Visiting Monocacy National Battlefield

The season for tramping around battlefields is quickly drawing to a close. A couple of weeks ago Sheila, Meaghan, and I went to Monocacy National Battlefield near Frederick, Maryland. If you have never heard of the battle or visited Monocacy, don’t feel too bad. It is not one of the better known Civil War battles or National Parks. I would definitely recommend spending an afternoon at Monocacy, but not as your only experience in studying Civil War sites. Your one-stop, of course, is Gettysburg. However, I would highly recommend Antietam as well. (Which I just realized I’ve never talked about and it’s only 20 minutes away from my house. I promise I will rectify that soon.) Nevertheless, there are other reasons to visit Monocacy.

For a thorough discussion of the battle at Monocacy, see the NPS website. I’ll give you the gist of it here. In the early summer of 1864, Confederate Lieutenant General Jubal Early and an army of approximately 15,000 crossed into Maryland near Sharpsburg. This would constitute the confederates third invasion of the North. When Early passed Harpers Ferry on July 4, 1864, personnel with the B&O railroad there alerted the Union army. Early’s mission was to draw Union forces arrayed against Robert E. Lee away from Petersburg, Virginia, by threatening the little defended Washington, D.C.

Union Major General Lew Wallace commanded the “Middle Department” that included Washington, Baltimore, Frederick, and Harpers Ferry, etc. Upon hearing of the threat posed to Washington or Baltimore by Jubal Early’s army, put together a force that would eventually number close to 6,000. Wallace rushed his force to Monocacy Junction on the B&O Railroad, just southeast of Frederick, Maryland. In this area the B&O Railroad, the Georgetown Pike (present day Hwy 355), and the National Road to Baltimore (present day Hwy 40) all crossed the Monocacy River. It was the most likely place to delay the rebels until reinforcements arrived.

On the morning of July 9, 1864, Confederate forces moved forward out of Frederick and began to engage Union forces. Although outnumbered three-to-one, the Federals under Lew Wallace successfully blocked Early’s confederates in the daylong battle. By nightfall, the Union had withdrawn from the field and sustained casualties of approximately 1,300 men dead, wounded or captured.

While considered a Confederate victory, as Early’s men continued to hold the field, the rebels were delayed for an entire day and sustained casualties of approximately 900 killed, wounded, or captured. The delay gave the Union time to reinforce Fort Stevens in the District of Columbia, which Early moved forward and attacked two days later. The Confederates fired on Fort Stevens, but Early knew that now that Union reinforcements had arrived, he did not have the resources to take the fort and threaten Washington further. Early withdrew the next day, July 12th, and headed back to Virginia.

Today, Monocacy National Battlefield has a modern visitor’s center/museum/gift shop and a 5-stop auto tour. It’s a relatively small affair, but it is certainly worth an afternoon of your time. At each auto stop there is a walking trail. Therefore, you can either just look around and read the waysides, or have a pleasant walk of a few hundred yards or up to a mile and a half. This ground on which the Civil War was fought also has a history that dates from colonial times. For example, the walking path at the Thomas Farm, auto stop number four, goes by the site of the Middle Ferry over the Monocacy River. This ferry site dates from before the French and Indian War. The Best Farm, stop number one on the auto tour, was formerly l’ Hermitage, a plantation established in 1794 that at one point kept up to 90 enslaved African Americans. The NPS has done an archeological dig on the site and information can be found on the website.

And speaking of the website, make sure you visit the NPS’ Monocacy National Battlefield website before you go, or especially if you can’t visit the park in person. This is an excellent site for their historical articles and multimedia downloads. On the website, you can download MP3 files for an audio tour while you are driving the auto tour. The NPS has even created some virtual tour videos of different points on the battlefield. The website is worth a look. Monocacy is worth a visit.

Go visit the Army Heritage Trail!

You haven’t heard from me since we’ve moved to Maryland, but I swear I haven’t been on summer vacation. Along with my day job at Wave of the Future, I have posted a new unit history over at Military Vet Shop, researched a couple more, and started volunteering at Harpers Ferry NHP. In addition, we’ve been making a lot of day trips, hikes, and bike rides to historic sites. For the last six weeks, we have been visiting old haunts and finding some new ones. I am overdue in telling you about them and I thought I start with one of my favorites (if you can even pin me down to a favorite), the Army Heritage Trail up at the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Back in June, I told you about doing research at the AHEC. I was back there again in August looking up some information for a history of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade (yet to be written, sorry). My daughter Meaghan was with me, so I thought it might be fun to walk around the Army Heritage Trail before we left. The Army Heritage Trail is a walking path through a series of outdoor exhibits that you can walk through, touch, climb on, and otherwise immerse yourself in military history of different periods. I had not walked out there since 2006 when the AHEC had opened a replica of “Redoubt #10” from the Battle of Yorktown. They have since added an interpretation of a Vietnam Firebase and a World War I trench system. The Heritage Trail also has displays of a WWII barracks compound, a Civil War artillery display, and a blockhouse from the colonial era as well as many others.

It was the WWI trenches that we probably enjoyed the most. Meaghan is 26 now, and not at all a history geek like me. Nevertheless, she says that being able to walk through something like this brings history to life. You should have seen her running around taking pictures. We’ve only included a few images here. You absolutely have to experience this exhibit (and the whole trail) for yourself. The signage is excellent. The trench “system” includes a mortar pit, an aid station, troop sleeping area, and officer’s command post. If you peer over the top of the trench, you can see the German concrete bunker across “no man’s land.” Then leave the American trench, and walk through an underground tunnel to observe the Americans through the window in the German bunker.

The AHEC is open M-F from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm for research or to view indoor museum displays. Weekend hours are available from April to October. The great thing about the Heritage Trail is that it is open every day from sunup to sundown. On summer weekends there is usually a reenactor event. Check out their website for details and directions.

We honor our vets by not forgetting them. One way to do that is by learning what they went through and what their experiences were. If you’ve got friends and family that you want to hang out with, but aren’t really into history, try out the Army Heritage Trail. It is kids-of-all-ages friendly and I guarantee that fun learning will take place. You never know, with hands-on history they just might be engaged in a way you’ve never seen before.

Next post: Bicycling on the C & O Canal!

Trippin' through Gettysburg

The Fourth of July holiday weekend is right around the corner. I’m such a military history geek, that thinking about the Fourth always reminds me of the anniversary of the Civil War battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863). This is the perfect time to tell you about my visit to the Battlefield while I was on my research trip in May.

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, my friend John works as a park ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park and rents a house on the battlefield from the NPS. Of course I wanted to visit my friend that I hadn’t seen in three years, but I was also looking forward to another visit to one of my favorite Civil War battlefields and getting a personal tour from the most knowledgeable person I know about the battle and the war.

I had visited Gettysburg on several occasions over the years since my first visit back in 1988. However, this was the first time I had toured the Battlefield and the town with a guide. Even for those of you who are familiar with the battle (as I thought I was), I highly recommend touring the battlefield with a licensed guide or attending one of the presentations given by the NPS staff. John was able to show me, on the ground, parts of the battle that have gotten little attention from both historians and popular culture. I won’t go into the history of the battle, but leave you with the guidance that there is much more to the battle than what is portrayed in the movie Gettysburg. The more you learn about it the more you want to know.

I invoke the Hollywood version of the battle (one of my favorites mind you), because during our tour John pointed out several items that the movie got wrong. He also gave me the background on a few of the monuments that over the decades since the battle have been placed for politics and tourism as well as honoring the sacrifices of our soldiers. Actually, the history of the battlefield as “hallowed ground” versus “tourist attraction” is as fascinating for me as the battle itself. For example, the term “high-water mark of the Confederacy” applied to Gettysburg, and specifically Pickett’s Charge, was coined by a tourism promoter years after the battle. If we are speaking in terms of Confederate military strength, one could argue that there are other points during the war when things looked much worse for the Union. In terms of geography, organized Confederate forces fought in the same campaign about 35 miles north of Gettysburg near Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, in what is known as the Skirmish of Sporting Hill.

Since I had visited the area before, it is interesting to see what is changing and what stays the same. The park is conducting projects to restore the terrain to what it looked like during the battle. Read about it in the park newspaper. There have been some trees removed around the Devil’s Den since my last visit. There are now some new peach trees in the Peach Orchard. The NPS has acquired a new “witness” house on the Emmitsburg Road, and the new Visitor Center opened in 2008 (which is fantastic!). Some things never change: the debate is raging in town about a proposed casino and hotel on US 15. That was voted down the last time I was there back in 2006. The casino promoters are back for another attempt at a permit.

Therefore, this trip to Gettysburg brought up several of those internal debates I have with myself. The primary being: At what level should we teach, or expect the public to know, history? Moreover, is a little drama such a bad thing if we can engage the public to tune in to the lessons of history? How far should we go to protect our historic sites? Does a place like Gettysburg deserve protection from what is built nearby? The analysis of these questions, whether I discuss and debate them with others or just in my head, is what excites me about public history.

I’ll close by saying, "Thanks again, John!" for the fantastic tour and a great steak dinner.

The Army Heritage and Education Center

In my last post, I told you about my research trip during the first week of May. I started with the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. In this post, I would like to tell you about the Army Heritage and Education Center (AHEC) in Carlisle, PA. This was actually my first stop during my research trip for photos and primary documents on the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion.

The AHEC is several things in addition to a repository for primary source documents pertaining to military history. Originally, (and still its primary function) the AHEC was created to support the Army’s War College at Carlisle Barracks. In 2002, they moved to their current campus, off base, so you don’t have to have your vehicle and ID checked to park there. If you visit, plan an extra afternoon to visit the museum and the Army Heritage Trail. The trail is a walking path of about a mile that has interactive exhibits that are recreations from army history. For example, you can go into Redoubt #10 from the battle of Yorktown, get into a WWI trench, or walk through a WWII era tarpaper billet.

The fact that the AHEC is a library as well as an archive makes it a “first stop” for researching military history. Before you visit in person, look at several of the AHEC’s online resources, like their list of finding aids and the online catalog. Finding aids have been created for many unit histories and military history subjects. These documents are available online. With these finding aids and the online catalog, you will know what secondary works are available as well as primary source documents. Looking for secondary sources through interlibrary loan with your local public library will save you days of research time at the AHEC. Knowing the primary source material available will help you determine if you need to visit in person, and if so, estimate how many days you will need in the library.

When you enter the main building of the AHEC, you will have to sign in with security before going in the research library. Lockers are provided to store your coat and any carry cases. You can only bring laptops, cameras, writing paper, and pencils into the research room. A research assistant is available to help you fill out your “pull request” from the library. Don’t try to go it alone, use their expertise. The staff is extremely knowledgeable, very friendly, and eager to help you with your project.

While all libraries and archives have similar procedures, they also differ from place to place. Unlike NARA, at the AHEC you cannot bring in a flatbed scanner. I use a small digital camera to take pictures of documents (reproduction costs would kill you) that are too lengthy to take notes on. I used the same camera at AHEC to reproduce photographs. A photo station is set up in the research room for this purpose. You mount your camera on a photo stand and adjust two studio lights beside the table on tripods. I at first had my doubts, but this system worked beautifully. For textual items, I just set my camera to a “copy” preset and use it handheld. I reproduced 13 photographs and over 200 pages of documents in one long day at the AHEC.

I am a huge fan of digitizing primary documents so we don’t have to travel to an archive to look up this information. However, I know we will never be able to put every document and picture held in repositories online. There is just too much. You have to travel to where it is stored. Also, there is just no beating the thrill of holding the document in your hand, or to read the contents in its entirety for yourself, unedited and not interpreted for you by someone else. Again, I urge anyone who is interested in any subject to visit the appropriate archive and look up the information. I do not consider myself to be a scholar, an academic, or an intellectual. No one asked me what my qualifications or reasons were before allowing me access to any materials at either the AHEC or NARA. It is our history. Go get it.

Picture credits from the top:

• Screen capture of AHEC website, 6/1/2010.
• WWII in-service airborne recruiting poster, AHEC.
• Text document from William B. Breuer Collection, AHEC.

A History Mystery: Who's in first?

I still keep in touch with my friends at the Friends of the Ballard Locks (of FOBL for short). For those of you new to this blog, we started our own historical society of volunteers who are putting together an archive at the Hiram Chittenden Locks in Seattle, Washington. If you like, you can catch up on the project from the first post about the project. Well, I couldn't be more proud of the way the group has flourished since I left Seattle in August of last year. In fact, they've been presented with a little history mystery by a local resident.

The Locks were formally opened on July 4, 1917 with a grand celebration. The "official" first ship through what was then known simply as the Government Locks, was the steamship Roosevelt. However, the FOBL was recently contacted by the daughter of Elmer Reed who always maintained that HE piloted the first vessel through the Locks on that opening day. Elmer was a local outdoor enthusiast with a passion for canoeing. When the gates of the locks were opened to allow boats into the canal leading to Lake Union, Elmer allegedly jumped in front of the Roosevelt...in his canoe!

But here's the rub. There are pictures of boats large and small on opening day. There are pictures of rowboats and canoes. We have a picture of Elmer in his canoe and we have a picture of the Roosevelt taken from Elmer's canoe. Unfortunately, we don't have any documentation, written or photographic, that Elmer's canoe was the first vessel to enter Salmon Bay when the Locks opened. And now we have a mystery to solve. Who was in first? Was it Captain E. Blerd piloting the steamship Roosevelt or Seattle's own Elmer Reed?

So we're putting out the call for help. Can you help to prove that Elmer Reed was the first person out of the Government Locks in Seattle on Opening Day, 1917? If you have any information to contribute, OR if you're in the Seattle area and would like to stop by for a visit, the Friends of the Ballard Locks are a great bunch of people who are doin' history. Contact them through Susan Connole at susanatthelocks@gmail.com.

All images courtesy of the Friends of the Ballard Locks and/or US Army Corps of Engineers. Please do not duplicate without permission.

Getting Out of the Den

Spring is here in Northern Michigan and all of the snow is gone from the ground. It’s time for us all to crawl out of our dens after a long winter hibernation. It’s our first year here so we have to go with what the neighbors tell us, and what we get in the news. Apparently, it was a very mild winter up here at the tip of the mitt. Normally the snow is on the ground until the end of March. I get the impression that it is the truth, as most of the local museums and historical societies are still closed until later next month. I don’t think that their budgets are prepared for an early spring. However, we’re still getting out and learning new things about this part of the country.

For example, did you ever hear of a pastie? No, not the uniform item worn by exotic dancers. This pastie is pronounced with a “soft a.” It’s a meat and vegetable pie that is popular in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. It’s kind of like a turnover, only with beef or chicken, etc. The story goes that it became popular with Cornish miners of England. Their wives would cook up this “balanced meal in a crust” and send their men off to work with their lunch wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper. When the immigrants came to the Upper Peninsula to work in the mines, they brought the pastie with them and the rest, as they say, is history.

I enjoy the history behind local food, but probably I like eating the food more. We tried one of these pasties a couple of weeks ago at Hunt’s Mackinaw Pastie & Cookie Company in Mackinaw. This restaurant was featured on the Travel Channel, although I didn’t know that at the time we stopped in. Lucky for us, they were the only restaurant we found open on the afternoon we went to look at the ice under the Mackinac Bridge. Nevertheless, that does not mean we settled. Unlike the picture of pasties in an English bakery here, we Americans smother ours in gravy and have a little coleslaw on the side. Pie crust and beef, covered in gravy, what’s not to love?! No, the beef pastie was tasty and I would highly recommend you give one a try. This can go in my “good stuff” file along with the shoe-fly pie from Adams County, Pennsylvania, the tri-tip roast of Fresno, California, and there will never be another reuben sandwich like in that corner market in Port Townsend, Washington.

We explored down the lakeshore on the west side of Michigan last weekend, visiting Manistee and Ludington. I’ll leave you with pictures of the breakwater in Ludington, Michigan. It was a windy day last Saturday, and the breakwater was doing its job.

The "Borinqueneers”

I must admit my ignorance. Before yesterday, I did not know who the “Borinqueneers” were, or the history of the 65th Infantry Regiment. Now that I am enlightened to the contributions of this military unit, I had to share the information with you. First, hear the how and the why that led me to read a little bit about this historic unit.

I have a particular interest in the Korean War, as my father was a combat veteran of that conflict, besides my being a military historian. Korea came up on my radar last week due to an article in the NY Times that tells us that North Korea is threatening reprisals if South Korea and the United States do not stop civilian tours to view the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). As we approach the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War (June 25, 1950) it is appropriate that we take the time to remember the sacrifices of the veterans who have served in that “forgotten war.” Remember that not only do we still have troops stationed in South Korea, but also that the Korean War technically is still going on. Hostilities ceased with the signing of an armistice on July 27, 1953, but the war was never officially ended.

[Photo is of a U.N. cemetary in Pusan, Korea, 1950. Image archived at the Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA.]

With that motivation, I searched the NY Times for other recent articles about Korea and came across the obituary for Modesto Cartagena, who as a staff sergeant serving with the 65th Infantry during the Korean War was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and is the most decorated Puerto Rican soldier in history. Mr. Cartagena passed away at his home in Puerto Rico on March 2, 2010 at the age of 87. His obituary in the Times explained that the 65th Infantry was an all-volunteer unit from Puerto Rico. Since I had never heard of this unit of Puerto Ricans, I had to satisfy my curiosity.

A simple Google search provided me with the story. Here is a link to the Borinqueneers’ website that contains photographs and archival video. In addition, here is a link to an excellent Wikipedia article summarizing the history of the unit. It would seem that the 65th Infantry Regiment experienced similar prejudices as other ethnic units in the history of the United States Army. Moreover, like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Japanese-American), the 92nd Infantry Division (African-American), and others, this unit distinguished itself beyond all expectations.

The unit’s nickname, “Borinqueneers,” is a combination of the words Borinquen, which is what the Puerto Rican natives called their island before the arrival of the Spanish, and Buccaneers. The soldiers coined this name during an exhausting month long boat trip from Puerto Rico to Pusan, Korea in September 1950.

The unit met its greatest challenges in Korea. Many new officers transferred into the unit by the army where white continentals who could not speak Spanish, the native language of the common soldier in the unit. After more than two years of distinguished service in combat, an action occurred in which one of the regiment’s line companies was pushed off a hill by Chinese forces. A new Regimental Commander, a continental, accused the unit of cowardice. The commander ordered the unit to stop calling themselves Borinqueneers, took away their special ration of beans and rice, ordered the men to shave off their distinctive mustaches, and even had one soldier wear a sign that said, “I am a coward.” Due to the humiliation, combat exhaustion, and cultural barriers, it is understandable that the unit rebelled and refused to continue fighting. Ninety-one of the unit members were found guilty at court martial and sentenced to prison. Later, the sentences were remitted through intervention by the Puerto Rican government. Though the men who were court martialed were pardoned, there currently is a campaign for a formal exoneration.

This “mass court martial” does not take away from the fact that members of the unit were awarded 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, and 606 Bronze Stars during their time in Korea. The 65th Infantry Regiment earned streamers for nine campaigns during the Korean War. Approximately 61,000 Puerto Ricans served during the Korean War, most of them were volunteers.

The island of Puerto Rico became a U.S. Territory in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War. The United States immediately appointed a military governor of the island and the army established a presence there. The Army Appropriation Bill passed by Congress in 1889 authorized the creation of the first unit of “native troops.” The “Porto Rico Provisional Regiment of Infantry” first formed in 1901 would evolve into the 65th Infantry Regiment in the Regular U.S. Army. The unit fought in WWI, WWII, and Korea. The unit was transferred to the Puerto Rico National Guard in 1956, the only active army unit to ever be transferred to the Guard. As National Guard units, members of the 65th Infantry have deployed in support of the Global War on Terror to Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and the horn of Africa.

Winter is for reading...

Winter is back in full force here in Northern Michigan. For someone who enjoys local history and finding out what happened in his own backyard, this is a tough season. It’s not that we don’t enjoy the weather. We moved here to find the snowy winter we’ve never experienced, and we found it! (Actually, I have experienced it before. In the field in Germany. I wish I had snowshoes back then!) It is just that up here at the tip of the mitt, most every museum and historical society has closed for the winter.

Instead of pursuing my passion for museums and battlefields, for the time being I’m spending the season reading up on my WWII history and doing a little writing. One of the areas I’ve neglected over the months that I was working on the masters degree and the Locks project was writing unit histories for Military Vet Shop. Rectifying that, I’ve just posted a summary history of the 7th Infantry Division.

I enjoy writing these articles, but unfortunately, since I don’t live near an archive, I’m limited to the sources I find on the Internet. One of the sources I like to use the most is what veterans have posted on their sites, both as individuals and organization' sites. In lieu of finding any new or detailed information, I have to go with what I can find. Sometimes I get it wrong. Because, quite frankly, what has been posted is wrong. I really appreciate it when a veteran contacts me to set the record straight. I invite any comments, critiques, and clarifications. Just shoot me an email.

Marine Corps Restricts Use of Emblems and Terms

Normally I would limit the content of this blog as much as possible to matters of public history. On occasion I do want to share with you some concerns that arise in my "day job" over at http://www.militaryvetshop.com/. Historians communicate to the public through writing, documentaries, websites, and museum displays. Therefore, issues of copyright and trademark do come up on occasion, so I think you will find the following information interesting:

The availability of t-shirts and coffee mugs with any reference to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) might be seriously curtailed. Recently the USMC, from their newly created Trademark Licensing Office, has claimed trademark rights on all emblems and terms that might reference the Corps. This includes the word “Marine” and any reference to Marine Veterans. The claim also encompasses terms like “USMC,” and even “Semper Fi.”

Each of the military services has always protected the use of the service seals representing the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, etc. This is allowed in Federal Statutes and it is understandable to prevent an organization from inferring that they officially represent one of the branches of the military. However, there has never been any claim to copyright or trademark of terms against those designs that represent the military in a positive light and with respect to veterans. Civilian companies have always created products that celebrate the service of veterans without the requirement of licensing. With the advent of print-on-demand (POD) technology and Internet sales, these designs and products have multiplied to unimaginable numbers. It would easily be assumed that terminology that refers to the military branches, or emblems created by these government organizations would be in the public domain and free to use by anyone. Apparently, that is not true anymore.

In December of 2007, the Department of Defense (DOD) initiated a directive for each service to “establish a branding and trademark licensing office to manage and coordinate a DOD-wide brand development and trademark licensing program.” You can read that Directive here: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/553509p.pdf. The other services have exercised restraint in the application of this directive. For example, the Department of the Army enforces trademark on the Department of the Army seal and any copyright enforcement on shoulder sleeve insignia is delegated to the unit commander. The Air Force, so far, has chosen to only enforce their trademark on their seal, and the “high wings” emblem that you see on recruiting commercials.

The Marine Corps, however, has really taken the ball and run with it. They established their trademark office in July of 2009. Currently they are contacting print-on-demand companies and requesting that ANY design that refers to the USMC in ANY WAY, be removed from the site until a usage license is obtained from the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps was contacted directly and a representative stated that no licenses had been issued yet. Nevertheless, they were serious about enforcing what they saw as their trademark rights. When a license is issued, it will cost $1,000 to apply and a minimum of $5,000 per year in royalties. This figure puts most of us little guys out of business. For example, Military Vet Shop only earns a couple of hundred dollars per year on USMC veteran items, despite our loyal customers who wear our designs with pride.

Military Vet Shop uses two POD providers, Cafepress and Zazzle. We post on two different sites so that we can offer our customers a larger number of products and styles from which to choose. Currently, Zazzle is systematically searching their product database for any USMC designs and deleting them, with only an email notification to the designer that the removal was at the request of the Marine Corps. With no communication coming from Zazzle, the information in this article was gathered from other websites and the Zazzle seller forums. Within a few days we will no longer be able to offer any USMC veteran items on Zazzle.

So far, no action has been taken by Cafepress. We assume, and hope, that they are negotiating a collective license agreement for all designers who post their work on the Cafepress website. This is the option that we wish Zazzle had chosen, rather than becoming intimidated by the issue.

The USMC is perfectly within their rights to enforce a trademark that is specifically laid out in a federal law that allows them to do so. Even if the license fees go into the USMC Morale and Welfare Fund, we are still very disappointed in the direction the Marine Corps has decided to take. We think the morale of the veterans we honor is important too. It saddens us to see the “corporatization” of any of our military services.

If you would like to read more about this issue, here are some links for you:
Marine Corps Trademark Office, FAQs: http://www.marines.mil/unit/divpa/tmlo/Pages/faq.aspx
Federal Statute authorizing trademark of terms: http://law.justia.com/us/cfr/title32/32-5.1.1.7.33.0.37.6.html
A simple (and short) explanation of trademark and copyright: http://www.lawmart.com/forms/difference.htm

National Day of Listening

My history buddy, Susan with the Friends of the Ballard Locks, sent out an email reminding me that November 27th this year, besides being the biggest shopping day, is also designated as the “National Day of Listening” sponsored by the Story Corps. The object of the National Day of Listening is to encourage you to take an hour and record the memories of a relative or friend. They tell you how to go about recording it or just taking notes and if you like, submit it to Story Corps. If you have never checked out the Story Corps website or listened to one of their broadcasts on NPR, then I highly encourage you to do so. I believe that everyone has an interesting story to tell, if you just ask the right questions.

I have some experience with this. In 2007, I took the opportunity to interview my dad. He’s a Korean War veteran with the 187th Airborne and I wanted to record his experiences in the army. Admittedly, I had to ask him three times before he would sit down with a tape recorder going, but he did it. I was motivated to get his story by an oral history class I had taken and the knowledge that we are losing so many veterans every day. There are projects all over the country to record veteran’s oral history interviews, the two most prominent being the Veteran’s History Project at the Library of Congress, and my favorite, the Veteran’s Survey Program at the Army’s Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, PA. Long story short (too late!), I did the interviews and wrote an article about his experiences that the History Channel Magazine was gracious enough to print.


However, he had more interesting experiences with history than I, or he, realized. I don’t really remember how it came up in conversation, but I asked what it was like during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 (I was only about a year and a half old at the time). He told me that he was working in a grocery store in Hollywood, California at the time. Sure enough, the American public was in a panic about the possibility of a nuclear war. There was a run on the grocery store with people buying up everything they could to stock up for the apocalypse they thought was on the way. Dad told me he had to stay at the store for 4 nights stocking the shelves as quickly as they could unload the trucks. Moreover, the punch line was that after the crisis was over, many people tried to return all of the groceries they had bought!

My dad didn’t think that story was very historically significant. However, all I had ever read about the crisis was the political side and the military side. There might have been a mention of a terrified public, but my dad’s story put a face on that aspect of the event. It made it real.

Therefore, during the holidays, when you have your extended family around the house, and the meal is over and everyone is sitting around talking. Take the time to ask the questions. And listen.

The "Fall of the Wall." Has it really been twenty years?!

Along with Veteran’s Day, November brings another day of remembrance with a great deal of significance to Cold War Veterans. November 9th marks the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. While many remember the Berlin Wall from popular media, few non-veterans realize that the “iron curtain” was also represented by the inner German border that separated East from West Germany and West Germany from Czechoslovakia. Few who did not serve in Europe understood the threat that was posed by Warsaw Pact forces and the number of troops we maintained in West Germany for decades.

I remember that day in 1989. I watched on television with amazement at the people crawling all over the wall. I had returned to the United States exactly one year prior to that date after spending a three-year tour in Fulda, Germany patrolling the East German border with the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. When I left the Blackhorse in 1988 there were no indications that only one year later the Wall (or the "Fence" as we called it) would come down and the two Germanys would reunify only one year after that. For me, and the army, the “Fall of the Wall” changed our mindset forever and ushered in a new post Cold War era.

While what would become NATO forces had faced off with Soviet armies since the close of World War II, the border fence and the Berlin Wall was not constructed until 1961. Before its construction, approximately 3.5 million East Germans had fled to the West. Approximately 5000 people tried to escape the East during its existence. Estimates of those killed vary widely between 98 and 200. I know from my own experience that between 30 to 50 people each year would escape across the border in our sector during the years I was serving with the 11th ACR.

In November of 1989, after only a few weeks of unrest in East Germany, the government announced that it would ease travel restrictions to the West. When asked at a news conference on the morning of November 9th when that law would take effect, a government official said that he assumed immediately. Spontaneously, thousands of East and West German citizens crossed the border and climbed on the wall, and activity that would have gotten them shot only hours before. A mass celebration erupted that quickly ushered in the reunification of the two Germanys and the dissolving of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.

Now those Cold War days are all but forgotten. However, those times changed a lot of us. Everyone who served from WWII through the 1990s had a part in winning the Cold War and defeating the Soviet Block. To honor that service, I asked Sheila to create a graphic commemorating the date for our store Military Vet Shop. There is a generic version as well as a patch version that is currently made with 11th ACR and 2nd ACR patches. If you’d like your unit patch placed on that design, just let us know. Remember the day.

Plan for Veterans Day

Sheila and I were working on our newsletter for Military Vet Shop and I decided to do a short article on Veterans Day. I thought I might share a few of those thoughts (and a few more) with you here. Veterans Day means a lot to me. Not for myself, but for our veterans. I think it is one of the most overlooked federal holidays we have. One where we have to remind ourselves what it was created for. As our veteran population decreases in this country, I think we are in danger of loosing the meaning of the day. Is it because there is not a 3-day weekend associated with it? Or do non-veterans confuse the intent of the day with Memorial Day? I'm not sure.

I enjoy meeting veterans. Perhaps it is because I am one, or because I like history and most all veterans have a story to tell. I don't get to meet that many any more, so I thought there weren't that many of us around. But I just checked out the VA website, and found out that it's not true. There are a lot of us around. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, there are approximately 23.8 million living veterans in the United States. Women make up 7.5 percent of that number. Spouses and dependent children of living veterans and survivors of deceased veterans make up another 37 million Americans. Together those groups make up about 20 percent of the U.S. population. While those are big numbers, it is still an exclusive club. November 11th of each year is the day we set aside to honor the service and sacrifice of our living veterans.

Veterans Day has its roots in what was called “Armistice Day.” While World War I ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, most people assume it was the day of the cessation of hostilities. Germany and the Allied nations agreed that fighting would end on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first observance of “Armistice Day” on November 11, 1919. For some reason, after the carnage of "The Great War," a lot of folks thought that we'd never have another one and called it "the war to end all wars." After 27 states had made the day a legal state holiday, Congress echoed President Wilson’s proclamation in 1926, and then passed a law creating a federal holiday in 1938.

Originally, Armistice Day was created to honor the veterans of WWI and to set aside a day “to be dedicated to the cause of world peace.” However, by 1954 the country had survived World War II, which had required the greatest mobilization of armed forces in our history, and the end of hostilities in Korea. Congress passed Public Law 380, which President Eisenhower enthusiastically signed, making November 11th of each year a federal holiday that would be called “Veterans Day” to honor all of our living veterans.

For a few years, starting in 1971, we tried moving Veterans Day to the closest Monday to the eleventh in order to create a three-day weekend. It didn’t work out too well. It was made obvious to Congress that this day has great historical, patriotic, and emotional significance to many of our people. A law was passed changing the official observance of Veterans Day back to the way it originally was. Since 1978 we have honored our veterans on November 11th regardless of what day of week it falls on.

Remember that Memorial Day is to honor those who have fallen in war. Veterans Day was created to recognize all of our veterans for their service. On this coming November 11th, take the opportunity to say "thank you" to an American veteran. If you are a veteran, then thank another vet. Because no one understands better than a fellow veteran. Since the day a WWII veteran thanked me for my service, I've never looked at the day the same.

Road Trip and Relocate

With apologies for taking so long to get this post up. My part in the project at the Ballard Locks is complete. However, the work to be done there is not. I am leaving the project in the capable hands of the Friends of the Hiram Chittenden Locks. This group of volunteers, most of whom are not natives of the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, have stepped up to give back to the community and the home that they have adopted. Since our project started, the Friends have put in over 600 volunteer hours scanning slides and photos, cleaning storage rooms full of manuscripts and artifacts, and organizing a first class history group from the ground up. It was a privilege to know this fine group of people. Stay up-to-date on their progress at their website or their blog. If you're in the Seattle area, contact them and help out.

The completion of the internship project at the Locks also completed the requirements for my MA in Applied History at Shippensburg University. (As a matter of fact, my diploma arrived yesterday in the mail!) I also can't say enough good things about the faculty, staff, and students in this program. A lot of people have asked me what I'm going to do with a masters degree. My career goal was always to be an independent historian and do some writing. If you share this goal, I can't recommend a better "basic training" for nonfiction writing than pursuing a graduate degree.

Along those lines I wanted to be closer (relative to the west coast) to some of the archives I will need to visit for upcoming projects. More importantly, I was just not cut out for living in the big city. I love to visit them, but when it comes to where I live, I need to be in the country. With our "day jobs" as computer consultants and providing graphic designs for veterans, we are free to travel and relocate more or less where we want and when we want. So Sheila, Meaghan, Sydney and I have moved again. We're now near Harbor Springs, Michigan. That's right, up by the "tip of the mitt"! The countryside is beautiful here and okay, I'll just say it, the Lake Michigan shore is prettier than the Puget Sound. Our first morning here we had deer in the front yard. My kind of place. I'm wondering where Michigan has been all of my life. It's been a well kept secret from the rest of the country. Of course, the army would have never sent me to such a nice place. So it was only by accident and the grace of the Internet that we found it.

I'll fill you in on the history of this area as I learn it myself. It's great to be in an area that I've never been to before. The folks up here in rural Michigan are very friendly and compared to Seattle the traffic is non-existent. And to top it all off, I'm east of the Mississippi, which means that from here it's only about twelve hours of driving to the National Archives in D.C. And, oh by the way, I already have my frequent shopper card for ACE Hardware. More to follow. ;-)

The top picture of the opening of the Government Locks in Seattle, 1916, is courtesy of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and scanned by volunteers. The other two are proof that we are indeed in Michigan, courtesy of my daughter Meaghan, who was in the U-haul with Sheila that followed Sydney and I across the country. The first is of us crossing the Mackinac Bridge from the Upper Peninsula to Lower Michigan. The second is of our arrival in Harbor Springs on September 1st.