Saturday, February 07, 2026
Saturday, January 31, 2026
THE BILL MAULDIN Sketches from 1967
The Enduring Wit of the Line: Bill Mauldin in the Vietnam Shadow
The auditorium for Pensacola Junior College (Now Pensacola State College) October 21, 1966 was packed—a palpable mix of art enthusiasts and draft-age students. The atmosphere was thick with the constant news of the day, delivered primarily through the three nightly broadcast news channels and the heavy, black-and-white print of the local city newspapers. There was no cable, no internet, and certainly no social media; information was a formal, often grim, affair.
I was actually a Senior in a rural High School in another county. My classmates and I straddled a strange divide: some were diligently pursuing education, while others were simply trying to maintain a deferment. A year from this date, several of my high school friends would be in Vietnam. The news was an unrelenting ticker of troop movements, casualty counts, and presidential strategies. Yet, for many of us, the looming shadow of the draft was a constant, personal reality.
Hearing that Bill Mauldin, the legendary Pulitzer Prize-winning WWII cartoonist, was speaking brought a measure of genuine excitement. I escaped the farm somehow that day.
I was there, in Pensacola, to learn something about Bill Mauldin, whose book I had read and whose cartoons I had viewed at some point. As it turns out, I would become a college student at this very institution where Bill Mauldin was to speak. And almost exactly 5 years later, I would be in uniform, and 6 years later, would be aboard a Navy Destroyer, with a close view of “The Elephant” … and even be there for the very last of the war, which President Johnson had promised to end 6 years earlier. The attached Newspapers are rich with news that would not be that different in 6 years.
From Willie and Joe to the New Front
I grew up immersed in the narratives of the Greatest Generation. My generation of boomers lived among them. We honored them. We devoured old magazines and studied the photos of lost family members on the walls of my relatives' homes. Mauldin's work—especially the sketches of his weary infantrymen, Willie and Joe—was already a topic of my admiration. His ability to capture the profound weariness and dark humor of the frontline soldier with just a few strokes was genuinely inspiring. My youthful ambition, though never fully realized, was to join that lineage of artists who spoke truth through simple, powerful form. My best hope was to run away from the farm, join a circus, and become a cartoonist.
When Mauldin stepped up, he didn't dwell on the war currently underway. Instead, he spoke to the eternal character of the typical soldier who risks eternity day-to-day. His gift was capturing the human psyche of war most clearly, using gallows humor as a navigational tool against the uncertainties of fate.
But his most memorable lesson was about the power of art in the LINE itself.
Economy of Form: Four Charcoal Sketches
Using four charcoal sketches drawn live for the audience, Mauldin demonstrated how few lines it takes to evoke a powerful personality that has been drilled into the public consciousness by newsprint and black-and-white television.
For Lyndon B. Johnson, he emphasized the large ears and nose, capped off by the President’s slightly forced, seemingly eternal politician’s grin.
For Charles de Gaulle, the French icon often seen on the evening news, he sketched a massive nose and the distinctive outline of a military-style kepi—that was virtually it. In an instant, the audience filled in the rest of the recognizable figurehead.
He paired Franklin Roosevelt with his global adversary, Adolf Hitler. A strong jawline and the signature cigarette holder immediately confirmed Roosevelt. Hitler was rendered even more economically: two blobs for the trademark mustache and the distinctive hair, an image seared into every mind since the 1940s. So few lines; so much menace and history conveyed.
The final subject was Marilyn Monroe, a special case. He quickly rendered her face with a smudge, suggesting soft lips, eyelashes, and an air of innocence. He paused, detailing the artistry of her cartoon, before taking a moment to destroy the fine work by drawing a harsh, symbolic “cage” over the face. He spoke briefly, sadly, about a woman of great beauty who allowed herself to be caged by her own fame in real life.
The Simple Line Endures
The lesson from Bill Mauldin that day stayed with me: the most profound truths are often communicated with the utmost economy. His sketches, created in a world of limited media and monolithic figures, proved that a master could use simple lines to convey complexity, history, and human tragedy.
That truth remains just as potent in 2025.
Despite the current media environment—the overwhelming firehose of social media feeds, high-definition cable news, and personalized digital content—the power of the simple line persists. A contemporary cartoonist can still evoke our most compelling figures with Mauldin's same economy of form:
A specific, exaggerated hairstyle and a pair of tinted glasses immediately register the world's most recognizable former leader.
The outline of a space helmet and a manic, wide-eyed grin instantly capture the most dominant tech mogul.
A pair of highly stylized, signature eyebrows and a perfectly-placed, small hand gesture can define a global pop icon.
The gaps between the lines are still being filled in—not by three news channels and a newspaper, but by billions of images streamed across the planet. The lesson is timeless: the most effective artists aren't those who draw the most, but those who leave out the non-essential. The final subject was a special case: a composite modern celebrity/influencer—someone whose fame is built on self-curation. He swiftly sketched a beautiful, innocent face with exaggerated lashes and soft, smudge-like lips. He paused, noting the delicate artistry required to achieve this manufactured perfection.
Then, he took his digital pen and drew a stark, symbolic cage—a grid of harsh lines—over the face.
He spoke a moment further about the tragedy of those who, in the age of constant visibility, allow their own self-image to become a prison, trapping their true selves behind a carefully constructed facade of beauty and innocence. A sad and resonant modern lesson.
The Enduring Lesson
That day, the cartoonist’s lesson stayed with me. Whether in the age of charcoal or the era of the digital tablet, the most effective communication isn't about complexity or noise. It’s about clarity, focus, and the power of a single, well-placed line—a simple truth that still speaks volumes in our overwhelmingly complex world.
In 2026I am offering these original charcoal works by Bill Mauldin on EBAY. Life is a cycle. I was fortunate to acquire these drawings from Ray Davis and his wife, Dr. Wanda Davis, who acquired the signed drawings from Bill Mauldin after the talk. She kept them framed on her wall in her college office at Pensacola Junior College, where she taught English.
In retirement, they have operated a unique organic farming enterprise in a rural hideaway in Milton, Florida. Time and circumstances led to my opportunity to buy these prints. Ray and Wanda are a treasure in the menagerie of folk who populate our region.
Link to the story on the farm. https://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/phag/2014/09/19/ray-wanda-davis-santa-rosa-county-agricultural-innovators/
Monday, January 19, 2026
DID DONE IT ... DId NOT (CH2-Junction 197)
Junction County Road 197 - (Mild Adventure for the Armchair Ruralist)
Chapter two involves a miscarriage of justice in the 4th Grade at Chumuckla School in Santa Rosa County, Florida, about 1960. Enjoy the story. Other chapters from the book and from other writers in the area will be converted into AI movies for a short, visual experience.
Did Done It! Justice in My Time
Enjoy these and more ... farmer interviews, military veterans, history playlists and more.
ME3TV.org (youtube channel)
Junction 197 (the book) was published in 1991. The stories encompass a series of stories collected in the PRESS GAZETTE (Milton, FL) and other Panhandle Newspapers from 1985 to 1990.
We Whistle -- (CH 1- Junction197)
Junction 197 was published in 1991. The stories are colorful and engaging. As time permits, these chapters and other colorful local works will be presented as Ai movies. Enjoy and share the fun and the learning.
Find George Washington's Rules of Civility at wbuzz.net ... a 250 Project.
Ramon Melvin's Turpentine Museum
Melvin's Turpentine Museum is presented here in a personal tour of the collection. Use the Play List to watch the whole series as he covers the subjects involved. The museum is located in Navarre, FL. His family ran turpentine and other forest industries for decades along the Yellow River basin.
Post by Brian Rucker at Munson Fesival
THE PLAY LIST for THE MUSEUM TOUR
Sunday, September 14, 2025
THE HISTORY of the BLACKWATER Heritage Trail
(Vic Campbell with Richard Collins)
In the rainy months of 1917, the path between the schoolhouse at the Roeville timber camp was filled with mud. It was not a great result for the school ma'am's limited conservative wardrobe to be exposed to the red and brown hues of the natural wet earth. Dessie, who was a widowed woman with a recent
The widow Dessie received funding from the Brock family in Pine Log, Florida. Their son, Thomas, who was a teacher, died of pneumonia before many years of marriage had passed. So, they funded an education to provide Dessie a livelihood. In a letter dated October 1917, Dessie wrote to an admirer in Chumuckla to describe some of the rain issues and the use of the rails to avoid the mud. She would marry the admirer who was to become my Grandfather in late 1918.
Jim Campbell and Dessie Lee Howell (Brock) Campbell celebrated the birth of my father, J.Lee Campbell in 1920, in Pace, Florida. From there, another logging rail ran North into the pine forests to transport raw materials for the Pace Lumber Mill, where Jim was a millwright. They lived in a manager's style company house that stood behind what is now Alyssa's emporium of shops.
The muddy road adventures faded from memory but the letter survived in a box discovered by Kittye Campbell Norris some 35 years since the death of Dessie. That railroad ran from the Bagdad Land and Lumber Company, north through Milton and several logging camps (including Roeville) up to Munson. All these main rails had branches that fed logs of Yellow Pine out of the entire landscape.
That Bagdad Land and Lumber Rail is now the base of the Blackwater Heritage Trail. But, before it became the scenic trail it is today, it served another roll. To meet the demand for Naval Aviators in WW11, Whiting Field was established.
The rail was then rebuilt from an unused base to handle larger cars and freight. IT became the main route to deliver aviation gasoline and supplies to Whiting Field. It was a role it performed well for decades, until more efficient truck deliveries became practical. Then, the rail again fell to disuse. It lay unattended and bare of any traffic. The vigor of Florida vegetation was erasing all traces of the once-critical lifeline to aviation excellence.
in 1987, the National concept of RAILS TO TRAILS became a thing. Richard Collins, a recent transplant to the area, saw a vision for the old rail to Whiting Field. From there, he began to marshal information and resources to pursue what would be a capstone project of his retirement.
..........................
In the rainy months of 1917, the path between the schoolhouse at the Roeville timber camp was filled with mud. It was not a great result for the school ma'am's limited conservative wardrobe to be exposed to the red and brown hues of the natural wet earth. Dessie, who was a widowed woman with a recent
Dessie with brother, Harry and Mae
teaching certificate from the Florida State College for Women, stepped up onto the log train rails to make her way to the schoolhouse.
The widow Dessie received funding from the Brock family in Pine Log, Florida. Their son, Thomas, who was a teacher, died of pneumonia before many years of marriage had passed. So, they funded an education to provide Dessie a livelihood. In a letter dated October 1917, Dessie wrote to an admirer in Chumuckla to describe some of the rain issues and the use of the rails to avoid the mud. She would marry the admirer who was to become my Grandfather in late 1918.
Jim Campbell and Dessie Lee Howell (Brock) Campbell celebrated the birth of my father, J.Lee Campbell in 1920, in Pace, Florida. From there, another logging rail ran North into the pine forests to transport raw materials for the Pace Lumber Mill, where Jim was a millwright. They lived in a manager's style company house that stood behind what is now Alyssa's emporium of shops.
The muddy road adventures faded from memory but the letter survived in a box discovered by Kittye Campbell Norris some 35 years since the death of Dessie. That railroad ran from the Bagdad Land and Lumber Company, north through Milton and several logging camps (including Roeville) up to Munson. All these main rails had branches that fed logs of Yellow Pine out of the entire landscape.
That Bagdad Land and Lumber Rail is now the base of the Blackwater Heritage Trail. But, before it became the scenic trail it is today, it served another roll. To meet the demand for Naval Aviators in WW11, Whiting Field was established.
The rail was then rebuilt from an unused base to handle larger cars and freight. IT became the main route to deliver aviation gasoline and supplies to Whiting Field. It was a role it performed well for decades, until more efficient truck deliveries became practical. Then, the rail again fell to disuse. It lay unattended and bare of any traffic. The vigor of Florida vegetation was erasing all traces of the once-critical lifeline to aviation excellence.
in 1987, the National concept of RAILS TO TRAILS became a thing. Richard Collins, a recent transplant to the area, saw a vision for the old rail to Whiting Field. From there, he began to marshal information and resources to pursue what would be a capstone project of his retirement.
..........................
Friday, August 29, 2025
The LAST Days of the Springs Fish Camp
As Long as the Sky is Blue
and the Grass is Green …
 |
| Chumuckla Heritage STORE |
You have to hand it to Mom. She insists on the very best, especially in terms of her diet. Even the water she drinks must be as natural as God intended. She requires a sweet taste to her drinking water and it must contain elements of nature in the following proportions: .94 grains of silica, .30 grains of iron and aluminum oxide, 1.02 grains of sodium chloride, .37 grains of potassium sulfate, .27 grains calcium sulfate, .90 grains of magnesium carbonate and 1.34 grains of calcium carbonate.
As luck would have it, the water at Chumuckla Mineral Springs spews forth from the belly of Northwest Florida in those approximate proportions. The spring is only a few miles from home.
Mom overheard me and Pop discuss plans to go to the springs for breakfast with the Nowlings, Dawson and Jane. They manage the leasing of lots there for an absentee landowner. Mom wanted us to be sure and bring back a half dozen gallons of spring water.
Over the past twenty years, since I left home, Chumuckla Springs became a haven for real people. Life loving, reed assisted, limnological pisceofiles (They like to fish in freshwater with cane poles). Fifty seven families live there, some on a permanent basis. About 74.3 percent (rough estimate) are retired Navy chiefs. The rest are civilian locals and other misplaced ratings.
Navy admirals normally retire to haciendas in Coronado, California, near San Diego, Sea World, Nouvelle Cuisine and boutique shopping (espresso coffee while you wait). Navy Chiefs go to places like Chumuckla Springs, where the permanence of their trailer homes is accentuated with colorful decals depicting white tail deer, largemouth bass and mallard ducks. There is a small bait store with a modest supply of cold drinks. It is a three point four mile drive (give or take a mile) to Diamond's Store in Brownsdale. When you run out of coffee, you can get a fresh can of Maxwell House there.
Chief Joe Cottrell was pouring us a cup of coffee as we pulled up to the Nowling's trailer. The Chief and his wife live next door. The grill is fired up driving away some of the dense fog hanging on the humid , early morning air. Just above the coffee pot is a quart of 100% SAE 30 weight VIRGIN motor oil. Didn't know if it was for the coffee or for the salt pork he was about to cook up. Coffee tasted fine, even though it was decaffeinated
The Chief had a big scar from his navel to his chin and two scars inside the thigh of each leg. Said he had multiple arterial bypass surgery recently. Had to eat healthy foods … anymore. No caffeine in his coffee.
Jane came out of the Nowling's trailer right behind Dawson. She had a pan full of salt pork. Said she got it from Jim Reahm who makes the best sausage and salt pork in three counties. She had to go all the way to Jay the evening before to get it.
"Hello Jane, howdy Dawson. How Y'all doing?"
The Chief had a slice of salt pork in front of my face before the steam from my second cup of decaffeinated coffee reached the convex surface of the hardened plastic lenses of my wire rimmed spectacles. Jane added to the offering with grits and scrambled eggs. Like Pavlov's. dog, I drooled. Two minutes and fifty one seconds later, I asked the chief for some more salt pork, and some link sausage.
'
And Miss Jane, can I have some more of them grits, please?"
We ate and we talked. It was like the 'old days. The river environment and the fish camp camaraderie were at work. As the enticing smell of Reahm's sausage worked its way around the camp, more people began to show up. Ken and Louise Colaw came by. Kenny Baker and his son Mike pulled their pickup truck up to the table and entered the conversation.
Ken said he really, got a deal on a side of beef. He wondered if anybody here knew how long he should have it aged.
Pop said, "Yessir, you should age your beef 8 to 10 days to get the best flavor."
We ate and we talked. It was like the 'old days. The river environment and the fish camp camaraderie were at work. As the enticing smell of Reahm's sausage worked its way around the camp, more people began to show up. Ken and Louise Colaw came by. Kenny Baker and his son Mike pulled their pickup truck up to the table and entered the conversation.
Ken said he really, got a deal on a side of beef. He wondered if anybody here knew how long he should have it aged.
Pop said, "Yessir, you should age your beef 8 to 10 days to get the best flavor."
Dawson disagreed, "You should age it 25 to 30 days. There should be 'hair' growing on the meat from the aging process. There no better beef than that aged for 25 to 30 days. Tender, oh, so tender."
The talk meandered on, much as the river flowing among the cypress stumps in the swamp behind us.
Dawson began to relate how the fish camp families pitched in with food and and comfort for a search party that had to drag the river for the body of a drowned boy. It was a few years back. The job was a sad one. But the little community of trailer camp retirees felt pride in their contribution to the effort.
Jane told us about the 'spring monster' that lived in the deep hole just off from the boat launch. The giant black 'thing' clearly frightened an experienced diver who examined the area some years ago. The man came up out of the hole gasping for breath,-his face blanched as white as hominy grits. He had seen the 'thing'. Everybody here is convinced the monster is for real. Any day now, there could be a national news break on "The Monster of Chumuckla Springs". Maybe Geraldo Rivera will do a spot on it. There is potential.
Then, Jane wondered aloud, "Where is 'Big Jim' McGaha? It ain't like him to not be here."
It was surmised that. "Big Jim" might be sick. After all, Jane explained, the man is over a hundred years old. At least, if you figure up all the years he worked in all the jobs he claims to have worked at, he has to be much more than the 87 years allowed by law. "Big Jim", according to Jane, said he wants to live out his life at the springs and 'kick the bucket' right there. She said he’d better hurry up though because it looks like there is a move afoot to close the trailer park down. It may be that everybody will have to move out in a couple of months. 'Big Jim' might have to die fast or die someplace else.
Me and Pop had to get a move on. Pop had to get me to the airport, to catch a plane to North Dakota. From there, I would eventually return to my home in The People's Republic of New Jersey. They may have a place like Chumuckla Springs in New Jersey, but I haven't found it yet. •
"Pop, did you get the spring water for Mom?"
"Nope. Forgot."
"Me too. You'll have to come back later and get some for her. I hope they don't plug up the spring after all those people get moved out."
Vic Campbell -- Press Gazette .. CA-1989
https://photos.app.goo.gl/82tM8f29KBPYmk8R6
Down on the river............. near the springs. (video)
Chumuckla Heritage Store
Jane Nowlng messaged me on Facebook and mentioned this story I wrote many years ago. What a warm thing to have these memories. Thanks, Jane. At the time I had been away about 20 years. After 40 years absent we returned to the area. So ... this story is about 30 years old. I do wonder what happened to all the people. The spring is there but it is private property and has been for many years. A fishing landing nearby is open to the public.
Vic 12ponder.com
Thanks, Dad -- J. Lee Campbell ( Centennial of birth this year)
Tuesday, August 26, 2025
Monday, May 26, 2025
Monday, May 19, 2025
Thursday, May 15, 2025
ME3TV1 GW316 19 CIVILITY RULES by GW
ME3TV.org presents RULES OF CIVILITY by George Washington.. These are collected by rule numbers under tags . ME3TV1-GWROC at me3tv.org .. playlist.
Saturday, January 04, 2025
Campbell Family Update 2024 (Christmas)
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. ...
We have received cards and letters and read all of them with great interest. We rejoice with you in your joys and pray for you in your life challenges. You have uniquely blessed our lives; the memories give life warmth and meaning. Thank you.
Our 2024
This year, we chose to return among familiar family and friends to attend what is now the Chumuckla Community Church (Elizabeth Chapel). Alex, Holly, and the in-laws attend there, and we greatly
We had a chance to visit some family and friends - some well, some not so well- and appreciated our time with some amazing people. On a recent short trip to Chipley, we saw our Godson, Jordan (and Stephanie) Sewell, and visited the Gainer (Carswell) Cousins. I came away from there with a supply of sprouts of Japanese Yew trees, which they have on the property. They will go somewhere in my small woodland around the house, which I've been adapting into an amateur neighborhood disc golf course. I've had help to put in a lot of trees and shrubs that will, in time, color up the woods around us.
It takes a lot of help from a special team of skilled people to get these plants in the ground and keep up the yard because, for whatever reason, I still have fast-acting fatigue when I get near actual work. True Story. The racing heart and fatigue I have chalked up to my favorite social media theory about heart and circulatory damage from the MRNA vaccines -- of which I am fully loaded -- beginning at the very time I had a heart Ablation in 2020. I get around OK. But extended effort or short periods of hard effort put me out of action. The VA, Medicare, or five varieties of Doctors, and Rx have led to no revelations of what THEY think is the problem. So... I am going with social media. (I checked the facts, of course.)
New Orleans... The New Orleans School of Cooking and WWII Museum were our favorite things. These are worth a visit anytime you are in NOLA. Part of our Ship Reunion Tradition was having our Ship's Plaque displayed for a year by the New Orleans Irish Heritage and Whiskey Museum. Typically, we always leave the plaque with an Irish Pub in whatever town we hold our reunion. A hurricane drove us out of town early.
Over a few early months of the year, we replaced the carpet in our house with wood-look flooring. It is a lot easier to keep the dust down, but it was a lot of effort. All this without me being able to do much physical effort. It looks GREAT.
Karen's sister, Toni, finally got moved back to Florida and out of Texas. She lives in the home they bought from Jon Tinsley before he died. It allows a lot more opportunities for family gatherings over dinner. Others for dinners and shared events are Holly's parents and sisters. We attend many of the local Community theater programs and Church activities together. This is in addition to the many opportunities to visit and share time with my Brother's and Sister's families. It really expands the options for things to do and places to go. Karen also took time now to share her voice with the Chumuckla Church Christmas Cantata. It makes her happy to sing. I just listen. (FAMILY and FRIENDS)
One of the WEEKLY MUSTS is Vic's Saturday morning CRUDDS meetings with buddies who have coffee and share stories. Chumuckla Reprobates Utopian Debate and Discussion Society. Rule one is there are no rules. Rule two is ... see rule one. We have a great time. And the mix of people varies from week to week. One of the key members is our 93-year-old friend, Dick Miller. Often Dick and Vic and perhaps a guest or two will relax at home and watch a war movie. A collection of local friends from school or fellow veterans will combine appointment trips to the VA Clinic or specialists. Sometimes, Vic hosts the Jay Museum, and sometimes, the CRUDDS meet there. Vic is also a Board Member for the Coon Hill Cemetery and helps where he can. He also stays active with social media - to bring the unusual history of family or our region to the community. The region is growing very fast. The newcomers and old-timers seem to like learning the history... although Vic's particular version of history is not always accurate.
Our longest trips were to North Alabama and to New Orleans - both connected to Vic's shipmates from that short but memorable time in the Navy. We attended Capt. Bob Brown's memorial in Gadsden. I did not serve under him, but I grew to appreciate the man at reunions. I even had an insightful interview with him on my YouTube channel, me3tv. He was O'Callahan's first C.O. My actual first ship, C.O. Marvin Smith, is also interviewed on the channel. Another star of Naval leadership and later friendship. He passed away in 2023 (a WW2 vet).
EXTRA: The New Orleans trip included the annual ship reunion, where we visited with shipmates and the LAST C.O. of the O'Callahan (1989), Gary Schnurrpusch. My X.O. with O'Callahan was retired Capt. John Heidt. He passed away a few years ago, but his friendship and excellent memory of our combat details were always fascinating to absorb. While in New Orleans, I met a veteran of our command ship, Turner Joy, with whom we fought side by side on the LAST day of Vietnam to the Cease Fire (Jan 27, 1973). His knowledge of most of the totality of events those last days was far beyond what I took away. So now there is an interview with him in my podcast pages. It was a bit more dicey than I had felt at the time. Somehow, 1/2 inch of aluminum between me and the sea felt like total security.
He put me onto a book that detailed a big part of that last day, the loss of Cdr. Harley Hall, an F4 pilot - was shot down and executed. I only had small parts of that story and always pay respects at the very end of the Vietnam Memorial Wall. His prior command before this deployment was C.O. of the Blue Angels out of Pensacola. I am late learning all this from a decades-old book that Jim Chester wrote the forward to. "A Convoluted Conclusion" (an end to the saga of Harley Hall).
Karen, Vic, and LITTLE MAN,
We wish you the warmest of blessings this year. We are blessed with the best friends, family, and neighbors. Thank you for enriching our lives and being a rich memory in the building blocks of life.
Friday, January 12, 2024
Family Update 2023
An annual report to the most important people
I have just completed a selection of MANY photos that help to represent our path in 2023. Maybe you will enjoy Perusing the album here.
Family and Friends
Vic and Karen 2023
........... and Alex and Holly
I have just completed a selection of MANY photos that help to represent our path in 2023. Maybe you will enjoy Perusing the album here.
For most of the year, we stayed within our small part of the Panhandle. I see entire quarters of my Google trip map showing 4 primary destinations. Jay Museum, Home, Halls Hardware, and the VA Clinic in Pensacola. Well, that sounds dull, but a lot happens in those places.
Beyond the usual activity are trips. We took in Baltimore with the USS O'Callahan reunion. We enjoyed time with cousins at Indian Springs, GA where my sister, Wanda has a family cabin. Many of these cousins and family found gatherings over Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Halloween - and Birthdays and random gatherings and more. We are blessed with a large and well-behaved cast of cousins and other family connections and the friends associated with them as well. Alex and Holly add a lot of joy and fun to the otherwise average daily grind of retired living. I can think of none of our kith or kin that are not above average in every way. We love them all.
Among all of our family connections, we have lost some iconic anchors this year. We shan't drift far though. It is comforting to watch the younger generation grow into productive adulthood and take the helm. We are blessed.
Karen's Gatewood Family had some losses and there were losses among our beloved local Campbell families as well. I believe they left a capable gene pool in their wake. It helps to leaf through the pages of family activities for each of them from time to time. It gives hope that the future is GREAT!
Enjoy skimming through the annual photo book (link).
And we offer a massive huge thanks and TEN GOLD DIGITAL STARS to all those seen and not seen in the album who made this year a wonderful memory to carry forward. Please accept at least one of the stars as your own personal star. The awards are presented here.
Friday, October 13, 2023
the GENERIC VETERAN
ENJOY SOME HISTORY IN VETERAN'S CHALLENGE CARDS
Merchandise for the Generic Veteran
vinyl sticker. Inquire.
genericvet.com
Email Inquire (vic@buzzcreek.com)
6x8 and 4x6 sticker sizes. Both are $10 ea shipping paid.
order 4 or more and costs are $8 each.
Paypal, Venmo, CashApp options to buy
Stock available December FIRST 2023
Venmo - @Vic-Campbell32570
CashApp - @me3tvorg
PayPal - paypal.me/buzzcreek
Include size and quantity as described in list (to be provided before Nov 25)
genericveteran.com (https://tinyurl.com/3ym8sc48)
.... in development.
Available merchandise is linked below . For now we will use the SPRING.com service.
Item to begin
QRcode Window decals . The Weasel Award began as an honor to Super Skates. 😁
Monday, August 28, 2023
US Civil War Naval Warfare
The Naval Order of the United States
Ask vic for meeting id and passcode vic@buzzcreek.com
NAVAL ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES
presents
Dwight Hughes
“The Naval Civil War in Theaters Near and Far”
13 September 2023: 2000 EDT
In his classic treatise of strategy, On War, Carl von Clausewitz discussed “different factors of space, mass, and time” related to battle, one of which is “theater of operations.” He defined an operational theater as: “A sector of the total war area which has protected boundaries and so a certain degree of independence.” Protected boundaries might consist of fortifications, natural barriers, or simply distance. Combat theaters of the Civil War are identified as the Eastern, the Western, and the Trans-Mississippi with subordinate campaign theaters in each.
The naval side of the conflict also can be defined in terms of theaters, which interacted with but are distinct from military counterparts. These naval theaters warrant independent consideration as: the Offshore Blockade, Littoral Coasts and Harbors, Heartland Rivers, and the Wide Oceans.
Bounded primarily by land-water interfaces, some wet theaters overlapped terrestrial sectors and extended into the continental core while others stretched beyond familiar battlefields to the far side of the world. Each exhibited unique characteristics and posed exceptional challenges to the United States and Confederate States navies and to their command authorities. Each employed unprecedented technologies, strategies, tactics, and command procedures.
The blockade was a bold and contentious strategy for a novice commander in chief, the largest military campaign of the war. In the littoral, titanic clashes erupted against powerful defenses while the U.S. Navy and Army began to envision joint operations leading to massive amphibious invasions. Naval and military operations converged most thoroughly in the heartland where riverine warfare was invented blending maritime mobility and firepower with hard fighting on land.
More successful than should have been expected, the Confederate Navy focused on underdog strategies: commerce raiding and blockade running at sea, with defense of key fortified positions along interior lines ashore bolstered by asymmetric new technologies including ironclads, torpedoes (mines), and submarines. On the oceans, swift Rebel commerce raiders blended the ancient technology of sail with revolutionary machine propulsion causing immense damage to powerful Yankee shipping and whaling interests.
This presentation introduces naval theaters and discusses their unique strategic, tactical, technological, and command characteristics. Based on an essay in The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War (Savas Beatie, 2023).
About the Speaker: Dwight Hughes is a public historian, author, and speaker in Civil War naval history (www.CivilWarNavyHistory.com). Dwight graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 and served twenty years as a surface warfare officer including with river forces in Vietnam. He holds an MA in Political Science and an MS in Information Systems Management. Dwight authored A Confederate Biography: The Cruise of the CSS Shenandoah (Naval Institute Press, 2015) and Unlike Anything that Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862 (Savas Beatie, 2021). He edited and contributed to The Civil War on the Water: Favorite Stories and Fresh Perspectives from the Historians at Emerging Civil War (Savas Beatie, 2023). Dwight is a contributing author at the Emerging Civil War blog and has presented at numerous roundtables, historical conferences, and other venues.
Watch this Naval Order History Presentation Zoom Meeting!
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81241470593?pwd=bEVtR1I4RFZNZ3BmWDBtR1dMWG15QT09
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Christmas Letter 2022..
So -- Here is a summary of a superb year.
In January, Holly (Vandenberg) and Alex repeated nuptials with the "planned" wedding to cap off the wedding a year earlier (in February) that met severe restrictions over a pandemic. It was a small family affair. It set them on a path but to share the joy -- the "public" wedding for a grand celebration of friends and family took place. The photos are a fine memory. Perhaps I will add a link here to a selection. It certainly gave hope for a grand future in the world given all the superb young people in attendance who were and continue to be examples of the best of America. Karen and Vic made three trips to Houston Texas this year. Our brother-in-law, John Platt passed away. We celebrated Toni's birthday. There was a service of remembrance for a truly exceptional man. Two other trips to Houston in the course of the year helped Karen's sister to organize for her life to come. On the third trip in September, we attached a Houston Annual Meeting of the Destroyer Veterans Association (Tin Can Sailors) to celebrate with Vic's shipmates and families from the USS O'Callahan. These are always fun events. Shipmates are forever bringing up sea stories that require the refreshment of memory. The added benefits of catching up with families and friends from a military experience and beyond .
In APRIL, we also were honored to have our wonderful New Jersey friends (some are expatriates of NJ now as well) Join us in Milton for some refreshed memories and expanding some more. With our Gulf Coast as a backdrop the outings were easy. Beaches and FOOD and Naval Air Museum and FOOD! To survive in NJ, people like us NEEDED the support of natives who spoke the language. They saved our lives on many occasions. AND their sons are lifelong friends of Alex. The sons were here for the wedding in January. They are the kind of people you always hope your life can be infused with.
Some of us have taken to sharing IRISH BLESSINGS with people we meet. Our ship was named for an Irish Catholic Chaplain who was a hero in WWII with the USS Franklin (google) . In the course of honoring our ship's namesake, Fr. Joseph O'Callahan, we became close to the families of USS Franklin too. Sometimes we are able to join at their ship's reunions.
One of our trips involved a visit to dear cousins (mom's Carswell side) - some with life changing events underway. We were able to visit in Chipley (Gainer, Boswell), Panama City (Howell), Jacksonville (Bhide) and in Orlando and Melbourne, FL (Starling) . Our nephew's family (Kevin and Angie) in Orlando gave us much enjoyment for a dinner out with the kids. While in Orlando we were able to participate with more NJ lifesavers - Charlie and Helen Yacomeni who held a 50th wedding anniversary. It turns out, some of our favorite cousins are feeling the march of time as much as we are. We are missing some of them already. Rest in Peace, Carol (the last visit was purposeful with her dad's archives finding a safe home forever (E.W.Carswell collection at UWF Archives). Me missed the passing of our dear cousin Kitty Starling but were happy to share some memories with Warren. Kittye was only a few years younger than mom - and was her companion niece while mom lived with her sister, Vera to work in Jacksonville in the war years.
Karen and Vic both had Covid in October. Fortunately the strain was not awful but mainly miserable.
My sister and bro-in law , Wanda and John Roberts built a multi room cabin in a Christian retreat at Indian Springs, Georgia. (they have 16 grandkids and by tradition, enjoy this church camp experience every year - sometimes several times. We went there in NOV with her and our other cousins from the Campbell side in the fall. It was a refreshing experience to be with dear cousins and siblings to explore the historic area and sample the Georgia BBQ. We do love our cousins.
In December, a few days before Christmas, my brother, Jim, remarried. His bride is Jane (Salter) Campbell. They were both single and somehow, Jim eased her past his penchant for talking about all the history of the area, to settle down and enjoy being together. We are all loving Jane. She has much family in the area as does Jim. Both are at home in the circles of the other.
Actually, my blind friend, Roy Allen also got married this year, in November. This is also a case of two older single people finding a mutual attraction. Sandra is great with Roy and provides a "HOME", where before, he struggled weekly to maintain cooking and laundry. The house now sparkles with aroma of good cooking and bright home arrangement. (blind people don't require a lot of bright spaces because ... well ... they are blind anyway. The whole atmosphere and attitude for Roy is improved and frankly, the same for Sandra. The love is real.
Back in March, Karen and Vic went up to Carrollton, GA to visit some long lost relatives. Vicky Gatewood and Terry and Gloria Gatewood were retrieved to the family radar and we had a tremendously rewarding experience from the family reconnection. Life has many pathways. A recovered path can be a grand life experience.
Through all this year I have had the fantastic opportunity to visit the VA Clinic with some of my veteran buddies - sometimes for me and often for them. We had CRUDD meetings almost every Saturday. Coffee and regular guys - all of whom have some unique and fascinating part of themselves that is expressed in lively conversation. One of our CRUDDS is 91. Dick Miller is a story unto himself with many stories in my FB pages that expand on his life. He is a Korean War Marine who survived in the same unit with my cousin, Rogene Kilpatrick (deceased) at the "Frozen Chosin". Yet for all his love of Marines, he never got to go to a Marine Corps Birthday Ball. We tuxedoed him up and with Alex's Marine buddies we ferried him and his granddaughter to the ball in Mobile. Photo ops abounded and memories were made. (CRUDDS - Chumuckla Reprobates Utopian Debate and Discussion Society -- see Chumuckla.com)
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