Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday to my dad--he would be 112 today, died in 2002. I don't have a lot of mushy, gushy remembrances like some of my FBF or blogging friends, but I do laugh at some of the stories I remember. He was really sappy with the grandchildren, but with his own kids--well, there was that thing called the Great Depression and WWII and trying to get his life back on track, and put all that behind him. My favorite story is the day he went to the court house to get his birth record for Social Security and was told he was registered as "baby boy." (I've seen the ledger book in calligraphic handwriting of 1913.) When asked could anyone vouch for his identity, he said, "Yes, my mother and father." We all got a good laugh, but Grandma sure wasn't happy about it. She'd had his name picked out a long time, and the doctor just forgot to register it (born at home).

About Springfield, Ohio and a popular hymn

Complaints by the locals about imported migrant labor is not new to the U.S. Native born Californians were very hostile to the dust bowl agricultural workers (remember the Joads in Grapes of Wrath book?). In those days, and even when my family lived in Alameda in 1944, they were called Oakies and Arkies, pejorative terms then. Even my mom who was from Illinois didn't like them as she tried to stretch Dad's military pay while they bought what they wanted with government vouchers (or so she thought). In 1942, the Farm Security Administration (part of FDR's "New Deal") operated ninety-five camps with housing for seventy-five thousand people in California. The Library of Congress has an archive of photographs and books about those years and one photographer claimed in 1940 that the FSA camp at Visalia, CA had miserable weather and the local residents were grifters and corrupted. "I like it the least of the western states. My impression is that everything is commercialized, the police & city officials are corrupt grafters, there is little of that gracious western hospitality & most of the people are of that reactionary, super-patriotic, fascist-minded type. Practically every newspaper features a daily red-baiting article with 2 inch headlines that condemn [Democratic] Gov. [Culbert L.] Olson, the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board], or Pres. Roosevelt."

Sounds like a true 2024 Democrat journalist, doesn't he? California and Minnesota even then had very active Socialist and Communist parties.

I know little about California's history or migrant labor. It's just one of those serendipitous things you find in the amazing LC collection while researching a hymn, and find it had been recorded in a migrant labor camp in Visalia in 1940, "Just a closer walk with thee." No one knows who wrote it, but it was the most popular and most recorded hymn of the 20th century.

https://genius.com/Patsy-cline-just-a-closer-walk-with-thee-lyrics  Patsy Cline

https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000132/  Library of Congress FSA recording

https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/just-a-closer-walk-with-thee    Details of publishing history

What does the Bible say about soldiers? An old blog entry for Memorial Day Week-end

I came across an item about soldiers and wars in my blog entry of June 1, 2008.  I didn't follow through on my question about how have soldiers influenced the spread of the Gospel.  But it's still worth looking at.

"This week our congregation has been reading the book of Acts, and I noticed a number of references to soldiers and centurions. I'm not much of a Bible scholar, but I did wonder about what studies have been done on their influence in spreading the Gospel during the first century of the church. Then yesterday, while looking for a different book (and knocking some items on the floor because I sometimes stack books behind books if they don't have attractive covers), I found an International Sunday School Lesson book from 1944 which I think I bought at a yard sale for a quarter about 10 years ago. If you can find them, these books are packed with study outlines, bibliographies, lesson plans, illustrations and color maps. No wimp-out, touchy-feely, "let's get acquainted" questions in this book!

In the introduction the editor writes:"Inasmuch as we are in the midst of the world's most gigantic military conflict, and the minds of people are so much upon war, some of our readers might be interested in taking up a series of studies in young people's meetings, or in prayer meetings, or in private classes in homes, apart from the International Sunday School Lessons, in Biblical themes that have more or less relation to the subject of war. We here suggest two such series, one a study of the centurions and soldiers of the New Testament [the other was OT battles]. They will be found in eighteen different groups, nine in the Gospels, and nine in the Book of Acts. A fascinating book could be written just about the soldiers of the New Testament.

1. The centurion whose servant Jesus healed of the palsy (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10)
2. The soldiers of the governor who mocked and smote Jesus--between his trial and crucifixion (Mat. 27:27-32; Mark 15:16-23; John 19:2)
3. The soldiers who mocked Jesus at the cross (Luke 23:36,37)
4. The soldiers who parted Christ's raiment at the foot of the cross (John 19:23,24)
5. The soldiers who broke the legs of the 2 criminals crucified on either side of Christ (John 19:32)
6. The soldier who thrust a spear into the side of Christ (John 19:34)
7. The centurion at the cross who confessed that Jesus was the Son of God (Matt.27:54; Mark 15:39; Luke 23:47)
8. The centurion who reported to Pilate that Jesus was dead (Mark 15:44,45)
9. The soldiers who were set to guard the tomb wherein the body of Jesus lay (Matt. 27:65, 66; 28:11-15)
10. Cornelius, centurion of the Italian band, to whom Peter preached (Acts 10)
11. The "devout soldier" who was sent by Cornelius to bring Peter (Acts 10:7,8)
12. The 4 quarternions of soldiers to whom Peter was delivered for safekeeping, and between two of whom Peter was sleeping (Acts 12:4-18)
13. The soldiers and centurions whom the chief captain used to deliver Paul from the mob in Jerusalem (Acts 21:32-35)
14. The centurion to whom Paul declared he was a Roman citizen (Acts 22:25,26)
15. The centurion to whom Paul asked permission to see his sister's son (Acts 23:17)
16. The soldiers who accompanied Paul to Caesarea (Acts 23:23-35)
17. Julius, a centurion of Augustus' band, to whom Paul was committed when he was sent to Rome (Acts 27:1,6,11,31,43; 28:16)
18. The soldiers who were on the ship on which Paul was carried to Rome (Acts 27:31, 32, 42)"

Only the introduction of the 1944 book mentions the war that was on everyone's mind, an introduction which included five annotated bibliographies containing about 80 titles, many multi-volume, for the teacher to consult! Many people never read an introduction, preface or footnote (librarians love the secondary and tertiary stuff), so I suspect this was a concession to some heated arguments in the back room when deciding what was to go into this book.

The editors appeared to have no doubts about who would be the victor, although I don't think my mother, aunts and grandmothers, with ear to the radio and eye on the headlines, waiting for the mailman (my own father plus numerous uncles and cousins were in the service) were quite so confident.

They wrote:  "When the war is over, evangelical Christianity will enter upon the greatest struggle it has known since the days of Constantine in the defense of its great cardinal truths. All of this great and important and sober work will not be done by ministers or theological professors, but much of it by the thousands and thousands of faithful Sunday school teachers throughout our land. Let us prayerfully, carefully, with all the mind and heart we have, prepare ourselves now for this great struggle in the expectation of glorious victory in the ultimate triumph of the truth of God."

Certainly a word for the 21st century. And even they couldn't have imagined it would be our home-grown, gold plated idols (celebrities), our wealth (mind numbing consumerism), our gendered temples (desecration of God's plan for man and woman), our university faculties and our own elected leaders we'd need to fear. Or did they?" (End of June 1, 2008 blog entry.)

Glenn Beck encourages reading; his latest book list

Glenn Beck is a radio personality, an author, and a huge fan of books--he advocates for book reading, for research, and for being informed. He leans right, so that's the kind of books and authors he recommends. Fifteen years ago he inspired book clubs encouraging patriotism, particularly about historical figures. https://www.glennbeck.com/topic/books/glenn-becks-bookshelf-past-lessons-current-problems-poisonous-future? (Read complete description and summary)

https://www.thethinkingconservative.com/the-fourth-turning-an-american-prophecy-what-the-cycles-of-history-tell-us-about-americas-next-rendezvous-with-destiny/ (1997)
The authors look back five hundred years and uncover a distinct pattern: Modern history moves in cycles, each one lasting about the length of a long human life, each composed of four eras—or "turnings"—that last about twenty years and that always arrive in the same order. In The Fourth Turning, the authors illustrate these cycles using a brilliant analysis of the post-World War II period.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz (2020)
takes readers out of today’s political dysfunction and back to a time of true leadership, when, in the face of unrelenting horror, Churchill’s eloquence, courage, and perseverance bound a country, and a family, together.

The Final Fight for Freedom: How to Save Our Country from Chaos and War (2022)
Not since the Civil War has our nation been so divided, bringing us to the edge of national suicide. And our enemies—China being chief among them—see our weakness. If we falter, they will act.

Race Marxism: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and Praxis (2022)
Lindsay explains what Critical Race Theory is, what it believes, where it comes from, how it operates, and what we can do about it now that we know what we're dealing with. It exposes Critical Race Theory for what it is by ranging widely across its own literature and a survey of some of the darkest philosophical currents of the last three hundred years in Western thought.

Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America (2021)
In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of “white privilege” and the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervor of the “woke mob.”

The Extinction Trials (2021)
With time running out to save the last human survivors, Owen, Maya, and the other participants venture out into the changed world. What they find there is beyond anything they imagined. And the key to their future—and humanity's survival—is something no one expected.

San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities (2021)
San Fransicko reveals that the underlying problem isn’t a lack of housing or money for social programs. The real problem is an ideology that designates some people, by identity or experience, as victims entitled to destructive behaviors. The result is an undermining of the values that make cities, and civilization itself, possible.

Eight Days in May: The Final Collapse of the Third Reich (2021)
A taut, propulsive narrative, Eight Days in May takes us inside the phantomlike regime of Hitler’s chosen successor, Admiral Karl Dönitz, revealing how the desperate attempt to impose order utterly failed, as frontline soldiers deserted and Nazi Party fanatics called on German civilians to martyr themselves in a last stand against encroaching Allied forces.

Why We Fought: Inspiring Stories of Resisting Hitler and Defending Freedom (2021)
These dramatic and inspiring personal stories shed light on some of the darkest days of World War II and one of the most perilous times in human history.

Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America (2021)
With the insight of a native, Koffler explains how Russians, formed by centuries of war-torn history, understand the world and their national destiny. The collapse of the Soviet empire, which Putin experienced as a vulnerable KGB agent in East Germany, was a catastrophic humiliation. Seeing himself as the modern “Czar Vladimir” of a unique Slavic nation at war with the West, he is determined to restore Russia to its place as a great power.

The One percenters--an internet meme sent by a friend

Some of you are younger and not in the 1% age group. I decided to send it as a history lesson of what life was like then.

Yes, I am one of the One Percenters and thank God every day that I do remember all of this - the Good and Not So Good. Let us continue to Stay Safe-Healthy-Strong to enjoy each day.

One percenters . . .The 1% Age Group.

This special group was born between 1930 and 1946 = 16 years. In 2021, the age range is between 75 and 91.

Are you, or do you know, someone "still around?"

Interesting Facts For You . . .

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war which rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren't available.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

You are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of grieving neighbors whose sons died in the War.

You saw the 'boys' home from the war, build their little houses.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV until the 1950's, you spent your childhood "playing outside." There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

On Saturday mornings and afternoons, the movies gave you newsreels sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words which did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening.

The Government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.

Loans fanned a housing boom.

Pent up demand, coupled with new installment payment plans opened many factories for work.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The Veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves until the streetlights came on.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.

You came of age in the 50's and 60's.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

The second world war was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only our generation can remember both a time of great war, and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.

You are "The Last Ones."

More than 99 % of you are either retired or deceased, and you feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

Amen! It’s great being part of the 1% Special Group! And I'll drink to that . . . yes it was good times . . .

HT to Jan Fritz, member of my church

The candy bombers; the untold story of the Berlin airlift and America's finest hour

Our book club (on Zoom these days) will be discussing "The Candy Bombers" by Andrei Cherny this Monday. It's an absorbing book, and the author is a beautiful, graceful writer and consummate researcher.  At first I thought I'd found someone who knew the similarities between Fascism and Communism--the flip sides of the same pancake, but after reading his bio (he's a Democrat and progressive with time in the Obama administration) he seems to be unaware of the dangerous path we're going down. Perhaps because this was published 12 years ago.  He's the son of Czech immigrants. 

It's frustrating that today's totalitarian Democrats keep referring to President Trump as a fascist, but perhaps they are just the CNN muddle brained social media arm chair historians, since Trump fits none of the check marks for a fascist.  Our newest president who seems to be a stand-in for Barack Obama's third term is locked arm in arm with Big Tech--a much better fit the classic definition.

That said, I do remember the airlift that saved Berlin, and America's finest hour, as the subtitle claims. That's how we learned it in school. We were the good guys.   I even remember some of the post WWII review Cherny provides and a few of the names who figure in this story, like Lucien Clay and James Forrestal.  But I can't imagine how I remember.  I was only 6 when the war ended, I didn't go to movies that much in the late 1940s that I would have seen news reels, and my family didn't have a TV.  Perhaps we did read about it in American history classes as seniors, about a decade later. In any case, reading about what happened between the closing of the war and the beginning of the airlift in this book can certainly leave a bad taste in the mouth.  Americans, and the other victors, were certainly not behaving in "the finest hour" image I learned in school. Germans were starving and dying of malnutrition while the victors were doing little about it, fulfilling Roosevelt's idea that they needed to be punished more severely than what happened after WWI in order to "learn a lesson."

Harry Truman has always been one of my favorite presidents, perhaps because he's the first one I remember.  On p. 183 the author describes March 1948 after the Communists seized control in Prague.  Truman was in the Florida Keys, and of course, the press was being critical for his being on vacation.  Cherny notes a letter he wrote to his daughter, Margaret (another president who confided in his daughter), that "the situation was just like when Britain and France were faced with in 1938-9 with Hitler.  A totalitarian state is no different whether you call it Nazi, Fascist, Communist or Franco Spain."

He wrote:  "A decision will have to be made.  I am going to make it.  I am sorry to have bored you with tis.  But you've studied foreign affairs to some extent and I just wanted you to know your Dad as President asked for no territory, no reparations, no slave laborers--only peace in the world.  We may have to fight for it.  The oligarchy in Russia is no different from the Czars, Louis XIV, Napoleon, Charles I and Cromwell.  It is a Frankenstein dictatorship worse than any of the others. Hitler included. "

And that's what we're slipping into with the Biden administration. A sycophant media. Hold overs from the Obama administration who've been strategizing for 4 years to take us back to being government dependents. An oligarchy composed of powerful Big Tech companies who are closing down all expressions of conservative thought while the political parties seem helpless to control them. 

Also, the inside negotiations and personality conflicts between many key players and the military and the politicians in DC which Cherny masterfully portrays are disturbing to read.  I suppose that is common to every government with the petty disagreements, party loyalties, and idiosyncratic behaviors. I just haven't read that much and found it difficult.

There were 3 conventions that summer of 1948--the third was the "progressive" (Democrats) with Henry Wallace, who had been Roosevelt's v.p. in his 3rd term, but was pushed aside (thankfully) by conservatives in the Democrat party.  I loved the description of the Progressives in 1948--nothing has changed:

 "The delegates were young--the average age was 30 and many were in their teens. 3/4 of the delegates were new to politics (McGovern was 26). 2 out of 5 were labor union members . . . the mood was merry. Each day began with a sing-along of folk music. (Pete Seeger). . . at any moment during the proceedings, there would be numerous huddles on the convention floor forming around young men and women who had spontaneously begun strumming a guitar. . . The party platform called for an increase in the minimum wage, a strong action against racial discrimination, national health insurance, a Dept. of Peace, higher levels of farm supports, guaranteed pensions for older Americans. . ." p. 315

The U.S was already having problems with the Communist threat inside, and Wallace didn't have the slightest complaint about Soviet Communism, but found fault with the American government 's attempt to move against domestic communists. Any delegate at the progressive convention who wanted to slip a word into the platform that might be anti-Soviet, was shut down.

Yes, it does all sound very familiar.

We’re the mop up crew

In adult Sunday school class at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church yesterday Dave told us a vivid story of how we are to defeat Satan. He said his father was in the Battle of the Bulge, the greatest and longest battle of WWII in the dead of winter with terrible losses on both sides. His father told him that although the allies won, those who survived the battle still had to contend with the dangerous mop up in each village they passed through. And that's what we have to do. Christ has won the battle, but we have to do the mop up. That's a paraphrase of course, and don't ask about the sermon because I can only handle one good story a day.

Well, actually I remember one other. Our pastor, Steve Turnbull, told us during the 9:00 traditional service his 20th wedding anniversary is this week. I looked around the sanctuary at all the gray heads--at least for one couple I think it's 75, and some celebrating in the 50s and 60s. Many have grandchildren older than our pastor. We were probably all thinking--"you babies."

Jesus is Lord even if we are mad at him and don't want Christmas

Mother's Day 2010

In the early years of the United States, many Christians didn't celebrate Christmas at all--it was just another day--because it had been spoiled by drunken parties and materialism common among the British. Sort of like today. My mom never had a Christmas present as a child, although I think there were cards exchanged at school because I have some of them. My dad did remember getting a new pair of overalls as a kid and somehow they scraped together enough money to buy candy. Ironic that they were so poor and my mom's parents had money, yet dad's family found something to celebrate and mom's made it just another day, no celebration. They did loosen up after grandchildren, and learned to enjoy the holiday.  Just the other day I bought a box of art supplies that reminded me of something they gave me when I was maybe 8 years old. I'll probably never open it, because I don't draw anymore, but it was fun to see it.

The first Christmas I remember was 1944 in Alameda, CA when Dad was in the marines in WWII. Scary times. I know I had memories earlier than that because I can remember I thought that singing carols in the fog (that smell of the Bay has stayed with me) was very different than singing carols in the snow in Illinois--I just have no specific memory of 1943 or 1942. Also we didn't have a church which seemed odd to me. We went to the school gym for a Christmas program. I suppose the military towns had grown so fast there was no thought of churches. There was death and destruction everywhere, so people probably thought God had left town.

My faith was just something passed along to me by community, family and tradition until 1974, then I believed. Lots of questions I plan to ask Jesus because things haven't always worked out. I don't know how 20th century American Christians got the idea that faith was all happy clappy touchy feely. 100 million people lost their lives in the 20th century due to socialism/communism totalitarian governments--a huge number of them where Christians. And neither God nor the U.S. military saved them. And that doesn't count the war dead--another 40 million--and then it was Christians fighting each other!

On the other hand, I've had so many blessings over the years that others have missed, I'll probably ask about that, too. Although, I sort of suspect everything will become clear without even asking. As Paul says, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood."

Things are really foggy for me now, but someday I'll know.

Today is the first day of Advent, a time we look back, to the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus, and forward to when he comes again in glory.  It's the first day of the new Christian year, a time the church gives us to start fresh.  It's true that Christ has already taken his seat at the right hand of God, but

"now he comes to be born in the narrowness of our lives to be incarnate in us, to give his love to the world through us, through our flesh and blood. . . The reason why we are where we are this Christmas, in this house, family, office, workroom, hospital, or camp, is because it is here in this place that Christ wants to be born, from here that he wants his life to begin again in the world"  (Caryll Houselander, "Lift up your hearts" 1978.) From Magnificat, December 2019

Veterans Day, 2019

When we were kids, November 11 was called Armistice Day—because it was the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month of 1918—the end of World War I.  And oh my, how many wars since then!  My parents remembered and told stories about the first Armistice Day since they were about 5-6 years old and remembered the celebrations.  I like to think of them running around as kids, in adjoining counties—Lee and Ogle--but not knowing each other, listening to the farm bells, celebrating what they probably didn’t understand. But since both my grandfathers had been registered for the draft, at least they could put that worry aside.

Dad, being deceased, technically is not honored today—that’s for Memorial Day, but he  “was inducted into the Marine Corps in March, 1944, at San Diego, California.  After completing his training, he was assigned to the U.S.S. Mayo and made two trips across the Atlantic and one trip each to Okinawa, the Philippines and Japan.  He was discharged in December, 1945.” [War Record of Mt. Morris]  It is my recollection he was home in time for Christmas that year, and I think Mom went all out—we got the doll house (to share) and the sled (to share). I’m not sure what he gave my brother, but we three girls each got pure silk hand bags—mine was red and yellow—I had it well into adulthood packed away, but have no idea where it is now.  Dad had worked for Standard Oil before going into the service, and he still had a job, but not the same territory, so he was driving every day to the area around Forreston and Freeport, and that’s why we moved in 1946 (or could have been early 1947—memory is a bit rusty).

The Mt. Morris Index kept up with all the soldiers away from home and although we have none of his letters  I was able to include one of his letters to the Index about a mix-up in his mail, August 1944 when he was still a private in one of my memory compilations of 2002.  The information from the Index I found in a file folder Dad kept in his desk on Lincoln St.--they would be 75 years old if someone in the family still has those newspaper clippings.  There are a few references to our family which moved to Alameda, California, while he was stationed in California. I think the editor (Tommy ?) did that for all the men who were in the war.   In the June 29, 1945, clipping it mentions he was a payroll clerk on the Mayo.  He told me years later that because he could type (won a prize at Polo H.S.) he wasn’t in combat.  I’d always figured it was because he had 4 children and was in his 30s—much older than most of the men!  He had a leave he spent in Mt. Morris because his ship was docked in Boston, but we were on the road with our mother returning from California, and didn’t get to see him.

The Korean dead will be returned

I teared up when I read that the remains of soldiers would be returned from North Korea. Their parents are gone now, but there are siblings and children and grandchildren. I remember when my uncle came home in 1947 after being killed in China in 1944 during WWII. He was an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater. Clare and a pilot in his unit were killed in an explosion when their plane hit a gasoline supply, through the stupidity of his commanding officer who insisted the men go up in a blinding storm. No one else in that unit lost his life and we only found out how Clare died when a great nephew, Steve, attended one of their reunions in the 1990s. Clare came home on the Honda Knot through San Francisco with 233,181 American dead mostly from action in the Pacific. Another large number came to New York from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of grateful Americans lined up to greet them. I hope we can welcome home those who died in Korea, the war that never ended. Thank you, President Trump.

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2018/06/12/trump-kim-agree-to-repatriating-us-military-remains-from-korean-war/

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2010/05/remembering-uncle-clare-on-memorial-day.html

Friday Family Photo--Christmas songs

My great niece Catie who lives in Florida asked on Facebook what was our favorite Christmas song.  I mentioned "I'll be home for Christmas" as a secular choice, and "Mary did you know" for religious, but then later I added this memory about White Christmas.  It got so long, I decided to add it here along with a photo.

"White Christmas" is a favorite song, too. When your Grandma Yoder and I were little kids we lived in California, and that's the first time I heard that song--Christmas 1944. It had come out in 1942, so if I'd heard it before I was too little to remember. We went to a community center for a Christmas party (I don't think we had a church), and a group of teen boys sang it. Just about everyone in our community (Alameda, CA) was from somewhere else--and it was damp and foggy as usual in the Bay Area--so the song had a lot of impact. By Christmas 1945 we were back in Mt. Morris, the war was over, dad and his brothers, brothers-in-law, and cousins were home (about 500 men just from our rural area were in the military), the country had recovered from the Depression, and I still remember the gifts. In 1944 I'd gotten a small glass cat figurine, but by 1945 we had "real" presents--like a sled! One was the doll house that we 3 sisters were to share, and you and your mom as children played with it later in the basement of my parents' home on Lincoln St. My mom's camera was broken when I was little, so I have no photos of those Christmases, but I do have one of your Grammy Yoder in the snow in front of our house at 203 E. Hitt St. Probably winter 1940. She's the little one--she was very tiny for her age.

Bill, the WWII veteran

Before the heat became unbearable,  I was on my walk in the apartment complex close by, and he was on his walker. I stopped to chat with him and found out he was born in 1925 and enlisted when he was 17. "I wasn't afraid to die, but I was afraid I might not be able to do what I was trained to do." He was on a destroyer, manning incredibly complex equipment--before he ever had a driver's license. He injured his hip in the war, and later in life broke it, so thus he's on a walker. The complex where he lives is beautiful and I like to walk there, but rarely meet anyone. Lucky me.

Friday Family Photo--Too many Corbetts

The Mount Morris Index editor, Worthington Thomas, kept track of the town's young men during WWII. From the going away party at his parents' home to his return at Christmas 1945, my father and other soldiers were reported in the town paper. I assume relatives submitted the information. My dad also wrote to Tommy who included his letters in the paper. I found the clippings in the 1990s. I don't know what happened to them.

July 1944
HOWARD CORBETTS TOO NUMEROUS IN CALIFORNIA CAMP

"Many odd situations have been reported by Mount Morris men participating in the present war, but a letter to the Mt. Morris Index from a young Marine located at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, Calif., brings to light one of the most unusual "Believe it or not" stories of them all.

"Dear Sirs: During the past few weeks I have received a few copies of the Mount Morris Index They are addressed to a Pvt. Howard Corbett, 5th Marine Div., Camp Pendleton, T.C. It just so happens that my name is the same, only I am a Pfc. in the 26th Regt., "D" Co., and am from Chicago.

Anyway, my curiosity has been aroused. I would like to know more about the other Howard. Maybe he is in some way related to me. I don't know. But if it isn't too much trouble I would like to know about him.

I joined the Marine Corps in January, 1942. Of these 30 months I have spent 23 overseas. I was a member of Carlson's Raiders and participated in four major battles at Midway, Bougainville and Guadalcanal.

I returned to the United States last February, and as you know, am now at Camp Pendleton. That in short is my life for the last 2 1/2 years and is about what I would like to know about the other Howard. I have sent the papers back to the post office and hope they are being sent on to the right addressee. I would advise your getting his correct address and have him put his middle initial on his record.

Sincerely yours, Howard N. Corbett

The Mount Morris Howard also was located at Camp Pendleton for a time which naturally accounts for the mix-up in mail. However, his present address is Naval Air Station, Marine Brks., Alameda, Calif., and both Howards will get this week's Index, with the suggestion that they write each other and establish their relationship if any."

Dad and Stan in front of our house in Alameda

And the rest of the story: I used the internet to see what had happened to Howard N. Corbett of Chicago, and if I've found the right one, he died in May 2004. After the war in which he was injured he went to college on the GI Bill and became a pharmacist. Howard Corbett Obituary (2004) - Homewood, IL - Daily Southtown (legacy.com)

It appeared from the obituary, that his son Howard, Jr., retired USMC, died a few months later. 

Howard Corbett Obituary (2004) - Chicago, IL - Daily Southtown (legacy.com)

We'll meet again, don't know where, don't known when

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcunREYzNY

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1xYq40yVQg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Dwf93z7w8

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNB8VbFmlOY

Vera Lynn is 100 years old, March 20, 2017.

Remembering Uncle Clare--Friday family photo

In sorting through the basket of Christmas cards and letters this week, I found one from my cousin Sharon who lived in a Chicago suburb when we were children.  She is the daughter of my mother's oldest brother, Leslie.  The letter was dated December 20, 2000. Our parents' brother, Clare, had been killed in WWII in October, 1944. I recall my mother saying he couldn't be a pilot because of a hearing problem, but was trained for photographic mapping.  He was an aerial engineer for the 24th Mapping Squadron of the 8th Photo Group, Reconnaissance (10th Air Force) which served in the China, Burma, India theater. Clare and a pilot in his unit were killed in an explosion when their plane hit a gasoline supply, through the stupidity of his commanding officer who insisted the men go up in a blinding storm. No one else in that unit lost his life and we only found out how Clare died when a great nephew, Steve, attended one of their reunions in the 1990s.

Sharon writes in December 2000: "I just finished gathering Steve's information, pictures, and letters from Clare and sent it off December 7.  I hope it gets there.  I copied the letters from Clare and the photos, just in case.  Leslie (Sharon's father) had at least 40 letters from Clare which I also loved reading.  I had no idea he had been stationed in so many places around the United States.  He was even out in Kingmore, Arizona, for awhile.  I told Steve how we cousins would walk down the hall to "Clare's room" and peek in and see the flag and the purple heart.  He was someone we wished we had known.  Gayle remembered that too. [As did I.]

I have one vivid remembrance of Clare visiting us in Chicago and giving me a stick of Dentyne gum.  I was 6 by then in 1944 and I remembered because of the pungent flavor of the gum.  I thought it was so good.  Then I read in his letters it really did happen and he even took a picture of Richard and me standing by the back door.  The negative had been laying in the letter for 56 years.  He told Leslie they didn't bother developing it because they thought it was too faint and maybe he could have it made up.  When I held it up I could see 2 little kids on it, so I took it in and sure enough it was Richard and I as we were that day with Clare. [I remember Clare visiting our family in Mt. Morris, so it may have been the same trip.]

Leslie wrote Clare in September, 1944, and it must have come back to him [my grandmother also had a letter returned to her that he never received]. It was with Clare's letters.  It must have been so awful. I said to our daughter I wish I could've been more responsive to it all then and she said, "You were just a child."  So I said to Steve if his children don't grasp it all right now, they will someday and your book (Steve was working on a book about Clare's life) will be there for them.

While I was copying pictures for Steve's project, I made up some extra ones for my cousins.  I'll get them off to you in the new year.  These pictures and letters make me feel like I didn't miss out on knowing Clare after all.  We enjoyed visiting with Howard in October and having him help me identify pictures, names and places.  Muriel also was a big help.  We noticed from my old pictures there had been 2 Marmon cars over the years with Charles and Mary (our grandparents). I asked Muriel how they got all that camping equipment in the Marmon for their trips out to Kansas and she said they strapped it to the running board.  Mary would prepare for weeks."  

Sharon mentioned that the camera store had been able to develop the glass plates that came to her from her father's collection of slides, movies, and negatives. He had died in November, 1999 in Arizona when he was 97. In the developed plates below, Clare is in each one, and the lower right has my mother with him. Although Sharon doesn't say, I assume Leslie took the photos since he isn't in any of the photos in the other plates.

Some of the developed glass plates from Leslie's collection sent by Sharon.

Celebrating 70 year anniversary of VJ Day

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII (we used to call it VJ Day) The Lakeside symphony orchestra performed a fabulous program last night that included a Marine honor guard, representatives of all the branches of the military during Hymn to the Fallen, the full orchestra, a chorus that included Lakesiders, the Terra Choral Society and local church choirs, two conductors, Robert Conquist and Michael Shirts who wrote some of the selections,  Shirley Stary as narrator, guest artist Joan Ellison of Cleveland who performed popular WWII era songs made popular by Vera Lynn (now 97), and a slide show to accompany the music. The scenes of the cemeteries for those who didn’t return were just stunning in magnitude. Tear and cheers, standing ovation. I can’t even fathom the amount of work and coordination to took to get all this accomplished with so many people, groups and jurisdictions participating.

Wal-Mart, Amazon and others to stop selling Civil War confederate symbols

Our educational theme this week at Lakeside is WWII. We've reviewed the horrors of the European theater and the Pacific theater. Within just a few years after the end of the war on two fronts we were trading partners and chummy with Japan and Germany. Our academics were agonizing over whether the bomb was necessary and paying reparations to Japanese Americans. My father brought home souvenirs made in Japan after the war when just a few months before Americans were trashing everything that had a Japan stamp on it. The U.S. rushed to save the starving and battered Germans and helped rebuild their cities we had been destroying.

But it seems we have a segment in our own country, primarily leftists who are unhappy that in the last 50 years Democrats have lost the vote south of the Ohio River particularly the last decade, that just must continue to punish the South. The internet is alive with calls for retribution—150 years later—for the sins and evil of Dylann Roof.  The patriotism in the southern states could put the North Eastern blue states to shame as they push our country toward socialism and statism, the very political ideas our fathers and grandfathers fought. Major retailers are rushing to please their government bosses, removing the remnants of the Confederacy while still selling Nazi paraphernalia. But then Nazi is short for "National Socialist," a system of government where private businesses were allowed but the government regulated everything from the idea to the owner to the employees to the supply chain to the consumer. A system that taught, "You didn't build that."

On Tuesday, several well-known retailers, including Wal-Mart and eBay [as well as Amazon, Target, Etsy, Sears], announced they would no longer sell or offer merchandise featuring the Confederate battle flag. But, Twitchy said, a number of people noticed a bit of hypocrisy in the items remaining for sale.

Walmart, for example, continues to offer Che Guevara posters for a mere $46.55. Guevara, Biography.com said, "was a Marxist revolutionary allied with Fidel Castro who went on to become an iconic cultural hero." The retail giant also offers at least three Lynyrd Skynrd CDs that prominently feature the battle flag as of this writing. We contacted Walmart to determine if they intend to remove the items but have not received a reply. The retail store, however issued a statement on its decision. [we never intend to offend anyone].

http://www.examiner.com/article/hypocrisy-seen-efforts-to-scrub-confederate-battle-flag-from-public-view

A perfect cycling lecture—Sir Martin Gilbert on Churchill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hArErdaiOW0

I consider him the best writer of the 20th century.  One volume of his history of the 20th century is on my bedside table—still unread.

http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/01/gilberts-history-of-twentieth-century-v.html

This speech was given in 2001.   Sir Martin Gilbert died February 3 at age 79.

Gilbert’s History of the Twentieth Century, v. 3: 1952-1999

What a find!  I was browsing the shelves at Volunteers of American on Henderson Rd. today and found this title by the prolific, incredible British writer, Martin Gilbert. Now I’ll have to watch for the other volumes.

“Sir Martin John Gilbert is a British historian and Fellow of Merton College, University of Oxford. He is the author of over eighty books, including works on the Holocaust and Jewish history. Gilbert is a leading historian of the modern world, and is known as the official biographer of Sir Winston Churchill.”

I first came across him reading “Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith.”  He met Auntie in 1958 through his college friend who was Indian and over the years became her “adopted nephew.”  When she was 90 she revealed to him that she was actually a Hungarian Jew, but knew nothing about her heritage or that religion.  Thus began a series of letters to Auntie explaining her heritage. It is probably the most interesting way to learn Jewish history.

He presents Jewish history as the narrative expression–the timeline–of the Jewish faith, and the faith as it is informed by the history. Starting with Adam and Eve, he then brings us to Abraham and his descendants, who worshiped a God who repeatedly, and often dramatically, intervened in their lives. The stories of Genesis and Exodus lead seamlessly on to those of the eras when the land was ruled by the Israelite kings and then by Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, and Rome–the Biblical and post-Biblical periods. In Sir Martin’s hands, these stories are rich in incident and achievement. He then traces the long history of the Jews in the Diaspora, ending with an unexpected visit to an outpost of Jewry in Anchorage, Alaska. (Good reads)

However, the book I bought is the third volume (very big)  in a set about the 20th century, most of my life time, and it seems odd to see the events I remember, like the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the assassination attempt on President Reagan written in to history.

Martin Gilbert's three-volume history of the century continues with an enthralling narrative that documents the attempts to preserve human values, to maintain the rule of law, and to uphold the rights and dignity of the individual. Gilbert shows how the conflicts of nations and the aspirations of their rulers served both to threaten humankind through war and civil war, in many regions of the globe, and to create a fairer and more fulfilling life for hundreds, even thousands, of millions of people.For more than four decades, the United States and the Soviet Union--joint victors in the struggle against Germany and Japan--struggled to establish the primacy of their respective systems, while the specter of nuclear war threatened to become a terrible reality.

Here are gripping narrative accounts of the wars in Korea, Vietnam, and Bosnia; the postwar reconstruction of Europe; apartheid; the arms race; the moon landing ; and  the extraordinary advances in medical science.  Mao started a cultural revolution, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John F. Kennedy were assassinated, and the computer revolution was begun.  The result is nothing less than extraordinary. (Amazon)

I wish reading were easy for me; I certainly have some wonderful books on my office shelves I haven’t read.

Citizens of London

Our book club selection for December is no easier than The Book Thief of last month—another WWII story, although this one isn’t fiction. The three primary figures, Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant all have their own biographies, but Lynn Olson is a master at pulling their lives, loves and contributions to England’s war effort into an interesting stew. What an amazing writer!  I’m having to skip large segments, that I’m sure are interesting and rich in detail, but I’ve only got a few more hours to finish the book.

“At this point [1941], Britain's policy of appeasing Adolf Hitler had failed, and the old appeasers were out of power. Winston Churchill had taken over as prime minister, and Britain was at war with Nazi Germany. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was aiding the British, but faced a U.S. Congress skeptical of actually going to war. As London endured devastating German bombing raids, some Americans were there, assuring the British of support and agitating for American entry into the war.” NPR 

What is more revealing in the book is what isn’t said: 1) even in modern times, authors will not criticize FDR for the communists in his administration who fought to keep the U.S. out of the war, and 2) inside politics regardless of whether it is Lincoln, Clinton, Bush or Obama, is a nasty, sausage making stink.

Winant’s reaction to FDR’s death I think sums up how so many minions in Washington, London, Paris, Baghdad, or Beijing feel about those whose boots need a licking:

”Despite his frustrations with a number of FDR’s policies and the president’s occasional offhand treatment of him, Winant never wavered in his support and fondness for the leader who had been his friend and close ally for more than a decade.  “I’m Roosevelt’s man,” he once said.  “If Roosevelt wants me to do anything, I’ll do it.  That’s my political future.”  In a telegram to the president several years before, Winant said simply:  “Thank God for you.” pp. 356-357

It could Holder talking about Obama—although I can’t imagine Condi Rice slobbering over Bush that way. It’s a type of loyalty and subservience usually accorded to Christ or global warming/climate change gurus.

The sexual liaisons seem to be right out of the bedrooms of Europe’s monarchs in the middle ages you read in romance novels.  Really, the sexes have made no progress at all. Or wait, maybe it’s politics that has made no progress in centuries.

OK, back to the book, and the last chapter which tells what the 3 men did after the war.  I know Winant committed suicide, and I think Harriman’s wife, Pamela Churchill, became the darling Democrat who went on to fame and glory as a political activist for the Democratic Party and a diplomat  and wrote her own autobiography including information about her sexual escapades. People my age followed the slow death from cigarettes of Edward R. Morrow.

[Mrs.] Harriman's life was equally scrutinized for her many liaisons. Her second husband once called her "the greatest courtesan of the 20th century," the Irish Times reported. "She loved men, and men loved her, and she knew how to please men," said Garry Clifford, the Washington bureau chief of People Magazine. CNN Obituary

That said, this is a lively group that has been meeting for 30 years, and they are always bright, witty and gracious. This will be our Christmas gathering at Carolyn’s home in Clintonville.  I think she is one of the “founding mothers” of the club which I didn’t join until October 2000.