S. Martin Shelton – Page 5 – Retired U.S.Navy Captain, Novelist

Xmas 1968

It was on 23 December 1968 that I met the most gorgeous women on the planet, Raquel Welch. It’s a long story, but I’ll make it short.

raq Raquel

Sailors tell sea stories—a tale of some incident in the sailor’s adventures that is memorable, at least to the sailor. By definition, sailors enhance their tales with fictional events to make them more compelling for their shipmates. The following tale is without the sea story enhancement. It’s as faithful to the facts as best as I can remember.

In February 1968, I reported aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CVA 61) as ship’s company. I was a Special Duty Officer, Air Intelligence. We deployed to the Tokin Gulf in October 1968 and conducted air interdiction operations primarily in North Vietnam. My primary task was to develop targets for our Air Group to strike.

The ship’s routine was to conduct air operations for seven consecutive days, stand down for one day and then resume flight operations for the next seven days. Because of the nature of my job, planning targets for the next day’s operations, I had to work on the stand-down day to insure that the next day’s targeting was ready for briefing the aviators, ordinance officers (for planning appropriate weapons for the targets), and ordinance men (for loading such weapons on the aircraft).

Most of our intelligence shop was in the air-conditioned spaces—necessary to keep our banks of computers from overheating. Unfortunately, the targeting shop was outside the air conditioning boundary. It was in a small vault on the deck just below the flight deck and beside the Admiral’s ladder. Inside we had maps of the Top-Secret Vietnam air war posted throughout the vault. We had a small fan to circulate the air and when we were inside we kept the vault door opened to help circulation. We rigged a drape over the vault’s door and posted a large KEEP OUT sign in the center of the drape. No unauthorized sailor ever entered my vault.

As luck would have it, the Bob Hope’s Christmas USO Tour flew aboard late on 21 December 1968 shortly after we’d completed air operations for the day. Included in his troupe were Les Brown and his band of renown cinematography crew, hist staff and the bimbo of the year, Miss Raquel Welch—one gorgeous and sexy dame.

Next day was our stand down day and that afternoon Bob Hope put on one terrific show. God love him. I know he and Bing are playing sub-par on that golf course in the celestial sphere. Of course, Raquel was a terrific hit. After the show, I returned to my vault to complete the targeting plan for the next day’s strikes. I closed the drape over the door and became fully immersed in my targeting tasks. Time slid by.

A soft, throaty female voice snapped me back to reality, “Can you tell me how to get to the enlisted dining hall? I’m supposed to have dinner with Seaman John Jones.”

I whirled around and saw Raquel standing a few feet from me. Startled, I was momentarily without voice. She was inside my Top-Secret vault—an incredible breach of security. Nonetheless, she was wearing a form-fitting blue micro-mini skirt, three-inch high heels, and a skin-tight, brown knit blouse over a no-bra, brassière. The visual effect was erotically stunning and mind-numbing.

Still without voice, and shocked that my air war might possibly be compromised, I rose from my chair, placed my right hand on her left shoulder and turned her around so that she faced the drape. With a gentle nudge, I guided her outside my vault. No words were exchanged.

Fortunately, a sailor was walking down the passageway. I said to him, “Seaman, take Miss Welch to the enlisted mess.” A large smile cracked on his face and without ado, they scrambled down the Admiral’s ladder.

That’s end of my sea story. But it’s no sea story. My tale is about as accurate as I can remember some forty-five years later.

I’ve wondered, from time to time, if I should have slammed the vault door shut with Raquel and me inside. Dream on.

FIN

You may read other short stories like Raquel in my Short Story compilation, Aviators, Adventurers, and Assassins.

BOOK REVIEW: Steve Canyon, Milton Caniff, Vol. 6: 1957 to 1958

Two stars.

Headline: Lieutenant Colonel Steven (Steve) Canyon, USAFR, intensifies his domestic agenda.

Egad! Milton Caniff, what have you done to our iconic hero?

The eight stories in this book all hinge on some sort of domesticity, teenage nonsense or failed romance. Unfortunately, this book is an overblown telenovela, a Bollywood par excellence, a classic soap opera. Starting a few books back we can see that his drawings are beginning to lack the dept, composition and sparkle of previous strips.

How we miss Caniff’s ol’ time adventure stories set in exotic locations and introducing even more exotic dames ardent for Canyon’s passionate kisses. Where is the Dragon Lady when we need her? Where is the consummately evil blackguard planning to do dastardly deeds, destroy Canyon in a diabolical scheme and capture the fair damsel for illicit designs?

Missing is the élan, panache, the je ne sais quoi that propelled Caniff’s strips to the peak of popularity.

Below are my synopses of the eight stories in this book.

The first story centers around a high school basketball team coached by Canyon’s ward, the burgeoning teenager, Poteet Canyon.
The second story focuses on Poteet’s teenage romance—to no avail, I might add.
The third story rehashes the plight of Princess Snow flower and her lost lover. Canyon, as the romance broker, unites the couple.
The fourth story relays the brat Poteet’s struggle with anorexia nervosa and her insane jealously of Canyon’s true paramour, Summer Olsen. The eeevil Copper Canyon, Olsen employer (re: slave master), wants Steve for herself—and does dastardly deeds to get him. Naturally, she fails.
The fifth story develops, in an inane narrative, the return of the hotsy totsy, Mizzou, clad throughout the story in her ever-present trench coat—and we are to presume nothing else. I’ve never understood why Canyon or someone else has not given her used clothing to wear—I suspect she has a dynamite body, as all Caniff’s adult females do.
The sixth story returns Poteet Canyon. Again she is enveloped in more insane jealously as Canyon shows interest in her handsome landlady.
The seventh story has Canyon stationed at the Air Force Academy. Poteet’s jealously causes all sorts of problems for Canyon, et al.
The eighth story plops the all-time hot cinema actress Savannah Gay back into Canyon’s love life in a classic romance-novel scenario. He is almost immune, however.

The End.

MOVIE REVIEW: Bridge of Spies

Bridge of Spies is a superb film that accurately portrays a key incident in our cold war with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. I would expect no less from this all-American first team.

Tom Hanks delivers a highly empathetic portrayal of James Donovan and leads us carefully through the narrative. Of singular import is Mark Reynolds’ part in the story—he steals the show with his low key and compelling performance. After a time, we begin to empathize with Colonel Able and consider him just another nice guy unjustly embroiled in our justice system. I must add that the resemblance between Reynolds and Able is remarkable. Kudos to the makeup artists.

To understand this outstanding film in depth, let’s take a quick review of the history of the event on which this film is based. With some exceptions, the film’s plot mimics the following narrative closely.

Background. During the height of the cold war, Colonel Rudolph Able was a long-term Soviet KGB agent operating in New York City. On 21 June 1957 the FBI arrested him and attorney James B. Donovan was appointed to represent him. On 15 November 1957, a federal court convicted Able and sentenced him to life in prison.

In March 1955, the United Air Force authorized Lockheed Martin to begin production of the reconnaissance aircraft titled U2. (“U” for utility instead of “R” for reconnaissance.) Work began at Kelly Johnson’s Skunk Works in Palmdale, California, and flight testing was done in Area 51 in the Nevada desert. The U2 was a technological aircraft equipped with advanced photography equipment capable of exceptionally high resolution images taken from 70,000 feet altitude.

On 21 July 1955, President Eisenhower proposed an Open Skies program to the USSR’s Communist Party Chairman Nikita Khrushchev. Khrushchev’s response was, “Neyt!” It’s probable that the KGB knew about our U2 reconnaissance program and the USSR had no capability to respond.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s first U2 flight over the USSR was on 4 July 1956. This aircraft was immune from Soviet air defense surface-to-air missiles (SA2 Guideline) because it flew at 70,000 plus altitude—far higher than the range of the Guideline.

On 1 May 1960 Francis Gary Powers was piloting a U2 over Sverdlovsk (formerly called Ekaterinburg, the place of the regicide of Czar Nicholas II and the royal family.) A SAM exploded near the U2 causing some damage and forcing it to a lower altitude. A second SAM scored a proximity hit and the aircraft fell. Powers punched out and parachuted into a into a ten-year prison term for espionage.

I have some nits to pick regarding the technical details of the U2 in the digital animation sequence, but that’s in another critique—nonetheless, very well done, indeed.

At the Central Intelligence Agency’s insistence, James B. Donovan agreed to represent the United States of America to negotiations with the USSR for the exchange of Francis Powers for KGB intelligence officer, Rudolf Abel. KGB agents and Donovan held discussions in the German Democratic Republic (DDR) behind the Berlin Wall. Donovan also demanded the exchange of the American doctoral student Fredrick Pryor who was caught behind the Wall just as it was sealed.

After intense negotiations, bluffs, threats, etc., the parties concluded the deal, and on 10 February 1962 the exchange of prisoners was made on the Glienick Bridge, “The Bridge of Spies,” that separated the DDR from the German Federal Republic. Pryor was sent to freedom at Checkpoint Charlie.

I would urge all to see this epic and historically accurate (almost) film.

Leads:

Tom Hanks as James B. Donovan, Esq.
Mark Reynolds as Colonel Rudolph Abel, Soviet spy
Alan Alda as Thomas Walters Esq., lead attorney in Donovan’s firm
Amy Ryan as Mary McKenna Donovan, James’ wife

BOOK REVIEW: 20th Century China, 3rd Edition

20th century china Clubb weaves a heavy book loaded with the incredible history of the Chinese government from the Boxer Rebellion to the Death of Mao Tse-tung and a little beyond. I read this tome from cover to cover, including the notes. Conclusion: This is not a reading book. Rather it is a superb reference book that details the inner workings, intrigues and polemics of the players in the Nationalist and Communist governments. The meticulous index engenders a ready find.

Clubb’s writing is a tad academic and is loaded with an advanced vocabulary that sent me to the dictionary many times.

My biggest complaint is the lack of photographs of the myriad personalities, bureaucrats, military officers he discusses. Compounding the problem is that I, an English speaker, had a difficult time remembering and categorizing the wholesale number of foreign names with their function, relationships, and importance. After a hundred pages, the names become a Chinese blur.

Another negative is the appalling lack of maps. The narrative is especially difficult to comprehend when set in perspective without such important graphics.

Nonetheless, 20^th Century China is keeper and I’ll place it into my China bookshelf as soon as I finish this review.

BOOK REVIEW: Killing Reagan: A Violent Assault that Changed a Presidency by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard

An outstanding book. Exceptionally well written—no nonsense, no extraneous jabberwocky, no political twists—just the facts presented in a sterile, compelling narrative.

O’Reilly strips the Holy Grail sheen off Ronald Reagan and renders him an ordinary human being—much as the rest of us with all our frailties. At times, Reagan was petty, angry, vindictive, chapfallen, humdrum, and in his younger days a voluptuary. Nonetheless, his unswerving conservative principles engendered an accomplished presidency.

“Tear down this wall, Mister Gorbachev” (the Berlin Wall), and the fall of the Soviet Union best highlights his presidency. Some of his stellar achievements were: his close association with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom, his firing of all the US air-traffic controllers (who went on strike and refused to return to work on Reagan’s orders), his “deal” with Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran to release the fifty-two American diplomats they illegally held for 444 days, and his orders to invade the Caribbean Island of Grenada and overthrow the pro-Cuban regime and capture the 9,000 foot airstrip capable of accommodating the largest Soviet aircraft.

Perhaps it was the Iran-Contra scandal the besmirched his presidency the most and seriously eroded his credibility. That kerfuffle is far too complicated to detail here. However, the Tower Commission concluded that President Ronald Reagan was culpable.

John Hinckley, Junior, a schizophrenic, fired a twenty-two Devastator bullet into President Raegan. The bullet pierced Reagan’s left lung and settled one inch from his heart. Close to death, medical professionals conducted a difficult surgery and found and removed the bullet. I recall this incident and it was much more serious than we were told initially.

Kept from us was the fact that Alzheimer’s disease had invaded President Reagan’s brain sometime during his first term. It was so severe during his second term that his team was near to encouraging him to resign. He had “good” days and “bad” days. It was Nancy Regan who was the de facto president.

Movie Review, The Intern,

Production Company. Waverly Films

Writer/Director. Nancy Meyers

Actors

Anne Hathaway does a yeoman performance as Jules Ostin as the “not-all-together,” overworked, and on the edge CEO of her startup Internet sales company.
Robert DeNiro is outstanding as Ben Whittaker—Seventy-year old, widower, and retired executive from a defunct company. Now he’s a Muse and sage to Jules.
What’s compelling about this drama is the slowly budding, aseptic chemistry between Ben and Jules.

The Intern is a delightful woman’s film—written and directed by a talented woman. It’s the classic story of the young meets the old, the old ever so cleverly engenders insight into the young, and all the young’s problems are solved. That’s the nut of the story—clearly I could detail more, but no need. See the film or read a synopsis on the web.

I have four major negatives with this film.

The ambiance of this film, at times, is frippery.
At 121 minutes this film is far too long for the attendant narrative.
Far too many screen minutes are devoted to two talking heads (Ben and Jules) exchanging detrop comments.

One such scene plays in Jules’ spacious office.
Another plays in Jules’ hotel room in San Francisco.

The scene where Ben and his hi-tech gang raid Jules’ mother’s home to retrieve an aberrant email from Jules is so much blatherskite. Editing out this irrelevant scene would save precious screen minutes and keep the audience’s empathy on track with the unfolding primary story. Also, with the scene missing, the audience would not conclude that Jules can be a dingbat and always is in control.

The ending has a twist that I did not expect. View the film. Enjoy. It’s another hit for Nancy Meyers.

BOOK REVIEW: The Secret History of Mary Magdalene: Christianity’s Hidden Goddess by Lynn Picknett

Lynn Picknett explores in great depth alternate versions and background of the Christ story as told in the canonical Gospels (New Testament), Gnostic Gospels, and other sources—some apocryphal—focusing on The Magdalene’s background, her physical and spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ, and the historical perspective of this enigmatic woman.

Picknett’s helter-skelter narrative is too confusing for my simple mind. It’s contradictory, meandering, tedious, skews off target, repetitive ad nauseam, ponderously overwritten, and often times is irrelevant to its supposed central theme—the story of Mary Magdalene. I would suggest that if Lynn Picknett would edit this narrative to about five-thousand words or thereabouts, focus the narrative on Mary Magdalene, she’d have a keenly interesting, strikingly coherent, and empathy-endearing booklet.

Here is a list of Mary Magdalene’s major particulars that Picknett has deduced.

Was not a reformed prostitute, rather she was an intensely knowledgeable ministering priestess—a black goddess.
Was probably not from Judea—spending much of her life elsewhere—possibly Egypt, Nubia, or Ethiopia.
Was the “Black Madonna.”
According to the non-canonical gospels, she behaved like a rich, independent and very non-Judean woman: assertive, outspoken, feisty, and completely lacking the coy timidity of the women of the times.
Was “…some kind of pagan priestess.”
Was not Jesus’ legal wife but rather his sexual and mystical initiatrix into the ancient pagan rite of the hieros gamos?” (Rdefers to a sexual ritual that plays out a marriage between a god and a goddess, especially when enacted in a symbolic ritual where human participants represent the deities.)
Jesus was besotted with her.
Was Jesus’ equal.
Was the incarnation of the black Egyptian god Isis, the goddess of erotic love the magical arts, and healing,
Was an integral element of the mission of Jesus by fulfilling Isis role as the “Queen of Magic.”
Lazarus’ and Martha’s were her brother and sisters.
The apostle Simon Peter hated her.
The cold-hearted, white European patriarchy fails to recognize her as the goddess and a powerful female that she was.
“Elements of Egyptian life and thought … have been dragged in the dirt by racist academics that see any black African influence as contaminating.”

Paradox. Mary Magdalene is pictured on the cover of this book as a pale, white, redheaded woman. Picknett claims that she had vivid blue eyes. Yet, frequently she is referred to as “Black as an Ethiopian”—a black woman.

I applaud author Picknett for her in-depth research, and broad-based knowledge on this historical topic.

I find it difficult to evaluate the veracity of this evocative book. Depending on one’s perspective, it’s heretical, ludicrous, veracious, or perhaps so much claptrap.

Additional lists of Picknett’s contentions below:

Christianity

Several times, she stats that the New Testament is not much more than a public relations release for the eeevil (my emphasis) Catholic Church.
The New Testament is political and religious propaganda just as much as any other set of ancient texts.
“Christianity is built on…blatant propaganda on behalf of certain vested interest.” (Interest not identified, my comment.)
“The Christian myth grew by absorbing details from pagan cults.”
“…Christianity is but paganism reshaped.”
“There is not a concept associated with Christ that is not common to some or all of the Savior cults of antiquity.”

Mary the mother of Jesus.

Isis “was the prototype for the Church’s invention of Mary the Mother—whose sanctity was decided (invented) by a Vatican council.” (Which one? I ask.)
Concludes that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was not married to Joseph and was, in fact, an adulteress.
Impossible for Mary to be a virgin.

The Nativity.

She speaks of the traditional Nativity as not having a “word of truth in it.”
Suggests that the Christian flock does not know that Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, Dionysus, Attis, Orpheus were born on the Winter Solstice—such knowledge would cast doubt on the underpinning of the religious Christmas story.

Jesus Christ

Had several siblings
Christianity’s secret teaching of Jesus was that he was essentially sexual in nature.
Suggest that Jesus and Lazarus had a homosexual relationship.
Within Jesus’ mission there were “…sacramental rites such as hieros gamos
The reason why Jesus’ suspiciously pagan words and deeds are due to the probability (emphasis added) that he was a pagan and worked the scripts of pagan mystery plays—a charlatan. .
The Jewish and the Babylonian Talmud describe Jesus as an Egyptian sorcerer.
The Pistis Sophia notes that in the time of Jesus, he was considered a magus. (The Pistis Sophia is a Gnostic Coptic text.)
”The transubstantiation (the turning of mere bread bread and wine into Jesus’ actual body and blood) (is) a curiously overt form of esoteric cannibalism and vampirism.”
Picknett proffers the thought that Jesus could have been an itinerant Egyptian sorcerer duping the masses with faux miracles and wonders.
Jesus was the coup de théâtre of marvels, and his greatest was the resurrection from the dead—the practice of black magic and necromancy.
As the events in the life of Jesus grew more miraculous, do the events smack of “protesting too much?”
The words of Jesus are striking similar to certain passages in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. [The Book of the Dead is an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BCE) to around 50 BCE.]
Jesus was often accused of being a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a fried of tax collectors and sinners—with a fondness for raffish company.
Jesus was probably not from Judea—spending much of his life in Egypt.
Proposes that there was an intense rivalry between John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and suggests that Jesus disciples (Who?) were implicated in the John’s assassination.

Miscellaneous

Explores in depth the Templar Knights and their reverence for John the Baptist.
Discusses the Merovingians, Carolingians, Cathars, and Priory of Sion.
Attempts to define the Holy Grail. Offers several conflicting theories—some with more cachet that others.
The Ten Commandments are based on The Egyptian Book of the Dead.
Pickett’s aversion for the Catholic Church and Christianity in general suffuses throughout her narrative. (She is a former Christian.)

Malaysia Flight 370 Update

Last week, the Malaysian government announced that the flalperon found on 29 July is from the Boeing 777, Malaysia Flight 370 that disappeared on 8 March 2014. The flalperon washed on the western shore of the French department of Reunion—a small island in the Indian Ocean about 600 miles west of Madagascar. Aviation experts in Toulouse, France made this confirmation earlier today.

Unfortunately, strong and irregular ocean currents in the Indian Ocean and the twenty-month lapse since the Boeing 777 went missing make in nigh impossible to backtrack such evidence to approximate the crash site.

This hard evidence destroys my conspiracy thesis—now, to outrages to mention. I reckon that the hound did bark. ‘Nuff said.

BOOK REVIEW: The Mexican Revolution: A Short History 1910-1920 by Stuart Easterling

Easterling makes a reasonable clarification of the chaos of the Mexican Revolution—as he says “…ten years of social conflict, deprivation, and bloody warfare.” He skims through the ten-year revolution with seminal characters in this petite book as:

Profirio Diaz (1839-1915). Dictator of Mexico from 1884 to 1911. Overthrown by
Gustavo Madero (1875-19130. President 1911 to 1913. An advocate for social justice but not for distribution of the land to the peasants. Overthrown and assassinated by
General Victoriano Huerta (1850-1916). President from 1913 to 1914. Established a harsh military dictatorship. The Constitutionalist Army consisting of the bandit/revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa and his Northern Army, Emiliano Zapata and his Liberation Army of the South, and disaffected generals including Álvaro Obregón, Huerta was overthrown by
Venustiano Carranza (1859-1920). President from 1917 to 1920. Promised to restore the constitution of 1857 but did not affirm social reform. He waged war against Villa and Zapata—subduing both. Corruption was rampant in his administration. He declined to participate in the 1920 presidential election. His best general/politician,
Álvaro Obregón (1880-1928) won the election and after a time brought a semblance of order to Mexico. He was ssassinated in 1928.

He assiduously avoids discussing the military campaigns, except in passing. He focuses instead on the personalities, their interactions, and affect on the populace and their reactions. To discuss, even in minor detail, the military operations, would have significantly clarified many passages that seem incongruous or the lack of a raison d’être for subsequence actions.

Unfortunately, Easterling’s narrative has several major construct problems.

Far too often Easterling leaves out important details in his narrative.
For example. During the 1915 presidential campaign, we learn that First Chief (President) Venustiano Carranza would not support his general, Álvaro Obregon as a candidate. Questions: Did Carranza decide on a second term? If not, why not. Would Obregon be his rival? This key information is not stated and is perplexing. (I found the answer on Wikipedia.)
Another example: He mentions the “The Red Battalions,” but does not explain who they are, their loyalty, or what was their function in the Revolution.
From time-to-time, his syntax introduces confusion in the narrative. For example, “Following the capture of a train hub that had been in Constitutionalist hands, some ninety soldaderas, their men now dead or wounded, were assembled and awaiting their fate.”

Throughout, this Haymarket publication (Chicago labor riots in 1886) is imbrued with Marxists phrases and jingoism. Here are several “collective organization, communal landownership, agrarian revolutionaries, anarcho-syndicalism, agitated for radical change, undermine the legitimacy of the regime, agrarian radicalism, capitalist economic transformation, dictatorial political system, urban proletariat, agrarian socialism, and social revolution, tyranny of capitalism.”

Read work by S. Martin Shelton

BOOK REVIEW: Terry and the Pirates Volume Two: 1948-1949 by George Wunder

The Hermes Press is leaking slowly reproductions of the famous comic strip titled “Terry and the Pirates.” The talented Milton Caniff created this innovate and artful adventure comic strip in 1934 and continued it until 1944. George Wunder continued the strip until 1973.

In this volume are three rather mediocre stories of Terry and his cadre traipsing about China and Indochina unbraiding the “bad guys and gals.” His art, at times in masterful—characters are sharp and the backgrounds are detailed. However, frequently, he skips the background. His composition generally is satisfactory, but sometimes it’s pedestrian. Mimicking Caniff, his gorgeous and sensuous dames have wasp thin waists, high arched eyebrows, and brazen figures. Without fail, they lust after Terry with perfidious schemes. Oftentimes they’re close to success, but they never succeed. After all, this was a strip published in the newspapers for family reading.

The book I have has serious binding problems—ten pages are missing, twelve are misplaced, and two are duplicated fifty pages deeper into the tome than their original position. Additionally, the printing (in China) of the black and white images are far too contrasty. And color images are slightly too contrasty.