Daily Blog

Some feedback and more tidbits to digest today.

2/26/2017

But first... lecture 101.

Well, here we are at the end of another Black History Month in Canada. And like most of years past, those in the main stream print media tell a handful of stories about William Hall and his heroism fighting with the British before Canada was Canada, and how he was awarded a Victoria Cross for his heroism.

But, as noted in the last blog and many before, the same print media in Canada seems silent, or next to silent about another Black, Canadian born from Nova Scotia as well, that also earned the highest of bravery awards. The Medal of Honor, whilst serving in the American forces through the Civil War and beyond. His story has been oft told in this space. It is too bad the print media couldn't give it the same coverage.

Over the last 2 days I used two national search vehicles that search hundreds of newspapers, and while I found very few about William Hall this month, I cannot find any for Noil in February.

As upsetting was the early Feb. press release from our Minister of Veterans Affairs and Deputy Minister of National Defense. He noted the importance of the black community in Canada's history, how they fought with their white brothers and sisters in WWl and WWll, noted important milestones of both World Wars, and that Nova Scotia's 2nd Construction Battalion was the first large black unit raised in Canada.

While this was great, he gave no mention to the Black unit raised in Victoria back in the 1860's..before Canada, once again, was Canada, but managed to note the importance of recognizing the first Black Victoria Cross recipient...of course being William Hall.

But he gave no notice of the ONLY Black man in the history of Canada... Joseph Noil, who earned a Medal of Honor, just after the Civil War, or that he and thousands of other British North Americans of colour took the underground railway backwards... back into the US to fight for their brothers and sisters between 1861 and 1865.

This from the very man that just months earlier recognized the importance of Noil's bravery and our shared heritage when offering his support for the work that this blog and others did to finally have a proper marker unveiled over his grave. A grave with a misspelled name, and lacking any notice of his hero status. A situation that lasted over 130 years till many individuals and groups pooled resources to fix the horrible situation.

Perhaps some day our government speech writers could do some more homework and help better circulate the lesser known, but equally important facts of days long gone.

Often it seems that our American friends are more likely to honour us than we are. Here is a case in point...

The United States Navy have shown incredible interest in the Noil story over the past year and probably more. At their web site they gave great coverage in the past to the work we did to discover the tragic events leading up to the incorrect marker at Noil's grave site just outside of DC. They were also most interested in carrying the story on their web site regarding the recent unveiling of the new marker, They continue to shown respect to the heritage that Noil had left behind by doing a follow-up during Black History Month The above is the title page for a short video they have produced.

I was thrilled to yet again be interviewed by these folks and both the resulting story and this video can been found at ...
http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/ftrStory.asp?id=98682

This is a wonderful short clip honouring Joseph Noil, and in turn the US Navy, the bigger Military family and the people of the United States. I highly encourage you to have a look at it. It shows you what the American government can do. The obvious question is... why can't the government of Canada do the same?

Back in 1927 Canada seemed to do a better job, when it thanked America. On Armistice Day, hundreds of troops and officials from both Canada and the US attended at Arlington to unveil the Cross of Sacrifice in honour of the brave Americans that fought with the Canadians in the Great War and lost their lives.

The 24 ft high cross is visited by thousands each year and visitors have also including several of Canada's Cabinet members, Prime Ministers and Governor Generals.

Below you can see the inscriptions honouring the Americans who joined the Canadian
military and went off to war, before the US entered the war.

Those honoured lost their lives in the conflict. Later, as shown below, panels were also added for the losses suffered by the Americans, in Canadian uniform, during WWll and in Korea. Once America joined us in battle, some of them later transferred over to American units. A few of these even went on to be awarded Medals of Honor as noted in blogs on this site in the past.

Five years ago, those in the movie business, writers and film makers etc forgot all about remembering Canadian involvement in the story of the day, and indeed probably the decade, when they released the 2012 movie ARGO.

It told of the horrendous situation in Iran where the US Embassy was attacked, and how 6 hostages had been sheltered by the Canadian Embassy and ultimately sneaked out of harm's way and back into the US. It was a major Canadian story but movie makers decided to make it a US story instead.

President Jimmy Carter was to later state to CNN that ..."90% of the contributions to the ideas and the consummation of the plan was Canadian. And the movie almost gives full credit to the CIA. The main hero, in my opinion, was Ken Taylor who was the Canadian Ambassador who orchestrated the whole process."

Ken Taylor would later received The Congressional Gold Medal from the President and some 112 other citations and awards. Six of the Canadian rescuers were later awarded the Order of Canada. And from what we see below, the Americans from around the country gave thanks to Canada.

One of the rescuers was not a Canadian and thus, technically, could not be awarded the Order of Canada. The person was therefore presented with an honourary award of the Order

The Order is the centerpiece of the Canadian Awards system. It is the highest of awards and is given in recognition of outstanding accomplishments, dedication to the community and service to the nation.

The photo shows a vote of thanks after the hostages finally made it home to the US in late January 1980.

Back to Black History Month, this Pennsylvania news clip from 1955 recognizes 6 Black sailors with a caption that five had been awarded Medals of Honor. Past stories in this space have brought you the story of Joachim Pease who, remains listed on numerous web sites as being a Canadian, though best evidence now suggest otherwise.

This is a 1960's navy recruiting poster of Joachim Pease who served on the USS Kearsarge during the famous Civil War battle off the French Coast against the southern forces' CSS Alabama. Just days ago while doing research I found another wonderful video at U Tube and it tells the story of the above battle. It is also a must to view... it will only take a few minutes, unlike this blog, and can be seen at...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSJxG-M3jiY

Serving on that ship was John Hays, who's story has also been noted here before. This early clip from a US newspaper tells of the discovery AFTER 40 YEARS, by Hayes that he was actually a Medal of Honor recipient, and how the medal lay with its rotting ribbon for those 4 decades. He only discover his fortune when he stumbled on an old Government listing about the famous battle and read the names of the men awarded the medal. He no doubt was stunned to read his own name therein.

This blog is getting far too long so I will end it here and will bring the conclusion in a special blog on Wed or Thursday.
Special because it will be an early blog for next Sunday, and since I will be away at a weekend military history seminar I will not be making an entries that weekend.

See you in a few days...
Bart

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Not sure if I should be sad or happy this week!

2/19/2017

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Over the past several days I have has a chance to do some follow up on one fellow and stumbled onto another fascinating story that many of you have heard, but probably did not realized its importance at the time. Both of these stories, to come in the weeks ahead, now have made my total numbers grow from 54. That was seventeen years ago, and today, with the help of many groups and individuals over the years, have more than doubled to 114 Canadian Medal of Honor men. Though I must note some, while not Cdn born, have connections to the country.

These numbers are very exciting!

But then when I feel so good at continuing to add these numbers, I look at February... the very month set aside to give thoughts to the important roles our black friends and families have played in the growth of all of North America, and of course in the military to boot.

It's black history month in Canada and the US, and I believe Britain as well. Today is the 19th. Only nine days to go.

Going back several months ago the internet was abuzz about the great work so many of us did to finally unveil a proper marker for Joseph Noil, a black sailor who lay buried under the wrong name and without any acknowledgment whatsoever that he was a Medal of Honor recipient, for well over 130 years. But we put an end to that. The net stories about the event were seen by MILLIONS.

TV coverage and one of the press services carried stories to many parts of Canada about the event, though many missed the Canadian role in the story. No matter.

But now... with 9 days left in the month that honours our extensive black heritage, we have yet again dropped the ball. I speak of course about many in our media. I say this after several days of internet searches have failed to produce a single story about Joseph Noil in February, the very month that he ought to be front and centre with the likes of Nova Scotia's William Hall. Both men came from the same province. one earning the Victoria Cross and the other the medal of Honor. Both being black men, and the only black men in the country to earn their respective highest of highest medals for bravery from the highest of authority in both Britain and the US. Very few about Hall were found.

One step forward and 30 backwards, most frustrating!

On a more positive note, Canada Post has issued the above stamp in honour of interpreter Mathieu Da Costa. He was an African who, back in the 1600's is believed to have been the first of African descent to arrive on the shores of what is now Canada. He spoke several languages and was hired as an interpreter for French explorers.

If you hold the stamp under a black light, along its top you will see the hidden words..."Canada 150" and also the display of our sesquicentennial logo also.

South of the border, noted in the last few blogs, the Americans have recognized the importance of the black culture going back a long time, though some would argue with cause, that they have often forgotten of this treasure trove of heritage.

On the military front, the revolutionary war saw some 1500 blacks serving in the navy. They were loading the guns, working the sails, manned the boats and even commanding many a coastal vessel. About 1/6th of the navy during the War of 1812 were men of colour. One in four during CW days were blacks, and one in four of the casualties were also men of colour.

The navy came away from the Civil War with about 330 Medals of Honor. But only about a dozen of these went to black sailors.

One of these came to a fellow called Joachim Pease, whom, I hope you have read about in this space in the past. He served on the USS Kearsarge during the famous battle with the CSS Alabama of the French coast near the end of the Civil War. His gun shots were so accurate that the Confederates put a price on his head to take him out, but instead Joachim and the Union men took out the Alabama.

This is his Medal of Honor minus the suspension bar and ribbon. The obverse above has his name engraved the ship's name and date of battle.

No pictures of Pease have been found, but this artists rendition depicts him at his gun on the Kearsarge back in 1864. The image is on a recruitment poster for the US Navy in the 1960's.

Past blogs have also brought you the story of John Hayes who also manned the same gun during this battle. He came from Newfoundland and whist awarded the medal in the 1860's no one bothered to tell him this. Whilst reading an old General Order about 40 YEARS LATER, he stumbled onto the fact that he has been awarded the medal. He made a fuss and finally got it.

Joachim Pease was thought to have been born in the US, then in Newfoundland but best evidence suggest he came from the West Indies. Most net resources still list him as being from the US or Canada.

You have read much about Joseph Noil in this space. This again was another recruiting poster for the navy.

Many of the navy medals were for rescues when someone fell off the ship. The rescue is often in the open seas with high tide or gale and frigid temperatures to deal with. In addition the struggling sailor is often panicking and waving about frantically and trying to grasp on anything or anyone. It is often the case where the rescuer himself may need rescue from being pulled down with the original victim. All points to consider before quickly assuming it is no big deal to dive in and pull someone out. Often tides even carry the rescuers farther away from the vessel, and further compounding rescue efforts.

Most Medal of Honor sources tell of yet of a third Black man associated with Canada that earned a Medal of Honor. He was said to be from Montreal, but as it turns out he was actually from the Caribbean Island of Montserrat. His name was Robert Sweeney and in 1881 he came to the rescue of a fellow who fell off the lower boom and could not swim.

In 1883 Sweeney and crew had just returned from a mission in the arctic to try and find what happened to Lt Adolphus Greeley, another MOH man mentioned in earlier blogs. In the NY harbour area he heard the screams to help a sailor who had fallen overboard from another vessel. The fog was so thick the sailor could not be seen, but never the less Sweeney dove in. Listening for the cries he swam about till he finally found the fellow. But by then even the ship could not be seen. So, listening for the ship's fog horn, he swam to it and soon had another rescue under his belt. And soon another Medal of Honor as well. He'd be the only black double recipient in US military history.

These men, and so many more men and women in and out of the military from years long since gone, need to be remembered and honoured during Black History Month. A month that started out as only a week in the US back in the mid 1920's. And the week chosen, the 2nd of the month was selected for the celebrations. This was because of the great work Abe Lincoln did for the Black community, and in celebration of his birthday during that 2nd week of the month. This also coincides with the birth of the great CW era orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Abe Lincoln is in the center, above and Mr Douglas at the right. But who is that fellow on the left you might ask? He's a Scotsman and came to the US and became famous. His letterhead had one eye... and it was a private eye for hire... Look up Private Eye in any dictionary and you will find the name... of Allan Pinkerton. His eye was a private one, and he rented it out to keep an eye on things for his clients.

The history books don't often tell just how much of a Scotsman he was. When he first came to America... it was not the US... but Canada. And at Montreal he set up shop for a short while and was trying to save up money to go to Chicago. But his wife had a way with money. She took a little and put a deposit on a hat. Then the ship, arrived to take them to the US. But she pleaded that they wait for the next one cause she needed more money to finish paying off the hat. They waited a little while, paid off the hat, and she was told that she could buy as many bonnie hats as she wanted. Seems that had they boarded the original vessel, the only way they would have arrive in the US was in a body bag. The ship boiler blew up and all were drowned.

Years later Pinkerton set up as an investigator and is pictured above as the owner of the agency that became the first Secret Service outfit in the US. The picture was taken at Antietam during CW days.

Black History Week in the US became month long in 1976 in the US.

In 1995 Jean Augustine, Grenadian born Member of Parliament for the Toronto riding of Etobicoke, Lakeshore presented a motion that received unanimous support in the House of Commons to officially recognize Black history Month in Canada. She is shown above at right.

Dan Oliver, shown at left, was a Senator from Nova Scotia. In Feb of 2008, following in her footsteps, this senator received unanimous support in that chamber to formalized Black History Month in Canada.

So there is a little history on our black friends and neighbours. You might want to call up your local press and tell than a little of this and ask why it is not being covered by the press. If they want more info, give them my url.

Cheers till next Sunday.
Bart

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Some more developments in the Medal of Honor world.

2/15/2017

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A most curious story came to my attention a few weeks back. A boy scout managed to do what so many could not since the mid 1930's. He'd found the grave of a Medal of Honor hero.

Chester Howard West was a first Sergeant in the Great War and was awarded a Medal of honor for heroism in France. Back home in the early 1930s he chose Christmas Day to marry his sweetheart. Then he took on work with a large farm owned by the son of a Civil War General who fought for the south.

Fighting apparently was still in the family and the son, while visiting Chester's home, pulled out an old CW rifle. Chester got into a tussle with the son who then shot the hero. He later died at at hospital.

But even at death Chester did not find peace. His grave was in an area that was taken over by another entity and later became overgrown with trees and wild brush etc. For years many would attempt to find the grave. But then along came the boy scout and a crew to chop up a tree thought to have knocked down some markers. Sure enough, Chester's was one of them.

Here is what caught my eye regarding the story...

The internet article says that Chester was also a recipient of the Victoria Cross and two other major awards. I do not know about the the later two, but note that he was NOT a recipient of the Victoria Cross as the story claims. There are no MOH men who were also awarded the VC. I am aware of only one MOH man unsuccessfully nominated for a VC, and another who was awarded with the Queens Scarf, but I do not believe there were any heroes that earned both. If any reader can shed further info on this I would be most interested in hearing from you.

In another internet story of late I found the statement that "only a few hundred (of the Medal of Honor recipients) are not American Citizens". Regular readers of this column will find this of equal interest. While many of almost 750 non-American born Medal of Honor men went on to later become naturalized citizens, all certainly did not.

Here is an interesting quote out of a MOH book from the early 2000's.

The numbers have of course increased in the last 17 years.

Yet another internet site brought some news about conscientious objectors and noted that there were only three who went on to earn the Medal of Honor. They gave the names of Desmond Doss, Thomas Bennett and Joseph LaPointe.

The article perhaps ought to have mentioned the incredible heroism of famed WWl hero Sergeant York and the bravery, and very sad tragedies that struck the Kenneth Kays family. Both were men who tried to enlist under that category but were refused. Regardless they went on to also be Medal of Honor recipients.

I will be telling the Kays story here in the months to come.

Moving on, the net yet again told the reader in weeks past that in the entire history of the MOH, there have been only 19 men who earned actually two different Medals of Honor. Past blogs have told you of 2 history seems to forget. And there could have even been yet another double recipient, but that story comes at a later day. But of the 19 all but 5 earned their medals for different battles. The remaining five, all marines, earned both of their medals FOR THE SAME ACTION and BATTLE. Each were later nominated by the Marines and the Navy. The recommendations read almost identically for the actions taking for the awards. Above are shown Sgt Louis Cukela and to the right is Pte John Kelly, both WWl double recipients.

The Sgt is wearing his army MOH around his neck while the private has his in upper left corner of the two rows of medals. Both were the navy TIFFANY medal, described in past blogs, as well. The Sgt has his at far left in this picture, while the private's is to the right of his army medal.

Much has been said in this space over the past four years about the 1916-17 purge of medals were close to 900 were cancelled, without lawful justification. Most seem little concerned today with that event. Yet very little time elapsed from the purge actions to the day these five doubles were awarded. Surely some eyebrows must have been raised about this strange situation. One has to be curious about how they seem to have slipped under the wire.

And before I go I want to leave you with two birthday announcements ...of sorts. Here is the first.

Many sites tell, in the history of the Army Medal of Honor, that it was first proposed on 17 Feb., 1862, a figure I may have also used in much earlier blogs. But in some most recent research I found several news clippings of the day for Feb 20th 1862, and all say basically the same. They note, as seen above, that the proposal was tabled on the 19th, as shown above. So, in either 2 or 4 days we have a birthday of sorts for the army Medal of Honor. Happy 155th!

And 208 years ago Sunday past, Tom and Nancy lived in this dirt floored log cabin. Between its 143 logs held together with clay they saw the birth of their son who would one day become famous as an orator with the words... Four Score and seven years ago...

Happy belated birthday Abe!

Back on Sunday...
Bart

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February 12th, 2017

2/12/2017

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I am hoping to receive some info on a few fronts and will be bringing the next post to you on Wednesday. Hope to see you then. Bart

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Progress... at a snail's pace!

2/5/2017

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I continue to bring you Medal of Honor stories and search for yet more tidbits of information on the Canadian recipients, or those touching on Canada. Over the past few weeks, a wonderful picture of a CW recipient has crossed my desk. And several neat items from Civil War days have also revealed some great tidbits that I will share in the weeks to come.

One even revealing that a 2nd Canadian recipient played a major role in the creation of a Medal of Honor Club in the very early 1900's and in a few years became its president. (Much has been said in this space about a WWll recipient who later became President of the MOH Society.) But the recent discovery tells me there was a 2nd having the same accomplishment of a sort. And another story has emerged telling of a Medal of Honor man who almost became a double recipient. But more on that also at a later date!

As I do this work I sometimes recall the old joke about the two hunters in the woods late at night. Suddenly they are awoken by the crackling of bushes, and more worrisome, the noise is getting closer and closer. Obviously a bear is getting too close for comfort. The older and wiser of the two quickly fastens the laces in his runners. The younger and somewhat less wise then asks his buddy if he thinks he can outrun the bear. He responds with... "its not the bear I have to outrun, It's you!"

Think about it folks.

A few weeks back I came across a story from Vancouver Canada. I loved it. Finally I saw someone else taking on the press and others. He had caught them repeatedly saying that the Victoria Cross men in the article were not winners, and that the medals were earned or awarded. I think he even said that the bravery award was made as a result of heroism, not a game.

Finally some headway was being made. I was escaping the bear. So I thought!

But then I came across the u tube video about the recent appointment of General Mattis as the new Secretary of Defense in the United States.

The upper picture shows the new Vice President administering the oath of office to the General as President Trump looks on. Below, the President has finished announcing two initiatives, has signed the documentation, presented one of the historic pens as a keepsake to the new Secretary of Defense, and is about to present the 2nd pen to Vice President Pence.

So far so good. It is the setting that viewers should give some thought to. They are at the Pentagon in one of the hallways. In fact a rather important one. It is called the Hall of Honor, as clearly depicted by the very large depictions of the three current versions of the Medal of Honor. At the left in upper picture is the army version. Next comes the Marine Corps, Navy and US Coast Guard medal and in lower picture we see the Air Force's medal.

All acknowledged the importance of the Hallway and that inscribed on its walls are the names of all the AMERICAN Medal of Honor men, some 3,500 strong. I and I suspect many others would have liked to have heard some rumblings by one of, if not all of these highest of officials, that one in five of those very names belongs to a hero that was born OUTSIDE of the United States. And while many of these servicemen later became citizens, many did not. I wonder if any of these three men even know this.

In describing the importance of this Hall, President Trump said that ... "this is a sacred hall, the sole of the nation lies between its walls." He went on to praise all the recipients and noted that the government and the people well respect what each did for his... or her... country. He also made reference to the efforts being made to keep terrorists out of the country.

But therein lies the concern of many! The only ones objecting to that ideal are probably the very ones you do not want entering the country. But it is all the rest that have been or could be caught up in the trap at the same time. Some of which I made mention of, not without notice, in my last blog.

But there is something else that leaves a bad impression on many. The perception I suspect that the President is picking important stages to rest on the laurels of heroes long gone, in support of his own agenda. An agenda that precludes entry to many who ought to be permitted entry with open arms.

Many saw this same sort of "staging" during the election. Back in late September I commented on the numerous announcements that some 14 Medal of Honor recipients were supporting the Trump campaign, a right they certainly had. However, in so claiming this support, most headlines noted failed to mention any of the names of the MOH men. Heroes who's services resulting in the awards were never given and as it appeared, had really nothing to do with the campaign other than to be a bragging point.

But you saw nothing in the same news coverage about the other 63 who had not claimed support for either candidate. It appeared that the press also failed to question that the rest of the MOH men had not come forth yet, or questioned why or who they supported. Should these other recipients not also been part of the full and fair story? Ballots are of course secret. However the stories could have at least told the uninformed that..hey...look..there are still another 63 we have not heard from yet.

Same thing for the Admirals and Generals. My previous blog noted that 88 had apparently indicated being a Trump supporter. But what most of the press stories... and of course the campaign forgot to tell you was that at the very time, across the US there were some 4,800 Admirals and Generals.

Now you can better see the picture. 88 out of 4,800. All of a sudden it is not very impressive at all. Maybe the majority were Trump supporters. Who knows? And they have a right of course to keep their ballots secret of course. But on the face of it, surely there was a problem in giving the public less than the whole story.

Before leaving this story, I would like to also note that it seems the Congressional Medal Of Honor Society, formed back in August 1958, might want to visit some of the issues raise above. Among its founding goals is one..."to protect, uphold and preserve the dignity and honor of the medal at all times and on all occasions." Another is "to protect the name of the medal and individual recipients of the Medal of Honor from exploitation." And another is to "foster and perpetuate Americanism."

While I have the utmost respect for this Society, one that has been most helpful to me in the past, I believe these issues ought to be on the table for discussions of the membership.

All of our Medal of Honor men, and one woman, past and present are worthy of our utmost respect. The above issues suggest their feathers are being ruffled.

I will sign off till next week because I think I hear some bears coming though the bushes.

Bart

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Some feedback and more tidbits to digest today.

Not sure if I should be sad or happy this week!

Some more developments in the Medal of Honor world.

February 12th, 2017

Progress... at a snail's pace!

Author;
Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers

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Some feedback and more tidbits to digest today.

Not sure if I should be sad or happy this week!

Some more developments in the Medal of Honor world.

February 12th, 2017

Progress... at a snail's pace!

Author;Bart Armstrong, C.D., Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers

Archives

Categories

Author;
Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers