ABOUT GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
Just before the dawn of the 20th century, in 1888, the foundation of Grace Baptist Church, one of the most dynamic houses of worship in the nation was laid in the City of Mount Vernon, NY. Grace was built out of a spirit of hope and community engagement. Its founders, “five Negro women” as the church history describes them, organized a Baptist church mission dedicated to not only attending to the spiritual needs of the then small African American community of Mount Vernon, but also to their educational needs as well. Shortly after the Grace Baptist Mission was organized a Sunday School for people of all ages was started.
With the aid of the First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon, a white congregation, the Grace Baptist Mission purchased a plot of land and built its first church home in 1891. Two years later, Grace Baptist Mission elected its first pastor, the Reverend J.L. Montague a proud graduate of Lincoln University of Pennsylvania and of Newton Theological Seminary in Massachusetts, thus setting Grace Baptist’s standard of calling educated, seminary trained pastors, a rarity for many churches of any racial category within the Baptist tradition at that time. A more permanent chapel was built to meet the growing church in 1894. The newly constructed chapel had seating for nearly 400 people. Much of the funds for the new building were secured through active fund raising and support from First Baptist Church. Grace Baptist Mission was incorporated as, “Grace Baptist Church of the City of Mount Vernon, State of New York,” a self-sufficient religious corporation in 1906.
Grace Baptist Church flourished in the midst of two World Wars, and the Great Depression. The congregation was tested however on January 15, 1939 when the small wood frame building that Grace called home for 50 years was gutted by fire. However, by the summer of 1939 the congregation of Grace Baptist purchased one of the largest church buildings in Westchester County.
The imposing, red brick edifice of the former First Presbyterian Church had a seating capacity of 900, a large kitchen and dining room. In time the congregation also purchased and renovated a parsonage. Grace burned its first mortgage in 1946 and its second mortgage in 1958. Throughout its history, Grace has been a champion for social justice. One of its early highlights occurred when the Civil Rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King preached from its pulpit on 1959.
Rev. Dr. W. Franklyn Richardson became the ninth pastor of Grace in April of 1975. During the church’s 100th anniversary in In 1988, Dr. Richardson led the congregation which had grown to some 3,000 members, into an expanded and renovated church complex that now included a music center, chapel, new banquet hall, additional class rooms and youth center. The $3.2 million expansion and renovation project propelled the churches growth and outreach to greater heights. Today Grace Baptist has extension sites in Yonkers, NY and Port St. Lucie, FL. All three of the Sunday services from Grace in Mount Vernon can be seen around the globe through live webcasting. The church’s community development corporations have built nearly 400 units of affordable and senior citizen housing. Under the leadership of Dr. Richardson the church seeks to build and maintain a regional “Village of Grace” that provides spiritual, cultural, educational, economic and sociopolitical uplift for individuals and families throughout the Tri-State area.
To bring the Village of Grace to fruition the church has embarked on building for the future. From 1990 to 2013 the congregation has purchased properties immediately surrounding its historic sanctuary all in preparation for constructing a new state of the art cathedral complex with seating capacity of 2,500.


Deposit from the commune of Fresnoy-le-Luat, 1975
Classified as a Historical Monument
This group of polychrome stone statues of the Madonna and Child has been classified as a Historical monument since 1925. Originally, it was to be found in the Luat chapel, in the commune of Fresnoy-le-Luat.
The Virgin is elegantly clothed in a low-cut ochre dress tied at the front. Her long blue mantle with decorated edges is held together by a cord with two flower-shaped clasps. She is wearing a crown and is sitting on an X-shaped seat called Dagobert whose extremities are decorated with floral motifs. The Child Jesus, seated on her right leg, is looking at an open book she is holding. With his left forefinger, the Child is showing his mother a precise passage in the text. This representation differs from usual iconographies that mostly depict a mother teaching her child, as in the case of Saint Ann with her daughter Mary. Here the iconography is reversed: Jesus is teaching his Mother, pointing out to her the important passages to read and meditate on.
The top of Mary’s head and the back of the artwork are not sculpted, and the latter has even been hollowed out in the back to lighten the ensemble as much as possible, thus indicating that the sculpture was meant to be seen only from the front, its back to the wall, in an alcove or against a panel.
The coat of arms visible on the armrest has not yet been identified. It is nevertheless probable that the patron of this artwork was a powerful local lord.
In the surroundings of the Valois, Madonnas and Child with an open book are few during the 15th and 16th centuries, whereas the theme is omnipresent in Brussels during the 15th century. Although probably from a workshop in the Île-de-France, this statue still shows influences straight from Flanders.
Two statues showing Saint John and Saint James, also deposited in the museum under the inventory number D1975.1.4 and D1975.1.3, flanked this Madonna and Child in the Luat chapel. In view of the numerous stylistic resemblances, they are probably from the same workshop, and formed a large ensemble of statues meant to give more prestige to the little chapel that housed them.


The name Nidum Precision Tooling has been synonymous with precision engineering and tool making in South Wales for over 50 years.
Founded by toolmakers in 1961, Nidum progressively expanded at its historic home in Hirwaun to support many of the leading manufacturing operations in both South Wales and across the UK. The legacy from our founding partners is a no nonsense, open, practical engineer to engineer approach very much focused on getting the job done.
The founding owners retired in the late 1990’s and the business continued to expand. In 2001 it relocated to its current base in Resolven – where it occupies 10,000 sq feet of modern and customised facilities. First class road links mean we are readily accessible to clients from across the UK.


Mabel Mercer — arguably the supreme cabaret artist of the twentieth century — was born in England and performed in the United States, Britain, and across Europe to a large fan base including such big names as Frank Sinatra and Ernest Hemingway. She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris, performed Le Ruban Bleu, Tony’s, the RSVP, the Carlyle, and the St Regis Hotel in New York, and eventually hosted her own room, the Byline club.
Mabel Mercer was born in 1900 in Staffordshire, England. After leaving a Manchester convent school at the age of fourteen, Miss Mercer joined her aunt in a vaudeville and music hall tour of Britain and the Continent. Her career quickly blossomed, and by the 1930s she was the toast of Paris, introducing her inimitable style of singing to adoring audiences and beguiling such steadfast admirers as Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Cole Porter, and the Prince of Wales.
The outbreak of World War II brought her to America where she began a series of engagements at New York’s finest supper clubs. Among the rooms she made her own were Le Ruban Bleu (a six-month stay), Tony’s (seven years), the RSVP (two years), and five years in her own Byline Club. Miss Mercer solidified her career with engagements at the Carlyle and St. Regis Hotels, and she enjoyed brilliant concert triumphs and record-breaking appearances across the United States.
The brilliance of Miss Mercer’s recordings have made both original albums and numerous reissues highly prized collectors’ items. To honor her 75th birthday in 1975, Atlantic Records assembled four classic early LPs and reissued them in a boxed set. In recognition of her life’s achievement, Stereo Review Magazine presented Miss Mercer with its first Award of Merit for “outstanding contributions to the quality of American musical life.” In 1984, the Award of Merit was officially renamed the Mabel Mercer Award. After an absence of 41 years, Miss Mercer made her long-awaited return to England on July 4, 1977, accompanied by her long-time friend and publicist, Donald Smith. So great was the public acclaim on her return to London that the BBC filmed three evenings of extraordinary footage of Miss Mercer’s performances. The BBC later devoted an entire week to a series of late-night half-hour television broadcasts—an honor never before bestowed upon an entertainer. In 1978, Miss Mercer’s new album, Midnight at Mabel Mercer’s, was hailed by Stereo Review as one of the best recordings of the past twenty years. To celebrate her 78th birthday later that year, Miss Mercer played a sold-out engagement at San Francisco’s Club Mocambo to enthusiastic audiences. Mabel Mercer was honored in January 1981 by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York with An American Cabaret, the first musical celebration of its kind in the museum’s history. Created and produced by Donald Smith, the evening was dedicated to the artistry of Mabel Mercer. Miss Mercer next appeared as the first guest on Eileen Farrell’s new National Public Radio program featuring great popular singers, a program that was repeated in June 1992 at the Kool Jazz Festival.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan presented Mabel Mercer with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony. In bestowing America’s highest civilian honor upon Miss Mercer, the president described her as “a singer’s singer” and “a living testament to the artfulness of the American song.” Among Miss Mercer’s many other honors are two honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music. Mabel Mercer died on April 20, 1984. On Miss Mercer’s birthday the following year, February 3, 1985, The Mabel Mercer Foundation was formally established.


The NRHS, America’s largest rail preservation organization, today announced the 2012 recipients of its annual Heritage Grants Program. NRHS will award $50,000 to support 21 non-profit organizations from 14 states and the District of Columbia. Recipients include NRHS chapters, historical societies, museums and municipalities.
Projects range from the restoration of rare locomotives, passenger cars, freight cars, and railroad structures to the creation of an exhibit featuring the history of African-American railway workers in the Pacific Northwest. One project involves digitally converting priceless railroad images in a process that will result in a blueprint for other NRHS chapters to follow in preserving and generating revenue from their own collections. Through these diverse projects, NRHS funding will leverage hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and in-kind matching donations.
“This year’s applicant pool was the largest in NRHS history and one of the best in recent memory, making the award decisions painfully difficult,” said NRHS President Gregory Molloy. “While we’re excited to fund these important projects, the fact remains that scores of equally significant rail projects will go without our support this year, underlining the urgency of our mission.”
Since the program’s inception in 1991, NRHS has now awarded 221 grants for a total of $548,000 to support a wide variety of railroad history preservation projects.
This year’s recipients and their projects include the following:
Alexander Chapter NRHS, Hickory, North Carolina: $4,200 to finance the emergency crane lifting, move, and stabilization of two rare passenger cars from the West Virginia Midland Railroad.
Bellefonte Historical Railroad Society, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania: $2,000 to provide roof repair materials to stabilize the roof of the Bellefonte Central Railroad caboose.
Clinton County Arts Council / Clinton Northern Railway, St. Johns, Michigan: $3,100 to repair and restore the exterior of a 1902 wooden sleeping car, the Sault Ste. Marie.
Chesapeake Railway Association, Gaithersburg, Maryland: $1,500 to remove all asbestos insulation under the historic heavyweight Pullman solarium Meadow Lark.
Collis P. Huntington Chapter NRHS, Huntington, West Virginia: $2,500 to repair and paint Chesapeake & Ohio Mallet locomotive no. 1308.
Washington D.C. Chapter NRHS: $4,200 to fund the “Digital D.C. Railroad Heritage Project” consisting of an online museum of Washington, D.C.’s railroad history, an online process to submit and identify images and data of potential historical value, and an e-commerce function.
Friends of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Albuquerque, New Mexico: $2,000 to develop a standardized interpretive signage system for the 64-mile Cumbres & Toltec Railroad.
Gold Coast Railroad Museum, Miami, Florida: $2,800 to restore interior paint and upholstery of the Presidential Railcar Ferdinand Magellan, which served four U.S. presidents.
Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society, Edinburgh, Indiana: $2,500 for sandblasting, repairing and painting the exterior of 87-year-old Monon business car no. 2, Lynne.
Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, Nevada City, California: $2,500 for the purchase of roof restoration materials for the 109-year-old Lake Tahoe Railway & Transportation box car no. 4, built in San Francisco.
Oklahoma Railway Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: $1,000 to help fund the restoration of Rock Island caboose no. 17834, built in 1915.
Oregon Black Pioneers, Salem, Oregon: $2,500 to produce a traveling exhibit with the Oregon Historical Society on the history of African-American railroad workers in Portland from the 1800s to 1940s.
Queen Anne's Railroad Society, Centerville, Maryland: $1,200 to fund the rehabilitation of the Pennsylvania Railroad freight station in Centreville, Maryland.
Railway Restoration Project 113, Minersville, Pennsylvania: $1,500 to fabricate, insulate and install jacketing on the boiler of Central Railroad of New Jersey steam locomotive no. 113, currently being restored.
New England Electric Railway Historical Society/Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport, Maine: $3,800 to restore Bay State Street Railway car no. 4175 to operational status for its centennial in 2014.
South Carolina Railroad Museum, Columbia, South Carolina: $2,500 to repair the museum’s 1924 Pullman dining car, used for educational trips and public charters.
Southampton Railroad Station Society, Southampton, Pennsylvania: $500 to repair the stone foundation on the Southampton’s Philadelphia and Reading Railroad station building.
St. Louis Chapter NRHS, St. Louis, Missouri: $2,800 to cosmetically restore Wabash no. 573 steam locomotive—one of two surviving Wabash Railroad steam engines.
New Mexico Steam Locomotive & Railroad Historical Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico: $1,000 to clean the engine boiler and smoke box of Santa Fe no. 2926, a 1944 steam locomotive being restored.
Town of Pittsfield, Maine: $3,300 to replace the roof of the historic Pittsfield Railroad Station, one of Maine’s only original publicly accessible train stations operating as a transportation museum.
Western Railway Preservation Society, Baker City, Oregon: $2,600 to purchase trucks and couplers for a rare, wooden frame “Red Crown Gasoline” Zerolene tank car that once ran on Oregon's Sumpter Valley Railway.


The Mediterranean region is home to epic sea, sun, beaches and natural beauties, as well as cultural values and many beautiful historical monuments. In this tour, you will take a blue tour on the sunken city in Kekova, one of the hidden paradises of the Mediterranean, and watch the ruins of the ancient city on the seabed and on the shore while swimming in the clear waters. Then you will visit the Church of Santa Claus, which is a holy place of pilgrimage in the Christian faith, and you will see the ancient city of Myra and rock tombs from the Lycian civilization, which is among the most ancient Anatolian civilizations. You will enjoy your lunch from the open buffet as much as you want, and watch the extraordinary natural beauties of the Mediterranean during the trip and inhale the clean air.
The ancient city of Myra is the ancient Lycian city in the center of the Demre district in the province of Antalya. One of the six major cities of the Lycian Unity. Finds have been found that prove its existence from the 5th century BC. The name of the ancient city of Myra, known as the Diocese of St. Nikolas, means "the place of the goddess mother goddess". The city's most important building, St. Nikolas Church was destroyed in 1034 by the garrison that it suffered as a result of Arab raids.
The ancient city of Myra, built on the same level as its own name, was associated with Andriake, which is located in the village of Çayağzı and its port city. The ruins preserved to this day form the theater on the southern edge of the acropolis and rock tombs on both sides. In the upper part there are Roman and Hellenistic city walls. Myra was once the capital of the Lycian province. The ancient city of Myra has a special meaning in Christianity as it was visited by Paul and his friends who were considered the most famous and even most influential Christian missionaries


Lincoln’s Birthday Celebration
The Commander of The Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States requests the honor of your presence to celebrate the birthday of the Nation’s 16th President, Abraham Lincoln.
Friday Evening, February 23rd, 2018
The Historic Philadelphia Club located at 1301 Walnut Street in Philadelphia.
5:30pm – 6:15pm: Reception
Reception in the Bar area
6:15pm – 6:45pm: Featured Lecture
“Wit and Wisdom of the 16th President”
Keynote Speaker: Mr. Roger Arthur — Historian
7:00pm – 9:00pm: Dinner and Toasts
Salad: Walnut Street Salad – Mixed Greens topped with Walnuts and Stilton Cheese
Entree: Braised Short Ribs with Barbeque infused Demi-Glace
Dessert: French Blueberry Tart
Business Attire (coat and tie required by The Philadelphia Club)
For tickets, please contact Will Forbes at firstname.lastname@example.org


Everything You Need to Know About Johann Sebastian Bach
Legends in the field of music have been pouring various magical pieces into the hearts of every soul. The music created by these artists has a unique touch to it that makes it relevant even after centuries of its release. Several musicians have been the milestone to the world of music at various stages of evolution. Johann Sebastian Bach was also one such musician who created pieces that have brought about a difference in the norms of music composition. Let us travel back in time to the times where Bach was creating some impressive art.
Who is Johann Sebastian Bach?
Johann Sebastian Bach was a highly celebrated member of a family of German musicians, and his compositions in the Baroque era were his career-defining works. Bach is considered as one of the greatest musicians of all time, but during his days he was primarily regarded by his contemporaries as an organist and harpsichordist. He is well known for his creations such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B Minor, and many other instrumental music compositions. History of music had various eras that define the world of melodies, and Bach was a part of it during the propitious days. He surveyed the field to combine the principal forms and styles of traditional music that was developed in the preceding decades. All his efforts went into enriching these music styles, and most of them were successful.
Since he was born into a family of musicians, he had the right amount of support to take up the career too. Bach was introduced to the organ by one of his uncles, and his older second cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach was also a part of it all. Ludwig later became a popular violinist and composer. It was in the years after 1700 that Bach explored the various sides of European culture when he joined St. Micheal’s School in Luneberg. Apart from the singing sessions at the choir, he also played harpsichords and organ.
In 1703, Bach bagged the post of the court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III. Due to his feats in Weimar, he became more popular among the music lovers so much so that he was invited to play the inaugural piece and give the recital at the Bach Church in Ardstadt. When he was dissatisfied with the performance of the choir, he left the job and returned to Weimar in 1708. It was during the period from 1708-1717 that Bach composed his best pieces on his keyboard. Bach also got the opportunity to perform at the castle church when he got promoted to Konzertmeister. In the later years, he kept traveling from one place to another to give his best compositions.
A thematic catalogue of Bach’s compositions was published in 1950, and most of the works have been special pieces in the history of music. Everything from Cantatas, Motets, Four-part chorales, and small vocal works to the church and Capella music created by him inspired many of the aspirants.


“S’Klallam” is a Salish term for “The Strong People.”
Our history shows that we have always been self-reliant and determined to forge our own path. In 1855, the S’Klallam leaders signed a treaty with the Federal government with the understanding that they would always be able to hunt, fish and gather in their “usual and accustomed” grounds. As increasing numbers of non-Indian settlers began to arrive in the area desiring the same abundant lands and waters that were so important to the S’Klallam people, the S’Klallam people living in the Dungeness area decided that in order to survive, they had to adopt a new value system that included property ownership.
In 1874, under the leadership of Tribal citizen Lord James Balch, they pooled $500 in gold coins and purchased the 210-acres along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, now called Jamestown. This provided a geographical center for group identity and independence, and was the start of the Jamestown S’Klallam community.
Our vision is to preserve and enhance the Jamestown S’Klallam Nation’s historical and cultural identity as a strong, proud and self-reliant community while protecting and sustaining our tribal sovereignty, self-governing authority, homelands and treaty rights.


Life Stories of Educated Muslims in Ghana, 1935–2005
Paperback, 14,8 x 21 cm
For several centuries Muslims acted as brokers in many West African societies. They exchanged goods as traders, served as clerks, and transmitted knowledge as scholars. However, during European colonisation from the 15th to the 20th century Muslims lost their economic, political, and educational influence. In the Gold Coast too, new clerks, who were trained mainly in Christian mission schools, gradually overtook the role of former Muslim administrators. Brokers of Modernity investigates how Muslims, primarily through secular education, regained their status as brokers in postcolonial Ghana and thereby traces the history of Muslim education from colonial times to the 1990s. Based on the life stories of thirty women and men of three generations from Accra and Tamale, this study focuses on individual strategies of coping with the tensions between secular civil life and religious practice. How did the interviewees negotiate 'being a Muslim' and 'being a citizen' in public schools and within their Muslim community? As brokers of modernity, secular educated Muslim both modernized Muslim communities and Islamized the Ghanaian society. Through their activities Islam has become more visible and present in the public sphere. In postcolonial Ghana, Tina Heinze argues, brokers play a prominent role in integrating minorities, mediating between social groups at the margins and mainstream society. Acting at the fringes, they cross the borders of different belief systems, cultures and ways of life.


In 1776, Edward Gibbon, a British historian, wrote Volume I of his six volume series, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. He finished the sixth volume in 1789, but the series actually took him 26 years in total, from start to finish.
Here are the five reasons he listed for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire:
1. The undermining of dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread.
3. The mad craze for pleasure.
4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within: the decadence of the people.
5. The decay of religion—faith fading into mere form—losing touch with life and becoming impotent to guide the people.
One could argue that in recent history, and especially today, the U.S. embodies all of these factors. Others argue that while the U.S. is going to fall, it will be largely for economic reasons. I summarized some of the reasons in a previous piece.
What do you think? Does the US share the same fate as the once-powerful Roman Empire?


Thursday, 17 September 2009
Chesterfield Stop The War stall 22 August 2009.
Stop The War groups across the country held events to name the 200 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan and some of the innocent civilian victims whose names we know. 20 members of our local group collected names on the national petition, calling for the troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan. We were amazed by the positive response from the public, with more than 500 people signing the petition. A good number had relatives serving in the British army in Afghanistan.


The Evolution of Tourism in Queenstown: A Journey Through Time
Nestled along the shimmering shores of Lake Wakatipu and cradled by majestic mountain ranges, Queenstown is often regarded as the crown jewel of New Zealand’s tourism. But how did this quaint lakeside settlement evolve into the bustling adventure capital of the world? The history of tourism in Queenstown is a fascinating tale of discovery, innovation, and unyielding spirit.
The Early Days
Before the European settlers arrived, the area that would become Queenstown was frequented by Maori in search of pounamu (greenstone), a treasured stone used for tools, weapons, and ornaments. It was in the 19th century, during the Otago Gold Rush, that Queenstown began to see a significant influx of outsiders. While the gold rush was transient, it laid down the infrastructure that would later prove pivotal for tourism. Roads, bridges, and initial accommodations were established, setting the stage for what was to come.
The Birth of Adventure
The late 20th century saw Queenstown cementing its place as the epicentre of adventure tourism. The 1980s, in particular, were groundbreaking. Bungee pioneers AJ Hackett and Henry van Asch introduced the world to commercial bungee jumping with the iconic Kawarau Bridge Bungy. The success of this venture set the tone for the multitude of adventure sports that Queenstown would become synonymous with - from jet boating and white-water rafting to skydiving and paragliding.
The snowy caps of The Remarkables and Coronet Peak have long beckoned winter sports enthusiasts. The establishment of ski resorts in the 20th century transformed Queenstown into a winter wonderland, attracting both domestic and international tourists. The ski culture not only brought in revenue but also added to the vibrant nightlife, with après-ski parties becoming the norm.
Rise of Luxury Tourism
With the influx of tourists came the demand for quality accommodation. From the late 20th century and into the 21st, Queenstown witnessed the rise of luxury resorts, lodges, and boutique accommodations. Today, some of the best hotels in Queenstown offer breathtaking views of Lake Wakatipu and the surrounding mountains, with world-class amenities ensuring an experience par excellence.
While the adrenaline-pumping activities continue to draw tourists, modern-day Queenstown also appeals to those seeking relaxation and rejuvenation. The region’s vineyards, renowned for their Pinot Noir, provide idyllic wine tours and tastings. The town’s culinary scene has also evolved, with a plethora of restaurants serving global and local delicacies.
Additionally, events like the Queenstown Winter Festival and the NZ Open golf tournament have played a crucial role in promoting Queenstown as a diverse and year-round destination.
The history of tourism in Queenstown is not just about a town that embraced adventure; it’s about a community that adapted, innovated, and thrived. From the days of the gold rush to its present-day status as a world-renowned tourist hub, Queenstown’s journey has been nothing short of remarkable. And as the town continues to evolve, it remains a testament to the spirit of exploration and the pursuit of excellence.


The study of History is an exciting, wondrous and deeply rewarding experience. It can provide participants of all ages with a sense of awe at where we have come from and where we are heading. At Knightsbridge School, we seek to make this journey as engaging and fun as possible. Our overarching aim in the History department is to foster a deep-seated and lifelong love of learning about the past, whilst also developing and honing the skills required to make a good historian.
Within KS3, students study a wide range of topics, both ancient and modern, with a view to understanding that the past is a ‘foreign place’. The students begin to explore historical evidence and attempt to ask and formulate questions about history. As they move up the school, students begin to study events in more depth and, whether looking at subjects such as the murder of Thomas Becket, the Battle of Hastings, the Reformation, the French Revolution, Woman’s Suffrage or the First World War, all students explore a range of topics which prepare them brilliantly for the study of the 20th Century at GCSE. Within each topic, students are asked to critically analyse both primary and secondary sources of evidence, write extended pieces which challenge a statement or question, complete detailed projects on people and events and, in essence, to fully immerse themselves in the rich tapestry that is history.
We are also profoundly fortunate to be studying history in the heart of one of the most historically significant cities in the world. This good fortune lends itself beautifully to trips and, from the first opportunity, we make the most of what is on our doorstep. From exploring the Tower of London to touring the Houses of Parliament, students at Knightsbridge School experience a wide range of our capitals offerings and learn to treat them as the incredible and valuable sources that they are.
The common belief that history is simply a series of names and dates is passionately challenged at Knightsbridge School. Whilst students are provided with in-depth knowledge of our local, national and global pasts; we also spend a great deal of our time debating, questioning and challenging popular beliefs so that our young historians have the tools with which to argue against ‘old truths’ and, eventually, to form their own interpretation of the events that they study. History is a complex and often contentious subject which requires a broad skill set and a genuine thirst to discover more. Despite its sometimes dusty reputation, we show students that history has never been more important and more relevant than it is in the twenty-first century.


by Doug Payton
As promised, I received information about the origins of Thanksgiving and Christmas as federal holidays. Unfortunately, while I asked for copies of the bills that made these days government holidays, instead I got copies of the relevant portions of two books that members of Congress have use of in their legislative duties. In any event, what follows is information from two books; "Chase's Calendar of Events - 1996" from Contemporary Books and "Celebrations - The Complete Book of American Holidays" by Robert J. Myers.
First off, it has been alleged that Thanksgiving does not have the religious roots it is purported to have. This is interesting, given that the vast majority of its initial celebrants were religious refugees from England by way of Holland. The religious aspect of the first Thanksgiving celebration is obvious in this passage from the first Thanksgiving Proclamation, June 20th, 1676:
The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the 29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all, even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving was a harvest celebration that acknowledged God as the Provider. These are Puritans we're talking about here.
The history of Thanksgiving in American government started with the first President in the year of his inauguration. From the "Celebrations" book, this is George Washington in 1789:
Now, therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the Beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; and that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country, previous to becoming a nation; for the signal manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of His providence, in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquillity, union and plenty which we have enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish Constitutions of Government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors, which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
From the "Chase" book:
President George Washington proclaimed Nov. 26, 1789, to be Thanksgiving Day. Both Houses of Congress, by their joint committee, had requested him to recommend a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to peaceably establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.
So not only was the first celebrated Thanksgiving religious in nature, but the first proclamation that started the ball rolling in the new American government (a proclamation requested by a joint committee of Congress, no less) was unabashedly so. It was a day of thanksgiving to God. (Washington was, I believe, a Congregationalist, so I'm pretty confident that's who he's talking about with the words "Being" and "Author".) Washington issued another proclamation in 1795.
It gets interesting here, because there wasn't a consensus as to the worth of the day. Puritans, interestingly, refused to recognize a set date for Thanksgiving because they believed Thanksgiving should be more spontaneous. And who also "actively condemned" it? A name you'll recognize; Thomas Jefferson. Unfortunately, "Celebrations" says no more than that. I would be very interested in knowing whether Jefferson's objections were personal or whether they were Constitutionally motivated. Nonetheless, I once said that every President from Washington to Lincoln proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving, and "Celebrations" implies that aspect is apparently in error. It does mention, however, James Madison's request that the nation "observe a day of Thanksgiving and peace in remembrance of the War of 1812".
But "Celebrations" says that Thanksgiving was still observed as a religious event. More and more states began to adopt it as an official holiday. However, some governors considered it to be state interference with religion and so avoided it. (I see a difference between considering something an "interference with religion" and "state sponsorship of a religion". The former is what the governors' concern was, the latter is what concerns the "separation of church and state" crowd. They are not equivalent.)
More and more states began celebrating Thanksgiving (and most on the same day). Finally, on October 3, 1863, President Lincoln issued this Thanksgiving Proclamation, after which Thanksgiving became a national holiday.
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, other have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict....I do, therefore, invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens....
The article goes on to say that the specific date for Thanksgiving is set by presidential proclamation each year which, with two exceptions, has always been the fourth Thursday in November.
This information clears up this outstanding issue: Thanksgiving, both in its celebratory roots and its legislative history as a national holiday, is distinctly religious in nature. From its initial observation by the Puritans through (at least) Lincoln's proclamation, it has been quite clear who was being thanked; God. It also adds one reason (if not more) to discount the idea that the First Amendment precludes the government acknowledging religion in this way. Both houses of Congress requested this holiday with language that acknowledged the "many and signal favors of Almighty God". And in 1789! Sure, Jefferson may not have liked the idea, but many, many others who would know the original intent and may have even participated in the debate of the First Amendment did not. This one event alone should be enough to dispel any myths about original intent. Is it possible that Jefferson's view of "separation of church and state" was a minority opinion and that it doesn't accurately portray the view of most of the Constitution's framers? There's a thought.
Unfortunately, neither "Chase" nor "Celebrations" gives much insight into the history of Christmas as a national holiday, though "Celebrations" does delve heavily into its origins as a celebration of Christ's birth. Here is what it does say with regard to legislation:
Alabama was the first state to grant legal recognition to Christmas, in 1836. By 1890 all the states and territories had made similar acknowledgment, including the District of Columbia in 1870. It is interesting to note that Christmas is the only annual religious holiday to receive this official and secular sanction.
(Some might see that last sentence as stating, in the opinion of the "Celebrations" authors, that Thanksgiving is not an annual religious holiday. In answer to that, one must understand that the celebration of Christmas goes back to the third century as an official church holiday. Thanksgiving really only became truly annual when it was made an official state holiday.)
Here again we have an action taken by every state, the District of Columbia, and the federal government, that goes against what some people of a particular constitutional belief from laymen to Supreme Court justices say that the First Amendment prohibits. This, too, taken by itself, shows that ideas about Constitutional thought nowadays (and "nowadays" would get special emphasis if I were speaking instead of typing) is flat-out wrong. The framers of the Constitution did not intend for religious expression to be stifled anywhere, even in government itself. Those far closer in time than we to those framers understood it as well, and their actions are in harmony with the framers. Coercion they were against, and for good reason, but not expression. And setting up an official national holiday for the birth of Christ or specifically for thanking God was not considered coercion or establishing an official state religion.
And after all, that's what this discussion was all about in the first place. The Constitution of the United States prohibits the establishment of a state religion, and calls for free religious expression. What does that mean? Look at how it was practiced in the past by those who crafted the Constitution and to those who were separated from them by far fewer years than we are today. Their actions will plainly show what they meant.
Return to "Consider This!"


500 000 to 12 000 BC. J.C.: First human traces.
Fifth millennium: Period of Hoa Binh.
Third and Fourth Millennium: Bac Son Civilization.
Second millennium BC. J.C.: Bronze Civilization. Era of the Hung Kings.
First millennium BC. J.C.: Kingdom of Van Lang.
258 BC. J.C.: Kingdom of Au Lac.
111 BC. J.C.: Annexation by the Han Chinese Empire.
From 40 to 43 AD. JC: Revolution of the Trung sisters against the Chinese.
Image of Trung sisters sitting on elephant
Year 968: Foundation of Dai Viet, the first independent Vietnamese state.
11th century: Fighting against a new invasion of China, Song Dynasty.
12th Century: Resistance against the Mongols.
1407: Occupation Ming.
1427: Rise of the Le kings.
17th century: Arrival of the first Europeans.
1698: Foudation of Saigon.
18th century: Division of the country between the Lords Trinh Nguyen in the north and south.
1771 - 1802: Insurrection in Tay Son.
1784: Treaty of Versailles with Louis XVI.
1802: Reunification of the country with King Gia Long.
1883 - 1884: The Tonkin and Annam become protectorates.
1887: Founding of the Indochinese Union with Laos and Cambodia.
Indochina map (French rule)
1930 : Fondation par Hô Chi Minh du Parti Communiste indochinois.
1941: Establishment of the Viet Minh.
1939 - 1945: Japanese occupation.
March 9, 1945: Coup de force against the French and Japanese setting up Emperor Bao Dai.
September 2, 1945: Proclamation of Independence.
May 7, 1954: Fall of Dien Bien Phu.
July 20, 1954: Geneva Accords and partition of Vietnam.
December 1960: Establishment of the National Front for the Liberation of the South. Beginning of the U.S. military intervention.
1965: Arrival of the U.S.
1969: Decease of President Ho Chi Minh.
Porttrait of Ho Chi Minh
January 27, 1973: Paris Agreements on Indochina.
April 30, 1975: Saigon fall
July 2, 1976: official reunification of Vietnam.
June 1978: Accession of Vietnam to the COMECON Council of Mutual Economic Assistance.
January 1979: Vietnamese troops overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime in Phnom Penh.
February 17, 1979: China's military intervention in northern Vietnam (Lang Son).
1989: End of the Vietnamese withdrawal from Cambodia.
1992: New constitution of Vietnam
1994: Removal of the U.S. trade embargo
1995: Vietnam's admission to ASEAN
June 2006: Following the tenth congress of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the National Assembly elects the new president of the state (Nguyen Minh Triet) and the new Prime Minister (Nguyen Tan Dung).
January 11, 2007: Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
October 16, 2007: Vietnam was elected non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations for a term of two years.


The original Green Bean Casserole recipe was created by an employee of the Campbell Soup Company called Dorcas Reilly in 1955. The recipe consisted of Canned Green Beans, Canned Cream of Mushroom Soup, and Canned Fried Onions.
What foodies like me often forget is that the era of the New Frontier celebrated convenience and new technology; it was a period where doing without (as was the case with the Depression and the War) was in the past. World War II, and in particular the need to feed troops in two theatres of war, resulted in some technological breakthroughs in the culinary world. One of them was the mass production, and subsequent consumption, of anything canned.
The post war 1950's was a period of doing things the new modern American way! And the results were poodle skirts, the Edsel, and green bean casserole. The original recipe for Green Bean Casserole now has a place of honor in the National Inventors Hall Of Fame in Akron Ohio. (Anyone for a roadtrip?) Inspired by that original recipe, this twist of the original features fresh ingredients and is made from scratch!
Visit the Recipe Book for the complete recipe!


COUNTING BY WINTERS
Winter counts are histories or calendars in which events are recorded by pictures, with one picture for each year.
The Lakota call them waniyetu wowapi. Waniyetu is the word for year, which is measured from first snowfall to first snowfall. It is often translated as "a winter." Wowapi means anything that is marked on a flat surface and can be read or counted, such as a book, a letter, or a drawing.
Winter counts are physical records that were used in conjunction with a more extensive oral history. Each year was named for an event and the pictures referring to the year names served as a reference source that could be consulted regarding the order of the years. People knew the name of the year in which other important events occurred, and could place these in time by referring to the winter count.


When a salesman from Inland Marine Corporation asked Howard for 50 more aluminum boats, the Lund® Boat Company began production of "The World's Finest Fishing Boats". This initial order of boats put Lund on the map for generations to come.
In 1961, Howard re-incorporated the company as Lund Metal Craft, Inc. and expanded into the fiberglass market. With the acquisition of Shell Lake Boat Company, Lund would now increase versatility with a product line up for both fishing and family recreation.
The 70's were the decade some iconic Lund Boats were born. The Tyee and Mr. Pike emerged with models including the Tyee Offshore and Tyee Cubby. Lund also had an expansive fiberglass offering from a 22'6" Cuddy Cabin Plus, sailboats and even the famed 315 Guide Special which is where some of the biggest names in fishing started with Lund like Al Lindner and Gary Roach.
It was the 80's when Lund Boat Company closed its Shell Lake fiberglass facility to focus on the aluminum boat manufacturing company in New York Mills, MN. Concentrating on aluminum, the innovative models like the iconic Pro V, Baron, Rebel and Alaskan came to life. Some other niche boats like the Newport (center console) and the 2100 & 2450 Sport Cabin were born.
In 1994 Lund began offering pontoons such as the 2100 Angler, 2450 Explorer and later expanded with the 1800/2100 Sportsman, 2100 Executive/2100 Executive and the 2450 Chairman SE/2450 Chairman SE in 1995. In 1998, Lund celebrated 50-years and offered custom paint, special graphics and color matched motors on certain models.
In 2004, Brunswick Corporation completed the acquisition of the Lund Boat manufacturing plants in New York Mills, MN and Steinbach, MB. In 2008 Lund returns to the fiberglass boat market with the introduction of the GL fiberglass boat series. There were 2 models released, 186 Fisherman and the 186 Tyee. These were soon followed by the 197 Pro V GL and 208 Pro V GL.
Today, Lund retains its reputation as the industry’s leading aluminum fishing boat company. Built by fishermen for fishermen, we continue to innovate while honoring the boat-building traditions that have made the name legendary. With boats still on the water from generations past, the brand is strong and the boats are even stronger.


A massive volunteer effort to digitize World War II-era U.S. naval logbooks is helping fill an important gap in the climate record.
To understand how humans have altered the climate, scientists must first determine what the climate looked like previously, and ship logbooks are essential to this work, providing a historical account of weather on the high seas. However, there are large gaps in the weather record during World War II, when hostilities stifled commercial shipping.
To fill in that gap, scientists sought to digitize recently declassified logbooks from 19 U.S. warships stationed in the Pacific during the war. Among these were the battleships USS Pennsylvania and USS Tennessee, which suffered losses in the attack on Pearl Harbor but remained in service through the end of the conflict.
Scientists enlisted the help of some 4,000 volunteers who, working online, transcribed more than 630,000 weather records containing more than 3 million observations that spanned the breadth of the Pacific Ocean, as well as parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The effort, led by researchers at the University of Reading, is detailed in a new paper published in Geoscience Data Journal.
The data gathered could help resolve a longstanding question about the past climate. Research suggests that the Earth was unusually warm during World War II, but data from the eastern Pacific is sparse, and potentially flawed. Sailors, presumably wary of shining a light at a hostile ship after dark, were more likely to record temperature data during the day, possibly introducing a warm bias into the weather record.
The U.S. Navy data, recorded at hourly intervals throughout the day and night, will help scientists better gauge temperatures during the war. “These ships saw action in the Indo-Pacific and Far-East, taking observations at times and places where few or no other digitized observations exist,” authors wrote. “These new observations and metadata will be invaluable for improving reconstructions of past climate.”


H.R. H. Obi (Prof) Joseph. C. Edoziem, CFR CONDOLENCE ON THE DEMISE OF PROF. OKOCHA
It is with profound and inestimable sadness that I write to commiserate with Your Royal Highness and the people of Asaba on the unfortunate passing away of your erudite and celebrated son, Prof. Emma Okocha, the Ikemba Ahaba designate.
A highly acclaimed cerebral author, Prof Okocha bestrode the world like an intellectual colossus whose unearthing and documentation of the events of the Nigerian / Biafra Civil War culminated in an epochal chronicle of the sad massacre of defenseless civilians in Asaba in a book entitled Blood on the Niger, a book that has been subject of international study.
That Prof. Okocha was courageous is not in doubt, that he spoke truth to power is not in doubt, that he was patriotic is not in doubt and that he has stamped his name and person on the indelible marble of time is equally incontestible.
The Ikemba Ahaba designate was also a staunch member of Ohaneze Ndigbo and even contested for a post in the Igbo body in 2017. It is also on record that Emma testified courageously on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Ndigbo generally on the massacre at Asaba during the Oputa Panel. He will forever be remembered for that.
We at Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide mourn him with great regret. We mourn him with great passion. We are happy that he didn’t just come and go but left a foot print for which he will forever be remembered.
Adieu Emma Okocha
Adieu Ikemba Ahaba designate.
Chief John Nnia Nwodo President General Ohanaeze Ndigbo


Living the Revolution: Urban Communes in 1920s Russia and the Invention of a Socialist Lifestyle
Thursday 15 December 2016, 6.30 pm, Lecture Theatre B33, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet St, London WC1E 7HX.
At the heart of this talk is a cast of fiery-eyed, bed-headed youths determined to be the change they wanted to see in the world. First banding together in the wake of the October Revolution, seizing hold of urban apartments and student dormitories, youthful enthusiasts tried to offer practical examples of socialist living. Calling themselves ‘urban communes’, they embraced total equality and shared everything from money to underwear. They actively sought to overturn the traditional family unit, reinvent domesticity, and promote a new collective vision of human interaction. A trend was set: a revolutionary meme that would, in the coming years, allow thousands of would-be revolutionaries to experiment with the possibilities of socialism. These activists tried to live what they understood as the “socialist lifestyle”, self-consciously putting Marxist and Bolshevik theories into practice. By telling the story of the urban communes, this talk reveals how grand revolutionary ideals were experienced, understood, and appropriated on a human level.
Andy Willimott is Lecturer in Modern Russian/Soviet History at the University of Reading. He first became interested in the world of modern dreamers and revolutionary visions for everyday life while studying History at the University of East Anglia, surrounded by the architecture of Denys Lasdun and Norman Foster. Between 2012 and 2015, he was Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies. He is author of Living the Revolution: Urban Communes & Soviet Socialism, 1917-1932 (Oxford University Press, 2016) and co-author of Rethinking the Russian Revolution as Historical Divide (Routledge, 2017). University web page, Profile and Information about book. Twitter @AndyWillimott


ROTTERDAM, the Netherlands — They came from Russia, Poland, Germany and Ukraine, bearing tickets bought in the field offices of the Holland America Line passenger ships. They were fleeing the pogroms, escaping tyrants, running from war or just seeking a better life. About two million people made their way to Rotterdam harbor during the peak years from 1880 to 1920 to begin a trans-Atlantic journey that would often end at Ellis Island.
The stories of these migrants inspired the former Rijksmuseum director, Wim Pijbes, and the group he leads, Stichting Droom en Daad (Foundation Dream and Do), to transform a crumbling warehouse on the Rotterdam piers into a kind of Dutch sister-site to Ellis Island. The nonprofit organization he directs, founded in 2016 to support arts in Rotterdam, acquired a city permit in March to turn the old Holland America Line warehouse into an institution that will commemorate those journeys.
“I won’t call it a museum,” Mr. Pijbes said recently as he showed a reporter around the 108,000-square-foot concrete and steel building on a windswept pier, which is home to a number of ragtag hipster start-ups, including an organic food court, galleries and arts groups. “A museum is a phenomenon that has a very strict idea and image in most people’s minds. I want to find a word that has a kind of hybrid function, a place, a platform, an agora.”
The new multiuse facility, called the Fenix, will include restaurants, shops and galleries on the ground floor, while the entire top floor will be devoted to exhibitions related to immigration, past and present.
In 2020, when their leases expire, the current shops and businesses will move out to make way for renovation, which is expected to cost upward of 5 million euros ($6.14 million), though some will return.
“Culturally and historically, this will be of amazing value for the city,” Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor, said of the Fenix project, adding that it would serve as “a bridge” between the north and south sides of Rotterdam.
Through a partnership with several local museums and the Rotterdam City Archives, the exhibition space will combine historical presentations, based on three million records related to the immigrants who passed through here, and ship data, along with contemporary art.
Mr. Pijbes said he would like to show the Mexican artist and filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s high-tech art installation “Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible)” (2017), which allows one visitor at a time to experience crossing the United States-Mexico border in the desert, through virtual reality.
“What we want to show is that this is a universal story,” Mr. Pijbes said. “People at some point of their lives make a decision, whether it’s forced by war, poverty, religious reasons or something else. They decide to put everything they have into one or two suitcases and to make this journey to a new world and start all over again. The same thing happens to Jews from Russia and people from African continents crossing the Mediterranean, or Syrians fleeing the war. What we want to do is to understand the emotion and to show the emotion.”
Hundreds of thousands of those who left through Rotterdam were victims of pogroms, anti-Semitic riots that swept the Russian Empire, killing thousands and propelling mass Jewish migration. But among the 3.5 million people who took the Holland America Line from its inception in the 1870s to the 1960s, when air travel became significantly cheaper, were every conceivable kind of immigrant.
Mr. Pijbes intends to make the passenger lists, and details about those who traveled, available to the public online within a couple of years, before the Fenix opens.
The Holland-America Line built what was said at the time to be the largest warehouse in the world on this pier in 1923, using it as a passenger terminal and goods transport center, according to Droom en Daad. In those days, some 2,000 to 4,000 people would board a single ship — first steamers and later ocean liners — for the weekslong voyage to the United States or Halifax, Nova Scotia, with poorer émigrés cramming into steerage and the wealthier passengers banqueting in first class.
An entire industry sprang up around the travelers who passed through this port, to house them, provide them with papers and check them for diseases like rheumatic fever and trachoma (pink eye) that would prevent their entering the United States.
Rotterdam was heavily bombed by German forces before the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1940 and again as the Germans retreated, hoping to cut off Allied access to supplies.
The warehouse was blown up with dynamite, but rebuilt at half the size after the war. It was named the Fenix, or phoenix, rising from the ashes.
Today, large ocean liners dock at these piers, and glass office towers dwarf the Art Deco building, once the tallest at the harbor, that had served as the headquarters of the Holland America Line (now the charmingly historic Hotel New York).
“It takes more than a hundred years to rebuild a city that has been bombed to the ground,” Mr. Pijbes said. “You see now in places like Syria and Iraq what happened here.
“If you see the city as a body, what happens to the body is a trauma. What people tend to do when they have a very serious trauma is to turn their back on it. The people from Rotterdam did not look back in history. Don’t think about the past, they said, look at the future.”
But Mr. Pijbes said that his foundation felt it was time to look back, because the history of Rotterdam was rich and fascinating.
Mr. Pijbes served as the general director of the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch national museum, for eight years before he stepped down in 2016 to run the Museum Voorlinden, a private contemporary art center in Wassenaar founded by a chemical company executive and art collector, Joop van Caldenborgh.
The Voorlinden job lasted only a few months.
Soon afterward, Mr. Pijbes said, he was approached by the Van der Vorms, one of the wealthiest families in the Netherlands, who asked him to establish a foundation devoted to Rotterdam-based cultural activities and projects.
The Van der Vorms owned shares in the Holland America Line from the 1930s until it was sold to the American Carnival Corporation in 1989, but this project was not born of that connection, Mr. Pijbes said.
After spending about a year meeting with some 200 Rotterdam-based artists, architects, developers and city leaders, Droom en Daad settled on the Fenix as its first major undertaking.
“If you go to Amsterdam or Leiden or Delft, you go to the city center, and you see the Middle Ages and you see the 17th century and the 19th century, you see history,” Mr. Pijbes said. “In Rotterdam, you have history, but you can’t see it physically. Everything that is built in the city center was built after 1950. There’s a lack of history. There’s a gap in the memory.
“Our goal is to fill that gap, or refill that gap, by focusing on culture and heritage.”


The above photo was taken by Sidney Markman (Z”‘L) in 1953.
The Durham Jewish community traces its origins to the 1870s when German and Eastern European immigrants arrived to peddle and open stores in the growing tobacco town. In the early 1880s their numbers were augmented by the arrival of Russian-Jewish cigarette rollers.
The Durham Hebrew Congregation organized in 1887 and rented a hall on Main Street. In 1892, the congregants formally chartered the congregation and hired a rabbi. In 1905, they purchased a small, wood-framed church on Liberty Street, which became Durham’s first synagogue.
After World War I, the congregation built a large, cathedral-style synagogue downtown. When it was dedicated in 1921, the members took the name Beth El Congregation. Beth El remained Orthodox through the 1930s and 1940s, but over the years the community grew more liberal in its religious practices. In 1948, Beth El hired a rabbi who was a member of the Conservative movement.
Beth El broke ground for a new synagogue and center on Watts and Markham Streets in 1957. In its centennial year, 1987, Beth El acquired and renovated the Freedman Center, which provides classrooms and an attractive environment for major social and educational functions.
Beth El today reflects a vibrant, dynamic community led by a volunteer board, enriched with the teachings of many dedicated community members.


Mount and Blade: Viking Conquest stands as a testament to the prowess of TaleWorlds Entertainment in crafting immersive and historically rich gaming experiences. Released as an expansion to the critically acclaimed Mount and Blade: Warband, Viking Conquest catapults players into the tumultuous world of the Viking Age, offering a unique blend of historical accuracy, strategic gameplay, and an expansive open-world environment.
Setting the Stage:
The game unfolds against the backdrop of the Viking invasions of Britain in the 9th century. Players find themselves amidst a politically charged and war-torn landscape, where Viking raiders clash with Anglo-Saxon defenders. The level of detail in the game’s historical setting is staggering, with meticulous attention paid to recreating the weaponry, architecture, and cultural nuances of the time.
Character Creation and Progression:
One of the standout features of Viking Conquest is its robust character creation and progression system. Players begin their journey by customizing their character, choosing everything from their appearance to their backstory. As the game progresses, characters can hone their skills in various disciplines such as combat, leadership, and trade. This not only adds a layer of personalization but also directly impacts the player’s success in the harsh world of Viking Conquest.
Dynamic Campaign Map:
The heart of the game lies in its expansive and dynamic campaign map. Players traverse a meticulously crafted open-world environment that spans the British Isles and beyond. From the bustling trading towns of Wessex to the Viking strongholds in Scandinavia, every location is teeming with life and opportunities. The dynamic nature of the campaign map means that alliances shift, kingdoms rise and fall, and the player’s actions have a tangible impact on the game world.
Naval Warfare and Exploration:
Viking Conquest introduces a maritime dimension to the Mount and Blade series, allowing players to engage in thrilling naval warfare and exploration. Commanding a longship, players can navigate treacherous waters, raid coastal villages, or engage in epic sea battles. The addition of naval gameplay adds a refreshing layer of strategy and excitement to the overall gaming experience.
Epic Battles and Sieges:
True to the series’ roots, Viking Conquest delivers epic battles on a grand scale. Whether leading a charge on horseback or defending a besieged fortress, players must master the art of medieval warfare. The inclusion of siege mechanics adds a strategic element, requiring players to carefully plan their assaults or defenses, considering factors such as troop composition and siege weapons.
Intriguing Quests and Diplomacy:
Beyond the battlefield, Viking Conquest offers a plethora of quests and diplomatic challenges. Players can align themselves with different factions, undertake quests that range from epic sagas to personal vendettas, and navigate the intricate web of political alliances. The depth of the quest system contributes to the overall narrative richness of the game, offering a well-rounded experience beyond mere combat.
- OS: Windows® XP, Vista, Windows 7
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or AMD 2.5 GHz
- RAM Memory: 3 GB
- Video Card: (256 MB+)
- DirectX: 9.0c
- HDD Space: 3.5 GB Free
- Sound Card: Yes


José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino polymath, patriot and the most prominent advocate for reform in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. He is regarded as the foremost Filipino patriot and is listed as one of the national heroes of the Philippines by the National Heroes Committee. His execution by the Spanish in 1896, a date marked annually asRizal Day, a Philippine national holiday, was one of the causes of the Philippine Revolution.
Rizal was born to a rich family in Calamba, Laguna and was the seventh of eleven children. He attended the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and enrolled in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas. He continued his studies at the Universidad Central de Madrid in Madrid, Spain, earning the degree of Licentiate in Medicine. He also attended the University of Paris and earned a second doctorate at theUniversity of Heidelberg.
As a political figure, José Rizal was the founder of La Liga Filipina, a civic organization that subsequently gave birth to the Katipunan led byAndrés Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo. He was a proponent of achieving Philippine self-government peacefully through institutional reform rather than through violent revolution, although he would support “violent means” as a last resort. Rizal believed that the only justification for national liberation and self-government is the restoration of the dignity of the people, saying “Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?” The general consensus among Rizal scholars is that his execution by the Spanish helped to bring about the Philippine Revolution.
Rizal’s Family Tree
His parents, Francisco Engracio Rizal Mercado y Alejandro (1818–1897) and Teodora Alonso Realonda de Quintos,were prosperous farmers who were granted lease of a hacienda and an accompanying rice farm by the Dominicans. Rizal was the seventh child of their eleven children namely: Saturnina (Neneng) (1850–1913), Paciano (1851–1930), Narcisa (Sisa) (1852–1939), Olimpia, Lucia (1857–1919), María (Biang) (1859–1945), José Protasio (1861–1896), Concepción (Concha) (1862–1865), Josefa (Panggoy) (1865–1945), Trinidad (1868–1951) and Soledad (Choleng) (1870–1929).
Rizal was a 5th-generation patrilineal descendant of Domingo Lam-co traditional Chinese: 柯儀南; simplified Chinese: 柯仪南; pinyin: Kē Yínán; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kho Gî-lâm, a Chinese immigrant entrepreneur who sailed to the Philippines from Jinjiang, Quanzhou in the mid-17th century. Lam-co married Inez de la Rosa, a Sangley of Luzon.
In 1849, then Governor-General of the Philippines Narciso Clavería, issued a Decree by which native Filipino and immigrant families were to adopt Spanish surnames from a list of Spanish family names. Although the Chino Mestizos were allowed to hold on to their Chinese surnames, Lam-co changed his surname to the Spanish “Mercado” (market), possibly to indicate their Chinese merchant roots. José’s father Francisco adopted the surname “Rizal” (originally Ricial,
the green of young growth or green fields), which was suggested to him by a provincial governor, or as José had described him, “a friend of the family”. However, the name change caused confusion in the business affairs of Francisco, most of which were begun under the old name. After a few years, he settled on the name “Rizal Mercado” as a compromise, but usually just used the original surname “Mercado”.
Upon enrolling at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, José dropped the last three names that make up his full name, on the advice of his brother, Paciano Rizal Mercado, and the Rizal Mercado family, thus rendering his name as “José Protasio Rizal”. Of this, Rizal writes: “My family never paid much attention [to our second surname Rizal], but now I had to use it, thus giving me the appearance of an illegitimate child!”This was to enable him to travel freely and disassociate him from his brother, who had gained notoriety with his earlier links with native priests who were sentenced to death as subversives. From early childhood, José and Paciano were already advancing unheard-of political ideas of freedom and individual rights which infuriated the authorities.Despite the name change, José, as “Rizal” soon distinguished himself in poetry writing contests, impressing his professors with his facility with Castilian and other foreign languages, and later, in writing essays that were critical of the Spanish historical accounts of the pre-colonial Philippine societies. Indeed, by 1891, the year he finished his El filibusterismo, this second surname had become so well known that, as he writes to another friend, “All my family now carry the name Rizal instead of Mercado because the name Rizal means persecution! Good! I too want to join them and be worthy of this family name…”.


Named in Honour of Jimmy's Late Grandmother
Edith Katharine Jordan White McLeod ( 1918-2009) was born and raised here on PEI, but lived the latter part of her life far away in Ontario. Though she dreamt of returning someday, her declining health in her last few years made it impossible to consider.
We are thrilled to dedicate our holiday rental retreat to her memory.
Many treasures from her home in Ontario have found their way back to the island and pepper the décor of the interior at Kate’s Cove.
We felt that this was one way to grant her wish and finally bring her home.


Morio is a figure of such imposing stature in the world of karate that he
genuinely needs no introduction. The result of decades of research into
the history of Goju-ryu, his book is based on information he received while
training as a young student, hundreds of hours of interviews with senior
Okinawan karateka and instructors, and personal research carried out in
China. Higaonna's book is the closest thing available in English to primary
source for the early period of Okinawan karate. It is fortunate that Higaonna,
a native speaker of the Okinawan language and a highly respected karateka
of extraordinary skill and understanding, was inspired to do this research
during a period when the older Okinawan karateka were still alive. It was
a unique combination of opportunity and skills.
book is of very high quality and well illustrated. The paper is of excellent
quality, and the pages are sewn, not merely glued. The cover is durable
and attractive. This book is designed to be solid. It will withstand frequent
readings without appreciable wear or damage. And this is a good thing.
book starts with an introduction to the Ryukyu Islands then traces the development
of Goju-ryu karate through the careers of Higaonna Kanryu, Miyagi Chojun,
Shinzato Ji'nan, and Miyagi An'ichi, rounding off the sequence with a very
brief chapter describing Higaonna Morio's training which started in 1955
under Miyagi An'ichi. The book concludes with a biographical section on
students, friends, and relatives of both Miyagi Chojun and Higaonna Kanryo,
which includes several interviews. There is a final section on relevant
Chinese martial arts, as well as an appendix which contains material to
amplify some of the footnotes, material which was too extensive for the
footnote format. There is a very useful glossary and index.
book makes it clear that the commonly expressed idea that there are no secrets
in the martial arts is incorrect. Although instruction in karate was made
public in 1901, there were still secrets in kata, and only very rarely was
a student taught all the known applications for a particular kata or all
the kata in a particular style. Much in the older traditions was secret,
and it was meant to be. Their kata were designed as textbooks for initiates,
not for observers who might often prove to be tomorrow's enemy. Some of
the lessons hidden in these kata will probably stay secret, as they were
taught to very few, and sometimes those few died in the frequent wars of
Kanryo and Miyagi Chojun both restricted the number of their students as
they did not want their teachings to be used for the wrong purposes. Because
there has been a general tendency to limit instruction for this reason,
the different styles of karate often depend on a very slender and fragile
base for their transmission to future generations. Frequently, for as much
as a decade, only one man might know the full tradition of a particular
style, and if he were to die the tradition would die with him. Even historical
information was kept secret, and in part, Higaonna's book is a deliberate
attempt to reconstruct and preserve at least some of the unpublished historical
material that was lost when Miyagi Chojun's collections were destroyed in
the author has tried not to neglect anyone of consequence in the history
of Goju-ryu karate, more than two thirds of the book deals with the life
of Miyagi Chojun. In a sense, the book is almost a biography of Miyagi Chojun,
and properly so. It reflects both the relative amount of information available
for the different Goju-ryu masters and the pivotal position occupied by
Miyagi Chojun in the development of Goju-ryu. Even so, the book also contains
a great deal of material on early Okinawan karate in general.
Chojun's instructor, Higaonna Kanryo, went to Fuzhou, China, in the late
1860's and spent fourteen years there, mostly training with Ko Ryu Ryu.
During this period, Higaonna Kanryu learned most of the kata which characterize
modern Goju-ryu karate. The author has made serious efforts to trace the
Chinese roots of Goju-ryu karate and quotes Miyagi Chojun as saying "Our
style dates from 1828." This tantalizing statement could not be amplified.
Higaonna Morio traveled to Fuzhou, China, and attempted to visit every place
that he could identify as having any connection with Higaonna Kanryo. Unfortunately,
W.W. II destroyed all records of Higaonna Kanryo's teacher, Ko Ryu Ryu,
and he is now known only from oral tradition.
Chojun was a towering figure in Okinawan karate for much of his life. He
was one of the very few men in this century to create a new kata, Tensho
Kata, sometime around 1921, and the two Gekisai Kata in 1940. He considered
the basic kata to be Sanchin, Tensho, and Naifanchi. Sanchin Kata, has held
a central place in Goju-ryu karate right from the first in China, and the
importance of Sanchin Kata is emphasized throughout the book. It is interesting
that neither Tensho, the two Gekisai Kata, nor the Naifanchi Kata are among
the kata originally learned in China by Higaonna Kanryo, and that the Naifanchi
Kata are not counted among the kata of Goju-ryu.
are a number of fascinating contradictions in Miyagi Chojun's life. Although
Miyagi restricted his teaching, he also attempted to promote karate in both
Okinawa and Japan after 1926, and in Hawaii in 1934. Karate was relatively
unknown in the 20's and 30's and there was considerable discrimination against
Okinawans in Japan. Miyagi stressed karate as an important intangible Okinawan
cultural treasure, and obviously felt that the spread of karate would alleviate
some of the discrimination against Okinawans in Japan. He also believed
that modern technological advances had to be balanced by moral education
through training the human spirit, and that karate was the most suitable
vehicle for such training.
Chojun created the two Gekisai Kata, in part to improve the adaptability
of karate to a wider variety of students, and in the post-war period he
gradually changed his teaching methods to accommodate larger groups of students.
During this period, he arranged the kata of Goju-ryu into a fixed sequence.
Before that, a student would learn Sanchin and often only one other kata,
especially selected for that student. However, Miyagi still did not advertise,
students still had to be personally recommended, and between 1949 and 1951,
he had only one student, Miyagi An'ichi, whom he trained in great detail.
Evidently, his fear of teaching karate to those who might abuse it balanced
his concern that karate might be lost.
karateka are sure to find that a number of Miyagi Chojun's ideas would be
controversial today. For example, he opposed ranking systems in karate,
as he believed it would lead to men being judged by their rank and not their
character. The dan ranking system was only introduced in Okinawa in 1956
after Miyagi's death, and the first all-style dan grading in Okinawa did
not take place until 1960.
Higaonna Kanryo nor Miyagi Chojun charged their students for instruction,
and later instructors often did not require fees from particularly gifted
students. Miyagi Chojun stressed the need for humility. Neither Higaonna
Kanryo nor Miyagi Chojun would advertise, and Miyagi never referred to his
style of karate as Goju-ryu, but rather simply as bu or te. Miyagi regarded
ignorance as shameful. He would recommend that a student train in a different
style for a while, if he felt that the student would benefit from such training.
On the 1st and 15th of each month he would invite guest speakers to lecture
at his dojo. The term "research groups" used to describe 1930s karate clubs
in revealing of the attitude with which karate was studied at that period.
It is quite evident that karate was not considered a competitive sport.
These attitudes towards dan ranking, money, advertisement, cross-training,
and competition show that karate has both gained and lost as it has grown
in popularity in the last half century.
there has been a net gain is left up to the reader to ponder. This book
is easily one of the best of the very few, serious martial arts histories,
and it is full of interesting surprises. For example, the author cites Miyagi
Chojun as describing three legends current in China and Okinawa which trace
the origins of the martial arts. One of these legends places these origins
in Asia Minor. I found this fascinating, as the oldest complete martial
art known is the Greek pankration which became an Olympic event in 648 BC.
The date antedates documentary or dated archeological sources for any other
martial art. The pyrrhic dance, a Greek martial dance which could be performed
armed or unarmed, similar to modern kata, existed at the same time and was
possibly used as a teaching tool for the techniques of the pankration. The
idea that this Greek art is one of the major sources of all Asian unarmed
martial arts today is not at all far-fetched. Alexander the Great was a
pankration enthusiast, and the pankration, foremost among other Greek martial
sports, went into Asia as far as India with Alexander's armies of conquest.
Alexander was the greatest general of his time and one of the greatest generals
of all time. He and his armies enjoyed enormous prestige everywhere in the
ancient world. Instruction in the favored martial art of that army would
be highly valued by any soldier or warrior of the period. Isn't is interesting
that an Okinawan legend indicates a possible Greek origin for the Asian
History of Karate: Okinawan Goju-ryu is a treasure house of facts concerning
the early history of a deservedly popular style of karate, and it contains
wonderful descriptions of the early training in Okinawa. But there is much
more here. Miyagi Chojun's ethical ideals, teaching methods, and way of
life provide a valuable source of guidelines for the modern karateka's approach
to karate. This book should be on the shelf of every serious student of
karate, and it should be read often.


Don't miss this chance to own the beautiful Historic Cauthen House in Lampasas! This lavishly built 2-story home has been lovingly renovated without disturbing the historic period charm! A perfect blend of historical luxury with convenient modern touches such as the authentically restored Master Bath. The impressive 1916 Spanish style home features tan stucco with dark red brick accent and a metal tile roof. The almost 5,000 square foot centrally heated & cooled home consists of 15 beautifully appointed rooms that include 4 spacious bedrooms, 3 full baths and 1 half bath, 3+ living areas, plus an upstairs game room, study, master sitting room, master sunroom, 2 fireplaces, large formal dining room and an attic and basement. The home further showcases the original rich mahogany wood which was used lavishly throughout the home for interior trim, wainscoting, hand-carved moldings, and the grand staircase. More period features include soaring 10' ceilings, beveled glass windows & doors, many original hand- painted walls & stenciling by an early 20th century New York artist, murals, many original elaborate lighting fixtures including crystal chandelier, gorgeous hardwood Oak floors throughout, French doors, pocket sliding doors, original 1917 faux painting in living & dining, wall sconces, original kitchen tile, original wood valances, dumb waiter, butler's stairs & pantry, wrap around porches, a Porte Cochere entrance, original copper gutters, plus so much more! The home sits majestically on half a city block featuring a 1000 square foot guest house / servant's quarters, water well for yard, a remodeled barn, fabulous gardens, fountain, mature shade trees and 14 Pecans. Perfect residence for those who appreciate the architecture of the early 20th century, quality of construction, plus authentic restoration with attention to detail. Or because the home is located only one block from Lampasas' busy Key Avenue, it would also be perfect for a bed & breakfast, antique & gift shop, or many other possibilities. The home qualifies and is eligible for both a State and a National Historical Marker. You must see this home to appreciate its historic beauty and elegance combined with all the modern conveniences.


A request from mariners for a light on Rathlin Island was first made in 1827, but due to differences of opinion between the Commissioners of Northern Lights in Edinburgh and the Corporation for Improving the Port of Dublin or Ballast Board, the final approval from Trinity House was not obtained until March 1847 and construction did not start until May 1849. The buildings were designed by the Ballast Board's Inspector of Works & Inspector of Lighthouses, George Halpin, and were constructed by the Board's workmen.
Two lights, an upper occulting light and lower fixed light, so as not to be confused with other lights when approaching and passing through the North Channel, were established on 1st November 1856. The tower of the upper light is built of stone from the island and is 26.8m (88 feet) overall height. The light is 74m (243 feet) above high water, and originally had an occulting character of 50 seconds bright with 10 seconds dark. The light also showed a red sector over Carrick-a-vaan Rock, off Kenbane Head on the mainland. The lower light consisted of a lantern placed close to the base of the tower, the light was 55.5m (182 feet) above high water and showed a fixed or non flashing light.
On 18th January 1866 a fog signal was established which consisted of an 18 pounder gun and was fired every 20 minutes during fog conditions. Over the years the frequency of the detonation was increased to 15 minutes, then 8 minutes.
The lower fixed light was discontinued on 1st July 1894 and at the same time the tower light was intensified.
In 1912 a further change was made to the main light when a completely new optic was installed with a vaporised paraffin burner giving four flashes every 20 seconds.
In 1918 the fog gun was replaced by an explosive fog signal consisting of a double tonite explosion every 5 minutes.
The colour of the tower seems to have been originally natural stone with a broad red belt under the lantern balcony, then the stone was painted white (still with the red belt). This lasted until 1934 when the red belt was changed to black as it is today.
The red sector over the Carrick-a-vaan rock was discontinued in 1938.
From September 1965 the explosive fog signal was accompanied by a brilliant flash of light when sounding during hours of darkness. The explosive fog signal was finally discontinued in 1972 for security reasons along with other similar fog signals around the coast. A Radiobeacon was established five months later sending out its signal AH in Morse every six minutes. It was coupled with five other stations in the group.
Rathlin East Lighthouse was converted to electric operation in 1981 and has a 920mm catadioptric annular lens and MBI 1kW lamps in a UVLA40 lampchanger.
On the 31st March 1995 the lighthouse was converted to automatic operation and the Keepers were withdrawn from the station. The station is now in the care of an Attendant and the aids to navigation are also monitored via a telemetry link from the Lighthouse Depot in Dun Laoghaire.
Since November 1995 the light is exhibited by day to improve the daytime conspicuity of the station.
The Medium Frequency Radiobeacon service was discontinued on 1st February 1999.
In October 2003 an experimental Automatic Identification System (AIS) was established at Rathlin East Lighthouse.
During 2021, Irish Lights will be completing engineering works to upgrade all three Lighthouses on Rathlin Island, while retaining the historic lenses. This work will improve energy efficiency and the environmental footprint at these important heritage sites, as well as ensuring the lighthouses meet international standards as working Aids to Navigation used by every-day mariners. This work will also ensure the property and its surrounds are safe and ecologically secure for the communities that live along-side them and visitors who access them.


Twenty tons of American tank clattered across ancient cobblestone; steel treads clawing and scrawling on worn granite as this tank and a troop of American soldiers wound their way into the town of Asch. By day’s end the town would be free. But Charles Harris, Truman Perfect, Robert Hanchey, Artur Rentell, Clarance Shoupe, Charles Murray, William Feury, and Thomas Ward would trade their American lives for that freedom.
First blood had spilled minutes before as an American halftrack mounting a quad-50 machinegun mount cut down a German motorcycle crew just outside town. But now, for the moment, there was nothing but the clatter and roar of the tank, and the footsteps of the men beside it-scanning the houses lining the winding road; looking for the enemy they had come to kill.
They didn’t wait long–three Germans suddenly appeared some 80 yards ahead–nonchalantly walking with rifles slung; oblivious to the scene just down the road. Oblivious, until Lt. McCaleb hollered “Kommen sie hier,” inviting them to surrender. They didn’t; the tank’s cannon roared, and two are violently vaporized. The third scuttles away, dodging a fusillade as the tank and troops advance a few dozen more yards.
Enter, stage left, a German civilian emerging from his house and cursing the American troops. In no mood for such commentary, the good Lieutenant shoos him back inside with a revolver shot over his head…. That matter resolved, he strides forward a few more steps, then – overhead, fleeting, flickering shadow; he ducks as a Panzerfaust flies past him to hammer the tank a dozen feet away.
That tank, one moment a conqueror, is in the next horrific moment a rolling coffin. Four hundred grams of high explosive shaped-charge warhead rips through the side armor; pounds of molten metal spatter into the crew compartment; blast overpressure pulps lungs. The major firing the turret-top machinegun is blown off the tank; the troop commander beside the tank is mortally wounded; his command transfers that day to Lieutenant McCaleb. Crewed now only by three dead men, the tank ghosts across the road and slams to a stop against a home.
Before the day is done, Asch will fall. Hundreds of Nazis will surrender; roughly a hundred will die; four more Americans will join the first four in death.
And Asch will be free, the first city in Czechoslovakia to be liberated by the U.S. Army.
Of course there are thousands of stories like this–most now untold–that played out as the Allies crushed the six-year reign of the Thousand Year Reich. These tales didn’t make headlines or a newsreel. Just one more firefight, one more verse of death; one more small step to victory that made up the day-to-day reality of American soldiers through the ten long months from Normandy to V-E Day.
I know the story only because it was dad’s–he wrote the unit history chapter on the liberation of Asch; eventually he told me it himself. And throughout his life I was reminded of it, as he would remind me “that’s my bad ear, Gary…” the ear that was never the same after Asch and that Panzerfaust.
Nor will I be the same, when an odd confluence of events led to my invitation to attend the 71st anniversary of the war’s end in Asch. I thought, perhaps, that the town square might still exist, where this bloody drama had played out. Perhaps, I thought, I could imagine how it might have happened. I conceived this pending ceremony in a distant, foreign land, would be touching, a bit perfunctory, and a tad generic. This was scarcely the first such ceremony, after all.
Little did I know of the Czech people, and how 6 years of Nazi oppression followed by 45 years of brutal Communist domination had bred a passion for liberty and remembrance which shames us modern Americans. Perhaps, though, you don’t know what you have until it is lost….
And it was lost–not only under the Nazis, but while American troops seized a good part of western Czechoslovakia–all the way up to Pilsen–the Big Three superpowers had bargained away its freedom as they settled what post-war Europe would be. Just weeks after the war’s end American troops evacuated the nation and the Soviets moved in. For a smattering of months there was hope that Czechoslovakia would remain something of a free nation. But in 1948, the Iron Curtain slammed down–and any recognition of the American liberation in the western lands was violently suppressed. And absurdly suppressed, as the Communists taught children for the next 41 years that the black troops which liberated some towns were Soviet soldiers “in camouflage,” and that other Soviet soldiers had worn American uniforms to “confuse the enemy.”
So when freedom–true freedom–finally came to Czechoslovakia in 1989 in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, those in Western Czechoslovakia lost no time recognizing their liberators, immediately, and systematically through time. After four decades of lies, the Czechs wanted the truth to be told, and told well.
Gwenn and I were welcomed to Asch by Deputy Mayor Pavel Klepacek, and met the man who facilitated and blessed our visit a thousand times over–Bohuslav “Bob” Balcar, a publisher, historian, and relentless advocate of freedom.
As Bob had promised, there were “festive speeches,” and we were made most welcome with official greetings and a medal and plaque commemorating the City of Asch. And to my delight, we were joined by Captain Michael Farenelli, Commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2d Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry. Remarkably, the very same unit dad had served in in World War II was still stationed in Vilseck, Germany, a short drive from Asch. And yes, they still wear spurs with their dress blues–the horse heritage continues….
Then Mayor of Asch, Dalibor Blazek, joined us to lay a wreath at the memorial to the men of the 2d Mechanized Cavalry–the liberators of Asch, 20 April 1945.
I guess, then, it began to hit me. I knew the story of Asch, but thinly. Now, some of the reality began to seep in–eight had made the supreme sacrifice on that April day…a sacrifice well-honored by the citizen of Asch today.
We moved from the monument to the town square and the old town hall–I’d hoped to see this square, and imagine what might have happened.
I got more than I bargained for–the first surprise being that two young artists, concerned that the younger generation was not learning of the American liberation, took it upon themselves to author and distributed a comic book based on dad’s account of the battle.
Amazingly, the comic book was incredibly accurate–so much so, that we were walked foot-by-foot and minute-by-minute through the engagement that played out over about a 500 meter stretch of road:
Here, we’re looking from the German perspective–town behind us, Americans advancing towards us. The three oblivious Germans walked around the curve, and you can see the result–two dead Germans–on the right side of the comic book. Note that a few of the stone road shoulder markers remain from the war era. Many of the buildings extant during the fight were heavily damaged and later razed–trees have grown up–but the authors showed me where they had depicted the remaining buildings, and created the comic book art by relying on prewar photos. The only error I noticed was the figure discharging the rifle in the lower right corner–that is what dad did to scare the cussing German civilian back indoors–but he used a .38 revolver that he’d picked up, not his M1 Garand. Every other detail looked to be spot-on.
And so we walked down the same street where, 71 years before, dad had fought and four Americans died to liberate Asch. Here’s a panoramic view (note the distortion–the road is actually straight) taken at about the point that dad shot at the cursing German civilian, who emerged near the yellowish house.
Looking from the American perspective below, the car is approaching right about where the Germans were killed. The tank would have been about midway between the car and where I’m standing when it was hit, and it ran forward into a house which was subsequently razed.
And immediately to the right, a small tunnel where some civilians had taken cover including a local businessman who spoke English–he became the interpreter for the Americans once he was coaxed out of hiding.
And so, when I’d hoped to perhaps see the town and imagine what might have happened, I found myself looking down at the very cobblestones dad had crossed, knowing that 71 years and two weeks before, my dad fought for this town’s freedom.
A cacophony of emotions came over me–longing that dad could have made this trip himself; pride in his service; heart-rending gratitude to the men and women of Asch who remember with such passion and care.
And increasingly, a love for the Czech people who bore 45 years of Communist oppression without ever forgetting their American liberators. In the coming days I’d learn that Asch was scarcely unique in that regard–all over Western Bohemia, the region liberated by the Americans are dozens of memorials–many to the 2d Cav and to General Patton specifically–and this being May, the month of liberation, every one would be marked with red, white, and blue garlands and flowers….
Over the coming days I’d talk to numerous Czechs about the liberation, and every time mention would be made of how frustrated they had been to be silenced for 40+ years. Every monument I saw had been erected in 1989 or 1990–and when we visited Pilsen I learned from a local that when the city was finally free to celebrate the American liberation in 1989, that city of 180,000 residents hosted one million people at its celebration.
There are really no words to express the gratitude I felt for their gratitude–and the incredible desire to speak and live truth–a passion that carried across generations of Czechs who lived under the Soviet heel. As the days would pass, this burning love for freedom and phenomenal courage would be found again and again: village by village where the 2d Cav had operated. In Prague, where Jan Palach fell, burning in protest at Soviet oppression, and in an ancient church crypt where 7 Czech freedom-fighters died, trapped below ground, after successfully ambushing the Nazi architect of the “final solution,” Reinhard Heydrich. And at monument after monument throughout the streets of Prague, marking where the liberators of 1945 and the protestors of 1968 fell.
So it seems fitting to end at the Asch town square, to show what it once was, before the superpowers sold Czechoslovakia down the Nazi river under the disgraceful Munich Agreement:
And this is what the square looked like under the enlightened solicitude of the Soviet Union, circa 1960:
And this is what it looks like today, given the blessings of freedom and the leadership of Mayor Blazek, his able Deputy Mayor Kelpachek, and the efforts of the great citizens of Asch….
So I close with redoubled thanks to each who so blessed Gwenn and me on this most memorable visit–who so carefully guard the memory and celebrate the liberation–thank you, my new and beloved friends….
And to quote my father’s prayer, inscribed a few days later on the town register of the small village of Myslív, “May God grant us a long and lasting peace.”
Leave a Reply