Category Archives: History

EMPHEMARILTY OF SPENDING – DEFENSE OF THE PANAMA CANAL

Posted on by
Reply
Squadron of B-17 bombers flying over the entrance to Panama Canal with Fort Amador below.
Squadron of B-17 bombers flying over the entrance to Panama Canal with Fort Amador below. Defense of the Canal beginning to pass from the gun to the air.

Recently, I made my fourth trip to Panama.  Each trip, a short visit to the Canal in one form or another, gets included in the itinerary.  To understate the importance of the Canal to Panama and the World from an economic point of view is not possible.  The Canal gives Panama money to do things many other countries in Latin America – especially in Central America – can only dream about.  Large freeways, light rail, subways, and a seemingly burgeoning economy from a casual tourist outlook reflect success in the heat, humidity, and constant drip – or sudden deluge – from the skies here in Panama. One factor hiding from plain sight today are the former huge efforts made in defense of the Canal.

Continue reading →

EMILIO AGUINALDO – HOME AND TOMB OF THE INSURGENT ENIGMA

Posted on by
1
The Man - Emilio Aguinaldo - and his Shrine. Aguinaldo family home in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.
The Man – Emilio Aguinaldo – and his Shrine. Aguinaldo family home in Kawit, Cavite, Philippines.

Emilio Aguinaldo is considered by many to be the “George Washington” of the Philippines.  His family home is preserved – much like Washington’s at Mount Vernon – and a museum is dedicated to his life and times.  Additionally, to the Aguinaldo home, the leader himself is entombed on the grounds behind the house. The grounds became the official Aguinaldo Shrine in 1964 just after his death.

Continue reading →

MORMON COLONIES IN THE LAND OF THE TACO BELL DOG

Posted on by
1
High on the hill above Colonia Juarez, the LDS temple sits.
High on the hill above Colonia Juárez – one of the original Mormon colonies, the LDS temple sits.

Mormon colonizers were sent out throughout the desert West in the later parts of the 19th century seeking to expand the world of Deseret.  First, they developed arable lands in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Arizona, but also a group ventured further south into northern Chihuahua State.  Here, some of the valleys and places where enough water existed, they founded a total of ten Mormon colonies over time.  Two survive today, though one of those is becoming engulfed by the growth of nearby Nuevas Casas Grandes.

Continue reading →

DEFEAT ON THE KOLOVRAT CHANGES INTO CATASTROPHE

Posted on by
1
Restored Italian trench line atop Na gradu – Green mountain in background is Mrzli vrh.

Standing in the renewed Italian positions of the open-air museum of the Kolovrat, you are rewarded with an all-world view over the Isonzo River valley with the Krn-MonteNero massif rising dramatically on the other side. Of the Bovec-Kobarid open-air museums, the view from here is only matched by what you gain at the former Austrian artillery base on Čelo above Bovec.

Continue reading →

THREE DIMENSIONS TO TWO – THE MAGIC OF GOUSHA MAPS

Posted on by
3
1972 version of road map of Oregon from H.M. Gousha Co. for Shell Oil. End of the era of free road maps.

Maps have a magical ability to allow one to travel to places they have and have not been to.  They offer an experiential taste.  From the late 1920’s until the 1970’s, would-be travelers had options to pick up road maps at no cost from various gasoline stations around the US.  My favorites as a child – and even now – fell to those produced by the H. M. Gousha Maps.  Vibrant colors accompanied by bright fonts set the maps as a peak for other map companies to reach for in my eyes.

Continue reading →

WATERS FALLING IN THE RAIN FORESTS OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA

Posted on by
Reply
Last wintery look at Beaver Falls.
Late wintery view at Beaver Falls, one of the most magnificent found in the Lower Columbia.

Waterfalls abound throughout the State of Oregon, especially in the western hills. Abundant rains fall throughout the forests filling streams cascading over lava cliffs. To catch these falls at their height means an off-season journey. Summer season can mean little or no rain for a month or more at a time making the falls seem much tamer than when they are at their fullest. Here, a small collection of waterfalls taken from the area around the Lower Columbia. This area gets pelted with rains out of summer. Astoria averages 86 inches of rain a year – Portland, by contrast, averages a mere 36 inches.

Continue reading →

MAGINOT FORTS – COUNTERWEIGHTS TO DARK MAGIC OF THE EAST

Posted on by
Reply
Machine gun turret - in eclipsed position - atop Block 2 at Gros Ouvrage Schoenenbourg.
Machine gun turret – in eclipsed position – atop Block 2 at Gros Ouvrage Schoenenbourg of the Maginot Line.

As the Cold War ended, a resurgence in interest took place in France as many of the former fortifications the country spent so much time, money, and hope in keeping war away from the home door.  The jury of historical writers seem a bit divided in opinions regarding whether the fortifications built between the late 1920 and 1930’s accomplished much.  Forts have had a history of being very expensive and difficult to upgrade, keeping them current with the rapid advances in artillery.

Continue reading →

HOUSE OF SAVOY LEADS ITALY INTO THE NEW

Posted on by
Reply
The magnificent Savoyard fortress complex at Fennestrelle erected soon after the House of Savoy joined the ranks of kings in 1713.

World War One – La Grande Guerra in Italian – destroyed four of the great ruling houses of Europe.  The House of Savoy was not one of them.  That would take another war.  The House of Savoy is one of the older families of Europe making it into the rarefied heights of ascendant nobility.  Like most of these families, the family history is complicated by time and politics.  That history becomes confused further by looking at maps of the feudal lands over the years as they waxed and waned with time.  Little bits of color interspersed with each other, seemingly with no rhyme or reason at times.  So much of history tied up in abstruse, rarefied, esoteric stories understood by only a few of the most dedicated students.

Continue reading →

REDIPUGLIA, FASCIST TWIST TO THE GREAT WAR

Posted on by
Reply
The Redipuglia Ossuary climbing the slopes of the Carso above the Via Eroica.
The Redipuglia Ossuary climbing the slopes of the Carso above the Via Eroica.

Italy remembers World War One – la Grande Guerra – a bit differently than World War Two.  First off, they were on the winning side in the first war.  Second, a little over a hundred thousand more Italians died during the First than the Second – 651,000 to 689,000 compared to approximately 500,000.  The vast cost of the First War in treasure and men along with THE thought by Italians as unfair results of their sacrifices at the treaty tables at the war’s end ended destabilizing the nation.  Enter the Blackshirts and Benito Mussolini.

Continue reading →

AÍ CHIHUAHUA! – VISION RESTORATION IN THE LAND OF THE TACO BELL DOG

Posted on by
Reply
LIS team and local Lions Club members celebrate the end of the vision clinic in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico.
LIS team and local Lions Club members celebrate the end of the vision clinic in Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Mexico is a large and very diverse country.  Many travelers from the United States know the country for its beaches – Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Zihuantanejo, maybe Huatulco.  Some visitors may have only penetrated as far as border towns like Tijuana, Mexicali, Agua Prieto, Ciudad Juárez, Neuvo Laredo, Matamoros and others.  There is a lot more magic awaiting beyond, however, as well as welcoming peoples of a mélange of cultures and even languages.

Continue reading →