Posted on 05/26/2018 8:39:50 PM PDT by w1n1
Remember the scene in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” where a General George C Marshall (U.S.Army Chief-of-Staff) reads a condolences letter from the late President Abraham Lincoln? Is this letter a hoax or a myth?
In the autumn of 1864 Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrew wrote to President Lincoln asking him to express condolences to Mrs. Lydia Bixby, a widow believed to have lost five sons during the Civil War. Lincoln’s letter to her was printed by the Boston Evening Transcript. Later it was revealed that only two of Mrs. Bixby’s five sons died in battle, Charles and Oliver. Of the remainder, one deserted the army, one was honorably discharged, and another deserted or died a prisoner of war.
The authorship of the letter has been debated by scholars, some of whom believe it was written instead by John Hay, one of Lincoln’s White House secretaries. Apparently the original letter was destroyed by the newspaper editor after publication or by Mrs. Bixby, who may have been a Confederate sympathizer and disliked President Lincoln. Copies of an early forgery have been circulating for many years, causing some people to believe they possess the original letter. Read the rest of this letter to Mrs. Bixby story here.
Interesting forensics tool. I hadn’t heard of that technique before. Thanks for posting.
Whatever the facts, it was a great scene.
“The boy is alive and we’re gonna send somebody to find him and we’re gonna get him the hell outa there”.
Sacrificing men to save a person because they are the remaining child is bulls—t IMO. I was my parents only son. Yet they put me in harms way for several years. The case of the Sullivan bothers all on the same ship at Guadalcanal is a reason not all bothers serve in the same place at the same time. Rightly so. But my brother-in-laws all went to Nam at different times. Looking for a deserter in Iran got other sons killed. Then Barry laundered money to bring the POS home. Just Saying.
“Remember the scene in the movie “Saving Private Ryan” where...”
No.
Interesting article, though.
“Sacrificing men to save a person because they are the remaining child is bulls—t IMO”
Spielberg is full of it.
You’re entitled to your opinion.
“Sacrificing men to save a person because they are the remaining child is bulls—t IMO”
Spielberg is full of it.
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Why is he full of it? He didn’t say that.
Damn right, I served a few years in uniform to keep that right too.
What branch were you in and did you go overseas?
USN, yes.
Asia?
No
Thanks for your service.
I was just a little gear in a huge machine. I gave a little, some gave all. Tonite we have youngsters in harms way. I pray for them.
The reason I asked those questions and before I knew you were USN, was because I was wondering if you had any buddies names on the Wall like I do.
None on the wall. A few defoiliated to many times to shorten their stay on the planet, and some that still haven’t gotten past it.
You are not alone.
True have a safe weekend. We remember to never let those around us forget or be forgotten.
bfl
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