JFK & Reagan

Bill Maher suggests in the above video that JFK was a "cooler" President than Ronald Reagan.  He cannot seem to manage this without coarse disparagement of Sarah Palin.

What is Maher missing in his JFK / Reagan comparison?  Well, almost everything.

First off, he does not seem to have any awareness of the many traits that JFK and Reagan shared.  Both were white, heterosexual males of Irish descent.  Both were American Presidents and that alone puts them in a very exclusive club.  Both were gifted speakers.  Both men could look good in a suit and liked to pal around with Frank Sinatra.  Both men were accomplished in the nearly lost art of letter-writing.  Both men had a sense of humor.  Both men had highly unsatisfactory fathers, though JFK's enjoyed more material success.  Both began their political lives as New Deal Democrats who worshipped FDR.  Both were fervently anti-Communist Cold War warriors.  Both cut marginal tax rates thereby stimulating the economy.

Both supported a strong US defense posture.  JFK launched the Navy Seals which proved to be pretty cool in 2011 when they got Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.  Reagan used SDI as a massive bluff which helped to win the Cold War.  Genrikh Trofimenko, a high ranking official in the Brezhnev era, declared, "Ninety-nine percent of the Russian people believe that America won the Cold War because of your president's insistence on SDI."  Source: Reagan and Thatcher: A Difficult Relationship, Richard Aldous, 2013).  That is still pretty cool even today.

Both men were strong advocates of the second amendment who later became victims of an assassin's bullets (see...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/jfk-6th-floor-museum.html).  JFK's encounter was fatal while Reagan recovered from Hinckley's 1981 attempt.  Reagan did not live long enough to see and appreciate Hinckley's final humiliation when Jodie Foster emerged from the closet to torment his pathetic fantasies.

Both men made significant and costly mistakes in deploying American military support -- Kennedy at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba (1961) and Reagan in sending the Marines on shore in Lebanon (1983).

Reagan's blunders with the Iran/Contra scandal nearly destroyed his administration.  Kennedy's blunders in his dealings with Khrushchev nearly destroyed the world.  The only time the US has ever gone to Def-Con 2 was during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962.  Afterwards, Che Guevara, of the million T-shirts, told a British journalist that, had the Cubans controlled the missiles on the island, he would have authorized a launch.  That would have been totally "uncool".

Both men chose for their running mates Texans who had served honorably in the US Navy during World War II.  Both respective VPs were elected to a single term.

There were also differences small and large.

JFK Plaque, National Museum of the Pacific War
Fredericksburg Texas

JFK saw active duty in World War II with PT-109 which was very cool.  Reagan helped make wartime propaganda films -- not so cool.

As Commander-in-chief, JFK escalated our involvement in Vietnam raising the number of U.S. Military advisers from 800 at the time of his inauguration in 1961 to over 16,000 by the time of his assassination in Dallas in 1963. (Source: A Vietnam War Reader, Michael Hunt, 2010).   JFK's administration collaborated in the assassination of the Diem brothers who were our allies in South Vietnam.  Very Uncool.

Reagan, on the other hand, presided over a period of peace and prosperity.  Much cooler.

JFK teed up Vice President Johnson for a catastrophe in Vietnam that would cost over 50,000 American lives.  JFK said "we will bear every burden" and we bore many burdens through the 1960s.  That was kind of "uncool".

Ronald Reagan, Grosvenor Square, London

It was Reagan who later said that the conflict in Vietnam "was, in truth, a noble cause."  So, in a sense, Reagan helped us to forgive JFK's youthful indiscretions and a nation to forgive itself.  That was pretty cool.

Reagan teed up his Vice President H.W. Bush for a final, peaceful victory in the cold war.  Reagan went to the Berlin Wall and said, "tear down that wall" and the wall came down.  The absence of "duck and cover" in our world today remains totally cool.

At the end of the day, Ronald Reagan was a successful President and a much happier man than JFK;  the martyred JFK remains to history a well-polished question mark.

Special thanks to Lois Walker for directing me to Maher's video.

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Royal Salute

Commander Kelly + Royal Horse Artillery
Photo Courtesy: Tim Lyons

London offers many unique sights, sounds and experiences.  Where else can you find a troop of Royal Horse Artillery to celebrate life's special moments?  The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery may have moved out of Saint John's Wood last year and are headquartered now in Woolwich, but they remain very active in celebrating special events such as the Queen's birthday with a whiff of grapeshot.  Yesterday (November 14th, 2013) some friends and I attended the Royal Salute to the Prince of Wales' birthday.  Forty-one shots were discharged -- twenty-one for the birthday and twenty for the Royal Park (Hyde Park) that was the setting.

Hyde Park November 14, 2013
Photo Courtesy: Tim Lyons

Women are not allowed into the British cavalry but they are welcome in the Horse artillery.  As a consequence, about 40 percent of the artillerymen are women.  See earlier post Women in Combat here...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/women-in-combat.html

Hyde Park, London
Photo Courtesy: Tim Lyons

The 13 pound breech-loading canons that they use were fired in anger during the First World War and perhaps even in the Second.  They still can make a deafening roar.  Several nearby car alarms went off during yesterday's salute!

Prince of Wales Birthday 2013
Photo Courtesy: Tim Lyons

From the Napoleonic wars through World War II artillery has been responsible for more combat deaths than any other class of weapon.  Napoleon learned the craft of war as an artilleryman and first distinguished himself by directing the guns at the siege of Toulon.  Nietzsche called himself a "swaggering old artillery man".  Ian Fleming's father (Valentine) was killed by artillery while serving on the Western front in World War I.  Harry Truman served in "Battery B" in the American Expeditionary Force in the Great War.

Royal Salute, Photo courtesy Will Heim

Royal salutes are held at least seven times per year.  They are held in Hyde Park and in Green Park.  They are open to the public and entirely free.  You can find details and the upcoming schedule here...http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/green-park/green-park-attractions/gun-salutes.  Plan your visit!

Artillery on the move
Photo Courtesy: Will Heim

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's 

first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Guns, War and Statistics

Commander Kelly + His Favorite Gun

Let's talk about guns.  Let me say at the outset, that I am NOT an NRA member and I have NEVER owned a working firearm.

I recently was forwarded this startling message via social media.  Mark Shields, a commentator on PBS claimed on 12/20/2012 that "more Americans have died from gunfire than died in … all the wars of this country's history,"...http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jan/18/mark-shields/pbs-commentator-mark-shields-says-more-killed-guns/.  We are assured by the "Politi-fact Truthometer," that Shields' claim it "true".

This is precisely the type of rhetoric that Europeans and others love to read about those "bloodthirsty American cowboys" mowing each other down in the streets.  It confirms all their favorite prejudices about violent American gun owners.  This is a shocking, attention-grabbing headline.

But is Mark Shields' claim really correct?

First off, are the US War deaths figures accurate?  According to Shields, total US war deaths have been 1,171,177.  Well his source is the CRS (Congressional Research Service), which appears reputable.  Here is their 2010 study: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf.

Cherry Valley Massacre
November 11, 1778

Let's start with America's first war the American Revolution which ran from 1775 to 1783.  The CRS cites total American deaths as 4,435.  Does this include American Tories who fought on the British side?  I doubt it.  Does this figure include American civilians killed by native Americans that fought on behalf of the British?  Dubious.  This question is not simply theoretical for me as I had ancestors who were massacred by the Mohawk and Seneca tribesmen (with British leaders) in Cherry Valley, New York (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Valley_massacre).  Had my ancestor not been sent away to boarding school I would not, ahem, be writing this blog now--his entire family was killed!  Out of the 44 Americans killed at Cherry Valley on November 11, 1778 most were civilians.  Many Americans were killed while imprisoned on British POW ships.  The most recent scholarship on American deaths in the American Revolution by John Shy puts total American death in the Revolution at 25,000 (Source: John Shy, A People Numerous and Armed: Reflections on the Military Struggle for American Independence (revised edition, University of Michigan Press, 1990).  The CRS study on which Shield's claim is based is, therefore, off by a factor of nearly 6X in the case of the American Revolution!

What about America's bloodiest conflict -- the US Civil war?  The CRS study only cites total Union deaths which it gives as 364,511.  In a footnote it mentions an estimate of total Confederate dead at 133,821 and cites an additional 28,000 to 31,000 of POW deaths.  Shields' source extrapolates on the basis of the footnotes and gives a combined Civil war death total of 525,000.

In 2012 a new study by demographer David Hacker, however, has just raised the estimated total American civil war deaths to 750,000  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/civil-war-toll-up-by-20-percent-in-new-estimate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.   This implies that, according to the latest scholarship, Shields' source UNDERCOUNTS civil war deaths by 225,000!

If we take WIKI as our source for total US War deaths (1,321,612 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war) which was clearly more accurate on the American Revolution (thought probably still too low) we get and then update for the latest US civil war deaths based on the Hacker study (add 125,000 deaths more than the WIKI Civil War figures) we get a total American war deaths figure of 1,446,612.

If look a the other side of the claim (1,384,171 killed by firearms from 1968 to the present) and accept that, provisionally, as true we can see that SHIELD'S CLAIM IS DEMONSTRABLY FALSE. 

You might still object that 1,384,171 killed by firearms since 1968 is still an awful lot and close to the total US war dead.

Shield's claim is also highly misleading.

Consider, for example, the phrase "killed by firearms".  That means that ALL firearm-related deaths are counted, including suicides and accidents.  The annual murder rate by firearms (11,078 in 2010) has been going down steadily since 1981.  The annual suicide rate by firearms (19,392 in 2010) is, however, is nearly TWICE the murder rate  and is reaching new highs (Source: http://www.factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/).  Consider this suicide rate against the fact that 1,660,290 new cases of cancer are estimated to be diagnosed in 2013 (American Cancer Society).  A majority of firearm deaths are NOT the result of violent crime at all.

It is true that many Americans own guns (88.8 guns per 100 people in 2007).  It is also true that the total population of Americans (316,364,000 per 2010 census) is vastly larger than it was at our nation's founding (3,929,214 per 1790 census) and about 10X greater than at the start of the US civil war (31,443,321 per 1860 census).  A combination of more people, more guns and a greater acceptance of suicide as an option has, tragically, elevated US suicide rates to record levels.

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's 

first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Obama and the Washington Redskins

Washington Redskins

Our sensitive and caring President took time out of his busy schedule during the recent government shutdown to inform us that the Washington Redskins should think about changing the name of their football team in order to avoid offending Native Americans....

According to a 2004 survey, 90% of Native Americans were not actually bothered by the term "Redskins" and many Native American schools use the name for their school teams (http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/08/how-many-native-americans-think-redskins-is-a-slur/).

But let's leave that aside, as clearly a minority within a minority is offended by the name "Redskins".

President Obama did not, however, go on to make positive suggestions for changing the name to something that would more accurately express the feelings of Americans towards Washington D.C. and all of our elected officials.  To remedy this oversight Commander Kelly had come up with a list of alternate team names that would address this dire problem facing the nation's capitol....

First, there are alliterative options such as...

Washington Weenies
Washington Weasels
Washington Wimps
Washington Wankers
Washington Weaklings
Washington Wusses
Washington Worms
Washington Werewolves
Washington Worthless
Washington Waiverers
Washington Witless
Washington Will O' the Wisps

Then there are more descriptive options...

Washington Drones
Washington Gridlockers
Washington Losers
Washington Leakers
Washington Sell-outs
Washington Scumbags
Washington Liars
Washington Blow-hards
Washington Bloviators
Washington Hypocrites
Washington Fence-Riders
Washington Deceivers
Washington Dunces
Washington Gutless
Washington Cro-Magnons
Washington Duds
Washington Poll-takers
Washington Num-nuts
Washington Spineless
Washington Nitwits
Washington Drunkards
Washington Sexters
Washington Teleprompters
Washington Un-named Sources
Washington Scumbag Millionaires (Bollywood combines political types and NFL felons)

PETA may object, but there are some choice animals names that remain unused by the NFL...

Washington Dinosaurs
Washington Dodo Birds
Washington Snakes
Washington Sloths
Washington Goats
Washington Horny Toads
Washington Vermin
Washington Rats
Washington Pigs
Washington Turkeys (Benjamin Franklin would surely have approved)
Washington Trough-Gobblers
Washington Monkeys
Washington Apes
Washington Invertebrates

If the franchise were to move to London and play at Wembley they would just require a small tweak...

Go London Redcoats!
Guards Museum, London

London Redcoats (Great Match-up when they play the New England Patriots!)

Finally, there his my own personal favorite...

Washington Zombies (Go Team Z!)


On second thought, perhaps they should just stick with "Washington Redskins" (about 80% of Americans actually agree on something -- see video below).  Go Redskins!

Commander Kelly invites you, dear reader, to come up with your own helpful suggestions for new and improved names for Washington's NFL franchise in the Comment field below.

You can order Commander Kelly's first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Royal Marines Museum

Commander K. at the Royal Marines Museum, Portsmouth

Visit the Royal Marines Museum in Portsmouth and you will be able to explore the rich historical heritage of this fabled military unit (www.royalmarinesmuseum.co.uk).

Hannah Snell tending bar
Royal Marine Museum, Portsmouth

The Royal Marines were formed to serve aboard the Royal Navy's ships in 1664.  Their motto was and remains "Per Mare, Per Terram" ("By Land, By Sea").  Those who suppose that the issue of "women in combat" (http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/women-in-combat.html) are likely unacquainted with the story of Hannah Snell.  In 1747 Snell, dressed in men's clothes, served in the Royal Marines siege of French-occupied Pondicherry.  She was wounded 11 times and later awarded a pension by the royal Chelsea Hospital.

Royal Marines fire the "shot heard round the world" in 1775

In 1775 a detachment of Royal Marines under Major Pitcairn fired on American militia near Lexington -- it was the shot heard round the world.  Pitcairn would later be killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Royal Marine kit, HMS Victory

146 Royal Marines, commanded by Captain Adair fought aboard the HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.  Unlike Nelson's sailors, none of them were 'pressed men.  The Royal Marines are said to have swept the French infantry from the rigging of the French Redoutable with musket fire, avenging Nelson's death by killing his assassin (see post HMS Victory...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/hms-victory.html).  2nd Lieutenant Thomas Wearing was the only Royal Marine to be present at both the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Napoleon Chair, Royal Marine Museum

Royal Marines aboard the HMS Bellerophon guarded Napoleon on his journey to his final exile on St. Helena.  The museum has a chair used by Napoleon.

Royal Marine Officer, Royal Marine Museum

The Royal Marines served throughout the British Empire in the 19th century.  Some even deployed in a Camel corps in the Sudan campaign of 1884.

Royal Marine Commando, WWII

Royal Marines served with British forces in both World Wars during the 20th century.  During World War II the Royal Marine Commandos were created.  On D-Day June 6, 1944, the largest amphibious invasion in history, over 17,500 Royal Marines participated; there were no US Marines at D-day due to their deployment in the Pacific theatre.

HMS Victory, Royal Marines Museum, Portsmouth

Royals Marines served in Iraq from 2003 to 2009 where they saw heavy fighting near Basra.  The Royal Marines have served in Afghanistan from 2002 to the present.

The most recent news about the Royals Marines was an unpleasant reminder about the eternal brutalities of war.  A few, less than brilliant, Royal Marines who filmed themselves killing an unarmed Afghan prisoner are facing prosecution http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2473171/Royal-Marine-murdered-injured-Afghan-national-captured-shooting-chest.html?ico=home%5Eheadlines.

Today there are about 6,500 Royals Marines around the world who represent about 15 percent of the Royal Naval Service.

Per Mare, Per Terram

Commander Kelly says, "Marines, Strike up the band!"

You can now find Commander Kelly's first book, America Invades,  here www.americainvades.com or on Amazon www.amzn.com/1940598427

HMS Victory

Commander K., Victory and Portsmouth's finest
October 22, 2013

On October 21, 2013 the HMS Victory (http://www.hms-victory.com/), Lord Nelson's 104-gun flagship, marked the 208th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.  This is the only ship that remains from this decisive British victory over the Franco-Spanish Fleet.  Though Victory rests in a dry dock it continues to be a serving ship in the royal Navy.  Queen Elizabeth II had dinner in Nelson's cabin on the bicentennial of Trafalgar in 2005.

Admiral Nelson's Dining Cabin
HMS Victory, Portsmouth

Admiral Villeneuve and his Franco-Spanish fleet outnumbered Nelson's by 33 ships of the line to 27.   This did not deter Nelson from launching his fleet straight at the enemy as soon as the opportunity was presented itself.  The wooden ships of the Royal Navy were all that stood between Napoleon's Grande Armée
Grande Arm
camped at Boulogne and England which had a pitifully small army.

Commander K. aboard Victory

Nelson sent out the signal that "England expects every man to do his duty".  The two straight lines of Royal Navy ships sailed straight towards the Allied line taking fire particularly in the sails as the French tended to aim high in order to slow and dis-mast their opponents.  The British, on the other hand, preferred to aim low where they would kill the crews of their opponents.

Victory Crew included 22 Americans

22 Americans, many of them 'pressed men', did their duty on board the Victory that day.

Captain Lucas of the French ship Redoubtable had sent French infantry soldiers armed with muskets into the rigging of his ship to fire down on the English ships.  The Victory approached the Redoutable.

Here Nelson Fell
HMS Victory, Portsmouth

"On the quarterdeck of the Victory Nelson paced to and from.  He was wearing a blue coat decorated with gold epaulettes and his four orders of chivalry embroidered on his left great.  Although advised before the action to change ion a plain coat to avoid identification, he had refused, saying there was no time.  Probably he was sighted by one of Captain Lucas's snipers in the mizzen-top of the Redoubtable or perhaps it was a random shot, but at twenty-five minutes past one Nelson jerked, dropped to his knees and rolled on to his side, shot through the shoulder.  Hardy ordered him to be carried below, the admiral spreading his handkerchief over his face so that he should not be recognised,  He was laid in the cockpit on the orlop deck below the waterline, where the surgeon and his mates worked on the wounded, bandaging tying tourniquets and amputating arms and and legs.  As Hardy leaned over him, Nelson said 'Hardy , I believe they have done it at a last, my backbone is shot through' and when William Beatty, the surgeon began to cut away his clothing, said, 'You can be of no use to me, Beatty, go and attend those whose lives can be preserved.'  

Nelson's death
Guards Toy Soldier Centre, London

Nelson lay dying in the dim light of horn lanterns; as the concussion of broadsides shook the ship and this about him strained to hear his whispers a giants the thunder of the guns and the scream of the wounded, his words were remembered...Nelson muttered, 'Remember me to Lady Hamilton.  Remember me to Horatia (his daughter and only child...CK)...I have left  will and left Lady Hamilton and Horatia to my country...My sufferings are great but they will soon be over...yet one would like to have a little longer, too...How dear is life to all men... God be praised, I have done my duty.'"  (Source: The Terror Before Trafalgar, Tom Pocock, 2002, www.amzn.com/1909609676).

Nelson's Column, Trafalgar Square, London

Nelson's body, unlike most of those killed at Trafalgar, was not tossed over the side of the ship.  Instead his body was preserved for the voyage home in a wooden barrel of spirits.  Some allege that the barrel was nearly dry when the Victory returned to Britain.

Nelson's decisive victory at Trafalgar meant that Britain would rule the waves for more than a century.  Napoleon's invasion plans would be frustrated.  Sadly, the British government turned its back on Lady Hamilton and Horatia.  Lady Hamilton descended into alcoholism and died in penury in France.

Nelson's Blood

The best way to toast Nelson's memory is with a "Nelson's Blood" cocktail.  There are many variations on the theme of a "Nelson's Blood" cocktail.  Here is the one my friends and I tried at a pub in Portsmouth...it was delicious!

Cocktail Ingredients: Makes 1 Drink.

3 measures of (cloudy) traditional lemonade
1 Measure Spanish Port (Fortified Wine)
1 measure of French Brandy
1 measure of Lamb’s Dark ‘Navy’ Rum
1 measure fresh orange juice
Dash orange bitters

Directions: Pour the port, brandy, rum, and orange juice and orange bitters into a cocktail shaker with cracked ice and shake. Strain into a large, wide brandy (cognac) glass, with a few ice cubes in it. Pour in the lemonade carefully to top off, then garnish with a twist of orange peel and serve.

Source: http://recipewise.co.uk/nelson’s-blood.

For much more on Nelson see...http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/peace-making-horatio-nelson-style.html , http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/nelsons-dockyard-antigua.html , http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/lord-nelson-in-corsica.html and http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/horatio-nelson-champion-of-liberty.html

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Kelly's latest book, An Adventure in 1914, can be found here...www.anadventurein1914.com

Or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/B01LXD1KHQ

Mary Rose

Mary Rose Model
Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth

On July 19, 1545 the Mary Rose, pride of Henry VIII's fleet, sank in the waters near Portsmouth.  The King himself witnessed the catastrophe unfold from the shore.  Only about 30 out of the crew of around 500 were saved.  The exact cause of the tragedy remains somewhat mysterious.  According to one survivor's record, the Mary Rose, opposing a hostile French fleet, had fired her guns from one side and was turning to fire again when she dipped her open gun ports below the water and sank immediately.  Other accounts suggest that French gunfire may have been responsible.

Commander K. and Henry VIII, Mary Rose Museum

What is certain is that she settled to the bottom that afternoon and about half the ship was eventually covered with silt for over 400 years.  It was this silt that preserved half the ship's timbers from destruction.  An extraordinary archaeological project spanning many years located the ship in 1971 and recovered many items.  In 1982 half of the ship was brought to the surface for the fist time since its sinking in 1545.  Prince Charles himself dove to the Mary Rose shipwreck and watched when she was resurfaced on October 11, 1982.

Mary Rose 2013

From 1994 the ship has been spared with a water-soluble wax to strengthen the wooden hull.  Now the ships's timbers are being dried in a temperature controlled environment until 2017.

Mary Rose bronze canons

The Mary Rose served for 34 years as a warship in the Tudor Royal Navy.  She fought in two naval engagements: Brest in 1512 and the Battle of Solent in 1545.  She carried over 70 bronze guns that fired iron and hand-carved stone cannonballs.  She also had a complement of archers who fired their longbows from the Castle deck.

Bronze Canon, Mary Rose Museum

The new Mary Rose Museum (http://www.maryrose.org/) in Portsmouth opened in the May of 2013 and has now become one of the premiere tourist destinations in England.  Three floors offer visitors a comprehensive view of the ship.  Over 19,000 objects that were found from the ship are on display in the Museum.  There were, for example, 137 longbows and 3,500 wooden arrows. A visitor can gain a appreciation for many of the realities of everyday life in the Tudor period.

"Hatch" and Backgammon board

Even the skeleton of "Hatch" the dog is on display.  You can purchase "Mary Rose" beer in the Museum gift shop!

Britain is an island nation with a proud maritime and naval tradition.  The Royal Navy is the "Senior Service" in the British military.  The Mary Rose has thankfully been preserved so that future generations will be able to explore this rich history.

Lion detail, Mary Rose Museum

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's 

first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427

Guards Chapel

Commander K. at Guards Chapel, London
The only part of the Chapel NOT destroyed on June 18, 1944

The Guards Chapel in London is easily visited today.  It is just across from St. James Park near the St James Park Tube station.  The Guards Museum which tells the full story of the five Guards regiments that guard the Royal family (http://americanconservativeinlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/guards-museum-london.html) is just across the way.

I will allow Rick Atkinson to tell what happened to the Guards Chapel in World War II.  The Germans referred to London as "Target 42" at the time...

Guards Chapel, Floor Memorial

"Even on the sabbath morn, antiaircraft crews across Target 42 manned their guns and scanned the southeastern sky for the apparition soon called Doodlebug, Hell Hound, Buzz Bomb, Rocket Gun, Headless Horseman, or, simply, It.  Earlier in the week some gunners had crowed in jubilation at shooting down what they believed were German bombers but were now known to be pilotless bombs designed to fall from the sky.  This Sunday, June 18, was Waterloo day, and worshippers packed London churches to commemorate the British Army's victory over Napoleon in 1815, and to petition the divine for help again.

British Army Campaign Colours, Guards Chapel

In the Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk, across front the former pig meadow and leper colony currently known as St. James's Park, a full-throated congregation belted out the "Te Deum" and prepared to take communion from the Bishop of Maidstone.  'To Thee all angels cry aloud,' they sang, 'the heavens and all the powers therein.'  At 11:10 a.m. an annoying growl from those same heavens grew louder.  Ernest Hemingway heard it in his Dorchester Hotel suite, where he was making pancakes with buckwheat flour and bourbon;  from the window he looked for the telltale 'white-hot bunghole' of a jet engine.  Pedestrians in Parliament square heard it whistle and fell flat, covering their head.  Clementine Churchill, the prime minister's wife, heard it in Hyde Park, where she was visiting the gun battery in which her daughter Mary volunteered.  The Guards Chapel congregation heard it and kept singing.

Then they heard nothing--that most terrifying of all sounds--as the engine quit, the bunghole winked out, and the black cruciform fell.  Through the Chapel's reinforced concrete roof it plummeted before detonating in a white blast that blew out walls, blew down support pillars, and stripped leaves from St James's plane trees.  A funnel o smoke curled fifteen hundred feet above the wrecked nave; rubble ten feet deep buried the pews even as six candles still guttered on the altar and the bishop stood unharmed.  One hundred and twenty-one others were dead and many more injured.  Two thousand memorial plaques accumulated by Guards regiments during eons of war lay pulverised, although a mosaic donated by Queen Victoria remained intact: 'Be thou faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life.'

Guards Band, Wellington Barracks, London

Clementine Churchill hastened home to alert the prime minister, who was still reviewing papers in bed at 10 Downing street.  'The Guards Chapel,' she told him, 'is destroyed.'  Among other, several musicians from the Coldstream Guards were found in a side gallery, still holding their instruments as if in a wax tableau, surely faithful unto death.  Churchill wept.

That afternoon he motored to Bushy Park and asked Eisenhower to redouble efforts against the flying bomb."  (Source: The Guns at Last Light, Rick Atkinson, 2013 www.amzn.com/0805062904).

Instant Classic

The V-1 Rocket that destroyed the Guards Chapel that day was a reliable and cheap weapon that cost about 150 pounds in 1944 values.

V-1 Rockets, Flying Heritage Collection (Everett, WA)

The late John Keegan pointed out that the V-1 might actually have been a war-winning weapon under certain circumstances.  He writes, "Had it been given priority, and been mass-produced in large numbers during 1943, there is little doubt that the flying bomb would have caused terrible damage to London and other southern British cities; it might even have so disrupted shipping in British southern ports as to have set back or even prevented the launching of the cross-Channle invasion in June 1944." (Source: Intelligence and War, John Keegan, 2002, www.amzn.com/0375700463).

A visitor to the Guards Chapel today can see why the Bishop of Maidstone survived as the apse of the Chapel (see photo at top) where he was standing, is the only part of the original structure of the Royal Military Chapel that remains from its dedication in 1838.

Travel notes: The Guards Chapel is a five minute walk from the St James Park Tube station on the District and Circle line.  The Chapel is open to the public for services every Sunday at 11:00am.  Here is their web site...http://www.army.mod.uk/chaplains/23369.aspx

Buckingham Arms, London

There are many attractive pubs in the neighbourhood.  The Buckingham Arms (http://www.youngs.co.uk/pubs/buckingham-arms) is a short walk from the Guards Chapel.

You can now purchase Commander Kelly's first book, America Invades here...www.americainvades.com or on Amazon...www.amzn.com/1940598427