(This is the fourth in a series of accounts of the voyage of RV PETREL and RDML Sam Cox in search of the war graves of some valiant Americans. It was tense, violent and unforgiving to take back this small portion of the South Pacific from the invaders. But it marked the turn of the […]

(This is the third part of the account of the search for two lost aircraft carriers from the war against Imperial Japan. These are the words of RDML Sam Cox, USN-Ret., director of the Navy’s History and Heritage Command. I consider his mission no less than sacred. – Vic) I had been invited aboard the […]

This is the second part of the account of the hunt for the Navy ships that still rest on the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound off the island of Guadalcanal. If you wish to experience the unbelievable carnage inflicted by the US and Imperial Japanese Navies on one another, I suggest a read of “Neptune’s […]

So, I am minding my own business down at the farm. The transition to Spring is in progress. The gophers have come out, Cat is patrolling her property and I almost stepped in some deer spoor emptying what I hope is the last batch of ashes from the winter hearth. I am at peace with […]

There are thirty or forty candidates declared for the Presidential follies next year. It is a great demonstration of our democracy- or better said, our Constitutional Republic, not to put too fine a point on why we do not understand each other as citizens anymore. There are some extraordinary proposals, among them being the New […]

It is the actual Ides of March today, actually, and according to lore, there is not a lot good that will come of it. The ancients were right. I wrote about the Ides of March and the assassination of Great Caesar the other day. It was intended to be a (cough)likemetaphor about the turmoil in […]

This has traditionally been known as a week in which bad things happen. The old Romans marked their time a little differently than we do in these late days. The “Ides” referred to the middle of a month- sort of baker’s dozen way to account for a year. The idea that March 15 is unlucky […]

The Master Chief’s Cajun Corner: Who Dat Nation Ed. Note:Yesterday’s Arrias piece dealt with the real threat of rising totalitarianism, as political opponents are “bothered” and scapegoats must be found. It produced a lot of correspondence, since I think a lot of people are concerned, and not just at Refuge Farm in lovely Culpeper, where […]