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Friday, December 26, 2008

Post script: Heroic deeds presented as commonplace

My WWII vet friend Mark's funeral was today. I was privileged by his son to be allowed to read what I had written previously. And I heard a new story about Mark.
Seems Sgt. Holmes was in Paris in June 1945. A Colonel he knew asked him "Sergeant, do you have a jeep?" "Yes, sir, I do." "I want to visit my family that I haven't seen since I fled Italy and the fascists. So, I need to have you drive me to the Swiss border." "Yes, sir." And off they went on their 600 mile round trip odyssey. Mark dropped off the Colonel at his direction and was told to be back at that spot next day at 1500 hours. "Yes, sir." Mark called his C.O. (a two star if I remember correctly) and was asked where he was going and what he was doing. Mark said he'd report back to him when he returned. Next day, 1500 hours, Mark picked the Colonel up after visiting his family and returned to Paris. Mark immediately reported to his C.O. and was asked where he had gone. "Well, sir, I took Colonel Fermi to Switzerland to reunite with his family that he hasn't seen since he fled the fascists and came to the United States." Colonel Fermi was Colonel Enrico Fermi, Noble Prize winning top nuclear physicist in the world Enrico Fermi, the man who launched the first fission reaction Enrico Fermi and was deeply involved in the top secret Manhattan Project Enrico Fermi. That's the Colonel Fermi who Mark was spiriting all around France, Switzerland and Italy. With no escort or security detail. The General replied: "I didn't hear a single word you just said Sergeant! Dismissed." "Yes, sir."
My friend Mark:





































It wasn't until yesterday when I was taking a picture of Mark's medals that I saw he had his jump wings, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star .
Heroic deeds as commonplace.

posted by Amendment X at 7:22 PM permalink 0 comments

146 years of government consistency

Please click on the below image and look over the map, drawing your attention to the area dated 1851. Look at the incredible area outlined. Just eyeballing it, it appears to be about 1/3 of the entire current area of the state of Minnesota.
When I was in sixth grade, we studied Minnesota state history, including the Treaty of Travers de Sioux which was signed just north of what is now St. Peter. Five years ago I was coming back from a gun show in St. Peter and decided to stop by the Treaty Center. As I walked in, I saw a similar map on the wall next to a copy of the treaty signed in 1851. The price for the ceded area was $1,650,000. Works out to be about 7ยข an acre. The government then went ahead and sold it at $1.25 an acre to the white settlers. This infuriated the signers of the treaty and ruined their reputations in the tribes (more on that in a bit). Oh, and the Sioux never received the full amount(further reputation destruction if not outright hostility to whites. By destroying the reputation of these men, the government had eroded if not destroyed its ability to reason with and within the various tribes). I remember thinking, as I read that last statement "Yup. They did it to you and they doing it to us also.The only thing that's changed is time and they've gotten better at their craft."
One of the provisions in the treaty was that the Sioux reservations and be able to have access to their traditional hunting grounds. The Senate, however, changed the treaty more on all treaties here). The Senate eliminated the reservations set aside. It then insisted that they tribes accept the new provisions or there would be no monies paid. The tribes were desperate for food, goods and the money having abandoned the land. Millard Fillmore agreed that the tribes could occupy what had been the original reservation land until " it was needed for white settlement." In 1858 the Sioux who lived along the Minnesota River were pressured to cede their land also. They did and were granted reservations called the Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies. Without access to their traditional hunting grounds, they were forced to depend on the government for their very sustenance (anyone see a warning flare here?). The Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies contained incredibly rich farm land and one the agents said that the land was being settled with "great rapidity". Surprisingly enough, the landowners and Indians were very fond of each other for the most part. It was the agents who ran the warehouses that were the problem. Payments to the Sioux were usually late. Goods and services were denied or were sold by the agents to those outside the agencies. However, after a failed crop in 1861, by 1862, the Sioux were desperate. They were starving. One agent, who when the Sioux came to him pleading their case, was quoted as saying "Let them eat grass and dung!" The Sioux had reached a breaking point and rebelled in what is called "The Great Sioux Uprising". The aforementioned agent was found dead. His mouth had been stuffed with grass.
The white settlers ran for towns, starting with New Ulm. Many made it. Many did not. Years ago I was in a very small town in SW Minnesota called Currie. In preparation for a pig roast, my friends from Curry and I went out of town to pick sweet corn (I was admonished, as a city boy, that I had wandered into and was picking the field corn). Paul asked me if I knew where I was. "Outside Currie, trying desperately to distinguish between sweet and field corn?" He said,"This area is called Slaughter Slough. This where a number of white settlers who were trying to get to New Ulm were caught and killed in the Great Sioux Uprising". I was standing on blood soaked ground. Fifteen settlers had been killed where I stood.
After cessation of hostilities, there was a trial for over 300 of the tribal members. Well, not really a trial. It was a military tribunal, many times having no witnesses, no legal representation or explanation of the charges. Many were summarily convicted and sentenced to death within five minutes. President Lincoln reviewed the sentences and commuted all but 38 of the convicted. They were executed enmass on this day in Mankato in what is still the largest mass execution in the United States. I remember travelling down highway 169 as a child with my Mom and Dad on the way to visit my grandparents in SW Minnesota. One time we went through downtown Mankato, across the river to the east side near the railroad underpass. As we stopped, I looked out the window. There was a plaque that read on this spot 38 Indians were hanged as a result of the Great Sioux Uprising. That plaque has been removed.
Those hangings took place on this day, 26 December 1862, 146 years ago.
And so I reflect on this day about men who were starving, desperate, watching their children suffer, who had been lied to, cheated on, deceived by that very same government they depended on, when men who were left with no alternatives took action.

One thing more: when the Senate changed the treaty it reminded me of two Supreme Court decisions: There does not, repeat , does not exist a contract between the government and citizens concerning Social Security. Two Supreme Court decisions.
So, when you hear politicians say how "we need to honor the contract we have with the American public" remember: no, they don't. No, they haven't.
And , if needed, they can and are perfectly willing do to you as they did to the Sioux and Dakota fifteen decades ago.
So, hang in there...so to speak.

posted by Amendment X at 4:24 PM permalink 1 comments

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Side by side

I've written about Coleman's recount team before. That being, I came across what again proves to me that lefties always have two sets of rules and laws: one for them and one for the unwashed servants (us) that should serve them.
John Lott (from a link from Mitch Berg) has done a comparison of ballots for Coleman and ballots for Franken.
I did some screen shots, edited and used my stitching software so cobble together a side by side comparison of the ballots (I apologize for the less than professional level of the image. You can provide contributions to send me to graphics school if the image quality stresses you that much). All the ballots on the left, save the last one, were not counted for Coleman. All the ballots on the right were counted for Franken. In this side by side, if this sampling were to carry through all ballots, I'd believe the +46 for Franken would disappear faster than ACORN volunteers in front of an FBI sweep.
Seems to me there is supposed to be a consistency in the law. Coleman may have a case with Bush v Gore as the case precedent.




posted by Amendment X at 4:26 PM permalink 4 comments

Today...

Merry Christmas

posted by Amendment X at 4:07 PM permalink 0 comments

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Heroic deeds presented as commonplace

I've written before about my friends in the 8th Air Force Historical Society. These are the guys who flew and maintained the B-17, B-24's, B-25's, C-47, Corsairs and so many more planes in WWII (both Europe and the Pacific). We also have ground troops and aviators from other wars and we also have hanger ons like me.
The WWII vets are all in their 80's. Some have walkers, others have oxygen tanks, many have hearing aids. I watch as I see my future in these men. They go from being old to being frail to being infirm. They go from attending the lunches to missing some lunches to getting to some lunches to not being able to go to lunches anymore. And then it's the call or the notice...So it is with another one my friends, Mark Holmes.
I met Mark about a year after I joined the 8thAFHS in 2001. I ran into Mark at an Arby's in Edina, but didn't remember his name. Well, that changed over the next few months. From his name tag at the lunches, I knew Mark was in Air Force Intelligence, but not much more than that. Again, that was to change.
My friend Larry Bachman (B-24 pilot, 35 completed combat missions) celebrated his and his wife's 60th wedding anniversary with an open house at his church. Mark was there and we talked for a bit. He was telling me that he no longer drove and wasn't sure about making the lunches. I said I could come and pick him up from time to time. "Well, if it's not out of your way." Serving WWII vets is never out of my way. So, one bright early spring morning I went to Hopkins to pick Mark up. As we were going to lunch, I asked Mark what he did in Air Force Intelligence. "I was a courier." What did he do as courier? "Oh, I picked up documents and brought them back to headquarters." Ah, I see. Well, trying to keep the conversation going I asked where in England did he pick those documents up? "Oh, I picked them up in France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, Germany." Behind enemy lines? "Oh, sure." Oh, sure? Well,how many times? "21 I think." TWENTY ONE! Parachuted? "Only once. Airplane all the other times." Ever caught? "No. Real, real close lots of times though!" Oh....real, real close... lots of time. Here I was, giving a ride to one of the most self effacing men I had ever met. Just a matter of fact tale of going behind enemy lines on numerous occasions and coming close to certain execution if caught-a number of times.
This morning, about an hour ago, my friend Glenn called. My friend Mark has passed from living history to history past.
As I said before they go from being old to being frail. The notice was relayed to us a couple of months ago from Mark's son that his Dad was probably not going to be able to make it to the lunches anymore. I knew time was being counted for Mark.
And of course I reflect on the time being counted for all the rest of my WWII friends. There will come that time when the last WWII veteran I know will transcend living history. There will be that moment when all experience will become memory.
I've written before that I told my brother that the deeper we get into the 8thAFHS and the more we know these guys, the more acute and deeper the pain will be when they pass away. My brother then made a comment that echoes what Mark did in WWII:"We knew the mission was dangerous when we accepted it."
And I intend to enjoy whatever time left the Lord allows me to hang out with these guys.
Rest and fare well Mark.

posted by Amendment X at 12:05 PM permalink 0 comments