War Heroes and Victims

by Ken Brown
Springfield, MO
Although we've gotten off schedule here in the hot days of July, the Ozark Uncle's almost 14-year-old grandson, James Brown, and I try to walk a trail in the area once a week.  James is keen into nature while his younger brother, Louis, age 12, is the athlete (soccer goalie/golfer) in the family.  Thus, Grandpa Brown's field trips generally involve one grandchild or another which makes for a great time always.

James "the Genius" Brown

The Brown family has lots of little traditions, and the Ozark Uncle has several personal ones; for example, one is never play the same golf course twice in a row (course familiarity breeds good scores which leads to false self-image of said golfer's ability--actually the Ozark Uncle has never had this problem regardless).  Another is to never walk the same set of trails twice in a row--the Ozark Uncle gets bored easily.  Last, having tried it once, the Ozark Uncle vows never to piss in the wind (especially in southwest Kansas -- background story forthcoming in a future post).

WILSON CREEK'S BATTLEFIELD NEAR SPRINGFIELD

File photo from Wilson's Creek Site

In late June, James and I had chosen for our weekly excursion the foot trails at Wilson's Creek Battlefield about eight miles southwest of Springfield.  We parked the Ozark Uncle's 2003 Ford Escape on the Confederate (east) side of  Wilson's Creek near the hill where on the morning of August 10, 1861, Pulaski's Confederate cannon bombarded the Union lines on Bloody Hill across the creek valley to the west.

Knowing Bloody Hill was the tallest, Papa Brown had planned a hike that would allow the pair of us to trudge  up to the apex of Bloody Hill before heading back to the Ford Escape; under this plan, he allowed himself a downhill walk for the last half of the trek.  So not far from the parked Escape we found the path that led to the top of Pulaski Battery Hill; there we took time to discuss the cannon on display and look across the creek valley toward Bloody Hill.

File Photo of Battery Hill

Immediately James declared that the cannon was really a Howitzer; he noted the green corrosion on the chamber and tapped his knuckles near the barrel end to bring out its bell ringing quality.  At the time, I was dubious about the cannon being a Howitzer, but did not dispute my grandson's claim.  A wise move on the Ozark Uncle's part because alas a quick check on the internet later in the day confirmed that, yes, these cannon pieces were called Howitzers, the same name as the enhanced versions that appeared in the World Wars of the 20th Century.

From Pulaski's hill, we headed down the "wire road" which dates back before the Civil War; it was actually used by the Confederates on their trek out of Arkansas to their camp site at Wilson's Creek.   Had we been on that road in 1861, we would have seen thousands of men camped out in this valley along the creek.  While many were dressed in Confederate gray, other types and colors of uniforms were used.  Uniform confusion would lead to the Union defeat that day in 1861.  (The scapegoat for the Union became Col. Franz Sigel who advanced his brigade from the south right into a unit he thought was Union because of its blue uniforms when in fact it was a Confederate unit--he was routed and that turned the tide toward the Confederates).

File photo of Wilson's Creek

I digress, back to 2010.  For James and me, crossing over Wilson's Creek to the west or Union side is by way of an old iron bridge with a wood plank floor.  Although built after the Civil War, the bridge has historical charm to it.  James and I stopped on the bridge and looked down into the murky waters and noted a warning sign suggesting that the water was too polluted to even be entered.   These polluted waters flow out of Springfield toward the James River and finally into Table Rock Lake where thousands of people flock to swim, boat or fish each year.  Is pollution a current problem for the tourist-laden recreational lake?  It certainly is.

Having spied some bubbles surfacing on the water, James suggested that the creek might still have some fish in it but otherwise, it really looked like it might be one of those "dead zones" we hear about in our oceans.   With a sigh, I said: "James, you, your children and your grandchildren are going to be faced with cleaning up what my generation has done.  But I have confidence you can do it"  He nodded in agreement but his mind well could have gone straight to the thought of having children and no further.  We're bonding, and we can and probably will talk about just about anything including having children on our future treks.

Once across the old bridge to the Union side of the creek, we found a trail that veered off to the northwest toward the apex of Bloody Hill.  On it is a monument marking the spot where the Union's Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon was shot off his horse and died; not long afterward, the Union forces, in some disarray, retreated back to Springfield, and the battlefield was left to the remaining Confederate Army and the casualties from both sides.  On the orders of the Confederate officers, Lyon's dead body was immediately removed to a nearby farmhouse so that it would not be dishonored or abused by the enlisted men.

File photo of Lyon's Monument

Once we reached the top of Bloody Hill, James and I saw the small monument placed there for Gen. Lyon several decades ago.  "That's an obelisk," James the genius stated matter-of-factly.  Incredible is the data base of knowledge he has already harnessed in 13 short years.

Now half way through our hike and getting rather thirsty, both of us pined for the same creature comfort (a 59 cent 32-oz cold soda from one of the area's many Kum-N-Go convenience stores).

Perhaps being disrespectful, we bypassed seeing and reflecting at "the sink hole" where the bodies of at least 30 Union soldiers were buried in a hurried manner right after the conflict ended.  There may be some unrecovered bodies in it.

At that moment, though, all we wanted was to leave and find the Ford Escape.  We started our descent back down the trail toward the Ford Escape with James well in the lead--but apparently not far enough ahead.  The Ozark Uncle used the opportunity to relieve himself of bodily gases.  "Grandpa! I can't believe you did that," James exclaimed.  We laughed about it, and I decided that James knows a little more about Grandpa each we go time out.  My retort was, "James, you didn't know your Grandpa was an Old Fart?!"

CIVIL WAR SADNESS
During all of his visits to Wilson's Creek Battlefield over the years, the Ozark Uncle always reflects on the price paid by the combatants and their families in a conflict that pitted Americans against Americans--sometimes even blood relatives.

The Ozark Uncle's
Great-Grandfather
Henry Curtis Gunnels
in his Union blues.

Records of the Ozark Uncle's ancestors indicate their propensity to join the Missouri Union ranks while the ancestors of his wife, Joy, were all in the Arkansas Confederate ranks.  Being on the west side of the Mississippi River, all our ancestors probably focused mainly on surviving the war and keeping their land if they had any.  They owned no slaves; so they were involved in a conflict not really of their own choosing--maybe they had opinions about state sovereignty or pride, but that was just about it.  With that in mind, I perceive that loved ones who suffered a casualty weren't really war heroes but victims of circumstances over which they had little control.  (Three of the Ozark Uncle's four great-grandfathers enlisted in the Union army for short periods of time -- some of the time they were in what was called "Home Guards" where they stayed in current Douglas County, MO to protect the county as best they could.  Ken's fourth great-grandfather, William Burton, was murdered by Confederate bushwhackers in his native Douglas County, MO, around 45 miles north of the Arkansas line).

VIETNAM WAR: HEROES OR VICTIMS
The Ozark Uncle is a hard one for people to classify or pigeon hole.  His perspectives on most issues (e.g., abortion, environment, gays, guns, health care, immigration, politics, religion, taxes or welfare) are uniquely personal to him.  He is free to share his perspective (as in this blog) if one has the time for a lengthy discussion.  His views are not easily stated in a few words.

As in the Christian Bible, the Ozark Uncle struggles to say he's in one camp like that of Cephus or Paul (1 Cor. 1:12).  He hesitates to say he is "pro-life" or "pro-choice" because, to do so, he is inadvertently thrown into a group defined in a incredibly specific way by unknown people with an agenda toward one side of that issue.   One can find parallel classification terms on all the issues listed above (for example, saying one is pro-gun or pro-environment can lead to similar classification errors of a person).

Source: VietnamW

Regarding war, the Ozark Uncle is hard to classify as well -- he is neither a hawk nor a dove.  Now 65 years old, the Ozark Uncle has always, always, always supported American troops who are in harm's way.  His war would have been in Vietnam during the last half of the 1960s for which he legally registered but was never called.  He heard all the protests and the card burning during that war, and he didn't like it.  As much as he tries to be a forgiving and forgetting soul, he has had an awfully hard time dealing with Jane Fonda's visit to the enemy side of that war.  It was an incredibly stupid act for which I feel Ms. Fonda is probably asking forgiveness every night before she goes to bed.

To this day, the Ozark Uncle has a special feeling for the soldiers who went in his place to that conflict in "Nam" with its unique horrors.  Specific to that war, generally one got drafted into that conflict--it wasn't a choice as it is now.  Those who returned were immediate heroes to the Ozark Uncle even though they came home to less than a hero's welcome.  Yet, when reading about the way in which leadership prosecuted that war, one can easily build a case for also calling the 'Nam vets victims.

INEVITABILITY OF WAR
Thinking back to all the conflicts in which the United States has entered during my adult life, I remember being in agreement with the start up of every action, and oftentimes I wished we would have gotten there earlier.  I was ecstatic about our entry into Afghanistan after 9/11, and I accepted Colin Powell's "evidence" to the United Nations about WMDs in Iraq but it didn't totally feel right (now, I believe wonder if we had elected Sen. John McCain in 2000 instead of George W. Bush, we probably would never have gone to Iraq).

From ScrapeTV.com

Yet as the latest conflicts (Iraq and Afghanistan) have waged on, the Ozark Uncle's radar is always picking up signals that our reasons for being in those places are foggy at best.  Yet withdrawal seems to present very real consequences too that are beyond the Ozark Uncle's understanding.  What has changed in the Ozark Uncle is his growing lack of confidence in military leadership both at the Pentagon and in the White House.  This perception didn't start with the current administration but has been building for at least a couple of decades.

With all this uncertainly about Afghanistan that is front page news right now, I have to ask myself "Are the young soldiers dying in those places heroes?"  They most certainly are, but I have a deep fear that the second classification, that of victim, may raise it's ugly head some day soon.  The Ozark Uncle intends to write more on the issue of heroes versus victims.  The subject is very unsettling to him.  Troop morale is so important, and it's hard to be objective without undercutting the troops' efforts.  It's a dilemma.

OZARK UNCLE SEZ: 'SUITS', SEND YOUR CHILDREN TO THE FRONT 
An unbiased and informed view is difficult to find by the average American on our country's military presence on foreign soil.  Presently, one of the Ozark Uncle's ever changing rules of thumb is to listen to (1) academics whose specialty is the country in which the conflict is occurring (they know the background from before the conflict), and (2) retired military officers who have never worked in the Pentagon (they know what is really happening now and are willing to share it in an unbiased and open way).

I'm not sure the average journalist can see the whole picture, and I absolutely ignore "the suits" across the Potomac from the Pentagon in Washington at each end of Pennsylvania Avenue.  The job of all "suits" whether they be the President, his/her cabinet, Congressional members or staff, is not to tell us the truth but to sway public opinion in a way that supports their goals for the nation.  If you and I were there we'd probably do the same thing.  (I once held a relatively high administrative position at a large University; while in that position I held the belief perception that truth was the best policy--needless to say I had my head handed to me on a platter!)

The Ozark Uncle's perspective has been influenced greatly by the book, Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism, by retired Lt. Col., Andrew J. Bacevich.  It was published in August 2008 before the Presidential election.  Bacevich's perspective caused me to see the political parties and Washington in a totally different light.  He provided me peace in the knowledge that the system is broken and not fixable by either party.  I took this point of view to the ballot box in November of 2008, and I was prepared to accept whoever (whomever, hell I don't know which) won the elections.  Bacevich is billed as a conservative who sees things as they really are, not what he wishes them to be.

Bacevich has his book chapters organized around the themes--the economy, politics, and the military, all three of which he describes as being in a state of crisis.  Presently my copy is with a retired political science professor.  I'm wanting feedback on Bacevich's political view.  My background as a former accounting professor helped me to evaluate his economy section.  His military view seemed a little like "sour grapes" but was well reasoned.

As my fellow blogger, Terry Hampton, wrote this past weekend, we should evaluate the authors we read.  Look for their agendas and signs of credibility.  Many of us need to read her post entitled "Consider What You Hear."

Below is the uplifting third grade video sent to me by a cousin around Memorial Day -- it's incredibly appropriate and a nice way to end this post.