The German General Staff and military, through World War II, was based on the ideas of Clausewitz who had observed many Napoleonic battles.
War is a continuation of politics by other means. Carl von Clausewitz (Prussian military theorist)

In modern times, economic war has been favored over more traditional war.

More: Carl von Clausewitz

Veterans Grove in Elizabethtown Masonic Village, near the Amtrak Station.

• Built in 1920 to resemble a Doric Temple.
• Originally 268 oak trees planted in rows around the memorial.
• In honor of PA Masons who died serving the country in World War I.
• Eternal Flame added in 2014 to all military and veterans.
• Inscribed with: "All Gave Some – Some Gave All".

World War II in 1939 started 21 years after World War I ended in 1918.

On vacations each year, we would visit many battlefields, museums and historical sites.

All the kids loved it!

Many years later dad would clarify the situation.

Many use this verse as a "battle cry" or puffed-up-in-pride "badge of honor". Some pastors (and others) promote this misconception.
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. President)

If God is the primary customer, then the customer is always right.

• Man's "righteousness" is "what is right" as in an "opinion" that is the "glory" of man (humanism).
• God's "righteousness" is "what is right" as in an "opinion" that is the "glory" of God (theism).



More: Romans 8: Battle cry separation for the love of Christ (part 1)

More: Abraham Lincoln

Connective paraphrase: Since God is above us (verses before - these things - above in the text), then who (might it be that) is down on us (following verses and chapters - down below in the text)?

The word slide started with the Latin.

• "pro" ≈ "for, on behalf of, in front of".
• "contra" ≈ "against, contrary".

More: Romans 8: Battle cry separation for the love of Christ (part 1)

The Greek word translated "blessed" means "happy" or "content".

[Pax Romana, anarchy vs. peace]

• Jesus does not say whether being a "peacemaker" is a good or bad idea.
• Jesus does not say who will call such a "peacemaker" the "children of God".

As such, this Beatitude is an ambiguous statement that can be taken in multiple ways.

More: Matthew 5:9 Making and appeasing peaceful peacemakers

October 5, 1974: My hand was no longer in a cast. After watching a West Point parade on the Plain, the game soon started. Army scored two quick touchdowns before Jay got up the hill to the game, so he was worried a little. Penn State scored three touchdowns to win.

More: SPUM: Jay Greider

In High School, I came to some ideas about war.

• Most people thought it would be a short war. It wasn't.
• Most wars started the way the previous one had ended, often with a new wrinkle by one of the attackers.
• By the end of the war, many people had forgotten how and why the war had actually started.
• Old soldiers tended not to talk about the horrors of war, just (after many years) the glory and honor, etc. After a generation or so, young people went into war again without realizing the horror of war.

[EAHS Library, Public Library]

March is the first month of the year in the old Roman calendar. The French word "Mardi" ≈ "Tuesday" from the Latin "dies Martis" ≈ "day of Mars" where Mars is the God of War and the basis for the month name of "March" - the time when ancient folk would go to war.

After this verse, David takes an interest in Bathsheba.

• March 14: Pi day



More: Months

No one starts a war--or rather, no one in his sense ought to do so--without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by the war and how he intends to conduct it. Carl von Clausewitz (Prussian military theorist)

In modern times, it is equally important is to have an exit strategy for how to get out of a war as a limited conflict and not total war.

More: Carl von Clausewitz

Everything in war is very simple, but the simplest thing is difficult. Carl von Clausewitz (Prussian military theorist)

This appears to be the origin of the idea of a fog of war.

More: Carl von Clausewitz

The Roman (democratic) Republic (with Senate) essentially ended in 59 BC with the Triumvirate of Caesar, Pompeius and Crassus. The Greek word "democracy" means "people power".

• The Roman Senate never ended. They had no power over anything important.
• The USSR (Lenin, Stalin, etc.) had the Politburo. They had no power over anything important. Their state newspaper was called "Truth" or "Pravda".
• Hitler kept the Reichstag. They had no power over anything important.

In 44 B.C. Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius. Why? This act was made more famous by a play by Shakespeare. Thereafter, Rome was ruled, not by a king, but by a dictators called Caesar.

Antony and Octavian defeated these conspirators at the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C. This is about 90 years before Paul visits the city and about 100 years before the letter to the Philippians by Paul.

After the Battle of Philippi in 42 B.C., many Roman veterans were settled here and many locals were awarded the coveted Roman citizenship. Paul will remind the Philippians of this twice in his letter. The KJV (King James Version) uses "conversation" as "citizenship".




From these veterans, the importance of law and order is seen in Paul's visit to Philippi in Acts 16 where the Philippians jailer is part of the story.

• Citizenship on earth.
• Citizenship in heaven.

More: Philippians: Background and introduction

• 1776: Declaration of Independence (why?)
• 1775-1783: Revolutionary War, 30,000 military dead
• 1789: French Revolution (democracy begins, reign of terror)
• 1799: Napoleon as first consul (democracy ended)
• 1790-1815: Wars and battles, 3,000,000 military dead
• 1812: Russia campaign (500,000 start, 10,000 return)
• 1815: Waterloo, Congress of Vienna (100 years of relative peace)
• Peace without victory is a victory for peace. Henry Kissinger
• Technology advances, shotgun to rifle to machine gun [tanks, aircraft, ships]
• World War 1: 10,000,000 military dead.

The famous graphic by Minard and made famous by Tufte is of Napoleon's Russia campaign and shows how his forces dwindled during the campaign.

• 1790-1815: Mass charges work with short range muskets and cannon.
• Rapid fire and long range rifles and cannon developed.
• 1860-1865: Mass charges result in huge casualties and do not work.
• 1914-1918: Machine guns, longer range, faster fire, same tactics used. Casualties increase beyond comprehension.

Many use this verse as a "battle cry" or puffed-up-in-pride "badge of honor". Some pastors (and others) promote this misconception.
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right. Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. President)

If God is the primary customer, then the customer is always right.

• Man's "righteousness" is "what is right" as in an "opinion" that is the "glory" of man (humanism).
• God's "righteousness" is "what is right" as in an "opinion" that is the "glory" of God (theism).



More: Romans 8: Battle cry separation for the love of Christ (part 1)

Lincoln initiated the Civil War without the approval of Congress with the first ever Executive Order.



More: Abraham Lincoln

My mother told us that during the Civil War her parents could hear the cannon at Gettysburg. She said that Grandpa was called for the Army, but Grandma was sick and he didn't want to leave her so he bought his way out. I think he had to pay one hundred and twenty dollars. He was called the second time and she was still sick so he bought his way out again. He was called the third time and he didn't have the money, so he had to go. He walked across the mountains to Harrisburg, probably about seventy or eighty miles to join the Army, only to find out when he got there that the war was over, so all he could do was turn around and walk back home. Blaine Long family history as recorded by Elsie Long. [Columbia bridge burned]

Uncle Blaine wrote about driving tanks in the Army after World War I.

Here is a Lincoln quote from his second Inaugural Address on March 4, 1865, soon before he was assassinated on April 14.
Both (North and South) read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. … The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. Abraham Lincoln (16th U.S. President)

Lincoln used a number of Bible passages in this address (omitted here).

More: Abraham Lincoln

Historian Shelby Foote (1916-2005) makes the following observation.

• Before the Civil War, the (united) states are a country.
• After the Civil War, the united states is a country.



More: Song: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

In the Say and Seal novel (#2, #1 was Uncle Tom's Cabin) by Susan Warner (1819-1885), with help from Anna Warner (1824-1915), a little boy named Johnny Fox is dying. His Sunday School teacher comforts him by taking the little boy in his arms, rocking him, and saying the comforting words, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."
Second verse:

Jesus loves me he who died heaven's gate to open wide.
He will wash away my sin, let His little child come in.



More: Song: Jesus loves me

After the panic of 1837, the family and the sisters had moved to Constitution Island in the Hudson River, across form the United States Military Academy at West Point. Until the near the end of their lives, Susan Warner (1819-1885) and Anna Warner (1824-1915) taught Sunday School classes to cadets who would later serve in the military - including many generals in World War I and II.

They are the only civilians buried at the West Point military cemetery.

More: Song: Jesus loves me

War does not determine who is right - only who is left. Bertrand Russell (British philosopher, logician and social critic)

More: Bertrand Russell

In the 1960's Pete Seeger song "Where have all the flowers gone" was made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary (and others) as an anti-war song with roots "In Flanders Fields".
Verse 1: Where have all the flowers gone? ... The girls have picked them every one.
Verse 2: Where have all the young girls gone?, ... Gone for husbands ...
Verse 3: Where have all the husbands gone? ... Gone for soldiers ...
Verse 4: Where have all the soldiers gone? ... Gone to graveyards ...
Verse 5: Where have all the graveyards gone? ... Gone to flowers
Verse 6: Where have all the flowers gone? ... Young girls have picked them ...

End of each verse: When will you ever learn? Oh, When will you ever learn?

In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. Herodotus.

The Compiègne Wagon was the train carriage in which both the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and Armistice of 22 June 1940 were signed. Wikipedia (as of 2022-11-03)

Philippines: American surrender at Bataan, death march, death camp.

• Japan invades the Philippines. MacArthur ordered to leave.
• Surrender at Bataan. Death march: April 9-17, 1942, 65 miles,
• If you fell or were on the ground, you were shot. Prisoners the rest of the war.
• Deaths: about 600 American, 10,000 Filipino.
• MacArthur eventually retakes the Philippines.
• Japanese surrender: MacArthur and Wainwright (1883-1953)

2LT William E. Walter, 12th Signal Company, surrendered his troops.

• Death march: April 10-21, 1942.
• Liberated: September 9-10, 1945.

He ended up marrying a nurse who helped care for him on his recovery and way back to the states.

Before surrendering, he looked around. He saw New York boys who would never survive in the jungle. He decided they should take their chances on surrender. Related by his daughter, 2023-11-12.
"It's a jungle out there".

More: World War 2 talk

George Patton had the nickname "Old blood and guts".

His movie was very popular at the West Point movie theater in the late 1970's.
Patton competed in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. [tanks and Uncle Blaine]

His grandfather, George Patton Sr. (1833-1864) was a Confederate colonel during the Civil War.

The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his. George S. Patton (American General in World War II)

In 1943, Patton slapped two soldiers during the Sicily campaign. By contrast, the Soviet Army placed little if no value on human life.

He saw them as shirking duty as they had no visible injuries. The United States Press made it a huge incident. Many wanted him out of the Army, but Eisenhower (and others) knew they needed him as a commander.

His family left town for the hill country in the early 1930's as Stalin starved some 10 million to death. The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic. Joseph Stalin.

[Malcolm Muggeridge, New York Times, Mother Theresa, Ukraine]

In 1941, Henry was conscripted into the Soviet Army to fight the Germans. In the first six months, Germany captured 3,000,000 Russian solders. Henry was captured, forced to help the Germans at Leningrad, fell out of favor, put into a prison camp and later escaped to the west. [prisoner policy]

... the Russians would not tolerate anyone saying no. I remember them lining us up after we were drafted and telling us that we must obey. If you don't, they said, this is what we will do to you. One of the Russian officers pulled out his revolver and walked up to the man who was first in line and shot him. Henry Berg as related to the Mennonite Society of Eastern Pennsylvania on January 18, 1981.

[Zhukov comments to Eisenhower]

Henry Berg eventually made his way to a farm in Bainbridge, PA (near Nancy Baker), later moving to a farm between Elizabethtown, PA, and Maytown, PA. Henry worked at Newcomer Oil for many years. He told a co-worker, Benjamin Spickler, many stories.


During training he was standing in formation and listening to a speech by a training supervisor on what happens if a soldier deserts. The supervisor makes a soldier step forward and he is killed on the spot as an example on what happens to deserters. Written from recollections of discussions with Henry Berg by Ben Spickler, July 2018.

Henry made similar remarks to the Mennonite Society of Eastern Pennsylvania on January 18, 1981. There it was "not obeying orders immediately".

Military deaths from four months of Battle of Stalingrad:

• Soviet: 500,000 soldiers, 40,000 civilians
• German: 250,000 soldiers, 100,000 captured, 6,000 survived
• "USSR" is short for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".
• "Nazi" is short for "National Socialists" (Fascists)

[bad guy vs. bad guy, freshman term paper]

More: July 4: back in time

European theater in World War II:

• American military: 220,000 deaths

Military deaths from four months of Battle of Stalingrad:

• Soviet: 500,000 soldiers, 40,000 civilians
• German: 250,000 soldiers, 100,000 captured, 6,000 survived
• "USSR" is short for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics".
• "Nazi" is short for "National Socialists" (Fascists)

Eastern front in World War II: (bigger than World War I)

• German military: 5,000,000 deaths, 4,500,000 captured
• Soviet military: 9,000,000 deaths, 5,000,000 captured
• Soviet civilians: 20,000,000 deaths (Leningrad, Stalingrad, etc.)

Pacific theater in World War II:

• American military: 70,000 deaths
• Japanese military: 2,000,000 deaths
• China military: 10,000,000 deaths (does not end with end of war)

[medical care, penicillin from 1929]

Colonel (Oberst) Kurt Leiberich (1920-2012): German soldier and officer who served as a forward observer and battery commander on the Eastern Front, including Leningrad, from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. He was an German language instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY (1974-1978).

Course: Military and scientific German (1976)
Term paper: EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) (non-classified material)

West Point exchange program with West German Officer's School (1976).
Senior summer: Committee on NBC, Nuclear, Biological and Chemical warfare.
Senior International Relations paper: Policy analysis of the potential deployment of the neutron bomb

Operation Tidal Wave: August 1, 1943, to destroy petroleum-based fuel to Axis powers. B-52 bombers. 7 hours to target, 27 minutes over Ploesti, near Bucharest in Romania, 7 hours back.

Treichler, William E. T/SGT - … on 23rd mission, flying at 300 ft. through machine gun fire, explosions, smoke, Treichler said, I heard Sulflow [pilot] say on interphone, Can't see anything. Shaw [bombardier] called steady, gave corrections, then Bombs away. Pilots took us down on deck. I saw Politte [gunner] hit by machine gun fire, double up. Flames flew up at me from bomb bay tanks. Flak hitting up front pitched us violently. Then we exploded. I woke up couple days later in a hospital. Treichler was the sole survivor. …

He remained a POW in Romania until near the end of the war.

William Treichler (1912-2011) later moved to Elizabethtown and was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church. His son Ronald ran the water treatment plant in Elizabethtown for many years.

In this situation, at least the next of kin knew what had happened to the others in the plane.

• Pilot: Sulflow
• Bombardier: Shaw
• Gunner: Politte

Sometimes nothing was ever known.

More: World War 2 talk

D-day was June 4, 1944.

[Yogi Berra was on naval support ship]

On July 4, 1944, 1,100 US guns fire 4th of July salute at German lines in Normandy.
The Norman invasion from France to Britain was in 1066 by William, Duke of Normandy. The decisive battle was at Hastings on October 14, 1066.

[North men] [Armistice Day in 1917] [Eisenhower, enigma message] [John Smith at Antietam] [beach landings]

My idea: "D-Day" came from slang for "The day".

Normandy is named for the "North men" or "Norse men", Vikings who invaded the north coast lands of what is today France (and many other areas).

On the day of the Armistice in 1917, fighting continued with over 11,000 casualties, more than on D-Day in 1944.

More: July 4: back in time

A survivor from December 17, 1944, a week before Christmas was PFC William F Reem (1923-2003) from Elizabethtown PA. His daughter was in the EAHS class of 1974.
December 17, 2019 (75 years later): ... the daughter of Pfc William F Reem, is in Malmedy Belgium memorializing her father. Today by chance, she encountered a similarly aged American on the tour who was the son of a soldier in the Jeep that encountered and saved PFC Reem on his dangerous return to American troops ....

The brother of William Reem would have his own day during the Korean war.

More: Battle of the Bulge

William Reem had a brother, 2nd Lt Robert Dale Reem (1925-1950), of Elizabethtown, Naval Academy graduate and Medal of Honor posthumous recipient from Korean war, falling on a hand grenade to save his men during the advance of the Chinese to the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War;

More: Battle of the Bulge

Wilbur Jackson "Jack" Myers, Anti-Tank Gunner, 104th ID, European theater, World War II. Same United Methodist church for 99+ years.

• 100 years old at the time of the talk (October 6, 2023)
• Jumped out of a plane at age 95.
• Did not talk about the war for more than 40 years.
• Tiger tanks were almost impossible to destroy. (October 6, 2023)
• Following orders to take out church steeple, later a sniper (captured).
• Sang Christmas carols with German soldiers and band across the river, December 24, 1944 (October 6, 2023)
• Twin soldier and meeting descendant.



More: World War 2 talk

My uncle Donny was in World War II in the European Theater in France and Germany late in the war.
The 71st Infantry Division was assigned to XX Corps an April 20, 1945.
He saw limited combat action, but had unforgettable memories, of which he rarely spoke.

Uncle Donny saw limited combat action, but had unforgettable memories, of which he rarely spoke.
71st Infantry Division: Participated in the liberation of concentration camps including one in Austria called Gunskirchen Lager, a subcamp of Mauthausen, on 4 May. A pamphlet was produced by the US Army after they liberated the camp, called "The Seventy-First came to Gunskirchen Lager". The book recounts in detail, and with graphic photos, the tragedy they found in the camp. Wikipedia: (as of 2022-11-05)

More: Uncle Don Long

How did uncle Donny take photos of the Americans and Russians together?

Wikipedia provides an answer: ... The 71st organized and occupied defensive positions along the Enns River and contacted Russian forces east of Linz, 8 May, the day before hostilities ceased, having gone further east than any other U.S. Army unit. … (as of 2022-11-05)

More: Uncle Don Long

Looking towards the college.

More: Uncle Don Long

Douglas MacArthur (American military leader) (1880-1964) graduated at the top of the class in 1903 from West Point.

• Wars are caused by unprotected wealth.
• In war there is no substitute for victory.

DVD: MacArthur staring Gregory Peck, filmed and released 1977. The movie starts and ends with parade and dining hall scenes from West Point and his famous speech in the dining hall to the Corps of Cadets in 1962.

More: Douglas MacArthur

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. John F. Kennedy (35 President of the United States)

More: John F. Kennedy

The Elizabethtown High School band was near the front of the parade on August 17, 1946. Color film restoration and recovery credit: Phillip P. Clark.

Only a few seconds of film were taken for each part of the parade. Only the first part of the band is somewhat clear.

More: Victory parade of 1946

In January 1946, Colonel William Westmoreland was appointed commander, and was responsible for leading the units that had not yet been deactivated back to the United States so they could be demobilized. Wikipedia (as of 2022-11-05)

Twenty years later he would command United States forces in Vietnam.

---

• Lt. Calley: about 300 South Vietnamese civilians killed on March 16, 1968. It was in the press for months/years.
• What was happening in China at the time?

---

USMA, West Point, graduates in 1978 received the National Defense Service Medal for the Vietnam War for being cadets before the deadline of August 14, 1974.

The Medal of Honor banners, with the help of the Lions Club, are at the Veteran's Memorial in Elizabethtown park.


Elizabethtown "In Memoriam Marker". Inscription: "This tablet is erected in memory of two citizens of Elizabethtown who were posthumously awarded our nations highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry & intrepidity in action at the risk of their lives above & beyond the call of duty."

Thank a veteran for what they have done.

Jesus with message for John the Baptist:

Jesus to disciples being sent out:

• To which group or groups is each verse referring?
• Why might the devils be cast out in 10:8 but not in 11:5?



More: Matthew 10:5-10 Possessing acquired purchases

More: Matthew 11:1-6: Trapped by an offensive misinterpretation of Jesus

Jesus about the Pharisees:
Explanation of the blind leading the blind:
Parable of the sheep and goats: (repeated in positive and negative ways)

How might these verses be related to each other and to the Churches in Revelation, the Kingdom Parables and the Sermon on the Mount? [borders/walls]

More: Matthew 15:1-21 Blind leading the blind

More: Matthew 25:31-46 Parable of the sheep and goats

More: Blind goats and prison pits in Matthew