In the extremes of human existence, few compare with the experience of flight, and in particular, flight of an armed aircraft over long distances over enemy held territory during times of war. WWII has provided us hundreds of these stories; men lost in the Sahara desert due to navigational error, men lost in the Pacific … More Remembrance Day: Flight of the Stirling
Sean Connery, the actor who played the original Bond passed away this week. Iconic both in fiction and real life, to me he represents a defender of all we embrace in liberal democracy as something to be protected in an age when authoritarian governments appear to be on the rise everywhere. When I say “liberal … More His name was Bond, James Bond
My parents wed in 1956 and they went the distance; 62 years, until Mom died this spring. This is the story of the wedding. It is 1955. My parents announce their engagement and party is held in the house my grandparents built during the war. They set the date for July 14th, 1956, which is … More My Parents Big Fat Catholic Wedding
The Old Salt was a special man who came along in a time when he was needed most. A time that is now gone forever. When men believed and sacrificed, when hero’s walked the earth in mass. When patriotism was not just a word but, by what men lived and judged the worth of each, … More The Old Salts: George H. W. Bush and John S. McCain
David Rothkoff, host of my favorite podcast, Deep State Radio, but in real life an accomplished professor of international relations, coined the phrase recently, we are “Present at the Destruction”. This comment was a riff after the 1969 Dean Acheson’s book about his years at the State Department was published, detailing the prewar and post … More Present at the Destruction
Please excuse us in the USA. We have gone a little bit arrogant this last election season and the fallout appears to have damaged our relationship. I am dreadfully embarrassed. I am here, cowboy hat in hand, to apologize. I am sorry our President has insulted your Prime Minister, and repudiated agreements he had just … More A Love Note to My Canadian Cousins
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
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
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
