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The Symbol of the Vietnam War - The UH-1H Huey Helicopter

Three veterans of the battle of Au Pac in June 1967, Padre Johnson, Jim Henkes and Ralph Christopher, share their recollections of that difficult day with the Czar and Producer Millian.

Download the show at http://www.historyczar.com/mp3/historyczar090211.mp3

This Week in History:

6 September 1915 First Tank Produced

The First Tank

On this day in 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.

The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break through enemy lines and traverse difficult territory. The men appealed to British navy minister Winston Churchill, who believed in the concept of a “land boat” and organized a Landships Committee to begin developing a prototype. To keep the project secret from enemies, production workers were reportedly told the vehicles they were building would be used to carry water on the battlefield (alternate theories suggest the shells of the new vehicles resembled water tanks). Either way, the new vehicles were shipped in crates labeled “tank” and the name stuck.

The first tank prototype, Little Willie, was unveiled in September 1915. Following its underwhelming performance–it was slow, became overheated and couldn’t cross trenches–a second prototype, known as “Big Willie,” was produced. By 1916, this armored vehicle was deemed ready for battle and made its debut at the First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France, on September 15 of that year. Known as the Mark I, this first batch of tanks was hot, noisy and unwieldy and suffered mechanical malfunctions on the battlefield; nevertheless, people realized the tank’s potential. Further design improvements were made and at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, 400 Mark IV’s proved much more successful than the Mark I, capturing 8,000 enemy troops and 100 guns.

Tanks rapidly became an important military weapon. During World War II, they played a prominent role across numerous battlefields. More recently, tanks have been essential for desert combat during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf.

Alma Bond

Dr. Alma Bond discusses her book, Jackie O. on the Couch, with the History Czar and Producer Millian.

Download the show at http://www.historyczar.com/mp3/historyczar082611.mp3

Dr. Alma Halbert Bond is a psychoanalyst who was in private practice for 37 years. She is the author of 14 published books. In addition to the new book mentioned above, her publications include, Who Killed Marcia Maynard?: The Psychoanalyst is Dead, Camille Claudel: A Novel, The Deadly Jigsaw Puzzle, The Tree That Could Fly, Murder on the Streetcar, Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise where Paragon House stated that it “is proud to announce a brilliant new anthology reaching into the depths of human nature, Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise, by Psychoanalyst Alam Bond.” ” “Maria,” her play about the life and loves of Maria Callas, was recently produced off-off Broadway at Ye Waverly Inn., The Autobiography of Maria Callas, a Novel, Who Killed Virginia Woolf? A Psychobiography, and I Married Dr. Jekyll and Woke Up Mrs. Hyde; .

Dr. Bond teaches Psychology & Writing online at WriterSchool. She is a member of the International Psychoanalytic Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, where she is a fellow, training analyst, and faculty member. She is listed in Who’s Who in America , and 20 other biographies. Review in “Bookviews,” by Alan Caruba says, Dr. Alma Bond is one of the nation’s leading psychoanalysts as well as the author of 11 books. Her latest is “Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise.” “Maria,” her play about the life and loves of Maria Callas, was recently produced off-off Broadway at Ye Waverly Inn.

Paragon House is proud to announce a brilliant new anthology reaching into the depths of human nature, Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise, by Psychoanalyst Alma Halbert Bond.

A story that breathes life is incapable of death. It reverberates; it haunts and disturbs the reader. Tales of Psychology belongs to this select genre. It contains all the excellent qualities, “extraordinary observations, insightful remarks, moving passages and wonderful lessons “necessary to make one be both attendant and gentle with life.” G. Marudhan, Critique Magazine.

Tales of Psychology: Short Stories to Make You Wise is a stunning collection of short stories by both award winning and unknown authors that ranges from the most exalted in human character to the most depraved. Dr. Bond combines this collection with her astute psychological explanations of the meaning behind each story. Warren Thurston, owner of Boggle Books, writes, To read the book is to take a tour of a psychological gallery, with Doctor Bond orchestrating what the reader will see next. Her choice of stories brings forth images too powerful to ignore. Primeval urges that shake the reader from their normal state, taking them on a journey to a world hidden deep within their consciousness. This book will indeed provide many hours of reading pleasure.

These stories bring to light truths of human nature through fine writing. From alcoholism to defense mechanisms and mental retardation, Tales of Psychology presents life-changing literature. You will recognize different aspects of yourself and those around you within the pages of this collection. Tales of Psychology is a subtle and rich collection that will lead you into the heart of thought and beyond. It is the perfect volume for everyone from students and professionals to those with curious minds and is also highly recommended to teachers and professors of psychology for an original and elegant method of teaching in the classroom.

The following is a sampling of stories housed within Tales of Psychology: A Small, Good Thing, by Raymond Carver, The Middle Years, by Henry James, Silent Snow, Secret Snow, by Conrad Aiken, The Region of Ice, by Joyce Carol Oates, Paul’s Case, by Willa Cather, and My Apology, by Woody Allen. Each story is followed by a discussion of the psychological principles revealed. Dr. Bond’s astute analyses add depth and understanding to the words of these great writers.

This Week in History:

27 August 1776 Howe brothers Defeat Washington in Battle of Brooklyn

British forces under General William Howe and his brother, Admiral Richard viscount Howe, defeat Patriot forces under General George Washington at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights (also known as the Battle of Long Island) in New York on this day in 1776.

On August 22, Howe’s large army landed on Long Island, hoping to capture New York City and gain control of the Hudson River, a victory that would divide the rebellious colonies in half. On August 27, the Redcoats marched against the Patriot position at Brooklyn Heights, overcoming the Americans at Gowanus Pass and then outflanking the entire Continental Army. The Americans suffered 1,000 casualties to the British loss of only 400 men during the fighting. After the victory, Howe chose not to follow the advice of his subordinates and did not storm the Patriot redoubts at Brooklyn Heights, where he could have taken the Patriots’ military leadership prisoner and ended the rebellion.

General Washington ordered a retreat to Manhattan by boat. The British could easily have prevented this retreat and captured most of the Patriot officer corps, including Washington. Howe, however, still hoped to convince the Americans to rejoin the British empire in the wake of the humiliating defeat, instead of forcing the former colonies into submission after executing Washington and his officers as traitors. On September 11, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and other congressional representatives reopened negotiations with the Howes on Staten Island. The negotiations fell through when the British refused to accept American independence.

The British captured New York City on September 15; it would remain in British hands until the end of the war.

Mike Angley

Mike Angley, author of the Child Finder Trilogy, joins the Czar and Producer Millian to discuss this fascinating book series.

Download the show at http://www.historyczar.com/mp3/historyczar081911.mp3

Mike’s website:  www.childfinder.us

About the Child Finder Trilogy:

Major Patrick O’Donnell, an Air Force Special Agent assigned to the Pentagon, begins experiencing haunting nightmares about children who have been abducted and murdered – before their bodies are found.  It quickly becomes apparent he has a special psychic gift the government is all too eager to exploit. He is drawn into a secret black world community, overseen by the FBI, which leverages his skills to solve child abductions.  But he soon discovers this black world has an even darker underbelly, when those close to him begin to die mysteriously…and his own family gets trapped in a twisted web of government intrigue.

Child Finder won the Silver Medal for Fiction in the 2009 Military Writers Society of America’s Annual Awards program.

Mike Angley’s Bio:

Mike Angley is the multi award-winning author of the Child Finder Trilogy.  He retired as a Colonel from the Air Force in 2007 following a 25-year career as a Special Agent with the Office of Special Investigations (OSI).  He held 13 different assignments throughout the world, among which were five tours as a Commander of various units, to include two Air Force Squadrons and a Wing.  He is a seasoned criminal investigator and a counterintelligence and counterterrorism specialist.  In his last assignment, he was Commander of OSI Region 8 with responsibility for all of Air Force Space Command.  Among other things, he was the chief architect of all space-related counterintelligence programs where he exercised responsibility over anything entering or exiting the Earth’s atmosphere.  Much of what he experienced in those heady, esoteric days, to include what he calls “sexy technology,” informed his writing and inspired his trilogy.

His debut novel, Child Finder, received the Silver Medal for Fiction in the 2009 Military Writers Society of America’s (MWSA) Annual Awards program.  When it debuted in June 2009, it earned placement on Library Journal’s Summer Reads List.  His second novel, Child Finder: Resurrection, received a fiction award in the 2010 Annual Awards Contest of the Public Safety Writers Association, and it also won a Silver Medal for Fiction from the MWSA in the 2010 Annual Awards Program!

Mike writes thrillers with a paranormal twist.  His protagonist is a man whose deep faith guides him through his page-turning perils.  The Child Finder Trilogy is a hot thriller series with a light, somewhat edgy spiritual theme…it is not typical Christian fiction.  But fans of that genre as well as suspense and thriller enthusiasts thoroughly enjoy it!

About his military career:  Following the 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia, Angley was dispatched to command all OSI units throughout the Middle East, with responsibility for 23 countries.  During his tenure, he and his teams effectively neutralized numerous terrorist threats to U.S. forces in the region, to include an imminent

threat to senior Department of Defense officials.  In 2004, he commanded all OSI units in South Korea where he and his teams countered a classified target in Seoul.  For his efforts, the President of South Korea presented him with a Presidential Citation and medal, and the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) Commissioner decorated him with the KNPA Medal of Cooperation.

Earlier, while commanding an OSI unit in northern Japan, Angley conducted an operation that effectively blocked a KGB agent’s efforts to steal critical U.S. technology, and thereby stymied Soviet military advances for years.  In 1999, he was the Chief of counterintelligence within the Directorate of Intelligence, U.S. Strategic Command.  His office competed for the prestigious Killian Award, a White House level honor that annually recognizes the very best intelligence unit in the entire U.S. government.  His unit came in as first runner-up for this significant honor.

Michael Angley has an M.A. in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA, and a B.A. in Criminal Justice and Psychology from King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA.  In 2001, he served as a National Defense Fellow and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Florida International University, Miami, FL.

Mike and Evelyn, his wife of 25 years, make their home in Colorado Springs, CO.  They have three children, and they can usually be found chasing their rambunctious beagle, Brynn.

This Week in History:

Benjamin Harrison

20 August 1833 Benjamin Harrison is Born

On this day in 1833, future President Benjamin Harrison is born in North Bend, Ohio.

 Politics had long been the Harrison family business. At the time of his birth, Harrison’s father was serving Ohio in the United States House of Representatives, while his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was serving as a senator from Indiana and only eight years away from becoming America’s ninth president. His great-grandfather and namesake, Benjamin Harrison, had served as governor of colonial Virginia and was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

After serving in the Civil War as an Army general, Harrison followed in his grandfather’s footsteps and was elected as a Republican to the U.S. Senate from Indiana. In 1888, Harrison beat incumbent Grover Cleveland to become America’s 23rd president. His legislative leadership is considered by many historians, political scientists and economists to have been productive, with his most noteworthy and long-lasting legislative stewardship coming in the form of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1889, which set the precedent for breaking up powerful industrial monopolies. He also presided over the passing of the Dependent Pension Act in 1890, which provided benefits to disabled vets, as well as the McKinley Tariff (introduced by then-Congressman and future Republican president William McKinley), which was intended to protect American economic trade.

Although he was re-nominated for the Republican ticket in the election of 1892, Harrison ultimately lost to Democrat Grover Cleveland who appealed to a farming and labor base that opposed McKinley’s protectionist policies. Harrison is sometimes referred to as the president who was “sandwiched” between Cleveland’s two terms.

Flint Whitlock

Author and Military Historian, Flint Whitlock joins the Czar and Producer Millian to discuss his book, Internal Conflicts, the epic novel of the turbulent sixties.

Download the show at www.historyczar.com

Flint’s website:  www.flintwhitlock.com

Synopsis of Internal Conflicts:

Recently on National Public Radio, an author said, “A good novel raises more questions than it answers.”

By that standard, Internal Conflicts is certainly a “good novel,” for it raises all sorts of questions about life, death, love, sex, war, peace and the meaning of human existence. In fact, nearly every page confronts the protagonist with a question, a choice, a dilemma.

One of the major questions that Peter Luton seems to constantly encounter is: “What must I do to prove that I am a man?”

According to psychologist Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author or The Hazards of Being Male, women never have to “prove” their femininity. Many young males, on the other hand, often feel compelled to “prove” to themselves and others that they are worthy of being considered “real men.”

It is this drive to prove one’s masculinity that is at the heart of Internal Conflicts, the debut novel by acclaimed author and military historian Flint Whitlock, that is part romance novel, part war story, part murder mystery, and part psychological study.

Set in the turbulent 1960s, when America was being pulled apart by war, racial issues, and political assassinations, Internal Conflicts is the story of Peter Luton, a young, idealistic Army officer who has joined the military in hopes of discovering his manhood while he hunts for sex, love, and the meaning of life in a world turned upside down.

Having grown up in the shadow of his older, more athletically gifted brother Jack, the angst-ridden, ultra-sensitive Peter is forever tormented by self-doubt and insecurities, and is given to impetuous acts that always seem to backfire on him. Yet, when it comes time for him to demonstrate courage in the face of death, he finds an inner strength that he never knew he possessed.

Told with style, warmth, and humor, as well as insight and surprising plot twists, the fast-paced Internal Conflicts takes the reader to some intriguing locales: El Paso, Texas, and the mean streets of Juarez, Mexico; Airborne training in Georgia; a shipboard romance on the North Atlantic; the tensions of a nuclear missile base in West Germany during the Cold War; a steamy sexual encounter in Paris; the riot-torn streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention; and a battle-scarred highway in Vietnam.

Along the way, the reader meets a host of lifelike, unforgettable characters: Peter’s older brother Jack, All-American jock; Martin “Frog” Randall, Peter’s anti-war college roommate; Lieutenant Duncan Matheson III, a hedonist and minister’s son; Susan Delehaye, Peter’s former college fiance; the racist Sergeant Krieger; Sabrina Mondragon, one of Peter’s many failed love interests; Army buddy Lieutenant Styles Van Dellen; the sexually voracious librarian Margot Sills; Peter’s insufferable commanding officer, Boswell “Porky Pig” Taggert; Army nurse Lieutenant Meredith Keller; Peter’s boss in Vietnam, Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Aholm; his nemesis Captain Todd Gorman; and Australian Army Captain Graham Birdsong—all of whom play important roles in propelling the novel to its shattering, inevitable conclusion with an emotional impact that few readers will be able to resist. Or forget.

No wonder that one reviewer called it “the Great American Novel.”

Flint Whitlock bio:

As an art major, Flint Whitlock graduated from the University of Illinois in 1964 with a degree in Advertising Design, but has always been as much a writer as an artist. His love for military history began at an early age—fueled by his father, James, who served with the famed 10th Mountain Division in World War II. Flint also had an uncle who was a military policeman with the 1st Infantry Division and another uncle who served with the Navy in the Pacific.

Wanting to serve his country, Flint was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Commission Training Program and entered active duty in December 1964. After attending the basic Air Defense Artillery officers’ course at Fort Bliss, Texas, Flint earned his jump wings at Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then posted to a Nike Hercules battery in Baumholder, Germany. After two years in ADA, he received a branch transfer to the Quartermaster Corps and spent an additional year with the Supply and Maintenance Agency in Zweibruecken, Germany, where he was promoted to captain.

As a captain in Vietnam, 1968.

In 1968, Flint was transferred to South Vietnam, arriving one day before the Tet Offensive in January, 1968. He served for six months as a supply specialist at 1st Logistical Command Headquarters at Long Binh, northeast of Saigon, before being transferred to the 14th Inventory Control Center at the same post. He returned to the States in 1969 and spent a year with the 5th Infantry Division Supply and Maintenance Battalion at Fort Carson, Colorado, before resigning his commission and returning to civilian life.

After a stint as the Public Relations Director for the Denver Dynamos of the now-defunct North American Soccer League, he served as a copywriter, art director, and creative director for several major Colorado advertising agencies. While holding down these positions, he also continued to paint and write, becoming a locally prominent artist of the “photo-realist” genre. His attention to visual detail also translated to the written word, as he sought to convey the emotional and physical aspects of the soldier’s experience.

To heighten his understanding of, and appreciation for, what the World War II combat soldier went through, he became involved in World War II re-enactment groups, in which he has been active for over 20 years. As a tribute to his father, he founded the 10th Mountain Division Living History Display Group in 1983 (www.tenthmountain.org). He is also a member of the 10th Mountain Division Foundation Board of Directors and the 10th Mountain Division Resource Center Advisory Committee.

Flint Whitlock lives in Denver, Colorado, with his wife, Dr. Mary Ann Watson, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Metropolitan State College of Denver. They have three grown children: Gillian Lee Whitlock, an actress and make-up artist in Hollywood; Suki Montgomery, a psychologist and member of the counseling staff at Ithaca (NY) College; and Matthew Montgomery, an anesthesiologist in Denver. To keep in shape, Flint skis, referees soccer, and plays tennis.

This Week in History:

13 AUGUST 1521 Aztec Capital Falls to Cortes

After a three-month siege, Spanish forces under Hernán Cortés capture Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Aztec empire. Cortés’ men leveled the city and captured Cuauhtemoc, the Aztec emperor.

Tenochtitlán was founded in 1325 A.D. by a wandering tribe of hunters and gatherers on islands in Lake Texcoco, near the present site of Mexico City. In only one century, this civilization grew into the Aztec empire, largely because of its advanced system of agriculture. The empire came to dominate central Mexico and by the ascendance of Montezuma II in 1502 had reached its greatest extent, extending as far south as perhaps modern-day Nicaragua. At the time, the empire was held together primarily by Aztec military strength, and Montezuma II set about establishing a bureaucracy, creating provinces that would pay tribute to the imperial capital of Tenochtitlán. The conquered peoples resented the Aztec demands for tribute and victims for the religious sacrifices, but the Aztec military kept rebellion at bay.

Meanwhile, Hernán Cortés, a young Spanish-born noble, came to Hispaniola in the West Indies in 1504. In 1511, he sailed with Diego Velázquez to conquer Cuba and twice was elected mayor of Santiago, the capital of Hispaniola. In 1518, he was appointed captain general of a new Spanish expedition to the American mainland. Velázquez, the governor of Cuba, later rescinded the order, and Cortés sailed without permission. He visited the coast of Yucatán and in March 1519 landed at Tabasco in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche with 500 soldiers, 100 sailors, and 16 horses. There, he won over the local Indians and was given a female slave, Malinche–baptized Marina–who became his mistress and later bore him a son. She knew both Maya and Aztec and served as an interpreter. The expedition then proceeded up the Mexican coast, where Cortés founded Veracruz, mainly for the purpose of having himself elected captain general by the colony, thus shaking off the authority of Velázquez and making him responsible only to King Charles V of Spain.

At Veracruz, Cortés trained his army and then burned his ships to ensure loyalty to his plans for conquest. Having learned of political strife in the Aztec empire, Cortés led his force into the Mexican interior. On the way to Tenochtitlán, he clashed with local Indians, but many of these people, including the nation of Tlaxcala, became his allies after learning of his plan to conquer their hated Aztec rulers. Hearing of the approach of Cortés, with his frightful horses and sophisticated weapons, Montezuma II tried to buy him off, but Cortés would not be dissuaded. On November 8, 1519, the Spaniards and their 1,000 Tlaxcaltec warriors were allowed to enter Tenochtitlán unopposed.

 Map depicting Cortés’s invasion route

 Montezuma suspected them to be divine envoys of the god Quetzalcatl, who was prophesied to return from the east in a “One Reed” year, which was 1519 on the Aztec calendar. The Spaniards were greeted with great honor, and Cortés seized the opportunity, taking Montezuma hostage so that he might govern the empire through him. His mistress, Marina, was a great help in this endeavor and succeeded in convincing Montezuma to cooperate fully.

In the spring of 1520, Cortés learned of the arrival of a Spanish force from Cuba, led by Pánfilo Narvez and sent by Velázquez to deprive Cortés of his command. Cortés led his army out of Tenochtitlán to meet them, leaving behind a garrison of 80 Spaniards and a few hundred Tlaxcaltecs to govern the city. Cortés defeated Narvez and enlisted Narvez’ army into his own. When he returned to Tenochtitlán in June, he found the garrison under siege from the Aztecs, who had rebelled after the subordinate whom Cortés left in command of the city massacred several Aztec chiefs, and the population on the brink of revolt. On June 30, under pressure and lacking food, Cortés and his men fought their way out of the capital at heavy cost. Known to the Spanish as La Noche Triste, or “the Night of Sadness,” many soldiers drowned in Lake Texcoco when the vessel carrying them and Aztec treasures hoarded by Cortés sank. Montezuma was killed in the fighting–in Aztec reports by the Spaniards, and in Spanish reports by an Aztec mob bitter at Montezuma’s subservience to Spanish rule. He was succeeded as emperor by his brother, Cuitláhuac.

During the Spaniards’ retreat, they defeated a large Aztec army at Otumba and then rejoined their Tlaxcaltec allies. In May 1521, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán, and after a three-month siege the city fell. This victory marked the fall of the Aztec empire. Cuauhtámoc, Cuitláhuac’s successor as emperor, was taken prisoner and later executed, and Cortés became the ruler of a vast Mexican empire.

The Spanish conquistador led an expedition to Honduras in 1524 and in 1528 returned to Spain to see the king. Charles made him Marqués del Valle but refused to name him governor because of his quarrels with Velázquez and others. In 1530, he returned to Mexico, now known as New Spain, and found the country in disarray. After restoring some order, he retired to his estate south of Mexico City and sent out maritime expeditions from the Pacific coast. In 1540, he returned to Spain and was neglected by the court. He died in 1547.

To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn

Sandra Byrd, Tudor history expert, discusses the first book in her Ladies in Waiting series, To Die For:  A Novel of Anne Boleyn, which focuses on the friendship of Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, Queen of England from 1533 – 1536 and mother of Elizabeth I, heroine of the Elizabethan age and Meg Wyatt.

Download the show at www.historyczar.com

Sandra’s website:  www.sandrabyrd.com

About the Ladies in Waiting Series:

Ladies In Waiting

A rich alchemy of fact and fiction, the Ladies in Waiting series chronicles the glittering court lives of three Tudor Queens and the women chosen to be their closest friends and companions. Each book envelopes the reader in sweeping romance, heartwarming and heartbreaking circumstances, and heroines who choose lives worth risking all for.

 

“In TO DIE FOR, Sandra Byrd gifts the reader with a fresh look at Anne Boleyn through the eyes of her lifelong friend Meg Wyatt. But Meg commands her own interest and respect in the Tudor world of triumph and tragedy. Readers will be drawn to the events, beautifully depicted, but also to the emotions, skillfully conveyed. A new Tudor historical to treasure.”

Karen Harper, Author of
The Queen’s Governess

“Sandra Byrd’s first venture into historical fiction is nothing short of brilliant. All the Tudor details are perfectly placed, like gemstones in a royal crown, yet there is far more to this compelling novel… Simply put, To Die For is the best historical novel I’ve read in many a season, a masterpiece of history and heart.”

Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Here Burns My Candle