Setting the Record Straight

Editor
Civil War News
234 Monarch Hill Road
Tumbridge, Vermont 05077

Dear Sir or Madam:

Scott Boyd’s article (“States Lagging on 150th”) in the June issue of Civil War News calls needed attention to the slow pace at which states are working on the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial. There is, however, at least one state whose name needs to be added to those already in the field – New Jersey.

Since the fall of 2008, members of the New Jersey Civil War community have been meeting to plan how our state might observe the 150th anniversary of this watershed event in our nation’s history. Our group has been drawn from roundtables, re-enactor groups, educators and authors (including Civil War News columnist Joe Bilby).

We have named ourselves the New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee and are working under the auspices of the New Jersey Civil War Heritage Association. The NJCWHA is a not-for-profit organization with a long record of working in this area. While we are not an official state commission, the committee was endorsed by Governor Jon Corzine at the end of 2008. In his proclamation, the Governor called on all “state and local government agencies, as well as non-profit organizations and educational institutions” to work with the committee on this important anniversary.

The NJCW150 Committee has been working on a website (NJCW150.org) which will be operational early this summer. Initially the website will feature biographies of 150 prominent New Jerseyans from the Civil War era. The subjects of these brief essays include soldiers and civilians, black and white, and men and women giving a sense of New Jersey’s broad participation in these events.

A number of other projects are in various stages of development. These include several possible publications, educational programming, re-enactments and other ways of honoring these brave men and women who made such important contributions to our state and our nation’s history. We hope to collaborate with the appropriate groups in other states as well as publications like Civil War News throughout the course of the sesquicentennial.

Sincerely yours,




John G. Zinn
Chair, New Jersey Civil War 150th Anniversary Committee
Verona, New Jersey

Cheerfulness Breaks In

Finishing "Cheerfulness Breaks In" brings me close to one-third of the way through Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels. In some cases these stories of country life in England before, during and after World War II can be read out of sequence without any real loss. However, that is not the case, in my view, in this one which is basically a continuation of "Summer Half," which centers around life at the Southbridge School.

One of the main characters in that novel is Rose Birkett, daughter of the head master and in my mind one of the most obnoxious characters in English fiction. This novel begins with her wedding, followed mercifully by her departure for South America, appearing only brief thereafter through letters to her parents.

In the last few Thirkell novels that I read, I have noticed a pattern of a series of episodes seemingly without a lot of significance until all the sudden at the end the significance becomes very clear. This novel followed that pattern, but with the significance magnified by the fact that this is the first of her books that takes place after the beginning in World War II. Apparently written in 1940, the time frame of the book appears to cover what has become known as "the phony war." This refers to the period between September of 1939 when England declared war on Germany and the spring of 1940 when the first real fighting broke out. The book ends at the time of Dunkirk with a reference to someone having betrayed the British army - a reference I didn't and don't understand unless it is supposed to mean Neville Chamberlain.

While I wasn't surprised by something significant happening towards the end of the book, I was surprised by the scale and also the abrupt inconclusive ending. Going against my rule of reading series in sequence, I had already read "Northbridge Rectory" which follows this book in the series and also covers a period relatively early in World War II. I thought "Northbridge Rectory" was a really good book about interpersonal relationships, but the war seemed to have little real impact on the story. So while I expected something to happen at the end of "Cheerfulness Breaks In," I assumed the war would still be kept at a distance especially given the period covered. That was not the case, however as two of the main characters marry right before the man is ordered overseas and the book ends with his wife receiving, but not opening a telegram that may have brought terrible news.

Although I have read the next book, I don't recall anything that reveals the outcome of the telegram. I may go back and reread this book both to find out whether the end of the story from the prior book is revealed and also to see if there is anything else of significance that I missed because I read the book out of sequence. One of the few things that has concerned me about Thirkell's novels seemed to be either nothing but happy endings or anything of negative nature being kept "off-stage" as it were. That certainly isn't the case in this book so that I look forward to the remaining World War II books with even more anticipation.

Writing Update

Like my reading goals, my 2009 writing goals were fairly simple - finish the five New Jersey base ball team histories well before the May deadline and then get the Lloyd letters out to potential publishers by Labor Day. Interestingly I am well ahead of schedule on both goals, but things are no longer that simple. One of Carol's friends said something like "Life is what gets in the way of the plans you make" and there is certainly some truth to that in this case.

I sent my five pioneer project histories off in February long before they were due in May. Then at the end of beginning of June, I got an e-mail from Peter Morris suggesting that I might want to take the introductory material from one of the histories and expand it into a full length chapter. After reviewing what I had, this made a lot of sense, of course, it also meant one more round of edits and revisions to all five team histories. It didn't take too long, however and all the material was e-mailed out last week so that should be pretty much done, although there is always the possibility of more edits.

On the Lloyd letters, I have been pleasantly surprised that editing these letters of a 33rd NJ sergeant has gone much more quickly than I would have thought. Barring something unforeseen, I think another week or so should have this manuscript ready to be sent out - certainly no later than July 1st. So if nothing else had come up, I would be finished with my 2009 writing goals almost two months ahead of time. My original plan had then been to take the fall off from any writing projects both to take a break and to think intentionally about what comes next. That, however, is where life got in the way not just once, but twice.

The first change happened when I heard that proposals were being requested for editing a book about Ebbets Field which would be part of a McFarland & Co. series on historic ballparks. Paul and I discussed this, decided to submit a proposal and recruited a good team of contributors. The proposal is now in the hands of McFarland so at this point all we can do is wait. The second thing is something I have written about before regarding a book on early base ball in New Jersey. This had been of interest for some time, but a conversation at the SABR 19th Century committee conference in Cooperstown and another book on early base ball convinced me that I have a call to write such a book.

This book will be a lot different than the team histories I have done for the Pioneer Project, but a lot of the research I did for that project can be easily transferred to the new book. I already have an outline in mind and plan to at least try to work on this simultaneously with the Ebbets Field book if that happens. In the latter project I will only be writing one chapter so while it will be plenty of work, it will be a different kind of work. I could actually get started on the New Jersey base ball book now, but since I won't be taking the fall off, I am going to at least take a break as soon as the Lloyd letters are in the mail. At least that's the plan, hopefully life won't get in the way again!

Reading Update - June

My new year's resolution for 2009 reading was fairly simple, keep track of the books that I read over the course of the year. Since the task was simple, I have managed to do so without much difficulty for almost the first six months of the year. With less than two weeks left in the first half of the year, I have finished 25 books. I am currently reading three books at present and it is highly likely that I will finish all of them by June 30th giving me almost 30 for the first six months. If I maintain that pace it would work out to close to 60 for the year. Since I have never done this before, I have no basis for comparison, but I think I would be satisfied if I hit that number.

Obviously it would be easy to build up the numbers by intentionally choosing books that were short, easy to read or both. Thus far, I have avoided that temptation, basically reading what I want to read. Something that I am very pleased about is that I have done a good job of reading the books I have purchased this year rather than allowing them to lie around gathering dust.

Two of the books I am currently reading fall into that category - Jonathan Bate's "Soul of Age" - his biography of Shakespeare's ideas and the latest in the Angela Thirkell canon - "Cheerfulness Breaks In." Once I finish the latter work, I just have to read "Marling Hall," another Thirkell novel and I think I will have read everything I bought this year. "Cheerfulness Breaks In" was written in 1940 about life in the fictional county of Barsetshire during 1939 - the first year of World War II - the part sometimes known as the "phony war." Many of the characters in this book appeared in some of the earlier novels, confirming my thought that they need to be read in sequence.

The third book currently underway is part of an effort to read myself through my own library - this time with David Halberstam's last book, "The Coldest Winter" about the Korean War. I bought that book not that long ago, but it has been on the shelf for sometime so I am glad I am working my way through it. Actually work isn't really a fair word, Halberstam was such a good writer that his books read like fiction. Reading this book while thinking about my own writing has made me try to understand something of how he does ,what he does. Part of it, I think, goes back to his experience as a newspaper reporter which helped him write in a more reader friendly style. I can't draw any other conclusions as of yet, but it is certainly something I will think about some more.

But in any event, that resolution has been well kept and while it may sound simple, it is the first time that I have ever done it. In my next post, I will do a similar check in on my writing goals for 2009 and see how things stand in that arena.

Exorcising The Demons

These days I am at some level a Mets fan because they are the National League team in New York - the spiritual descendants of my beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. Like the Dodgers, blue is one of their primary colors and now with the new Citi Field, the Jackie Robinson rotunda and other things reminiscent of the Dodgers, the connection is even stronger.

There is another level, however, which the connection to the Dodgers is just plain depressing - some of the things that have been happening on the field. The way the Mets have collapsed in the heat of the pennant race the last two years is all too similar to classic Dodger collapses of which the 1951 disaster (pictured above left) is probably the best/worst example. While no where near as important, the just awful way the Mets lost to the Yankees (it had to be the Yankees) on Friday night on Luis Castillo's error brought back too many painful memories of past Dodger debacles.

While I know many Brooklyn fans gave up on the Dodgers after their move to California, I remained a devoted Dodger fan for many years thereafter. It wasn't easy following a team 3000 miles away especially in the days before cable television, ESPN and other expanded sports programing. Even though they had moved so far away there were still some similarities in the on the field problems of the Dodgers. While not as well known as the 1951 calamity, 1962 was not a lot a different. I wasn't a baseball fan in 1951 (finally something I was too young to remember), but I remember 1962 all too well which was eerily similar to Branca/Thompson debacle. The Dodgers blew a seemingly safe lead the last week of the season, led the third playoff game 4-2 going to the bottom of the ninth only to lose when among other things, Stan Williams walked in the eventual winning run.

As noted 1962 isn't as well remembered as 1951 and, I think, one of the reasons for that is because in 1963 the Dodgers exorcised that demon as well all of the demons from prior horror stories forever. Once again in 1963, the Dodgers led the pennant race into September, this time beat off a challenge from the Giants only to be threatened by a Cardinal team that won 19 straight games going into late September. Even though the Dodgers had won 12 of their last 19 their lead was down to a single game before a three game series in St. Louis. As in prior years the newspapers and fans were talking about how the Dodgers would choke and lose the pennant at the very end of the race. But this time, the Dodgers swept the Cardinals and won the pennant by six games.

That was important, but by itself was not enough to exorcise the demons of the 1962 and beyond. Waiting in the World Series were the hated and feared New York Yankees, winners of the last two series. As today, there were more Yankee fans than Dodger fans including one particular obnoxious Yankee fan at Wayne High School, who regularly belittled the Dodgers and their star pitcher Sandy Koufax. While we Dodger fans believed in Koufax, he, and these Dodgers, had never faced the Yankees in the World Series. Any doubts we may have had ended quickly when Koufax set a new World Series record striking out 15 Yankees in the first game of the Series at Yankee Stadium. The next day at school, the obnoxious Yankee fan opened his locker to find a full length picture of Sandy Koufax staring him in the face.

It got even better after that as the Dodgers went on to sweep the Yankees in four straight games including another Koufax gem in the last game. It wasn't the Dodgers first World Championship, but because of the way it happened, it had more far reaching effects than the first two. The Sporting News described it best with the comment that the Dodgers had banished the choke up label forever. And that is true, 1963 is a dividing line in the history of the Dodgers, today no one thinks of the Dodgers of a team that always falls short, that breaks down or collapses under pressure. That's not to say that there haven't been bumps along the way. I have this vague recollection of the Dodgers being upset in a World Series a few years later by some obscure team who's name I forget. Anyway the Mets took care of that bunch a few years later in another World Series, but I digress.

Although the last thing I should be thinking about at this point is another book, I think there is a real story here. How the disaster of 1962 and all those prior disasters were ultimately redeemed in just one season - winning the 1963 pennant race and sweeping the Yankees in the Series. The Mets are in a similar situation today, they need to exorcise the demons of the past two plus years. The bad news is that they have to do it themselves, no one can do it for them. However, that is also the good news - they can do it by themselves!

The Harder Right

Like most people (I think), when I read fiction I like happy endings and I like to see people get what they deserve or not get what they don't deserve. That seems only normal, we wish well even to fictional characters and few of us like to see someone get something they don't deserve even in a make believe world. At the same I time I am troubled by books, or more accurately series of books that have only happy endings where everyone gets what they deserve. This especially bothers me in Jane Austen's work and to a much lesser extent in Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels.

That being the case, it is not surprising that I loved "An Autumn Sowing" by E. F. Benson, which, once again, I discovered through the good work of Elaine over at Random Jottings. In "An Autumn Sowing" no one, especially the two main characters, seems to have a happy ending or get what they deserve. In his introduction to the edition I read, John Norwich suggests that Benson started out to write satirical light fiction and the book somehow got away from him and that certainly seems possible.

This is not to say that the book is a deep tragedy with people losing their lives or anything like that gruesome. Rather it is about finding true love (as opposed to physical passion), but then losing it because of choosing the hard right over the easy wrong. The latter line is from the cadet prayer at West Point - "Make us choose the hard right over the easy wrong." In this case it is more a question of choosing the hard right over the hard wrong, but that decision eliminates any happy endings.

Yet it is interesting that while he doesn't have happy ending, the main character, Thomas Keeling is a better person because of the love he both gives and receives (again love, not physical passion). In one instance, after taking a harsh vindictive response to being wronged he reverses himself making him more the "gentleman" than the "gentlemen" who wronged him. More important, however, is his relationship with his daughter Alice who at the end of book has her own unhappy ending. Up until his own experiences, Keeling, no doubt thought of himself as having a daughter, at the end of the book he is more concerned with being a father. Having and being are concepts developed by the philosopher, Eric From - the point being that, in my case, I cannot have a son, I can only be a father. While Keeling doesn't articulate it this way the book ends with him playing a much more positive role in his daughter's life.

I am not trying to suggest that from this point forward, I only want to read books without happy endings, but rather that I like to see some kind of balance. After all in real life there are many people who don't have happy endings or get what they deserve in certain aspects of their lives. - I certainly know my share and I am sure others do as well. That doesn't mean, however, that their stories are tragic or without interest - in fact, their stories are part of what life is all about and are of interest in their own right. I understand that E. F. Benson wrote almost 40 books, "An Autumn Sowing" was my first, but it certainly won't be my last.

A Book For Everyone

Last night before a successful (seven books sold) and enjoyable talk at the Wyckoff Historical Society, I was talking with one of the members about books on the American Revolution. I was able to suggest two books by David Hackett Fisher that he had never heard of - "Paul Revere's Ridge " and "Washington's Crossing," both in my mind classics. I think anyone who enjoys reading also enjoys those moments when they can introduce others to good authors and good books. Most of the time that tends to happen with specific areas of interest - the American Revolution, the Civil War, Shakespeare etc.

If that is true, and I think it is, then perhaps the highest compliment one can pay a book is the belief that it can be recommended to anyone, which is my feeling about "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows. As noted in an earlier post the book was written by Shaffer and then revised by Burrows (her niece) when Shaffer became terminally ill. The book is about life on the Island of Guernsey (above left) during and immediately after the German occupation during World War II. In fact the present of the book is 1946, a year of no small importance in my life. Guernsey is an island in the English Channel actually closer to France, but with a population wise enough to align themselves with England.
Because Guernsey is an island, the German's were able to maintain a higher level of control during the occupation, for example islanders who evacuated their children to England were unable to communicate with them until the Germans left.

The title of the book refers to a ruse used by Elizabeth, one of the main characters, to get a group of islanders out of a tight spot. Out after curfew with no good excuse, she tells the Germans, they are part of a literary society and were coming back from a meeting. In order to validate their excuse they have to then form such a society which forces many in the group to start reading books that they would otherwise never read. To their surprise they find out not only do they enjoy it, but what they read helps them cope with the difficulties of the occupation. One of them, for example, says that if he only knew the following quote from Shakespeare, "The bright day is done, and we are for the dark," that it would have kept him from despairing so much. I think Shakespeare has the ability to do that in a number of different ways which helps explain his universal appeal.

At first I was a little reluctant to read this book because with one brief exception it takes the form of letters, but once I got into it, I found it worked really well. One such letter to an author, Juliet Ashton, alerts her to Guernsey, the Society and the lives of the islanders during the occupation. She is ultimately drawn to the island, the people and their efforts to pull their lives back together. Some parts of the book have "A One Fine Day" feel to them - what was saved by England winning the war and why, therefore, it was so important. But perhaps even more appealing are the characters, both Juliet and her mainline friends as well as the people of Guernsey - without much difficulty one gets caught up in their lives, anxious to find how it will all come out.

I was shocked to find out that both authors are Americans, I don't know how an American could so perfectly capture British life, although I am not sure I would notice any errors. But given the overwhelming praise the book has received, I doubt that there were many, if any. The only thing that wasn't appealing about the book is the recipe for Potato Peel Pie -Barrows in her afterword writes that she advises against trying to make one, and with good reason. The book is, as I say, one I recommend to everyone and it is hard to give it more praise than that. In fact, the best review of the book would probably consist of only two words - read it!

"Baseball's First Inning"

"Baseball's First Inning" by William Ryczek is the last volume of his trilogy about the early years of base ball (19th century spelling). Ryczek has worked his way backwards starting with the period dominated by the first all professional team, the Cincinnati Redstockings, moving to the post Civil War years ("When Johnny Came Sliding Home"), and now on the founding period.

Of course, the further one goes back the harder it is to write with any authority. There is the well documented history of the Knickerbockers, but there is obviously something before that, but no one has yet found it. I have already written earlier posts about what I think are two of the biggest positives of this book - the author's new way of looking at old data and how thinking in time helps us to understand the 19th century rules that vintage base ball players and fans find troublesome.

Having now read the full book (as well as "When Johnny Came Sliding Home"), I think this is a valuable book in giving an overview of the game's early years. As Peter Morris has pointed out authors writing about the early years of baseball face a very difficult balancing act because the early game was so decentralized. As a result simply recording the details of the game in different areas can be almost unreadable, while anything too general runs the risk of adding nothing new to the story. In the case the author has done a good job of striking that balance and provides important background information for those looking for the basic story or researchers who need a framework for their more specific area of interest.

As is probably very clear by this point, my primary area of interest for early base ball history is New Jersey. In that regard, I don't particularly care for how Ryczek has treated New Jersey in both of the books I have read. In "When Johnny Came Sliding Home," I think he puts too much emphasis on the negative aspects of the Irvington Club making them look too much like a group of ruffians. While the Irvingtons certainly had their rough edges, my own research has certainly found plenty of examples of how they observed the common courtesies of the game. In this book, the problem is not so much what is written about New Jersey, but rather how little is included in the story and how little importance is attached to what is written. For example, the Liberty Club of New Brunswick's 1861 upset victory over the champion Brooklyn Atlantics is presented as evidence that the Atlantic's did not have a "memorable year" becuase they lost to the "lightly regarded Liberty Club." There is no mention of what the victory might have meant to the New Jersey team.

To be fair, part of this has to do with perspective. The author's focus is on the big picture which in those days was the New York and Brooklyn teams. Still I would argue that New Jersey teams played a significant role in the era which is not reflected in either of these books. This reinforces the feeling I got at the 19th century base ball conference in Cooperstown that I have a call to write a book about the early days of New Jersey base ball. That sense of call got even stronger this week when I had an e-mail from the editor of the pioneer project suggesting I add an introduction to the team histories that I have already written. Looking at my research files, I found some good material and am now working on that introduction.

All of this has made me think that I need to move this project more on to the front burner or more accurately on to the front burners. There is another book possibility that I hope will be formalized very soon. My thought had been that book first and then the NJ base ball book. I am now wondering if it would be possible to work on two books at once especially since my role in the other one would be more editing than actual writing. It's something that will definitely require further thought.

24 & 5

Back in early April when Paul and I went to our first game at the new Citi Field, I calculated the total of major league baseball stadiums where I had attended a game. I qualify it by attending a game because I have been to a football game at the Diamondbacks stadium and took a tour of the Astros' stadium in Houston. The tour in the latter park included the opportunity to sit in the dugout, but unlike the stadium in Phoenix, I still want to go back to Houston for a game.

With Citi Field, my total had reached 23 (Paul's is a little higher), it isn't as easy a calculation as one might think because multiple stadiums for the same city have to be included. Yesterday both numbers went up as I made my first visit to the new Yankee Stadium (above left). I was somewhat surprised to realize that I have now seen five different teams play in two different home stadiums. There are, of course, the two New York teams and the Phillies, all of which isn't that surprising given where I live. But I have also seen two games in the home ballparks of the Cincinnati Reds and the Detroit Tigers. In the case of the Reds that was a fluke of the schedule as by coincidence we made a trip there the last year the Reds played at Riverfront and then intentionally went back the next year to see the Mets play at the Great American Ballpark. In the case of Detroit, it is due to my professional baseball fan cousins living in Michigan, we have made multiple trips to both Tiger Stadium and the new Comerica Park.

I think the approach that ownership took to the new Yankee Stadium is interesting. Once you are inside the park, there really isn't a lot of difference between the old and the new. I am sure there are to purists, but it didn't look or feel that different and I am confident that was intentional. The part of the stadium inside the gates before you get the seats, however, is dramatically different, much bigger, much more open - my companion, a college age Yankee fan found it majestic, almost cathedral like. Certainly that makes attending a game a lot more enjoyable - access to everything was easier and getting out was remarkably simple especially since we were sitting in the upper deck.

My overall sense of it is that Yankee fans will really like it - it maintains the memory and feel that it is important to them while improving the other aspects of attending a game. That is after all the team's market and it makes sense that ownership did everything possible to please that market. At the same time as a non-Yankee fan, it doesn't have the same kind of appeal to me that other new stadiums have. I really like Citi Field primarily because everything about it is new and different I am sort of a Mets fan, but that doesn't explain why I have enjoyed my two trips and want to go back more this year. The same is true of Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, I will go back because of the Stadium. That will not be the case with Yankee Stadium, although I will be going back this year with my cousins and most likely with Paul as well.

I am also very glad that I went yesterday, it was good to reward someone who has given me a lot of help on my research projects and I always like seeing the numbers go up. With trips to Chicago and Milwaukee scheduled for July, I should be at 26 this year - four more than a year ago. I don't have any ambition to see all the parks, but still probably have at least another 1/2 dozen that I would like to see. Of course, there are also a lot of minor league parks as well - so many stadiums - so little time!

"Of Books There Are No End" - Thank God for That!

Last night I finished the excellently conceived and equally excellently written "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I plan to write at least one post about this book, but for now want to reflect on something that Annie Barrows wrote in the afterword to the paperback edition. Barrows (Shaffer's niece) took over when her aunt was too ill (she died in February of 2008) to complete the substantial rewriting required by the publisher.

In the afterward Barrows makes the following comment:

"The only flaw in the feast is that it ends. If I could
have anything I wanted, I would choose story, without
end, and it seems that I have a lot of company in that. I
have received many letters from readers all over the
world bemoaning the fact that the book comes to an
end."

This is, of course, a dilemma faced by all readers both about individual books and also series written by the same author. Barrows offers a partial solution (there is no complete solution) when she suggests that the book does continue every time two people talk about it. There is certainly truth in that, but there is something else to be kept in mind - something that I have been thinking about in my reading of Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels.

As anyone who reads this blog can tell, I am ripping through those books, six so far in 2009. They are both a quick read and addictive to the point that I get some sense of withdrawal if I am not reading one. And while there are no new Thirkell novels coming out, the fact that there are close to 30 in the series means it will be a while before I face the last one. But the question still remains should I slow down and spread them out more gradually - at the current rate I will probably finish them at the end of next year.

I have thought about that, but decided against it for two different reasons. One (and it's not the most important) is that we all need to remember that we don't have unlimited time to read every book that we want to read. More importantly for me is something that I have realized from following Elaine's blog, Random Jottings of a Book and Opera Lover. In the past year Elaine has written about close to a dozen authors that that I had never even heard of, much less read. Every time I have followed one of her recommendations, I have enjoyed it immensely.

Just this past week Elaine wrote about a book by E. F. Benson entitled "An Autumn Sowing," which she praised highly while at the same time mentioning that it was out of print and hard to get. I went directly to the Internet and was fortunate enough to find a copy that arrived just yesterday - while I was at it I also ordered the next two Thirkell novels as well as "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society," which is now out in paperback. According to the introduction to "An Autumn Sowing," Benson wrote close to 100 books in his lifetime so if I enjoy this one, as I think I will, there will be plenty new material for the future.

Following Elaine's blog has made me realize what perhaps should have been obvious, while each author's work is finite, the total universe of good books is infinite. Anyone who enjoys reading is always going to find more authors that he or she enjoys. So, in other words, the fact that "Of books there is no end," is really not the problem, it's part of the solution!

Four Words Are Worth a Picture

Yesterday morning when Carol and I entered St. Paul's Church in Paterson for the annual Pentecost service we were greeted by what sounded very much like music from the classic Simon & Garfunkel (above left) song - "The Sounds of Silence." The reason that it sounded so much like "The Sounds of Silence" was it was "The Sounds of Silence." The music was used as a setting for a sung version of the Lord's Prayer which was haunting and in my case, at least, brought back a lot of memories.

For someone who spent the late 60's and early 70's in college, graduate school and the army, the music of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel captured certain feeling and events in very effective ways that were hard to explain. One thing in particular that came to mind yesterday were four words from a song called "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" - the words are "Sail along silver bird."

I have not idea what their intent was behind those words, but for me they capture perfectly a picture of my time in Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam. During the Vietnam War most of us got there and came back by airplane - a 20 hour flight from between Seattle, Washington and either Saigon or Cam Ran Bay. The U.S government contracted those flights out to commercial carriers so I went to war on either Pan American or American Airlines - I am not sure which. Of course, in the army, we had our names for everything, I don't remember if there was a name for the planes that took you to Vietnam (if there was it was probably unprintable), but the planes that brought you home were called "freedom birds."

In Cam Ranh Bay where I spent my entire tour of duty without leaving the peninsula once, except for R&R in Australia, there wasn't much in the way of scenery. It was basically sand, sand and more sand set off by some scrub vegetation. On top of that the buildings weren't much to look at, for the most part think basic Quonset hut. I distinctly remember one sunny Sunday morning coming out of the officers mess hall very early and seeing a "freedom bird" leaving Cam Ranh airbase on the way to Tokoyo and then back to the United States. Immediately those four words from that Simon & Garfunkel song came into my mind and have stayed their ever since. Seeing a "freedom bird" was a big deal, we would sometimes leave our office just to watch one - obviously we wished we were on it, but it at the very least it gave us a sense of hope that our time would come.

I am also reminded by this of one thing about the flight to Vietnam, as I say on either Pan Am or American Airlines. Throughout the flight we got the typical messages from the stewardesses and the cockpit that happen on every commercial flight. As we got into the last leg of the flight passing over the Vietnam countryside on the way to Saigon, I kept hoping there would be some acknowledgement of where we were going and/or what we were doing. But I hoped in vain, it ended the with typical commercial hoping we would fly their air line again.

I suppose in some ways that was a metaphor for the entire Vietnam experience, if you weren't part of it, the rest of society just went on with their lives. When I came back from Vietnam in January of 1972, I set about finding a job, of course in each interview there were questions about what I had just been doing. Almost without exception when I said, I was just back from Vietnam, the unspoken body language was pretty much - "how come you were so stupid that you couldn't find a way out." The bitter veteran can almost be a cliche and I am not trying to be like that, but that reaction was clearly there. Of course since then there have been a lot of efforts to try to appropriately recognize Vietnam veterans, but it was fairly ironic last year when at three different major league baseball games all veterans were asked to stand. Ironic because that was three more times than I had been honored in the previous 36 years - as I have come to learn irony is not as enjoyable when you are recipient!