BUMPED DUE TO UPDATE & ANNIVERSARY

One of the worst naval disasters of World War II was the sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Some 900 men made it into the watter after it was hit by two torpedoes on July 30, 1945. Only 316 survived to be rescued five days later -- their shipmates the victims of injuries, exposure, and sharks.

Sixty years after he narrowly avoided death in the U.S. Navy's worst sea disaster, World War II veteran Loel Dene "L.D." Cox is haunted by a dream.

He's with buddies somewhere — the faces and places change from night to night — and suddenly they disappear.

"I turn around and they're gone. I hunt for them, and I may accidently find one of them, and I lose him again," he said. "It's that way every night."

The nightmare forces the 79-year-old West Texan to relive an unforgettable ordeal. Cox was among 316 survivors of the sinking of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis between Guam and the Philippines on July 30, 1945.

Of the 1,199 crewmen, about 900 lived through a Japanese submarine attack, but they abandoned ship in shark-infested waters and were left for dead until rescuers arrived almost five days later.

By then, nearly 600 more crewmen had perished. In all, about 880 Indianapolis sailors and Marines lost their lives.

"They don't hardly talk about it in the history books. They talk more about Marilyn Monroe than the Indianapolis and it's a crying shame," Cox said last week.

The retiree from Comanche is among 93 living members of the Indianapolis crew. Sixty of them gathered in the ship's namesake city last week to mark the 60th anniversary of its sinking and the recent exoneration of Capt. Charles Butler McVay III of Navy charges of putting the ship in harm's way.

"We thought it was a travesty — every crew member who survived," said Cox, who in 2000 helped persuade Congress to posthumously clear the captain. McVay survived the sinking but took his own life in 1968.

When survivors put aside memories of their harrowing experiences, they take solace in having accomplished a crucial top-secret mission. Four days before the Indianapolis went to the bottom, the ship delivered the inner workings of the first atomic bomb, which was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6.

The Indianapolis returned from near Japan to San Francisco after a kamikaze attack off Okinawa on March 31, which killed 13 sailors. After repairs, mysterious crates were put aboard, and with record speed, the ship delivered the bomb components to Tinian Island.

Before that mission, Cox was aboard the ship for two other historic missions. The Indianapolis was the command ship during the assault on Iwo Jima and assisted in the first air raids on Tokyo.

There is more to read about this naval tragedy, one more chapter about the lives -- and deaths -- of the Greatest Generation.

UPDATE: Dave Goodman from eMusings at Chez Goodman shares the story of one member of the crew of USS Indianapolis. I think I've found my non-council nominee for this week's Watcher's Council. Prepare to be touched.

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As we approach the sixtieth anniversaray of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I suspect we will see more articles discussing the decision to use the weapon. This morning I've come across two that strike me as grist for the mill.

"Why Truman Dropped the Bomb" author Richard B. Frank offers a persuasive rebuttal of those historians who take a critical or revisionist view of Truman's decision to drop the bomb. In it, he argues that the traditionalist view of the decision is more accurate and better explains why Truman used the bomb.

There are a good many more points that now extend our understanding beyond the debates of 1995. But it is clear that all three of the critics' central premises are wrong. The Japanese did not see their situation as catastrophically hopeless. They were not seeking to surrender, but pursuing a negotiated end to the war that preserved the old order in Japan, not just a figurehead emperor. Finally, thanks to radio intelligence, American leaders, far from knowing that peace was at hand, understood--as one analytical piece in the "Magic" Far East Summary stated in July 1945, after a review of both the military and diplomatic intercepts--that "until the Japanese leaders realize that an invasion can not be repelled, there is little likelihood that they will accept any peace terms satisfactory to the Allies." This cannot be improved upon as a succinct and accurate summary of the military and diplomatic realities of the summer of 1945.

The displacement of the so-called traditionalist view within important segments of American opinion took several decades to accomplish. It will take a similar span of time to displace the critical orthodoxy that arose in the 1960s and prevailed roughly through the 1980s, and replace it with a richer appreciation for the realities of 1945. But the clock is ticking.

In "What would you have done? ", Max Hastings argues that a decision that may be easy to question in hindsight was the one which seemed most reasonable to those charged with making the decisionin 1945.

The decision-makers were men who had grown accustomed to the necessity for cruel judgments. There was overwhelming technological momentum: a titanic effort had been made to create a weapon for which the allies saw themselves as competing with their foes.

After Hiroshima, General Leslie Groves, chief of the Manhattan Project, was almost the only man to succumb to triumphalism. He said: "We have spent $2bn on the greatest scientific gamble in history - we won." Having devoted such resources to the bomb, an extraordinary initiative would have been needed from Truman to arrest its employment.

Those who today find it easy to condemn the architects of Hiroshima sometimes seem to lack humility in recognising the frailties of the decision-makers, mortal men grappling with dilemmas of a magnitude our own generation has been spared.

In August 1945, amid a world sick of death in the cause of defeating evil, allied lives seemed very precious, while the enemy appeared to value neither his own nor those of the innocent. Truman's Hiroshima judgment may seem wrong in the eyes of posterity, but it is easy to understand why it seemed right to most of his contemporaries.

I raise a question with my students each year, one which brings out the stark calculus Truman faced.

"You are the president duing time of war. Your military advisors present you with a weapon that could end the war at the cost of a few hundred thousand enemy civilian lives. Failure to use this weapon will likely cost the lives of up to a million American troops and at least an equal number of enemy lives, both military and civilian. What do you do?"

I've had only one student ever argue against dropping the bomb -- and even then, she questioned how she would be able to justify that decision to the families of a million dead American soldiers.

That is why I really think the question is not "How could Truman justify dropping the bomb?" Rather, the appropriate question is "How could Truman justify NOT dropping the bomb?" And i think the answer is that he could not have justified a negative decision, regardless of what evidence there was of Japanese disarray. He had a primary responsibility to safeguard the lives of American soldiers.

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The city of Galveston is looking to ensure the preservation of one of the few structures to make it through the 1900 hurricane. The city will begin a fundraising effort toraise $5 million to purchase the "Bishop's Palace" from the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston and refurbish the structure. In the process, it will also make possible the renovation of one of the island's other historical structures, St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica, which was built in 1847.

As mayor of Galveston, Lyda Ann Thomas will spearhead a $5 million fund-raising campaign for the city to purchase and refurbish the 112-year-old Chateauesque home, which towers above Broadway, the island's main street. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has owned the historical home since 1923 and operated it as a museum since 1963.

Thomas and Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza have agreed in principle to the sale of the structure to the city, they said Wednesday.

"Historically, it is one of the most important buildings in the country," Thomas said. "It attracts more visitors than any of our other house museums on the island."

The city and the archdiocese have not yet agreed on a sale price for the building, which is in need of repairs, including work to stop a leaking roof. No tax money will be used for the purchase or restoration, the mayor said.

"We can see from the street the deterioration that has been occurring," Thomas said. "I just decided to go up and talk to the archbishop and see if the archdiocese would be willing to let the citizens begin to raise money to restore the building, since the church was struggling with it."

Fiorenza conceded that the Bishop's Palace is a financial burden on the archdiocese, adding that running a museum is "not particularly our mission." He said he thinks the city can do a better job of maintaining it.

"The city has great experience in managing historical homes and museums," Fiorenza said. "We feel under the direction of the Galveston Historical Foundation that beautiful architectural gem will be better preserved as a great tourist attraction for the city of Galveston."

Although the foundation operates several Galveston attractions, including three home museums, it has not been determined whether it will run the Bishop's Palace.

"That is a possibility down the road," said Marsh Davis, head of the historical foundation. "It's going to take some time to gauge the feasibility of it all. But the foundation will be part of the planning process."

The foundation wants to ensure covenants attached to the deed in perpetuity "protect every square inch inside and out" of the structure, Davis said.

The Friends of the Palace campaign, announced at a news conference Wednesday, intends to raise approximately $5 million during the next five years.

"Initially, we will be looking for around $3 million, part of which will be for the purchase," Thomas said. "Part of that $3 million will be used for immediate repairs."

The Bishop's Palace began its life as a private home, and was given as a gift to Bishop Christopher Byrne in 1923. Besides Byrne, no other Bishop ever lived in the structure.

According to Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza, proceeds from the sale of the Bishop's palace will be used to aid in the renovation of St. Mar's Cathedral Basilica, the oldest Cathedral in the state of Texas and the oldest church building on Galveston Island.

All in all, this sounds like a win for everyone.

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All archaeological and anthropological research on ancient man in America could be stopped by an amendment proposed to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act by Senator John McCain. An editorial in today's Seattle Times does a fine job of explaining what is at stake.

EIGHTY years after the Scopes trial dealt a blow to the anti-evolution movement, a similar face-off between science and religion is slated tomorrow in the U.S. Senate.

This time the issue is whether to preserve the right of science to discern the stories of the earliest Americans or to accede to beliefs of some Native American tribes that all ancient remains belong to them — even when there is no provable connection.

An action against science could stall the court-ordered study of Kennewick Man, the 9,300-year-old remains stored at the University of Washington's Burke Museum.

Science should win again.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing likely won't draw 1,000 spectators, as crowded around the Dayton, Tenn., courthouse for the trial of high-school teacher John Thomas Scopes, accused of illegally teaching evolutionary theory. But the debate no doubt will be as passionate as that rendered by William Jennings Bryan, for the prosecution, and Clarence Darrow, for the defense.

At issue now is whether to amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act with the addition of two words: "or was." So the act would redefine Native American to be "of, or relating to, a tribe, people, or culture that is ... or was ... indigenous to the United States."

That means modern-day tribes could claim the remains from ancient tribes that long since moved on or died out — even remains of their ancestors' foes.

The proposed change is in response to last year's unequivocal federal rulings that scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man. When the skeleton was found in 1996 on federal land, the government quickly moved to repatriate the remains to four tribes that claimed them. Eight leading scientists sued and won. This month, they are studying the remains for the first time.

The tribes argued their oral histories say they always have been in the Northwest and contain no references to visitors — contrary to scientific evidence of widespread migration.

The federal courts sided with science, finding none of the Act's required proof of a connection to the tribes. Republican Sen. John McCain's proposed amendment would remove that burden of proven affiliation.

In other words, science would be stopped based upon the unsubstantiated claims of native American rligious traditions.

This would be like preventing the excavation and study of dinosur fossils because some whack-job points out that T-Rex isn't mentioned in Genesis.

Before anybody says "stem cells", please recognize that this is not about denying federal funding -- this is about preventiing all research.

And, of couse, the sponsor of this lousy legislation is John McCain. has he ever sponsored a worthwhile bill?

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Burning of Rome.

Czar murdered.

Man whose name is synonym for traitor born.

Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.

Ted Kennedy takes Mary Jo for a drive and leaves her to die so he can sober-up and cover-up.

And it all happened today!

Makes you sort of wonder about Intel, though.

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This past week, scientists began a new round of study of the bones of Kennewick Man, the 9000 year old skeleton found in 1996 on the banks of the Columbia River. The oldest human fossils ever discovered in North America, the results of the study could tell us much about the migration of human beings to the Americas during the Ice Age.

The skull's dimensions are very different from existing and historic Native American populations, suggesting the Northwest might have been colonized at different times by people from different parts of Asia, anthropologists say.

The nine-year delay in being able to examine the bones has actually provided a kind of scientific advantage, [Smithsonian Institution forensic anthropologist Doug] Owsley said, displaying clear plastic models of the skull and portion of the man's hip bone with a stone spear tip embedded in it.

Only in the past five years has high-powered CT-scanning technology been able to produce the detailed, three-dimensional images used to create the models.

The hip model already has revealed that the tip of the spearpoint had broken off, possibly when the man tried to snap off the spear shaft. Closer analysis should determine what direction the blow came from, how bad the wound was and how long it took to heal.

The high-tech approach and painstaking analysis being used to probe Kennewick Man's past will set a new standard for working with such rare and old skeletons, Owsley predicted.

The work is being done under tight security at the University of Washington's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture. But the atmosphere is electric, said C. Wayne Smith, artifact-conservation specialist from Texas A&M University.

"We've brought this massive set of resources together to be able to see the story these bones can tell us," he said. "It's very exciting every day."

Hugh Berryman, a forensic anthropologist from Middle Tennessee State University, put it another way: "This is like working with a Rembrandt. It's one of a kind."

This study is an important part of coming to understand the history of not just North America or of Native Americans, but of the human race in general. I look forward to learning the results of the study.

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London will have this neat archaological display from the Middle Ages on permanent display in a new office building in the city. Rather than raze the ruins or stop the development, the remnants of a medieval charnel house will be on permanent display to the public.

A rare, medieval charnel house will go on public display for the first time in 300 years this month in a visually striking reminder of the past beneath our feet.

The 14th century bone store has been preserved and incorporated in the heart of a multi-million-pound office and retail development.
Dan Cruickshank in the Spitalfields charnel house

Visitors and office workers will be presented with the stark contrast of a vaulted crypt dating back almost 700 years set immediately beneath the glass front of the new headquarters of the law firm Allen & Overy.

Now how, exactly, is this to be accomplished? How do you have a modern office building and a historical site dating back several centuries coexisting together?

The Spitalfields charnel house in central London will be visible from above through ground-level glass panels and from the side via a Norman Foster-designed sunken courtyard containing a small yew tree.

It provides a remarkable window into the history of a site that was the burial place of wealthy inhabitants of Roman Londinium, one of the country's largest hospitals dating back to the late 12th century, a cemetery that has yielded the remains of more than 10,000 medieval Londoners and the market founded in the 17th century.

The 700-year-old building has been removed from English Heritage's buildings at risk register, a list of the nation's most vulnerable grade I and II* buildings and monuments published annually.

Steven Brindle, an English Heritage ancient monument inspector, said: "This is a remarkable design achievement. I really like the metaphorical way it allows an appreciation of the juxtaposition between the past down below and the modern up above."

Yeah, I'll say it is one heck of a juxtaposition. I especially like, though, the observation of the senior architect for the project.

John Drew, a partner at Foster and Partners, and senior architect on the project, said: "I often wonder what it would be like if the ground in London was transparent and we could see the remains of the city's 2,500 years of history beneath our feet.

"I find it rather exciting that someone can be just walking across the square and suddenly find themselves on the glass panels, looking down at 700 years of history."

We Americans do not really appreciate what often lies beneath our feet, because our country is so young. The earliest of the English settlements is only 400 years old, and much of the country is much younger. Little is left of the pre-Columbian period, becaause most of the indigenous people were nomadic or did not build long-lived structures. That means we don't think much of what came before us. the British (and most Europeans), on the other hand, are acutely aware of their history -- and it resonates with them. That is why preserving this charnel house was so important to them.

The medieval bone store was rediscovered in 1999 during excavations by the Museum of London archaeology service for the new development planned at the site.

Working on advice from English Heritage, the Spitalfields Development Group instructed the architects Foster and Partners to incorporate the structure into their scheme.

Dan Cruickshank, a historian and local resident, said: "To ponder the charnel house, below which bodies remain interred, is to confront the beliefs of medieval Londoners. This is a beautiful house of the medieval dead, where bones were preserved against the Day of Judgment when the righteous would enjoy paradise while the damned were consigned to hell."

And so the living and the dead will coexist together in one space. If I ever get to London, this is someplace I would like to see.

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I was browsing over at Bad Example and read a neat post about the meme Harvey got tagged on by GBFan of SpottedHorse. He tagged Mike the Marine of From the Halls to the Shores. The lists are interesting -- you ought to go take a look.

Here is GBFan's challenge.

What ten events would you care to witness if you could travel in time and observe them.

Rules: First my version of the Prime directive you can only observe you cannot change anything no changing of the time line. You can interact to a point ie stand in a crowd or talk to people you cannot do anything that will change time. So sorry no going back and putting a bullet into Hitler's head in 1929 or offing OBL back in the 80's. You can stay as long at an event as you like remember this is a Sci Fi Meme.

Now, for this history teacher's list of 10 times and places I would like to visit in history -- in no particular order.

1) Jerusalem -- about 33 AD -- How could I possibley not include the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Word Who Became Flesh For Our Salvation?

2) Constantinople -- 1054 -- I'd like to be able to observe the events that brought about the Great Schism between the Catholic West and the Orthodox East. So much of it seems to be personal rather than theological -- but was it?

3) Japan -- 1595-1605-- The events that led to the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate by Tokugawa Ieyasu are fascinating. By starting the observaation while Toyotomi Hideyoshi (the Taiko) still lived, one would have be able to observe the political and military intrigues that led to the establishment of the shogunate that would rule Japan for the next two-and-a-half centuries at the height of samurai culture.

4) Egypt -- 1360-1325 BC -- Why those years? Akhenaten and Tutankhamun reighned at that time, the two most fascinating and mysterious pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty. One a religious radical, the other the boy king whose death and tomb remain mysterious. And can you say "shinxes and temples and pyramids -- oh my"?

5) Rome -- 50-40 BC -- Caesar vs. Pompey. Caesar and Cleopatra. The assasination of Caesar. Octavian and Antony vs. Brutus and Cassius. Octavian vs. Antony. Ain't Rome grand?

6) London -- 1599 -- During my time as an English teacher, I grew to love Shakespeare. I would love to be able to see a performance -- especially the opening -- of any one of several of Shakespeare's plays. Given that 1599 saw the first productions of Henry V, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It, as well as possibly The Merry Wives of Windsor, it seems like it would have been a very good year.

7) Athens -- 433 BC -- The Age of Pericles was in full bloom by this time, and the Parthenon was finally complete. I'd also have to take in a performance of Sophocles' Antigone.

Philadelphia -- 1787 -- How could I not include the Constitutional convention. Many of the greatest minds in America were there, shaping a document which is still the foundation of American government.

9) Tibet -- November, 1950 -- The enthronement of Tenzin Gyatso as the 14th Dalai Lama may well be the last such ceremony to ever take place in Tibet.

10) St. Petersburg -- 1720-1725 -- This monument to Tsar Peter the Great was rising on the shores of the Baltic Sea, part of his attempt to transform Russia into a European power. The final five years of Peter's life were ones in which he made great strides towards his goal.

Well, now you see what sort of things interest the "history geek" in me. I'll pass this one on, in the hopes that some folks will pay attention and respond. Are you up to the challenge, Jim (Snooze Button Dreams), Crystal (Crystal Clear), Dolphin (Where The Dolphins Play), and Mike (Mover Mike)?

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The Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, is the oldest synagogue in North America. Dating to colonial times, it was visited by George Washington in 1781. It is now being restored as part of a $10 million project designed to palce the building in a historical context.

The oldest existing Jewish house of worship in North America, the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., holds more than two centuries of history within its brick walls. George Washington visited, and throngs of tourists still include it on their itineraries.

But age has crept up on the building, dedicated in 1763. The walls are deteriorating with mold, white paint chips litter the ground, a brass chandelier is slowly corroding, and a poor ventilation system can make the sanctuary uncomfortable.

Now, an extensive restoration is under way, the first in decades, as part of a $10 million campaign that includes money to build visitor facilities. The synagogue has been temporarily closed and sheathed in a white covering. The restoration is expected to conclude in December.

"Two hundred and fifty years is great for the building to have lasted," said Michael Balaban, a former Hebrew school teacher and leader of the Touro Synagogue Foundation. "But if we don't start to act now, we certainly won't get another 250 years out of the building, let alone another 50."

The history of the synagogue starts with a group of Sephardic Jews who arrived in 1658 in Rhode Island -- a colony founded by Roger Williams and his followers on the principle of religious tolerance. They established a congregation, and the synagogue was built a century later -- designed by Newport architect Peter Harrison, whose other notable buildings include King's Chapel in Boston.

George Washington visited in 1781 and later delivered a written proclamation guaranteeing that bigotry would not be tolerated in the new nation.

Touro stands as one of the great symbols of religious liberty in this country, and also as a symbol of our nation's Judeo-Christian heritage. May it continue to serve as a reminder of the people of faith who built this country and made it great.

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No, it doesn't. In fact, it cannot even support its own weight. But it survives, over 190 years later, and is soon to emerge following a seven year, $18.6 million conservation project. That's right -- THE flag that flew over Fort McHenry in 1814, that inspired the composition of our national anthem by Francis Scott Key, will soon be back on display in the Smithsonian.

Even then, Sept. 14, 1814, the huge garrison flag was frayed at the ends and faded from a year's daily use. Over the next 190 years, it deteriorated to the point that it has become one the country's most fragile cultural treasures.

"The first time I saw it, my stomach just dropped," said Marilyn Zoidis, the Smithsonian's senior curator for the flag. "It was so fragile that it couldn't even support its own weight. I really wondered whether we would ever be able to save it."

Since the project began, a cadre of chemists, conservators and textile experts have labored over the red, white and blue rectangle of wool bunting with cotton stars.

Because of the flag's size and fragility, technicians have to work while lying prone on a gantry that lets them "hover" 4 inches above it. Exhaust ducts dangle like elephant trunks to remove chemical vapors. Increased air pressure keeps dust out. The temperature is maintained at 68 degrees, and the lights are kept low to prevent further deterioration.

Congress has authorized $3 million. The rest of the money, including $10 million from Polo Ralph Lauren and $5 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts, is from private sources.

I remember, as a kid living in the Washington area, seeing that flag every time we visited the museum. While I may have wanted to see the dinosaurs, mummys amd aircraft that fill the various buildings, I always found it a special moment when we went to see the flag. And we did go to see the flag every single time. even then, thirty years ago, the flag was in sorry shape. So I was pleased sevral years ago to hear that this important cultural icon would be safeguarded for future generations.

A small gallery with a 50-foot-long window looking onto the flag conservation lab has become the museum's largest attraction, with 10 million visitors since it opened in 1998.

Most visitors are struck by the sheer size of the banner, so frayed in spots it is almost transparent. Designed to fly from a 90-foot pole, the flag measured 30 by 42 feet. Now it is 30 by 34 feet, reduced by wear and tear at Fort McHenry and by uncounted bits and pieces snipped off as mementos.

The conservation team's inch-by-inch survey found 165 previous repairs, 37 patches, and a spectrum of soiling that included sulfur and nitrogen residue left by exploding British shells and contemporary grime, auto exhaust and mold.

Some parts were strong enough to be gently vacuumed, but most had to be patted clean with dry cosmetic sponges and gently bathed with diluted solvents. Uneven aging has produced at least five shades of red, six kinds of white, and three hues of blue.

Because the flag can't support its own weight, technicians have been attaching it to a synthetic backing.

Like I said, it was in pretty sorry shape, though I would never have imagined it had become that fragile. I wish the last few years would have enabled me to see the conservation effort, but such is life. In the next few years, we will need to make a trip out east to see the results of this effort.

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