Robert, Author at Robert Redd Historian & Author

Posted on October 24, 2022July 12, 2024 by Robert — Leave a comment

Ormond Indian Burial Mound Historic Marker

Ormond Indian Burial Mound

In May 1982, when Dixon H. Reeves, and his wife Harriett, paid contractors to break ground on a house site at the corner of south Beach Street and Mound Avenue in Ormond Beach, they did not fully comprehend the damage they were going to do to an irreplaceable cultural artifact. In fact, once the city manager issued a stop work order, the Reeves sued the city for damages. The property ownership reverted to Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Barron, who the Reeves purchased the property from, and the Reeves eventually received a $4,000 settlement from the city.

Where the Reeves wish to build their home was the site of a Timucuan Burial Mound. Timucuan society did not bury the dead. Instead the Timucuans placed bodies on top of the ground and piled dirt on top. In some instances, the flesh was allowed to decay, and the bones were bundled and placed at the mound site. Items owned by the deceased were broken and included in the interment.

Despite the mound having received considerable damage through the years, including digging by “pot hunters” and construction of adjacent roadways, archaeologists believe as many as 125 Timucuans had been buried on the site. For anybody caught digging on this, or similar sites, you will more likely than not be charged with a third-degree felony. See this link for additional information.

With a lack of consensus among city leaders, a fund was started to help purchase and preserve this sacred site. The Barron’s agreed to sell the property to the city for $55,000. Despite confirmation on the importance of the site from professional anthropologists and archaeologists, it took an anonymous donation of $30,000, along with the fundraising drive, to help secure the sale as shortsighted elected city officials balked at the price and potential ongoing costs.

Today, the City of Ormond Beach owns this site and is a park in a residential area. Visitors can see the mound from all sides, surrounded by roads and houses. Parking is available across the street at Ames Park so please do not park on park lands or in the yards or drives of nearby property owners. Please do not climb on the mound as it is a fragile archaeological site.

Sign Text

Prehistoric people of this area constructed the Ormond Burial Mound sometime after A.D. 800. The skeletal remains of more than 125 early native (sic) Americans are buried in this sand burial mound. Interring bodies in earthen mounds was a common burial practice in the late pre-historic period. The bones of most of the deceased were “bundled” and buried during special ceremonies. As more bodies were buried and covered with layers of sand, the mound grew over time. The Mound is preserved as one of the finest and most intact burial mounds in Florida through the efforts of the community that worked to save this site in 1982.

City of Ormond Beach

Ormond Beach Historical Trust

The City of Ormond Beach placed this marker and is not a part of the Florida Department of State marker program.

If you wish to learn more about Timucuan culture there is an excellent book I can recommend.

Perhaps the definitive book on the subject is written by Dr. Jerald Milanich, The Timucua.

This is the story of the Timucua, an American Indian people who thrived for centuries in the southeast portion of what is now the United States of America.

Timucua groups lived in Northern Florida and Southern Georgia, a region occupied by native people for thirteen millennia. They were among the first of the American Indians to come in contact with Europeans, when the Spaniard Juan Ponce de Leon landed on the Florida coast in 1513. Thousands of archaeological sites, village middens and sand and shell mounds still dot the landscape, offering mute testimony to the former presence of the Timucua and their ancestors.

Two hundred and fifty years after Ponce de Leon’s voyage the Timucua had disappeared, extinguished by the ravages of colonialism. Who were the Timucua? Where did they come from? How did they live? What caused their extinction? These are questions this book attempts to answer, using information gathered from archaeological excavations and from the interpretation of historical documents left behind by the European powers, mainly Spain and France, who sought to colonize Florida and to place the Timucua under their sway.

I also recommend taking a look at this page from the National Park Service.

Timucua Mode of Drying Fish, Wild Animals, and other Provisions Courtesy Florida Memory — Bry, Theodor de, 1528-1598. XXIV. Mode of Drying Fish, Wild Animals, and other Provisions. 1591. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory. Accessed 22 October 2022.

The State Library and Archives of Florida (Florida Memory), has an excellent page of Theodor de Bry’s Engravings of the Timucua. These incredible works of art date from before the year 1600. The 42 pieces are all available for viewing and low resolution copies are available for download. A sample de Bry image is seen at the left.

Sources:

Daytona Beach News Journal

Florida Master Site File VO00240

Ormond Beach Historical Trust, Inc. “The Story of the Timucua Indian Burial Mound in Ormond Beach, Florida.” Pamphlet published April 2000.

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Posted on October 16, 2022May 7, 2024 by Robert — Leave a comment

Dr. Paul J. Croce Stetson University Professor

Dr. Paul J. Croce has been a mainstay, serving as a professor in the History and American Studies departments at Stetson University for over thirty years. To say that he has positively impacted the lives of thousands of students would not be an understatement. I am one of those students.

When I was a student, Dr. Croce taught several of the courses I took. Recently, he and I had the opportunity to reconnect and now may have a chance to do a bit of collaboration in the future. I jokingly reminded him I may have been his poorest student ever. He was quick to say it wasn’t necessarily that. He said he remembers seeing I had the interest and potential but that I wasn’t engaged. There was something else going on at the time.

Dr. Croce made the point that education and teaching are the long-range game. Results are not always immediate, and just like in my case, the results may show years down the road and that is part of what is so rewarding about being a professor. For students attending Stetson University, I can strongly recommend carving out a time to take one of Dr. Croce’s courses. You will learn a lot and appreciate the time you spent in his classroom. I remember him as being a caring and concerned instructor. He wanted you to succeed but yet made you think and examine issues for your self. He always had time for students as well.

Dr. Croce is one of the leading scholars on William James, the founder of American psychology and pragmatism. James’ twelve-hundred-page masterwork, The Principles of Psychology (1890), is a rich blend of physiology, psychology, philosophy, and personal reflection that has given us such ideas as “the stream of thought” and the baby’s impression of the world “as one great blooming, buzzing confusion” (PP 462).

Dr. Croce received his B.A. degree from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from Brown University. He began his career at Stetson University in 1988. He was the 1998-1999 and 2010-2011 recipient of the Hand Award for Research, Creative, and Professional Activity at Stetson. He is a past President of the William James Society and currently serves as a Fellow for the organization. You can learn more about Dr. Croce at his website, Pub Classroom. This site is an interactive effort. As Dr. Croce states, he wants to hear from you. He goes by the mantra made famous by the beautiful Pat Benatar, “Hit Me with Your Best Shot.”

As mentioned, Dr. Croce is a scholar of William James and has published extensively on James. I recommend reviewing Croce’s Google Scholar page to review the impressive list of journal articles he has penned. His full-length works are referenced below.

Science and Religion in the Era of William James. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1995. ISBN 9780807845066, $49.95.

In this cultural biography, Paul Croce investigates the contexts surrounding the early intellectual development of American philosopher William James (1842-1910). Croce places the young James at the center of key scientific and religious debates in American intellectual life between the 1820s and 1870s. Early in the nineteenth century, most Americans maintained their scientific and religious beliefs with certainty. Well before the end of the century, however, science and religion had parted company, and, despite the endurance of religious convictions and widespread confidence in science, professionals in both fields expressed belief in terms of hypotheses and probabilities rather than absolutes. Croce highlights the essential issues debated during this shift by investigating the education of James and the circle of intellectuals of which he was part. In particular, the implicit probabilism of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, especially as interpreted by Charles Sanders Peirce’s recognition of the fallibility of knowledge, set the stage for James’s reconstruction of belief based on uncertainty.

Young William James Thinking. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2017. ISBN 9781421423654, $57.00.

By going to the sources, Paul J. Croce’s cultural biography challenges the conventional contrast commentators have drawn between James’s youthful troubles and his mature achievements. Inverting James’s reputation for inconsistency, Croce shows how he integrated his interests and his struggles into sophisticated thought. His ambivalence became the motivating core of his philosophizing, the heart of his enduring legacy. Readers can follow James in science classes and in personal “speculations,” studying medicine and exploring both mainstream and sectarian practices, in museums reflecting on the fate of humanity since ancient times, in love and with heart broken, and in periodic crises of confidence that sometimes even spurred thoughts of suicide.

To keep up on all aspects of modern psychology, I recommend a subscription to Psychology Today. Psychology Today Magazine unveils the latest discoveries in psychological research and helps you apply the results to your own life.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. All views and opinions provided are my own and are never influenced by affiliate programs or sponsors providing products.

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Robert — Leave a comment

Orlando Magazine-A Great Option for Locals and Tourists Alike

I recently came across Orlando Magazine and want to share this with my readers. I think many of you might be interested.

Orlando Magazine provides readers with a diverse look at all that is happening in the “City Beautiful” and the surrounding areas. This is a magazine that is perfect for locals and visitors alike. They cover a wide array of subjects; it’s not strictly business, tourist, or real estate driven.

Orlando Magazine is a monthly city magazine with eye-catching, contemporary design and compelling content that is both entertaining and informative. The arts, news, dining, travel, entertainment, style, people and trends – if it’s part of Orlando’s lifestyle, it can be found in Orlando Magazine.

The issue I picked up includes the “Ultimate Farm Guide.” This article includes a look at multiple farms including Southern Hill Farms (be sure to check out their Fall Festival), Wild Flower Farm, Uncle Matt’s Organic (the juices sound delicious), Webb’s Honey, and more. As residents we already know that Central Florida is home to a diverse agricultural economy. It is sometimes easy to forget this though and by highlighting just a small handful of these stories it reminds us how important it is to support our local growers.

For those of us into arts and culture, the 2022-2023 Season Preview is a must read. From Broadway Shows at Dr. Phillips Center (Hamilton is coming back to Orlando) to the Orlando Museum of Art will be hosting a tour of drawings from the Casa Buonarroti Museum in Florence which promises to be a real treat, Orlando is offering top level cultural events. Orlando Shakes is making their return after being shutdown due to COVID-19. Lovers of art, theater, dance, and other cultural activities should review the list. Orlando is truly alive with culture for everybody.

Prior issues have included best burger, a look at Ocala horse country, a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, and more. The October 2022 issue takes a look at the fifty most powerful people in the community, a guide to the best haunts is available just in time for Halloween (think Cassadaga, the Oviedo Lights, the Annie Russell Theater, Greenwood Cemetery, and other places that might make your skin crawl, and includes an excellent events calendar.

Great magazines at low prices for students & educators. Click to save up to 90% off the cover price.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. All views and opinions provided are my own and are never influenced by affiliate programs or sponsors providing products.

Posted on October 5, 2022October 16, 2022 by Robert — Leave a comment

Florida State Poets Association to Hold Slam Competition in Daytona Beach Shores

On October 20-23, 2022, the National Federation of State Poetry Societies (NFSPS) in cooperation with the Florida State Poets Association (FSPA) and Bethune-Cookman University (BCU) is holding its first annual national championship slam poetry competition in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida. Competitors are expected from across the country and will be limited to 40 of the top spoken word poets.

A Youth Poetry Mini-Festival (under 21 years) will be held as a part of the overall event. Creative Happiness Institute and Bethune-Cookman University will conduct the youth events on behalf of the NFSPS and the FSPA, which will include workshops, a National Youth Poetry Slam, and a National Youth Open Mic.

Are you a poet? You should consider subscribing to Poets & Writers, the primary source of information, support and guidance for creative writers. Founded in 1970, it is the nation’s largest nonprofit literary organization serving poets and writers.

Location

Our host hotel, the Residence Inn by Marriot Daytona Beach Oceanfront, will be the site of many festival events. Other festival events will take place on and around the campus of Bethune-Cookman University. All room rates at the Residence Inn include free parking, hot breakfast buffet, free coffee/tea bar, Wi-Fi, and unlimited access to the resort pool, spa, and beautiful beach with no resort fees. This event will be held in conjunction with the FSPA annual convention. The competition will take place over 3 days, with preliminary rounds on Thursday and Friday nights culminating in a finals stage of 12 poets and one sacrificial poet on Saturday night.

Right To Cancel

NFSPS reserves the right to cancel the competition in the event of weather, public health, or any other major problem. Full refund of all registration fees will be paid within 7 days of the cancellation.

Prelims

There will be two venues hosting 2 bouts apiece the first two nights: an early bout from 6pm to 8pm and a late bout from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. In other words, there will be a total of 4 bouts each of the first two nights. The venues will likely be in the host hotel and on and around the campus of Bethune-Cookman University. 10 poets will compete in each bout. There will be two rounds in each bout, with the order in the first round taking place by random draw and the order in the second round determined by first round finish (high score goes first in second round). There will be five (5) judges scoring each poem on a scale of 1 to 10, utilizing one decimal place to give further nuance to the scores. For example, one poem may score a 9 while a slightly better poem may score a 9.1 or 9.2. All five judges will give a score but for prelim purposes the highest score and the lowest score will be dropped. The remaining three scores will be added to give the poet a score for the round. The scores for each of the two rounds will be added together and the highest cumulative score shall be given a ranking of 1, the next highest a ranking of 2, and so on, with the lowest cumulative score awarded a ranking of 10. After 2 nights of prelims, the 12 highest ranked poets (lowest numbers) will advance to the Finals with the 13th highest poet serving as the sacrificial poet to begin finals rounds. Ties for final stage will be broken by comparing the cumulative scores of the poets in question over both days of prelims. If there is still a tie, the dropped judges scores over the two days will be added back in and the resulting new cumulative scores will be compared. If there is still a tie, there will be either an additional poet added to Finals, or a tie break slam held to determine who advances. Poems may not be repeated in any prelim round, including any tie break round.

Finals

Finals will be held on Saturday night on the campus of Bethune-Cookman University in the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center. Finals will consist of three rounds. Scores are cumulative. Order in the first round will be by random draw. Order in the second and third round will be determined based on the cumulative scores of the poets, from high score to low score. After the first round, the highest 8 scoring poets progress to the second round. After the second round the top 4 scoring poets advance to the final round. Scores are cumulative. The highest cumulative scoring poets wins. Poems from prelims may be repeated in the Finals.

Admission

All Blackberry Peach preliminary rounds will have free admission. Admission to Finals will be ticketed and tickets can be purchased here: https://BBPFinalStage.eventbrite.com

Want to read some of the best new poetry available? Take a look at The Best American Poetry 2022.

For The Best American Poetry 2022guest editor Matthew Zapruder, whose own poems are “for everyone, everywhere…democratic in [their] insights and feelings” (NPR), has selected the seventy-five new poems that represent American poetry today at its most dynamic. Chosen from print and online magazines, from the popular to the little-known, the selection is sure to capture the attention of both Best American Poetry loyalists and newcomers to the series.

Are you a poet looking for outlets for your work? You won’t find a better resource than Poet’s Market.

Want to get your poetry published? There’s no better tool for making it happen than Poet’s Market, which includes hundreds of publishing opportunities specifically for poets, including listings for book and chapbook publishers, print and online poetry publications, contests, and more. These listings include contact information, submission preferences, insider tips on what specific editors want, and–when offered–payment information.

I also strongly recommend a subscription to Writer’s Digest, the leading bi-monthly magazine for writers of all types, including poets.

Posted on September 20, 2022March 24, 2024 by Robert — Leave a comment

In Memory Lawrence Peacock World War I Casualty

In Memory Lawrence Peacock. Lawrence S. Peacock came from a humble background. Lawrence was born on July 5, 1891 in Spring Garden, FL to parents Samuel D. and Martha (Daugharty) Peacock. Samuel was a farmer and the family lived in Precinct Four according to the 1900 United States Census. Lawrence was the fourth of five children; John, Thomas, Margaret, and Violet. The 1910 United States Census placed the Peacock family at 46 E. New York Avenue.

Young Lawrence appears to have been an industrious young man, not afraid of hard work. He was the owner of a vulcanizing company located in the downtown DeLand area. He regularly advertised in the local newspaper, “Tires and Tubes, All Work Guaranteed”.

Vulcanization is the process of using heat to help harden rubber, thus increasing its lifespan and strength. For more information on vulcanization check the Wikipedia page.

A prime bachelor, Lawrence attracted the attentions of young Edith Baguley, “a talented musician and a popular young woman…” The two eligible DeLandites eloped on July 5, 1917. The service was performed by Reverend H. S. Rightmire at the Baptist church in Daytona Beach with only the reverend’s wife and Mrs. M. N. Baguley, Edith’s mother, in attendance.

The newly wed couple briefly honeymooned in St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Pablo Beach, before returning to DeLand.

World events were closing in on young men around the globe and Lawrence S. Peacock was no exception. Peacock was drafted in mid-1918 and received notice he would be called to active duty.

In preparation for leaving DeLand for an unknown period, Lawrence sold his business to Mr. A. C. Clark, a young man from Miami.

Lawrence was transported to Camp Greenleaf at Fort Oglethorpe, GA for two months of training. His skills and abilities earned him a promotion from Private to Wagoner in Evacuation Ambulance Company No. 19 during his training.

USS George Washington (ID#3018) underway at sea, 10 May 1918. Photographed from USS Whipple (Destroyer # 15), which was then operating off western France.
US Navy photo # NH 53885 from the collections of the US Navy Historical Center.

On September 22, 1918, he was sent to Camp Upton on Long Island, NY before being transferred to the Transport S.S. George Washington in preparation for transport to France.

It was during this transport to France that Peacock contracted pneumonia and passed away onboard. His death on October 9, 1918 was one of only thousands caused as a result of the 1918 influenza outbreak. The largest cause of death during the pandemic was pneumonia.

The 1918 influenza outbreak is estimated to have contributed to the deaths of nearly 100 million people. Historian John M. Barry has written what may be the definitive look at this pandemic. The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History is accessible and readable for those of us without a scientific background.

The remains of Lawrence S. Peacock were buried temporarily in Brest, France, a port city in Brittany, before being returned to DeLand in 1920. After the conclusion of hostilities, the Army returned the remains of Peacock, through New York City, where they were placed aboard a southbound train, with a single soldier accompanying.

Members of the DeLand American Legion Post met the train and carried the remains to an awaiting hearse that secured the body to Allen’s Undertaking Parlors in preparation for the funeral on July 15, 1920.

The funeral was a somber affair. At 2:00 p.m. the parade left Allen’s on their way to Oakdale Cemetery. A squad of uniformed men, followed by the pall bearers, a group of Legionnaires, the family, and finally friends of the deceased made their way through the streets of DeLand.

Once the procession arrived at the cemetery, the flag draped coffin was carried to the burial site with uniformed men at parade rest. Dr. C. L. Collins talked about the war and its impact and provided a biographical sketch of the young soldier. Reverend C. E. Wyatt offered prayer. The service ended with a three-round volley over the grave and the blowing of taps by bugler Feasel.

In the years following the burial of her husband, Edith was to remarry. On February 11, 1922, she married Pharris M. Stribling, a newspaper printer who worked for the local paper. The 1930 United States Census shows her to already have divorced Stribling and working as a stenographer in North Carolina where she lived with her mother.

A brief search shows that Edith does not appear to have married again. When she passed away on March 4, 1982, Edith was living in San Bernadino, CA.

Edith Irene Baguley Stribling is buried in Henry Cemetery, in Henry, Illinois, the same cemetery as her parents.

Wagoner Lawrence S. Peacock is memorialized today at the DeLand Memorial Hospital and Veterans Museum. This project was trumpeted in the local newspaper by DeLand Mayor S. A. Wood on February 19, 1919 and opened in 1920. DeLand Memorial Hospital would serve as the primary medical facility in DeLand until the opening of Fish Memorial Hospital in 1952. Today the building is home to City of DeLand offices and museum exhibits.

World War I plaque at DeLand Memorial Hospital and Veterans MuseumIn Memory Lawrence Peacock. — A dedication plaque to West Volusia County soldiers who perished during World War I.

Original plaque on exterior of Hospital buildingIn Memory Lawrence Peacock. — An originally placed plaque dedicating the hospital as a Memorial to our boys for service rendered and sacrifice supreme

I hope you have enjoyed this in memory post to Lawrence S. Peacock, a wagoner during World War I. To view other posts related to Oakdale Cemetery, many of them military related, please click here.

Sources:

Multiple issues of the DeLand News were used to compile this article.

www.floridamemory.com

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. Affiliate programs or sponsors providing products do not influence the views and opinions shared on this website.

Posted on September 13, 2022March 10, 2023 by Robert — Leave a comment

Florida Medal of Honor Recipient Robert R. Ingram

Robert R. Ingram
Navy
Hospital Corpsman Third Class Vietnam

Born January 20, 1945, in Clearwater, FL, Ingram joined the United States Navy at age eighteen. He received his training in California before being sent to Japan and then Vietnam as part of Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines in July 1965.

In February 1966, Petty Officer Ingram and his company came under heavy fire. As Ingram sprinted toward the front to assist the wounded bullets punctured both of his canteens. Noticing a machine gunner had been injured, Ingram took up the post, manning the gun for the duration. For his bravery he received the Silver Star, the nation’s third highest military honor.

Just a month later, in the Quang Ngai Province, in South Vietnam, on March 28, 1966, Ingram’s platoon was attacked by more than one-hundred North Vietnamese soldiers who were pouring automatic rifle fire into the Americans.

Helicopter with Corpsman Robert Ingram and others aboard. Courtesy Naval Corpsman Edward Donald Henson

The incredible photo shown above was taken by Naval Corpsman Edward Donald Henson and provided to us by his son, Spenser Henson. It shows the helicopter that flew Ingram and other platoon members leaving for the Quang Ngai Province. Corpsman Henson was one of the men who gathered Ingram’s personal belongings to be returned to the states after the attack. Henson and others were led to believe that their Navy brothers had been killed in action. It was not until years later that Corpsman Henson learned Ingram had survived the attack.

Despite the barrage of fire, Ingram crawled along the ground to reach a wounded service member and supplied aid. Here he was shot through the hand. Ingram continued to aid wounded men, receiving two more gunshot wounds himself.

While dressing a severe head wound of a fellow soldier, Ingram would be shot for a fourth time. Physically weak, and severely wounded, young Ingram was pulled from the lines, only to refuse evacuation, as he felt others needed to go first.

Ingram’s vital signs weakened, and he was believed to have been killed in action. While eleven members of Company C were to die that day, Ingram survived. He and fifty-three others were wounded.

Other members of Company C were recognized for bravery that day, but for some unknown reason, the actions of Corpsman Ingram were not. His fellow soldiers did not forget him, however. Ingram was to survive the war and after a 1995 reunion, his fellow soldiers took up the fight to have his actions acknowledged.

On July 10, 1998, President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor to Hospital Corpsman, Third Class, Robert R. Ingram.

The Vietnam War is extremely complicated and controversial to this day. One of the best sources for those interested in this war, containing articles written by those who served alongside recognized historians is VIETNAM MAGAZINE. A subscription is highly recommended.

For a full listing of Florida registered Medal of Honor recipients please see my listing HERE.

Ingram’s Medal of Honor citation can be read below.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Corpsman with Company C, First Battalion, Seventh Marines against elements of a North Vietnam Aggressor (NVA) battalion in Quang Ngai Province Republic of Vietnam on 28 March 1966. Petty Officer Ingram accompanied the point platoon as it aggressively dispatched an outpost of an NVA battalion. The momentum of the attack rolled off a ridge line down a tree covered slope to a small paddy and a village beyond. Suddenly, the village tree line exploded with an intense hail of automatic rifle fire from approximately 100 North Vietnamese regulars. In mere moments, the platoon ranks were decimated. Oblivious to the danger, Petty Officer Ingram crawled across the bullet spattered terrain to reach a downed Marine. As he administered aid, a bullet went through the palm of his hand. Calls for “CORPSMAN” echoed across the ridge. Bleeding, he edged across the fire swept landscape, collecting ammunition from the dead and administering aid to the wounded. Receiving two more wounds before realizing the third wound was life-threatening, he looked for a way off the face of the ridge, but again he heard the call for corpsman and again, he resolutely answered. Though severely wounded three times, he rendered aid to those incapable until he finally reached the right flank of the platoon. While dressing the head wound of another corpsman, he sustained his fourth bullet wound. From sixteen hundred hours until just prior to sunset, Petty Officer Ingram pushed, pulled, cajoled, and doctored his Marines. Enduring the pain from his many wounds and disregarding the probability of his demise, Petty Officer Ingram’s intrepid actions saved many lives that day. By his indomitable fighting spirit, daring initiative, and unfaltering dedications to duty, Petty Officer Ingram reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

To learn more about the Medal of Honor, I recommend Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty.

Eight veterans from the war in Afghanistan have been awarded our nation’s highest honor for valor in combat since the publication of the third edition of Medal of Honor, including Edward C. Byers, Jr., the newest living recipient and a member of Navy SEAL Team Six, and Clint Romesha, author of the New York Times bestselling Red Platoon. And nearly 50 years after their service, four Vietnam veterans have also since received the recognition they so richly deserve. Now these men rightly take their place in the pages of this revised and updated edition.

Included here are 156 Medal of Honor recipients, captured with a contemporary portrait by award-winning photographer Nick Del Calzo and profiled in moving text by National Book Award nominee Peter Collier. The men in the book fought in conflicts from World War II to Afghanistan, served in every branch of the armed services, and represent a cross section as diverse as America itself. This is their ultimate record.

The Congressional Medal of Honor Society website is also a recommended source.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. All views and opinions provided are my own and are never influenced by affiliate programs or sponsors providing products.

Posted on September 5, 2022July 12, 2024 by Robert — Leave a comment

Book Review: Your Sheep are all Counted South of the Border Billboards

Below, please find my book review of the fascinating work, Your Sheep are all Counted: A Roadside Archaeology of South of the Border Billboards.

Capelotti, P.J. Your Sheep are all Counted: A Roadside Archaeology of South of the Border Billboards. Pelham, AL: Whitman Publishing, LLC, 2022. Foreword by Stephanie Stuckey. 266 pages, 253 pages of text, color photos, index, bibliography, ISBN 9780794849771, $29.95.

The road trip. It’s as American as well, a Stuckey’s pecan log roll. For travelers on US-301, now part of I-95, South of the Border was, and still is, a destination unto itself. Whether you were headed north or south, dozens of billboards bombarded your senses making it difficult to not stop at the Hamer, South Carolina attraction.

If the road weary family needed food, drinks (alcoholic or non), a hotel room, a campsite, gas, a place for the kids to run around and get some energy out, or maybe just a good laugh at the crass commercialism of the entire place, South of the Border made for the perfect stopping place.

South of the Border was the brainchild of Alan Schafer, an entrepreneur with a mind for marketing that comes along only rarely. Schafer opened South of the Border in 1949 as a small outlet to sell beer in response to a ban on alcohol in Robeson County, North Carolina. Thus, the name “South of the Border.” The border of North and South Carolina.

Over the years the highway system around the business changed and South of the Border grew to fill the needs of travelers. Schafer added hotel rooms and camping sites, restaurants, souvenir shops, playgrounds, and more. Putting the attraction into perspective, Capelotti states, “At more than 1,200 acres, it is more than seven times the size of Walt Disney’s original Disneyland in Anaheim, California—a roadside empire built on a bottle of beer.” (Page 2)

In addition to the roadside attraction came the advertising, the focus of this book. In this excellent book, Capelotti presents the reader with a story of several hundred images of billboards that made South of the Border famous. These images have been captured from South of the Border archives, photos from the John Margolies collection at the Library of Congress, and finally searching for and photographing billboards still in the wild; an ordeal that is not without a bit of danger due to the increases in traffic.

In a forty-year career, John Margolies created what the Library of Congress calls “one of the most comprehensive documentary studies of vernacular commercial structures along main streets, byways, and highways throughout the United States in the twentieth century.” At nearly 12,000 slides, the collection is enormous in its depth and quality. You can read a bit more about the Margolies collection on the LoC blog.

You Never Sausage a Place — You Never Saw Sausage a Place Courtesy Library of Congress

Capelotti puts forth that a reason for the success of South of the Border and for the billboard advertising is that Alan Schafer never allowed the business to be taken too seriously. The author points out that one of Schafer’s billboard trademarks was to make fun of himself, his products, and at times, his customers. An example provided is “He abbreviated South of the Border as S.O.B. and left the passing motorist to attach whatever meaning as might come to mind.” (Page 7)

The author breaks his book into chapters by billboard theme which works very well, allowing the reader to see the evolution of SOTB design. In short, but heavily illustrated chapters, Capelotti allows his reader to explore the evolution, and importance, of the billboard. As we are reminded, advertisers have only a few brief seconds to catch the attention of a driver speeding along the interstate. It is important for them to grab your attention and leave a lasting impression. South of the Border has been an expert at that for seventy years.

The billboards went through various theme changes such as a black background, a yellow background, the use of sombreros and serapes, and changes to the beloved mascot, Pedro, who evolved in appearance throughout the years but continues to make appearances. While there were changes, there has been a consistency as well. The use of bright colors, a familiar and repetitive font style, a heavy reliance on puns (often with double entendre), Pedro, and the famous mileage counter. This mileage counter made sure travelers could not miss the attraction.

Camp PedroBook Review Your Sheep are all Counted — Camp Pedro Courtesy Library of Congress

Shafer was known for his word play with a great example pitting north versus south. An early example started life as “Southern Cookin’, Yankee Prices” playing on stereotypes of Southern speech and Yankee cheapness. When this slogan finally made it to the public sight it had been toned down a bit to “Southern Cookin’, Yankee Style.” The point was still driven home, and if you didn’t get it, the use of both Union and Confederate flags would reinforce the meaning. In one billboard that was still fighting the Civil War, a clearly nervous Pedro, in full Mexican regalia, stands to the left looking at the flags out of the corner of his eye with a concerned smile. (page 57)

This is a fun book, but one also with historical importance. The billboard has evolved and is now often the home of competing legal firms (For the People). Electronic billboards make what was never meant to be permanent, even more fleeting. South of the Border has a nostalgic feeling for anybody who traveled south (to an extent north, but mostly south), along the east coast of America. Those road trips to Florida would not have been the same without South of the Border. Both the book and the attraction are recommended!

Thanks for taking the time to read my book review of Your Sheep are all Counted. I hope you enjoyed it.

For those interested in even more history of this cultural icon; the American Road Trip, I recommend the following titles:

Don’t Make Me Pull Over! An Informal History of the Family Road Trip See my review here.

Ratay offers “an amiable guide…fun and informative” (New York Newsday) that “goes down like a cold lemonade on a hot summer’s day” (The Wall Street Journal). In hundreds of amusing ways, he reminds us of what once made the Great American Family Road Trip so great, including twenty-foot “land yachts,” oasis-like Holiday Inn “Holidomes,” “Smokey”-spotting Fuzzbusters, twenty-eight glorious flavors of Howard Johnson’s ice cream, and the thrill of finding a “good buddy” on the CB radio.

Stuckey’s

Beginning as a single roadside stand selling pecans in Eastman, Georgia, by the 1950s, the name Stuckey’s was synonymous throughout the South with candy, souvenirs, clean restrooms, and the other necessities of automobile travel. During the 1960s, the Stuckey’s stores moved into the new frontier of the interstate highways, where quite often they sat alone at the exits like oases in the middle of a desert. Their bright aqua-colored rooftops were a welcome beacon for those who had been driving long distances. Travel has changed a lot since then, but Stuckey’s can still be found along the nation’s highways, still providing dozens of types of candy and nuts, plus the same mix of souvenirs, as always. Anyone need a rubber alligator or a pecan log?

Buy Me A Coffee donation linkBook Review Your Sheep are all Counted — Click the image to support this site through Buy Me A Coffee. Your support pays for web services, research trips, photocopies, and photo usage fees.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. All views and opinions provided are my own and are never influenced by affiliate programs or sponsors providing products.

Posted on August 31, 2022July 2, 2024 by Robert — Leave a comment

Central Florida’s World War II Veterans book review

Grenier, Bob. Central Florida’s World War II Veterans (Images of America). Charleston: Arcadia Publishing. 2016. 128 pages, b/w photos. ISBN 9781467116794, $21.99.

The Greatest Generation, those who fought World War II in whatever function, is silently, yet rapidly, passing on to their reward. When you stop to think that the end of World War II was more than 75 years ago you can easily fathom that it will not be long until the last veterans from the war pass.

Author Bob Grenier, who wears many hats including historian, museum curator, Walt Disney World employee, politician, historical activist, and more, has written what I find to be a very fitting tribute to the common soldier. This is not a book glamorizing the Generals or the Colonels, or even the Lieutenants. This is not a book glamorizing war nor condemning the enemy.

Robert M. McTueous Marine Corps photo — **Robert M. McTureous, Jr.**, Medal of Honor recipient. Photo courtesy United States Marine Corps

Instead, this is a book that reminds us of the soldiers who went to serve in faraway lands they might not have been able to find on a map were real people. They were fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, husbands, or boyfriends. In some cases, they were daughters, wives, sisters, aunts, or girl friends who served in organizations like WAVES, or as nurses, or were part of the Red Cross. Many of these brave women led the charge from the home front, planting Victory Gardens, recycling materials, working in manufacturing roles, single handedly caring for families, and struggling to keep morale high at home and abroad. Their importance and contributions should not be forgotten. Not all the men in the book survived. Some, like Medal of Honor recipient Robert M. McTureous, Jr., paid the ultimate price.

Mr. Grenier has included eight chapters which are broken down geographically. A concluding chapter is titled Florida’s Gallant Sons and Daughters. The chapters feature soldiers who lived in or moved to an area. Grenier also highlights local markers or memorials to the War. Each chapter is loaded with photos; some contemporary, some from the war. Many are personal such as wedding photos. All tell a story though, and through the limited text allowed for each image, Grenier helps evoke a feeling of the image whether it be happy, sad, uncertain, confident, or scared.

This book reminds us how precious life is and that our time is fleeting. A generation called the greatest is rapidly leaving us. It is left for us, the living, to remember them. With this slim volume, Bob Grenier has provided us a way to remember the men and women who helped stop Axis forces and allow the American way of life to continue. One cannot finish this volume and not be moved. Highly recommended.

**For full disclosure: Mr. Grenier is a friend of mine, and this book is published by the same publisher I am published by. I did however purchase my copy of his book at full retail price, and Mr. Grenier has in no way asked for me to write a review. The review is based upon my own reading and viewing of the book.

If you enjoyed Bob’s look at World War II veterans, I recommend you find a copy of his similar book for Civil War veterans. This book covers both Union and Confederate soldiers. We learn how the war and its aftermath played a considerable role in the future development of Central Florida.

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World War II History
from: Magazine Values

Keep up with the latest in World War II scholarship with a subscription to World War II History magazine. Written by leading authorities, each issue contains numerous articles on all aspects of the war. Click the photo or the link to receive an exclusive subscription offer.

Posted on August 27, 2022December 16, 2022 by Robert — Leave a comment

Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech August 28, 1963

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech as part of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom event. The text of the speech is below.

I also recommend the linked video below from the National Archives. The film is titled The March. Unfortunately some of the audio has been redacted due to a copyright claim from the King family.

If you want to read more of Kings speeches I recommend this volume. This fortieth-anniversary edition honors Martin Luther King Jr.’s courageous dream and his immeasurable contribution by presenting his most memorable words in a concise and convenient edition. As Coretta Scott King says in her foreword, “This collection includes many of what I consider to be my husband’s most important writings and orations.” In addition to the famed keynote address of the 1963 march on Washington, the renowned civil rights leader’s most influential words included here are the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the essay “Pilgrimage to Nonviolence,” and his last sermon, “I See the Promised Land,” preached the day before he was assassinated.

Editor James M. Washington arranged the selections chronologically, providing headnotes for each selection that give a running history of the civil rights movement and related events. In his introduction, Washington assesses King’s times and significance.

**The I Have a Dream speech**

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But 100 years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check.

When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men — yes, Black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked insufficient funds.

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.

We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. 1963 is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: for whites only.

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

So even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr in Washington D.C. — Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial Courtesy National Archives

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right down in Alabama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrims’ pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, Black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.

To better understand the Civil Rights movement and the King Years I highly recommend the incredible three volume work by Taylor Branch, America in the King Years.

Branch has been awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and is a National Book Critics Circle award winner. Visit his website to learn more.

This post may contain affiliate links. If you click these links and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission. This commission does not affect any price that you pay. All views and opinions provided are my own and are never influenced by affiliate programs or sponsors providing products.

Author: Robert

Ormond Indian Burial Mound Historic Marker

Ormond Indian Burial Mound

Sign Text

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Dr. Paul J. Croce Stetson University Professor

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Orlando Magazine-A Great Option for Locals and Tourists Alike

Florida State Poets Association to Hold Slam Competition in Daytona Beach Shores

In Memory Lawrence Peacock World War I Casualty

Sources:

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Florida Medal of Honor Recipient Robert R. Ingram

Ingram’s Medal of Honor citation can be read below.

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Book Review: Your Sheep are all Counted South of the Border Billboards

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Central Florida’s World War II Veterans book review

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Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech August 28, 1963

**The I Have a Dream speech**

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