Repost: A Review of the Times of San Jacinto....the Battle that brought Texas her Independence

General Vicente Filisola

     The gentleman pictured above was many things.   He was a Spaniard with an Italian name.  He was a veteran of the Napoleanic Wars, and a distinguished Spanish soldier.   He came to New Spain late in the colonial period and served during the transition from Spanish to Mexican control of that area which now would include all of Mexico, Central America, western Canada, and most of what would become the western half of the United States of America.    For a brief period during the rule of Emperor Agustin de Iturbide I of the Mexican Empire 1821 - 1823, General Vicente Filisola served his Emperor as Governor of Central America.

      The good General served only briefly, however, due to the overthrow of the Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Mexico in 1824.   He did provide for an orderly transition from Mexican control to local governance and order, and withdrew his Imperial Army back into Mexico and joined the re-organised Army as a brigadier.

      It is said that Filisola was probably the one who inspired Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to think of himself as...."The Napoleon of the West"....because of Lopez de Santa Anna's fascination with Napoleon Bonaparte and the legends associated with that Corsican.   Filisola was one of the few people in anyones army who had officer level dealings on a Napoleonic field of battle.

    Vicente Filisola is important to Texans because he was one of those Generals immediately under the command of the all important, self-consumed, pompous Generalissimo Presidente Lopez de Santa Anna.    Along with Filisola, and Perfecto de Cos, the Presidente's brother-in-law, and old Castrillon, and Ramirez y Sesma....all Spaniards  by birth and world view, there was also Brigadier Jose' Urrea, the Indian Fighter, a Davy Crockett figure, at once both rough-cut, and aristocratic, and oddly one of only two  Mexican general officers fighting in the Texas War of Independence who were born Mexicans.

    The commander in chief Lopez de Santa Anna, and the lowest ranking general officer were Mexicans.   Lopez de Santa Anna had moved three large elements from all parts of the country from January up to mid-February to do battle against a crafty bunch of scrappers in a place called "nowhere" by some and Texas by others.   Urrea moved a third of the Army along the Texas Coast, aiming to unify with the main body of the Army around a place called San Jacinto.   Urrea also moved quickly, like an early form of blitzkrieg, although he had five major battles against Texian units numbering from 100 to 500 combatants in each case, and several significant skirmishes which tested his 2,400 effectives severely.   He is best remembered, however, as the Mexican general who left orders to deal fairly and well with the Texian Colonel Fannin and the 440 Texian prisoners, only to have his orders countermanded by the Generalissimo Presidente.   So while Urrea had moved up to Victoria del Rio Guadalupe a few miles from Goliad, his subordinate received orders underlining the existing orders from the High Command that all found holding arms against the government would be executed for treason.

     Here, El Gringo Viejo enters a well-documented but rather neglected fact about the the issues of personality, strategy, tactics, honour, and the business of war that the Mexicans were undergoing even as they were winning, fairly easily against the insurrectionists.  To wit:

Gen. Jose' Urrea

"I was unable, therefore, to carry out the good intentions dictated by my feelings, overcome by the difficult circumstances that surrounded me. I authorized the execution, of thirty adventurers taken prisoners, and setting free those who were colonists or Mexicans      "These orders always seemed to me harsh, but they were the inevitable result of the barbarous and inhuman decree which declared outlaws those whom it wished to convert into citizens of the republic,  I wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility.       "They doubtlessly surrendered confident that Mexican generosity would not make their surrender useless, for under any other circumstances they would have sold their lives dearly, fighting to the last. I had due regard for the motives that induced them to surrender, and for this reason I used my influence with the general-in-chief to save them, if possible, from being butchered." Diary of the Military Operations of the Division which under the Command of General José Urrea Campaigned in Texas February to March 1836 Translation from Carlos Casteñeda's The Mexican Side  of the Texan Revolution (Some headings added by  current editor, WLM) For Biographies, Search  Handbook of Texas Online Extract from the Diary of Col. Nicolás de la Portilla In a Letter Portilla to Urrea....."I feel much distressed at what has occurred here; a scene enacted in cold blood having passed before my eyes which has filled me with horror. All I can say is, that my duty as a soldier, and what I owe to my country, must be my guaranty...." March 26. At seven in the evening I received orders from General Santa Anna by special messenger, instructing me to execute at once all prisoners taken by force of arms agreeable to the general orders on the subject. (I have the original order in my possession.) I kept the matter secret and no one knew of it except Col. Garay, to whom I communicated the order. At eight o'clock, on the same night, I received a communication from Gen. Urrea by special messenger in which among other things he says, "Treat the prisoners well, especially Fannin. Keep them busy rebuilding the town and erecting a fort. Feed them with the cattle you will receive from Refugio." What a cruel contrast in these opposite instructions! I spent a restless night. sdct March 27. At daybreak, I decided to carry out the orders of the general-in-chief because I considered them superior. I assembled the whole garrison and ordered the prisoners, who were still sleeping, to be awaked. There were 445. (The eighty that had just been taken at Cópano and had, consequently, not borne arms against the government, were set aside.) The prisoners were divided into three groups and each was placed in charge of an adequate guard, the first under Agustin Alcerrica, the second under Capt. Luis Balderas, and the third under Capt. Antonio Ramírez. I gave instructions to these officers to carry out the orders of the supreme government and the general-in-chief. This was immediately done. There was a great contrast in the feelings of the officers and the men. Silence prevailed. Sad at heart I wrote to Gen. Urrea expressing my regret at having been concerned in so painful an affair. I also sent an official account of what I had done, to the general-in-chief. [Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 26 1836 and Portilla to Urrea, Goliad, March 27, 1836] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      El Gringo Viejo and many old timey Texans know these stories, but they are not well known any longer.   Newly arriving people with Mexican backgrounds assume they know all and newly arriving people from the United States and elsewhere have seen Davy Crockett on Disney or some variation, and are certain in their knowledge of the issues involved with the period from 1829 through 1846 and the Texas situation.      This is not said with any particular arrogance.   It is known that what El Gringo Viejo knows from his own research is now useless information.  Nothing matters in the course of human conduct that cannot be compressed into a six-word phrase to put on a bumper sticker.   What is past is no longer prologue, but rather simply useless white-noise on the left side of the time line.       But as an enemy the man pictured below is known among the old, last remaining Texans who know what Texas really was, as an honorable enemy....a good and patriotic man involved in a grisly profession.    Something like Rommel, perhaps. Manuel Fernández Castrillón (?–1836) Fought Texians both at the Battle of the Alamo and at the Battle of San Jacinto

     Castrillon was Santa Anna's ally through much of their working relationship, but Castrillón often took exception to Santa Anna's decisions during the Texas Revolution. He opposed the hurried assault on the Alamo. Yet when he received his orders to lead the battle's first column of troops, he did so with expert efficiency.

A humane and honorable soldier, Castrillón also pleaded clemency on behalf of the seven Texian fighters who survived the Alamo siege. Castrillón's arguments for mercy were ignored, and the men were executed. Castrillón again stated his protest when Santa Anna ordered the execution of the Goliad prisoners.

Castrillón's compassion was a sign of kindness, not weakness. When the Texians roused Mexican forces from their afternoon siesta on 21 April 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto, he was one of the few Mexican officers to stand his ground. 

His bravery was recorded in the memoirs of Texian second lieutentant Walter Paye Lane: 

"As we charged into them the General commanding the Tampico Battalion (their best troops) tried to rally his men, but could not. He drew himself up, faced us, and said in Spanish: 'I have been in forty battles and never showed my back; I am too old to do it now.' 

He continues: "Gen. Rusk hallooed to his men: 'don't shoot him,' and knocked up some to their guns; but others ran around and riddled him with balls. I was sorry for him. He was an old Castilian gentleman, Gen. Castrillo."

Honored on both sides of the Texas Revolution—except by Santa Anna, who blamed the loss at San Jacinto in part on Castrillón—he was even buried in the family graveyard of Lorenzo de Zavala, the vice-president of Texas.

     So, all these major footnotes are added into the blog in order to celebrate the victory tomorrow, the 21st day of April, 1836 of the Battle of San Jacinto.   Normally creditted to the efforts of Gen. Sam Houston, who truly was a bigger than life figure, the truth is that Houston was painfully wounded at the beginning of the battle, by a musket ball to the right foot.   It was Gen. Somervell, commanding, and the surprize rush of the limited cavalry of the Texian force of a bit fewer than 700 men.....attacking on a Sunday morning.   The head of the cavalry was Capt. Juan Seguin, an arch-enemy of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.   The resolve of the Texian force to gain Independence, avenge the atrocities of Goliad and the Alamo allowed the inferior force to pin into a peninsula surrounded by a snake infested bayou, and then essentially destroy the effective force of an Army of 2,500 with superior munitions, armament, artillery, cavalry, stores, and so forth.

     Going back to Gen. Vicente Filisola, it was he who took control of the Mexican Army as it withdrew from San Jacinto.   Lopez de Santa Anna remained under arrest and would later be tranferred to Washington D.C. as an oddity and war-trophy of sorts.   He had been the best general in the field, but also the one most prone to err through arrogance and hubris.   Some say his membership in the Mason Scottish Rite order saved him from a rough and ready gallows at San Jacinto, since Houston and Somervell were both brother Masons.

     Filisola was met with his columns by Urrea, who forced control from Filisola, and took command of the withdrawal.   The two men would argue and write accusations against one another, and each would write interesting, if self-serving accounts of their experiences during the War.   It is the opinion of El Gringo Viejo that Urrea was the better soldier and was truthful concerning his wishes for the good treatment of the Goliad prisoners of war.

      Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna blamed both of them for everything;  Urrea for arriving too late to San Jacinto, Filisola for not mucking through the mud with cannons and stores any faster (he actually moved 2,000 men, animals, and stores faster than Santa Anna had moved his Army away from San Antonio in pursuit of Houston's Army.)   Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a lot like Obama in his ability to blame everything on everybody but himself.

Committed to the dull truth, which always seems to wind up being far more interesting than the false legends or any fiction.....El Gringo Viejo resigns the evening and promises to return to more tales that interest him, and he hopes, the OROGs everywhere.

El Gringo Viejo

FOX News circles the bowl.....

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     The breathless, hyperventilated exultation of and by FOX News and others of the Obsolete Press concerning the Great Victory of Donnie Boy can be readily tempered when considered, as it is said, "in context".  While the Trump people and their apologists point out the "unfair rules" and other such GOP defects and obstacles Trump has had to endure, they are elated over their Great Victory.

(1)   To begin, all of New York's electorate, totalling right at 10,000,000 registered  electors managed to pour out to endorse Donnie Boy, The Deal-Maker.....except for the facts that (a) 30% of the electorate could not vote, because only those registered as Democrats or Republicans could vote, excluding all those registered as Independents and (b) fewer than one million people bothered to vote in the Republican Primary because in New York, who cares what the Republicans do? , and (c) one might ask,  who wants to vote in a "rigged primary" where there is little or no proportional division of the vote in terms of delegate assignment?

     File the above paragraph under, "I will whine, accuse, bully, and  generally throw a typical spoiled child's tantrum if anything offends me about another candidate's gaining of delegates, but whatever I receive is mine and good.   So shut up."

(2)     FOX News was pointing out that Ted Cruz won only 48.5%  of the Texas Republican Primary vote back in March, while Donnie Boy took over 60% of the New York total.   FOX News and any other Obsolete Media outlet conveniently leave out that  (a) when Cruz was running in the Texas Republican Primary, all 16 GOP candidates for nomination were, by law, still listed on the ballot.   Kasich and Dr. Carson were still active in the campaign.   Rubio had only shortly before had been active.....and for instance Carla Fiorina and Rand Paul picked up 3% of the overall vote, as inactive candidates.

     Donnie Boy had an abbreviated candidate list of three candidates last night, and was a favourite son.   Donnie Boy and the Obsolete Press and FOX News also failed to point out that Ted Cruz's vote total in the Texas GOP Primary (1,300,000) essentially dwarfed the entire vote total in the New York contest (900,000), and was almost triple what Donnie Boy picked up last night.

     Donnie Boy was awarded forty-some odd delegates by his showing in the Texas primary, while New York rules gave Ted Cruz none of theirs.   One does not see Cruz nor his posse moaning, whining, and/or threatening others about this "rigged, crooked election" reality.   Kasich with over a quarter of the vote was awarded only five or six delegates.

(3)     To sum up, it does not really matter what the Republicans do in their primary in New York, because the hideous combination of consumer and abuser interests in that State, housed almost entirely under the Democrat tent, will prevail in any General Election....rendering all their Electoral College votes to the forces of socialism, government dependence for "minorities", and constant collusion with mafia-like business and labour interests.

     FOX News and the Obsolete Press have begun the predictable "Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over" song.   They are anxiously hoping to have the two very worst, most morally and ethically detestable, corrupt persons possible facing off for the November Event.   They gotta be proud of their spawn.

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    We need to remember that the enemy is both the Republican Party and the Forces of Mindless Blather.   Robert Taft was denied the Republican nomination in 1952 because he was "too conservative", and the "establishment" blue-blood, northeastern Republican king-makers recruited General Dwight David Eisenhower to run against Taft for the Republican nomination.   They even recruited a "right-wing" hero, Richard Milhous Nixon to serve as Vice-President to the General.   A slight consolation prise for the conservatives turned out to be that Eisenhower generally governed as a hands-off, laissez faire executive, with few exceptions.   He said, when asked about his greatest regret during his two-terms of service, that....".....the appointment of Earl Warren as Chief Justice to the Supreme Court was the damnedest fool mistake I ever made."   It was hard to hold a grudge against "IKE" after that.
     So, what does multiple balloting look like after a lot of floor fights and strong-arming?  Please behold, below:

Presidential Balloting, RNC 1952
Contender: Ballot	1st Before Shifts	1st After Shifts
General Dwight D. Eisenhower	595	845
Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft	500	280
Governor Earl Warren of California	81	77
former Minnesota Governor Harold Stassen	20	0
General Douglas MacArthur	10	4

     The Republican Poobahs and Shamans also engineered the theft of the 1976 nomination, holding in for Gerald Ford....in lieu of allowing the far more popular Ronald Wilson Reagan is another example.

   The record of the "Enlightened Ones" of the eastern seaboard aristocrats is almost perfect in recent times.   Building upon Herbert Hoover, they gave us during the Latter Days, King George the First in 1992, Bob (ADA) Dole, (Sen. and Col.) John McCain, and the Rev. Mr. Mitt Romney.  Now by their own clumsiness and "benign arrogance" they have produced the Spawn from Heck, Little Donnie Boy......so..."....laissez les bons temps rouler!!"

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     We now return to our previous themes to be published later the morning.  Those refer to our recent stay and activities at our hideaway on the face of the Sierra Madre Oriental in Nowhere, Mexico.

Potpourri of Observations, Notions, Comments, and Up-dates.....

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We have been out for a couple of weeks and things happen in our absence, as well as in our presence.   This entry in our blog will try to succinctly summaries various major and minor points and events during these past few days.

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(1)    Celebrations and gradual returning to some form of normalcy:

     We were involved over the period with the confusion of birthdays of "important people" of the locale where the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre is situated.   Among those people is the Gringo Viejo.   Another is a major personality in the Ejido and in the Capital City - Cd. Victoria as well as in the State government and private sector.
     It was decided and then put into  force by the various powers that be that we were, in fact, going to celebrate the birth of a relatively useless, anachronistic, out-of-place, Quixotic, eccentric, semi-hermitic curmudgeon and a seriously important personality of some value to the State of Tamaulipas.
     And we did.  Several score people gathered at the rather elegant home of the "Maestra" (ranking teacher-professor) which is situated about 300 yards from our Quinta.   The majordomo of Gringo Viejo and Quinta Tesoro de la  Sierra Madre served as the chef d'event and the number 1 Man-Friday of the Maestra served as his assistant.  The sister of the Gringo Viejo's majordomo handled the entirety of the kitchen duties, prepping, and back-up.  All three are very competent, and then some.

      The guest list was primarily relatives, relatives of relatives, and/or friends of the Maestra from many years of State service.  A few were people from the Gringo Viejo's posse.  
   Many were also doctors of medicine of various specialties....including general practice and surgery.  It was a convocation, as those things at that social level normally are, of extreme upper-middle class and low/mid-range wealthy/upper income people.  They are world-wise and a bit arrogant, as well as generous, friendly, sincere, suspicious, and civilised.  
   They arrived in toned-down motor-cars, as I have tried to make them and others like them understand, to drive older, less attractive, smaller, even beat-up vehicles.   This is so as to avoid scrutiny by cartel gangs who are looking for Escalades and Suburbans to use as battle-wagons and troop transports.
     So while the "activity" truly has diminished during the past two or three years, it is still a good idea to stand aside and allow the Army, Naval Infantry, and new Federal Civil Police to do the excising of cockroaches from the body politic.   One way to "stand aside" is to drive old beat-up, but perfectly running, autos.
     A good time was had by all.....and most, almost all...left in the darkness to return to Cd. Victoria on a lonely, paved farm-to-market back road, largely without concern about the "cucarachas".   Why?   Because, among other good reasons, many had passed through the  new Army check-point upon leaving Victoria earlier in the afternoon and had learned that the check-point would be in-place for the next 30 days, if not longer.   Part of the interesting times in which we live......

     Among other points, we had several people waiting in line to use the Quinta Tesoro de la Sierra Madre for a few nights in order to re-live old memories or make new ones.  Another couple had taken a room at the venerable Hacienda de Santa Engracia, and more may have opted for that alternative after our place was absorbed by close relatives of "La Maestra".   We understand that two relative pairs were staying at the elegant home of "La Maestra" after the first of those possible stay-overs opted to use our Quinta.  An honour, one must assume, since the Maestra's place is really quite elaborate and elegant.   Ours is rustic and purposefully out-of-date....something out of the 1880 - 1935 period....but comfortable and perhaps even hypnotically enchanting.

     All of this is in keeping with the very gradual improvement in the national and local perception of security conditions, even as a new outbreak by dis0rganised gangs of cartel veterans has brought headlines again concerning  violence and brutality.  To wit:   on the way back up yesterday, over a three hour period, we encountered 62 first-class or deluxe busses heading south....those being busses of normal, scheduled departure, going medium to very long distance destinations in Mexico, having departed Reynosa or Matamoros, Tamaulipas on the border.

     We could go on, but there are other issues, and we shall leave something for commentary about these above-described events for a later moment.

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(2)    The Not-so-messy Issue of Immigration, Executive Exemption and Exception, and Supreme Courts and other shiny stuff:

     While we leave the above topics specifically, we are guided by the above events and experiences to at least touch upon the Trump issue.   This group above is composed of people generally capable of critical thinking.  But, hysterical and nationalistic emotions and thinking, however shallow, by otherwise reasonable and intelligent Mexican observers, concerning the "Trump" are almost as bad as the zombie-like march of the dull, bumper-sticker attention-span thinkers in the United States who support Trump, (Sir Edmund) Hillary, and Bernie the Bolshie.

     It was easy for this writer to avoid conflict with the group of Saturday night celebrations because I could simply and quickly state that Trump was not an option for me or the vast majority (some 70%) of Republicans, both in the 'Republic of Texas' and the United States.   They seemed surprised at that, and they were warned by this writer about listening to either their own or the American media concerning the issue.

     We advised that it was necessary to put things into a reasonable context.  For instance, it was pointed out that Mexico had people coming into the United States for a good while...people who came and went, as well as people who came under the legal resident aliens to citizen path....who were in fact good producers for themselves as well as Mexico and the United States.   We reminded the gathered group that, whether we liked it or not, even at the expense of offending, the combination of the Great Society social welfare programmes of Lyndon Johnson and the Democrat Party and the Amnesty of 1988 for illegal aliens had caused the development of a dependent class of people who now only know the government dole and crime as preferred ways of making a living.

     It was also pointed out that the United States, and especially Texas were also being expected by the Obama administration to accept hundreds of thousands of Central Americans who had no intent of adapting to American or Texan norms and citizenship standards, and that almost all of them whom had poured across the Rio Bravo illegally, intentionally, and essentially at the invitation of the Obama administration.   As an adjunct, we reminded them that this whole matter is and was a part of the overall plan to import people into an American Dream that might become a nightmare, especially considering that it includes the entry, eventually of as many as 400,000 Muslim "refugees" and "migrants" dislocated by wars in their countries.

     We advised them that numerous conservative thinkers thought that the issue of a "Wall"  is a red herring....almost a burlesque even....of the notion of international boundary control.   We have the technology, if applied correctly, to hermitically seal the frontier from penetration by illegal, unqualified, undocumented, and criminal entrants.   It has not been used because, as it is said, Democrats was the votes of dependent people and Republican business people want low-wage workers.  I was quick to point out that it was not my opinion that Republican business people want low-wage workers, and that most of the employers who hire truly work-seeking illegal aliens are not paid poorly by the small and medium-sized businesses in America.   The abusive wage situation is generally practiced by Chinese businesses against their own illegal Red Chinese aliens, who some suspect are actually "moles" waiting for orders from some Red Chinese official.  (Something like the Germans did before WWII).

     We also recognised that the Mexican military had done much more than the Obama administration nor the Obsolete American (and Mexican) press would give credit for in terms of trying to stem the flow of people from Central America.   The irony of the Central Americans taking advantage of the Mexican military's substantially restoring control over the eastern sectors of was recognised by this writer.  lt has been generally agreed by reasonable observers that the Central Americans came up because the fear of being sequestered or otherwise taken advantage of by Cartel people or corrupt police officials had been substantially abated.  Hence, last Summer's McAllen Invasion of the "Catch and Release" Mommys and their dependent minor children.   All OROGs should be aware that the Mexican general populace has not had a very good impression of the Central Americans, although their mistreatment is lamented.   The footprint of the Mara Salvatrucha 13 and similar through Mexico has left plenty of negative response. 

     Some asked about the settlement of the issues before the Supreme Court.  I advised them that the Court would likely vote 4 - 4, which would mean that the case would return to the lower court in Brownsville, and exemption from deportation would be denied.   It would, in effect, suspend the President's executive order to allow people otherwise illegally in the United States, to remain so long as they keep their noses clean (definition unknown).

    I finished the "round-table" with the confession that we were supporting "....the Mexican from Cuba who was born in Canada...." along with 70% of the rest of the Republicans.  That brought considerable, and I think, sincere laughter.

We need to post this to-night....to-morrow there will be a Volume II, revising and expanding our remarks and observations.   Some very interesting stuff, to be sure.
El Gringo Viejo

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THINK OF ALL THE GUTTERSNIPES AND JACKANAPES THIS REPUBLIC HAS HAD TO SUSTAIN

ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST FAMOUS AND HATED TRAITORS

JANE FONDA

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For those who are unclear why Jane Fonda is called a traitor, and for those younger folks who don't know... here's a little history on Jane Fonda. Read it, share it, forward it...inform every young veteran or active duty about this piece of work. She and Hillary are just alike...

Jane Fonda – The Traitor

"Those who believe they can do something - and 

those who believe they can't - are both right."

Jane Fonda was talking about her new book. . .

And how good she feels in her 70's. . . She still does not know what she did wrong. . . Her book just may not make the bestseller list if more people knew.

Barbara Walters said :

Thank you all. Many died in Vietnam for our freedoms. I did not like Jane Fonda then and I don't like her now. She can lead her present life the way she wants and perhaps SHE can forget the past, but we DO NOT have to stand by without comment and see her "honored" as a "Woman of the Century."

(I remember this well.)

For those who served and/or died. . .

NEVER FORGIVE A TRAITOR. SHE REALLY WAS A TRAITOR!!

And now President Obama wants to honor her!!!!

In Memory of Lt. C. Thomsen Wieland, who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton [infamous North Vietnam prison] --

IF YOU NEVER FORWARDED ANYTHING IN YOUR LIFE. FORWARD THIS SO THAT EVERYONE WILL KNOW!

A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE H ONORED . 

KEEP THIS MOVING ACROSS AMERICA.

This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.

Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the "100 Women of the Century."

Barbara Walters writes:

Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho LoPrison, the "Hanoi Hilton."

Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "peace activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward onto the camp commandant 's feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.

From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the "Hanoi Hilton". . . The first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action." His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit.

They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.

She took them all without missing a beat. . . At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper... 

Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development adviser in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.

I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)

We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."

When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received. . . and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as "humane and lenient."

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.

I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.

These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget. . . "100 Years of Great Women" should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.

There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer, and she needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt,

USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, 

Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343

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Does it have to take a British Peer to kick the sand into the face to which it belongs?

This is sent by our secret agents in Extreme Central Texas.  It is derived from a recently published broadside from across the pond.  It is judged by El Gringo Viejo to be a "must read" :

This letter is a response from Oxford to Black Students attending as Rhodes Scholars to remove the statue of Oxford Benefactor, Cecil Rhodes.

Subject: OXFORD - THE FIGHTBACK HAS BEGUN

Interestingly, Chris Patten (Lord Patten of Barnes), The Chancellor of Oxford University, was on the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 yesterday on precisely the same topic. The Daily Telegraph headline yesterday was "Oxford will not rewrite history".

Patten commented "“Education is not indoctrination. Our history is not a blank page on which we can write our own version of what it should have been according to our contemporary views and prejudice"

Rhodes must fall ????

“Dear Scrotty Students,

Cecil Rhodes’s generous bequest has contributed greatly to the comfort and well being of many generations of Oxford students – a good many of them, dare we say it, better, brighter and more deserving than you.

      This does not necessarily mean we approve of everything Rhodes did in his lifetime – but then we don’t have to. Cecil Rhodes died over a century ago. Autres temps, autres moeurs. If you don’t understand what this means – and it would not remotely surprise us if that were the case – then we really think you should ask yourself the question: “Why am I at Oxford?”

     Oxford, let us remind you, is the world’s second oldest extant university. Scholars have been studying here since at least the 11th century. We’ve played a major part in the invention of Western civilisation, from the 12th century intellectual renaissance through the Enlightenment and beyond. Our alumni include William of Ockham, Roger Bacon, William Tyndale, John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, Erasmus, Sir Christopher Wren, William Penn, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Samuel Johnson, Robert Hooke, William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Emily Davison, Cardinal Newman, Julie Cocks. We’re a big deal. And most of the people privileged to come and study here are conscious of what a big deal we are. Oxford is their alma mater – their dear mother – and they respect and revere her accordingly.

      And what were your ancestors doing in that period? Living in mud huts, mainly. Sure we’ll concede you the short lived Southern African civilisation of Great Zimbabwe. But let’s be brutally honest here. The contribution of the Bantu tribes to modern civilisation has been as near as damn it to zilch. You'll probably say that's "racist".  But, it's what we here at Oxford call fact.

     Of course, you are perfectly within your rights to squander your time at Oxford on silly, vexatious, single-issue political campaigns. (Though it does make us wonder how stringent the vetting procedure is these days for Rhodes scholarships and even more so, for Mandela Rhodes scholarships) We are well used to seeing undergraduates – or, in your case – postgraduates, making idiots of themselves. Just don’t expect us to indulge your idiocy, let alone genuflect before it. You may be black – “BME” as the grisly modern terminology has it – but we are colour blind. We have been educating gifted undergraduates from our former colonies, our Empire, our Commonwealth and beyond for many generations. We do not discriminate over sex, race, colour nor creed. We do, however, discriminate according to intellect.

     That means, inter alia, that when our undergrads or postgrads come up with fatuous ideas, we don’t pat them on the back, give them a red rosette and say: “Ooh, you’re black and you come from South Africa. What a clever chap you are!” No. We prefer to see the quality of those ideas tested in the crucible of public debate. That’s another key part of the Oxford intellectual tradition you see: you can argue any damn thing you like but you need to be able to justify it with facts and logic – otherwise your idea is worthless.

     This ludicrous notion you have that a bronze statue of Cecil Rhodes should be removed from Oriel College, because it’s symbolic of “institutional racism” and “white slavery”. Well even if it is – which we dispute – so bloody what? Any undergraduate so feeble-minded that they can’t pass a bronze statue without having their “safe space” violated really does not deserve to be here. And besides, if we were to remove Rhodes’s statue on the premise that his life wasn’t blemish-free, where would we stop? As one of our alumni Dan Hannan has pointed out, Oriel’s other benefactors include two kings so awful – Edward II and Charles I – that their subjects had them killed. The college opposite – Christ Church – was built by a murderous, thieving bully who bumped off two of his wives. Thomas Jefferson kept slaves: does that invalidate the US Constitution? Winston Churchill had unenlightened views about Muslims and India: was he then the wrong man to lead Britain in the war?”

     Actually, we’ll go further than that. Your Rhodes Must Fall campaign is not merely fatuous but ugly, vandalistic and dangerous. We agree with Oxford historian RW Johnson that what you are trying to do here is no different from what ISIS and the Al- Qaeda have been doing to artefacts in places like Mali and Syria. You are murdering history, (El Gringo Viejo calls to mind the Cliff Buddhas of Afghanistan....now gone forever).

     And who are you, anyway, to be lecturing Oxford University on how it should order its affairs? Your #rhodesmustfall campaign, we understand, originates in South Africa and was initiated by a black activist who told one of his lecturers “whites have to be killed”. One of you – Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh – is the privileged son of a rich politician and a member of a party whose slogan is “Kill the Boer; Kill the Farmer”; another of you, Ntokozo Qwabe, who is only in Oxford as a beneficiary of a Rhodes scholarship, has boasted about the need for “socially conscious black students” to “dominate white universities, and do so ruthlessly and decisively!

      Great. That’s just what Oxford University needs. Some cultural enrichment from the land of Winnie Mandela, burning tyre necklaces, an AIDS epidemic almost entirely the result of government indifference and ignorance, one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates, institutionalised corruption, tribal politics, anti-white racism and a collapsing economy. Please name which of the above items you think will enhance the lives of the 22,000 students studying here at Oxford.

      And then please explain what it is that makes your attention grabbing campaign to remove a listed statue from an Oxford college more urgent, more deserving than the desire of probably at least 20,000 of those 22,000 students to enjoy their time here unencumbered by the irritation of spoilt, ungrateful little tossers on scholarships they clearly don’t merit using racial politics and cheap guilt-tripping to ruin the life and fabric of our beloved university.

     Understand us and understand this clearly: you have everything to learn from us; we have nothing to learn from you.

Sincerely,

Oriel College, Oxford"

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The Peculiar Birthing of El Gringo Viejo's Father

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    The generations on the paternal side of El Gringo Viejo's lineage is "spaced out".   This did not come from LSD,  but by the Clock of Ages, better known as the calendar.   To-day is the 107th anniversary of the birth of my father.  The 157th such anniversary of his father's birth occurred earlier this year, as did the 209th anniversary my great-grandfather Luther of the same lineage.

     Life produces challenges and accomplishments, and the birthing of my father was one of those combinations of events.  It was a cold time in Gwinner, of Sargent County, in North Dakota.   The first of April was never really considered planting time, but this particular year found the normally large and comfortable house of my grandparents up to the eaves in snow drifts.   All the first story windows and doors were sealed up by the snow.

     Grandfather was gone via rail to Minneapolis where he was busy buying feed for draught animals, machinery for planting and harvesting the coming season's wheat crop, and various and sundry things that were included in various neighbours' "need-list".   Much would be forwarded by rail express during the latter part of April and then sent down by drayage to Gwinner.   It would be complicated by the fact that my grandfather and grandmother were expecting a blessed event, one that would be the first and last for the both of them.

     The problem revolved around the fact that my grandmother suddenly went into labour during the very final hours of March, 1911.  Her husband was gone and would not return for at least 10 days.  There was no one around.  Travel and even moving around in the area was all but impossible.  Sleighs, sleds, wagons, the few motor-cars, were all pretty much useless during those moments.

     The fact that a gaggle of Lakota women, trundling through the drifts with their children, horses, and dogs, would confound the scene of mostly white-out for as far as the eye could behold would come to bear very much upon the immediate and distant future.   As they passed near, the women noted that the house of the White Lady was essentially shut-in, which could be easily determined.   But there were none of the little paths that still occur during such times.....going out for firewood or coal....a path to the barn to check on and/or feed the horses, cows, and other animals could not be seen.

     But the Indian women knew that the White Lady had not gone to market with her husband because she was "very big".  They also took note that there was no smoke from any of the three chimneys nor the kitchen flu.  In short, something was wrong.   The women began to dig through to the front door, and that in and of itself was quite a chore.   But, the women were used to the arduous challenges of life, and continued their steady assault until the doors were reached.   They had been calling out and had finally heard the White Lady responding weakly, trying to sound cheerful. 

     When they finally entered the house and parlour,  with dogs and horses and all, they also encountered the grandmother of El Gringo Viejo who had recently almost completed a self-delivered baby-birthing.   The women went about cleaning and finishing-up and setting a fire in the fireplace.  We were never really given any account about how the clean up was effected after boarding the horses and dogs, but I am sure something was done.

     The baby was papoosed-up and kept close to either the mother or the other women so as to control his temperature.  The baby was early, small, and frail.  In those years, and in that environment, it was no certain matter that life itself could prevail.   The women cooked and attended to the White Lady and the baby during about a three day period.  At that time, most of the group left and went on to Sargent, and then to the county seat, leaving behind the older women and a couple of younger girls (training, you know) to take care of the new mother and her baby.

     After a week, both the baby and the mother were stronger.  A man came from Fargo with a message from my grandfather, advising that he was coming back a couple of days early, which meant, any time now, since the message had been sent three days earlier.   So preparations for his arrival began, and the mother and baby were moved up to the second floor, while the over-used parlour was put back into something like presentable condition.

     Some weeks later, the White Lady and her Man made their way to the Sioux encampment along with the baby.  A great celebration was held along with some kind of blessing rendered by the Spiritual Guide of the Tribal group.  The White Lady was, you see, some kind of bleeding-heart liberal Republican of the period who was famous for doing medical work among them, along with other kindnesses.   These acts did not endear her nor her husband with the Nordic folks who predominated in the area in terms of the Caucasian cohort of the population in southeastern-most North Dakota.

     Supposedly, this humble servant who now recounts the story of the nativity of his father, is genetically most like the White Lady, who was tall and thin (5'10" and 120 pounds) like her father who was tall and thin (6'4" and 190 pounds).

There is more to tell, but perhaps at another time, when the wind is cold and blowing flakes and freezing things and while we struggle a bit for warmth and reason.
El Gringo Viejo

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