All Purls. No Swine.
...US President George W. Bush ordered air strikes on Baghdad, launching the war for "regime change," and for the ousting of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The war was premised on the the belief that Hussein was manufacturing and staging weapons of mass destruction to be used against his enemies. Such a belief is now deemed… Continue reading Twenty Years Ago Today, on March 19, 2003…
219 years ago, on the night of February 16, 1804, a young Lieutenant in the United States Navy led the first of his two expeditions that year into Tripoli Harbor, this one to set fire to, and destroy, the frigate USS Philadelphia, which--some months earlier--had run aground and been captured by the Tripolitan army of… Continue reading Quote of the Day: “The Shores of Tripoli”
Thomas Herbert Mapson was my Auntie Betty’s father. (Strictly speaking, she wasn’t my auntie–being my great-grandmother’s niece–and her given name wasn’t Betty–they were Jenny Alice May–but “close enough for gubmint work,” as they say. He was born and baptized in Bilston, Staffordshire in the UK, on July 4, 1878. Given what I’ve found out about my… Continue reading In Memory, Thomas Herbert Mapson
A Ricochet post from four years ago, on November 10, 2018. Reposted today, November 10, 2022, in honor of the 247th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Some months ago, a United States Marine Corps career officer of my acquaintance observed that, for a foreigner, for a civilian, and for a woman, I seem… Continue reading United States Marines I Have Known and Loved–And a Couple of Others
Thus spoke President Harry Truman of Ernest Taylor Pyle. Ernie Pyle was born 122 years ago today, on August 3, 1900 in Dana, Indiana. He died not quite 45 years later, on April 18, 1945, in the Iejima Okinawa Prefecture of the Empire of Japan, killed in action while doing what he loved. Having missed… Continue reading “He deserves the gratitude of all of his countrymen”
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. This is the quote attributed to General George S. Patton in his extemporaneous remarks at Boston’s Copely Plaza, on June 7, 1945. There’s no written record (on his part) of his saying such a thing,… Continue reading Quote of the Day: From ‘Old Blood and Guts’
LtCol Stuart Scheller’s service in the United States Marine Corps came to an end on December 23, 2021 when he was separated from that service with a General Discharge Under Honorable Conditions. Having served only seventeen of the requisite twenty years in order to qualify for a pension, he will not receive one. In addition,… Continue reading An Update on (Former) USMC LtCol Stuart Scheller
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We… Continue reading Quote of the day–“for us the living”
The wise person acts but does not take credit. Leads, but does not rule--Lao Tze, Tao Te Ching and The Master, by residing in the Tao, sets an example for all beings. Because he doesn't display himself, people can see his light. Because he has nothing to prove, people can trust his words. Because he… Continue reading On Giving and Receiving Credit–For Those Brave Enough To Try
I am inspired by Seawriter's recent review of a biography of Major Donald J. Humphrey, written by Humphrey's son, to brush-up and re-post this jaunt down memory lane from early last year: From Sapper to Spitfire Spy: The WWII Biography of David Greville-Heygate DFC, by Sally-Anne Greville-Heygate is an endearing memoir of a father’s military… Continue reading A Book Recommendation–From Sapper to Spitfire Spy–And Some Notes on Diving For Pearls