"Despite outward appearances, the reunion was an unhappy one for Stirm. Three days before he arrived in the United States, the same day he was released from captivity, Stirm received a Dear John letter from his wife Loretta informing him that their marriage was over. Stirm later learned that Loretta had been with other men throughout his captivity and had received marriage proposals from three of them."
A great book about the experiences of the POW wives is "The Heroes Wife", by Dora Griffin Bell (whom I knew as Mrs. Griffin ...and should apologize to for being so constantly underfoot in the summer of '68...)
Military wives are special, and deserve great respect and appreciation.
POW wives are several levels above that.
Kudos to Mrs. Galanti for her service and sacrifice.
Let us also salute the wives who served honorably, even when their spouses's conduct fell short of what is expected of officers and gentlemen.
I salute John McCain for his conduct as a POW, but as a husband, he was despicable.
His wife, Carol Shepp McCain, however, was a class act and her bio is worth reading, and she deserves our respect for her service as a POW wife, and subsequently in her other endeavors.
As a note and aside, the RAN Jim Bell was shot down with "Duffy Hutton...
A mustang, and one of the original NFO's.
I remember him as being a bit fearsome and crusty. And for some reason, I always associate the term "Asiatic" with him. Guess I must've learned the term around then and figured he fit the bill.
Jim Bell was tail end Charlie for the infamous Hanoi March...can't remember who he was cuffed with, but it was someone who had been injured in their shootdown and wasnt fully mobile.
Capt Bell had to assist him through the march. Would say he earned that Silver Star.
Jim Griffin and Jack Walters were shot down over Hanoi on May 19 1967. They were on a BDA after the first strike on the power plant. Footage of their shoot down, and subsequent recovery of the wreckage from the lake is often seen spliced with footage of John Mcain being recovered from the same lake in Oct 67...
They were known to be alive after being taken into the Hanoi Hilton, but unknown until 1973, was they both died a couple days later. Whether from abuse or neglect is not known, but in response to that airstrike on Ho Chi Minh's birthday, and through that summer...The Summer of Love...abuse of the POWs reached it's height.
Wholly touching and inspiring -- but, only too tragically, a nostalgic remnant of once-admired and -prized character traits, viz, dedication and perseverance, not to mention patriotism, that are, if anything presently, largely lost and forgotten virtues in today's perversion-tolerant salad of mixed-up, so-called decent human beings.
It takes a chemistry eliciting an expressly binary form of such sexual, polar attraction to support and maintain the kind of fight and forbearance the "Tiger," Mrs Galanti, waged in order to reunite with her sexual and, in this case, romantically loved, polar opposite and husband.
All dimensions of drama, from the bedroom to the galactic, require tension of such a to and fro kind -- in the famous German painter, Hans Hofmann"s sense of this cosmic rule, a "push and pull," so well-known to and designed purposefully by nature, and instituted for perpetuity by her timeless laws.
A derelict, perverse faction of H sapiens increasingly choose to violate these laws and do so at their own peril. They cannot succeed; they will not flourish and survive long. The laws they believe they can ignore are naturally unbreakable for the human being, born, in Carl Sagan's sense of the heavens' aim, of "stardust," and not altogether inconsistently, but rather believed by countless others to be made by God, Who has spoken of man and woman's earthly beginning and end as ranging merely from "dust to dust".
The madness of the actually dystopian transhumanist movement continues onward via the outsized hope and promise of AI. Said end and its means could never produce or know such an earlier, 20th-century "Tiger," Mrs. Galanti, but only in its mad and wild, quasi-human, and thus artificial, wholly unprophetic dreams, after taking a suitable dose of some kind of Soma.
The whole nightmarish Meta scene just misses the point of Creation entirely, its lack of the right stuff in the process not going to make what, for politics and poetry and all the arts, simply and finally matters most for humankind, and that's drama.
No drama, no life worth living. If no Habanera to be thrilled by and enjoy, if no refrain of L'amour to fully appreciate, well then, just fuck it!
Tks Sal. When I was a Midshipman at USNA, he was at Annapolis on the staff. The Superintendent, then RADM Bill Lawrence, also a POW, brought him in as a role model of character, loyalty and perseverance. Glad he did. Prob spoke to him more than any POW. Humble. Gracious. Courageous. Inspirational ⚓️🇺🇸
Mentioned that Duffy Hutton was "fearsome and crusty".
One could say it was a common trait of those early NFOs in Sanford ...
This tale is worthy of its own Full Bore:
"The story of the RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance/attack navigator who became the only American aviator to escape after being captured in North Vietnam"
For extraordinary heroism on 9 March 1967, as a naval flight officer serving with Reconnaissance Attack Squadron THIRTEEN, on a combat mission over North Vietnam. After being shot down, pursued, and captured by a group of enemy militiamen and soldiers in the shallow, coastal waters off North Vietnam, Lieutenant (jg) Prendergast calmly and accurately assessed his dire situation and cunningly conserved his strength for a bold and extraordinarily heroic escape. Demonstrating the courage and alertness of a disciplined and well-trained fighting man, he seized upon a most dramatic escape opportunity which presented itself for, at the most, a few fleeting seconds. By his exceptionally prompt, daring and heroic action at this moment, he succeeded in eluding his captors and was, shortly thereafter, picked up by a rescue helicopter. Lieutenant (jg) Prendergast's keen foresight, sound judgment and courageous conduct in the face of an armed enemy, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
I have had the honor of meeting Mrs. Galanti and serving in the Virginia Dept. of Veterans Services when Paul was the Commissioner. They are inspiring patriots!
Sing it out, Brother!
Very good. Inspiring. I am sure her actions counted a lot toward peace and for better treatment of our prisoners.
Unlike the famous and unlucky LTC Stirm.
"Despite outward appearances, the reunion was an unhappy one for Stirm. Three days before he arrived in the United States, the same day he was released from captivity, Stirm received a Dear John letter from his wife Loretta informing him that their marriage was over. Stirm later learned that Loretta had been with other men throughout his captivity and had received marriage proposals from three of them."
A great book about the experiences of the POW wives is "The Heroes Wife", by Dora Griffin Bell (whom I knew as Mrs. Griffin ...and should apologize to for being so constantly underfoot in the summer of '68...)
Those women all deserved medals.
https://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Wife-Dora-Bell/dp/1425926037?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=193ad7e7-5ea9-47c6-a0f7-5e13b291336a
Never underestimate a determined woman.
I had the pleasure of meeting the lady in Hong Kong in 1971, when I was CO of the Station Ship.
Military wives are special, and deserve great respect and appreciation.
POW wives are several levels above that.
Kudos to Mrs. Galanti for her service and sacrifice.
Let us also salute the wives who served honorably, even when their spouses's conduct fell short of what is expected of officers and gentlemen.
I salute John McCain for his conduct as a POW, but as a husband, he was despicable.
His wife, Carol Shepp McCain, however, was a class act and her bio is worth reading, and she deserves our respect for her service as a POW wife, and subsequently in her other endeavors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_McCain
As a note and aside, the RAN Jim Bell was shot down with "Duffy Hutton...
A mustang, and one of the original NFO's.
I remember him as being a bit fearsome and crusty. And for some reason, I always associate the term "Asiatic" with him. Guess I must've learned the term around then and figured he fit the bill.
Jim Bell was tail end Charlie for the infamous Hanoi March...can't remember who he was cuffed with, but it was someone who had been injured in their shootdown and wasnt fully mobile.
Capt Bell had to assist him through the march. Would say he earned that Silver Star.
Jim Griffin and Jack Walters were shot down over Hanoi on May 19 1967. They were on a BDA after the first strike on the power plant. Footage of their shoot down, and subsequent recovery of the wreckage from the lake is often seen spliced with footage of John Mcain being recovered from the same lake in Oct 67...
They were known to be alive after being taken into the Hanoi Hilton, but unknown until 1973, was they both died a couple days later. Whether from abuse or neglect is not known, but in response to that airstrike on Ho Chi Minh's birthday, and through that summer...The Summer of Love...abuse of the POWs reached it's height.
Wholly touching and inspiring -- but, only too tragically, a nostalgic remnant of once-admired and -prized character traits, viz, dedication and perseverance, not to mention patriotism, that are, if anything presently, largely lost and forgotten virtues in today's perversion-tolerant salad of mixed-up, so-called decent human beings.
It takes a chemistry eliciting an expressly binary form of such sexual, polar attraction to support and maintain the kind of fight and forbearance the "Tiger," Mrs Galanti, waged in order to reunite with her sexual and, in this case, romantically loved, polar opposite and husband.
All dimensions of drama, from the bedroom to the galactic, require tension of such a to and fro kind -- in the famous German painter, Hans Hofmann"s sense of this cosmic rule, a "push and pull," so well-known to and designed purposefully by nature, and instituted for perpetuity by her timeless laws.
A derelict, perverse faction of H sapiens increasingly choose to violate these laws and do so at their own peril. They cannot succeed; they will not flourish and survive long. The laws they believe they can ignore are naturally unbreakable for the human being, born, in Carl Sagan's sense of the heavens' aim, of "stardust," and not altogether inconsistently, but rather believed by countless others to be made by God, Who has spoken of man and woman's earthly beginning and end as ranging merely from "dust to dust".
The madness of the actually dystopian transhumanist movement continues onward via the outsized hope and promise of AI. Said end and its means could never produce or know such an earlier, 20th-century "Tiger," Mrs. Galanti, but only in its mad and wild, quasi-human, and thus artificial, wholly unprophetic dreams, after taking a suitable dose of some kind of Soma.
The whole nightmarish Meta scene just misses the point of Creation entirely, its lack of the right stuff in the process not going to make what, for politics and poetry and all the arts, simply and finally matters most for humankind, and that's drama.
No drama, no life worth living. If no Habanera to be thrilled by and enjoy, if no refrain of L'amour to fully appreciate, well then, just fuck it!
We who serve would fail to do so without our loved ones.
God bless her and people’s memory of her.
Tks Sal. When I was a Midshipman at USNA, he was at Annapolis on the staff. The Superintendent, then RADM Bill Lawrence, also a POW, brought him in as a role model of character, loyalty and perseverance. Glad he did. Prob spoke to him more than any POW. Humble. Gracious. Courageous. Inspirational ⚓️🇺🇸
Amen!
Still within the perimeter of the topic...
Mentioned that Duffy Hutton was "fearsome and crusty".
One could say it was a common trait of those early NFOs in Sanford ...
This tale is worthy of its own Full Bore:
"The story of the RA-5C Vigilante reconnaissance/attack navigator who became the only American aviator to escape after being captured in North Vietnam"
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/the-story-of-the-ra-5c-vigilante-reconnaissance-attack-navigator-who-became-the-only-american-aviator-to-escape-after-being-captured-in-north-vietnam/
Lt jg Prendergrast's Navy Cross citation:
His Navy Cross Citation reads:
For extraordinary heroism on 9 March 1967, as a naval flight officer serving with Reconnaissance Attack Squadron THIRTEEN, on a combat mission over North Vietnam. After being shot down, pursued, and captured by a group of enemy militiamen and soldiers in the shallow, coastal waters off North Vietnam, Lieutenant (jg) Prendergast calmly and accurately assessed his dire situation and cunningly conserved his strength for a bold and extraordinarily heroic escape. Demonstrating the courage and alertness of a disciplined and well-trained fighting man, he seized upon a most dramatic escape opportunity which presented itself for, at the most, a few fleeting seconds. By his exceptionally prompt, daring and heroic action at this moment, he succeeded in eluding his captors and was, shortly thereafter, picked up by a rescue helicopter. Lieutenant (jg) Prendergast's keen foresight, sound judgment and courageous conduct in the face of an armed enemy, were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
FYI, Ward Carroll touched on the subject today.
HUZZAH!
I have had the honor of meeting Mrs. Galanti and serving in the Virginia Dept. of Veterans Services when Paul was the Commissioner. They are inspiring patriots!