Jefferson Barracks Park

In 1986, when I was 17 years old, I
visited Jefferson Barracks Park with my friend Shane on our way to pick up his sister in Illinois. We had found the park looking for a place to view the Mississippi River. Little did I know then what a big role the park would later play in my life. In 1997 my wife and I moved from Springfield to St. Louis and we lived in an apartment only a few miles from the park. We immediately took to the place and began walking there every weekend morning and many evenings as our schedule allowed. After Teddy was born, we began walking with him at the park. Teddy's first walk at JB was in his stroller when he was 2 months old, he still had his TPN bag attached to his PIC line, back when everyday was life and death; now he romps through the park like he owns it...a big healthy 10 year old boy. We have had a lot of great times at JB and it is probably my favorite place in the whole metro area of St. Louis. We have met a lot of nice people there over the years, other regulars, like Mr. & Mrs. Hill (pictured). They walk the opposite direction as we do, so we often run into them and talk for a few minutes. Teddy is always excited to see them and they make a big deal out of talking to Teddy and praising our dog Buster...really special people.

JB has lot of wooded areas along the trail and lots of deer, birds and Teddy's favorite: snakes. I also love how rich in history the park is. It first opened in 1826 as a military post and served that function until 1946. Lots of famous military leaders served here over the years including William T. Sherman, Robert E. Lee and the one I most often think about walking over the same ground as we do now: Ulysses S. Grant.

The park is also home to several small museums that are really nice, one of which is the temporary home of the WWI medallions which inspired me to research and speak about Ulysses Tebbs. Just to the south are some of the original barracks buildings and a large Army Reserve/National Guard Base (see the photo above) and just a little further to south is Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, which is one of the largest federal cemeteries in the nation and happens to be where 6 members of the Hetzler Crew are buried.

After walking here about 100 times a year for 13 years, we have a long history with the park and more stories than will fit on this blog entry. We highly recommend a visit to the park and cemetery.

Dream

I know I am doing a lot of research when I start to dream about it. This particular dream was more of a nightmare, but it was realistic and gave me a picture of the last seconds in the Cockpit for the Hetzler Crew in their B-24. On March 23, 1944, flying at 21, 000 feet above the small German village of Alverskirchen, the formation began to encounter a barrage of intense flak...deadly accurate. The Crew was flying a B-24 named Fritzi since their Jayhawker was being repaired again from combat damage. My dream was like a movie, it was in color, but everything had an old fashion greenish tint. My view was from the pilot's seat. I could hear the roar of the 4 engines, the feeling of stress on the bomb run (the target was a small Nazi Airbase) and just wanting to hurry up and get this part over with, when an ear ringing, deafening explosion lurched the aircraft down in a left bank at an awkward attitude. I looked to my right and clearly recognized Co-Pilot Ken Brett from the many pictures I have seen of him and it was strange to see him in live motion. He was all business and a complete professional, even in this emergency. We both went to work on the controls, but instead of the familiar pressure, all was limp, we had absolutely no control of the plane. I looked at Brett again and now saw a look of hopelessness and resignation, which I must have shared...I panicked, which woke me up...it was 4:00 in the morning...I never did fall back to sleep and went to school tired, but I was thankful for the picture I now have in my mind of an event that I have studied so much, but wish had never happened. My daydream is to be with the crew in happier circumstances, such as flying with them across the Atlantic to their base in England, I would love to have had that dream instead. But, one of my fondest wishes is to be able to travel back in time and this is as close as I will ever get.

The photo is courtesy of George Reynolds via Darin Scorza.

One of my Kids...

A sad day for me today. I saw in the newspaper yesterday that Sgt. Chris Cooper died in Iraq while serving in the Army. He was one of my original students in German I, back when I was a first year teacher. I have lost students before, but this was the first one to be lost while in service to his country. Amazingly, before joining the Army, Chris had served 5 years in the Marines and had already served one tour of duty in Iraq. The obituary said he absolutely loved the military and that he was known for random acts of kindness such as "dropping a twenty-dollar bill in the lap of the homeless to picking up tattered American Flags that littered the streets after September 11th." Many friends and brothers from the Army and Marines left messages on his obituary site in the paper such as the following:

To the family of SGT. Christopher Cooper. All of Bravo Company 2-28 wishes to extend our sincere condolences on the loss of your son and our brother in arms. He was a great Soldier and leader and will be missed greatly.

Chris did well in life despite my novice skills as a teacher that first year...I just wish he knew how proud I am of him.

Giant City State Park

Last weekend we spent the night in a cabin at Giant City State Park Lodge in southern Illinois. Teddy didn't want to go and was anxious about the trip. We explained that it was a short trip and told him exactly what to expect. We've learned that he has a lot of anxiety about the unknown and it helps to go over everything in advance and paint a visual picture for him.

Like we hoped, he really loved the little cabin, the trails, climbing the water tower and he especially liked playing checkers in the "living rooms" at the lodge.

On an historical note, the lodge and cabins were built by the CCC in the 1930's by Company # 696. The lodge restaurant (or cafeteria, as Teddy called it) has an old photo of the Company (about 200 young men) that built it.

We had a great weekend here, it is a short drive from St. Louis and Teddy is ready to go back next year!

2 down 8 to go!

Last Saturday, I presented a slide-show presentation about Staff Sergeant Donald E. Davis, Tail-Gunner on the Hetzler Crew, in his hometown of Anna, IL. We had a really wonderful weekend and a fantastic trip. This is the 2nd crew member that I have spoken about in their hometown. We have decided to take our vacations for the next few years to all of the hometowns of the Hetzler Crew, so we have 2 down and 8 to go!
My talk was presented at the VFW's Carroll P. Foster Post No. 3455 in Anna and it was sponsored by the Union County Historical and Genealogy Society. There were about 60 people in attendance including Donald's younger brother William Davis (pictured with me) and several of Donald's nieces and nephews. A bus also dropped off a group of men from the local Veteran's home. It was a dream come true, to meet people who knew Donald and to be able to honor his memory in his hometown. A local newspaper reporter was in attendance and I made the local TV news that evening!

We took this opportunity to make this trip a little vacation and we stayed at Giant City State Park, which is only a few miles from Anna and had a great time there...more on that in the next entry. Now, all of our talk is where to go next, we have family contacts with two more crew members, one in Wyoming and the other in Buffalo, so our choice is Yellowstone or Niagara Falls! Not a bad choice, Teddy will love either one!

Inferno: The Fiery Destruction of Hamburg

Written by the British Author Keith Lowe, Inferno is, quite simply, one of the best history books that I have ever read. In the Summer of 1943, RAF and USAAF bombers dropped 9,000 tons of bombs on Hamburg in the course of 10 days. In one raid alone, the RAF sent 792 bombers over Hamburg. Because of the blend of incendiary bombs, the architectural make-up of Hamburg and the meteorological conditions on that particular night a fire Hurricane, complete with lightening was created. Many cities, such as Dresden and even Hamburg on a previous raid, had experienced firestorms, but this "was in a whole different league. The winds reached speeds of at least 120 mph and in some places as high as 170 mph." The victims trying to flee the flames, also had to fight the winds because the winds were blowing in the direction of the fire to feed the flames. The heat in some areas climbed to an incredible 800 degrees Celsius!

The horror experienced on the ground is well documented in this book and Keith Lowe has a real talent for bringing the past to life. One horrific scene that was seared into my memory was of one mother who evacuated the city to Bavaria with the corpse of her child: The woman had dropped her suitcase and its contents were spread "across the platform, among the toys, manicure case and singed underwear was 'the roasted corpse of a child, shrunk like a mummy, which its half-deranged mother has been carrying about with her, the relic of a past that was still intact a few days ago.'" In the end about 44,000 people lost their lives in these raids.

Lowe tells both sides of the story very well. He also describes the bravery and horrors that were experienced by the men that flew the bombers. Of course, I read a lot about the USAAF in England, but until I read this book, I didn't have much knowledge of the RAF's Bomber Command and the various aircraft they flew, such as the Short Stirling, which he describes in British fashion as a "gentleman's aircraft". Lowe treats the experience of both sides with historic fairness.

Even though Lowe is usually a novelist, he writes history so well, that I recommend this book to everyone, even to those who don't normally read history.