A Tragedy of World War II
Crossing the Rapido
By
Duane Schultz
A Tragedy of World War II
My cousin didn’t enjoy much of 1944. He tried to get across the Garigliano river and protect the left flank of the US 36 Division’s attack across the Rapido river. His regiment, The Queens, didn’t make it – and neither did he. He was killed on January 18 1944, he was just 24. Lance Sgt. Ian S. A. Smith lies with 2048 of his comrades at Minturno War Cemetery. They were not able to help US 36 Div – but they tried.
‘Crossing The Rapido’ is the story of thousands more young men who perished crossing another river of blood four miles away called the Rapido. It is a study in ineptitude, another manifestation of that quotation from the Crimea: ‘lions being led by donkeys’, only in this case they were not only Equus asinus, but egotistical to boot.
Duane Schultz has written a masterpiece. His appreciation of the plight of front line soldiers is remarkable. His assessment of the commanding generals mirrors precisely views and opinions that would have been held by the fighting men at the time. This is a short book, but nothing is lost to its concision. Indeed, voluminous works on the same subject often miss the nub of this tragic event.
Schultz’ skill is in his ability to accurately describe appalling scenes and situations without deadening ones brain. Too often war chroniclers pile one atrocity upon another until one is impervious to the human tragedy. Not so Duane Schultz. Reading ‘Crossing The Rapido’ is akin to an 18th century spectator observing a Napoleonic battle from an adjacent hill.
My only complaint – not so much a complaint more an observation, is the author’s failure to expose General Mark Clark completely. He does a good job making us aware of Clark’s incompetence as far as it goes, but I would have liked to hear him mention the opportunity that was lost in not cutting off the retreating Germans. Instead, Clark chose to ‘grand-stand’ in Rome thereby lengthening the war. It can be argued with some efficacy, that if Clark had kept his eye on the ‘War’ ball, and off his own image, there probably would not have been the ‘Battle of the Bulge’. How many men ultimately died because General Mark Clark needed to act out his Caesarian phantasy?
The Italian campaign does not get the coverage that it deserves. That is probably because it was a fabricated political endeavor and all sorts of holes can be shot in its justification. But the fact remains that our young men fought honorably and too many died horribly, and whatever is said or done with the ‘donkey-generals’, we cannot bring them back.
Duane Shultz has paid an enormous tribute to the fallen heroes as well as the damaged victims that survived. His book should be read by everyone who realizes that by their sacrifice we can enjoy the freedom they won for us.
500 words
Technorati Tags: Tragedy,World,Rapido,Duane,Schultz,Garigliano,river,Division,regiment,Queens,January,Lance,Smith,lies,Minturno,Cemetery,ineptitude,manifestation,quotation,Crimea,Equus,boot,masterpiece,soldiers,assessment,concision,subject,event,skill,brain,human,spectator,Napoleonic,hill,complaint,observation,author,failure,expose,General,Mark,Clarke,incompetence,Germans,Instead,Rome,efficacy,ball,image,Battle,Bulge,Caesarian,Italian,coverage,justification,fact,Shultz,tribute,victims,freedom,words,comrades,opinions,situations,heroes,didn,generals
Windows Live Tags: Tragedy,World,Rapido,Duane,Schultz,Garigliano,river,Division,regiment,Queens,January,Lance,Smith,lies,Minturno,Cemetery,ineptitude,manifestation,quotation,Crimea,Equus,boot,masterpiece,soldiers,assessment,concision,subject,event,skill,brain,human,spectator,Napoleonic,hill,complaint,observation,author,failure,expose,General,Mark,Clarke,incompetence,Germans,Instead,Rome,efficacy,ball,image,Battle,Bulge,Caesarian,Italian,coverage,justification,fact,Shultz,tribute,victims,freedom,words,comrades,opinions,situations,heroes,didn,generals
WordPress Tags: Tragedy,World,Rapido,Duane,Schultz,Garigliano,river,Division,regiment,Queens,January,Lance,Smith,lies,Minturno,Cemetery,ineptitude,manifestation,quotation,Crimea,Equus,boot,masterpiece,soldiers,assessment,concision,subject,event,skill,brain,human,spectator,Napoleonic,hill,complaint,observation,author,failure,expose,General,Mark,Clarke,incompetence,Germans,Instead,Rome,efficacy,ball,image,Battle,Bulge,Caesarian,Italian,coverage,justification,fact,Shultz,tribute,victims,freedom,words,comrades,opinions,situations,heroes,didn,generals
Blogger Labels: Tragedy,World,Rapido,Duane,Schultz,Garigliano,river,Division,regiment,Queens,January,Lance,Smith,lies,Minturno,Cemetery,ineptitude,manifestation,quotation,Crimea,Equus,boot,masterpiece,soldiers,assessment,concision,subject,event,skill,brain,human,spectator,Napoleonic,hill,complaint,observation,author,failure,expose,General,Mark,Clarke,incompetence,Germans,Instead,Rome,efficacy,ball,image,Battle,Bulge,Caesarian,Italian,coverage,justification,fact,Shultz,tribute,victims,freedom,words,comrades,opinions,situations,heroes,didn,generals
Antonia and Harold–A Life
Must You Go?
by Antonia Fraser
Her life with Harold Pinter
There is something disreputable about reading someone else’s diary. On this occasion Lady Antonia won’t mind: indeed, she will mind if we don’t.
‘Must You Go?’, is not only a diary, it is a diary about a diary, and as such looses spontaneity. Mrs. Pinter has taken her contemporaneous notes of life with husband Harold, and edited them into what she hopes will be saleable copy.
I have read most of Antonia Fraser’s nonfiction work, and enjoyed it. After reading MYG, I was left with the feeling that for her, writing was purely business. Oh Dear: another illusion shattered.
Morally, the Lady Antonia does not come out of the work very well despite her asseverations of faith. She seems proud of her unfaithfulness to her husband Sir Hugh Fraser, and adultery with Harold. She also advertises her overt sexuality. A matter for her certainly; but does she need to tell us about it?
If you like diaries, you will probably like this one. Whether you would like it $30 worth, is a harder to decide. It starts with adultery in 1975, and ends with tragic death in 2008. In 328 pages, the Champaign Socialists spend and party through their 33 years together. Anyone who is anybody – or was, will be found in these pages.
Lady Antonia has the kind of face that looks as if she is going to burst into tears at any moment – and in this book she does.
The Longford family are a literary industry which is being perpetuated by the Fraser brood. I regret that ‘Must You Go?’ will not be one of their (many), stellar achievements.
286 words
Technorati Tags: Antonia,Harold,Life,Fraser,Pinter,diary,Lady,notes,husband,Dear,faith,Hugh,adultery,Whether,worth,ends,death,Champaign,Socialists,tears,moment,Longford,industry,words,diaries,achievements
Windows Live Tags: Antonia,Harold,Life,Fraser,Pinter,diary,Lady,notes,husband,Dear,faith,Hugh,adultery,Whether,worth,ends,death,Champaign,Socialists,tears,moment,Longford,industry,words,diaries,achievements
WordPress Tags: Antonia,Harold,Life,Fraser,Pinter,diary,Lady,notes,husband,Dear,faith,Hugh,adultery,Whether,worth,ends,death,Champaign,Socialists,tears,moment,Longford,industry,words,diaries,achievements
America and the birth of the modern world 1788-1800
The Great Upheaval
by Jay Winik
Winik’s book is not for sissies. It is 600 plus pages, and spans a 12 year stage with a regiment of players. I thought of calling it less a book, more an education, but Winik has sacrificed accuracy for artistic license and this disqualifies him from academic acclaim. However, this in no way distracts from the pleasure that this volume brings. John Ruskin said "Men were not intended to work with the accuracy of tools, to be precise and perfect in all their actions." And this applies to this book. His errors to the average reader are unimportant. All he is guilty of is rounding up ages, and being specific when specificity cannot be proved.
Not-with-standing the above, this book will keep you riveted to the twilight years of the 18th century. It will increase your knowledge of the champions of American independence, and introduce you to Europeans who tried to emulate it, and those who tried to smother it.
The book oscillates between America, Russia and France introducing the reader to the prominent figures of the time in the most interesting detail. England has a ‘walk-on’ part and almost closes the volume with its decimation of the French fleet at the battle of Aboukir Bay. Unfortunately the book ends at 1800 so we are denied the drubbing Napoleon got at Trafalgar and Waterloo. At the end of this book, Napoleon is still ahead on points.
There have been legitimate critics of Winik’s book on the grounds of inaccuracy, and that is to be regretted as if reduces the work to a flawed masterpiece. I confess that it did not distract me from enjoying the book one iota.
If you are interested in history, and want to know how the American revolution influenced and incited rank and file Europeans, then I recommend that you invest $19.77 ($12.33 paperback), in this book – you will not regret it.
332 words
Technorati Tags: America,world,Great,Upheaval,Winik,regiment,players,education,accuracy,John,Ruskin,tools,actions,reader,knowledge,American,independence,Europeans,Russia,France,figures,England,French,fleet,Aboukir,ends,Napoleon,Trafalgar,Waterloo,inaccuracy,masterpiece,iota,history,revolution,paperback,words,errors,critics
Windows Live Tags: America,world,Great,Upheaval,Winik,regiment,players,education,accuracy,John,Ruskin,tools,actions,reader,knowledge,American,independence,Europeans,Russia,France,figures,England,French,fleet,Aboukir,ends,Napoleon,Trafalgar,Waterloo,inaccuracy,masterpiece,iota,history,revolution,paperback,words,errors,critics
WordPress Tags: America,world,Great,Upheaval,Winik,regiment,players,education,accuracy,John,Ruskin,tools,actions,reader,knowledge,American,independence,Europeans,Russia,France,figures,England,French,fleet,Aboukir,ends,Napoleon,Trafalgar,Waterloo,inaccuracy,masterpiece,iota,history,revolution,paperback,words,errors,critics
A Magnificent Disaster by David Bennett
http://tinyurl.com/4kfuuoy
"No body of men could have fought more courageously and tenaciously than the officers and men of the 1st Parachute Brigade at Arnhem Bridge." Maj.Gen John D. Frost CB., DSO., MC
"The British 1st Airborne Division (that) landed in Arnhem was an elite unit. It’s performance, especially at the road bridge was, in the last analysis, acknowledged as really heroic." Waffen-SS-Standartenfuher Walther Harzer
Those are the words of two senior military men from opposing sides who were there. David Bennett was neither there or a military man, but in this first attempt at authorship, he goes to great length to rubbish those who were.
‘A Magnificent Disaster’ refers to operation Market Garden, which was an attempt by the Allies to secure a crossings of the Rhine and then head for the Ruhr, thereby shortening the second world war. It did not work – it almost did, but in war, almost doesn’t cut it. Bennett’s work explains in the greatest of detail why it was ill advised to attempt it, and why it went wrong. It will be to our eternal regret that Mr. Bennett was not there to give the general’s the benefit of his sage advice.
It failed: that is a fact. But there were a number of very experienced people who thought it was worth a try; Churchill and Eisenhower among them. Even Carl von Clausewitz said "If the leader is filled with high ambition and if he pursues his aims with audacity and strength of will, he will reach them in spite of all obstacles." But then von Clausewitz did not have the benefit of Mr. Bennett’s advice either.
In 260 pages we are reminded of every little thing that went wrong. The opinions of disgruntled officers like Gen Hackett, and Gen Sosabowski are given excessive weight. Hackett has always been unhappy that he was not given more prominence in the multiplicity of books that have been written about Mkt-Gdn. Gen.Sosabowski always had his oar in the water, and negative to everything. He left the army in disgrace and was a failure in everything he did in civilian life. It is small wonder that his opinion enjoyed little respect among allied generals.
Notwithstanding the above, this book fails because Bennett could not hide his animosity for the British. I don’t know if they kept him in after school when he was educated in England, but he really hates the Brits. Every good thing they did was bad, and every bad thing was worse. Fortunately everyone else was great. They did not "…retreat in disorder.’ (p112), or shoot their friends (p113), and their hastiness of retreat wasn’t "…perilous and unprofessional." (113). If that was not bad enough, "…the fact remains that the German’s outfought the British." (p193), and "…the British Army was incapable of carrying out the Arnhem operation". (p194). If all that is true, I wonder why Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich said, "In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen men fight so hard." And he knew a thing or two about fighting as he fought in both WWI and WWII. Dare I say perhaps a little more than Mr. ‘Labor Leader’ Bennett?
On a technical note it is difficult to follow the action without maps. I do not know what the publisher was thinking to release a book about a military operation without maps.
If you are an Anglophobe, and enjoy reading about how dreadful the British Army was in WWII, then you will enjoy this volume. If, on the other hand you really want to learn about a battalion that fought with the utmost gallantry, in inconceivably difficult conditions, and denied the use of a vital Bridge to the enemy for 80 hours, then find another author.
643 words
Always Faithful
My family has always had dogs. I love dogs and I was not sure if I could read much of this book. I dreaded one heart-breaking story after another about bad things happening to defenseless dogs.
I had no need to worry. William Putney is no doubt an excellent veterinarian and a caring individual, but as a writer, he should stay being a veterinarian. However, this book is not a literary work, its purpose is to campaign for dogs generally and army dogs in particular – and that is how it reads.
I found the book rather boring. There can be no doubt that animals serve their masters well, and doing what comes naturally to them saved lives during the war. Animals are also excellent company in extremis.
Dr Putney campaigns long and hard for the dogs to be recognised for their service, and remembered for their sacrifice. That is where the good doctor and I part company. There are 75 million dogs in America. They mostly have doting owners. Indeed, 42% of them share their beds with them, and lavish $40 billion a year on their pets. And why not? Dogs display unconditional love to their owners. If you shut your wife and dog in the trunk of your car for a couple of hours, see which one is pleased to see you when you let them out.
Here is the reason why not. They are, ipso facto animals. They are sensitive only to affection, fear, food and sex. They have no imagination. Dr Putney wanted the government to spend thousands of dollars de-training the dogs and sent back to their original owners. Clearly, the owners did not want them or they would not have given them away. They should have been humanely destroyed. They should not; as happened in Vietnam, be left behind, that was cruel. However, it was only cruel to humans who knew of it because they put human values on animals. The dogs were happy scavenging – that is what dogs do naturally. If any of the owners of the 75 million dogs in the US kept still long enough, their pets would probably eat them!
Gustave Eiffell Rises to the Challenge
Eiffell’s Tower
by
Jill Jonnes.
A Review by Colin J. Edwards
Published 2009 by Viking Publishing, Hard cover 354 pages $27.95.
If you had a head for heights in 1886, you would not have been without a job. If you were American, you could have helped with the construction of the Statue of Liberty. An Englishman, Tower Bridge; but in France only Frenchmen could work on the construction of the Eiffel Tower. Today we tend to take these iconic landmarks for granted, but 123 years ago, they were modern marvels. This fact is not lost on Jill Jonnes in her highly detailed and beautifully written work, Eiffell’s Tower.
The 1063 foot tower was the tallest construction in the world until the Chrysler Building in 1930. Even so, it was the tallest building in France until the Millau Viaduct was built in 2004. The brainchild of Gustave Eiffel, it was intended to be the focus and centre piece of the 1889 World Fair at Paris; and it was. It did not start out that way however. Many were the critics and detractors particularly those who lived within its environs. Gustave Eiffell had to personally indemnify many in order to get the construction started. One demand of the authorizing committee was that all labour and material had to be French. This was fine until they needed elevators. The only company that could propel an elevator up over a 1000 feet, and bring it back safely, was the Otis Elevator Company of America. Jonnes description of the testing of the ‘fail-safe braking’ is breath taking. Eiffell’s insistence of all things French, caused great consternation between the two companies, resulting in litigation. America however, could not have been too unhappy with Mr Eiffell as they used his Chief Engineer Maurice Koechlin to design and build the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty.
One could be forgiven for thinking that 354 pages about a cast iron tower would be of interest only to civil engineers: but one would be very wrong. Ms Jonnes, has interwoven the practicalities of tower building with intricate details of the lives of celebrities who visited the World Fair and Tower. One is constantly intrigued by these snippets of information.
Eiffle’s Tower is a book that keeps on giving. The pace of interest never slackens even to the last chapter where Jonnes winds up the stories of the featured celebs.
I highly recommend this work, and will seek out more of Jill Jonne’s work.
The Battle for Normandy
D-Day
by
Antony Beevor
Viking Adult (2009), Hardcover, 608 pages
I expected a good read, and I was not disappointed. I have read all of Anthony Beevor’s non-fiction works; including those in collaboration with his wife Artemis Cooper – who must have the longest name in literature[1], and I have enjoyed everyone. In fact, when I had finished D-Day, I promptly read it again. With a desire for full disclosure, I have to say that I served with the 11th Hussars just before Beevor did, but I never met him unfortunately.
The value of this book lies in its evenhandedness. Beevor is steeped in literature, and one has the feeling that he writes because he has a story to tell, not a purveyor sensational disclosures to secure a place on the New York Times bestseller list. I hope my naivety is not showing here.
I own and have read many books on the Second World War. In too many of them, the author has aimed their work at a particular audience, and attempted to feed the prejudices of that audience. That is not to suggest that what they say is not true, it is what they do not say that distorts history. Beevor’s book tells the whole story, warts and all. If you come from the “The Russians did all the fighting’ school of thought, you are in for some surprises.
The book starts during the days prior to D-Day, and then carries the reader through to the liberation of Paris. His descriptions of the action on the Normandy beaches are masterful. No detail is left unexplored. You will learn about allied bombers bombing their own side and navy gunners shooting down their own planes. The civilian casualties will appall you, as will the obduracy of generals, and the self-interest of politicians.
D-Day is a testament to the frailty and heroism of the ordinary soldier, and a reminder and the obscenity of war. If you are a student of WWII, you must read this book. If you have no interest in the subject; you should still buy it.
[1] The Hon. Alice Clare Antonia Opportune Cooper Beevor
Attempting to kill the un-killable.
Valkyrie
by
Philip Freiherr Von Boeselager,
with
Florence Fehrenbach, Jerome Fehrenbach,
Steven Rendall (Translator)
Published by
Alfred A. Knopf
This is a work of history, biography and fiction combined; no mean achievement in such a small volume. It is a history of Germany prior to, and during the Second World War. It is a biography of the Von Boeselager family, and it is fiction in its selection of facts.
Ostensively, this is the story of the attempt by army officers to assassinate their Führer, Adolf Hitler, when it became apparent that his fanatical proclivities would not win the Second World War. A war, it should be remembered, started by Germany, and fought overwhelmingly by the German army, and not by the Waffen SS (10% of the army), Gestapo or any other of extreme group conjured up by an insane dictator.
As history, it introduces the reader to the world of privilege and luxury in pre-war Germany. We get a good idea what it was like to be born into the nobility, and the trials and tribulations of hunting shooting and fishing, and the extension of that bucolic existence into the army of the 1930’s.
As a biography; and that is essentially, what the book is, we learn about Von Boeselager’s elder brother Georg. Boeselager confers almost god-like status on this sibling, and based on this information it would be justified. When he was not riding off into the woods destroying wildlife, he was busy riding the Russian steppes destroying Russians. He was wounded, and ultimately killed by them
Boeselager himself was no shrinking violet when it came to fighting, he was wounded five times and lived to tell the tale until he was ninety. The infusion of shot and shell did nothing to prejudice his longevity, and he has been able to relate his story to Florence and Jerome Fehrenbach whose prose has been admirably translated by Steven Rendall.
This work was originally published in Germany in 2008 as ‘We Wanted To Kill Hitler’, or something close to that in German. Someone had the great idea of bringing it to the USA to coincide with the release of Tom Cruse’s movie ‘Valkyrie’, so they did, and changed the name. I do not know if the idea worked. I am inclined to hope that it did not, as the two stories are very different. The 60 or so years, which have passed since the occurrences referred to, have taken their toll on the authors memory. This fact is very convenient as it enables Boeselager to distance himself by omission from the unpleasant activities occasioned by the German army in their relentless blitz-krieg of Western and Eastern Europe.
We are all soft and gullible these days, but it stretches credulity to its limits to suggest that these fine upstanding army officers were unaware of the atrocities meted out daily upon hundreds of thousands of people. The book refers only to the murder of five Gypsies. According to Boeselager, when the war was over and they were thoroughly beaten, his regiment strolled back to Paderborn and amused themselves with equestrian pursuits until America put their country back together.
A thorough investigation into Operation Valkyrie this book is not, but it is a good read nonetheless. I enjoyed reading it and would read it again.
It will all end in tears.
Mrs Astor Regrets
The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach
By
Meryl Gordon
Hardcover; 336 pages Published by Houghton Mifflin: 12/03/2008 @ $28.00
Biographical family stories are usually written long after the principals are dead. In this case, Ms Gordon has been blessed with the longevity of her subjects, and a current court case which is the raison dêtre of her book. One can read the book and follow the case in court. An opportunity not to be missed.
Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed, and Ms Gordon touches them all in her book. A lady who is no stranger to affluence herself, Gordon covers this saga with balance and sympathy. She does not succumb to the ‘Everyone hates Anthony Marshall’ school of condemnation, even though it is difficult not to. She uses her significant journalistic experience to describe the facts as she uncovered them.
All of the participants are contemptible in equal measure. They all have a pecuniary interest in one side or the other succeeding. As I progressed through this litany of greed, I could not find one person who convinced me of altruistic intentions.
Someone once said ‘Show me a large fortune, and I will show you a large crime’. Never was a truer word spoken in this case.
The story starts with a summary of Brook Aster’s life and times. Her three marriages were love at first sight. That is first sight of the potential hubby’s bank account. Husband number one was father of Anthony and wife beater in that order. He didn’t have a long life so Anthony had to fill-in as whipping boy. This lasted all his life and still does. None of the cast of thousands, who are using their best endeavours to put Marshall behind bars, and leech cash from the Astor Estate, pay any regard to the fact that Anthony Marshall is a decorated Marine officer wounded in action in the South Pacific during WWII. He also had an important job with the CIA and the government. I mention this only to highlight the fact that none of his accusers have the slightest understanding of the word ‘JOB’. For them, working could be a city in China.
The revolving bride finally snared an Astor, and when he shook off his mortal coil left an obscenely wealthy widow, who used his money to manipulate and dominate anyone who got in her cross-hairs. She kept everyone on their toes by changing her will every week. This lasted until senility overcame her, and her only son took control of the estate under the guidance and advice of an attorney. All the players who had encouraged the old lady to dole out money, favours and property, where discombobulated when her son introduced prudent fiscal measures which impacted them negatively. The most aggrieved was a grandson who recruited some willing executioners to instigate a witch-hunt against Anthony Marshall. The plan was to use the courts to wrest guardianship of the senile Mrs Astor away from her son into the hands of a more amenable chum. The court did not accept the basic accusation of cruelty, but the furore did attract the attention of the District Attorney.
The case against Anthony Marshall is before the courts as we speak, and could see him in jail for the remainder of his life unless wiser heads prevail. His accusers (including his sons), vehemently profess to not wanting him in jail, but that has not inhibited them from roundly condemning him from the witness box on charges far removed from those they instigated.
Ms Gordon’s (the first – I think), book is an excellent read. In places it reads more like a court brief than a work of literature, but it is non-the-worse for that. More than an excellent read, it is an important work of non-fiction. People should learn how the mighty are fallen, and when the going gets tough, they tear each other to pieces.
Mrs Astor Regrets
The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach
By
Meryl Gordon
Hardcover; 336 pages
Published by Houghton Mifflin: 12/03/2008 @ $28.00
Biographical family stories are usually written long after the principals are dead. In this case, Ms Gordon has been blessed with the longevity of her subjects, and a current court case which is the raison dêtre of her book. One can read the book and follow the case in court. An opportunity not to be missed.
Hell has three gates: lust, anger, and greed, and Ms Gordon touches them all in her book. A lady who is no stranger to affluence herself, Gordon covers this saga with balance and sympathy. She does not succumb to the ‘Everyone hates Anthony Marshall’ school of condemnation, even though it is difficult not to. She uses her significant journalistic experience to describe the facts as she uncovered them.
All of the participants are contemptible in equal measure. They all have a pecuniary interest in one side or the other succeeding. As I progressed through this litany of greed, I could not find one person who convinced me of altruistic intentions.
Someone once said ‘Show me a large fortune, and I will show you a large crime’. Never was a truer word spoken in this case.
The story starts with a summary of Brook Aster’s life and times. Her three marriages were love at first sight. That is first sight of the potential hubby’s bank account. Husband number one was father of Anthony and wife beater in that order. He didn’t have a long life so Anthony had to fill-in as whipping boy. This lasted all his life and still does. None of the cast of thousands, who are using their best endeavours to put Marshall behind bars, and leech cash from the Astor Estate, pay any regard to the fact that Anthony Marshall is a decorated Marine officer wounded in action in the South Pacific during WWII. He also had an important job with the CIA and the government. I mention this only to highlight the fact that none of his accusers have the slightest understanding of the word ‘JOB’. For them, working could be a city in China.
The revolving bride finally snared an Astor, and when he shook off his mortal coil left an obscenely wealthy widow, who used his money to manipulate and dominate anyone who got in her cross-hairs. She kept everyone on their toes by changing her will every week. This lasted until senility overcame her, and her only son took control of the estate under the guidance and advice of an attorney. All the players who had encouraged the old lady to dole out money, favours and property, where discombobulated when her son introduced prudent fiscal measures which impacted them negatively. The most aggrieved was a grandson who recruited some willing executioners to instigate a witch-hunt against Anthony Marshall. The plan was to use the courts to wrest guardianship of the senile Mrs Astor away from her son into the hands of a more amenable chum. The court did not accept the basic accusation of cruelty, but the furore did attract the attention of the District Attorney.
The case against Anthony Marshall is before the courts as we speak, and could see him in jail for the remainder of his life unless wiser heads prevail. His accusers (including his sons), vehemently profess to not wanting him in jail, but that has not inhibited them from roundly condemning him from the witness box on charges far removed from those they instigated.
Ms Gordon’s (the first – I think), book is an excellent read. In places it reads more like a court brief than a work of literature, but it is non-the-worse for that. More than an excellent read, it is an important work of non-fiction. People should learn how the mighty are fallen, and when the going gets tough, they tear each other to pieces.
