Earlier in the day the weather had been so very Southern California that I hadn’t noticed it, as I ran around arranging everything I would need for the mission. However, when I was ‘installing’ the Bronco, once again, in between the giant beach cleaning machines at the lifeguard headquarters, I noticed that the wind was rising, and pretty dramatically. There was no precipitation, however, and the wind coming in out of the southwest meant that it swept in, then up and over the mountains, stringing along the entire southern California coast. It was no threat to me or the mission, not that I could see.
When Gularte and I headed north on the Pacific Coast Highway, however, the fact that we were riding in a flat-bottomed little car weighing in at little more than 1600 lbs. made the trip itself something of an adventure. The rising wind beat across the top of the ocean waves to strike the vertical face of the cliffs that lined the eastern side of the PCH. The trapped wind roiled about invisibly, of course, and then played hell when it tried to lift the front of the Volks off the surface of the road if we moved at more than forty miles per hour.
I’ve been one of your devout readers since I first found Thirty Days Has September. I have occasionally commented, instead of letting others do the online editing and opinion sharing.
I am highly intrigued by the direction that the COWARDLY LION is going and your personal involvement in the events of the time. I regularly do a Google search on your characters to find out more background, since being born in ’68 left me behind the live events that you were living in.
I am interested in your reaction to the upcoming release of “Four Died Trying”, the series that will explore the extraordinary lives and calamitous deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy.
Without revealing your upcoming chapters, I would just like to know if your writings will reveal any previously unknown or classified information.
My contact with people who were in any way involved with high level assassinations started with JFK and ended
with JFK.
I know and knew nothing about the passing of RFK, King or Malcolm. I only happened on the Kennedy stuff in the
way you read this chapter by chapter.
There is nothing classified I am revealing as none of this stuff reach as level of people knowing who could afford to classify it, and therefore give it credence and some accountability. The very highest and best held secrets in government are those that are never classified because then others would know.
I don’t know either, if ‘the four died trying,’ as this is the common refrain of all leaders seeking the highest levels of power.
What can be believed of true intent when the rise to such fame is the most powerful drug a human being can ever be exposed to…and addicted to almost instantly.
Thanks for researching so much. Sometimes I wish I had more time to dive into the Internet and learn more too, but I don’t.
I just keep on writing away to get all this down because I have fully come to believe that I was, indeed, living history and making some of it, all the while I thought I was just trying to survive and get by.
Semper fi, and thanks for a really interesting and great comment.
Jim
Wow !, we think we understand history and then we don’t. We are fed bits and pieces allowing us to come to a “conclusion” of what transpired. Even when we “live” events we don’t always know the depth of what happened. I still recall vividly in ’62 when our family was living in remote northern BC and the Cuban Missile crisis was unfolding. My dad was deployed to a remote SAC base to help gaurd the B-52’s that had been armed and deployed to remote northern bases. We were scared knowing the soviet bombers could appear over the horizen at any minute. Our little world was thrust into the moment and we only had the TV news to be informed. Who knew the soviet submarine officer Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov refused to arm a nuclear torpedo to destroy the US carrier group and that Kruschev kept secret the removal of US missiles from Turkey making it seem the Soviets backed down unilaterally. Sooooo much behind the scenes far back from the headlines we don’t and often won’t know.
This glimpse you give us from the shadows of history is facinating and completely captivating! BZ on the writing and the story of the shadow warriors that arrainged the affairs of the powers of the day.
The S/Sgt. is a force directed by behind the veil persons of influence who think you needed to be warned and controlled. That they have connections to contractors that don’t carry a badge or agency affiliation. With the ability to track you so evident, how did they not know what you were doing?
The angle the story takes, given the actions of the players is not at all the public performance played out through the investigations and hearings. I am beyond enticed by the story asolutely consumed is a better discription. I had come to my own conclusions based on the published version of events. I am now captivated about how the players interact and what the real concerns of the day were. The deaths of the Marines… ? who, what, when, where, why, and how ! inquiring minds need to know!
Now, that’s one helluva comment! Interesting and revealing about your life and mindset as well as
being fascinated by the ‘back story’ about some things that went on, and probably still go on in
and around the powerful players on the planet. Hoepfully, this chapter you will find pretty
revealing, although every time something is revealed it usually uncovers something else of great
import. Thanks for the compliment of your writing and the trust displayed to reveal something of
your own inner thinking and self.
Semper fi,
Jim
Mr. Strauss, Sir,
HOLY S*** !!!
Keith, what as great two word compliment. Laconic but effective. Thanks for that this night….
Semper fi,
Jim
Just when you need some support- Bozo didn’t answer any of my questions. !!!!
I don’t know of anyone in your group could at that time, although it seems your wife always had a keen intuition about things.
Still don’t trust the Ssgt, as his true role seems to be hidden in the confines of the WWH.
Great captivating read LT., keep ’em coming 😉
Thanks fo much SgtBob for starting my morning out right! Nice to read your words
and the depth to which you dive into the work on such a regular basis. Thanks so much!
Semper fi,
Jim
Just today got news in the mail that you had a small car incident. Someone is looking out for you!!
Thanks Jim, for the care and the comment with respect to out getting through that one with only car damage, really.
A person driving on a country road at night with no moon and without lights on. Who would have believed that one?
I am back in the saddle again and got off the Thanksgiving letter. Much appreciate your existence upon occasion on here
and also, of course, in my life.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
That Marine Sargent is more than just a Marine Sargent isn’t he?
Of course, as he has so ably demonstrated from time to time, just like I was no longer a ‘real’ lieutenant
in the Corps but I had valid I.D. to prove otherwise if called upon.
Thanks for the surmising curious and accurately written comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
We’re getting to a 30 Days level of anticipation here.
Thanks for the neat compliment Tim…and yes, the suspense is indeed building.
Semper fi,
Jim
this may be the best writing of the series so far
I am struck by your incredible stupidity, trying to make the dive alone. Anyone raised in Hawaii I don’t know about swimming with a buddy I will let that run.
I find it interesting that the sergeant as he has called, showed up to talk back to him too many Marines, believe this stuff about the NCOs, being the backbone of the core and the true heroes in every battle we ever fought there are fabulous men who were NCO but they are not super human. They are not infallible, and they only walk on water if they know where the rocks are.
question the question is so fire out of the scope of all that’s happened to date struck me, is very odd, or too observant to have missed a piece, but I wonder if the sergeant is perhaps working for two sides in this tale?
if you look at the old US MC officers guide, it will describe enlisted men in less than flattering terms, calling them, conmen and trying to get away with something
of course, that is a great exaggeration, but I have a distrust of people who operate like the sergeant, even knowing who he is operating for
I cannot wait for the tail to continue
Well, Rich, my friend, sometimes the information one is dealing with of a clandestine nature is so sensitive that there must
be severe limits on who is involved. Many people on the planet, without experience, have no idea that some information is
secret from them to protect them as well as others. The way missions spin out requires rapid adaptivity and Bob had to be left
at the headquarters and Gularte was no diver and I needed the lookout, as well. What can one do? I don’t know. I didn’t always
make the right decisions at the time. Thanks for the great comment, as usual.
Semper fi,
Jim
It is getting exciting now , more people to wonder about where they will show up in the story ! Great chapter.
Thanks William, as the story developed back in the time…well, seems a lot more exciting than it did to really’ live it.
I guess I was ‘not quite right’ after the Nam.
Semper fi, and thanks,
Jim
My my my, but the rabbit hole gets deeper and deeper!! Please tell me your support is still up above feeding the rope, ready and willing to pull you back out. The tapes are the key to it all!! I’m gonna turn blue waiting for the next chapter, don’t make us pass out Lt!!.Semper fi sir!
Yes, Bob, it somehow has all come down to the tapes and what might be, or is, on them, just like the rest of Watergate spun
around the D.C. tapes. Thanks for the compliment of your wanting more and waiting patiently to get it.
Semper fi,
Jim
Once again, LT, my pulse is racing. Every. Single. Chapter. You are an amazing writer. I think I will re-read, yet again, my copy of “30 Days”.
The beat goes on…the drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain…
Thanks for the great compliment Hagar, and I will hope to keep meeting your expectations.
Semper fi,
Jim
That Marine Sargent is more than just a Marine Sargent isn’t he?
No question Tony, and more will come out about that as we go along.
Thanks for coming on here and asking the question.
Semper fi,
Jim
Is danger on the horizon because you have revealed the tapes were not destroyed? Did Mardian steal the tapes and then hide them in his son’s car thinking that would be that last place anyone would ever look in trying to find them? Would explain why he was not upset when he learned the car was under water and why he wanted it blown up. The staff sergeant didn’t just happen to wonder by and he’s not looking for Hunt. He’s watching you for someone at WWH.
Some of the mysteries, a couple of which you have brought up here in the comment section, there is no resolution I can
offer. In my place as non-person, of sorts, or a nobody, as Mardian called me, I could only react and then make
plans from, during and after reactions. I was in no position to ask questions of anyone in power or change the course
of events except in the field where I ran free…or sort of free.
Thanks for the intensity and depth of your interest and support.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, There’s always several ways to convey meaning. Here’s an alternative suggested change to what I already posted.
Original: I knew it was an A Shau thing. I sensed an ambush but had to know more about whatever it was in order to do about it if after knowing, any action was to be taken.
New suggestion: Add “anything” before “about”
Comma after “it”
I knew it was an A Shau thing. I sensed an ambush but had to know more about whatever it was in order to do anything about it, if after knowing, any action was to be taken.
Previous suggestion: Substitute “decide,” for “do anything about it”
I knew it was an A Shau thing. I sensed an ambush but had to know more about whatever it was in order to decide, if after knowing, any action was to be taken.
I send best wishes to your trio of silent witnesses: Julie, Bozo, and Mrs. Beasley.
DanC, what a pleasure to once gain receive a refinement of the work that would never be picked up by me
in going back through it…which I do, but miss so much that you catch. The trio is a duo now, although Bentley has
stepped in from Bozo, then Harvey and so on. Julie and Mrs. Beasley are very much with us in the house I live in now.
Thanks for the great and, as usual, most helpful modifications.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
In light of th 60th anniversary of the assignation this is block buster news!Considering there are 5 more tapes I’m full of anticipation! I’m pretty sure Reiner and Baldwin and the upcoming podcast and documentary would be very interested in this information. You’re writing continues to astound James, to the point that at times I’m intimidated to respond! Thank you for continuing to dig so deep! I’m privileged to read and enjoy your amazing story! Thank you!
Thanks so much Jack. I have found that such information distributing operations, such as news and history podcasts, even television specials, have
mostly ‘transmit’ buttons and no ‘receive’ button whatever…so to speak. I don’t have credibility with such producers and, in general, they are’
anything but avid readers of almost anything. They take waht’s brought to them, process it, and voila! Besides, I’m not on here to get famous
or rich. I’m here to tell stories based on a body of life experience very few on the planet might get to enjoy (or maybe not enjoy so much so many times!).
Thanks for the thought. Joe Rogan reached out but there’s no way I’m going there. I don’t need to embarrassed in public by people who make their living
doing just that to other people…or have television dish trucks out in front of my house. I’m here for the audience that you are a part of and you see gathered
around. We are sitting around a small wood fire in the forest of life, together, like the Boy and Girl Scouts of old. Enjoy the stories, even if the word story would
give some hint that the stuff discussed isn’t as real as it certainly is. But then, you have to be the judge of that.
Thanks for the great comment, as usual.
SEmper fi, my friend,
Jim
Man I certainly didn’t want to imply that you were writing more for monetary reasons than peace of mind James. I know better. I was merely alluding to the possibility of a resolution to the Kennedy case thru collaboration!
Thanks for that Jack. No, I didn’t take it the way you thought I might take it. You are true blue and you enjoy my
completed trust and friendship. The Kennedy, and other mysteries, head toward conclusion…and let the chips fall where they may!\
Semper fi,
Jim
James, I am absolutely stunned by the detail you go through. Tom Thorkelson’s comment sums it up for me
Tom was a player back in the day, and one hell of an intellect and caring man. I was tough to have as an employee, especially since
I didn’t tell him much about any of what was really going on down the coast from where his office and home were (Newport Beach). HE also
understands that the stuff is history lived through and not th figment of my over-energized imagination. The story of what happened back then
is easy to tell, but very hard to tweak and get it right. i have it all in my head but sometimes I get confused about timing or which character
really did what. I am working on all that all the time…egven this night.
Thanks for the great comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
As I picked up the tapes seem to be excerpts and spiced….does this mean they are part of someone who is gathering evidence? You can almost hear Jackie meeting with Nixon….”Richard” is the regal way she would address him! Amazing for all we have heard about the assassination, Nixon being in Dallas has never been mentioned! Fascinating….where is my spot on the parapets.
Colonel, I found out only at the writing and right after, the fact that Nixon was in Dallas is not a secret, just overlooked. That Jackie Kennedy seemed to
give every indication that she didn’t believe he departed before her husband was killed was as blatant and revealing at the time as it is this day. Before writing The Cowardly Lion I had dropped all of this so many years back as it seemed like it could only cause trouble because of my careers in the Corps and the CIA. But here I am now, plagued with this humongous memory bank. Hearing the tape again is eerie because
Jim, you have led a very complicated life, but certainly not of your own choosing until you joined the Company. And thank goodness that you have come through it all relatively unscarred. At least to those that only look at the package, and not at the inside. Not even going to try to guess all of that. You and your readers know that your psyche is at least as beat up as your body.
As my Dad would have said, a good man for his time. Unlike many, a man with a conscience – which is rarer now than it was 40+ years ago. And an excellent recall of events.
As a reader, I thank you for putting it into print in a manner that captures one’s imagination and attention.
But write faster, dammit! Sometimes I think that you’ll never get to the bottom before I pass on to the next world.
Blessings be upon thee – Semper Fi.
Craig, well I certainly hope that you are not anywhere close to passing on yet. I still need you as the
more than dependable fan you are. I am writing at a pretty good clip here, as I have not failed to get one
chapter out a week for almost a year now. Doing my job. The story, however, has almost a mind of its own
and how and when it gets ‘outed’ so to speak. Thanks for the compliment of your wanting more faster.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
Thank you for sharing another chapter of the riddles.mysteies/enigmas of this Cowardly Lion part of your life.
Anxiously awaiting the NEXT episode.
The Walter Duke, pipes in. Thanks for your usual uplifting comment Walter. I much appreciate the continuance of
your long time support and confidence and the compliments that alway come with it.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
Oh my! Where does it go from here? Is this fiction?
Tom, Batman, this is fictionally written, covering those areas where my memory is not totally accurate
in recalling exactly how what happened happened. This is now as truthful as I can make it and all this
stuff was not only there but with ne today The tapes are real. My place in the Western White House was real
as well as what happened afterwards. I didn’t get into the CIA in a high field team leader because I applied
for any position with them. They showed up at may door because of what they knew about what I had gone through.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
It was great to talk to you on the phone Tom. It’s rather definitive that the National Archives has
evidence interest in some of the materials, in the gentlest way possible. I have yet to decide if
I should communicate with them at all.
To what point?
The story continues as long as I am able to write it.
Semper fi, my old friend,
Jim
Batman: Over advice from everyone against it, I have written my books using the real name of the real people all along, from the Gunny and Homan in Vietnam, to
you, Chuck Bartok, Bob Elwell, Gularte, Herberich, Gates, Cobb, Hunt, Richard, Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Ronstadt, Brown, and so many more. I have done that and exposed myself to some
liability, I presume, for credibility purposes. I have not lived a believable life…so these characters being real and many of them commenting, add a patina of truth my word would never be able to do that the characters, like yourself, only knew bits and pieces of the giant mosaic of life back then is typical of almost all adventures in real life unless they are served up on the silver screen. Thanks for your steadfast support and liking the work to the point that you do.
I much enjoy having one of my real life mentors comment from time to time.
Semper fi,
Jim
“Next tape has to be the marines”
My thoughts exactly! Intrigued as to their relevance in all this.
Thanks Phil, for putting so much thought into the next moves in the story.
Great motivation.
Semper fi,
Jim
After reading the last two entrys i go to look at yahoo news and what do i see? articles about Kennedys killing. I get the feeling i am still reading something you wrote.
Yes, Joel, it is kind of strange to me to see articles on the Kennedy assassination mentioning stuff that only I have
been revealing, like the existence and work of Cobb and Nixon’s presence in Dallas at the time of the event.
I am unknown famous in my own right. And none of these ‘sources’ ever approach me for data or anything else!
Which is find, by the way. I really don’t know what I would tell them, other than the National Archives whom I’m
ignoring unless they get more strident in their strange request.
Thanks for the compliments in your writing of your comment here.
Semper fi,
Jim
WOW@!! WTF?
Wonderful laconic compliments!!!!
Semper fi,
Jim (and thanks, of course)
Looks like an unintended paragraph at the 7th and 8th ones.
Once more you have me straining to recall “current events” of that time.
Current events of that time are probably a lot like those of today, except I was there to
forever memorize and then memorialize them in my writings so many years later. Maybe only after so
much time has gone by and such powerful people have passed can such things be written and allow the
writer to survive, if not thrive.
Semper fi,
JIm
What an eye opener!! Can’t wait for the next chapter, the whole conspiracy thing makes sense with reading this, now to reveal why this all took place!!
Yes, Peter, the time is coming when all these may make sense to you, if not in some standard way that you
are used to. I don’t really know your life, or that of almost any of my readers, but I’m willing to bet that
it probably doesn’t include hanging around a ‘palace’ to collect all the latest gossip and news.
Thanks for your continued support and the compliment of your writing on here like you do.
Semper fi,
Jim
James, Interesting that the Staff Sergeant is being provided enough information to track you; yet info is compartmentalized enough that he doesn’t know that Richard and Cobb are at the marina. (Or so it seems.) I assume he knows there is some linkage between Hunt and Cobb.
Good one on the photo. Not the “real” Jackie but someone (NP) playing her.
Can you just burn the C-4 to get rid of it?
Keep the chapters coming. Keep we the readers guessing what is next.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
slip over my head, and dangled from the rubber strap
Maybe “dangle” instead of “dangled”
Drop comma after “head”
slip over my head and dangle from the rubber strap
bobbing and weaving the Volks navigating through the wind
Either Drop “the” before “Volks”
bobbing and weaving Volks navigating through the wind
OR add “of” before “the Volks”
bobbing and weaving of the Volks navigating through the wind
Volkswagen was sent down the ramp it would be a long time to sink
Maybe “take” instead of “be”
Volkswagen was sent down the ramp it would take a long time to sink
walked the short distance
Add “I” before “walked”
I walked the short distance
serrated surface of the ramp was shot and very pointed
Maybe “sharp” instead of “shot”
serrated surface of the ramp was sharp and very pointed
I adjusted my goggles to cover my eyes comfortably, grabbed the light from Gularte’s outstretched hand, and walked down to the water’s edge.
A bit better to use semicolons instead of commas in a list of actions.
I adjusted my goggles to cover my eyes comfortably; grabbed the light from Gularte’s outstretched hand; and walked down to the water’s edge.
Relaxation techniques I had no time for
Maybe change word order
I had no time for relaxation techniques.
glad that the switch was integrated into the handhold on the cylinder’s top until the light went on.
/Seems glad until the light went on – but that doesn’t fit in sentence./
EITHER Reword into two sentences.
glad that the switch was integrated into the handhold on the cylinder’s top. Then the light went on.
OR drop “until the light went on.”
glad that the switch was integrated into the handhold on the cylinder’s top.
light couldn’t penetrate it so it simply diffused
Maybe add comma after first “it”
light couldn’t penetrate it, so it simply diffused
white cloud the light that had been created inside the water
Drop “that” & “been”
white cloud the light had created inside the water
tapes clutched in one hand and the ten-pound light, which I could not let sink to the bottom and remain there like a beacon for any future investigator, in the other.
Move “in the other” after “ten-pound light”
tapes clutched in one hand and the ten-pound light in the other which I could not let sink to the bottom and remain there like a beacon for any future investigator.
Once at the edge of the ramp I hauled the light up and shoved it onto the serrated concrete, pulled my goggles off, and eased myself out of the water.
Could substitute semicolons for commas
Once at the edge of the ramp I hauled the light up and shoved it onto the serrated concrete; pulled my goggles off; and eased myself out of the water.
Volks, which sat nearby, rocking slightly away in the swirling wind
“away” seems extra.
Volks, which sat nearby, rocking slightly in the swirling wind
Abpalnnap
Real spelling is Abplanalp
Do you wish to change it or leave it “as is?”
extended a long way out from the Western White House
Add period at end.
extended a long way out from the Western White House.
I sensed an ambush but had to know more about whatever it was in order to do about it if after knowing, any action was to be taken.
Maybe change “do about it” to “decide,”
I sensed an ambush but had to know more about whatever it was in order to decide, if after knowing, any action was to be taken.
I plugged the speaker wire connector in. The jack was the same.
Maybe reword
The headphone plug matched the speaker output jack.
identify that voice, at least not here in this place.”
No need for closing quote
identify that voice, at least not here in this place.
blinking once and a while to prove he was really alive at all
Change “and” to “in”
blinking once in a while to prove he was really alive at all
LBJ was a Democrat. Nixon a republican.
Seems capitalize “Republican”
LBJ was a Democrat. Nixon a Republican.
Kennedy’s death had been all over the T.V. in the news
No need for periods in “TV”
Kennedy’s death had been all over the TV in the news
as secretive as a bear growing through a garbage can
Maybe “going” instead of “growing”
as secretive as a bear going through a garbage can
where this all began since you get what’s on them with your silly little children’s recorder
Maybe “hear” instead of “get”
where this all began since you hear what’s on them with your silly little children’s recorder
how much I was risking my wife just by confirming her suppositions
Maybe add “telling” before “my wife”
how much I was risking telling my wife just by confirming her suppositions
OR totally different meaning
how much risk I was placing on my wife just by confirming her suppositions
Blessings & Be Well
Thanks for all your work, once again to make he story better..which you certainly do.
The Cobb Hunt thing will work itself out in the coming chapter.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim