Red Headed Stepchild
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life)
by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos
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So John was again sitting on the floor of his room not far from the front door when two members of the FBI appeared. I nearly fell to the floor with fright -p. 271-when they showed their badges, thinking that I was being suspected of disloyalty.But immediately they asked for my landlord, Walter Glockner,who lived in a one room apartment upstairs.I saw Mr. Glockner leave with them. He was interned at Sand Island. He was an American citizen though of German descent [born in Germany]. He spent [about six months] at Sand Island [in Honolulu Harbor also used to quarantine dogs against introduction of rabies and to control introduction of harmful insects on plants]. Then he was allowed to go to the mainland on condition he not return to Hawaii for the duration of the war. After the war in 1945 he returned. {The Hawaiian Trust company collected rents and represented him as landlord. He was an experienced brewer and continued his work in Stevens Point Wisconsin and wrote friendly letters asking Sophie for help on various minor personal affairs. He was listed in Honolulu directories around 1970]. Since gasoline was rationed and Jack worked every day, including Sunday,John and I walked to the grocery store on Kalakaua Avenue, the store [usually] being Japanese N. Aoki. [In 1941 we sometimes went to Piggly Wiggly also, but got in habit of shopping at N. Aoki and Kalakaua and Ohua Streets east of Liliuokalani St. Later when Jack had more time, he would buy coffee at the Navy Commissary at Pearl Harbor and whole wheat bread at a bakery on Kapahulu Street Kaimuki]. John helped me carry the meat and vegetables,and N. Aoki delivered the heavier items. But soon, owing to the lack of shipping and hoarding by the people, the shelves were almost bare ,and we had to depend on Jack to bring our supplies from the Commissary at Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately for us, the Army strung barbaed wire all along the beach at Waikiki, [for some weeks] depriving us of our much needed daily swim, so the only exercise we could get was walking along the hot pavements by day, as it was too dark in the blackout to go walking by night {and there was a curfew]. Flashlights, except those shielded by dark blue paper,were not allowed, and those shielded gave very little light for walking. Except on bright moonlight nights we never walked in the evening during the years of the blackout. [After some weeks access to Waikiki Beach was provided by a gap in the barbed wire, which could be closed again quickly in case of attack with spare wire that could be moved back in place. = Soon after the attack I was troubled by pain -p.272- in my gums, so when Jack left for work at Pearl Harbor one morning, he took John and me to Pearl Harbor with him. As he showed the two of us the damaged ships at Pearl Harbor and Ford Island, I must confess that I was heartsick,but tried to hide my sorrow and fear from John.I also hoped the Japanese would not pick that moment to return to bomb the shore instalations and the oil tanks. We had to stay at Pearl Harbor all day, because Jack was busy and gasoline was rationed, so we sat quietly on chairs in the back of his very active office, and he took us to the Officers Club for lunch. I was the only woman there, and John was the only child in the restaurant. The Navy dentist [whom I saw that day] advised me to see an exceptionally capable Japanese dentist who could do the gum work I needed, Dr. Allem Ito on Nuuanu Avenue, so soon after, John and I went by bus to the downtown section of Honolulu where Dr. Ito's office was. We learned to use the buses.= The Navy issued a child's gas mask to John, and I received one from the civilian authorities.John and I went to the Thomas Jefferson School [six blocks east of our house] for identification tags and tests to determine blood type.Mr. amd Mrs. James Needles built a bomb shelter next door to us and allowed Jack John and me to us it when the sirens sounded [a number of nights in early 1942}.John and I were required to carry our gas masks slung over our shoulders whenever we left the house - even for a short walk. = We had two Christmas trees in 1941 -the first was an "Australian ironwood" - casuarina- tree donated by "Mack the barber" at the Moana Hotel;then someone donated a more familiar small balsam fir. The "ironwood" is actually a flowering tree with needle-like leaves widely planted in Honolulu, including a substantial number in Kapiolani Park. PASTE from #1245 Christmas, Wegforth- The two of them -273- decorated that branch with odds and ends of ornaments and Jack found a few presents for John inclueing a game called "Fire Chief" which Jack and john played at the table before total darkness put an end to the game. A neighbor John Frank Wegforth - a distinguished Naval airman- used to play "Fire Chief" with john. The Navy blacked out our kitchen, bathroom and back bedroom and although itnwas a "ventilated blackout" those rooms were stifling by day and by night and too dingy by day for reading or playing board games. The living room and John's front bedroom were not blacked out, so after dark they were practically useless. We put chairs on the front lawn, sat there in the evening until the ten o'clock curfew or until rain forced us indoors. = That first Christmas 1941 Jack was loading evacuees and wounded on several large ships scheduled to be part of a convoy to the mainland.He was on the dock in Honolulu while john and I with our gas masks walked to the Rice home on Lewers Road for Christmas dinner, which was superb. When the four of us had eaten, [their daughter Nathalie had dgone to cllege on mainland September 1941]Jack appeared, unfed, and Gertrude gave him an excellent meal. Then he dropped us at home at 2415 Ala Wai and left again for the docks until late Christmas night. The convoy left the next day carrying many Navy wives and children, Army personnel and some civilians as well as the wounded who could travel. They were escorted by the cruiser ST. LOUIS and four destroyers. = Jack and John tried to raise tomatoes and flowers -274 |
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121 Dahlq-Shackford-Tasmania-John Barrett dcbr7#121 MARBLEHEAD In May 1971 Commander Dahlquist wrote:"You asked me to comment on Captain Shackford and Miller and (Executive officer Commander Sharp. I think that Captain Shackford had more than he bargained for in the MARBLEHEAD. It was a fast ship- much faster than most. After almost two years it seemed to tell on him, and the strain was there. However, I believe he was a good skipper. He did retire, howefer, soon after leaving the ship. Captain Miller ws also a good Captain "Jocko" and handled the ship well out in China while we were there.The Executive officer, Commander Alex Sharp I knew quite well and admired him in about evey way a man can admire a completely good Naval officer.He was an excellent ship handler, a fine Executive officer in every way., completely competent and well likedby officers and men alike.This is borne out by the fact that he became a Vice Admiral while the other two did not advance beyond Captain.' In l971 as a result of our correspondence Commander Dahlquist wrote his "Log" which he sent (a copy) to me. On the title page he wrote that I had "nudged" him into it.Iam entering here some excerpts from that Log which relate to the MARBLEHEAD when jack was aboard.: The MARBLEHEAD was commissioned on September 8, l924 Commanding offcier Captain Chauncey Shackford 270 August 21 Navy Grand Farewell Balll at Adelphi. It was a big time enjoyed by all. August 24 Left Wellington New Zealand for Pago Pago People in Wellington apparently very sorry to seee us go.September 9 Papeete Tahiti Chief Engineer Harry Badt made a Commander. September 23 Galapagos Islands Tower Island Captain had instructions to test various possible places for suitable anchorages. They crossed the equator some twenty times while cruising the islands.Wonderful fishing - five thousand pounds. October 18, l925 Guantanamo Bay Cuba. Anchored. MARBLEHEAD beat TRENTON baseball 4 to 0. No runs, no hits, no man to reach first base. October 24 Played TRENTON. Won 7 to 2. October 25 beat TRENTON 3 to 2 and won the flag. October 29 At Gonaives Gulf Haiti MARBLEHEAD fired SRBF score 76.3. Five "E"'s including after twin mount.RICHMOND score 69. MEMPHIS 55. 25 March l927 Departed Pearl Harbor en route to Shanghai as a direct result of the Nanking incident.Made record run in about 8 1/2 days. Chief Carpenter O'Brien of the MARBLEHEAD was on duty in CaviteNavy Yard when the Japanese attacked and captured it. He got away and went to Corregidor and later was in the Bataan Death March. Later again he was being shipped to Japan in a prison ship, which was torpedoed by an American submarine, and he was lost. - While on the MARBLEHEAD in Manila in December l927 Commander Dahlquist golfed a lot always had the same Filipino caddy and was pleased to shoot an 82. He asked the caddy if he ever played the game. The caddy did play on Mondays. When Dahlquist asked him what he shot, he said,"a 67!" After the Battle of Coral Sea Dahlquist learned that the MARBLEHEAD had been badly damaged by the Japanese in battle in Southwestern Pacific and had put in at South Africa. In May 1971 we received a letter from Mr. Frank M Maichle, VicePresident of Conley Associates, Chicago "I have read your letter with great interest as it recalled names of old shipmates on the USS MARBLEHEAD.My orders to the MARBLEHEAD were dated 28 July l924, and I left the MARBLEHEAD 7 January l926.I made the shakedown cruise and the cruise to Austalia etc and in total was aboard about one and a half years.Then my orders were to Naval Academy to teach Ordnance and Gunnery and act as assistant wrestling coach.I resigned from the Navy in March l928 due to what I considered lack of opportunity. I remember Jack well- was very fond of him and considered him a fine efficient officer and gentleman.Sorry I can't be of more help." (Maichle and jack were the two sponsors for Phillips's Australian bride to enter the United States after they were married in Montreal in l929 (8?). On June 8, l97l Captain John E. Florance of South Carolina wrote "I reported aboard the MARBLEHEAD in Honolulu on June 29, l925 along with the other '25ers and on the following day we left on the Australian cruise. Eddie Arroyo was my Division officer when I first reported aboard. On the trip from Honolulu to Melbourne I stood my sea watches as your husbands J.O.O.D. My principal memory of him at that time has to do with his interest in the wildlife of Australia.. I don't know where he got his information but I remember every time we had a night watch together he would tell me something new about it. Jack's path and mine crossed 272 momentarily in August of l936. I had just reported aboard the TAYLOR as "Exec" and we were carrying Second Classmen from the Naval Academy on A Midshipmen's cruise to Easthampton, Long Island. Jackwas the senior captain of the five destroyers and hence commander of the group. The last time that I saw Jack was ewhile he was in Pearl (Harbor) during the war.I was returning from the Pacific, and he arranged my transportation to San Francisco.I always found him to be most friendly and most interesxted in the careers of the young officers about him."(Jack always stressed the importance of personnel.He said, "You can always replace materiel, but not personnel. Always take care of the personnel first." Commander Harold Fultz assistant Engineer officer on the MARBLEHEAD from l926 wrote in June l97l from New Jersey:"I remember the day Harlow Hull our navigator was killed in a car - didn't make a curve.Eva Brant who was washed overboard I remember well."Shorty" Milner was our baseball star - really a top player. I got quite a kick out of the fact that I commanded nine ships and never damaged one of them." On November 21, l971 Commander Dahlquist wrote:"I think this was just after Jack left the MARBLEHEAD, but maybe not. We got an extra slug of ensigns from the Acadmey, and they immediately became incensed because the mess treasurer (I think it was the doctor at the time) put a lock on the refrigerator to keep the kids out.They were enjoying glasses full of fresh orange juice.So they got together and were going to vote in one of their kids as messs treasurer.The Executive Officer got wind of it and immediately issued a statement to the effect that all ensigns with less than two years service would be rated as having only a one-half vote.273 There were cries and howls from all sides, but it stuck,and they did not get their man in.There was a question as to whether or not he could do this but it died down when they got their mess bill - and it was more than they expected as it was. It could easily have been double this if action hadn't been taken. As indicated earlier in this chapter Jack had been Mess Treasurer of the MARBLEHEAD and had kept the mess bill down by serving two fresh vegetables in addition to potatoes at the evening meal. This reduced the consumption of meat - the most expensive item on the menu. Captain Kenneth Walker, who was a junior officer on the MARBLEHEAD with Jack wrote from California on February 6, l971:"Dear Mrs. Barrett: I liked your letter and what you are doing about the MARBLEHEAD.I also liked dutry aboard her.The junior officers in the mess were fun- very outgoing - and alnmost all were team captains at the Academy, and some were Participants in the Olympics. - By far the sharpest group in my experience."Shorty" Milner (Edward Joseph) was baseball captain and a joy to watch play. He frequently practiced with the PhiladelphiaPhillies.I joined the ship in San Francisco just before leaving for Honolulu as signal officer and ship secretary. I remember your husband well.My duty was quite confining since I was on the signal bridge from sunrise to late at night while underway.ånd in port I was busy in the Captain's cabin office.He (Shackford) was a real sharp skipper, demanding but fairAshore in Honolulu I was busy escorting gap bottom p. 273 .. get around much on my own.Wherever we went in Melbourne we went to parties under orders.I don't remember a single name there-they were fun though. The only memory I carried away from Tasmania was our speedy crossing and choppy seas and the beautiful streams and woods in the high country.The trip you mention is pretty dim in my memory - in the hotel waking up before dawn with a maid giving me a cup of tea and my being surprised that I did not have to break the ice in the wash standpitcher - it was that cold. Of course the harbor in Tutuila, Samoa I will never forget - also Tahiti was a lovely place.I should remember people there, but the names have slipped.I have dug in my memory and have not been helpful,but I wish you luck." From papers in our possession we read:"USS MARBLEHEAD 5 August l925 arrived at Hobart Tasmaninia after a run up a river for a few miles.There was plenty of water,but the river banks were so low we had to reduce speed considerably so as not to creat waves that would samage shorelines and property.Tied up at the dock.Twenty officers and one hundred men were detailed to go by special train across Tasmania to Launceston.Jack Barrett and phil Dahlquist were among the party.They arrived in the late afternoon and there was an oficial greeeting at the railraod station. The officers were quartered at a hotel. In the evening there was a big official dinner for the officers at the Brisbane Hotel.The Lord mayor made a speech of welcome.There were no alcoholic drinks served at the dinner. A lady rendered a solo 275 but there was a loud crunching noise made by a Lieutenant from the TRENTON who had imbibed too freely on the train. He would take a walnut from a bowl and gently crack it with his fingers, making a noise disturbing to the singer.Someone suggested he could use some fresh air. |
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page46,China - Yosemite from #1145 page 46 China,Yosemite p.46 We invited ther Liangs to dinner -just Mr. and Mrs. Liang and Grace. The mess steward had given the word when Mr. Liang would be aboard for dinner, and when we approached the ship that evening we had difficulty getting aboard because of the crush of Chinese people on the dock hoping to get a glimpse of Mr. Liang. Snce Grace left soon after to be married in Shanghai we never saw her again. We understand that she has been teaching in Connecticut at the Central Connecticut State College, New Britain, Connecticut.--Altho the Court Hotel was reputed to have the best food in North China. food was definitely a problem because we dared not touch milk, butter, fresh vegetables or Chinese grown fruitsMy husband grew tired of the steady diet of rice and snipe but managed to wash it down with liquids. I lived on toast with marmelade,rice, snipe, pot roast, cooked dessets and tea. Captain and Mrs. Rice occupied a furnished house and most graciously invited us to dinner fortnightly. When we wanted to return trheir hopsitality and to entertain the new Executive Officer and his wife, Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Leonard Doughty, we invited them to the Court Hotel for dinner.One evening Rachel Claude Doughty, who came from Washington D.C. regaled us with tales of her mother's friend who came to the Claude home in Washington and stayed for forty years. The Court Hotel was the home of several Hai Ho River pilots mostly of English extraction. Mrs. Johnson, English and the wife of a pilot, invited me to go to Schlessinger's Tea House with her about eleven o'clock oone morning late in December. She invited us to attend a costumed New Year's Eve Ball at the TientsinCountry Club , of which we were members, saying she hoped we would understand that we would have to pay our share of the cost. My husband and I had matching costumes made of inexp[ensive blue and white Chinese silk- ad we enjoyed the pilots who remained friendly throughout our stay. --Not long after new Year's I was sitting in the small reception room in the Court Hotel after tiffen when two men sat down, talking. When I realized that they were Americans, I asked them what they wre doing in Tientsin, and they said they were taking a train later that afternooon for Manchuria, where they would buy furs.When I said I had never been as cold as I was on the streets of Tientsin, they offered to buy some skins for me, as they expected to be back in Tienstin in a few weeks. When they returned they had for me enough sea otter skins for a gorgeous coat.The cost was small - the coat warm and bewautiful. It was made up by a Chinese tailor. Sea otter is a lustrous light grey skin.--As tinme passed that winter and spring I became well known to the Chinese and Japanese shopkeeppers on Taku and Victoria Roads. I bougt some rare dragon and turtle candlesticks of brass,some 48- red and green Chinese lacquer drums, which served as small tables and through Mrs. Mendelsohn U located a lovely black and gold lacquer Chinese chest with inlaid colored semi-precious stones arranged in patterns. I also shopped for linens at Takahashi Japanese linen store.--The TULSA was scheduled to go to Chefoo for gunnery exercises in June and my husband as gunnery officer was anxious to make a good showing.So in the spring of l931 on the TULSA in Tientsin he spent a lot of time training gunners.His Marine officer lieutenant William W. Paca waas training his Marines to shoot and was working hard with my husband.Captain Rice was very pleased with the gunnery score they made in Chefoo in the summer of l931 text continues in Notebook Two with account of Sophie's trip to Chefoo and Shanghai -= end of page 48 notebook #1 Lactoris@yahoo.com- Below is my "Yosemite Geology". : Fri, 7 Aug 1998 16:07:01 -0700 (PDT) John Barrett Add to Address Book YOSEMITE GEOLOGY jfreedom@tenforward.com, naturalbuz@aol.com YOSEMITE GEOLOGY original written July 8, l994 typed June 7'95 John Barrett THE GEOLOGICAL STORY of YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK by Norman King Huber was published l987 as US Geological Survey Bulletin #l595.This excellent 88-page scientific study is supplemented with remarkable photos and maps and bibliography and historical notes and definitions of geological terms.The oldest rocks in the park region date from the Ordovician about 480 million years ago.The Sierra Nevada mountain range is an enormous plutonic batholith formed deep in the earth as granitic magmas solidified in the Mesozoic 230 to 70 million years ago. Plate tectonics explains how North America pushed westward, and materials subducted beneath the ocean floor were recycled into new mountains. It is believed that admixture of ocean waters with these rock materials lowers the melting point & forms the molten materials that may solidify deep in the earth-as in the Sierra Nevada-or come to the surface as volcanoes like the Cascade Range-Rainier, Saint Helens, Mount Hood,Jefferson, Adams, Mazama [Crater Lake], Mt. Thielsen,Three Sisters, Shasta, and Lassen.The basalts of the Columbia Plateau are another great feature of the American West- up to l7 million years old. Quartz, potassium feldspar, plagioclase feldspar, biotite, and hornblende are the five dominant minerals of the Yosemite region.On fresh surfaces quartz and feldspars are translucent light gray. Feldspars turn chalky white on weathered surfaces, and their crystals reflect sunlight from strong planes of cleavage.The Sierra Nevada batholith region is hundreds of miles long and fifty to eighty miles wide.The highest point is 14,495 foor Mount Whitney on the east border of Sequoia Park.The gradual western slopes are moist and support magnificent conifer forests,with distinct ecoloigcal zones relating to altitude, whereas the east slope is abrupt, with few passes,and cuts off rainfall from the great deserts - Death Valley and Nevada and the Great Basin.The Sierra Nevada is continuing to rise- a process that began about twenty-five milllion years ago.In 1833 Jospeh Walker crossed the east Sierra escarpment and the uplands between the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers and the route that has become the western part of the Tioga Pass Road.His men saw Yosemite Valley and the big trees.Zonas Leonard kept a journal,which was published in Pennsylvania inl839.Major James Savage and the Mariposa militia battalion entered the valley in 1851 and propsed to name iot for the Indian tribethat lived there. In 1863 the director of the Geological Survey of California Josiah Whitney explored the headwaters of the Tuolumne River with William Brewer and Charles Hoffman. Mount Hoffman is a 10,850 foot summit about six miles northeast of Half Dome and the east end of Yosemite Valley, and it commands a superb panorama view of most of the Yosemite region.A number of these views are published with the Huber article.Frederick Law Olmstead, then in charge of managing a gold mine- later famous as landscape architect- was an early champion of creating a park to preserve Yosemite.At his urging in l864 President Lincoln transferred the Yosemite Valley "Cleft" or "Gorge" and the Mariposa big tree grove to the state of California for park and conservation purposes. The present Yosemite national park dates from l890, under U.S. Department of Interior. John Muir was among the greatest crusaders for conservation of Yosemite and theSierra Nevada.Muir was one of the first people to recognize the role of glaciers in forming a broad Yosemite Valley with sheer granite walls like three-thousand-foot El Capitan and Half Dome, and a grass-and-forest-covered U-shaped floor.Muir actually overestimated the area and volume of Sierra Nevada glaciers, but he understood their basic role in creating the spectacular cliffs and waterfalls beloved by generatgions of Americans and photographed by Ansel Adams and many others. Ice covered most of the Yosemite region for two million years, melting in most areas about ten thousand years ago.Small glaciers still exist in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada, but they have contracted in the second half of the twentieth century because of climatic warming, as have Rocky Mountain glaciers like the Grasshopper Glacier in Montana.Antarctic and Greenland ice caps probably behave differently and are more sensitive to precipitation than to moderate temperature changes, but non-polar mountain glaciers are generally retreaing rapidly. A number of small tributary streams flow into Yosemite Valley from north and south over nearly vertical glacial cliffs. On the south side the symmetrical Bridal Veil Falls presents a striking view below Glacier Point across from the great cliff of El Capitan. This vista from El Capitan on the north across the Valley floor and Merced river with Bridal Veil Falls on the right and Half Dome visible toward the east at the head of the Valley is a favorite with photographers and engraved in the memories of millions of visitors. On the north side of the valley some distance east of El Capitan Yosemite Falls descends in three stages totaling one thousand nine hundred feet.The Upper Falls has a sheer drop of twelve hundred feet. The falls are most spectacular in spring or early summer, as the stream does not have a large water volume and can dry up toward autumn.Another small stream produces Ribbon Falls, which is even higher but frequently dry and less conspicuous. The Merced River is the central river of Yosemite Valley, and higher up to the east near "Little Yosemite Valley" it forms two substantial cataracts - 270-foot Vernal Falls and 594-foot Nevada Falls. These are some distance from the road system and require a moderate hike for viewing, though they can be seen in the distance from Glacier Point. Illouette Falls is on an upper tributary in this eastern area.Detailed geological study began in 1913 with Francois Matthes & Frank Calkins. The Huber paper contains extensive references for maps and data on rock types that outcrop at various locations and their probable dates of formation.Nearly all the plutonic rock within the Park was formed in the Cretaceous age 145-65 million years ago.The walls of Merced Gorge and the western end of the Valley are relatively old. These include diorite of the rockslides below El Capitan, the granodiorite of Arch rock,and the tonalite of the Gateway along El Portal Entrance Road.About 108 million years ago El Capitan granite intruded into these older rocks.It now dominates the western half of the Valley and the monoiliths of Turtleback Dome,Three Brothers, Cathedral Rocks, and El Capitan itself. El Capitan granite contains phenocrysts - large crystals embedded in finer material.. These are absent from the Taft granite, which later intruded and forms the brow of El Capitan and the upland toward Fireplace Bluffs. Taft granite is finer textured and lighter in color. It also occurs at Dewey Point and near the Fissures on the south wall of the Valley.Diorite dikes create dark patches on the face iof El Capitan.The Bridal Veil granodiorite near the Falls contains fine evenly distributed light and dark materials with a salt-and-pepper appearance.Near Glacier Point and Washburn Point on the south wall parallel biotite flakes and dark-green hornblende rods dominate darker rocks now interpreted as granodioite of Kuna Crest 91 million years old estmated age.Half Dome granodiorite dominates the Valley east of Royal Arches and Glacier Point. Aged about 87 million years Half Dome granodiorite is the youngest plutonic rock around the Valley,medium to coarse grained with biotite plates and hornblende rods.It forms horizontal dikes at Church Bowl and in the cliff west of Royal Arches, and sheer cliffs north of the trail from Ahwahnee Hotel to Mirror Lake.These rocks are part of the Tuolumne Intrusive Suites,which extend to higher ground north and east of the Valley with exposures on Tioga Road and Tuolumne Meadows.The Cathedral Peak granodiorite is about 86 million years old and the Johnson Granite Porphyry still younger.They appear to have originated in a single magma chamber whose composition changed over time because dark magnesium-rich hornblende and biotite crystallize (solidify,precipitate)at higher temperatures than quartz and feldspar.These dark minerals concentrate in the older rocks around the EDGE of the chamber,while the lighter materials remain molten in the center. The Tioga Road crosses from Half Dome granodioriteto younger Cathedral Rock granodiorite just east of Tenaya Lake.Pothole and Lambert Domes are composed entirely of Cathedral Rock granodiorite. Some of the Johnson Granite Porphyrymay have erupted to the surface volcanically.There may have been volcanic caldera near the present Johnson Peak.The rock is very light in color witrh a few potassium feldspar phenocrysts in a fine matrix.It can be seen in Tuolumne Meadows along the River and EAST of Soda Springs on the north side of the River.Along the Sierra crest are some very ancient upland areas that escaped glaciation- the Dana Plateau, the summit of Mount Whitney,and the south face of Mount Hoffman.A number of ice sheets covered most of the park area, and the sculpting of Yosemite Valley probably progressed a long way in these earlier glacial maxima, but detailed evidence has been obscured by the last two big glaciaions, the Tahoe and Tioga maxima.The Tahoe glaciation was very deep in most of the Yosemite park region,though small nunataks like the top of Half Dome stood out.The mosat recent major glaciation,the Tioga Phase, began sixty to thirty thousand years ago and peaked fifteen or twenty thousand years ago.Probably all glaciers in Yosemite melted in the warm period eight to ten thousand years ago.Then small glaciers reappeared in several subsequent "Little Ice Ages."Their size has fluctuated, and they are currently in retreat. Several glaciers studied by John Muir in the nineteenth century have disappeared.Some of the photos in the Huber text show: A U-shaped glaciated valley - the Lyell Fork of the Tuolumne river; glacial polish on Fairview Dome; Potholes and subglacial water polish on Pothole Dome; Tioga age terminal moraine east of Bridalveil Meadow; Lyell and Maclure glaciers;crevassed ice and bergschrund at head of Dana Glacier in 1975; rockslide west of Matterhorn Peak near north boundary of park; avalanche chutes and talus (rock slide fragments) in Lee Vining Canyon east of Tioga Pass; and kettle lakes in depressions formed by glacial remnants. JOINTS are parallel fractures in rocks which direct erosion patterns.They are often conspicuous in aerial photographs. Different joint patterns can be seen at "Little Devil's Postpile" west of Tuolumne Meadows; in Yosemite Creek Basin -crosshatcxhed- ; at 45-degree angle on upper surfaces of Three Brothers; at Staircase Falls; in diorite in the rockslides below El Capitan; in tonalite below Glacier Point; sheet joints in Royal Arches;undulating below Clouds Rest; and nearly vertical sheeting on Matthes Crest. Spheroidal weathering around corestones at Big Meadow Overlook on Big Oak Flat Road reflects horizontal and vertical orientation of joints.In the north part of the park the Tuolumne River created a second valley with wildleand scenery similar to the better-known Yosemite Valley on the Merced. Unfortunately in l9l3 over the objections of John Muir this Hetch Hetchy Valley was flooded as a reservoir for San Francisco.There is some interest today in restoring Hetch Hetchy to its original condition if other arrangemnts can be made for water supply.The Mount Holyoke College art museum has a fine 1880's painting of deer grazing in Hetch Hetchy Valley. Kings Canyon near the General Grant giant sequoia is another deep glaciated valley of the western Sierra. California is uniquely rich agriculturally though short of water in the south.The Monterey pine -from an extmely small coastal zone has proved among the fastest-growing of all conifers - widely planted in New Zealand.Western endemic California incense cedar is replacing Virginia juniper for pencils. Sugar, ponderosa, jeffrey, pinon, bristlecone pines, many cypress species, palms, Brewer's weeping spruce, red and other firs,sequoia and redwood, tanoak, many western oaks,cacti, Mentzelia,Ceanothus ("wild lilac"] poppies, immigrant citrus and grapes contribute to California botanic botanic gree gold and biodiversity. Grass research at David, including geneticist Ledyard Stebbins and horticulture including Luther Burbank, Attle Burpee,, and citrus researchers at Riverside and grape culture in Napa have added to California's unique wealth.-John Barrett 113 W. Third St. Port Angeles WA 98362-2824 USA |
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Guadalcanal and other U.S. Naval history materials. I have been setting up a website http://www.ccilink.com/barrett, which contains a family memoir titled "Red Headed Stepchild" and many related letters and photos.My late mother Sophie Ruth Meranski Barrett 1901-1987 was the principal author, though we collaborated, and I am attempting to carry out her intentions in editing and supplementing the material. I was particilarly interested in your material on Admiral Orlin Livdahl in "Guadalcanal: The Carrier Wars." From November 1935 through October 1936 my father commanded destroyer CLAXTON #140, and young Lieutenant Orlin Livdahl was one of her officers during gunnery and landing force exercises January-February 1936 with United States Marines participating at Culebra island at the eastern end of Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands.Smokescreen experiments were part of the amphibious operations, which pointed toward important techniques of world War II in the Pacific. We had an interesting ;letter about 1970 from Admiral Livdahl who then resided at Jekyll Island, Georgia. My mother's transcription of the text appears currently on the website (still being corrected)- much of our material survived in her handwrtten copies after major thefts in 1993 at our home in Massachusetts.My father was very much interested in Naval Architecture- he subscribed to the Journal of the American Society of Naval Engineers and wanted me to apply to the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture - I had little background then but am becoming interested now at a rather late age! The material on OrlinLivdahl's redesign for placement of carrier ENTERPRISE's new Swedish Bofors guns September 1941 is extremely interesting - and Chester nimitz's role cutting red tape in approving the plan in time for Santa Cruz in October - I wish you could have given detailed diagrams of the placement and how it might have affected future designs. My father took great pride in the accomplishments of many friends and proteges in World War II- I would like to think he encouraged a number of young talents- he was scheduled to retired June 30, l940 at New York where he was in charge of Branch Hydrographic Office - he was getting an "Irish promotion" to commander but remained on ative duty in Hawaii to January 1, l947 . From July 15, l941 to October he was Assistant War Plans Officer Fourteenth Naval district under idiot Claude Bloch, whose role in the loss of 2400 lives December 7, l941 has been mercifully covered over.Lord Louis Mountbatten warned Kimmel and Short at Royal Hawaiian hotel early September 1941 - then he repeated warning to Harold Stark in Washington - Stark regretted lack of funds to follow Mohntbatten's recommendations- Mountbatten would have told President Roosevelt personally, but Chuirchill wanted him home in a hurry - an opportunity was missed.My father had participated in Apri 1925 war games that demonstrated the vulnerability of Pearl Harbor to air attack and Oahu to sneak attack via north coast - the "Blue" attacking force landed there under radio silence from San Francisco while defenders reacted to diversion created by carrier LANGLEY east of Diamond Head on southeast corner of Oahu. My father wanted to consult Army war plans about defense of ships while in port - an Army legal responsibility - hwe was forbidden to do so he Admiral Sees the General on the Golf course"-= this partly reflects the obsession with spies and secrecy. Secrecy was used to cover laziness and stupidity. My father's account strongly supports and documents Prange's view of PEARL HARBOR and refutes Edwin Layton's alibis for Kmmel "And I Was There" poshumous l985. My father was particularly aware of the vulnerable oil tanks and repair yards missed by Nagumo's timidity after the initial Japanese success. My father was transferred October 1941 toi be assistant personnel officer and Overseas Transportation Officer at Pearl Harbor for four years indluding the entire war till October 1945 assigning priorities during severe shortage of ships- most Navy families evacuated Dec l941 to June 1942 - an account appears in PACIFIC Fleet CHAPLAIN WILLIAM A MAguire's l943 "The Captain Wears a Cross" chaPTER 9 "BREAD ON THE WATERS." IN 1946 MY FATHER SERVED ON COURTS MARTIAL - A BOARD headed by Captain Paul Washburn received severe abuse from Chester Nimitz and Navy Secretary Sullivan for acquitting on basis of reasonable doubt and weak evidence a career naval officer accused of commissary fraud or theft on the testimony of a single uncorroborated witness - a N Reserve officer with political connections. The l950 Uniform Code of Military Justice was intended to prevent this type of intimidating improper "staff influence" on independence of court martial boards. Captain Washburn temporarily was reduced in rank, but it was rescinded. Nimitz deserves credit for the buildup to Midway where intelligence was superb and YOPRKTOWN was rushed into service, and your account of his intelligent support of Livdahl is very good to hear about. Nimitz slipped up in regard to the 1944 Leyte landing as I see it - initially he supported Adm. Ernest King's idea of invading rugged, distant Taiwan (which involved logistical strain) but having agreed to the Roosevelt MacArthurplan for the Leyte invasion, I would say Nimitz should have told Halsey to cooperate in protecting the amphibious forces - the Japanese foresaw Halsey would rush north to try to destroy their carriers, not realizing how depleted their planes were -Halsey talked this over with Nimitz, but Nimitz failed to see the connection to the promises he had made for the Navy to support MacArthur. I blame Nimitz not Halsey. Morison argues and I agree that Halsey could have left Willis Lee and some battleships at San Bernardino Strait. Morison stresses the brilliance and courage of Clifton Sprague and Tafey Three with the Escort Carriers - he makes it sound like the three (four?) hundred Spartans at Thermopylae but Hoyt says escort carriers were severely underestimated at that time -Kincaid was half-asleep, buit one of his staff woke up -Kincaid's sixteen escort carriers had 480 planes, but some had been sent to look for personnel ditched at sea. I'd better not try to put the whole memoir in this E mail- but some items that might interest you: Photos of Revenue Cutter School training ship ITASCA l909-19ll Mediterranean-Europe- Hudson-Fulton celebration- letters of Phil Dahlquist officer of MARB:LEHEAD l924-7 and YORKTOWN at Coral Sea-Midway -letter 0f Admiral Richard Visser oof Hannibal l934-5 later commanded destroyer DALY and planned amphibious operations IWO JIMA-OKINAWA- letters of Warren McClain,Walter Calhoun Richard C. Hottelet from CLAXTON l936; Gershom Bradford of Naval Hydrographic office, Captain and Mrs. Paul Rice and Marine Col. William w. Paca from gunboat TULSA Tientsin-chefoo l930-31 - letter of Coast Guard Admiral Earl Rose about William RUpertus who had kidney problems at Revnue Cutter School - later colmmanded marines Tulagi-Peleliu -letters on survety ship HANNIBAL of Capt. Mervin Halstead, Dan Candler, engineer Paul LEHMAn and others -letter of Mrs. Paul Nelson on convoy evaucating her with young children Pearl Harbor to San Francisco Dec 25, l942 -material about Samuel Wilder King first native Hawaiian grad of Annapolis - letter l970 of Henry Brantingham who left his uniform in Phillippines catching last plane to Australia - then my father arranged his transportation to Washington DC to receive unit citation from {Prezident Roosevelt- Brantinghjam arrived may 1942 PeaRL HARBOR WITHOUT UNIFORM - TO keep him out of trouble with military police, my father brought Brantingham to our home 2415 Ala Wai Boulevard for supper and swim, - sent him out to DC next morning to see FDR>.I met a nephew of Adm Livdahl's a few years ago who was entomologist at Princeton-admioral was alive about 1990 - would be about 93 years of age if alive now I suppose. You seem to have had an interesting personal interview. He was a remarkable American and human - my father was proud of helping to educated many like him. Perhpas you can ol;ook at the website - ideas on utilization would be appreciated.- John Berchmans Barrett junior 113 West Third Street., Port AngelesWA 98362-2824. PRIOR history appears in Edward Beach's history of United States Navy- The great caution in requiring all details of guns be approved by bureau of Ordnance goes back to a long history of gun explosions. In 1844 in the presence of President Tyler, eight persons were killed in the explosion of the huge new PEACEMAKER cannon on the frigate PRINCETON, in which Robert Stockton disregarded advice of Swedish-born John Ericsson, who later was principal architect of Union Navy ironclad MONITOR. The victims of the explosion included the Secretaries of State and Navy and the father of President Tyler's fiancee, a member of prominent Gardiner family of Long Island, New York. John Dahlgren became head of Naval ordnance for many years and did scientific studies that showed much higher pressures in the combustion chambers than was priously known- he developed cast iron cannon larger than previously known with sharply tapering bottle shape- slower burning powder facilitated greater distances for cannon and shell than had previously been azttained. However, Dazhlgren insisted on complete control of all ship cannon, that they be manufactured and located entirely according to bureau regulations. It is against this long history that the Nimitz-Livdahl decision of September 1942 to re-locate the new Swedish Bofors guns of carrier ENTERPRISE in time for Solomons action in October is noteworthy. In late 1942 the ENTERPRISE was the only seaworthy United States carrier remaining to support Marines on Guadalcanal and U.S. forces in theSolomons, until SARATOGA returned to action nd many new rapidly built fleet and escort carriers were operational in 1943. |
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from notebook 4 p 129 Dear John-Number 26 may be Daniels but I can't be sure. I did not know Ora Sterry at the Mohican.There is no Edgard Waterman in the fort Worth phone book. I did not know - or had forgotten than the first Mrs. Rupertus was 'peewee" Gorman's sister.I used to hear from Dave Marvin but have lost track of his daughter Jean since his death.Likewise I do not know the whereabouts of Kain, Peacock and others.Admiral Farley's younger brother John was with Crown Zellerbach before he retired. He lives in Oakland California.We hear from them at times, confirming Joe's arthritis. I can recall no specific details of the Admiral's career, although it was most outstanding certainly. I was in rum war destroyers when Commodore Baylis's PAULDING hit the S-4. I believe my wife's brother,Rear Admiral L.R. Reinburg,now dead,helped Baylis during the investigation. I was recalled from leave to replace Iceberg Smith on the SENECA one year so he could come ashore and write up his ice patrol report. I met FDR {President Franklin Roosevelt] and his wife once when he visited Puerto Rico during a southern cruise on the HOUSTON and another time at a White House reception during my assignment as chief Ordnance officer at Coast Guard headquarters.-Also again met Mrs. FDR in the Virgin Islands when she visited there - Drew Pearson's father was the governor. I knew that Mrs. Derby came from Hawaii. Lost track of "Nat" Earle after the school days. I did not make the l908 cruise.Our class came in two sections- mine entered in October, 1908. -After the first section, which included {Admiral] Derby, had made the cruise...Best wishes, sincerely, J.E. Stika. |
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Born August 16, 1907 "Loretto" Buckley took care of her mother who became blind and for many years operated the sixty-acre dairy farm where seven generation of Buckleys were tenants. Her great-grandparents John Buckley and Catherine Murphy were listed in 1927 and 1852 censuses. Her grandfather Michael Buckley appears in September 1834 parish records in the merged Newcestown parish that includes medieval Templemartin. Three of Michael's brothers emigrated to Massachusetts - Daniel Buckley married a neighbor Mary Ann O Farrell of Kilbarry, and their first child John was born in boston December, 1852, and Jack Barrett's mother Catherine in October 1857 or 1858 [records vary]. Another Moskeigh Buckley brother Jeremiah had seven or eight children, most of whom went to U.S. midwest, but a daughter born 1860s became Mrs. Sheehy and had sons Maurice, Jerry, and Jack born about 1902, 1904, 1908 [and also a son and daughter that died fairly young]. For many years Jack lived and worked on Loretto Buckley's farm, driving milk to creamer, planting and saving hay, rounding up cattle, which Loretto always milked herself, planting potatoes and cabbages, and playhing an accordion and bowling oin the roads. His oldest brother Maurice married a third cousin Kate O Halloran related through Quarry Murphys - they had three sons Jerry. Paddy, and Mossy Sheehy, and three daughters - eldest Peg married John Murphy of Moskeigh and had family of nine==Christine Mrs. Clarcke of Kilbeg had family of four, as did Noreen Mrs. Manning east of Cork. Maurice and Jack also had a brother Jerry who emigrated to USA and had two sons in California and a son Jimmy in Wetherfields Connecticut, where in 1977 Sophie and John Barrett met Jerry Sheey and his son Jimmy and Jimmy's family. Loretto Buckley's brother Richard 1904-1998 married Bridget Regan of Gurranes and had daughters Kate Meldrum of Friars Walk in Cork, Mary Murphy west of Baillineen, Bridey Collins of Ballinhassig, and son Paddy Murphy, whose family lived with Richard at Coolnaught Newcestown. In 1970 Sophie and John Barrett located the Buckley cousins by sending an inquiry to Bandon town officials, who placed their letter in weekly "Southern Star" newspaper, which Templemartin creamery manager Mr. McMahon saw and showed to Loretto, who wrote the Barretts and invited John to visit the ancestral farm.Then Buckley cousins in Ilford, Essex, England also got in touch. 1971. |
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1994 Essay "GRASSES as beautiful as they are useful" Grasses are the most economically important plant family, producing half to three quarters of human food directly by human consumption of cereal seed endosperm tissue and indirectly by meat and milk from ruminant animals that can digest grasses leaves and stems, that often grow in dry areas and poor soils where direct food production is otherwise limited.Around seven hundred genera and ten thousand species of grasses are currently recognized, and Reeder's work on the embryological characters in the l950s was important in developing modern clasifications. Grasses are monocots related to genus Joinvillea of the Southwest Pacific and more distantly to gingers, pineapples, day-flowers [Commelina] sedges, rushes, palms, and lilies.The first grasses probably appeared in the tropical portions of the old southern continent Gondwana perhaps seventy-five million years ago.Grasses developed a special tolerance to chewing and trampling by large herbivorous mammals. Most grasses have a basal leaf meristem, or main growth area, which means the leaf can re-grow easily after a portion is chewed by snails,insects, or vertebrates. Grasses use silica and other mechanical defenses to reduce herbivory and less phytochemical diversity than many other plant families.Grass-fungal symbiosis and co-evolution are active areas of current research and new discoveries. The fossil record of grasses is very limited, and the small pollen grains do not help much in tracing geographic distribution of genera in past eons.Of the major subfamilies, the POOIDS reached cool Northern hemisphere sites early and also tropical alpine sites like the Andes in South America, Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa, and other high tropic mountains including New Guinea. An important FOOD tribe is the TRITICIEAE, especially TRITICUM wheat, HORDEUM barley, and SECALE rye, which have been cultivated at least ten thousand years in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Asia Minor, and the Ukraine. Polyploid forms show superior yields, health, and disease resistance.Cultivated wheat is hexaploid. Barley is the hardiest major cereal.Malt is the germinated seed, whose sugars are convenient for making beer, gin, and whiskey. Oats AVENA is another FOOD cereal and is related to lawn grasses POA bluegrass, FESTUCA fescue, AGROSTIS bent and the recently popular LOLIUM, a beautiful grass that now bothers hay-fever sufferers with its abundant pollen, but research is under way to develop a benign form whose pollen is non-antigenic.The number of florets per spikelet is an important feature for taxonomic field recognition - Agrostis normally has a single floret on each spikelet, as does the often apomictic [self-pollinating] hairy montane Calamagrostis.Except in Caliofrnia and the Rocky Mountain states, where native range grasses remain abundant, the majority of United States farm and lawn grasses come from Europe. Poa pratensis- the most important lawn grass "Kentucky blue grass" was introduced very early by French explorers. Bamboos are another very large grass subfamily with at least eight genera and a thousand species, and they develop wood in many genera, though their ancestors are believed to have been herbaceous.Bamboos are among the fastest growing of all trees, and there are reports that certain bamboos can grow four feet in one night under optimum favorable conditions.They dominate ecology of large areas in China and India and south Asia and also Colombia and the Amazon.Although a few morphological complexities exist, rice ORYZA is usually classified in or near the bamboo subfamily as a herbaceous bamboo, originating in Asia and producing huge food yields per acre in wet paddies of Java, China, Japan. Rice is one of the three foremost cereals with wheat and maize.The endangered giant pandas of China have highly specialized digestion for a diet of bamboo shoots. A third large grass subfamily is the PANICOIDS, with two tribes: the ANDROPOGONS and the millets, related to the very large genus PANICUM, which has around five hunded species. The Andropogon tribe includes ZEA mays Indian corn [native to Mexico] - SACCHARUM cane sugar developed in New Guinea and the widespread SORGHUMs, which are very important animal feed in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert and in many other hot regions. Sorghum is also used for human food, although the level of toxic prussic acid must be controlled. The genus Andropogon itself [the name [bearded male] refers to the spikelet] is popularly called "Bluestem", and the big and little blue species dominate much of the Dakota-Nebraska Great Plains area with long-lived underground rhizomes that draw on subterranean waters such as the Ogalalla aquifer and spread clonally.All of the Andropogon tribe have C4 photosynthetic metabolism and related "kranz" [wreath] leaf anatomy, which permits fast carbon dioxide uptake in sunny hot weather [especially advantageous above 28 degrees C.] while reducing loss of carbon by nocturnal photorespiration. Maize corn was domesticated in Mexico over seven thousand years ago. Its culture spread first to Alabama and New England prior to Columbus 1492. Cotton Mather 1716 published evidence of wind pollination of corn- it was noticed that ornamental blue and red corn plants transmitted their characteristics to yellow corn female flowers downwind [flowers are separate sexes on a single monoecious plant] and it was correctly concluded that wind was dispersing pollen.Barbara McClintock in twentieth century studied "jumping genes" that occur in corn. Advantages of "heterosis" in corn have been controversial - Henry A. Wallace and Department of Agriculture publicized benefits, but Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin believes advantage of outcrossed F1 hybrid seed is marginal and needlessly makes farmers buy new seed for each crop. Third world countries probably do better with locally adapted "land race" crops. The millets PANICUM ancestrally were in forest understories, but many have moved into open habitats and developed C4 photosynthesis when the environment is suitable - apparently many times in parallel, unless horizontal gene transfer somehow occurs.Over five hundred species currently classified in genus Panicum retain an advantageous diaspore structure to disperse the seed, but some have C3 and some C4 photosynthetic structure.Molecular and genetic evidence should eventually clarify relations.Economically pearl millet the genus Pennisetum is most important in dry areas of India, Pakistan, and Asia,, but Panicum [millet], Digitaria [crabgrass], Setaria [foxtail millet], & Echinochloa [barnyard millet] all contribute to world food supplies, though in Massachusetts and northern USA we think of them as roadside annual weeds that use their C4 photosynthesis for rapid spurts of August-September growth. One of the more ornamental types is Panicum capillare "witch grass" with a velvety hairy stem and a delicate feathery large inflorescence that breaks off in October and disperses the seed by breaking off and blowing long distances as a tumbleweed.I saw several speciemns in South Boston Mass. August 7, 1994, but since have found it is much more common in dry areas of Oregon and Washington. Of the remaining grasses CHLORIDOIDS and ARUNDINOIDS have usually been treated as subfamilies; African Erharta, North AmericanIndian "wild rice" ZIZANIA, Brachyelytrum and the tropical forect CENTOTHECOIODS have been called herbaceous bamboos; needle grass STIPA and Mediterranean LYGEUM and northern NARDUS are old lines believed distantly related to the POOID [wheat] subfamily and the primarily southern hemisphere C4 large genus ARISTIDA 'three-awn' appeared either isolated or weakly tied to ARUNDINOIDS_DANTHONIOIDS. Of these taxa, the CHLORIDOIDS have unique two-celled microhairs currently interpreted as salt-excretion glands, and in ninety per cent of them the outer, distal cell has a unique broad, spreading morphology [the PAPPOPHOREAE and a few others although atypical appear related]. The Chloridoids [Eragrostoids,Cynodontids, depending what taxonomist is in town] all have C4 photosynthesis and KRANZ leaf anatomy. I must review the literature on the various enzymes of different C4 groups NAD, NAD*ME etc, and they seem to have radiated with the spread of dry sunny environments since the Eocene- last fifty million years when carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere have also declined very much. Current molecular data say these CHLORIDOIDS share a relatively recent ancestor with the southern hemisphere DANTHONIOIDS and CORTADERIA, which are relatively conservative in ecology and leaf morphology.Then the CENTOSTECOIDS may be nearer these groups than the bamboos.The reed PHRAGMITES has been lumped with the DANTHONIOIDS in a 'wastebasket, catchall'ARUNDINOID subfamily named for genus ARUNDO - also a large reed of marshes, but the molecular jury is still out, and it seems DANTHONIA is nearer CHLORIDOIDS than either ARUNDO or PHRAGMITES. Phragmites communis is one of the most widely distributed of all flowering plants. |
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