The FBI has released videos of two suspects, that may have participated in the Boston Marathon bombing earlier this week.
The agency is seeking help from citizens, that may have seen the suspects and anything that they may recall about the two individuals.
It is imperative that these two suspects be captured, as soon as possible to prevent them from leaving the country, if they are international terrorists or go into hiding if they are American citizens.
We should know more about these suspects, now that those there at the Boston Marathon may remember them and may have even have their photos in their cell phones.
The main thing is to get these people off the street, so they can be brought to justice, if they are the perpetrators behind the Boston Marathon bombings.
A bomb explodes near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The Boston Marathon is usually a cause of celebration, but two bombs exploding near the finish line turned the day into an unspeakable tragedy.
Earlier that day the Boston Red Sox had played the Tampa Bay Rays and the players heard the explosions as they left Fenway Park, after playing the traditional Red Sox game, that coincides with the Boston Marathon.
27,000 runners had converged on Boston to participate in the 117th running of the Boston Marathon. After the bombs exploded near the finish line nobody was even thinking of who won the race, but everyone was concerned about the three killed and 148 injured, according to the latest reports.
New York Times photo and overhead shot of where the two bombs exploded.
The mood of the crowd changed from euphoria as they cheered the runners crossing the finish line, to utter shock as two bombs exploded near the finish line. The reports of the injuries to those wounded in the bombings are too graphic to recount in this article. I heard some gruesome accounts of what witnesses saw in the aftermath of the bombing, but no need to detail their accounts, since the terrorists would enjoy hearing the gory details, of what pain and suffering was caused by the bombings.
Now the focus turns to who committed such a cowardly act, that led to loss of life and injuries that may force some of the injured to be crippled for life.
Is Anyone Really Safe?
This latest tragedy caused by terrorists once again reminds us of how fragile life is. People were having fun one minute and then utter chaos ensues after the bombs do their damage to innocent people, who only wanted to enjoy a day off from their work, only to have it end in such a tragic manner.
We don’t know whether international terrorists or national terrorists are responsible for yesterday’s tragedy, but we do know it was a terrorist act, whether by an organized group or one or two individuals.
There certainly was a state of fear on Boylston Street in Boston yesterday, when an idyllic day turned into a day that will never be forgotten, but never to be forgotten for the wrong reason.
United States has been the scene of terrorism in the last year or so, from those shot or killed at the Aurora, Colorado movie theater, to the students and teachers who lost their life in their school in Newtown, Connecticut and now this terrorist act on Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts.
Even though the theater and school murders were executed by lone gunmen they still were acts of terrorism in my book and while the bombings in Boston seem to be the work of organized terrorists we still don’t know for sure how many were involved.
What we do know is that theaters, classrooms and downtown streets are no longer safe. Is there really a safe place that can be regarded as terrorist free? The terrorists have answered that question with a resounding no.
I could point out the many places that invite terrorism, but why give terrorists ideas of how to inflict more loss of life. It is difficult to understand the mind of a terrorist, since most people may not like a situation they are in, but would never take the extreme measures, that terrorists take to inflict their will on their victims.
All we can do now is to hope that the government agencies can track down and arrest who were the masterminds, behind the tragic murders of innocent victims yesterday in Boston.
That doesn’t mean that other terrorists won’t continue to strike fear into American citizens, with other terrorist acts like the one, that was committed in Boston yesterday.
Twelve years have passed since 9/11, but the world is no safer than it was on that Tuesday morning, when terrorists ended the lives of thousands of Americans, who were on routine flights or had gone to work in downtown New York or in the Pentagon and the policemen and firemen who gave their life that day.
Life is very fragile and we learned that again, from what happened in Boston yesterday.
Diagram showing key landmarks involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 and the Dallas Police Headquarters, where Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24 of that year.
50 years since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy have passed and yet there is still no smoking gun, that proves that the crime was a conspiracy. I have read a lot of books on the subject, but still have not read anything that proves there was a conspiracy.
I still think it was a conspiracy and think the Warren Commission Report was slanted, to make the American public think Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole person, that was involved in the assassination.
My personal opinion is that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination. He had the most to gain, from the assassination of President Kennedy. Johnson was very unhappy being a figurehead in the Kennedy administration and had the most to gain if the president was dead. He knew he would instantly become president, if Kennedy were to be assassinated. There are many instances, in which Johnson seemed to be involved like it was said that Johnson is the one that insisted that the presidential limousine top be uncovered. The president became an open target to any assassin, once the limousine proceeded toward the killing zone.
There is a report that Johnson told a girlfriend the night before the assassination, that the Kennedys would never embarrass him again as mentioned in this article. The article is missing some photos, but the content of the article is what is important.
One of the key parts of the article is this paragraph, in which his girlfriend mentions that LBJ was on the brink of going to prison, because of hearings going on in Washington. This testimony was supposed to be given on the day of the assassination, but when LBJ became president the hearings were stopped and LBJ averted being sent to prison, now that he had the power of the presidency to protect him, from any further hearings.
“Had the assassination not happened the day that it did, Lyndon Johnson would have probably gone to prison, they would have gotten rid of him – he was so involved with some of this,” said Brown.
LBJ more than other person may be the reason, that no smoking gun has ever been found that would blow the lid off a LBJ conspiracy.
Mac Wallace, whose fingerprints were found on a box in the Texas School Book Depository is thought by some, to have fired the fatal shots that killed President John F. Kennedy. The following reader’s review after reading LBJ: The Mastermind Behind The JFK Assassinationconnects some of the dots that lead to LBJ as the mastermind behind the killing. I read the 658 page book last fall and it details how LBJ systematically got rid of his enemies using his hit man Mac Wallace to kill them. There are some that think Wallace enlisted Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby as part of the assassination and subsequent murder of Oswald. When E. Howard Hunt mentions on his death bed that LBJ was involved in the assassination, then it makes sense, that LBJ was involved in the assassination from the beginning to the end. The book mentions that when the presidential motorcade reached the killing zone, that LBJ ducked down to make sure he wasn’t shot, while leaving his wife and Senator Ralph Yarborough D-Texas exposed, while the assassination was in progress.
From first chapter to last, this is a beautifully written, intellectually captivating, and ultimately persuasive account of the role of LBJ in the assassination of JFK. I had more than 100 conversations with Madeleine Duncan Brown, one of his many mistresses but the only one who bore him a son. She, too, became convinced that Lyndon was profoundly involved in the death of his predecessor. On New Year’s Eve, six weeks after the assassination, they had a rendezvous at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, where she confronted him with rumors, rampant in Dallas at the time, that he had been involved, since no one stood more to gain. He blew up at her and told her that the CIA and the oil boys had decided that JFK had to be taken out. She wrote about it in her book, TEXAS IN THE MORNING. Her account has been reinforced by Billy Sol Estes, the Texas wheeler-dealer who made mountains of money for Lyndon, Connally, and their buddies, who explains in his book, A TEXAS LEGEND, how he became convinced that Cliff Carter, LBJ’s chief administrative assistant, and Malcolm “Mac” Wallace, his personal assassin (by whom Lyndon had a dozen or more persons terminated, including one of his sisters), had been personally involved. E. Howard Hunt, in his “Last Confessions” in ROLLING STONE, explained to his son, St. John, that LBJ, Cord Meyer, William Harvey, David Sanchez Morales, and others in the CIA had been involved in the assassination. For an overview, enter “John F. Kennedy: History, Memory, Legacy”, and download Chapter 30. Or visit [...], “Reclaiming History: A Closed Mind Perpetrating a Fraud on the Public”, and you will understand the context within which it took place. For a short course, try “Reasoning about Assassinantions” via google. I also recommend James Douglass, JFK AND THE UNSPEAKABLE. Both make profound contributions to the case.
I have no doubt that Jack Ruby was in the Dallas Police station the morning of Sunday, November 24th, with the backing of organized crime and cooperation from the Dallas Police Department.. Assuming there was a conspiracy, it became incumbent for those involved to prevent Oswald from talking any more to investigators or to be brought to trial.
National columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, who had interviewed Ruby was found dead and her notes about the Ruby interview were missing, when her body was found in her apartment on November 8, 1965. Her death came two weeks exactly short of the second anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.
Richard Kollmar the husband of Kilgallen was asked about his wife’s interest in the JFK assassination by a friend, but Kollmar said he would take that information to his grave.
Some interesting notes about some of the better known people, that had some connection with what happened that day in Dallas 50 years ago:
President John F. Kennedy - Was gunned down in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 at the age of 46. His death came 13 months after the Cuban missile crisis in October of 1962. His death also came one year and three months, after the death of Marilyn Monroe in August of 1962. Monroe reportedly threatened to tell the media about the sexual indiscretions by the president and Bobby Kennedy. We probably will never know if the Kennedy’s were involved in her death, but if she had disclosed the sexual escapades of the Kennedys, then John F. Kennedy would probably not have been assassinated a year later, because he probably would have been impeached.
John F. Kennedy may or may not have been involved in silencing Monroe, but at the same time he may have lived for many more years, even if he wasn’t president on the day of the assassination and would have no reason to be in Dallas that day. If Kennedy was still alive today he would be observing his 96th birthday on May 29.
President Lyndon B. Johnson – The members of the Kennedy administration were not happy, to be coerced into naming Johnson as the vice president at the 1960 Democratic Convention in 1960. Johnson chafed at being told what to do by the Kennedy staffers. So he had every motive to make sure President John F. Kennedy was erased from the American political scene. Johnson was 55 at the time of the assassination and would be 64, when he died on January 22, 1973. He would be 105 in August if still alive.
Lee Harvey Oswald – He is considered to be the lone gunman that assassinated the president on November 22, 1963. This is precisely the way President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted Oswald to be regarded. If Oswald was thought of as a lone conspirator, then it would protect President Johnson from being mentioned as a conspirator. Oswald was only 24 when he assassinated the president and on November 24, 1963, when he would be shot in a Dallas Police station two days later.
Jack Ruby who shot and killed Oswald ended any chance of Oswald telling anyone about any conspiracy, in a trial that would have been the trial of the century, if it had been held. Instead, Ruby made sure the American people would never know, if Oswald had been involved in a conspiracy. Oswald would have been 74 in October if still alive.
Officer J.D. Tippit – Jack Ruby not only prevented us from knowing more about the Kennedy assassination, but probably also prevented Oswald from telling his story, about what happened in the J.D. Tippit murder. Officer Tippit had joined the Dallas Police force as a patrolman 11 years before the day of the assassination of the president and his own murder. There are conflicting reports about who killed Officer Tippit. Some reports say two men were involved in his murder.
William Scoggins a taxi driver said he heard three gunshots, then saw Tippit fall to the ground. Scoggins said a man with a gun passed by him saying something akin to “poor dumb cop”. At least four witnesses identified Oswaqld in police lineups, which more or less makes it a sure thing that Oswald murdered Officer Tippit. The police tracked Oswald to the Texas Theater, where he was overpowered and apprehended by the Dallas Police. Tippit was 39 when he was murdered on November 22, 1963 and would be 89 if still alive.
Jack Ruby – On the day of the assassination Ruby was 53 years old. Ruby would be seen at Parkland Hospital, when President John F. Kennedy was taken there after being seriously wounded. He would be seen again at the Dallas Police station that night. Then on Sunday morning at 11:21 AM Dallas time, Ruby somehow gained entrance to the Dallas Police station, probably with inside help as the entrance he used was mysteriously left unguarded. When Oswald was being led to a vehicle, that was to take Oswald to another jail Ruby stepped in front of Oswald and shot and killed him. Ruby alluded to the fact that people in high places were involved with his murdering Oswald.
This makes me wonder if President Johnson was one of the officials in high places being mentioned. Ruby died on January 3, 1967. He was close friends to Sam and Joe Campisa who were associated with crime boss Carlos Marcello. Jimmy Hoffa reportedly said at one time, that Ruby was to make sure that Oswald was killed by Dallas police, while in their custody. When Ruby failed to insure that Oswald would be killed by the police, then he apparently took on himself to kill Oswald, since his own life could be in jeopardy if Oswald was not killed. Ruby would have been 102 if still alive on March 25.
50 Years Later
With the 50 year anniversary of the JFK assassination approaching in eight months we can only guess at what documents about the assassination may be released in the coming months. The fact that CIA is holding 1,171 top-secret documents about the JFK assassination tells me, that these documents could tell about any conspiracies that may have been involved during the assassination. This is only conjecture, but I think these CIA documents could tie President Lyndon B. Johnson to the assassination. Johnson has been dead for 40 years now, so can’t see any problem with documents being released, even if they connect a former president to the assassination.
I remain a conspiracy theorist, but think the government will continue to keep the JFK assassination documents sealed. The American people deserve to know everything now that 50 years have passed. My personal belief is that these documents lead straight to former President Lyndon B. Johnson and his henchmen.
Will the 50th anniversary come and go, without any documents being released? Even 10-year-old kids at the time of the assassination would be 60 this year. So a middle-aged adult between 30-49 would now be 80-99 years old, so should not be in a government position of power.
How much longer will these documents remain sealed? My only conclusion is that somebody has some dark secrets, that the government doesn’t want released in the near future.
I have no problems with any authors writing books that are pro-conspiracy or anti-conspiracy, but unless the government release these documents we have no hope, of finding out the rest of the story, about what happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.
Just when we thought it was safe to fly again, after the 9/11 tragedy 12 years ago weapons are being allowed aboard planes. Knives with two-inch blades will be allowed on planes, along with baseball bats and golf clubs on April 25, unless the change is rescinded, before being put into effect.
Ironically box cutters still will not be allowed on board planes, even though knives can be used as a weapon just like box cutters, against passengers and flight attendants. TSA apparently thinks hijackers will never be able to enter the pilot’s cabin, due to safety measures put into place since 9/11. However, that doesn’t protect the passengers and flight attendants from being cut by knives and attacked by bats and golf clubs.
Former Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley says he would also allow battle axes and machetes to be carried aboard planes. How could anyone feel safe flying, while knowing that the person in the seat next to them may be a terrorist, that is carrying a knife with them.
What will the TSA personnel checking the belongings of passengers say, when they see someone who looks like a terrorist carrying weapons? The TSA could then face discrimination charges, for not allowing possible terrorists to carry these weapons, then let other passengers board the planes with the same weapons.
I have flown only twice since 9/11 and with these lax rules on weapons I may never fly again. Have we forgotten the terror those airline passengers and crews went through on September 11, 2001? They had to helplessly watch as the terrorists used the planes, for battering rams against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon building. Those passengers met fiery deaths on those planes, when they exploded upon impact.
Allowing these weapons won’t speed up the check-in process at the security gates, since TSA officials will have to closely examine each knife, to see if it is two inches or less and to check the length of baseball bats, which can’t be longer than 24 inches.
Personally, I think the new rules are an invitation to disaster and that terrorists and criminals will take advantage, of the less stringent rules for bringing weapons aboard planes.
We can only hope the Transportation Security Administration thinks over the consequences, before implementing these changes and will rescind the changes before April 25.
Tiffany Hawk of CNN has filed this article with photos of what is allowed and what isn’t allowed under the new rules.
Joan Rivers caused a furor the other day when she said on Fashion Police ”The last time a German looked this hot was when they were pushing Jews into the ovens.” It was bad enough that would even use a joke about the holocaust, but refusing to apologize makes it even worse. She said that her husband lost his family in the holocaust, and thinks that gives her the right to crack jokes about the holocaust.
Jokes and holocaust don’t belong in the same sentence. Even if Rivers thinks it is alright to mention the holocaust in a joke it doesn’t mean Jewish people all over the world think the same way. Too many Jewish people lived in fear in basements and attics knowing that they could be found and taken on trains to Nazi death camps, for the holocaust to ever be mentioned in a joke.
The war in Germany may have ended 68 years ago this spring, but the Jewish people who were fortunate enough to escape Germany or avoid capture will never think of the holocaust as a source for humor. I still think Rivers owes an apology, but she will probably continue to think it is alright to crack jokes about the holocaust, since she seems to think she has the right to make light,of one of the most horrific times in the history of the world.
How can anyone find anything humorous about 6 million Jews being put to death? Adolf Hitler may not have killed any of these Jews personally, but he was the one ordering all Jews to be murdered. The despotic dictator was the one orchestrating the systematic killing of the Jews.
Ruth Westheimer couldn’t have found much humor in River’s holocaust joke, since both of her parents were murdered in a Nazi death camp. Robert Clary who is now 87 appeared on Hogan’s Heroes, Days of Our Lives and other soap operas was captured by the Nazis in 1942 and he was liberated at Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. He too couldn’t have been amused by the so-called joke of Rivers.
It is tough enough trying to get people to remember the holocaust, without comedians like Rivers thinking it is a great source for jokes. Anti-Defamation League had every right to protest her holocaust joke. It is sad that Rivers doesn’t think her joke is worthy of an apology.
American women soldiers could find themselves in combat situations, as early as May as the services have until then, to implement plans for using them in combat.
I may be in the minority, but am not in favor of having women in combat, especially when a husband and wife are both in a combat situation. I hate to think of kids growing up without a mother, because they died on a battle field.
Now that the Pentagon has approved using women in combat there is concern about their safety. However, there may be some cases in which a woman would react better, in a combat situation than some men. I still can’t condone a woman having her life in jeopardy.
A Los Angeles Times poll shows that those polled favored women in combat, with 66 percent favoring women in combat, while only 26 percent were against it. The following article says there was little difference in how the men and women voted in the poll.
Those 65 or older that were polled favored women in combat by 52 percent, with 36 percent being opposed. Those younger than 50 favored women in combat with 72 percent in favor of women in combat.
After reading the poll results it places me squarely in the minority. My post has nothing to do, with whether women or men make better soldiers. I just don’t like the idea of mothers and daughters being in combat situation. It is bad enough to lose a father or brother in combat, but I don’t want to think about losing my mother, if she was still alive or one of my three sisters on the field of combat. I am particularly worried about women, who become prisoners of war and subject to the mercy of their captors.
Readers are welcome to agree or disagree with me, since this is my opinion only and not those of anyone else.
2011 – We were living in Sulphur, Louisiana, a city of about 20,000 at the start of 2011. We were living on Live Oak Street in Sulphur and we found a home church in Calvary Baptist Church on Lewis Street. We were impressed by the pastor Rev. W.D. Darnell, who lived what he preached and only used the King James Version of the Holy Bible. We made many friends, among the members of the church. Rhonda was very involved with the activities at the church and I often sang special music on Sunday and Wednesday nights. Rhonda and me sang duets a couple of times and she sang On The Wings Of A Dove with another lady one time.
Rhonda liked living in Sulphur, since she had a sister and her mom living there. We lived close to the neighborhood, where my daughter and family had lived before moving to Groves, Texas.
I would return to working as a caregiver again in November of 2011. I worked with a disabled man with diabetes and lost the job at the end of the year, when his family changed to another caregiving company.
An international news story was when an earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan took 15,840 lives.
President Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1.
Casey Anthony was acquitted of the murder of her daughter Calee Marie Anthony, in a controversial verdict by the jury.
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computers dies on October 5 of cancer.
House were renting at $955 a month in 2011.
A gallon of gas cost $2.89.
Movie tickets were selling for $8.20.
2012 – I worked as a crossing guard at a school in Sulphur for a few weeks, toward the end of the school year. It was interesting work and enjoyed the job. The job could turn out to be the last job I will ever work, since I haven’t worked since becoming sick a couple of months later.
We moved to DeRidder, Louisiana in July and are living in a trailer, that is about halfway between Merryville, Louisiana and DeRidder. We are living in the country and liking it so far.
Knew something was wrong when I began vomiting up blood and lost about 35 pounds in less than two months during the summer. Found out in October in Houston VA Hospital, that I had duodenal cancer. It was a very disease to diagnose, since it mimics acid reflux and duodenal ulcers. It is very rare disease with only two percent of gastrointestinal diseases being duodenal cancer.
Surgeons in Houston performed a resection surgery on Oct. 16 to remove a blockage, which was cancerous and was successful. However I found out in November, that duodenal cancer has a history of returning and has a relatively low survival rate.
Chemotherapy started at the VA hospital in Pineville, Louisiana on Dec.13 and have had three chemo IV’s since that date, with five more to go. Have finished six of a 24 week program of chemotherapy. It seems like the side effects have been worse with each chemo IV. Had difficulty walking in a straight line after the last IV and sort of lurch from side to side.
2012 was a life changing year for us, with us being evicted, moving to a new city and finding out that I had cancer and had surgery a few days later. Spent a total of 32 days in hospital in Houston.
July 20 would be the first of two mass shootings in the United States, when a gunman killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado theater.
December 14 would bring the second mass shootings of 2012, when a man kills 20 children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, along with six adults, before killing himself.
A gallon of gas would rise to $3.89 during 2012. It is about 64 cents a gallon cheaper now in 2013.
House rent average goes over the $1,000 mark for the first time, as it rose to $1,045 a month.
A pound of bacon which was $2.96 in 2008 had risen to $4.48 in 2012.
2013 – This year should be a very interesting year, as the chemotherapy continues through May and it will be interesting to learn the results of the bloodwork after the last week of chemotherapy. May 21 will be another important date for us as we return to Houston for another C-scan, which will show if the cancer is completely gone or has returned.
We don’t know what this year holds, but we plan to remain positive, even if the news is bad and I don’t plan on being negative, regardless of what happens in 2013.
This five-year period is one of the most eventful of my life, in that I went to Vietnam and started working at Town Talk in 1966, met my first wife in 1969 and married her in 1970.
1966 – The previous year 1965 had seen a lot of activity at Schofield Barracks and there were rumors floating around, that we may be sent to Vietnam. On January 17,1966 the 25th Infantry Division boarded the USNS General Walker a troop ship on the way to Vietnam. The trip took 14 days, as we traveled 500 miles a day till we reached Vietnam. Will never forget how hot it was arriving in Vietnam and drank several Coca-Cola’s back to back.
We were flown to the 25th Infantry Base in Cu Chi, Vietnam, which I never left except for one night of guarding a Catholic church on guard duty. Thankfully, it was an uneventful night as nothing out of the ordinary occurred. I was in Vietnam only four months, so a lot happened in that short time. Our outgoing artillery fire sounded like it was going right over the post office tent and it made me jump, since I thought it was incoming artillery at first.
The only time that I was in any jeopardy was when a sniper started shooting at us. We were working in the post office at the time and we jumped in our foxholes, to get out of the line of fire. We could hear bullets ricocheting off the Conex containers behind us. The thing I most remember was that some of our soldiers were walking in front of us, caught between the sniper and our foxhole. It is a wonder we didn’t see someone killed right in front of our eyes that day. After the war I learned that the Viet Cong had an elaborate system of tunnels beneath our base, so that is how the sniper was able to shoot at us from inside our own perimeter.
One time we had to load dead bodies onto a helicopter and some of the soldiers were looking inside the body bags, but I wasn’t that curious to see a dead body.
My job consisted of sorting mail, delivering mail to company mail clerks who picked up the mail for their company and selling stamps and money orders and making sure packages for soldiers were delivered. I remember the heat of Vietnam and how I was so thirsty, that I drank two 46 ounce cans of apple juice in succession. Worked out there was a rumor that a Viet Cong soldier was in the area that night. Not a good combination to be sick, from drinking so much apple juice and having to search for a Viet Cong invader. However, nothing came of the rumor and was able to recover from imbibing too much apple juice at one time. 92 ounces of apple juice was just a little too much at one time, but that is what the heat did to us over there.
Since I had only four months left in the Army, when sent to Vietnam the Army tried to talk me into re-enlisting, which I declined after about five seconds of thinking it over. I was told if I had three months left that I would have stayed in Hawaii. What a difference that one month made.
Will never forget the day in May that I left Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Saigon, on the way back to the United States. I felt safer as the plane gained altitude, since it was too high to be hit by ground fire. The plane stopped at Japan for a short time, but we never left the plane. We finally landed in San Francisco and were taken to the Oakland Army Terminal. I will never forget the steaks we were served, along with some very cold milk. It was such a difference from what we had to eat and drink in Vietnam. We were processed and given our discharge papers and boarded a plane in the direction of Louisiana.
Can’t remember if I was flown all the way to Esler Airport in Pineville or if I had to take a bus from Dallas. The main thing was that I was home to stay after being in the Army for most of the three-and-half preceding years.
One of the soldiers I served with in the post office wrote me and told about a mortar shell hitting our post office, about two months after I left Vietnam. The worst part is that two were killed and seven were injured in the attack. The sergeant of our postal unit was among those injured and he was awarded another Purple Heart, to go with the one he received from being hit in Korea. The thing that really hit home was that the soldier, who had replaced me was one of the two that were killed.
August of 1966 was the month that I was hired by the Town Talk to work in the composing room. I was told that I would be making more, than most new employees, but later found out I was making the minimum wage of $1.40 an hour. That came out to about $55 a week or $220 a month. Town Talk was still using the hot metal composition at the time. My first job was to work on the type dump, where I would make any corrections to any type with errors, then turn the galley around where the page makeup people could take the type to the page and insert it. It wasn’t too long before I was a page makeup person and placed photos, type and ads into the pages.
1967 – The Town Talk started printing a Sunday paper in May of 1967 and now has had a Sunday edition for the last 46 years.
1968 - This was a turbulent year in the history of the United States, as Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated during the year. King would be assassinated on April 4, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee by James Earl Ray, who would be arrested two months later. The Kennedy assassination took place at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5 and Sirhan Sirhan was arrested and remains in prison 45 years later.
Denny McLain would win 31 games in 1968. No pitcher has won more than 27 games since then.
1969 – Went to see a major league baseball game at the Astrodome and saw Hall of Famers Joe Morgan, Tony Perez and Johnny Bench in the game. Pete Rose may be added to the list of Hall of Famers someday. I remember someone opening an umbrella inside the Astrodome, as there must have been a leak in the roof, from the downpour outside the enclosed stadium. Attendance was only 12,205 due to the heavy rain. The Astros won the game 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth when rookie Keith Lampard hit a walkoff home run to win the game. Ironically, the home run would be the only home run for Lampard, in his career and he would be out of baseball after the 1970 season.
Would meet my first wife a college student at Louisiana College that fall. A year later we were married and will write more about that in the 1970 post.
1970 - Would marry my first wife at College Drive Baptist Church in Pineville, Louisiana on September 26, 1970. There were six bridesmaids, since my wife had six sisters. Sadly my best man would die later, when he was hit by a car, while going to pick up his newspaper by the highway.
By 1970 had worked at the Town Talk for four years and was earning $3 an hour now, which totaled $120 a week and $480 a month. The rent for our house was $75, but since my pay was so low the landlord allowed us to pay in two $37.50 payments.
1961 – Entered the 12th grade, after spending two years in the 10th grade at Pineville High School, due to going to summer school for the third straight year.
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th president on January 20.
Remember listening to Chicago White Sox games on KSYL AM, out of Alexandria, Louisiana, with Bob Elson and Milo Hamilton as the announcers. This was the summer that Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were battling to break Babe Ruth’s season home run record of 60. Bob and Milo would give updates during the White Sox games, about what Roger and Mickey were doing in the home run race. Maris would hit his 61st home run on October 1, which broke the 34-year-old record of Ruth. Surprisingly only 21,000 fans were present to see the achievement of Maris.
The ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion ended two days later. It was a failed attempt to remove Fidel Castro from power. He had taken power in 1959 and is still in power today 54 years later.
1962 – K-Mart would open its first store in Garden City Michigan on March 1 and the company is now 51-years-old. July 2 would see the first Wal-Mart store opened in Rogers, Arkansas.
My senior class graduated in May, but it would be September before I received my diploma, because I had failed English IV.
I joined the Army Reserve in Alexandria, Louisiana and was sent to Fort Polk for basic training in October. We were kept so busy at Fort Polk during basic, that we had no clue of the magnitude of the Cuban missile crisis that October. The only clue we had been what we said when we marched:
I don’t know but I believe
I’ll be in Cuba by Christmas Eve
Little did we know we were on the brink of a nuclear disaster and we didn’t know about it till we finished basic training in December.
I won’t mention any names, but a soldier from Wardville thought it would be fun, to yell from the barracks upstairs at a sergeant saying “Hey nutbrain”. That was not a smart thing to do on his part. That sergeant did not waste any time, as he made his way up in the stairs in record time. The soldier was told in no uncertain terms, that calling his sergeant “nutbrain” was not acceptable behavior.
1963 – Was on leave when the year started, but would board a passenger train for Indianapolis, Indiana at the Missouri Pacific depot in January. That depot was later torn down, but assembled in a new location in downtown Alexandria.
I can remember seeing snow falling when we went through St. Louis, then after arriving in Indianapolis saw several inches of snow on the ground. I learned what a Indiana winter was like, while being stationed at the Adjustant General’s School at Fort Benjamin Harrison. Some soldiers called it “Uncle Ben’s Rest Home”. Attended the postal school there from January through April, before returning to Louisiana having finished my six months of active duty.
It took attending a few Army Reserve meetings, before I decided to join the Regular Army and joined in May of 1963. I requested to be sent to Germany or Hawaii and received orders for Hawaii. Was flown to San Francisco and took a helicopter to the Oakland Army Terminal.
Spent eight days at the terminal before boarding flight to Hawaii. We were on a slow MATS transport plane, so the trip took several hours. When I arrived at Schofield Barracks the home of the 25th Infantry Division I heard some of the soldiers talking about having just a few days left before being discharged. I figured out that I had only 1,095 days left and they got a big kick out of that.
Hawaii is a beautiful state and liked being stationed there. The Army Service Club conducted tours of the island of Oahu and would take us on a bus trip around the island. Wish I had taken some color photos of the scenery, but only took black and white photos.
One of my first memories was seeing the Beach Boys at Conroy Bowl, the arena where entertainers appeared. Remember seeing Johnny Cash and June Carter and Sue Thompson there. It was a highlight for me, when Sue Thompson shook hands with me, while singing one of her songs.
I loved going to the beach, since the Service Club took the soldiers on busses to the different beaches each weekend. I would listen to music on my radio, while looking across the ocean toward California. Surf music was at its height in 1963 and even today I Heart radio has a station, with only surf music being featured.
By far the biggest event of 1963 was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22. The regular company postal clerk was on leave, so I was the temporary clerk while he was gone. I had my radio on in the post office, when I heard the announcement that JFK had been shot. I immediately informed the company commander, who had not heard about it yet.
Meanwhile the postal clerk on leave to New York was flying standby and his flight was rerouted from California to Texas, which landed in Dallas about the same time as the assassination. So he got caught in the middle of all the commotion, even though he wasn’t even thinking of having to go through Dallas.
Just missed by a few minutes of seeing Lee Harvey Oswald gunned down in the Dallas Police station on the TV, in the dayroom but not too disappointed since I didn’t really want to see it anyway.
A few days later we would march in a memorial observance of JFK’s death and it was a surreal experience, knowing that the president of the United States had been assassinated and marching on the parade grounds brought it home.
Went to a Christmas show in December, that really made me homesick, when they sang “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”.
1964 – Went on temporary duty to Molokai, the island on which Father Damien established his leper colony. The ride there on a boat was a rocky one and wound up getting very sick, even if was only a 20 something mile trip from Oahu.
Can remember it pouring down that week a lot and that I heard on the radio, that Lyndon B. Johnson had defeated Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.
I can remember flying home to Pineville in October of 1964, my first trip home since leaving in May of 1963. I took my leave in October, so I could see the World Series while I was at home. I think it was this trip, that when flying back saw professional wrestler Sputnik Monroe aboard the plane. Coincidentally, he and his wrestling brother Rocket both lived in Alexandria and had performed at Jimmie Thompson’s Arena. That reminds me of the time when my brother, who knows sign language saw a deaf wrestler Silento Rodriguez being knocked from the ring and went over and signed to him, asking if he was OK and the wrestler signed back that he was OK.
1995 – This was the year that I was sent to the Big Island named Hilo, to work at the Camp Pohokoloa (sp) post office. I remember one payday, that we sold $28,000 worth of money orders and that I came up $107 short at the end of the day. The other postal worker working that day later was court-martialed, for stealing money from the post office, so I have always wondered if he didn’t take the missing money. Worst thing is that my wages were garnished till the $107 was paid back to the post office.
The post office was at a high altitude and I could see snow-capped mountains in the distance. It was cold there, even if it was Hawaii. Tsunamis hit Hilo in 1946 and 1960 killing 160 and 61 people respectively.
Saw a missionary from Pineville who was living in Hilo at this time. My mom had told me where to find her and I had a nice visit with her.
When the surgeon that performed my cancer surgery told me in November, that my duodenal cancer has a history of returning it reminded me of my immortality. It may have been negative news, but it also reminded me of many events of my 68 years of living, that were either positive and negative.
1944 – Was born on October 14, just four months after the D-Day landing and World War II would be over in Europe, about six and-a-half months later in April of 1945.
1950 – My first memory is of walking to school with my brother on the first day of school to Pineville Elementary. I remember Mrs. Price was my first grade teacher. School lunches were only 10 cents at the time.
1951 – This is the year I rode my last school bus in the second grade, when I accidentally got off the bus in Libuse, instead of five blocks from Louisiana College, so walked home that day from Libuse to Pineville. I never rode another school bus after that day.
1952 – We moved from Holloway Drive to Burns Street in February of 1952, moving from a small house to a very large house. The house payment was $55 a month, which was a bargain at the time.
1954- Think this is the year when my dad purchased our first television, when I was nine years old. He didn’t buy it for entertainment reasons, but because my sister had a lazy eye and a special screen was placed over the TV screen, that made her use her lazy eye. We bought it at L.B. Henry’s store on Main Street, when they were selling televisions. Our first TV was an Admiral.
This is also the year I really became interested in baseball and remember listening to the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians. Willie Mays made his famous catch in one of those games on a ball hit by Vic Wertz of the Indians.
1955 – Ray Kroc opened his first McDonalds fast food restaurant (the McDonald brothers opened the first eight, before selling out to Kroc.) Once after he bought the San Diego Padres they were playing so badly, that Kroc said over the public address system that his short order cooks at McDonalds could play better the Padres.
This was the first year I played Little League baseball. I went to a local hardware store to buy a baseball glove and wanted to buy a $6.50 glove. Only problem was that I only had $6, but the owner Mr. Brister let me have it for $6. It was a Nokona brand glove.
1956- My main memory of 1956 was when Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in a World Series. He recently sold his uniform from that game for $756,000 and is using part of the money to pay college education expenses for his grandchildren.
1957 – Elvis Presley buys Graceland for $100,000, since their last Memphis home had attracted too many fans, with no way of keeping them off the grounds. This was the year my baby sister was born on March 23. Three months later the worst hurricane to hit Alexandria-Pineville area in my memory hit the area, with full force when Hurricane Audrey hit. Audrey had earlier killed 500 people in Cameron, Louisiana. I remember Jim Gaines of KALB Radio telling, about the progress of the hurricane and the damage being done. We had a very tall pine tree fall in our yard, but was not close to the house.
August of 1957 would bring many memories when my dad, older brother and me took a road trip in our 1949 Packard, from Louisiana to Maine. We made the usual tourist stops like Rock City, Lookout Mountain, Mount Vernon and other tourist attractions. We visited the most tourist attractions in Washington, D.C. We visited the National Archives Building, Capitol building, White House (just saw it from the fence), Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of Mint and Engraving and watched the workers print sheets of currency.
We visited the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and saw a show at the planetarium, plus visited the site of the Liberty Bell. However, the main thing I remember from the Philadelphia visit was seeing my first major league game. The hometown Phillies were playing the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in Connie Mack Stadium. I remember fans bringing paper bags with bottles in them to the game. I can only imagine what was in those bottles. I also remember the Phillies fans booing their own players. The highlight of the game was when Bill Mazeroski hit a home run that hit the tin roof over our heads, in the left field bleachers. Three years later Mazeroski would hit a walkoff homer that defeated the New York Yankees in the 1960 World Series Game 7.
Saw my grandpa for the only time in my life in the hospital. Not sure where the hospital was located. It was either New Jersey or Pennsylvania. My dad’s folks were living in Millville, New Jersey.
Will never forget my dad driving through the Bowery district in New York City and seeing men laying on the sidewalk. That would be the only time for me to visit New York. Then we went on to Beverly, Massachusetts and ate at a Howard Johnson’s restaurant, with the classic orange roof. My dad was in town for an American Chemical Society convention, then after the convention ended we went to Maine, to see my uncle and aunt and their family. It was the only time I saw my cousin alive, since he was piloting a helicopter in Vietnam, when he was shot down and killed.
Then we raced back to Louisiana, stopping only one night at Warsaw, Kentucky, then my dad drove almost non-stop since school started the next day at Pineville Elementary. The next month the Milwaukee Braves would win the 1957 World Series.
1958 – Played Pony League baseball in 1958, which would be my fourth and last year of playing baseball. One night when we were playing a game, someone hollered “That plane is going to crash” and we saw a plane plummeting to the ground, about two miles from the park. It crashed about a block or two off of Main Street near a National Cemetery, but not positive about the exact crash site.
This was also the year I entered Pineville High School. It is difficult to believe that this was 55 years ago. Finding classes was not easy that first day, since I wasn’t used to attending such a big school.
The Milwaukee Braves took a three games to one lead in the 1958 World Series, but would let the Yankee,s that they had defeated in 1957 come back to win the World Series.
1959 – I remember this being the year my older brother graduated from high school. February of 1959 would see Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper go down in an airplane crash in Iowa. The Big Bopper had appeared in Alexandria, Louisiana about 1958, at a KALB Radio record hop. 1959 was also the year the White Sox won the AL pennant but lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
The highlight of 1959 was our trip in a Volkwagen Micro-bus, which took us to Missouri, Canada and back to Louisiana. My dad was taking classes at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, so we stayed mostly in Missouri at the 80 acre farm of my grandpa and grandma. They had only recently installed indoor plumbing in their home. I will never forget the huge console radio on the living room floor. The sound was great and I could hear the Kansas City Athletics baseball games on the radio. Saw Leave it to Beaver for the first time on their television. Don’t think it was on KALB TV in Alexandria, La., since it was on another network.
We spent part of the summer at the Chateau Cottages near Devils Lake in Wisconsin. We were on a tourist boat, when the captain asked me to pilot the ship. He sold souvenirs, while piloted the boat up the Wisconsin River. It was a relief when he took over the helm, since there were a lot of duckboats on the water.
Then after my dad finished the summer classes we drove to Chicago. It was amazing to look up at the tall buildings on the Loop and we went to a church in Berwyn, Illinois. Then we drove to Detroit and visited the Ford headquarters and also toured Post Cereals factory and can’t remember if we also toured the Kelloggs plant. We crossed into Canada at Windsor and journeyed to Brantford, Ontario where my mom had relatives. We then went to Niagara Falls and crossed back into the United States.
My dad was stopped by the Canadian Mounties, because our Volkswagen micro-bus resembled a vehicle they were looking for. At one point during our trip while driving in the United States a driver hollered “Governor Long” at us, when he saw the Louisiana license plate. This was the same year he managed to escape from a mental health institution, so Louisiana was in the news a lot that summer.
1960 – Nothing stands out about this year for me, except for the Pittsburgh Pirates defeating the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Bill Mazeroski, who I had seen hit the home run, in Philadelphia three years earlier hit a walkoff home run over the left field wall, that made Pirates the world champions of baseball.
I recently downloaded the Kindle book Recollections and Letters of General Robert E. Lee, written by his son Captain Robert E. Lee. The Kindle edition is free and readers can start reading the 504 page book a minute, after it is purchased for free. The book is in the public domain, which is why it is free at Amazon.com.
General Lee was born on January 19, 1807 in Stratford Hall, Virginia. He graduated second in his class from West Point in 1829. He married Mary Custis the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington in 1831. He later would be he appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1852.
General Robert E. Lee 1807-1870
Lee loved to communicate through letters and this book includes the text of many letters, that he wrote to his wife, sons and daughters and others he had contact with during his life. He wrote often even during the Civil War years of 1861-1865. When he wrote home he would ask his relatives to send socks for the Confederate troops, many of whom had neither shoes or socks. It had to be a real hardship for Confederate troops, to not have shoes and socks and even blankets during the winter months of the Civil War. He writes in 1862 about the death of his daughter, Anne Carter Lee who died of typhoid fever at the age of 23.
You could feel the compassion for his troops as he pleaded in his letters, for his relatives to send socks for the troops. He wrote about the death of General Stonewall Jackson and how he would be missed by the Confederate Army. He writes in one letter about how outnumbered the Confederate troops were before surrendering to General Ulyssses Grant at Appomatox. By surrendering Lee prevented the deaths of thousands of Confederate troops, who would have surely died at the hands of the Federal Army, who vastly outnumbered them.
His letters after the war relate how he was offered the presidency of Washington University, which was named Washington and Lee University in later years. His leadership was instrumental in making Washington University, one of the leading collegiate institutions of the south. His wife Mary who suffered from rheumatism often went to places with healing springs and these trips separated her from General Lee, who was living in Lexington, Virginia as the president of Washington University.
He often wrote his sons after the war and gave them advice, about how to be a successful farmer. He gave them money to help them acquire what they needed for their farms. He even told his son Robert Jr. that Robert needed to find a wife so he could settle down on a farm.
After reading these letters, a reader can tell how much family meant to General Lee and his concern for the welfare of his wife, sons and daughters and the confederate troops, who had served in the Confederate Army under his leadership. It is evident too how much his faith in God mattered to him.
Sadly, Lee only lived five years after the Civil War ended and died on October 12, 1870 in Lexington, Virginia at the age of 63 of heart disease. He is buried at Lee Chapel on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
General Lee may have been a great general for the Confederate Army, but this book, doesn’t dwell on that as much, as it does on his character which is exemplified in his letters. Numerous books have been written about Lee, but due to his untimely death he was unable to write the memoirs of his life.
The entire book can be heard since there is an option to hear a reader read the book aloud. This book may not be a book Civil War buffs may want to read, since it is more about Robert E. Lee the person, rather than being about Robert E. Lee the Confederate general, but it is still a book worth reading.
This ten minute video shows what life was like in small town America in 1952. It is sickening to read the comments made by those who viewed this video. They turn what was a special time to those of us, who grew up in the 50′s, into a platform for hatred of races.
Even the ugly remarks can’t ruin a video that brings so many fond memories of the past.
I was eight years old when this video was filmed so can identify with what happened during a typical day 60 years ago.
It was a simpler time, before cell phones, I-pods, laptop computers and HD television sets. The television sets back then still had the huge tubes, that made them so bulky, unlike the lightweight television sets of today.
Growing up in the 1950′s was a special time and this video captures the feeling from having grown up in that era.
It saddens me that two of the New York City metropolitan papers chose not to mention 9/11. You would think that the New York Times would have mentioned the 11th anniversary, of 9/11, but they decided it wasn’t important as the other news of the day. However the Times had a scathing article, on their opinion page implying, that President George Bush had foreknowledge or at the least had an idea the country was in danger of a terrorist attack.
The New York Post front page from today seen above features an article about New Y0rk Jets quarterback and his romance with Eva Longoria. The only other article on the front page is about a sex scandal at a girl’s school. Where are the media’s priorities today? Do they actually think these two articles are more important, than remembering 9/11. It is a sad state of affairs that a major New York newspaper, which covered the 9/11 attacks is now acting like it didn’t happen. How soon they forget.
The New York Daily News is to be commended on devoting their front page and 11 inside pages to memorializing September 11. Sure there is other news today, but are any of those articles more important than remembering those who met a fiery death, at the hands of terrorists at the site of the World Trade Center and those that died in other planes? One plane hit the Pentagon killing both passengers and Pentagon workers, who were on the wrong side of the building making them easy targets.
Then to top it all off the NBC Today Show showed an interview with Kris Jenner at the same precise moment, that ABC and CBS and the cable news channels were observing a moment of silence. This Daily Mail article includes a lengthy article about the 9/11 snub by NBC.
Today was the height of absurdity with Mark Sanchez, Eva Longoria and Kris Jenner in the spotlight, while the 11th anniversary was being ignored by some media outlets. Have we no shame? Have we no decency? It is almost like the media thinks, after the tenth anniversary last year, that those who died tortuous deaths on 9/11 no longer matter and have been relegated to the backburner.
I can’t undo the damage caused by the media today, but I can say those that died on 9/11 should be remembered, as long as there is life on this planet.
Old time radio not only broadcast comedies, detective shows, thrillers and music programs, but also broadcast information programming like Biography In Sound, which consisted of one hour-long broadcasts about famous politicians and personalities in history.The show was broadcast from 1954-1958.
For instance you can listen to shows featuring the life of Babe Ruth, then listen to Franklin Delano Roosevelt life story. Right now I have a Connie Mack program lined up in my MP3 player to play.
Last week I listened to story of Ernie Pyle the war correspondent, who lived with American troops mostly in the European theater. The broadcast features people who remember him as a kid and as an adult.
The list of shows represents a large spectrum of authors, presidents, entertainers and even the elderly painter Grandma Moses.
Cavalcade of America was the longest running historical old-time radio show. It ran from 1935-1953. 741 episodes of the shows are available for purchase at otrcat.com
If you would rather just listen to a few free shows online you can enjoy listening to episodes like Here Is Your War, with James Gleason portraying war correspondent Ernie Pyle and telling the story of the American soldier in combat.
The list of shows at archive.org gives an idea of how many different topics are covered in the show that ran 18 years.
Mister President is a drama in which Edward Arnold portrayed a different president each week. The show ran from 1947-1953. Listeners asked to guess which president was being represented in each episode. Almost all the presidents in the series were in office in the 18th and 19th centuries.
I listened to the President James Polk episode last week and thoroughly enjoyed Arnold’s portrayal of President Polk.
Archive.org has this list of free shows to listen to. The shows can be downloaded, then uploaded into an MP3 player:
Audie Murphy who served in Europe for 27 months during World War II was awarded the Medal of Honor, plus 32 other awards by the United States and foreign countries.
Murphy was born June 20, 1924 in Kingston, Texas. He had to drop out of school in the fifth grade to support his family as a farm worker. He was a very good shot and said once, that if he didn’t shoot what he shot at that his family wouldn’t eat that day.
He tried to join the Marines, Army Air Corps and Navy, but they all said he was underweight at 110 pounds. The U.S. Army did accept him and after passing out during a basic training drill, the Army tried to send him to baker’s school, but he insisted on being assigned to an infantry unit.
It didn’t take long for Murphy to be promoted after shooting two Italian officers in Sicily, so he was promoted to corporal. Two months later he was promoted to sergeant after fighting his way out of a German ambush on the Italian mainland.
His most heroic action was when his unit only had 19 soldiers remaining out of 128 and he sent the 19 soldiers to the rear while he singlehandedly fought the Germans. Then when he ran out of ammunition, he jumped in a burning tank destroyer and starting firing on the German position. In addition, he also called in artillery strikes. Murphy then gathered the 19 remaining soldiers, as they drove the Germans from the battlefield. He had suffered a leg wound but continued fighting. His actions in this battle won him the Medal of Honor. His Medal of Honor citation credits Murphy with killing or wounding 50 German soldiers in that one battle.
Murphy joined the Texas National Guard after the Korean War began, but his unit was never called into combat.
He was a private first class when he was part of the invasion force entering Sicily in July of 1943, but by the end of 1944 he had been promoted to corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant and second lieutenant.
Starred in Movies, Television
Murphy moved to Hollywood and after struggling at first to find movie roles, was seen in 44 movies and is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He played a copy boy in his first movie Texas, Brooklyn and Heaven in 1948 and was seen in 33 westerns. He did play himself in To Hell and Back which was based on his autobiography by the same name. He appeared as Jesse James in A Time For Dying which ironically was his last movie before his death.
The trailer from To Hell And Back the autobiographical movie about Audie Murphy.
The highlight of his television career was when he played the title character in Whispering Smith. Only 26 episodes were filmed of the series.
To see a complete list of his movie and television appearances:
Audie Murphy also was a country music songwriter. He was admitted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1981. His most famous composition would be Shutters and Boards which is heard being sung by Jerry Wallace:
Jerry Wallace singing Shutters and Boards written by Audie Murphy.
Dies in Virginia Plane Crash
Murphy was flying in a private plane on May 28, 1971 with zero visibility, when it crashed into Brush Mountain near Catawba, Virginia. The pilot had 8,000 hours of flying time but no instrument rating.
He had requested before his death to have a simple headstone at Arlington National Cemetery, not wanting the customary gold leaf surrounding the headstone for previous Medal of Honor winners.
Murphy was a humble man who like most war veterans who experienced combat situations, suffered post traumatic stress upon returning from the war and worked to get special compensation for veterans experiencing it.
It was ironic that Murphy who risked his life many times on the battlefield would die on a plane, that probably shouldn’t have even been in the air.
Murphy was only 45 at the time of his death, but had more life experiences than most of us, who lived many years longer.
It is probably safe to say that Audie Murphy is the only person to have won the Medal of Honor, enshrined on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Audie Murphy was not only the greatest American soldier who was on a battlefield, but also a humble man who never seeked to capitalize on his acts of heroism. In fact he wanted Tony Curtis to play his part in To Hell and Back.
We need to keep the memory of Audie Murphy alive for generations to come. He faced adversity as a child and as a soldier on the battlefield, but he overcame adversity to become America’s greatest war hero. America needs more men like Audie Murphy today.
Gov. Robert F. Kennon was governor of Louisiana from 1952-1956.
It was almost 60 years ago when Louisiana State Police Superintendent Francis Grevemberg started making surprise raids on gambling establishments in the 50′s and seized and smashed slot machines, rendering them to the point of which they were completely useless.
Grevemberg and his associates made 1,000 raids and destroyed 8,229 slot machines during 1952-1956 when Gov. Robert F. Kennon was the governor of Louisiana.
Gangster Frank Costello was forced out of the slot machine business in New York City when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia destroyed the machines and pushed them into a watery grave in the 30′s.
Senator Huey P. Long sensing a chance to make some quick money offered Costello a deal, where he could set up his slot machines in Louisiana, with Long demanding ten percent of the profits.
That is how Louisiana became saturated with slot machines and Grevemberg was given the task of ridding the state of slot machines.
Former Louisiana governor, Edwin Edwards was a Crowley attorney at the time and argued that the slot machines were legal, since they were being taxed by the state. For more on the raids and the history of slot machines see this Eunice Today article:
Louisiana State Police Superintendent Francis Grevemberg shown smashing slot machines during a raid in the 50′s on a gambling establishment during the Gov. Robert F. Kennon administration.
Governor Earl K. Long took office in 1956 and ordered a stop to the destruction of slot machines. Little did Long or anyone else for that matter foresee that the gambling industry was down, but not down for the count.
Now it is almost 60 years later and slot machines are in operation, by the thousands in Louisiana casinos. There are now 22 casinos in operation currently in the state of Louisiana.
With the proliferation of casinos today in Louisiana, the chances of slot machines being destroyed are slim and none. The taxes from the casinos are pouring into Louisiana coffers and any opposition to gambling casinos is probably a waste of time.
So instead of smashing slot machines being smashed, they are kept in good repair, so the state of Louisiana can continue to reap tax dollars from their use.
Map depicts how the Marines were trapped on all sides by Chinese forces during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the winter of 1950.
The documentary Chosin was released in 2010, the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in which Army and Marines units were flanked on all sides by Chinese forces which had crossed into Korea.
Not only were the American forces trapped and outnumbered, they also had to fight in the most adverse weather conditions imaginable, with temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero.
Frostbite was common as 12,000 of the 14,000 American troops at the Battle of Chosin contacted some form of frostbite.
In addition the Battle of Chosin was fought under icy conditions with snow falling during some of the fighting.
Chinese Not Taken Seriously
General Douglas MacArthurdid not consider the Chinese a threat to the American forces, thinking they were not ready to engage in a battle with the American forces. Another officer called the Chinese “laundrymen”. The troops at the Chosin Reservoir learned that both officers were wrong and found out the Chinese were an elite fighting force, that didn’t make particularly good strategic decisions.
The sheer numbers of the Chinese infantrymen was overwhelming as wave after wave of them, encountered the trapped American troops in November and December of 1950.
One American soldier had to use an American soldier who had been killed as a sandbag in front of his foxhole. The invading Chinese soldiers were being killed by the hundreds, since they were easy targets for the gunfire from the foxholes.
Fighting a battle is bad enough by itself, but when fighting in sub-zero weather on the frozen tundra, fighting one on one with the enemy, sometimes in hand to hand combat, the battle is worse than anyone could imagine.
Heart-Wrenching Survival Stories
The survival stories by the veterans of the Battle of Chosin Reservoir are heart-wrenching. Those of us who weren’t there can’t ever began to realize what those veterans went through, but their stories of their survival gives us a glimpse into what they faced on that brutal battlefield 62 years ago.
Assuming the youngest soldier on the battlefield was 18 in 1950, that soldier would be 80 years old today. So when the documentary was filmed in 2010, the youngest veteran being interviewed would have been 78 at the time.
Some of the survivors told harrowing stories of their near-death experiences, with one veteran relating how he thought he was about to be shot and killed, but said that they didn’t want to waste a bullet on him, so started hitting him on the head with the butt of their rifle and leaving him for dead. However, he wasn’t dead and had to fake being dead to keep from being killed.
Another veteran told of being checked by medics and placed in a stack of dead bodies. He had to inform one of the medics that he was not dead and spit out the dog tags they had already placed in his mouth.
One veteran recalled seeing his sergeant killed when he was approaching a Chinese soldier and watched him fall to the ground. It was very touching to hear one of the veterans telling about asking God to let him live one more day. He had killed a Chinese soldier who had jumped into his foxhole.
Critics Say Chosin Documentary Was Pro-War
Some critics of the documentary, said it was a pro-war film. I disagree with that thinking, since these veterans did what they had to do to stay alive and help their fellow soldiers reach safety. I can’t see how anything said in the documentary could be portrayed as being pro-war. The veterans were following orders and fought a great battle under the most adverse conditions.
I think only a very small fraction of soldiers enjoy going into battle. I am not even sure if there are any that think that way. Most veterans who survived the Battle of Chosin Reservoir probably returned from Korea, knowing they had served their country well and would hope that no soldier would ever have to face what they faced.
Chinese Targeted Korean Refugees
The documentary also related that the Chinese troops targeted Korean refugees attempting to flee to safety. The film tells of thousands of refugees being evacuated on boats to safety.
The Chinese had to know these civilians were no threat to them, yet I am sure many were killed needlessly by a ruthless enemy, determined to kill as many of them as possible.
Aftermath of Battle of Chosin Reservoir
Casualty figures for the Battle of Chosin widely differ, since there is no way a completely accurate count was made under the battlefield conditions in 1950. The allied troops numbered only 15,000 and were greatly outnumbered by a Chinese force of 120,000.
Estimated total casualties during the battle show the U.S. troops having suffered 5,611 casualties with Chinese suffereing 19,202 casualties. The Chinese paid a heavy toll from non-battlefield casualites of over 28,000, which were probably mostly due to frostbite.
The documentary told about the soldiers featured in the film returning home after leaving Korea. They discussed how they couldn’t discuss their wartime experience with civilians, since they didn’t have a clue of what the veterans experienced during the war. They could only discuss the war with other veterans who had battlefield experiences of their own.
Some of the veterans dealt with post traumatic stress after returning home. One of the veterans said he had the same dream, night after night of a Chinese soldier pointing a gun at him and it saying BANG, then was bayoneted by that soldier.
Another veteran had no problems with post traumatic stress until 1993, 43 years after the Battle of Chosin Reservoir. He was asked to make a speech on his recollections of his wartime experiences. When he started preparing the speech the horrors of the war returned.
Summary
Chosin is not the kind of movie that will be soon forgotten. It leaves viewers with even more appreciation for those who served in the armed forces.
I served in Vietnam with only one close call when a sniper was firing at us, while we were in the foxhole next to our post office tent. That pales in significance compared to what the veterans of the Battle of Chosin veterans experienced.
The real heroes of war are the soldiers fighting in the trenches. The rest of us did our part, but I am quick to let people know I was not in the infantry, because those are the heroes to me, like my brother who captured some enemies during the Vietnam War.
Chosin didn’t identify the veterans telling their stories, till the credits rolled but their stories were a testament to how true patriots act in the heat of battle.
Drugs have apparently taken the life of another music icon, with Whitney Houston dying on Saturday, on the eve of the Grammy Awards. From Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson and now Whitney Houston, we have seen how drugs can change lives of those who use them.
Houston was rumored to be a judge in the next season of X-Factor, just a day before her death. Simon Cowell has reportedly confirmed, that she was being considered as a judge for Season Two.
Amy Winehouse, also died in the last year to an apparent drug overdose.
Random Thoughts
I am beginning to wonder if Tony Bennett is becoming senile, after saying that drugs should be legalized soon after the death of Whitney Houston. That is problem now, since drugs are readily available in some form for those that use them. Their only problem may be the lack of cash to buy those drugs. Bennett is almost surely the last of the crooners left from the 30′s and 40′s.
When Bennett passes on it will signal the end to the era, that preceded Bill Haley and the Comets and Elvis Presley. Some of the crooners like Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin sang for many years, but now Bennett stands alone as a reminder of the crooner era.
It was interesting to find out that Houston has only recorded four studio albums in the last 25 years. Whitney Houston’s music is selling well, just like Michael Jackson’s albums sold well after his death.
The Grammy Awards tribute to the Beach Boys was not done well. The Beach Boys didn’t even sing until after two tribute songs. Then when they did sing, it was a repeat of Good Vibrations. They could have sung three songs instead of the tribute songs by the others. The Beach Boys deserved better, since they are one of the oldest groups in the music business having started in the early 60′s. It was good to see Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Mike Love and Bruce Johnston on the stage together again, after having broken up into Wilson singing by himself, Love and Johnston touring together and Jardine appearing apart from the others.
Sports Notes
Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks did it again tonight, scoring a three pointer with nine seconds left to give the Knicks a 90-87 win over the Toronto Raptors. It will be interesting to see how much playing time Lin will receive, when Carmelo Anthony returns to action next week.
The Chicago White Sox signed Kosuke Fukudome to a $500,000 contract, which was a $14 million pay cut after being paid $14.5 million by the Cubs in 2011. Fukudome didn’t come close to living up to the hype after signing with the Cubs on a four-year contract. It will be like coming home for Fukudome, after spending part of the summer with the Cleveland Indians.
Politics
The GOP doesn’t seem close to having a candidate, that will lead the party to victory in November. We have seen wild swings in the voting during the primary and caucus season. Romney, Santorum or Gingrich should be standing on the platform at the GOP convention this summer, after winning the nomination but none of the three is a sure thing at this point, with the wild fluctuations we have seen this year. Gingrich seems to be out of it right now, but wait till the next primary at the end of this month. Gingrich has way too much baggage for the GOP hierarchy to give him their support. Gingrich has so many skeletons rattling around in his closet, that he only opens the closet in the dark, so his enemies can’t see all the skeletons.
Green Party candidate Roseanne Barr is not keeping the GOP candidates awake at night, worrying about her candidacy. She will do well to garner 500,000 votes on election night. It is difficult to take Barr serious after her rendition of the National Anthem at a baseball game a few years ago. Somebody in the front office had to be fired, for thinking it was a good idea for Barr to sing the National Anthem. It would be like someone letting Jaleel White to sing the National Anthem using his Steve Urkel voice. Whitney Houston put them all to shame when she sang the National Anthem at the 1991 Super Bowl.
Consumer Tips
Buyers need to be aware of buying electronics on QVC.com. I have seen their prices as much as $100 higher on some electronics and close to the highest prices. Priceblink.com provides a unique service to online buyers, since once you sign up to the free service, they will notify you of a cheaper price, than the price you see at a website. Priceblink.com can literally save a consumer hundreds of dollars.
1968 and 1969 were years defined by the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, American astronauts being the first to walk on the moon, anti-war protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the New York Jets and the New York Mets were surprise Super Bowl and World Series winners.
Super Bowl II would be won by the Green Bay Packers when they defeated the Oakland Raiders on January 14.
Mister Roger’s Neighborhood would be seen for the first time on February 19, 1968.
March 16, 1968 would be one of the low points of the Vietnam War when between 374-504 unarmed civilians were killed at My Lai by United States troops. 2nd Lt. William Calley was charged with 22 of the deaths and sentenced to life imprisonment, but only served three-and-a-half years of house arrest.
President Lyndon B. Johnson announced on March 31 that he would not be running for president in the 1968 election. His decision resulted in the Democrats only having one president elected in the next 24 years, when Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976. It would be 1993 before Bill Clinton took office as the 42nd president and he would become the first Democratic president to serve two complete terms since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
April 4, 1968 started a year of assassinations and demonstrations, when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the balcony of his Memphis motel room. Ironically only seven days later the Civil Rights Act bill was passed by Congress, which outlawed racial discrimination, which Dr. King had been fighting before his death.
Then only two months and one day after the assassination of Dr. King, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated while celebrating a win in California primary during his 1968 presidential bid. Sirhan Sirhan is arrested for the murder of Kennedy.
If Kennedy had lived to win the Democratic nomination, he may have defeated Richard Nixon in the 1968 election. Instead Nixon defeated Senator Hubert Humphrey by half a million votes.
The Yippies led by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman would descend on Chicago and the streets of Chicago turned into a riot zone as the Yippies and other radical groups battled Chicago police, U.S. Army and National Guard, while the Democratic convention was being held.
The chaos on the streets of Chicago poured onto the Democratic Convention floor when Senator Abraham Ribicoff denounced the use of Gestapo tactics in the streets of Chicago. His remarks enraged Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago would could be seen yelling at Ribicoff.
Anti-war protesters in Chicago may have hurt their own cause. In retrospect they may have protested at the wrong convention since the Democrats were more on their side than the Republicans. The Republican convention in Miami was turmoil free, in contrast to the chaos in Chicago.
Richard Nixon would go on to defeat Senator Humphrey in the general election.
1969 was another year with many newsworthy events and January 12 of 1969 would see the New York Jets defeat the Baltimore Colts 16-7, after Jets quarterback Joe Namath had predicted the Jets would upset the Colts.
Richard Nixon would take office as the 37th president on January 20. The Beatles who had first sang in America almost five years ago would hold their last public concert on January 30.
Sirhan Sirhan admits assassinating Bobby Kennedy on March 3. Ironically seven days later James Earl Ray would plead guilty to assassinating Dr. Martin Luther King. Later that month former President Dwight D. Eisenhower died on March 28, 8 years after finishing his second term as president.
The first American troop withdrawals of the Vietnam War were made on July 8. Senator Teddy Kennedy would end any hope of becoming president, when he drove his car off a bridge on July 18, in what became known as the Chappaquiddick incident. Mary Jo Kopechne would die at the age of 28 in the submerged car.
Two days later on July 20, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon, when the lunar module Eagle landed on the moon. It had to be ranked as one of the biggest stories of the 20th century. The first flight by the Wright Brothers in 1903 would have been another major advance in the 20th century. Their flight led to commercial flights by airlines in later years.
August 9, 1969 was a day of violence as Charles Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others. The next day August 10, they would murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home.
August 15, 1969 will always be remembered as the day the Woodstock Music Festival kicked off on Max Yasgur’s farm in Bethel, New York. The promoters were expecting 50,000 fans, but those numbers were very conservative, considering 500,000 fans showed up.
August 17 would be another deadly day, this time because of Hurricane Camille which hit the Mississippi coast killing 248 people and causing damage of $1.5 billion.
The first ATM was installed in Rockville Centre, New York on September 2, while on the same day Ho Chi Minh, leader of North Vietnam died.
The Chicago Eight trial begin on September 24 in Chicago, but was changed to the Chicago Seven, when Bobby Seale a Black Panther was sentenced to four-year sentence for contempt of court.
Another New York sports team would win a championship, when the New York Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Seven years earlier the Mets had been the laughingstock of baseball when they posted a 40-120 record in 1962.
On a lighter note Sesame Street would be seen for the first time on the National Education Network on November 10.
While 250,000-500,000 demonstrators were protesting against the war in Washington, D.C. on November 15, Dave Thomas is busy opening the first Wendy’s in Columbus Ohio.
American astronauts would walk on the moon, only four months after the initial landing, four months prior to the Apollo 12 landing. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean would both walk on the moon.
With the year drawing to a close, a draft lottery was put in place on December 1 and would be the last major event of 1969.
A quick rundown of the events in 1968-1969:
1968
Dr. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy Assassinated
Unarmed Vietnamese Citizens Killed By U.S. Troops
President Lyndon B. Johnson Announces He Will Not Run For Presidency
Anti-war protesters riot during the Democratic National Convention
Richard Nixon is elected president in general election.
1969
Richard Nixon takes office of presidency
Withdrawal of Vietnam troops commences
Teddy Kennedy drives car off bridge in Chappaquiddick incident
Four astronauts become first men to walk on moon
Charles Manson followers kill seven in two days
500,000 anti-war protesters attend Woodstock Music Festival
Hurricane Camille kills 248 persons
First ATM installed in Rockville Centre, New York
Ho Chi Minh Dies
Chicago 7 Trial Begins in Chicago
250,000-500,000 demonstrate in anti-war protest in Washington, D.C.
Dave Thomas opens first Wendy’s
Sesame Street shown for the first time on National Education Network
Map depicting Civil War battles fought in Louisiana from Americancivilwar.com.
The March 14, 1864 battle at Fort DeRussy marked the beginning of a series of seven battles, between the Union and the Confederacy in the state of Louisiana. Union forces defeated the Confederate forces and opened the Red River to Alexandria.
It would be 25 days later before the Union and Confederates would battle next. The Battle of Mansfield was fought on April 8, 1964 after Union forces led by Major General Nathaniel P. Banks, who had traveled 150 miles up the Red River, encountered Major General Richard Taylor commanding the Confederate forces.
Banks Retreats Toward Alexandria
Taylor attacked the Union forces despite being outnumbered and Banks finally retreated back toward Alexandria. The battle marked the last victory for the Confederates in Louisiana and preceded five consecutive defeats by the Union troops, including a defeat at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 9, 1864.
Union troops had suffered 2,900 casualties at the Battle of Mansfield while the Confederate forces incurred had 1,500 casualties. The Confederate forces would have 2,000 casualties, which almost half the casualties of the Union forces, who had 1,100 during the Battle of Pleasant Hill.
Confederates Lose 200 Troops At Blair’s Landing
Union forces overwhelmed the Confederates at Blair’s Landing, with only seven casualties compared to 200 by the Confederates. Brigadier General Tom Green leading the Confederate forces lost his life in the battle.
Two weeks later in another crushing defeat on April 23,1864 in another battle at Monett’s Ferry, the Union forces would have 200 casualties while the Confederates suffered 400 casualties.
Banks Leads Union Forces To Victory In Mansura
It would be May 16, 1864 before the enemies encountered each other again in Mansura, where General Banks would lead a flank attack on Confederate troops that gave the Union another victory. Battlefield casualties are unknown.
The battle at Yellow Bayou would commence on May 18, 1864. The battle was the last of the Red River Campaign and ended with 360 Union casualties and 500 Confederate casualties. It was regarded as a strategic victory for the Union as their forces lived to fight another day.
For complete descriptions of every battle fought in Louisiana during the Civil War:
The following website has many photos of places in Central Louisiana, which had to do with the Civil War. There is also a possible explanation of why the Kent House survived the burning of Alexandria by Federal troops.
Burning of Alexandria
Retreating Union troops burned 90 percent of Alexandria on May 13,1864. Kent House and a Catholic church were the only prominent landmarks still standing after the savage burning of Alexandria. Father J.P. Bellier brandished a sword when federal troops attempted to burn the Catholic church, with them deciding to not kill Father Bellier or harm the church.
The federal troops helped themselves to anything they wanted, while the fires were burning. Cows ran through the streets of Alexandria along with chickens who had been scorched by the fire.
By the time the fire had subsided, there was no record of any legal transaction filed before May 13, 1864 that existed after the fire. It took 36 years before Alexandria would reach a population of 5,000 again.
For many more details of the burning of Alexandria:
Soldiers about to leave landing craft on D-Day on June 6, 1944.
The photo above makes me wonder what these soldiers were thinking, before leaving the landing craft on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Some of them would be dead minutes later, as they came under intense German gunfire from beyond the beach. They could see their fellow soldiers being shot, before they even left the landing craft.
I saw a PBS program about veterans returning to Normandy, France and telling their stories of what they experienced that day. One soldier was helping wounded soldiers, but then was hit himself several times. He had just told another soldier that he was too weak to help with the wounded soldiers and at that moment the other soldier was hit by a bullet that went in one side of his head and exited on the other side.
He assumed the soldier had died, but he encountered him at an Army reunion later and saw the man and his wife there. He told him that he thought he was dead and the other soldier thought the other soldier was dead. So both soldiers, had thought the other soldier was dead, when in fact both had survived their wounds from D-Day.
A 18 year old soldier on D-Day would be 86 years old today. The 70th anniversary of D-Day will be held on June 6, 2014. Any soldier that was 30 or older that day, probably would have died by that date.
Even though President Roosevelt had declared war on Germany on December 8 of 1941, it would be two-and-a- half years before American forces entered the European theater.
The French civilians on the program today, are still thankful for the Americans freeing them from German rule. They spoke of passing the torch to each generation of the French people, to let them know that the American soldiers, were the reason that they regained their freedom.
Hitler’s harebrained military plans, enabled the Americans to gain inroads to other French cities, since he had 157 divisions on the Russian front, while having only 59 in France.
13,000 American paratroopers were dropped from the sky, as part of the D-Day invasion, but the paratroopers were very fragmented and only 2,500 of them had joined up with their units, 24 hours after being dropped. One of the veterans on the PBS special said they wrapped up dead American paratroopers in their parachutes and buried them.
The allied forces were outnumbered 380,000 to 175,000 but still they still won the Battle of Normandy. Allied casualties at Normandy totaled close to 10,000 with 2,500 making the ultimate sacrifice for the allied forces.
Words can’t express our gratitude for the soldiers, who stepped out of their landing craft, facing death immediately and those that survived the onslaught at the beach, as they began their trek through France, as they liberated the French people, from the clutches of Adolf Hitler.
It is hard to comprehend that 48 years have passed, since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 22, a Friday morning that will live forever in history. I was subbing for the company postal clerk, who was on vacation, for the 25th Administration Company of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii on that date and was the first to tell the company commander about the president being shot, after hearing the news on the radio. Meanwhile the regular postal clerk was flying military standby back to the mainland. He was trying to make a connection to New York City, from California, but was routed to Dallas, Texas of all places, arriving there about the time of the assassination.
Reading Warren Commission Report
I had a copy of the Warren Commission Report, that I had never really read until this last week. President Johnson commissioned the report a week after the assassination.
President Johnson was eager to have the Warren Report released, as soon as possible, to avoid having it contain any conspiracy theories, that might create doubt among the American public.
There is plenty of circumstantial evidence, that makes it appear that Lee Harvey Oswald fired the rifle, from the six floor window, of the Texas Schoolbook Depository building. Some witnesses on the ground reportedly saw a figure holding a gun, but as far as I know, nobody identified that figure as being Oswald. It is doubtful anyone could see someone inside a sixth story window, then be able to identify that person, since only their arms and the gun would be seen.
I am not saying that Oswald didn’t fire the shots, that killed President Kennedy and also wounded Texas Governor John Connally. He just appeared to be the one most likely to have fired the shots.
Lee Harvey Oswald: Portrait Of An Assassin
Lee Harvey Oswald had all the credentials of an assassin. He was a loner, that was an activist in liberal causes. He was a frustrated individual, who never really fit in with most political groups. He was living in Russia, thinking he had found a better way of living, but left when he saw their government didn’t care about the little people like him.
It wasn’t until after the assassination, that it was found out, that Oswald had attempted to shoot General Edwin Walker in his Dallas home on May 10, 1963. This shooting and the Kennedy assassination, proved that Oswald would just as soon shoot a conservative like Walker as well as a liberal like Kennedy.
By now everyone knows, that Oswald who never had a driver’s license told his co-worker Wesley Frazier, that he needed to go to Irving, Texas to pick up some curtain rods. He normally went to Irving on Fridays, but he needed those “curtain rods” for work on Friday, ostensibly to kill the president of the United States. Everyone also knows now, that those “curtain rods’ turned out to be the Mannlicher-Carcano rifle found inside the sixth story window, of the Texas Schoolbook Depository building.
Why was Oswald in Mexico City two months before the assassination? It is still a mystery, to my knowledge, what he was doing in Mexico City. It is known that he was trying to secure a visa to Cuba through the Cuban embassy, but there is little record of what he was actually doing in Mexico City. There are even reports that another individual, had used Oswald’s name, during the time he was in Mexico City. If there was a conspiracy, this may have been where it was planned.
Patrolman M.L. Baker was in the Texas Schoolbook Depository, looking for the shooter, when he encountered Oswald in the lunchroom. Oswald from the reports I have read, showed no signs of being under duress, while Baker was holding a gun on him. His coolness in that situation sealed the fate of both Officer J.D. Tippit, who would be killed less than an hour later, when he stopped Oswald on a Dallas street. If Oswald had exhibited any fright or seemed to be in distress, it is likely that Patrolman Baker would have arrested him in the lunchroom.
Oswald would have been without a weapon and presumably would have been taken to the police station without incident. However, Oswald may have tried to take the policeman’s gun, which could have been deadly.
There are so many incidents that day that could have changed history. Officer Tippit could have just as easily killed Oswald, instead of being gunned down himself by Oswald. That would have prevented the circus that ensued at the police station, after Oswald was arrested at the theater. History would have changed if Officer Tippit had stopped Oswald before he had a chance to receive his gun from the North Beckley residence.
Oswald allegedly fired his first shot at President Kennedy at 12:30 PM Dallas time. He encounters Patrolman Baker in the lunchroom and is leaving the Texas Schoolbook Depository by 12:33 PM. The building is reportedly sealed at 12:48, enabling Oswald to make his getaway. President Kennedy arrives at Parkland Hospital at 12:38 PM. Dallas Police homicide chief, who is awaiting the arrival of President Kennedy calls at 12:51 to ask if Kennedy is still coming to the Trade Mart for the luncheon in his honor, but is told it is very doubtful and in reality, Kennedy was dead nine minutes later.
By 1:00 Oswald has killed Officer Tippit and is seen entering the Texas Theater, while President Kennedy is being pronounced dead at that same minute.
Dallas police car #207 honks horn twice outside the Oswald house. This doesn’t sound very believable, so may not have even happened. Since when do police warn a criminal that they are outside their house?
The following timeline gives an interesting look at the events of that day. However, it can’t be taken too seriously accuracy wise, as it has Oswald arriving at the Texas Theater, ten minutes before Officer Tippit is found dead in the street, which doesn’t sound right to me.
Rose Cheramie was en route to Dallas with some other criminal types and said this about her reasons for being in Dallas:
“She said she was going to, number one, pick up some money, pick up her baby, and to kill Kennedy.” (p. 9 of Fruge’s 4/18/78 deposition)
While at the hospital Cheramie predicted the precise moment the assassination would take place:
At the hospital, Cheramie again predicted the assassination. On November 22nd, several nurses were watching television with Cheramie. According to these witnesses, “…during the telecast moments before Kennedy was shot Rose Cheramie stated to them, ‘This is when it is going to happen’ and at that moment Kennedy was assassinated. The nurses, in turn, told others of Cheramie’s prognostication.” (Memo of Frank Meloche to Louis Ivon, 5/22/67. Although the Dallas motorcade was not broadcast live on the major networks, the nurses were likely referring to the spot reports that circulated through local channels in the vicinity of the trip. Of course, the assassination itself was reported on by network television almost immediately after it happened.) Further, according to a psychiatrist there, Dr. Victor Weiss, Rose “…told him that she knew both Ruby and Oswald and had seen them sitting together on occasions at Ruby’s club.” (Ibid., 3/13/67) In fact, Fruge later confirmed the fact that she had worked as a stripper for Ruby. (Louisiana State Police report of 4/4/67.)
There is reportedly no mention of Cheramie in the Warren Report. You would think someone who accurately predicted the moment President Kennedy would be shot, would be taken more seriously by the Warren Commission, but then that would back up the conspiracy theorists, which the Warren commission avoided at all costs.
It is not so much a matter if Oswald shot Kennedy but more of a matter, of was he aided by a conspiracy. Kennedy had a myriad of enemies, who wanted him dead. They included the unions, mobsters, Castro, KGB, possibly the CIA who were peeved at Kennedy for withdrawing air support for the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Even President Johnson has been mentioned as someone, who would like to see Kennedy dead, since he had the most to gain (the presidency). One online report even states that Oswald was seen at Johnson’s ranch in Mexico. That may be a false report, but worth looking into.
Jack Ruby Becomes Prosecutor and Jury, Killing Oswald
Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby, showed up at the police station on the Friday night of the assassination, to see the Oswald press conference. Ruby became emotionally distraught over the death of Kennedy and decided the American people would never have the chance to know if there was a conspiracy, behind the assassination of Kennedy.
Ruby singlehandedly started a wave of books about the assassination, since Americans would never know about any conspiracies, since Oswald was dead and dead men tell no tales.
Hundreds of books have been written about the assassination. The Warren Commission Report has focused on proving that Oswald was the lone gunman in Dallas 48 years ago. They seemed to have glossed over any conspiracy theories. Oswald was a very shady character, who was all over the place and may have been covering up for some sinister group of conspiracists.
It is still a mystery of how Ruby was in the basement of the Dallas Police station on Sunday, November 24 and how he got in there. He reportedly arrived in the basement a couple of minutes before Oswald was to be moved to another facility.
Ruby said he killed Oswald, because he hated that Jackie Kennedy would have to return to Dallas for the trial of Lee Harvey Oswald.
Summary
I am not saying that the Warren Commission was a complete cover-up, but it seemed to be intent, on promoting the lone gunman theory. By not admitting a conspiracy was possible, it took a lot of the enemies of Kennedy off the hook, including the new president Lyndon B. Johnson, who was relegated to being a do-nothing vice president, until Kennedy’s death, propelled him to the presidency.
He was no longer the second banana to President Kennedy and his inner circle. The only reason Kennedy chose Johnson as a running mate, was so that he could garner some southern votes, attracted by Johnson being on the ticket as vice-president.
After 48 years, there is still no smoking gun that I know of that points to anyone besides Oswald being the assassin. I have heard for years about shots coming from the grassy knoll, but don’t think it is even mentioned in the Warren Report.
There are a lot of what-ifs that came into play on November 22, 1963:
What if it had rained that day and the bubble-top would have been down, ruining any chance of any assassin shooting the president?
What if Patrolman Baker would have arrested Oswald before leaving the schoolbook depository, which would have saved the life of Officer Tippit?
What if someone had walked in on the shooter from the sixth floor window seconds before the first shot?
What if the Dallas Police department had kept the crowds under control at the police station, during the interrogation of Oswald?
What if someone had stopped Ruby from entering the basement of the police station?
What if someone had taken Rose Cheramie seriously and prevented the assassination?
JFKLancer.com has some very interesting observations about what the Warren Commission Report failed to tell the American people:
Alger Hiss who was convicted of perjury in 1950 after a House Un-American Activites committee which included Richard Nixon sent the case to a grand jury and eventually led to his conviction.
Richard Nixon was a first term Republican congressman, from California, when he was appointed a member of subcommittee of three to investigate the Alger Hiss case. Nixon, Edward Hebert of Louisiana and John McDowell from Pennsylvania were given the job to determine whether Whittaker Chambers or Alger Hiss were giving truthful testimony.
They found enough evidence to bring the Hiss case to a grand jury, even though FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover had told them, he was told to not cooperate with the committee. The committee investigators unearthed enough evidence, to bring the case to the grand jury.
Alger Hiss had advanced into a high position in the U.S. government, serving as an assistant to Secretary of State Edward Stettinus. Hiss accompanied Stettinus,to the Yalta Conference in February of 1945. The purpose of the conference ,was for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, to plan the defeat of Adolf Hitler, which came a couple of months after the conference.
Hiss would later be found to have given intelligence to the Russians as early as the 1930′s. The fact that reached such a high standing, in the American government is troubling. It was alarming at the support he received from top government officials during his trials.
Chambers would produce five rolls of micro-film, which would become known as the “Pumpkin Papers”, since Chambers had hidden them inside a pumpkin.
This website has extensive information about the Pumpkin Papers:
A grand jury indicted Hiss on two perjury charges, but he wasn’t charged with espionage, because of the statute of limitations. Hiss then went to trial on May 31, 1949 and ended in a hung jury on July 7 of the same year.
The case against Hiss seemed to take a turn for the worse, when the key government witness, Chambers admitted he had given false testimony in the past. Hiss had friends in high places, in President Harry Truman, who called the trial a “red herring” and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who thought Hiss was innocent.
The second trial which started on May 17, 1949 ended on November 17, 1949 and it ended on January 21, 1950.
Typewriter Key Evidence
The key evidence against Hiss was that experts identified his typewriter, as the one which had been used to type stolen documents, then the top-secret papers were given to the Russians. Hess claimed until he died, that he had been framed and that the government, had committed forgery with his typewriter, to make it appear the documents, had been typed on his Woodstock typewriter.
Hiss Receives Five Year Sentence
Alger Hiss was convicted of two counts and sentenced to five years in prison, on January 25, 1960, on two perjury counts. He would be released 44 months later on November 27, 1954. Ironically, Hiss would be allowed to practice law in Massachusetts d on August 5, 1975. Hiss died on November 15, 1996 in New York City, claiming his innocence to the end.
Richard Nixon handout from his first Congressional election in 1946 in California which he won.
Nixon Rises to National Prominence
Richard Nixon made the most, of his first national exposure and would be elected a U.S. Senator from California in 1950. Two years later in 1952 he would be chosen to be the vice presidential candidate in the 1952 presidential election in which Dwight D. Eisenhower would become the first Republican president, since Herbert Hoover left office in 1929. Nixon would serve as vice president until 1961.
Checkers Speech
Nixon would make the headlines many times in the future. Nobody who was around back then, can forget his “Checkers” speech, when he addressed questions about his campaign finances.
Nixon Attacked in Peru, Venezuela
He would make news again when he confronted anti-American demonstrators in Peru, then his limousine would be attacked in Caracas, Venezuela, with both events in 1958.
Kitchen Debate With Khrushchev
Who can forget Nixon’s famous “Kitchen Debate” with Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev, over the merits of capitalism and communism in 1959?
Lost 1960 Presidential Election
Nixon would win the Republican nomination. in 1960, but after a poor performance in the first presidential debate, would lose the presidential election, to John F. Kennedy by a slim 120,000 votes.
Loses By 300,000 Votes in California Governor Race
Many wrote the obituary for Nixon’s political career, when he lost to Gov. Pat Brown in the 1962 gubernatorial race, by a margin of 300,000 votes.
Rises From the Ashes in 1968
After his loss in California, Nixon practiced law and supported 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, then supported 1966 congressional candidates. He was nominated to be the 1968 Republican candidate, while Senator Hubert H. Humphrey was nominated by the Democrats, at a tumultuous convention, in Chicago due to demonstrations, by anti-Vietnam war protesters in the streets of Chicago. Nixon wins by a half million votes over Humphrey.
Wins Overwhelming Victory in 1972
Nixon would win every state except Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, in an overwhelming victory over Democratic candidate George McGovern.
President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Pat Nixon and former President Richard Nixon walk toward helicopter, that would leave with them for the last time on August 9, 1974 after his resignation.
Watergate Ends His Political Career
Five men broke into the Democratic National Convention offices, in the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1972. There was no reason for the break-in as Nixon won the 1972 presidential election easily.
Nixon would use every political trick imaginable to cover up, White House involvement with the cover-up of the break-in. Nixon’s tactic was to deny, deny and deny some more, that the White House was involved. His own taping system in the White House came back to haunt him. We will never forget his famous “I Am Not A Crook” speech, but eventually admitted he was a crook by leaving office in disgrace, becoming the first president to resign from office. We can only imagine, what Nixon and his wife were feeling as the helicopter, left the White House grounds, for the last time.
Jack Webb was born on April 2, 1920 in Santa Monica, California. He died at the age of 62 on December 23, 1982 in West Hollywood California.
His father left home before Webb was born and he never knew his dad. He joined the Army Air Force but asked for a hardship discharge after not making the grade in flight training.
Acted in Old Time Radio
Webb starred in an ABC radio comedy the Jack Webb Show in 1946. He then starred in several detective themed old-time radio shows. Pat Novak For Hire, Johnny Modero, Pier 23 and Jeff Regan, Investigator which were his best known radio programs prior to Dragnet.
His big break came when Dragnet was first broadcast on radio in 1949, then would run till 1954. Webb portrayed Sgt. Joe Friday as a no-nonsense detective, who didn’t mince words. The television version of Dragnet began televising in 1952 with Ben Alexander cast as Detective Frank Smith, concurrently with the radio version till 1954, when the radio series ended. The televised version would remain on the air till 1959. There was a radio or television version of Dragnet being heard or seen for ten continuous years.
Webb loved jazz and starred in Pete Kelly’s Blues which on radio for less than two months, but would be the predecessor to the film version, of Pete Kelly’s Blues released in 1955. Then Pete Kelly’s Blues was also shown on television in 1959, but only 13 episodes were aired, before it was cancelled.
Dragnet also had a presence in radio, television and movies and it was successful in all three forms of media. A new television version of the original Dragnet named Dragnet 1967 ran till 1970 with Harry Morgan portraying Officer Bill Gannon.
Jack Webb grew up with severe asthma yet was a heavy smoker as can be seen by this advertisement mentioning that he smoked two packs a day. Smoking two packs a day today would cost roughly $180 a month.
Webb became so involved in production, that he wasn’t seen on the television screen often. He created Adam 12 which ran from 1968-1975 and Ohara, U.S. Treasury which was shown from 1971-1972.
Julie London former wife of Jack Webb and her husband Bobby Troup on Emergency television program that aired on NBC.
Jack Webb showed he had no animosity toward his former wife Julie London, by hiring her and her husband to appear in his Emergency television program. They appeared in but two of the 133 episodes that were aired.
Webb was married to Julie London from 1947-1953. He then married Dorothy Towne from 1955-1957, Jackie Loughery from 1958-1964. He widowed his last wife who he was married to from 1980-1982.
Jack Webb was working on a third television version of Dragnet with Kent McCord from Adam 12 lined up to be his partner, but died of a heart attack at 62.
Chief Daryl Gates of the Los Angeles Police Department retired Badge 714 after his death and Mayor Tom Bradley ordered all flags to flown at half-mast in his honor. He would be buried with a replica Badge 714.
Jack Webb’s tombstone is typical of Webb. There is no huge ornamental tombstone, but a plain tombstone, with his name and his life span.
This article written by Ben Alexander, gives us a better idea of what the real Jack Webb was like. This paragraph tells me all I need to know about Jack Webb. I am inserting it here for those who may not have time to read the article:
Look at Victor Rodman. He had been disabled in an accident, and one of Jack’s joys about creating “Noah’s Ark” was the chance it gave him to employ Victor in a role that didn’t require walking around. Jack was thrilled with “Noah’s Ark” because it gave Victor a chance to prove what a fine actor he is. And a big reason Jack is eager to revive the show is that Victor will be working again.
The Internet Movie Database biography includes some interesting trivia about Jack Webb:
Was buried with full honors befitting a LAPD detective, including a 17-gun salute.
Had just over 6,000 jazz albums in his private collection.
At the height of “Dragnet’s” popularity, people would actually call the LAPD wanting to speak to Webb’s character, Sgt. Joe Friday. The Department eventually came up with a stock answer to the large volume of calls: “Sorry, it’s Joe’s day off.”
Was a huge baseball fan, and chose badge number 714 for Sgt. Friday because it was the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit.
Jack Webb has created a lot of shows since Dragnet, but will always remember him, telling us what department he was working out of in the police department.
The color version of Dragnet was good, but there was something special, about the black and white version of the 50′s. Those shows seemed to be more simple. Who can ever forget the show, about the boy who got a rifle for Christmas and accidentally shoots his friend? This is the three-part The Big .22 Rifle For Christmas episode. Part 3 is very emotional as the father talks to his dead son, telling him what he would have received for Christmas. Then to make it even more emotional, the father of the boy killed,then gives the presents for his son, to the boy who shot his son.
I was looking at funny newspaper clippings, when I was astounded to find out in one, that teenage pregnancy drops off after age 25. And to think all these years I had thought it dropped off at the age of 19.
Readers can blame me for captions below the clippings.
It is amazing what you can learn in a newspaper story or advertisement.
I was thinking the same thing when I saw two men approaching me with machetes and AK-47 machine guns and a rolling pin. My only thought, was that I have to get that rolling pin away from them.
This wife decided to let a stranger decide whether she would have the cat or her husband left after they made their decision.
I think it is safe to say that this tombstone will never be sold unless someone changes their name to Hendel Bergen Heinzel.
This is major news and should have been on the front page, not in the police blotter. It wouldn't hurt to send a photographer to get a closeup of the running pot pie.
I can think of a lot of reasons to not answer this ad.
Those federal agents probably still haven't recovered from the shock of finding weapons in a gun shop.
I would think twice before going to this health clinic.
This woman has her priorities slightly mixed up.
It will take a fast talking salesperson to pull this one off.
If all else fails, blame it on the babies.
The same doctor in the ad had just spent thirty minutes telling a patient to switch from candy cigarettes to Camels.
You can't be too careful while using camouflaged paint.
Our nation was in a state of shock and disbelief, after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Americans didn’t know if these attacks would be followed by other attacks.
Nobody really knew what to expect at the time. I don’t think anyone expected, that we would be safe from terrorist attack,for the next ten years.
When Osama bin Laden’s computer was seized after he was killed in Pakistan, it was found to mention upcoming terrorists attacks, that were to be carried out on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
So while we were commemorating the attacks, on the tenth anniversary, we were also wary of another attack ten years later, but it never happened.
The American intelligence community deserves praise for keeping our nation safe from terrorist attacks during the last 10 years. I am sure there have been some close calls, that were never revealed to the public, to avoid alarming our citizens.
We can never be complacent though, since the terrorists may strike again, if we revert to our lax security that was in place on 9/11. Airport security since 9/11 has been ratcheted up and has received some criticism, for being too invasive. However, as much as we dislike the stricter measures, taken by airport security, it does make it safer to fly.
It remains a mystery 10 years later to, how 19 hijackers could have boarded planes, in American airports the morning of September 11, 2001. If there had been patdowns, then the boxcutters may have been found, that they used as weapons aboard those flights.
However another mystery is how the box cutters got by airport security. It seems like they would have sounded the buzzer, at the checkpoint causing the boxcutters to be found.
We may be having to wait longer to get through the checkpoints, but it is much better than being on a plane, that has been hijacked and that is being flown into a building. It is questionable whether the passengers on those flights, should have been told by relatives and friends, that planes had already flown into other buildings.
It was bad in that the passengers had to be scared beyond belief, but on the other hand it is probably what saved Flight 93 from hitting the White House or the Capitol Building. We will never know if those were the next targets, but those were likely targets.
Nothing would have been more dramatic, than a plane hitting the White House with almost full tanks of jet fuel, especially if President Bush had been in the White House. If not for cell phones being widely used even back in 2001, the passengers aboard Flight 93 would not have known, that the other planes had already hit the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. That knowledge is what caused the passengers to storm the cockpit, causing the plane to crash in Pennsylvania.
We should have known when the terrorist pilots were attending flight schools, that for them not to be worried about landing the planes was a major red flag.
President Bush and President Obama both have been targets of criticism during their presidencies, but both presidents have put in place intelligence gathering agencies, that have prevented another 9/11 attack.
We must be ever vigilant though and plan on the terrorists planning future attacks. It may not be the same type of attacks, but we can’t be too careful, since good intelligence saves lives and bad intelligence puts our nation at jeopardy.
Mr. Acker Bilk playing Stranger on the Shore, the No. 1 hit of 1962.
I can remember the posters for American Graffiti, like the one pictured that asked the question Where Were You in 62′?
My memories of 1962 include walking the halls of Pineville High for the last times that summer, as I took English IV again in summer school so I could receive my diploma that September. It was my third and last encounter with summer school.
The class of 1962 will be celebrating our 50th reunion next April. Just the thought of 50 years passing since I walked out the door of Pineville High School for the last time as a student in 1962 tells me I am getting older much faster than I really wanted to.
It also reminds me that music has changed since then. Can you imagine a clarinet solo by Mr. Acker Bilk being No.1 on the Hot 100 chart today, like Stranger on the Shore was in 1962?
It even charted higher than the No.2 classic I Can’t Stop Loving You sung by the great Ray Charles.
Mashed Potato Time and The Loco-Motion charted No.3 and No.7, but No.9 The Twist by Chubby Checker is the song we will remember most from that year. Checker was 21 in 1962, but will be 70 next month.
Checker would also have the No.17 hit Slow Twistin’ in 1962. Many songs released in 1962 had the word twist or a variation of twist in the title including these songs:
No.23 Twistin’ the Night Away – Sam Cooke
No.25 Peppermint Twist – Joey Dee and the Starliters
No. 32 Dear Lady Twist – Gary and the US Bonds
No. 38 Twist and Shout – Isley Brothers
No. 87 Percolator Twist – Billy Joe and the Checkmates
No. 88 Twist, Twist Senora – Gary and the US Bonds
No. 89 Twistin’ Matilda and the Channel – Jimmy Soul
No. 92 Soul Twist – King Curtis
Ten songs or ten percent of the Top 100 songs, had to do with the new Twist craze.
It was a great year for ballads too with such standouts as Roses Are Red, Break It To Me Gently, Ramblin’ Rose, Love Letters, You Don’t Know Me and Town Without Pity.
The Beach Boys had one song in the Top 100 list which was Surfin’ USA at No.100, but it apparently had just been released, because it topped out at No.3 the next year. Surprisingly, the Beach Boys only had four No.1 hits during their career.
Ahab the Arab was the best known novelty song of the year, having been released by Ray Stevens.
Green Onions which was recorded by Booker T. and the MG’s to me was one of the best instrumentals ever to be released came out that year along with instrumentals, like Moon River by Henry Mancini and Walk on the Wild Side recorded by the great jazz organist Jimmy Smith.
The list below will take the readers down memory lane. It was a great year for music.
It was October 12 of 1962, when I started basic training at Fort Polk, Louisiana. My first memory is of a soldier from Wardville a suburb of Pineville, Louisiana yelling out a second story window, to a sergeant below “Hey nutbrain”. The sergeant set a new record for climbing the stairs that day, telling the private in no uncertain terms, that that was not the proper way to address someone higher ranking than him. The infiltration course was the least fun of all, not to mention taking our gas masks off in a gas-filled room, so we would know what it was like to experience it.
If there was enough reason to take the basic training seriously before, there was even more now, because we were training during the middle of the Cuban missile crisis.
This is one of the songs we sang as we marched:
“I don’t know but I believe, I’ll be in Cuba by Christmas Eve”
The ten-mile hike and bivouac was not exactly a bed of roses either. It had been hot when we first arrived, but by the time the bivouac came around, it was brutally cold sleeping in a tent in December.
The best part about basic training was when the family visited one Sunday, having made the trip from Pineville to see me.
1962 had started with the final semester starting at Pineville High School in January, receiving my diploma in September, then starting basic training in October, which ended in December.
The year ended with me visiting home, for Christmas and New Year’s Day. 1963 would bring being stationed in Indianapolis, Indiana to start the year, staying there till April at the Adjutant General’s postal school. Then in May my three-year enlistment started, after deciding to re-enlist rather than go to Army Reserve meetings for several years.
Early in June of 1963, I arrived in the tropical paradise of Hawaii, not knowing that I would board the troop ship the USNS General Walker on a 14 day trip, to another tropical paradise in Viet Nam two-and-a-half years later. The only problem was that the inhabitants of this tropical paradise, didn’t appreciate visitors with M-14′s and tanks.
Jackie Kennedy with President John F. Kennedy in background.
Jackie Kennedy reveals in the book ”Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy,” that she wanted to die with her husband, President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. She said she would rather die with him, than to leave Washington for safety.
It was clear that Jackie was a devoted wife and mother, since she would rather the family die together, than being separated at death. Her statement also reflects the seriousness of the situation, during the Cuban missile crisis. Crisis is the right word, since nobody knew how the crisis would end, until Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered the missiles dismantled and returned to Russia.
The 400 page book published by Hyperion will be released on Wednesday, September 14 along with a 8 CD set of audio discs.It is already #4 in sales at Amazon, two days prior to the release.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. conducted the interviews with Jackie, starting in March of 1964, just a few months after the assassination of her husband. The taped interviews weren’t to be released for many more years. However, Caroline Kennedy, gave her consent for them to be published, in connection with this year being 50 years. since President Kennedy took office.
Jackie Calls Martin Luther King “Phony”
One of the revelations during the interviews, was that Jackie considered Martin Luther King a phony, since surveillance caught him contacting women for dates.
She had short descriptions for many other world leaders and politicians:
Charles DeGaulle, the French president: “That egomaniac”.
Indira Ghandi, future prime minster of India: “a real prune — bitter, kind of pushy, horrible woman.”
Reveals JFK’s Thoughts on LBJ, FDR
Jackie says that JFK thought of his vice president Lyndon B. Johnson this way, “Oh, God, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if Lyndon was president?” And Mr. Kennedy on Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Charlatan is an unfair word,” but “he did an awful lot for effect.”
She had this to say of why women liked Adlai Stevenson: She suggests that “violently liberal women in politics” preferred Adlai Stevenson, the former Democratic presidential nominee, to Mr. Kennedy because they “were scared of sex.”
Of Madame Nhu, the sister-in-law of the president of South Vietnam, and Clare Boothe Luce, a former member of Congress, she tells Mr. Schlesinger, in a stage whisper, “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were lesbians.”
It was quotes like the last one, that prompted these interviews to be kept secret for 47 years.
Assassination, Extramarital Affairs Not Mentioned
Not surprisingly, there is no mention of the assassination or any extramarital affairs, that her husband was involved in. Jackie does reveal that her husband shed tears, over the Cuban missile crisis. That is only natural, considering the magnitude of the crisis, that could have ended in a nuclear war, but instead ended with the removal of the missiles from Cuba.
Listen to Jackie Kennedy In Her Own Words
These tapes let you hear in Jackie’s own words what it was like during the Cuban missile crisis, telling how she convinced her husband the president to not send her to a safe place.
This book should sell well with the enormity, of the curiosity of both fans of Jackie and her husband the president, but also should receive interest from their enemies who may be mentioned in the book. Jackie Kennedy, however transcends partisan politics and this book should interest those,of all political persuasions.
Lyndon B. Johnson shown with Jackie Kennedy taking the oath of office after President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated earlier that day in Dallas, Texas.
The long list of enemies assassinated President John F. Kennedy had at the time of his death showed he had made a host of enemies, while in office in two years and ten months of being president.
The following list may leave out someone unintentionally, because it is not easy to remember all of his enemies. Some people may not regard some of these people or organizations as JFK’s enemies, but to me they had reasons to have him assassinated.
President Lyndon B. Johnson – When Lyndon B. Johnson was defeated in the 1942 race for the U.S. Senate, he was losing in the vote count. However, 202 votes mysteriously turned up in alphabetical order with all the votes being for Johnson. The election judge admitted 35 years later in 1977 that the 202 votes were fraudulent. The voters whose names were on the fraudulent ballots were all deceased.
The reason I even mentioned the 1942 Senate race is that LBJ was not that happy being a second banana to the Kennedys, when he accepted the nomination to run for Vice President in 1960. The 1942 race also shows that LBJ would do whatever it takes to win an election.
I am not saying that LBJ orchestrated the assassination of JFK, but he had the clout to make it happen if he wanted. One obvious fact is that nobody profited more from the assassination of JFK than LBJ. He went from being a pawn in the Kennedy administration with little or no power, to becoming the most powerful man in the United States.
The following paragraph may or may not be true, but if it is true LBJ was in the middle of the planning of the JFK assassination:
There is no doubt that of all the individuals who personally benefited from the Assassination of JFK, Lyndon B. Johnson was highest on the list. Johnson is the answer to the proverbial question Cui bono or who benefited? Johnson is known to have attended a final pre-assassination meeting on November 21, 1963 at Dallas oilman Clint Murchison’s home. Two separate witnesses have independently verified that LBJ was present at the meeting including his former mistress Madeline Duncan Brown who stated on multiple occasions and in various venues that LBJ told her on the night of November 21, 1963 “after tomorrow those Kennedy boys will never make a fool of me again.” – JFK Assassination Conspiracy Update
Cuban Freedom Fighters – The invasion of the Bay of Pigs in Cuba was doomed from the start because of news articles like this being printed:
JAN 10, 1961: The New York Times publishes a front page story entitled “U.S. Helps Train an Anti?Castro Force at Secret Guatemalan Air?Ground Base.” Written by Paul Kennedy, the article reports that “Commando?like forces are being drilled in guerrilla warfare tactics by foreign personnel, mostly from the United States.” – National Security Archive
This is tantamount to printing in the New York Times that the Allied Forces are preparing for an invasion at Normandy, France. This must be the fault of the CIA to have leaked this sensitive information so Cuba would be aware of the impending attack.
It must be noted that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was still in office when the plan to invade Cuba was instituted. Despite JFK”s eagerness to blame the CIA for the crushing defeat of the invasion force, the president is ultimately the one that must accept the blame.
By his failed invasion, JFK infuriated Fidel Castro and the Cuban Freedom Fighters who abandoned them as they fell into the clutches of Castro’s henchmen and many of them were executed.
Fidel Castro – It was a huge coincidence that on the same day JFK was assassinated, Rolando Cubela Secades an employee of Fidel Castro was handed a poisoned pen by CIA agents in Paris, for Secades to use to kill Castro.
Castro had to know of the assassination plots against them, so naturally he would assume that JFK was behind the plots. It was clear that Castro had caused JFK to go through the October missile crisis of 1962. The Russians finally blinked, but it was Castro who allowed them to set up their missiles, just 90 miles from our shore.
His ex-lover Marita Lorenz smuggled a cold cream container with poison pills inside. However, Castro discovered the plot and gave her a gun to shoot Castro, but she couldn’t pull the trigger.
Those were just some of the assassination attempts against Castro. If there was anyone that had reason to assassinate JFK, it would be Castro.
American Mafia – There were many angry mobsters not happy with the way Robert F. Kennedy was prosecuting Mafia chieftains. The two names I have heard mentioned the most were Sam Giancana and Carlos Marcello as the masterminds behind the JFK assassination.
Judith Exner was reportedly the mistress of President Kennedy and the girlfriend of mobster Sam Giancana.
Judith Exner was introduced to President Kennedy by Frank Sinatra. Exner’s activities were being watched closely by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who was using his knowledge of the affair to potentially blackmail the president to protect his job security. That explains why he was FBI director for so long, since he had blackmail material on every president he served.
Exner was a girlfriend of Giancana, so her affair with JFK may have been one more reason that Giancana reportedly conspired to kill JFK. It was 12 years after the assassination before Exner was publicly linked to JFK, but apparently Jackie Kennedy knew about the affair while JFK was still alive. The following paragraph from anusha.com infers that Jackie knew what was going on:
Exner has been treated unfairly by history. She never sought to capitalize off the fact that she was JFK’s mistress. She kept this hidden for years. Jackie knew about her, of course. Once, when Jackie found a woman’s pink panties in her pillow case, she turned to JFK in bed and said, “Would you find out who these belong to, because they are not my size?”
Louisiana mobster Carlos Marcello had a huge motive for assassinating JFK, since JFK’s brother Robert the attorney general, had Marcello deported to Guatemala.
Marcello made the following statement which shows that he was serious about having JFK assassinated:
In September 1962, Marcello told private investigator Edwin Nicholas Becker that, “A dog will continue to bite you if you cut off its tail…,” (meaning Attorney General Robert Kennedy.), “…whereas if you cut off the dog’s head…,” (meaning President Kennedy), “… it would cease to cause trouble“. Becker reported that Marcello, “clearly stated that he was going to arrange to have President Kennedy killed in some way“. Marcello told another informant that he would need to take out “insurance” for the assassination by, “…. setting up some nut to take the fall for the job, just like they do in Sicily”. – Wikipedia
The above statement shows that Marcello wanted JFK dead so his death would deter his brother from pursuing his vendetta against organized crime figures in the United States. The assassination played out just like Marcello mentioned in that a patsy named Lee Harvey Oswald took the fall, while the ones planning the job celebrated.It is just too much of a coincidence for me that Oswald was killed by Ruby who had close connection with the Chicago mobsters.
The FBI investigated Marcello after the assassination and came to this conclusion:
After Kennedy’s assassination, the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Marcello. They came to the conclusion that Marcello was not involved in the assassination. On the other hand, they also said that they, “… did not believe Carlos Marcello was a significant organized crime figure,” and that Marcello earned his living, “… as a tomato salesman and real estate investor.” As a result of this investigation, theWarren Commission concluded that there was no direct link between Ruby and Marcello. – Wikipedia
It is ludicrous that the FBI would state that Marcello was not a significant organized crime figure. Even more preposterous is that they said he made his living as a tomato salesman and real estate investor. Then to cap it off the Warren Commission said that Jack Ruby and Marcello had no direct link.
FBI – The FBI may not have fired the shots that killed JFK, but J. Edgar Hoover had information about a plot to assassinate JFK just 13 days before the assassination, but apparently did nothing to act on that information. Retired FBI agent said that Joseph Adams Milteer had told William Somersett, a FBI informant on tape that the best way to kill JFK was to shoot him from an office building with a high-powered rifle. It is not surprising to me that Milteer is not even mentioned in the Warren Commission Report.
The FBI agent asks if there were plans to assassinate JFK and Milteer replied that they were in the works. Milteer was shown in the crowd at Dealey Plaza, the day of the assassination. Why would he be there to see JFK since he hated JFK? It tells me that he wanted to see for himself that JFK had been assassinated.
Adams also says he has information from FBI reports verifying that Lee Harvey Oswald, not only didn’t fire any shots from the Texas Schoolbook Depository Building, but was seen in the break-room at the exact time of the shooting.
Knowing that the FBI director Hoover, who was no fan of the Kennedys, had this information and sat on it tells me he was not intent on stopping the assassination. Why didn’t Hoover pass on this information to the Secret Service so they would be extra cautious on November 22, perhaps going so far as to leave the roof closed on the presidential limousine?
Hoover almost certainly knew about JFK”s connection with Judith Exner and Marilyn Monroe, but with Kennedy dead he didn’t have to use that information, since his job was safe.
CIA – The CIA had motive to assassinate JFK or let someone else assassinate him unimpeded, because only two years earlier JFK had vilified the CIA after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. The president had said the air strikes were not vital, which doomed the invasion. However, he was intent on blaming the CIA, saying he wished he could shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces. Several high level CIA officials handed in their resignations, including CIA director Allen Dulles.
So now the CIA has the motive to assassinate JFK, because he showed he was mad enough at the CIA to possibly even dismantle the most secretive intelligence organization. If the CIA was involved in trying to assassinate Fidel Castro, it would not be surprising, that they would entertain thoughts of assassinating the president who had dissed them publicly.
Secret Service – There are some that think that the Secret Service was involved in the assassination and Roy Kellerman in particular. Kellerman reportedly turned around to the front after looking back and seeing JFK had been shot, rather than responding immediately. Conspiracy theorists also say Kellerman took JFK”s body from Parkland Hospital by force.
William A. Greer the Secret Service agent driving the limousine, slowed down and then brought the limousine to a stop. It is thought that the stopping enabled the killer or killers time to make the fatal head shots.
It is difficult to believe that the men hired to protect the president would play a part in his assassination. I can’t see why any of the Secret Service agents would have motive to assassinate the president. It is because of this fact, that I rule out any involvement of the Secret Service in the assassination.
KGB – Any list of possible conspirators would have to include the KGB, since Russia had been more or less forced to withdraw their missiles from Cuba only 13 months before the assassination. This had to be the main motivating factor for them to be a participant in his assassination.
There was no doubt that Khrushchev was angered at JFK for placing him in the position, where he had to withdraw Russians missiles from Cuba as can be seen in the following portion from scientciapress.com.
According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, at the time deputy director of foreign intelligence for Gheorghe-Dej’s Romania, in his book Programmed to Kill: Lee Harvey Oswald, the Soviet KGB, and the Kennedy Assassination [1], Dej was visiting Moscow at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Pacepa writes:
“According to Dej’s account, when Khrushchev finished reading that cable [from the KGB in Washington saying that Kennedy had ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba], his face was purple. He looked inquiringly at [KGB chief] Semichastny, and, when the terrified general nodded, Khrushchev ‘cursed like a bargeman’. Then he threw Semichastny’s cable on the floor and ground his heel into it. ‘That’s how I’m going to crush that viper,’ he cried. The ‘viper,’ Dej explained in telling the story, was Kennedy.
Goading himself on, Khrushchev grew increasingly hysterical, uttering violent threats against the ‘millionaire’s whore’ and his CIA masters.” – Scientiapress.com
Lee Harvey Oswald reportedly gave the Soviets the intelligence they needed to down the U-2 plane of Gary Powers in 1960. Powers himself said Oswald could have been the one that gave the Russians intelligence they needed to down his plane.
The KGB more than likely knew that Oswald intended to assassinate JFK, but did nothing to inform Washington of the impending assassination, since it removed JFK from the scene after JFK had shamed Premier Khrushchev the year before during the Cuban missile crisis.
Summary: This November 22 will be the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It will be six more years till the last files pertaining to the JFK assassination will be released.
It is amazing that President Kennedy could have incurred the wrath, of so many enemies in less than three years after being elected.
The Warren Commission took the easy way out and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone on November 22, 1963, to kill the president of the United States.
Oswald’s own statements after being arrested, if they are considered to be truthful, imply that he was only a patsy, which inferred that there was at least one other person involved if not an entity like the CIA or FBI. Evidently, the Warren Commission did not think Oswald was being truthful, because they ruled out any conspiracy theory.
If Oswald was a patsy, he was perfect for the job. He had moved to Russia after being discharged from the Marines, which could have gave him access to the KGB. Even though the KGB was suspicious of Oswald, they knew he could be used to further their plans of assassinating President John F. Kennedy.
The fact that Oswald was in the Texas School Book Depository Building, by itself doesn’t mean he was the one that pulled the trigger that day. With the shooter surrounded by boxes, it was not likely the shooter was ever seen while shooting. It has been assumed all these years that Oswald killed Officer Tippett. He may have but after reading the following article, I am not so sure it was Oswald:
48 years have passed since President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, but there are many who are not willing to accept the Warren Report conclusion that Oswald acted alone.
The fact that Allen Dulles, the former CIA director was on the Warren Commission, skewers the report beyond recognition considering he was there to steer the commission from probing too much into CIA documents related to the assassination.
Even President Lyndon B. Johnson said in this statement, probably without thinking that he was saying the Warren Commission Report was not completely truthful about Oswald acting alone.
Lyndon Johnson, president:“I’ll tell you something about Kennedy’s murder that will rock you…..Kennedy was trying to get Castro, but Castro got to him first.” - from How CIA Plot to Kill Castro Backfired, 2 Aug 1976, by Harry Altshuler, quoting Howard K. Smith interview of LBJ.
That statement tells me that he thought Oswald did not act alone, if he was blaming Castro for JFK’s assassination, since Fidel Castro wasn’t in the Texas School Book Depository Building the day of the assassination. LBJ is insinuating that Castro was involved and by doing that he is saying that some of Castro’s people may have planned the assassination of JFK with the Cuban government making sure Oswald had what he needed to assassinate President Kennedy.
The following Warren commission members later rejected the lone gunman theory:
Richard Russell, Senator and former Warren Commissioner:“We have not been told the truth about Oswald.” - Whitewash IV, by Harold Weisberg, p. 21.
Hale Boggs, Majority Leader and former Warren Commissioner:“Hoover lied his eyes out to the Commission – on Oswald, on Ruby, on their friends, the bullets, the guns, you name it…” - Coincidence or Conspiracy?, by Bernard Fensterwald Jr. and Michael Ewing, p. 96. The quote comes from an unnamed aide to Congressman Boggs. The book also quotes Bogg’s wife Lindy, through a colleague, as saying “He wished he had never been on it [the Commission] and wished he’d never signed it [the Report].”
John Sherman Cooper, Senator and former Warren Commissioner:“On what basis is it claimed that two shots caused all the wounds?…..It seemed to me that Governor Connally’s statement negates such a conclusion. I could not agree with this statement.” - The Zapruder Film, by David Wrone, p. 247. Cooper was commenting on a draft of the Warren Report. Wrone is citing the papers of J. Lee Rankin, wherein Cooper’s written comments appeared.
This website has a wealth of information about the many different conspiracy theories:
History-matters.com also has a page that tells where the witnesses thought the shots were coming from and several said they came from the grassy knoll:
This page also from History-matters.com shows how the government and non-government witnesses differed on how many heard shots from the grassy knoll with non-government witnesses outnumbering government witnesses 143-73. However the non-government witnesses who thought there was gunfire from the grassy knoll was 44, while the government witnesses only 8 thought the gunfire came from the grassy knoll.
The Mary Fennelly Foundation website has the most complete archive of documents, phone calls, photos, essays, audio and video of any JFK assassination site I have seen:
There are so many conspiracy theories that we know that we know they can’t all be true. We may never know what actually happened on November 22, 1963 other than President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. However, we can formulate in our minds, from what we read, that we think happened.
This article has too much information to read at one time, so might be a good page to bookmark for future reference, especially to the links at the end of the article.
Puerto Rican nationalists being held by police after shooting five members of Congress.
Four Puerto Rican nationalists entered the U.S. Capitol on March 1, 1954, four years after other nationalists had tried to assassinate President Harry Truman at Blair House.
The nationalists proceeded to the gallery and started shooting at the members of the House of Representatives, from the gallery. They started firing at the representatives and five of them were injured including Alvin M. Bentley (R-Michigan), Clifford Davis (D-Tennessee), Ben F. Jensen (R-Iowa), George Hyde Fallon (D-Maryland) and Kenneth A. Roberts (D-Alabama).
Lebron only pointed her pistol at the ceiling, since she didn’t want to hurt anyone but eyewitnesses said she had problems holding the gun steady and it jerked upward, while Figueroa’s pistol jammed, so Miranda and Flores were the only two shooters to hit the representatives.
The four nationalists shooting at the representatives were Lolita Lebron, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero and Flores Rodriguez.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower commuted their death sentences, with each assailant being sentenced to 70 years in prison. Figueroa Cordero was the first released in 1978 due to having terminal cancer. President Jimmy Carter released the other three in exchange for Cuba releasing CIA agents being held in Cuba. However, Carter denied this which makes it a mystery why he would release the attackers after only serving 25 years of a 70 year sentence.
It is hard to believe that the four attackers could walk into the U.S. Capitol with firearms without being detected, but this was before it was common to have metal detectors in government buildings.
Cordero asked to be immediately executed after being brought to court, but that request was denied.
Dorothy Kilgallen was born July 3, 1913 in Chicago, Illinois. She started writing her Voice of Broadway column for 146 syndicated papers.
She hosted the radio program Dorothy and Dick on WOR in New York City which was first broadcast in 1945. Her husband Richard Kollmar co-starred on the program. Kollmar was known for portraying Boston Blackie on the old-time radio show with the same name as the character he portrayed.
The show was on the air for 18 years before it ended in 1963. Meanwhile she was one of the panelists on What’s My Line a CBS television show hosted by John Daly which began in 1945. She appeared on the show until her untimely death in 1965.
Kilgallen was active in newspapers, radio and television simultaneously, so was well-known long before she interviewed Jack Ruby. She hated country music with a passion and when some stars of the Grand Ole Opry appeared at Carnegie Hall, she called them “hicks from the sticks”. Patsy Cline didn’t take kindly to her words and said ” And if I have the pleasure of seeing that wicked witch, I’ll let her know how proud I am to be a hick from the sticks.”
Published Ruby’s Testimony Before Made Public
Her five minute private interview with Ruby is supposedly the only interview he gave without the presence of sheriff’s deputies. Somehow she got hold of the transcripts of Ruby’s testimony before the Warren Commission, then had them published before the Warren Commission Report was published.
J. Edgar Hoover considered Kilgallen a threat and had her moves watched closely for 25 years before the assassination. Kilgallen charged that the mafia had been recruited by the CIA to assassinate the Cuban leader Fidel Castro. That was later proven to be true.
Ruby Met With Officer Tippett Before Assassination
The most shocking revelation revealed by Kilgallen was that Jack Ruby, J.D. Tippett (the police officer who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald) and two other men had met at the Carousel, Ruby’s nightclub three weeks before the assassination. This makes me wonder just what Oswald and Tippett were talking about before Oswalt fatally shot Tippett.
Kilgallen Found Dead With JFK Notes Missing
The JFK assassination notes of Kilgallen were gone, when her body was found on November 8, 1965. She had bragged to many people that she was about to blow the JFK assassination case sky high with the information she had.
Even in death, there was controversy surrounding her autopsy. James Luke the medical examiner who spent 45 minutes at the death scene did not sign the death certificate, as Dominick DiMaio another medical examiner signed the name of James Luke.
No Official Cause of Kilgallen’s Death
No official cause of death has been determined, with it possibly being a combination of Seconal and alcohol causing the death. It is still not known whether it was suicide or accidental. There is also a possibility she may have had a heart attack concurrently with the effects of the barbiturates.
Since no witnesses were present at her death, that we know of, it may be that she was forced to take the overdose by the same people that took her JFK assassination notes.
The following paragraph from Wikipedia’s article on Kilgallen tells me she learned something that not even her husband would discuss after her death:
One of two known comments Richard Kollmar made about his first wife after her death was later recalled by Bob Bach, who booked the mystery guests for What’s My Line?. At Bach’s home several hours after her funeral, the television producer asked the widower to discuss his wife’s interest in the assassination, and Kollmar replied, “Robert, I’m afraid that will have to go to the grave with me.”
November Marks 48th Anniversary of JFK Assassination
In conclusion, this November will mark 48 years since the death of President John F. Kennedy in Dealey Plaza and 46 years since the death of Dorothy Kilgallen who apparently knew too much about that day, for her enemies to let her die of old age.
The day JFK was assassinated, I was a 19 year old soldier working in the company post office in Hawaii, when I heard the news of his death on the radio in the post office. I will be 67 when Nov.22 comes around this year. However, I have no more idea of what truly happened that day, than what I knew 48 years later except a U.S. president was assassinated on the streets of Dallas, Texas.
I have a feeling many people with knowledge of what really happened that day have died, many mysteriously, but as the years go by fewer and fewer of them are left. Someone 40 years old on that day would be 98, if still alive. Anyone 50 or older then probably have already taken any secrets they knew underground with them.
JFKresearch.com has more information on the life and death of Dorothy Kilgallen that may help fill in some of the gaps.
President Truman was living in Blair House when Puerto Rican nationalists tried to get past security guards to assassinate Truman.
President Harry S. Truman was living in Blair House in 1950 while parts of the White House residence of the president were being rebuilt due to structural problems.
It is clear to see in the photo above, that Blair House was not close to being a secure residence, like the White House. It was at this time that Puerto Rican nationalists were upset that Puerto Rico was a territory, while they advocated the independence of Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rican Nationalists Decide To Assassinate Truman
Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo were two activists in the nationalist movement. They had met in New York City and when Torresola’s sister (unnamed) and Elio the brother of Collazo was arrested in a failed uprising in Puerto Rico to gain independence for the nationalists.
This is when Torresola and Collazo decided to assassinate President Truman, in an attempt to spotlight attention on the Puerto Rican nationalist movement. They watched the activity around Blair House before making their assassination attempt.
Oscar Collazo walked up the steps and attempted to shoot White House Police Officer Donald Birdzell in the back, but he had failed to cock his handgun, pulled the trigger again and shot Birdzell in the right knee as Birdzell turned around to face Collazo. Secret Service Special Agent Floyd Boring and White House Police Officer Joseph Davidson joined the fray, opening fire on Collazo with their service revolvers.
Then Griselio Torresola, who was walking down Pennsylvania Avenue toward Blair House, spotted an officer Leslie Coffelt inside a guard booth and shot him four times with his German Luger pistol which would eventually kill Coffelt.
Torresola then saw Joseph Downs, a White House plainclothes policeman and shot him three times. Downs still was able to get inside Blair House and slammed the door preventing Torresola from entering Blair House.
Then Torresola saw his partner Collazo, about to be shot by Donald Birdzell, so he shoots Birdzell in his left knee, crippling Birdzell who had been shot in his right knee by Collazo.
President Truman Only 10 Yards From Shooter
President Truman awakened by the shooting from a nap, did an incredibly stupid thing, by opening his bedroom window. He was only 10 yards from Torresola at the time.
This assassination attempt has been more or less forgotten 61 years later, but for one day in November of 1950 the President of the United States could have easily been killed, if one of the shooters had noticed him looking out his bedroom window 10 yards from the shooter.
Officer Leslie Coffelt was shot and killed by Griselio Torresola but Coffelt would later kill Torresola before dying four hours later.
Officer Coffelt who had been shot earlier in the guard booth by Torresola fired and hit him killing him instantly. Coffelt died four hours later so Torresola and Coffelt killed each other.
Collazo was arrested and sentenced to death but President Truman commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. President Jimmy Carter commuted his sentence to time served and Collazo was returned Puerto Rico to live 15 more years before his death in 1994.
This assassination attempt has been more or less forgotten 61 years later, but for one day in November of 1950 the President of the United States could have easily been killed, if one of the shooters had noticed him looking out his bedroom window 10 yards from the shooter.
George Wallace shown after being shot on May 15, 1972.
Governor George Wallace was shot on May 15, 1972 on a campaign stop in Laurel, Maryland when he was running for president. He had drawn 42 percent of the vote in the Florida primary earlier in the year, leading each county.
Arthur Bremer fired five shots into Wallace which ended the hopes of Wallace winning the presidency. Bremer had earlier been leading cheers for Wallace, which apparently was a ruse to get close enough to Wallace to fire the shots, including one which was lodged in his spinal column.
Governor Wallace was forced to live the rest of his life in a wheelchair after the shooting.
Bremer, who will be 61 in August received a 63 year sentence for the assassination attempt but it was reduced to 53 years and he only served 35 years of the sentence before being released in 2007.
Arthur Bremer shot Governor George Wallace five times forcing him to live in pain the rest of his life.
Arthur Bremer lived a troubled life as a youngster and was a loner who kept to himself in school. His story helped inspire the screenplay for the movie Taxi Driver as mentioned in this paragraph from Wikipedia:
Wikipedia gives an excellent background on Bremer which gives a detailed description of his troubled youth and how he never fit in with others during his lifetime.
Governor Wallace won the Maryland and Michigan primaries but eventually left the 1972 presidential race and made another attempt at the presidency in 1976 which did not go as well because of him being handicapped.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair Governor Wallace who was 53 at the time of the assassination attempt, would finish his term as governor and be re-elected to a third term that ended in 1979. He later would win the governorship again in 1982 and served from 1983-1987 for his fourth and final term.
Wallace would live 27 more years after the assassination attempt, dying at the age of 79 in 1998 in Montgomery, Alabama.
May we remember on this Memorial Day of 2011, the soldiers who have died in defense of America, from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I would like to remember my cousin James Walter Godfrey from Maine who died piloting a helicopter in Vietnam and the two soldiers who I worked with in Army post office in Vietnam, who were killed by a mortar shell attack, two months after I had left the country.
It is a sobering sight to see their names on the Vietnam War Wall online website, but would like to see their names in person someday on the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.
We have all seen the military homecomings at airports across the United States. However, the new TLC reality series Surprise Homecoming will be showing surprise military homecomings starting with a sneak peek on Monday, May 30 at 10PM ET and will be seen regularly sometime in June.
The surprise element is what will make these shows even more special than a normal homecoming by men and women in the service.
I look for this show to be very popular and can’t wait to see the first episode.
Billy Ray Cyrus will be hosting the series and I can imagine how it must be for these families to have their loved ones return unexpectedly.
This is the first week that there is no clearcut answer to the question of who will go home next week. Casey Abrams went home a week early in my book, but did gain some extra weeks after being saved by the judges earlier this season.
It was almost a foregone conclusion that Jacob Lusk would be going home last night. On my little poll 74 votes said that Jacob would go home out of 94 votes cast.
Next week we could see Scotty McCreery or Lauren Alaina Suddeth go home depending on how the competition goes next Wednesday night. Unless Haley Reinhart or James Durbin stumble badly on Wednesday night, we may be headed to a Haley and James Final Two.
James is in the only contestant to not have been in the bottom two or bottom three this season. Haley seems to have really turned her chances in her favor after being in the bottom three earlier in the season.
I am not sure if Lauren can handle the pressure coming up in the last three weeks of the show, if she is still there at the end. She will be watched closely by the mentors and judges to see if she backs off high notes, like she did last Wednesday night. As I have stated before, whoever goes home first between Scotty and Lauren will leave their votes to the other for the most part.They are both young and both are from the south, so either one of them should pick up a lot of votes, once the other leaves, unless they both wind up in the Final Two.
Right now, like Randy said James is the one that is most likely to win American Idol. It is unclear who will get the votes of Jacob Lusk, since none of the remaining singers sing his kind of music.
Personally, I am still rooting for Scotty and Haley, but Scotty could be gone when the votes are counted from the next results show.
The only total surprise would be for James to be voted off the show, but think his followers are very loyal, since he is the only contestant singing heavy metal music.
Now is the time for the singers to not let the mentors, Jimmy Iovine and Lady Gaga pick their songs. Otherwise they may lose because they didn’t go with their gut feeling, as to which song to sing.
The poll question asks which of the final four is most likely to go home on Thursday night.
General Walker was in his home when Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to shoot him seven months before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
General Edwin Walker was a controversial conservative who commanded combat troops in World War II and the Korean War.
He was arrested by the federal government after making some inflammatory remarks when James Meredith was the first black admitted to the University of Mississippi.
General Walker was charged with insurrection and sedition, plus two additional charges.
Lee Harvey Oswald attempted to kill General Walker on April 10, 1963, seven months and 12 days before he allegedly assassinated President John F. Kennedy during a motorcade in Dallas from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.
The Warren Commission Report said Oswald was the sole killer of JFK, but Oswald never faced trial since he was killed two days after the assassination by Jack Ruby.
If Oswald had killed General Walker, he probably would have been apprehended and arrested, but he never was formally charged with the attempted murder of Walker.
We do know that Oswald admitted to his wife Marina that he did shoot at Walker. If Oswald had been behind bars on November 22, 1963, it is likely that John F. Kennedy would have lived to finish his first term and possibly be elected to a second term.
JFK was 46 at the time of his death and would be 94 this month if still alive. However, if there was a conspiracy and Oswald was only a patsy to take the blame for the assassination, while someone else did the actual assassination, it would not have mattered if Oswald was behind bars.
November 22nd of this year will be the 48th anniversary of the assassination. Though the Warren Report claims Oswald was the killer, I still not fully convinced that he acted alone.
Even an 18 year old that was in Dealey Plaza that fateful day will be 66 this year, while a 40 year old that day would be 88 this year. So time is running out on any witness that might refute the Warren Report and prove it was a contrived effort by the U.S. government point the finger at one man, rather than a government of any country.
Just a few of the people and organizations that have been mentioned as the ones behind the assassination are:
Lyndon B. Johnson (who didn’t like playing second fiddle to JFK)
Cuban refugees (who didn’t like the way JFK handled the Bay of Pigs invasion and reportedly asked for less air support which halved the 16 planes being used in support of the Cuban invaders down to eight planes. Then after the invasion failed JFK pointed at the CIA for being the reason the invasion didn’t work, while he was the one that wanted less air support for the invasion. He fired several top CIA officials, including the director Allen Dulles after the invasion failed.)
E. Howard Hunt of the CIA (who reports say was at the grassy knoll the day JFK was assassinated and also took part
Organized crime in general since Bobby Kennedy, the attorney general was fighting organized crime with a passion.
Ku Klux Klan
There is no doubt that JFK had a large list of enemies who were angry enough with him or his brother Bobby to celebrate the death of JFK.
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit for someone to point the finger at his own vice president Lyndon B. Johnson who knew he would take over the presidency if JFK was assassinated.
On the other hand 48 years have passed and no smoking gun has emerged yet. It will take a deathbed confession now, more than likely to ascertain who the killer was if it wasn’t Oswald.
These are just some of my memories of the good old days:
When the ice man brought ice to place in your icebox.
When milkmen brought your milk to the house with cream at the top of the bottles.
When attic fans were the only way of getting any air in a house.
When we would walk on the Murray Street Bridge and see the Red River below, when there were missing slats.
When we were hot and didn’t think about it being hot because it was all we knew since nobody had air conditioners then.
When television shows didn’t come on till 3:30 PM. Howdy Doody and Pinky Lee started the telecast day on KALB-TV in Alexandria, Louisiana in the 50′s.
When we listened to old time radio shows like Dragnet and Breakfast Club on the radio, while my mom listened to her soap operas like Just Plain Bill, Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones and Guiding Light.
When people would go to local appliance store at night and watch television through the display window at Jimmie Walker’s Appliances on Main Street in Pineville.
When we would come home from school and watch our cowboy heroes in action.
When nativity scenes could be seen in public places before ACLU raised such a fuss, that you can’t find one in a mall today.
When stores like Penneys, Sears and Montgomery Ward were located in free standing stores, before the advent of the shopping centers and malls.
When kids would trick or treat until 10PM at night, filling grocery bags full of candy, with no special Halloween bags.
When families went to drive-in movies together, while teenagers would sneak a extra kid in the trunk, to avoid paying for them.
When theatergoers would throw tomatoes at the movie screen if they were upset with a bad movie.
When Larry McHale of KALB – TV was advertising cigarettes and started coughing, but regrouped and said “Just thinking of those other brands makes me cough.”
When eating TV dinners were more popular than fast food.
When McDonald’s had 15 cent hamburgers.
When you could get a haircut for less than a dollar.
When it cost a dime to see a movie.
When it cost a dime for a school lunch in 1950 at Pineville Elementary in Pineville, Louisiana.
When kids collected baseball cards and put them in bicycle spokes.
When families would go on picnics at the city park, letting the kids play on the playground equipment.
When going to stores we would see white and colored water fountains. One black man tried both kinds and said they tasted the same.
When we watched No Time For Sergeants three times in a row at the movie theater. (One of the funniest movies ever, with Don Knotts being a dexterity expert, that became discombobulated by Andy Griffith’s character.)
When we used to drink Hawaiian Punch and Delaware Punch.
When we used to pay a nickel for a 6 ounce coke out of a machine. Now they charge over a $1.50 for a 20 ounce coke, when in the old days a 24 ounce coke would cost 20 cents.
When we walked a mile to school everyday for the entire 12 years of elementary and high school.
When there was no middle school back in the 50′s.
When Gov. Earl K. Long of Louisiana gave free chickens to voters during a gubneratorial election.
When going fishing meant taking a cane pole and not a expensive rod and reel.
When I bought a $6.50 Nokona baseball glove for $6.00 when the hardware store owner found out I didn’t have enough money to pay the full price.
When we celebrated Christmas by running around with sparklers.
When we would see the miniature church on the city square in Alexandria every Christmas.
When Christmas music was played downtown during the Christmas season.
When we used to play marbles in school.
When playing with a yo-yo was cool.
When hula hoops were the hot fad.
When high school kids rode bikes to school instead of driving cars.
When familes went to church together.
When families actually ate dinner together at a table, instead of in front of the television.
When kids made money by delivering newspapers on bicycle.
When we drank grapefruit juice at breakfast even though we didn’t like it.
When we ate Wheat Chex at breakfast even though we didn’t like it.
When we used to get excited about another school year starting.
When we went to special Christmas Eve services on a cold night in December and watching Christmas movies on television when we got home.
When we had a train set over our bed as a kid.
When we took a trip in 1957 and saw the Howard Johnson restaurants with the orange roofs.
When we got together as a family to hear mother read from the Bible.
When we used to listen to records on the record player.
When homemade ice cream was better than any ice cream bought in a store.
When pizza was delivered to the house the first time.
When mom and pop stores went out of business because of Wal-Mart.
When there used to be neighborhood groceries scattered around in residential neighborhoods.
The last old time radio show aired on September 30,1962. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar being the last old time radio shows to be broadcast.
The poll today breaks down by age groups of people who have heard old time radio shows either live from 1920′s till September 30, 1962 or media such as MP3 CD’s and downloads:
It was 150 years this month, when the Civil War of War Between the States started. The soldiers who fought on both the Union and Confederate side, saw their fellow soldiers killed.
They probably didn’t get many letters from home since they were on the move so much. However, they could write home much easier.
The spelling is atrocious in some of the letters, but I am sure that didn’t matter to the one reading the letters.
