Essential History Expeditions

15/12/2023

Essential History Expeditions wishes a very “Happy 90th!” to Lois DeToy. In three weeks it will be 70 years since she married Bob. She has led an amazing life, raised on an eastern Colorado homestead ranch and then traveling the country and world with her Army family. As Lincoln said, “All I am, I owe to my angel Mother.”

28/11/2023

“I feel I could not sleep at night with you out of the country.”

~ FDR to General George Marshall at Tehran

On this date 80 years ago, the Big 3 (FDR, Churchill and Stalin) met in Tehran for the first time to plan strategy. One of the biggest decisions was the date for OVERLORD and who would command it. Everyone thought it would be Marshall.

Marshall heard from Harry Hopkins that fellow chiefs of staff General “Hap” Arnold and Admiral Ernest King had expressed doubts to Roosevelt about allowing Marshall to leave his post in Washington. In recounting, Marshall stated:

“The President had me call at his villa, where in response to his question, I made virtually the same reply I made to Hopkins. I recall saying that I would not attempt to estimate my capabilities; the President would have to do that; I merely wished to make it clear that whatever the decision, I would go along with it wholeheartedly; that the issue was too great for any personal feeling to be considered. I did not discuss the pros and cons of the matter. The President stated [the above] in completing our conversation.”

FDR then appointed Eisenhower to the Normandy task, keeping Marshall at the helm for the entire world war effort. Marshall wrote the note below, informing both Stalin and Ike.

27/11/2023

"That’s my two seconds of fame! More kids know about that than any of the books I have written."

~ Professor Gordon Wood, acclaimed historian of the American revolutionary generation.

Wood is 90 today

Full text and audio mp3 of Movie Speech: Good Will Hunting - Debate at the Bow and Arrow (Harvard) Bar

27/11/2023

“Hamilton's ambition was to be a perfect soldier. He was gallant in everything. It would have been safer to have aroused a sleeping lion than to have cast a shadow of suspicion upon his honor. While he was susceptible of the perfect frenzy of enthusiasm, and would brave danger and death in every form of duty, yet, in the quiet hours of life, he was gentle and winsome as a maiden. His strong intellect, refined by careful culture, enabled him to comprehend the "fluctuations and vast concerns" of life with rare intelligence and discrimination. His well stored mind was as delightful and fragrant, so to speak, as a beautiful garden. … Thus attuned and trained, he lived a noble and blameless life, an honor to his profession and a worthy possessor of the great name which he inherited.”

~ Captain Robert West, writing days after death of fellow officer in the 7th Cavalry, Captain Louis Hamilton

Hamilton, grandson of Alexander Hamilton, was killed on this date 155 years ago at Wash*ta in Oklahoma. He led the initial assault in Custer’s ill-fated attack on the Cheyenne and was killed at the outset. He was 24.

He had joined the Union Army at 17 and served as an infantry Lieutenant in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Petersburg and Appomattox. He was incredibly brave and twice brevetted. In the much smaller post-war Army he was the youngest Captain in service.

23/11/2023

“With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable. I cannot come to each of you, but shall feel obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.”

~ General George Washington, taking leave of his Officers in NYC’s Fraunces Tavern

80 years ago on this date, 1943, US marines secured Tarawa atoll in an incredibly bloody fight that presaged a difficult return across the Pacific in WWII.

80 years before that, 1863, US Army troops under General US Grant commenced the victorious battle at Chattanooga, driving Bragg’s rebels from the field in the Civil War.

80 years before that, 1783, Washington led the US Army into NYC as the British evacuated, ending the Revolutionary War.

23/11/2023

On this date 305 years ago, Edward Teach (aka Blackbeard) is killed in North Carolina at 38.

Our Flag Means Death has resurrected him!

22/11/2023

On this date 60 years ago, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Three weeks earlier, with American backing, South Vietnamese generals staged a coup against President Diem, and killed him (which the Americans had not anticipated). President Kennedy made the following recording in the Oval Office two days later:

(President Kennedy): “Monday, November 4, 1963. Over the weekend the coup in Saigon took place. It culminated three months of conversation about a coup, conversation which divided the government here and in Saigon.

(President Kennedy): Opposed to a coup was General Taylor, the Attorney General, Secretary McNamara to a somewhat lesser degree, John McCone, partly because of an old hostility to Lodge which causes him to lack confidence in Lodge's judgment, partly as a result of a new hostility because Lodge shifted his station chief; in favor of the coup was State, led by Averell Harriman, George Ball, Roger Hilsman, supported by Mike Forrestal at the White House.

(President Kennedy): I feel that we must bear a good deal of responsibility for it, beginning with our cable of early August in which we suggested the coup. In my judgment that wire was badly drafted, it should never have been sent on a Saturday. I should not have given my consent to it without a roundtable conference at which McNamara and Taylor could have presented their views. While we did redress that balance in later wires, that first wire encouraged Lodge along a course to which he was in any case inclined.

(President Kennedy): Harkins continued to oppose the coup on the ground that the military effort was doing well. There was a sharp split between Saigon and the rest of the country. Politically the situation was deteriorating. Militarily it had not had its effect; there was a feeling, however, that it would. For this reason, Secretary McNamara and General Taylor supported applying additional pressures to Diem and Nhu in order to move them.

(John Kennedy, Jr): Unclear

(President Kennedy): You want to say something? Say something. Hello.

(John Kennedy, Jr): Hello.

(President Kennedy): I was shocked by the death of Diem and Nhu. I'd met Diem with Justice Douglas many years ago. He was an extraordinary character. While he became increasingly difficult in the last months, nevertheless over a ten-year period he'd held his country together, maintained its independence under very adverse conditions. The way he was killed made it particularly abhorrent.

(President Kennedy): The question now is whether the generals can stay together and build a stable government, or whether Saigon will begin... will turn on... public opinion in Saigon, the intellectuals, students, etcetera, will turn on this government as repressive and undemocratic in the not too distant future.”

We will be leading an expedition to explore Vietnam March 1-12, 2025. Contact us for more information!

21/11/2023

In the 1934 All Star Game played at the Polo Grounds, Carl Hubbell (the “Meal Ticket” or “King Carl”) produced one of baseball's most memorable moments by striking out five future Hall of Famers in succession:

Babe Ruth,
Lou Gehrig,
Jimmie Foxx,
Al Simmons,
Joe Cronin.

This happened in an era where the strikeout was far less common than today and was regarded as an undesirable outcome for hitters, not merely an acceptable byproduct of swinging for the fences.

Hubbell, a Hall of Famer, passed on this date 45 years ago at 85. Still a Giants scout, Hubbell had a massive stroke while driving to see a prospect.

21/11/2023

Philip Schuyler, an important general in the American Revolution, was born on this date 290 years ago.

His daughters liked to go downtown in NYC … the greatest city in the World:

“Take Philip Schuyler, the man is loaded
Uh-oh, but little does he know
That his daughters, Peggy, Angelica, Eliza
Sneak into the city just to watch all the guys at-

Angelica!
(Work, work!) Eliza!
And Peggy! (Work, work!)
The Schuyler sisters!
Angelica! Peggy! Eliza! (Work!)

Daddy said to be home by sundown
Daddy doesn't need to know
Daddy said not to go downtown
Like I said, you're free to go

But look around, look around
The revolution's happening in New York (New York)
Angelica (work!)

It's bad enough Daddy wants to go to war
People shouting in the square
It's bad enough there'll be violence on our shore
New ideas in the air
Look around, look around

Angelica, remind me what we're looking for
She's lookin' for me!
Eliza, I'm lookin' for a mind at work (work)
I'm lookin' for a mind at work (work)
I'm lookin' for a mind at work (work)
Whoa-ooh, whoa-oh-oh
Whoa-ooh, whoa-oh-oh (work!)

Whoo! There's nothin' like summer in the city
Someone in a rush next to someone lookin' pretty
Excuse me, miss, I know it's not funny
But your perfume smells like your daddy's got money

Why you slummin' in the city in your fancy heels?
You searchin' for an urchin who can give you ideals?
Burr, you disgust me
Ah, so you've discussed me
I'm a trust fund, baby, you can trust me

I've been reading "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine
So men say that I'm intense or I'm insane
You want a revolution? I want a revelation

So listen to my declaration
"We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all men are created equal"
And when I meet Thomas Jefferson (unh!)
I'ma compel him to include women in the sequel (work!)

Look around, look around
At how lucky we are to be alive right now
Look around, look around
At how lucky we are to be alive right now

History is happening in Manhattan
And we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world
In the greatest city in the world!

'Cause I've been reading "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine (look around, look around)
So men say that I'm intense or I'm insane (the revolution's happening in New York)
You want a revolution? I want a revelation

(look around, look around, New York)
So listen to my declaration (it's happening)
We hold these truths to be self-evident (look around, look around)
That all men are created equal (at how lucky we are to be alive right now)

Look around, look around
At how lucky we are to be alive right now
History is happening in Manhattan
And we just happen to be in the greatest city in the world (in the greatest city)
In the greatest city in the world!

Angelica!
(Work, work!) Eliza!
And Peggy! (Work, work!)
The Schuyler sisters! (Work, work!)
We're looking for a mind at work! (Work, work!)

Hey! (Work, work!)
Hey! (Work, work! Whoa!)
Hey! (Work, work!)
In the greatest city (work! Work!)
In the greatest city in the world
In the greatest city in the world!”

19/11/2023

“A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

“If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, you don't branch out, you don't try - you don't take the risk.”

~ Rosalynn Carter

The former First Lady passed today at 96. Godspeed.

19/11/2023

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

~ Abraham Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address 160 years ago today.

18/11/2023

45 years ago today, over 900 Americans committed mass su***de in Jonestown, Guyana - drinking the kool-aid. Earlier that day some of their security men had assassinated Congressman Leo Ryan who had come to investigate the community. The congressman’s lead legal assistant, a young woman of 28, was wounded in the attack. Jackie Speier later served in Congress for 16 years, representing her mentor’s old district.

18/11/2023

Modern time-keeping began on this date 140 years ago.

Timekeeping on North American railroads in the 19th century was complex. Each railroad used its own standard time, usually based on the local time of its headquarters or most important terminus, and the railroad's train schedules were published using its own time. Some junctions served by several railroads had a clock for each railroad, each showing a different time.

For safety reasons, this was no bueno.

And so a new plan was developed.

It was inaugurated on November 18, 1883, also called "The Day of Two Noons", when each railroad station clock was reset as standard-time noon was reached within each time zone.

The 1913 map shows how different time zones were 110 years ago compared to today.

18/11/2023

“Each generation wants new symbols, new people, new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.”

~ Jim Morrison

Rear Admiral George Morrison passed on this date 15 years ago at 89. A WWII and Korean War naval aviator, he commanded several aircraft carriers and carrier strike groups during the Vietnam conflict.

He was also the father of The Doors’ lead singer, Jim Morrison. In the photo, 20 yo Jim visits his dad on the carrier Bonhomme Richard in January 1964. They were then, and remained, estranged.

We will be leading a group on our classic Vietnam expedition March 1-12, 2025. That’s 16 months from now! Contact us if you would like more information or like to join!

17/11/2023

“Sometimes I think it’s a shame, when I get feeling better when I’m feeling no pain.”

~ Gordon Lightfoot

The singer-songwriter was born on this date 85 years ago. He passed earlier this year.

17/11/2023

On this date 55 years ago ….. the infamous “Heidi Game” semi-aired !

17/11/2023

W.C. Handy, won't you look down over me?
Yeah, I got a first class ticket
But I'm as blue as a boy can be

Then I'm walking in Memphis
Was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale

~ Mark Cohn

Handy, the Father of the Blues, was born on this date 150 years ago. He passed 65 years ago.

16/11/2023

On this date 85 years ago, Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann first synthesized L*D. 5 years later, in April 1943 he took the first trip.

The main intention of the synthesis was to obtain a respiratory and circulatory stimulant with no effects on the uterus. It was set aside for five years, until 16 April 1943, when Hofmann reexamined it and discovered its powerful effects. He described what he felt as being:

‘affected by a remarkable restlessness, combined with a slight dizziness. At home I lay down and sank into a not unpleasant intoxicated-like condition, characterized by an extremely stimulated imagination. In a dreamlike state, with eyes closed (I found the daylight to be unpleasantly glaring), I perceived an uninterrupted stream of fantastic pictures, extraordinary shapes with intense, kaleidoscopic play of colors. After some two hours this condition faded away.’

Three days later, Hofmann intentionally ingested 250 micrograms of L*D, which he thought would represent a prudently safe amount, but was in fact a strong dose. At first, his trip was not pleasant, as people appeared to morph into fantastic creatures, office furniture moved and shifted like living entities, and he felt possessed by otherworldly forces.

April 19 is now widely known as "Bicycle Day" because, as Hofmann began to feel L*D's effects, he tried to ride to the safety of his home on his bike. This was the first intentional L*D trip in history.

15/11/2023

“Nature is cruel; therefore we are also entitled to be cruel. When I send the flower of German youth into the steel hail of the next war without feeling the slightest regret over the precious German blood that is being spilled, should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?”

~ Adolf Hi**er, Chancellor of N**i Germany

On this date 85 years ago, N**i Germany bans Jewish children from public schools in the aftermath of Kristallnacht. Five years later to the day, SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Roma/Gypsies are to be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps.”

15/11/2023

“[Climate-change deniers are] the headless chicken brigade. Perhaps it has been too uncomfortable for those with vested interests to acknowledge, but we have spent the best part of the past century enthusiastically testing the world to utter destruction; not looking closely enough at the long-term impact our actions will have.”

~ Charles III

The King was born on this date 75 years ago.

15/11/2023

"Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness . Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"

~ Joseph Welch, lead US Army lawyer to Joe McCarthy in 1954 hearings

McCarthy was born in this date 115 years ago. The Senator passed in 1957.

14/11/2023

Long overdue.

But Justice, at last.

The Army acknowledged that the soldiers, 19 of whom were hanged, had been convicted in military trials that were tainted by racial discrimination.

13/11/2023

“(Pissarro) was a father for me. A man to consult and a little like the good Lord."

~ Cezanne

Camille Pissarro, the godfather of Impressionism, passed on this date 120 years ago.

The American impressionist Mary Cassat said of him “He was such a teacher as could make stones draw correctly.”

A great many of Pissarro’s paintings were looted and stolen by the N**is before and during WWII. One story of many involves an American museum:

Pissarro's Shepherdess Bringing Home the Sheep (La Bergère Rentrant des Moutons") was looted from the Jewish art collectors Yvonne et Raoul Meyer in France in 1941 and transited via Switzerland and New York before entering the Fred Jones Jr Museum at the University of Oklahoma. In 2014, Meyer's daughter, Léonie-Noëlle Meyer filed a restitution claim which resulted in years of court battle. The lawsuit resulted in the recognition of Meyer's ownership and its transfer to France for five years, coupled with an agreement to shuttle the painting back and forth between Paris and Oklahoma every three years after that. However, in 2020 Meyer filed suit in a French court to challenge the accord. After Fred Jones Jr Museum sued Meyer requesting heavy financial penalties, the Holocaust survivor abandoned her effort to recover the Pissarro, saying, "I have no other choice.”

11/11/2023

On this Veterans Day, I honor some family members whose service I just recently discovered (in the last two years for one, Jimmy, and several months for the others). I knew I had one grandfather in WWI, seven uncles in WWII, three uncles and my dad in Korea, my dad and two cousins in Vietnam, and a bunch of us ever since.

But these were unknown to me till now.

On my father’s side, my great-uncle Louis DeToy, Cam’s brother, served in WWI in the US Army in France. My great-uncle Charlie Verplaetse, Clemence’s brother, left Kewanee, Illinois to join the Canadian Army in 1916 and served with the Canadian Scottish Borderers in France in 1917-18. Louis’ son, Jimmy (my first cousin, once removed) volunteered in January 1942 and served as an infantry squad leader in the 42nd division and fought across Germany and liberated Dachau. I have already begun using his story when we take groups to Munich each year.

On my mother’s side, yesterday I learned of two first cousins of hers, so once removed to me. Bob Green rose from seaman to lieutenant in the Navy and served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He was on the famed Saratoga carrier for WWII. And Charles Buhring was in the Army in WWII.

So very proud of all these DeToys and Buhrings and to add them into my growing Family Military History compendium.

Veterans Day 2023

11/11/2023

On this date 40 years ago, Bill Gates introduced Windows 1.0, reforming the computer industry. It was 500 years to the day from Martin Luther’s birth (who also knew something about reform).

10/11/2023

It was an absolute privilege to serve.

1985-2013

Veterans Day 2023

10/11/2023

Spiro Agnew is known as the first, and only, VP to resign in disgrace (John Calhoun had also resigned) but Agnew also served as an infantry company commander in the 10th Armored Division in WWII, including 39 days in Bastogne during the siege and after.

Agnew was born 105 years ago today, and resigned 50 years ago in 1973.

09/11/2023

100 years ago today, Hi**er and the nascent N**i Party failed to overthrow the state in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch. But they came close, and they returned 10 years later…

We lead groups several times a year in Munich and walk through the Marienplatz (photo) down to the putsch’s denouement.

30/03/2022

On this incredible Vietnam history and culture tour, we will explore the history, culture, food, natural beauty of Vietnam & Vietnam War history.