This past week we saw the President of the United States fly to the far side of the world to meet with the leader of a small, hermit country lead by a man whose family has generated, at great cost to his people, nuclear weapons which threaten his neighbors and now apparently, the American mainland. … More Real Nuclear Hardball- “Don’t Wait for the Translation, Answer the Question”
It is Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, is the official start of summer. The holiday resembles little in the way of the British Remembrance Day, held there each November 11th. The English have no car sales to mark the event, no barbecues, no catching up on yard work. It is instead a … More War and Remembrance 2018
Where the grass lands roll in stretches like an endless tossing sea, To the mountains white and hoary, over ranges wide and free, Where the country lies unbroken, and the soft prairie breezes blow, It is there my heart turns fondly and the siren bids me go. It is far from cares and worries … More The Call From the West
Occasionally world events bring to the forefront remarkable people who write their experience large upon our own. World War Two, for example, brought out many who may have otherwise lived in obscurity. Poet and Spitfire pilot John Gillespie Magee Jr. was such a man. Born in China to missionaries, his father an American and his … More High Flight, by John Gillespie Magee Jr.
“Attention every station and all the ships at sea. The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor by air. This is not a drill.” How many movies have centered around the events of Dec. 7th 1941? They all seem to start out with sailors, usually officers and their wives and girlfriends at a dance. Suddenly there is … More The 1941 Pearl Harbor Day Experience
Some men just have to serve the country. We learn during this interview of Gordon Fullerton he went to extraordinary lengths to join the service shortly after Pearl Harbor was bombed, then found opportunities, and a whole lot of luck. Once on the path he served not just in World War II, but also Korea, … More Gordon Fullerton. Veteran.
It is coming on to Veterans Day in the United States, and Remembrance Day in Britain. Poppies are every where to remind us all of the sacrifices of World War One. The experiences of soldiers, sailors and airmen of all conflicts are drawn into sharp focus, even as the general public tends to forget what … More RAF Bomber Command; The Gallant Early Years
Each fall the wind blows through the wheat stubble of Eastern Washington, and the spouts of winter wheat bring on an emerald green to the fields that matches the hoods on the male Mallard duck. Waterfowl and upland game cross the fields and water ways and men of my family historically go hunting for them. … More Geese Mate for Life
Catalonia Independence Referendum. Wow, what a mess. But entirely predictable. Spain’s government is and has always been an exercise in fragmentation. When this came down this past weekend I happened to be reading Orwell’s account of his fighting for the government in the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia. This past Sunday’s images from Barcelona … More Homage to Catalonia
War in the Western Pacific is in the air this summer, so I thought it might be a good time to file a few notes about the fight we had with the Japanese in the Philippines in 1944-45. Central to this podcast is the interview with my father in law, Ernesto F. “Papi” Martinez who … More The Sack of Manila, 1945
Lawyers Road Review 