Originally published on Citizen Stringer, February 9, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On February 1, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to the “Ghost Army” in recognition of their unique and highly distinguished service in conducting deception operations in Europe during World War II.

The Ghost Army, officially known as the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, was activated on January 20, 1944, and was the first mobile, multimedia, tactical deception unit in the history of the US Army. Its existence was top secret for more than 50 years until it was declassified in 1996, along with its sister deception unit, the 3133rd Signal Company Special, which operated in Italy, carrying out two missions near the end of the war.

As described by the Ghost Army Legacy Project, their job was to “create a traveling roadshow of deception on the battlefields of Europe, with the German Army as their audience.” Inflatable tanks, fake radio traffic, and sound effects were just a few of the tricks used to make up “phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters” created to fool the enemy about the size and location of American units.

In order to pull off this hoax, a carefully chosen group of artists, engineers, professional soldiers, and draftees was assembled. Included in the mix were not-yet-famous fashion designer Bill Blass, painter and sculptor Ellsworth Kelly, and photographer Art Kane.

Many West Point graduates and former Army Specialized Training Program participants were assigned to the 23rd, and it was said to have one of the highest IQs in the Army, with an average of 119.

Although many of its members went on to have careers in the arts, they were unable to tell the story of what they had done – even to their wives, family members, and friends – until after the information was declassified.

The Ghost Army has been credited with saving many American lives. In a video that explains what they did and how they did it, several veterans of the unit were interviewed. When speaking about the lives they saved, Sgt. Spike Berry said, “They estimate that we saved between 15 and 30 thousand lives with our maneuvers, but, you know, even if we only saved 15 or 30, it was worth it.”

“One mother, or one new bride…was spared the agony of putting a Gold Star in their front window – that’s what the 23rd did for us…was all about,” said Sgt. Stan Nance.

The Congressional Gold Medal is Congress’s highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions dating back to the American Revolution. The first recipient was George Washington, and the latest, which was approved last December, were the service members who perished in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021. Each medal honors a particular individual, institution, or event.

The recipients were all military until Congress broadened the scope of the award in 1864 to include pioneers in aeronautics and space, notables in science and medicine, athletes, and entertainers. American businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt was recognized for his “patriotic gift” of a passenger steamship to the Union Navy during the second year of the Civil War.

Recognition of the Ghost Army was made possible by the Ghost Army Legacy Project and its president, Rick Beyer, who launched a campaign asking people and various organizations to contact their Senators and Representatives in support of the unit receiving the award.

The bipartisan bill was sponsored by Rep. Annie Kuster (D, NH), Rep. Chis Stewart (R, UT), Sen. Edward Markey (D, MA), and Sen. Susan Collins (R, ME).

Speaking from the House floor on January 26, Rep. Annie Kuster said, “What made the Ghost Army special was not just their extraordinary courage, but their creativity. Their story reminds us that listening to unconventional ideas, like using visual and sound deception, can help us solve existential challenges like defeating tyranny.”

“I am thrilled these deserving, brave, and intrepid warriors of deception have at last been awarded this high honor,” said Beyer, who has worked for seven years to get this bill passed. “Armed with their wits and guile these men saved lives and helped win the war. Their story is an inspiration to all of us! So many have contributed to this moment — volunteers, members of the House and Senate from both parties, Ghost Army veterans and their families — with energy and devotion to seeing the valiant efforts of the Ghost Army properly honored.”

The following resources were used to compile this article. Visit their websites to learn more about this fascinating, courageous, and creative effort.

The Ghost Army

The Ghost Army Legacy Project

The National WWII Museum

Smithsonian Magazine

#History 

Published July 1, 2022

The Liberty Bell is one of America’s most iconic symbols of freedom. It was supposedly rung to celebrate the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and it was melted down and recast twice, but its lesser-known history includes a wagon trip from Philadelphia where it was hidden in the basement of a church in Allentown, Pennsylvania for nearly one year to save it from falling into the hands of the British.

Philadelphia is the place where our Founding Fathers met to discuss and debate the formation of a new country. The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were drafted and signed in the Pennsylvania State house, or Independence Hall, as it is now known.

At that time, the bell was simply called the State House bell. It did not earn its current title until around 1839 when abolitionists adopted it as their symbol because of its inscription:

“Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof (Leviticus 25:10)”

According to the National Park Service (NPS) website, the inscription is from the bible and refers to the “Jubilee,” or the “instructions to the Israelites to return property and free slaves every 50 years. Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly Isaac Norris chose this inscription for the State House bell in 1751, possibly to commemorate the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges which granted religious liberties and political self-government to the people of Pennsylvania.”

The Liberty Bell was commissioned in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly to hang in the new State House. It was cast in London by Whitechapel Bell Foundry at a cost of £100 and delivered in August 1752. It weighs 2,080 pounds.

The bell cracked the first time it was tested due to the metal being too brittle, and it was melted down and recast twice before its tone was acceptable and hung in 1753. There are many theories on how the bell’s second crack occurred, but the most verifiable story is that it occurred in 1846 when it rang in remembrance of George Washington’s birthday.

Ironically, the event it is most famous for being rung at did not actually happen.

The story that the bell rang to signal the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 is a myth. After its adoption on the 4th, the Declaration was sent to the printer and the bell is said to have been tolled at the first public reading of the document on July 8. However, historians say the steeple in the State House was in bad condition and that although bells throughout the city rang, it is unlikely the Liberty Bell was one of them.

Enter our unlikely heroes.

On September 11, 1777 the British defeated Washington at the Battle of Brandywine and they were poised to move north to Philadelphia. In preparation, on September 14, the Continental Congress ordered all public bells in the city be removed to safety so they could not be melted down, made into weaponry, and used against the Philadelphians.

The story, as told by a descendant of someone involved, says that in total, 11 bells were taken down, most of them from “fairly high steeples.” They were loaded into wagons and “spirited out of the city, all under the cover of night.”

Colonel Benjamin Flower was tasked with organizing the removal and decided not to send the bells with Army transport wagons, since they would be an easy mark if they came across British soldiers. Instead, he chose Pennsylvania German farmers who brought their wares into Philadelphia and were returning home with empty wagons. The farmers stood a lesser chance of being searched by the British if their paths crossed.

By most accounts on the subject, John Jacob Mickley was chosen to transport the Liberty Bell. The bells were placed in wagons and covered with hay or straw, and taken to Allentown via Bethlehem.

As the story goes, on September 23, the wagon carrying the heavy Liberty Bell reached the center of Bethlehem and broke an axle. It was then transferred to a wagon owned and driven by Frederick Loeser, (also spelled Leaser or Leiser in various documents) who completed the mission on September 24.

The Liberty Bell, along with others, was placed in the basement of Zion’s Reformed Church, where it remained secreted and safe for nearly a year. The church also served as a military hospital until the British evacuated Philadelphia in June 1778, and the bells were returned to their rightful places.

A pair of farmers was ordered to “convey by wagon,” money and loan papers belonging to the Public Loan Office, to Easton, Pennsylvania; Henry Bartholomew and his neighbor John Snyder were assigned the detail. Bartholomew is also credited with assisting his neighbors repair the axle of the wagon owned by Mickley.

Records indicate Bartholomew and Snyder were charged with transporting “all the books in the state library” to Easton as well.

On April 23, 1778, it was ordered that “ammunition and valuable stores” be removed from Pittston, New Jersey to Easton – Bartholomew and Snyder were entrusted to carry that task out also.

Charles said that Henry had three sons; Henry Jr., Peter, and Ludwig. Peter is the only one of the four that did not fight in the Revolution. He also told me the original homestead, not far from the church, is still standing. 

Zion’s Reformed Church not only remains, but the basement where the Liberty Bell was hidden away long ago also contains what is now the Liberty Bell Museum. 

In addition to educational exhibits, the museum houses an exact replica of the Liberty Bell that was presented to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1950 when the U.S. Department of Treasury commissioned 55 of them to be cast and distributed to every state and U.S. territory.

The bell can be rung, and Jim, the museum’s docent, was kind enough to demonstrate how it’s done. It was surprising how little force was needed to make it ring beautifully. 

Independence Day weekend is always a busy one for them, and there will be a special program on Monday, July 4 beginning at 12 p.m. They will be participating in a National Bell Ringing event in which all replica bells will be rung 13 times to represent the original colonies at 1 p.m.

Stephanie Burke, manager of the museum, has been there for 11 years and said what she is proudest of is their education program. “We make history fun and relevant for elementary school kids,” she said. She added that making history fun and accessible for kids is her personal mission. 

On Saturday, July 16, a Historical Marker Dedication will take place at 12 p.m. (Update: the museum closed in 2023 after the church was sold.)

In 1976 the Liberty Bell was moved from the State House to a pavilion about 100 yards away, and then another 963 feet in 2003, to its current location at the Liberty Bell Center on Independence Mall where visitors can view it.

It is silent now, but over its 269 years of existence, it rung out across the city of Philadelphia when the Constitution was ratified in 1787, for the deaths of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who coincidentally, both died on July 4, 1826. 

After its final use on George Washington’s birthday in 1846 rendering it silent, it has traveled across the country for special events, and even survived an attack by a tourist with a hammer in 2001. 

Given all it has been through, that iconic symbol of freedom can also be considered a symbol of endurance. 

Happy Independence Day and God bless America! 

Originally published by Citizen Stringer, April 2, 2021

In April 2021, NASA announced that astronomers have detected X-rays from Uranus for the first time, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Here is a brief description of their report, as well as the top ten things NASA would like you to know about Uranus.

From the NASA statement: “Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and has two sets of rings around its equator. The planet, which has four times the diameter of Earth, rotates on its side, making it different from all other planets in the solar system. Since Voyager 2 was the only spacecraft to ever fly by Uranus, astronomers currently rely on telescopes much closer to Earth, like Chandra and the Hubble Space Telescope, to learn about this distant and cold planet that is made up almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.”

Previous observations of Uranus in the 1990s yielded non-detections, but in the new study, researchers used Chandra observations taken in 2002 and then again in 2017, which were just recently analyzed. They saw a clear detection of X-rays from the first observation and a possible flare of X-rays in those obtained fifteen years later.

Why is this important? Well, besides being able to write an entire article about Uranus, NASA says the result may help scientists learn more about “this enigmatic ice giant planet in our solar system.”

There are many more details on the findings of the study and you can read them by clicking the NASA link in the first paragraph.

A few more interesting facts; In Greek mythology, Uranus was Father  Sky, or god of the sky, and the radioactive element uranium was named  after Uranus when it was discovered in 1789, just eight years after the  planet was discovered.

The top ten things that NASA would like you to know about Uranus:

• It’s huge: It’s about four times wider than Earth. If Earth were a large apple, Uranus would be the size of a basketball.

• It is the Seventh Wanderer: Uranus orbits our Sun, a star, and is  the seventh planet from the Sun at a distance of about 1.8 billion miles  (2.9 billion kilometers).

• It has a Short-ish Day and Long-ish Year: Uranus takes about 17  hours to rotate once (a Uranian day), and about 84 Earth years to  complete an orbit of the Sun (a Uranian year).

• It is an Ice Giant: Most of its mass is a hot, dense fluid of “icy”  materials – water, methane and ammonia – above a small rocky core.

• It’s Gassy: Uranus has an atmosphere made mostly of molecular hydrogen and atomic helium, with a small amount of methane.

• It has Many Moons: Uranus has 27 known moons, and they are named  after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander  Pope.

• The Other Ringed World: Uranus has 13 known rings. The inner rings  are narrow and dark and the outer rings are brightly colored.

• It’s A Bit Lonely: Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly by  Uranus. No spacecraft has orbited this distant planet to study it at  length and up close.

• It is Lifeless: Uranus cannot support life as we know it.

• And One Cool Fact: Like Venus, Uranus rotates east to west. But Uranus is unique in that it rotates on its side.

The NASA website is very interesting, and if you didn’t learn all you needed to know about Uranus from this, you can get more information there.

While doing my research on Uranus for this piece, I did see an article that states, “NASA has plans to probe Uranus in search of gas.” We'll leave that one there.

We had the opportunity to speak with Frank Siller and Scott LoBaido. Both mentioned they are concerned that young people, who were not alive at the time of the tragic incident, are not learning about it properly. In addition to all the good they do, one of their missions is to educate our youth about 9/11 history and to make sure America never forgets.

We asked Mr. Siller what he would tell the young people that weren’t around during the 9/11 attacks twenty years ago. He said he would tell them to emulate what he saw from the young people in the area on Saturday. They “lined up, marched, sing God Bless America, pipes and drums …it was just so moving.”

“Young Americans, if they’re told about what happened on 9/11, they will sit up and take notice, and I am so happy when I see – and I saw hundreds upon hundreds of them out here today – so this is why I’m doing this walk…we gotta get the message to the young Americans. They don’t even know, because they’re not teaching it in school, so we are. We’re going to teach it everywhere we go,” Siller said.

On Saturday morning, the event began with a prayer service, then a short parade through town, which included Lehigh Valley area first responders, veteran and community groups, and the Easton Area High School Red Rover Marching Band.

The parade ended at Centre Square for a brief program. A beautiful rendition of the National Anthem was sung by Easton native and Broadway star, Dee Roscioli, before various speakers took to the podium to pay tribute to those lost twenty years ago, with specific mention of several who grew up in the College Hill section of Easton.

Colleen Supinski was 27-years-old when she worked as an assets trader on the 104th floor of 2 World Trade Center in 2001. Claudia Lucia DePamphilis Morris was an NYC police officer who worked at Ground Zero after the attacks. She died on June 2 of this year, at the age of 56, from 9/11-related cancer.

Easton’s Mayor Sal Panto was among those who shared memories and spoke of hopes for a positive future, and a check for $100,000 was presented to the foundation from the Star auto dealerships in the area.

During his comments, the master of ceremonies retired NYC Fire Department Battalion Chief, and executive board member of the foundation, John LaBarbera, said, “The Siller family did not want to stay consumed in the darkness and the tragedy but chose instead to honor the heroic sacrifices that were made by all 2,977 lives lost that day.”

LaBarbera drew the audience’s attention to a giant American flag hanging at the back of the stage, explaining it was flown at Ground Zero during the recovery efforts in the weeks and months that followed. “This flag is used by our members who die from 9/11 illness, and it attends each and every one of their wakes and funerals,” he said.

The ceremony became emotional when the family of slain NYPD officer Miosotis Familia spoke. Familia was a single mother of three who was assassinated in 2017 while on duty in the Bronx.

Her eldest daughter, Genesis Villella, was accompanied by her 16-year-old twin siblings, Peter and Delilah Vega. Villella was twenty years old at the time of her mother’s death and has raised her siblings since then. Siller’s foundation has provided the family with a mortgage-free home.

Through tears, Villella told the crowd, “My mom was a New York City police officer who was assassinated in the line of duty for the blue uniform that she wore. My mother was shot in the head for representing the greatest police department in the world.”

Villella said they are “so grateful,” stating, “The Tunnel to Towers Foundation has been a lifeline for my family…ever since that dark day on July 5, 2017, when my mother was killed.” “They have been here for us, and they will be there, and they keep their promise and their vows to never forget the heroes that laid down their lives in the line of duty,” she said.

Familia’s death was not 9/11 related. Although the foundation has  always helped the families of first responders who died on 9/11 or of  related illnesses, it has expanded its mission to include paying off  mortgages, or providing mortgage-free homes, to the families of military  and first responders who die in the line of duty, leaving behind young  families.

Towards the end of his speech, Siller said, “I’m going to ask you to  join us on our mission of doing good…And let’s make a promise as  Americans, this is the promise I want you to make; That when our men and  women go out and serve our country, or our men and women go out to  serve our communities, and they give their kids a kiss goodbye, and they  don’t come home, we have got to take care of them. We are going to give  them – and deliver them – a mortgage-free home.”

When Siller concluded, he called all those in attendance who currently serve, or have served, in the military, or as first responders, to the front of the stage so that the audience could acknowledge them.

He then directed everyone’s attention to the other side of the area where patriot artist Scott Lobaido was waiting to unveil his commemorative sculpture.

LoBaido is traveling along with the foundation and unveiling his sculpture at each of the stops. He was kind enough to take the time to talk to us. We asked what he wanted people to know about the day. 

LoBaido said part of being patriotic is helping people, which he has been doing for decades. There are huge murals of the American flag in many states, and he donates other smaller pieces to be auctioned off for charity.

He explained it was advice from his parents that guided him in his philosophy. “My mom always said, ‘do whatever you want in your life as long as you believe it in your heart, and always take care of the less fortunate.’” Adding, “My dad’s advice was, ‘take sh*t from nobody,’ so I got that yin yang.”

LoBaido has been with the organization since the beginning. “It’s just spectacular…and I watched a handful of people grow into this beautiful beast of doing good…It’s what it’s all about.”

Like Siller, LoBaido worries that our schools aren’t teaching enough about 9/11, saying, “and if they are, they’re changing the narrative, which, you know, it’s the nature of the new beast, with this society and this cancel culture, politically correct insanity – I don’t want to get into that because we’re talking about this positive moment.”

He says he loves his flag, veterans, and military “because I’m the guy, who they fought for, this crazy artist, to do what I want. And so I like to pay it forward.” He also mentioned that on September 12, 2001, we were all united and he would like to get that back.

This year, Tunnel to Towers plans on providing 200 mortgage-free homes to the families of those who have lost their lives in service to their communities or our country.

Siller and his entourage are covering a lot of miles. In the process, they are not only helping the families of the fallen, they are giving those of us in their path that feeling of unity we have been longing for, if but for a few short hours.

Never, ever, forget.

Originally published by Citizen Stringer, September 27, 2021 

The crisis that climaxed last week with 15,000 illegal aliens, mostly  from Haiti, descending upon Del Rio, Texas has many people asking the  question “How did people from Haiti get to Mexico?”

We were going to include the answer to the question, “Why are so many  Haitians showing up now and in such large numbers,” but that topic is  large enough to deserve its own article.

First, some background. In July, Haiti’s president was assassinated,  but the country was already unstable. Haiti’s economic, political and  social issues have deepened recently, with gang violence spiking in the  capital of Port-au-Prince, inflation spiraling, and food and fuel  becoming scarcer in a country where 60% of the population makes less  than $2 a day. These troubles come as Haiti is still trying to recover  from the devastating 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Matthew that struck  in 2016.

Haitians began attempting to enter the U.S. in the 1980s by sea, but  most were cut off by the Coast Guard, and these attempts waned after a  Supreme Court decision lifted an injunction that barred repatriations of  Haitian exiles in 1992.

After a devastating earthquake in 2010, 250,000 Haitians fled their  homeland and settled in South America. The goal for many is to reach the  U.S. in order to find better jobs. Most recently, the pandemic has put a  squeeze on regional economies, enticing migrants to move northward.

Many Haitians reach the U.S. border on a well-worn route: they fly to  Brazil, Chile, or elsewhere in South America, making their way to  Colombia where they begin the dangerous trek through the Darien Gap, a  vast wilderness that separates Colombia and Panama

Once through the Darien Gap, the trip through Central America entails  traveling through Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala,  and finally reaching the southern border of Mexico.

This is not a “point A to point B” express trip. These migrants stay  in one place, sometimes for months or years, if there is work for them  before moving on.

Last month, Michael Yon, an experienced war correspondent that has  been tracking the migrant crisis appeared on Epoch TV providing details  on the routes taken. He says many Cubans and Haitians start off in  Suriname, a small country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South  America.

They go to Suriname because they don’t need a visa. They’ll go there  and then from there, they’ll take a bus to either Brazil or Ecuador and  they get up to Columbia and cross. So they’ll either go to Suriname,  Brazil or Ecuador to begin with because they can get visas on arrival,”  Yon said.

Yon describes Darien Gap as “the ultimate wall.” If you are fit and  the weather is in your favor, you can get through it in four days if you  don’t get lost. Most people take at least seven days, and he says that  at least 10 percent of those who attempt the trip will perish doing so.

There are no roads in the Darien Gap. It is a rainforest, and there  are mountains and dangerous rivers to navigate. Many migrants die from  waterborne diseases, get washed away in flash floods, or are robbed,  raped, or murdered along the way.

Another location that has become a popular starting point is the  Colombian town of Necocli, a small city on Colombia’s Caribbean shore,  where migrants catch ferry rides to the Panama border and begin their  trip through the Darien Gap.

Necocli has become a bottleneck on the global migrant trail. In July,  a local official estimated that more than 10,000 migrants had arrived  in the city which has a total population of 20,000. The ferries taking  people to Panama can only carry about 750 per day, which is half of the  1,500 that have been arriving daily.

Funding for Haitian migrants may come from relatives already in the  United States. Oftentimes, they pay human smugglers thousands of dollars  to get them from Haiti to Brazil, and then on to Chile where many  settled over the years.

The BBC reported in 2020, that Chilean officials had knowledge of  “companies in Port-au-Prince that were dedicated to telling Haitians’  ‘sell your house, sell everything you have, pay us three thousand  dollars and we give you a work contract in Chile.’”

Technology has also played a big part in leading Haitian migrants to  Texas. For the final leg of his journey from Chile to the United States,  Haitian migrant Fabricio Jean followed detailed instructions sent to  him via WhatsApp from his brother in New Jersey who had recently taken  the route to the Texas border.

His brother wired him money for the trip, and meticulously mapped it  out, warning him of areas heavy with Mexican immigration officials.

“You will need about 20,000 pesos (about $1,000 U.S. dollars) for the  buses. You need to take this bus to this location and then take another  bus,” recounted Jean, who spoke to The Associated Press after reaching  the border town of Del Rio.

Once migrants reach Mexico’s southern border they may be forced to pay smugglers who use cars or cargo trucks to transport them, or travel  on foot, and others take buses or use the Mexican freight train system  known as “The Beast” or “el tren de la muerte,” (the train of death).

The use of any of these modes of transportation comes with risks.  Migrants smuggled in trucks are subjected to extreme temperatures and  those traveling by foot have succumbed to dehydration and injuries. The  men are robbed, the women are raped, and many who have chosen the trains  have either been killed or have lost limbs after mishaps while climbing  on, jumping off, or falling off.

So there you have it.