Several week ago while driving in rural New Hampshire, I turned on the radio and the first thing that came on was a talk show on NPR. The host was interviewing a college professor on the subject of cursive. The professor, a mother of a teenage boy, informed us of a study she conducted on the difference between students who know cursive vs. those who do not. She had my attention. Her study led he to conclude that cursive writers had better grades. Alas, I thought, a Sam Blumenfeld disciple, and on NPR no less! I pulled over the van in order to write down her name, and contact info. But a minute later, this professor said she was against teaching cursive. She explained that her son was traumatized by it. The poor dear. She claimed that cursive was unnecessary, a product of a bygone era. Was she advocating the dumbing down of America? I think so. I never did write down her contact info.
A week later, I visited the Lillian Nordica Homestead in Farmington, Maine to donatesome artifacts to the homestead that were in Sam’s estate. The curator, Crystal Williams, lamented that a young lady volunteer was unable to read cursive, and therefore unable to read Lillian’s numerous cursive letters.
Sam was a strident proponent of cursive first. He pointed out that all toddlers use circular motions when scribbling, and rightfully noted that cursive was natural. Sam wrote the book “How to Tutor” which contains lessons on cursive. Here is a link to the lessons:
Camp Constitution was denied a permit to raise the Christian flag on Boston’s City Hall Plaza. Hal Shurtleff, the camp’s director and co-founder, applied for a permit back in late July. After several follow up E-mails, and phone calls, he was finally told by a city official Tuesday (September 5) that the permit was denied without an explanation. Shurtleff, a life-long resident, U.S. Army veteran and a member of Sons of the American Revolution, explained that during one of his follow up phone calls to the city, he was told that it was “his right to fly the flag” and that the city official couldn’t understand what was taking so long to grant the permit.
The event was planned for a Thursday in late September. The ceremony would have included short presentations by clergy members, a brief historical overview of Boston- “the city set on a hill”, and the raising of the flag. Confirmed speakers included Rev. Steven Craft, an instructor at Camp Constitution’s annual family camp and a member of its speakers bureau, and Pastor William Levi, formerly of the South Sudan, and now a U.S. citizen living in Western Massachusetts. Rev. Craft’s topic was racial reconciliation.
Shurtleff mentioned that dozens of organizations including Columbians, Haitians, Ukrainians, Mexicans, supporters of Communist China, Black Nationalists, and Transgenders raise their flags. Shurtleff believes that the decision to deny the permit was ideologically motivated. “Camp Constitution has been setting up information tables on Boston Common for years without a problem. We distribute free copies of the U.S. Constitution, and we have been well received by folks on both sides of the ideological spectrum,” Shurtleff said.
Camp Constitution’s Hal Shurtleff conducted five presentations in Maine last week and Sunday exposing Agenda 21 in the towns of Waldoboro, Lincoln, Houlton, Presque Isle, and Medway. The Medway presentation was a last minute addition. Camp Constitution made many new friends, and got a chance to visit some old friends as well. Hal received three future opportunities to expose Agenda 21 in the state. In addition to the presentations, Hal visited Millinocket to get some video of Agenda 21 and NAFTA in action-closed mills, and empty storefronts and a visit to the Lillian Nordica Homestead to donate some artifacts from Sam Blumenfeld’s Estate. More on that in a future blog. Thanks to all who helped make this trip a success with a special thanks to Mrs. Pat Truman and her family, Jeannette Wheeler, Bob Roy, Phil Merletti, Adrian Villa, and Peggy Stanley.
(Sam wrote this article in 2005. A link to the original document is posted below)
Should a child be forced to attend a public school that will turn him into a functional
illiterate? Since no public school will guarantee that a child will be taught to read in a
manner that will help him achieve high literacy, why should a parent send a child to that
kind of school? Indeed, why should compulsory school attendance laws force parents to
do something that wil1 harm their children?
It is assumed by the vast majority of Americans that the issue of compulsory school
attendance is a settled matter, part and parcel of every civilized nation-state, and a
prerequisite of a democratic society. We all acknowledge that a representative form of
government requiTes an educated electorate for its survival.
But what happens when that government’s schools no longer know how to teach children
to read and write, when those schools turn children not into civilized citizens, but into
barbarians? What happens when millions of parents feel compelled to remove their
children from government schools in order to make sure that their children do get an
education? What happens is that the basic premises of compulsory attendance and
government education come into question.
The glaring fact is that despite our compulsory attendance laws, we now have more
illiteracy and more ignorance among Americans than before such laws were enacted. The
first compulsory school attendance law was passed in Massachusetts in 1852 and by 1918
every state in the Union had such a law. Yet, the fact is that these laws have merely
increased the amount of time children spend in school, not the amount of learning or
knowledge they acquire.
The Way It Was
To find out how much better educated Americans were before compulsory attendance
laws and government schools existed, all we have to do is read DuPont de Nemours’
fascinating little book, National Education in the United States ofAmerica, published in
1812. He writes:
“The United States are more advanced in their educational facilities than most countries.
They have a large number of primary schools; and as their paternal affection protects
children from working in the fields, it is possible to send them to the school-master–a
condition which does not prevail in Europe.
“Most young Americans, therefore, can read, write and cipher. Not more than four in a
thousand arc unable to write legi bly–even neatly .. ..
“England, Holland, the Protestant Cantons of Switzerland more nearly approach the
standard of the United States, because in those countries the Bible is read; it is considered
a duty to read it to children; and in that form of religion the sermons and liturgy in the
language of the people tend to increase and formulate ideas of responsibility.
Controversy, also has developed argwnentation and has thus given room for the exercise
of logic.
“In America, a great nwnber of people read the Bible, and all the people read a
newspaper. The fathers read aloud to their children while breakfast is being prepared–a
task which occupies the mothers for three quarters of an hour every morning. And as the
newspapers of the United States are filled with all sorts of narratives… they disseminate
an enormous amount of information.”
Obviously, back in the very early days of this republic, education was a family affair
closely connected to religious practice. A nation built on Biblical principles had to ba a
highly literate one. In addition, all of this education was achieved without any
government involvement, without any centralized educational bureaucracy, without any
professors of education, or accrediting agencies or teacher certification. And, most
significantly, without any compulsory attendance laws.
The Way It Is
Contrast that happy picture of complete educational freedom and high literacy with the
present situation in which the State has asswned the function of educator, at great
expense to the taxpayer, with all sorts of laws and regulations forcing the population to
patronize a system that is turning out functional illiterates by the millions.
According to an article in the Spring 1989 issue of Education Canada, published by the
Canadian Education Association:
“It is currently estimated that one million Canadians are almost totally illiterate and
another four million are termed ‘functionally illiterate.’ In the United States these figures
are estimated respectively at 26 million and 60 million.”
Both Canada and the United States have had compulsory attendance laws for decades.
The purpose of these laws was to make certain that every child was educated. The laws
were particularly aimed at the children of the poor, and yet it is they who have suffered
the most at the hands of government education.
Even Secretary of Education Cavazos, in 1989, admitted in the frankest terms that the
government education system was failing the American people. In his sixth annual report
card on American schools, he repeated the well-known litany of failures that still plague
American education: declining SAT scores, declining interest in math and science,
declining literacy, and a soaring dropout rate in Washington, DC. He said that we were
still wallowing in a ”tide of mediocrity,” and that “we must do better or perish as the
nation we know today.”
Has anything changed since 1989? Yes, it has all gotten worse. In fact, it was an
alarming report on American literacy issued in 2007 by the National Endowment for the
Arts that informed Americans that the reading problem had deteriorated further since
Secretary Cavazos issued his own alarming assessment. The chairman of the
Endowment, Dana Gioia, stated:
‘This is a massive social problem. We are losing the majority of the new generation.
They will not achieve anything close to their potential because of poor reading.”
The Endowment report revealed that the number of 17-year-olds who never read for
pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004. Almost half of
Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure. Why? Because
reading has become a painful, tortuous exercise that they wish to avoid.
The simple truth is that literacy is not at all difficult to achieve, provided the schools use
the right phonetic teaching methods. Indeed, the home-school movement has already
proven that parents can actually do a better job of teaching reading than our high-priced
professionals.
It has also been shown that children progress better academically when taught at home,
and that the cost of educating a child at home is less than $1,000 a year.
So why do we need compulsory attendance laws? We need them so that the ruling liberal
elite can dumb down the population and make sure they can’t read. For proof of this,
listen to the words of Professor Anthony G. Oettinger of Harvard University, given in a
lecture to an audience of Telecom executives in 1982:
“The present ‘traditional’ concept of literacy has to do with the ability to read and write.
But the real question that confronts us today is: How do we help citizens function well in
their society? How can they acquire the skills necessary to solve their problems?
“Do we, for example, really want to teach people to do a lot of sums or write in ‘a fine
round hand’ when they have a five-dollar hand-held calculator or a word processor to
work with? Or, do we really have to have everybody literate–writing and reading in the
traditional sense–when we have the means through our technology to achieve a new
flowering of oral communication?
“What is speech recognition and speech synthesis all about if it does not lead to ways of
reducing the burden on the individual of the imposed notions of literacy that were a
product of nineteenth century economics and technology? ..
“It is the traditional idea that says certain forms of communication, such as comic books
are ‘bad.’ But in the modem context of functionalism they may not be all that bad.”
I doubt that there are any parents in America who send their children to school to learn to
read comic books. If anything, they want their children to be taught to read and write in
the traditional manner. They don’t consider learning to read as a “burden imposed on the
individual.” Rather, if taught in the proper phonetic manner, learning to read becomes a
joyful experience for children eager to expand the use of their minds and language.
Although the compulsory attendance laws were enacted to make sure that everyone
learned to read, their new application by the likes of Professor Oettinger and his liberal
colleagues is to make sure that the population can be controlled and manipulated by
schools that serve the agenda of the ruling elite.
There is no longer any need for compulsory attendance laws since the ruling class no
longer believes that literacy is for everyone, the poor and the rich. In reality, the
compulsory attendance laws are the linchpin in the plan for a socialist world government.
The Blumenfeld Archives
Such laws have been used by every modern dictator to control the people and mold the
minds of the children. Such laws are not only not needed in a free society, but ultimately
lead to its demise.
“First of all, if there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Frederick Douglass, August 4th, 1857.
Unfortunately, our youth, and many others, are being taught that, until the 1960s, African-Americans were just slaves, and second-class citizens. Well, let’s take a look at African-Americans who came before the 1960s. Let’s look at Wentworth Cheswell. For over 40 years, in the 1700s, up until about 1768, he was the leading historian of the state of New Hampshire. He was elected for over 40 years to 8 different offices, and 90% of the people who voted for him were White. He was revered by all in New England. Many times people would say that the intelligence of Wentworth Cheswell was remarkable.
Let’s take a look at another Black American, Thomas Hercules. He was elected in the 1780s as a town clerk in Pennsylvania. He is featured in the oracle of the day. He moved to Portsmouth, NH on August 13th, 1793. He was elected Representative in an all-White district.
Then there is Robert Smalls, 1839-1915. He fought in the Civil War on the Union side. He became the 1st Black Captain. After the War, he was elected to the U.S. Congress.
Then there is Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi. Lived 1827-1901. He was elected to the 41st U.S. Senate. He left Mississippi to fight in the Civil War on the Union side, and was recognized for raising 3 regiments of soldiers. He returned to Mississippi, ran for the U.S. Senate, and won. By the way, he was also a Minister.
Next, consider Joseph Hayne Rainey, 1832-1887, who was the first Black elected to Congress in South Carolina. He also was the 1st Black elected as Speaker of the House of the U.S. Congress.
Also, there was Peter Salem, a hero of Bunker Hill. If it wasn’t for Peter Salem, Bunker Hill would have been a disaster. He received a dozen commendations from George Washington for his bravery in saving many lives, White and Black; in fact, they built monuments to him. Hopefully, they will not want to take those monuments down, as Salem fought with Whites to make this Country what it is.
Then, there is James Armistead, who became very close friends with the Marquis de Lafayette. He told him he wanted to do more for his Country. Lafayette told him that the intelligence that the Colonists had was poor, and many times, wrong. So, he told Armistead that if he really wanted to help, he could become a spy for the Colonies. Armistead knew this was dangerous, but he agreed to do it. Armistead went to the other side, to the British, and told them that he no longer wanted to be part of the Colonies, because they treated him badly. Fortunately, the British gave him a job as a servant to none other than Benedict Arnold. Armistead, would, on many occasions, hear the strategies that the British were planning, and would get this information back to Lafayette. Later, General Cornwallis, trusting Armistead, asked him to be a spy for the British, and told Armistead to pass along bad information to the Colonists…but Armistead knew what the facts were, and gave the facts to Lafayette, thus becoming the first double-agent in American history. Oh, by the way, in case the Public Schools didn’t tell you, this information helped us win the battle of Yorktown.
I’m giving you just a few examples, of which there are many, of African-Americans and their contributions to this Country…
But now, I would like to tell you about a special individual, one that the Public Schools, I’m sure, have never told you about, along with all the others I have already mentioned…someone I think about quite a bit. His accomplishments are fantastic. His name is Benjamin Banneker 1731-1806. You probably were never taught that people like Benjamin Banneker and other African-Americans were not allowed to be educated. That was the law of the Colonies under King George III. However, Benjamin Banneker defied the King, and taught himself mathematics. While one day walking down a path with a friend of his, Benjamin asked if he could see his friend’s pocket watch. Benjamin removed the back of the watch so he could see how the watch worked, and commented to his friend, “I could make one of these!” He then went home, carved one out of wood, and it only lost one minute a year from that time. Then, a few years later, Thomas Jefferson choose Banneker, along with others, to help lay out Washington D.C. In 1792, Banneker came up with his own almanac. James McHenry (1753-1816) helped with the funding for the almanac. This almanac accurately predicted sunrises and sunsets for the next 10 years. He then sent a copy to his friend, Thomas Jefferson, who in turn, sent it to the Anti-Slavery forces in France, and told them, “See, look! I told you: Blacks are just as smart as Whites.” Benjamin Banneker, along with many other African-Americans, has contributed so much to our Country, and as I have said, I am sure that you never heard about these men in Public Schools or Universities.
On a side note, after the Constitution was signed, and we became a free Nation governing ourselves, there was never a time in Massachusetts when Blacks could not vote. Oh, and speaking of the Constitution, in Maryland, when Baltimore voted to ratify the Constitution, more Blacks than Whites voted to ratify it.
As I have said a couple of times, it is unfortunate that, unless you love history and love to study it, you will never know about these individuals, and many more. This information that I have given you, with more to come, I have researched over the years with the newspapers and documents I have long collected. Also, I have gotten information from books written by authors who actually lived in those times, and knew these individuals.
In closing, I would just like to let you know that fewer than 30% of the Founding Fathers were slave owners. In fact, today I saw on television, that they want to remove all statues of Benjamin Franklin because they say he owned slaves. As somebody who has studied Benjamin Franklin forever, all I can tell you about Franklin is that, in 1784, he started the first anti-slavery movement along with many other Founding Fathers. When King George III heard of this, he made it very clear to Franklin and the rest that they were part of England, which was pro-slavery, and the Colonies were not to do away with slavery. In fact, Samuel Adams, whenever someone asked what they could do for him, he would ask to be given a slave, and upon receipt of the slave, he would immediately give the slave freedom.
Maybe we ought to take a really good look at the fact that Whites and Blacks in the early years of this country got along. Instead of taking down monuments, let’s teach real history, which will go a long way in helping us understand the roots of the United States…..or, should we continue to move on, and find out who was behind the slogan, “Irish need not apply.”, and why Japanese were interred during WWII, etc.? Let’s not give anybody a pass!
DON KUSSER is the host of the Cable TV show “The Constitution Then and Now,” and is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution
Sam Blumenfeld use to say that “you don’t need puppets popping out of trash cans to teach children to read.” He created “Alpha-Phonics” which has been used to teach thousands to read. Here is a link to testimonials to Sam’s most important work:
Since the creation of the Blumenfeld Archives, thousands of people have downloaded the “Alpha-Phonics” free of charge. Please consider donating to Camp Constitution so we can expand our program and reach out to more people. Donations can be made via our PayPal account accessed from our homepage:
There may not be a question more difficult to answer for Mark Meckler, President of Citizens for Self-Governance and spokesman for its Convention of States Project (COS), than this:
Since the federal government ignores the Constitution as now written, why would it obey an amended Constitution?
This is a fair question, considering COS has spent several years and millions of dollars from undisclosed sources1 on paid lobbyists and “senior advisors” who crisscross the country leaning on legislators to pass resolutions asking Congress to call an Article V convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution, ostensibly to limit the federal government.
All the while, at the local level, COS has been carrying out a massive public relations campaign claiming to be a grassroots movement with a “solution as big as the problem.”
But Meckler’s group has a solution that has nothing to do with the problem! Since the problem is a federal government that has overreached its powers by ignoring our Constitution, logic alone tells us that amending our Constitution, the very document being ignored, can’t possibly fix the problem.
A caller asked: “Once the amendments are proposed and ratified, how are they actually implemented?”
In response, Meckler said, “… [the amendments] just automatically become part of the Constitution…part of the structure of governance in America…and that means that government then has to begin operating according to those amendments in the same way that they do with the rest of the Constitution.”
He continued, “And functionally, ultimately that means government will shrink, they will have the authority to do less. And if they fail to follow those amendments, then obviously, there is litigation that ensues up to the federal courts and ultimately up to the Supreme Court, if necessary.” (Emphasis added.)
But wait! COS has contended for years that the Constitution needs to be amended precisely because of decisions by activist judges who have undermined the original intent of the Constitution and allowed the federal government to usurp powers not delegated by our Constitution.
In other words, Meckler gives us a circular argument. He’s saying that COS will add more verbiage to the Constitution to counter activist judges; and then, when the federal government ignores the new wording, as they have in the past, there will be lawsuits to force the government to follow the original intent of the framers. And lawsuits generate still more decisions by activist judges!
It should be noted, too, that our Constitution already limits the federal government to its enumerated powers; and any changes such as a Balanced Budget Amendment, will expand the power of the federal government.
The last caller, only 10 minutes later, hit upon the circular argument and got a different response from Meckler:
Caller: “…What happens, if say, we call a “convention of states” [and] we get some great reform amendments made to the Constitution to undo a lot of damage that has been done by activist judges and left-wing congressional majorities and presidents. What happens if we have future…laws…that violate the new amendments…and… new activist judges on the Supreme Court that then give rubber stamp approval [to the unconstitutional laws]. …Is there a bullet-proof, really good way to stop the same process from cycling over and over again after we get new amendments [at a convention]?”
Meckler: “You know, I think that’s one of the best questions there is. And I’m going to give you the short and blunt answer which is NO!”
That’s right, Mark Meckler asserts there is no way to stop the federal government from ignoring amendments proposed by a convention that later become ratified! And the entire process places our current Constitution at risk—for what?!
Meckler elaborated philosophically: “There is no way to prevent the cycle from happening because the cycle is the cycle of human nature. In our history, you can go back to the Roman Empire and look at what happens… So, I think what happens is, you correct course, you put the ship on course, and eventually it will begin to be blown off course.
“History tells us it takes about 100 years for amendments to stop being effective…I think, for example, the first amendment about 100 years ago started to come under assault. So, it had been in place for well over 100 years; so, I expect the slide to happen.”
Let’s get this straight. The convention lobby is pouring massive resources into putting our Constitution at risk in convention because Mark Meckler is trying to steer the ship back on course, somehow predicting that in 100 years our children’s descendants will need to go through the same process, subjecting our Constitution to risk once again (assuming it survives the second federal convention he is trying so hard to invoke?) Why haven’t he, his lobbyists or “senior advisors” brought this up at legislative hearings?
Why not work on enforcing the Constitution we have, instead of rewriting 2,000 annotated pages of Supreme Court decisions, and very probably the entire Constitution? Why not encourage our State Legislators to stand up against and refuse to comply with unconstitutional federal dictates now—that’s what they are supposed to do, according to our Framers.
If the main COS proponent thinks his “Solution” is a temporary “fix”; and his method of implementing Amendments resulting from an Article V convention is no different than the system that created the problem in the first place, one must wonder…
What is the real reason COS is being bankrolled to advance an Article V convention whose Delegates, as direct Representatives of the People, would have the inherent Right “to alter or to abolish” our “Form of Government”? (Declaration of Independence, paragraph 2). While we are unable to determine all the sources of the funding for Meckler’s group; the ultimate source of much of the funding for the push for an Article V convention is the mega billionaire Koch Brothers of Texas.
Judi Caler lives in California and is Article V Issues Director for Eagle Forum of CA. She is passionate about holding our public servants accountable to their oath to support the U.S. Constitution.
Statue dedicated to honoring Richard Rowland Kirkland, the Angel of Marye’s Heights
When you have stories like that of Richard Rowland Kirkland hanging from your family tree, you understand the importance of justice and doing right for no other reason than it is right. Hard to ignore a life that spawned statues, paintings, books, organizations, and, as of last year, a movie. His acts of valor in our North vs. South war are worthy of every accolade.
He was not forgotten. In fact, he has reached legend status. One those savage fools in the South tearing down war heroes should know before they further cannibalize their freedom and future.
And oh that story which forever earned him the moniker “Angel of Marye’s Heights:”
Despite his youth, Kirkland enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1861, not long after war was declared, before his older brothers. He was first assigned to Company E, 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, but was later transferred to Company G of the same regiment, and was promoted to sergeant. He first saw action during the First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas), and later in the Battle of Savage’s Station, Battle for Maryland Heights and Battle of Antietam, during which time many of his closest friends from Kershaw County were killed. Wikipedia
After a frontal charge on December 13, 1862 at Fredericksburg, Virginia, thousands of men from the armed forces of Union General Ambrose Everett Burnside’s Army of the Potomac lay dead and dying on the ice-covered slope of Marye’s Heights. The pleas for water from the wounded men echoed for all to perceive. However, no one from either side dared to render aid for fear of them becoming a target as Union and Confederate marksmen were willing and able to fell anyone who entered this killing ground. To the conscious ears of Richard Rowland Kirkland, a Confederate soldier of the Second South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, the cries of the battle casualties became unbearable. He sought and gained the hesitant permission of his superior, Joseph Brevard Kershaw, to leave his position with the optimism of rendering aid to the battle sufferers. After gathering canteens, Kirkland leaped over the wall and entered this “no mans land”.
At the outset, the federal frontline took shots at him but quickly ceased fire when it became evident what his purposes were. Zigzagging between the wounded and dying, Kirkland gave water to the thirsty, care to the wounded and provided warmth for the cold. Accounts have the wounded federal infantrymen raising their arms to attract his notice. For ninety minutes, he continued this meandering of aid to the enemy and when he returned to his station, the two opposing armies unleashed a shout of approval to show their respect and admiration for his compassion. His humanitarian deeds earned him the title “The Angel of Marye’s Heights”. Kirkland survived the battle of Fredericksburg and would come through the violent fighting at the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield during the Pennsylvania battle of Gettysburg yet would not survive the war. At the forefront of the advancing Confederates, he was charging up Snodgrass Hill during the battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863 when a rifle ball pierced his chest. Brushing away aid, he knew the wound was mortal, “No, I am done for. You can do me no good. Save yourselves and tell Pa good-bye and I died right. I did my duty. I died at my post.” fm Find a Grave
Remember, Remember….
One of the things that had always gotten to me the most were his final words: “Save yourselves, men, and tell Pa I died right.”
As a child I pondered often on how one “dies right.” I thought I understood, especially after reading Richard’s story. It reminded me of that old saying, “A hero dies but once, but a coward dies 1000 deaths.” I suppose that is the way one “dies right,” by his last thoughts being of saving the lives of others rather than saving himself.
The best known newspaper story of Richard Rowland Kirkland
I would come to know it even better thanks to another “Richard” whose North vs. South war came later but whose story is barely a footnote in history, in spite of its magnificence.
I would come to realize that this stranger, too, died right…twice…in the same day. So it was this ancestral foundation that had primed me for that warm summer night in 1991 as I perused my dad’s old scrapbook on a peaceful Sunday and was introduced to that other “Richard,” the one I’d never heard of.
I would come to realize that this stranger, too, died right…twice…in the same day. So it was this ancestral foundation that had primed me for that warm summer night in 1991 as I perused my dad’s old scrapbook on a peaceful Sunday and was introduced to that other “Richard,” the one I’d never heard of.
But my dad had known him, beginning in the fall of 1945, and that night I, too, met my dad’s best friend, PFC Ricardo Carrasco, as I carefully opened a yellowed Reader’s Digest article from the November 1959 issue, penned by Hollywood “Starmaker” Hal Wallis. The title across the yellowing article read The Movie Star You Never Saw. My heart swelled in the same way it does when I feel something sacred, and the heritage I’d been given awakened in my brain as the story that would consume me for the next 20 years stirred a soul already well-schooled in the character of ancestor Richard.
Ricardo Carrasco
Ricardo Carrasco and Robert Talmage Kirkland were best friends from the time they met at Davey Crockett Elementary School until graduation from Stephen F. Austin High School, El Paso, TX, in May, 1952. Both joined the military – Robert in the Navy and Ricardo in the Army – and intended to make it a career.
Lucky for them we were at war again.
Ricardo arrived in Korea in late March 1953, as part of the 7th Division, 32nd Infantry Regiment, Company A. He spent the next three months fighting on the evil twins – Old Baldy and Pork Chop Hill – and grew to despise Korea. Oh, he liked the people, and the Republic Of Korea (ROK) soldiers, but he was restless with the fear of failing his “fellahs,” as he would refer to them.
And of course, he longed for home. What happened next should have been a Godsend – a big old, silver-screen, Hollywood-in-its-heyday Godsend.
While Ricardo had been fighting, his future was actually unfolding back home in a way most people can only fantasize. Paramount Pictures producer Hal Wallis was approached by old friend and director Owen Crump, who wanted to make a movie on the front lines in Korea, using only front-line soldiers.
The story was to take place on the last day of the war. The cease fire was to go into effect that night. The plot revolved around that frightening time in war, that final stretch with the goal in sight: the interim between when the decision is made and the actual cease fire, when fighting continues and men die, just inches from the finish line.
It is one of many heartbreaking aspects of war.
Early scene from the movie CEASE FIRE!, Ricardo Carrasco far right
Crump wanted the plot to revolve around a group of 14 men who are ordered to set up an observation post on Red Top Hill … a “movie” hill that was loosely based on the infamous Pork Chop Hill. One of the men would die in the effort. The movie was eventually named Cease Fire!
The agony of dying in the last hours of the war summed up in 80 minutes. Wallis loved it.
Using a tank to move the heavy 3D camera around the front lines of the Korean War, June 1953
So it was that in mid-June 1953, Crump walked among the frontline troops, choosing each soldier who would be a part of the fictional “Easy Patrol.” Every “actor,” every uniform, every bullet, every explosion was the real Government Issue thing. No fake Hollywood stunts for this film.
The 14 GI’s-turned-actors were whisked off to the War Correspondent’s building in Seoul, where they slept in real beds, ate dinner at tables with linen cloths and waiters, and had all the cigars and whiskey they wanted. Raised on John Wayne and World War II, these men knew the double excitement of being a movie star and getting out of the hell of war. Everyone there knew that the cease fire was only a few days away – the summer would out-live the fighting.
And when they got home … oh my, when they got home! All but one reveled in the deliciousness of it: Ricardo could scarcely bear it.
The 19-year-old from Texas was quiet – moodier than his comrades, and every day he would ask the same question: “When can I go back to my fellahs?” Crump had already decided that Ricardo would be the American to “die” on that last day of the movie war, and since finding out his movie fate, Ricardo couldn’t seem to wait to get it done. The other men were enjoying every minute of the experience, grateful to be away from the shooting, mud and death. Crump couldn’t figure Ricardo out.
PFC Ricardo Carrasco, far right, in scene from CEASE FIRE!
Yet when the cameras were on, Ricardo had a knack. He played his part almost perfectly – remarkable considering he’d never acted a day in his life. Owen Crump was pleased beyond belief as they forged this new, cinematic ground, and he was anxious to see if Paramount would be as impressed as he was.
Hal Wallis watched the black and white rushes with growing enthusiasm. He was Hollywood’s pre-eminent “Starmaker” – in fact, he was Hollywood, and while he couldn’t define it exactly, he knew a star when he saw one. As he watched, one warrior stood out: PFC Ricardo Carrasco of El Paso, Texas.
This kid had “it.”
He watched each piece of raw footage over and over again. Every frame proved his instincts right. Wallis wired the news to Owen Crump: get Carrasco under contract with Paramount. The Starmaker had big plans for him.
Ricardo, back, in movie scene with fellow soldier and temporary thespian Johnny Mayes
Back in Seoul after a particularly long day, Crump pulled Carrasco aside for a private moment so he could relay the news to the private. He held his breath and waited for the shriek of joy.
“No thank you, sir.”
Crump stood stock still for a moment. Something was wrong here.
“No, wait, son, you don’t understand. Hal Wallis is offering you a contract with Paramount Pictures. He wants to make you a star. He thinks you have what it takes.” Crump felt assured that this time Carrasco would understand.
But Ricardo remained firm. “Yes sir, I understand that, but I’m not interested.”
Crump could only stare. What Carrasco said next left the man reeling.
“Sir, do you think we could get me killed off in the next day or two?” he asked.
Crump could only whisper, “What?”
“Sir, buzz is the Chinese are getting ready to attack Pork Chop again. The guy they got to take my place is green – he’ll get my fellahs killed. I have to go back … I couldn’t live with myself.”
The director felt sick. This boy was throwing his future away with both hands. He couldn’t deny the fire in those deep, chocolate eyes, but still …
“You’re a damned fool, kid. Go to bed. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”
Crump sat at a table, scratching out a quick note to the producer. When Wallis read it a couple of days later, the Starmaker boiled. He had never been turned down before and, by God, he wasn’t going to be now by some punk kid on a glory kick! After he cooled down, he told his assistant to wire back that since the cease fire would be signed into effect in a few days, Crump was to again make the contract offer. Maybe then, with the war behind him and his sense of duty fulfilled, Carrasco would be more receptive.
But back in Korea, Crump could take no more of Carrasco’s constant pestering. He re-wrote the sketchy script to kill Ricardo off two weeks ahead of schedule, and shot the close-ups of Ricardo’s final scene, his death scene, on the morning of July 6, 1953.
It was the best acting the kid had done yet, but he took no time to celebrate. After lunch, Ricardo gathered up his gear and hopped into a waiting jeep, chatting about his mother and El Paso and the approaching football season with the driver, who cussed him out the whole way for going back early. Ricardo just smiled, completely unfazed. As they pulled up to the forward area around Pork Chop, he hopped out with his duffle bag and waved goodbye.
That was the night the Chinese attacked Pork Chop Hill, and at 11:25 p.m., the man who could have been a prince of Hollywood ended his tour of duty in an explosion of brain and skull and mortar. There was no slow motion, no swell of music as his head burst.
His reel death and his real death had played out about 12 hours apart.
Ricardo’s original death scene, cut from the final film after his real death
The cease fire was signed on July 27, 1953. Cease Fire! the movie premiered in November 1953. Ricardo had been the only one to return to the front before the cease fire, the only one to see battle again, and the only one to die – twice in one day, no less. The movie, like the war, was not a box office hit; it isn’t even listed in the Wikipedia write-up on Hal Wallis as one of his movies. The movie, like the war, faded into the past and never received much notice or attention. The men of the movie, like the men of that war, moved on with what was left of their lives – all except one, who left his life on a hillside in Korea.
CEASE FIRE! premiere
God chooses sides, and commands us to do no less. The soldier is the epitome of this choice – a choice born of magnanimous, miraculous, meticulous love, with no expectation of return. For both men, war brought out their inner hero. For Richard, it was risking his life for the enemy, only to have the enemy cheer his “God moment” and refuse to fire upon him. For Ricardo, the war became what it becomes for all good soldiers. It wasn’t about communism, America or freedom. It was about those men he so loved – not because he had to, but because he chose to, even when it meant giving up a remarkable opportunity followed immediately by giving up his very young life.
It is not a choice made lightly, but once made, it is set in stone forever. In my 25 years of interviewing hundreds of veterans, I have found this commonality: my beloved warrior brothers feel that the real heroes died over there. But I submit to you that their moment of agony was short. Now they are free and know all the answers, the why’s and wherefore’s. I do not intend to diminish or dishonor the glory of what they gave—and gave up—for their friends at all. They’ve earned their crown.
FT BLISS grave of Ricardo Carrasco
But it is those who must live the next several decades with the torment of memories – you are my heroes, because you bear the awful burden every day so I won’t have to. There is no love like it – no gift more precious – and we have too often treated you poorly for your priceless gift. I am so sorry … you deserved better. You deserved a return at the very least equal to what you gave us, what you gave up for us, for most people are willing to give for a friend. The true mark of charity isn’t in what you’re willing to give to a friend…it is in what you’re willing to give up for a friend, a stranger, or even, as in Richard’s case, a suffering enemy. My God but the American warrior is glorious! You’ll find no “Can’t someone else do it?” whining here, no shoving their wives into danger to save their own skins, a sick “Take my wife…please!” joke that only cowards tell.
I have yet to measure up to what they gave, yet to suffer, yet to deserve. The thought that a mere boy could be offered the greatest human acknowledgement known to mortal flesh in the form of fame, fortune and power, and turn it down for war, terror, blood and death–all for just the chance to save another–is an exact similitude of the sacrifice that saved us all when our perfect Brother gave up everything just to give us a chance to choose. The warrior is the only mortal I’ve ever known who even comes close to comparing to the gift that saved humanity. It isn’t that they are perfect – it is that in spite of their own personal weaknesses, they achieve a type of selfless sacrifice that can only compare to the gift the God Himself gave the world.
God bless the warrior, and forgive our treatment of them. Their vigilance is our only hope, for in the course of awful, painful, heartbreaking, glorious human events, they make the stands that save the souls.
They know what life is all about. Richard summed it up when his last words were for his dad. Ricardo summed it up with these final words for his mother, written in his last letter home: “Don’t worry when you see me die in the movie, Mom. It’s not real.”
They know how to live worthy and “die right;” sometimes, more than once.
Keep the faith, bros, in all things courage, and no substitute for VICTORY.
My wife and I visited Stone Mountain Park in Georgia back in 2005. The majority of the people working there were black. We visited the gift shop that had numerous Confederate flags and Confederate battle flags for sale. I bought my son some Civil War soldiers-both Union and Confederate soldiers. A few of the soldiers came with the Confederate battle flag or more specifically the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. A nice young black lady worked the counter, and sold me the soldiers. Blacks and whites used this beautiful park without any incidents, and have for years. The next day we visited Atlanta and the Cyclorama which holds what was once the largest paintng in the world-The Battle of Atlanta. In the painting were Confederate Battle Flags. The man who gave us the tour was a young black man who knew his history. There were no race riots while we were there enjoying the rich history lesson.
Several years ago, my son Nathaniel, my daughter Georgia, and I visited the site of the Civil War prison camp in Elmira, NY and the cemetary where 3,000 Confederate prisoners are buried. The front of the cemetary contains a statue placed there by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It was a simple monument to commorate the men who died in this horrible prison camp. Across the street is a small museum honoring John Jones, an escaped slave who buried the dead Confederates with respect and honor.
The United States has numerous problems, but I suggest that Confederate monuments aren’t one of them. However, if the anti-American Left has its way, all of these monuments will be destroyed.
Stone Mountain Park
Confederate monument Elmira, NY
A Portion of the painting on display at the Cyclorama, Atlanta, Georgia
Sam Blumfeld was an advocate for teaching cursive first. He believed that teaching printing or block first was a prescription for poor handwriting. Here is link to his writing tutor: http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/Writing/index.htm
Rev. Steve Craft
The best known newspaper story of Richard Rowland Kirkland
