“The UN flookies were in there trying to stop the fighting and divide Palestine and Trans-Jordan into separate Arab states. The fighting didn’t stop then in spite of the UN and it hasn’t stopped yet. The UN called in some of the Belgian Army for security after the Stearn gang blew up the King David Hotel. They couldn’t speak English but sure knew what those brand new American almighty twenty-dollar bills were that they got paid with every week. The American Marines we relieved returned to their ship in the Mediterranean Fleet. When I was in Jerusalem, I performed sergeant of the guard watches, held the never-ending school on the off-duty Marines, armed escort for diplomats, delivery and/or pic-up diplomatic pouches, etc. Snipers were still fully active from both sides, so we had to be on the alert. the American Consulate General took a sniper’s bullet. It entered near his shoulder, just missing his bullet-proof vest and centered in his heart. As time went on I got qite an education. A group of American Congressmen came over supposedly to investigate the Palestinian refugee camps on the West Bank in Trans-Jordan. As usual on these Congressional official tours at the American taxpayers’ expense it’s nothing more than a vacation to see the world. In this case it was the Holy Land. They came in by plane to Tel Aviv. The Jews wined and dined them for two days prior to bringing them up to Jerusalem. I was assigned as their escort into Arab territory. There was six of them Congressmen. the one little Italian from New York seemed to be the head cheese of the six. We left the Jew side and entered the Arab side and over to the Arab governor’s compound. After about an hour of hand-shaking, etc., the Congressmen were invited to tour the old city, visit the church of the Holy Sepulcher (the church that is built over the tomb of Christ). We visited and saw most of the sights in the old city. Took the biggest part of the afternoon. After resting a while in their rooms, the Arabs, like the Jews wined and dined them for several hours prior to securing things for the night. Next morning when they were all up and about, had a nice breakfast of eggs and camel steaks, Arab coffee that a person could bounce a rock off. On cup of that would charge your batteries for a week. The Arabs invited the Congressmen to tour Bethlehem. the invite was accepted. I told the Congreesmen that would take the biggest part of the day and didn’t know whether we’d make it back in time to make the 1700 crossing back to the Jew side. Our Schedule called for the 5 o’clock crossing. So that little Italian got the junior Congressman, I thin he was from Minnesota, armed him with a sixteen millimeter motion picture camera, and sent him to the West Bank to get pictures of the Palestinian refugees and the camps, ect. A taxi was furnished with a Legionnaire escort and away they went to the West Bank. The main body was loaded in cabs and away we all went to Bethlehem. It’s aly six miles of narrow dirt road from old city to Bethlehem. but up and down steep hills with camel caravans, ect., going and coming both ways. The camels have the right-of-away. After going through the Church of Nativity, lighting goat tallow candles, we went through the basement tunnel to the spot where a large star is inlaid in the floor marking the spot where the manger was supposed to have been where Jesus was born. After them buying some mother-of-pearl souvenirs and getting about halfway loaded again on wine, we got underway to get back to Jerusalem. The young Congressman with the camera was waiting for us. After picking up their gear we were just about on time for the crossing back to the new city of Jerusalem……………..I had learned a lot by now about our nest of vipers know as the State Department Diplomatic Corps. Later on Colonel Diane and I got to know each other a little. We would pop open a bottle of wine and gab a little. He didn’t think too much about that bunch of peckerheads known as the United Nations either. One evening we were talking abou the situation and I mentioned to him I though the UN ought to get the hell out. The only way you guys would get this mess squared away was to settle it amongst yourselves. He laughed and said, ” Sergeant >>>>, you are absolutely correct.” The colonel, being an infantry man, was a brain.”
That was from my uncle’s memoirs from 1948 for some perspective on the present as if that made any difference.

code7 on September 7, 2007 at 12:09 am