, so, that would place his cabin a couple of blocks to the north and east from of where the boulder is today.
No, matter the fact that there is anything at all to mention the first cabin built in Columbus is worthwhile. Some information on the plaque is interesting, too, but when I first saw it, the information just tended to whet my appetite to learn more about John Brickell.
The Internet was just a sparkle in someone's brain when I found that ugly boulder, and information on John Brickell could only be obtained at a library, maybe.
Today, several Internet sites tell you all about John Brickell, and one has his own account of his life up until the time he built that first cabin. He gave the account in 1842, two years before he died. At that time, he said he might give more information later, but as far as I know, he never did.
I provide a link to that site, but further explanation of some of its points may helpful for you to understand John Brickell and what happened around him during the late 1700's in Ohio.
For example, the plaque says he was born at Stewart's Crossing southwest of Pittsburgh in 1781. Again, through the marvel of the Internet you can quickly learn that Gen. Edward Braddock crossed the Youghiogheny River with his army there in June 1755 on his way to oust the French at a post that is now the location of Pittsburgh. A few days later Braddock and most of his army were ambushed and killed by Indians. One of the soldiers with him who escaped death or injury was George Washington.
Brickell captured by and then adopted by the Indians in 1791. He gives some excellent information on life with the Indians and their clashes with the Americans.
There is, for example, a reference in Brickell's account to being in an Indian village in the early winter of 1791 when Indian warriors returned from a battle with the Americans carrying a great deal of plunder. That battle was fought on Nov. 4, 1791 when many of the 1,100 or so American soldiers led by Gen. Arthur St. Clair were massacred at what is now the small town of Fort Recovery, Ohio. St. Clair had been a general during the American Revolution and was governor of the Northwest Territories, of which present day Ohio was a part, when he led that army to such a terrible defeat in 1791.
Brickell also recounts the event that forced the Indians to give him up, the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Especially interesting is Brickell's recollection of how upset the Indians were after that battle over their betrayal by the British who'd encouraged them to fight the Americans.
If you want to feel particularly sad, read Brickell's account of how his adopted Indian father, Big Cat, reacted when Brickell, given the choice, elected to return to his own family rather than stay with his adopted father.
Another curious bit is Brickell's description of how the Indians used a candle to hunt deer at night much in the way some hunters, illegally, use a spotlight to hunt deer at night today. The light from the candle or spotlight cause a deer to stop and become an easy target. But for Brickell's account, it would never have occurred to me that the Indians would have known how to “spotlight” with a candle.
Anyway, here is a photo of the boulder with the plaque marking the spot of John Brickell's first cabin. The link to Brickell's account is provided above.

Street light memorials, art make Seagraves, Texas worth a stop

2009-09-04T18:51:00.021-04:00

You have to go of the highway that runs along the edge of Seagraves, Texas, and go int the town to see what you see in the pictures on this page. Take the time, though, because it is fun.
Seagraves what, you ask? Seagraves, Texas, a town between Seminole and Brownfield, or, perhaps, for better reference, probably 65 miles south Lubbock, Texas.
The economy depends on a blend of oil and agriculture, and, if you want to know what famous person was born there, it'd have to be Quannah Parker, the famous half-breed Comanche Indian who was the scourge of the Texas plains in the 1880s.
But, back to why you need to go into the town.
First of all take a look on both sides of the main street, and you will see rows of street lamps. Not unusual? No, a lot of towns have street lamps. The difference in Seagraves, Texas, however, is that every single one of the is a memorial to some person or family in the town. Yes sir and Yes mam, there is a small brass plate on the base of each one of the street lamps in Seagraves, Texas, that has the name of the family or person to which it is dedicated. Cool way to pay for street lamps, huh?
Lit up at night they look nice and soft, too.
Then there is the "art" of Seagraves. It is not nearly as noticeable as it was a few years ago. In fact, when I was there just a few weeks ago I could only find a few of what used to be a lot of pictures on the sides of buildings about anywhere you'd look.
There were two types of pictures painted by artists with very different talents. One painted traditional, though nice, landscapes on the sides of buildings: mountains, lakes etc. You had to drive around to find them.
More obvious were the sort of cartoon characters painted on buildings all over the town, too.
You used to be able to see a really good one as you came into town fro the south going north. It depicted a feed store with characters sitting in different poses on a porch and in a big door. All the characters were different, and each one had an interesting look on its face.
Then go through the town and turn a corner, and you'd see what looked like the open doors of a garage, and a car, usually an old model, sitting inside. It was go good that you couldn't say the car looked real, but seeing it did make you stop and look. What fun.
In the photos on this page you will only see a couple of the scenes that I could still find in my most recent visit. One, obviously the scene of a jail, looks newly and brightly painted. It is on the side of the police station in the town. Yet, it does not have quite the same style as the original artist.
I only found one of his. It is the one of the people waiting for the bus. You can see it above. I tried to brighten it, but it still does not have the vibe and strength it did as when it was pained.
On, one other note: the downtown street is filled with store fronts on both sides. Yet, almost none of them are open or used as stores. The only thing open the last time I was there was a pizza shop.
So, the street lights are like a memorial to the whole town.
Oh, I also include what looks like is to be a museum for the town. It includes, as you can see, an old Santa Fe Railroad station. Though, I'm not sure the Santa Fe ran through Seagraves.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do. And, I encourage you, if you ever get to Seagraves, take the time to drive around. You will find it fun.

An amazing painting of a woman dying in childbirth

2009-08-29T20:59:00.008-04:00

This is one of the most interesting paintings I've ever seen because of what it tells, the story of a young mother dying in childbirth.
The painting is one of a gallery of paintings that can be seen at the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta, Ohio.
Marietta was the first legally authorized town to be located in Ohio. The first settlers arrived there on April 7, 1788. More on the town later, but let it be known that most of those who arrived in 1788 had been soldiers in the American Revolution, and they named their town Marietta in honor of the French Queen Marie Antoinette because of her support of the Americans in their revolution.
A lot more can be said about all of that, but for the time appreciate all that you can see in this painting.

Workhorse of the Oil Fields: Pumpjacks at Ease

2009-08-15T11:04:00.008-04:00

Please " click " the photo to get the real picture.
You can see pump jacks as they are called or some of the equipment used to pump oil out of the ground everywhere you look in some parts of the southeastern New Mexico "oil patch."
Here are some of those pump jacks all parked and ready to go when needed.
They are off the highway just south of Loco Hills, New Mexico. " Loco " is the Spanish word for " crazy. "
I do not know where the town got its name, and there really is very little to the town today except for some oil field offices. Many of those offices struggle to stay open today because of New Mexico Bill Richardson' s excessive use of environmental rules. His rules have driven a lot of oil companies out of the south eastern New Mexico oil fields. Between him and the environmentalists who work with President Barrak Obama, further development of oil resources in southeastern New Mexico is at a standstill as everyone waits for further costly restrictions expected because of Obama' s " green initiatives. "
Protect the environment, yes, but it can be done without destroying the lives of people.

The Spirit of the People of Artesia, New Mexico

2009-08-13T10:03:00.016-04:00

Drive down the main street of Artesia, New Mexico, and you will see some of the most incredible sights: sculptures that tell the story of Artesia in a most wonderful way.
There is the sculpture of the oil well with crew that is representative of the discovery of oil in southeastern New Mexico in 1924. There are people around the well who all played roles in the discovery and development of the petroleum industry in Artesia and southeastern New Mexico. One of those statues represents a woman who used her own intuition to select the place to drill that discovery well after a geologist gave up.
Down the street are statues of a woman reading from a book and two children looking up at her, obviously listening. The first thought is the woman is a teacher, but no, she is reading from a book about " Billy the Kid. " The statue is of a woman who helped develop Artesia, Sallie Chisum. The famous outlaw was one of her admirers. The title of the sculpture with the two children and woman is " The Spirit of the Pioneer Woman. "
Then on down the street is a raring horse with a the wonderful figure of a vacquero or Mexican cowboy, and how wonderful to see, so much life in the horse and so much joy in the man in the saddle.
There also is a statue of a cowboy running some cattle not far away.
There is a lot of information on all of these scupltures and the individuals they represent, and it is inspiring. But what all of these sculptures together represent is the wonderful spirit of the people of Artesia.
I met a man in the town the other day who said the people in Artesia are friendlier than anywhere he'd ever lived.
Oh, in case you did not know, you can double click the pictures to fill your entire screen! What joy and life in these sculptures--and the joy and life and pride they must give to the people of Artesia, New Mexico.

The F-117 Stealth fighter refuels from Ohio National Guard KC-135 over the New Mexico desert

2009-08-03T22:40:00.019-04:00

The Stealth fighter looks like something out of Jules Verne! It looks like it should not fly. But, it does and in this sequence, it flies up, edges closer and closer to the KC-13 tanker. Then the boom operator aboard the 121st Refueling Wing KC-135 from Rickenbacker ANGB literally flies his nozzle into position so the Stealth can refuel. The strange-looking aircraft is not there long. Then it unhooks, seems to float off and disappears.
Fun to see!

Sidney, Ohio City of Beautiful Buildings

2009-07-21T21:54:00.021-04:00

Fun!Truly fun, and not in Paris or Rome, no not even close. Yet, the three buildings on the southwest corner of the Shelby County courthouse in Sidney, Ohio, are definitely worth seeing. They are because they are so striking and so beautiful.
As far as beauty goes, the Peoples’ Savings and Loan Building has to be one of the most beautiful buildings in all the US of A. It was designed by architect Louis Sullivan, (1856-1924), and all you have to do is look at it to appreciate this man’s skill not only an architect but also as an artist. You can find quite a lot about him on the Web, and you can even find pictures of the many buildings he designed. Yet, when you do, you will have to conclude that the one in Sidney was one of his masterpieces. And, by the way, one of his early students or employees was Frank Lloyd Wright.
Anyway, go to Sidney, and when you do you will want to take your camera.
You can look at that beautiful buildings from several different locations around courthouse square, but if you stand right across the street you be standing right next to another famous building. It is the “Spot” restaurant, an art deco structure, that has served food that people love (and not food inspired by a focus group or advertising agency) since the early 1900's. People in Sidney flock there every day for a good hamburger and fries or to buy a pie. It is a wonderful place to eat.
Then across the street from the Spot to Be and the Peoples Savings and Loan Building is the Monumental Building, another wonder on the courthouse square.
The significance of this building is that while other towns all over Ohio have their monuments to the Civil War, the statue of a soldier or a spire, the monument in Sidney is an entire building.
The building was erected to honor the men from Sidney and Shelby County who fought and died in the Civil War but also to serve the community.
The cornerstone of the building was laid on June 24, 1875, and it was occupied in 1877. When finished, it included an opera house on the third floor. The rest of the building went onto serve as a center of government and culture in Sidney for well over a century.
Most recently it was renovated and is occupied by the Veterans Service Commission and the Sidney Municipal Court.
Whatever its use, it is a Gothic masterpiece, a tall, imposing building that is truly beautiful to behold.
There is an apse way up high in the building occupied by Civil War soldier who is said to be a Sgt. Bailey. Yet, none easily reached seemed to know exactly who Sgt. Bailey was.
Oh, and by the way, those three are not the only interesting buildings just to look at and think about as you sit feeding the pigeons some beautiful summer afternoon. There is also the Shelby County Courthouse on the square itself. Built in “Second Empire” style, it is imposing, well maintained and beautiful.
So, no matter where you are in Ohio, if you want to do something you will enjoy, go to Sidney, Ohio to see and marvel at the beautiful buildings.
You will enjoy them.

Special Elevator for FDR's Air Force One--though It was not called Air Force One then

2009-07-02T19:06:00.012-04:00

There are hundreds, if not thousands of interesting military airplanes or military airplane-related things to see at the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, but this may be one of the more interesting ones.

It is an elevator, an elevator made especially to lift President Franklin D. Roosevelt into his Presidential Aircraft, a C-54. It is on display with the C-54 in the Presidential Hangar at the Air Force Museum. And, you can actually see a wheel chair in the elevator just as it would have been when FDR used it. He used a wheel chair, of course, because of polio. The elevator was installed so he would not suffer the indignity of having to be carried up a stairway to get into the airplane.

The elevator beneath this C-54 is special in that it was made just for him and just for this aircraft. People who work with it say the president used that elevator only once.

You may wonder what happens to the elevator structure once it has been raised into the aircraft? If you should ever see it in person look closely, and you can see latches at the back of the elevator frame. They allow the whole structure to fold up once it has been lifted into the aircraft. If you look at the back of the elevator, you can see a tread. So, when the structure is folded, the back side of of it actually merges, if you will, with the rest of the deck to become part of the walk way inside the airplane.

Something you always wanted to know, right? You laugh?

Well, believe it or not tourists who look at the elevator always want to see the latches and like to hear how the whole elevator system works.

Fun!

Not the Taj Mahal, but Buildings in Celina, Ohio are Beautiful, Memorable--Look Like They Came from a Fairy Tale

2009-06-28T17:20:00.017-04:00

Another Ohio wonder!
Celina, Ohio is probably not among your “must see” travel destinations, but if you are ever, ever near this town in west, central Ohio—go there because you will see some of the most amazingly beautiful buildings anywhere.
No, they are not the Taj Mahal, but they are incredibly beautiful and totally unexpected--almost like something you'd see in a fairy tale. I say unexpected because what do you expect to see in any small town? Not much as a general rule, right? Yet when I saw these buildings one Sunday morning and just by accident and enroute to somewhere else, they stopped me.
They are that unusual and that beautiful.
When were they built? I have no idea. Why were they built? I have to idea? Who occupies them? I have no idea. Who owns them? I have no idea? Do I know anything about them other than the are so stunning and so wonderful to see? No, but one day I will go to Celina or call there and ask around to learn more about them.
In fact, that may happen at the end of July 2009—when Celina has a community celebration! I just happened to read about it on a web site about the town. So, I will go as every Ohio community seems to have its special celebration, and everyone of them are fun! Lots of fun!
So, while you may not have ever heard of Celina, Ohio, if you go anywhere near the town, go there! See these beautiful buildings for yourself and in person. You will enjoy them as much as I did.
In the meantime, enjoy these photos.
And, if you learn anything about them, pass it along to me. I'll up date this blog!

Also, Celina just happens to be right on Grand Lake St. Mary, one of the largest man made lakes in the world. That means the whole world. So after you ooh and awe over these beautiful buildings, you can enjoy the water!

Lafayette Hotel, Marietta, Ohio, Surprise, Fun, Elegant and---Get this a Room for $45!

2009-06-26T19:18:00.013-04:00

Contrary to what you might think, you do not have to get in an airplane and fly thousands of miles to some exotic destination to really have a good time.
No, you can do like I did not too long ago and have a lot of fun just enjoying something close to home.
Fun!
I always like to have fun, and what always seems to be the most fun to me is to find something totally unexpected.
The Lafayette Hotel in Marietta, Ohio is one of those totally unexpected experiences that is fun even now as I think about. The hotel is located downtown and right at the junction of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers and about two hours by car south east of Columbus, Ohio.
I’d gone to Marietta to attend one of the events associated with the town’s annual celebration of its founding on April 7, 1788. I’d looked forward to that event because I’ve read a lot about the “first 48 men” who founded the town and all they went through to do it. But, that will be another whole topic, maybe two or three. Before moving on, though I will say that all those “first 48” were from New England, and they named one of the boats they took down the Ohio River to found their new town was the “Mayflower,” of course!
Back to the Lafayette and why it is so much fun.
First of all, I’d heard about the hotel located on the very spot or very near the spot where those “first 48 men” stepped ashore in 1788. Generally, the reports about it were good. Although, one friend said the rooms were awfully small, even to the penthouse he and his stayed one night.
I decided on the Lafayette sight because because I wanted to stay in something besides the typical motel, the Holiday or Comfort Inn, type place, something put together by marketing firm or focus group.
And, the Lafayette turned out to be a wonderful choice.
First, when I called to make the reservation, the clerk offered a standard room at $65 per night and then when I hesitated just the slightest, she quickly offered a “cabin room” for $45 per night. Now that was my kind of price, though I did not know what a “cabin room” was and had never heard of anything like that related to a hotel or motel. The clerk might have told me it was small, but since I did not plan to spend much time in the room, size did not matter.
Well, as it turned out, the “cabin room” was perfect—no not just perfect, but fun! So was everything else about the Lafayette Hotel in Marietta, Ohio.
So, what is a cabin room?
It was a room just barely big enough for a double bed, and by that I mean the space between the walls on each side of the bed is small. Yet, seeing the bed itself, with a headboard that looks like a steamboat with two smoke stacks is coming right at you, made up for the size of the room.
So did the bathroom which was large, clean and even sparkled as light sparkled off all the tile on the floor and walls and the mirror!
What a nice room and bathroom they were and how clean, too!
Then there was the rest of the hotel, a really spacious lobby with furniture that looked brand new. From the lobby was a view right onto the Ohio River where the temptation was great just to sit in one of the comfortable chairs and just watch the river and the occasional towboat go by! Oh, what a nice past time to think about, again even now.
The lobby, my, what a nice lobby the Lafayette Hotel has.
The dinning room is a typical hotel dinning room, and I paid a bit more for breakfast there than I like to pay for breakfast. It was a good breakfast, though.
There also was a small room with a computer right off the dinning room that I conveniently used to check emails.
The hotel is named for the famous French general who helped the Americans win the American Revolution. He stopped at Marietta when he made his famous tour of the United States in 1824 and 1825 at the invitation of President James Monroe.
The French connection goes beyond the General Lafayette in Marietta, though. Marietta was named for Marie Antoinette the Queen of France who’d been particularly supportive of the American cause during its war for independence.
So, again, you can go way off to some exotic clime, or you can go some place like the Lafayette Hotel in Marietta, Ohio—and be really surprised at what a nice time you can have there.
And, by the way, there are several excellent museums in and around Marietta—in case you get tired of sitting in the lobby of the Lafayette Hotel and watching the towboats pass by on the Ohio River.

Art Where You'd Never, Ever Expect It--South Eastern New Mexico! Yahoo!

2009-06-23T20:58:00.013-04:00

If you are ever at or near Hobbs or Jal, New Mexico, look sharp. There is a lot to see that will wow you! South of Hobbs, maybe 35 or 47 miles, look carefully to your right as you travel to Jal. There, there on that ridge line, you will see a couple of cowboys herding some cattle. They look real.
Then go north of Hobbs, just north of the hospital and what is now the public golf course, and there, there on you left you will see a large airplane. Look closer and you might recognize a B-17 bomber of the World War II era and some of the plane's crew members standing under one of its wings. Look closely, and you will see an American flag to the right of the plane and a wind sock just off it's nose.
Then, if you get a chance, get to down town Hobbs and ask where the bar with the mural on the outside walls is. Find it, and you will certainly smile, maybe even laugh right out loud as I did. It almost like a small western town painted on the side of the bar, to include a saloon and whatever. Wow!
Oh, and, by the way, on your way out to see that B-17 bomber, look carefully, also to your right as you drive north. There on your left is a cowboy riding a horse and twirling a lariat over his head!
Well, the murals, as you can imagine, are just that the imagination of a remarkable artist who has long since gone no telling where. I lucked out and met her and her helper when they were painting the saloon and so forth on the walls of that bar. But, I haven't seen her since, and the fellow who owns the bar said he hadn't either.
"The Trail Ahead"
Oh, the cattle you see on that ridge line just north of Jal and south of Hobbs are not real cattle. They are metal sculptures called, "The Trail Ahead," by Brian Norwood of Jal. And, wow! How beautiful it is to see. And, if you stay long enough you will be aware of how though the sculptures do not actually move--the sky seems to change constantly to give the whole scene--400 feet long--a sometimes dramatic background.
That plane north of Hobbs is a metal sculpture, too. There is meaning to where it is, too. You see it stands on ground once used as an air base to train crews to fly the B-17. So, it is not only wonderful too look at now, but there is meaning for it.
That cowboy getting ready to throw his lariat rides his horse right next to the county museum and New Mexico Junior College. How nice to see, how nice all of it is to see!
So, if you ever get to Hobbs, look for these pieces of art that are right out there in the open for the whole world to enjoy.

Plane Crashes in Venezuela Rain Forest--But Wait There Are Flares! Maybe Survivors?

2009-06-23T20:51:00.009-04:00

Great luck with the Internet so far, so here goes again.
Probably 20 years ago a plane carrying six people, including a relative of the president of Venezuela, crashed in the rain forest in what must have been the southern part of the country. The airport the plane intended to land at was not far from the famed Angel Falls.
The story at the time was those on the ground at the airport heard the plane fly over, but visibility was so low no one could see the plane. And, no one on the plane could see the ground, let alone the airstrip.
The plane subsequently crashed in the rain forest.
Again, according to the the story, several times over successive nights crews of other airplanes flying over the same area reported seeing flares flashing into the sky. The view was survivors from the plane crash must have fired the flares.
Soon someone requested help from the US Air Force, and it dispatched a C-130 from Howard Air Base in Panama.
Once in Venezuela, The Air Force C-130 launched its search from the same air field that was the missing airplane’s destination.
There was some hope for success because on the plane's first pass, a crew member aboard the C-130 spotted what he thought to be a metal shard hanging from a tree. Encouraged and hoping the metal could be from the missing plane, the C-130 winged its way back and forth over that area over and over again. Crew members intently looked for the downed plane and, hopefully, its survivors.
If the US Air Force plane found the survivors, then a US Army Special Forces team stood by to be dropped in to give aid to people from the missing airplane.
Alas, no one saw that metal shard again or anything else to give them the slightest hint as to the location of the downed planed.
Finally, the C-130 aircraft commander decided further searching useless. He called off the search. The aircraft returned to Panama, and no one connected with the C-130 or the Air Force, at least, heard anything more about the missing plane and its passengers.
The question that still remains in my own mind is: were the people from that crashed airplane ever found—dead or alive? Does anyone have the slightest idea what happened to them—even any speculation as to what might have happened?
I was in Panama the time that Air Force aircraft made its search, and I was there a few years later with another Air Force plane when it stopped briefly at the airport in Caracas. I asked several people I met at that airport if they knew anything about that missing plane. None did, though I’m not sure anyone I spoke to really understood what I was talking about.
So, I post this on the web, in hopes that someone somewhere will solve this true mystery for me!
Thanks!

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, near Nashville, Tennessee

2007-04-12T21:17:00.001-04:00

March 25, 1862

Camp Near Nashville, Tennessee

Mrs. Smith,

I seat myself to drop you a few lines to let you know that I am in moderate health at present hoping when these few lines come to hand they may find you well and doing well. I would be glad to get a letter from you as I have not had one from you for some time. The last one I got from you was with a letter to Greer in answer to that I said I would send you some money, but owing to a lot of thieving devils who burned the cars and blowed up the locomotive, the only one running between Bowling Green and Nashville, I have not had a chance to send it, but will send it as soon as I can express it and get a receipt. There is one reason that I have not written sooner, but I think things will move on right after this so that I can send money and letters when I please and receive letters from you. We are laying in camp drilling once in a while. We have had some pretty cool weather for the last few days, but it is more pleasant today. I have no other news that is concerning the war. I sent a blanket home by express, which I suppose you will get before you get this letter. The reason that I sent it home is that I had two, and I had to get rid of one, and the Quartermaster would not take it and give me a receipt, and I thought that you could use it better than I could use it myself. So, myself and some others sent a lot home. I don’t know how long we will remain here but don’t think that we will stay long. Well I don’t care how long we stay or when we march. One thing certain is I want the Devils cleaned out and don’t care how soon it is done. Well Lizzie I come as near having nothing to write as ever you saw, but I will try to fill the sheet if I can. I forgot to tell you that I had a very sore mouth, so sore that I can hardly eat Uncle Sam’s biscuits. What the matter is more than I can tell, but I know that it is very sore. Lizzie if I had some change I would send you one dollar so that you could send me some stamps as I need them, but on the other hand I expect you need some money for yourself which I shall send you as soon as possible. I sent twenty dollars to town the other day, but the express agent would not receive and receipt for it owing to the train being destroyed. If there is any money comes to you for Phoebe Smith you will take care of it until you have the chance to give it to her. You must be carefully who you give it to to take to her. Well I have come to close and you must do the best you can, and I will do the same. I hope to see you soon. Give my respects to all friends and relation. Tell Leon to write.

S.T. Smith

Near Nashville, Tennessee, Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-03-03T16:02:00.001-05:00

March 16, 1862
Camp Andrew Johnson near Nashville, Tennessee

Mrs. Smith, Much Beloved Companion:

I seat myself to write you a few lines to let you know that I am in moderate health hoping these few lines may find you well and hearty. I received your letter dated the 10^th. I was glad to hear from you to hear that you were well and doing well. I don’t (want) you to work so hard any more as to make your side sore. You should work more moderate and as for that big cake of sugar and peaches I would like to have it. We are stationed at Nashville, and it is thought that we will stay here two or three weeks, but there is no telling about that as things are uncertain. If you got the last letter I wrote to you I suppose that there is some grub on the way to Nashville for me which I would like to have. Lizzie I have got some money at last after so long a time, and they say we will get some more pretty soon. I expect to send you $15 on the 20^th, and I will express it next Thursday as Lieut. Dean is gong to town on that day, and I will send some money and express it to you which I know will please you. Lizzie I have not got the pay or my boots yet, but I think I will get it. If I do I will send you $20, and if I don’t get it I cannot send you so much. We have had some wet weather for the last few days. Day before yesterday it rained all day and very hard and had better think that I wanted those boots that was sent to me that I never got as my toes are out. You wanted me to tell you about our marches, but I could not tell you in a week. If I were there I could tell you things that would make your eyes open which I hope I will have a chance before long. I think from all the news that the war will be over pretty soon. I learned that Pensacola and Manassas are both evacuated and if that be the case where are they going to do their fighting? We may have some very hard fights yet, but I don’t think so. But my thoughts are worth nothing in that particular. When we marched through Nashville some of the citizens said that we would march back the other way before tomorrow night. That was last Wednesday. This is Sunday, and we have not taken the back track yet nor I don’t think we will until we get ready. Lizzie when you get some money you must send me your picture and as for stamps you know that I need them and will have to stop writing unless I get some from home for there is no chance to get them here. Well I will have to close. You must do the best your can. I hope we will meet soon. Give respects to all. I remain your husband forever, Samuel T. Smith

Bowling Green, Kentucky, Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-02-19T21:36:00.000-05:00

March 6, 1862

Bowling Green, Kentucky

Mrs. Smith, Dearest and Most Precious Companion:

I am enjoying moderate health at this time. I am not as well as I was when I wrote you the last time as I have a small touch of diarrhea, but not very bad and I hope that it will not be very bad. When I wrote the last letter I was within four miles of Bowling Green, and now we are across the river about one mile beyond Bowling Green. Well Lizzie you ought to see the soldiers making mules of themselves pulling the wagons up the river bank. Since writing the above I received a letter from you and Tish and Abe which I was glad to hear from you all but sorry to hear of the sickness of Dock Wess. I wrote in my other letter for you not to send me anything to eat. I did not know when I would go nor I don’t know yet, but have an idea. I think we will go to Nashville, Tennessee, and if we go there you can send me something right straight as long as the railroad runs straight through with the exception of some of the bridges that the devils burned down. If you send me anything, send me an assortment of everything that you think will keep until I get it. If you send anything, you had better direct it to Nashville, Tennessee. If I had a stuffed hen today it would suit me fine. I have had nothing to eat of consequences for about four days. Don’t understand me that we have nothing at all, but I will tell you the provisions have been scanty which is always the case when we are on the march, and even if we have plenty all of the time I would still like to have something of your fixing up anyhow. Well Lizzie if you can send me a chicken or two and some peas and some cakes and fruits and such things, pitch-in. Leon can tell you how to direct it. If you send anything, send it as soon as you can as it is uncertain how long we will stay in one place. I understand we will get some money when we get to Nashville, and if I get any I will send some home forthwith and that will please you I know, and I know that it will please me. Lizzie I want you to send me some stamps if you can get them anyways for I am about out and when I get out writing will stop until I get some from home for there is no chance to get any here. I want you to send me a box of pills such as we use to get that is a kind that acts on the liver. Well Lizzie I will have to come to a close as I have written all that I can think of at this time and if I could think of ever so much I don’t feel like writing. Tell Tish and Abe that I don’t feel well enough to answer their letter at this time. Give them my best respects. Tell them I will write them a letter sometimes when I feel well enough. They can get the news that I have to write by reading this letter. You must excuse this letter for it is badly written. Lizzie you must do the best you can, and I will do the same. Give my respects to friends and relations. No more at present.
I remain your husband as ever,
Sam T. Smith

Bowling Green, Kentucky, Letters of Pvt.Sam Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry

2007-02-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

Feb. 27, 1862
Bowling Green, Kentucky

Mrs. Smith, Dear Wife,

I am happy to inform you that I am well at present hoping when these few lines come to hand they may find you well and dong well. I received your letter about a week ago, but I have not wrote to you before now as we have been on the march. I wrote to you to send me something to eat, but you need not send it as there will not be much chance to get it. I am getting further off, and it is uncertain whether it would come or not for I don’t know where we are going. You said in your letter that you would like to send some warm coffee and biscuits and corn bread and sweet mil, but that would be too nice. You had better think I could wade up to my chin if I could get something of that kind, but, however, I think Uncle Sam’s biscuits are first rate. You said that you had written a part of that letter yourself that is from the black mark and you wanted to know if how I liked it very well. I could read it straight along, but there was some bad spelling and some very bad letters, but I could make it out very well. The main part of writing is to spell every word right, and you should take particular pains to learn to spell every word right When you set down to write you should have a book that is a spelling book or dictionary to look at and when you come to a word that you don’t know how to spell look at the book and see how it is spelled. I want you to take pains and write as good as you can and spell as good as you can and write your own letters. I can read your writing now, and if you will try and take pains, I can read it better. You have no idea how much good it does me to know that you can write as well as you can. You said that you wanted me to send myself to you in a letter, but I would much better send myself on the cars and other ways of transportation until we could meet face to face, but that will not be for a while yet, and perhaps, never, but I shall live in hope as long as I do live. You said in a letter that you sent by Josh Brazelton that you wanted me to send you all the money that I could spare. I am sorry to say that I have not no money yet, and confound my buttons if I know when I will, but when I get some I will send it to you. If you have not got the money borrow it from someone I have now four months pay coming to me now, and when I get it I can square the bill, and if you send me some stamps it will suit me for I am about out. I can write some more letters and then I will be done until I get stamps. So, I will have to close my letter as this sheet is all scribbled over. Give my respects to all friends and relations and to Mr. Howe. No more at present. I am remain your husband until death.

Sam T. Smith

Camp Wickliffe, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-02-01T20:13:00.001-05:00

February 9, 1862

Camp Wickliffe, Kentucky

Mrs.Smith, My Dearest and Beloved Companion

I am well at this present time hoping when thse few lines come to hand they may find you and the children well and hearty. I have not recieved a letter from you for some time. When the mail comes in of an eveing I look with anxious eyes, but when the letters are called there is none for S.T. Smith it makes me very sad to think that I cannot get a letter from you nor any one else. I am certain that I have written three letters to you that I have not got answers to yet, and Leon never thinks about writing. I don't think I have got a letter from him in a long time. If you all knew how much good it did me to read a letter, you would write oftener than you do. If you have nothing to write only that you are well and your named signed to it it would do me a great deal of good. I have nothing of interest to write, but I will do the best I can. I have not recieved my boots and socks yet. Now I don't expect to get them. I am going to try to get the pay for them. I want Leon to make me another pair as quick as he can and send them to me. If he will direct them as I have told him they will come through safe. And I would like for you to send me some more socks as I did not get them that you did send. Some low retch I guess is keeping his nasty dirty feet warm with the socks and the boots that I ought to have had two weeks ago. They came to New Haven the 16th of last month and the sutter of the Regiment recieved and receipted for them and that is the last of them. I sent to the Express Agent and got a certificate showing that he did get them, and I am going to try to make him pay for them. If you would send me something to eat when Leon sends my boots it would please me very much even if it was nothing more than some dried peaches or anything in the way of something that would keep until it would get here. If you have plenty of provisions send me something, and if you have not, keep what you have got and get all you can for I have plenty such as it is, but I would like to have somethig new. We have a change of diet here Coffee and Crackers and bacon for breakfast, for dinner Bacon, coffeee and crackers and for Super we have coffee, bacon and crackers. Sometimes beef and sometimes we get two messes of potatoes per week. All these changes of grubb (are) nourishing and healthy and there's plenty of it, and I am able to partake of it when it comes around. So I have no right to complain, but if I could get something from you, it would be very pleasant. Tell Uncle Milton if he will send me two or three plugs of the best Virginia tobacco I will pay him the first opportunity as the article is very high here and none very good at that. i want you to go to Wee Shorts and get me a dose of pills and send them to me. I want a good many of them. Have them put in a tin or some other strong box. The pills tht I want is the kind we use to get there that act on the liver. I want directions on how to take them. They don't have any medicine that I will take,

Signed: Sam T. Smith

Camp Wickliffe, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-23T22:40:00.000-05:00

January 28, 1862
Camp Wickliffe, Kentucky
Mrs. Smith,
Dear Wife:

I am thankful that I can sit down to write to you to let you know that Iam well at present hoping when these few lines come to hand they may find you enjoying the same blessing. I recieved your letter dated January 234d which made me glad. I am glad to hear from you often. You wanted to know of me if I had to drill when I was sick. I have never missed a drill yet for I have not been so sick but what I could do duty when I was called upon. The boys either have to drill or got to the doctor and be excused which I never have had to do yet but don't know how soon I may have to go there. I hope not soon because that is not very pleasant. As for the boots for Pete I wrote an order in a letter that I wrote to you for him to make just such a pair as me made me but you certainly did not get the letter. But I will write a letter to him and send with this and you can give it to him. The boots that were sent to me I have not got yet and I am afraid that I will not get them. I can't get a letter from Leon to know anything about them. I need them and would like to have them for I don not like to loose the pay for them and not get them or I would not have sent for them. You said that you had understood that we had moved from where we are but that is a mistake and I don't know when we will move and don't care. I was sorry to hear that you had to quit going to school for I am anxious that you should learnto write letters for yourself and also to read the same that I send you. I know that you can learn if you will try.

You said that you had heard that there had been a battle at Somorset but it was not there but was about three miles from that place. I was very glad hear that myself to hear that old PUlaski is cleaned out and to hear that the Old Devil Yolicoffer was killed. It may look bad for a man to be glad to hear of the death of a man but it does me good to hear of the death of a traiter. I will think that he got a traiter's death which I think that was a great many of thatm will get before this war is over. Well Lizzie you can see that I will soon have to quit. You must do the best you can and if I cannot get my boots I will have to do without them. Give my respects to all enquiring friends and relation. So no more at present, I remain your huband until death, write soon,

Signed: S.T. Smith.

Camp Wickliffe, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-21T22:42:00.000-05:00

January 17, 1862
Camp Wickliffe
Larue County, Kentucky

Mrs. Smith, Dearest Companion:

I am well as could be expected however I am not sick but feel like I would like to have a little rest. I received your letter of the 11th of January. I was glad to hear from you as I am glad to hear from you any time. You said that you had heard that we had the smallpox in the Regiment. I suppose that such is the case but I can't tell for there are so many tales in Camp I can't tell when to believe the truth. We have all been vaccinated. I had the matter put into my arm and it made a right smart sore but is now about well. Pete has a tolerable sore arm yet. You said that you were going to start my boots the day after you wrote to me, but I have not got them yet but I think I will pretty soon, if they were directed right which I suppose they were. They would be very acceptable as it is a little muddy at times but not so muddy as it was in Virginia, which is the last place that I want to go to again. As far as taking care of myself if I get the small pox that I will try to do. I don't think that if I were to take it that it would be very hard with me provided I could take care of myself as I had a good sore from vaccination. However, there is no telling. And your likeness I want certain as soon as possible. You said that you dreamed that Dock Beard hugged you. That may be the case for what I know and if it should be the case it would be no difference if I did not know it. As for dreaming I have not dreamed of you but once or twice since I left home. You might suppose that I do not think of you often but God bless your soul. I don't dream of you but you are in my mind all the time. There is not one hour in the day nor night when I am awake but what I think of you and the children. You said that you had started to school to learn to write so that you can write your own letters. That suits me very well. If you have money to pay your school bill and you will try to learn, I know that you can learn if you will try. See how soon you can write me a letter with your own fingers. Now is the chance for you to learn. I want you to make those drawers that I spoke to you about making in a letter that you have in your possession at this time probably that is if Leon makes those boots for Pete so that you can send them together and if you think that you can make them and get them to me. Make them and send them anyhow I want you to. How much money do you have on hand or whether any or not and how long you think it will last. We have not drawn our pay yet which I think is time. I want to know something about the wood whether you have enough to do you through the winter and whether it is paid for or not. I was in the hopes that I could get a letter from Mr. Helmer so that he could tell me all about, but it seems as thought I will not get one from him. Lizzie I want you to keep everything strait. The boys that you are acquainted with I think are well. Lieut. Dean is well. Give my respects to all friends and relation. Tell Abe that it is not much use for me to write to him as he can read your letters and get all the news that I have. Write no more at present but I remain your husband until death,

Signed: Sam T. Smith

Camp Wickliffe, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-20T16:05:00.000-05:00

January 15, 1862
Camp Wickliffe, Kentucky

Mrs. Smith:

Dear Wife Through the kind mercies of God I am permitted to write you a few lines which leaves me enjoying good health and I hope when these few lines come to hand they may find you well and doing well. I received your letter which was dated the 9th which made me glad to hear from to know that you are well. You wanted me not to say anything to Short about the price of port that you bought of him. I have said nothing about it nor did not intend to either but I thought he would let you have it some cheaper. You said that you had not had your likeness taken yet. I am anxious to get that if you get it taken before Leon gets those boots made send it by mail. If you have it taken about the time he gets ready to send them send it with the boots. I wrote in the last letter for you to send me two pair of drawers which I want you to send them without fail. I also wrote to know how much money you had. I expect we will draw our pay in a few days. The talk is that we will get it tomorrow but I don't think so but there is no telling. I know one thing, I don't care how soon I get mine. Lieutenant Dean is in tolerable health at present. He is not as well as he has been sometime before. We are having some old Virginia as it is raining today. It has not rained seven days in each week and one day as yet. We had some snow Tuesday night. The snow was about two inches deep. I came the nearest to having nothing to write you that I ever saw. That is I mean something of interest. I could sit down and write tales that I hear and fill a dozen sheets but that would be of no interest to you. If you knew as much about Camp Tales as I do. Lizzie I want you to do the best you can. Send me the socks, drawers and your likeness. Tell Leon to hurry and make them boots if he doesn't have them made by the time you get this letter. I expect that if you get this letter before he sends them boots he had better pay the expressage and direct them to New Haven so I will come to a close. Give my respects to all friends and relation, I remain your husband until death, Write soon.

Signed: S.T. Smith

Camp Wickliffe, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-19T19:16:00.000-05:00

January 1, 1862
Camp Wickliffe,
Larue County, Kentucky

Mrs. Elizabeth Smith:

I am well at present hoping when these few lines come to your hands they may find you enjoying the same blessings. I recieved your letter Monday night dated the 20th of December. I was very glad to hear from you. I recieved the lock of hair that you sent me which pleased me very much and the letters that my children so dear sent me. You wanted to know of me if I wanted any mittens. I can tell you that I don't need them as I have a good pair of gloves. I paid just two dollars for them let them be good or bad I would like for you to knit me two pairs of socks and send me if you have the materials, as the socks that I get here are not worth much of any thing. I brought one pair the other day of old Kentucky knit. I paid twenty five cents for them. You also wanted to know whether I had warm clothes or whether I needed any bed cloths. The cloths that Sam is wearing at present is warm enough for the weather so far and as for the blankets I have plenty of them at least as many as I can manage. I have two that will weigh about six pounds each, and those I have to pack on my back. The next cloths that I get will be some heavier. We have had some of the finest weather here that I ever saw for this time of year. We had a little snow on Sunday night after we got to Louisville. It lay on the ground one or two days and then we had fair weather all the time except a little squall and cool nights. It is not here like it was in Virginia. Sun shines every day in a week and one day of week it rained in Virginia. We have good tents. They are about fifteen feet wide at the bottom and about the same high end right around and so arrainged that we can have a fire in them and keep warm. It looks some like rain today and it is warm and pleasant. I expect we will have some bad weather I guess. I known that just because you have cold wather there is no sign that we will have the same. Lizzie you said that you had a very nice time at Christmas. So did I standing guard though if I can call that nice. I would like to have been there with you. You said that you women all flocked together like a flock of geese and talked about your men that had gone to war. Lizzie I would like to be somewhere there when you were all talking so you did not know that I was there for awhile I guess you can't flock with Miss Chaney but perhaps I may guess wrong, if I do you can tell me. You said that you had plenty to eat and to ware. I am glad to hear that for I have plenty myself with the exception of some rare times. I would not like to have plenty to eat myself and my family at home suffering for want of something to eat. It is bad enough to be away from them and to know that they are doing well. Lizzie I want you to have your picture taken and send it to me as soon as you can. I wrote to Leon to make me a pair of boots and send to me. Tell him to make them without fail and to make them on his Stoga tens. Don't fail to tell him and tell him to put them up forthwith as I don't know how long we will stay here. I am satisfied that he will not loose anything by so doing. Lizzie I think I am as hearty as I ever was and it would do you good if you were here to watch me eat. Uncle Sam's biscuits, such as the one I sent Leon, and that was a good one, to some that I have eaten. I will write more on another sheet. (next page missing) by of him let him go to Texas and pay your moment to someone that you think will not swindle you because they have the chance. For I want the money that I send home to do you some good or else I will not send it. I earned it hard and when I get it and send it home it is harder for men to swindle you out of it because they can. You wanted me to tell him about it the next time I wrote to him. I don't know whether I will or not. You said that you would not have the money to spare to pay Worley. If you don't have it to spare don't pay him but manage to pay Mr. Helmer for the wood that he has hauled for you as I represented him to furnish you the wood, and he said he should have the money for it and I want to be as good as my word. You said that there was nothing strange happened but you would like to see me. It would be very pleasant if we could if we could see each other. I want you to tell me something about Sarah. I have not heard any thing of her for sometime and give her my bet wishes. I will not get to be at home Christmas but I will (be?) some where I guess. I would like to be there if I would come, but however it will do some other time. Well Lizzie I want you to have your picture taken while you are so fleshy if you have the chance. If there is not artist there go to Bedford get a good picture and send it to me by mail. Get some one to fix it up for you and postage will cost 12 or 15 cents. I will have to close. Give my respects to all friends that are friends in deed, I remain your husband:

Signed: Sam T. Smith

New Haven, Ky., Letters of Pvt. Sam Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Civil War

2007-01-18T20:04:00.001-05:00

December 15, 1861

New Haven, Kentucky

Dear Wife:

I am well at present hoping these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. I received your letter the other night by mail and one before that by the hands of T.C. Price. I was glad to hear that you were well. You said that if I would come home Christmas you would have a turkey. Such, howsoever, would suit me first rate, but no go as we are on the march for some unknown part to me. But one thing is certain we will go somewhere. I expect that we will meet General Buckner some of these days, but no telling. Lizzie I came the nearest having nothing to write that I saw, but if I was there I could tell you a few things that you don't know. You said that you had subscribed for some tomb stones and you like to know what I have to say about it. As far as I am concerned I have no objections. If you get the right kind and they don't cost too much. You said the price was six dollars. I cannot tell whether that will be too much, or not owing to the quality. I received a letter from Leon the other day. He says that you look better than you did when I left. I am pleased to learn that you are in so good health. Better that way then to be moping around like the dead lice was dropping off of you. I think that I will weight more now than I did when I left home. I weighed in Virginia 12 pounds more than I did when I left home. Lizzie hold up your head as though I was there. Sometime you know you would like for me to be there but live in hope. Give my respects to all enquiring friends and relation. Kiss Ellen and Joe for me. I remain your husband,

Signed: S.T. Smith

Near Louisville, Ky. On the Way to Missionary Ridge, Letters of Pvt. Sam Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-17T21:59:00.000-05:00

December 8, 1861
Camp Buell
Near Louisville, Ky.

Mrs. Smith:

I am well at present hoping these lines may find you well and doing well. You said that you were glad when you heard I was going to leave the mountains. You were no more pleased that I was. When I landed here things looked strange to me to see the sun when it raised. It was so low. We have fine weather here. At this time it looks more like summer now than it did in August in Virginia. Although it does look some like rain at this time. I received a letter from you and Abe yesterday which pleased me some, but I would have been better pleased if I could come home. But impossible at present. Lizzie I have very near looked my eyes out. I looked so steady for some folks from Springville, but they do not come. There were some folks from Martin County and Green County, and I think that some of the Springvillians might have come, but I think they have a pickarine to well. I don't know another reason. Give me a chance they have and see if I don't come and see them. Garett Browning is here today. I could name several that has been here. They thought enough of their friends. But if any wanted to come now it is too late as I understand that we are under marching orders tomorrow morning but where to I cannot tell, but it is somewhere South of here. They say that there are some Rebels there that we have to take a peep at. Doctor Pendley is at New Albany sick at the hospital, and I can't get a chance to go and see him. I received a letter from Short day before yesterday, which made me glad to get a letter any time, but I get very few of them. I am sure that I write more than I get answers to. I am glad that you got those apples and towels, but sorry that one of the packages of them was broke to pieces. It made me laugh when I heard that Ellen snatched the largest one and said that it was mine. Lizzie I want you to write me and tell me all about everything and if you have money to spare I want you to pay B. Worley five dollars. If you can't pay him that much pay him what you can and oblige me. But if you have none to spare keep it all for yourself. I will send money home as I draw it if an opportunity presents itself. Lizzie I want you to take good care of yourself and the children and let us live in a way so that if we never meet in this world again that we may meet in a better world where there is no trouble nor war but peace and happiness, no Rebels to oppose us or to raise with their arms against us. May the time come that they may be bound down hand and foot, but may the Stars and Strips wave over the land of the free and all over these United States. That all traitors may get what is due them. I will have to come to a close as I have not much room. Give my respects to all enquiring friends and relation. May God bless you all. Be of good Cheer as we don't know whether we will see each other soon and perhaps never but live in hope. I still remain your husband,
Signed: S.T. Smith to E. Smith

Louisville, Kentucky, on the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry

2007-01-16T20:11:00.000-05:00

December 4, 1861
Louisville, Ky.

My Dearest Wife:

I am well at present hoping these few lines will find you enjoying the same. I received your letter dated November, ---- and was glad to hear from you. Only a part of our Regiment were sent here (several lines were so dim that they could not read). Lizzie those apples that I bought are for you; one for Joe, One for Ellen and the rest for you. Use them in any way that you want to. Give my regards to all enquiring friends and relation. Write your letters to me and be sure to spell out the State of Kentucky in full. I remain your husband until death separates us.

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Huttenville, Virginia, on the way to Missionary Ridge, Civil War Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-15T09:59:00.000-05:00

November 18, 1861

Huttenville, Virginia

My Dear Companion:

I received your letter of the 11th yesterday which made me glad to hear from you, to hear that you and the children were well. I am well at this time hoping these few lines will find you enjoying the same blessing. We have some muddy weather. The mud is from three inches to one foot deep. The snow is about five inches deep. It is tolerable cold here and we (do not?) have our winter quarters yet and don't suppose that we will build any here. Some say that we will leave here tomorrow designated to Covington, Kentucky. I have heard many tales and I don't know whether we will leave here or not. I can tell my by ten O'Clock tomrorow. We will leave here tomorrow or next day. I think but will find out by waiting the result. You spoke about the man would fix a house for to live in if you would live in it. And you want to know what I think about it. I can say that I don't know what to think. You can tell whether it will suit you or not and as for the better. I can't tell what would be the best. If you think you can do any better you can try it. As far as I am concerned, be sure that it will be the best and that you can fare any better than you can in town and that you will have to be your own judge about that as far as my own say. I have not a word to day, so that you are satisfied, unless it will discomode Mr. Helmer as I wrote him to engage wood for you this winter and as to the money that I told you to let Phebe have if she don't need it nor won't have it you can keep it and I can pay the account to Pete myself that I received of him. I have not drawn any more money yet nor do I don't known when I will. If we leave here tomorrow it may be several days yet. Lizzie, If I were there you would be satisfied to live where you are but as I am not you can live where you thing you will be the best satisfied, but always look before you jump. Be sure that you don't jump into a ditch as one that is blind would do. Lizzie I am here and don't know where I will see you whether or not, but I must remain in the service as long as Uncle Sam has need of me. If I should live and keep well so that I am able to eat my shingles. If I ever come home I will bring a speciment of the bread that I have had to live upon sence I have been in Virginia. Pete is well and hardy and fleshy and is well and satisfied. Josh Brazelton and Leaner Dowell are still stick at the hospital. P.O. Greer is well and hardy. Nathe Unright and Davis are well and hearty.

Your husband, Sam Smith

Hublerville, Randolph County, Va., Civil War Letters of Pvt. Sam Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment - On the Way to Missionary Ridge

2007-01-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

October 30, 1861

Hublerville, Randolph Co., Va.

My Dearest Companion:

I recieved your letter dated the 20th of October, which gave me much satisfaction to hear from you. I am well at present and hope these few lines may find you well and doing well. I have just come in Camp off of the road. You spoke of being at Bill's stripping cane and that you had been sewing for money. Work will not hurt anyone if you do not work too hard. I think that you have got some money before this time so that you can get some wood and flour without working so hard but you need not quit working because I sent you some money. I sent you $20.00 to Milton Shorts by Express and I sent $20.000 to you by C.G. Barry that you will get in a day or two. I want you to let Phebe have $10 of that, and I will send you some more the first chance I will get. I will get two months pay pretty soon. I wrote to Mr. Helmer to get you your winter wood. You will save as much money as you can to pay for it. You say that Robersons called you a lair. Pay as little attention to them as possible. Conduct yourself in a way that everyone there can see whether you are a lair or not and if they keep throwing out their slang to you write me all about it and tell me what they say and I will see if I can hit them a dab or two. I don't think that liars were made until Robertson Family was made. Keep Joe away from them as you say they wanted you to do. I may be at home some time when they are not looking for me. They think that because I am here in Virginia that I will never be at home any more, that they can do as they please. While that might be the case but it is to be hoped for the better. I hope to see you some time before long and won't that be something nice. I would hate to be in Andy's place. That did look nice for a stay didn't it. Poor things. I feel sorry for them. Try and do a thing that they could not, and get caught at it besides that was a pity that is worse than I would do myself. Pete is well and hardy. Everything is quiet here at present. We are beginning to have some cold weather here, but not so cold but what we can sleep in our tents. I think that we will get out of here sometime but can't tell how long. I would like to be in a country where the sun can shine on us before noon. Lizzie I must come to close soon as I have not much room. I want you to do the best you can. Save your money to the best advantage. Give my love to who might enquire. Write soon, I remain your husband,

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith.

On the way to Missionary Ridge, Letters of Private Sam T. Smith 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment, in Berber County Virginia

2007-01-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

October 27, 1861
Beverly,
Berber County, Virginia
My Dear Wife:

I take the opportunity to drop you a few lines to let you know that I am well at present hoping these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. I am about 18 miles from Camp with some others working the road and have been for 12 days and don't know how much longer we will be out yet and I don't care for we have plenty to eat and don't have to work very hard. Lizzie I sent $20.00 to you in treasury notes by express and I suppose that you have got by this time. I started $20 in gold by Charles G. Berry that you will get next week. I want you to see Phebe Smith and if she need some money let her have $10.00 and write and let me know whether she gets it or not. Pete is well and out on the road with us. I want you to take care of the money that I send you and not spend it for nothing only what you really need. I wrote a letter to Mr. Helmer the other day and told him to engage your winter's wood. I told him to engage 16 cord. I think he had better get 18. Tell him to not take it by the load but have it well corded either in the woods or at the wood pile. I think I can send you some more money soon. I have nothing of interest to write as there is no more on either side taking place. We are beginning to have some tolerable cold weather in Virginia. Not so cold that we suffer very much. I think that it will be so shortly. Lizzie I want to write often for I have not from you for some time. Write and tell me what has become of L.S. Smith. He certainly has gone up for 90 days as I can't hear from him. There is one thing certain, if he doesn't want to write to me he can let it alone. I wrote to him a good spell ago and if he did not et the letter, I can excuse him for not writing I have written all that I have for this time so I will come to a close. Give my respect to all enquiring friends and relation. Lizzie take care of yourself. Kiss Joe and Ellen for me. So nothing more at present, but I remain your husband until death,

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

P.S. Since writing the above, I recieved a letter from you which gave me some satisfaction. You said that you understood that I had nothing to eat, but I have plenty such as it is. What I have to eat will stick to the ribs and that is good enough. You said that Leon had written to me, but I have not recieved it nor the envelope, but I have plenty of them at this time. You said that if I would come home you would cook something for me to eat. That would suit Sam.you might guess. Pete said for you to let Phebe have that money whether she needed it or not. See her as quick as possible and give it to her. Write soon and often. I would like for you to write every mail, Yours with truly, Sam

Letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment from West Virginia 1861

2007-01-10T20:26:00.000-05:00

September 21, 1861
Camp Elkfork
Randolph County, Va.

Dear Wife,

I am not very well at this time having caught a great deal of cold and today I have a considerable pain my right shoulder, which feels like rheumatism. I am not so bad but what I can go around. I received a letter from you yesterday which was not unwelcomed for when it is so long before I get a letter from you I take the blues. You stated in your letter that you were drying fruit and you would like to have me there to eat some with you. Can guess whether it would suit me or not. There is no fruit in this country worth naming and what is here is not ripe. You also wrote to me that they got a letter from W.S. Cook in which he stated that they were within three miles of the rebels. I can inform you that I have been within a mile and perhaps a mile and a half. Company F and D were on picket eight about 8 miles from our Camp, when one morning they commenced firing on our pickets. There were two men from each company sent out to assist them but they proved to be too strong for them. There was about 20 to 8. They killed one man in Company F and wounded three in Company D. Their sixty were advanced guards. Behind them there was a force of about three or four thousand. Consequently, we had to fall back to our Camp. They came on down within two miles of our Camp. We expected a fight every hour. Every man that was able had to beat his post night day for about three days. They finally concluded they could see just as well a little off and fell back to their old camp. So we have not had a fight yet and I have no idea when we will. We are pretty well fortified. One of the prisoners that was brought in the other day says that all hell could not come through here. I am of the opinion if they were to try it the would have a nice old time of it, but they will not try it I don't think as to the force of men and cannon we have here. It is not prudent for me to state. I really don't know the exact number of each but I don't think there has been three weeks of fair weather since we come in the State. Put it all together I could tell you a great number of things if I only was with you a while. They say that the Rebels have got up confusion among themselves. I understand that they had a fight among themselves, killing several of them. I received a letter from father yesterday. It gave me some satisfaction to learn his sentiments on this question. I will send it to you and you can get someone to read it for you. If there is anyone there scholory enought to read it and make sense of and then hand it to Milton Short perhaps it will be interesting to him. Give my respects to him and his family. I want you to tell Leon to write to me for I wrote to him sometime ago and have not recieved an answer. If he knew how glad I would be to get a letter he would write. I think I could read a letter from anyone there with gladness except one that is there. Lizzie kiss Joe and Ella for me. Give my respects to all friends and relation. My kindest affections for yourself. I remain your husband, until death.

S.T. Smith to e. Smith

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-09T19:42:00.000-05:00

(to really appreciate these letters, start at the beginning of these letters. Scroll down! I have presented these letters just as Pvt. Smith wrote them. He seldom had stationary, so he wrote on any paper he could find, including wall paper. In these letters about his duty in then Virginia, now West Virginia, realize he and the other soldiers faced harsh mounain weather to include cold, rain and sleet--often without tents and with only, maybe a blanket. Anyway read them all as I present them. You will come to like Pvt. Smith.)
August 28, 1961

Elk Fork Camp

Randolph County, Va.

My Dear Wife:

I recieved yours of the 15th that gave me great satisfaction to know that you were all well and the stamps that you sent me. They looked as large to me as five dollar bills, almost. I am in tolerable health at present. I don't think that I am as heavy as I was when I left by 10 or 15 pounds. I know that I am not as stout as by a good deal. I have been on duty all the time when I was called on. You wrote too that you had written for my state pay. I would be glad that you could get it, but that will be impossible. I guess that I will have to recieve it myself and receipt for the same. If I knew who the paymaster would be perhaps I could fix so you could get it as I would rather you would have it than myself. As I think it very near impossible to send money home, specially any amount worth naming, as it is very uncertain sending oney from here home. I would not mind to send a dollar at a time but that would not do you much good. If I had the chance you would get my wedges as fast as I could get them myself as you need the money and I don't. I expect to get some money pretty soon and if I have any chance to send it to you I will do so. It may be that Pete, myself and Joe Greer may get a check and send it here to be divided among you. I have not said anything to either of them but I think it would suit them both. I may get my state pay when I get my first pay from the United States, but I don't know whether I will or not. I would rather you get it than for it to come here. We have not had a fight yet. I understand that one Company run themselves in danger today but got out safe, I think. I understand that there is a part of General Lee's troops that worked way back between us and Clarksburg to try to cut off our supplies, but we will catch them at it. I now got orders to have my gun in trim tonight as they don't know but what we will have to go out on double quick. If they want anything out of us let them pitch in, we will give the best we have. We have seven pieces of cannon here at this time. There are so many lies in Camp that I don't believe anything I hear. It is the greatest place to manufacture lies that I ever saw. There is some more weary news about going home in Camp this evening, but as for my part, I am easy about it, but I don't think we will come home until the war is over. Lizzie you must be cheerful, hold up your head as though you were not alone. Give my respects to all friends and relation. Tell Joe to be a good boy. No more at present, but remember your husband,

Signed: Sam T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-08T19:43:00.000-05:00

August 19, 1861

Elk Fork Camp

Tygret Valley, Virginia

My Dear Wife:

I take the opportunity to write to you again not being satisfied with what I wrote in Leon's letter. I am well at this time hoping these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. We are laying here without a fight yet. We are still throwing up fortifications yet. I have nothing of importance to write as nothing of note has transpired. Josh Brazelton is sick at the hospital. A.J. Wilson is sick and is there too. They (say) he will die. The most of the boys in our Company are well. Lieutenant Dean is laying behind me, gasing with some of the boys. The talk is going around the Camp about coming home in three months from the time we ware mustered in the service, but as for my part, I don't know anything about it, nor I don't care anything about it. If we come home, we will be there and if we don't we will not, that is one thing I have to say. Send me some stamps, if there is any possible chance as it is impossible to get them. I wrote to Leon to send me some and you can find out whether he will or not and if he doesn't I want you to send me some, if you can. I expect to get 2 stamps to pay this letter and one to father, by paying him ten cents for them. The day of drawing pay is the first of September and if the stamps come, I will pay you or Leon, which one sends them. We have to pay high for paper, but we can get that. I am writing in good time for our Company has to go out on picket tomorrow at ten O'Clock, which will not give me much time to write. I want you to tell Leon to write and tell him how to direct his letter as I did not tell him myself. That is one thing I forgot. I want you to tell all my friends and relatives especially Mr. Shivelys family to write. Tell them to write just as many letters as they please. It won't make me mad. I would write to them and a good many others if I had anything to pay postage. Tell R.V. Short to write to me as I wrote the last letter. There is not using of talking for I would like to see you all of the folks, but I am doing very well. Give my respects to all enquiring friends and relatives. I will add no more at present, but remain your husband,

Signed: S.T. Smith to Mrs. E. Smith

P.S. I want you to write whether you got my carpet sack or not all the things in it and whether you got the things that was in the box and whether the cloths were distributed among them that the belonged. Yours with respect,

Samuel Smith to Elizabeth Smith

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-07T17:46:00.000-05:00

(editor's note: read these letters from the beginning, May 10, 1861 to really get an idea of what it was to be a soldier during the American Civil War.)

July 10, 1861

Buchannon, Virginia

Dear Wife:

I take the opportunity to inform you that I am well at present. We landed here yesterday after a march of 28 miles. We were two days marching that distance. We had a company of Scouts of fifty men ahed of us and they took in a secessionist prisoner. As to the length of time we will stay here is beyond my knowledge. I don't think we will stay here long. I was one of a company of Scouts started out last night to take a secessionist, but we could not get any pilet to guide and we had to go back to camp. We don't have as nice time as we had at Lafayette and Indianapolis. We have to march through the rain and mud and eat pilot bread. Some of the boys think it hard living. They curse and swear to all destruction. There are several boys sick with the measles. There is one man they think might die, he is very bad sick. I know that there is one Captain in the Regiment that thinks that in less than three weeks we will be discharged,but for my part I don't think none of them knows, but as for as my part, I can't tell. I heard some of the boys say that about half of the Regiment would march tomorrow as a kind of Scouting Party and whether I will be one of the I don't know but I will not stand back an inch. They will be selected out of the stoutest men in the Regiment and I feel as stout as jack. I heard today that a cessionist was shot a day or two ago. It was said to be reliable he was badly wounded. he was going round making speeches trying to collect more men and some of the witnesses pluged it to him, which wa a Christian act. I have not received any pay yet, but I would like to have some as I need it very badly. I have not heard from you in a long time. I would be glad to hear from you and hear that you are well and all are doing well. May God bless you in my absents. I think of you often. There is about four or five hundred miles between us at this time which makes me thank of you with sadness. You must look to God as your helper and kind protector. I will add no more but remain your husband until death,

Signed: S.T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

At the top of this letter printed is this statement: "To arms! To arms, ye brave! The avenging sword unsheath; March on; march on! all hearts resolved in liberty or death!"

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-06T20:36:00.001-05:00

(Editor's note: these letters begin on April 20, 1861. To get the true sense of Sam and how his military service began, go to that letter.)

July 3, 1861
Camp Clay, Ohio
Near Cincinnati

Dear Wife:

I am well at present hoping these few lines may find you all well. We left Indianapolis, Indiana last Monday and landed her Tuesday. We were received very kindly at Cincinnati. When we got there the citizens had breakfast ready for us. there were two Regiments who ate there. It appeared that they could not be kind enough to us. When we were done eating they said for us to fill our haver sacks full for there was plenty. When we will leave here I can not tell. We have got no money yet. We are camped on the brink of the Ohio River. I can look across the river and see my native State. I have not seen any secessionist yet. I have nothing more of importance to write until next time. You need not write until I tell you to. Give my bet respects to all enquiring friends and relation. I want you to keep in good spirits for you know how things may turn up as well as I do. No more at present but remain your husband,

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

On the way to Missionary Ridge, letters of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-05T19:30:00.000-05:00

June 29, 1861

Indianapolis, Indiana

Dear Wife:

I am well at present hoping these few lines may find you all well. We have marching orders. We will leave tomarrow at two O'Clock P.M. for Grafton, Virginia. I will send my carpet sack home. It is directed to L.L. Smith. There is two shirts and a pair of drawers in it for Peter. I will tie the string to the key and tie the other end to one of the handles and will drop it inside and you press the jaws open and take it out. I have not time for writing for it is ten O'Clock and we are getting our equipements to night. I want you to keep perfectly cool as if there was nothing transpired. Remember me and pray for me nightly. And take good care of Joe and Ellen. You must excuse this writing for I am in a hurry. You need not write until I write you. No more at present but remain your husband until death,

Signed: S.T. Smith to Mrs. E. Smith

June 16, 1861

Camp Tippecanoe

Lafayette, Indiana

Dear Wife:
I am well at this time and I hope these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessings. I have nothing of important to write. We were mustered int the United States Service last Friday, but J.E. Dean is not our Captain. The General had appointed one Mr. White a very clever man I guess but doesn't know beans as far as military affairs is concerned. Jerry is First Lieutenant. It seems to me that I have no home since I left. I will not forget you all soon. May God be with you forever is my solomen sentiment. I want you to be cheerful as if there had nothing taken place but remember me as I don't expect to see you soon. We will get our uniforms tomorrow or next day. Give my respects to all enquiring friends. I remain your husband.

Signed: Sam T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith
P.S. I will send that stamp to Meck Robertson, S.T. Smith

May 25, 1861

Indianapolis, Indiana

Mrs. Smith:

Dear Wife, I am well at this time and I hope these few lines may find you well. We left Lafayette yesterday and came to this place. It is uncertain how long we will stay here. There is some talk that we will leave here next Monday as to the certainty I don't know. There is one Regiment of the Brigade that is gone already. Tell Leon to distribute these cloths to them that they are sent the familys. That picture you will get. I received those pictures you sent to me. I was glad to get them. I have nothing to write but remain your husband until death.

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Letters from Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

May 24, 1861

Camp Tippecanoe

Lafayette, Indiana

My Dear Wife:

I received your letter yesterday which gave me great satisfaction to know that you are all well. I am well and I would be thankful to know that these few lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. You must kiss the children for me. I would like to see them and you also. I am not going to forget you soon. I remember you often. It makes me sad to know that we are some distant a part and probably forever, but you must not take it to heart. Perhaps the next letter you get from me you will hear that I have been mustered in the United States Service for three years and then I will go to parts unknown to me at present. It will be ascertained shortly, perhaps tomorrow. I am glad that you got the shoes I sent you. The next time you write you must tell me how they fit. If I ever get any money I think I will get a pair each for the children. We have got no money nor cloths yet. I would like for you if you have a chance to get the likenesses of the children and send them to me and also yours. It you can't get Pauline's taken don't send any. I want them all if I can get them. When I get some money I will have my picture taken and send it to you. When You write again tell me what arrangement you have with Leon or whether he is bourding with you or not. I want you to send Joe to School every day when you can. When there is a good teacher, tell him I want him to see how much he can learn while I am gone and I will send him some nice books, if he will lean as fast as he can. If I have the chance. I have just been and got my cattridge bore. I got my gun last Saturday. I understood since I commence writing that we will get our uniform tomorrow, but whether there is any truth in it or not, I would be glad if there was cloths. I am needing them. We had liked to had a row in Camp Wednesday evening on the account of the guard house. It was reported there was body lice in it. Some of the guard set fire to it, but it was put out. It took three or four companies to guard it to keep them from burning it. The next day at 12 O'Clock it was set on fire and burned down and they are satisfied; all quiet. I have nothing more to write and if I had would not have the room. Do the best you can until I see you. I remain your husband.

Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Letters from Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-02T14:38:00.003-05:00

May 19, 1861
Camp Tippecanoe
Lafayette, Indiana

My Dear Wife:
I am well at present and would be glad to hear from you and the babes. I received a box of provisions last Thursday which gave me great satisfaction to know that I am remembered at home, for there are not many hours in the day but what I think of my home, my wife and my little ones. May God bless you all in my prayer. We went to the city last evening and received our guns, but we are making poor headway drilling. The Governor visited our Camp yesterday. There were ten companies put in a line to receive him. There was a disturbance last Thursday night in Camp. Some time in the day there was one of the citizens put in the guard house and at night there were some men come and made an attact on the Sentinel with rocks. The Sentinel fired on them with their revolvers, and it is thought that there was one of them killed, at least it is reported so. Give my best regards to Milton Shorts folks. Tell them that I thank them kindly for the presents they sent me. I want you to write as soon as you get this letter. Tell Leon to write as I have
written to him and have no answer yet. Give my respect to the Ladies of Springville. May God bless them. I will add no more but remain your husband.Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Letter Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-02T14:38:00.002-05:00

May 19, 1861
Camp Tippecanoe
Lafayette, Indiana

My Dear Wife:I am well at present and would be glad to hear from you and the babes. I received a box of provisions last Thursday which gave me great satisfaction to know that I am remembered at home, for there are not many hours in the day but what I think of my home, my wife and my little ones. May God bless you all in my prayer. We went to the city last evening and received our guns, but we are making poor headway drilling. The Governor visited our Camp yesterday. There were ten companies put in a line to receive him. There was a disturbance last Thursday night in Camp. Some time in the day there was one of the citizens put in the guard house and at night there were some men come and made an attact on the Sentinel with rocks. The Sentinel fired on them with their revolvers, and it is thought that there was one of them killed, at least it is reported so. Give my best regards to Milton Shorts folks. Tell them that I thank them kindly for the presents they sent me. I want you to write as soon as you get this letter. Tell Leon to write as I have
written to him and have no answer yet. Give my respect to the Ladies of Springville. May God bless them. I will add no more but remain your husband.Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-02T14:38:00.001-05:00

Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-02T14:38:00.000-05:00

May 19, 1861
Camp Tippecanoe
Lafayette, Indiana

My Dear Wife:I am well at present and would be glad to hear from you and the babes. I received a box of provisions last Thursday which gave me great satisfaction to know that I am remembered at home, for there are not many hours in the day but what I think of my home, my wife and my little ones. May God bless you all in my prayer. We went to the city last evening and received our guns, but we are making poor headway drilling. The Governor visited our Camp yesterday. There were ten companies put in a line to receive him. There was a disturbance last Thursday night in Camp. Some time in the day there was one of the citizens put in the guard house and at night there were some men come and made an attact on the Sentinel with rocks. The Sentinel fired on them with their revolvers, and it is thought that there was one of them killed, at least it is reported so. Give my best regards to Milton Shorts folks. Tell them that I thank them kindly for the presents they sent me. I want you to write as soon as you get this letter. Tell Leon to write as I have
written to him and have no answer yet. Give my respect to the Ladies of Springville. May God bless them. I will add no more but remain your husband.Signed: Samuel T. Smith to Elizabeth Smith

Letter of Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Vounteer Infantry Regiment

2007-01-01T08:28:00.000-05:00

May 12, 1861
Camp Tippycanoe, one half mile from Layfayette, Indiana
Dear Wife,
I am well hoping these few lines may find you enjoying the same Blessing. We have had some hard bats in our company. We left Indianapolis last Friday evening half past six o’clock. Some of the boys in the company snatched three or four hats off the boys’ heads that were at the station and passed on.
Mrs. Smith it would be pleasant if I were there to pass off some of the lonely hours that you have to contend with. I pray for you to be of good cheer. I would like to be there with the children around me. I don’t want you to think that I am getting homesick. We have good quarters to sleep in. There are about 10 companies in our camp. Our company has just been mustered into the state service for 12 months and after that was over we had preaching in camp. Some of the soldiers listened to the preaching in which I was one and some were playing cards. Some were swearing. It is cool today. Give my respect to all enquiring friends and relation. Write as soon as you get this letter to Layfeytte, Tippecanoe County, Indiana in care of Captain Short. I remain your affectionate husband,
Samuel Smith

Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2006-12-31T13:23:00.000-05:00

May 10, 1861
Camp Sullivan
Dear Wife,
Since writing yesterday I received your letter and was glad to hear from you. I have not time to write this morning. I bought a pair of shoes yesterday and expressed them to you. They will come marked to L.L. Smith, Bedford, Indiana, and he can get them for you. They will be there pretty soon. I will close. Farewell. You need not write til I write you again.
Sam T. Smith

Letters from the American Civil War, Pvt. Sam T. Smith, 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment

2006-12-30T12:40:00.000-05:00

Letters from the American Civil War, Pvt. Sam T. Smith to his wife Elizabeth in Springivlle, Indiana

April 20, 1861
Indianapolis, Indiana
Dear Mrs. Elizabeth Smith,
I take this opportunity to inform you that I am well at present hoping these lines may find you enjoying the same blessing. We are stationed here to drill for a time unknown at present. Our company was divided today and about thirty sent home. There were some glad for the chance. There were two stables burned down today. I want you to keep things straight. Take the best care of the little ones; be certain to keep Joe under you thumb. I will close. I have nothing of importance to write.
Samuel T. Smith

May 9, 1861
Camp Morton, Indianapolis, Indiana
My Dear Wife,
I am well at present hoping these few lines through the mercies of God may find you enjoying the same blessing. I have not received a letter from you, only the one that Dean brought to me. I have been anxiously looking for a letter from you and Leon. The object of this letter is to inform you again that you need not write until I write you again as we expected to leave here tomorrow, bound for Layfayette, Indiana. I started a letter to K.M. Short last Monday. You can tell him not to write but when I get stationed again and write you. I want you to write forthwith. I would like to see you and the babies, but that will not take place soon. No more at present.
S.T. Smith

Seagraves, Texas--lamp posts and street art!

2006-12-25T20:02:00.001-05:00

Seagraves, Texas will have your head turning as you pass through on highway--and will then really arouse your interst if you drive down the main street. From the highway you will see pictures painted on the walls of buildings--old cars in a garage, for example. And, the pictures are painted to look just like those old cars. There used to be one building you could see from the highway that looked like a feed store. There was a loading dock, feed sacks, people, and other things you would find at a feed store. It was just paint though, paint put on by someone who knew what he was doing. Other pictures by the same man--I never learned his name--could be found throughout town southwest of Lubbock, including a comic scene of prisoners in stripped suits escaping from a second floor window--on the wall of the police station. Look close, though, and you start seeing pictures of another type--landscapes--painted on the walls of other buidlings. Soon you realize there must have been some sort of competition between the landscape painter and the comic painter. Both are good. Those pictures, by the way, are worth looking at. As interesting, should you stop through, are the street lamps on the main street. They are uniform and are placed on the sidewalk. If you bother to look, you will also see small, gold plaques on the base of each one. Look closer, and you will see on those gold plaques are the names of Seagraves citizens who have died! Yep! It's like a grave yard on main street. Fun as all get out!

Seagraves, Texas--lamp posts and street art!

2006-12-25T20:02:00.000-05:00

Another US soldier charged with murdering civilians in Iraq?

2006-12-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

I understand the soldier wasn't following the rules of engagement. I don't believe that at all.

A US Soldier who fires a shot in Iraq must fill out a lot of paperwork!

2006-12-13T17:18:00.000-05:00

I just spoke to a fellow who returned from 16 months in Iraq as a US soldier. He tells me that he fequently traveled around Iraq with groups of other American soldiers, and he was only fired on once. No one was hurt. Neither he nor any other of the American soldiers he was with returned the fire! "There'd be too much paperwork to fill out," he told me. He was with a support unit, an engineering company.

US Strategy in Iraz not working....what about three years into the American Revolution?

2006-12-06T18:03:00.000-05:00

All the power political people in the US now say the strategy in Iraq is not working. Of course, that is a day-to-day assessment. What they do not realize is this is a long, long war, this war on terrorism. It may last longer than the American Revolution that lasted, what, eight years? This war most likely will last 20, maybe 30 years. Any other estimate will be wrong. And all along the way there will be changes in strategy. What the US and the world cannot do is stop doing something. There are evil people in the world with evil intent. Always, but always, the United States battle cry for this war should be that bit from the US Declaration of Independence about all men being entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. If that is always the goal, the war will be won and for the betterment of all people.

US troops in Iraq: to fight or not to fight?

2006-11-11T11:31:00.000-05:00

I expect a lot of Marines and soldiers in Iraq are having second thoughts about going on partols in Iraq right now, patrols where they know they stand a chance of getting killed. In fact, if I were one of them, I'd do everything I could NOT to go on a patrol. Why? Well, with the new Democratic Congress about to change the game, to include trying to bring a lot of troops home or to set a time line on when American troops will come home. I'd not want to be killed while the politicians are busy changing the rules of the game, when the new rules they come up with might mean I wouldn't stand a chance of being killed at all. Also, Democrats and others of their ilk are happy, very happy, even feeling victorious over the replacement of Donald Rumsefeld (sp) at US Secretary of Defense. One thing Rumsfeld recently that they should remember and all Americans and people in the world should remember is the war on terriorism is not like any other war that the US has ever fought. There are no "front lines." The terrorists do not have a country. They operate from many countries, such as Great Britain where officials there recently said many terrorists plots are underway there--no doubt among Muslims. Whatever mistakes President Bush, Rumsfeld or anyone else has made in this war on terrorism should properly be called lessons. They were lessons that had to be learned as the US and its allies continue to change the way they fight this war because this is a new way to wage war, at least on a global scale. When asked about the election and the changes it wrought in the US, a number of people in Europe made their usual negative, America-hating comments--except for a Danish politician. He said that he hoped the Republicans and Democrats would get together and work together because, "The world needs a vigorous United States." I think the basis of his comment could be that phrase in the American Declaration of Independence that says that every person has the right "to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."I like that Danish politician's comment, and I suggest that those who look for an exit strategy from Iraq in six months, two years or whatever, remember that the US still has troops in Germany, England Japan who are left over from World War II that ended on the battlefield in 1945. There are still American troops in Korea as result of a war where the hostilities ended in 1953. The war on terrorism will probably last 30 or 40 years, maybe longer. And, it has no chance of ending until people who espouse killing other people because they do not believe the way they do stop doing that. This is a little disjointed because I have had trouble with the blog system. I hope my ideas are clear, however.

15-foot tall people, 18-inch tall people

2006-10-12T20:37:00.000-04:00

Early settlers in Augusta, Kentucky on the Ohio River kept finding large bones as they dug into the earth to build their homes and plant their crops. They determined the bones were left over from some large prehistoric battle. They also determined that the bones they found there were so large that the people must have been 15-feet tall.
For the longest time, I did not find anything more about these tall, tall people. Then I chanced on an account of a soldier in the Army of the West, Mexican War. The soldier recounted stories from an Indian village in New Mexico located at Pecos that also had bones of very tall people. These people also were said to be 15 feet tall.
Also in Pecos, there were tales among the Indians of another group of people, ones they called "Little People" who had big heads, were only 18 inches tall and were very fierce.
Well, if you read the journals of Lewis and Clark, you will run across an account of "Little People" they heard from Indians at Mandan, South Dakota. Those "Little People" were said to be very fierce and 18 inches tall with large heads.
Lewis and Clark or some of their number investigated a mound where the "Little People" were thought to live. They found only a hole in the mound, but they found no signs of any creature occupying the mound or the hole.
I wrote a ranger at a park that includes that same near Mandan mound and ask him about the "Little People." He knew of stories about them, but, furthermore, and most interesting, he said Indians of the present day still believe in the "Little People."
Great stories.

Explore Ohio--and find the best place for ribs, period!

2006-08-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

Ohio is filled with places to see and things to do that seldom make the tour books, but WOW you—or at least me--when you find them.

For example, I’d heard about this certain ribs place in New Reigle, Ohio for years. “New Reigel for ribs! Yes, you don’t want to miss it.”

So, where the heck is New Reigle? Well you have to get a good map—one that will pick up even the smallest towns in Ohio, because New Reigle is one of those. Then you will want to find Fostoria, Findlay and Carey—all in sort of north central Ohio. Then look a little south and west of Fostoria, north and west of Carey and east of Findlay, and woolah! There it is.

Finding the town does not, however, mean you find the rib place. It seems to merge with the other few commercial buildings in the town.

On my recent and first trip to New Reigle, I had to actually ask someone at one the other eating places in town where the rib place was. The person in that eating place pointed across the street to an opposite corner and told me, “It’s right there.”

I went over, and it did not at all look like a famous place. It looked like a routine place, a white non-significant building. Cars parked on the street up and down and around it, but they were not packed. There was nothing in the sign over the front of the white building to suggest its fame.

Even inside the décor, no décor is not a good word for the “rib place is simply a place to eat. There is a bar with a shuffle board that you push coins into play on one side of a wall. On the other side are the tables and people eating, ribs, of course.

The standard rib order is $7.50, and the price includes French fries. Add ons are soft drinks, tea and coffee—and there are no free refills, a sign clearly states. Other rib orders can run up to $15, and with my appetite I was tempted to go for the heavy weight.

But, all the average or even above average ribs fan needs is the $7.50 order. They come marvelously flavored and cooked. They are packed in a paper dish—with plastic knives and forks and a paper napkin.

Yet, they truly are ribs as good as you will eat anywhere. Anywhere. Walk away from a meal of those ribs, and you will know you have eaten enough, maybe a little more than enough and that you have had a great meal.

Funny, though. As genuine as the place feels. I ordered iced tea, and guess what the waitress brought me? One of these new bottles of iced tea—and at a hefty price.

Still, go for the rib place in New Reigle, if you get anywhere close to it. Many people do. You will find food there that you definitely will not find in one of those plastic restaurant feelings, none at all! Hours for the ribs are after 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and then noon to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Oh, yes, you will need cash. The place does not take credit cards or checks.

Ah, ribs! Ah, New Reigle!*

Name of the ribs place? Can’t tell you. I get there by going from Columbus, Ohio to Carey, Ohio—about 90 miles. Stop in Carey and ask how to get to New Reigle. Once in New Reigle, do as I did: ask where the ribs place is.

Good luck and good eating!

*Pronunciation of the place varies. People in nearby Carey called it New Riggle. Someone else called it New Regal. Then there New RIgle. I have no idea which is right.

Hezbollah Winning?

2006-08-03T21:45:00.000-04:00

I just saw this broadcast of a tape by the Hezbollah (sp) leader telling the world how his side is winning in its war with Israel.
Hmmm?
Let me see, Beruit is destroyed, many bridges and highways in the country are destroyed, some 900 people have been killed, hundreds of thousands made homeless and a million or more forced to flee the country.
And, Hezbelloh is winning?
Do the Lebanese believe that? Did the Lebanese vote to allow Hezbellah to wage its holy war against Israel?
Hmmm?
Somebody's not making sense, but then of course, the Hezbellah leader doesn't worry about that.
He is sure god--not telling which one---is on his side.
So, as he gets all those people killed, wounded and hurt, he will be forgiven by yelling, "God is great!"

Air plane crash victim wonders: am I dead or alive?

2006-07-11T21:27:00.000-04:00

Most interesting was the story I saw two nights ago on television about a man in an airplane crash. He described how the plane crashed into the surf off some island in maybe the Indian or Pacific Ocean. Then he further described the passengers' attempts to free themselves from the aircraft after it sank. Many did not make it, and they died.
This man, however, said he found himself on the surface of the ocean and he wondered: "Am I dead or alive." He might think that since so many bodies floated near him. Then he went onto say he saw some sail boats coming towards him, and he knew, "I'm alive."
In another case a man was in the firey crash of a United Airlines crash in Sioux City, Iowa in 1989. You probably can find picutures and even a video of the plane seeming to roll end over end and bursting into flame as it crash landed. As you watch the video, you doubt anyone could survive.
Yet, as it turned out about 112 of the 220 or so passengers did die.
Anyway back to this man was aboard that crippled plane as it flew around for 45 minutes as the pilots tried to control it so they could land it.
The man remembers the flight attendants calling out: "Brace! Brace! Brace!"
Then the plane struck the runway, and he doesn't remember much of what happened except when the craft stopped, he and two companions could see a big fissure in the fuselage where light came in. They unbuckled themselves from their seats--and realized they'd been hanging upside down, because they fell.
Anyway, this fellow somehow managed to crawl over the bodies of dead passengers, make his way to the opening and then stumbled from the wreck into a corn field. He walked away from the plane and onto a sort of mound above it maybe 100 yards away. Once on top the mound, he looked back and saw the crash and carnage. And, he wondered, "Am I dead or alive?"
Seriously, he asked himself that question because he truly did not know.
Then, he heard crickets chirp! Crickets! That grass bug that makes a churping sound.
"When I heard those crickets," he man said, "I knew I was alive."
Funny that they both had the same experience.

Ohio in summer

2006-07-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

I met a fellow a couple of years ago who said the most beautiful, satisfying place he could imagine was in Michigan on the coast of one of its Great Lakes.
Maybe.
But, I have to tell you this summer in central Ohio has to be a close second. I don't know what heaven is like, but it's anything like this summer in Ohio, it's got to be wonderful.

US Troops: Guilty or Not Guilty of Murder in Iraq?

2006-06-02T23:19:00.000-04:00

Who knows, but the news media in the United States seem to WANT even WANT TO INSIST that US troops involved in an incident in Iraq in which a number of people were killed MUST BE GUILTY of murdering them.
Maybe they will be found guilty, but first the investigation must conclude, then, if warranted, charges must be filed, and, finally, a trial must be held. They cannot be guilty unless they are found guilty at a trial.
Therefore, for the time being, the soldiers are innocent until proven guilty.
That, alas, would not in the minds of many American newsmen and women would not make good news. They prefer to go with the common belief among them that the soldiers are guilty now and that the trial, if one is held, will be a mere formality to prove their guilt.
And, the big TV networks wonder why they are losing viewers.

15th Indiana letters, photos, anything related to this famed Civil War regiment sought

2006-05-25T21:03:00.000-04:00

If you or anyone you know has anything related to the 15th Indiana Regiment, an American Civil War unit, please let me know. Some friends and I are writing a history of the regiment. Therefore, we'd certainly like to see anything anyone has.
The 15th's is a fascinating, terrible story. It fought two major battles, the Battle of Stone River on the last day of 1862 and the first couple of days of 1863 and then the Battle of Missionary Ridge. In each battle, it lost half its soldiers, killed or wounded. Oh, how terrible. After the last battle there were so few soldiers left that those who were were put in the 17th Indiana Regiment for the remainder of the war.
My friends and I have found some awfully good stories related to the regiment: like the horror one soldier remembers of seeing and burying thousands of soldiers killed at the Battle of Shiloh. Oh, if everyone who decided to wage war could read his description first--there were be far, far fewer wars.
Then there is the story of the 15th's Chaplain Whitehead who ministered to the wounded left behind when the regiment retreated from the advancing Rebel forces. The Chaplain told his commander he could not leave those men on the filed. So, under fire, he went to several of his own men and then even some wounded Rebel soldiers to comfort them in their last moments on this earth.
Good stories all, as good history is all good stories.

Berlin Diary...resonates today!

2006-05-24T22:31:00.000-04:00

"Berlin Diary" by William L. Shirer is one of the most exciting books you can ever read. It is about Shirer's years as a reporter in Nazi Germany as Adolph Hitler came to power. His diary then continues on through the German army's march into Paris and the French surrender. All this, of course, led up to World War II.
Read his diary and you will be amazed--as he was--at the things Hitler said and did and that the German people believed--and then allowed him to do. What they allowed him to do led to the almost total destruction of their country.
"Berlin Diary" resonates with the events of today because the blatant lies and incredible propoganda that Hitler and his cronies put forth to justify the incredibly horrible things they did to the World are similar to what you have heard from other dictators. The President of Iran is doing exactly the same today.
What happened in Germany when Hitler did that, by the way, is that he turned all the resources of the country to building for war. So, life for every day workers became grim, very grim with coal to heat homes hard to find, food harder and everything else you can think of almost impossible to find. Why? Because all of it went into the German war machine.
I suspect the Iranian president is doing something like that. He is distracting his country men and women from the real problems with their lives by screeching these horrible things about Israel, the US etc. He is saying those things as a "cover" for what he is really doing--trying his best to make a nuclear bomb. Once he gets the bomb Iran probably will use it. That probably will not lead to a world war--but it will lead to some great pain and heart ache for millions of people--as it did for the Germans who supported Hitler.
Anyway, find a copy of "Berlin Diary." It is an great book, and Shirer was an incredible reporter. And, what you read will have to remind you of so much that you hear today in Iran and used to hear in Iraq.

Daily headlines: Bomb kills ___ Iraqis! Fill in the number!

2006-05-16T17:57:00.000-04:00

I keep wondering when Iraq will run out of things to make bombs from. It seems as many as go off every day that there should one day be an end to them.
That also makes me wonder: when will the world run out of suicide bombers? I mean there has to be an end to those people who believe they will go to wherever if they kill a whole bunch of people they don't even know? Or is there?
Probably not.
The rest of the world gets revolted by these people and the things that they do. When will those people get revolted by the things they do?
When will these people stop saying "God is great" and kill a whole bunch of people? Can it be a great god that approves so much pain and hurt?
Sad world.

Stopping Illegals from Mexico?

2006-05-14T17:19:00.000-04:00

If the US paid the illegals who try to come into the US the money spent trying to keep them out--Border Patrol, fences, US military now, other who knows how many agencies--it'd probably save everyone money!
How? Buy more Mexican exports/products to create more jobs. Encourage more investment by US firms.
Obviously, this solution would be complex--but it would have to work better than the present one!

Forget the booze!

2006-05-04T21:04:00.000-04:00

I just saw another story about an American politician in trouble over drinking alcohol. My answer to that: don't drink. Don't drink at all. It's easier to do than you might think.
I used to drink and a lot, at night, sometimes really getting drunk.
Then one night I got stopped by a cop for driving crazy. I had been drinking. I passed the breath test, but he still charged me with driving under the influence.
I won the case, but at a cost of $2,200, and that probably was just barely that I won the case.
That was 22 months ago, and I've not had a drink since. Futher, I haven't missed it, not even a little bit.
I don't expect to ever do it again, and I've been to places since where I thought I would be tempted. Yet, I've not felt the least bit tempted. Why? I realize there is no good in it.
So, don't drink. That's don't drink PERIOD.
That is best.

God told me to do it

2006-04-29T20:22:00.000-04:00

As long as the Muslims claim God told me to do it, or yell God is great as they kills thousands and themselves, there is no hope for man or woman kind.
Now, the leaders of Iran are threatening to blow up the world with nuclear weapons--and when they do, just before the second that no one any longer lives on this earth, they will no doubt yell "God is great" as everything disappears.
Of course some may say the Iranian leaders are not threatening to do that, but that must come. They are threatening everything else. They will have to reach that point, too.

Do you really need B-52s, F-16 to bomb mud huts? How about making a video game to do it!

2006-04-23T21:54:00.001-04:00

Now and again I read reports of a B-52 flying over some mountain stronghold in Iraq or Afghanistan and then sending some very sophisticated (and EXPENSIVE) bomb to kill a half a dozen insurgents. Or, I hear of a F-16 swooping in to drop bombs or send in a laser guided something for similar reasons.
I have a better idea. Have Microsoft and Google team up to develop the ultimate war game for the best video game people in the US. Then give them the responsibilities for launching drones from bases in Iraq and Afghanistan (with the video game people working from their own computers in their own homes), finding the enemy and bombing or killing them. Heck, as much as some people like video games, you probably wouldn't even have to pay them. You'd probably have people paying to play the ultimate game!
Just give them a time (they'd probably have to reserve a time for all who'd want to play) they could "play," give them an area of responsibility, the weapons they'd need, and just think, they'd probably have all the insurgents taken care of in a few weeks. They'd probably have found Osama Ben Laden months ago. And, putting every vidoe game ace in the country on the project could probably be done for less money than one B-52 strike or certainly two or three.
In fact, the US probably wouldn't need all those air craft carriers over there--except to keep Iran straight. The drones could do whatever those planes flying from aircraft carriers do in Iraq or Afghanistan for pennies compared to what it cost to keep those big ships and all their sailors there.
Well, you could take this a long way--video game experts vs. B-52s. But, it certanly would make more sense than sending some huge expensive airplane to bomb a handful of idiots in mud huts. And, I'll bet those video game experts would be better than the B-52 crews!

Do you really need B-52s, F-16 to bomb mud huts?

2006-04-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

Now and again I read reports of a B-52 flying over some mountain stronghold in Iraq or Afghanistan and then sending some very sophisticated (and EXPENSIVE) bomb to kill a half a dozen insurgents. Or, I hear of a F-16 swooping in to drop bombs or send in a laser guided something for similar reasons.
I have a better idea. Have Microsoft and Google team up to develop the ultimate war game for the best video game people in the US. Then give them the responsibilities for launching drones from bases in Iraq and Afghanistan (from their own homes), finding the enemy and bombing or killing them. Heck, as much as some people like video games, you probably wouldn't even have to pay them. You'd probably have people paying to play the ultimate game!
Just give them a time (they'd probably have to reserve a time for all who'd want to play) they could "play," give them an area of responsibility, the weapons they'd need, and just think, they'd probably have all the insurgents taken care of in a few weeks. They'd probably have found Osama Ben Laden months ago. And, putting every vidoe game ace in the country on the project could probably be done for less money than one B-52 strike or certainly two or three.
In fact, the US probably wouldn't need all those air craft carriers over there--except to keep Iran straight. The drones could do whatever those planes flying from aircraft carriers do in Iraq or Afghanistan for pennies compared to what it cost to keep those big ships and all their sailors there.
Well, you could take this a long way--video game experts vs. B-52s. But, it certanly would make more sense than sending some huge expensive airplane to bomb a handful of idiots in mud huts. And, I'll bet those video game experts would be better than the B-52 crews!

Iraq and Vietnam? Like wars?

2006-04-14T19:31:00.000-04:00

Yes, they are alike in the sense of the American involvement. In both cases, the purpose of the American involvement was/is to allow the people to form their own government. In both cases, there are/were people who do not want that at all. Rather they want/wanted to install their own views--and their ways of doing things that were/are the same: kill anyone who disagrees with them.
Bombs or ballot boxes? What will win in Iraq?
Only the Iraqis can really decide that, but it will probably take a lot more killings---all to the cry "God is Great"--before they ever get to that. All the current wave of hate and killing will really decide is who is left.

Iraqi timetable for US withdrawal?

2006-03-23T21:05:00.000-05:00

Some US politicians and news media reporters keep asking President George Bush to set a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. He keeps saying there will be no timetable.
Wise?
Why? The United States has had troops in German since the end of World War II in 1945. It has had troops in Korea since the end of open hostilities in that country in 1953. It still has troops in Japan and Okinawa all these years after World War II. As far as I know, no one has asked about any withdrawal of American troops from those countries.
So, expect a long haul in Iraq.
How long is long?
I remember being stationed in Germany with the US Army between 1962-64. That was not even 20 years after the end of World War II when a lot of the larger cities, including Frankfurt where I was, were badly damaged by bombs. Well, I did not see any obvious damage from the war when I was there--except for the old opera house. It had been bombed, and the damage from the fire and explosions were still there. You could see it through a wire fence.
So, except for the old opera house, I thought German had recovered. Wrong!
I was there again, in Frankfurt, in 1993 and 1995, and guess what? The whole city was much, much different than I 'd rememberd from the 30 years earlier. The city was and probably still is a city of beautiful lights today. It was not when I was there in the 1060s. It is a wonderful city with seemingly a lot of money, and I realize now that it was not when I was there.
So, do not expect Iraq to correct itself tomorrow or next month or next year or the year after. All the hates and angers that have built up in a society held down by a dictatorship for so long will take a long time to finally subside. And, even when they do subside in a major way, there may still be threads of hate that linger in Iraqi society for decades. All of this will have to take there course.
So, expect the US troop withdrawal to be...maybe 100 years from now.

Definition of an American

2006-02-23T17:45:00.000-05:00

Written by an Australian Dentist...

To Kill an American

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week,
but there was actually a report that someone in
Pakistanhad published in a newspaper an offer of a
reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the
following day to let everyone know what an American is,
so they would know when they found one. (Good one,
mate!!!!)

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish,
German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American
may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian,
Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian,
or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage,
Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many
other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or
Buddhist, or Muslim.
In fact, there are more Muslims in Americathan in
Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America
they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For
that he will answer only to God, not to the government,
or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government
and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the
history of the world. The root of that prosperity can
be found in the Declaration of Independence, which
recognizes the God given right of each person to the
pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just
about every other nation in the world in their time of
need, never asking a thing in return.

When Afghanistanwas over-run by the Soviet army 20
years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to
enable the people to win back their country!

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given
more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.
Americans welcome the best of everything...the best
products, the best books, the best music, the best
food, the best services. But they also welcome the
least.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty,
welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse
of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.
These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the TwinTowersthe
morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for
their families. It's been told that the World Trade
Center victims were from at least 30 different
countries, cultures, and first languages, including
those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler
did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung,
and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in
doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because

Americans are not a particular people from a particular
place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of
freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere,
is an American.

Cider and....one heck of a good time....

2006-02-15T20:16:00.000-05:00

One man celebrated news of Andrew Jackson's victory at New Orleans and the end of the War of 1812 in an interesting way.
Said he: "I am alive and glad of it, but I liked to have killed myself last night eating bread and cider. Lt. B. Luttles and myself purchased a quart of cider and a loaf of bread and with the addition of sugar and water it made a most sumptuous dish, I assure you."
Interesting mix? Wonder how it all went together?
I found this in a book, the title of which I cannot recall exactly. I think it was "New Englanders Who Made Ohio" or the "New England Influcence on Ohio."
Lots of good stories in that book. I will get the correct title and author to give credit where it is definitely due.

US President James Monroe, WOW!

2006-02-13T21:10:00.000-05:00

I just recently learned that the 5th American president, James Monroe, made a 15-week tour of the country, at least the northern part, right after he became president. I also learned that as he toured the northern part of the US he was wildly welcomed by citizens in all the American towns and cities he visited. Why? He was welcomed because the country had just come through the War of 1812, largely viewed as the continuation of the American Revolution, and won. That victory meant the end of the constant threat of British military action, through Britain's Indian allies, all along the American Canadian/American border. That, in turn, meant American towns and states along that border could grow and prosper in peace without fear of attack by the British and its Indian allies.
Other interesting notes about President Monroe:
--He was with Gen. George Washington when the general took his small army across the Delaware River on Christmas Day to attack the Hessians, mercenary soldiers hired by the British. The night was bitterly cold, yet the army made the crossing, marched 20 miles, attacked and defeated the Hessian force. Washington's army then marched 20 miles back, crossed the river again and returned to safety. Monroe was badly wounded in that incredible feat.
--President Monroe was one of two Americans who secured the Louisiana Purchase from France for the United States. That led the purchase of much of what became the American west from Napoleon's France.
--President Monroe also saved Gen. LaFayette's wife from be beheaded during the French Revloution, and then as president invited Gen. LaFayette to tour the United States in 1825 at the expense of the US. It is said his tour was a great success by all who saw the French general, but it was especially so at Gallipolis, Ohio. Gallipolis? It was founded by French idealists in 1790 who came over expecting to live in Eden and who actually came to great hardship and death. The so-called French 500 who came to the Ohio River that year mostly gave up their quest within a few years because the heart break was so great. Yet, when LaFayette came to the town in 1825, the town celebrated his visit that one day with such fervor that they celebrated his being there on that same day in every year to come for many years. Oh, what a wondeful experience for the people of Gallipolsi.
--His presidency was called the "Era of Good Feeling." That in itself would have been worthwhile to have lived through!
--He is best known for the Monroe Doctrine of course, that document that announced to the rest of the world that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to colonization.
I knew about the Monroe Doctrine, but not about the rest. Great story again.

Lewis and Clark and the ‘Little People’

2006-02-07T17:37:00.000-05:00

The Lewis and Clark journals recall how the two famous American explorers investigated tales of the “little people” who supposedly lived not far from where they wintered at the Mandan villages in 1804-05.
The “little people,” they were told stood 18 inches tall and were to be avoided because they were fierce and deadly with bow and arrow. They also were told to stay away from a certain mound or hill they inhabited because they were so dangerous.
The explorers went to find the “little people” at the mound or hill described to them. The explorers reported, however, seeing no “little people” or any signs that they existed. They noted there were some holes in the hill, but that was all. No one fired arrows at them either.
A few years ago I found a site on the World Wide Web about the “little people.” Isn’t the web wonderful?
Anyway, I emailed the head ranger of a state park that is there now and asked him about the “little people?”
He replied:
“There have been archaeological studies done on the site. There has never been any artifacts found that represent the presence of the little people. There are many native Americans around that have lots of oral history concerning the little people.”
And after signing is name, the ranger added:
“Many people still believe in the little people.”

Teresa and Teri, One woman, Two women

2006-02-03T20:35:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine first introduced herself as Teresa. Then quick as a wink, she corrected herself, "Teri."
That was probably a year ago.
I thought nothing of it until last week, when I suggested she call herself Teresa. I thought people might take a better view of her.
"No," she told me. "Teresa is uptight, tense and moody. I like Teri. She smiles, loves life takes life as it comes. So, no, call me Teri. I like going by Teri."
I spoke to her one or two days this week during a particularly difficult time for her, and guess what? She told me she was Teresa in the way she handled her difficulties, tense, unsure, worried.
Finally, she straightened out and told me with a big smile, "I'm Teri again. I'm glad she's back."
Then she confided, "Sometimes I wish Teresa would go away and not come back."
True story. Good story.
Love it.

Gambling on the Big Rock

2006-01-29T22:57:00.000-05:00

I love story tellers, and one of the best I ever met was Gwynn Hayes of Sanders, Indiana. When I met him he'd been a school teacher in the elementary school in Sanders for 46 years! His father had also ran a the country store in Sanders. When the store was open and Gwynn wasn't teaching, he worked at his father's store. So, he had lots of opportunities to hear everything going on in Sanders all through his life! When I knew him in the early 1970s he must have been in his 50s or maybe his 60s.
I spoke to him several times, but the time I remember most was sitting on the counter in his father's store for most of three, maybe four hours, hearing him tell story after story about life in Sanders, Indiana, from the 1930s to the present, the 1970s. The store where we sat was empty. I don't know how long it had been closed. It, like so many small businesses so necessary to people in a prior day no longer was. Better roads and cars that could took people shopping to the bigger towns around.
Some of Gwynn' stories:
--Some cars of his early days had what he called "gravity flow" gas tanks, meaning there was no pump to carry gasoline form the gas tank to the engine. The gas just "flowed" by gravity to the engine. He said in the hilly area around Sanders people with those early automobiles frequently found themselves backing up hills--so the gasoline would flow into their cars' engines.
--A railroad that served the area was called the "Pumpkin Vine" because it made so many twisting turns in that hilly country.
--A popular spot in the town on paydays was a place known as the "big rock." It was a flat sheet of rock on which no grass or other plants grew. And, on paydays the men would take their pay up to that big rock to gamble. Gwynn said one fellow gambled away all of his money except for 10 cents. So? The man took that 10 cents down to the ice plant in Sanders, bought 10 cents worth of ice (which was a big chunk), put it in a bucket, filled the bucket with water and, presto, he had ice water! He took the ice water back up to the Big Rock--where he sold drinks of that cold water until he got enough money to get back into the game!
--"Biggam" McCammon ran a cafe in Sanders during Prohibition. That was the period when it was illegal to sell booze, beer, whiskey etc. in the United States. There were rumors that "Biggam," so called because of the size of his fists, sold illegal spirits at his cafe. And, wouldn't you know two Horse Thief Detectives, the so-called "police arm" of the Klu Klux Klan, showed up one day determined to arrest Biggam. They didn't. Story goes that Biggam didn't use his fists, only a gun he kept under his counter--which he pulled out when the two Horse Thief Detectives pulled out their badges. Biggam then proceeded to fire several shots into the ceiling of his cafe, to which the Horse Thief Detectives promptly set to flight. It is said they forgot a vehicle they'd brought with them or didn't want to take the time to get in it--and ran a good ways back to where ever they came from. I think I would have liked Biggam!
There were many more stories that Gwynn told and one day I will add some. Just know it was awfully nice hearing him tell all those stories in that store. I still remember how sunny the place was when he started telling me and then how it had grown to twilight when he finished. He told stories that long.

Hamas & Democracy

2006-01-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

Newscasts of most American broadcast organizations have all been putting the same "spin" on the story out of the Middle East about the Palestinians electing a largely majority Hamas government. Hamas the newscaster say is a terrorist organization and therefore they find people who say Democracy did a bad turn for the moderates in the Middle East and around the world.
I disagree with that completely. I believe the ballot box did exactly what it was supposed to be and that we should congratulate the Palestinians on electing a government. The government they have or had--Fatah--has been known to be corrupt for a long time, and it retained its power for many years without elections of any sort at all.
One story I read in fact quoted a Palestinian man as saying he voted for Hamas because Fatah is so corrupt. If that is true, then that man's vote worked! Democracy worked. The Palestinians were able to throw out a corrupt government, not by getting a lot of people killed, but at the ballot box.
So, the story that none of the American news organizations seem to be picking up on is that: democracy worked in Palestine.
Now, that said, there are many more steps to be taken to ever solve the problems of hate and killing in Palestine. There seem to be too many people there who enjoy both those things, hate and killing. Furthermore, they seem to enjoy it not for any political reason, but simply for the sake of hating and killing.
Yet, if the Palestinians decide they want peace, they will vote in a government that campaigns for peace. That may take years. Who knows? But, it may not take years because if they see their wishes fulfilled at the ballot box, they may vote more often.
But, the major news organizations will never understand that.
That also is why the newscasts of the major news organizations in the US, ABC, NBC and CBS continue to loser viewers.
In a nutshell? They don't know what they are doing.

Olga Greenlaw, Heroine of the Flying Tigers

2006-01-25T19:37:00.000-05:00

I discovered Olga Greenlaw purely by accident, and those are the kinds of accidents I enjoy. Olga Greenlaw was married to the executive officer of the famed World War II Flying Tigers. The Flying Tigers? They also were known as the AVG or American Volunteer Group, a group of about 300 American airmen who provided China with an air force to fight the Japense as they invaded China. The story of the Flying Tigers can be found in many books and on many places on the Internet.
And, believe it or not, you can learn a lot about Olga Greenlaw on the web.
Continuing about her here, she was a beautiful woman who served as statistician and writer of the Flying Tigers' Daily Diary for the year they were in China. She chanced to be there because her husband, Harvey Greenlaw, knew the Flying Tigers' commander, Gen. Claire Chennault, and became his excutive officer.
I've read Chennault's book and his wife's (the Chinese one) book and then quite a few web articles about the Flying Tigers. All are interesting, but what you read is somewhat what you expect.
Olga Greenlaw, on the other hand, is totally unexpected because she is so beautiful and charming. She's like a beautiful rose in a cactus patch.
I ran across her name in something I read, and then looked it up on the marvelous web. There I found a lot about her as well as some photos that, again, show her to have been a very lovely lady. I also learned she'd written a book, "Lady and the Tigers" and that it was published in 1943.
I have since gotten the book and read it, and of the many books on the Flying Tigers, hers is one of the best. You get a good idea about the men who flew and maintained their planes. She got to know Chennault, and you learn from her that he was a great cribbage player. You meet Chaing Kai Chek (sp) and his beautiful wife, and you get a sense of how influential Madame Chaing Kai Check was. You also get a sense from Olga Greenlaw's book of what it was like to be in China during the war as the Japanese kept advanced so brutally.
You meet this woman who develops affection for many of the fliers--only to see the fliers killed one by one. And, oh, the loss she feels at their dying is sad.
One recurring theme in war stories comes up in hers, that of actually seeing those who have been killed in war. She describes seeing and talking to two pilots--after they were killed. She also recalls at another point something that happened that she related to the exact moment that another pilot was killed.
You can find that same idea, of seeing soldiers who have been killed coming back to be seen by a live comrade, in "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Those Devils in Baggy Pants." Now there is this third book, The Lady and the Tigers where it happens.
Most recently, incidentally, I saw a television program about an American GI re-visiting the battle field at Khe Sanh (sp) in South Vietnam. It had been a bloody battle field. Anyway, this GI claims to have seen a squad of soldiers or Marines somewhere through the mist, fully armed and dressed as they would have been during the battle. He said he saw them up a hill or on a ridge line.
Just curious.
You will also see, by the way, comments or suggestions on line and in some other books that Olga Greenlaw might have been more than just friends with some of the pilots. Those behind the hand snickers and winks. Yet, all you get from her book for sure is how much she cared for so many of them, and if in fact there was any more to her relationship than that, so be it. She still comes across as a wonderful human being whose presence meant a lot to the Flying Tigers.
She and her husband had a stormy marriage from what I've read. They were divorced in the mid 1960s, and Olga is said to have died in 1983.
I contacted one of the Flying Tigers still alive who knew Olga and told him I thought I would have liked to have known her. He said I would have because Olga would have made sure I liked her. I like that thought because Olga sounds like such a wonderful person.

Thank You Lovely Lady

2006-01-18T19:19:00.000-05:00

I love seeing lovely, classy women. I don't have to possess them. I don't have to know them. I don't even have to say anything to them. Often, just seeing one is enough, although...
A week or so ago I chanced to be at a beach side restaurant in St. Peterburg, Florida with my wife and her mother. As they talked, I chanced to glance behind my wife at another table to see this truly lovely woman. She sat straight in a straight back chair sideways to me as she talked to a man whose back was to me. She wore matching pants and a waist jacket of light yellow or maybe a light brown color. Her hair was cut about neck length combed in a simple, but elegant style. I could not see her eyes. So I do not know their color.
I did not stare at her, but several times I glanced at her. I didn't seem to catch her eyes, and she continued talking to her male companion.
Our salads came, and then as I began to take bites from mine, I glanced at the lovely woman again. And, oh, how beautiful. She now leaned back in her chair in a way that she almost reclined, and her lovely body created this wonderfully diagonal line. The small waist jacket she wore was spread apart and open to show me this soft purple velour blouse she wore that covered her breasts...Well, I simply cannot describe how beautiful she looked. That long, soft line of her body, the way that blouse seemed to flow over her breasts. Oh, my!
I wondered: was she doing this for me? Striking this senuous pose?
I continued to glance at her as I ate, and she did not change her posture again for some minutes. Then a few minutes after having stopped looking at her to speak to my wife and her mother, I glanced again in the diretion of the beautiful woman.
Lo, now she stood as her companion, standing beside her, counted out money to leave for a tip.
And, then would you believe?
With her companion's eyes on his wallet, she glanced directly at me--right into my eyes. And, then would you believe: she gave me this wonderful smile.
I felt the warmth of that smile, and I do right now. Wow!
She and her companion turned and left, and I know I shall never see her again. But, oh my, I will always have that lovely picture of her reclining on that chair and feel the senuous sensations from her warm smile. I also have a very pleased feeling. She'd posed on that chair for me.
Wasn't that nice of her?

KILLING THE BALLOT BOX

2005-12-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

I suspect most of those in Iraq who are marching in the streets about the alleged irregularities in the recent elections will or are using their allegations as justification for continuing to bomb and kill.
Peace will eventually come to Iraq, but it may be years away. Too bad because that means a lot of innocent people loved by families and friends will be badly maimed or killed. What a lot of needless hurt, pain and sorrow.

Terrorist freed, US Navy diver still dead

2005-12-21T12:40:00.000-05:00

The papers reported yesterday that the killer of a US Navy diver who just happened to be on a commercial airliner almost two decades ago when it was hijacked had been freed from a German prison.
How sad.
The killer supposedly flew to Lebanon where, he no doubt, was welcomed by the many people there who promote and participate in terrorism of the worst kind. The killer was one of several terrorists who took over the plane, threatened all aboard (more than 100) and then when they found that a US Navy sailor was aboard, they beat him, killed him and threw his body out of the plane and onto the runway.
No doubt, they shouted, "God is great! God is great!" as they did all those things.
They were, no doubt, the same words shouted by the terrorists who took over a cruise ship about as many years ago--and who after killing him shoved a dentist in a wheel chair over board. The man in the wheel chair was an old man, too. Yet the terrorists are said to have laughed as they pushed him over board!
This has been a long, long war with so many innocent victims of such vicious terrorists! And, even the ones who are caught, are set free to, no doubt, continue their terrorism.
It is time the Arabs and Islamic people of the world stop all this meanness and hate. It also is time for all of them to start apologizing to the rest of the world--like the Japanese have been doing ever since World War II. And, like the Japanese, the Arabs and Islamic people will never be able to apologize enough to overcome all the hate and hurt they and their ideals have caused the world.

Syria? Evil in the Middle East

2005-12-12T12:08:00.001-05:00

The latest blast in Lebanon that killed a journalist is yet again proof of the terrible price the people in the Middle East are paying for countries governed by tyrants and dictators.
How terrible!
No one outside the Middle East thought too much about what was happening in Lebanon until the former prime minister was killed by a tremendous blast of hate. Then there was the woman journalist who was almost killed. Now there is this, another journalist killed in a bomb blast as horrific as the one that killed the former prime minister.
All of this comes after years in which Syrian troops forcefully occuppied Lebanon on the idea that it would stabalize the country. Now the rest of the world knows the terrible extremes the Syrian regime will go to to get its ways, and none of its ways are the ways of any civilized society that depends on the ballot box to change government. None of its ways were to benefit Lebanon.
It is time for ALL the civilized Arab countries to speak out and speak out loudly for the terror in Syria and the terror that it uses in Lebanon and Iraq.
For a while we could believe it when Syrian officials said they were not sending in bombers and killers into Iraq. Now with all these examples of what the Syrians are doing in Lebanon--as backed up by a United Nations investigation--we know better.
The rulers of Syria are evil and to what end we now know from the shadowy communications about the most recent killing of the journalist: it wants to rule the Middle East. It wants to rule Lebanon and then Israel--and who knows what else. That is why it supports all those terrorists groups that fight Israel. It is not for support of the Palestinians. It is to use those Palestinian groups as a way to break down Israel for Syria's real objective: conquest.
How long will the rest of the civilized world tolerate a government like that in Syria?
Ages. It probably will ignore it and hope that it simply goes away. It probably will, but in the meantime many, many more people will be killed. Terrorists will continue to be welcome there and then sent into other peaceful parts of the world to kill more people and more people for ideas and ideals that are born of hate and fear.
There has to be another way.

Syria? Evil in the Middle East

2005-12-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

If US leaves Iraq too soon, Iran and Syria will rush in!

2005-12-11T11:45:00.001-05:00

Some US politicians are trying make Iraq the Vietnam war again by saying the US should immediatley get out of Iraq.
If it does so now or anytime before the Iraqis are ready and able to govern themselves, you can expect Syria and Iran to rush in. Why? They will because they and their ideologies are the great destablizers in the Middle East. Syria's ideology? Who knows, it's just anit-Israel and anti anyone who opposes it. I suspect its rulers have the view that what Saddam Hussein did not do--conquer the Middle East, they can do. There also is the matter of all that oil in Iraq, too, of course.
Iran will rush in for religious reasons, too, but the oil will be a big factor in its interests, that and wiping Israel off the face of the earth.
There will be other fractions in Iraq that will also try to assume control of Iraq if the US leaves too early, too.
And, you can expect that if any of those groups succeed, the blood Iraqis have shed so far is nothing to what they will shed then.
The only hope for Iraq is for the Iraqis, all the Iraqis, to get behind whatever government they elect to make Iraq once again the star of the cradle of civilization.
But, US politicans and Iraqis must recognize the only way they can succeed is with US help because only the US will provide the stability Iraq needs to build itself. How do we know that? The US helped Germany get on its feet after World War II, and it was only continued US presence in Germany that prevented it from becoming a Soviet satelitte country as so many other European countries did.
The US aided the Japanese after World War II, and while the Jaspanese certainly did much to re-build their economy and become a world economic power, the US support and presence did help.
The same can be said of Korea, and it could have been said about Vietnam if American politicans had not ducked out.
So, Iraqis and, in fact, everyone in the Middle East should hope and pray that Iraq does succeed and the US does stay to help it. If the US doesn't for years, probably, no one will win, not the Iraqis, not the US, not the Middle East.

If US leaves Iraq too soon, Iran and Syria will rush in!

2005-12-11T11:45:00.000-05:00

Some US politicians are trying make Iraq the Vietnam war again by saying the US should immediatley get out of Iraq.
If it does so now or anytime before the Iraqis are ready and able to govern themselves, you can expect Syria and Iran to rush in. Why? They will because they and their ideologies are the great destablizers in the Middle East. Syria's ideology? Who knows, it's just anit-Israel and anti anyone who opposes it. I suspect its rulers have the view that what Saddam Hussein did not do--conquer the Middle East, they can do. There also is the matter of all that oil in Iraq, too, of course.
Iran will rush in for religious reasons, too, but the oil will be a big factor in its interests, that and wiping Israel off the face of the earth.
There will be other fractions in Iraq that will also try to assume control of Iraq if the US leaves too early. From one of those a new Saddam could rise up, probably backed by Syria or Iran.
And, you can expect that if any of those groups succeed, the blood Iraqis have shed so far is nothing to what they will shed then.
The only hope for Iraq is for the Iraqis, all the Iraqis, to get behind whatever government they elect to make Iraq once again the star of the cradle of civilization.
But, US politicans and Iraqis must recognize the only way they can succeed is with US help because only the US can provide the stability Iraq needs to build itself. How do we know that? The US helped Germany get on its feet after World War II, and it was only continued US presence in Germany that prevented it from becoming a Soviet sattelite country as so many other European countries did.
The US aided the Japanese after World War II, and while the Jaspanese certainly did much to re-build their economy and become a world economic power, the US support and presence helped.
The same can be said of Korea, and it could have been said about Vietnam if American politicans had not ducked out.
So, Iraqis and, in fact, everyone in the Middle East should hope and pray that Iraq does succeed and the US does stay to help it. If the US doesn't stay, probably for years, no one will win, not the Iraqis, not the US, not the Middle East and not the world.

Global Warming: Non-issue

2005-12-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

Government officials met recently to discuss, agree or diagree on the whole issue of global warming--which to my mind was a waste of time and money. Why? It is a non-issue.
The concern for some people is that the world temperature is rising, and because of that they project all sorts of scenarios, which in their minds can mean only one thing: tragedy.
Then the come up with all these solutions to eliminate it--as if man in his puny way can have any serious impact on something so huge and so unknown.
I wonder, do these people who worry about global warmng believe the earth's temperature should always remain the same? Or, do they think it should drop? It would surprise me if there were absolutely no change in the global temperature.
The problem with this issue is that it detracts from the real world issues. Just think, if all those people in Pakistan suffering through the cold of winter after that earthquake had all the money spent on that global warming conference the money would have made a real and immediate difference in peoples lives!
Too, often we get distracted by issues such as global warming when there are much more important REAL issues for which there are known solutions. For example, a large part of the world does not have clean drinking water. The industrial countries know how to make clearn water. Illness, such as AIDS, weighs down the populations of many regions of the world. Successful teatment of AIDS is still illusive, but teaching people how to avoid it could help on the front end of that issue. And, work on the front end or before people get AIDS would be far cheaper and easier to achieve than treatment after they get it.
So, world, get a grip! Identify the real problems for which there are ready solutions. Solve those and think how much better the world will be.

Missionary Ridge Nov. 25, 1863

2005-11-30T21:48:00.000-05:00

A hundred Union regiments stormed the Confederate defenses along the base and crest of Missionary Ridge at Chattanooga, Tennessee late in the afternoon of November 25, 1863. One observer from afar said as he watched the Union regiments move up the ridge against withering Confederate fire, he could see points that seemed to pull those regiments upward. Looking more closely, the observer realized those “points” were regimental flags carried by bearers who were leading the charge up that ridge. Slowly, those regimental flags “pointed” the way to the top of that ridge, and the Union soldiers routed the Confederate soldiers who retreated in great disorder.
My own interest in this famous battle comes from the letters of one the soldiers who stormed Missionary Ridge that afternoon, Private Sam Smith of Springville, Indiana. He stormed it with his regiment, the 15th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.
I never knew Sam, and I am no relative of his. Yet, I have copies of 102 letters he wrote to his wife, Sarah, and, occasionally to his father or other relative, but mostly to his wife. They start when he enlisted in the Union army in April 1861 right after the Rebels attacked Ft. Sumner at Charleston, South Carolina. The letters follow him for better than two years.
Private Smith writes little in his letters about battles he may have seen or been in during his years in the war. Mostly, he writes of men in his unit, Company F, that Sarah knows. Most of the soldiers in Company F were from Private Smith’s home town or near there.
A recurrent and sad theme through all his letters , however, are his wonderings to her why she does not write him more often, especially when he makes every effort to write her. His original letters were written on any kind of paper he could find, including wall paper. He often seems very discouraged at not hearing from his wife, so much so that as I read them I keep hoping that he will have received a letter. Mostly, he does not, but when he does receive a letter from Sarah, oh, my, there is joy in the letters he writes back to her.
He has some funny stories for her about his army experiences. Having been in the army, I probably appreciate them more even today than Sarah did. For example, he writes in one letter how he and other soldiers in F Company finally got an issue of army clothing! But, you can almost hear him laughing in the letter, when he writes that the issue is a HAT! Nothing else, a hat. That’s even though at the time the soldiers desperately needed everything else, including pants, shirts and shoes.
He must have been a cobler, too, because he at one point writes of repairing shoes for fellow soldiers to make extra money.
Sam was in three battles. His letters tell of two. He was not actually in the first one. He just came on it after it was over, the Battle of Shiloh. Though he did not see that battle, he writes of some one in it that he and his wife knew who was “shot through the brain.” Private Smith writes that with obvious shock. He also writes of another soldier's surfering a terrible wound by having his jaw shot away.
Company F, 15th Indiana, finally went into battle at Stone River or Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and in his one letter about that battle Private Smith writes that the 15th did some “master fighting” there. By "master fighting," he meant the 15th Indiana withstood assaults by three Confederate regiments that included two bayonet charges. Bayonets! Wow! He goes onto write the 15th suffered almost 200 casulaties of 357 who stormed the ridge, with 45 killed in the battle. "I have seen the elephant and a big one," he said meaning the battle. He does not explain the strategic importance of the 15th's assault,because by the time it was over, he was dead. Yet, from other sources I learned his regiment held an important positon in the face of a strong assault by Confederate forces. That effort by the 15th Indiana helped save the battle for Union forces.
Years later, incidentally, at a regimental reunion of soldiers who’d served in the 15th, a regimental chaplain recalled that battle at Stone River. Particularly, he remembered how awe struck he was to see a column of 10,000 mounted Union cavalry form up to go into battle! That would be 20,000 beings, counting the horses! Wow!
Sam did not write about the cavalry. He does mention the movements of the Union army that led to the Battle of Chickamauga (sp) in Tennessee. The Union forces were routed in that fight. Sam was not at battle but in reserve with his regiment at Chattanooga.
Private Smith describes the poor condition of the Union army at Chattanooga following its defeat at Chickmaga (sp), but he does not complain about it, at least in any of his letters. The Union army was largely surrounded and almost cut off from its supplies by the Confederate army confronting it for some weeks. Private Smith doesn’t mention it, but other sources suggest the Union general, Gen. Rosecrans, who had been so badly defeated at Chickamaga, must have been so depressed he could not command his army at Chattanooga. Gen. Grant who arrived to relieve him after he was fired met Gen. Rosecrans when Rosecrans was on his way out of Chattanooga. Grant said the general had a perfectly good plan for breaking the Confederate hold on Chattanooga, he just did nothing about it.
After Grant arrived, he broke the Confederate army’s hold on the city and his forces went on to win several preliminary battles before the final assault up Missionary Ridge.
Private Sam Smith was there when Rosecrans left Chattanooga and there when Grant arrived. He was there when some of the smaller battles were fought, though there is no indication that he or anyone in the 15th Indiana fought in them, and it is highly doubtful he ever saw Roscrans or Grant let alone knew very much about what they did.
Yet, it is known that Pvt. Sam Smith and the 15th Indiana went up Missionary Ridge in the face “withering fire” from the Confederates.
The story goes that Grant ordered his forces to take the base of Missionary Ridge on the afternoon of Nov. 25, 1863 and stop. They did by assaulting across broad open fields. If you see pictures of those wide open fields cleared after the harvest that the Union soldiers had to cross, you can only conclude they were brave men.
But, also as the story goes, when the Union regiments reached the bottom of Missionary Ridge, they did not stop. They continued on up it against even fiercer opposition than they'd met at its base.
Gen. Grant is said, upon seeing all those regiments start up that ridge, to have asked who ordered that assault? His own orders had been for them to stop at the bottom of the ridge, and, by the way, it was not entirely clear his troops could reach the base of the ridge because it was so heavily defended. No one knew who ordered the Union troops to storm that ridge. It is said the troops did it on their own and that nothing, not General Grant or the Confederates defending that crest, could stop them.
Onward and upward they went.
The 15th Indiana is said to have lost two bearers of its regimental flag in the assault. One of those bearers was killed, and he was awarded the United States’ highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for his bravery.
Bullets and cannon balls be damned, nothing stopped those Union troops, and the first regiment reach the top was Private Sam Smith’s own 15th Indiana. Not only did his regiment reach the top first, but it actually captured the Confederate commanding general’s headquarters!
As a footnote, another of the regiments that made the assault that day was a regiment of all Negro soldiers. And a white soldier who observed that Negro regiment wrote afterward, “By their bravery, those Negro soldiers deserve at least a foot on the statue of humanity.”
This comment is significant because at the time some people claimed Negroes were not human, but actually animals. The idea implied a justification for slavery. How terrible a thought then and even more so today.
But, then the real tragedy.
I don't know if Private Smith made it to the top of Missionary Ridge.
I’ve not been able to find out exactly what happened to him. His wife, or rather widow on his death, wrote the US War Department a few years after the war and asked how he was killed? A document she received back said the wound was to the back of his head. There is a suggestion, however, becasue of two dates on the document, that Prviate Sam Smith might have lived a day after being wounded.
His regiment suffered about 50 percent casualties in that assault, and after the battle there were so few able soldiers left that those who were were put into another regiment.
How sad it was to learn Private Smith was killed because if you read his letters you have to like him. He believed in his cause, and he stuck with it for two years, or until his death, without ever once going AWOL to see his wife. And, he could have gone home at least once if he'd snuck off because his regiment was stationed at Louisville, Kentucky briefly. And, Sam in one of his letters remarks how close he is to his home. A train ride from Louisville to Springville, Indiana, would have been about a day’s travel or maybe less. Yet, he remained firm. He did not desert to see his wife because he said he’d joined the army to fight the rebels, and that he would not quit until they were defeated.
He is buried at the US military cemetery at Chattanooga. His is one of thousands of graves scattered over a beautiful hill side, not far from Missionary Ridge.
I have not seen the grave, but a friend did. She took a photo of it for me. It is merely a white tombstone with his name and regiment on it. Seems like there should be more.
Oh, one other final note, one of the last letter's Private Sam Smith's wife, Sarah, wrote that is preserved was to Private Smith’s brother. His brother also had been in the 15th with Sam. Sarah Smith asked if her husband had gotten a letter she’d written to him just before he was killed?
It is not clear whether he did or not. I hope he did because Private Sam Smith was always pleading with his wife to write him.
Sarah Smith’s grave is at Harrodsburg, Indiana. I have seen it. It is in a place where the sun when it is out easily shines on it. Sarah remarried briefly some years after the war, but that marriage did not last.
I’ve written this in memory of Private Sam Smith because after reading his letters I like him so much that he deserves to be remembered.
What a nice fellow he seems to have been--as have so many of the Americans fighting for peace, freedom and human dignity seem to have been.

World Leaders Need to Launch World Wide War on Poverty

2005-11-15T08:58:00.000-05:00

US President George Bush and British PM Tony Blair are leading the war on terrorism, but the one they and all the political and industrial leaders of the wealthy countries in the world really need to launch is one against poverty.
They can do that by trying to make sure everyone in the world who wants a job can get one.
A job gives a person a way to make a living and chart his or her own destiny. A job is not charity. Charity makes a person feel dependent. A job gives a person strength because it gives him or her independence or the ability to make choices.
A job gives hope.
Hope can propel a person a long way, and it can make a great difference in the whole world.

The Front Line*

2005-11-03T19:26:00.000-05:00

An American army lieutenant approached an American soldier somewhere in the forest of northern France in the cold winter of 1944. "Hey, soldier, where's the front line?" the lieutenant asked. The soldier replied: "I'm standing on it! ...

*I printed this same information in a blog earlier. Then I got this strange response or comment from who knows where. Made absolutely no sense. Since then I've gotten comments to new postings about dog houses, porno sites and things I do not understand at all.
If you are trying to sell anything, do not comment. If you just want to fill space. Don't.
This is a good thing. I hope the turkeys don't ruin it.

Religion vs. Government: the Charleston model

2005-11-01T19:42:00.000-05:00

Religion should not dominate civil government. That's a big period! Or end.
Anytime any one religion runs civil government , people always get killed--no murdered in the name of that religion's god, which makes the killing legitimate.
An excellent example of people who knew that were the citizens of Charleston, South Carolina in the US.
As that town was formed, the founding fathers (and mothers) decided the best way for no one religion to dominate would be to invite in many religions. So, they did. They invited all variations of Christians, and that is why there is this very distinctive French Hugenot (sp) church there today. They invited in Jews, and, no doubt, they would have invited in Moselms, Buddist and any other religion if they'd known of it. Why? By having so many different religions, all had to be tolerant of the other. None dominated. Therefore, all could practice any religion he or she wanted and not have problems from the others.
That is the best way for religion.
So, everyone needs to adopt the Charleston model.

Report from the hurricanes in Florida

2005-10-29T23:12:00.000-04:00

Below is an email from a good friend of mine.

Hi!!!

Guess where we`re at? Sunny Orlando! After 6 days of no electricity, no real food and very noisy generators that some lucky neighbours abused day and night we decided enough is enough .
One thing is wash your hair from a bottle of water, another is when you can barely hear your own thoughts because of all the noise.

Anyway , here we are, in Marriot. The storm was surprisingly strong for a cat. 2. We could see the tiles fly off our own roof and crash next to the parked cars. We came out safe and sound,
but most of the trees in the complex are simply gone, For the first time in my life I saw what the "eye" of a hurricane looks like...It came right through us - extreme calm after 100m/hr winds. We survived on grilling - steaks, chicken, veggies and such. But when the charcoal and
food finally ran out, and no sign of elctricity or gas or ice in 20 mi radius, Jonathan (her husband) grew hungry and restless. I swear the only person who didn`t notice much difference was Evan (her infant son)!

They say it might take up to a month to get the power back!!
Fortunately we`re lucky to be in a good location and we are usually the first to get it.

Anyway, tomorrow after seing Mickey it is back to the war zone !!
Lets hope there is a miracle and the power is on. That is all our news.

Tagged! For My Friend in Baghdad

2005-10-28T10:04:00.000-04:00

Seven Things I want to do before I die:
--Take a cruise--the one up the Amazon River in Brazil.
--Live a few years in China.
--Live a few years in Frankfurt, Germany.
--Fly an ultralight airplane again.
--Write the Great American Novel.
--Buy a newspaper.
--Live part of my time in New Mexico.
Seven Things I can do:
--Write my book, especially about the yellow fever epidemic at Gallipolis, Ohio in 1879.
--Fly an ultralight.
--Visit New Mexico often.
--Take a canoe trip on the Ohio River from Gallipolis to New Richmond, both in Ohio.
--Make interesting friends all over the world, thanks to the Internet.
--Drop about 20 pounds! (maybe)
--Take at least a short trip to China right away.
Seven things I cannot do
--Miss mass on Sundays. I find it sets my day, and I don't pay a lot of attention.
--Actually live in some of those far away places for now because of work and duties here.
--Do 50 push ups!
--Re-joing the Air Force Reserve again, too bad!
--Quit my job.
--Take that canoe trip on the Ohio River before spring.
--Buy that newspaper right this mnute.
Seven Things I find Attractive in a Female
--Good looks!
--Smarts!
--Confidence!
--Softness, but toughness, too.
--I think strength is another quality beyond toughness.
--Caring.
--Good humor, likes to laugh, enjoy life.
Seven Celebrity Crushes
--Julie Roberts
--Debra Pageant (from way back)
--That famous singer in India.
--blank
--blank
--blank
Maybe I can think of someone.
Now that said, I'll have to think of who to tag!

Is the Iranian president stupid or just a killer?

2005-10-27T09:59:00.000-04:00

The Iranian president reportedly called for Israel to be wiped off the face of the earth for the sake of Islam, and that kind of statement makes me wonder if the guy is stupid, just a killer or both?
Firstly, all of the Muslim countries in the Middle East have several times tried to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, only to find they were almost wiped off the face of the earth themselves by the Israelis. Israelis are good fighters. All the whining the Palestinians do now is about trying to reclaim land they lost in one of those wars.
Secondly, when someone attacks Israel, the Israelis do not turn the other cheek! They strike back--with fury!
So, if the Iranian president's words are heeded, any Muslim who attacks Israel can count on being killed him or herself or see other Muslims for sure killed or put in prison by the Israelis! Guaranteed!
Then, of course, more Arabs/Muslims will kill more Israelis and....It goes on and on.
I do not take sides in the Muslim/Arab-Israeli wars, but I can see that none of the wars have accomplished anything but death, destruction, sorrow, heartache and tears!
And, there will be more of all that human suffering thanks to that Iranian president's words.
You know it's coming! More pain for hundreds, maybe thousands of Israelis and Arabs/Muslims.
Is the Iranian president stupid or a killer? He's both.

2,000 US soldiers killed in Iraq

2005-10-26T12:02:00.000-04:00

The news media don’t just seem to want to report that fact.It wants to gloat over it!
Figure that.
To my mind the report of every single death in Iraq for whatever reason should be made with great respect for the dead and prayers for their families. There also should be additional prayers for all those American GIs yet serving in Iraq for the security of their own county and for the eventual emergence of a free and strong Iraq, an Iraq free of all insurgents, terrorists and murders. Iraq and the world need to recognize, as do US citizens, that the lives of all those GIs should eventually lead to a more stable Iraq, but also to a more stable world.
The end of Karl Shapiro’s great poem from World War II seems appropriate here.
From :
"Elegy For A Dead Soldier"
(c) 1944 By Karl Shapiro
"The time to mourn is short that best becomes
The military dead.
We lift and fold the flag,
Lay bare the coffin with its written tag,
And march away.
Behind, four others wait
To lift the box, the heaviest of loads.
The anesthetic afternoon benumbs,
Sickens our senses, forces back our talk.
We know that others on tomorrows roads
Will fall, ourselves perhaps, the man beside,
Over the world the threatened, all who walk:
And could we mark the grave of him who died
We could write this beneath his name and date:
EPITAPH
Underneath this wooden cross there lies
A Christian killed in battle.
You who read,
Remember that this stranger died in pain;
And passing here, if you can lift your eyes
Upon a peace kept by human creed,
Know that one soldier has not died in vain."

Hollywood Going Downhill!

2005-10-25T20:25:00.000-04:00

I read or heard the other day that some movie makers are concerned about a decline in audiences at American movie theaters--and they wonder why?
My view: most of the movies being produced today are for morons, and I hope that is a very small audience in the U.S.
Morons, you say? Yes, I say morons because there are so many great stories that could be told, but the movies don't tell them. They rely on terrible language to shock audiences, terrible people to shock them more--and then the movies they make do not tell a good story. A good story does not have to be "good," by the way. It just has to be a story worth telling.
I think here in the US too many movie makers try to identify a formula that will draw audiences--and valid or not--then they make movies to that formula with the expectation they will draw the people.
I am not one of the people they draw--and, by the way, I like movies. I will not, however, pay money to have my intelligence insulted (and I don't consider my intelligence way up there) by foolish junk! More than once I have gotten up and left in the middle of a movie that I rank in the "insult to my intelligence" category. I will do it again, though I so seldom go to movies anymore that.
What is a good movie?
It is a movie that has a great story to tell. It can be a great comedy as well as drama, fantasy as well as fact. But, it must be good.
Examples of good movies that I have seen and always enjoy:
--The Maltese Falcon with Humphrey Bogart. Good for the script, the characters, good and bad, even though sometimes the script itself seems to miss something. Still, always fun to watch.
--The African Queen, also with Bogart. Great story, interesting characters!
--Harvey with James Stewart, a whimsical, funny movie with depth and meaning to it. I remember the Catholic church putting the movie on a "don't go to list" when I was growing up. I'm glad I gone since.
--Casa Blanca, also with Bogart. Everytime I hear those people sing the French national anthym to drown out the Germans, I stand and join in singing the French song with them!
--Stage Coach, Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,
They Were Expendable and the Searchers, all featuring John Wayne, an American actor who became an institution in the US. In each case, the movie is about an interesting challenging character, John Wayne, tied to a good story with other good characters besides or in addition to John Wayne.
--Shane, another western featuring Alan Ladd, Van Hefflin and Jean Arthur. What a great story, great photography, interesting characters in a wonderous setting--the Grand Tetons (mountains) of Wyoming!
--High Noon, with Gary Cooper, a long dead movie star. The movie is in black and white, but the colors fit the theme and give it a tone that color would not.
--Von Ryan's Express with Frank Sinatra, another movie I want to see anytime it comes on. Sinatra, a great singer, is as good an actor in this movie.
--Paint Your Wagon with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. The music is wonderous and the story universal: man (and woman) searching for the meaning of life in a Gold Rush. Great story and music!
--Empire of the Sun, great because I think it represents a sort of forgiveness to the Japanese for their part in World War II--when a young British boy is shown saluting two Japanese pilots. The first time I saw that scene it caused me to sit straight up in my seat and feel amazement! Wow! At last, maybe the war is finally behind us.
--The Grapes of Wrath, which for once is almost as good as the book. No, I take that back. It is as good as the book, which is one of the great pieces of American fiction.
Movies that I think missed the mark: "Saving Private Ryan" because while the special effects were good, a story based on a more believable event at Normandy would have made far better movie. There are so many good stories from that event! I can't think of the name of it, but the movie from Disney about the Alamo a few years ago missed the mark. Whoever wrote the script did not understand the time or the people who were in the Alamo. You can read some of my ideas on that in an earlier entry. But, the Disney version was not even mildly interesting to someone who has long had an interest in that story. It did not tell me anything I did not know, and what it did tell me was not told in an interesting fashion. John Wayne's version of the same story in a movie also missed the mark. Too bad.
A few years ago (actually many years ago) when the movie "Platoon" was released, it was billed as THE movie about the American military in Vietnam! I was in Vietnam. I saw the American military in Vietnam. "Platoon?" The only thing good to come out of that for me was the theme music, "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber. I'd never heard it before. The rest of the movie? What a waste when there were so many good stories to tell about Americans in the Vietnam War. The stories I saw were not pro or anti war, they were just great stories about average GIs doing incredible things. Check some of the web sites about the Vietnam War, you will find some.
No movie has been made about the Vietnam War yet that is truly a great movie. One based on the book, "Chickenhawk" would be a good movie, but, alas, I think the window for that has passed.
The war in Iraq will some day produce great novels or movies or series of movies and books because of how it and the war in Afghanistan (sp) will change the atmosphere in the Middle East. And, this will not happen because of American involvement exclusively. I think the changes probably would have come anyway, only they would have taken longer--because I think the general unhappiness represented by all the suicide bombers and the huge emphasis on destroying Israel will one day pass. It has, too, and it must be replaced by the desire of people to get along with each other, to talk things over rather than fight and kill over things and to have good lives. You don't do that with sucide bombers and people killing each other or relgious zealouts preaching hate!
Oh, yes, other American movies that get top billing from me include "MASH," "Jeremiah Johnson," "The Sting," "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," and "Cool Hand Luke."
Others are welcome to add movies they've liked or not liked.
Smile!

SOS Pakistan

2005-10-21T13:10:00.000-04:00

Just imagine: if all the people trying to kill each other focused on helping all the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan, wow! All that evil energy would become positive engergy and the whole world would benefit. The hates would be forgotten. Love and kindness would prevail.
And, that's what the world needs: love and kindness.

How many killings will it take?

2005-10-20T08:21:00.000-04:00

At some point, all the people trying to kill each other in Iraq will stop doing that. At some point all the Palestinians killing people will stop doing that. Hopefully, at some point all the Muslim religious leaders will stop telling their followers that people who kill infidels will go to heaven. (Of course the killers in Iraq kill everyone, Muslims, Catholics, women, kids, you name it. I guess that's religion getting out of hand?) Anyway, maybe if those clerics get their followers under control--and the clerics get themselves under control--their followers will stop flying into buildings and killing thousands of people they don't know, stop bombing resorts in Indonesia to kill more people they do not know and stop bombing subways in London and Madrid and killing even more people none of them know.
I wonder when that point will be reached, but I also wonder how many more people--men, women and children who had great contributions to make to world civilization--will have to die from bullets and bombs before that point is reached.

Fall in Ohio

2005-10-19T14:04:00.000-04:00

Fall is the best time of the year in Ohio. Not too hot, not too cold. The trees in central Ohio are just now starting to show all their brilliant colors: every color of red, brown, yellow and orange you can imagine. Mornings brisk. Afternoons pleasantly sunny and warm. About as close to Eden as you can get.

Seems to Work

2005-10-14T08:34:00.000-04:00

I hope all the people in Iraq who want to vote get to vote without getting killed!
What a mess in Iraq, if what the media in the US reports is true.
Questions: how many more people will have to die in Iraq before the country becomes stable? How many more people will have to die before normal services can resume in the country, services such as electricity and clean water? I can ask the same question about how many more people have to be killed by terrorists before it stops of countries like Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, Indonesia and in the Russian republics?
I see the king of Jordan has callled on Muslim countries to fight extremism. I know Saudi Arabia is making an attempt at fighting it, and I know Egyt is still reeling under the attacks on tourists.
What will it take for ALL Muslims to take the king of Jordan's stance? Will they ever?

Testing! Testing!

2005-10-14T08:32:00.000-04:00

I've tried twice over the last two days to post something on this blog only to get a strange message and no response. So, this is trying for the third time.

The Defenders of the Alamo--Why They Stayed

2005-03-09T15:09:00.000-05:00

My mind has for the longest time tried to understand why the defenders stayed inside the Alamo when they knew the soldiers of Santa Anna’s Mexican army far out numbered them?
My answer to this is actually several answers that combined answer my main question.
Patriotism sounds the most noble of them all. I suspect some of the defenders fought for patriotic reasons. Yet, since so many of them had been in Texas only a few weeks before they went inside the Alamo, how could they have developed patriotic feelings so strong as to give their lives for patriotic causes in Texas?
Another reason may have been the success of Texans who a few months earlier stormed and took the Alamo from the Mexican army when it occupied the Alamo.
That would be a believable reason, but I think there are three other more important.
The first had to be the strong personalities of leaders inside the Alamo: Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie and, of course, William Barrett Travis. All were luminaries in their time, Bowie and Travis regionally, Crockett nationally. All achieved their status on the strength of their personalities, and, recalling the strength and simplicity of Travis’s famous letter to “All Americans” in the world, the other defenders were no doubt influenced to stay because of them.
The second of these three reaons is the hope for reinforcements. Everything suggest the defenders sent several messengers out seeking reinforcements, with the most famous being Albert Martin. He brought back 31 men from Gonzales. Martin, incidentally, came back with those men from Gonzales.
In a way, the arrival of those 31 men must have boosted spirits of those inside, but they may also have sealed the fate of the men from Gonzales as well as the other defenders. That may be because those reinforcements gave the defenders hope that other reinforcements were on the way.
Martin was not the last to go out. The final messenger seeking help went out the evening of March 5 before the final assault began in the pre-dawn hours of March 6. That again suggests that even at that late date the defenders still hoped for help.
The final reason, and maybe the most important reason, may have been the precedent in recent American history of the time of small Americans forces defeating much larger enemy forces.
Two examples come to mind, both from the War of 1812: the Battle of New Orleans, the most famous, and the Battle of Ft. Stephenson, Ohio.
Most of the men inside the Alamo knew of the Battle of the New Orleans. Some may have even been there, and some could have been at Ft. Stephenson or heard of it since three defenders in the Alamo were from Ohio.
The battle in what is now Freemont, Ohio, saw a superior force of 1,200 Indians and British soldiers assault the fort held by 160 to 200 Americans. The Americans won a convincing victory with a tactic similar to one used at the Battle of New Orleans.
Ft. Stephenson defenders dug a trench eight feet deep and seven feet wide (or visa versa) around the perimeter of their fort. Or, they dug it around the front of their fort. The back faced on a river, the Sandusky.
The British and Indians on their assault jumped down into the pit.
"Why" is one question because they would not only have had to scale the seven or eight foot wall of the pit, but also he walls of the fort that rose up from the pit. The walls were protected by bayonets that would have made it difficult for the assaulting forces to get past them to reach the top of the ramparts. They didn’t get that far, though, because the defenders had prepared a port hole which opened from inside of the fort into the trench. The main feature of the porthole was a canon filled with chains and all sorts of lead and metal pieces, ie., buckshot.
One who jumped into the trench on the assault, a certain British lieutenant colonel by the name of Short, had before hand promised the defenders “no quarter” when his force took it. When the lieutenant colonel got in the trench and saw the canon, it is said he waved a white handkerchief asking quarter. No quarter was given. The canon blasted killing or horribly maiming those in the trench. The British and Indians are said to have immediately abandoned their assault after that, loaded up into their boats and sailed away. It is said they did, however, send medical people back to tend their wounded from the battle.
(The Battle for Ft. Stephenson came after the final battle at Ft. Meigs over near what is now Toledo, Ohio. The commander at both battles, a certain British colonel by the name of Proctor, had been victorious in earlier battles with American armies. He also was blamed for allowing Indians to massacre American soldiers after those battles.)
Finally, there is the Battle of New Orleans. The similar tactic as at Ft. Stephenson was an eight foot wide by seven foot deep (or visa versa) trench, this time filled with water from a canal, in front of the American barricades. The Americans at New Orleans did not have the porthole trick, but they are said to have had Kentucky sharp shooters eight deep facing the ranks of British soldiers that came marching woodenly in formation across a flat, tree less surface. The British soldiers, by the way, had been promised “booty and beauty” or be allowed to loot and rape once the army got to New Orleans.
Three attempts by the British to storm the American fortifications below New Orleans failed with great losses to the British. Several thousand British soldiers were killed, wounded or captured compared to only a few handfuls of American casualties in the battle. The British quickly abandoned their quest in New Orleans, soon jumped into their boats and sailed away.
This last reason might have played more importantly in the minds of the defenders than many of the others in their decisions to stay inside the Alamo.
It is with all these reasons, but especially with this last one, that my own minds rests and is satisfied that it understands the motivations of those who died at the Battle of the Alamo.