Tossing A Tribute To George

To celebrate Washington's birthday in 1936, a smartly dressed Walter Johnson tosses a silver dollar a reported 386 feet across the Rappahannock River in Virginia, near the First President's birthplace.

As thousands cheer on both sides of the river, 48 year-old Senator legend Walter Johnson throws a silver dollar to the far side of the Rappahannock, believed to be a 386-foot toss, February 22, 1936. pic.twitter.com/CGZ3bPhthN

— Baseball In Pics (@baseballinpix) February 22, 2022

February 1936 was a pretty good month for the retired Senators pitcher.  On February 2, results of the first election to the Baseball Hall of Fame were announced and Johnson was one of the five players elected.  He finished fifth in the voting, with Ty Cobb receiving the most votes, Honus Wagner and Babe Ruth tied for second, Christy Mathewson fourth and Johnson fifth.

The Most Magnificent Face And Eye

It is not often I come across a story about Abraham Lincoln I've not heard before, but it happened this morning while reading Barton Swaim's book review column in the WSJ.  Here it is, recounted in full:

On April 8, 1865, Lincoln visited Gen. Grant's headquarters near Richmond and consoled wounded Union soldiers in a field hospital.  When he began walking toward a tent separated from the others, a doctor tried to stop him.  Those, the doctor said, were for wounded Confederates. "That", Lincoln replied, "is just where I do want to go".

There, too, the president spoke peaceably to the wounded.  Years later one of the sick rebels, Col. Henry L. Benbow, recalled Lincoln extending his hand. "Mr President, I said, do you know to whom you offer your hand? 'I do not,' he replied.  Well, I said, you offer it to a Confederate colonel, who has fought you as hard as he could for four years.  'Well', said he, 'I hope a Confederate colonel will not refuse me his hand.'  No sir, I replied, I will not, and I clasped his hand in both mine.  I tell you, sir, he had the most magnificent face and eye that I have ever gazed into.  He had me whipped from the time he first opened his mouth."

Henry Benbow enlisted at the start of the war as captain in the 23rd South Carolina Infantry Regiment which spent most of the war with the Army of Northern Virginia.  Promoted to Colonel in 1862, he was wounded at Second Manassas later that year and again at the Battle of the Crater in July 1864.  Returning to action he was shot through both thighs and captured at Five Forks on April 1, 1865.  The hospital was located at City Point which is where Lincoln met him before returning to Washington later that day.  Released on June 15, Benbow returned to South Carolina where he died in 1907.

While researching Benbow, I came across a clipping from the February 24, 1909 edition of The Manning Times of Manning, South Carolina which is clearly the source of the anecdote recounted in the WSJ column.  In turn, the Times cites Youth's Companion magazine as the original source.  Youth's Companion was a popular children's magazine, published in Boston from 1827 to 1929.  The newspaper goes on report it also heard from a fellow veteran that Benbow had recounted the same story to him.  A couple of other details from the newspaper account:

If he had every walked up and down a Confederate line of battle, there would never have been a battle . . . Not long afterward the news came to us that he was dead, and I turned my face to the wall and wept.

Standing Up

On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 authorizing military commanders to designate "military areas" at their discretion, "from which any or all persons may be excluded."  The following month, the removal of Japanese-Americans began on the West Coast.  Italians and Germans were also interned under the Executive Order, but for those groups it was limited to non-citizens present in the U.S., while the majority of Japanese internees were American citizens.

I recently became aware of the story of Ralph Lazo, pictured on the right in the photo below.

Ralph is the only non-spouse white person known to have been interned.  He did so voluntarily.  A 17-year old California high school student, when Lazo learned that his Japanese-American friends were going to be interned he was outraged, and joined them on the train to the Manzanar internment camp (after telling his father he was going to summer camp!).  Ralph, interned for more than two years, was elected Senior Class President at Manzanar High School, despite graduating at the bottom of a class of 150.  He left the camp in August 1944 when he entered the U.S. Army, serving in the Pacific Theater, where he received the Bronze Star for heroism in combat while in the Philippines, and being discharged with the rank of Sergeant.  Returning to the U.S., he obtained his college degree and became a teacher.  Ralph, of Mexican and Irish ancestry, was also active in encouraging Hispanics to go to college and vote.  He also helped to raise funds for the reparations lawsuit filed by Japanese-Americans against the federal government which resulted in Congressional action granting reparations, along with a formal apology, in 1988.

Ralph Lazo passed in 1992.  A life well lived.

The Candy Bomber Passes

Yesterday Gail Halvorsen died at the age of 101.  I wrote about Halvorsen (though I misspelled his first name) in a post on the Berlin Airlift of 1948-9:

One specific event had a profound impact on both Germans and Americans during the blockade. On July 18, 1948, while on approach to Templehof Airport in Berline, C-54 pilot Gil Halvorsen, wiggled his wings and dropped chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to children waiting below.  The prior day while at Templehof, Halvorsen while walking around encountered the children who were watching the planes land and asked him questions about the aircraft.  He gave them gum and promised he'd drop them candy the next day after wiggling his wing.  Halvorsen continued his daily candy runs and when news reached the airlift commander he organized Operation Little Vittles; soon American children sent candy for the drops and eventually U.S. candy manufacturers made donations; 23 tons of candy were dropped in toto, and Halvorsen became known as The Candy Bomber, giving title to Cherny's book.  The candy drops became a symbol of America's willingness to help and of the perseverance of Berliners.

Halvorsen went on to do a lot more in his life.

After the Berlin Airlift, Halvorsen, a Utah native, stayed in the Air Force and went on to obtain a master's degree in Aeronautical Engineering.  Gail was assigned to the Air Force Space Systems Division where he was involved with the development of the Titan III launch vehicle and later worked on plans for advanced manned reusable spacecraft and the Manned Orbital Laboratory Project.  In 1970 he found himself back at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin as commander of the 7350th Air Base Group.  Retiring from the military in 1974, he served for a decade as Assistant Dean of Student Life at Brigham Young University.  During the 1980s and 1990s Halvorsen and his wife served as Mormon missionaries in England and Russia.

For his continued humanitarian efforts Gail Halvorsen received much recognition in the U.S. and Germany.  In 2014 he received the Congressional Gold Medal and in 1974 he was decorated with Germany's highest honor, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Halvorsen remained active and healthy until recently and spent his winters here in the Phoenix area.

(M)usical (ATMOS)phere

Something clicked in my mind

Incredibly clear

With all the time to arrive

When we were already here

Matmos is a cut from Echo Street, the 2013 album by Amplifier, a band from Manchester UK.  I have no idea what Amplifier meant by the title but I have my own theory as expressed in the title to this post.  Listen to the song and see if you agree.

There is also an experimental electronic music duo called Matmos and according to their Wikipedia page, "the name Matmos refers to the seething lake of evil slime beneath the city Sogo in the 1968 film Barbarella".

I like my explanation better.

Stand Up

Though it was 1971's Aqualung that made Jethro Tull a huge rock n roll band and major concert attraction, I've always preferred their two prior albums, 1969's Stand Up, and Benefit, released the following year.

The band's first album, This Was, released in the fall of 1968, had a modest impact and featured Beggar's Farm but it was Stand Up that made them well-known in America.  The album was released during a remarkable period in the late summer and early fall of 1969 which also saw the release of Abbey Road, The Band by The Band (which I consider a perfect album), Green River by Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana's first album and Led Zeppelin II.  In November would come Let It Bleed by The Stones. 

I purchased Stand Up upon its release.  Each track is strong with tight songwriting and playing.  Here are two tracks, Back To The Family and Reasons For Waiting.

 

Benefit was also a consistently strong album; Teacher and A Time For Everything.

Aqualung certainly had its high points; the guitar solo on the title song (starts at 3:30 here), and the three short melodic tunes, but much of the rest was too bombastic for my tastes.  I saw them play on the Aqualung tour and Tull put on a great show.  The followup, Thick As A Brick, had some interesting material but after that I stopped following the group.