Blog Feed – Byways to Everywhere
David Wesley Tonkin
The experiences, impressions, opinions and musings of a global voyager!!
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Byways to Everywhere
Amelia Earhart endures in American and

global consciousness as one of the world’s

most celebrated and legendary aviators.

Amelia remains a symbol and an enduring

icon of the power and perseverance of American women, and the adventurous

spirit so essential to the American persona.

Amelia Mary Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas on July 24, 1897, she was the oldest daughter of Edwin and Amy Otis Earhart. Her father was a railroad attorney and her mother a homemaker., She spent her childhood living with her maternal grandparents her aunts and sometimes her parents in various towns, including Atchison and Kansas City, Kansas and Des Moines, Iowa. Her fathers recurring bouts of alcoholism and resulting financial struggles were often the cause of the family’s constant moves. Without the continual and considerable financial and logistical support from Amy Earhart’s family life for the two sisters would have been wrenched!

Amelia graduated from the Hyde Park High Academy School in Woodlawn, Chicago, Illinois, and at the age of 19 she attended the prestigious and elite school known as The Ogonitz School for Young Ladies in the Elkins Park suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, during a visit to her sister in Canada, Amelia developed an interest in caring for soldiers wounded in World War I. In 1918 she left Ogonitz to become a nurse’s aide in Toronto.

While serving as a volunteer Red Cross nurse in Toronto, Canada during World War I Amelia attended her first air show.

“She took her first flight in 1920 and declared, “As soon as we left the ground, I knew … I myself had to fly.”

Amelia received her Aviator’s License on May the 16th, 1923

Between the 17th and 18th of June 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean by air when she accompanied the crew of the Fokker F.VIIb “Friendship” floatplane as a passenger. They departed from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland ,Canada, and arrived at Burry Port, on the southwest coast of Wales, United Kingdom 20 hours, 40 minutes later.

Although she knew the flight would gain her the recondition in aviation circles she desired and needed to generate the support for the fulfillment of her dreams for the future; she was never happy with her passive role on the flight. It led her to make the famous remark …

“There is more to life than being a passenger.”

Amelia set seven world speed, altitude, endurance and distance aviation records between 1930 and 1935. She also served as the expert test pilot on many aeronautical prototypes and experimental aircraft. She also became the aviation adviser to the Engineering Department at Purdue University and the aviation editor of Cosmopolitan magazine.

Amelia’s “Little Red Bus” … the famous Lockheed Vega; and her ownership certificate. (Above)

The beginning of the Amelia legend …

On May 20–21, 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly nonstop and alone across the Atlantic. Flying her red Lockheed Vega, she left Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, Canada (Pictured below), and landed 15 hours later near Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

Amelia’s solo flights in the Pacific …

On the 12th of January, 1935 Amelia became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California on the US mainland. She was also the first person to solo anywhere over the Pacific.

“The crowd set up a roar, broke through the police lines, and could be halted only when dangerously near the still-whirling propeller.” (Oakland Municipal Airport at Oakland, California, 18 hours, 15 minutes after she departed from Hawaii)

Amelia and George …

After Amelia’s transatlantic passenger flight, publisher and public relations wizard George Putnam became her manager. On February the 7th, 1931 she married him …hesitantly … on the condition that they would separate in a year if either of them was unhappy. He reportedly had proposed to her six times before she finally agreed to marry him. George has two sons, with his first wife, Dorothy Binney Putnam; John Bishop Putnam and George Palmer Putnam.

Amelia wrote to George just before the wedding … “some things which should be writ before we are married”.

“I want you to understand I shall not hold you to any code of faithfulness to me; nor shall I consider myself bound to you similarly. Please let us not interfere with the others’ work or play.”

Amelia also found time for other projects, especially those that advanced women’s progress in society. During this period she became close friends with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt The two women shared a similar sense of independence and supported each other’s causes.

Inspired by Amelia’s example, Eleanor Roosevelt wanted to obtain a pilot’s license, although her husband rejected the idea. Earhart was a frequent visitor to the White House and was likewise influenced by Eleanor Roosevelt. Amelia also supported the first lady’s efforts to improve the lives of working women and joined her campaign to promote world peace.

The dawn of the Electra …

The Lockheed 10-E “Electra” was designed as a 10-passenger airliner and was also popular as a high-performance private aircraft. In 1936 Amelia Earhart purchased a new Lockheed 10-E Electra with funds from the Purdue Research Foundation. The airplane was officially called the “Flying Laboratory” because it was meant to be used as a test bed for new equipment. But Earhart’s real intent was to fly it around the world.

The $80,000.00 Lockheed Electra was a state-of-the-art machine for its time. George Putnam made the arrangements to order the airplane and in March 1936 gave Lockheed the authorization to proceed, with delivery requested in June. The modifications included four auxiliary fuel tanks in the passenger compartment, a navigator’s station to the rear of that, elimination of passenger windows, installation of a Sperry autopilot and various radio and navigation equipment and additional batteries.

The circumnavigation saga begins …

On May 21, 1937, Amelia took off from Oakland, California, and headed east. It was the start of her second attempt to fly around the world at the equator; an earlier try in March had ended just a few days into the trip when her Lockheed Electra crashed during takeoff in Honolulu.

Despite that incident, she remained determined to be the first pilot, man or woman, to circle the globe at the equator. Success would not only bolster her reputation, it would rescue her family’s finances … she had “mortgaged the future.”

The accident in Hawaii and resulting delay did alter some of Earhart’s original plans. Instead of flying west, from California to Hawaii then over the Pacific, she would now travel in the opposite direction. This would help her avoid bad weather, but it would also put the most difficult leg — flying to Howland Island, a tiny, 2-mile-long dot in the Pacific Ocean … at the end of a fatiguing journey.

Navigator Fred Noonan would join Earhart on her trip. Though he had a reputation as a heavy drinker, he was a top-notch aerial navigator with the skills to help her find Howland.

Unlike Manning, neither Amelia nor Fred were adept at wireless code. This prompted Earhart to get rid of the CW (telegraph code key) transmitter on her plane, as she felt it would be “dead weight” with just her and Fred Noonan on board. Before departing, she also dropped a trailing antenna that would have allowed her to use the 500-kilocycle marine frequency; instead of Morse code, Amelia Earhart made the fateful decision to only communicate by voice at higher bandwidths.

Fourteen hours and 15 minutes into her flight, the Itasca received a first, somewhat garbled transmission from Amelia about “cloudy weather.” Though the messages themselves would grow clearer, their content remained worrying, as when Amelia radioed, “We are circling but cannot see island cannot hear you.” She apparently only received one message from the ship, though the Itasca had been transmitting for hours. While continuing to broadcast — the radio strength of her communications indicated she was close … Amelia and Fred remained unable to see Howland Island.

The weather around Howland was clear, but there were clouds about 30 miles northwest. And if Amelia had flown into clouds and bad weather along the way, it could have prevented Fred from taking the sightings he needed to navigate precisely (plus the charts he was using were a few miles off). Amelia’s last transmission, made 20 hours and 14 minutes into her flight, indicated they were going to continue “running north and south.” The plane never made it to Howland. That is the last known fact.

The enigma that is Amelia surrounds us. There have been searches and there have been fanciful theories and sadly hurtful deceits; that are beyond contempt or mention.

If a search proves successful, I am eager to see the outcome …as I am certain you are too! Amelia is larger than life and her story will resonate forever.

David Wesley Tonkin

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. “Why, Sir , you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”

( Dr Samuel Johnson – 1777)

English poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer.

Sounds like a bit of snooty old Brit-speak. poetry from a strange looking fellow in an unkempt powdered wig. No! It is not. If you tell me you are tired of London then I will suggest with some vigorous assertion that you are more than a few ants short of a good picnic.

One of the major motivations for visiting London is to “do” a proper pub crawl. You do not want to return to Lansdale Pennsylvania, Bloomfield Hills Michigan, Fond du Lac Wisconsin, Paris Texas, Bong Bong Queensland Australia or Roodepoort South Africa sadly admitting that you only “half-did” London!?

There are two major kinds of pub crawl … [1] A dedicated pub-to-pub detailed study of beer, pub food, ale, pub signs, cider, pub history and stout. Then there is the “sustaining” pub crawl [2] which is the totally essential refreshment of body and mind inspirational activity you insert in your tourist itinerary between historic sights you are planning to visit (a k a playing tourist). It is vigorously suggested that pub crawl type [1] is not planned or attempted in one night. Pub crawl type [2] is recommended for all times you are not engaged in pub crawl type [1] … are you getting the picture!?

A detailed list of the highly recommended venues for pub crawls type [1] and [2] may be found in my essential previously published blog … ” London’s best pubs … unequaled beer, grub, ambiance and history!” Do not visit London without it!

The historic and fun locations on this “must see” list are sometimes accompanied by a “how to see” suggestion. I am not a proponent of getting to a site, raising a mobile phone … one click … and then off to the next site on a travel agents list. If that describes your intended brand of mobile phone tourism then please do not read this blog …

This is intended for those who will indulge their hearts, minds and poetic souls in loving, remembering and appreciating some of the sights, sounds, atmosphere, people, tastes and overall ambiance of this totally enchanting place! Starting with …

1. The Tower of London

The Tower is indisputably the top “must see” favorite tourist destination in the Greater London area. You will never be alone on a tour of this 900 year old royal palace and fortress in the heart of England’s capital; you will have what seems like the population of Taitō (Japan), Montevideo (Uruguay), Philadelphia (USA) and Adelaide (Australia) along with you! It is a fantastic, mysterious, awe-inspiring and popular place and it is crowded in tourist season. The enthralling Yeoman Warders (Retired British Armed Forces veterans, a k a Beefeaters) who conduct the tours are a priceless treat and are both eloquent and massively informative and also dispense wicked historic humor … a totally memorable experience. Each time I return I learn something new and get another anecdote for the evening in the pub!

Another consideration is to go online well prior to your trip and book a private (early morning, before the hordes) small group tour. It is really worth the UKPound 30.00 per person fee.

Another totally magnificent London icon is the majestic, unique and beautiful Tower Bridge. After your Tower of London tour is over; take some time to visit the bridge. A walk over the bridge is astonishing and offers stunning opportunities for memorable views and photographs of the Thames waterfront and the city on both banks of the river. There is an “urban legend” that the gentleman from the USA who bought London Bridge back in 1968 thought that this was the bridge he was getting! (The London Bridge he acquired now spans Lake Havasu in Arizona, USA).

2. Trafalgar Square (and surrounding historic attractions).

Trafalgar Square is a public square in the City of Westminster, in Central London; its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a massive and crushing British naval victory in the Napoleonic Wars by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson over a vastly superior French and Spanish combined fleet that took place on the 21st of October 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar. The incredible and colossal Nelson’s Column dominates the square and is guarded by four lion statues. (As can be seen above).

The square is the quintessential public and cultural “beating heart” of London and deserves more than a quick “walk through” … you must experience the atmosphere and ambiance of the square and both the Londoners and visitors who spend time on its steps and terraces. Sit for a while at the popular Cafe-on-the-Square or sit on the steps in front of the National Gallery with your snack and a soft drink and just take it all in! There are often colorful celebrations of events (like the vividly beautiful and elegant Chinese New Year!), protest marches, artistic and historical gatherings to add to the daily vista you may experience!

A word about the protest marches. They are just that; they are not “performed” by members of the obese and unwashed camouflage clad and festooned with bizarre penile compensatory accoutrements like one or more of the dangerous white supremist gangs we have in the USA. That sort of intellect-free behavior is rather frowned upon by British Law and the London Metropolitan Police!

It is not just the square itself that provides a great deal of intrigue to visitors to the area, as the local vicinity also offers, in close proximity, a wealth of other fantastic attractions for London’s guests to explore.

3. The National Gallery

The National Gallery, at the highest point of Trafalgar Square, houses, without doubt, one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world. Enjoy free entrance 361 days a year. See works by artists including Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijin, Thomas Gainsborough, William Turner, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh and Tiziano Vecelli “Titian”; to name but a few. Devote time and attention to this sublime, serene majesty, historic nature and rich cultural tapestry of this majestic and awe-inspiring place. A whole one day visit is not enough. I believe I have spent more than 8 days over various visits and I have not seen everything I need and want to experience yet!

4. The National Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery is a museum of people: a collection of stories, as well as a living image of how a country sees itself.

The ambitions for Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, founded in 1856, were more universal than the existing collections of portraits in aristocratic families or institutions. It was a bold idea: to form a collection of those who “have or are contributing to British history or culture.” The importance of the individual remains the guiding principle; it is the subject not the artist that earns a space on the hall of a gallery The collection has developed not simply through the additive process of portraits being donated, purchased, or commissioned, but also through taking a broader view of achievement. A soccer player and a popular children’s novelist are now included alongside a great actor, a scientist, or a social reformer.

The collection, spans five hundred years of British history. It is my favorite London gallery!

5. Street performers … buskers outside the Punch & Judy pub

Covent Garden’s Punch & Judy pub was built in 1787 and was thought to be named after the famous Punch and Judy puppet performances that used to take place for the children of flower-sellers (Think back to “My Fair Lady”). Today, this pub; situated on the West Piazza of Covent Garden is a fantastic and unique location for visitors to watch London City Council’s accredited and justifiably famous street performers … the unique “Buskers”.

Try to get a table on the terrace of the pub. You can eat and drink and be merry while indulging yourself in unique performances! I am still, however, trying to figure out the fellow who skillfully played The Symphony No. 5 in C minor of Ludwig van Beethoven, Op. 67, on a beautiful Mason & Hamlin grand concert piano while dressed in a full scuba diving suit complete with oxygen tanks and mask. I might understand if he played “The Water Music” collection of orchestral movements in three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel; Which premiered on the 17th of July 1717, in response to King George I’s request for a concert on the River Thames.

6. Covent Garden

The essential shopping and entertainment hub of London’s West End, Covent Garden centers on the elegant, traffic-free Piazza. It is home to sophisticated fashion stores, craft stalls at the Apple Market, and outside the Royal Opera House. The London Transport Museum houses vintage vehicles. Upscale restaurants serve European, Asian, South African, American (North and South) and Indian cuisines, and the nearby world famous West End theaters draw crowds for an eclectic and always amazing array of long-running and new plays, opera, classical music, ballet and musicals.

Some of my favorite places to eat in the Covent Garden area are The Battersea Pie Station, Jamie Oliver’s Secret Basement Bar, The Dirty Martini Covent Garden, The Oystermen Seafood Bar & Kitchen and the splendid Masala Zone Covent Garden (This is for the serious curry aficionado; not some beginner “dabbling” in curry!) .

7. Simpsons-in-the Strand

Whether it is the Scottish Roast Beef ( I have enjoyed Kobe beef in Tokyo and Holando-Argentina beef in Buenos Aires, but for me a lovely cut of beautifully marbled Scottish beef is still the finest), a Lake District Roast Lamb, a hearty Beef Wellington, potted shrimp, game fowl from a country estate (in season of course), smoked Scottish Salmon (perhaps from Loch Duart or Skuna Bay), or some other quintessentially British dish, there is no more classic place to indulge than Simpsons-in-the Strand.

“Do” the evening in style; put on your tuxedo or little black dress; it is that kind of place. Yes! There are those who try to get in wearing an NFL, MLB or Ruralburg State U sweater over creased green slacks … the same people who ask for Natural Light (a k a Natty Light) in British pubs or ask a restaurant sommelier if he has “that great Gallo white wine from the USA” … the term De rigueur has no meaning to them!

This is where the oxymoron “British cuisine” is erased … Simpson’s is British food at its quixotic and delicious best; amid an elegantly matchless surrounding of history, imperiously grand, measured (a k a the perfect slow speed) service and astonishing culinary theater! The table-side carving of your roast beef is positively Shakespearean, like Tybalt vs. Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet!

I never miss it on every trip. Get your hotel’s concierge to book your table well in advance; you cannot walk in or join a wait-list.

Every famous, remarkably infamous and newsworthy person on earth has probably dined at Simpsons. I will not attempt a list … it would take an immense time to compile. Suffice to say I have seen Peter O’Toole (actor par excellence), Dame Margot Fonteyn (prima ballerina assoluta ), the regal and beautiful HRH Princess Michael of Kent (British royalty), the outspoken Yorkshireman “Fiery Freddie” Truman (Cricketer), the sublime Graham Collier (jazz musician) and the consummate Hugh Laurie (stage, film and television actor) during my visits. This is the pinnacle of people watching opportunities!

8. Piccadilly Circus and surrounding area

Piccadilly in the City of Westminster is where several well known roads intersect; all popular shopping areas such as Regent Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, The Haymarket, Coventry Street, Glasshouse Street and the home of the world’s most celebrated jewelers, perfumers, and the exotic boutiques that make the Burlington Arcade an unrivaled destination for luxury.

This is one of those places (for countless generations) that is on everyone’s “must see” list. You can take in the sights fairly quickly; I suggest you plan to do so between visits to the numerous other sites located nearby or as a “detour” on your evening pub crawl.

The most famous landmark is the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, surmounted by a winged statue of Anteros ( “Eros”), located at the southeastern side of Piccadilly Circus

Notably; Waterstones Booksellers in Piccadilly are Europe’s largest bookshop offering a peerless selection of titles across every genre imaginable, with over eight miles of bookshelves. They also have an incredible rare books and first edition area with super-knowledgeable staff. The store also has a decent 6th floor cafeteria for a snack or quick lunch … the real “gem” of the store is the incredible Piccadilly Circus and other London views from the building’s terraces!

Fans of the Harry Potter series may want to keep an eye out while visiting Piccadilly Circus, as many of the locations nearby were actually used during the filming of the movie series.

9. Westminster Abbey (top picture) and St. Paul’s Cathedral (lower picture)

Westminster Abbey is a large, mainly Gothic abbey church in the City of Westminster, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom’s most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England “Royal Peculiar” … a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The Abby is serene and majestic and has historic significance that makes a visit both essential and a matchless learning experience.

According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorn Ey (Thorn Island)) At the time of Mellitus, a Bishop of London, construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have been in Westminster Abbey. There have been 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100

Notable literary “giants” buried in the Abby include Geoffrey Chaucer, W. H. Auden, William Blake, Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Charles Dickens, John Dryden, George Eliot, T. S. Eliot, Thomas Gray, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Samuel Johnson, John Keats, Rudyard Kipling, Jenny Lind, John Masefield, John Milton, Alexander Pope, Nicholas Rowe, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas Shadwell, Alfred, Lord Tennyson and William Wordsworth. Eight British Prime Ministers are buried in the Abbey; William Pitt the Elder, William Pitt the Younger, George Canning, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, William Ewart Gladstone, Bonar Law, Neville Chamberlain and Clement Attlee. Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton are also buried in the Abbey; as is Sir Laurence Olivier and Stephen Hawking. The vast majority of Britain’s higher-echelon royalty (Kings, Queens, Princesses and Princes) are also buried in and around the Abbey.

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St Paul’s, with its vast dome, is an iconic feature of the London skyline and known across the world. A visit to this magnificent structure designed by Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor must be given sufficient time and dedication for you to mentally absorb the history, significance and atmosphere of the whole building.

When you step inside you will marvel at the Cathedral’s awe-inspiring interior and uncover fascinating stories about its history and the rich work and worship that takes place here, all set over five levels. At St Paul’s, you engage on a visit that you will remember forever. You can walk in the footsteps of royalty and political leaders on the Cathedral floor; climb the dome to try the unique acoustics of the Whispering Gallery; go even higher to enjoy some of the most spectacular views over London from the Stone and Golden Galleries; or head down to the crypt where many of the nation’s heroes are buried. The tombs of Musical legends Gilbert and Sullivan and the illustrious soldier Lawrence of Arabia may be found here.

Gilbert and Sullivan (above) and Lawrence of Arabia (below)

The Cathederal has a rich assemblage of British notables who are buried in its precincts. Æthelred the Unready, Max Beerbohm, Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Edwin Landseer, Walter de la Mare, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, J. M. W. Turner, Louise Creighton, Blanche of Lancaster, George Williams, Christopher Wren, John Everett Millais, Florence Nightingale, William Blake, Lawrence of Arabia (symbolically) and Alexander Fleming all vividly represent royalty, civil and military leadership, literature, music and art.

10. The Borough of Greenwich (The Royal Observatory, The Royal Naval College, The Maritime Museum and the Clipper Cutty Sark)

Set on the south bank of the Thames, approximately five miles from central London, this city borough is rich in maritime history and features the Old Royal Naval College, National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory, which was built by Sir Christopher Wren for King Charles II.

The home of Greenwich Meantime stands atop the hill in Greenwich Park. The earliest part of the observatory, Flamsteed House, was designed by Christopher Wren and completed in 1676 to become the first state-funded scientific institution in Britain.

Just beyond the gate to the complex’s courtyard is the Prime Meridian Line at exactly 0° longitude, and you can tiptoe the line or cross between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

In an exuberant building formerly occupied by the Royal Hospital School, the National Maritime Museum opened in 1934 and is free to enter. The museum charts the history of seafaring, but also has captivating exhibits specific to British naval history. One is the coat worn by Admiral Nelson when he was fatally wounded at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The left shoulder is pierced by the bullet that killed him. Also here is J.M.W. Turner famous painting of the battle,

One of the last of the tea clippers, the beautiful and graceful Cutty Sark was assembled in 1869 by the Jock Willis Shipping Line using a wrought iron frame and teak timbers. She was built for speed, and first took part in the tea races from China, earning premiums for returning swiftly with this prized cargo. Later the Cutty Sark switched to the wool trade with Australia after the Suez Canal made it easier for steamships to reach the Far East.

For a decade at the end of the 1880’s, the ship held the record for this journey, at the 77 days outbound and 73 returning. Since the 1950’s she has been in dry dock by the Thames.

The 15-minute walk to the splendid Cutty Sark pub on Ballast Quay is in range for casual visitors to Greenwich. With its circular bays, this pub was named in honor of the Cutty Sark after the ship moved to Greenwich in 1951, but was previously known as the Union Tavern, and was built at the end of the 18th century.

On the way there you’ll see the imposing hulk of Greenwich Power Station from 1902 and the Trinity Hospital, an almshouse from 1613 and redesigned in a Gothic Revival style in 1812. Another lovable old pub is the Trafalgar Tavern, from 1837 and just to the east of the Naval College.

The “classic” trip to Greenwich is a commentated cruise by a company called Citycruises, calling at the Tower of London, London Eye and Westminster. Most of these river cruise boats have an adequate pub counter on board!

11. “Big Ben” (now the Queen Elizabeth II Tower) and The Palace of Westminster (The Houses of Parliament)

The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Commonly known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London.

The first royal palace constructed on this site dated from the 11th century, and Westminster became the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512. After that, it served as the home of the Parliament of England, which had met there since the 13th century.

At the north end of the Palace rises the most famous of the Palace’s towers, The Queen Elizabeth II Tower, commonly known as “Big Ben” Originally known simply as the Clock Tower (the name Elizabeth Tower was conferred on it in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II), It is undoubtedly the most famous of the world’s clock towers; it must be in the photography collection of every visitor to London.

The view of the tower and palace in the photograph (above) is my favorite aspect of the whole area. It is taken from across the magnificent Westminster Bridge from the Lambeth side of the Thames. I have a substantial collection of pictures of Big Ben” I have taken in all moods … heavy brooding fog, bright sunshine, pouring rain and gently falling snow. It is a memory that will endure forever.

12. London’s Museums

If you are an avid museum lover then this is your list of some the best institutions to visit. My favorites are The Victoria and Albert, The British Museum, The Natural History Museum and The Museum of London. Each one of them needs a full day to do justice to the richness and depth of their exhibits and priceless artifacts.

If you have a vivid passion or a specific topic close to your heart; Google it … London will have a museum dedicated to the topic!

The British Museum

Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Museum of London

150 London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN

The Natural History Museum

Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

Victoria and Albert Museum

Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL

The Charles Dickens Museum

48 Doughty Street, Holborn Borough, London WC1N 2LX

Madame Tussards Wax Museum

Marylebone Road, Marylebone, London NW15LR

The Sherlock Holmes Museum

221b Baker Street, Marylebone, London NW1 6XE

All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club (Wimbledon) Museum

Church Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 5AE

If you are a military history “buff” like I am then you will find many museums in London that will astonish you and vastly increase the range and depth of your knowledge. The most notable are the Imperial War Museum (London and Duxford), The Household Cavalry and Guards Museums, Royal Air Force Museum, National Army Museum and the wonderfully restored HMS Belfast (below). Each of these museums have vast, priceless, and unique exhibits and artifacts; each place will take a day to visit if you are serious about this topic.

13. London’s Art Galleries

In addition to the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, London is the home of dozens of world-class, eclectic, diverse, and inspiring art galleries. Listed here are a few of my favorites:

Tate Modern Art Galleries

Bankside, London SE1 9TG

The Royal Academy of the Arts

6 Burlington Gardens, London W1S 3ET

The Barbican Centre of the Arts

Silk St, London EC2Y 8DS

The Courtauld Institute of Art

Somerset House, The Strand, London WC2R 0RN

In conclusion …

Make some time to put on your rain-gear, take your friend by the hand and walk along the momentous Thames Embankment from Waterloo Bridge to Westminster Bridge on a foggy afternoon . It is a precious memory for your heart; it will exquisitely live forever as one of your treasured moments. Yes; London does that to you.

Set the perfect mood … listen to the two best renditions of the song “A Foggy Day in London Town” composed by Ira and George Gershwin and sung by Eleanora Fagan “Billie” Holiday on the album “Songs for Distingue’ Lovers” and the rendition by Albert Allick “Al” Bowlly (who was killed when a Nazi bomb hit a nightclub in London’s Soho district during WWII) the perfect theme song for the city I love so dearly.

“A lamplighter just lighting the lamps on the Thames Embankment on a foggy day” The Artist is Rose Maynard Barton; she was an esteemed member of the Royal Watercolor Society (Watercolor on canvas circa 1896). The scene has not changed much!

This tour guide is dedicated to all those beautiful, interesting and memorable people who have shared and loved their and my London.

It is also dedicated to the lovely dear friends I hope I will be able to share London with in the days ahead.

"A foggy day in London Town Had me low had me down I viewed the morning with such alarm Your British Museum had lost its charm How long, I wondered, could this thing last? But the age of miracles hadn't passed, For, suddenly, I saw you there And in a foggy London Town The sun was shining everywhere".

David Wesley Tonkin

These are my opinions on patriotism. I hope that intellectually discerning people will see the connective logic of the thoughts expressed. If you do not agree that is perfectly understandable.

I came to the USA as a result of a fairy-tale career opportunity. I nearly immediately learned to love my new home with a fervor that was all-consuming and entrancing. The day I became a US citizen was memorable and a fiercely proud and captivating moment. Instant Patriotism was my endowment.

The Patriotism I felt in my heart was of the type defined below. I researched to find the exact definition of what was in my heart and intellect. I wanted to clearly justify my feelings accurately.

Patriotism [noun]

/ˈpætriətɪzəm/ˈpeɪtriətɪzəm/ /ˈpeɪtriətɪzəm/

​Love of your country and the desire to defend it

(Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary)

Patriotism [noun]

/pa·​tri·​ot·​ism | \ ˈpā-trē-ə-ˌti-zəm/

Love for or devotion to one’s country

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Patriotism [noun]

/pætriətɪzəm/

Love for your country and loyalty towards it

(Collins Dictionary of the English Language)

I was now certain that what genuinely is Patriotism is what is in my heart and intellect. I wanted to find a more fulsome understanding of this whole and noble sentiment.

Once you triangulate a fact to ensure its veracity you may proceed with certainty. I loved my country;

I was a real Patriot.

Patriotism is love and loyalty to your country; I found that many people in the US show they are Patriotic by waving a flag, having a barbeque, walking in a parade and celebrating national holidays. However, Ezra Taft Benson said there is much more to Patriotism. He said:

“Patriotism is more than flag-waving and fireworks. It is how we respond to public issues. If we ask only, ‘what’s in this proposal for me?—what do I get out of it?’—we are not patriotic and we are not good citizens. But if we ask, ‘is this right?—is it good for the people?… would it preserve and strengthen our freedom?’ … then we deserve to stand in the company of great Patriots. Patriotism is trying always to give more to the Nation than we receive. It is selfless service.”

George Orwell said in his influential work “Notes on Nationalism” … “By ‘Patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the person or entity in which he has chosen to submerge and loose his own individuality.”

George Orwell further contrasted the two in terms of aggressive vs. defensive attitudes. Nationalism is about power: its adherent wants to acquire as much power and prestige as possible, in which they submerge their intellect (or lack thereof) and surrender their individuality. While nationalism is accordingly aggressive, Patriotism is defensive: It is a devotion to a particular place and a way of life one thinks best, but has no wish to foist on others.

This way of distinguishing the two attitudes comes close to an approach popular among today’s politicians and widespread in everyday discourse that indicates a double standard of the form “us vs. them.” Country and nation are first run together, and then Patriotism and nationalism are distinguished in terms of the strength of the love and special concern one feels for it, and the degree of one’s identification with it. What makes it even more divisive is that the opposing doctrines’ media machines fuel the flames; nothing is too inflammatory. No truth too pliable and the most intellectually ridiculous and hate-driven dogma receives the most coverage.

When these are exhibited in a reasonable degree and without ill thoughts about others and hostile actions towards them, that is Patriotism; when they become unbridled and cause one to think ill of others and act badly towards them, that is nationalism.

I now have a sharper supportive finite definition. Patriotism is not a lust for acquisition of power or forcing your beliefs on another person or group. Patriotism seems motivated by altruism and sound logic. Nationalism is increasingly portrayed in the USA by the outward expression of bigotry, violence, intellectual suppression and greed.

Patriotism encourages you to stand and protest in front of the US capitol as an expression of your opposition, concern or opinion on a specific topic. Patriotism is a far cry from violently storming the US capitol with flags and varied emblems of hate, building a scaffold for the purpose of hanging the Vice-President of the USA and murdering police officers valiantly trying to defend the nation’s capital. That is radical nationalism’s wretchedly too frequent consequence … domestic terrorism.

My Patriotism is not naively “blind” … I do realize there is much overlap between country and nation, and therefore between Patriotism and nationalism; thus much that applies to one will also apply to the other. But when a country is not ethnically homogeneous, or when a nation or part of the nation lacks a country of its own, the two may part ways.

I have learned that nationalism, with which Patriotism is often confused, stands for a very different phenomenon … exclusive and singular racial ethnicity. It was once given the shameful name “apartheid” Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation (state enforced bigotry) that existed in the Republic of South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 until the early 1990s.

Nationalism and its adherents do not own the US flag; Patriots also have that equal entitlement. Just because you have a wife-beater vest with the flag emblazoned upon it stretched over a massive hairy sweaty belly does not bestow upon you exclusive ownership. That is just a mind-destroying insult to the flag. The US flag is a cherished symbol of pride and loyalty to every US citizen. Yes … everyone in the USA; not only the white members of the obese and unwashed “gravy seals” festooned with weapons and other bizarre penile compensatory accoutrements. The US flag should not serve to offset the embarrassing individual shortfalls and negative effects or result of some other personal malady!

One of my most treasured possessions is a huge US flag that was flown above the capitol building in Washington, DC. It was flown in honor of my family’s arrival in the US and was presented to the family by a distinguished US Senator. I will not be using it as a symbol of hatred or bigotry or to cover up the murder of a Capitol policeman!

As a Patriot I will also humbly and gratefully wave my flag to honor the Patriotic men and women who since the 1700’s gave their lives in defense of our and global civilization … and proudly when the Women’s National Soccer Team wins World Cup trophies, and Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze Medals. My flag will not be insulted as a symbol of stupidity and hatred. It will be indicative of proud citizenship and joy.

My flag will never fly alongside filthy symbols of hatred like the Nazi swastika or white supremacy emblems; I am a Patriot. Patriotism is the admission that we know our country is not perfect; and yet a work in constant progress. It means that we must strive to be the best we can. Striving to improve does not mean storming the US capitol, killing police officers defending the capitol, taking an assault weapon to a peaceful protest and murdering innocent civilians.

Patriotism is not allegiance and blindly supporting an individual politician. That behavior always results in a quick descent into freedom-less dictatorship. Do not let a politician define the term Patriotism for you.

Every politician has an affiliation; or is controlled by (one or more) movements, organizations, ideologies, specific political funding sources (or self-interests), unions, lobbyists, religious groups, foreign influences or control and citizens action groups. Is that affiliation abhorrent to you and your values!? Consider carefully the effect those affiliations will have on the whole nation’s ability to live, love and pursue happiness!

Fake Warrior Patriotism is also pitifully depressing. When some pretend-military gimcracks festooned camouflage wearing oaf invades my personal space and breathes foul bargain-basement beer on me and asks “Where’d you serve huh!?” … I am proud to tell them. The fun part is when you ask them a correspondingly similar question and get error-laden answers … for example “I was in ‘Nam (allegedly Vietnam) at … names of places in Japan, South Korea, North Korea and the Philippines”!

When I went to classes on US history prior to the citizenship test our young lecturer made a memorable remark. She said “Citizenship is not easy; it means acceptance of someone else’s right to an opinion. You do not have to agree; however you must respect their right to express it”

Civilization, Citizenship and Patriotism will disappear if we do not cherish everyone’s right to equally be a proud part of the USA’s rich blended culture.

Ad meliora

Her brothers said that it was an amalgamation of “sprite” and “brat” … it was their nickname for their perplexing, lively, lovely, petite little sister. She was everywhere at once with prodigious opinions on everything. Her opinions were delivered from a self-assured hands-on-hips stance with captivating and unwavering eye-contact. Her name was Freda Joanne Paul. I usually called her Mom.

On Monday, December the 21st, 1936, Freda Paul emerged from the office of the Principal, Miss O. Rowe’s office with her Matriculation Certificate. It was her final day at The Kingsridge High School for Girls in King Williams Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa. After checking that the certificate was safely stowed in her satchel she set off up Queens Road, past the World War I Memorial and headed for home down the long and dusty Reserve Road on the banks of the Buffalo River.

“That certificate was my ticket out of King ‘town! You saw the place; it was ‘deadfully” pastoral. The people were so awfully damn stuffy. The boys from the town were boors and boring” she often told me; smiling broadly.

She was heading home to pack her possessions. Freda’s long-planned destination was the city of Durban that was 658.8 km’s north up the Indian Ocean Coast from her hometown. Her Aunt Sarah had promised her a room in her apartment on the fashionable South Marine Parade beachfront and help in finding employment in this beautiful tropical paradise on the Bay of Plenty in Natal-Zululand.

Elegant, tropical and pulsating “Durbs” was, in the late 1930’s and 1940’s, a very “frivoles” and fashionable holiday destination for the burgeoning nouveau riche class of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg and environs) gold and platinum mining boom. This was where the “Randlords” (Mining magnates) brought their wives to eat, drink, play, be seen and shop.

Recently divorced Sarah Paul Fitzgerald had been true to her world and took Freda to see a friend she had who was a senior manager at Payne Brothers fashionable departmental store on West Street. She visibly impressed the stores’ “Décontracté” Ladies Boutique manager and started work the next morning.

Freda thought that her A-Stream, four distinctions Matric Certificate had helped as much as the lovely dress Sarah had loaned her. A young woman with an education was slowly becoming more prevalent in the archaic Victorian-mentality South African business environment.

“Sarah knew so many enchanting people … but I never went to one party until I had secured a job at Payne’s big store; I was decidedly resolute … yes I was!”

Despite her extreme youth, Freda was a “natural” at high-end retail sales; it became an instinctive art-form and a joyous challenge for her. Very quickly her managers realized that standard sales targets presented her no challenge. She virtually regarded the sales bonuses as regular income. She also made additional money by doing duty as a runway model when Payne Brothers had special showings for groups of wealthy women.

In addition to English she spoke Xhosa and Basuto from the Eastern Cape region, learned back in King ‘town. She soon mastered the local Zulu language … “it payed all sorts of surprising dividends” she once remarked. The rich ladies from Durban North and Kloof often brought their pastel-uniformed maids on shopping excursions to carry their latest hoard of packages.

“One day she casually asked the maid in Zulu …

“What does the Madam like to do all day at home?” The maid responded in the same language with a perfectly straight face … “She loves to have sex with the two young men from the house across the street when her husband goes to “eGoli” (Johannesburg’s Zulu nickname … the city of gold)”

The maid carried four bulging bags of exotic and ridiculously expensive French lingerie; and the ten shilling note that Freda surreptitiously slipped her. The rich lady left the store with a broad smile and an excited gleam in her eyes.

In the period between 1937 and 1940 promotions up the “traditional” ranks for women came frequently to Freda. She referred to them as “mildly supervisory” … not really true management roles that had the delegated authority and accountability to make actual strategic and tactical sales decisions.

Freda was becoming increasingly annoyed and frustrated when the male managers strutted around at sales meetings crowing about their revenue enhancing idea …

“ … the exact ideas and sales tactics I had developed and carefully explained to the posturing and strutting bloody little ‘isihlakala’ (Zulu word for idiot) at lunchtime three weeks earlier!” She complained to her aunt.

After one such infuriating staff meeting one of the older senior managers … called the “Colonel Blimp type” by the junior staff, asked her if she agreed that one of the male manager’s ideas delivered so eloquently at the meeting “Was just capital … what!?!

“Oh my absolutely! Yes!” she replied cheerily, “It was a jolly capital idea from the moment I gave it to him a week ago!” Colonel Blimp harrumphed for ten minutes she recalled. It was widely rumored that he needed a large brandy stiffener upon return to his office; “Cheek of that bloody little whippersnapper!” he said to his secretary who gleefully shared it with Freda.

In the 1940 to 1945 time frame Freda was “lured” away to work at both Harvey Greenacre & Company and John Orr & Sons; two other high end departmental stores in central Durban … with promises of a larger salary; and the assurance of real managerial responsibility. However, she returned to “Paynes'” after a relatively short period … the management promises at both opposing emporiums were not honored.

“Retaining women was not a priority for them. Women after all just went off and got pregnant at dashed awkward times; didn’t they!?” she fumed to her friends.

Eventually the Payne Bros. management gave her the opportunity, with the title Assistant-Manager, to run a small retail trial boutique area … it was called “Ladies Furnishings” It specialized in high-end imported handbags, purses, sunglasses, gloves, compacts, cigarette cases s, lighters and cigarette holders.

“It was the most junior position at the management meeting table; but I was there! It took me just eight months to achieve the first annual target set by the management” she would gleefully recount; her eyes shining!

Another thing that came out of this is that she used a platinum and jade cigarette holder well into the future. The future, eventually, provided more opportunities for her to advance to more significant and influential real management roles. This was a colossal achievement in the context of the times,

“… when woman were still condescendingly referred to as “the little woman”, or the “Memsahib” and expected to run a flawless domestic establishment”. Freda would say, shaking her head angrily.

She once said to me during a discussion on success in business that one of her favorite quotes was from an American entrepreneur she had once heard interviewed on a BBC radio show … “Unless you’re the lead dog on the sled team the view gets to be mighty boring!” She firmly believed that success was all about leadership. A leadership role was her stimulus for wanting to achieve greater things!

She explained it to me in the terms a high school boy could understand … “The captain of a Cricket team gives a few orders during the game; however a good opening batsman goes into bat and knocks out 50 runs against good opposition … that is genuine leadership. Doing something; not talking about it!

Freda’s favorite bar at the fashionable and elegant Edward Hotel was the famous Palm Court Bar and Grille on the massive front verandah of this beautiful beachfront Art Deco masterpiece. She said she loved to see all the clothes she had sold, paraded by in the evenings by her wealthy clients.

At the height of the winter season of July 1944 a dear friend of Freda and her Aunt Sarah’s, Will Pitt introduced the two ladies to his good friend and fellow cricketer, Arthur Carr Tonkin of Mtunzini in Northern Zululand. It was the last Sarah and Will saw of the two!

“I instantly grabbed him by the hand and found a secluded table on the verandah … we held hands, sipped cane spirit cocktails and gently talked softly and laughed loudly until well after midnight …”

Arthur Carr Tonkin, the son of a Medical Doctor and a Nurse Practitioner, was born in 1907 in the village of St. Agnes in the County of Cornwall in the UK. The family moved in 1909 to their new home in breathtakingly beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

Arthur attended The Cape Academy of Mathematics and Science. He then graduated from The School of Accounting at London University’s School of Economics and Political Science; Covent Garden, London, UK. He was an outstanding all-round athlete; representing all of his educational institutions at the Varsity level in Cricket, Rugby and Football (Soccer). During World War II he served with the South African Air Force’s Coastal Command as an aircraft navigator.

Freda said, “Arthur claimed, according to his brother Billy and two sisters Gladys and Alice that he proposed to me the very next morning after we met. I remember that it was two days after we met. I remember that Sarah and I were looking out of our apartment windows at a raging Indian Ocean storm that lashed the beachfront on the Saturday and Sunday. He did in fact propose to me during my lunch break on the Monday … he took me for a walk along the Esplanade where we sat on a bench under the palms. He served me a delicious lunch from a wicker hamper prepared and packed by the chef at his hotel “

On a blazing hot Durban Summer Day they were married at the Durban Magistrates Court on Friday, the 15th of December 1944 at 11:30 AM. Sarah was the Maid-of Honor and Will Pitt was the Best Man. Freda said she wore “a little flimsy white summer dress“; she also proudly said that Arthur looked “ever so debonair and dashing in a sophisticated cream tropical suit!!”

“We had an early wedding lunch at The Edward that lasted until around midnight … lots of French bubbles, Chateaubriand, Avocado Ritz and strawberries and ice cream from the Cooee Café!”

There was no honeymoon; Freda had too many work-related commitments and deadlines and Arthur was starting a new assignment with a US steel company’s local branch and getting “demobbed” (demobilized) from the Air Force.

They agreed to plan a trip to King Williams Town and Cape Town to “introduce their parents” during the next year. Their friends gave them a long-weekend in a huge luxury suite atop The Edward.

They took over Sarah’s prized apartment lease as she was leaving her teaching position at the Addington Primary School on the beachfront to become the Vice-Headmistress of an exclusive girl’s school in the Cape Province.

In the late 1940’s both Freda and Arthur’s careers had advanced to the extent that they thought they were able to buy their first home.

“Our home was this vast sprawling airy bungalow on quiet little Brooklands Close, in the hills of Durban North; it was just across that beautiful Blue Lagoon Bridge on the Umgeni River and 1 1/2 miles to the beach and the Durban Country Club.” Freda wistfully remembered.

From so many conversations we had about the “early Durban days” I was abundantly convinced that this was the really blissful; both joyous and peaceful, time of her life.

In the middle of 1949 Freda and Arthur found out that they were to become parents. She told me that her bosses at Payne Bros. promised that her job “would be there” once she decided to return. This was quite astonishing as businesses did not have any form of benefit or policies for expectant mothers. Usually they had to re-apply for their positions; with no guarantees of acceptance!

I was born in late March 1950. Freda said “I thought you looked like your father; you already had his thoughtful look! Your Dad said that you were going to be tall … and that you would probably grow into your enormous feet!”

After eleven months passed as doting new parents, Arthur was offered a gigantic promotion. An advancement opportunity that involved a move to a big city called Pittsburgh in a state called Pennsylvania in the United States of America!

“I remember immediately telling him to grab the offer! It would be such an incredible experience! I was so excited … it would be such a splendid opportunity for advancing his career and a chance for me to see if I could be just as successful in another country! “She told me with a gleam in her eyes.

On the weekend after accepting the promotion, Arthur went to Sunday dinner at his sister Alice and her husband’s home on The Bluff; a lovely suburb overlooking the Durban docks and beachfront. He went alone as I had some sort of tummy upset and Frieda did not want to take me out.

After dinner, at around two o’ clock Arthur asked if he could take a short nap as he was feeling a little weary. He was never to awaken; it was due to a massive coronary thrombosis (myocardial infarction) Dr. Solomon Meskin the family’s doctor told Freda.

“It was a blow! It knocked me for a bloody loop! I lost the one man I really and truly … passionately loved! I did not have him for long … we didn’t even have time to really get our lives and family going.”

There is no doubt that Freda loved Arthur with every fiber of her being. Over the years; when we spoke about him her love was so palpable and evident; and grew richer as the years passed.

“I do not have time to sit on my arse in self-pity. I have to plan a future for my son!” Her Aunt Sarah told me, years later, she said Freda made this statement at the funeral.

She certainly did. She moved with lightning speed; she applied for and won, over a large number of experienced male competitors, a position as the branch manager of a large new retail furniture showroom in a chain of stores owned by the Woolfson Brothers in Johannesburg, the “City of Gold”, in the Transvaal Province of South Africa, some 570 Kilometers inland from Durban.

”From the time they met me at the Jan Smuts Airport I knew I had this one in the bag! Hymie and David Woolfson were risk takers and they just loved the way I talked to them! They wanted new retail ideas … and they really got on board with my idea of expanding into the emerging Black African market. That I spoke several Black languages impressed the hell out of them too!

Freda’s career with the brothers Woolfson was long lasting!

As the chain grew in success and size, Hymie and David always sent Freda to open the new store and get it on its feet in cities like Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban (back again for a while!), Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein and East London. She returned eventually to Johannesburg where she headed up the Woolfson’s entire chain of stores that specifically accommodated the concept expressed at her initial interview … good quality basic and inexpensive furniture for an emerging Black marketplace.

To provide me with a measure of “solidity” during “the gypsy years” as she loved to call them, Freda enrolled me in one of the country’s leading, incredibly expensive and academically arduous boy’s boarding schools.

“Remember now … all you must concentrate on is getting passes above 95% in all the exams, especially the languages, commerce and economics … and of course get the job as the opening batsman in the First Cricket Team. A tall order; but I know you can do it!” A smile, a big hug and I was off on the overnight “Trans-Natal Express” train to school!

In the years that passed Freda “Flirted with marriage … “several times. “It never worked out as I ended up always comparing these poor chaps to your father. They always woefully fell short in a rather brief timeframe!” The divorces always happened swiftly and very amicably.

The one rather exciting and unusual results of this was that I was not always sure who would accompany Freda to the school’s major long weekend social gala, the Founder’s Day “bash” and of course the big affair of the year; the end of season Cricket match. Of course there was the chance she would arrive without an escort when she was between husbands! My best friend Michael van Ghent always opened a sporting book to accept wagers on Freda’s arrival status. I received a generous percentage cut if I provided “Mikey” sound advance intelligence.

“I think I scandalized the whole bunch of stuffed shirts and their prissy ladies and once again made all the school masters smile!” she said with a wicked twinkle in her eye.

I often told her that she might have been a somewhat absent mother … but she more than made up for it by being the very best friend a fellow could ever ask for when we were together! We laughed a lot! Our conversations would probably have been deemed totally unsuitable for a mother-son relationship; we talked straightforwardly and honestly. Be cautious … ask Freda a question; you will get a full and graphic response! When I arrived at “that certain age” when I had questions about sexual relationships she delivered a memorable series of lectures on how to tenderly make love to a woman.

At the age of 60 Freda announced to my wife Elizabeth and I “I have done everything I set out to do. I have been successful in the field I chose. I have travelled throughout our country and overseas. I am delighted you two are such good friends so much in love and have those two lovely children … strong willed little scamps! I am going back to where I was happiest; back to Durban. Time to hamba”

(The Zulu word for “depart”)

When we visited her for the first time after she moved we were not surprised, she had a lovely apartment high above the Marine Parade on Durban’s South Beach; two buildings away from where this story first started. On the last visit we made prior to moving to the USA she took our children for a walk along the Esplanade to a particular bench … “This is where your Grandfather asked me to marry him a long time ago!”

Five months after settling in Bloomfield Hills (Detroit area) Michigan I flew back to Durban for her funeral. They played “Get me to the church on time” as they wheeled Freda into the little chapel … and “I have often walked down this street before” from

“My Fair Lady” during the brief service. There was a “propah” good “knees-up” party at her friend Joan de Wet- Kruger’s house afterwards.

I want it done in style!” her friend told me … recounting an earlier conversation with Freda.

Freda’s ashes were strewn in the Indian Ocean … off the Durban beaches she and Arthur loved so much.

“Hamba kahle, ngiyabonga kakhulu … Ngiyakuthanda Freda!”

(Zulu: A message of love, gratitude and farewell)

Postscript:

Life’s coincidences are amazing. Thirty three years after I was born I accepted an International promotion transfer to the USA. My son attended the University of Pittsburgh. He did not play Cricket; however he successfully skipper the Varsity Rugby team to two splendid seasons.

My profound gratitude goes to my friend Betty for her reflective, insightful and delightful advice on the style to use in writing this tribute. She said, “I want to hear her words… her voice in the story!”

My thanks also go to the family’s real rocket scientist, Dr. Jean Tonkin-le Corbier for her incredible knowledge of family dates, places and events.

The strategies, planning, leadership, foresight and unwavering determination of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, The 1st Baron Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG contributed mightily and recognizably to victory in the Battle of Britain. The victory was secured despite the misguided efforts of several important people in senior positions in the British government and military who vigorously opposed Dowding.

The three primary opponents were, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, Air Chief Marshal (then Vice-Air Marshal) Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory, KCB, DSO & Bar and Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar.

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG (left)

By means of realistic strategic and “real-world” tactical conservation and actively avoiding unnecessary pilot and aircraft resource wastage in an often indecisive major clash with the Nazis, Dowding sought and orchestrated a steady level of Luftwaffe attrition that would systematically preclude Nazi control of the airspace over the British Isles prior to and during an invasion.

Dowding combined this resource management with effective data gathering from the “Chain Home” Coastal Early Warning Radar stations (pictured above) he had ordered built before and during the Second World War; along the English Channel, and a network of strategically placed observers all linked via telephone to a unique and innovative central command and control center at Bentley Priory (outside London). He also had all his main telephone lines specially protected by reinforced concrete tunnels.

One: Churchill

In March 1940, French commander in chief General Maurice Gamelin, who in the opinion of many French and other military historians, was among the most arrogantly incompetent generals in French history, transferred the French army’s main reserve from the Reims area, where it was ideally positioned to smash into the main German line of advance through the Ardenne Forest, to the far west of the Allied line, where it was to play no significant role. On May 12, 1940 three Nazi Panzer corps arrived on the banks of the Meuse River. Over the next three days, they achieved one of history’s most decisive tactical victories, which ultimately led to the Fall of France. As France rapidly sank into a state of strategic and operational bankruptcy, Gamelin kept petulantly demanding Royal Air Force squadrons.

The most obvious and strategically disastrous aid the British could provide, and Churchill wanted to do it immediately, was to send further Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter squadrons to reinforce a badly led French Air Force (The Armée de l’Air) that [a] had begun its rearmament far too late and [b] had no control and command structure. It was being badly battered by the Nazi Luftwaffe and was losing bases in northern France to onrushing Nazi Panzer divisions. What Churchill continually and stubbornly refused to see and understand was that every Spitfire, Hurricane, Battle and Defiant squadron Britain sent to France dangerously diminished its own defenses. Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, vehemently and continually fought bitterly to resist sending his squadrons to France.

At one meeting with Churchill Dowding spoke out strongly against the allotment of further aircraft to the French, pointing out that between May 8 and 18, RAF Fighter Command had lost 250 Hurricanes, with additional heavy losses among Spitfire squadrons on the Dunkirk perimeter and over the beaches.

Dowding kept trying, every day, to get Churchill to understand what would happen when France hastened to eventual defeat … the Battle of Britain would start.

On May 20, Churchill, who unlike U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, was never to overrule his military advisers during the course of the war, bowed eventually to Dowding’s strong protests, common sense and logical arguments. The outcome of World War II would have been disastrously different if Churchill did not finally come to his senses! This campaign to get Churchill to not disembowel the Royal Air Force was later to seriously harm Dowding’s career.

One lasting myth is that France collapsed before the German onslaught with little opposition. In fact, most individual French soldiers fought tenaciously: More than 100,000 of them would die pour la patrie during the Battle of France. Due to appallingly incompetent leadership by Gamelin, the entire General Staff and at every other level of the French military, however, their efforts were for naught.

Two: Leigh-Mallory

Leigh-Mallory commanded one of Dowding’s fighter groups supposed to be defending the southern coast of England. He thought, and told everyone who would listen, that Dowding’s fighting method was nonsense. “All this strategy stuff is piffle!”, he joked often. He believed, without any relevant or even anecdotal proof thereof, that by attacking with the strongest concentrations of aircraft … called “Big Wings” he could clear the skies of the Nazi Luftwaffe and reduce casualties among the RAF pilots.

There is not one instance of the “Big Wing” approach ever having any positive results. In fact there were many reported incidents where the blundering “Big Wing” aircraft became a real threat and menace to pilots from other groups that were already effectively engaged with the Nazis.

Dowding rejected Leigh-Mallory’s “Big Wing” method for two reasons. First, the RAF did not have to defeat the Luftwaffe in dramatic massive aerial duels. In a battle of attrition, the RAF only had to avoid being defeated. Leigh-Mallory’s tactic would have resulted in gigantic, pitched air battles between the two air forces, which was Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring’s goal and an anathema to Dowding. Leigh-Mallory was not only totally wrong he was dangerously stubborn.

Another reason Dowding vetoed the “Big Wing” tactic was that it took too long to bring large formations of fighters together; Fighter Command’s airfields were too small to allow several squadrons to take off simultaneously. Thus, individual flights of three planes would take off and then wait to form up with the later ones to establish the “Big Wing … while the Nazis bombed cities, towns, villages, industrial sites and air stations … however Leigh-Mallory and his acolyte Bader continued this treacherous stupidity.

Wing Commander Tom Neil, who had 15 confirmed kills and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar, told the Times newspaper in 1941 “They (12 Group’s Big Wing) always arrived after the action.”We would be arriving home with our tongues hanging out and we’d see these 60 aircraft in close formation coming overhead, going, ‘Where is all the enemy?’ they asked … Well, they’d all gone home. we would reply in disgust. “They were claiming 20, 25, 30 aircraft shot down but as far as we were concerned no aircraft were ever actually shot down. The claims by the Big Wing types always seemed totally exaggerated.”

RAF legend, New Zealander Air Vice Marshal Keith Park (pictured below), Dowding’s brilliant second-in-command noted in a report following a personal inspection tour “… Worse! Kenley and Biggin are a shambles and the rest of the air stations are not much better. God Knows how many aircraft we’ll have in the morning!” He went on to say …

” … all because 12 Group couldn’t do their stuff. Leigh-Mallory and his Big Wings! Might as well stay on the ground for all the use they are!”

” It is of interest to note that in a series of ten large (Big Wing) formation sorties from Leigh-Mallory’s Duxford 12 Group into our 11 Group area, nine were unsuccessful and the tenth destroyed only one pitiful Me 109!” This is a quote from one of the greatest aces in the Royal Air Force, New Zealander Air Commodore Alan “Al” Christopher Deere DSO OBE DFC and Bar, ( He had 22 confirmed victories, 10 probables and a further 18 enemy aircraft damaged )

Intriguingly, not even the pilots in Leigh-Mallory’s No. 12 Group approved of “Big Wings.” A Flight Lieutenant Blackwood had observed … “that it was often chaos”. Flying Officer Brinsden thought the Big Wing a disaster, which achieved nothing because, in any case, “the [Big] Wing disintegrated almost immediately when battle was joined.”

What was the intrigue surrounding the maladaptive relationship between Air Chief Marshal Dowding, and one of his principal subordinates, Air Marshal Leigh Trafford-Mallory?

“The basis and mysterious circumstances of this malicious hierarchical relationship involved political in-fighting, vanity, and conspiracy at a time when Britain was literally battling for its life. For many years the name of Dowding was allowed to remain in those shadows that were created for him by unimaginative, short-sighted lesser men, like Leigh-Mallory. From time to time some lip-service was paid to his achievements; but a truly equitable recognition of what Dowding achieved at the time of the greatest peril to our way of life has never been fully accorded him.” (Jon Diamond, WWII historian).

Leigh-Mallory was Dowding’s subordinate and thus a debate about the “Big Wing” tactic should have been brief. Leigh-Mallory should have followed his orders to be a backup to Park’s No.11 Group. Dowding’s biggest mistake was not to crack down on Leigh-Mallory. Long after the personal battle was over, Dowding reflected, “Looking back on things now, I believe that I ought to have been very much firmer, in fact stricter, with Leigh-Mallory.” Dowding might have considered replacing Leigh-Mallory at this time, but his attitude was to pick the best people and to delegate responsibility. His assumption that Leigh-Mallory would simply follow his orders turned out to be unrealistic, incorrect and costly.

Leigh-Mallory continued as an injudicious and unreliable irritant. In 1944, shortly before the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the air marshal, whose responsibilities in the upcoming invasion included the Allies’ entire tactical air operations, greatly vexed General Eisenhower with the continuous prediction of horrendous losses by the airborne and glider forces, and urged that the American parachute drops and glider landings behind Utah Beach be cancelled. Thankfully, Ike, unlike Churchill, chose to ignore Leigh-Mallory’s advice and the airborne plan went ahead successfully as scheduled. General Eisenhower had mercifully been warned about Leigh-Mallory by other senior RAF officers under his command!

Three: Bader

On December 14th , 1931, during a visit to the Reading Aero Club at Woodley Airfield in Berkshire, a few pilots challenged Douglas Bader to do a few aerobatics after he had bragged incessantly of his flying skills. Initially he refused but when it was insinuated that he was gutless coward, he “rose to the challenge”. After having performed a few basic aerobatics, things went dramatically wrong. He struck the ground with his left wing tip and the plane crashed. His legs got trapped and the crumpled cockpit had to be broken open before Bader could be extricated. He later entered light-heartedly in his flight log … “Crashed slow-rolling near ground. Bad show.” A few years earlier Bader had shot his younger brother with an air gun while angry. The crash, the shooting incident and many other reported fits of adolescent-like pique and bad judgement bookmark his career and vividly illustrate and exhibit a lack of intelligence, good judgement and self-control.

Several historians attribute the “Big Wing” theory and approach to Douglas Bader; many others claim that he had heard the idea discussed by another RAF pilot and then dashed off to tell Leigh-Mallory about it. Bader was fully aware of the issues between Dowding and Leigh-Mallory; and sought to gain recognition for “his” great idea. In recent researches and publications Bader is now called the “instigator” of the flawed “Big Wing” approach … not the originator of the concept. To confuse matters further, Leigh-Mallory never corrected those of his friends who insisted that he was the originator of the concept.

As the Battle of Britain raged on, Douglas Bader, who was not popular with the majority of his subordinates, saw the lack of success from the “Big Wing” approach and vehemently criticized and tried to stir his squadron’s pilots into a frenzy of activity. Leigh-Mallory should have restrained Bader in this morale-smashing but instead he encouraged the insubordinate behavior as he know it frustrated Dowding and Park.

Several high officials in both the government and the RAF hierarchy contend that the adjutant of Bader’s squadron, Flight Lieutenant Peter MacDonald, who was also a member of Parliament, was persuaded by Leigh-Mallory and Bader, to meet the prime minister and highly praise the “Big Wing” approach. Churchill followed up on the matter with speed, and plans were accelerated for the removal of Dowding and Park. On November 25, 1940, Sholto-Douglas replaced Dowding and, on December 15, Leigh-Mallory took over from Park.

Was Dowding the victim of a vendetta? More specifically, did Leigh-Mallory and Bader collude behind the back of their Commander-in-Chief and use their considerable political “clout” to bring him down? There is bountiful evidence of Leigh-Mallory and Bader’s dangerous and irresponsible behavior. Park totally believed in such a “conspiracy”, and said so often, and Dowding also felt that … “

“… despicable and cowardly “dirty tricks” had been used by certain members of the Air Ministry. “

In 1942, Dowding retired officially from the RAF. The Air Ministry refused to honor him by promotion to marshal of the RAF, but Churchill, who over time finally realized the truth about Dowding, saw to it that he was elevated to the peerage as Lord Dowding of Bentley Priory. He was asked to write an official report of the Battle of Britain, which was never published. Instead the Air Ministry wrote its own history, without even mentioning his name.

Churchill , with his new “understanding” of the realities, was infuriated by Air Ministry‘s ludicrousness . He wrote to the minister for air, Archibald Sinclair: “The jealousies and cliquism which have led to the committing of this unspeakable offense are a discredit to the Air Ministry, and I do not think any other Service Department would have been guilty of such a piece of work.

“What would have been said if … the Admiralty had told the tale of Trafalgar and left Lord Nelson out of it?”

Of the three Obstructionists, Churchill has emerged as the most “rehabilitated” in his later actions in regard to Dowding. This is no surprise; he was a good writer and usually shaped his version of his actions (going back to the Boer War), and often “artfully” edited official papers in his possession. In the six volumes and over 2 million words of “The Second World War” he spends an inordinate amount of time and lots of words justifying his decisions and actions despite Dowding’s mass of objections to illogicality wasting RAF resources in France. Churchill also uses a plethora of words to excuse himself and diminish Dowding. This is one of the few points in the World War II where Churchill exhibits obvious and glaring embarrassment … and possibly shame for his actions.

Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding was the strategic, tactical, inspirational and “spiritual” leader of “The Few” as they heroically saved Britain from invasion by Nazi Germany (Operation Sea Lion) during one of World War II’s most critical and pivotal campaigns. Had Churchill, Leigh-Mallory and Bader prevailed the war would have had a comprehensively different and disastrous outcome. Thankfully they did not; and intelligence prevailed. Scientia imperii decus et tutamen … knowledge is the adornment and protection of the Empire.

Grateful acknowledgements:

My reading (for the third time) or Mr. Michael Korda’s magnificent and definitive book “With Wings Like Angels … A history of the Battle of Britain” gave the key elements and inspiration around which I built my article.

The vivid and factual masterwork on the life of a RAF pilot in the Battle of Britain, “The Duel of Eagles” by Group Captain Peter Wooldridge Townsend CVO, DSO, DFC & Bar. Reality provided in a “no-nonsense” tough narrative.

The raw hard-hitting terse narrative of Wing Commander Thomas Francis “Ginger” Neil, DFC & Bar, AFC, AE, excellent book “Gun Button to Fire: A Hurricane Pilot’s Dramatic Story of the Battle of Britain”

The websites and archives of the Royal Air Force Museum (London), the Imperial War Museum (London and Duxford), the South African Imperial War Museum (Saxonwold, Johannesburg) and The Museum of New Zealand – Te Papa Tongarewa (Wellington).

To the two delightful Flight Attendants, Mandy and Terry, who kept actively encouraging me to keep doing my research for this article on Flight AA680 from Philadelphia to San Francisco in November 2019… and kept me continually supplied with coffee, juice, water and snacks to fuel my efforts!

This is a narrative of two virtually unknown interdependent aviation tragedies in 1978 that would ultimately cost the lives of thousands of people. Two incidents that would directly escalate an already bloody and devastating guerrilla bush war into a massive cataclysm for Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); a human and economic catastrophe from which it seems highly improbable the country and its people will ever emerge …

The first catastrophe …

Air Rhodesia flight Rh825 (YP-WAS), a Vickers Viscount named the “Hunyani” (Named for one of Rhodesia’s major rivers), was operating the daily flight from the world famous Victoria Falls via Kariba Dam to the Rhodesian capital of Salisbury. The four-engine Viscount was scheduled to take off from the Kariba Airport (KAB) at 5.10 (Central African Time – GMT+2) in the afternoon of Sunday, the 3rd of September, 1978.

“Hunyani” was carrying a crew of four and fifty-two passengers, most of whom had been vacationing at the luxury lakeside Caribbea Bay – African Sun holiday resort, at the site of the spectacular Kariba Dam that spans the Zambezi River and thus joins Rhodesia to the neighboring Republic of Zambia.

One of the passengers, Doctor Cecil McLaren was returning to his home in Salisbury after a forty-eight-hour spell of duty as “visiting dentist” to the Central African Generating Authority staff responsible for operating the great hydro-electric and irrigation dam. This was his fifty-ninth take-off from Kariba Airport. One of the last to board the plane, he had spotted an unoccupied seat at the rear of the aircraft next to Mrs. Sharon Cole and her smiling 4-year-old daughter, Tracey. He took it.

The senior Stewardess, Miss Brenda-Ann Louise Pearson checked that the fore cabin door was secured and her crew mate, Stewardess Miss Dulcie Esterhuizen (who loved to sing Jeannie C. Riley’s hit “Harper Valley P T A!) checked the two aft cabin doors. A few moments later Captain John Edward Courtenay Hood took off and progressively gained altitude into a bright cobalt, slightly cloudy sky at the normal rate, crossed the spangled waters of the tranquil bright-blue lake, and headed east over the remote, sparsely populated bush panorama of the Urungwe District.

At 5:21 PM CAT the plane suddenly lurched violently, there was a loud explosion that shook the aircraft violently and simultaneously the inner starboard engine burst into flames. Seconds later, Ground Control at Kariba Airport received a distress call from the “Hunyani” The unruffled voice of Captain Hood …

“Mayday, Mayday, Rhodesia 825 … I have lost both starboard engines. We are going in …”

“I was in no doubt we’d been hit by a heat-seeking missile,” Doctor McLaren said later, he noted the aircraft’s movements during the ferocious minutes that followed the explosion. It turned ninety degrees from east to due south, and then plunged into a rapid descent.

Although both of the air hostesses gallantly and coolly made sure that every passenger was strapped in there was what McLaren describes as “a certain amount of concern and mild panic”

Doctor McLaren estimated that it was approximately five minutes between the explosion and the brutal impact with the ground. The aircraft had been hit by a Russian 9K-32 Strela-2 Surface-to-Air (SAM) Heat Seeking Missile. (Confirmed by Mr. Joshua Nkomo of ZIPRA in a 4 September, 1978 BBC interview)

“It felt as if the plane would break up before we hit. It was going at a heck of a speed,” another survivor Mr. Tony Hill, a Rhodesian Army Reservist said.

On the flight deck Captain Hood and First Officer Garth George Beaumont managed to keep control of the plane as it fell, aiming its nose for a large clearing in the bush. This was a cotton field in the Urungwe Tribal Trust Land, 50 miles west of the Whamira Hills; a range of granite kopjes (small flat-top hills), whose name in the local Shona dialect means “you have stopped”.

The passengers received the pilot’s last instruction; “Brace yourselves for impact!” Doctor McLaren heard the fuselage and wings scraping against the tops of trees and then the wheels touched down quite smoothly and it seemed they were going to have an incredible escape. But the center of the cotton-field was penetrated by a wide and deep irrigation ditch; as the wheels hit it the plane cart-wheeled and exploded.

When the wreckage finally came to a halt Doctor McLaren was upside-down five or six rows from the back and flames were threatening to engulf them from the front of the plane. He tried to open an emergency window but the handle broke in his hands. “We hit the ground with terrific impact. I landed upside down with my mouth full of earth. The broken plane acted like a scoop scooping up dirt”

Even so, he managed to release Tracey Cole from her seat-belt and calmly led (Mrs. Cole later recounted) the child and her mother, Sharon Cole, out of a hole in the fuselage.

Doctor McLaren and his friend Tony Hill did their best to get the living to a distance of some seventy-five meters from the flaming plane, which they expected to explode any minute. The lucky ones ripped off their clothes to make bandages for the injured; Miss Cheryl Tilley, a young Salisbury bank clerk shredded her colorful cotton dress and began to tend the wounded.

It was excruciatingly hot. To Cecil McLaren it seemed that the most crucial task was to find water. He led a party of five survivors (which included Mrs. Cole and Tracey) on a quest to seek water from a distant local village. When they returned to the crash site they found that there was nobody left alive.

The ZIPRA (Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army) guerillas responsible for shooting down the aircraft had arrived while the water search party was away on its quest. They rounded up the ten survivors at the site and shot and bayonetted them to death. The entire atrocity was witnessed by Mr. Hans and Mrs. Diane Hansen, who had managed to hide themselves in the wreckage, where they covered themselves in dirt and debris and lay still until the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army guerrillas had left the area.

Of the fifty-six souls aboard Air Rhodesia flight Rh825 thirty-eight died in the initial crash and subsequent fire, ten were murdered by the ZIPRA guerillas and eight survived. The Gulabh family of Bulawayo lost five members that day.

_______________________________________________________________

A ghastly historical irony …

Mr. Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, the leader of the Patriotic Front that controlled the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army and the white minority Rhodesian Prime Minister Mr. Ian Douglas Smith; who had seized power by means of a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom (the former Colonial Power) had secretly been holding peace and power-sharing talks that were making distinct progress at this time.

As a result of the shooting down of the “Hunyani” and the atrocities that followed, Mr. Nkomo was considered too “toxic” by the UN global community and was later replaced as the future Prime Minister (later President) when Zimbabwe gained independence on 18 April, 1980 by Mr. Robert Gabriel Mugabe. We are all painfully aware of the consequence of this decision; and the results of Mugabe’s reign.

_______________________________________________________________

The second catastrophe …

The ZIPRA paramilitary guerrillas were based in the neighboring country of Zambia to the north, consequently the white Rhodesians clamored for a massive retaliatory strike against the insurgent bases in that country, however the first external target hit by the security forces following the “Hunyani” shoot-down was the prominent cluster of ZIPRA guerrilla bases around the town of Chimoio in the Republic of Mozambique; the former Portuguese colony that is Rhodesia’s eastern neighbor.

The Rhodesian military had originally struck these bases methodically in November 1977 during “Operation Dingo”, obliterating much of the ZIPRA presence there, but the insurgents had since built a complex called “New Chimoio”, slightly to the east; the new camps were distributed across a far larger area than the originals.

In a combined airborne-ground assault called “Operation Snoopy”, the Rhodesian Air Force, the Rhodesian Light Infantry Regiment and the elite Special Air Service (SAS) totally wiped out “New Chimoio” on 20 September 1978. This was followed by the launch of “Operation Gatling” on 19 October 1978. It was another joint-force operation between the Air Force (Canberra bombers, Hawker Hunter fighters, Lynx Rheims – Cessna ground attack aircraft and “K-Car” Alouette III gun ship helicopters) and the Army, which contributed troopers from the elite Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS) “C” Squadron and Rhodesian Light Infantry “Parabats” paratroopers.

Gatling’s primary target, just 16 kilometers (10 miles) north-east of central Lusaka, was the “Westlands Farm” complex of buildings, which had been transformed into ZIPRA’s main headquarters and training base under the name “Freedom Camp”. ZIPRA presumed that Rhodesia would never attack a site so close to the Zambian capital, Lusaka. About 4,000 guerrillas were undergoing training at the camp with Cuban instructor’s and high-ranking ZIPRA staff also on site.

The Rhodesian operation’s supplementary targets were Chikumbi, 19 kilometers (12 miles) north of Lusaka, and Mkushi Camp; all three were to be attacked simultaneously in an audacious coordinated sweep across Zambia. Assaulting targets deep inside Zambia was a first for the Rhodesian forces; previously only guerrillas near the border had been attacked.

The strike leader was Squadron Leader (equivalent to Lieutenant -Colonel in the US Air Force) Christopher “Chris” John Taylor Dixon, of Number 5 Squadron, Rhodesian Air Force; Dixon’s call-sign was ““Green Leader””. He was piloting a 1950’s-era English Electric Canberra B-2 Bomber‎ and ‎Reconnaissance aircraft.

The Rhodesian Air Force assets flew into Zambia at exceedingly low altitudes (thereby avoiding Zambian radar) and seized total control of Zambia’s airspace (about the size of Texas) for about a quarter of an hour during the initial assault on Westlands Farm. The exchange of radio traffic between Wing Commander Dixon and the Lusaka Airport (LUN) air traffic controller have become legendary as the iconic ““Green Leader” communication …

“Green Leader”: “Lusaka tower, this is “Green Leader”. How do you read? (No answer). Lusaka tower, this is “Green Leader”

Lusaka tower: “Station calling tower?”

“Green Leader”: “Lusaka tower this is “Green Leader”. This is a message for the station commander at Mumbwa from the Rhodesian Air Force. We are attacking the terrorist base at Westlands Farm. This attack is against Rhodesian dissidents and not against Zambia. Rhodesia has no quarrel, repeat, no quarrel with Zambia or her security forces. We therefore ask you not to intervene or oppose our attack. However, we are orbiting your airfield at this time and are under orders to shoot down any Zambian Air Force aircraft, which does not comply with this request and attempts to take off. Did you copy all that?

Lusaka tower: “Copied”.

“Green Leader”: “Roger … thanks. Cheers!”

The Zambians obeyed all of the “Green Leader” and other directives unconditionally; they made no attempt to counterattack and also temporarily halted all domestic and foreign civil air traffic across the entire country. The Zambian Air Force’s Russian supplied Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 and MiG-19 fighter jets flown by Egyptian Air Force trained pilots did not move from the Mumbwa Air Force station (just west of the capital Lusaka) as instructed by “Green Leader”.

The Rhodesian military sustained relatively minor casualties during the three days of “Operation Gatling”. One soldier, Lance -Corporal Jeffrey Donald Collett – 729660 – “C” Squadron, 22 SAS, Number One Special Air Services Regiment was killed and two “K-Car” helicopter gun ship pilots, Air Force Lieutenants Mark Dawson and Roelf Oeloffse, were slightly wounded in their legs.

The Rhodesians claimed to have killed over 1,500 ZIPRA personnel, as well as some “dozen or so” Cuban instructors. The Zambian government also reported a further 1,348 ZIPRA guerrillas were wounded and 198 were missing. Exhaustive research and careful cross-checking shows that the casualty numbers stated here are fairly consistent across numerous sources. The Rhodesians did acknowledge that there were also heavy civilian casualties; guerrillas’ family members and other visitors camped out in tent and lean-to shack communes near the targeted bases.

After all have come and gone

We will remain shadows of a forgotten past

Those that follow

After we are long forgotten will say

Here lived men of substance

Therefore I pray God bless all sons of Rhodesia

At least we tried, didn’t we? Yet how did we fail when we were so sincere?

Anon 1980

In closing …

When these horrific instances occurred I was a 28-year old living in the little town of Honey Hills (near Johannesburg) in South Africa; about a 14 hour drive away from the Kariba area.

I vividly remember the right-wing Rhodesian press, the South African pro-apartheid (English and Afrikaans) newspapers and magazines (especially “Scope”)and the Zimbabwe Patriotic Front (that controlled the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army), the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union, the Zimbabwe African National Union and the Rhodesian Front propaganda “machinery” all assiduously “shaping” their communications to best take racially vindictive advantage of The “Hunyani” and consequential “Operation Gatling” episodes. One reporter told Dr. Cecil McLaren that she wanted “Plenty of fiction not boring facts” … he asked her to leave his home, immediately ending the interview.

The horrendous consequences, the gratuitous sacrifice of human lives, from these occurrences will continue to resonate in south-east Africa; and around the globe … as will all the numerous and futile wars and human tragedies that have arisen and undeniably will persist in the future.

We never seem to learn; or want to learn.

I gratefully acknowledge these generous information

and pictorial resources:

In Memoriam – Air Rhodesia Flight Rh825 Viscount “Hunyani” – September, 1978. Rhodesians.com/au website and reference library

Ian Pringle: “Green Leader – Operation Gatling – The Rhodesian Military Response to the Viscount Tragedy” Expert Lecture Series of the South African Military History Society – Number 442, May 2016.

“Operation Gatling” color photographs, information verification and narration. “C” Squadron, 22 SAS, Number One Special Air Services Regiment, Rhodesia

Geldenhuys, Preller (2007). “Rhodesian Air Force Operations with Air Strike Log” Durban, South Africa: Just Done Productions Publishing (published 13 July 2007). ISBN 978-1-920169-61-9.

In-depth and excellent ZIPRA organizational structure and internal operations research … Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni is Professor and Head of Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI) at the University of South Africa (UNISA) He previously worked as Senior Researcher in the South Africa Foreign Policy Group and at the South African Institute of International Affairs.

My particular gratitude to …

The Villiers, Hannaford and Moore families (Rhodesians now residing in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) – for graciously sharing their heartrending memories and photographs

The South African History Archive (SAHA) – Archives for Justice – Color photographs, oral history and precise event chronology. SAHA is an independent and highly respected human rights monitoring organization; recapturing lost and neglected histories and recording aspects of Southern African regional democracy in the making …

The story of a little known World War I tragedy and the lesson that may perhaps have been learned from it; or perhaps not …

In naval tradition it is said that the ships’ bell symbolizes the “soul” of a ship.

I envision, by a similar logical progression, that it is safe to say that truth is the “heart” of a historical narrative. I am going to use the symbolism of the former to illustrate and debate the latter. If details, facts or circumstances are purposefully omitted, denied, misrepresented or glossed over then, undisputedly, truth; and tragically our society become the first victims.

During the First World War, on the 21st of February, 1917, a ship sank near St. Catherine’s Point off the Isle of Wight, killing 616 South African passengers. The sinking of the Royal Mail Ship (R M S) Mendi is one of the worst maritime disasters in United Kingdom waters of the 20th century. Yet very few in South Africa, the United Kingdom or anywhere else in the world have ever heard of it.

Why were these 616 (and many more of their comrades) South African men … black South Africa men (of the 5th Battalion of the South African Native Labour Corps) … sailing from Cape Town at the southern tip of Africa to the Port of Le Havre in France? Like hundreds of thousands of His Majesty’s subjects from every country in the British Empire, they were travelling to become conscripted cannon-fodder to the maelstrom in France. They were desperately needed to replace the hordes of young men that successive irresponsible and fatuous British Generals had sent to certain death by clinging to reckless, heartless and antediluvian strategies and battlefield tactics.

The tale of the R M S Mendi was only safeguarded by oral history; approximately 200 men survived the collision with another steamship, the S. S. Darro (which never stopped to help with the rescue). The survivors were able to recount their stories, ensuring that those who died would not become yet another historical absence, an unknown group of mainly black men at the bottom of the English Channel.

The survivors all described the actions and words of a black Army Chaplain, the Reverend Isaac Dyobha who called the men together as the R M S Mendi started to sink; what he said is the stuff of legends.

He said “Be quiet and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place now is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die, that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the drill of death. I, a Xhosa, say you are all my brothers, Zulus, Swazis, Pondos, Bausutos, we die like brothers. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your cries, brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais [spears] at our kraals [villages], our voices are left with our bodies.”

The men took off their boots, stamped their feet and raised imaginary spears and shields to the skies and performed an African dance of death.

The then Prime Minister Louis Botha brought the tragedy to the attention of the South African Parliament; however, the impact to the country was ephemeral as majority political disenfranchisement and vindictive minority (white) rule, later called “apartheid” became the hateful and inhuman doctrine in 20th-century South Africa.

Persistent discrimination ensured that the appalling R M S Mendi tragedy was never afforded rightful recognition by respective Governments in South Africa and the United Kingdom. South African officials during these years demonstrated their unwillingness to highlight black people’s wartime contributions by refusing medals and reasonable post-war recompense to ‘non-combatant men’ or their families, deemed less valuable due to racial prejudice.

Fortunately this callous censorship of Black South African’s contribution to World War I (and all other subsequent military campaigns) has ceased. After Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela became the President of South Africa on the 10th of May, 1994, Mendi memorials now exist in Port Elizabeth (New Brighton), Cape Town (University of Cape Town at Mobray) and Johannesburg (Atteridgeville in Soweto).

Memorial services are now held countrywide and form part of the South African National Defense Force’s Armed Forces Day (Mendi Day). Awards and decorations for Bravery in the name of the Mendi have been issued.

The South African Navy has named two ships in honor of the men who perished … the SAS Mendi (a Valour class MEKO A-200SAN Anti-submarine / Anti-aircraft Frigate) and the SAS Isaac Dyobha (a Warrior class Sandock-Austral Missile-armed Strike-craft). A dedicated exhibit has now also been opened at the South African War Memorial and Museum at Delville Wood, east of the village of Longueuil, in the Department of the Somme in France.

A wreath laying ceremony was held on the 23rd of August 2004, when the recently launched SAS Mendi and the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Nottingham, met at St. Catherine’s Point off 