View From the Shore

When thinking back 50 years to the Summer of ’69, a year also made famous in the Bryan Adams songs, one will see that there are many things to look back on during this summer besides the Moon Landings.

In baseball 1969 was the first year that the leagues expanded to 12 ball clubs each and divided the leagues in to an East and West division. The Baltimore Orioles won 109 games and won their division by 19 games. Even after this they still had to play a 3 out of 5 series against the Western division Twins, winning the first American League Divisional Series in three games. In mid-August the Chicago Cubs had a commanding lead over the New York Mets, but a late season burst by the Mets and a swoon by the Cubs left the Mets, who had never finished above 9th in their 8 years in a 10 team league, winning 100 games and the division. After winning three against the Atlanta Braves they played the Orioles in the World Series finishing their amazing season by winning the series in five games after losing the opener.

Strange things were happening around Lake Worth, located near Fort Worth, Texas. On July 10, 1969 three couples went to Fort Worth Police and told a story of a large hairy creature leaping out of the darkness and landed on one of the parked cars. Throughout the summer there were numerous reports seeing this creature, could it have been a Bigfoot. Reportedly foot prints were found that were 8 inches wide and 16 inches long. By the end of 1969 the reports were dying down leaving some to wonder what happened to the Lake Worth Monster.

The middle of August could well be called the weekend of Peace, Love and Rock and Roll. The Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began on August 15, 1969 and ran throughout the weekend ending on the morning of August 18th. 186,000 tickets were sold for the concert, but when more showed up than expected, it became a free concert drawing over 1/2 million young men and women to listen to some of the best Rock and Roll acts of the 1960s including Janis Joplin, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Richie Havens, who opened the concert, and Jimi Hendrix, who closed the concert in the early daylight hours of Monday morning.

1969 also had the concert that could be considered just the opposite of Woodstock and that was the Altamont Free Concert held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, in Northern California. This concert was headlined by the Rolling Stones and included a number of acts that played at Woodstock. The concert was marred by considerable violence.

Two nights August 8 and 9, 1969 rocked Los Angeles. On the night of the August 8th at the rental home of Roman Polanski and his pregnant wife Sharon Tate a group of deranged hippies gruesomely killed Steven Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Sharon Tate and Sharon Tate’s unborn child. Polanski was in England. The next night the some of these same people went to the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and did the same. These hippies were the followers of Charles Manson.

How much do you actually know about what happened on and around July 4, 1776? We all know that July 4th is the birthday of the United States, but is it really?

Events that lead up to the birth of the United States started in 1774 when 56 representatives from 12 of the British Colonies meet in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26. They created a Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress in response to the Intolerable Acts.

A second Continental Congress was called to convene on May 10, 1775. Letters of invites to this congress was supposed to be issued to Quebec, Saint John’s Island (now Prince Edward Island), Nova Scotia, Georgia, East Florida, and West Florida. It appears that only Georgia and Quebec actually received these invitation letters.

The 12 colonies came together on May 10, 1775, Georgia didn’t arrive until July. By the time this congress convened the Battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought and war had begun and Congress was to take charge of the war effort. On June 14, 1775, the Congress voted to create the Continental Army out of the militia units around Boston and quickly appointed Congressman George Washington of Virginia as commanding general of the Continental Army.

While Congress was moving towards declaring independence from the British Empire many delegates lacked the authority from their home governments to take this action. That was until Richard Henry Lee, a representative from Virginia received from The Virginia House of Burgesses that on May 15, 1776 they resolved that “the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress” be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the united Colonies free and independent states.”

Lee presented on June 6, 1776, a resolution to congress that read;

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

Debate began on the resolution, but it was decided to wait for three week so that the delegates could send the resolution to their home colonies and receive direction on voting. It also appeared to those present that the resolution could pass and that there needed to be a suitable declaration for the resolution.

On June 11, 1776 a committee, consisting of John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut, was formed. They were known as the Committee of Five.

The committee delegated that Jefferson would write the draft. Jefferson and the committee worked on it from June 12 until June 27. Franklin and Adams made several minor corrections and the entire committee made additional changes and additions, a total of forty-seven alterations including the insertion of three complete paragraphs from Jefferson’s original draft. Jefferson then produced another copy incorporating these changes and the committee presented this copy to the Continental Congress on Friday June 28, 1776.

On Monday July 1st, congress began debate on the Lee Resolution.

Delaware had three delegates representing the colony had declared on June 15th their independence not only from England, but also from Pennsylvania with whom they shared a Royal Governor. The three delegates were Thomas Mckean and Caesar Rodney who were for Independence and George Reed who was against. When debate began Rodney was in Dover Delaware who as a Militia General was seeing to the command of his troops. (Some stories are that Rodney was on his death bed. While it is true that he had a rare form of facial cancer that left him disfigured and in constant discomfort he was not at his home due to the disease. In fact Rodney lived for nearly 8 more years).

Thomas McKean, who was on the side of independence, sent a dispatch to Caesar Rodney who received it on July 1st, the day before the vote would be taken. He quickly mounted his horse and began the 80 miles trip to Philadelphia. He rode throughout the night. While he rode he encountered a severe thunderstorm. He continued to ride through the rain that turned the road to mud. He arrived just before the final vote was taken on Tuesday July 2nd. When Delaware was called he rose and voted in favor of Independence. George Read, the Delaware delegate who was against Independence, did sign the Declaration.

South Carolina still wasn’t in favor of independence, but Edward Rutledge, who opposed independence and had made many motions to delay the vote, convinced the delegation that for the sake of unanimity, they should vote in favor. The New York delegation abstained, since they did not have instructions from their home government. The Vote for Independence had passed.

In a letter that John Adams sent to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776 he said;

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward for evermore.

Finally at a little after 11 o’clock on Thursday morning July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved. This was after many hours of debate during the two days leading to the vote. There were Thirty-nine revisions to the committee’s draft, including the deletion of language that denounced King George III for promoting slave trade.

Again the New York delegation abstained from the vote, but did approve the Declaration five days later.

John Hancock, as President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress signed the document on that day. It wasn’t until July 19th that congress ordered that the Declaration to be officially inscribed and signed by its members. Congressional delegates began to sign the officially inscribed copy on August 2nd. It was even signed by some members who had not voted for its adoption and some who were not present at Congress when the vote was cast.

Note:
This was originally written in 2006 and has been revised and republished on various sites each year since then.

It was on June 14, 1777 that The Continental Congress passed The Flag Resolution.

It reads; “Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.”

In a report to the delegates, Charles Thompson, the secretary of the Continental Congress, stated that the white in the flag “signifies purity and innocence,” the red “hardiness and valor” and the blue “signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice.”

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day but it wasn’t until August 1949, that the National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

Even though others had had Flag Day observances today’s tradition of Flag Day is credited with teacher Bernard J. Cigrand who on June 14, 1885 assigned his students to write essays about the flag. From there he began an effort to bring a day of recognition to the flag become a national event.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The United States flag consists of 13 horizontal stripes, seven red alternating with six white. These stripes represent the original 13 colonies and the stars represent the 50 states of the Union.

Today June 6, 2019 is the 75th Anniversary of the that more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of beaches of Normandy France to fight the Nazi of Germany. Among those that were part of the battle was Lt John M Butler, a 26 year old man from Harrington Delaware.

He was onboard a Waco glider. At 48ft, with a wing span of 83ft, the glider could carry 13 troops with equipment, or a jeep or a 75mm howitzer along with its flight crew. On this day Lieutenant Colonel Mike Murphy and Second Lieutenant John M. Butler flew in Brig. Gen. Don Forester Pratt, an assistant commander of the 101st Airborne Division, and his aid 1st Lt. Lee John May. The glider was the first of 52 that departed from England about 1:19 a.m. on June 6, 1944.

The following is from Pratt’s Wikipedia page, “The Waco glider landed successfully but when Lieutenant Colonel Murphy applied the brakes, the tall wet grass caused the glider to skid without significant slowing, and it overran the landing zone, crashing into a hedgerow line of 40-foot-tall (12 m) poplar trees. Lieutenant Colonel Murphy suffered severe injuries, with both legs broken, one a compound fracture. A tree limb came through the co-pilot side of the cockpit, killing Butler. Pratt, sitting in the Jeep, died from a broken neck resulting from whiplash. The Jeep was not chained, but was tied down with nylon rope and did not break loose. Lieutenant May was riding on the jump seat behind the Jeep and survived the crash.”

There is a scene in “Saving Private Ryan that shows the aftermath of the crash and the general’s death.

On Memorial Day, May 27, 2019, a display with many of Lt. Bulter’s his personal effects was unveiled at the Harrington Historical Society. The items in the display was provided by Lt Bulter’s son, Roger Butler, who was 6 at the time of his father’s death.

As we celebrate the Memorial Day Weekend with parties and other activities we should all take a time to remember the reason for the Weekend. It is not a weekend to celebrate the beginning of summer, but as a time to honor those who have made the greatest sacrifice for their country to maintain the Freedoms we enjoy everyday.

Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, a day to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868 and organized by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of former sailors and soldiers. It was inspired by local observances during the 3 years after the end of the Civil War.

After World War I the observances began to honor those who had died in all of America’s Wars.

With the passage of the National Holiday act of 1971 the National Memorial Day is the last Monday in May. Traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years with many Americans forgetting or not understanding the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day.

Towns and cities still hold Memorial Day parades, however many have not held a parade in decades. It’s even thought by some people that the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country. Or for honoring those who have served. That is Veteran’s Day.

Some, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to the original date of May 30. In a 2002 Memorial Day Address the VFW stated, “Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general public’s nonchalant observance of Memorial Day.”