Dogface: The New Georgia Doughboy

From my father's World War II memoirs. Posted in honor of veterans everywhere.

This is the New Georgia doughboy, returning from the front. He's wearing his green-and-brown-mottled camouflage suit - the one he has been wearing continuously for the past three weeks. It has seldom been off of him, even to be washed - the rains take care of that. If his unit happens to be anywhere near a creek, he washes himself, but that happens only once in a while. Oh, yes, and that camouflage about his face is not really camouflage. Can he help it if the dust, kicked up from the road, sticks to his sweaty, bearded face? All available water is used for drinking, but even with the supply on New Georgia augmented by purified water from neighboring islets, he has to exercise rigid economy. His daily supply which he carries with him in two canteens doesn't last very long in New Georgia's baking sun and steaming jungles.

This doggie, like most of his buddies has been in combat for around twenty consecutive days. That means that during that time he has no hot food. His meals when he could get them, were C rations eaten right out of the can. Sometimes his fare wasn't even that sumptuous. Sometimes he subsisted on a bar of D ration chocolate a day. Now he returns, stripped down to barest essentials, without even the light battle pack he started out with. He still has his faithful M-1 Rifle with possibly some ammunition left, his precious water, first aid packet, and sulfanilamide tablets.

He trudges along the dusty road, his trousers legs rolled up to just below the knees, revealing a dirty, soggy, reeking pair of green canvass jungle boots. He walks along the road which Army engineers and Navy Sea Bees have hewn out of the jungle. But the soldier doesn't always find the road dry and dusty; all too often he slogs through channels of knee-deep mud which must serve as travel routes. On this isle of the dead and living dead, the stench of this mud suggests that decaying bodies are blended in with the soil, but the smell is more probably from rotted vegetation. When it rains in New Georgia, this is what the soldier eats in, sleeps in, lives in. Now, as he walks along with expressionless eyes focused on the ground a few paces ahead of him, his presence adds a poignantly personal touch to the procession of peeps and three-quarter tons which are laden with supplies for the front. Daily he (for "he" represents all such front line men) passes our gun positions with an air of mingled apprehension and respect. He dreads being near them when they fire, yet he wants to get a good look a t the guns that probably helped save his life. "How do you guys stand it? How do you stand the noise?" he asks with a seriousness that dumbfounds us. How do we stand it! He's been sniped at, mortar-shelled, has our artillery barrage seventy-five to one hundred yards ahead of him, and he asks us that! He comes up to the guns once in a while when there is a lull in the firing, and pats a howitzer affectionately. "I could kiss these babies," he says with a wan smile. Once he asked if we'd let him pull the lanyard that would send a 95 pound shell on its destructive mission. He was tickled as a kid with a new toy when we let him fire on the next fire mission.

He sits and exchanges a few words with us; he's never very talkative - sits and broods a lot. As he gets up to leave, his valedictory usually is: "Keep shootin' them out there. It sure is good to hear them land." Though they go through hell, that is all that he and his buddies ever ask of us, that we keep shootin' out there, and they'll carry on their share.

- Ken McLintock (1929-2000)
Battery A,146th Field Artillery Battalion, 37th Infantry Division
January 1942 - October 1945
Urban Renewal: "Pacific Driftwood"

Morning Report: November 11, 2004

Arafat dies. Terrorist leader Yasser Arafat died in Paris in the early hours of Thursday, November 11, according to media reports.

Mohammed: Emergency state enhances security in Iraq. Mohammed at Iraq the Model believes the current state of emergency declared by Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi will help restore confidence among Iraqis:

Declaring the state of emergency laws had a positive effect on the majority of Iraqis although it should’ve caused worries but I believe that this explains the public hopes to see an end for the violence and presence of criminal groups in some parts of Iraq and this is a public feeling that grew bigger because of the brutality of the atrocities committed against Iraqis by those criminal groups. I think it also shows that Iraqis are convinced that this emergency law won’t be similar to the “laws” that governed their lives under Saddam; people know that a real change is under way and that the new laws are going to protect the citizens instead of oppressing them. Perhaps the fact that most the Fallujans left the city proves that they have no intention to confront the Iraqi and multinational forces and it clearly means”go get the bad guys” and this discredits the media’s theory which claimed that “most of the Fallujans are willing to fight”.

Wretchard: The enemy's prospects in Fallujah. The Belmont Club assesses the position of Ba'athist remnants and insurgents in Fallujah, Iraq: 'Simply reading the map shows that the enemy is pinned in a strip north of the highway, which is now a barrier to further escape south. As Major Piccoli put it, the "enemy fighters were bottled up in a strip of the city flanking the major east-west highway that splits Fallujah". Pressing them against the highway are four US battalions from the north and two from the east.'

Three relatives of Allawi abducted. Gunmen kidnapped three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi - Allawi's 75-year-old cousin Ghazi, Ghazi's wife, and their daughter-in-law, according to this Fox News report. A militant group called Ansar al-Jihad claimed responsibilty, threatening to kill the three hostages in 48 hours unless the Iraqi and US governments met its demands.

Happy Birthday, USMC

The United States Marine Corps turns 229 today.

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference,
and our Marines don't have that problem."
- President Ronald Reagan, 1985

Semper Fidelis!

President Kerry

"One sunny day in 2005, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry."

The Marine replied, "Sir, Mr. Kerry is not the president, and does not reside here." The old man said, "Okay", and walked away.

The following day, the same old man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry." The Marine again told the man, "Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Kerry is not the president, and doesn't reside here."

The man thanked him and walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to the very same Marine, saying, "I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry."

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man and said, "Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Kerry, I've told you that Mr. Kerry is not the president and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?"

The old man answered, "Oh, I understand, I just love hearing it."

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, "See you tomorrow, Sir."

Hat tip - again - to Rickvid in Seattle.

Ellen DeGeneres does an interview ...

... on MSNBC. Catch it here. She says she and Alex have thought about becoming mothers, but both are ambivalent about the idea. (Given Ellen's list of donor candidates, maybe it's best that she stays childless.) She also talks about her voice role in "Finding Nemo", and the spontaneity of dancing. Go check it out.

More on Hezbollah Drone (Mirsad-1)

The Iranian/Hezbollah "Mirsad-1" UAV that recently accomplished an incursion into Israeli airspace had a payload capacity of 40kg, according to this bulletin from Debka:

Hizballah unmanned aerial craft that penetrated Israel two days ago is capable of carrying 40 kilos - and therefore a bomb, according to Israeli chief of staff Gen. Yaalon’s report to Knesset committee Tuesday. Craft spent 7-12 minutes over northern town of Nahariya.

Ha'Aretz writes that

Apparently, the drone carried a camera capable of transmitting images while the plane is in motion. On Monday, Hezbollah's television channel, Al-Manar, aired footage of what it said was the drone it had sent into Israel.

and adds:

The drone was Iranian made. It was developed and built in Iranian plants in the 1990s. The aircraft is considered technologically very simple, with a pre-programmed route that is installed before launch. During the flight, a camera sends images back to a ground station, which was supposedly manned by Iranians, and the plane is apparently supposed to land by parachute.

The Iranians supplied several such planes to the Hezbollah, just as they supplied rockets. One of the Iranian conditions for the supply of the drones was that Hezbollah get clearance from Tehran before any launch.

The Hezbollah operatives were trained in the use of the plane by experts from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Some analysts believe the drone is primarily a psychological tactic, and that the actual military value of the Mirsad-1 is limited. It may serve as a signal of Iran's determination to defend itself and its nuclear program against strikes by Israel or the US; Syria may also be using the incident to strengthen its negotiating position with regard to the Golan Heights.

In other news, Iran announced it has acquired the capability to mass-produce medium-range ballistic missiles. Iranian Defense Minister Rear Adm. Ali Shamkhani told journalists in Tehran that the IRI is able to manufacture in bulk the Shahab-3 missile, whose range was recently upgraded to 1,250 miles.

RELATED:
Morning Report: April 12, 2005 (Hezbollah drone penetrates Israeli airspace.)
Hezbollah Drone Update
Eagle/Heron, and Another UAV

Posting will be light over the next few days ...

... while I get caught up on schoolwork. I've got to read Edgar Allan Poe for Tuesday, and master integration by parts for a Calculus exam next week.

So you will all just have to muddle through without me for a little while.

LGF on Netherlands jihad: It's not about race.

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs gets it exactly right when he says:

This is the almost universal, wrongheaded slant on the story in mainstream media: that the horrific murder of Theo Van Gogh had something to do with race, when in fact it was driven by a violent, supremacist religious ideology.

Read more at these entries:
Jihad in the Netherlands
"Murder Is Normal"

More on the Eagle/Heron Drone Deal - and Another UAV

The Times of India reports:

Israel is likely to sign a deal to supply spy drones worth $230 million to India soon, officials said Sunday.

State-owned Israeli Aircraft Industries will also supply military surveillance hardware for the unmanned aircraft which will be jointly produced in India, defence ministry officials said.

"We are quite close to signing a deal," a highly-placed official said. They said the offer includes 50 Eagle-Heron Israeli drones which have a range of 1,000 kilometres (620 miles), can stay airborne for more than 24 hours and cruise at an altitude of 25,000 feet (7,575 metres).

India, which treated Israel like a pariah for decades, has forged close military links in recent years. It is acquiring two Phalcon Airborne Early Warning Systems worth a billion dollars and will jointly produce a long-range missile from the Jewish state.'

Also on the subject of drones, an Iranian-produced drone operated by Hezbollah made an incursion into Israeli airspace. According to Ha'Aretz:

Hezbollah announced Sunday that it had sent an unmanned reconnaissance drone on sorties over northern Israel earlier in the day, saying that the plane - known as the Mirsad-1 - flew as far as Nahariya before returning safely to its base in southern Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed Sunday evening that a drone did indeed enter Israeli airspace, and flew over the northern city of Nahariya. The IDF said that the drone crashed into the sea when it returned to Lebanon. Reports from Lebanese fishermen of an object slamming into the sea apparently confirms the IDF's report.

"The new qualitative achievement comes as part of the natural response to Israel's violation of Lebanese air space," the militant organization said in a report on its television channel, Al-Manar.

The Jerusalem Post elaborates:

The penetration of an unmanned spy plane into northern Israel Sunday has gravely concerned the IDF command, which is bracing for a flare up on the northern border as the disengagement approaches.

The IDF confirmed Sunday night Hizbullah's claim that it had succeeded in sending a drone over the skies of the western Galilee.

It was the first time an enemy unmanned aerial vehicle had succeeded in entering Israel and represented a bold and provocative step by the Iranian-backed Shiite group.

Hizbullah said the UAV, dubbed "Mirsad 1" or Ambush, had reached all the way to the northern Israeli costal town of Nahariya at 10:30 a.m. and "returned safely to base," mimicking the old IDF statements usually put out after bombing raids in Lebanon.

But reports from Lebanon said the UAV crashed at sea on its return trip from it sojourn over the tiny corner of Israel. An IDF statement said Hizbullah was aided in the endeavor by Iran and Syria "with the aim of targeting Israeli civilians."

It was a propaganda coup for Hizbullah, showing it could succeed in doing what no Arab state has. Only Egypt among the Arab nations has a serious UAV program. Iraq had attempted to develop one but it was not a success.

The Iranians, however, have been developing UAVs for over a decade and it is one of theirs that is believed to have been used Sunday by Hizbullah. The Mirsad 1 is a small remote-controlled drone with one engine and a small camera.

RELATED:
Morning Report: April 12, 2005 (Hezbollah drone penetrates Israeli airspace.)
Hezbollah Drone Update
Eagle/Heron, and Another UAV

Morning Report: November 7, 2004

Allawi declares state of emergency. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi declared a 60-day state of emergency across most of the country in the face of increased enemy attacks, with a US-led attack on Fallujah in the works.

French, Ivorian forces clash, sparking violence. According to the BBC report on Ivory Coast violence, 'Pro-government mobs in Ivory Coast have been making house-to-house searches to find and attack French citizens in the commercial capital, Abidjan. French peacekeepers there have moved 80 to 90 people to safer locations. As more reinforcements arrived, the troops were deployed around the city, trying to stem looting and burning. The troubles began after the French virtually wiped out the Ivorian air force, following the death of nine peacekeepers in a government raid. The mobs - supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo - went on the rampage after the French action.'

The Head Heeb explains: 'French peacekeepers in Cote d'Ivoire are reporting eight dead and 23 injured after one of their positions was bombed by Ivorian government aircraft. The French forces later retaliated against the Ivorian air force, with various reports saying they shot down three aircraft or destroyed them on the ground. It is unclear whether the government aircraft deliberately bombed the French base, but whether or not the attack was intentional, both the peacekeepers and their neutrality have become casualties of the collapsing peace.'

In light of the escalating crisis in Cote d'Ivoire / Ivory Coast, the United Nations Security Council has called a special meeting.

China, Iran, and oil. According to recent reports, China's Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said he saw "no reason" to refer Iran's nuclear program to the United Nations Security Council while on a visit to Iran. Meanwhile, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, visiting China, said that he would like to see China, rather than Japan, become Iran's largest crude oil consumer. China is the world's second largest consumer and importer of oil. Analysts believe that China's economy is in very serious trouble, in part due to rising energy costs.

From my Father's World War II Memoirs

The day we landed on New Georgia at Lambeti Plantation, we were able for the first time to appreciate fully the devastating effectiveness of our artillery. All the land that had undergone the terrific artillery fire was all but denuded of live vegetation. Shattered remnants of coconut palms drooped pathetically, resembling gaunt weeping willows. The Air Force contributed to the destruction of this area. I could see this as I walked along the road from the Plantation to the Munda Airfield. All along the way were holes that could have been made only by 100 or 200-pound bombs. There was something curious about these bomb craters, something besides the fact that they were used as water points and swimming holes; it was grass and flowers which had sprung up in the inside. Most of the bomb craters looked like freshly made excavations with the sand, coral, etc. thrown outside around the edges. But some looked like natural depressions in the naturally uneven ground, so overgrown were they. Symbolic, it seemed, were zinnias - just common pink, garden zinnias one finds in the garden at home - growing from the depths of bomb craters. Yes, in a way they were symbolic of the good, the God-created, the enduring, and everlasting, which reappears untouched after the fury of man's wrath has spent itself.

Pacific Driftwood

The Dreams Into Lightning Universe Expands

I've recently updated several of the other web pages that you see on the sidebar (and one or two that you don't), with more to come.

My father's page, titled Urban Renewal and labelled here with his name (Ken McLintock), has a couple more of his poems posted. Also, I've just finished posting the complete text of "Pacific Driftwood" and "Jottings", Dad's literary memoir from World War II. (I spent most of the evening typing it in.) The original typescript consists of 23 pages of old air-mail letter paper and was among his personal effects at the time of his death. It contains writing by his fellow soldiers of the 136th Field Artillery Battalion, and his own impressions of the campaigns at New Georgia, Guadalcanal, Lingayen Gulf, and Cagayan.

My sister, Stephanie McLintock, also left behind some exquisite writing, which I am posting at the page labelled with her name. I've changed the blog title; it is now called Wilderness Vision. Stephanie was troubled but enormously talented and she left behind a large amount of poetry and fiction, so please visit her site as often as you like.

Updates on human rights and the war against fascism will be posted at Freedom Matrix. I will be posting on Judaism, America, and the meaning of freedom at The Light of Freedom. These blogs have lain dormant for several months but I plan to start developing them more fully in the weeks to come.

The Iraqi Holocaust, Iraqi Holocaust Files, and Asher Abrams Portfolio are all mine too, but I haven't been updating them lately. However, suggestions for The Iraqi Holocaust are always welcome. It's not the most enjoyable blog to work on, but I think it is one of the most important.

A mysterious individual named Shoshanna posts at The Ocean Names of Night. She seems to think she owns this blog. I refuse to be responsible for anything she says.