I hit the jackpot yesterday at the historic Washington Navy Yard. I got access to a copy of the oral history that Mac did with Art Baker twenty-six years ago. It was the very first one that the Office of Naval Intelligence had conducted, and in six interviews, Art got an excellent blow-by-blow on how […]

(Convair B-36 Peacemaker, 1949. My brother and I stopped at Wright-Patterson AFB to see the one in the Air Force Museum. It is one of the most extraordinary aviation artifacts I have ever seen. Official Air Force picture.) “The Bomb got us all home,” said Mac. “It saved us the hundreds of thousands of casualties, […]

(RADM Dan Gallery’s account of life on the waves through the eyes of a Chief Petty Officer. I loved it as a young teen). I have a couple chunks of the Mac Showers book ready to drop into the manuscript, and was going to take the discretionary time of the inter-holiday week to trot them […]

Editor’s Note: This is a return to part of the Mac Showers saga. It will drop into the back of the book, the small part that deals with Life After Mac. I will be meeting with the Historian of the Navy later this holiday week to gain some insight on the activities that went along […]

(Mr. and Mrs. Claus relax in the luxury of the Willard Hotel’s elegant lobby). Family is far away, and I was not traveling as I had anticipated on Christmas Day. Jon-Without was in a similar position, and we batted around the idea of getting out of our respective caves and catching a breath fo fresh […]

(Gift cards at the Front Page are splendid gifts!) Gentle readers, This Christmas morning my thoughts are thousands of miles away. I have a son who will rise on the Windward Shore of the island of O’ahu, and another who is involved in the intricate mystery of life with his newborne and his wife. I […]

(Robert Burns, who is most famous for his recasting of the traditional folk poem “Auld Lang Syne,” was born in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland, the son of William Burness (1721 – 1784) or Burns (Robert Burns originally spelled his surname Burness, but eventually dropped the ‘ess’), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar, Kincardinshire, and Agnes […]

Editor’s Note: I was going to do something else this morning- my intentions were good enough, but news from the outside intruded, and not the kind we have sadly become accustomed to these days. I would elaborate, but my family is intensely private- and I can’t blame them in the slightest. Would you blame them? […]

Editor’s Note: There have been many significant developments this week. I am sure you can think of some of them. I am done with thinking for the moment, and will take a short break from the book project to share with you some seasonal mirth. Gifts were distributed at The Front Page on the traditional […]

Editor’s Note: I had a chance to attend a ceremony at the Office of Naval Intelligence yesterday in which the Director of Naval History and Heritage formally signed off with the ONI Commander and the Chairman of the Naval Intelligence Professionals to collaborate on a project to document the 150 years of Naval Intelligence contributions […]