I sat on the couch, facing the television console, Julie on my left but not snuggled up to my side as she had proven herself to be not that kind of little person. Mrs. Beasley, however, was pulled close into her left side and Bozo made believe he was watching television seated on the end table, too close for comfort near my right side, but never violating the short distance between us. His remarkable ability to sit for hours on end, staring, or blinking ever so slowly, always amazed me and one day I’d look up why he acted that way, for the most part, instead of lying and sleeping his life away like most cats. Of course, I’d quickly come to understand that he was anything but a normal cat, any more than my wife was an ordinary wife or my daughter ordinary in any way.
The evening news came on, as I waited expectantly for more information on the fast-developing Watergate investigation that had turned into the Watergate coverup investigation. But the headline story was about anything but that. I watched the images crossing the screen of a burned-out passenger plane, its flame-blackened tail rising high in the air. United Flight 533 had crashed with no survivors flying into a small almost unknown airport called Midway, just on the outskirts of Chicago. Aboard the plane was a woman named Dorothy Hunt, wife of E. Howard Hunt.
With the Holidays and everything going on and now over, I found that I have some catching up to do. Four new chapters. I distinctly remembered the United 533 crash, but other than reading the name “Dorthy Hunt” earlier I doubt I had ever heard of her before. Now I’m getting caught up in web that was spinning in your mind back then, and now spinning in the reader’s mind. And Bebe? He was just history to me until you now tell us about your conclusion, that he may have been involved in that, or for that matter any plane crash. The fall of Nixon seems to be dropping debris all around you.
Now, on to the next chapter. Thanks LT.
Thanks for the rather accurate portrayal of what was happening all around me at the time.
I am writing more of it this very day, of course. Hope you ride along for the continuing adventure.
Happy New Year, as we all begin again.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
As good of a story as you weave (and the story you have woven since you got off the plane has been great), I have found I most look forward to the conversations between you and your readers. I have been entertained, educated and forced to research topics I have only been marginally familiar with but become deeply interested in because of the life experiences expressed in your comment section.
If you stopped writing today I would disappointed, but I would be just as disappointed to lose contact with your readers.
In case I haven’t been clear enough, I really enjoy your site.
Robert, ypur compliment goes into several areas and that is wonderful, at least for me to be reading this morning as I work away on
the next chapter. I spend some time responding to all comments in person, not because I necessarily love it (which I do) but because
the nature of how this site has (totally unexpectantly) taken on a life of its own has been so amazing and surprising. It was never planned and I strted out
responding to all comments because there was nobody else to do it. The readers, such as yourself, direct, guide and totally influence the flavor and
direction of the odyssey we are on, and add so much more to the written story…going all the way back to the beginning of 30 days.
Thanks for your accurate portrayal and such willing participation in the adventure.
Semper fi,
Jim
Merry Christmas to you as well Jim.
It is not my opinion that I am being led. Those with the power are not leaders at all, only people put in power by those that hold the purse strings. I just trudge along a path dictated by the requirements of taking care of Miss Mary and the felines: Snoball, Stormi, Kooki, Onyx, and Clicker. I have no time nor inclination to be deflected from my path by the actions of those people. At my level of existense it all goes above my head which I keep focused on my quest.
I’ve lived a full and entertaining life, with memories to sustain me.
Another great chapter sir. Thank you
TimP
Very interesting take on life itself Tim. Thanks, as well for your compliment. We are so overloaded with information, much of which ins’t information
at all. Thanks for the thought and the expression of it…
Semper fi,
Jim
ok
Midway is not on the outskirts of Chicago
it is in the city on the southside located on Cicero avenue
A chapter of mystery and confusion
why Midway? why that flight?
and wasn’t she former CIA?
why was Paul so arrogant and what money was Hank trying to hide? i think i know the connectors
Richard, Midway was once on the outskirts of downtown Chicago, but you might have noticed a certain
amount of development in and around Chicago over the last fifty years, or so.
Thanks for the comment and your analysis.
Semper fi, and Merry Christmas
Jim
Jim,
Thanks for yet another chapter of TCL.
I remember reading about that plane crash right after it happened and was struck by the oddity that Mr. Hunt happened to be on board.
Decades later, I have read more about that crash which raised eyebrows, such as the fact that the very first “officials” at the crash site were some FBI agents. And eventually there were a LOT of FBI agents at the crash site. Official reports say there were 50 FBI agents on scene within 45 minutes. Very unusual for all the FBI to descent so soon on a commercial airline crash.
Then when you look at some other key people who were also on the flight, the cyanide level from autopsy of the pilot being so high (and much higher than others), the fact that the two flight recorders from the plane were recovered but were ‘missing’ for two days, etc. you become very skeptical of what the official report states. I know that, if the plan was sabotaged and kill Mrs. Hunt, it was not because of the $10,000 in cash she was carrying. That is peanuts. Now the $2.5MM in securities made out to cash and other possible documents that she may have been carrying and what she planned to do with them when she landed is another story.
I still want to know what was ‘unseeable’ at the nuclear power plant (and lots of other things you thrust upon us in TCL) but realize I may at some point go to my grave without knowing the full story.
May you have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas holiday season. I will be doing my flying to MSP the day after Christmas to visit loved ones in N. Wisc. until Jan 2. We are not going thru Midway in Chicago–but I am not at risk from nefarious folks.
You are a special person.
Blessing to you, James.
THE WALTER DUKE! Comes at us all with another deep and searching comment, with a bit of angst and disappointment thrown in.
Most of the mysteries I’ve written about you will receive satisfaction about. Just keep on trucking along. i am sorry that
my odyssey is such a long one but the telling has more of a life all of its own than I expected. I was once asked by a big Hollywood
producer: “what comes first to you as a screenwriter, the story demanding to be told or you trying to create it?” I didn’t know the
answer, but do today. The story demanding to be told. I am as much drawn through this odyssey or adventure as some on here
are experiencing it with me. Hope you have a wonderful holiday and I will be writing away. Half done with the next chapter as I write this.
There is no stopping now.
Semper fi,
Your friend,
Jim
Another excellent head scratching chapter. I still don’t trust that shrink. Merry Christmas my friend.
Charles, you have a good instinct, although Paul was and remains a tough character to truly characterize. His
conduct is easier but that’s for reading in a future chapter. Thanks for the analysis and the compliment.
Semper fi and Merry Christmas,
Jim
If this was fiction it would be riveting but to know it was your actual experience blows my mind! Jim I’m so grateful for our friendship and am thoroughly enjoying this read. Batman
Batman. While all this was going on, which you mostly knew nothing about (except for what you likely got from Carl when he was
selling Woods a policy at the Western White House…
and he’d never talk to me about anything there), you were teaching me about human beings and instilling more about anthropology and sociology than I got out of my Ph.D. program later on.
Your forcing me to deal with people’s real lives and problems was invaluable to my very survival and I will never be able to thank you enough.
You were on the edges of the story I’m telling but, like the rope between scaling climbers up a high, steep
cliff, you were always there, even when the rope was, hopefully, not to be used.
Your friend,
Jim
How many times did you put the two slips of paper in your pocket? I counted two times.
Fixed. Thanks Don, for the help along the way. Sometimes my late night editing of the chapter
is not all that it could be, just ask DanC!
Semper fi, and Merry Christmas,
Jim
I must admit that I haven’t provided as much feedback, editorial or other wise, since 30 days. I’ve been more infatuated with this story line, and can’t wait to dive into the next “fix”. You’re a master and I appreciate every single chapter that you create. As a history major in college on my way to getting my butter bars, I didn’t appreciate the Watergate legacy more so than I do now. Semper Fi and Merry Christmas.
Thanks very much Joel, not just for your compliment but for you laying out
the way in which you’ve processed history along the way. Sometimes we just don’t have either the time
or the vision to even know we might be living history as well as reflecting on the portrayal of it.
Semper fi, and Merry Christmas,
Jim
Wow another great chapter, thank you !
You are most welcome, my friend. Short compliment but well received anyway.
Merry Christmas,
and Semper fi,
Jim
Living in Chicago it is hard to look at Midway as a small little airport! Looking from 1970s and Southern California is an interesting perspective. Before major Hubs and Commuter Airlines, (the Midwest perspective ) was it was a way to navigate around ORD for domestic travel….sort of like Kennedy/LaGuardia but not as defined!
I have always wondered about the crash with Hunt aboard as the quintessential connection to Watergate was to much to assume! It was a simple “overrun” that just burst into flames…maybe someone thought a plane full of fuel could hit a bunch of houses and most would survive.
I guess a nuclear accident at that power plant could have been a viable (considered option )leverage in the paranoid space of Watergate!
A sitting president does not need to create a nuclear accident at a power facility. President’s have real nuclear bombs at their ready disposal, in spite of what the public thinks. There has never been a move by Congress to make the launching of nuclear weapons more than the responsibility and having the authority of one man only (man, so far, maybe woman in the future). The question that was never answered was ‘why that airport?’ and why, especially, since there were no facilities for refueling that kind of passenger liner there at the time without special pre-arrangements. Interesting NTSB report to read, with about as much left out of it as the first Kennedy semi-investigation. Thanks for the interesting comment, as usual, my friend.
Merry Christmas and
Semper fi,
Jim
LT. Another great chapter, most interesting time in our history.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Thanks, Johnson, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours, as well. Thanks for the ‘Christmas compliment’ and I shall endeavor to persevere.
Semper fi,
Jim
Every chapter leads us with a baited hook into the next twist of the story that is woven in the history we have witnessed. This makes it all the more real and plausible.
Thanks Dan, for your giving the books your own personal certification of some sort of authenticity.
Sometimes I feel like I’m writing about stuff that is simply not believable or it would already be known.
Take heart though, because yesterday the government kicked the UFO can down the road by modifying the
defense budget they are passing to delay release of the UFO files for another 25 years. There’s a lot
that’s not known…and with some really self-protective reasons. Many times, the public only gets to know
these days because everyone involved is finally dead!
Merry
Christmas,
and Semper fi,
Jim
My head is spinning so fast I think I’m going to pass out. What have you got yourself into now Lt? End of world, death, destruction and off shore money!! Oh my, wait, lions and tigers and BEARS. I had thought this was Alice in wonderland, now it’s more like the wizard of Oz, and who is Oz? Can’t wait for more . Semper fi sir!!
Thanks ever so much for the greatly worded compliment Bob. I man so happy you are waiting for more, as I am four fifths of the way into
and through chapter LX. Thanks for waiting impatiently!
Merry Christmas and Semper fi,
Jim
Wow just wow James is all I can say!!
That one laconic word. Great powerful compliment Harold.
Merry Christmas and thank you.
Semper fi,
Jim
I love reading your books a chapter at a time. I am so glad that I don’t have to wait a month for each episode. I have to hold my breath and wonder but last week we received a bonus. You must have been sitting on that one for a while as if you were keeping a promise to Kissinger. Now, the plot thickens again as we are left hanging with the threat of Nuclear War in the air. I used to believe that our leaders were truly honorable patriots who would tell not lie. Where did all that money come from, who killed Kennedy, and how did that airplane crash?
There are some very deep and serious mysteries I’m presenting background information about as the story continues to develop.
I mush appreciate your following and working to conclude what really happened as what has been portrayed as having happened.
Thanks for the compliment of the depth of your following and reading. Merry Christmas
Semper fi,
Jim
What a mess and it seems the only choices you have are either a den of hungry lions or a pit of venomous snakes.
Well hell, Chuck, like I haven’t been there before, although when I got home I had somehow
managed to place myself once again in jeopardy without rising off some horse’s ass general officer.
Thanks for the compliment in your comment, as ell and Merry Christmas, my friend.
Semper fi,
Jim
*ithJune Cobb, a player (??)
without further listening, paced* everything up, and replaced it in my closet ‘hiding place.
(*packed)
Well as you may recall James, I have had that funny feeling about the Chicago plane crash as well. Hmmm…
Time has come to listen to all the tapes and put together in your own mind what it all means as things are occurring all around you and in DC too !! Hopefully it might allow functioning “normally” ??
More questions than answers once again !!!!
Keep ’em coming James..
Semper Fi
Thanks for the great comment, as usual, SgtBob, and also Merry Christmas as the season builds into that special day.
More questions than answers. Almost sounds like real life. Working away this day on the next chapter and appreciating all
the comments, like your own, that support my effort.
Semper fi, my friend,
Jim
James, this has nothing to do with The Lion. In 30 Days you talked about a hill where your guys had a close call and Army blood was spilled in the A Shau. Would that have been Hill 937, AKA Hamburger Hill?
There were several peaks in that same area surrounding the A Shau and making up parts of its steep cliff faces. It was not the famous Hamburger Hill, but the same conditions on that ‘hill’ existed on Hamburger. The rabbit warrans of tunnels, like on Iwo Jima, like under the Gaza Strip…very nasty wartime stuff to try to deal with.
Semper fi, and Merry Christmas,
Jim
Leaving us hanging again! James, you have really developed your skills into being a very talented writer. Coupled with your almost-photographic memory, you get your readers to become a part of that memory.
Sure, I remember that plane crash; flew into and out of Midway a few time, didn’t like the cross-winds off the lake.
And do you think most military wives were, well, a bit less than “motherly”? I know my mother certainly lacked that talent, often stating that she “never wanted a boy child.”
At any rate, I do believe all of we readers anxiously await each new chapter, dwelling on “where does he go from here?” And you are right that you need to find someplace new – and perhaps a wee bit safer. Just be sure to take Bozo when you do!
Semper Fi, my friend – keep that word processor speeding along!
Thank you Craig for just a heartfelt and deep comment. My own ‘military mother’ was like your mother…blaming having to deal with
the children as a fault in the then non-existent industry to not get pregnant. The Catholic way didn’t work to well when Dad wasn’t built that way.
Midway is still kind of a mess of an airport to this day, although it does avoid some of the nightmare times at O’Hare. Thanks for the comment
and the loyalty through these times and Merry Christmas!
Semper fi,
JIm
James, One more small edit:
I liked the woman. She hadn’t been like ithJune Cobb, a player, and therefore a person
Drop “ith” before “June”
I liked the woman. She hadn’t been like June Cobb, a player, and therefore a person
Got it Dan and many thanks.
Semper fi,
Jim
I think what really bothers me is that this stuff continues today in government.
Situation ethics and constantly adjusting core movements of honor are part of the fabric of such high and powerful leadership, I believe. Things are no different, really, than they have been through the years. We simply know more than we ever did before. Knowledge can lead to satisfaction, success and happiness…but some of it, maybe much of it, also can lead to a lack of credibility, sadness and disappointment. The world, in general, filled with the human species does not react to knowledge gained in ways that are truly rational. The world reacts with belief. Belief in things known not to be real is more prevalent than believing in verified and factual knowledge. Mankind is not led by beings who are professing facts or those beings are not leading for very long.
Semper fi, and Merry Christmas,
Jim
James, Well the good news is that Nixon did not blow up the world. Back in the day the thought of the balloon going up aka WWIII seemed like a real possibility.
I await the uncovering of more White House intrigue.
Stay safe – and if you have to find a new place to live, may it be a place of wonder and fun for Julie and Bozo.
I commented about specifying the names of the tapes to differentiate the dreaded one from the one you actually listened to.
Some minor editing suggestions follow:
instead of laying and sleeping his life away like most cats
“lying” rather than “laying”
instead of lying and sleeping his life away like most cats
fast becoming, if I’d not already become it, a part of a living moving beast
Could drop “it”
fast becoming, if I’d not already become, a part of a living moving beast
I’d taken from the hospital up in Oakland so few years earlier
Maybe “a” after “Oakland” instead of “so”
I’d taken from the hospital up in Oakland a few years earlier
personal cover that weren’t made of the cheapest, thinnest, and flimsiest of materials.’
Drop single quote at end of sentence.
personal cover that weren’t made of the cheapest, thinnest, and flimsiest of materials.
they got any tickets taken care of it they got them in the future
Seems like “if” rather than “it”
they got any tickets taken care of if they got them in the future
I knew I was avoiding the reel that had the words heat-burned
Reel is unique – so maybe “that particular” instead of “the”
I knew I was avoiding that particular reel that had the words heat-burned
OR
specify which tape you wished to avoid
I knew I was avoiding the reel that had the words “Nix Hal Ehr alternative to pardon failure” heat-burned
potential of all of what had happened and why might happen very soon
Maybe add “it” before “might”
potential of all of what had happened and why it might happen very soon
/It seems all the above indirectly refers to the tape mentioned at the end of chapter 58 “Nix Hal Ehr alternative to pardon failure.”
In this chapter you do not listen to it; instead you choose another.
Maybe we could make that more clear./
The tape I chose read: “Kiss Haven Hal,”
Reword to
Instead of the dreaded tape I chose the one that read: “Kiss Haven Hal,”
I placed the tape into its box without further listening, paced everything up
“packed” rather than “paced”
I placed the tape into its box without further listening, packed everything up
“Next to the garbage dumpster, how every appropriate,”
“very” rather than “every”
“Next to the garbage dumpster, how very appropriate,”
I was there for all kinds of reasons but couldn’t think of anyone to discuss
“any one” rather than “anyone”
I was there for all kinds of reasons but couldn’t think of any one to discuss
was all I said, before I walked through, headed down the hall and toward my car
“walked through” is a bit unclear
Maybe reword
was all I said, before I exited his office, headed down the hall and toward my car
Blessings & Be Well
Thanks for the perfectly wonderful and accurate edits DanC. And the comments before you went to work.
Your loyalty and support help make this all possible, and your regular participation in commentary, as well.
Merry Christmas my friend,
and
Semper fi,
Jim