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A flicker of hope
is all that stood
. . . against barbarism.
Another outbreak of such a crisis of madness
[meaning the First World War]
would necessarily involve the destruction of
society in the public order. June 1, 1933
People cried out
for a better future.
Germany neither intends nor wishes
to interfere in the internal affairs
of Austria or to conclude an Anschluss. May 1935
If the problem is solved,
there will be no further territorial damands
in Europe by Germany. Sep 1938
CASTLES OF THE MIND ... VENTURE ACROSS ALL BRIDGES
Bio
History and a Historian
Author: Robert C. Valentine
Titles of four exciting books, Alert: For The Times, Book of Secrets.
And, A Toast For You & Me, America's Participation, Sacrifice and Victory.
(World War Two books) divided into: Vol 1, Vol 2 and the 1944 commemorative volume--a compilation of many years of intensely laborious research. (Volumes 3 and 4 are in the workshop. They include Hollywood and are due next.)
Author Valentine has a website—recognized by MarComm Awards— that is built to emphasize the importance of history, but that is not all. He is so happy to share his knowledge of his two castles of knowledge specifically with the youth in mind. They are our future. As you can guess there is a heavy emphasis on WW II with the theme of liberation. Research methods utilize official documents, scientific data, news radio and television reports from the BBC, CNN, ABC, FOX, NBC, and CBS, and interviews. It is all tended in a unique compilation of long research, with a narrative that will pique your interest. The presentation of WW II is for both history buffs, and the youth of today who know very little about the subject of WW II. This is the era of Swing Music, Radio, the Streamlined Age, stainless steel, railroads, and the birth of the Rocket Age.
Visiting Egypt
That is me second from right many years ago during a friend’s retirement party.
If you have read my writings, my style is Friendly to the reader, yet I do not shy away from facts. I love travelling. I always loved history, and remember growing up listening to WW II stories from my dad, a 94th Inf Div, Third Army veteran as he fought through Europe, from France to Czechoslovakia.
I grew up in Los Angeles. Fascinating footage, Best Footage Ever, courtesy of Yestervid. PDF on transportation.
My parents George and Maria (with the Blessed Mother) instilled in me a self-reliance--and to never give up. During my Loyola High years, was a four-year varsity letterman. We captured the league title during my Jr and Senior years in soccer. In college, tried my hand in a different sport, track and field while matriculating at East Los Angles College. Life was good. Despite knowing zilch about track and my coach telling me not to feel too down because I would be up against the best and that some of those guys began running when they were 9 or 10 and have a lot of experience and talent. I still value a lot my gold and silver medals in the 10,000 and 5,000 meters, and numerous open 5-10ks. Those were the days when I ran 80 to 90 miles a week. We trained on a training circuit that our coach managed that was not boring, Griffith Park, and Legg Lake, across forests and on the sandy beaches of southern California, the parks of central California and San Francisco. I'll never forget running across streams and creeks with little frogs beneath the foliage of trees, amidst the fresh air. Track and Field meets are memorable, even though I never ran track in high school. I remember my first indoor meet was in San Francisco in the Foot Locker classic at the so-called Cow Palace, and running on the track with the noise of people screaming with excitement and also running on wooden boards. I've come a long way since my Jr year in high school when I had problems breathing and thought I was going to die in the hospital, and returning back in December to join my school teammates only to discover that everybody on the team when we took laps, lapped me. I felt so bad, I almost quit. Before I ran in college, there was a popular song called America sung by Neil Diamond. If you are into sports, or whatever, do not be afraid to dream. Cities are crowded, problems are rife but as another song of the era of the eighties went, Kids in America, you are who you make of yourself. Dreams can happen and miracles do happen. I had the distinct privilege to train with national record holder in long distance, Sylvia Mosqueda, in the mid '80s, rain or shine. Sylvia, who won the State cross country community college meet in 1984 at Woodward Park, and held the course record at 17.06 for 30 years, is a gifted athlete. Sylvia won the 1987 NCAA Cross Country Championship, and in the following Spring won the 10,000 meters at the NCAA Track Championships while matriculating at Cal State Los Angeles, and even in her later years took first place in the 2001 national championship half marathon. Those were exciting times for all of us, listening to all the 1980s music with Coach Ryan taking all of us in his yellow school van with Florida license plates. Someday I would like to write their tales of adventure in particular the girls of ELAC of the mid 1980s. Truly champions of the highest Excalibur. Photo of GIs are troops of the U.S. 94th Infantry Div, somewhere along the German boder 1945.
Next two black and white photos involve the author who cherished his time in the Boy Scouts of America in the 1960s and 1970s. In the first pic he is second from right during an Ad Altare Dei ceremony. Next is in front of Loyola High School with his father and brother.
I had the opportunity to visit the National WW II Museum New Orleans April 2008, formerly the D-Day Museum. They had a wonderful display about Hollywood. It had a special exhibition with a theme Hollywood and WW II. The above color photo is from a diorama of a Knight at one of the GI Joe conventions the author travelled to. GI Joes are not just WW II. I believe it was in Florida, where the author bought this big giant Sherman tank at the show, and came home on Amtrak after the station master and all the helpful personnel made sure it got to L.A. They were great, every one. I think I had more trouble putting it in the rent-a-car than anything else. (All photographs taken by the author, Mr. Valentine, a member of the National WW II Museum, Train Collectors Association, Battle of the Bulge Association, Battle of Britain Historical Society, 8th A F Historical Society and 94th Inf Historical Society. Then came COVID-19 and everybody's world turned screwy.)
442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Battalion special ceremony.
Robert and his brother George at the Go For Broke ceremony, Little Tokyo, California honoring Japanese-American veterans.
I have a passion for model railroading, LOVE trains and GI Joe collecting and Egyptology, if you can call that a hobby. I have the Crusader, one of several streamliners I own.
Someday, I will post my pictures of my travels to the Canadian Rockies.
I try to stay fit.
I enjoy jogging and exercising; once ran a 10K at 30.11 seconds.
World War II has always been my keen interest. I have been a GI Joe collector and passenger train buff all my life.
Medic Ed Pepping of the 506th, U.S. 101st Airborne. Doc Pepping parachuted into Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
These are pictures inside the Japanese American National Museum of a display of artifacts and photographs as explained above. I had an opportunity to visit the Museum which is situated in downtown Los Angeles. The pictures were taken in Western Europe of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team/ 100th Battalion composed of Japanese-Americans at the height of the war, circa 1944-1945, except the one in color which is the Saint Lo sector, further north. This is just a small sample of what was on display.
The class A WW II uniform for officers.
Medic Ed Pepping and the author at a GI Joe convention.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower. My father served under him and General George Patton during the Second World War. One of my favorite moments was meeting Pepping with a 1/6 scale WW II paratrooper. I fondly remember riding back to L.A. on the Metrolink loaded with goodies I bought at the 2006 convention A Weekend of Heroes, and making sure I beat the traffic rush.
Friends of Sgt. Rock. A Pathfinder and Audie Murphy, from author's collection.
Sometimes you save money and then, sorry Sold Out. Diorama shows brave New York Firemen at 9-11, in a convention about 15 years ago or so.
Day of Liberation '45, GI Joe dioramas and above it, is the Red Ball Express 1944. MP directs convoy traffic. A German patrol is spotted by GI Joes on a snowy frontline in Belgium 1944. Officers during the Second World War wore what is called the class A uniform. It was classy looking. On the left is a vintage shot of WWII officers wearing their caps and class A uniforms, second from left is Gen. Dolittle. The trousers have a slight tint of pink and that is why you would also hear the term "wearing pinks and greens." Guess what? The U.S. Army is planning to, correction, they have brought back the "pinks and greens." I think that is fabulous, but in the Second World War, sergeants could not wear it.
On the set of The Monuments Men is Hollywood star Matt Damon, better recognized from his role as Jason Bourne, and wearing his class A uniform. Next is a 1/6 scale uniform but they goofed on this uniform. Note the band on the sleeve, way, way too high. Next, you see the non-officer uniform, courtesy of wwiiimpressions.
The Strange Dream
Circa 2006, I had thoughts of quitting my research, specifically on Fatima, because I thought there was nothing more to add/discover. And, what I had up to then, seemed nothing special, for the information was routine what everybody else had written about on the subject. I even gave thoughts of totally quitting, and to forget any book. Yet, I remember praying a lot for guidance. Then, I had a strange dream. It was sometime near 4 am when I woke up. Fearing that I would loose memory of it, I wrote it down, then went back to sleep.
I could not believe what I had written when I read it later, for it was written in an odd old English sort of way; not my style. Later typed it and sent it to my editor, Mrs Hoffa. She indeed thought it was strange, and said I had misspelled a word—3rd line, purline. At that time, I had never even heard of that word. So, looked it up in the dictionary. Sure enough, I could not find it in 2 dictionaries that I looked, unless it was purloin. I was about to throw in the towel, when I saw on the shelf my old, old 1940s big Webster Dictionary, with its faded red cover, and for the heck of it decided to take a look. To my amazement, it said old French, and was spelled correctly: purline. If you use the word purloin, the paragraph doesn’t make sense. However, in old French purline did. Today, you can do a google and find it. It even has it as PURLINE, an organic flooring eco friendly flooring. But< I do not think that it is the definition in the dream. Webster defined it as how a roof frame was constructed to support the rafters of a roof of the old European medieval cathedrals. It bolstered the old religious cathedrals. What did I know about rafters in 2006. However, within two or three years from my dream, all manner of new revelations to the story of Fatima developed, in which began to fill up my new history book. Here is my dream of Nov. 11, 2006:
Fierce undesired winds came down from the heavens. and hit Pasadena, California Dec. 1, 2011.
WW II veteran Sgt. Philip Garcia and the author. He was in the 66th Infantry Division, European Theater of Operations, known as the ETO. At the Mena House, Cairo, 1998 with part of our tour led by Abas and Dannion Brinkley. On another note, I am selling my car. Further inquiries press here. Classic 1978 Cadillac Seville (SOLD).
Western Europe was struck by fierce winds, Dec. 1999 (above). Winds exceeded 120mph.
Over 2 million people were without electricity. Over 10 billion trees were destroyed in France alone.
A journey in time took me further than I could imagine. To unlock the doors of climate and destiny, including the complete story of Our Lady of Fatima. Serious business the melting of glaciers. Notice the difference of Qori Kalis, 1978 and 2000 (below). The topic of the geophysical is an important feature in Alert: For The Times.
The Ernie Pyle Museum is a working library for the public.
In Albuquerque, I visited the Ernie Pyle Museum
Then with a tour conducted by the National Trains Collectors Association, we had the opportunity to visit the Los Alamos complex, nestled high in the mountains of New Mexico where you cannot imagine how pretty it was Author's Journey: Land of Professor Oppenheimer. The feature length movie Oppenheimer was released in 2023, directed by Christopher Nolan in IMAX.
A few of the exhibits, first inside the Bradbury Museum at Los Alamos and then some of the items seen at the train show. I also love View-Masters 3-D. They initially began as a Sawyer product line, later became GAF. Heyday were the 1950s before my time when you could find anything from Disneyland to the 8th World Boy Scout Jamboree to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. In the 1950s, View-Masters expanded production into Australia, India and Belgium although the first two held a very short existence. Throughout the next 20 odd years View-Masters expanded greatly in Europe. GAF was acquired in 1981 by a team based in Belgium: European View-Master International, in turn bought out by toy manufacturers Tyco and then Mattel; in other words View-Master is not dead and some items produced by Mattel are really great--although one line, the View-Master Virtual Reality seems to have 2 drawbacks: you need a Smart Phone & in the hands of kids watch out, (easy to break) and Wikipedia VR is free and no need to have physical reels. Compare it to 2023 VRs but your wallet may feel it.
In my visit to Chicago to attend a special conference June of 2023, I was able to visit a most beautiful church, St. Mary of the Angels, just outside downtown Chicago.
The special conference in Chicago covered the times of the modern Catholic Church and the special assistance given to Catholic priests. Allow me to add a few words on the modern Catholic Church.
Fr Malachy Martin wrote an article about the existence of evil and the devil and gave an analogy how among modern Catholics —and that was years ago—seem to think the devil is only a creation in our minds, so much so that he wrote about how any spy in the world would be only to happy to be known not to exist while he continues his work cleverly undercover. To underscore his point on the best PR job ever done, I discovered a most recent article that triggered my mind to write this piece. An article appeared titled The battle between the Holy Ghost and the Zeitgeist which has a theme, the perennial battle between good and evil but here is the clincher. It was written by a Catholic. It tells about good being represented by God, while it names Zeitgeist, Eros, a spirit of worldliness, worldwide evil, modernists, and Mammon that frame the bad.
Who or what the heck is Mammon?
Satan or Lucifer are not mentioned even once. Not one time. Sorry folks, Eros is out there but not the devil, or the aforementioned. Best PR job? And, this article is from the National Catholic Register, written by Joseph Pearce, very recently Feb. 24, 2024. [Tainting truth is not a form of unity in the battle against the forces of evil, and I am Catholic to say this. Lucifer must thank you, ooops how can he thank you if it/he does not warrant a mention, is it because he does not exist? ]
PR job? And, the article is from the National Catholic Register. Surely, we can do a better PR job in favor of the Angels, Saints and the forces of good.
Around 8 pm EST, March 30, 2001, the night skies in many parts of the world were lit aglow in heavenly fire; even as far south as Florida and New Zealand. It was exemplary and was very rare. The event is covered in Alert: For The Times.
Inside St. Mary of the Angels Chicago was a beautiful painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe next to St. Josemaria Escrivá.
The author also visited the U-boat submarine U-505 exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. U-505, almost the length of a city block, is the centerpiece of the exhibit Experience the Battle of the Atlantic. Inside the museum are virtual trips with motion and VR goggles. The tour of the sub is optional but you can board it.
Less we forget, as in WW II: The Black Market sprang up. courtesy of KCAL.
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