America's Religious Identity -- Boom, Shocks, and After-shocks (Part 1)

The 1950s saw one of the largest booms in religiosity that Americans have ever witnessed.  All you had to do was open the doors and the churches were full.  Liberal and conservative, Mainline, Catholic, Evangelical -- everyone was doing well.  And the key to success, interestingly enough, were the men returning home from the War.  Yes, it was the returning GI's and their wives, the so-called "Greatest Generation" that fueled this incredible spike in religious (and civic) involvement.   Robert Putnam and Dennis Campbell lay out this scenario in American Grace.

[T]he distinguishing features of the men now accompanying their wives to church were that they were mostly young fathers, mostly veterans, and mostly college-educated.  The postwar boom in church going was fueled above all by men who had survived the Great Depression as teenagers and World War II as grunts, and were now ready at last to settle into a normal life, with a steady job, a growing family, a new house, and a car, and respectable middle-class status.  Church going was an important emblem of that respectability. (American Grace, pp. 85-86).

Thus, between 1940 and 1960 church membership climbed from about 49% of the population to 69%.  My parents were part of this generation -- well, my father was in the war, my mother was still in her mid-teens when the war ended and the Baby Boom began.   During this period Mainline churches were out front, the bastions of religious respectability.  I remember growing up in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Klamath Falls, Oregon, and our Episcopal Church was full of families.  The Disciples of Christ, like many denominations, purchased land in new subdivisions and planted churches there, expecting them to boom.  Consider that, according to the authors, between 1945 and 1960, in inflation-adjusted dollars, church construction went up from about $26 million to $615 million dollars.  As the construction of churches expanded, people did come, at least for a time, but then as the 1960s set in things began to change.  A new generation came of age and they were looking for something else besides religious respectability.  But more about this "shock" generation in Part 2. 

What needs to be noted here is that this generation of joiners and builders, the men and women who provided the backbone for our religious institutions and "peopled" our churches with children, are passing from the scene, and they are being replaced by generations much less interested in sustaining religious institutions.  [To be continued]

Death, Memory, and Oral History

Morgan Hubbard

A recent piece in The Root on World War II-generation African Americans got me thinking about memory.

When people die they take their memories with them. Their memories become inaccessible forever. Our understanding of events that shaped our world can be lost with the death of one woman, man, or child.

When memories have contemporary political valence, this can be dangerous. Allesandro Portelli’s The Order Has Been Carried Out: History, Memory, and the Meaning of a Nazi Massacre in Rome (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) illustrates this point well. Portelli shows how nationalist Italians have purposefully misremembered the circumstances of a Nazi massacre sixty-five years ago for present political purposes. In 1945, anti-fascist Italian partisans attacked a column of German soldiers in Nazi-occupied Rome. The Nazis retaliated less than 24 hours later by massacring more than 300 Italians. Pro-fascist Italians at the time concocted a counter-narrative that blamed the partisans, not the Nazis, for the massacre, alleging that the partisans ought to have turned themselves in to forestall the murders. The documentary record demonstrates that this was never possible, but the counter-narrative is persistent, even among young right-leaning Italians today. Portelli's work rescues the truth, but only in the nick of time—the citizens of Rome who remember what really happened are now elderly. Many have already passed away.

Granted, most cases of memory are not so politically and morally fraught. But the fact remains that the loss of memory accompanying a person's death is also tragic for the historical record. Since the inception of large-scale oral history projects in the 1940s like the Works Progress Administration's Federal Writers Project—and the cultural turn in the humanities since the 1960s—academic historians in America have increasingly considered this. This is a good thing; memory enriches the documentary record.

The next step is to understand that generational memory loss is no longer as inevitable as it once was, thanks to technology, which has made democratized/amateur oral history a reality. If you have a laptop, or even a smart phone, you can conduct an oral history. StoryCorps has an excellent Do-It-Yourself guide to oral histories; the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress is another good place to start.

Weekend on the Delaware

It is an impressive sight, almost medieval. A 30-foot moat surrounds the castle-like structure, whose granite walls - up to 30 feet thick - rise three stories above the water.


Fort Delaware was built on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River in the mid-19th century to defend Wilmington and Philadelphia, but it became famous as a Civil War prisoner-of-war camp.

Now it is a historic state park visited by sightseers who travel by ferry from Delaware City, Del., south of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, to the island where tens of thousands of Confederate POWs were held.

It is also part of an economic development plan - with two sister forts, Delaware City, and the ferry - to encourage tourism.

In 1997, Fort Mott in New Jersey and Fort DuPont in Delaware - once parts of a three-fort defense system - were added to the route of the Delaware River and Bay Authority ferry, then dubbed the Three Forts Ferry.

Now a coalition of New Jersey and Delaware state, county, and city officials has taken the next step, jointly planning the first "Weekend on the Delaware" event, set for Saturday and Sunday, with tours and living history demonstrations.

"The Three Forts Ferry provides a tourism link," said Beth Timberman, a Salem County freeholder and chair of the county Transportation, Tourism, and Agriculture Committee.

"Through joint marketing partnerships, we believe that we can leverage the coalition's limited financial resources to increase usage of the ferry, which will bring more tourism revenue to both sides of the Delaware River."

Delaware City is "emerging as a destination for both heritage and ecotourism," said Mayor John W. Martin.

The three-fort excursion provides a "unique and exciting experience for visitors that spans two centuries and two states," he said.

Working together is crucial, said Salem County Deputy Administrator Robin Weinstein. "We need to promote everything from a regional perspective," he said. "We're tying the area together with different packages to see what works - biking, birding, living history."

Fort Delaware was not always a tourist spot.

About 33,000 Confederate troops, high-ranking officers, and political prisoners were held on the narrow piece of land from 1861 to 1866. About 2,700 died there.

The heat and humidity could be stifling and flies were everywhere. Dysentery and scurvy, even smallpox, ravaged hundreds of gray-clad prisoners of war in their crude barracks.

"Am on guard duty at the Rebel Barracks, disagreeable because of the stench," Union Pvt. A.J. Hamilton wrote of standing watch over the lice-covered Confederate prisoners he called Johnnies (short for "Johnny Reb"). "Many of the Johnnies are sick, three of them died."

The following day, June 15, 1863, Hamilton penned another diary entry: "Went over to Jersey to bury some Rebs."

Years ago - when Forts Delaware, Mott, and DuPont were active - ferries connected them, transporting people and supplies. Today, the Three Forts Ferry carries sightseers.

Fort DuPont is located at the original Chesapeake and Delaware Canal near Delaware City. During the War of 1812, its cannons were mounted on the shore to defend the Delaware River against the British.

Permanent fortifications were added during the Civil War and strengthened in the 1870s with 15-inch Rodman guns and a concrete powder magazine. During World War II, it held 1,000 German and Italian POWs.

On the New Jersey side, in Pennsville Township, Fort Mott was built in the 1870s with two gun emplacements and two magazines. Troops were stationed there until 1922, and the fort was acquired by the state as a historic site and park in 1947.

"Fort Mott's staff and volunteers will be demonstrating what life was like at the fort during the years it was in operation" this weekend, said the fort superintendent, Vince Bonica.

The three state parks and Delaware City are being jointly marketed by a coalition that includes officials from the city and the forts, the DRBA, Salem County, the Pennsville Economic Development Association, Main Street Delaware City, the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation, the National Park Service, the Greater Wilmington Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Delaware Tourism Office.

"This coordinated marketing effort by a united bistate coalition will be more viable and effective in promoting the region," said DRBA Commissioner Ceil Smith. "As a resident of Salem County, I know the region has a lot to offer."

The coalition will reoffer the event in October. On Saturday and Sunday, while living history demonstrations and tours are held at the forts, Delaware City will hold a festival. Fireworks are planned in the city Saturday.

"The connection between these three military heritage sites and their link via the Delaware River provides rich possibilities for further development of tourism in Delaware City and Salem County," said Stephanie Przybylek, executive director of the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation at Fort DuPont.

"Creating new tourism opportunities could certainly attract military history enthusiasts, but also people who enjoy spending time in the natural environment and visiting waterfront locations."

WRITTEN BY: Edward Colimore with original article at The Philadelphia Inquirer available by clicking on the title of this entry

Below and above Paris

In Paris, under the Gare de l'Est train station used by thousands of people every day still exists this World War II era bunker. What's missing in this photo is the bicycle connecting the ventilation system to leg power fresh air in case of a bombardment raid. Yours truly rode the bike and I got winded in a few minutes - just think if you had to pedal hours for fresh air!
Stepping into the bunker was like stepping back in time. From what I gleaned from my guide - the SNCF history buff who snuck me down there - is that the French railway prepared this for the eventuality of war, constructing this in 1938 or 39 to have a secure location to direct part of the train system. A place to defend and protect themselves in case of invasion.
But from above in the busy station you'd never know. Hidden beneath the platforms 2 and 3 nestles this old underground shelter against bombing. Inside, everything is still in working order; diversion systems, oxygen cylinder in case of attack toxic, cranks attached to a bicycle chain in case of power failure, telephones (unconnected now) and the rail network graphics.
But after the German Occupation in 1940 the German army took over this bunker. I saw graffiti and German notices are on the walls. More than 70 people could live in this building completely sealed in a concrete surface of 120m2. The bunker was composed of three main parts separated by watertight door: a room of machinery, a control station and, of course, a telephone exchange. If you enlarge the phtoe note that the Department of Defense continues to maintain the place and probably other similar places known and unknown

....
Here's a view in the Canal Saint Martin where part of the canal goes under the street

Talking about aboveground here's the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter grave of the greats the Parisian mausoleum that holds France’s greatest citizens,
where urban explorers part of les UX broke in and for over a year, at night in secret, restored a 150 year old clock

Les UX with 150 or so members has about ten branches. One group, all-female, specialises in “infiltration” – getting into museums after hours, finding a way through underground electric or gas networks and shutting down alarms.



But the branch called the Untergunther – specialises in restoration. Untergunther, whose members include architects and historians, rebuilt an abandoned 100-year-old French government bunker and renovated a 12th-century crypt, he said. They claim to be motivated by a desire to preserve Paris’s heritage.

Several years ago the Untergunther hid in the Panthéon, to repair a clock that had been left to rust. Slipping in at closing time every evening – French television said that they had their own set of keys – they set up a workshop hidden behind mock wooden crates at the top of the monument. The security guards never found it. The Untergunther used a professional clockmaker, Jean-Baptiste Viot, to mend the 150-year-old mechanism.

When the clock began working again, officials were horrified. The Centre for National Monuments confirmed that the clock had been repaired but said that the authority had begun legal action against the Untergunther. Under official investigation for breaking and entry, its members face a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a €15,000 fine.

The clock runs and now the question...would you prosecute them?

Cara - Tuesday

Dispatches from the Historical Society Conference, Day 2: Notes on Friday Sessions

Donald Yerxa and Randall Stephens

On Friday morning, Allan Kulikoff (University of Georgia) was offering a provocative proposal to solve the crisis in the history profession that included wholesale changes in the way graduate school programs are structured. (Listen to audio from the session):



And two rooms down the hall, sociologist Ricardo Duchesne (University of New Brunswick) suggested that "restlessness" was at the heart of Western uniqueness. Duchesne's presentation couldn't have been more different from Peter Coclanis's (UNC-Chapel Hill) plenary address the night before (which should appear soon on C-Span). And it is perhaps indicative of the culture of open conversation that the Historical Society works hard to foster that Coclanis, a past Society president, engaged Duchesne rather than dismiss him.

In the afternoon, there was a terrific session on the "Comparative Ways of War," featuring Brian McAllister Linn (Texas A&M and current president of the Society for Military History), Robert Citino (University of North Texas), and Peter Lorge (Vanderbilt). They combined formidable expertise in (respectively) American, German, and Chinese military history with healthy doses of caffeine-enhanced humor.

In the evening's Christopher Lasch Lecture, “How History Looks Different Over Time: The Case of the First World War," Adam Hochschild traced the development of two views of World War I in Great Britain that continue to confront each other today. One considers the war as noble and necessary. (Listen to the audio file here.)



It was the dominant view during the war and throughout most of the 1920s. But there was a minority view of the war during the same period that saw it as senseless slaughter inflicted by an incompetent military leadership. In the 1930s this second view gained ascendancy. World War II took center stage in the 1940s and 1950s, but since the 1960s the senseless slaughter view is almost universally held in Great Britain--save among academic military historians who have been influenced by Fritz Fischer's findings of Germany's bellicose intentions prior to 1914 and who have a greater appreciation for British generalship. As we approach centennial commemorations of WWI, Hochschild predicts that the competition between these two views will be on full display.

Our Last Christmas Together

For many of us there will be much to celebrate this Christmas. Family, friends, parties, dinners. Gifts, food, drink, music. Trees, Santa Clause, Rudolph, Frosty. And of course, the celebration of the birth of the Christ child. For many of us this will be a very happy time of year.

But for some of us, this will be our first Christmas without a very special person in our lives. In fact, there are a probably a few of us, and one day this will be all of us, for whom this will be our own final Christmas. Even more tragically for some, even at this late date, last year will prove to have been our final Christmas.

Today is December 7th, and it marks the 68th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks which drew America directly into World War II. For many around the world at that time, it had already been a time of loss, and for many more it was a time of concern for loved ones fighting in the war.

For Americans waking up and heading out to church on that fateful Sunday morning it was a time of growing concern. And yet to that point, we were not directly involved in the fighting that was happening in Europe. Most were still looking forward to the coming of Christmas in a few weeks. For some, it would mark the return home, even if just briefly, of their family members and friends serving on the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

What many of those brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, medical and other personnel stationed at Pearl did not know was that they were waking up to their final moments in this life. They had already celebrated their final Christmas here on earth, and not a single one of them realized it at that point.

There are many people who think that this is too maudlin a topic for discussion. This is a time for buying presents, decorating homes and trees, wrapping gifts, planning family get-togethers. It is most certainly no time to think about someone getting sick or dying. These people are absolutely correct, and that is definitely not what I am advocating by bringing up the subject.

What I am pointing out is a simple fact: this will be the final Christmas for many people, including many who have no idea of it, and who have no reason to believe that would be so at this point. But even if only in the backs of our minds, everyone knows that one day their own final Christmas will come along.

The point of this topic is to again bring home the idea of the true meaning of Christmas. For the vast majority of us, this is not our wedding anniversary, nor is it our birthday. This is the season that we celebrate the gift that God Himself gave to us all in the birth of his Son, Jesus Christ.

The celebration of Christmas is something that we need to make room for in our hearts, no matter what our personal experiences may be at this time. Is someone that you know, perhaps even yourself, very sick and possibly dying? Celebrate Christmas. Has someone that you loved been taken from you this past year, perhaps suddenly? Celebrate Christmas.

When I say that we should celebrate Christmas despite our circumstances, I am not necessarily saying that you should get out and live it up. I am not saying that you need to drink and dance and make merry. What I am saying is that you fully and deeply in your heart and mind recognize the meaning of Christmas, and find a way to keep the season holy.

Perhaps your loss or illness has caused you to not decorate as you normally would, or not buy gifts as you normally would, or not attend a holiday party as you normally would. Again, no one is saying that you have to operate as if nothing is different this year. But there are alternatives.

Ask a close friend or family member to help you put a few small decorations and lights around your home. They will be more than happy to help you. Go online and buy a few special people a small holiday flower arrangement. Go to church instead of going to a party. Pray to God for direction and healing during a time that has you reflecting more on past happiness than on the present.

Mostly, draw on those many happy memories that we all have of Christmas past. Times shared with parents and spouses, children and grandchildren, friends and lovers. Enjoy some quiet time listening to holiday music, watching Christmas specials on television, and simply opening our hearts in quiet time to God, thanking him for his own special gift to us.

This might very well be our last Christmas together. Perhaps last year already was. That would indeed be tragic in many respects. But it would not be nearly as tragic as our having spent our final Christmas together, and then whichever of us has survived not allowing ourselves to again celebrate a merry and happy Christmas.

For the families of the service persons who died on December 7th, 1941 the final Christmas together had already been spent. I am quite sure that December 25th, 1941 was a sad day in many homes. But 68 Christmas Days have past since, and my bet is that the vast majority of those families have learned to move on and again celebrate in the true Christmas spirit.

That is what their loved ones lost on that fateful day which lives in infamy would have wanted. It is what your own loved ones would want for you and your families today. It is certainly what we would want if it were we who passed on to our glory in God's kingdom in Heaven. Let's enjoy our last Christmas together, whenever that may be...and the one after...and the one after...and the one...

NOTE: The image accompanying this story is of the USS Russell, a guided missile destroyer which won the 2007 first prize in the annual holiday ship-lighting contest at Pearl Harbor

Movie Vets Help the Rest of Us Appreciate

Like most Americans, I have never experienced the honor of wearing the uniform of one of our brave military branches in service to my country. I have heard it from many who are my same age. We turned 18 years of age in the late 1970's and early 1980's. There was no war, unless you count the Cold War, and in many homes the tradition of military service was not passed along.

I have always felt it missing from my own set of life experiences and from my professional resume. An opportunity to experience that sense of duty and honor, and of service to my country and community, is certainly one of the many reasons that I joined the Philadelphia Police Department almost two decades ago now. If I didn't make the choice as a kid to put on the uniform of my country, then at least I could put on a uniform here and help protect our homeland.

Still, it would be hard for most of us to ever appreciate what real soldiers, sailors, and pilots have experienced as they have defended both our nation directly and the cause of freedom around the world. While television news shows missiles being launched and far away explosions, they rarely, if ever, show the truth of close, intense combat situations and the split-second decisions that can mean the difference between life and death.

What was it really like to climb inside the cockpit of a fighter plane in World War II and engage in a mission over enemy lines, perhaps in combat with Nazi or Japanese pilots? What was it really like to crawl inside of a tank and head out into the deserts of Iraq? What was it really like to trudge through a swamp in the jungles of Vietnam? What was it really like to charge on to a battle field in the Civil War? What was it like to cross the Delaware River in a small boat, freezing and shivering in the cold with General Washington in the Revolutionary War?

For all of it's many faults, one of the things that Hollywood has managed to do best is to portray those military heroes well, bringing us close to the battles and often inside the very heads of the individuals involved. Whether those men and women were fighting in combat in war time or protecting our nation and it's interests in peace time, motion pictures have given us the opportunity to get close to the action.

In 1998, Steven Spielberg took us right out on to Omaha Beach with it's horror and death during the D-Day invasion of World War II. Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Adam Goldberg, Vin Diesel, Paul Giamatti, Matt Damon, Dennis Farina and the rest of the stellar cast of 'Saving Private Ryan' took us into the heads, hearts, and minds of the heroes who rescued humanity from Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

In 1994, Hanks had joined with director Robert Zemeckis and fellow actors Gary Sinise and Mykelti Williamson to explore the Vietnam War and it's participants from some unusual angles in 'Forrest Gump'. Back in 1979, Francis Ford Coppola had given us a look into the jungle battles with starring turns from Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Sam Bottoms, and Dennis Hopper in 'Apocalypse Now'. In 1986, Oliver Stone's 'Platoon' with Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Kevin Dillon, Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Charlie Sheen took us back to the 'Nam.

While World War II and Vietnam have been the focus of some of the best war movies in motion picture history, many other conflicts around the world have shone a light on the struggles and accomplishments of America's fighting heroes. From 1935's 'Gone With the Wind' visiting the Civil War to 2005's 'Jarhead' taking us inside Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm we have seen American troops rise to defend their nation, democracy, and freedom.

So while few of us have had or ever will have that experience, we get at least a small taste of the hardships, the horrors, and the sacrifices that men and women make when they join the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and other military service groups thanks to the best of these Hollywood productions. Still, while it gives us a taste, it will never compare to real life.

Those men and women represented by these Hollywood characters and caricatures, by these retellings of history, and by the drama of fiction within a historical construct are the real heroes who we must always thank and never forget.

Especially today, on Veteran's Day here in the United States, we must all join together in supporting and thanking the military veterans who fight for our nation, and in some cases who are injured and even die for the cause of our freedom and liberty.

From the Halls of Montezuma

The United States Marine Corps today celebrates the 234th birthday for the American fighting force that has spearheaded victories in battles from Mexico's 'Halls of Montezuma' to Africa's 'shores of Tripoli' and thousands of locales in between.

Whether in the Middle East today, or in the pre-Vietnam War days when my father, Matthew Veasey, served in the Corps, or in the World War II days, when my father-in-law, Robert Marshall, served in the Corps in the Pacific theatre, Americans have served their country in this elite group of warriors and marksmen.

On November 10th, 1775, at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the 2nd Continental Congress resolved that a military group be formed to be known as the Continental Marines. The group would eventually consist of 131 officers and approximately 2,000 enlisted Marines.

Five days earlier, the Congress had commissioned Samuel Nicholas of Philadelphia as a 'Captain of Marines', the first officer commissioned for the group. He would become accepted in tradition as the first 'Commandant of the Marine Corps', the highest ranking officer.

Tradition also holds that much of the recruitment efforts for the group were held at Philadelphia's Tun Tavern. The tavern was a nearly century old gathering place at Water and Tun Streets, with a restaurant having been added a few decades earlier. The proprietor during the Revolutionary period, Robert Mullen, became the chief Marine recruiter.

The primary service of this Marine force would be to serve as on-board security for naval Captains and their officers. They would also position Marine sharpshooters at the tops of the ships' masts during naval battles with the assignment of taking out the opposition officers and other important ship personnel.

The first group, consisting of 5 companies with 300 Marines, met up with the Navy in the Caribbean in December of 1775, and under Nicholas they joined the Navy operations quickly undertaken in the Bahamas. Eventually, Marines would fight with George Washington's troops at Trenton and would participate in many other Revolutionary War actions.

At the war's conclusion, both the Navy and the Marines were disbanded in June of 1785. It would be 13 years before the now U.S. Congress finally permanently created the United States Marine Corps in 1798 as it prepared the military for a naval war with France. During these early years of re-establishment, the Corps took part in it's famous effort to capture 'the shores of Tripoli' during the First Barbary War against the African Barbary pirates.

During the War of 1812, the Marines were pivotal in what was largely a water-based series of battles with the British empire in the Atlantic Ocean off the American east coast and along the nation's inner rivers and other waterways. Particularly significant were their efforts to slow the British march to the nation's new capitol at Washington, D.C. and in the defense of New Orleans.

The Marines next fought in the Seminole Wars, particularly in the 2nd Seminole War of 1835-1842, when the U.S. was battling Native Americans for control of Florida. It was during their next efforts in the Mexican-American War of 1846-48 that the Corps battled into those storied 'halls of Montezuma' as the United States took control of the territory of Texas.

The Civil War in America from 1861-1865 saw the Marines do little but participate in blockades as many of their ranks split between the two battling sides of the temporarily split nation. In the decade following the Civil War, the Marine Corps emblem and the famous 'hymn' were each developed. Then in 1883 the Corps adopted it's famous motto of Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful, now frequently shortened to the famous cry of "Semper Fi!"

In 1898, the Marines played another significant role in the Spanish-American War, particularly in seizing a military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba which remains American territory to this day. During the early years of the 20th century the Corps saw action as far afield as the Boxer Rebellion in China and the Banana Wars in Haiti and Nicaragua.

It was during World War I that the Marines began to gain their modern reputation. Here the Marine Corps fought bravely at Belleau Wood near Paris, France during the German spring offensive in 1918. It became legend that the Germans so respected the Marines fighting spirit that they took to calling them Teufel Hunden, or Devil Dogs. The nickname stuck and has been a point of pride ever since.

The Marines did not go into hiding between the two massive World Wars, but instead saw the coming 2nd conflict and took numerous measures to study amphibious warfare and prepare for what they believed was a coming war with Japan. When the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor and the conflict in the Pacific broke out, the Marines were ready. It was during the WWII battle at Iwo Jima that the iconic image of 'Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima' captured 5 Marines and a Navy man raising the American flag over that hard-fought island.

Through both Korea and Vietnam, the Marines fought valiantly in defense of freedom around the world. As peacekeepers in Beirut, Lebanon during the early years of Islamic fundamentalism rising up, a bomb ripped through their headquarters building, killing 220 Marines and 21 other service members in what was the worst loss of life during formal peacetime in the Corps history.

The Marines have continued to fight on, leading the way in America's military battles against the forces of Middle East despotism and radical Islam from the Gulf War through to the ongoing War on Terror theatres in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

From those "Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli", the Devil Dogs of the United States Marine Corps have fought our country's battles in the air, on land, and sea. They fight for right and freedom, to keep their honor clean, in every clime and place where they could take a gun. Here's to their health and to their Corps. Happy Birthday, Marines!

Tearing Down the Wall

Twenty years ago an amazing event happened, one that two generations of Americans and lovers of freedom the world over had a hard time imagining would ever happen in our lifetimes. On November 9th, 1989, at the crest of a wave of liberty sweeping across Eastern Europe, the East German government announced that its citizens could openly visit West Berlin.

The problem with such visits for decades had been the presence of one of the single most blatant symbols of political and cultural oppression in modern history, the Berlin Wall. The Wall was not just symbolic of socialist and communist oppression, it was a literal wall that encircled the 'free' city of West Berlin and included a thick concrete wall, barbed wire, guard towers, and patrolled trenches that would become known as 'the death strip' in history.

During the period of the Wall's existence between 1961 and 1989, estimates show that a couple of hundred people were killed in approximately 5,000 attempted crossings. All were trying to move one way, across the 'Iron Curtain' from the oppression of the Eastern Bloc to the freedom of Western Europe.

The roots of the Berlin Wall stretched back to the end of World War II, when what remained of Nazi Germany was divided by the Potsdam Agreement into four 'occupation zones', each controlled by one of the victorious Allied powers: the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.

Despite the fact that the capital city of Berlin lay entirely within the Soviet zone, that city was also divided into four controlling zones for the Allied powers. Within short order, rifts began to appear between the Soviets and the others on a number of post-war issues regarding reconstruction of Germany, as well as political and ideological differences between the nations.

Almost immediately after the war, Soviet leader Josef Stalin began to orchestrate the creation of and control over an 'Eastern bloc' of nations including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and the Soviet-controlled section of Germany which he envisioned as a buffer zone of protection for the USSR against the influence or advances of the European democracies.

In 1948, Stalin began to finalize his ultimate plans of a complete takeover of Germany by instituting a blockade of West Berlin, the section controlled by the other Allied powers. His hope was to see the others withdraw from control over and interest in the city. But the Americans and British responded with the 'Berlin airlift' efforts that kept the free section of the city supplied with goods and materials. After almost a year, Stalin finally lifted the blockade.

In October of 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was declared and would become known as East Germany. This section of Germany was highly influenced by the Soviets and was oppressive to its people. West Germany developed as a capitalist nation in alliance with the United States and the other western nations. Over the years, West German economic growth and political freedoms became increasingly attractive to hundreds of thousands of East Germans, who fled their nation for the freedom and prosperity of the west.

In the first few years, nearly a million people fled the Eastern bloc to West Germany as people began to recognize the oppressive tactics and governing principles of socialism and communism. What became known officially as the 'German inner border' but was more popularly christened as the 'Iron Curtain' by Winston Churchill was the response. Initially a recognized but open border between the post-war zones controlled by the Soviets and the western powers, the 'Curtain' was formally closed with the erection first of barbed wire fences and later more substantial security in 1952 and 1953.

With this major path to freedom blocked, more and more citizens of East Berlin began to flee into West Berlin, the only remaining bastion of freedom behind the Iron Curtain of Soviet and East German oppression. The East German authorities attempted many measure to thwart the massive emigration that ensued, as approximately 20% of the entire GDR population escaped to the freedom of the west up until 1961.

Finally, Soviet leader Nikita Kruschev gave the East Germans the orders to build a physical wall separating East and West Berlin. At midnight on August 13th, 1961, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border. Streets were torn up and barbed wire fences installed to prevent passage. By August 15th, construction of a concrete wall had begun. Many families were literally split apart suddenly, and people were unable to travel to their jobs.

The Berlin Wall was ultimately built up and strengthened over decades in four main elements. The initial 'Wire Fence' effort of 1961 was followed quickly by improvement to that fence between 1962 and 1965. A concrete wall was completed and extended between 1965 and 1975. Finally, the 'Border Wall' was built, extended, and improved between 1975 and 1980, but was continually improved right up until the end in 1989. In the end, the Berlin Wall was more than 87 miles long.

In the beginning, no crossings at all were allowed for over two years between 1961 and 1963. Negotiations between the powers allowed for Christmas visits over the next four years. There were ultimately 8 different official border crossing points between East and West Berlin which were all heavily secured and controlled. It was far easier for West Berliners to cross into the east than vice versa. For the most part, no East Germans were permitted to cross into West Berlin until the fall of the Wall in 1989.

Located near the center of West Berlin, the 'Brandenburg Gate' is one of the main historic symbols of Germany in general and Berlin in particular. On June 12th, 1987, American president Ronald Reagan appeared there and made a speech to help celebrate the 750th anniversary of the city of Berlin. Reagan had throughout his presidency challenged the ideology and authority of communist and socialist regimes, publicly calling the Soviet Union an 'Evil Empire' at one point.

In his speech that day, Reagan directly addressed Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev: "..we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"

Inspired by events such as Mr. Reagan's speech, citizens and governments across the Soviet sphere of influence began to crack. In August of 1989, "red" Hungary removed its border fence with a free Austria, and 13,000 East German tourists escaped to freedom. This set off a chain reaction of similar activity in Czechoslovakia, and finally in East Germany itself. Mass demonstrations resulted in the resignation of the East German president in October 1989.

These generally peaceful demonstrations continued to build throughout East Germany, culminating in what was known as the "Peaceful Revolution" and the gathering of a million people in East Berlin on November 4th. In response, the East German government and its puppet-string pullers in the USSR had little recourse but to loosen their grip, and when some pieces of a plan to do so were leaked to a German television network, the story was run on November 9th that "the borders were open to everyone" on what was called a historic day.

After this public announcement on television, which was actually a complete jumping-of-the-gun by the network, Germans began gathering at the Wall, completely surprising and overwhelming the guards. In contacting their superiors for orders, the guards were given no direction, and became overwhelmed by the throngs. The gates were opened and people flocked from both sides, embracing one another in glee. Over the ensuing days and weeks, people gathered daily to climb the Wall, break off pieces, and begin to informally demolish the structure.

Over the next few months, restrictions on crossings became officially lifted, including at the Brandenburg Gate on December 22nd. The following day, visa-free travel began between the states. On June 13th, 1990, official dismantling of the Wall began, and continued until being completed in November 1991. Only a few guard towers and portions remain as memorials.

For three decades, the Berlin Wall stood as a wall of oppression, keeping people from seeking their freedom and liberty and entombing them inside a world of failed communist and socialist ideologies. It was ultimately the will of these freedom-seeking and loving peoples, aided by those of us around the world who share these ideals, that resulted in the awe-inspiring events which began on November 9th, 1989.

9/11

"The British are Coming!" "Remember the Alamo!" "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy" "9/11"

All of these phrases are now burned by history into the collective American consciousness, automatically bringing us back to times when our nation was under attack right here on our own soil. However, the first three are actually a bit misleading in that regard. Neither the British attacks in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican attack in Texas, or the Japanese attack in Hawaii happened in an official state of the Union.

In the first, the United States was not a fully formed, world recognized, independent nation, but instead was fighting for some type of independence from the British empire. It shouted a warning among the American colonists that British troops were approaching, and is usually specifically related to the midnight ride of Paul Revere. It also hearkens us back to a time when British 'red coats' were firing on Americans, burning homes and businesses, and marching across the land that we now know as the United States of America.

The battle at the Alamo mission also was not fought on what was then technically United States soil, but was fought between the Republics of Mexico and Texas in the aftermath of the Mexican revolution. It was a decade before Texas would officially become a U.S. state. The Texian forces fighting for their independence from the Mexican government where vastly outnumbered, yet fought off the Mexican troops valiantly before finally being overrun and massacred. The incident rallied Texians to eventual victory, and ultimately to statehood.

Again, the Japanese sneak attack in Hawaii did not technically take place on an official state in the Union. On December 7th, 1941, Hawaii was an annexed American territory and the site of an extremely strategic naval base located at Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese bombs and kamakazi pilots virtually wiped out the American Pacific Naval fleet that morning, it not only sparked our entry into World War II, but also showed the importance of Hawaii to our interests, resulting in full statehood by 1959.

Most people alive today know full well of the events of 9/11 as they relate to more attacks on American soil, attacks this time on an official state (New York) as well as on the seat of our government (Washington, D.C.), along with a thwarted attack that ended in the loss of American lives in Pennsylvania.

Here in Philadelphia and along much of the American east coast, today is a dark, gloomy day on which the rain pours from the skies. I will refrain from talk of it being tears for the lives of the nearly 3,000 victims lost that day. The only reason that I point out the bleak weather conditions today is to relate how stark the contrast it is with that absolutely gorgeous late summer morning, now eight years ago.

America awoke and began it's commute to work on that Tuesday morning with little thought of the radical Islamic assault that was fully planned and already operational. Despite repeated threats and actual attacks leading up to that day, most Americans had their heads in the sand regarding men such as Osama bin Laden and groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda. We were virtually untouchable and absolutely indestructible as a nation. All that went away in just a couple of hours.

Despite the magnitude and suddeness of those attacks, the loss of all of those lives, the televised attacks on and collapse of the iconic Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, a jet airplane ramming through the core of our national defense at the Pentegon, the grounding of American air traffic for almost a week, and the subsequent wars fought in Iraq and Afghanistan we seem to have learned little.

The radical Islamists who attacked us that morning were not representatives of any particular nation. We were not attacked that morning and at other times by Saudi Arabia, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Iran, or Libya, or Egypt, or any single Middle Eastern or Arabic nation or group of nations. We were attacked by radical groups operating within those nations who are inspired by the Koran and their faith to conquer the world on behalf of Islam.

In past wars and battles, whether fought to form the United States as with Britain, to expand the United States as with Mexico, or to defend the United States as with Japan the enemy was usually an easy to define nation-state. It had borders, populations, armies, resources, and allies that were usually easily definable. To win, you had to defeat the other guys in head-to-head physical combat. There was a measure of ideology that needed to be defeated as well, but ultimately if you won the physical battles and suppressed the enemy troops and their leaders, you were the clear winner.

I put it to you that it is no different now. We still need to win that physical battle. But as with those past conflicts, this is also a war of ideologies, and we must also win on that front to ever have a long-lasting peace. This war must be fought and won on two fronts, both of which we must be willing to support and sustain if we want to win.

On one hand we must support and sustain the ideological war that is raging within Islam itself. There are moderate forces within that religion, the 2nd largest on the planet with an influence over approximately 1.5 billion people, or almost 1 in every 5 people on the planet. The radical forces calling for that religion to control the world not only religiously, but also sociologically, financially, politically is growing. We must support in every way the forces within Islam that want to maintain it as a part of the whole where the world is concerned, not as a world domination ideology.

On the other hand, we must be willing to back that financial and rhetorical support up with our armed forces. The radical Islamist groups are heavily armed, well equipped, and train regularly. And their numbers and influence are growing, as is their technology. It is just a matter of time before nuclear weapons are in the hands of radical Islamic terrorist regimes. Once that happens, these groups will use these weapons to further their agenda in Israel, Europe, and here in America. Until such elements are effectively wiped out, we are going to have physical battles to fight.

There will be a number of remembrances across the country and around the world today on the 8th anniversary of those radical Islamic attacks on September 11th, 2001. There will be a few television programs this evening that will recall the events of that day. If you have not yet seen them, I can highly recommend four different films that you need to watch.

"9/11" was perhaps the best documentary on the day of the attacks, and is available by clicking on to the title of this article through Amazon. This and "United 93" are probably the two best films ever made to this point. "World Trade Center" is also a well made dramatic depiction of the New York attacks. Finally, the documentary film "Obsession" tells the full story of the radical Islamic problem across the world today.

9/11 was not the beginning of this world-wide ideological struggle, and we will not likely see the end any time soon, if ever. There will be further dates to remember, catch-phrases to live in infamy. Today we should remember those who lost their lives that day, as well as those who fought and continue to fight for victory in the continuing ideological struggle against the forces of radical Islam. Those forces are still out there, still bent on that same world domination, and the United States of America continues to stand as the best defense against their aggression.

A Woman in Berlin

From NPR:

"Silence Broken On Red Army Rapes In Germany"
by Eric Westervelt

This week, the American premiere of the German film A Woman in Berlin brings new attention to an issue long considered a taboo in Germany: the mass rape of women by Soviet Red Army soldiers after the fall of Hitler's Third Reich. The movie is based on the real diary of an anonymous Berlin woman. Historians believe some 2 million German women were raped after Soviet and Allied forces defeated Hitler's army in the spring of 1945....

Dr. Phillip Kuwert, a senior physician at the University of Greifswald's department of psychotherapy and psychiatry, estimates that about 200,000 children were conceived by native German women raped by Russian soldiers. >>>

History Battles: Hitler Tree in Poland

Randall Stephens

Der Spiegel recently reported on an oak seedling planted in Nazi-occupied Jaslo, Poland in 1942. Seldom does a tree spark a controversy about memory and history. But... Almost seven decades after the planting, writes a journalist in the paper, "the tree is the subject of heated debate as the city mayor, previously unaware of its history, calls for it to be felled":

Getting permission to chop down a tree for the building of an intersection is not unusual. What is slightly rarer is the discovery that that tree was bequeathed to the city by the most famous dictator of the last century. An oak tree that had been growing in the Polish city of Jaslo for almost 70 years now faces the chop as its links with Hitler are revealed. . . .

The campaign to save the oak is led by 80-year-old Kazimierz Polak, who witnessed it being planted firsthand. He is organising a petition to challenge plans to fell the tree, which he watched being brought into the city in a box wrapped in the swastika flag in 1942. The oak, originally from Hitler's birthplace of Braunau am Inn in Austria, was given to the city on the occasion of the Führer's birthday and was part of attempts to 'Germanize' the town. >>>

Goodbye, Danny Ozark

Danny Ozark, the former Phillies manager who nurtured a young team into a perennial contender in the National League, died Wednesday in Vero Beach, Fla.

He was 85.

"I considered him a friend of mine," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said inside his office at Citi Field. "He was a great guy. A baseball guy. He was very dedicated. He studied the game. He loved the game. He was a good teacher, too. He came to see me a couple times when I first got this job."

Ozark had a long career in baseball.

He started as a first baseman in the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization in 1942. Following his career, he turned to managing and coaching, beginning as the Dodgers' Class B team manager in Wichita Falls in '56.

Ozark joined the Los Angeles Dodgers as a coach in 1964, and worked with the Dodgers until the Phillies hired him as their manager Nov. 1, 1972.

"He was a dedicated coach for the Dodgers under two Hall of Fame managers, Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda," Dodgers president Frank McCourt said. "Danny was a longtime fixture in the Vero Beach community after his retirement and was always especially welcome during Spring Training. He will be missed."

The Phillies won 71, 80 and 86 games in his first three seasons before they won 101 games in 1976, returning to the postseason for the first time since '50. The Reds swept the Phillies in the National League Championship Series in '76, but Philadelphia won 101 games in '77 to make the playoffs again.

But again the Phils lost, this time to the Dodgers in the NLCS.

The Phillies won their third consecutive NL East title in 1978, but fell short again to the Dodgers.

Ozark was dismissed during the 1979 season.

Ozark went 594-510 (.538) as Phillies manager. His winning percentage is seventh best in team history. He was named Manager of the Year in 1976 by The Associated Press and The Sporting News.

"He was a good friend, my first Major League manager, played a major role in the early years of my career, and he was instrumental in building us into prominence in the mid-1970s," Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt said. "He brought a wealth of baseball experience from his years with the Dodgers to Philadelphia, and we were fortunate to have him as our leader throughout that time."

"Danny was the guy that took us from last to first," Bob Boone said. "He was the perfect manager for the Phillies in the '70s. He had the patience of Job and helped all of us grow up as men and players. He was a wonderful man. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on."

Ozark rejoined the Dodgers as a coach from 1980-82. His career ended with the Giants as a coach (1983-84) and interim manager in '84.

Ozark served in the Army in World War II, and was one of the men who stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

"Until that moment, I never knew the meaning of the word 'chaos,'" Ozark told the Philadelphia Daily News in 1994.

Perhaps that chaos made life in Philadelphia seem a little easier, where he often took abuse for some of his managerial decisions. But Ozark remained fond of Philadelphia.

"Ginny and I really miss Philadelphia," Ozark said last month in Phillies Magazine. "We enjoyed our time there. That city is a great sports town. The fans are the greatest. They do express themselves, but that's OK. We made a lot of lifelong friends there."

Born Daniel Leonard Orzechowski on Nov. 24, 1923, in Buffalo, N.Y., he married Ginny Zdinski. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in February.

In addition to his wife, Ozark is survived by two children, Dwain and Darlene; three granddaughters; and four great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

"Danny was more than a baseball manager, he was a genuine human being," former Phillies president Ruly Carpenter said. "We would not have had the success in the '70s if it wasn't for him. He taught those guys how to play the game."

WRITTER by Todd Zolecki for MLB.com on May 7th, 2009

Remembering the Nazi Final Solution

The Nazi Party came to power under the guidance of Adolf Hitler during the 1930's, and early on they blamed the Jewish people for many of their problems. They then began to formulate a plan for what Hitler himself called the "final solution of the Jewish question." In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed that saw classification of German citizens by race. If all four of your grandparents were of German blood, then you were a good German. If 3 or 4 of them were Jewish, then you were Jewish. With 1 or 2 Jewish grandparents, you were considered a 'crossbreed'. The laws prohibited marriage and intercourse between Jews and Germans, as well as the employment of German females under age 45 in Jewish households. They also stripped those of the non-German blood of their German citizenship. Efforts to begin eliminating Jews from German society began even prior to World War II, as Jews were slaughtered in mass killings and became the victims of 'pogroms', which were systematic riots against and attacks on their population centers that included physical violence and murder against people, destruction of businesses, and destruction of their places of worship. Beginning in September of 1941, all Jews living in the lands under German control were required to wear yellow patches on their clothing for identification. Jews were not permitted to become doctors, lawyers, or journalists, could not use state hospitals, and would not be schooled by the state beyond age 14. By the time that 1942 rolled around, with WWII underway fully across the globe, one million Jews had already been killed by the Nazi regime. But this was only the beginning of the worst slaughter of one group of people in the history of mankind. On January 20th, 1942 at the Wannsee Villa in Berlin, a conference named after Hitler's statement of 'The Final Solution to the Jewish Question' was held by a group of Nazi officials. It was here that the idea was born to build actual 'extermination camps' at which mass extermination of Jewish people would occur. Many Jews would also be held at 'concentration camps' if deemed healthy enough and would be utilized as slave labor, until they either died of disease or exhaustion. As the Germans conquered new territories, they set up a system of mass warehousing of Jews, and their transportation on trains to the extermination camps. Built under the direction of Heimlich Himmler in Nazi-occupied Poland, this use of actual extermination or death camps was the beginning of the final phase of the Jewish mass murders that has become known as 'The Holocaust'. This coordinated genocide of mostly Jews, but also at places including Serbs and gypsies, was accomplished by herding those who survived the arduous train rides into the camps. Here they would be led one-by-one into gas chambers, with the bodies then being either cremated or buried in mass graves. Approximately 2-3 million people, most of them Jewish, were killed during the years that the death camps operated, and perhaps 10 million more Jews were killed by the Germans when you count in mass shootings and other murder victims. Today, April 21st, is 'Holocaust Remembrance Day', on which we call to mind all of those who were murdered by the German Nazis in that final racist solution. Still today, over six decades after their use, the death camps with their gas chambers and crematories are lasting symbols of the pure evil that existed within Germany during the years just prior to and during World War II. Evil is a very real force, a real entity in our world that exists still today. We need only do what today calls on us to do, remember the Holocaust in the Nazi final solution, to plant that knowledge of evil firmly in our consciousness, and we must always be willing to fight to overcome that evil.

Real American Hero: Donald Rudolph

They are leaving us now on a daily basis, the American armed service veterans who served and fought during the greatest military conflict in the history of the planet Earth. The youngest of the men and women who served their country, whose efforts secured freedom and democracy for generations to come, and who have survived to continue as living representatives of those long-ago days are now in their 80's. On May 30th, 2006, the advancement of age and the ravages of illness finally took from us a man who the Imperial Japanese could not. On that date, 85-year old Donald Rudolph of Minnesota died from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He left behind his wife, Helen Rudolph, who remains with us for now to tell the story to their three grandchildren of a man on whom "the fellas in his platoon relied on for leadership" and who he had said was doing "his duty to protect them because they were going to protect him." The story of Donald Rudolph, particularly his actions on February 5th, 1945, is one that deserves to be known and remembered by all Americans. On that day few realized that the world was entering the final months of what had been a conflict which had raged across the globe for more than five years. Just a few weeks earlier, American forces fighting in the Pacific theatre against Japan had stormed the main island of Luzon in the Philippines and began a 110-mile drive on the capital city of Manila. They were involved in the process of liberating island-by-island the territories that the Japanese had invaded, conquered, and subjugated over the past few years. On that early February day, Don Rudolph was a Sergeant and platoon leader with the Army's 20th infantry, Sixth infantry division which was engaged in a pitched battle for the heavily fortified town of Munoz. Rudolph was administering first aid to a wounded soldier when his platoon suddenly came under heavy fire from a group of Japanese who were concealed in a culvert. He grabbed his rifle and some grenades, and moved forward with his men supporting him with their own rifle cover. He reached the culvert safely and was able to take out three of the Japanese soldiers there, and then he began to make his way across open ground to attack some pillboxes which were housing Japanese machine guns. On reaching the first he tossed a grenade through an opening there. Not thinking the job done, Rudolph then tore the cover off the pillbox with his bare hands and dropped another grenade inside. He moved on to a 2nd pillbox and utilized a pickax to bust it open, then took out its combatants with rifle fire and another grenade. He continued to move along the pillboxes, taking out six more, when suddenly a Japanese tank arrived and began to attack their platoon. Sergeant Rudolph leaped atop the tank and dropped a grenade through the turret, killing the Japanese crew. In the aftermath, for his actions he was given a battlefield commission to the rank of Lieutenant. On August 23rd, just ten days before the Japanese would formally surrender, President Harry S. Truman presented Lt. Donald Rudolph with the Medal of Honor stating that in acting in "complete disregard for his own safety" Rudolph had "cleared a path for an advance which culminated in one of the most decisive victories of the Philippine campaign." Unlike many of his fellow service persons in his 'Greatest Generation', Don Rudolph went on to live a long, healthy life. He finally retired from military service in 1963, and was later marching in a Minneapolis Veteran's Day parade in 1969 when he was interviewed and said "When I see that flag, it does something to me inside. I want to jump up and salute." What a sentiment. It is important that we not only share his sentiment, but that we also remember to jump up and salute the real American heroes such as Donald Rudolph whose actions have made and continue to make freedom possible both in the United States and around the world. NOTE: This is the continuation of the 'Real American Heroes' series remembering U.S. military heroes, all the entries of which you can view by clicking on to that below label. Thanks as always to the www.mishalov.com website.

Real American Hero: Peter Tomich

In the middle of May in the year 2006 a moving ceremony took place aboard the USS Enterprise, one of America's powerful air craft carriers. At the time, the Enterprise and her crew were anchored at sea off the coast of the town of Split, Croatia. The story of who and what brought the mighty ship to this little corner of the world is that of yet another in our 'Real American Hero' series, all of which you can read by clicking in to that label below this entry. On board the Enterprise was Rear Admiral J. Robert Lunney, the judge advocate general of the New York Naval Militia, a World War II veteran, and now a White Plains, New York lawyer. It seems that a few years earlier, Lunney had embarked on a mission on behalf of a fellow WWII navy man, Peter Tomich, whom Lunney believed had been wronged. Peter Tomich you see was an American Medal of Honor winner for his actions at Pearl Harbor on that date that still lives in infamy of the Japanese sneak attack, December 7th, 1941. On that quiet Sunday morning the then 48-year old Tomich was serving as a Chief on the Utah, a U.S. battleship that was at that point being used as a training ship. He had been born in 1893 as Petar Tonic to a Croatian family in the Balkan village of Prolog, which is now a part of Bosnia. As a young man he came to America and settled in Queens, New York. As with many immigrant families his name began to morph, his first name from Petar to Peter, and his last from Tonic to Tomich. He joined the Army in 1917, and a year later he formally became an American citizen. After serving two years in the Army he was discharged in 1919, and days later Tomich joined up with the Navy where he built a modest career serving his new country. On that infamous Sunday morning, Tomach awoke as usual to a clear, quiet morning that promised peace and relaxation, but in the end would prove to be the greatest challenge of his life. Without warning, Japanese torpedoes struck the Utah. She would sink within minutes. Tomach was the chief watertender in charge of the engine room, and as others simply abandoned ship Tomach raced below deck to keep the ship's boilers from exploding and allow more men time to escape. This single action on his part allowed most of the Utah's men to escape safely, but because he was engaged in shutting down the boilers Tomach was among the 64 who did not make it out. Months later, after the dust had settled at Pearl and the U.S. was fully engaged in World War II, Peter Tomach received the highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor. The problem became that he had just one known living relative, a cousin from California, but this man could not be found. Tomach's medal became the only one never awarded to a recipient or family member. It became a wandering symbol, passing among various exhibitions until finally finding a resting place at the U.S. Naval museum. This is where Admiral Lunney comes into the picture. Not feeling it was right that the Navy had never tracked down family for Tomach, Lunney embarked on his own mission to find them, traveling on his own expense to Bosnia. After nine years of searching, verifying, and trying to convince U.S. officials, Lunney finally stood on the deck of the Enterprise and presented the Medal of Honor for valor to Srecko Herzeg-Tonic (pictured with the medal), a retired military man himself, and an emotional, proud Tonic family on behalf of his distant cousin, Peter Tomach. During the ceremony, Real Admiral Robert A. Rosen asked a valid question: "What makes a man, when the ship is hit with torpedoes and listing 40 degrees and sinking, what makes this simple and honest and straightforward man stay at his duty station, chasing the people in his command to get out? That is what is remarkable in human nature. That what we call valor is done by people who seemingly are so ordinary on the outside." That is the point. Real Americans, rising rather than running at the moment of decision. That is what makes someone like Chief Peter Tomach a 'Real American Hero'.
Special thanks to 'www.mishalov.com' for information on the medal recipients and other heroes.

Pearl Harbor Ignited Nation in Faith

I was trying to think of an appropriate way to blend my usual 'Sunday Sermon' article with a remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day. I could have just went with two separate articles, but there had to be many connections between faith and the events of December 7th, 1941 when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Naval forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This sneak attack, which directly ushered America into World War II, resulted in President Franklin D. Roosevelt calling that Sunday morning "A date which will live in infamy!" Hawaii was a U.S. territory at the time, it would not become a full state until 1959, and it was a major American naval outpost in the South Pacific. The United States had never been attacked directly from an outside enemy, considering the Civil War as a purely internal struggle. So as the 353 Japanese bombers continually descended over Pearl without warning on that peaceful, sunny Sunday morning and began their devastating bombing and strafing runs, the significant American forces stationed there were taken completely by surprise. The Japanese inflicted tremendous damage that morning in an attempt to keep America from influencing their plans to dominate Southeast Asia. Numerous American ships and aircraft were destroyed and damaged, while 2,402 Americans lost their lives at Pearl and another 1,282 were wounded. The Japanese were allies of the Germans, and Hitler and his Nazi regime was already engaged in overrunning Europe. The Americans had tried to stay out of the war to this point, but in the aftermath of the attack at Pearl, Hitler declared war on the United States as an ally of Japan. At that time the U.S. was not the most powerful nation on earth, it was a budding military power that was still trying to fully emerge from the internal struggle of its lengthy economic Depression of the 1930's. America's passions were enflamed by this attack and the deaths of so many young servicepersons, and the nation was rallied to open their eyes to the full scope of the danger in sitting back and not engaging the Nazis and the Japanese Imperialists. When you look closely at the basic elements of the key nations in the titanic struggle that was WWII, one stands out above all to any person of faith. The Germans and the Japanese cultures were overrun by Nazis and Imperialists, and in Italy the Socialists were in charge. Combined they were known as the 'Axis' powers who wanted to spread their ideologies and power, and none had a place for God. The Americans and British and the rest of what became known as the 'Allies' were largely God-fearing nations who frequently called on their faith to sustain during difficult times. That faith should always be appreciated by anyone who analyzes the eventual victory of the Allies in this epic struggle. A victory by the Allies signified a victory for freedom, democracy, and religious faith over the purely secular Axis regimes. Americans flooded their churches during these periods, praying for the health and safety of their loved ones, and for victory for our side. At home, they drew strength from this faith and forged one of the greatest industrial responses that mankind has ever seen, turning America's manufacturing capabilities from civilian purposes to military, allowing us to eventually overtake what had been a military superiority for the Axis at the outset. On the battlefields, in the skies, and on the seas, American military personnel were overwhelmingly Christian, prayed regularly, and turned to their faith during the difficult battles and circumstances in which they found themselves. I have no doubt that the one true God hears the prayers of His faithful. He allows our free will and our human choices to lead events here on earth, but he will intervene at the worst times when the direction of humanity itself is at stake. I have no doubt that God Himself intervened at numerous key times to give an ultimate advantage to the Allied forces in World War II. He granted us this intervention because we did not turn our backs on Him, and in fact turned even more towards Him during this difficult time. The lesson that we can learn is that it is important to turn to the Lord during difficult times in both our national and personal experiences. But we should also not return to a spiritual malaise when things are going well. Man's nature has always been to drift away from God when things are going good, thinking that we are doing well without Him when the truth is that it is His very blessings that put us in such a good position. We all need to turn more to God, in good times and in bad. Pearl Harbor became a rallying cry for the 'greatest generation', but there is question as to whether today's America can possibly respond in the same way to an existential threat, such as that from Radical Islam. We have drifted steadily away from God as a society and a nation since the end of WWII. We need to remember on this Sunday, December 7th, that Sunday morning 67 years ago, and never forget the blessings that God has given our nation throughout its history. God bless the living Veteran survivors of that fateful day. Their work, their sacrifice, their faith lives on now in fame, not in infamy.