The Defense of the Flag and Lorado Taft

Back on November 5, I wrote about the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in Gloversville, New York which I had discovered while visiting there last August. James Morrison, of the Gloversville Historian’s Office, was able to give me the memorial’s correct name and when it was erected but he had no more information about it. The only information offered by the memorial itself were the foundry markings for Gorham Founders. Following up the lead offered by markings on the base of the memorial, I visited the Smithsonian Museum of American Art’s collection of the Gorham Foundry’s papers, but these records shed no further light on the sculptor’s identity nor offered any further leads to pursue.

I’ve read that many of the world’s greatest discoveries resulted from accidents – either in a laboratory or as the human race moved about the surface of the planet looking for something else entirely different from what it actually found. Sometimes, it’s that way in tracking down this kind of information as well. Yesterday, I visited one of my favorite local book stores in Washington DC (something my wife often dreads – with good reason, yesterday was big day for me there!), Second StoryBooks. In their specially priced-to- move bins on the sidewalk (bringing up memories of Paris and Moscow), I came across a copy of “The Public Art of CivilWar Commemoration, A Brief History with Documents” by Thomas J. Brown of the University of South Carolina.

Given my interest in the Civil War and in how we use public space and public monuments to commemorate our history, especially our military history, I plucked this out of the bin and begin my usual quick examination – pictures? bibliography? blurb? author’s bio and credentials? – all factors contributing to a buy or do not buy decision. And there from page 34 jumps out a picture of the Gloversville monument – except the caption says that it’s located in Jackson, Michigan. Furthermore, it identifies the sculptor as LoradoTaft whose Wikipedia biography includes a link to a photograph of the Michigan monument which according to Brown dates from the 1894-1904 period. The proper title of the three figure grouping is “The Defense of the Flag” – very appropriate. Thus, through the intervention so to speak of the universe or simply chance, we now know the sculptor, the title of the work, and that it is not unique but one of at least two copies on public display.

(If you are also interested in further examination and discussion of how we use public spaces you may be interested in Sue Mosher’s Placekeepers website and blog which focus upon the sacred uses of space.)

Sergeant Murphy's Laws of Combat

(As compiled by The Military Philosopher)



The important things are very simple.

The simple things are very hard.

If it’s stupid but it works, it ain’t stupid.

The MP corollary: If it’s lethal or it just works, it ain’t “obsolete” just because your grandfather used it.

Both sides believe they are about to lose; they are both right.

You can win without fighting, but it’s a lot tougher to do when the enemy does not cooperate.

Professionals are reliable and predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.

Radio communications will fail as soon as you need something desperately.

All things being equal, the side with the simplest uniforms wins.

No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection.

No inspection-ready unit has ever passed combat.

It is easier to expend material in combat then to fill out Graves Registration forms after.

If a private tells you he’s done something, go check it out. If a lieutenant tells you he’s done something on his own, got fix it.

Don’t’ look conspicuous, it draws fire.

Try to look unimportant, they may be low on ammo.

Anything you do can get you shot, including doing nothing.

Never draw fire, it irritates everyone around you.

Teamwork is essential; it gives them other people to shoot at.

If the enemy is in range, so are you.

Tracers work both ways.

Suppressive fire won’t.

Incoming fire has the right of way.

Friendly fire isn’t.

The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.

If you are short of everything except enemy, you are in combat.

If your attack is going really well, it’s an ambush.

The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.

The enemy will still be able to see you when you can’t see him.

The easy way is always mined.

When in doubt, empty the magazine.

Ammo is cheap compared to your life.

The law of the bayonet says the man with the bullet wins.

Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.

When you have secured an area, don’t forget to tell the enemy.

Make it too tough for the enemy to get in, and you can’t get out.

The only terrain you truly control is the ground you’re standing on.

If your present site is tactically perfect, prepare to move out.

If command says you’re staying overnight, prepare to move out.

Your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

All five-second grenade fuzes detonate in three seconds.

The bursting radius of a hand grenade is your jumping range plus 1 foot.

If you can’t remember, the claymore is pointed at you.

Any mandated “improvements” to existing equipment will result in twice as much down time for that equipment.

If you make it weigh half as much, the troops will need twice as many.

All-weather close air support doesn’t fly in bad weather.

Precision bombing can be depended upon to be accurate to within plus/minus one mile.

B-52/C-130 cluster bombing is very, very accurate. The bombs always hit the ground.

If you are forward of your position, the artillery will be short.

Patton Writes About the Bulge - Lieutenant Patton, That Is

I don't normally take up this page with my book reviews. There are plenty of other venues for that and you can find my reviews on Amazon.com and sometimes on my FaceBook pages. I picked up this book because it had a tank on the cover. There are far fewer war novels written in the U.S. about tanks than there are submarines or fighter pilots. The UK does far better by its tankers in the fiction world than we do, I blame that on Tom Clancy. But this book caught my interest because its author, Oliver B. Patton, was a Class of 1944 West Point graduate and career Army officer, retiring with the rank of Brigadier General. During the Battle of the Bulge, he was a lieutenant in command of a rifle platoon in the hard-luck 106th Infantry Division, much of which was overrun and destroyed in the initial German attack of that Battle. Lieutenant Patton was badly wounded and captured by German forces. He spent the rest of the war as a German PoW, in either German hospitals or prisoner-of-war camps.


“The Silent Snow” is the last of five historical novels he wrote after his retirement from the Army, the other four all set on the American frontier. This is not the story of the Battered Bastards of Bastogne or a paean to General George S. Patton’s Third Army tankers. Instead, this is the story of a lieutenant, separated from his unit in the 106th Infantry Division as it is being overrun in the unexpected German assault. As such it draws heavily upon the author’s experiences in the original battle, though his principal character spends much of the book evading capture as the war rages on in the Ardennes Forest battlefield. Patton’s own story is available online for those interested in it at http://www.freewebs.com/106thinfantry-part2/oliverbpatton.htm.

Patton presents a workmanlike narrative told in a clear readable style. The story told here is not a full-up war novel, but an account of what happens (or happened) to the men and women who experienced this portion of the Second World War. The book benefits greatly as it reflects Patton’s personal experiences, offering the reader both familiar and some surprising aspects of what was one of the greatest battles fought by U.S. forces during the war. Patton also makes clear the degree to which the American forces were a citizen-army made up of average Americans who wanted most of all to go come again but knew that that road ran through Berlin as they said.

Patton would go on to serve in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was wounded again in Korea. He served as assistant chief of staff for XXIV Corps in Vietnam and as Assistant Chief of Staff for Army intelligence at the Pentagon in the late 1960s. He received three Purple Hearts and three Bronze stars during his active military service. His writing career began in retirement. Upon his death in 2002 he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
There are not that many works of war fiction that can claim to be authored by an actual veteran of the battle or conflict being written about. For that reason alone, The Silent Snow is worth reading for the general reader interested in the stories surrounding the Battle of the Bulge. It should also interest to scholars examining the historiography of the battle and the nature and evolution of its numerous literary offspring.