(Oliver Hazard Perry shifts his colors from USS Lawrence to Niagra, War of 1812. Photo Naval Academy.)
Well, you could go watch Greece melt down this weekend, or ignore the lies, half-truths and general crap spewing from the Continent and the Campaign and do something fun.
My Guardian Ensign has agreed to drive to the funeral tomorrow in Pennsylvania. It is Mom’s birthday today and Father’s Day on Sunday, which marks the ceremony in Ohio.
Then, I think things will be done, and I can pay more attention to the reading list- I bought the “Game of Thrones” four-novel pack for Kindle, and Craig Johnson’s “Hell is Empty,” and with the grim fascination of a mouse confronting a mongoose, bought that “Confront and Conceal” thing by David Sanger.
That should cover the next week or two. Then I got a shock and realized I am going to miss The Blues appearance in Baltimore this weekend.
I was alerted that there is some crazy stuff going on in the Charm City to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, a cautionary conflict that doesn’t resonate much unless you are Canadian and get to say “Kicked your ass, Yank, and we are still here!”
For Americans, we got The Anthem, and with Fort McHenry front-and-center in our bellicose national song, you can imagine the pride that Baltimore has with the commemoration of the Dawn’s Early Light. In addition to the Blues, there will be tall ships in the inner harbor and parades and Chesapeake Bay street food under the roar of the noisy F/A-18 jets of the Flight Demonstration Team.
We are not much interested in the hoopla here in Washington, possibly because our local recollection is of a more successful British incursion. The Red Coats skirmished against an improvised force of Marines on the Bladensburg Pike and brushed them aside. They came to the new capital of the young Republic and burned the White House to the ground. Dolly Madison, the Congress and the Executive Branch took to their heels ahead of the Royal Army.
It was a defining moment in the war, a demonstration of impotence that everyone in DC would just as soon forget.
We got some other cool stuff out of the little war, though. I have always thought it bizarre that our Fighting Blue Water Navy’s most famous epigram spoken by gallant Lawrence …”Don’t Give Up the Ship!” was made most famous by his classmate Oliver Hazard Perry….on Lake Erie!
Young Captain Lawrence took command of the USS Chesapeake at Boston and sailed out to engage HMS Shannon on the blockade line. He got his ass kicked. Chesapeake was captured and Lawrence was killed- his actual quote was something like “Fire Faster- don’t give up the ship!” which was inspirational but didn’t work.
In tribute, Lawrence’s pal Oliver Hazard Perry had part of the epigram sewn onto a battle flag, which in fact was the motto of victory off Presque Isle, on Lake Erie. Perry was in command of USS Lawrence and got shot to pieces before giving up the ship and transferring his flag to USS Niagra, which he then sailed decisively into harms way.
Perry’s brief report of the action to General (and later President) William Henry Harrison was memorable in its succinct brevity: “We have met the enemy and they are ours; two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one sloop.”
This, of course, is also the model for the modern phrase: “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Thank-you, Pogo, and Great American Walt Kelly for that.
(The Blues. Long may they wave. USN Photo.)
It would be fun to be there to see the Blues, bit alas, duty calls and I will be in the southern midsection of Pennsylvania (“Two great cities surrounded by Alabama!”) doing what needs to be done.
The berating of several honored friends finally penetrated yesterday. Kindly, they said: “You fucking idiot, have your son drive you if you insist on going and DO NOT go to Ohio.” I mulled that over, and thought about the consequences of being by myself in the Bluesmobile, several hundred miles from Bethesda if I fell navigating the hilly ground of the cemetery at Bellaire. Or the consequences of a fender bender with my leg rigid in the brace. Crap. New plan required.
So, my Guardian Ensign will pick me up in the morning, and we will do what needs to be done.
Pity. I love the Blues. They are the class act of the flight demonstration world. The best show I ever saw was at Fleet Week ’98 in San Francisco Bay, from the fantail of the Flagship docked at Fisherman’s Warf. Mayor Willie Brown (former Speaker of the CA Assembly and all powerful) was in attendance wearing our ship’s ball-cap.
What a guy- no kidding. With his solid public sector union backing and whacko environmental coalition in the state assembly, Willie is probably personally responsible for the fiscal catastrophe that the Golden State is in now (with the no-tax initiatives) but what an effective (if deranged) legislator. Cautionary tale in there someplace, but I have to get on and do other things.
Oh, say can you see?
(Mayor Brown and some guy at Fleet Week San Francisco in 1998. Photo Socotra).
Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com