College Park, MD - Semper Fi

Yep, it’s a Marine kind of day: breakfast my cousin-in-law, Andy, a Marine, and a visit to the Marine Museum.

A bit of background here. My mother was 7 years older than her siblings when they lived in Iowa back in the 30’s. . When she was ready to go to college, she chose Iowa State, married my father who was also an Iowan and they raised their family in Iowa. Meanwhile my grandparents moved to California after my mother graduated from college and raised their other two children out there. Thus, I have not had much contact with my aunts, uncles and cousins until Gary and I started to RV. And, what fun it has been getting to know them now.

I have met Pam, my cousin, who grew up in California once and have never met her husband, Andy - until today. Today he and Gary and I met for breakfast. Oh, yeah, Pam is on a business trip to Australia and couldn’t be here. Wouldn’t you know? The one person who has seen all of us was gone. And, we were left saying things like: we’ll be in a tan Jeep and I’ll be wearing a bright red shirt. But, there we were and we knew that it was Andy walking up to the restaurant - with his Marine cap on. Had to be him.

A delightful breakfast and we all got to sum up 50 years of our lives. Whew. Now, Gary and I, not knowing how breakfast would go, had planned to visit Bull Run National Battlefield after breakfast but Andy intimated that he was open for anything and we all decided to visit the Marine Museum, where, by chance, Andy is a docent. He asked us if we would like a highlight tour or a full tour and, since he asked, we told him the full tour. And, what a tour it was. We entered the Museum into what they call the Leatherneck Gallery. I can’t even begin to give you a picture of this huge space. But it was amazing. It was designed to resemble the flag raising at Iwo Jima. Planes are hanging throughout the gallery.

The next gallery was called Making Marines and they gave us a real feel of what it was like to step off the bus in Marine Boot Camp and have a Drill Instructor yell at you. ‘Yes, Sir!!’ with your feet at a 45 Degree angle. Here’s Andy giving Gary the look.

Then the Museum takes you through a history of the Marines in American wars. Each gallery begins with an explanation of why we got into that particular war. Then there are timelines, there are examples of weapons, aircraft, tanks and machine guns used in each of the wars, there are artifacts from the war, like the long winter coat with a bullet hole in the lower right side - right where the bullet hit the Marine in the knee or the flag raised over Iwo Jima or a tank used in WWII. All authentic and all used the war being described.

But what makes the museum so real are the life-sized ‘people’ in the exhibits, each one modeled after a real live Marine. Andy told us that the models were chosen, they got into the position they would take in the diorama and had to hold that position for the 3 hours that it took to get some gel that was put on them to harden. Every face you see here is different, because every Marine who was a model is different. I stood in front of one of the ‘Marines’ and looked right into his eyes. WOW. So real. I could see the intensity in his eyes as he peered around a corner to see if anyone was coming.

Do the two marines below look real? Well, they should, they are real. They posed in these positions for the gel to set.

As we moved through the museum, Andy kept a running commentary on the display: facts, figures, people, dates, and the stories behind the actual scene portrayed in this room. He even knew most of the Marines who had been the models and could tell us a bit about them. Then as we moved from the Revolutionary War room into the next room, a couple who had been standing near us asked if this was a private tour or if anyone could join. We looked at Andy and he looked at us. ‘Sure’ we all said. So Andy led on. About 3 rooms later another couple joined us. And, Andy included us all and his running commentary and didn’t miss a beat.

The scenes are real also - here is the view that new Marines to this base see as they exit the helicopter. It is one of the forward bases in Viet Nam.

Actually, the additions to our group added to it with their stories. One guy had been in Viet Nam and could tell us about being picked up by a helicopter after being in battle. He was sitting in the doorway, and trying to put his feet down on the runners with his heavy pack on and almost falling out of the chopper. He looked down and could only see the mountains below when another guy pulled him back in.

Here’s one of the flags raised at Iwo Jima.

You know how I like history museums and this had it in spades. But, Andy’s commentary and stories, the displays themselves and the artifacts made this a wonderful experience. If you ever get to the DC area, be sure to stop into the National Museum of the Marine Corps - and ask if Andy is working. Tell him Nancy and Gary sent you.

But, wouldn’t you know it? I had my camera with me all day, Andy gave us a marvelous tour and I didn’t get one single picture of him except this one butt shot. What was I thinking?

‘Ooh, rah.’

College Park, MD - It's All About the Teeth

Every now and then we’re in the right spot at the right time and today that was true. But, then we put ourselves at Mount Vernon today because we knew there was a large encampment of British, Hessian, French and Continental’s. We got there early since we knew we knew there was lots to see. We don’t always see this when we get out of the car. Looks like this Brit brought his car with him.

We were in the 9:00 mansion tour and when I say we were herded, I mean herded. They had planned for a huge crowd and we were in a line as we moved through the mansion. I was almost stepping on the heels of the person in front of me and Gary was on my heels. We were all that close as we moved through. We also did not get to see all of the house, parts that are on the regular everyday tour. But, we did get to see so much more because of the encampment.

We all know about Washington the President and Washington the General but Washington was also a very successful farmer with some unique ideas that put him ahead of his time. He realized that tobacco used up the soil so he planted crops in rotation to build up the soil. Here’s his schedule for what crops went where and when.

He also saw that everyone else planted tobacco which was taxed by the British and that the price for his crop was dependent up on these two factors. He decided that wheat would be a good crop - he was the only one growing it and it was not taxed. Pretty clever man. He also experimented with many other crops to see which grew best and sold for the most. With this he kept meticulous notes on what crops he planted and in which field, what the yield was and how it sold. He also had a gristmill which everyone in the county used and from which he sold his flour from his wheat and the largest distillery in VA at the time.

Here’s his ‘necessary’. Note the design which matched the other buildings on his plantation. It is actually a 3-seater and has a drawer underneath that is emptied when needed.

So, how did he die? Not easily and probably in much pain. It was December and it was cold and miserable. He worked in that cold all day around his fields and then went out the next day in the snow. The third day he awoke feeling quite sick and asked his overseer to come to bleed him with leeches. (This was a very common treatment for illness - to get rid of the ‘bad’ blood) and then called in his doctors who bled him more. It is estimated that half of his blood was taken. His throat was swabbed, he was given an enema, his feet were washed in warm water and still he grew worse.

The next day he told his secretary: ‘I am just going. Have me decently buried and do not let my body be put into the vault in less than three days after I am dead.’ His secretary agreed and he said: ’Tis Well’ and died at 10 pm on Saturday, December 14, 1799 at the age of 67. After his death, Martha locked the door to their rooms and moved upstairs to a much smaller room on the 3rd floor of Mount Vernon. Here she burned all their letters so no one in the future could pry into their private lives. She died only 2 years later and is buried next to him in the family tomb on Mount Vernon.

After we ‘toured’ Mount Vernon, we wandered around the various out-buildings where the business of plantation was carried out: the blacksmith, the laundress, the paint cellar, the ? the stables and then wandered over to his tomb which is on the other side of the extensive gardens. Here we found a large crowd and the fifer we had spoken with before leading a discussion. When we got there he asked us all to sing the National Anthem. He asked us to take off our caps and put our right hand over our heart and then he played the introduction. We all began to sing. Then Gary tapped me gently on my arm and asked: ‘Who is that in the brown jacket over there?’ Hmmm. Oh, yeah - that’s Nancy Pelosi with her family. How cool.

But then we met this cool dude who bowed and doffed his hat just as I was taking the picture of the two in their period garb.

We wandered up the hill to the encampment and wandered around this asking questions of people as we came to them. One ‘physician’s assistant’ told us that most people spend about $2500 on their period clothing (don’t call it a ‘costume’), accoutrements, tents, and everything else they have and then spend money getting to events such as this. It’s not a cheap hobby but they love doing it. He had been an ordinary soldier for quite a few years and then decided that he wanted to be a ‘gentleman’ and have his own tent. So, he 'promoted' himself. That's the neat thing about re-enacting - you can be who you want to be: soldier one day, officer the next, Colonial the third day and Brit the fourth. He had constructed his own bed - note how it folds up and can actually be put into the trunk of a car.

I liked these nice trunks that he had. (Note that all these people have to keep their tent neat since there are so many nosy tourists wandering around. Some tents were tied shut and we didn’t look in them but his was open for us to look inside.)

We met two women who have been doing this for 12 years. Today, they were just touring since their ‘company’ hadn’t come in any official capacity. But, on the other hand, they came in their correct period clothing.

There were rows of tents and fires with cooking pots out. There were vendors there also selling their wares like 18th Century buttons, cloth, ribbons, jewelry, cast iron pots and pans, glasses and anything else you might want to buy if you wanted to be a re-enactor.

We also stopped by a medical tent where they had various medical implements displayed. They told us that more men died of infection than from being killed on the battlefield. When someone was shot, the bullet pushed cloth into the wound. And, here was where the infection began. With no antibiotics, it just spread.

The battle itself was really interesting. Because the weapons were so inaccurate and could only fire 3 shots a minute, the battles seemed to be in slow motion as the armies walked towards each other firing. The shots were obviously loud and the artillery pieces even louder, both putting up a cloud of smoke.

Sometimes the smoke on the battlefields in the 18th C was so thick that the armies couldn’t see each other. Finally, the obvious larger numbers of the Americans pushed the British back and a victory was declared.

Next we wandered though the museum and educational center. Both were very interesting and educational. They had a wealth of the Washington’s personal effects: china, furniture, toiletries, clothing, etc. We couldn’t take pictures of these so I have none. The educational center really told more about Washington himself, the history of the times, his legacy, etc.

Here’s a trick question: How many British colonies were there in America? 13? Is that your answer? Wrong. Actually, there were several more: Nova Scotia, Ontario and several others. These colonies just chose not to revolt and stay within the British empire.

Here’s another trick question. Were Washington’s dentures made out of wood? No, they were not made out of wood - anyone as wealthy as Washington would have had much better dentures. On the other hand, they were made of bone, hippopotamus ivory, human teeth, brass screws, lead, and gold metal wire, all of which might be just as uncomfortable as wood. Not only were they uncomfortable but they impacted the shape of his face: ‘which causes both upper, and under lip to bulge out, as if swelled’ Washington wrote to his dentist. And, yes, they probably were the reason that he disliked speaking formally and is not smiling in many of his formal pictures.

Did you know that his teeth were instrumental in our willing our independence? Well, yes. they were a part of a bunch of misinformation that Washington executed that kept British General Clinton bottled up in New York while he left to head down to fight Cornwallis in Yorktown, VA. Washington wanted to keep Clinton from joining Cornwallis so sent a note to his dentist saying that he had ‘little prospect of being in Philadelphia. soon.’ and to send his tooth scrapers to him outside of New York. Then he arranged to have this letter ‘intercepted’ by the British. This was only part of his disinformation plan for the British and it all worked: Clinton stayed in New York and Washington moved his army south to VA to beat Cornwallis.

Not only did Washington use the letter to his dentist to misinform Clinton about his plans, he also kept a lot of tents in place, had soldiers marching around and used drums and fifes to make Clinton think that he was still in New York while he was actually on his way down to Yorktown to face Cornwallis, he also had quite a network of spies. These spies used secret codes, invisible ink and hid information in the cloth buttons of a 10-yr old boy. One laundress used the color of handkerchiefs hung out on her line to pass information on to Washington. Who would suspect an innocent washerwoman?

We had a marvelous day at Mount Vernon, especially with all the re-enactors.

‘Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.’

                                                                                                 George Washington