Buddy's War- A Pause to Remember

    ◆    75 years ago this week
    ◆    July 23-25, 1944

Soviet troops liberated the first of the concentration camps- Majdanek in Poland.

In Guns at Last Light, the third book of his amazing trilogy on World War II, Rick Atkinson says that at this point, the war came to have a "vivid moral structure." As the Allies were moving toward Paris, the Soviet troops in Poland had arrived at the Majdanek camp. A New York Times reporter said, "I have just seen the most terrible place on the face of the earth." (Atkinson, p. 183ff)

He had no idea that he had only seen the tiniest glimpse into a horror that we still have difficulty putting into perspective. The full horror that would be unveiled in the winter and spring of 1945 still stuns and paralyzes the imagination.

Buddy's War # 25 - Popular Culture Interlude

◆ 75 Years Ago
◆ July 15, 1944

#1 on the Billboard Top 100:
"I’ll Be Seeing You"- Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra

The home front in World War II was as much involved in the war as could be possible. From the World War II Museum website:

World War II touched virtually every part of American life, even things so simple as the food people ate, the films they watched, and the music they listened to. The war, especially the effort of the Allies to win it, was the subject of songs, movies, comic books, novels, artwork, comedy routines—every conceivable form of entertainment and culture. … World War II and the popular culture of that era are interconnected; the story of one cannot be fully told without the story of the other.

By this time in the war people also relied on popular culture to both inspire and help them forget, at least for a moment or two, what was going on overseas. Happy songs, songs of longing, songs of hope, songs of sadness were all part of the music scene when people went to buy records. For 1944, here were the top songs on the Billboard charts ranked by the number of weeks they were #1.

Top Songs of 1944 (by weeks at #1)
1. Swinging’ on a Star- Bing Crosby (9 weeks)
2. Bésame Mucho - Jimmy Dorsey (7 weeks)
3. My Heart Tells Me- Glen Gray (5 weeks)
3. I Love You- Bing Crosby (5 weeks)
3. You Always Hurt the One You Love- Mills Brothers (5 weeks)
6. Paper Doll- Mills Brothers (4 weeks)
6. I’ll Get By- Harry James (4 weeks)
6. I’ll Be Seeing You- Bing Crosby (4 weeks)
6. I’ll Walk Alone- Dinah Shore (4 weeks)
10. It’s Love, Love, Love- Guy Lombardo (2 weeks)
10. I’m Making Believe- Ink Spots/Ella Fitzgerald (2 weeks)

The Jukebox at restaurants and bars had a different set. Sometimes they were still being played a year after released. Sometimes they were songs that didn’t sell as many records, but people would drop their coin into the jukebox to hear it. Two of the biggies in 1944 bring to mind an image of people standing around a jukebox and laughing, singing, and dancing to these two.

On the Jukebox
"G. I. Jive"- Louis Jordan



"(There'll Be a) Hot Time in the Town of Berlin (When the Yanks Go Marching In)"- Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and His Orchestra



But radio was the source of more than just music alone. It was the TV of its day. The top radio shows of 1944 show the normal mix of comedy, music, variety, plays, and even sit-com.

Radio
Bob Hope
Fibber McGee and Molly
Lux Radio Theatre
Walter Winchell
Bing Crosby
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy
Jack Benny
Abbot and Costello

Entertainment was the diversion many needed. And it was provided.

◆    75 Years Ago    
◆    July 1944

In mid-July, the Allies disembarked nearly 1,500,000 soldiers in Normandy, a total of 36 divisions, as well as 300,000 vehicles. 54,000 tons of material are landed each day on the beaches of Utah and Omaha, as well as at Arromanches, where the artificial harbor operated 24 hours a day. -Link

Buddy's War # 21 - The New Family

  •    May 10, 1944

A letter from Buddy and one from Dora and she sent me some pictures of Buddy. Wrote to Buddy and sent him a nice wedding present.

    •    May 13, 1944 [Day before Mother's Day]

Got a lovely pocketbook from Buddy and Dora.

    •    May 26, 1944

Letter from Dora w/picture of her and Buddy
— Diary Entries, Beula Keller Lehman

Separate letters from each of them and an obvious Mother’s Day gift from both. Over the two years he has been gone from home,Buddy appears to have been conscious of his mother and was a dutiful son with regular letters. Of course in those days it was a very common form of communication. Beula was writing letters to either Harold or Ruth at least three times per week. It cost money to make phone calls. A letter was 3 cents! (In 2019 money that is still only 43 cents! In spite of what we hear from time to time about the cost of letters, etc. They were- and remain- a very economical way to connect. ) It would appear that this has just become even more necessary than in the past. He would have been aware, I am sure, that his family is now in a state of shock over what has happened. Dora would have been just as aware from her side. Perhaps she understood the implications better than he did. Being aware of possible issues, she is no doubt trying to be a good daughter-in-law.

Beula seems to be accepting it- at least on the pages of her diary- and is  grateful. The two women will be facing some difficult separation ahead. Perhaps it was a good thing to make sure they were on good speaking terms. It is a new family for both of them.

Buddy's War #20- Interlude- Memorial Day

    ◆    75 Years Ago
    ◆    Memorial Day 1944

In 1944 Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 as it had been for decades. (It became a Monday holiday in 1970.) It must have been a solemn day as many had already died- and everyone knew it would only get worse. It was only 8 days before D-Day.

Memorial Day (or Decoration Day) was, and is, a time to remember those who died in war. It was begun, as we know it today, after the Civil War and slowly was accepted across both north and south. It was the day to go to the cemetery and decorate the graves of the lost soldiers. It was a day to remember.

But in the midst of World War II, it was also a very real reminder of the cost the country was in the midst of paying. There was a debt being built that might live for many more decades and may never be able to be fully repaid.

John L. Sullivan was a Navy lieutenant during World War II. For Memorial Day 1944 he wrote this essay. The New York Times printed it on May 31, 1982, with the headline: “Memorial Day 1944: Looking Beyond Victory”. As I pause in my remembering thoughts of World War II, grateful that my Dad lived through the war, the essay is a haunting reminder across these past 75 years.

It began:

Recurrent in all our tributes to those who fall in battle is a dominant resolve that their sacrifice somehow shall bear fruit. How, we do not know, except in terms of generalities, even platitudes, about a bright new world which shall rise out of the desolation of war. This is our answer, and the only answer we have, to the wanton waste of blood and treasure which is the essence of war.

He continues:

For Victory alone is inconclusive. It decides the conflict, it ends the war, but of itself it settles no problems, establishes no principles. It is purely negative, for it brings us back where we started, and it was not for this that our comrades died.

His clear-eyed awareness of what was happening around him in the Pacific that year was filled with the pain of what he himself had no doubt witnessed. He knew that war doesn’t solve anything. It only, hopefully, sets the stage for something important and better. Victory is not the purpose of all this he says. Peace it the eventual purpose. But peace is not just the end of or the absence of war. It is the action of building a different and better world in the absence of conflict.

He concludes:

We are taking the first objective of this war, which is Victory. But our sights must be lifted higher. Beyond Victory lies Peace. Will it be the kind of Peace those men had in mind? It is for us to answer that question, all of us. If we answer it well and faithfully, if our voices and ideals help to make the Peace just as our weapons help to make the Victory, then in the years to come, years untroubled by the march of armies, we shall be able to say, in truth, that we have kept faith with those who died. We can do no less, and we can do no more.(-Link)

As Lincoln had said at Gettysburg almost 80 years earlier, it is for us the living to dedicate ourselves to the cause for which they gave their last full measure. It is for the living to build the peace. The war cannot do that. World War II did not do that. But it gave a place for that to happen.

Which is why I have been writing this blog and doing this research. It is about my Dad and his journey in war, but it is also about what happened as a result of that war- and how we may be losing the peace that built a different world. We may be losing the compassion that came at the end of the war to rebuild the countries of our enemies. We may be forgetting that these soldiers on one level or another believed that they were there to build a better world. Very few of them would have put it that way, of course. But to “keep the world safe for democracy” can be such a goal.

Today is another Memorial Day today. It is now 74 years since World War II ended. It did not end war. There are many more graves of many more young men and women in all corners of the world as well as in cemeteries around the United States. Maybe we can raise our voices and live our ideals in order to “make the Peace just as our weapons help to make the Victory.” It is in these actions of ours that our debt for their sacrifice will be redeemed.

Buddy's War #19 - Performing a Miracle

Before we get to the next months and the 10th being sent overseas, it is good to take a quick review of the US Army before the war began and the miracle performed in a short period. To say the strength of the US military was low would be an understatement. Politics, including isolationism, had to some extent tied the hands of President Roosevelt. Many hoped that the other European nations would take care of Hitler and Mussolini without US intervention. Roosevelt and others managed to finagle different ways of building readiness for what they felt was inevitable. It may only be through the lens of history that we can see that FDR and Churchill were correct and that Hitler’s advances were certainly one of the greatest threats to world peace and democracy that had ever been seen. It was a tightrope that they walked with finesse.

Even with that, however, in the months after Pearl Harbor, the United States was in the war but without a large and broad-based military. It was only the pre-Pearl Harbor draft which gave the foundation for what would become a huge fighting force. New armies and divisions were being created as long-range plans were developed and implemented in Washington for a war across both oceans and very far from home.



The 10th Armored Division was officially activated on July 15, 1942, at Fort Benning, Georgia. My dad’s 80th Armored Medical Battalion was an organic unit the 10th Armored- where the 10th went, the 80th went. When the 10th was created the new commander, Major General Paul Newgarden held a competition to give the unit a nickname. They took the name “The Tiger Division”. For the next year, Lester Nichols, author of the 10th Armored’s history, Impact, writes that the

training was especially rugged. There was the Tiger Camp with its night problems, forced marches, endurance tests, 'dry runs' and firing problems.

10th Armored Division, December 1942-  Fort Benning, Georgia

A division is somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 soldiers. Fort Benning and the many training camps like it, became small cities providing more than just training. They also sought to provide entertainment, activities, sports, and more than enough “fun and games” to keep the troops occupied when they weren’t too tired from the training that Tiger Camp provided.

In late June 1943, the Division packed up and left Fort Benning for what has become known as the Tennessee Maneuvers. These maneuvers were at the heart and soul of turning the American Army into a world-class fighting force.

The Tennessee Maneuver Area was a training area in Middle Tennessee  selected because the terrain resembled France, Belgium and Germany. In June 1941, Major General George S. Patton conducted maneuvers with the 2nd Armored Division in the Manchester, Tennessee vicinity, where he soundly defeated the opposing forces, using large-scale armored fighting. These maneuvers led to the creation of the Tennessee Maneuver Area.

In June 1942, Governor Prentice Cooper, announced that nine counties would be used as a maneuver area by the Second Army, and was eventually expanded to twenty-one counties by the time of closure in 1944. Cumberland University, in Lebanon, Tennessee was the location of the Headquarters for the Army Ground Forces field problems, commonly known as the Tennessee Maneuvers. (Nashville was the principal trailhead.)

Between 1942 and 1944, in seven large scale training exercises, more than 850,000 soldiers were trained in the Tennessee Maneuver Area.

The 10 Armored was there with the 101st Airborne Division, the 80th Infantry Division and the 83rd Infantry Division through June, July, and August 1943. (--Link)

Between the wars, German officer Erwin Rommel, as a young military attache, had visited Nashville and Middle Tennessee to study and follow the cavalry campaigns of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest to help him develop a pattern for the use of tank units as cavalry. This is part of what led General Patton to choose the area for his training in 1941.

Over the hills and valleys of twenty-one counties “Blue” and “Red” armies engaged in weekly strategic “problems,” with troops moved in and out according to a calendar of “phases” that lasted about four weeks apiece. In the military’s scenario Nashville was Cherbourg, without the bombing.

Maneuvers paused at noon on Thursday or Friday, when a light plane would fly over the mock battle lines, sounding a siren. Then thousands of soldiers would seek recreation in Nashville and the county seat towns. Facilities were limited, despite the best efforts of the U.S.O. and the American Red Cross; movie theaters and cafes were packed; drug store soda fountains were forced to shut down twice a day for cleanup. Each army PX was strained to the limit. Churches opened their doors and set up lounges; schools opened their gyms for weekend dances. The Grand Ole Opry had never drawn such crowds than during these months when Middle Tennessee hosted the army’s preparations for the eventual invasion of Normandy in 1944. (--Link)

According to Nichols the maneuvers themselves were


the scene of combat with chiggers, choking dust, sleepless nights, sore backs and aching feet. As always, the ‘enemy’ was constantly pursued. The battle umpires, too, were on hand to declare tank, track and truck ‘knocked out’ by a hidden ‘enemy’ anti-tank crew. (Impact!)

Other personal reports from other units indicated that the maneuvers were tough and often see as the toughest thing they ever did in the Army. Bob Wells who trained with the 100th Division through Tennessee Maneuvers wrote

In Tennessee we were as ‘in the field’ as we could be. When we slept it was in our pup tents, but each week for, as I remember, six weeks, we had problems Monday through Thursday. It was cold and wet, and I for one learned a lot about keeping myself together with no roof or facilities. (--Link)

Wells then records a poem written by and for the 35th Division vets. It begins:

The Tennessee Maneuvers
The devil was given permission one day,
to select a good place for the soldiers to play.
He looked around for a month or more wanting a place that would make them sore.

And, at last was delighted a country view
where the black walnut and the hickory grew, and vowed that Tennessee could not be beat
as a place for maneuvers in rain, snow, and sleet.

He scattered the rocks so the men could not sleep
and brought weather so cold it froze the sheep.
He then sent some rain, the bed rolls to soak
and a few cards and dice, so the men could stay broke.

And the final stanza

Now we’re on the last problem we’ve all done our part,
and at the end of this week the furloughs will start.
Then the men will go home with tall tales to tell
of the things that they did through this six weeks of hell.
— 35th Divisionaire. March 2008 Association Newsletter

The first week of September 1943 the 10th left Tennessee and settled at its new home, Camp Gordon near Augusta, Georgia. Here they would continue to train, grow and develop into a highly effective unit for the battles that lay ahead. Tiger Camp and lots of training continued.

By mid-May 1944, 75 years ago, training and planning were coming to an end. The war was waiting, and it appears as if they were ready. The US Military was working miracles and more were to come.

Buddy's War # 18- What a Shock

    •   May 4, 1944

Buddy called at 9:45 from Georgia saying he was married on Wednesday [the previous day, May 3.] Well the shock was awful

- Diary entry, Beula Keller Lehman

It may be that the shock is simply that he married someone other than the one he had been dating for years. It may have sunk in that the “friend” grandma mentions speaking to in a phone call from Georgia 13 days earlier is now Mrs. Harold Lehman.

Here we meet Dora Moldawsky. Her parents, Sam and Anna, came to the United States from Eastern Europe, most likely the Ukraine. It was the early 1900s, probably around 1904 before the Soviet Union, but not before the pogroms. That is no doubt why they made the trip to the United States. How they entered is a piece of the myth. In those mists of childhood overhearing, I remember something about them posing as brother and sister, even though already married.  All genealogical research points to them already being married when they got here. It makes an interesting story. Legal, illegal, or semi-legal immigrants, they came through the golden door of Ellis Island in New York Harbor next to the uplifted lamp of the Statue of Liberty.

Sam and Anna had three children. Dora, the youngest, was born in 1913. I have some pictures of Sam from the 1940s- a tall, handsome man, tanned and well dressed. Anna was the typical Jewish, eastern European Bubbe, grandmother. Sometime in the late 40s or early 50s, Sam had a leg amputated. Family lore had it due to diabetes, but a cousin later discovered other possible causes.

They were observant, Orthodox Jews. They kept Kosher and Sabbath. When we visited, the strict separation of meat and milk, for example, was hard for my brother and me to understand. Mom was not observant back in the Gentile wilds of Pennsylvania, Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform. When we were in Brooklyn I don’t remember any time when anyone went to services on Friday evening or Saturday morning. It is quite likely that at least the men went, but, since Sam died when I was nine or ten, it wouldn’t have been unusual for us not to even notice what was happening.

Sometime in her late 20s, Dora did her version of running away from home. In 1940 according to that year’s census records, she was still in Brooklyn, working as a bookkeeper at a wholesale dress house. In some magical and mysterious unknown way by 1943 at age 30 she ended up in Augusta, Georgia. Different versions of the story claim she was working as a secretary or did accounting or was a club singer in Augusta. Maybe all three. What is clear is that while there she met a GI from Pennsylvania who was eight years older than she was. That adds a certain amount of rebelliousness to her character. It would take a great deal of what her family would call chutzpah for her to be on her own, in 1944, and then get married to a gentile! This was as “mixed” a marriage as any other in 1944.

Sam and Anna must have loved her, though, they did not disown her. Beula’s diaries mention Harold and Dora both going to New York to visit and then, after Buddy was deployed, Dora coming to spend time with his family in Pennsylvania. Later pictures show Sam and Anna visiting in Pennsylvania with my brother and me, their two youngest grandchildren.

What we have here is a story with a glimpse into a far-different time. We have Harold Lehman, a run-away gentile from Pennsylvania standing at the Jewish USO of Camp Gordon, Georgia, marrying Dora Moldawsky, a run-away from her Brooklyn family.

People have asked me what it was like to grow up Jewish in Gentile, Bible-belt, Pennsylvania. My immediate answer often was, “I have no idea.” My brother and I grew up culturally Gentiles. I was living in the midst of my family’s home area. As I have mentioned before we were the 7th or 8th generation from my family tree in the West Branch/Pine Creek Valley. And they were all culturally, if not actively practicing Christians. Christmas was a big holiday in our family with a tree and a midnight Christmas Eve/Day party where my brother and I were awakened. We went out to open our presents, delivered by Santa Claus, with family and Dad’s workers there.

I know there was an awareness in the community that our mother was Jewish and that therefore I was, in some way or another, Jewish. Before 1964 each school day started with a reading from the Bible, the Lord’s Prayer,* and the Pledge of Allegiance. When I became aware of such things, I noted that I was always given a passage from the Old Testament. Socially, and practically, though, I was far more Gentile than Jewish. That does not mean I wasn’t aware of “Jewishness.” It was just far more prevalent and obvious to me that I was part of a Pennsylvania native family. I have no idea how others in town felt.

Seventy-five years ago today none of this was on the table, at least in any way I can see. Knowing my family, I am sure there was a great deal of uncertainty, fear, perhaps even anger, at what Buddy had just done. I would guess they had some of the same stereotypes and prejudices, especially about New York City Jews, as were common in the day. Beula never mentioned in her diary that Buddy’s wife was Jewish. I have a hunch that, like many a mixed marriage today, the tension would have been incredible. It is May 1944 and he is only a few months away from shipping out to Europe. As if that wasn’t enough stress, they would have to get used to a new and very unfamiliar family member.

*Footnote: Many years later, living in the Midwest, I learned that in a number of places in the United States this daily Bible reading and reciting the Lord's Prayer was NOT the practice. I had a roomful of church members look at me like I was crazy and dreaming when I said that we did that each morning. The reason was simple- there were Christian groups in the community that were not allowed to pray with others, Christians or not.

Buddy's War # 17- A Hint of Something to Come

    •    April 21, 1944

At 6.45 in the evening Buddy called from Augusta and his friend was there and I talked to her.
- Diary entry, Beula Keller Lehman

This is the first mention in the diaries of Buddy’s friend. Did Beula know that she was more than just a “friend” and was she using the euphemism to ignore the implications? Dad was 38 years old, never married. His brother Carl, 42, the eldest, was to be married by the end of June to his very long-time girlfriend.  His sister Ruth, 40, the middle child, had been married about 10 years. Dad had a history of a long time girlfriend that I have mentioned in other posts, whose tires he reportedly slashed when angry.

For all practical purposes Buddy was a small-town boy He spent most of his life in his hometown along the banks of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and the nearby Pine Creek in North Central Pennsylvania.

The West Branch rambles through the Allegheny Plateau, before heading east at Lock Haven. Forty or so miles later it breaks south at Muncy leaving the valley. It will join the North Branch a few miles further and form the main river to the Chesapeake Bay. The east flowing section is in a wide, fertile valley, the transition between the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Province (- Link) to the south and the Allegheny Plateau (- Link) to the north. For those 40 miles Bald Eagle Mountain (- Link) bounds the river and the valley. Powerful, tall and green, the mountain is the edge of the world from either direction.

Then there is Pine Creek (- Link). Don’t let its name fool you. One historian commented that it deserves the name river rather than creek. It can be a powerhouse of liquid- or a rock strewn stream. It runs eighty miles from its start beyond Ansonia. It flows through the Allegheny Plateau heading south having carved what is known as The Gorge or the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. It flows into the Susquehanna a few miles from my hometown, near the site where an ancient Elm stood for centuries until felled by Dutch Elm disease. Under that elm, the Tiadaghton Elm, on July 4, 1776, a group of illegal settlers known as the Fair Play Men signed a declaration of independence from England as the same thing was happening in Philadelphia. (- Link)

Pine Creek is the Tiadaghton- its native name. We were always told it was the largest creek in the world; the major tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna. Pine Creek is the wild place, the wilderness on which one’s life foundation can be built, a wilderness at the bottom of a majestic pine bounded gorge. Get your feet wet in Pine Creek, the saying went, and you will always return.

Both Dad’s parents grew up in the same area on neighboring homesteads. The town, and the whole valley from Williamsport to Lock Haven as well as up Pine Creek was filled with all kinds of distant- and not too distant relatives. Everyone knew everyone.  Nevertheless, as I said in post #2, I have little concrete information about his childhood and young adult years.

As a small-town boy, he did become familiar with the city when he went to pharmacy school in Philadelphia. But his feet had been in Pine Creek. After his graduation in 1928 he returned home to the West Branch Valley and lived with his parents in the house where he had spent much of his youth, worked at a local pharmacy that he and his father eventually purchased.

I am sure that it would not have been too much to assume that Dad was going to marry someone local.

All of this was now several years past when Beula got to talk to Buddy’s “friend” 75 years ago. When and how he met this friend is lost in family history. From information in Beula’s diary it appears that Dad was renting from a family in Augusta, about 9 miles from Camp Gordon and probably working in a hospital at least part time. Sixteen years later the family would stop in Augusta on a return trip from Florida and visit with a family who we were told was where Mom was living at the time. I can only guess that it may have been the same place. Who knows? Sometimes facts are not possible to discover.

What Beula and Bill or any of his siblings knew is pure, uneducated conjecture. Now, 75 years later we know where it was about to go.

Meanwhile,

◆ April 1944
◆ 75 Years Ago

    ◦    Adolf Eichmann and the Nazis offered the Hungarian rescue worker Joel Brand the "Blood for Goods" deal, proposing that one million Jews be allowed to leave Hungary for any Allied-occupied country except Palestine, in exchange for goods obtained outside of Hungary. The deal would never be made because the Allies believed it to be a trick and the British press slammed it as blackmail,
    ◦    A two-day meeting between Hitler and Benito Mussolini was held near Salzburg, and
    ◦    "It's Love-Love-Love" by Guy Lombardo and His Orchestra topped the Billboard singles charts.

Buddy's War # 16- Medical Training

◆ April 1944
◆ 75 Years Ago
Less than two months before the planned Allied invasion of France, American and British warplanes soften German defenses on the Normandy coast. (WW II timeline)

    Things will soon get far more hectic, surprising, and involved for my dad and his family. At this point 75 years ago it was all still in limbo. Through mid-April the only mention of Buddy this month in my grandmother’s diary was that she either received a letter from him or sent him one or a “box,” most likely of food. During this break in the action I have been researching the how and what of training for medics. I have found a number of helpful manuals and reports on the Internet. One is The Instructors’ Guide for Medical Department Mobilization, September 1942 and the other is part of the series on World War II history, this volume from 1974 on the Army Medical Department Medical Training in World War II. They give a clear picture of what the US Army Medical Department faced in the early years and how they developed the world class medical units that were indispensable. First, some background from the pre-war years as reported in the history.

    Training facilities of the U.S. Army Medical Department in 1939 reflected adaptation to peacetime medical requirements. From a World War I peak of over 340,000, the Medical Department’s strength had been reduced to a little over 11,500 officers and enlisted men by June 1939. … The five Medical Department field units that existed were either understrength or skeleton organizations; trained enlisted cadre could not have been provided in case of mobilization.

    Had the Medical Department been confronted with mobilization in the summer of 1939, the problems of creating a functioning organization capable of providing both routine health care and field medical support might have proved insurmountable. [Emphasis added.] The 2-year period that intervened provided an opportunity to adjust the program for the crisis that lay ahead. (Medical Training)

    Training that already existed was expanded slightly starting in 1939 after the start of the war in Europe when Germany’s invaded Poland. A report about the later development of replacement training centers on the website of the WW II US Medical Research Center clearly states the purpose:

The ultimate purpose of all Military Training is the assurance of Victory in war! An Army must be trained to do its job in the most effective manner if it is to reach victory with the least possible losses to the country. … Attached medical personnel and Medical Department units must be prepared to support the offensive spirit and actions of the Armed Forces. … Units must be trained to function effectively in any type of military operation. The well-trained medical unit will increase the offensive spirit by assuring combat personnel of adequate medical service at all times.

Medical personnel were therefore trained to be aggressive, resolute, and thoroughly capable…While the basis of initial training was the individual, the ultimate requirement was teamwork, from the smallest unit to the largest. (— Link)

    In order for that to happen, there was a basic program for medical personnel training. It appears that after the draft was begun in late 1940, the training looked something like this:

[E]nlisted men were to receive 13 weeks of basic training. [It] was divided into two phases: The first, a period of basic military training; and the second, a period of basic technical and tactical training. After 2 weeks of basic military training at the beginning of the cycle, the trainee was expected to be able to display and care for his uniform and equipment, to understand military courtesy, and to have acquired a fundamental knowledge of such basic military subjects as individual defense and march discipline.

The third to 13th weeks of the program were devoted to basic technical and tactical training. Training in basic military subjects continued, but after the second week of the cycle, the program stressed basic technical subjects that would prepare men either for specific duties or for further training at a medical unit or installation. During this period, men were also trained to march and execute tactical movements, to establish and operate battalion or regimental dispensaries, and to maneuver with the combat arms in the field….

Individuals qualified to be trained as technicians were selected at the end of the fourth, eighth, and 12th week of the cycle and sent to Medical Department special service schools or to enlisted technician schools for 8 to 12 weeks of technical training. (Quora)

    From other sources I have found that the Army earmarked medic candidates from the very first day they joined the Army. Sounds simple enough, but the truth of the matter is that in that time referred to as the period  of “Limited National Emergency”

Although there was extensive study and planning for the expansion of the Army Medical Department [during that period], little was actually done. …  The Army Medical Department was also handicapped by lack of funds to construct troop housing and classrooms at the training centers and to expand facilities at the technical and advanced technical training schools. The shortage of instructors at the training centers and technical schools was a chronic problem. Training equipment had to be improvised or simulated. Irregular arrivals and unscheduled transfers of trainees resulted in vast fluctuations in enrollments. (— Link)

    Looking at the 1942 Instructors’ Guide gives a decent outline of what the training was supposed to look like.

1) Basic Training- weeks one and two
The preliminary training of the individual enlisted man will be stressed. At the end of this period he should be able to wear properly, display, and care for his uniform and equipment; understand and correctly practice indoor and outdoor military courtesy; and have an applicatory knowledge of the essentials of all basic subjects prescribed in this program.

2) Technical Training- weeks 3-10
Emphasis is placed upon fundamental technical subjects which will fit him for actual practice or further training in a medical unit or installation. In addition to the technical subjects, specialist training, tactical and logistical training is begun. Fundamental technical subjects were covered such as establishment and operation of stations, collection and treatment of casualties in the field, the operation of regimental and battalion dispensaries; and the preparation for participation with the associated arms in field exercises and under combat conditions. 

3) Tactical Training- weeks 11-13
This period should be devoted largely to field and applicatory exercises. At the end of this period personnel intended for tactical medical units should be able to march and execute tactical movements with facility, establish and operate stations, collect and treat casualties in the field during day or night, operate battalion or regimental aid stations, and participate with the associated arms both in field exercises and under combat conditions.

4) Specialist Training- weeks 14-26
For a surgical technician this would include everything from nutrition and hygiene to ward management and air raid procedures. (Instructors' Manual)

    It appears that in the last quarter of 1941 the basic training portion was shortened to 11 weeks. But by then my dad would have already completed both basic and specialist training as outlined in the Manual.

    My Dad was part of the initial mobilization in the two years of 1939-1941. As I talked about in an earlier post, he registered for the draft as required on the first day in October 1940. His enlistment date was January 13, 1941. I assume that because of his own civilian training as a pharmacist he went though both basic training and medical orientation as listed above. The one thing that supports that assumption is a picture I have of medics from the hospital at Camp Blanding, Florida in late August 1941, over seven months into his year.

Buddy in upper right corner (cropped)

As I have said elsewhere, I have no diary from my grandmother to confirm any information. So far I have hit dead ends on following him in that first period of service. If, as I assume, he was trained in his eventual specialty- surgical technician- this all would have taken him until mid-July 1941. Did he stay for further training or to develop skills? Camp Blanding is not listed as a medical training facility in anything I have found. Was he sent home early since the space was needed for increased training when the draft was extended in 1941?

    All I know for sure are the dates above, the picture from Camp Blanding, and that by January 1942 (perhaps earlier) he was home and remained at home until activated in August ’42 into the 80th Armored Medical Battalion. Now, in April 1944, he was a medic with the 10 Armored Division’s medical battalion, no doubt “enjoying” these last months before going overseas. D-Day was less than six weeks away and then everything would change.

4.25- Tuning Slide: The Old and the New

Weekly Reflections on Life and Music

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without.
— Confucius (500 BCE!)

Music has been around a very long time. (How’s that for an understatement?)

This appears to be borne out by the archaeological evidence. While the first hand axes and spears date back about 1.7 million years and 500,000 years respectively, the earliest known musical instruments are just 40,000 years old. (Link)

I love that phrase that the earliest known musical instruments are JUST 40,000 years old. Wikipedia tells me that this is in the Upper Paleolithic Era which is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. The OLD stone age- as if the stone age wasn’t saying enough about how old it was! What were some of these old instruments? Flutes, of course. An easy instrument to make.

Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying widely between times and ... It is probable that the first musical instrument was the human voice itself… A wood-lined pit contained a group of six flutes made from yew wood, between 30 and 50 cm long, tapered at one end, but without any finger holes. (Link)

Of course no one was writing any of this down for many, many millennia. But cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia have been found which contain the Hurrian hymns, a series of hymns to the goddess Nikkal that date back 3,400 years.

“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world's earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.” The song was found engraved on an ancient marble column used to mark a woman's gravesite in Turkey. (Link)

We do know that there were musical instruments in Biblical times, but in these histories that is kind of late. The Psalms were hymns that were probably chanted and/or sung. Our favorite instrument is far older than the Biblical times.

In Denmark, by 2500 BCE an early form of the trumpet had been developed. This trumpet is what is now known as a "natural trumpet." It is valveless, and depends completely on manipulation of the lips to change pitch.

One of the most popular instruments today was created in 1500 BCE by the Hittites. …the guitar. This was a great step; the use of frets to change the pitch of a vibrating string would lead to later instruments such as the violin and harpsichord.

In 1000 CE Guido D'Arezzo made many improvements in music theory. He first improved and reworked standard notation to be more user-friendly by adding time signatures. Then he invented solfege. This is the vocal note scale: do, re, mi, fa, so, la ,ti, do. (Link)

So why all this?
First, some humility. Here we are about to start the 3rd decade of the 21st Century. It humbles me to think that what I and many of us are doing with music is part of a very long history. It is almost something that seems to come naturally, inbred, into the human race. If those ancients could make music that was, to them, inspiring and even “great”, who am I to think that I am something special?

Second, some continuity. Music is a long tradition. As a musician I am in that tradition, as small a part as I may play in it. So what? I am still part of it. So are you. Last week one of our local musicians/writers/journalists called for all the musicians of the Rochester, MN, area to gather for the third annual picture. There were about 75 or so of us. I could probably name another 45 or 50 who I know weren’t there. We were singers and instrumentalists, classical and pop, jazz and rock and country. As we were standing there getting the picture set up the Christmas song, The Little Drummer Boy, came over the sound system. Appropriate, of course, but we all started singing along. In harmony!

Third, the possibilities! Music is a varied tradition that can speak to any moment and any time. It moved the ancient Hittites as it moves us.

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
— Confucius

What’s old can be new again? Perhaps it is better to say that in many ways the new is always built on the old. It can be the continuation, the growth, the evolution of the old.

At the end of a year there are many things that we look back on. We are grateful for some, with some never happened, and will forget 99% of the events. But they inform and form us into where we are today.

At the beginning of a year there are many things to look forward to. Most of them are unknown! Many things will happen in the next twelve months that we have no way of anticipating or even specifically planning for. Music will be there to become a soundtrack for our lives.

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
― Confucius

◦ Music can turn us inward in reflection, the noble way of learning Confucius tells us.
◦ We imitate some of the greats of music in our learning process. I am not sure that in music that is as easy as Confucius thinks it is.
◦ Experience can be bitter, because we will not always succeed at what we try. We will make mistakes we wish we didn’t make. We will hopefully learn from that experience. Music is a building of experiences. Which is what we look forward to for the next 12 months.

Go- and put your life into it! It’s worth it- as it has been for millennia in every culture.

Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.
— Confucius

History Being Made

One of the most important and innovative musical adventures of the 1970s was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. It was a massive three-record (now 2-CD) set of collaboration with some of the greatest musicians of the bluegrass and country field. It opened whole new musical landscapes for many musicians and listeners.

They followed it up in 1989 with Vol. 2 and in 2002 with Vol. 3 (a 2-CD set.) All three, over the 30 years were amazing recordings of some of the great songs and musicians who created bluegrass, enhanced country music, and helped the music grow.

Here is a video of the recording of the title song in 1989 for volume 2. Watch history being made.



One more video, a brief documentary of the making of the original 1972 album.

Are We Still Here?

It's over.

What a game it has been. It had everything including a rain delay.

Either team could have won tonight. Joe Maddon would have been second-guessed for years had they lost.

The long wait of 108 years is now history.

I assume that if you are reading this, Jesus hasn't come back, the world is still here, although I have a hunch that Cubs fans have been raptured.

Steve Goodman's Dying Cub Fan's Last Request will now be simply an interesting artifact of our American love of baseball.

What else is there to say tonight?

Next year, the Twins? After this year, anything is possible.

Congratulations, Cubs! You deserve it!!

1908

That's a long time ago! Wikipedia has a list of 41 people who are 110 years old or older. The oldest was just shy of 6 years old when the Cubs last won a Series. (My dad was just short of age 3.)

The World Series continues with game 3 tonight with the Series tied at 1 win apiece. It will be the first game in Chicago in 71 years. That means that after tonight we can stop all this craziness of first times until one of them wins. Which will happen.

The 1908 Cubs had four future Hall of Famers:

• Mordecai Brown, Pitcher
• Frank Chance, 1B and manager
• Johnny Evers, 2B
• Joe Tinker, SS

The last three in reverse order are the most famous double play combination in history. They were immortalized in a poem in 1910, by writer Franklin Pierce Adams, known as Baseball's Sad Lexicon. He was bemoaning the skill of these three infielders against his New York Giants.

These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
Making a Giant hit into a double-
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

The trio played together at Chicago from 1902, including four National League pennants from 1906 to 1910. Some credit the poem for their election to the Hall of Fame.

1908 was the year of the infamous "Merkle's Boner" play that allowed the Chicago Cubs to reach the World Series after beating the New York Giants... in a one-game "playoff", actually the makeup game for the tie that the Merkle play had caused. -Wikipedia

Merkle's Boner refers to the notorious base running mistake committed by rookie Fred Merkle of the New York Giants in a game against the Chicago Cubs in 1908. Merkle's failure to advance to second base on what should have been a game-winning hit led instead to a forceout at second and a tied game. The Cubs later won the makeup game, which proved decisive as they beat the Giants by one game to win the National League pennant in 1908. It has been described as "the most controversial game in baseball history." -Wikipedia

Some credit that for the curse that would keep the Cubs winless in the World Series for at least the next 107 years. After all, the Cubs would appear in seven more World Series- 1910, 1918, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938, and 1945, but, as we know, lost them all.

This was the least attended World Series in history as the Cubs beat Ty Cobb and the Detroit Tigers in five games.

1948

Two games have been played in Cleveland and the Series is tied 1-1. According to MLB, the last 1 home teams who won game 1, went on to win the Series.  But this is its own Series- historic and anything could happen. I wouldn't count either team out until one of them wins the 4th game.

Earlier this week I looked at the last World Series that each of this year's teams played in- and lost- 1997 for the Indians; 1945 for the Cubs. Today I thought I would look at the last time the Indians won. As I said when in an earlier post, I was two months old the last time the Indians won the World Series win 1948. In other words you have to be an early Baby Boomer or older to have been alive. So who were the 1948 Indians?

They had six future Hall of Famers on the team.

• Lou Boudreau SS, also their player-manager
• Larry Doby OF
• Bob Feller P
• Joe Gordon 2B
• Bob Lemon P
• Satchell Paige P

A quick look at that list would tell you that there was history made at the game itself. Larry Doby, the first African-American to play in the American League, joined the immortal Satchell Paige to be the first African-American players to be on the winning team in a World Series.

That and Paige appeared in Game 5 for the Indians, becoming the first black pitcher to take the mound in World Series history.

They beat the Boston Braves in six games.

From Wikipedia:

The Braves had won the National League pennant for the first time since the "Miracle Braves" team of 1914, while the Indians had spoiled a chance for the only all-Boston World Series by winning a one-game playoff against the Boston Red Sox for the American League flag. Though superstar pitcher Bob Feller failed to win either of his two starts, the Indians ... capture[d] their second championship and their first since 1920 (as well as their last to the present date).

It was the first World Series to be televised on a nationwide network and was announced by famed sportcasters Red Barber, Tom Hussey (in Boston) and Van Patrick (in Cleveland).

This was the second appearance in the Fall Classic for both teams, with the Indians' lone previous appearance coming in a 1920 win against the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Braves' lone precious appearance coming in a 1914 win against the Philadelphia Athletics.

This was the only World Series from 1947 to 1958 not to feature a New York team, and also the last World Series until 1957 not won by a New York team.

1945 and 1997- Former "Last Times"

I am pumped by this year's World Series! As a life-long baseball fan to have a "historic" Series like this does not happen often. My personal greatest was the 1980 World Series where my Phillies won their first ever Series after two earlier widely separated tries. I was there for the first game at Veterans' Stadium- which was the first post season game they had ever won.

Anyway, that is why this year could be quite a time. If both teams live up to their season-long exhibition of skill, it may rank as one of the greats. Only time will tell if either- or both- fizzle and turn it into "ho-hum" baseball in spite of the hype.

I went back and did a little research into the "last time" these teams were in the World Series. For the Cubs it was 1945, as we have heard so often. Seventy-one years.

1945 Cubs

• Charlie Grimm was their manager
• There were no future Hall of Fame players on the team. That should be no surprise since it was the end of World War II and many of the top players had been drafted or enlisted.   
• They lost to the Detroit Tigers in seven games.

According to the Wikipedia article on the Series:

Warren Brown, author of a history of the Cubs in 1946, commented on this [lack of stars due to WW II] by titling one chapter "World's Worst Series". He also cited a famous quote of his, referencing himself anonymously and in the third person. When asked who he liked in the Series, he answered, "I don't think either one of them can win it."

In a similar vein, Frank Graham jokingly called this Series "the fat men versus the tall men at the office picnic."

One player decidedly not fitting that description was the Tigers' slugger Hank Greenberg, who had been discharged from military service early. He hit the only two Tigers homers in the Series, and scored seven runs overall and also drove in seven.

More recently, merely 19 years ago, we have:

1997 Indians

• Mike Hargrove was the manager
• No one from that team has yet been elected to the Hall of Fame, but a number of them are clear contenders including former Twins favorite, Jim Thome.
• Lost to Florida Marlins in seven games. The Marlins were only in their fifth season as a MLB franchise- a record.

Wikipedia reports:

The Marlins, who were underdogs, capped a stunning season. They [won] their first World Series championship, making them the first wild card team to ever win the World Series.

This was also the third (and most recent) time where Game 7 of the World Series went into extra innings, after 1924 and 1991 both of whom involved the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins franchise.

So it begins tonight. More sports, more baseball, more of the Fall Classic- # 112. I hope it lives up to- and even exceeds- the hype.

With all the pain we have been through in this election cycle, we need something extraordinary!

# 42/April 15 - Jackie Robinson Day

Jackie Robinson, # 42, played in his first major league game on April 15, Opening Day, 1947.


The United States was forever changed.


Integration, Civil Rights, hinted at as a burning need when the African-American soldiers came home from World War II with fewer freedoms than  the countries they helped free.

Now baseball, the American National Pastime, was integrated.
Just his playing skills would have been enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. Being the first to break the "color barrier" in MLB made it more than about baseball. His character as a human being, unwilling to bend and lower himself, yet never resorting to returning hatred for hatred, shines through these 69 years later.

If you didn't get to see the Ken Burns produced program on PBS on Mr. Robinson, do so. It's more than baseball; it shows what makes the United States who we are- for both better and worse- and calls us to be more than we have been before.

Continuing to Reflect and Respond

Those who preach a message of hate, anxiety, or fear are teaching false doctrines. That's a paraphrase of what our pastor said yesterday morning in his homily. I would add that those who preach vengeance and war as "Christian" responses are also preaching false doctrines. War may be inevitable in many situations, but it is never a Christian response in my opinion. A nation may need to go to war in different circumstances, but as far as I'm concerned Christians become people of prayer to minimize the casualties and the repercussions of war on those involved. Which, by the nature of our citizenship, includes us as well.

But a look around Facebook, the Internet, or 24/7 news will show that to be a person of peace in the midst of such violent times is downright a minority opinion. So is acceptance of those who are different. So is the willingness to call our own Christian history into question as a historic role model for what we see happening today.

One of my friends on FB drew upon the Crusades as a possible way of seeing what we might be called to do against ISIS. Of course it wasn't just ISIS that is invoked as the enemy. It is Islam. Which they imply is far worse than Christianity. When I point out the historic inaccuracy of such views, I become one of those liberals trying to excuse the terrorists instead of condemning.

No, I say. I condemn terrorism.

• Islamist terrorism in Paris or Beirut; 
• Christian terrorism in Northern Ireland, the KKK in the American south or against abortion clinics and abortion providers; 
• Tribal terrorism in central Africa; 
• Ethnic terrorism in Eastern Europe.

Terrorism is terrorism. End of statement. It is always abhorrent and horrific and aims at innocent people. The terrorists of any type see no one as innocent. If you are not with them, you are supporting the evil of their enemies.

The Crusades, some say, were an appropriate Christian response to Muslim oppression and persecution of Christians. I have a number of responses to that:

• The world of the Crusades is not the world we live in. For example:
• Nation-states as we understand them today did not exist. When they did in embryonic form in Western Europe, there was a higher power than the state government- the Church.
• When the Church called for the Crusades it was a call to a war of aggression and the gain of territory and wealth. Sure it was couched in the language of kicking the "infidels" out of the Holy Land, but it was still a war of power.
• When some Crusaders entered areas under the hegemony of the Eastern Orthodox-style churches, slaughters of locals sometimes occurred because these couldn't be "real" Christians. They weren't "western."
• How did the Crusades recruit? They promised the Crusaders that they would get a quicker entry into heaven as a result of their fighting. (Note: This led to what were called "indulgences" and the later protest against that by Martin Luther.)

Any of this sound familiar? The church may not have promised whatever number of virgins, but they did promise entry into God's kingdom as a payment. Many fell into line quite quickly for any of a number of reasons- escape poverty, escape jail sentences, get a family member out of Purgatory, hopes to get rich, a desire to be powerful when feeling powerless.

Others cry out- "Why don't national Muslim leaders speak out? Why don't they condemn the attacks?"

A not very in-depth Google search will find many, many examples of such anti-terrorism statements. What do people want them to do, go fight ISIS with guns in Syria to show they are opposed to the terrorists? Even international Christian leaders such as the Pope have been unable to stop Christian violence by their supporters- and many believe the Pope has unlimited power over Catholics. The National Council of Churches makes statements condemning racism and terrorism, but they are dismissed by those who disagree with them. Yet, it is expected that western Muslim leaders- a significant minority in this country- and within world Islam- will make condemnations that make some sort of a difference.

ISIS and their supporters will only laugh and put targets on the names of those condemning them. We are expecting "western values" to make a difference with a group of terrorists who are out to DESTROY western values. Anyone, even other Muslims, supporting what can be seen as western values will be suspect.

Yes, to have western Muslim leaders speak out has important reasons

• Call American Muslims to resist recruiting
• Remind American Muslims of the possibilities they have in the "west"
• Remind us all that ISIS et al. are the reason many refugees left their homes to come here
• Take a stand for peace
• Ease our Euro-centric American fears of Muslims.

What then are we to do? Where is this going?

First, I think we need to stop hiding our own history behind our self-righteousness. We have been here before in history and it wasn't pretty. It isn't pretty now and won't get any better as long as we believe we are blameless in the past. Rewriting - revising our history - to justify anger and vengeance is not helpful.

Second, we need to find more common ground within the country. We need each other. Name-calling doesn't work on the grade-school playground; it works even less in the political arena. It only further separates us. We don't need that!

What might be some of the common ground? How about:

• Being clear who the "enemy" is- radical extremists Muslims are responsible. Let's name that and NOT demonize all of Islam. 
• Stop "spin" to make everything Obama's fault or Bush's fault or God knows what else. That gets us as far as does name-calling.
• Find ways to increase dialogue with Muslims in the United States. Most of us know very few Muslims personally. Let's change that.
•  Admit that we are in a war. Pope Francis has said we have been fighting World War III as a piecemeal war. I believe he is right. But a war of this type may very well give us some possibilities we may not have had before to bring disparate nations and sides together. I don't give a damn how it started- we can't change that. We can look for ways to bring about a change.
• As a pacifist I have serious problems with war. It is never the best solution. It may be the only solution at some point, but that is not a reason to celebrate war. As a country we need to find ways to wage this war with as much of an eye to peace as we can. War will always lead to difficult and awful decisions.
• How does a pacifist support a war? With great difficulty; it is never an easy choice. 
• A pacifist needs to always be there in the midst of the discussion reminding  the nation of its humanity and its need to remain humane. 
• A Christian pacifist (which has never, NEVER been a contradiction) will remind all, themselves included, that we are all (on both sides of the conflict) created in the image of the Creator. 
• The deaths of civilians and innocent people (so called, collateral damage) are never acceptable and when it happens, confession and repentance is essential.
• Pacifists are not unpatriotic. We love our country and will always work hard to keep her strong and committed to our historic values. We may not take up arms and may often be seen challenging common wisdom as well as a warrior mentality, but we are not un-American. We will do what we can do to maintain our freedoms and hopes as a nation.

This is a difficult time. The government of the past two administrations as led us deeper into a war-mode. One did this by it's saber-rattling, regime-change, and general lack of insight. The other has attempted to downplay what is happening with groups like ISIS. Both have continued the American tradition that goes way back in history of poor intelligence often caused by the intelligence community giving those in power the news they want.

Unfortunately I don't see anything better happening no matter who gets elected. It is a time for new insights, new tactics, new understandings. I don't know what those new things are, but we are not living in the world of World War II or even Vietnam. This is new and dangerous. New insights and direction are needed.

So I pray. Not out of fear or anxiety, but out of the need to remain settled and centered in the ways of God. I also pray that I am not being a prophet- that these things will not come to pass, that we will not deepen the war-mentality and fall deeper into a new morass of unwinnable war. I pray that our values as a nation will not be lost in fear and a desire to have a perfect life.

Let me end with words of a hymn used in worship yesterday. These words form a prayer of hope in these days of growing war...

O God of every nation,
of every race and land,
redeem the whole creation
with your almighty hand;
where hate and fear divide us
and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us
and heal our strife-torn world.

From search for wealth and power
and scorn of truth and right,
from trust in bombs that shower
destruction through the night,
from pride of race and nation
and blindness to your way,
deliver every nation,
eternal God, we pray!

Lord, strengthen all who labor
that we may find release
from fear of rattling saber,
from dread of war's increase;
when hope and courage falter,
your still small voice be heard;
with faith that none can alter,
your servants undergird.

Keep bright in us the vision
of days when war shall cease,
when hatred and division
give way to love and peace,
till dawns the morning glorious
when truth and justice reign
and Christ shall rule victorious
o'er all the world's domain.

Words: William Watkins Reid, Jr.
Words © 1958, Renewed 1986 by The Hymn Society (admin. by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188).
All rights reserved.

A Day of GREAT Historic Significance

Just fooling around on the Web and decided to check "On This Date" lists. On This Day led it off with what would be, if real, the single most important date in World History...

4004 BC - Creation of the world begins according to the calculations of Archbishop James Ussher

Ussher can be laughed at, but in his day it took a great deal of scholarship and research in many areas to be able to do what he did. That doesn't mean it's for real. Many of the "young earth creationists" may cite his work to prove their stance, but it goes against all science to see it the way Ussher did.

In a bit of historic irony, also on this date:

1977 - Paleontologist Elso Barghoorn announces that 34-billion-year-old one-celled fossils, the earliest life forms, had been discovered

Had to smile at that!

In the history of more recent events, I would be remiss if I didn't mention this one. This IS an historic date in American professional sports, and for many of us, something akin to a day of religious significance:

1921 - Green Bay Packers play 1st NFL game, 7-6 win over Minneapolis

Then there are those of us who lived through Watergate and the shenanigans of our then President, Richard Nixon. If Ussher and the Packers' events are beginnings, this was the beginning of the end:

1973 - Nixon agrees to turn over White House tape recordings to Judge Sirica

One of the great works of the musical stage started on this date:

1991 - "Les Miserables" opens at Mogador Theatre, Paris

And in other news of the past:

1956 - Hungarian citizens began an uprising against Soviet occupation. On November 4, 1956 Soviet forces enter Hungary and eventually suppress the uprising.

1956 - NBC broadcasted the first videotape recording. The tape of Jonathan Winters was seen coast to coast in the U.S.

1958 - Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. He was forced to refuse the honor due to negative Soviet reaction. Pasternak won the award for writing "Dr. Zhivago".

This post is a public service for the historic and 

educational growth of all my readers.

More Musical Memories

I was listening to Bob Dylan while trying to figure out what to write for this day's post. So I looked at this date in music history. (See tomorrow when it comes for why I was listening to Bob Dylan.)

So here were some of the important events on this date.

First a real piece of history for jazz:

• 1922 - The New Orleans Rhythm Kings recorded for the first time.

 Two dates from the history of a small  group from Great Britain:

• 1958 - George Harrison joined the band Quarrymen. John Lennon and Paul McCartney were also members.
• 1966 - The Beatles ended their fourth American tour at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA. It turned out that the show was their last public concert.

Here was one of the great songs:

• 1964 - Roy Orbison's single "Oh, Pretty Woman" was released. The song was Orbison's second #1 hit in the U.S and his third in the U.K.

In the out-in-left-field category:

• 1977 - 3 people were arrested in Memphis after trying to steal Elvis' body. As a result his body was moved to Graceland.

A BIG congratulations for 25 years clean and sober:

• 1990 - Elton John checked into a rehab center in Chicago, IL, for bulimia, drinking and drugs.

And one of the really off-beat stories. This is nothing but funny (to everyone but Isaac Hayes and Bob Dole):

• 1996 - Isaac Hayes, who co-wrote the Stax classic "Soul Man," sent a protest letter to presidential candidate Bob Dole requesting Dole to stop using his song, which his supporters had changed to "I'm A Dole Man."

# # # # # # # #

This Week in History

Some notes of absolutely little interest, but potentially interesting?

1948- A 67-year memory:

1st - The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
3rd - Cleveland's Satchel Paige make his 1st start & goes 7 innings
3rd - FDR advisor Alger Hiss accused of being a "communist"
4th - 5 day Southern States filibuster succeeds in maintaining America's poll tax
5th - Cleveland Indians set club record for most double plays in a game (6)
6th - Bob Mathias, US, wins decathlon at London Olympics
6th - Fanny Blankers-Koen (Neth) is 1st woman to win 3 golds at Olympics
7th - Delfo Cabrera wins 11th Olympic marathon (2:34:51.6)

1965- A 50-year memory:

1st - Betsy Rawls wins LPGA Waterloo Golf Open
2nd - Morley Safer's sends 1st Vietnam report indicating we are losing
5th - Dave Marr wins PGA title
6th - 32nd NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Cleveland 24, All-Stars 16 (68,000)
6th - Beatles release "Help" album in UK
6th - Indian troops invade Pakistan
6th - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act prohibiting voting discrimination against minorities

Jan Hus- Apostle, Prophet, Martyr

I preached yesterday and since today is the Saints' Day for Jan Hus I brought some of my Moravian history and legacy to the Episcopal Church where we are now members. Here's the basic manuscript I went from.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday's Gospel

Mark 6:1-13
He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The Sermon

On Being a Prophet

This morning’s Gospel is one of those eminently quotable passages: A prophet is not without honor, Jesus says, except in his home country. Mark made sure we saw the contrast as he moves from Jesus NOT being able to do many miracles in Nazareth to what the disciples did as they were sent out.

But this isn’t a story about having to leave your hometown behind in order to preach or minister. It’s about "call"- and the prophetic side of responding to the call. Which of course raises the question: What does it mean to be a prophet?

First we have to set aside the idea of telling the future - which is not what prophets are all about. When they tell what is going to happen in the future, they are telling what will happen when the people don’t follow God’s call to them. So the first thing prophets are about is hearing the "call". That leads to a sense of humility- the "call" isn’t about me, it’s about God calling the person. Humbling- or should be. When the prophet reaches that point then, they will begin to follow set of values or principles based on the way of God.

So far so good.

Unfortunately when one reaches that level of being “called” things begin to get a little dicey. A quick look around will show that the ways of God- God’s values- are not often the basis for what is happening around us in the world. You know- those values like

• caring for the least and the lost; 
• remembering the prisoner and the sick; 
• working for the betterment of the homeless and those oppressed by political, religious or economic injustice.

At which point the one hearing the “call” can quickly opt out or face an even more difficult choice. The choice is whether or not to challenge the status quo- the powers that be- and take the side of those who have no power; give voice to those whose voice is muted or silenced.

Perhaps that is why the prophet has so much trouble in his hometown- he knows the people as well as they know him and it becomes difficult to take those necessary stands in that setting.

But many DO stand up and find they have a more far-reaching impact than they would have ever thought.

Six hundred years ago [yesterday]- July 5, 1415- one of those prophets sat in a prison in Constance, a significant university and political center in SW Germany, near the Swiss Border. This prisoner had been promised safe-passage by the Emperor, but had instead found himself imprisoned by the officials of the Roman Church holding an ecumenical council in the city.

The prisoner’s name was Jan Hus and [today] is his Day on the Calendar of Saints of both the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches. He was a priest from Prague who was caught in the middle of church and state because he had responded to a "call" to stand up to what he saw as corruption in the church.

Awakened by the writings of England’s John Wycliffe, Hus antagonized the church by likening the pope to antichrist. He urged that lay people be allowed both the bread and wine at Eucharist instead of only the bread. Calling for a reformed priesthood, he repudiated indulgences and rejected masses for the dead as worthless. Like Wycliffe, he declared that the Bible should be the sole standard by which the church judges religious truth.

He went into exile in 1413, unable to return to Prague, where he had taught and preached for 13 years. He stayed in exile, not from personal fear, but because the pope has placed an interdict on any city which harbored him. Rather than give Rome a reason to deprive Prague of baptism and communion, he chose exile under the protection of his feudal lord.

Hus had been wrongly described as a heretic, charged with beliefs he never held.

Just before traveling to Constance, Hus had written to a friend that he knew that by himself he could not restore all truth but vows at least not to be truth’s enemy. The world may run on in its usual way, but as for himself, he said,

Truth conquers all things.

In Constance, the council refused to allow him to speak. They ordered him to recant his heresies which he couldn’t do, he insists, since he had never held them.

Knowing that he faced death by burning, if he did not recant, he made a final declaration on the 1st of July, 1415:

I, Jan Hus, in hope a priest of Jesus Christ, fearing to offend God, and fearing to fall into perjury, do hereby profess my unwillingness to abjure all or any of the articles produced against me by false witnesses. For God is my witness that I neither preached, affirmed, nor defended them, though they say that I did.

I say I write this of my own free will and choice.

 They sentenced him to die by burning at the stake. On the morning of July 6, 1415, Hus was given one last opportunity to recant- which he naturally refused- and he died singing.

His followers were both religious and secular. The religious side, within 40 years founded what is now called the Moravian Church. Luther a century later affirmed that he was a Hussite. The Moravians found their way to England in the 1600s and bequeathed the legacy to the Anglicans.

The secular side became Czech nationalists and this weekend, celebrations are being held around the Czech Republic on the 600th Anniversary of his death.

The idea that “truth conquers all things,” or “truth prevails,” is not original with Hus. A few years earlier, Wycliffe had written,

I believe that in the end the truth will conquer.

The work of a prophet is to speak the truth to power. It is to be a voice for God’s ways. It may not always turn out the way WE want it to. Nor is it likely to always be popular. But we- each in our own way are called to be a source of the grace of God. As we each hear the call to mission, ministry and the way of a prophet, may we heed the words of one of Hus’s prayers.

Seek truth,
listen to the truth,
learn the truth,
love the truth,
speak the truth,
keep the truth,
defend the truth with your very life!