tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48080210423123283702024-03-06T15:01:57.979-05:00Warren Bell, AuthorHistorical fiction author, Warren Bell, writes articles about his books, history, writing and public interest. Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-75113823311432782772018-02-06T12:30:00.000-05:002018-02-06T12:55:20.597-05:00Growing Up in a Lumber Yard<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmYh5NATyJuBbDBzur6Bj5n8rGWH8Lq9di8DfH-zv5M16_9IpKWokKDzfjxvfwMl6ZM3XgHWPXlBqXPizv3xrM3sgIoIs43NeiQ1QV6dqXNpb0qb9FYhrRa-UKtsMhyphenhyphenfDEX_orqiFZHMw/s1600/WarrenWithBicycle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="784" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZmYh5NATyJuBbDBzur6Bj5n8rGWH8Lq9di8DfH-zv5M16_9IpKWokKDzfjxvfwMl6ZM3XgHWPXlBqXPizv3xrM3sgIoIs43NeiQ1QV6dqXNpb0qb9FYhrRa-UKtsMhyphenhyphenfDEX_orqiFZHMw/s320/WarrenWithBicycle.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me, about 10, with my bicycle in front of our porch</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In an earlier blog post (<a href="http://bit.ly/2hSqqWw" target="_blank">Our Home-Life at the End of the Depression</a>), I wrote about my earliest memories of my family and the circumstances of our daily life before World War II. In this post, I am writing about the years just afterward.<br />
<br />
The death of my grandfather, George Luther Bell, brought significant change to our family dynamic. My grandmother, Clyde Bell, then had nowhere to live except with us.<br />
<br />
Grandma Bell was totally blind, the result of a non-malignant brain tumor pressing on her optic nerves. This left her close to helpless. Had she lived in the present age instead of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, an early operation might have restored her sight. My grandfather spent everything he had or could earn trying to find a cure, but the most the doctors of the time could recommend was to try to keep her comfortable. So the tumor grew year by year, horribly distorting the shape of her skull. Grandma required a great deal of attention, and most of this responsibility fell on mother. Being a good Christian woman (think Olivia on The Waltons), she just added the work to her already heavy burdens, never neglecting either her husband or her children. The old saying, “Man’s work is measured by the sun, but a woman’s work is never done,” was never truer than in the case of my mother.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDFUiXWrssFFA6uokj_STu6dudW0Q1k8TyNWzKvOdMh_NIkOBUmZlmyR1LbrM9ArFTI1h4bVzm5O1jnSJ7AzDZalTAzJTnwkcUFmdrhMYT-_6NweLQ1Qt9rPZYTcq_0NSedy4DSCga7CS/s1600/GrandmaOnPorch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="922" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXDFUiXWrssFFA6uokj_STu6dudW0Q1k8TyNWzKvOdMh_NIkOBUmZlmyR1LbrM9ArFTI1h4bVzm5O1jnSJ7AzDZalTAzJTnwkcUFmdrhMYT-_6NweLQ1Qt9rPZYTcq_0NSedy4DSCga7CS/s320/GrandmaOnPorch.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mother sitting on our front porch in 1950</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The immediate problem occasioned by “Pappy’s” death was living space. There was no way that room could be found in our little “shotgun” house to accommodate Grandma. The Reynolds and Gambles Lumber Company, for whom Dad was planing mill foreman, assigned us another company-owned house. Our new home was a typical frame structure of the period. It stood on numerous timber piers to level the floor. This helped keep it cool in summer but made for cold floors in winter. Wide, vertical pine boards with narrow battens sheathed the exterior. Like the other half dozen or so houses in the “camp,” no paint graced the exterior surfaces. A covered porch ran along the front of the structure.<br />
<br />
Our “street” was nothing but a bare strip worn in the white sandy soil by car tires. It ran in a fairly straight line out to the South Field Road (named for the rich oil field that petered out in the 1920s), which was covered with red clay and gravel. The nearest hard pavement was a mile or more away at the south edge of El Dorado.<br />
<br />
The house interior was divided into four rooms of approximately equal size by walls faced with “shiplap” boards. The room at the main front entrance became our parents’ bedroom/parlor. Mom claimed the room behind it as her new kitchen. My brother, Tom (who is four years my senior), and I were housed in the second front room, which also had an outside entrance. The room behind that was Grandma’s room.<br />
<br />
The “camp” had no source of central heat or cooking, no electricity, or running water. Mom cooked on a wood-fired cast iron “range.” We had one sheet metal wood heater in the parlor. A well in the backyard provided water. We took “sponge baths” with washbasins or, on Saturday, bathed in a galvanized washtub behind the kitchen stove.<br />
<br />
The soil behind the house was tillable, so Mom soon had a large vegetable garden going. Beyond the garden stood a “two-holer” “necessity,” as they are called here in Virginia.<br />
<br />
Tom and I were in charge of keeping Mom supplied with fuel for her cook-stove. Dad would bring home loads of “cut-offs” from the mill. These were usually about a foot or so long. The soft Southern Pine boards split easily into narrow billets for Mom to burn. I became adept at using a hatchet at an early age.<br />
<br />
Surrounding our home to the north and east were hundreds of stacks of drying lumber. A level grid of wooden platforms called “trams” spread from the sawmill over a large area. These were about twelve feet wide and anywhere from a few inches to several feet above the ground according to the terrain. Dense stacks of lumber bordered the trams on both sides. At the sawmill, yard hands placed the freshly sawn boards on carts and rolled them out on the trams to the first open area. The men then layered the green boards in stacks to air dry. The layers were separated by 2-inch by 2-inch oak stacking sticks, allowing free circulation of air between the boards.<br />
<br />
The proximity of the trams and stacks provided numerous temptations for growing boys to have fun or get into trouble. Stacking sticks became vaulting poles or, with 2x4 footholds nailed on, stilts to walk on. The tall trams also created large shaded areas in which to play in the hot summer months.<br />
<br />
We had our own secret place beneath the trams where we kept forbidden treasures. Tobacco and cigarette papers were easy to come by. Dad smoked roll-your-own cigarettes made with Prince Albert Tobacco. He purchased it in packages of about a dozen cans. A waxed paper insert inside each can kept the tobacco moist and fresh. Dad discarded a can when he could no longer easily rake out the desired amount. His finger left small fillets of untouched tobacco in the bottom corners. Tom and I would sneak into the trash and remove the paper inserts from the cans, then pour all the leftover tobacco together. Dad also liked to use a thick book of cigarette papers and discarded the thin packets of papers that came with the cans. We kept these treasures buried in a coffee can under the tram and often sneaked there to roll our own and fire up. We thought we were acting grownup. I don’t think I actually knew any men who did not smoke in those years.<br />
<br />
Sometimes, we would also get our hands on some plug or leaf chewing tobacco. I gave that up after Mom almost caught us chewing and I had to swallow my “chaw.”<br />
<br />
When Tom wasn’t around to get stuck with minding me, I played alone near or under the house. I frequently built clay dams in the drainage ditches beside the house. Sometimes, I would blow them up with firecrackers like those I has seen dynamited in movies. Otherwise, Dad would tear them out to prevent flooding.<br />
<br />
On hot summer days, Mom would get up before daylight and have all her housework done by the time Dad came home for the noon meal, which we called dinner. After policing up after the meal, several other wives from the camp would come over to our house. Grandma had two large oscillating fans that her sister had given her. The ladies would sit in her room to keep cool and talk during the heat of the afternoon. They must have thought I was too young to understand, because they would talk about anything in front of me. I remember that a lot of their conversations concerned their husbands’ faults and who had the worst husband.<br />
<br />
Another interesting terrain feature near our home was a tall oil tank berm. During the earlier oil boom, a series of large oil tanks lined the west side of the South Field Road. After the oil played out, the oil companies removed and salvaged the tanks but left the circular containment berms in place. Most were breached to let water out, but a few intact ones became shallow ponds. The one beside out house was dry. The slopes provided places to play “cowboys and Indians,” “cops and robbers,” and other boy games. We would “fort up” atop the cliffs and pretend to be under siege.<br />
<br />
Pretending to be cowboys was our predominant game. Before World War II, all the boys had metal cap guns. We also had little lead soldiers painted with WWI uniforms. The war put an end to that. The best toys available during the conflict were guns and dolls made of glued together sawdust. Any of these left out in the rain quickly dissolved. As the war went on, Tom and I made many of our own toys out of lumber cutoffs.<br />
<br />
Our mode of transportation was mostly “shank’s mare,” i.e. walking around on foot. As we grew older, we graduated to bicycles. When I first started to school, Tom and I walked from our home to Southside Elementary School, a distance of about two miles. Later, we rode our bikes.<br />
<br />
Saturdays were always a treat for us boys. Mom and Dad would go to town to shop for the week. On the way in, they would drop us off at the Majestic Theater. On Saturdays, the theater showed a double feature of “B” westerns with short serials in between. The movies showed constantly. One could stay in the theater as long as it was open. The management let parents come into the auditorium to pick up children they had left there. I remember being given two dimes when we were dropped off. One got us into the movie, and the other was for snacks. Sacks of popcorn and full-sized candy bars cost five cents. I always bought two Mars Bars, one to eat at once and the other to eat between shows. After our parents picked us up, we usually went to a hamburger joint for supper before going home. Those were really great burgers. As soon as we got home, our battery-powered radio was turned on to WSM in Nashville for the Grand Old Opry.<br />
<br />
I suspect that modern youth would consider the way we lived to be abject poverty. We never felt poverty stricken. We had a roof over our heads and three nutritious meals a day. We always had clean clothes to wear. But most of all, we had parents and other family who loved us and taught good Christian values that have guided us through our long lives. What more could one ask for?<br />
<br />
The Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor brought significant changes to our lives. For more on those times, see my July 13, 2013 blog post, "<a href="http://bit.ly/2E5jhgq" target="_blank">World War II Through the Eyes of a Child</a>.”
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-11433616983937428102017-11-19T11:40:00.000-05:002017-11-19T11:40:43.644-05:00Reprise: Thanksgiving in the 1940s<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWD0TR45CzCGJv3ryZXBIb9TBOqZWHTBv_EfLIvdsB4nL3CwghHtjcqWt7fOBgD-fN5KdPwpMuRWsmtWj1uepy0HEKJW8NTy84LeZkuUxafWzYduNXT9atIxmuhiRJIKSNO_KO9a2C8pd/s1600/NR+Thanksgiving2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWD0TR45CzCGJv3ryZXBIb9TBOqZWHTBv_EfLIvdsB4nL3CwghHtjcqWt7fOBgD-fN5KdPwpMuRWsmtWj1uepy0HEKJW8NTy84LeZkuUxafWzYduNXT9atIxmuhiRJIKSNO_KO9a2C8pd/s320/NR+Thanksgiving2.png" width="240" /></a></div>
As my 82nd Thanksgiving approaches, I cannot help but look back over the years at the changing role my wife, Annette, and I have played in this important family event. For many years, we enjoyed gathering the clan in our home and providing the feast, but our days of hosting Thanksgiving have faded into the past. We have reached the point in life where we go to our children’s homes for the celebration. Annette, however, still cooks her pecan and apple pies, which are a favorite with our grandkids. In the distant past, we went to our parent’s homes when circumstances allowed. But my Navy career offered few such opportunities, so we were used to decades of having everyone within reach come to our home. As I keep looking back, I am reminded of the blog post I wrote a few years ago about celebrating the holiday in the years right after World War II, when I was a young child. I am repeating it here.<br />
<br />
In my childhood, Thanksgiving was truly a family affair. I grew up in a large extended family whose spiritual anchor was my Grandmother Tatum. A physically a small woman, to us Edna Tatum was an awesome presence. She raised five daughters (Brenda, Olive, Evelyn, Lorene, and Sadie) essentially alone on an isolated farm outside El Dorado in South Central Arkansas. Her husband, Miller, worked for the railroad and was away from home five days a week. This left Grandma to run everything, including supervising and feeding the hired hands who worked the farm. Miller didn’t move his family into town because El Dorado was a rough oil boom-town in those days. He felt his daughters were far safer out in the country.<br />
<br />
After Miller’s death, Grandma sold the farm to Aunt Evelyn and her husband, Earl Molsbee, with the condition that she would always have a home there. So on Thanksgiving, the whole family less Lorene, who lived in far-away Batesville, gathered at “Aunt Evelyn’s.”<br />
Ours was a strictly a blue-collar family. My Dad, Jewell Bell, worked as a planing mill foreman in a lumber plant. Besides running the farm, Uncle Earl worked in the oil fields. Leonard Goodnight (Brenda’s husband) worked at the local oil refinery. Ross Martin (Sadie’s spouse) served as a policeman. These men, all survivors of the Great Depression, were grateful to have jobs that let them put roofs over their families’ heads and food on the table. To them, Thanksgiving was not just a holiday. It was a celebration of the blessings they had enjoyed during the year.<br />
<br />
In those days before television, the men usually sat around the wood stove in the living room and enjoyed each other's conversation. The hardest thing for the children was waiting for the meal. I was one of four sons who were always called, “the boys.” Gerald Goodnight was a few months older than my brother, Tom. Johnny Molsbee was a year younger. I was “tail-end-Charlie.” The one granddaughter, Darlene Molsbee, was about a year younger than me. She usually hung out with the women and helped with the meal. If weather allowed, the boys were banished to the outdoors. There was always lots to do and look at around the farm. I usually just trailed behind the big boys and tried to do whatever they did.<br />
<br />
My mother and her sisters prepared dinner as a communal activity. Aunt Evelyn usually furnished the main dish, and the others brought their contributions, some already prepared, some to be finished just before eating. The menu was about the same each year. Turkeys were a luxury in those years just after World War II. Instead, the sisters baked or boiled chickens ahead of time. Making large pans of cornbread dressing with the broth, they would tear up the chickens into bite-sized pieces and embed them atop the breading, then bake the whole thing in the oven. Sometimes, we would have fresh pork roast and dressing as well. Cream gravy with the cooked chicken “giblets” chopped up in it went along with these dishes.<br />
<br />
The rest of the menu was pretty traditional: mashed potatoes, home-canned Kentucky Wonder beans, candied sweet potatoes, fruit salad made by augmenting canned fruit cocktail with apples, oranges, and bananas, and jellied cranberry sauce. Desserts were all sorts of pies and cakes. My mother usually took a cake, since my dad preferred them to pies (except chocolate). My favorite was always the mincemeat pie. All this bounty would be spread on the big table in Evelyn’s dining room.<br />
<br />
We always had a big turnout. Besides the sisters’ husbands, several other relatives usually came. One constant was Grandma’s younger brother, Johnny Ford. His son, Wilmot, frequently came also. Uncle Johnny, a widower who raised his son alone from infancy, was considered saintly in our family. He always offered the blessing before the meal. A Methodist, he never failed to enumerate the good things that had occurred in the previous year. Sometimes, this made the children impatient.<br />
<br />
The dining room and table were too small to accommodate everything at once. As was customary in those days, the men ate first. According to how many were present, we children sometimes got to eat with the men. If there were too many, we were relegated to the “children’s table” in the kitchen. Either way, the women didn’t eat until everyone else was through. If they resented it, they never let on. I suppose they just took it as a matter of course. Things would change in later years.<br />
<br />
The way we lived in the 1940s would probably be considered “poverty” by most of today’s young people, my grandchildren included. We had no computers, no television, not even electricity. Batteries powered our radios and listening time had to be rationed. Our homes were heated by wood stoves and lighted by kerosene lamps. Only those who lived in cities had running water and indoor plumbing. But that was how almost all people who lived in the country existed in those days. We did not consider ourselves poor. We were thankful for dry beds and full stomachs and loving families to care for us. Physical things didn’t seem to matter so much. The world has changed a great deal since the 1940s. Some of it is actually progress.
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-1319772411074299542017-09-07T17:21:00.000-04:002017-09-07T17:21:26.488-04:00Haunting Melodies From The Past<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQgDVHtP613dxZKFm50A5xtF7grJM-bp7Oq2kdCJyjXG7hILQFNkvOQM72mO8ymZREGijd30_Spu4a2ZMbKgvhw1fihT77XCZf5gcLTSe0gGn3EKlnv32b2I83NGfzXgpXRaZrsVfN7nk/s1600/Warren%2527s+Quartet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="632" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQgDVHtP613dxZKFm50A5xtF7grJM-bp7Oq2kdCJyjXG7hILQFNkvOQM72mO8ymZREGijd30_Spu4a2ZMbKgvhw1fihT77XCZf5gcLTSe0gGn3EKlnv32b2I83NGfzXgpXRaZrsVfN7nk/s320/Warren%2527s+Quartet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
A couple of weeks ago, I received a pleasant surprise from my older brother, Tom. While reading the online version of our hometown newspaper, he had come across a "blast from the past" photograph of the boy's gospel quartet in which I sang over sixty years ago. As I viewed those youthful faces, memories of the time we four fledgling musicians spent together flooded my mind. We had quite a ride for a group of early teenagers. <br /><br />We were still in the eighth grade at Southside Elementary School in El Dorado, Arkansas, when my friend, Johnny McCleskey, approached me about joining the quartet he and Glenn Daniels were putting together. My voice had changed early, and I had been singing bass in our church choir for over a year. The quartet sounded like fun, so I signed up. That would be my only gig in the entertainment business until I became an indie author decades later.<br /><br />I soon learned that the quartet had been Glenn's idea. His grandmother was a lover of gospel music, and she had passed that love on to him. He became our lead (melody) singer. Johnny, who was a piano prodigy, would be our first tenor. His voice had not yet changed, so he could soar to high notes the rest of us could not even imagine. Our friend, Bill Bruton, was our second tenor. I sang bass. Being able to belt out notes below the bass cleft surprised many listeners. All four of us had music training. Not much rehearsal was needed before we really clicked and started blending well. At first, Johnny both played the piano and sang, but Virginia Adams, a talented pianist a little older, soon joined us as our accompanist. Johnny's and Virginia's fathers became our transportation and informal managers. <br /><br />Our El Dorado Boy's Quartet cut its teeth at country singings. The "all day singing with dinner on the grounds," sometimes called conventions, were a cultural icon among the southern evangelical churches of the time. Hundreds of people would gather in churches or outdoor settings to participate in group singing from Stamps-Baxter Music Company songbooks. Amateur directors took turns leading the music. Quartets sang between sessions of crowd songs. The participating women would serve a sumptuous "pot luck" meal, spreading the food on picnic tables beneath shade trees and covering it with dishcloths to keep away the flies. Larger conventions were sometimes held in available auditoriums. <br /><br />Our "big break" came late in the summer of 1950 when we entered a quartet contest held on the stage of the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, LA. The winning quartet from each of the tri-state area—Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas--selected based on an applause meter reading. All the other quartets from Arkansas were adults, some long established. After our introductory song, Johnny's dad jumped us for being too stiff in our posture. He told us to, " Get into the music." Our competition number was a song called, "I've Got That Old-Time Religion In My Heart," which had a high tenor solo at the end. As Johnny's voice soared up to the high climax, he did a little dip and spread his arms widely. The audience went crazy, bursting into thunderous applause. The applause meter went to the highest reading of the night. That won us an all expenses paid trip to Nashville, TN to sing in the Ryman Auditorium on Wally Fowler's All-Night Singing, broadcast on WSM every Friday night. The Grand Old Opry occupied the same stage on Saturday nights. We were to sing there long before either Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley. <br /><br />The long road trip to Nashville was quite an adventure for small town kids. I rode with Johnny's dad. We took some picnic food and sometimes ate in restaurants. I can't recall the name of the hotel at which we stayed, but it seemed palatial to us. We were excited to see some of the stars of the Grand Old Opry staying there with us. <br /><br />The Ryman Auditorium proved a disappointment. I believe that it was an old revival preaching venue. Old church pews made up most of the seating. The entire building had a neglected, dusty air about it. After several hours of listening to others sing, we became a little disappointed. We finally got to perform at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Our families and friends back home stayed up late to hear us. <br /><br />Winning the contest also won us a 30-minute radio show on Sunday mornings in El Dorado. We had pretty good ratings for a while. We sang together for another year or two, performing at events around the area. But when we got to high school, forces began to pull us apart. I went to work for Safeway, intent on saving money for college. Glenn became a regular DJ on a local radio station. Johnny and Billy pursued their own interests. Virginia married right after she completed high school. I don't think we ever officially dissolved. <br /><br />All the guys except me pursued careers in the field of music. Johnny paid his way through Loyola University in New Orleans playing jazz piano on Bourbon Street. He later owned nightclubs in several cities under the nickname of "Johnny Mack." Under the sobriquet of "Big Daddy" Daniels, Glenn became a famous DJ and producer in Dallas, TX. He founded the cable network, Country Music Television. Billy studied music in college and became a teacher. Although I studied engineering in college, I sang in church and college choirs, gravitating toward more classical music. After receiving my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Civil Engineering at the University of Arkansas, I had the Draft breathing down my neck. I joined the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps, intending to stay for my three-year obligation. I had so much fun that I stayed twenty-nine years. <br /><br />Johnny and Billy and I got together in 2004 at our 50th High School Reunion. Glenn had died young at age 56. We enjoyed reminiscing about our quartet years. Johnny died soon afterwards of a stroke. Only Billy and I are still around, and I have lost touch with him. Someday, perhaps we'll get to perform "I've Got That Old Time Religion In My Heart" in an angel choir.
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-47106803969311794262017-08-11T19:09:00.000-04:002017-08-11T19:09:10.071-04:00Our Home-Life at the End of the Depression<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuu7duGEKMkOWd71fomHmEzUUWR4pbt_N7qc956Ppd_apL75ylmcvAfUB8RGVTsra_3ZnKv2WRLtbkTo3NHF9dF_JIlAFHmnc7D7CvNBY3r_sa8nSQjW6ln8kUhhnYffltcAD_oF7hLTx/s1600/Young+Olive+and+Jewell.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1186" data-original-width="906" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGuu7duGEKMkOWd71fomHmEzUUWR4pbt_N7qc956Ppd_apL75ylmcvAfUB8RGVTsra_3ZnKv2WRLtbkTo3NHF9dF_JIlAFHmnc7D7CvNBY3r_sa8nSQjW6ln8kUhhnYffltcAD_oF7hLTx/s320/Young+Olive+and+Jewell.jpeg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My family with me in Mother's arms</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My earliest memories are from a time when our family lived in a little three-room shotgun house. I must have been about three at the time. There were four of us in the family.
<br />
<br />
My Dad, Jewell Bell, was in his late thirties at the time. He worked for the Reynolds and Gamble Lumber Company as Foreman of their planing mill. Besides supervising operations of the mill, he was responsible for upkeep of all the machinery in the plant. Just under six feet tall, Dad was wiry of build and had black wavy hair and black eyes. Working often in the sun, he had deeply tanned skin. I remember him wearing a chambray shirt and bib overalls and smelling of pine resin and the Prince Albert Tobacco he rolled into cigarettes.
<br />
<br />
Olive Bell, my Mom, was ten years younger than Dad and looked even younger. She had brown hair and eyes and was a little over five feet tall. Always slender, she had a pixie quality about her. She always wore a neatly pressed housedress. Mother was what they call a "stay-at-home-mom" nowadays. Besides raising two boys, she had plenty to keep her busy. In those days before labor saving appliances, she did our laundry by hand, dried it in the sun, and pressed everything with flatirons heated on the cook stove. Mom cooked three meals a day from scratch on that wood-fired iron range, summer or winter. She had to split the wood to fit the firebox and keep the fire ablaze all day. Just keeping the house clean so close to a sawmill with its slab pit for burning excess wood was a challenge.
<br />
<br />
My older brother, Tom, was in the second or third grade at the time. He often got stuck with looking out for me when there were myriad other things that he would rather be doing. Wiry like Dad, Tom was smart and good looking. He made friends easily. A few years later, he would be very popular with the girls. I realize now later that he had to put up with a lot because of me.
<br />
<br />
Our home was located on the grounds of the lumber plant and was owned by the company. Living in the house was part of Dad's compensation. The front room of the house was my parents' bedroom as well as the parlor. The middle room was where Tom and I slept. The back room was the kitchen and dining area. I don't remember much about what furniture we had. The bedsteads were spindly iron frames with bare springs under the mattresses. Mom kept all the beds made up neatly when we weren't sleeping in them. I recall an oilcloth cover over the kitchen table but not much more.
<br />
<br />
We had a fenced yard that I remember as shady behind the house. There was a well about fifteen feet from the house. It had a wood casing and a frame supporting a pulley. The well "bucket" was a galvanized sheet metal cylinder with a flap and a trigger at the bottom. It was suspended by a rope from the pulley. We lowered the bucket under the water, then raised it up above the casing. A sloped wooden chute with a notch at the bottom ran down from the casing. We hung a water bucket from the notches. Then the well bucket was lowered against the chute, the trigger opened the flap, and the water rushed down the chute into the bucket. We always had a dipper handy to get a fresh drink of the cold well water. Farther back in the yard was the ubiquitous privy. No one in our community had indoor plumbing. Lacking electricity, we depended on kerosene lamps after dark. Our lifestyle was that of most people who didn't live in cities in those days.
<br />
<br />
Not far south of our house were the lumber company offices and company store. Employees could buy supplies at the store on credit. I suppose the prices were somewhat inflated, as was common in those last days of the Great Depression. The saw mill was directly behind the offices. Dad's planing mill lay behind the sawmill. Several acres of trams and lumber stacked to dry in the air before finishing lay to the south. A few other company houses were located on a small bluff on the other side of the South Field Road. My paternal grandparents lived in one of these. George Luther Bell, whom we called "Pappy," worked at the sawmill. My Grandma Clyde was blind from an injury as a child. Tom and I would often stay with her for a while after he got out of school, especially in the winter when we kept the fire going in her wood-burning heat stove. Pappy had a knife to split board ends. He had made it by casting a lead handle around a wide planing machine blade. We loved to use it to split cutoffs from the mills into kindling.
<br />
<br />
Even at that young age, I realized that Mom was a really good cook. Having been raised on a farm, she learned about growing and cooking food from an early age. She always planted a large garden, and we had many vegetable meals in the summer—green and butter beans, English and field peas, greens, squash, Boiled new potatoes, and fresh salads. She always cooked cornbread, sometimes twice a day. At this age, I sometimes sneaked into the kitchen and cut the crust off to eat it as a snack. That always got me in trouble with Dad, who also loved the crust. Of course, what Tom and I liked best was the desserts. Dad had a sweet tooth. He didn't care much for pies except chocolate, but he loved cakes. Mom almost always had a cake of some sort on hand. Tom especially liked those chocolate pies. In the summer when we could pick berries, blackberry cobbler was my favorite.
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAdF8sUteinDJMt4Afb6RrqDLO-BzimgS98IthCJ4p19cQBYQcX3i2R4sMemLS0EAFj_wkmZ3BM3xFPsHfMPTG4OP-7j_5_eBcAfP5GOwqLyEXkHHXWXEvlKriYbZ7nz4ibz113tXM6IW/s1600/Warren+in+overalls.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="833" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSAdF8sUteinDJMt4Afb6RrqDLO-BzimgS98IthCJ4p19cQBYQcX3i2R4sMemLS0EAFj_wkmZ3BM3xFPsHfMPTG4OP-7j_5_eBcAfP5GOwqLyEXkHHXWXEvlKriYbZ7nz4ibz113tXM6IW/s320/Warren+in+overalls.jpeg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me in the driveway with Dad's car</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We kids didn't have many toys that I recall. I'm sure we had a cap gun or two, and I must have had little cars. I remember playing in the sandy soil of our driveway. Dad had a small garage to keep the car safe. I remember having a little tin cowboy with a lasso. It was a wind-up toy, and the lasso would spin round and round. Alas, I left it in the driveway one night, and dad ran over it the next morning. We boys always went barefoot in the summer, and our play clothes were often just a pair of short pants.
<br />
<br />
My sense is that our small nuclear family was happy in that little shotgun house. Our days alone as a family were all too few. Pappy died of a stroke during the winter. I still recall the red glowing wood stove in the little country church where we had his funeral and how cold and wet it was at his graveside. Grandma Bell moved in with us after that, completely changing the family dynamic. The company did move us into a larger house so that she could have her own room. I shall always have fond memories of our days in that tiny house.
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-47662839167142061262017-05-10T17:20:00.001-04:002017-05-12T11:21:01.246-04:00Hell in the Coral Sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBcX6ihL9TR5lmLoscu93AEJZ5UV4ygxXw1hKtbZQYduSnEOaQy7hkpircPJHmDJ7DfPhcQvcgF9jxSS6gT7Z1_r-z_LZRcIt_Zu6A0Ej2UAc8RKjuRIyzIcIAHzEDUSYCSkl2HoUyGIe/s1600/burning+japanese+carrier2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgBcX6ihL9TR5lmLoscu93AEJZ5UV4ygxXw1hKtbZQYduSnEOaQy7hkpircPJHmDJ7DfPhcQvcgF9jxSS6gT7Z1_r-z_LZRcIt_Zu6A0Ej2UAc8RKjuRIyzIcIAHzEDUSYCSkl2HoUyGIe/s320/burning+japanese+carrier2.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
Seventy-five years ago, in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean northeast of Australia, a new type of naval warfare entered the arena of history. For the first time, two naval forces did battle without ever coming within visual sight of each other. Although neither side could claim a clear-cut victory, the Battle of the Coral Sea changed the course of World War 2 in the Pacific. Many in Australia believe that it prevented the invasion of their homeland by the Japanese Empire.<br><br>
Historians continue to debate whether or not the Japanese planned an actual invasion of Australia. However, there is no question that the Japanese High Command intended to isolate the island continent and force its government out of the war.<br><br>
May 1942 came at the end of a long string of spectacular Japanese victories. Having smashed the American Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese armed forces ran rampant through Southeast Asia, seizing Malaya, Singapore, the Philippines, and <a href="http://amzn.to/29mjzjw" target="_blank">the Dutch East Indies</a>. Allied naval and military efforts to slow the Japanese juggernaut had been brushed aside with seeming ease. As the remnants of American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces tried to regroup in Australia under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, prospects for survival of the Commonwealth appeared dicey.<br><br>IJN (Imperial Japanese Navy) Vice Admiral Inoue Shigemi, Commander of Japan’s Fourth Fleet, had worked out an intricate plan with his Army counterparts for further expansion in the Southwest Pacific. The same land and naval forces would be used over and over. First, the Navy would move down the Solomons Chain to the southeast, securing the big islands of Bougainville and Guadalcanal, on which airfields could be built. Tulagi, with its large lagoon suitable for operating the big Kawanishi flying boats, would be occupied at the same time. Once the eastern flank had been secured, a combined force invasion of the Australian base at Port Moresby on New Guinea’s south coast would follow.<br>
<br>
With Port Moresby at his disposal, Inoue’s bombers would be in a position to attack northeast Australia. Meanwhile, he would regroup his ships and Army forces to advance across the Coral Sea to seize New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa. With his bombers based on those islands, Australia would be completely isolated. Cut off from help from her Allies, the island continent would have no choice but to sue for peace.<br><br>Admiral Ernest King, Commander in chief, U.S. Fleet, was gravely concerned about the possible isolation of Australia. To prevent such a circumstance, he had ordered Admiral Chester Nimitz at Pearl Harbor to keep at least one aircraft carrier task force in the Coral Sea. Aircraft from these vessels had decimated the enemy bomber forces based at Rabaul and struck invasion shipping off the north coast of New Guinea. As the Japanese began to set their new plan in motion, a task force of two U.S. aircraft carriers and their supporting ships moved into the Coral Sea.<br><br>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHg3tp-FT2_oxgISJaARf9QrR9uHOtWrv7bWh_DgLnVWxxf-VOXW0IyG0Nt8crbkRQ8QKPAPY4NaqbAzEgJ8z-dRl4Lx2ynoX4nL1NclIkvxSeDMnE6uII0EJFkYE6Jn_kjA_SxJaXyld1/s1600/coral-sea+map+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHg3tp-FT2_oxgISJaARf9QrR9uHOtWrv7bWh_DgLnVWxxf-VOXW0IyG0Nt8crbkRQ8QKPAPY4NaqbAzEgJ8z-dRl4Lx2ynoX4nL1NclIkvxSeDMnE6uII0EJFkYE6Jn_kjA_SxJaXyld1/s400/coral-sea+map+2.jpg" width="400"></a></div>
<br>
American and Japanese forces northeast of Australia began to converge. Rear Admiral Kōsō Abe’s Port Moresby Invasion Force was central to the situation. The Japanese admirals’ job was to protect it and support its landing. The American admirals’ objective was to prevent the landing from taking place.<br><br>Abe’s force sortied from Rabaul on 4 May and proceeded southward across the Solomon Sea, heading for the eastern tip of New Guinea. Admiral Sadanichi Kajioka’s light cruiser and six destroyers joined up during the day. After supporting the landings at Tulagi, The light carrier Shōhō and the heavy cruisers and destroyers of Rear Admiral Aritomo Gotō’s Covering Force put in at Bougainville to refuel. Meanwhile, Vice Admiral (VADM) Takeo Takagi’s Carrier Strike Group was steaming south on the east side of the Solomons, turning left to thread between Guadalcanal and Rennell Islands to enter the Coral Sea. <br><br>The Japanese and American carrier forces were closely balanced. VADM Takagi had sister ships Shōkaku and Zuikaku, both first line fleet vessels. Rear Admiral (RADM) Frank Jack Fletcher had Lexington and Yorktown. The air groups were similarly balanced. Fletcher had 44 Wildcat fighters, 74 Dauntless dive-bombers, and 25 Devastator torpedo bombers, a total of 143. Takagi had 36 Zero fighters, 54 Aichi dive-bombers, and 54 Kate torpedo planes, a total of 144 aircraft. Both admirals were surface warfare officers. Both delegated control of actual air operations to their senior aviator subordinates: RADM Chūichi in the case of Takagi, RADM Aubrey Fitch in the case of Fletcher. <br><br>
Fletcher had the advantage in intelligence. Allied codebreakers were just beginning to read JN25, The IJN’s main fleet code. Regular reports from both Australia and Hawaii fed him the composition, targets, and movements of the Japanese forces. The enemy planned to land troops at Port Moresby on 10 May. Their Carrier Strike Force would probably operate close to the invasion site. <br><br>Early on the morning of 5 May, the American task forces rendezvoused about 400 miles south of Guadalcanal. Admiral Fletcher consolidated his forces into a single Task Force 17. Task Force 44 now became Task Group 17.3 and remained so for the rest of the battle. In preparation, the task force spent much of May 6 refueling from the Neosho. The tanker then sailed to a rally point to the south, hopefully out of range of the Japanese carrier planes. With full fuel tanks, TF 17 headed toward the Jomard Passage between the western tip of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago, through which Abe’s invasion force must proceed. <br><br>During 6 May, the opposing forces played a game of “blind-man’s-bluff.” Both carrier forces kept reconnaissance planes aloft, searching the seas where they believed their enemy to be. Neither commander was limited to his shipboard resources. American B-17s staging through Port Moresby sighted and attacked Abe’s convoys several times during the day. No hits were scored, but the Army reported the location of the enemy units to Fletcher. Takagi could count on Kawanishi flying boats from both Tulagi and the Shortland Islands near Bougainville, ground-based bombers from Rabaul, and the cruiser floatplanes of the other Japanese groupings.<br><br>
Admiral Fletcher ordered Australian RADM John Gregory Crace’s cruiser Task Force 17.3 to break off from the carrier force and race ahead to block the Jomard Passage at the earliest possible moment. Heavy cruiser U.S.S. Chicago joined that force, along with three modern destroyers. <br><br>While Admiral Crace’s ships raced westward, both carrier commanders were reacting to faulty scouting reports. Just after 0700, one of Shōkaku’s reconnaissance planes reported a carrier, a cruiser, and three destroyers. A few minutes later, a second Shōkaku aircraft confirmed the sighting. Excitement permeated the Japanese aviators. They were eager to get aloft and sink the American carriers. Admirals Takagi and Hara concurred. By 0815, thirty-six Aichi dive-bombers and twenty-four torpedo planes with an escort of eighteen Zeros were on the way to the reported sighting.<br>
But what the scout planes had actually found was the oiler Neosho and destroyer Sims.<br><br>
Meanwhile, at 0815, a Dauntless dive-bomber from Yorktown discovered heavy cruisers screening the Port Moresby invasion force. The pilot mistakenly reported the sighting as two carriers and four heavy cruisers. Believing that his scout had found the Japanese carrier force, Admiral Fletcher ordered every available plane into the air. Ninety-three aircraft sped off the decks of Yorktown and Lexington: 18 Wildcat fighters, twenty-two Devastator torpedo planes, and 53 SBD Dauntless dive-bombers. Both the Japanese and American air fleets were pursuing the wrong targets.<br><br>
While the American carriers were launching aircraft, a cruiser floatplane from Fururaka found the actual American carrier force. A few minutes later, another floatplane confirmed the report. The Japanese admirals faced a quandary. Were the Americans operating in two carrier groups? Confused, they decided to go ahead with the attack in progress but turned to close the distance to the second sighting.<br><br>
The Japanese air armada found Neosho and Sims at about 0930. Soon realizing that these were the only ships in the area, the pilots radioed back for instructions. Their admirals realized at once that the American carriers must be between them and the invasion convoy. They ordered their planes to sink the oiler and destroyer and return to their ships as quickly as possible. Without air cover, the two American ships stood no chance. The torpedo bombers and fighters headed home at once. The dive-bombers attacked the American ships. Hit by three bombs, Sims broke in half and went down. Seven bombs hit Neosho. The Japanese left her drifting and sinking.<br><br>
Just after 1000, American Army B-17s reported an aircraft carrier, ten transports, and sixteen warships a little south of the earlier Dauntless sighting. Now convinced that he had found the main enemy carrier force, Admiral Fletcher diverted his air fleet to the new targets.<br><br>
At 1040, the American strike group found the Shōhō. Lexington’s dive-bombers began the attack. The SBDs of Bombing Squadron Two peeled off and screamed down at the enemy aircraft carrier. In the midst of their dive, fighters from the Japanese Combat Air Patrol (CAP) jumped the dive-bombers. One staggered in the air and then went spiraling down in flames. Below, the carrier was zigging and zagging in violent maneuvers. Amazingly, not a single bomb hit the target. LCDR Robert E. Dixon’s SBDs of Scouting Squadron Two then had their turn. Two 1000-pound bombs struck the carrier. Flames began to pour out of the sides of her hangar deck.<br>
<br>
<br>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQnSYaPfzugEj_6i0HJoep27R1rmAJY6ciCvD6J-uxNy4bmwbF1MGRsvh4uiz5cteIvYKhqFqPKqJIqorYfh3kk1iuJqR2PaABQh82EZN3PPcDAafhS_1uqvTH-81DnL6rVfOzjI3On3c/s400/dive-bombing2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQnSYaPfzugEj_6i0HJoep27R1rmAJY6ciCvD6J-uxNy4bmwbF1MGRsvh4uiz5cteIvYKhqFqPKqJIqorYfh3kk1iuJqR2PaABQh82EZN3PPcDAafhS_1uqvTH-81DnL6rVfOzjI3On3c/s400/dive-bombing2.gif" width="400"></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[Explanation of Dive-Bombing]</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br>
Yorktown’s planes went after the stricken ship. Five torpedoes plowed into the crippled ship. The carrier went dead in the water just as the SBDs of Yorktown’s air group began their first dives. The Yorktown pilots hit the almost stationary carrier with another ten or twelve bombs and two more torpedoes.<br><br>
Just after 1130, the ravaged carrier slid beneath the waves, becoming the first carrier sinking of the Pacific War. Not knowing that their prey was the light carrier, Shōhō, the Americans thought that they had sunk a first-line fleet carrier. LCDR Dixon got the honor of reporting the results of the battle to Admiral Fletcher. <br><br>
“Scratch one flattop,” Dixon radioed, coining the term by which carriers would be known for the rest of the war. <br><br>Just before 1300, a Japanese floatplane sighted RADM Crace’s cruiser force steaming westward. The pilot reported that the force contained a battleship and two carriers. Still waiting for his strike force to return from sinking Neosho, VADM Takagi diverted two groups of land-based bombers from Rabaul toward Crace’s position. One flight contained twelve G4M Betty twin-engine torpedo bombers. The second was nineteen Mitsubishi G3M Nell horizontal bombers. Admiral Inoue also ordered Admiral Abe to turn his invasion convoy around and remain in the Solomons Sea until the forthcoming carrier battle was decided.<br><br>
At around 1430, U.S.S. Chicago’s air search radar picked up two large formations of aircraft approaching from the north. Admiral Crace ordered his ships into a diamond formation to give each vessel maneuvering room to dodge torpedoes and bombs. All the Allied ships were at General Quarters with every gun manned and ready. <br><br>
A storm of anti-aircraft fire shot out toward the attackers, some of whom were actually lower than the gun positions. Every five-inch, four-inch, and smaller caliber gun within range poured out fire at its maximum rate. Shells burst all around the sea- skimming aircraft. First one, then another took hits and plowed into the sea. Yet the remaining enemy pilots pressed home their attacks, dropping their fish at what would have been maximum range for American torpedoes.<br><br>
Both Australia and Chicago turned into the attacks, going bow first in the direction of the incoming torpedoes. With consummate skill, both captains “combed” the oncoming wakes, allowing the weapons to pass harmlessly on either side of the cruisers. The flanking destroyers likewise maneuvered to avoid the deadly fish.<br><br>
The Bettys came on at low altitude, machine-gunning the targets as they passed over. The light anti-aircraft guns on the ships scored numerous hits, sending two more of the enemy planes into the drink.<br><br>
Chicago’s radar reported another formation approaching from astern at 18,000 feet. Lookouts throughout the Allied force scanned the sky, but they were staring directly into the sun. The Japanese air commander was obviously a wily veteran. Allied captains had learned early in the war to watch for bomb release from attacking aircraft.<br><br>
The captains of Australia and Chicago began to corkscrew their ships about the sea. Every pair of binoculars in the task group locked onto the falling bombs. The volley aimed at the American cruiser missed by a narrow margin. But Australia disappeared in a typhoon of towering bomb splashes. Miraculously, the Australian cruiser emerged from the huge waterspouts without any visible sign of damage. <br><br>
Five-inch and four-inch shells began to burst among the Japanese formations. First one, then another of the bombers burst into flames and spiraled downward. A few minutes later, two more of the Nells were hit. The entire gaggle of aircraft turned and sped off to the north.<br><br>
The Japanese aircraft commander reported to Rabaul that he had sunk a California-Class battleship and damaged another battleship and a cruiser. In fact, the only casualties on the Allied fleet were from shrapnel. <br><br>Admiral Crace ordered the Task Group to turn south and increase the range from Rabaul. Since the enemy obviously knew where he was, Crace was not constrained by the need for radio silence. He reported to Admiral Fletcher that he could not complete his mission without air cover. Still hoping to hide his carriers, Fletcher did not respond.<br><br>Shortly after Admiral Crace turned away from Rabaul, Admiral Takagi received a report from another floatplane from Kamikawa Maru that Task Group 17.3 was steaming southeast. Both Japanese admirals assumed that the reported force was Fletcher’s aircraft carriers. A few calculations established that the American ships would be within aircraft range later in the day. <br><br>
Excitement energized the Japanese air staffs. A late afternoon strike against the Americans seemed possible. Admiral Hara ordered that eight torpedo bombers fly scout missions in the direction he believed the American ships to be. <br><br>
After his air group returned from crippling Neosho, Hara selected the most experienced crews to hit the Americans. Commanded by Pearl Harbor hero LCDR Kakuichi Takahashi, twelve dive-bombers and fifteen torpedo planes were soon headed to the west on a course of 277°. Scout planes ranged ahead searching for the American fleet. The Japanese formation flew above solid cloud cover as they searched for the American ships. At one point, they flew within forty miles of TF17. Meanwhile, the big radars on the American carriers picked up and tracked the Japanese force. Every available fighter was scrambled to protect the carriers. The Yorktown vectored four Wildcats to intercept the enemy attack planes. Flying below the overcast, the Wildcats would be invisible until the last moment. <br><br>
Just before intercepting, the Wildcats popped up through the clouds right behind the enemy formation. Lacking their own fighter support, the Japanese pilots were at a great disadvantage. They immediately dumped their ordnance to gain maneuverability. When the ensuing melee was finished, over half the Japanese torpedo planes had gone down, along with one of the dive-bombers. The remaining planes were scattered. One of the Wildcats had succumbed to defensive fire from the bombers.<br><br>
A little after sunset, several enemy dive-bombers flew over the American carriers. Apparently believing them to be their own ships, the Japanese pilots began circling as if to land. Antiaircraft gunners on the American destroyers opened up and drove the dive-bombers away. <br><br>
Ignoring the threat of submarines, gutsy Admiral Takagi ordered his ships to turn on their searchlights to guide his surviving planes back to his carriers. Nevertheless, another eleven aircraft ran out of fuel and had to ditch. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven aircraft sent out never made it back to their ships. <br><br>
After being informed of the results of battle on May 7th, Admiral Inoue postponed the invasion of Port Moresby by two days.<br><br>Dawn on May 8th found both American and Japanese commanders eager to pinpoint the location of their enemies. Takagi got search planes aloft first, launching seven torpedo bombers at 0615. Exercising tactical command, RADM Fitch sent out eighteen SBDs twenty minutes later to conduct a full 360-degree search. <br><br>
The weather situation had changed radically overnight. The warm frontal zone that had shielded Fletcher’s forces the day before was now over the Japanese ships. Lexington and Yorktown cruised beneath clear skies with seventeen nautical miles visibility.<br><br>
A Lexington SBD sighted the Japanese carriers through a hole in the clouds at 0820. Just two minutes later, one of Shōkaku’s torpedo planes sighted TF17.<br><br>
The two fleets launched their strike forces almost simultaneously. At 0915, the Japanese sent out a combined force of 33 dive-bombers, 18 torpedo planes, and 18 Zero fighters. The American carriers launched individual strike forces. By 0915, Yorktown put up six fighters, 24 dive-bombers, and 9 torpedo planes. Lexington sent nine fighters, 15 dive-bombers, and 12 torpedo planes out by 0925. <br><br>
Yorktown’s strike group found the Japanese at 1032. With Zuikaku hidden beneath a rain squall, the dive-bombers concentrated on Shōkaku. Fiercely harried all the way through their dives by the 24 Zeros of the Combat Air Patrol (CAP), the SBDs planted two 1000-pound bombs near the bow of the ship, peeling back the flight deck and starting raging fires in the hangar below. Fortunately for the Japanese, none of the torpedo planes was able to hit the carrier.<br><br>
Four of Lexington’s dive-bombers arrived at around 1125. Two attacked each carrier, scoring only one more bomb strike on Shōkaku, further damaging her flight deck. The other Lexington SBDs failed to find the enemy ships in the heavy cloud cover. Lexington’s torpedo bombers launched 11 fish, none of which hit their targets.<br><br>
With Shōkaku now unable to launch or land aircraft, Takagi released her to return to the Japanese base at Truk. The air group now aloft would all have to land on Zuikaku when they returned. <br><br>Fletcher’s force had the powerful advantage of radar. The powerful set on Lexington picked up the incoming Japanese strike force. Air controllers vectored nine Wildcat fighters out to intercept the enemy planes. Expecting the Japanese torpedo planes to fly at low altitudes, six of the Wildcats flew too close to the sea to make contact. <br><br>
Deprived of the aircraft lost the night before, the Japanese torpedo group commander had too few planes to mount a full attack on both American carriers. He decided to concentrate on Lexington, the larger target with a bigger turning radius. Fourteen aircraft went after the big ship, while only four went after Yorktown. Defending Wildcats and SBDs shot down four of the attackers. Antiaircraft fire destroyed four more. But the remaining bombers attacked Lexington in a pincer movement, coming in from both port and starboard bows. Despite radical maneuvering by the ship’s captain, two deadly 24-inch torpedoes plowed into the big carrier. The first fish ruptured the aviation gasoline tanks, allowing deadly fumes to escape and spread throughout the ship. The second torpedo cut the water main on the port side of the ship, requiring the shutdown of some boilers. <br><br>
About four minutes after the torpedo attacks, 19 dive-bombers from Shōkaku nosed over and went after Lexington. Four CAP Wildcats tried to disrupt the attack, but escorting Zeros cleared the way. Only two 550-pound bombs hit the carrier, starting additional fires. However, damage control parties soon had all fires under control, and the ship regained a speed of 24 knots. Aircraft operations continued unabated.<br><br>
Yorktown seemed to have a charmed life that morning. All four torpedoes launched at the ship missed. CAP Wildcats then disrupted the attack by fourteen Zuikaku dive-bombers, and only one bomb struck the ship. However, near misses buckled some fuel tanks, leaving an oil slick trailing behind the ship.<br><br>
By noon, all Japanese aircraft had withdrawn. CAP fighters and SBDs shot down an additional Zero, 3 torpedo bombers, and a dive-bomber. The opposing strike groups ran into each other on their return flights. The senior Japanese air commanders were killed in these dogfights. <br><br>
Back on Zuikaku, Admirals Takagi and Nara were jubilant. Incoming reports indicated that both American carriers had been sunk. But when their aircraft began to land, the severity of their losses became apparent. Of the 69 aircraft sent out, only 46 made it back to Zuikaku. Twelve of these were so badly damaged that they had to be pushed over the side. Only four torpedo planes, eight dive-bombers, and 24 Zeros remained operational.<br><br>
The initial damage assessment on the American ships found both carriers damaged but able to continue air operations. This rosy conclusion changed radically at 1247, when a tremendous explosion racked Lexington. Fumes from the ruptured gasoline tanks had spread throughout the ship, and electric sparks had triggered an ignition. In the next hour, a series of violent explosions continued to ravage the ship. By 1600, the fires were uncontrollable. Abandon Ship was ordered at 1707. Admiral Fitch and Captain Frederick C. Sherman, the CO, were the last to leave the ship alive. Of the 2951-man crew, 216 went down with the vessel.<br><br>The opposing commanders now took stock of the situation. Both found their ships alarmingly low on fuel. Takagi had the fleet oiler, Tōhō Maru, waiting in the Solomons. But Fletcher had lost Neosho. With no fuel supply available short of either Australia or New Caledonia, his operational options were severely limited. With only thirteen fighters left to defend his force, he decided to withdraw from the Coral Sea. Although he had won no decisive victory, he had heavily damaged one first-line carrier and so savaged the air group on another to the point that she would be out of the war for months. And he had achieved his strategic objective. <br><br>
After consulting with Admiral Inoue. Takagi also decided to withdraw. In his view, he had won a great victory. With no carriers available to support his landing forces, Inoue felt compelled to call off the Port Moresby invasion and return his units to Rabaul. For the first time since the war began, a Japanese invasion force had been forced to abandon its mission. <br><br>
Although he had won no decisive victory, Fletcher had heavily damaged one first-line carrier and so savaged the air group of another that she would be out of the war for months. And he had achieved his strategic objective. Port Moresby remained in Allied hands and would for the rest of the war. Japan’s plans to isolate Australia and force her out of the war were now in shambles.<br>
<br>
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br>
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br></div>
<hr>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png"></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br>
<hr>Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-48782144681523429412017-03-04T15:31:00.001-05:002017-03-07T00:17:21.087-05:00Seabees - Can Do! Happy 75th Birthday to the Navy's Seabees.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJYURu2KKc_P8Q3e5iy8gHNKFXHcwLJZ1iCrDCAxQYfz7I1n4vueLjlXGfsm6_Xpu_sfpAFMZwppdp3BQtsGXNmXfa5UXHxmY8pmQN2W96qtyppI_T3JPUAARXCOZ5R5_RgYBmmKmgs7W/s1600/75th+Seabee+Seal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiJYURu2KKc_P8Q3e5iy8gHNKFXHcwLJZ1iCrDCAxQYfz7I1n4vueLjlXGfsm6_Xpu_sfpAFMZwppdp3BQtsGXNmXfa5UXHxmY8pmQN2W96qtyppI_T3JPUAARXCOZ5R5_RgYBmmKmgs7W/s320/75th+Seabee+Seal.jpg" width="277" /></a></div>
March 5th is the 75th birthday of the U.S. Navy's Fighting Seabees. Born of the need for uniformed construction experts to build essential naval and air bases in the far-flung Pacific War, the new builder/warriors quickly made themselves indispensable to military commanders in all theaters of war. Seabees laid the floating causeways that made the invasion of Sicily possible. They built artificial ports and operated "Rhino Ferries" at the beaches of Normandy. They even ferried troops across the Rhine into Germany.<br />
<br />
But it was in the Pacific where the Seabees made their biggest contributions. Beginning with Guadalcanal, every amphibious operation of that vicious war saw vital work by the Seabees: hundreds of airfields and ports, thousands of miles of roads, thousands of prefabricated "Quonset huts," hospitals, mess halls, and berthing facilities. Seabees built the runways from which B-29s pounded Japan and from which the Enola Gay brought ultimate destruction to the enemy.<br />
<br />
Most people don’t realize it, but many of the characters in the famous musical, <i>South Pacific</i>, are Seabees. The author, James Michener, featured Seabees prominently in his breakthrough novel, <i>Tales of the South Pacific</i>. One of his nineteen tales deals exclusively with a Seabee battalion planning and constructing an airfield on a tropical island. It may well be the finest piece of fiction ever written about the Seabees in their long history.<br />
<br />
Recruited from the civilian construction trades, many World War II Seabees were much older than their official records indicated. Marines were known to quip, "Never hit a Seabee. He may be some Marine's father." The Marines' ultimate compliment may have been the sign they posted on Iwo Jima:<br />
<br />
"And when we reach the isles of Japan,<br />
With our hats at a jaunty tilt,<br />
We'll enter the City of Tokyo,<br />
On roads that the Seabees built."<br />
<br />
Seabees have enhanced their reputation in every conflict since their birth. Their floating causeways made the daring invasion at Inchon in Korea possible. Thousands of Seabees built bases, airfields, fire bases, roads, and hospitals all over Vietnam. The wars in the Middle East again demonstrated how vital these builder/fighters have become to American Military operations.<br />
<br />
So Happy Birthday, Seabees! May your endeavors continue to inspire.<br />
<br />
My third novel, <i><a href="http://amzn.to/2mnn9z9" target="_blank">Asphalt and Blood</a></i>, tells the tale of Seabees in the 1968 Battle of Hue City. Although fictional, many of the characters are composites of real individuals and most of the seemingly-outrageous incidents in the novel did occur.
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-83719817273390545752016-12-10T14:38:00.000-05:002016-12-10T14:44:42.611-05:00Why Must We Demonize Those Who Disagree With Us?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpCnBeVELZG4EFs4F_b3MZ5xIvqCX0LUvwuqss-EGsim5SGShaNBXF3TvYYeWsvglCK7mJa9aL4m966NxWN0T8b6riWLu38qGo_hDXE_Ous3MuT-J0kKpxVfxGul_1D83Ns9Bf5BOW0Gd/s1600/DevilAngel.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTpCnBeVELZG4EFs4F_b3MZ5xIvqCX0LUvwuqss-EGsim5SGShaNBXF3TvYYeWsvglCK7mJa9aL4m966NxWN0T8b6riWLu38qGo_hDXE_Ous3MuT-J0kKpxVfxGul_1D83Ns9Bf5BOW0Gd/s320/DevilAngel.png" width="320" /></a></div>
While I was writing my Vietnam Seabee novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/28XiZbu" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, I read a number of memoirs by former soldiers in the conflict. I was somewhat surprised to learn that the U.S. Army purposefully trained its troops to consider the Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers as lesser forms of humans. I suppose that I shouldn’t have been surprised. The depiction of the Japanese enemy during World War II had been even more racist. In fact, the depiction of Germans in World War I as rapacious “Huns” was part of the same process.<br />
<br />
The psychological purpose of such demonization is to make it easier for the trainee to kill the enemy in combat. If one is taught to hate the other side, killing becomes a reasonable reaction. Many of the electronic warfare games of today originated in military training programs designed to condition the user to “zapping” another human being.<br />
<br />
While the military usefulness of such approaches may be understandable in times of war, why have we seemingly extended “demonization” to include just about anyone with whom we disagree? The practice has been particularly virulent during the recent U.S. election cycle. The practice was not exclusive to either party but extended across the spectrum of politics. As an amateur historian, I am well aware that American elections have been plagued with demonization since the beginning of the republic, but the advent of social media has allowed intensification beyond imagination a few decades ago. I have voted in the last 15 presidential elections, and I have never seen it so bad.<br />
<br />
Demonization leads to hate. I have written before about <a href="http://bit.ly/28XiZbu">how hatred does nothing but poison society</a>. I have also written about <a href="http://bit.ly/2d36g5I">“thought police” and their hateful results</a>. Driving wedges between various segments of society will never result in a peaceful civilization. Breeding hatred is a sure path to the disintegration of any culture.<br />
<br />
We as a society need to start listening to one another. We need to listen not to frame a counter-argument but to actually understand what the other is thinking. When negotiating engineering and construction contracts, I learned early on to first search for the items upon which both parties agree. To bind our nation together, we need to start looking for those points upon which we agree, both in our legislative bodies and in society as a whole.<br />
<br />
Branding those who do not share our beliefs as inferior human beings is the product of intolerance and unwarranted arrogance. Looking down your nose at other segments of society does not prove the correctness of your vision. It just assures that you will be shortsighted.
<br /><br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-65994183320956337282016-11-21T16:06:00.001-05:002016-12-10T14:39:30.530-05:00Reprise: Thanksgiving in the 1940s<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWD0TR45CzCGJv3ryZXBIb9TBOqZWHTBv_EfLIvdsB4nL3CwghHtjcqWt7fOBgD-fN5KdPwpMuRWsmtWj1uepy0HEKJW8NTy84LeZkuUxafWzYduNXT9atIxmuhiRJIKSNO_KO9a2C8pd/s1600/NR+Thanksgiving2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtWD0TR45CzCGJv3ryZXBIb9TBOqZWHTBv_EfLIvdsB4nL3CwghHtjcqWt7fOBgD-fN5KdPwpMuRWsmtWj1uepy0HEKJW8NTy84LeZkuUxafWzYduNXT9atIxmuhiRJIKSNO_KO9a2C8pd/s320/NR+Thanksgiving2.png" width="240" /></a></div>
As my 81st Thanksgiving approaches, I cannot help but look back over the years at the changing role my wife, Annette, and I have played in this important family event. For many years, we enjoyed gathering the clan in our home and providing the feast, but our days of hosting Thanksgiving have faded into the past. We have reached the point in life where we go to our children’s homes for the celebration. Annette, however, still cooks her pecan and apple pies, which are a favorite with our grandkids. In the distant past, we went to our parent’s homes when circumstances allowed. But my Navy career offered few such opportunities, so we were used to decades of having everyone within reach come to our home. As I keep looking back, I am reminded of the blog post I wrote a few years ago about celebrating the holiday in the years right after World War II, when I was a young child. I am repeating it here.<br />
<br />
In my childhood, Thanksgiving was truly a family affair. I grew up in a large extended family whose spiritual anchor was my Grandmother Tatum. A physically a small woman, to us Edna Tatum was an awesome presence. She raised five daughters (Brenda, Olive, Evelyn, Lorene, and Sadie) essentially alone on an isolated farm outside El Dorado in South Central Arkansas. Her husband, Miller, worked for the railroad and was away from home five days a week. This left Grandma to run everything, including supervising and feeding the hired hands who worked the farm. Miller didn’t move his family into town because El Dorado was a rough oil boom-town in those days. He felt his daughters were far safer out in the country.<br />
<br />
After Miller’s death, Grandma sold the farm to Aunt Evelyn and her husband, Earl Molsbee, with the condition that she would always have a home there. So on Thanksgiving, the whole family less Lorene, who lived in far-away Batesville, gathered at “Aunt Evelyn’s.”<br />
Ours was a strictly a blue-collar family. My Dad, Jewell Bell, worked as a planing mill foreman in a lumber plant. Besides running the farm, Uncle Earl worked in the oil fields. Leonard Goodnight (Brenda’s husband) worked at the local oil refinery. Ross Martin (Sadie’s spouse) served as a policeman. These men, all survivors of the Great Depression, were grateful to have jobs that let them put roofs over their families’ heads and food on the table. To them, Thanksgiving was not just a holiday. It was a celebration of the blessings they had enjoyed during the year.<br />
<br />
In those days before television, the men usually sat around the wood stove in the living room and enjoyed each other's conversation. The hardest thing for the children was waiting for the meal. I was one of four sons who were always called, “the boys.” Gerald Goodnight was a few months older than my brother, Tom. Johnny Molsbee was a year younger. I was “tail-end-Charlie.” The one granddaughter, Darlene Molsbee, was about a year younger than me. She usually hung out with the women and helped with the meal. If weather allowed, the boys were banished to the outdoors. There was always lots to do and look at around the farm. I usually just trailed behind the big boys and tried to do whatever they did.<br />
<br />
My mother and her sisters prepared dinner as a communal activity. Aunt Evelyn usually furnished the main dish, and the others brought their contributions, some already prepared, some to be finished just before eating. The menu was about the same each year. Turkeys were a luxury in those years just after World War II. Instead, the sisters baked or boiled chickens ahead of time. Making large pans of cornbread dressing with the broth, they would tear up the chickens into bite-sized pieces and embed them atop the breading, then bake the whole thing in the oven. Sometimes, we would have fresh pork roast and dressing as well. Cream gravy with the cooked chicken “giblets” chopped up in it went along with these dishes.<br />
<br />
The rest of the menu was pretty traditional: mashed potatoes, home-canned Kentucky Wonder beans, candied sweet potatoes, fruit salad made by augmenting canned fruit cocktail with apples, oranges, and bananas, and jellied cranberry sauce. Desserts were all sorts of pies and cakes. My mother usually took a cake, since my dad preferred them to pies (except chocolate). My favorite was always the mincemeat pie. All this bounty would be spread on the big table in Evelyn’s dining room.<br />
<br />
We always had a big turnout. Besides the sisters’ husbands, several other relatives usually came. One constant was Grandma’s younger brother, Johnny Ford. His son, Wilmot, frequently came also. Uncle Johnny, a widower who raised his son alone from infancy, was considered saintly in our family. He always offered the blessing before the meal. A Methodist, he never failed to enumerate the good things that had occurred in the previous year. Sometimes, this made the children impatient.<br />
<br />
The dining room and table were too small to accommodate everything at once. As was customary in those days, the men ate first. According to how many were present, we children sometimes got to eat with the men. If there were too many, we were relegated to the “children’s table” in the kitchen. Either way, the women didn’t eat until everyone else was through. If they resented it, they never let on. I suppose they just took it as a matter of course. Things would change in later years.<br />
<br />
The way we lived in the 1940s would probably be considered “poverty” by most of today’s young people, my grandchildren included. We had no computers, no television, not even electricity. Batteries powered our radios and listening time had to be rationed. Our homes were heated by wood stoves and lighted by kerosene lamps. Only those who lived in cities had running water and indoor plumbing. But that was how almost all people who lived in the country existed in those days. We did not consider ourselves poor. We were thankful for dry beds and full stomachs and loving families to care for us. Physical things didn’t seem to matter so much. The world has changed a great deal since the 1940s. Some of it is actually progress.
<br /><br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-83585637504575331812016-10-01T13:49:00.000-04:002016-10-01T13:49:21.587-04:00The Fire Is Still There<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP3YtiBZ_AW8aLuQe1KxrDzd31yMAdNi7vHnwhwI6OEKcSD_I7NPRhi7PoxRGL0s5LP7DJeNnM1gDi79cBz7kmASOTw8-4wsWUbRdCPObYgAKHPinXvAT1TLhrSBcQN2h-qS3Zh7kW0DU/s1600/nmcb4+decal+large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAP3YtiBZ_AW8aLuQe1KxrDzd31yMAdNi7vHnwhwI6OEKcSD_I7NPRhi7PoxRGL0s5LP7DJeNnM1gDi79cBz7kmASOTw8-4wsWUbRdCPObYgAKHPinXvAT1TLhrSBcQN2h-qS3Zh7kW0DU/s320/nmcb4+decal+large.jpg" width="317" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">On September 16th, I had the honor of attending a reunion of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion FOUR in Springfield, Virginia. BUC (Builder Chief) Jeff Parker, the principal organizer, invited me to the event. He had attended the reunion of the battalion in which I served, NMCB FORTY, last year and saw my presentation on my writing and my books. He purchased a copy of my Vietnam <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabee">Seabee</a> novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/29nvM2y">ASPHALT AND BLOOD</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having served in the Hue-Phu Bai area, the setting of the story, he identified with many of the events about which I wrote. He wanted to share them with his fellow veterans.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Any reunion of old Seabees brings out sea stories beyond count. Plenty were being bandied about when I entered the Hospitality Suite and started introducing myself. As I listened, I realized that I was in the company of Seabee legends. These were men who had performed amazing feats of construction under fire by an implacable enemy. Some had re-laid the first aluminum matting runway of the war at Chu Lai. Others had built camps and roads throughout the northern part of South Vietnam, the famed I Corps area. I was surprised by how many of their experiences mirrored my own. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why do these men congregate every few years just to be together again? I believe that they realize that they share a set of experiences that set them apart from the civilian world in which they live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A sense of brotherhood pervades these gatherings. It is so much more than just shared memories. The participants worked with each other, sweated with each other, took enemy fire together, and in some cases nearly died with each other. And the fire in their bellies that sustained them through those experiences still burns brightly today. They had each other’s backs in those days, and they still do today.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One factor I notice about Seabee reunions is that almost all the attendees are Vietnam veterans. A half-century after that unpopular conflict, the men and women who participated still feel a kinship for one another that subsequent generations seem to lack.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of this may be tied to the way many of us were treated when we came home. At best, we were treated like fools for having risked all in such a venture. At worst, we were vilified as war criminals, called “baby killers” and rapists. We were the young generation that listened when John Kennedy called on Americans to, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!” We were asked to go halfway around the world and fight a tenacious foe in a fight without battle lines or easily identified enemies. We did our job. Despite what revisionist historians would tell you, we were not defeated on the battlefield. That war was lost by the politicians, not by the men in uniform.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I was grateful for the reception that the NMCB FOUR people gave to my short talk and to my writing. Many purchased copies, and I have already had very positive feedback. But then, <a href="http://amzn.to/29nvM2y">ASPHALT AND BLOOD</a> is a book about Seabees written by a Seabee.</span>
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<br />
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.<br />
<hr />
<span style="background: rgb(189, 8, 28) url("data:image/svg+xml; border-radius: 2px; border: medium none; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: none; font: bold 11px/20px "Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif; opacity: 1; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; position: absolute; text-align: center; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; z-index: 8675309;">Save</span>Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-85443485629218469002016-09-04T13:16:00.001-04:002016-09-06T11:42:51.018-04:00Were the “Good Old Days” Really That Good?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWt9WD6s2mDs_lIBsWSYmyW6cc8JTWssM-SGu90jpMRGMrSKojPX7KaNj-iZeip8094Jeu_ObV4ZiYA8J7JPIxNoHBowGwWxnUqiaSUTACgApZeCcM80TwodAXYfpwgGiYpzYuRL6C_2O/s1600/Eisenhower+%2526+congress.+leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWt9WD6s2mDs_lIBsWSYmyW6cc8JTWssM-SGu90jpMRGMrSKojPX7KaNj-iZeip8094Jeu_ObV4ZiYA8J7JPIxNoHBowGwWxnUqiaSUTACgApZeCcM80TwodAXYfpwgGiYpzYuRL6C_2O/s320/Eisenhower+%2526+congress.+leaders.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eisenhower and Congress Leaders</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The current election cycle has revealed a craving among a large segment of the U.S. population for a return to the way things used to be, to go back to the "Good Old Days." As a person who has lived more than eight decades in this country, I am not sure what part of the past these individuals want to restore. I suspect the time that they yearn for is the 1950s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Why the 1950s? Perhaps that was the last decade in which people with only a high school education could aspire to get a well-paying job and enter the famed middle class. In the 1950s, activity was booming in the industrial cities of the North. If a person were a sharecropper, whatever your race, opportunity beckoned in the factories of the North. If you have read John Grissom's book, A Painted House, or seen the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, you have witnessed this phenomenon from the viewpoint of poor white farmers. All across the South, cotton fields fell fallow or switched to mechanized farming while hundreds of thousands of farmworkers headed north. The "American Dream" was alive for large segments of the population. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Despite stresses of the "Cold War," peace prevailed in the U.S. for most of the 1950s. After the Korean War ended, American troops were not actively involved in combat. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the 1950s, the Federal Government actually worked. President Eisenhower often conferred with the leaders of both parties in Congress to address national concerns. Compromise positions were hammered out in these discussions, and acceptable legislation was then proposed and enacted. "Compromise" was not a dirty word in those days. Our leaders still realized that compromise is the very lifeblood of a functioning democracy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Peace, economic opportunity, and a functioning government are all worthy of nostalgia. Unfortunately, there are other factors about that era that are not worthy of restoration.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rigid gender definitions still divided society. There was "men's work" and "women's work." Men were expected to work and earn the family's living. "Bringing home the bacon" was their primary task. Women were supposed to marry, have children, and become homemakers. Almost all of the myriad duties of maintaining a household fell to the woman: providing meals, childcare, housekeeping, and assuring clean clothes for the family. Just keeping up with family laundry during those days before modern washing machines was an exhausting process. In the 1950s, boiling clothes in an outdoor wash pot and scrubbing them on rub-boards was still commonplace. Soaking garments in starch and ironing them with flatirons could be tiring as well. My mother-in-law always said, "There never were any ‘Good Old Days' for women."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the 1950s, the Southern states of the old Confederacy remained rigidly segregated by race. African-Americans were decidedly second-class citizens. Segregated schools for blacks were often starved of resources needed to provide a reasonable education. The Ku Klux Klan was still active in some areas. Many white parents still taught their children that blacks were inherently inferior. Finding a better way of life was another motivator for the mass migration to northern cities. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Medical care in the 1950s was primitive compared to what we have today. Preventive medicine was chiefly limited to smallpox vaccination. The current inoculations to prevent childhood diseases had yet to be invented. Most children endured Chickenpox, Measles, Whooping Cough, and Mumps at some time. Some died of these diseases. And in the background always lurked the specter of polio, the crippler, and killer of hundreds each year. Many parents would not let their children take swimming lessons because of polio concerns. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most people only saw a doctor when they got severely sick or injured. Doctors did make home visits in those days, but the treatments available to them were only a fraction of what exists today. Standard treatments still included prescribing laxatives for just about everything to "purge the body." Bed rest was recommended for most ailments. Smoking, on the other hand, was viewed as a good way to relax from stress. Almost all doctors were heavy smokers. Alcohol was considered a stimulant, although it is actually a depressant. The number of hospitals was limited. In those that did exist, privacy was given limited priority. Most patients were confined in large open wards. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At least in the early 1950s, many country families still lacked indoor plumbing. Use of outhouses remained a necessity. Chamber pots were used at night. Of course, emptying these every morning usually fell to the woman of the household. Bathing usually occurred on Saturday night so people would be clean for church the next day. Galvanized washtubs in the kitchen were the usual bathing place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe that the human mind tends to retain and augment the good things about the past while conveniently forgetting the not so pleasant ones. Widespread opportunity, functioning government, and peace are all objectives toward which we need to strive, but I do not personally desire a return to the 1950s. There are many aspects of the current situation that need to be changed, but we need to hammer out new solutions in keeping with the realities of the world today rather than seeking to go back to the past.</span>
<br /><br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<script type="text/javascript">var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};</script><br />
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-50a3ff4b2c15c6e0" type="text/javascript"></script>
<!-- AddThis Button END -->
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure <span style="color: #1c1c1c;">The</span> Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.
<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-44166543951309014242016-08-11T09:47:00.000-04:002016-08-13T13:28:04.168-04:00 Peaceful Reflections From a Carolina Beach<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qkTq1RKa1vkjLhHCwV2zG6f-fNOehKTjGRUD9yai8KBzq7lf3-hUp6YD6wqmkGRtOA7N4BRMT1eJUwjr7GEfiI3ZIFbqu0eFRWq9wgS0TWaRN4f-4jwd5Vjb0RaD_TAXagC_ElKQjN7i/s1600/IMG_0970.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1qkTq1RKa1vkjLhHCwV2zG6f-fNOehKTjGRUD9yai8KBzq7lf3-hUp6YD6wqmkGRtOA7N4BRMT1eJUwjr7GEfiI3ZIFbqu0eFRWq9wgS0TWaRN4f-4jwd5Vjb0RaD_TAXagC_ElKQjN7i/s320/IMG_0970.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nags Head, NC</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A glassy blue sea beneath puffy white clouds. Dune grass seed pods nodding gently in a cool sea breeze. Seagulls and pelicans racing across the sky. The warm sun loosening taut back muscles. Such are the joys of a summer beach vacation.<br />
<br />
My wife, Annette, and I are at Nags Head in the North Carolina barrier islands (Outer Banks) enjoying time together with our daughter and her family. This is a three-generation affair. Three of our grandchildren are here, along with spouses and a girlfriend. Even the family dog got to come. It is a laid back time for all of us. We sleep as long as we feel like it. During the day, we are all in charge of feeding ourselves. Only in the evening do we gather for a communal dinner, often from a "take out" restaurant. <br />
<br />
Our days are spent with dips in a fine swimming pool, time at the beach, and walks along the sand. Those who tan lie in the sun for long periods. We "old folk" take shade baths. We read "beach books" to pass the time.<br />
<br />
People who live hectic lives need time like this to unwind. We try to keep the everyday world at bay. We don't discuss politics. News is banned from the big flat screen TV in the great room. The Olympics, however, are considered entertainment. Seeing our U.S. team rack up medals is a lot of fun. Those of us who feel lost without at least some news have to use the TVs in our bedrooms. <br />
<br />
Too soon, this pleasant interlude will come to an end. We'll join the mass migration of vacationers moving up into Virginia, through the congestion of Hampton Roads, and on up the coast to our places of abode. But the memories of these lazy, unhurried times will remain with us as we return to the hustle and bustle of daily life, sustaining us through more stressful times. <br />
<br />
Some archaeologists postulate that humankind developed along the beaches of Africa, that we are all the descendants of consummate beachcombers. Time at the beach makes that theory easy to believe. Most humans have an affinity for living close to the sea. May we never lose that connection.
<br />
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<script type="text/javascript">var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};</script><br />
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-50a3ff4b2c15c6e0" type="text/javascript"></script>
<!-- AddThis Button END -->
<br />
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure <span style="color: #1c1c1c;">The</span> Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.
<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-26972273358213892002016-07-22T17:00:00.001-04:002016-07-22T17:51:57.851-04:00Can a Historical Novelist Do Too Much Research?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbkWnXac9dQrbjWIPfcJryJmtAX2r4_KGMCEfj0Aa3cMN3A3YQPzpDFCB4Fg9HtbloEM4c46ave5EZgVvgc2VSyvR0n65kCf5sTIdLgPbvBAVds_a5RFAaWwYScF9kIftjUGFOHiRx1hY/s1600/FullSizeRender%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitbkWnXac9dQrbjWIPfcJryJmtAX2r4_KGMCEfj0Aa3cMN3A3YQPzpDFCB4Fg9HtbloEM4c46ave5EZgVvgc2VSyvR0n65kCf5sTIdLgPbvBAVds_a5RFAaWwYScF9kIftjUGFOHiRx1hY/s320/FullSizeRender%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I once read that before beginning a historical novel, authors
must immerse themselves in the history and culture of the period until they are
essentially living there. I have often taken this admonishment to heart in my
historical writing.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I love history and actually enjoy doing historical research.
I like to root out the exact details of how history unfolded and later subject
my characters to events as they really took place. This requires a lot of digging
around in both the Internet and into printed material. I especially prize
first-hand accounts by people who experienced the times about which I write.
Sometimes, I buy used copies of the actual books to gain access to the
information I seek. I recently purchased BARBED WIRE SURGEON, the memoirs of
Dr. Alfred A. Weinstein, MD, a surgeon who served in the jungle hospitals
during the defense of Bataan in 1942. When I write about my Navy Nurse
protagonist working in these hospitals in my current project, <a href="http://www.wbellauthor.com/#!endure-a-cruel-sun/c1im1" target="_blank">ENDURE THE CRUEL SUN</a>, I have the advantage of the point of view of someone who was there at the
time. Nothing I could make up would be as horrible as the circumstances that
actually took place.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My worktable is typically piled high with reference books. I
also like to write on my big IMac desktop with my MacBook Air opened to
Internet references beside it. When I need to insert a detail, I can usually
get to it very quickly.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Lately, I have begun to believe that it is possible to do
too much research. I am currently dealing with the Battle of the Coral Sea. This
is not an easy battle to come to grips with. American Vice Admiral H.S.
Duckworth described one day of the battle as, “Without a doubt…the most
confused battle area in world history.” My challenge was to explain these
circumstances to my readers in an interesting and entertaining way. (After all
novelists are in the entertainment business.) I found myself reading Internet
articles for hours, clicking on one link after another to dig for further
details. Each question I answered seemed to raise several more. This created a
problem as it broke the rhythm of my writing. I realized that I was actually
enjoying my research too much. Research is, after all, a means to an end, not
the end itself. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I recalled the old writer’s saw, “Don’t let the facts get in
the way of a good story.” The story is paramount. The historical details are
but the background against which the tale is set. I have to keep drumming this
point into my head. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’m trying now to limit my research to that necessary to get
my basic story down in writing. I can always dig deeper during the rewrite and
editing phases if I find that I need more detail. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I hope to soon get myself fully back on track, spinning
stories of bombers diving on enemy carriers and submarines landing commandos on
Japanese held islands. The yarn is all there, spinning around inside my head.
All I have to do is get it down in type.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<h4>
Share This Post</h4>
<!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style">
<a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br /></div>
<script type="text/javascript">var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};</script><br />
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-50a3ff4b2c15c6e0" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<!-- AddThis Button END -->
<br />
<hr />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure A Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>.
<br />
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-53835058583260302362016-06-25T15:53:00.000-04:002016-06-28T00:03:18.059-04:00Reprise: The Poison Fruits of Hatred<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHb7a1T6-i7QGo0jXNdKYkIKC58AXM_x5F5-8Be_Rw02x0-twBxWSwdU_zSRfzIozzIZandhxJVhS1AuIcVop7MTojU-T7Xk54ecVbeym8Hdi_15sL3bi1Hi_dj6f1hyphenhyphenYX4fSexaiMYAi/s1600/TomTolesWhatTiesItAllTogether.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAHb7a1T6-i7QGo0jXNdKYkIKC58AXM_x5F5-8Be_Rw02x0-twBxWSwdU_zSRfzIozzIZandhxJVhS1AuIcVop7MTojU-T7Xk54ecVbeym8Hdi_15sL3bi1Hi_dj6f1hyphenhyphenYX4fSexaiMYAi/s320/TomTolesWhatTiesItAllTogether.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style> <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I do not often agree with Washington Post political cartoonist Tom Toles. His left-leaning drawings are usually too much for my moderate Independent leanings. But when he published the above cartoon on June 14, 2016, he absolutely nailed the importance of hatred as the nexus that connects many of the ills that plague society today. I was at once reminded of a blog post on hatred I published last July. I am repeating it today to emphasize that hate is a dead-end street that leads to nowhere.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">July 25, 2015: Today’s world appears awash in hatred. From lone-wolf shooters to suicide bombers, the results of hatred fill our newspaper headlines and television news broadcasts. Hatred takes many forms, and all of them are evil: racial hatred, religious hatred, tribal hatred, regional hatred, class hatred, and, of course, personal hatred.<br />
<br />
Religious hatred fuels many of the conflicts in the world. The Moslem world is split between Sunnis and Shia, and these groups have been in conflict since the Dark Ages. The fall of <span style="font-family: inherit;">S</span>addam Hussein in Iraq let loose a torrent of bloodletting between the branches of Islam that continues to this day. Mass suicide bombings and the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which practices “Shia cleansing” by massacring “enemy” forces, goes on daily. Women are frequently kidnapped into sexual slavery. No end to this conflict is in sight.<br />
<br />
Racial hatred still haunts the world, and not only in the American South. Much racial hatred harks back to the concept of “white supremacy” that pervaded Europe and the Americas during previous centuries. Less evolved civilizations and their inhabitants were deemed to be “inferior.” Lopsided military victories by the better- armed Europeans reinforced that view. And when Spanish priests seeking to save Native Americans from extinction began preaching that African’s black skins were a punishment from God that marked their ancestors’ evilness, generations became doomed to chattel slavery. The concept of world racial equality only began to receive acceptance in the last half of the Twentieth Century. Racial hatred still pervades many parts of this planet. Racial hatred is a two-edged sword. Any race hating any other race(s) is racial hatred. Any race or nationality that feels itself superior to any other is, by definition, racist.<br />
<br />
Hatred for people of Jewish extraction is a combination of religious and racial hatred. During the Middle Ages, Jews were condemned as “Christ killers” by the European churches. During the Crusades, large massacres of Jewish populations occurred all over Europe. These attitudes continued into the Twentieth Century. Anti-Semitists began to decry the “undue influence” of Jews on European history. But it remained for the Nazis of Germany to dub the Jews a “race” that needed to be exterminated. The Holocaust was the result. Creation of the State of Israel in Palestine was the United Nations’ attempt to compensate Jewish survivors for the atrocities they had suffered. Many Arabs viewed the event as the reestablishment of the crusaders’ Outremer kingdom. The attempt by surrounding Arab nations to snuff out Israel in its infancy led to the first of a series of wars that solidified a lasting hatred between the parties.<br />
<br />
History is replete with other “holocausts” around the world. Many consider the subjugation of Native Americans by European settlers and their descendants to qualify in this category. The massacre of Armenians during World War One and the inter-tribal warfare in Rwanda clearly meet the standard. Massacres in the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the so-called “ethnic cleansing,” are another example.<br />
<br />
Hatred on a personal level results in much of the violence in the world. Many cultures include the concept of vendettas, warfare between families over some wrong or perceived slight done to one of the parties. The cartoonist for Doonesbury captured the absurdity of some vendettas during the Iraq war. A mixed American/Iraqi team is about to go on a raid. The American tells the Iraqi that they must capture the target of the raid alive. The Iraqi replies that he must kill the target because of a family feud. One of the target’s kinsmen had killed one of the Iraqi’s family. The American asked when the killing occurred. The Iraqi replied, “in the Fourteenth Century.”<br />
<br />
Hatred is corrosive to the human spirit. No good can ever come of it. Hatred makes a person bitter, paranoid, and spiteful. It consumes valuable mental energy that is better focused on bettering the human condition. It can also destroy the holder as well as the target. Author Jack Higgins likes to quote the old European proverb, “Before beginning a journey of revenge, it is necessary to dig TWO graves.” That sums up the fruits of hatred concisely.<br />
<br />
I don’t have enough time left in my life to waste it on hatred. Humans all need to stop hating each other! </span></span><br />
<br />
<h4>Share This Post</h4><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br />
<div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style addthis_32x32_style"><a class="addthis_button_preferred_1" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_2" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_3" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_preferred_4" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><a class="addthis_button_compact" href="https://www.blogger.com/null"></a><br />
</div><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true};</script><br />
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-50a3ff4b2c15c6e0" type="text/javascript"></script><br />
<!-- AddThis Button END --><br />
<hr /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>is a Pentagon thriller about domestic terrorism. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure A Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: default;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div><hr />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com65tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-19331877325727688812016-06-06T13:42:00.001-04:002019-06-06T09:26:50.198-04:00Reprise: A Day That Changed The World<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdTLPXTm-zyNSEtbMCs-8M96fiJfOPWSACcv9WHF6zk_jExw4uSMneQt_PxqDzhvch8X_nKrvQh9A_shDGHcNynNLJJ3H185e63l_rVyIPyuKR5nhh4_pW4uNXimB0jruUh5KKPO16KHm/s1600/Soldiers+Storming+Omaha+Beach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWdTLPXTm-zyNSEtbMCs-8M96fiJfOPWSACcv9WHF6zk_jExw4uSMneQt_PxqDzhvch8X_nKrvQh9A_shDGHcNynNLJJ3H185e63l_rVyIPyuKR5nhh4_pW4uNXimB0jruUh5KKPO16KHm/s1600/Soldiers+Storming+Omaha+Beach.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soldiers Storm OMAHA Beach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I originally planned to write about another subject today, but the significance of June 6th led me to change my mind. What happened on the coast of France seventy-two years ago today was one of the turning points of history. Here is a reprise of the thoughts I expressed on the subject a few years ago.<br />
<br />
June 6, 2016: Seventy-two years ago today, the greatest fleet ever assembled in history launched the largest amphibious invasion ever undertaken. Over 100,000 American, British, Canadian, French, and other Allied troops stormed ashore on five beaches in Normandy. American and British airborne divisions preceded the landings by a few hours to disrupt the German lines-of-communications.<br />
<br />
On some beaches, the invasion plan worked smoothly despite opposition from the defending German. But the American beach called OMAHA became a slaughterhouse. The defending positions were formidable, and German resistance proved almost fanatical. The beach became littered with dead and wounded attackers and destroyed equipment. The filmmakers of Saving Private Ryan vividly captured what these men endured. The situation seemed so dire that General Omar Bradley, the American commander, considered evacuating the beach entirely. Then American leadership, training, initiative, and ingenuity turned the tide.<br />
<br />
One on-site commander told his soldiers that there were two types of men on the beach: those who were already dead and those who were going to die. He admonished them “Let’s take that hill and die inland.” Then he rose and led his men from the front. Engineers breached barriers holding up the troops, and the few tanks that made it ashore surged forward. Hundreds of soldiers overcame their terror and braved fierce fire to attack the defenders. They took the high ground, and the crisis was overcome. By nightfall, all the landings were securely established. Although much hard fighting still lay ahead, the fate of Nazi Germany was sealed.<br />
<br />
D-Day occurred ten days before my eighth birthday. I still recall President Franklin Roosevelt’s somber radio announcement of the event to the American public and his solemn prayer for the success and safety of our fighting men. As I recall, the mood of the country was grim but determined. The Axis had started this war, and they deserved whatever they were getting. We were damned well going to finish the war with total victory.<br />
<br />
Almost every family in the United States had someone directly involved in World War II. Although my father was too old to serve, I had uncles and many cousins in the armed forces. Some served in the Army, others in the Navy. Several served in the Army Air Forces. My close relatives endured combat in North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe, New Guinea, the China-Burma-India Theater, and in the Pacific. One helped sink Japanese carriers at Midway to turn the tide of war in that region. He was one of the few torpedo plane pilots who made it back to his carrier. He remained on the USS Enterprise for the remainder of the war and fought in almost every major battle in the Pacific. My oldest brother-in-law flew 8th Air Force heavy bombers over Germany. It seemed that everyone studied world geography. Our family experience was typical of the entire country. We were a united nation, focused on the single purpose of victory. As I said in a previous blog post, we would not be so united again until the days immediately following September 11, 2001.<br />
<br />
The Normandy landings cost the Allies over 9,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen killed or wounded. Those of us in succeeding generations owe these men an enormous debt of gratitude. Their sacrifice in lives lost or maimed freed the world of the gruesome specter of Nazi conquest. Western Europe and the Americas remain free today as a result of their efforts. <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was released on September 15, 2015. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to his best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: <a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </span></span></span></div>
<hr />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-24642797856507781952016-05-28T21:48:00.000-04:002016-06-06T13:37:08.614-04:00Dive-Bombers—The First Precision-Guided Munitions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4JtABmXljvkzipVnybojcF6iFHrt70V31N7EXqVhemloCK4EZQ6KjbNtiK5hHDGZlWDvpSpxQgXa8l8kOkbGJSQt7W-rx4BLyiKzKq8D1sYz2a3ueLjW-oI18pZPNtM0SR0cds6TEqGD/s1600/SBD3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4JtABmXljvkzipVnybojcF6iFHrt70V31N7EXqVhemloCK4EZQ6KjbNtiK5hHDGZlWDvpSpxQgXa8l8kOkbGJSQt7W-rx4BLyiKzKq8D1sYz2a3ueLjW-oI18pZPNtM0SR0cds6TEqGD/s320/SBD3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mention dive-bombers in any gathering of World War 2 enthusiasts, and you will instantly conjure up images of the ugly, bent-wing Ju88 Stuka, the German <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luftwaffe’s</i> primary close-support aircraft. Fighter pilots will sneeringly call dive-bombers, “A fighter pilot’s dream,” because they believe they are easy to shoot down. Very few people in and out of the military are aware of the critical role that dive-bombers played in winning the Second World War for the Allies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The term, “dive-bombing,” is precisely descriptive. To execute such an attack, a pilot flying at an altitude of anywhere from 10,000 to 20,000 feet altitude puts his aircraft into a steep dive and aims it directly as the target. U.S. Navy procedure called for a 70˚ dive. German and Japanese aircraft were limited to 65˚ dives. Using special dive brakes to maintain control during the high-speed dive, the pilot drops down to 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the target before pulling the his bomb release. As the bomb rotates out on its “crutch” to clear the propeller and falls away, the aviator pulls back on his controls, experiencing a force of six times normal gravity as the plane levels out at low altitude. Five seconds or less after bomb release, it strikes the target. The bomb has been controlled by the pilot’s brain to within seconds of impact. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dive-bombing was first tried above the trenches in WW1. Heavy losses of aircraft and aircrew discouraged widespread adoption of the technique. European air forces largely ignored the concept in the interwar years. But as carrier-borne naval aviation developed rapidly in the 1920s, naval air forces revived the idea. Hitting a fast-moving and maneuvering ship in the open sea presents a complex problem. With both aerodynamic and weather forces acting on both aircraft and missiles, hitting a moving ship from a horizontal bombing position remained an unlikely proposition. The USN pressed forward with development of dive-bombers to solve the problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQnSYaPfzugEj_6i0HJoep27R1rmAJY6ciCvD6J-uxNy4bmwbF1MGRsvh4uiz5cteIvYKhqFqPKqJIqorYfh3kk1iuJqR2PaABQh82EZN3PPcDAafhS_1uqvTH-81DnL6rVfOzjI3On3c/s1600/dive-bombing2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZQnSYaPfzugEj_6i0HJoep27R1rmAJY6ciCvD6J-uxNy4bmwbF1MGRsvh4uiz5cteIvYKhqFqPKqJIqorYfh3kk1iuJqR2PaABQh82EZN3PPcDAafhS_1uqvTH-81DnL6rVfOzjI3On3c/s400/dive-bombing2.gif" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 1931, the famed American Director, John Ford, released a film called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Helldivers</i>. Clark Gable and Wallace Berry portrayed two chief petty officers that flew dive-bombers. A typical Hollywood action film of the time, it did feature American naval aviation at that time and brought dive-bombing to the attention of all naval powers. That same year, the </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Imperial Japanese Navy (</span></span>IJN) issued its specification for a carrier-based dive-bomber.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">At the 1931 Cleveland Air Races, German ace Ernst Udet observed a dive-bombing demonstration by Helldivers. The concept soon enthralled him. He convinced his WW1 commander, Hermann Goering, to buy two export versions of the Curtiss <span style="color: #1c1c1c;">F11C-2 </span></span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F11C_Goshawk"><span style="color: #0a006d; font-family: "times new roman"; text-decoration: none;">Goshawk Helldiver</span></a><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, for evaluation by the fledgling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luftwaffe. </i>Later put in charge of aircraft development by Goering, Udet ordered that all German bombers be capable of dive-bombing. This requirement hindered development of a strategic bombing force in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Luftwaffe.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The spectacular successes of Germany’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Panzer</i> columns operating with continuous dive-bomber support are a matter for separate discussion. The dive-bomber’s critical contributions to final victory were in the realm of naval warfare. Dive-bombing proved key to successes of both the USN and the IJN during the Pacific War. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In 1941, over half the aircraft on USN carriers were SBDs (Scout-Bomber-Douglas Aircraft) Dauntlesses. Thirty-six SBDs were divided into two squadrons, a Scouting squadron (VS) and a Bombing squadron (VB). In practice the squadrons were used interchangeably. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For a plane approaching obsolescence in 1941, the Dauntless was a remarkably capable warbird. Thirty-three feet long with a wingspan of almost 42 feet, the SBD had a 1,200 horsepower, 9-cylinder radial engine. It had a range of over 1,000 miles and aerodynamically pleasing shape. A long greenhouse canopy housed the pilot and radio operator/gunner. A 1,000-pound bomb could be carried on a “crutch” beneath the fuselage, and hard-points on each wing could bear 250-pound bombs. A typical combat load was either one 1,000-pounder or one 500-pounder and two 250-pounders. The Dauntless had a significant gun armament. The pilot controlled two .50-caliber machine guns firing through the propeller. The rear gunner had a pair of .30-caliber guns on a flexible mount. The pilot’s guns actually outranged those on a Japanese Zero fighter. The Dauntless was even frequently used in combat air patrol situations against slower torpedo bombers. It had a combat kill ratio of 3.2 to 1—better than some fighters.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the first year of the Pacific War, SBDs sank six aircraft carriers, one battleship, three cruisers, a submarine, and fourteen transports, approximately 20 percent of IJN prewar tonnage. Of IJN warship losses during the Pacific War, dive bombers sank over 170. Submarines accounted for another 140 sinkings, and surface ships about 40 others. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dive-bombers thus proved crucial to final victory by the USN.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:1;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SBDs will figure prominently in my next two novels about the Pacific War. I am currently writing about the Battle of the Coral Sea in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"></span><i>, </i>sequel to my bestselling novel <i><a href="http://amzn.to/22spAfX" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> The Americans have just found the IJN light carrier, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shōhō.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Japan has won every battle to date. How will this one turn out?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on September 15, 2015. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "times new roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a></i></span>, </i>the sequel to his
best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-33027613124826791332016-05-19T19:03:00.001-04:002016-05-19T21:13:31.918-04:00How Japan Came to Dominate Naval Aviation<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGf44z6pJDNq-Vj5c34mTARBNryelZMrodDdkV3_9ZglNAJ4hwPXbyOSjDC_rf1Hk5rbcIbiAcoGD5aBUHHqKquXI7IAXQmYJ78OUJcrrvtJS3DBdDyGsz0Rf-sCPO1OnmgBpi_b07iZL4/s1600/Kido+Butai+by+Artist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGf44z6pJDNq-Vj5c34mTARBNryelZMrodDdkV3_9ZglNAJ4hwPXbyOSjDC_rf1Hk5rbcIbiAcoGD5aBUHHqKquXI7IAXQmYJ78OUJcrrvtJS3DBdDyGsz0Rf-sCPO1OnmgBpi_b07iZL4/s320/Kido+Butai+by+Artist.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>'Kido Butai'</i> by Marii Chernev</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Three
weeks ago, I set aside my writing to concentrate on getting my left knee
replaced with a new titanium alloy and plastic marvel. My leg is recovering
nicely, and daily physical therapy is rapidly improving my use of the new
joint. The time has come to return to the war in the Southwest Pacific Theater
in May of 1942.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
left almost equally balanced American and Japanese naval air forces searching
for each other in the vastness of the Coral Sea northeast of Australia. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Behind the Japanese strike force, a large
invasion convoy is poised to spring through the Jounard Passage at the tip of
New Guinea and seize the Allied bastion of Port Moresby, the last barrier
before Australia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could a nation
less that a hundred years removed from the Middle Ages be in a position to
strike a deathblow to the world’s two foremost naval powers?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
dawn of fixed-wing aviation came at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Hardly had the Wright brothers taken to the air than forward-thinking naval and
military officers recognized the advantages that aircraft might offer in
battle. Of prime importance was simply locating the enemy. Naval commanders had
been limited to the range of vision of lookouts posted atop mastheads since naval
warfare commenced. Aircraft promised to extend that vision far beyond the
horizon. Planes operating from shore bases were almost immediately available.
But what was really needed were aircraft that could operate from ships at sea.
Both Britain’s Royal Navy (RN) and the United States Navy began experimenting
with various ideas even before World War I.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
use of seaplanes with floats, that allowed takeoffs and landings on water,
became an obvious first step. Seaplane tenders, equipped with heavy cranes to
transfer the aircraft between ship and water, became the first aircraft
carriers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The RN pressed ahead
throughout the war, experimenting with foredeck landplane launch platforms, and
then tacking on separate afterdeck landing decks with arrestor cables. Finally,
the various concepts were combined on HMS <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Furious
</i>to provide a single long flight deck cleared of superstructure. On 2 August
1917, RN Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning made the first landing of a plane on a
ship under way. The modern aircraft carrier had arrived.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Nowhere
was the emerging naval aviation concept embraced more readily than by the
Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). When Japan’s 19<sup>th</sup> Century Emperor
Meiji decided to modernize Japan, he and his governments decided to pattern
their armed forces on those of the most successful European examples. Thus,
Germany was chosen as the model Army. The British RN was the obvious choice for
the new navy. Ties between the RN and IJN remained close well into the 20th
Century. Japan actually conducted the world’s first successful naval launched
air raid in September 1917, employing seaplanes from seaplane carrier IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Wakamiya</i>. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
IJN closely followed the RN aviation developments. As valued Allies against the
Central Powers, IJN officers were allowed to observe operations and study the
first purpose-built carrier design for HMS <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hermes.</i>
Although begun later, IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">H</i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">ōshō</span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> became the world’s first built-from-scratch
carrier. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">In the
1920s, the western powers sought to limit the naval arms race by treaty limitations.
Japan emerged from these negotiations very dissatisfied with the battleship and
battle cruiser numbers and tonnage allowed to their empire. One area where the
IJN retained significant flexibility was that of aircraft carrier construction.
They took full advantage of this opportunity.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Japan
immediately decided to convert to aircraft carriers two large battle cruisers
then under construction. One was damaged beyond repair by an earthquake, but
the second, IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Akagi</i>, went forward. An
incomplete battleship, IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kaga</i>,
became the second new carrier. As soon as these ships joined the fleet, the IJN
integrated them into fleet operations and developed their naval aviation
doctrine. In the 1930s, more ships designed from the keel up filled out the
fleet. IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sōryū</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hiryū</i> were next off the building ways. At
the end of the 1930s, IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Shōkaku </i>and
IJN <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Zuikaku </i>added additional punch to
the fleet. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Japanese
naval aviation experts gained further advantage because they were actually at
war during the 1930s. New ideas could be tested under combat conditions. Unlike
their western counterparts, IJN aviators came to believe that sea-based
airpower should always be concentrated as much as possible. Raids combining the
air groups of all ships available became their standard at a time that other
navies tended to parcel out their carriers one or two at a time to protect
their battle fleets. In a major war, IJN aviation was assigned the mission of
seizing control of the air from the very beginning by massive attacks. The IJN
understood “shock and awe” as early as the 1930s. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">As fortune
would have it, Japan’s rigid seniority-based promotion system elevated an
aviation specialist, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, to the position of
Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet at this crucial point in history.
Yamamoto had at his disposal a cadre of talented “young Turk” aviation staff
officers and commanders, such as Lieutenant Commander Minoru Genda and Lieutenant
Commander Mitsuo Fuchida. On their urging, he organized all six of his large
carriers into the 1<sup>st</sup> air Fleet, commonly known as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kido Butai</i> (Strike Force). To compliment
the carrier forces. Yamamoto also built up a large force of twin-engine, long
range shore based bombers especially trained in bomb and torpedo attacks
against ships. Named the 11<sup>th</sup> Air Fleet, this force could deploy
rapidly to newly conquered bases to extend control of the air by hundreds of
miles. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Japan’s
aviation industry kept pace with the forward thinking navy visionaries. By
1940, the torpedo bombers and dive bombers being produced were at least as good
as their western contemporaries. And in the Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” fighters,
Japan possessed the finest carrier fighter in the world at that time. Designed
to operate both off carriers and in support of the 11<sup>th</sup> Air Fleet,
the Zero possessed a phenomenal range of almost 1,200 miles. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Choosing IJN
pilots and their training regimen were highly selective, resulting in almost
perfect human specimens. For instance, candidates had to be able to see the
primary navigation guide stars in broad daylight. Intense physical and
instructive training characterized the program. Only a small percentage of each
class actually achieved their coveted wings. Naval aviators were the elite of
the elite. Combat experience in China honed this cadre of experts into a finely
sharpened rapier. The process worked well in the relatively low level combat of
the 1930s, but it was incapable of producing a large number of replacements to
meet the demands of high intensity combat. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">Kido Butai </span></i><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">and the 11<sup>th</sup> Air Fleet
performed superbly in the opening months of the Pacific War, savaging the U.S.
Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and sinking the Royal Navy’s battleship HMS <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Prince of Wales</i> and battle cruiser <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Repulse</i> in the Gulf of Siam. The protagonists
of my second novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1Vc88vb" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hold Back The Sun</i></a>,
battled elements of Japan’s naval aviation in the skies over Borneo and Java
and over the seas in between. Chased out of the Dutch East Indies, my
characters now face battle in the seas and skies of the Coral Sea northeast of
Australia in my current work-in-progress, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">Endure The Cruel Sun</a>. </i>Will they meet defeat yet again? Or is fortune finally
deserting the victory-drunk Japanese forces?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on September 15, 2015. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to his
best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-73304616539009194312016-05-07T21:49:00.000-04:002016-05-19T21:12:32.244-04:00On My Way Back—Doing the Physical Therapy<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydK6YP4AIgJ3cGKOqesOkUIQsmHZlDuOPiicJu1wFCLIjXPMigY5UIIByTxB3TykeXSnLhaWcV-_e5hLp7PK2LI90YpKunO-8C2FF7SJKzJUUcE-u2-S8AJLa3R6SEsQO5zgW9xnuIu98/s1600/measuring+knee+angle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjydK6YP4AIgJ3cGKOqesOkUIQsmHZlDuOPiicJu1wFCLIjXPMigY5UIIByTxB3TykeXSnLhaWcV-_e5hLp7PK2LI90YpKunO-8C2FF7SJKzJUUcE-u2-S8AJLa3R6SEsQO5zgW9xnuIu98/s1600/measuring+knee+angle.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Measuring Knee Angle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-font-charset:78;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I’ve had my new left knee for over ten
days now. It has mostly been a positive experience. There has, of course, been
pain, but not nearly so much as I had been led to expect. Modern anesthesiology
blocked a great deal of the pain at times when it would normally been the
worst. But current physical therapy practice is to begin moving replacement
joints very soon after installation. My sainted mother used to say that, “Old
age isn’t for cowards,” and the same can be said for surgery. But the pain is
very manageable. And I can say without equivocation that I’m already more
capable than I was before the operation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Physical Therapy is key to recovery from
any major injury or surgery. I learned this lesson well over thirty years ago
when I originally broke my left leg. Proper exercise to recondition and
strengthen the muscles and ligaments around the effected joint(s) are
imperative. Physical Therapists are trained to evaluate progress in joint
recovery and determine the next level of workload necessary to continue
improving the situation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I had my knee replaced at the Sentara
OrthoJoint Center® in Williamsburg, Virginia. The Center has an outstanding
staff of Orthopedic surgeons, Orthopedic Patient Navigators, nurses, and
Physical Therapists who are dedicated to the most effective recovery for their
patients. From the time one wakes up from the operation, the emphasis is to
move, move, move! Inactivity is the enemy of those who would be physically
capable, especially those of us with a few years under our keels. Complete
success for every patient is their minimum standard of performance. I owe a
great debt of gratitude to these consummate medical professionals!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Fortunately, My medical insurance allowed
me to have home nursing and physical therapy services from the KARYA HOME CARE
INC. These began immediately after my release from the hospital. I was assigned
a skilled nurse, an occupational therapist, and a physical therapist. All three
women are extremely knowledgeable and have skill in motivating their patients. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I have been continually surprised by my progress.
After walking on a severely bowed leg for decades, I had expected to have
difficulties adjusting. Instead, I felt immediately at home with equal length
legs and my center of gravity back in the right place. I went from<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>shaky performance on a walker to easy walking
with a cane in just a few days. My new situation feels “normal.” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I must say a few words about pain
management. From well before the operation, advice from doctors, friends, and
relatives who have had similar work done was to, “stay ahead of the pain.” In
other words, don’t wait to try to overcome pain—preempt it ahead of time.
That’s good advice, even if there are some negative trade-offs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">I’m not a fan of opioid painkillers. I
don’t like what they do to my thought processes. I find it almost impossible to
write while under their influence. I even found composing a simple Tweet
difficult. Fortunately, my daughter/publicist, Karen B. Williams, has stepped
in to keep things moving. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Any reader of my novels
realizes at once that I have great respect for medical professionals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From World War II to Vietnam and beyond, many of
my pages are peopled with doctor and nurse characters. In fact, one of the main
characters in my upcoming book <a href="http://bit.ly/1Xn5piD" target="_blank">ENDURE THE CRUEL SUN</a>, sequel to my bestselling
novel <a href="http://amzn.to/24EfF8A" target="_blank">HOLD BACK THE SUN</a>, is a US Navy nurse! I believe that my personal medical
experiences should make my writing about these heroes more authentic.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on September 15, 2015. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to his
best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-14455880578897549042016-04-29T13:16:00.000-04:002016-05-19T21:10:54.318-04:00Built in the 1930s - All Original Parts - Some Still Work<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwX4c8J_vA0pmz7j8Ixtasq00k5SE66uUPGSmp7MN12HOXi7bmMUKfuJR1-fyG90VvE1vO7o190pMa-4D_XWNk-F_xJ2eHt3hYMQgIkUqYuSaFn1Ws_FyX8xDFUuhYhyphenhyphenHEnuyha7HYVva/s1600/WarreninRecovery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDwX4c8J_vA0pmz7j8Ixtasq00k5SE66uUPGSmp7MN12HOXi7bmMUKfuJR1-fyG90VvE1vO7o190pMa-4D_XWNk-F_xJ2eHt3hYMQgIkUqYuSaFn1Ws_FyX8xDFUuhYhyphenhyphenHEnuyha7HYVva/s320/WarreninRecovery.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warren recovering in his favorite recliner.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:1;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
For
several years, I have seen t-shirts advertised with the above caption. I always
meant to get one. I was, after all, born in 1936. But now it’s too late. I
don’t still have all my original parts. Last Monday my orthopedic surgeon flattened
the surfaces of my left knee, cut mortises in the new surfaces, and installed a
full knee replacement joint. My weight is now borne through plastic bearings
onto titanium alloy surfaces. I am already walking on the new joint (with a
walker). There is some pain, but I can manage it. And for the first time in 33
years, both my legs are the same length. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
My
surgeon and anesthesiologist used a series of pain blockers that delayed the
onset of pain for about twenty-four hours. When I initially woke up from the
operation, I felt hardly any pain at all. I was able to do all the exercises
ordered by my physical therapists with no problems. I was beginning to think
that this operation was a snap when the pain blockers started to wear off. That
got my attention in a hurry!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
second day following the surgery was definitely the worst as far as pain was
concerned. One just has to tough it out! Almost continuous therapy to
straighten and then flex the new joint can definitely be quite uncomfortable.
So can using a walker be. I mastered that art fairly quickly; it seemed to come
natural to me. However, throw rugs are booby traps of the most serious order.
All our rugs are now piled in the dining room.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
It
appears that how fast I will be able to get “back to battery” will depend
largely on me. The harder I work, the better off I’ll be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the sooner I’ll get back to writing on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to my
best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Battle of the Coral Sea beckons.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on September 15, 2015. He is currently working on a new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to his
best-selling novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SDeyhK" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span> For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-44432446702468994612016-04-23T15:26:00.001-04:002016-04-23T22:53:32.812-04:00American Angels-The Military Nurses of Bataan and Corregidor<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhWSlydqAxjeU0jBwI2nW4Gsl_s-WXppxWmNKpvtCWhW7jJzRpY-SKZLkFphAb_xRoZco2kycjIGvA98Bl_hC57qE6JO8-7OD_Nx2piM4IXl4dKdlcr1RbjGie2nSgGGh4teGfF4yTlYM/s1600/Angels+of+Bataan+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxhWSlydqAxjeU0jBwI2nW4Gsl_s-WXppxWmNKpvtCWhW7jJzRpY-SKZLkFphAb_xRoZco2kycjIGvA98Bl_hC57qE6JO8-7OD_Nx2piM4IXl4dKdlcr1RbjGie2nSgGGh4teGfF4yTlYM/s400/Angels+of+Bataan+photo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:1;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">When the Japanese invaded the Philippine
Islands in December of 1941, over 100 U.S. Navy and U.S. Army nurses were
stationed at military bases in the islands. The tragic and heroic story of
these women is almost lost to history. None among the “Greatest Generation”
would ever forget them, but those legendary people are almost gone now. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Early in the war, most of the army nurses
were concentrated at Sternberg Army Hospital in Manila. After the destruction
of the Cavite Navy Yard by Japanese bombing, the Navy doctors and nurses from
the hospital at Cañacao also went to Sternberg. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Nearby buildings were confiscated and
converted to medical facilities. Events soon overtook these preparations. Most
of General Douglas MacArthur’s Filipino-American Army were half-trained local
recruits. Of the about 12,000 American troops, none was an organized
division.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had two battalions of light
tanks, but also a division of horse cavalry. Control of the air had been lost
to the Japanese in the first few days. Realizing that his forces could not hold
the Japanese short of Manila, the general ordered delaying actions while his
troops retreated into the Bataan Peninsula to create a stronghold there. On December
26<sup>th</sup>, he declared Manila an open city.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Over 80 Army nurses and one Navy nurse,
Ann A. Bernatitus, operating room nurse for a Navy surgeon, were bussed to
Bataan. The other eleven Navy nurses remained in Manila and were captured.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The nurses went to Bataan dressed in
their starched white cotton uniforms, woefully inadequate to work in a jungle
combat hospital. Upon arrival at Lamay, where Hospital Number 1 was to be
located, they were issued Army Air Force mechanics coveralls--all size 46--and
“boondocker” boots. Fortunately Chinese tailors lived in Lamay and retailored
the coveralls. For headwear, the nurses wore M1917 “soup plate” steel helmets.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">At least open-walled sheds were available
for wards at Hospital No. 1. Warehouses held old iron beds stored since the
First World War. The nurses had to assemble the beds and organize the wards.
Casualties in the hundreds poured in from the front. OR nurses worked hours on
end assisting their surgeons. Ward nurses cared for dozens of patients apiece,
then hundreds. By April, ward nurses were responsible for over 400 patients
each. With Japan controlling the air, patients had to be transferred from the
front at night. Surgeons toiled all night long under portable operating lights,
sometimes continuing on into the day. The nurses changed dressings and tended
to other patient needs by flashlight or kerosene lanterns. Because of
shortages, dressings had to be reused. Dirty dressings were boiled over fires
and then refolded. They performed all these tasks while slowly starving to
death.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Because of limited food supplies, Bataan
went on half-rations in the first week of the siege. Rations were later reduced
another fifty percent. As their weight slowly faded, so did their energy. Yet
the nurses plugged doggedly on. They were medical professionals, and the
welfare of the men under their care was their primary concern.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">As Allied forces retreated, Hospital No.
1 had to be packed up and relocated to Little Baguio closer to the tip of the
peninsula, a miracle of logistics. All of the hundreds of patients survived.
The Americans took everything not nailed down with them, even the electric
wires from the buildings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Hospital No. 2 was the first open-air
hospital operated by the U.S. Army since the Civil War. In fact, one nurse
likened it to the Atlanta train station scene in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gone With The Wind. </i>Located near a small river, the space was
simply hacked out of the jungle. The nurses set up beds brought from Corregidor
out on the ground. Eventually, there were 18 wards of 200 beds each. When beds
ran out, Filipino carpenters built bamboo bunks four tiers high. The ward
nurses had to continually climb up and down ladders. At first, there were no
mosquito nets, and malaria and dengue fever soon ravaged the patients and
hospital staff. Dysentery, scurvy, and beriberi became common as food supplies
dwindled. When hypodermic equipment ran short, the nurses reused syringes and
re-sharpened needles on stones. The women had to bathe in the river. At least
those at Hospital No. 1, located in an old Army motor pool complex, could take
showers. During the siege, over 10,000 patients were treated at the two
hospitals.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">As the Allied forces continued to
retreat, the specter of sexual assault hung over the women. They all knew of
the Rape of Nanking in 1937 and about the raped and murdered nurses in Hong
Kong. But the nurses really had little time to speculate. In her memoirs, one
survivor said that they couldn’t worry about themselves. The care of their
patients remained their primary concern. Their grateful wards soon dubbed the
women “The Angels of Bataan.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The nurses may have pushed rape to the
backs of their minds, but Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, the commander
on Corregidor did not. As military collapse on Bataan became inevitable, he
ordered all the American and Filipina nurses evacuated to Corregidor. After a
harrowing road trip past exploding ammunition dumps and boat trips under fire,
the women reached the relative safety of Corregidor. They continued to practice
their profession there in crowded hospital tunnels dug into the rock. Continual
artillery bombardment made their situation worse than Bataan.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">A few of the nurses escaped. Two PBY Catalina
flying boats evacuated twenty at night. One of the planes made it to Australia,
but the other was damaged on Mindanao and its ten nurses captured. On the night
before Corregidor surrendered, eleven Army nurses and Navy nurse Ann Bernatitus
escaped on the submarine, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Spearfish.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Fifty-six nurses went into captivity on
Corregidor. Their commander, Captain Maude Davidson, maintained tight
discipline and kept the women tending to their patients. The Japanese appeared
stunned to encounter women prisoners who were military officers. Fortunately
for the nurses, the new Japanese commander of the Corregidor hospital was a
graduate of the University of California in Los Angeles. He ordered that the
women be left alone to attend to their duties. Only one abortive rape attempt
occurred.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">After being imprisoned for a few months,
the Corregidor nurses joined the nurses from Sternberg at the Santo Tomas
University internment camp. Captain Davidson worked with civilian medical
professionals to organized an infirmary and set up a nursing rotation to keep
her charges focused on their profession. She insisted that they wear their
khaki skirts while on duty. Lieutenant Laura Cobb followed suit with her Navy
nurses. They carried on as the Japanese systematically starved the internees
for the last year of captivity. A testament to their effectiveness is the fact
that, except for complications from surgery, not a single military or civilian woman
died at Santo Thomas. At the camp, the military nurses were known as “The
Angels of Mercy.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">During the re-conquest of the Philippines
in 1945, General MacArthur took great pains to assure that the military nurses
were freed at the earliest possible moment, sending a flying column of tanks to
liberate Santo Tomas. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">The women came home to a grateful nation
and military decorations. All were awarded the Bronze Star for heroism. Those injured
received the Purple Heart. But like the rest of the “citizen soldiers” of the
“Greatest Generation,” they went on with their lives and soon faded from the
collective consciousness of the nation. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman";">Before World War II, women were
considered “the weaker sex” in Western society. The “Angels of Bataan and
Corregidor” conclusively disproved that stereotype.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I chose to make one of the
“Angels of Bataan” the heroine of my current writing project, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure The Cruel Sun, </i>the sequel to my
bestselling novel <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SkUym7" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a>. </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I tell about the last days of Bataan and
Corregidor, along with the escape by submarine to Australia, through her eyes.
Does romance await her “Down Under?”</span><br />
<br />
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on September 15, 2015. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span>
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-57331966299092812502016-04-17T14:37:00.000-04:002016-04-17T22:09:39.751-04:00When Australia Was Under Siege<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSpy1ngf7vGQdoKnm7ET9e_UFoL2U8SBqqfeZRLcl_kvqr3uAWRC0SQ_0LcAkNeNOxVoLzf8M2JflCrmHAVJYk_kPHOy5ZKuBwtUYjkzv0mbB3PukX8hLpWlfeC_dJDpjleqDKoHWpRH9/s1600/australia-map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqSpy1ngf7vGQdoKnm7ET9e_UFoL2U8SBqqfeZRLcl_kvqr3uAWRC0SQ_0LcAkNeNOxVoLzf8M2JflCrmHAVJYk_kPHOy5ZKuBwtUYjkzv0mbB3PukX8hLpWlfeC_dJDpjleqDKoHWpRH9/s320/australia-map.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
In
the spring of 1942, the people of Australia felt that they were under siege.
They had every reason to believe so. In the opening months of the Pacific War,
Australians had watched one Allied bastion after another fall to the forces of
Japan’s Rising Sun. Hong Kong collapsed almost immediately. The key American
islands of Wake and Guam quickly followed. But the earthquake than shook the
defense of the entire region occurred when the British Army in Singapore, which
included Australian troops, surrendered to a numerically inferior Japanese
force. Conquest of the Dutch East Indies came quickly afterwards. Only in the
Philippines, where General Douglas MacArthur’s Filipino-American army on the
Bataan Peninsula stubbornly held out, had the Japanese been held in check. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
By
this time, Australia had already come under direct attack. With the usual supply
lines already cut, all Allied support to the Philippines and Dutch East Indies
had to be funneled through the northern Australian port of Darwin. Japan’s planners
took notice of Darwin’s importance. As Japanese forces prepared to wrap up
their East Indies conquest, Tokyo sent Admiral Nagumo’s powerful carrier force,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kibu Butai</i>, into the Indian Ocean to
strike the British Royal Navy at Colombo, Ceylon, and block all lines of Allied
retreat from Java. Sailing close to Australia, the six carriers launched a devastating
air raid against Darwin, essentially destroying the town. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Savaging ships and aircraft in the area, the
Japanese sailed on to pummel the Royal Navy near Ceylon and chase the remaining
ships out into the Indian Ocean.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Many
people in Australian coastal ports panicked. With <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kibu Butai </i>roaming the Indian Ocean at will, residents feared
further air attacks or even bombardment by battleships. Many relocated as far
inland as they could afford. Such fears were prevalent in the southwestern
cities off Perth and its port, Freemantle. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These offered the only practical haven to the
defeated Allied Naval forces trying to escape Java.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
The
situation to the north continued to deteriorate. Extending their East Indies
conquest, the Japanese seized the Admiralty Islands and New Britain, with its
magnificent harbor of Rabaul. Landings soon followed at Lae and Salamaua on the
north coast of New Guinea.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
In Mid-March,
1942, President Roosevelt ordered General MacArthur to break through the
Japanese blockade and take command in Australia. When he reached Melbourne, he
was appalled to discover that he had few forces at his disposal. Australia’s
Army was in the Middle East fighting Rommel or in Japanese POW camps in
Singapore. Australia was, in fact, very vulnerable to invasion. Continued air
strikes against Darwin from the former Dutch East Indies and the appearance of
enemy submarines off both the east and west coasts of Australia emphasized its
vulnerability.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
This
is the situation into which I thrust my characters in my new novel, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun</i> (working title). Those who have
read my second novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1SkUym7" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hold Back the Sun</i></a>,
will remember some of them at once. Dutch officers, Colonel Jan Dijker and
Captain Garrit Laterveer, are prisoners of the Japanese. Unfortunately for the
two officers, the Nazi <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gestapo</i> had
asked that they be returned to Europe by submarine. Nurse Catherine van Zweden,
Garrit’s fiancé, is in a civilian internment camp. What fate does the cruel
Japanese Colonel Katsura Okuma have in store for her?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Dutch
intelligence in Australia learns of the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Gestapo’s
</i>request as a result of Allied codebreaking. They scramble to determine if
there is any possibility of rescuing the former master spy and air ace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Jack
Sewell, promoted to Lieutenant Commander, now commands the old four-stack
destroyer, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rust</i>. With Japan
marshaling for a full scale invasion of New Guinea, Allied naval commanders
dragoon <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rust</i> into the Royal
Australian Navy for the looming naval battle to seal Australia’s fate. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
I
plan to publish <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Endure the Cruel Sun</i>
early next fall. Those who have yet to read <a href="http://amzn.to/1SkUym7" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">HoldBack the Sun</i></a> may want to check it out before release of the new book.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
On
Amazon.com, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1SkUym7" target="_blank">Hold Back the Sun</a> </i>has 131
reviews with a 4.2 out of 5 stars overall rating. Forty-three percent of the
reviews are five-star.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will
be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-7426907323578010362016-04-08T18:18:00.002-04:002016-04-08T18:25:14.789-04:00Return to the Southwest Pacific<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg5N_IOJSs8zBA1HpnnDquC1wTbtLXPLbBaTRDpDVVUHOp8qwm9w5oaDh5NTKFy9FSRjCkF6wNTRO5-T89uPwBo7YfffnhyphenhyphendtDlWDTHAHDfoAkqr5cfUfzDNXqD8yPQSO_X1-5HeCkNlZ/s1600/southwest+pacific+area.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikg5N_IOJSs8zBA1HpnnDquC1wTbtLXPLbBaTRDpDVVUHOp8qwm9w5oaDh5NTKFy9FSRjCkF6wNTRO5-T89uPwBo7YfffnhyphenhyphendtDlWDTHAHDfoAkqr5cfUfzDNXqD8yPQSO_X1-5HeCkNlZ/s400/southwest+pacific+area.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
After
venturing into different genres and different decades, I am returning to my
first writing subject—The Second World War. Although my muse deserted me for a
few months, she is back in full force, churning out scenes of combat,
self-sacrifice, espionage, and romance. The venue is once again the Southwest
Pacific Theater in the crucial middle months of 1942.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
When
I published my bestselling novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1TGQfDX" target="_blank">HOLD BACK THE SUN (HBTS)</a>, I left several
pieces of unfinished business in Java and Australia. My principal Dutch
characters were in the hands of the Japanese conquerors. Having lost almost
their entire strike force in the battles around Java, Allied naval forces were
in disarray. Only in the Philippines, where General MacArthur’s Filipino-American
Army still held out stubbornly on the Bataan Peninsula, had Japan’s forces been
held in check.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
My
next novel, ENDURE THE CRUEL SUN (working title), begins about the time that
<a href="http://amzn.to/1TGQfDX" target="_blank">HBTS</a> concluded. Java has just fallen. Japanese forces seize islands north of
Australia from the Allies. Steadily advancing eastward, a string of Japanese island
air bases threatens to cut the essential shipping lanes between Pearl Harbor
and Australia and New Zealand.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Having
lost their Battle Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy responds with their last
ace-in-the-hole: the four aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Air strikes against Japan’s outlying island
bases culminate with a raid on landings in progress in New Guinea. Heavily
outnumbered in ships, the Americans have one tremendous advantage: Their
newly-won ability to read JN25b, the principal Japanese naval code. The Coral
Sea east of Australia becomes the pivotal battleground of the Pacific War. Jack
Sewell, the destroyer officer from <a href="http://amzn.to/1TGQfDX" target="_blank">HBTS</a>, is in the middle of the action.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Again,
I am dealing with an international cast of characters. Besides Jack, Dutch
officers Jan Dijker and Garrit Laterveer, are again in play. Nurse Christine
van Zweden, Garrit’s fiancé, finds herself facing an impossible choice dictated
by HBTS’s arch villain, Japanese Colonel Katsura Okuma. And across the globe in
Germany, the Gestapo lusts to get its hands on Dijker, formerly the British
Special Operations Executive’s key spy in Occupied Holland. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Jack
Sewell’s new love interest is an American Navy nurse. Her adventures include
being a surgical nurse in the jungle hospitals on Bataan, escaping to
Corregidor just before Bataan surrenders, and then boarding a submarine to
Australia on the night before Corregidor capitulates.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m about a third of the way through writing
ENDURE THE CRUEL SUN. I hope to publish it sometime next fall.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Look for promotional posts near the end of
summer.</span><br />
<br />
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will
be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
<a href="http://wbellauthor.com/">wbellauthor.com</a> or see him on twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-55662238319986476742015-10-20T12:58:00.004-04:002015-10-20T13:16:21.952-04:00Venturing Into a Different Genre<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://amzn.to/1PEhP22" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="http://amzn.to/1PEhP22" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0eQ4laVUiE122BJTE-iWNbXi3VkdLxcenSBWVEGqJEGlGoyfyJt_dgxrqAUoF8X1mtxdyDOKHR9_ISahXVqhA4NRDVAam1jsrlWkJmjV-RkqctTHkHKK6eoJ21p0sspfnU7EDez736ug-/s400/TPATTCover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>
This
past weekend, I published something very different from my other works. With
Halloween approaching, I decided to write and publish a horror story. That may
sound about as far from my usual military historical fiction as one can get.
But perhaps not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Why
would I choose to write horror? I have been fascinated by the genre since I was
a child. My mother loved horror films, and our whole family went to the movies
together. Like Cosby’s Fat Albert and his buddies, I used to crouch behind the
seats and peer between them to watch the scary scenes. I remember watching Lon
Chaney Jr.’s face change from that of a man to that of a wolf through
time-lapse photography. I recall the mummy’s ghost carrying Ramsay Ames into
the swamp until they disappeared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw
David Carradine, in my opinion the best Dracula, turn to dust when caught by
the sunlight. We also saw all the horror anthologies like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. </i>A latecomer to the scene was
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Creature From the Black Lagoon.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
About
the time I became a teenager, an amazing comic book series (actually short
graphic novels) called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tales from the
Crypt </i>appeared on the market.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>The
werewolves, vampires, and other monsters in these books were convincingly
drawn, and the stories were spine tingling. Unfortunately (for fans of the
series) someone convinced the publisher that he was contributing to juvenile
delinquency, so he pulled the plug on the books. Some years later, the title
was revived on a TV series.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: small;">My
new story,</span><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b> </b></span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i><a href="http://amzn.to/1PEhP22" target="_blank">The Passage and the Tomb: A Tale of Ancient Horror</a></i></span><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">,</span></b> takes place in Egypt in the early 1800s. My characters are soldiers
and scientists from Napoleon’s invading army. Okay, so I can’t really suppress
the historical novelist in me. Napoleon’s savants studied and documented the
ancient Egyptian civilization for several years. They essentially invented
Egyptology. What better foils to confront an ancient evil than the explorers
who opened up the longest lasting civilization to the world?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Inadvertently,
my characters free a 4,000-year-old werewolf who had been entombed alive by the
ancients.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will modern firearms protect
them? Or is the power of the timeless monster too great to overcome? Read my
story to find out.<br />
<br />
<br />
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will
be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
wbellauthor.com or see him on twitter @wbellauthor. </div>
<hr />
</div>
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-63959938311532685752015-10-03T16:17:00.000-04:002015-10-03T16:17:47.671-04:00Why I Write Novels About History<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IfVmkFasSlHO2ERB3m3a612Ei1aIbWw_mHhXRN_lqrZFXzsA4qnUmL0LnLvWshUP_wFW0K321ZV7zoVkr9QqCT7tAbeIF_Aur3CNfEatpwDrSLpovV5WCtipg_Dl5wNkgJWN9mHlskrg/s1600/Churchill+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IfVmkFasSlHO2ERB3m3a612Ei1aIbWw_mHhXRN_lqrZFXzsA4qnUmL0LnLvWshUP_wFW0K321ZV7zoVkr9QqCT7tAbeIF_Aur3CNfEatpwDrSLpovV5WCtipg_Dl5wNkgJWN9mHlskrg/s320/Churchill+poster.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I have been interested in history for as long as I can remember.
I started to school in 1942 during the bleakest days of the Second World War.
Even in first grade, we knew that we were living in momentous times. Our chief
entertainment outside the home in those days was the motion pictures we saw
almost every weekend. Dramatic newsreels written to support the war effort
screened between feature showings. We were routinely introduced to parts of the
world that our parents hardly dreamed of in their childhoods. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">The history we were taught in school was too often the dry
memorization of dates and event names, but there were also other, more personal
sources of historical data. At that time, many Civil War veterans were still
alive, and some of the old soldiers loved to spin tales off that conflict. World
War I veterans were quite common. All our grandparents had heard personal oral
histories from their ancestors. Many of these stories were passed down from generation
to generation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I have always viewed history as the summation of the accomplishments
of people. In the 1950s, many historians viewed their discipline through the
prism of movements shaped by events. The personal influence of individual
leaders was minimized. Events shaped the leaders, not vice versa. I never
subscribed to this view. I grew up in an age of leadership giants. The personal
accomplishments of men like Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill just didn’t
fit into the view of events shaped history. Leadership giants still emerge in
the world. Can anyone imagine modern South Africa in its present form without
Nelson Mandela? I certainly can’t. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">One thing our teachers did emphasize was George Santayana’s
statement in his 1905 <i>The Life of Reason </i>that: “Those who cannot
remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The mistakes made by the Western
Democracies during the 1930s that allowed Adolf Hitler to achieve supremacy in
Europe were hammered into our brains. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">I sometimes question whether history is taught at all in schools
today. I know that my children did not receive a good grounding in the subject.
If new generations do not understand what ideas have worked or not worked in
the past, are they not likely to keep making the same mistakes over and over
again? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">A good case in point is to compare the workup to the 2003
invasion of Iraq with the early years of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. In both
cases, civilian appointees in the Department of Defense believed that they
understood the situations better than uniformed military officers. In both
cases, an attempt was made to apply just enough military force to cause the
enemy to capitulate. Civilians pared the order of battle for the Iraq invasion
of elements considered critical by on-scene commanders. In neither case did
civilian or military commanders have an understanding of the local cultural
elements that would later play such vital roles. All the valuable experience in
counterinsurgency that we gained in Vietnam seemed to have been largely
forgotten. CI warfare had to be relearned and again paid for in blood.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">In the last part of the Twentieth Century, collectivist
governments failed all over the world. Communism and socialism proved to be unsustainable
systems of governing. Many people in the United States do not seem to be aware
of these facts. Some political candidates are again touting socialist
principles.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">My latest novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Snowflakesin July</i></a>, is set in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s when the New Left movement
spawned a host of domestic Marxist terrorists. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the Vietnamese Marxist state that came out
of the war became one of history’s greatest failures. Capitalism now flourishes
throughout Southeast Asia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Take heed of history. Let’s stop making the same stupid mistakes
over and over again. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br />
</span></div>
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a>
Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a
US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world
that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two
novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was
released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will
be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at:
wbellauthor.com or see him on twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/wbellauthor" target="_blank">@wbellauthor</a>. </div>
<hr />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-91260647001952659762015-09-21T14:47:00.002-04:002015-09-21T15:00:56.888-04:00Why I Set Snowflakes in July in the 1970s<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDjfJq5xIBc8-RqTM0c2J04lHPjGvBA_reaNbPLktZ9QgEa0iZ4_-bOkmgVEkXs7Khfjx5osGTH3oiMCd85XG7SNZJ26y_btk6-9j02KU3X3MjsRQ18XUPZBraHRs3lS69drdvvAJNXvt/s1600/Searching_for_Clues_After_Blast_in_Pentagon_opaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDjfJq5xIBc8-RqTM0c2J04lHPjGvBA_reaNbPLktZ9QgEa0iZ4_-bOkmgVEkXs7Khfjx5osGTH3oiMCd85XG7SNZJ26y_btk6-9j02KU3X3MjsRQ18XUPZBraHRs3lS69drdvvAJNXvt/s320/Searching_for_Clues_After_Blast_in_Pentagon_opaque.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pentagon room blown up by Weather Underground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My new military thriller, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Snowflakes in July</i></a>, takes place during the 1970s. Not many novels seem to be written about this period. I believe that those of us in the United States have wiped these turbulent times from our collective memory. I also believe that the human brain tends to suppress bad memories and reinforce pleasant ones. But I agree with George Santayana’s statement in his 1905 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Life of Reason </i>that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Momentous events occurred in the 1970s. Perhaps the Watergate Scandal that forced Richard Nixon from office was the most significant. The fall of Saigon negated all the American military efforts in the previous decade to preserve South Vietnam as an independent country. At least our POWs were released and returned home after years of confinement and torture in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” And then there was the domestic terrorism that plagued our society. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I wrote in a previous blog, “T<span style="color: #0d2230;">he highest incidents of terrorist attacks in the U.S. occurred during the 1970s. In a six-month period in 1971 and 1972, over 2,500 bombings took place in the U.S. The following chart from the <i>Washington Post</i> illustrates this point.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzLOzAgybIe0uU3bw9OADJDB7WKW11IiAfdRFYwdNXQLAbYjW6uAqeSpsDk0SuTBXjvDaz892RtFVBjSyEm1qD1QD9m84h3t1Zn91XGB0JHOdMojzbY0-HHXIeUM1E0wKS2_44r8liSWR/s1600/terrorist-attacks-since-1970%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzLOzAgybIe0uU3bw9OADJDB7WKW11IiAfdRFYwdNXQLAbYjW6uAqeSpsDk0SuTBXjvDaz892RtFVBjSyEm1qD1QD9m84h3t1Zn91XGB0JHOdMojzbY0-HHXIeUM1E0wKS2_44r8liSWR/s400/terrorist-attacks-since-1970%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #0d2230;"> <style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why were the Seventies so violent? The turbulent Sixties spawned a number of groups seeking to impose their ideologies of the rest of the country through force and terror. The Ku Klux Klan, perhaps the largest and most long-lived terrorist group in U.S. history, was still attacking and sometimes murdering civil rights leaders. Some radical black power organizations declared war on the police. They began bombing police stations and shooting policemen and moderate African American leaders, whom they branded “Uncle Toms.” Puerto Rican nationalists, who had earlier tried to kill</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">President Truman and had shot up the House of Representatives, carried out more bombings and shootings. They blew up the Mobil Oil headquarters and ambushed a U.S. Navy bus, killing some of the occupants. And then there were the terrorist groups</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">spawned by the American New Left.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps best known of the New Left groups was the Charles Manson “family,” the murderers who massacred movie star Sharon Tate’s family and tried to kill President Ford. Also fairly well known was the Symbionese Liberation Army, principally because they kidnapped Patty Hurst and brainwashed her into helping them rob a bank. They also assassinated moderate African Americans. Less well known to the general public was the Weather Underground or Weathermen. The Weathermen espoused the violent overthrow of the U.S. government and replacing it with a Marxist society. Terror was their weapon of choice. One of their leaders admonished them to be “crazy MFs and scare the hell out of honky America.” The Weathermen exploded bombs in police stations and government buildings, including the State Department and the Senate Office building. Weathermen also conducted an infamous armored car robbery. Fortunately, the deaths of some of their bomb makers in an accidental explosion hindered their bombing campaign</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">.</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The plot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank">Snowflakes in July</a> </i>tracks the founding and expansion of a New Left terrorist group called the Phoenix Guards Brigade (PGB). Like the Symbionese Liberation Army, their military commander is a former special forces expert. The PGB’s principal advantage over competing terrorist cells is a mole in the high levels of the Pentagon. Their mole fingers weaknesses in U.S. nuclear weapons compounds that may allow the theft of nuke bombs. The terrorists mobilize to mount a commando mission to steal nuclear weapons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">My novel’s protagonist, Captain Mike Duvall, is a U.S. Navy aviator who has just been released after years of confinement in the “Hanoi Hilton.” His experiences as a POW are woven throughout the story. Mike begins to suspect the conduct of the mole and starts an investigation. After he enlists a Navy lawyer, Leslie Thomas, in his efforts, he falls in love with her. The PGB learns of her queries and begins to blackmail her with photos of a youthful indiscretion. Will Mike uncover the plot to steal nukes before the terrorists can mount their raid? And what must Leslie endure at the hands of the PGB before the climax of the story?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read </span></i><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a> to find out.</span></div>
<br />
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: wbellauthor.com or see him on twitter @wbellauthor. </div>
<hr />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14748108064007616700noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4808021042312328370.post-17680328436667176932015-09-19T16:11:00.000-04:002015-09-20T13:40:38.946-04:00Why I Set Snowflakes in July in the 1970s<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDjfJq5xIBc8-RqTM0c2J04lHPjGvBA_reaNbPLktZ9QgEa0iZ4_-bOkmgVEkXs7Khfjx5osGTH3oiMCd85XG7SNZJ26y_btk6-9j02KU3X3MjsRQ18XUPZBraHRs3lS69drdvvAJNXvt/s1600/Searching_for_Clues_After_Blast_in_Pentagon_opaque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDjfJq5xIBc8-RqTM0c2J04lHPjGvBA_reaNbPLktZ9QgEa0iZ4_-bOkmgVEkXs7Khfjx5osGTH3oiMCd85XG7SNZJ26y_btk6-9j02KU3X3MjsRQ18XUPZBraHRs3lS69drdvvAJNXvt/s320/Searching_for_Clues_After_Blast_in_Pentagon_opaque.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pentagon room blown up by Weather Underground</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My new military thriller, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Snowflakes in July</i></a>, takes place during
the 1970s. Not many novels seem to be written about this period. I believe that
those of us in the United States have wiped these turbulent times from our
collective memory. I also believe that the human brain tends to suppress bad
memories and reinforce pleasant ones. But I agree with George Santayana’s
statement in his 1905 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Life of Reason </i>that:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Momentous
events occurred in the 1970s. Perhaps the Watergate Scandal that forced Richard
Nixon from office was the most significant. The fall of Saigon negated all the
American military efforts in the previous decade to preserve South Vietnam as
an independent country. At least our POWs were released and returned home after
years of confinement and torture in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.” And then there
was the domestic terrorism that plagued our society. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I wrote in
a previous blog, “T<span style="color: #0d2230;">he highest incidents of
terrorist attacks in the U.S. occurred during the 1970s. In a six-month period
in 1971 and 1972, over 2,500 bombings took place in the U.S. The following
chart from the <i>Washington Post</i> illustrates this point.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzLOzAgybIe0uU3bw9OADJDB7WKW11IiAfdRFYwdNXQLAbYjW6uAqeSpsDk0SuTBXjvDaz892RtFVBjSyEm1qD1QD9m84h3t1Zn91XGB0JHOdMojzbY0-HHXIeUM1E0wKS2_44r8liSWR/s1600/terrorist-attacks-since-1970%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfzLOzAgybIe0uU3bw9OADJDB7WKW11IiAfdRFYwdNXQLAbYjW6uAqeSpsDk0SuTBXjvDaz892RtFVBjSyEm1qD1QD9m84h3t1Zn91XGB0JHOdMojzbY0-HHXIeUM1E0wKS2_44r8liSWR/s400/terrorist-attacks-since-1970%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #0d2230;">
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS 明朝";
panose-1:0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0;
mso-font-charset:128;
mso-generic-font-family:roman;
mso-font-format:other;
mso-font-pitch:fixed;
mso-font-signature:1 134676480 16 0 131072 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1107305727 0 0 415 0;}
@font-face
{font-family:Cambria;
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:auto;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:-536870145 1073743103 0 0 415 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-unhide:no;
mso-style-qformat:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
mso-default-props:yes;
font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-font-family:"MS 明朝";
mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
mso-header-margin:.5in;
mso-footer-margin:.5in;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
-->
</style>
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why
were the Seventies so violent? The turbulent Sixties spawned a number of groups
seeking to impose their ideologies of the rest of the country through force and
terror. The Ku Klux Klan, perhaps the largest and most long-lived terrorist
group in U.S. history, was still attacking and sometimes murdering civil rights
leaders. Some radical black power organizations declared war on the police.
They began bombing police stations and shooting policemen and moderate African
American leaders, whom they branded “Uncle Toms.” Puerto Rican nationalists,
who had earlier tried to kill</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">
</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">President
Truman and had shot up the House of Representatives, carried out more bombings
and shootings. They blew up the Mobil Oil headquarters and ambushed a U.S. Navy
bus, killing some of the occupants. And then there were the terrorist groups</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;"> </span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">spawned by the American New
Left.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Perhaps best known of the
New Left groups was the Charles Manson “family,” the murderers who massacred
movie star Sharon Tate’s family and tried to kill President Ford. Also fairly well
known was the Symbionese Liberation Army, principally because they kidnapped
Patty Hurst and brainwashed her into helping them rob a bank. They also
assassinated moderate African Americans. Less well known to the general public
was the Weather Underground or Weathermen. The Weathermen espoused the violent
overthrow of the U.S. government and replacing it with a Marxist society.
Terror was their weapon of choice. One of their leaders admonished them to be
“crazy MFs and scare the hell out of honky America.” The Weathermen exploded
bombs in police stations and government buildings, including the State
Department and the Senate Office building. Weathermen also conducted an
infamous armored car robbery. Fortunately, the deaths of some of their bomb
makers in an accidental explosion hindered their bombing campaign</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family: Cambria;">.</span><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">The plot of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank">Snowflakes in July</a> </i>tracks the founding
and expansion of a New Left terrorist group called the Phoenix Guards Brigade
(PGB). Like the Symbionese Liberation Army, their military commander is a
former special forces expert. The PGB’s principal advantage over competing
terrorist cells is a mole in the high levels of the Pentagon. Their mole
fingers weaknesses in U.S. nuclear weapons compounds that may allow the theft
of nuke bombs. The terrorists mobilize to mount a commando mission to steal
nuclear weapons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">My novel’s protagonist,
Captain Mike Duvall, is a U.S. Navy aviator who has just been released after
years of confinement in the “Hanoi Hilton.” His experiences as a POW are woven
throughout the story. Mike begins to suspect the conduct of the mole and starts
an investigation. After he enlists a Navy lawyer, Leslie Thomas, in his
efforts, he falls in love with her. The PGB learns of her queries and begins to
blackmail her with photos of a youthful indiscretion. Will Mike uncover the
plot to steal nukes before the terrorists can mount their raid? And what must
Leslie endure at the hands of the PGB before the climax of the story?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";">Read </span></i><span style="color: #0d2230; font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a> to find out.</span></div>
<br />
<hr />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP4y2kpN79VqYvDolqOcSWtRqqYbr7V3G3cCKkSgcFSSsiu7hzcT5hNdGvSYIDGvrA4J-FJwtwyQqqmNIAad_jZgCsBjBQUwTZ5aA3TqIM10GkSldHya-MAD-NjS31RUGAGYki0yKAFfRT/s1600/DadHeadshot2015_140x140tight.png" /></a> Warren Bell is an author of historical fiction. He spent 29 years as a US Naval Officer, and has traveled to most of the places in the world that he writes about. A long-time World War II-buff, his first two novels, <a href="http://bit.ly/feomain" target="_blank"><i>Fall Eagle One</i></a> and <a href="http://bit.ly/hbtsmain" target="_blank"><i>Hold Back the Sun</i></a> are set during World War II. His third novel, <a href="http://bit.ly/aandblood" target="_blank"><i>Asphalt and Blood</i></a>, follows the US Navy Seabees in Vietnam. His most recent novel, <a href="http://amzn.to/1NnWXMq" target="_blank"><i>Snowflakes in July</i></a><i>, </i>was released on Kindle on September 15, 2015, and a paperback version will be following. For more about Warren Bell, visit his website at: wbellauthor.com or see him on twitter @wbellauthor. </div>
<hr />
Warren Bell, Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00530497218477227407noreply@blogger.com0