Friday, July 31, 2015

MAJOR IN U.S. SENATE? WOW.....Breaking News in Florida.....


Poll: Trump trumps Florida; Senate seat wide open Stan Major for the US SENATE


St. Pete Polls: Trump, Hillary lead in White House race, Jolly, Murphy in Senate.
The Donald is doing in Florida what he has been doing everywhere else: rising to the top, well ahead of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, according to a new survey from St. Pete Polls.
The results, released in parts Wednesday and Thursday, shows Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is the clear front-runner in the Sunshine State, which he calls a second home with his residence in Palm Beach.

St. Pete Polls also asked about the Democratic presidential race and the U.S. Senate race to replace Rubio.
Hillary Clinton leads with 55.1 percent, to 29.1 for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.


stanmjor@aol.com

New & improved ISIS! .....No more beheadings (to be shown)

running from Isis

New post (& three good clicks!)
 

The new and improved ISIS!

    ISIS has banned its infamous execution videos.

    No more gory beheading videos 


click for story:

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0721/No-more-gory-beheading-videos-Why-ISIS-has-banned-execution-videos
                                      ___________________
   

 Elite Army Unit at Fort Meade Searching for Ways to Fight ISIS ...

    Justin Sapp, a commander in the Asymmetric Warfare Group, describes ISIS militaries as a new kind of challenge: a force of fighters informed ...

            http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-army-isis-watchers-20150718-story.html#page=1

                           ______________________

    OK...thinking of doing some traveling?  Just DON’T go here!
    Click for the worst:

http://www.aol.com/article/2015/07/29/these-are-the-worlds-most-dangerous-destinations/21215436/

stanmajor@aol.com


Thursday, July 30, 2015

the game is on...Tokyo....waiting for a MAN OF ACTION there! .Are you there Japan?

106 Nations (Japan included) view this blog
90,706 Views!           

     That gleaming building is the Honda car headquarters in Tokyo..a good place to start this post.

    Now someplace high up in that beautiful building is a man of action.
    That man of action is going to check the time difference between Coral Springs, Fl USA and Japan.....and if it fits...he is going to dial the Service Director at Coral Springs Honda.
    His name is is Brannon Smith...another man of action.  Most folks call him Smitty.
    “Can I call you “Smitty?”
     “Of course.”
    Smitty this press fellow...Major is his name...been having some trouble with a Civic I understand.
    Yes sir....he only bought it a few weeks ago and the transmission is bad.
    Well...he reviewed our new cars for over seven years and he deserves some credit.
    Here’s what I want you to do...get his car over there...order up a rebuilt transmission for the car and install it for free.
    Got that?
    Yes sir.
    Can you start on that today?
    Yes sir.
    When you’re finished send the bill to me...I’ll pay it.
   
I hope to visit you someday...Coral Springs is nice I hear.
    Yes sir very nice.
    I’d like to take you to lunch!  Binahanna?
they both laughed
    Whatever you want sir.
    Goodbye...say hi to all there.
   
 stanmajor@aol.com

About big computers taking over!

THE FORBIN PROJECT
                                                                     repost
I POSTED THIS BEFORE CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR.  MORE COMING BELOW!

Science fiction flicks becoming reality?                                                  

....it’s possible.  We’ll call it the “Google Project”?

Long before “War Games”...”Andromeda Strain” and others that you’re familiar with...there was 
“Colossus:The Forbin Project”.

This was the one where all our military might including the nukes were turned over to a magnificent colossal computer...locked forever in a western mountain by Dr. Forbin himself.

I only bring this up because Hollywood rumor has Ron Howard directing a remake...with the star power of Will Smith.

They have a problem though because the enemy...the Soviets...is not really around...although Putin is trying to bring it back.
So...maybe the bad dudes now would be the NSA, CIA and Google.
At a stretch they could include weird Iran and crazy North Korea.

Who knows where the plot will go and even IF the remake will happen.

 Don’t hold your breath on this...and if you can find the original “Forbin Project”...that’s worth viewing.
Mine’s on a VCR cassette.  Remember those things?
                                                               ---------------------------
Part #2


...Now this scares a lot of folks including me...even though I’ve never been arrested or been involved in any illegal stuff.
   
click and read the bad news:
    http://www.beenverified.com/lp/60e379/1/landing?utm_campaign=BeenVerified_Gravity_PR_PGNEWS&utm_content=SPACE002&utm_medium=content&utm_source=gravity&utm_term=huffingtonpost.com


stanmjor@aol.com

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Nick Clooney's mad crush

Nick Clooney's movie crush!
                                             106 NATIONS.....90,000 VIEWS                        repost
   

....Sometimes things come back from out of the past that I had forgotten.  Since this directly involves the Clooney’s...I thought you’d get a kick out of it.  I know George will.... if he ever wises up that I’ve written tons of stuff about his Dad on this blog.
    The big deal movie “Helen of Troy” came out while we were in Germany and Nick wanted to see it...so we rounded up as many guys from our gang who wanted to go and we went to the military movie house near the big airport in Frankfurt.
    Nick came out of the theater crazy mad about Rossana Podesta who had the female lead as Helen.  Bardot was in it also...I liked her better.
Nick carried on for days about her and it was a real screen crush.  I know because I felt that way about Meg Ryan for a few years after French Kiss. (No...not “Sleepless” I said French Kiss.
    So if anyone who reads this knows Nick ask him about it.  He’ll get a kick out of it.
    Or...you could tell George...that would be nice.  Of course I can just pick up the phone and call him....right.  Sure. Sorry..don’t have the number handy.
                            _______________________

                     ____________________________




stanmajor@aol.com
   

most admired of our WHOLE family!




                                     Dad, his stroller and Sophia the cat!

SM: Of all the members of my family...this is the one I admired almost the best.  I’ve asked his Daughter to paint us a written portrait of her Father, Frank...my Brother In Law.
        Enjoy:

Laura writes....

    My dad had three names, Ted, Frank and Zeke.  He was born in 1920 and lived to be 92.  His parents were immigrants from the Ukraine, but totally transitioned into American life and shared little with their children about the old country.  
In lieu of working on his father's dairy farm in upstate NY, Dad chose to join the Navy when he turned 18, he was sent to the Pacific to work on war planes.  
He married my Mom quite impulsively during WWII and spent their honeymoon in Saipan.  Dad went on to become an engineer and start a family.  
After about fifteen years, mom and dad had me and my brother soon after.  My brother, Mike was diagnosed as Downs syndrome when he was two to three years old, both mom and dad were dedicated to his care.    Dad was Mike's favorite, able to communicate very little, he loved taking dad's arm and leading him to the frig to get some orange juice.  
Dad was a very nice, quiet and patient man.  Don't get me wrong, when discipline was called for, he was up to task.   I remember when I was six, he caught me  and my friends jumping on the bed (which I had been told many times 'not to do').  He calmly told us to 'get off the bed' an walked away.  A couple of hours later, I walked into my room, and there was the broken wooden bed slate hanging prominently on the bedroom wall...life lesson learned..."own"  your actions.  
Later in life, Dad took care of Mom as she grew ill and  he worked very hard as we know she was not an easy person to please. I was fortunate to have Dad move to my city when Mom passed and he lived in our house the last two years of his life.  Dad loved traffic (he commuted to downtown LA for years and one of his favorite things included asking me to wheel his walker to the main road at evening rush hour to watch the traffic), he also loved baseball, Cheetos, ice cream and red wine.  
Dad had a way of brightening everyone's day, everyone speaks of his 'nice smile'.  We would walk into any doctor office or hospital and the 'world' would just light up with his smile.  He had a positive nature, he was always able to have a 'half-full' attitude when the Dodgers lost a game.  He spent his last year in much pain, but chuckled at the antics of our cats and dogs at the house.  His favorite was Sophia the kitty, no matter how bad he felt, when she jumped up on his walker, he mustered enough strength to give her a 'ride'  around the house.  Dad has been gone for two years, I still have his walker with the Dodger license plate on the front, it will be the last thing I part with.  Taking care of an elderly parent is one of the hardest jobs in the world, I consider it a privilege to have been able to spend time with Dad and to have given him a little 'help' when he needed it.  Miss him.

   Laura

Thanks Laura.  You brightened my readers lives also.

sm


stanmajor@aol.com



some funny clcks....enjoy

 just click and enjoy! *(3 of them)



https://soundcloud.com/stan-major-radio/a-message-from-the-king



https://soundcloud.com/stan-major-radio/general-patton-for-renault 


https://soundcloud.com/stan-major-radio/stevie-nicks-what-the-hell-is?in=stan-major-radio/sets/the-holidays-with-stan

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

The WOLF is out!

 re-post
     ...Big changes at CIA. “The Wolf” is OUT.

    The man who was responsible for “Maya” getting bin Laden is out.
    But this article doesn’t mention “Maya” (name used in Zero Dark Thirty) and inquiring minds would like to know more about HER!
    i.e.
 is she still there chasing ISIS?

"Maya"
we quote the story...

“After becoming CTC chief, (“The Wolf”) installed a foldaway bed in his office and often went days without leaving the CIA campus. Although a chain-smoker, he was known for spending hours on a treadmill going over terrorism reports. He was the basis for a character known as “The Wolf” in the movie “Zero Dark Thirty.”

Here’s the Post story (long but interesting if you are a spy buff)
and First names only in most cases.
click below

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/architect-of-cias-drone-campaign-to-leave-post-in-watershed-moment-for-agency/2015/03/25/261289ec-d2f7-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html?wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

stanmajor@aol.com

the smart gun...what is it?

Smart Gun
repost

....guns don’t kill people...kids kill people (with guns!)

     So here’s the most famous gun maker in the world...his gun reportedly killed O-swami Bin Laden.
His name is Ernst Mauch...and the 2nd amendment'ers hate him!
Why?
Because he’s invented a gun that could be a double safety from kids use.  And the haters are afraid it’s so good the government will try to mandate it’s use.
    Here’s the whole story from the Washington Post.  
click...read and decide for yourself:


my email:
stanmajor@aol.com

How about "Doc" and his pink sheet!


An appreciation




                                                                                         repost
      ...Way before there was Drudge...there was the Doc...

     Dr. William Leavell...editor and publisher of the political newsletter The Washington Report...always printed on pink paper, and distributed to every politican in DC...the House, Senate, Administration and press...you name it, they got it.
     Doc first appeared on my local talk show in Tampa on WDAE.  He fast became a regular guest.
     HE  with his devoted wife Patty, were winter residents in the Tampa Bay area and when I went national overnight...he went with me.  He was my guest so often that he might have been dubbed my “co-host”.
      Doc had a lot to say and even though he was careful about revealing stuff he did not hesitate to answer my queries and give me just the facts as he knew them and my national audience loved him.
     And I could always count on him to bring something up each time he appeared...most times something not known by the general press yet.  
     There’s one way to confirm what a person is telling you is probably true and that is Doc, to my knowledge, was NEVER sued for anything he printed or said.  
     Therefore you might disagree with him but give the man his due...he had insiders all over the place telling him stuff and he relayed it one way or another.
     Doc loved to click on C-Span and count the number of congressman who were walking around with the pink sheet sticking out of their pockets. 
     He actually worked for a Congressman many years before and rode the “tooterville trolley” from office to the Capital daily....so he had that insiders vantage as to the workings or lack thereof...our legislature.
     He was conservative...possibly more so than a Rush or a even Pat Bucanan but he was very pro-Israel and I later found out a little about that from a personal letter he sent me some years after he began appearing on my show.
     Doc’s gone now...passed on a few years ago in his native North Carolina home.
     I feel I can reveal his letter now and I will in the next post...unless the Massoud silences me before I do the deed.
     We survived broadcasting together on no less than six major radio networks over the 10-12 year span of the national “Stan Major Show”.
     The total station count through that 12 years approached 500 stations...which ain't bad in anybody's book.
     The political stuff was fun and interesting but the series that Bill Leavell and I did on the final network, National Radio Network, is what I remember most.
     Doc loved political history and had a knack of responding to anything regardless of how long ago it happened or who was involved.
     So I wanted to do a series where on each show he appeared we would dissect one President at a time.  We did and of course we started with George Washington and went right up the years until his last President...George Bush (the younger).
      The series was so good it should have been placed in every library in America.  Not only did Doc lay out the actual historic highlights of each man in the White House...he also had dozens of tidbits that brought each First Family to life. 
     Where did he find all that info?  Well he did and you can see why such a prestigious institution as Cambridge University in England would honor him and they did....and he flew there to take part and accept the honors.  He was most proud of that, I believe.
     So was I.
 God be with you Doc...we loved you!

POSTER'S NOTE:  OF ALL THE POSTS I'VE WRITTEN I'M MOST PROUD OF THIS ONE AND THE "MOM" POST.
I'M ALSO PLEASED THAT THE LEAVELL FAMILY, SON BILL (FORMER JUDGE)... WIFE CYNDI AND THE KIDS AND DOC'S BELOVED WIFE "PATTY" WERE ABLE TO SEE THIS AND RESPOND.
THANK YOU ALL!

 stanmajor@aol.com



Monday, July 27, 2015

RARE PIC OF DIANA.......Smile Kate...you're on my blog. Where ya been?

repost                                                           
DIANA



....What do Kate Middleton and the Marlins Giancarlo Stanton have in common?
They’re both on this post...that’s what!
Hey...I’m in charge. 
If you’re not careful I’ll add my favorite...Cordila Withrop Scott too! (that's Selena)
       Kate’s on here cause she hasn’t been for sometime.  And I love the hat, Kate...but please smile!
                            &
Stanton’s here because tomorrow is a big day for him.  The announcement of the MVP (most valuable player) in each league and he has a shot at it...despite getting smashed in the face with a fastball...and being out for the final month or so. 
...Good luck GC!
                                        -------------------------------

I was walking to get the mail here in this complex...and a car pulled up in the parking area where I was heading.  
A gentleman got out of the driver’s seat and calmly walked around to the passenger door and opened it and out steps a lady.  Wife?  Sister?  Friend?  I don’t know.
I just know I had not seen that kind of gesture in years and it impressed me.
When did we all (it seems) stop being gentleman and civil to others?  when was the last time you did that...or even just opened a door for someone?  Try it.  You’ll like it.
                                    -----------------------------------

stanmajor@aol.com

From a few days ago...but well worth repeating!


                                                                                     repost
First...the overture:
   
     ....Meet Joe Black is the kind of movie that if you are switching around and you stop at it....you’re hooked!
    Yes Pitt is amazing...and the rest of the cast the same.                        _____________________

Being in the news blog business I like to have some idea about the newsmakers I write about. So I asked our friend Hal to fill us in on who’s really in charge of chopping heads off....in the so called Isis nuthouse.

                            ISIS leader?

“The head of ISIS is a shithead named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commonly called The Caliphate or Caliph.
ISIS, sometimes now referred to as The Islamic State, is a pyramidal styled organization of allied Islamic terrorist groups.
There are many groups, large and small, from various points in the Middle East and Africa that have aligned themselves.
There is debate still as to whether it is a group that al-Baghdadi absolutely rules or coordinates with specific instruction or with general consensus.
Won't know for sure until we nail the asshole's hide to the clouds.”

thanks Hal!

P.S. Hal:  The head Taliban in Afghan wrote asking me to thank you and your team for doing their work for them in Afghan the other day!  (inside joke...only the WOLF or “Maya” would understand”)

stanmajor@aol.com

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Welcome CUBA! Nation 107

An explanation is in order.
Cuba still does not have the internet.....BUT this is more than just wishful thinking ...because it should open up soon.  So...we welcome our next door neighbor to the near south....anyway.


        
         

CUBA...NATION # 107
              92,000  VIEWS...
    ..... 1300 POSTS


Countries around the world now viewing this blog:
                                          
(random order)
U.S. 
Malaysia
Canada
Russia
France
Germany
China
United Kingdom(England)
Ireland
Poland
Cambodia
South Korea
Spain
Israel
Turkey
Serbia
Ukraine
Indonesia
Czech Republic
Philippines
Australia
Greece
Japan
Italy
South Africa
Sweden
Mexico
Hungary
India
New Zealand
Thailand
Slovakia
Brazil
Peru
Andorra
Columbia
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Macedonia
Dominican Republic
Portugal
Taiwan
Argentina
Chile
Ecuador
Albania
Hong Kong
Latvia
Jamaica
U.S. Virgin Islands
Romania
Algeria
Singapore
Venezuela
Uruguay
United Arab Emirate
Ghana
Bangladesh
Moldova
Kazakhstan
Denmark
Netherlands
Lithuania
VIETNAM!
Kuwait
Austria
Oman
Bahamas
Egypt
Saudi Arabia
Belgium
Switzerland
Nigeria
IRAQ
Slovenia
Finland
Pakistan
Luxembourg
Costa Rica
Boliva
Papua New Guinea
Morocco
Croatia
Turks & Caicos
Senegal
Bulgaria
Norway
Panama
Nepal
Lebanon
Belarus
Chad
Zimbabwe
Tunisia
Sri Lanka
KENYA
MONTENEGRO
HONDURAS
MALTA
Afghanistan
Uzbekistan
MAURITIOS
Georgia
IRAN
CUBA (107)

If your nation was not mentioned please email the info:
stanmajor@aol.com

Cambodia......the killing fields to be!





        Ever been scared...I have, a few times.

        I mentioned earlier in this blog about Cambodia...being driven south out of the capital of Phnom Penh and wondering who the soldiers were walking along the highway with really big guns. I said to my driver "I didn't think Cambodia had an army."
     "Oh those not Cambodia soldiers....those NVA!"
 North Vietnamese walking to kill Americans.
     "I hope you don't have a flat tire".
     " Oh you just tell 'em you Canadian!".
Yeh....sure.  with an American passport in my pocket.
     It's strange...I wasn't at all scared as we passed another small group.  This continued for awhile...just small groups of five or six NVA soldiers and then we saw no more.
     Some 87 members of the worldwide press were killed in that southeast asian conflict...including NBC's famed correspondent Wells Hangen along with his cameraman German born Peter Bellendorf.
     Peter was quite a guy...he kept a boa constrictor in his Saigon apartment as he was on long assignments and needed some kind of surety against break-ins!
     I chatted with him over coffee one morning and ask him if he was ever afraid out in the field.
He whipped out his wallet and slipped a picture of Ho Chi Minh out and showed it to me.
"My insurance out there.  They won't kill a guy carrying this!"
     Sad to say...it didn't work.
     Regarding Wells Hangen...he came into the Saigon building that housed NBC, AP and several other news organizations on special assignment and made the mistake of taking the elevator which everyone knew didn't work well.  It took some time to get him out.  Moral to this...beware of French made elevators.
     As I said I wasn't really scared when passing the enemy solders on the road...in fact it is strange that years later as I think and write about this I am more tense about it now...knowing now that a lot of press folks did not come out of Cambodia alive.
      On that same trip we stopped in a small Cambodian village to get some snacks and as we approached the entrance I noticed a tall man with a pink and white dotted scarf around his neck.  He looked intently at me...ignored a hello from my driver and I got a shivers as we entered the small store..  He looked like he was ready and willing to "eat my intestines"....and that made me nervous.   Later I asked the driver about the guy with the strange scarf...
    "Oh that guy you don't mess with...bad guy.
      "He part of Khmer Rouge.  Bad people."
     And they were...I would use the term viciously bad...when emptying the capital of all it's inhabitants and killing millions ala Hitler.
     But wait...there's more on this weird trip south to Sihanoukville....
     A big story broke down on the south China sea near Sihanoukville. About a week earlier a ships crew mutinied and took over the vessel and I figured this might be a great scoop so that's where we were headed.  We got there late afternoon and I went into the lobby of this huge resort hotel in the small city named in honor of the current King Of Cambodia.  After talking to the desk clerk and the manager I determined the ship had not put in there so there was no great scoop.  The manager invited us to see Prince Sinanouk's zoo which bordered the hotel so we drove around thru elephants...some tigers (we kept the doors locked and windows up) and whatever else animals which the manager said were gifts to the Prince and he had to find a place to put them.  We returned to the hotel and eat a good dinner and then headed out for Phnom Penh but it was getting dark.
     They are called water buffalo and they are the hugest animal you'll ever see...but hopeful not on the highway at night.  My driver said this was the only thing we had to worry about...not the NVA soldiers...not the fledgling killers named Khmer Rouge...but the big water buffalo who  he said, loved to sleep on the warm highway at night!  Well, we were in luck...not one time did we have to screech to a halt and go around one of these things.  We made it back...the trip was unfruitful from a news standpoint but historic in my life.
                   http://www.arkive.org/asian-buffalo/bubalus-bubalis/
  
     I paid the driver and as I approached the hotel and saw one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in my life!   She was not a hooker...I guess the NVA didn't allow that.  She seemed be just walking by on her way home or someplace.  I said hello and she responded in English...and as exhausted as I was with all the day's activities I ask if she would like a drink.  That's a pretty unusual approach for me...I'm a shy guy but I was just too tired to waste time on the preliminares.
     Surprisingly...she smiled and said yes.  We went to the hotel bar and she seemed a bit uncomfortably there and I gleaned that she was not used to this kind of an offer.  I felt my time was wasted but halfway thru the drinks she asked if I had a room and, of course, I did...so I went full force here..her beauty seemed to recharge my battery and I said would you like to go there and she nodded and off we went.  I will add here that she was as good in bed as she looked.   You don't find that too often in life.
     The next thing I know is there was a knock on the door.  It was morning and I wondered what this was about.  Maybe she was a hooker and this was her pimp to collect.  You never know in this part of the world.
     I opened the door keeping my foot and leg ready to block anyone I considered as trouble.
didn't need to worry though...it was a guy from Newsweek magazine I'd met outside the hotel while arranging my drive south.
     "There's been a coup" he said.  "The Prince (in China at the time) is out and an Army General is in".
     I ask him in and he took one look at the girl in the bed and said "wow".  I agreed.
     He and I were the only American press people left here.  An ABC crew had been here yesterday but they went out early this morning (really bad timing don't you agree) They had snuck in through  Laos.   Press could not get into Cambodia.  We had all gotten the word...don't even try it...they'll put you right back on the plane.
     Let me digress and tell you how I conned my way into Cambodia
     I had almost completed my initial six month tour covering the war for NBC News.  I had some R & R coming so I made arrangements for visas to Hong Kong, the Philippines and even as a standby Australia.
     I had an early morning flight to Hong Kong which (surprise!) stopped in Phnom Penh!
    When some passengers began to disembark I joined them...trying to think of what I could do all alone here...even if I made it past customs.  The hell with it...they won't let me in anyway so I'll just make a meager effort.  I tried to think back on office discussions about Cambodia and what possible way there might be (ala ABC) to get into the country.  I did remember that the customs officer here would have a list of the Saigon press corp and check the names on it if he became suspicious.  Oh well...he can see my name and order me back on the plane...what the hell..I tried.
     Suddenly I remembered that the inside flap on my passport identified me as with NBC news.  Shit!
I dug out a pen and looked at the writing and began changing the letters...(I still have that passport if the newsmusem is ever interested).  I got the NBC News garbled enough so that nobody could work it out...especially a guy not raised in the English language.
     The guy took my passport and saw I was an American based in Saigon.  I hadn't messed with trying to change the address...didn't have time.  He checked to see if my name was on the Saigon press list.  He checked again...apparently it was not there!  I had arrived about six months earlier and his list was NOT up to date.
"You press from Saigon!"
"No sir...I'm a farmer from the United States."
"You press...I know it!  Yes?"
"No...I'm a tourist.....I want to see your fine country!"
He continued to eye me suspicious.  "Where you want to go here?
"Angor Wat" I answered...remembering the Jackie Kennedy venture there.  "I want to see Angor Wat."
He caved.....stamped me a three day visitors visa and waved me on.  I didn't believe it until I had gone back and bribed a airline clerk to get my bag off the plane.  I needed it not for clothes but my handy, always with me, NBC cassette recorder was in the bag.
     I still didn't believe it until I was in a cab about half way into the city.  Wow. 
     I told the cabbie to take me where most of the press corp were staying and he did.  The first guys I saw were the correspondent and crew from ABC.  They told me how they got in through Laos.  I showed them my passport and explained how the guy's Saigon list was not up to date.

     So...back to the coup d'état...the lovely girl and the Newsweek guy.  He said he was on the way to the American Embassy to meet someone for more information.  He ask me to join him and since we were not in direct competition I figured why not.  But my mind was racing...he said the phone lines out of the country were down...he tired to call Newsweek but nada.  I believed him and didn't bother trying to reach NBC News in Saigon or Bangkok or even at 30 Rock.  He said he'd wait for me downstairs and took another approving look at the brown eyed, brown haired Cambodian goddess sitting on my bed and flew out the door.
     And here I made what might be called a strategic mistake in life. I told her I had to go but for some strange reason I didn't ask how I could find her again.  I didn't ask for a phone number or address or even say "why don't you come back and check early this evening we can have dinner".  I did none of these...and even until now...I can envisage her great looks....and wonder what might have happened or wonder with the nasty future in Cambodia what would happen to her.  You remember the great line in that Paul Newman flick..."what we have here is a failure to communicate."
     Well...this was mine.  I could have gotten very serious over this girl/woman from Phnom Penh.
Sadly...duty called and I got so wrapped up in the coup happenings I didn't even check if she had left a message.  I don't even think I got her name..which is weird too as I can remember girls names in Saigon and Hong Kong and Germany to this day...but not hers.  Oh well...what might have been..everything happened so fast. Damn CIA...curse General Lon Nol.  What could I do?



   This coup smelled to high heaven 





   Later it would be obvious that this was instigated by the American CIA.  The military needed to be able to openly bomb and invade Cambodia...the key sanctuary for all those NVA soldiers I passed on the highway the day before.  So much for turning the war over to the South Vietnamese military!
   I found the freelance cameraman who shot film for NBC News and we went to work.  He didn't have audio capability so I just recorded stuff on my handy cassette recorder...and even tried to do a standup report that way as I knew the folks back in New York could match the audio to the video.
   We shot a bunch of film and recorded a lot of stuff but we had a couple of problems.  The first was my very presence with a cameraman and tape recorder.  I was not supposed to be there...so that killed the possibility of doing interviews, etc.  I was nervous about approaching any of the Cambodian officers.  We did film General Lon Nol as he marched into what appeared to be the legislative building near the palace but I didn't know who he was at the time and didn't approach him.
   All communication in and out of Cambodia was down because of the coup. The only way we could get the film and tapes out was to drive to the Thai border and hopefully hand it over to a Bangkok staffer.  NBC news Bangkok could satellite to New York.  
   I found out that once you left you couldn't get back in.  And...border officers were not letting anyone new come in either...so I had a hell of a scoop.
   I contacted my driver...told him of our project and advised him that we might have to sit at the bridge on the Thai border until someone from NBC News managed to show up.  He said he could probably bribe someone to let him go across and find a telephone to call NBC in Bangkok.
   We headed out for what could have been a long, long drive....not in miles...the border was only an hour away...but in wait time for the pickup. 
   When we arrived at the bridge that crossed into Thailand...my driver confirmed that the border guards were not letting anyone back in...so we couldn't leave.  
   About a half-hour later some British journalists from the BBC pulled up...telling us they were headed for Bangkok.  I had met one of them back in Saigon so I ask him to hand carry our stuff to the NBC News office in Bangkok and he agreed.  
   The BBC had an ongoing deal with NBC news anyway so this was perfect and I knew he wouldn't abscond with my material. 
   So that was all settled nicely...and I turned to get back in the car to return to Phnom Penh when I heard someone yelling at me from Thailand...at the other end of the bridge.  
   It was a CBS news crew and the correspondent was begging me to help them get into the country.
   For probably the first and only time I can remember not being a nice guy...I just shrugged and turned back and got in the car.     Well,...what would you have done.
   About a month later I would be touring the CBS news offices in New York inquiring about a position.  The radio exec was interested in hiring me...when the fellow in charge of foreign desk found out I was there he went into a screaming fit about not helping their crew at the border... so my possible career at CBS with Cronkite and Rather was not to be!
   Everyone did make into Cambodia in a few days after things cleared up.  I got to get back on the plane headed for vacation before returning to the states. 
   Before I left Phnom Penh the correspondent for Newsweek ask me to read over his story before he got it out to wherever. I did and it was good.
   A week or so later I picked up a copy of Newsweek and read an entirely different version with no byline for him.  Someone back in New York decided they knew better than the guy on the scene as to what actually went on in Cambodia.  
   Since that time...I've not had much faith in what I read in either Time or Newsweek. 

   And...finally...this quirk of happenstance.
   My flight back from Vietnam to New York was the fastest and most direct but also the most tiresome I could take.  I flew to Bangkok and changed to a SAS 707 which flew directly to Copenhagen.  Well...more or less.  
   We flew OVER the Himalayan Mountains...the highest in the world and were told we would make only one stop to refuel in Russia...either Moscow or Tashkent depending on the weather. 
   But here's the kicker.
   Remember why I got off the plane at Phnom Penh?  I wanted to cover that story about the ship that had been hijacked in the South China Sea.
   Well,...the some crew members of that ship were on board this plane...headed back home.
   I chatted with a couple of them but they didn't say much.  Apparently they were wary of anyone asking too many questions at that point.
   Our refueling stop was sadly...not Moscow but Tashkent in the Soviet Union.  Russian customs officials looking very mean and more like police than anything else came on board and the flight attendant announced that we could deplane for the terminal for refreshments and shopping but only if we handed our passports over to the Russkies first.
  I did so as I wanted to stretch my legs after the first long portion of the flight.  Inside the terminal things were sparse...except for several very pretty girls sitting around...smiling and inviting possible interest.  I took this as a blatant attempt by the KGB for some reason or another and didn't pay much attention to them.
  After a short period..we went back to the plane...and I gratefully  retrieved my passport from the official as I came on board.
  The only other interesting note was that when we left southeast Asia it was the heat of summer and in the 90’s and when we landed in Denmark...it was winter and cold as hell.  I had to buy a coat before I left the terminal!
  I had been to Copenhagen once before...in the summer.  Tivoli Gardens is just not the same in the snow.

stanmajor@aol.com








Saturday, July 25, 2015

on to r & r with...Italian mafia...pissing in gas tank..runnng into glacier.....Army vacation from hell!

Swiss glacier coming down road


R & R from Hell.....

      My AFN roomie, Ron , bought a new Ford sedan to take back to the states...so we had some R & R coming and I talked him into driving south to the sun...Nice and Cannes where I had a great time before.
      To save time we worked out a plan to drive all day and night...one of us sleeping in the back while the other drove on.  We cut the travel time in half that way.
      I was snoozing when Ron suddenly pulled the car off the road and stopped.
      It was the middle of the night and we were in northern Italy somewhere when a rough looking guy with a flashlight pointed at me and a gun in the other hand pounded on the window.  It looked like he meant business so I reluctantly opened the window and he unlocked the door and stuck his head in.  We both thought this is it...robbed on a lonely Italian highway in the middle of the night....or maybe worse.
    The guy spoke English and we explained we were U.S. Army soldiers on vacation.  Suddenly he put away his handgun and smiled and became friendly.  He was a member of the Italian mafia he said and responsible for this sector but he went on to say (to our relief) that they wanted NO problems with the American military and he mumbled something about doing business with Americans for years.   I figured that was black market stuff as a lot of that was still going on after the war.  He shook our hands and told us to move on and thanked us for serving to keep the peace.
    What a start to our vacation.
    Then we ran out of gas.  We never figured that the gas stations would be closed all night...thinking like back home where gas and coffee were readily available anywhere anytime. But this was Europe in 1955 and not only were those businesses closed at night...they even shut down a for several hours in the afternoons...which meant if you didn’t get something to eat you might starve until someone opened back up.  Hell of a way to run a business but that was the way it was. 
    So...I had this great idea.  We both pissed in the gas tank of his new car and he tried starting...and would you believe...it worked.  For about five miles. The  engine coughed and sputtered and stopped.
But wait...there’s more!

     He tried the engine again but this time smoke and fire started pouring out under the hood!  We grabbed our Army top coats and smothered the fire out.  As luck would have it we saw a few lights down the road and as it WAS downhill we could push the car into a closed gas station and wait it out until morning...not far off.
   Hours later...the mechanic checked the engine and said the fire had just burned off the grease and oil and not done serious damage, to our relief.  We filled the tank and he helped us start the car.  All seemed normal which was unbelievable after what we had gone through.
   The only noticeable thing was that somehow the horn and the lights connections had reversed so that you had to press the horn to get the lights on.  Weird.
    We were a bit delayed getting to Nice on the French Riviera but as I recalled we had a fairly good time.
    We gave ourselves two full days to get back to the Castle.
    So...we gassed up for sure before nightfall and headed north toward the Swiss alps which we had to cross again.
    As he went higher into the mountains we noticed signs on the shoulder but neither Will nor I figured the words out.  Then he came to a screeching halt and we got out of the car and couldn’t believe the sight.
    In front of us...blocking the pavement was a glacier!  That’s right...a real glacier of ice and snow....and of course another yellow sign we were beginning to understand now!
   We turned around and stopped at a gas station and were told we had made a mistake...we were taking the summer highway...which was open in the summer but not winter.  We had to take the “winter” highway which was on the other side of Switzerland!  I checked the map and there was no way to get there from where we were.  We actually had to drive back down into France...find a highway that would take us in the direction of the Winter road and I figured we were in trouble on time here.  
    We began our descent and I said one of us would have to call AFN to request the additional days to return.  He recommended I do it because he said he didn’t get along well with the First Sergeant who we’d have to talk with.
    I made the call...got four extra days...and said "we were going back to Cannes and Nice" with the extra two days.  We did!

   It worked out in the end...but it was a hell of a trip!
                                                    ________________________________

The new King has come!  He's Saudi and he brought 1,000 people with him to Nice...for vacation.

Not all are happy with him!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/25/us-france-saudi-holidays-idUSKCN0PZ0AH20150725


stanmajor@aol.com