Saturday, May 30, 2009

UPDATE: Of Sorts

Clark's birthday party. . .
(back in February) yikes. . . we are behind. . .




Did we mention that Clark broke both his wrists a couple months ago?
He got thrown by a horse. They are almost all healed and straightend out.
April Birthday guys (actually one is a girl) . . .
Jeremiah and Jenny's birthday party. . .


Traveling to many places. . .


May Birthday girls minus Christy . . .



Christy's birthday party. . .
Joy and a friend baked a huge scrumptious cake for her. . .

Traveling is so fun . . .

uh huh. . .
More to come later. . .

Friday, May 29, 2009

Yo!

Hello!

We are still here.

We have had extremely full three weeks since our last post.

We are getting organized, which when we are done, we will post lots of pictures.

So, until then, Adios!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Happy Birthdays!

Mom's birthday was on the 3rd.

Katie's second birthday is the 7th (Today).

Happy Birthday wishes to both!

We'll post pictures and other stuff later when we have more time.

à tout à l'heure!

(Anybody want to guess what that means without googling it?)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Blogging.

With some old pictures.



Oh, well. . . still blogging anyway.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Charge Of The Light Brigade


Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.


"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

The Charge of the Light Brigade was a disastrous charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against the Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava, on 25 October 1854, in the Crimean War.

It is memorialized in the famous poem entitled, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by poet, Lord Alfred Tennyson, describing the courageous charge and tragic end.

The charge was made by the Light Brigade of the British cavalry, under the command of Major General the Earl of Cardigan.

Overall command of the cavalry resided with Lieutenant General the Earl of Lucan. Cardigan and Lucan were brothers-in-law who disliked each other intensely.

Lucan received an order from the army general Lord Raglan stating that,

"Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns. Horse artillery may accompany. French cavalry is on your left. Immediate."

The order was written and delivered with an additional oral order by Raglan that was carried by Captain Louis Edward Nolan, who said that, "the cavalry was to attack immediately."

When Lucan asked what guns were referred to, Nolan is said to have indicated, by a wide sweep of his arm, not the Causeway redoubts but the mass of Russian guns in a redoubt at the end of the valley, around a mile away and obviously to the British commanders, present on the field, a death order.

In response to the order, Lucan instructed Cardigan to lead 673 (some sources state 661; another 607) cavalry men straight into the valley between the Fedyukhin Heights and the Causeway Heights, called the "Valley of Death" by Tennyson.

The opposing Russian forces consisted 20 battalions of infantry supported by over fifty artillery pieces. These forces were deployed on both sides and at the opposite end of the valley. Lucan himself was to follow with the Heavy Brigade and support the Light Brigade. But, this did not happen.

The Light Brigade set off down the valley, with Cardigan out in front leading the charge. Almost at once Nolan was seen to rush across the front, passing in front of Cardigan. It may be that he had now realized the charge was aimed at the wrong target and was attempting to stop or turn the brigade, but he was killed by an artillery shell and the cavalry continued on its death march course.


Despite the surrounding onslaught from three sides by the Russian forces that severely disadvantaged the British, the Light Brigade was able to engage the Russian forces, but were strongly prevailed against by the Russians. Of over 600 men present in the Light Brigade, only around 195 survived the disastrous charge, counting the wounded as well.

Lucan did not follow and provide support for Cardigan, and it was thought that he was motivated by an enmity for his brother-in-law that had lasted over 30 years and had intensified during the campaign up to that point.

The troops of the Heavy Brigade, commanded by Lucan entered the mouth of the valley but did not advance further: Lucan's explanation was that he saw no point in having a second brigade mown down and that he was best positioned where he could render assistance to Light Brigade survivors returning from the charge.

The French cavalry helping and present with the British, the Chasseurs d'Afrique, provided cover for the remaining survivors of the Light Brigade as they withdrew amidst the casualties.

War correspondent William Russell, who witnessed the battle, said that, "our Light Brigade was annihilated by their own rashness, and by the brutality of a ferocious enemy".

Cardigan survived the battle. Cardigan lead the charge from the front and, never looking back, did not see what was happening to his brigade behind him. Afterwards, when Cardigan, having ridden through the battery found himself alone, turned and rode back down the valley. He was one of the first to reach British lines where he met Sir George Cathcart. He is reported to have said “I have lost my brigade.”

The Charge of the Light Brigade and their reckless bravery caused the French Marshal Pierre Bosquet to state, "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerre." ("It is magnificent, but it is not war.") He continued, in a rarely quoted phrase: "C'est de la folie"- ("it is madness.")

General Raglan blamed Lucan for the death charge, claiming that "from some misconception of the order to advance, the Lieutenant-General (Lucan) considered that he was bound to attack at all hazards, and he accordingly ordered Major-General the Earl of Cardigan to move forward with the Light Brigade."

Lucan was angry at being blamed. Raglan stated that Lucan should have exercised his discretion. Cardigan, who had merely obeyed orders, blamed Lucan for giving those orders. Lucan disputed Raglan's version of events, calling it "an imputation reflecting seriously on my professional character". Lucan blamed Raglan and his deceased aide-de-camp Captain Nolan, who had been the actual deliverer of the oral order.

It is said that Lord Alfred Tennyson wrote the poem inside only a few minutes after reading an account of the battle in The Times. It is only fair to say that the poet Tennyson also wrote a heroic poem about the Heavy Brigade, and the battle they fought earlier, of whom Lucan was the leader and commander of the Heavy Brigade.

Forty years later Rudyard Kipling wrote, "The Last of the Light Brigade", commemorating the visit of the last twenty survivors.
The "Valley of Death", where the Charge of the Light Brigade occured, is now planted over with vineyards where it once saw bloodshed.

The futility of the Charge of the Light Brigade a classic example of what can go wrong when self responsibility and discretion is lacking thus causing miscommunication, resulting in unclear orders and ultimately the unnecessary loss of lives.

In our common law system, we hold that all men are responsible for their own decisions. We expect our generals and soldiers to exercise discretion in the face of every order given them. For they are bound by an oath to the Constitution of the United States, not a person or state in whom would be centered all power, as in a civil law country.

After WWII, when the Nazi generals and commanders were being tried, their defense were all the same. "I was just following orders." "I was just doing my duty."

In a civil law system, such as most of Europe is under, this is a justifiable and complete defense and you would be declared innocent. Most of the Nazis were tried under the civil law, thus, most of them were not held responsible and punished for their war crimes and, so, consequently they were freed.

However, when Britain and the United States went to try some of the Nazis they decided that that some of the Nazis would be tried under the common law system which does not allow you, for a defense, to allege you were just following orders or doing your duty. There are only five countries in the world that are under the common law system. The rest of the world is under the civil law code.

Our common law system demands individual discretion, responsibility and ultimately accountability for your own actions. Only in such a system do men even have individuality or are able to exercise freedom.


Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian Reel'd
From the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back,

But not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

~Lord Alfred Tennyson~

P.S. We only know this poem because Dad recites it to us. So we like it.