December 2014

Note from the Editor

This edition of Dispatches marks the first full year of its publication. Our objective has been to provide articles that inform and entertain our readers. We hope we have succeed in our purpose and shall strive to continue offering stories of interest and importance. From the staff at Together We Served, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

If you have any comments or suggestions for our next Dispatches, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

LtCol Mike Christy, US Army (Ret)
 

The Christmas Truce of 1914

During World War I, in the bitter winter of 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, one of the most unusual events in all of human history took place. The Germans had been in a fierce battle with the British and French. Both sides were dug in, safe in muddy, man-made trenches six to eight feet deep that seemed to stretch forever.

All of a sudden, German troops began to put small Christmas trees, lit with candles, outside of their trenches. Then, they began to sing songs. Across the way, in the "no man's land" between them, came songs from the British and French troops. Incredibly, many of the Germans, who had worked in England before the war, were able to speak good enough English to propose a "Christmas" truce.

A spontaneous truce resulted. Soldiers left their trenches, meeting in the middle in fortified trenches to shake hands. The first order of business was to bury the dead who had been previously unreachable because of the conflict. Then, they exchanged gifts. Chocolate cake, cognac, postcards, newspapers, tobacco. In a few places, along the trenches, soldiers exchanged rifles for soccer balls and began to play soccer in the snow.

According to Stanley Weintraub, who wrote about this event in his book, "Silent Night", "Signboards arose up and down the trenches in a variety of shapes. They were usually in English, or - from the Germans - in fractured English. Rightly, the Germans assumed that the other side could not read traditional gothic lettering, and that few English understood spoken German. 'YOU NO FIGHT, WE NO FIGHT' was the most frequently employed German message. Some British units improvised 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' banners and waited for a response. More placards on both sides popped up."

Rare photo shows German soldiers of the 134th Saxon Regiment and British soldiers of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment meeting in "no man's land" on December 26, 1914.

It truce didn't last forever. In fact, some of the generals didn't like it at all and commanded their troops to resume shooting at each other. After all, they were in a war. Soldiers eventually did resume shooting at each other. But for a few precious moments there was peace on earth good will toward men. There's something about Christmas that changes people. It happened over 2000 years ago in a little town called Bethlehem. It's been happening over and over again down through the years of time.

Although the Christmas Truce of 1914 may seem like a distant myth to those now at arms in parts of the world where vast cultural differences between combatants make such an occurrence impossible, it remains a symbol of hope to those who believe that a recognition of our common humanity may someday reverse the maxim that "Peace is harder to make than war."

Reenactment on You Tube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWF2JBb1bvM


Photos:
From The Illustrated London News of January 9, 1915: "British and German Soldiers Arm-in-Arm Exchanging Headgear: A Christmas Truce between Opposing Trenches"
A cross, left in Saint-Yves (Saint-Yvon - Ploegsteert; Comines-Warneton in Belgium) in 1999, to commemorate the site of the Christmas Truce. The text reads: "1914 - The Khaki Chum's Christmas Truce - 1999 - 85 Years  "Lest We Forget"
German soldiers of the 134th Saxon Regiment and British soldiers of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment meet in no man's land, December 26th.

America's First Park Rangers

Early in 1851, during the frenzy of the California Gold Rush, an armed group of white men were scouting the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. They called themselves the Mariposa Battalion. They were searching for Indians, intent on driving the natives from their homelands and onto reservations when they stumbled upon an area of awe-inspiring beauty, later to be known as Yosemite. It was this discovery of Yosemite that set into motion events that would lead to the U.S. Congress proclaiming it a national park in October 1890, as it had done several weeks earlier for Sequoia and Yellowstone in March 1872. However, it had made no provision for an authority to oversee them. Instead it required the U.S. Army to patrol and protect federal lands making them, in essence, America's first national park rangers.

It was a mammoth task for the army to patrol the millions acres of no-man's land on horseback. While they did their best to stop poachers and vandals, the soldiers had no authority to punish offenders. No laws had been defined and so the wrongdoers were only issued warnings or, in severe cases, expelled from the parks. Nevertheless, the presence of these soldiers as official stewards of park lands brought some sense of law and order to the mountain wilderness.

Protecting the park was also dangerous work. In the frigid winter season, cavalrymen on skis patrolled for poachers. Conditions were often treacherous; soldiers died in avalanches and snowstorms, or were killed by poachers.

Among these earliest stewards were four segregated black army regiments formed just after the Civil War and sent west to fight in the "Indian Wars."  Native Americans living on the plains called them "Buffalo Soldiers." They saw a resemblance between their dark, curly hair and the matted cushion between the horns of the buffalo. It has also been written that the Cheyenne called them "Buffalo Soldier" because their fierce, brave nature reminded them of the way buffalos fought. Whatever the reason, the term was used respectfully and with honor.


Many of the African-American troops of the 24th Infantry and the 9th and 10th Cavalry were also veterans of the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War in which they were called "Smoked Yankees."

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, these units were consistently assigned to the harshest and most desolate posts. They were sent to subdue Mexican revolutionaries, outlaws, Comancheros, rustlers, and hostile Native Americans. They also explored and mapped the Southwest and established frontier outposts that would become future towns and cities.

Even though the Buffalo Soldiers wore the uniform of the U.S. Army, their ethnicity combined with the racial prejudice of the time made the performance of their duties quite challenging. In the early 1900s, African-Americans were routinely abused, or even killed, for the slightest perceived offense. They occupied one of the lowest rungs of the social ladder; a fact which served to undercut the authority of any black man who served in any position of power. Yosemite and Sequoia's Buffalo Soldiers had to be simultaneously strong and diplomatic to fulfill the duties of their job but to avoid giving offense.

Although officers were mostly Euro-American, an exception to this was Charles Young, the third African-American graduate of the U.S. military academy at West Point. He served as the acting military superintendent of Sequoia National Park in 1903. Although his tenure was brief, it was groundbreaking. Young is considered by some to be the first African-American superintendent of a national park as well as the first black military attache, first black to achieve the rank of colonel, and highest-ranking black officer in the United States Army until his death in 1922.

Most of the men under Young's command in Sequoia, as well as the 9th Cavalry soldiers serving in Yosemite, were war veterans, but service in the Sierra brought about an astonishing change in geography and function for these battle-weary men.

Their duties included confiscating firearms as well as curbing poaching of the park's wildlife, suppressing wildfires, ending illegal grazing of livestock on federal lands, and stopping thefts of timber and other natural objects. They oversaw the construction of roads, trails, and other infrastructure.

Their accomplishments included the completion of the first usable road into Giant Forest and the first trail to the top of Mt. Whitney (the tallest peak in the contiguous United States) in Sequoia National Park in 1903; and the building of an arboretum in Yosemite National Park near the south fork of the Merced River in 1904. One scholar considered the latter area to contain the first marked nature trail in the national park system. Thus, an integral part of that history played by the 500 Buffalo Soldiers, comprising eight troops of cavalry and one company of infantry, will no longer be forgotten. Their noteworthy accomplishments were made despite the added burden of racism.

Soldiers from the 25th Infantry, referred to at the time as a "crack black regiment," were famously called in during the Great Fire of 1910 - the same year Glacier National Park was established - to fight the largest blazes. The forest fires raged over 2,000 square miles of northern Idaho and western Montana and consumed more than 100,000 acres of park forests, killing 70 people and destroying timber worth $13 billion.

In 1914, civilian employees of the Department of the Interior replaced the Army in administration and protection of Yosemite National Park, thus ending the U.S. Army's role as the official administrator of Yosemite and Sequoia national parks. Between 1891 and 1913 the U.S. Army helped create a model for park management as we know it today.

Hollywood Illusionists Hide Aircraft Factories

In February 1942, U.S. Navy personnel tracked a Japanese submarine lurking just outside of San Francisco. A few nights later, a Japanese submarine surfaced off the coast of Santa Barbara and fired a few shells at an oil storage facility. With the memories of December 7th 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor still fresh, the threat of a Japanese invasion seemed more than possible, perhaps likely.  

Fear of further Japanese attacks on vital installations along the Pacific coast, the War Department ordered the implementation of 'passive defense measures,' which included use of cover, concealment, camouflage and deception. The man selected to oversee this arduous task was Col. John F. Ohmer, a pioneer in camouflage, deception and misdirection techniques. At the time he commanded a camouflage training center at March Field east of Los Angeles.

Ohmer visited England during the Battle of Britain in late 1940, when the full force of the Luftwaffe was attempting to bring England to her knees. He witnessed first-hand how carefully made and positioned camouflage could be used.  The camouflage caused the Luftwaffe to waste thousands of tons of bombs on empty fields.

With help of scenic designers, painters, art directors, landscape artists, animators, carpenters, lighting experts and prop men from major movie studios Colonel Ohmer began the task of disguising key factories and assembly plants that would be likely targets for a Japanese assault on the Pacific Coast. Facilities included the Douglas Aircraft plant in Long Beach, and the Lockheed-Vega aircraft plant in Burbank.

As you can see in the top photo, Lockheed-Vega would have made a fairly obvious target.  But after the illusionists finished their magic, it looked like a nice, friendly neighborhood as shown in the bottom photo.

The Lockheed-Vega plant was fully hidden beneath a complete suburb replete with rubber automobiles and peaceful rural neighborhood scenes painted on canvas. Hundreds of fake trees and shrubs were positioned to give the entire area a three dimensional appearance.

The entire factory was covered with a huge burlap tarpaulin, painted to resemble a rural landscape. On top of this were placed fake trees made from chicken wire covered in chicken feathers and then painted. There were even fake rubber cars and mock buildings. Air ducts for the bustling factory beneath were disguised as fire hydrants on empty streets. But the Hollywood illusionists knew that the scene couldn't look too inanimate.

Maintaining the illusion of a neighborhood required careful timing and planning. The suburb had to show signs of life and activity. To do this, workers occasionally emerged to relocate automobiles, and through hidden trap doors in the canopy, appeared to take walks on hidden catwalks and pretended to do maintenance work. Flights o

Grunt's Challenge To An Army Gunship Pilot

By Darrell "Moe" Elmore 

In 1970, I was Company Commander of Charlie Company, 2/503d, 173rd Airborne Brigade operating out of LZ English near Bong Son in northern III Corps. At that time we carried out our "Search and Destroy" missions with relatively small size elements. An additional responsibility was to provide the firebase with the company's mortar section. About midway through my command time, I took R&R to Australia.

The afternoon before I was to arrive at in-country R&R center, I got a hop on a Huey to Lane Army Air Field near Qui Nhon. One of the units flying out of Lane AAF was the 61st AHC (Assault Helicopter Company) which supported the 173rd Airborne Brigade.  

That night I had a few drinks with some of the pilots I knew when one of the gun ship pilots started bitching about how slow the guys on the ground were. He said they just plodded and they could not wait around some times. I quietly told him that if he and other pilots felt "grunts" were too slow, maybe they should come out to the field and visit. "Get a feel for the life of a field soldier," I added. That ended that exchange and we continued other conversations. The next morning I was off to the in-country R&R Processing Center and soon boarded a plane for the "land down under" where I had a great, carefree holiday.

Once it was over, I returned to Vietnam and resumed command of my troops. A few days later we got a resupply and surprise-surprise, one of the gun ship pilots jumped off. He had accepted my "challenge" and come for a visit.

I took him up on the base and started a VIP tour. He had only been there for a few minutes when I got a call to immediately take a platoon and reinforce a Cavalry troop in contact. I called to alert the 1st Platoon Leader to get his men ready, then called by headquarter crew telling them the same.    

During the prep, I told the Weapons Platoon Sergeant to get a rifle, some web gear with canteens and two bandoleers of ammo. He quickly returned with the gear which I handed to the surprised pilot. I told him the best way to learn why we were so slow was to see us in action. He was going with us. I put him under the care of the company medic and my artillery FO.  Within minutes were picked up on our LZ and linked up with the first platoon enroute.  

We landed in a valley in the Tiger Mountains with a lot of grass fires going filling the air with dense smoke with the action up a steep hill. Temperature was near 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity equal. Not a nice day.

We assembled and I made radio contact with the Cav. We organized a scheme of maneuver and I gave the troops a quick operations order. We formed up and started up the hill.  

We moved up, made some contact and had a lot of close air support from the cobras the Cav had called in. As we continued the attack the NVA were giving ground at first. As we got closer to the top of the hill we heard a Soviet 12.7 - 108 mm heavy machine gun working. It got into a duel with a cobra and we held up while the cobra engaged. It was quite close as frags from the rockets were rattling in the trees. The gun shut up and we were going to drive on when we got a call on the radio.  

Stop the advance, pull back and move to the LZ to be picked up for a return to our AO. Apparently the crisis had ended and we were no longer needed.

We moved down and assembled into chopper loads. As we waited I got another call. We had a Ranger team in the An Lao Valley that was in heavy contact and being pursued. I got the leaders together and gave a brief order explaining what we were to do and how we would do it. Just then the first Huey started to arrive. Our guest, a CWO 2 who was built much like a fire plug and trained by setting on his ass, came to me and said, "I can't do it. I will bring the rifle and gear back tomorrow but I can't go with you. I will never ever, ever bitch again about how slow you guys move." I reminded him he was carrying a really light load so what was his problem. The reply was basically that he knew that, but he had never really understood what a grunt had to face.  

The choppers arrived, we boarded and off we went less one gun ship pilot.  

I might add that I ran into him once when I went to visit some wounded and I was unable to buy a drink!

Wounded American Vets Experience SCUBA

By Steve Moss

SCUBA diving has been a lifelong passion of mine. I started SCUBA while stationed with the 374TAW at Clark AB, RPI in the 1980s. It is one of the most relaxing activities I've ever been able to enjoy.  

Recently I was heard about a new program called WAVES, which stands for Wounded American Vets Experience SCUBA. Intrigued with such a concept, I wanted to learn more.

WAVES started when Steve Rubin and Jon Schumacher were talking one day. Jon is a former Marine who lost both legs and most of his left hand while on a dismounted patrol in Afghanistan. While patrolling a tree line, he stepped on and triggered an IED. During the conversation Jon found out that Steve is a PADI SCUBA instructor and commented how he would like to try SCUBA.  

Steve began the research into what teaching SCUBA to a disabled vet really entailed. Soon he and several other instructors and dive masters travelled out to Denver to meet with instructors from the Handicap SCUBA Association (HSA). The team completed the training to become HSA Instructors, Dive Masters and HSA Dive Buddies.

After meeting Steve and Jon, I became involved in the WAVES Project and set out to learn as much about the therapy as I could, which was thoroughly studied by neurologists from Johns Hopkins and the Kennedy Krieger's International Center for Spinal Cord Injury. They conducted a small trial study with 10 vets in the Cayman Islands. The study showed amazing results after only 4 days and 10 dives. The participants in the study we're all veterans who had become paralyzed during their service and who also suffer from PTSD. The results were nothing short of miraculous. One hundred percent of the study participants showed an improvement in neurologic function. The improvement is equal to what would normally be expected after 6-12 month of task based rehab. The same participants also showed an 80% - 100% reduction in PTSD symptoms during final examinations at the close of the study 6 weeks after diving proving, in some degree, that the physiological and psychological benefits of SCUBA are real and measureable.    

The physiological results of the Johns Hopkins study on SCUBA and spinal cord injuries so surprised the doctors involved that they are working hard to understand why it worked so well. Another study at Hopkins supports the use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for wound care, as well as many other injuries. Being underwater at depth, provides many of the same benefits as the much more expensive hyperbaric oxygen treatments found at hospitals.  

Using SCUBA to help with PTSD is less of a mystery. SCUBA presents the diver with an interesting dichotomy. On one hand you're weightless, in a very relaxing environment, "looking at all the cool stuff." On the other hand it's a very task loaded activity. As a diver you must control your breathing, monitor buoyancy, and watch out for your buddy. You have to keep an eye out (in a fully 3D environment by the way) to make sure you don't inadvertently touch something and injure it, or conversely touch something and injure yourself. I'm told by our divers that the task loading is similar to that of a combat situation, but without the fear.  

When you confine someone, who has been a fully able bodied person to a wheel chair, you take away a level of freedom they have been used to all their life. One diver tells it this way. One of the study divers says, "When I'm in my chair, I can't go across this field, that gravel, or that beach. On SCUBA, I am just like everyone else in the water. I can go anywhere I want, when I want and am not constrained." Having the ability, even if only temporarily, to be just like everyone else is a great boost to the vet's self-esteem.  

However, more studies are being conducted to better to understand the effect it has on veterans suffering from PTSD or traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as those who are paralyzed, or have suffered amputations.  

The first class of WAVES Project was in April 2014 with the first student in the first class being Jon Schumacher. Since that first class, WAVES has certified over 30 divers and their buddies. The divers represent all 5 service branches. Unlike many veterans support groups we don't limit our outreach to only Post 911 Vets, the tours of duty of our divers range from Afghanistan and Iraq to Vietnam.

Diving is a social sport and all divers are supposed to dive with a buddy. Those with a disability typically have a higher reliance on their dive buddy than normal. The dive buddy can be a spouse or longtime friend, because we all know, the families and friends of wounded vets are affected in some part by the injury. Caring for those who are physically disabled, or are suffering from PTSD, carries its own level of stress. This stress, if not managed well, can cause irreparable damage to the family unit. WAVES believes that by including the buddy in the program at no cost, they are helping the whole family, not just the vet.

WAVES provides all the instruction, course materials, equipment, boat fees, etc. to the vet and their dive buddy at no cost. Even though local dive stores donate rental gear for participants and the instructors have donated their time, the cost is still about $800.

With Steve Rubin continuing to enlist the help of a few friends and contacts in the local business community, the group has continued to expand as more and more people are volunteering their time and skills. As more vets work their way through the program, many of them stay with WAVES and help spread the word about the great work that is being done.  

Our criteria is pretty simple, if you were injured during the line of duty, we would like to help.

Number one question or statement we hear is, "I don't have use of my legs, I'm confined to a wheel chair, and I can't swim, and you want me to think about SCUBA." Because of the affiliation with the HSA, virtually no one need be excluded. If a vet is disabled to the point that they can't do all the skills required by PADI (the world's leading scuba diver training organization), WAVES has the option to certify with HSA instead. HSA has three levels of certification available to divers with disabilities. As long as the vet can be made comfortable in the water, they are a candidate for WAVES. Photo is former Marine buddies Nico and Brendon ready for open water class dive number 4.

If you know of a wounded vet who might benefit from our program, please have them reach out to our site and fill in an application. Currently we're serving southern California (soon in Maryland), but we welcome applications from all over the nation. It helps us understand where we need to add more WAVES chapters.

If you are a SCUBA professional, or know of one who might be interested in helping, please reach out to Steve Rubin. If you're not in southern California, we're working to expand our reach via regional chapters.

Steve's Email:   [email protected]

Our limiting factor for reaching as many vets as we can, is funding.  Government support is overwhelmed, we need to step up and help our fellow brothers-in-arms. If you feel this is a worthwhile cause, please consider a donation. Every dollar helps. Many people have found it easiest to set up an automatic monthly donation of $5.  

www.WavesProject.org/Donate

WAVES Project is a federal 501 c3 non-profit organization, so your donations are tax deductible. Our goal is that 90% of our donations go directly to getting vets into the water.

If you would like more information on the WAVES Project please see our site.  

www.WavesProject.org

Thanks for helping a wounded warrior reach the water.

Steve Moss is a former member of the US Air Force. Stationed with the 9th MAS and 436th MAW at Dover AFB, DE and 374th TAW at Clark AB, RPI.

When not writing bios and blog articles for the WAVES Project, Steve is the Director of Custom Application Development for a major semi-conductor manufacturer in southern California.

Military Facts and Legends: Legion of the United States

When the 13 American Colonies initially began resisting Britain, they had no organized military. Individual states fielded militias and troops, but a unified military was lacking. In part, this was a result of wary attitudes among many members of the public who did not support the idea of an organized military force acting on behalf of all of the colonies. The Continental Congress also shared this view.  

After a few defeats, however, the Continental Congress reluctantly established the Continental Army as a unified means for the colonies to fight Great Britain. Officially established on June 14, 1775, George Washington was named its commander in chief. But unconditional support was missing.  The Continental Congress came up with an inadequate and, in retrospect, foolish requirement where each of the then-colonies were to send men and to supply and pay those men. Since few colonies were able to meet these requirements, the Continental Army was often inadequately supplied with food, clothing, and other materials.

What was not lacking, however, was the spirit to succeed along with an interesting blend of traditional and well-established military tactics and innovations shown by members of the Continental Army. While it often struggled against the more highly trained and organized British troops in open battle, Continental forces were not above using guerrilla tactics to harry the British. It subverted traditional ideas about how wars should be fought, relying on knowledge of the terrain and creativity to fight the British, rather than attempting to overpower British forces by conventional means. Inconsistent organization within the British military forces was exploited by Continental troops.

Thought there were many defeats, there were also enough successes for the United States to win its bid for independence. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 to end the Revolutionary War, the Founding Fathers, still suspicious of standing armies and believing that the militia would be suited to all the nation's defensive needs, they disbanded the Continental Army. State militias became the new nation's sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Point's arsenal. 

However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was soon realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The Regular Army was at first very small, and after General St. Clair's defeat at the Battle of the Wabash, the Regular Army was reorganized in 1791 as the Legion of the United States.

St. Clair's Defeat also known as the Battle of the Wabash, the Battle of Wabash River or the Battle of a Thousand Slain, was fought on November 4, 1791 in the Northwest Territory between the United States and the Western Confederacy of American Indians, as part of the Northwest Indian War. It was a major American Indian victory and remains the greatest defeat of the United States Army by American Indians; of the 1,000 officers and men that St. Clair led into battle, only 24 escaped unharmed.

The defeat of St. Clair, whose forces were drawn principally from state militias, caused a shift in thinking. President Washington picked his old lieutenant, General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, to lead a new professional army. At the recommendation of Secretary of War Henry Knox, it was decided to recruit and train a "Legion of the United States" that would combine all land combat arms of the day (cavalry, heavy and light infantry, artillery) into one efficient brigade-sized force divisible into stand-alone combined arms teams. Congress agreed with this proposal and agreed to augment the small standing army until "the United States shall be at peace with the Indian tribes."

Eventually the need for a standing Army was realized by the congress and in 1789, the United States Army was established.

Recent Letters to the Editor - Michael Christy

Re: Nicknames for U.S. Marines

I was considered a POG in Vietnam and when I arrived at Camp Taji and was tapped as the new operations Sergeant, I was referred to as a FOBET (FOBETTE).  In respectful jest, the guys in my platoon gave me a shoulder tab with FOBET on it. I put it on my ACUs to go along with the joke. In either case, I was proud of the job I did. The guys didn't roll unless I had everything in order for them and keep track of them out on their missions and they knew it.

Keep up the good work. This is a great web site.

-Hardy

Editor: "Pogue" is now sometimes described as the pronunciation of the acronym POG, or Person Other than Grunt, or Posted on Garrison. It is also sometimes retronymed out to "Person on Ground with Unused Equipment" (hence the spelling). Sometimes used as "People Of Good Use Elsewhere."

Re: Terrorists Attack in Lebanon

I worked at Hughes Aircraft as a Project Engineering supervising the writing of technical manual and among them was the U.S. Army's AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder Radar Set. In the summer of 1983, a number of US Army troops were sent to Hughes to learn the TPQ-36 Firefinder System (mortar and artillery locating radar). Sgt. Daniel Kluck was one of the Army troops I specifically dealt with when they were training at Hughes. He and Sgt. 1st Class James Yarber and Spec. 4 Marcus Coleman, who also trained at Hughes, were the three Army personnel who died in the Beirut bomb attack.  

-Ray Heinz

Thank you for the article. I fought in Vietnam as a Marine. My younger brother-in-law followed me around like a puppy and always said he was going to be a Marine which he did. I drove him from Ohio to Camp Lejeune where his company was already on board their ship headed to Beirut. I drove right up to the ship where his Gunny was standing on the dock. After a good chewing out, he was told to get on board. I was so proud of him watching him go up the ramp.

After the bombing we set glued to the TV and waited to hear if he was alive. By the grace of God we saw him on top of the rubble clear as day helping to move debris. I was mad as hell at the Marine Corps and the government. When he came home I told him I was not going ask him anything but I was there for him if he wanted to talk. He just cried. Now back to why I e-mailed you. Reading your article was very enlightening. Thank you again.

-John Clark
 

I know that this in no way compares to those who were directly involved in the Beirut bombing but I was pulled into the tragedy a few days later.  At the time I was an army truck driver at Rhein-Mein AB and at the end of our motor pool was a Remains Identification unit. Parked around the white tent were refrigeration vans in which the Beirut bombing victim would be taken. Before they arrived, we drove in loads of coffins and once they were processed, we took our fallen Marines to a mortuary in Frankfurt. The shock from all this was compounded when we heard the body of the bomber was also sent there. During these unsettling times I had a dream, or rather a nightmare; I was driving a 30-foot trailer to the mortuary and in my rearview mirror, I saw a hand coming out from under the tarp. The memory of the nightmare returned while reading about the bombing. Just another reminder of how I will never forget those brave Marines from Beirut.

-Mark Dube, SSG(ret.) US Army

Thank you very much for publishing the article on the Beirut bombing. The day the bombing happened we were being briefed in preparation for temporary duty (TAD) to the Navy Broadcasting Service Beirut to entertain the Marines with music, TV news, and sports. Our detachment arrived a week after the bombing and seeing the destruction left me speechless. We were also part of the cleanup looking for bodies in the rubble. I was there until the whole contingents of the Expeditionary Unit and our detachment moved back to our permanent duty station. That was an unforgettable experience. Thank you for publishing a fine article, keep up the good job.
 

-Respectfully Yours,
SKCS Paul Navidad, USN

Re: GI Morale Boosters- Pin Ups

Thank you for all the great information you print in Dispatches. It is a great read about the good old Navy days. In my day Rita Casino appeared in many old movies. She was a beautiful gal with red hair. As she became more popular and starred in bigger movies, she changed her name to Rita Hayworth. Whatever movie she was in it was never bad. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

-Roldan Vigil, U.S. Navy, 1951 - 1955

Book of the Month: The Dark Side of Glory

Awarded the 2014 Gold Medal for Historical Fiction
By the Military Writers Society of America

In this page-turning suspense novel, Richard McMahon expertly switches between two settings and time periods, the earlier being the Korean War and the current a who-done-it mystery in a world of surprises where nothing is as it seems.

The book opens in the present time (early 1970s) as Biographer Matthew Clark is asked by Miriam Coursen to write a biography of her deceased husband, U.S. Army Major General Philip Coursen, a highly decorated Army officer. When Clark agrees to write the biography of General Coursen, he has no idea the layers of deceit and deception he'll uncover, not to mention a brutal covered-up murder, a secret mistress, an abandoned illegitimate daughter and a tragic love. Nor does he realize his own life will be forever changed in the process.

The story is principally told through the lives of five characters: Philip Coursen, who appears at first to be the perfect Army officer, but who seems to have an increasingly mysterious dark side; Miriam Coursen, equally perfect Army wife, who may hide a secret agenda; Calvin Carter, an idealistic young West Pointer, beset with guilt as a result of his clandestine affair with another officer's wife; Samantha Winstead, the beautiful, vivacious cause of Calvin Carter's discomfort; and Matthew Clark, who becomes more drawn into his research after falling in love with the young woman who claims to be Coursen's secret daughter.

McMahon's novel is ranked up there with some of the most renowned mystery writers of our time. I highly recommend this book and like me, you will stay up late reading it all the way to the very end when the final secret is revealed.

-Editor

Reader Reviews

"The Dark Side of Glory by Richard McMahon ranks right beside David Baldacci's bestselling novels when it comes to plot twists and turns and jaw-dropping surprises. Just when you think you've figured out what happens next, McMahon throws a ten-pound sledgehammer through your preconceptions. It's an edge-of-your-seat thriller by a top-flight talent. Truly, The Dark Side of Glory is a stunning triumph!"

 -Dwight Jon Zimmerman, President, Military Writers Society of America, is an award-winning military historian and #1 New York Times bestselling author

"This is a marvelously well told story. The plot is different and exciting. The characters are described vividly to the extent I felt a loss when any of them died. A murder is committed at the beginning but it is a wild ride before the killer is exposed. And among all this are the Korean War and a tragic love story."

-Readalot Reviews

"An excellent book, written by an author who obviously knows what he is talking about. Brings to life what is known in Britain as the "Forgotten War." The plot and the characters are well developed and make you want to know their stories. The military aspects are brilliantly presented, certainly on a par with other authors such as Harold Coyle or Larry Bond."

-Peter Nicholas Farrell Reviews, London

About the Author

Born in born in New York City, Richard McMahon now lives in Hawaii. He was drafted into the Army in 1946 and served more than 33 years, 26 of them overseas. He was an infantry platoon sergeant and later platoon leader during the Korean War, and served two tours in Vietnam. After retirement, he founded the adventure travel program in Hawaii for Mountain Travel Sobek, and led adventure tours in Hawaii, Europe, and Asia. He holds Masters Degrees in history and in English, and has published articles on the Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as five books and numerous articles in the outdoor and travel fields. He enjoys hiking related-travel and belongs to three hiking clubs in Hawaii.

"I knew I didn't have the bona fides to write an account of the war that could compete with historians such as Max Hastings or Robert Leckie," says McMahon. "Instead, I decided to tell a story in which the war, and the lead-up to it, is experienced through the eyes of several individuals, and to show how it affects their lives. Korea is being called 'the forgotten war' now, and it shouldn't be. The men who fought it, and the women who supported them, deserve to be remembered. I hope this book will help do that."

The book is available in both print and in e-book format from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers.

Free Book for Qualified Korean War Veterans

For a limited time, the author would like to offer a FREE COPY of  'The Dark Side of Glory' to veterans who served in Korea any time during the period from the start of the war on 25 June 1950 to the beginning of the truce talks at Kaesong on 10 July 1951. If you qualify, and would like a copy of the book, please send an email with the following information to [email protected].

Your name
Unit you served with in Korea
Dates of your service in Korea
Email address to which the book is to be sent.

Your book will be shipped directly from Amazon.com in e-book format. If you don't own a Kindle, a quick free download from Amazon will make the book readable on all devices, Kindle, Nook, etc., all tablets, Mac, PC, and smart phones.

The information you submit is for the sole purpose of establishing eligibility for the award and to provide an address at which to receive it. It will not be shared with any other party for any reason, and will not be kept on file after transmission of the book.

This offer expires January 15, 2015.