The Killian Documents

The 2020 Presidential election is upon us and, as expected, controversy has ensued. However, rather than focus on this election, I would like to revisit a controversy from a past election, an affair that rocked the 2004 Presidential race and effectively ended the career of one of the most celebrated names in news journalism.

Let's revisit the Killian Documents.

1st Lt. George W. Bush in the Texas Air National Guard (TexANG).

Background

In August 2004 (three months before the 2004 Presidential election), Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, a former US Army National Guard officer, made contact with CBS News producer Mary Mapes, claiming to have documents proving that President George W. Bush received improper treatment during his time in the Texas Air National Guard (TexANG).

The documents were memos supposedly written in 1973 by Bush's then-commanding officer, the late Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian. They claimed that Bush had disobeyed orders and that outside influence had been exerted on his behalf to improve his record. Burkett claimed that he obtained the documents from Killian's personal files via a former TexANG Warrant Officer.

Burkett had previously made multiple unsubstantiated allegations against Bush, one of which he later retracted. This led to many media outlets considering him an 'anti-Bush zealot' and an unreliable source.

In early September, Burkett provided photocopies of the documents to Mapes. Mapes informed CBS News anchor Dan Rather of the story and together they planned to air it on September 8.

CBS Investigation

Before airing the story, CBS conducted an investigation to determine if the documents were authentic. This investigation consisted of two interviews with individuals who knew Killian and an analysis of the documents by four forensic experts.

Both interviewees, Robert Strong (Killian's friend and head of the TexANG administrative office) and General Robert Hodges (Killian's immediate superior at the time), maintained that the documents could have been legitimate based on their content, but they had no first-hand knowledge that could verify their authenticity.

Opinion was split among the document experts. Two said that the documents had outstanding issues that called their authenticity into question, while the other two experts cautiously believed that the documents were authentic based on the document signatures.

Breaking the Story

Despite the mixed findings from the investigation, Mapes and Rather decided to push forward with breaking the story on September 8.

Immediately after the story was aired, several bloggers began discussing and analyzing the documents. By the next day, claims that the documents were forgeries had spread across the internet.

Animated GIF comparing one of the documents to a copy made in Microsoft Word

On the night of September 9, CBS News released a statement saying that the documents were "thoroughly investigated by independent experts, and we are convinced of their authenticity" and "this report was not based solely on recovered documents, but rather on a preponderance of evidence, including documents that were provided by unimpeachable sources", though the latter claim was soon dropped.

By September 10, other news outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Associated Press were openly questioning the documents. The Dallas Morning News pointed out that one of the officers mentioned in one of the documents was discharged a year and a half before the document was supposedly written.

Nevertheless, CBS News continued to defend the authenticity of the documents.

CBS's Defense

Media coverage of the story intensified daily. CBS attempted to have additional experts verify the authenticity of the documents, but the results continued to be inconclusive.

Meanwhile, the original document examiners began to speak publicly. The two who had expressed doubts to CBS about the documents continued to do so, while the other two stated that they had only been asked to verify the signatures on the documents, not the documents themselves.

On September 15, CBS interviewed Killian's former secretary, Marian Knox. During the interview, Knox made contradictory statements about whether she believed in the authenticity of the documents themselves and the information they contained.

The next day, September 16, Rather acknowledged that the documents could be fake, stating: "If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break that story."

CBS Apologizes

On September 20, CBS reported that their source, Bill Burkett, admitted that he had lied about where he had obtained the documents. Burkett now claimed that the documents were not obtained from Killian's personal files, but were instead given to him by a person named "Lucy Ramirez" (multiple subsequent investigations failed to produce any evidence that "Lucy Ramirez" was a real person). Additionally, Burkett claimed that he destroyed the original documents after faxing copies to Mapes.

In an official statement, CBS News president Andrew Heyward stated that "Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret".

Aftermath

Following an extensive internal investigation, Mapes was terminated, and resignations were demanded of several other CBS News staff. Rather retired in March 2005; it's unknown if his decision to retire was a result of the controversy surrounding the Killian documents.

To this day, no generally recognized document expert has positively authenticated the documents. The widely accepted view among experts is that the documents are forgeries, compiled on a modern computer using a word processing application (such as Microsoft Word), printed out, and run through a copier for several generations to make them appear older.

Despite not being directly involved with the controversy, it is believed that the presidential campaign of John Kerry was damaged by the fallout, ultimately leading to Bush's reelection in November. Some Left-leaning conspiracy theorists, including then-Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe, suggested (without evidence) that the documents were plants by Bush campaign strategist Karl Rove. Rove denied any involvement.

Nevertheless, Mapes and Rather still maintain to this day that they believe the documents to be authentic.

Mis-quota-tation

Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that would require publicly traded businesses headquartered in California to appoint a minimum number of individuals from "underrepresented" groups to their respective board of directors. 

On the surface, this is a well-intentioned move to diversify corporate boardrooms and increase racial representation at the highest levels of business. But is the new law even constitutional? And could the fate of a similar law passed in 2018 bring down this one as well?

I can tell you from experience, those chairs aren't nearly as comfy as they look.

Breaking Up the Boys Club

Back in September 2018, as the #MeToo movement was making headlines, then-Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that required publicly traded corporations headquartered in California to appoint at least one female to their respective board of directors by the end of 2019 and at least three by the end of 2021. Many activists hailed this as a victory to gender equality.

There's just one problem with the law: It's very likely unconstitutional. 

You see, both the California state Constitution and the United States Constitution prohibit discrimination based on sex, race, and other classifications. The quota system set up by this law likely violates both constitutions by requiring that a certain number of positions on each corporate board be "earmarked" for people of a specific sex. 

Furthermore, those close to this law were well aware of its shaky legal footing. The California State Assembly floor analysis of the law admitted that "The use of a quota-like system, as proposed by this bill... may be difficult to defend.” Even Governor Brown, who signed the bill into law, said that “serious legal concerns have been raised” about the law and that “I don’t minimize the potential flaws that indeed may prove fatal to its ultimate implementation.”

Standing Up

For all intents and purposes, both the California State Assembly and the Governor admitted that the bill was unconstitutional even as it was being signed into law. However, the hope among the law's supporters was that no one would choose to challenge it in court.

For almost a year, the strategy seemed to work. No corporations sounded the alarm over the law, and it seemed like all would comply (or at least pay the required fines for non-compliance, which are quite small) quietly. However, in August 2019, a group filed a "taxpayer suit" against the law, arguing that since the law is blatantly unconstitutional, the State of California cannot use taxpayer funds to enforce it.

Whether this suit would be allowed to move forward based on legal standing has been an open question (a similar suit filed in November 2019 was dismissed for lack of standing). However, this past July, the court ruled that the group did have legal standing to challenge the law, allowing the lawsuit to move forward.

Dominoes

The problem for the racial diversity law signed by Governor Newsom is that it's essentially a carbon copy of the gender diversity law signed by Governor Brown, only with the gender quota replaced by a race quota. If the gender diversity law is struck down in court, the racial diversity law will almost certainly fall as well.

Just as a side note, if you're wondering were Affirmative Action fits into this, the Supreme Court held (in Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke) that since Affirmative Action is not tied to a strict numerical quota and race is only one of many factors considered (that is, race alone cannot "disqualify" someone from admission), it is permissible under federal law (this is where Harvard got in trouble recently, as it has been accused by the Justice Department of engaging in "racial balancing", which is not deemed permissible based on the ruling).

My Take

For me, the purpose of this post is not to criticize the merit of diversity on corporate boards. Instead, I criticize the clumsy and unconstitutional way the State of California has attempted to mandate diversity in the boardroom. 

There are many who may argue that the ends justify the means. Well, if the means in question violate constitutionally protected rights of individuals, then what use are those rights? That line of reasoning is a slippery slope that could be used to justify trampling on the rights of any group or individual in order to achieve a "righteous" goal.

You can support an end goal without supporting every route suggested to get there. For example, my brother and I both support the principle of Net Neutrality (we both work in IT, so it's a relevant topic for us). However, he supports Title II reclassification of ISPs as a "Common Carrier" by the FCC, while I believe Congress should pass legislation protecting Net Neutrality (instead of the FCC repurposing regulation from the 1930s that was intended to regulate telegraph monopolies, but I digress...).

Ultimately, with any worthwhile undertaking, both the ends and the means must be fair. After all, if the cure is as bad as the illness, then what's the point?

Update (5/16/2020)

Today, the California law (SB826) that required publicly traded businesses based in the state to appoint a minimum number of females to their boards of directors was struck down as unconstitutional. This follows last month's strikedown of the sister law (AB979) that likewise required businesses to appoint a minimum number of individuals from "underrepresented" groups to their boards.

Over the course of the trial, the State admitted that the law had never actually been enforced and that there were no plans to do so. Furthermore, it was revealed that former Secretary of State Alex Padilla had informed former Governor Jerry Brown weeks before he signed the bill into law that it was likely unenforceable; Brown decided to sign the bill regardless as a "statement" in support of the #MeToo movement.

As of this time, the State is currently reviewing the ruling and is undecided whether to file an appeal.

As I predicted, these laws were inherently unconstitutional. While the law's supporters claimed that it was "necessary" to achieve "equitable" outcomes for women and to reverse the damage done by years of discrimination, that argument didn't hold up against the equal protection clause of the California constitution. Furthermore, presiding Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis said that the State could furnish no evidence that any corporations in California were actually practicing gender discrimination in boardroom selections as policy.

The bottom line is this: You can't violate the constitutional rights of an individual or group in order to achieve a desired outcome, no matter how noble. Appointments to any position should be based on merit, not identity; to do otherwise (except where the candidate's identity is a functional requirement for the position) is discrimination, full stop. After all, the only way to end discrimination is to stop discriminating, not to replace one form of discrimination with another.

Better Late Than Never

Movies, like any other product or service, are intended to turn a profit for the businesses that produce them. Hollywood history is filled with examples of productions that were major hits, massive failures, or somewhere in between. However, often lost in the mix are major film projects that are remembered for being failures, though they actually did turn a profit... eventually. For this post, I'll discuss perhaps the two most well-known examples: 1960's The Alamo and 1963's Cleopatra.

Publicity photos from The Alamo (left) and Cleopatra (right), two films long considered failures that were actually profitable.

The Alamo (1960)

Wayne directing on the set of The Alamo (1963)

Starting in 1945, Hollywood star John Wayne had dreamed of directing a major production about the Battle of the Alamo. Over time, it had become something of an obsession for him. Realizing this dream would prove difficult, however: When he presented the idea to his home studio, Republic Pictures, they balked at the proposed $3 million production cost. Republic, which was known primarily for producing B-movie westerns, flatly refused to take the risk.

Frustrated, Wayne decided to finance the film himself, including taking out mortgages on his two houses and securing loans against his cars and yacht in the process, a major personal financial risk. However, before filming even started, Wayne's decision to self-finance the picture forced an artistic concession. 

Originally, Wayne had intended to play the smaller part of Sam Houston, so that he could spend most of his time directing rather than acting. However, Wayne's creditors refused to back the production unless Wayne himself appeared in a lead role, believing that was the best way to ensure the film's success. Desperate to get the picture made, Wayne acquiesced and assumed the role of Davy Crockett.

The exterior façade of the Alamo replica. The entire set was painstakingly recreated using over 1.25 million hand-crafted adobe bricks. 

The production's biggest expense was the set. Wayne insisted on authenticity, and ordered an exact replica of the Alamo (and neighboring village) be constructed from scratch. The project was massive, and took two years to complete. When finished, the set included 14 miles of new roads, 6 new wells to provide water for the horses, miles of water and sewage lines, and 5,000 acres of horse corrals.

The principal photography also proved problematic. Issues with the weather and wildlife annoyed the cast and crew, and filming eventually took a total of 83 days, about 3 weeks longer than planned. By then, the film's $3 million budget had ballooned to an estimated $12 million. Wayne himself was under so much pressure (both financially and professionally) that he nervously smoked cigarettes non-stop whenever he wasn't on-camera.

When The Alamo was finally released in October 1963, it earned a box office take of $7.9 million, good enough to make it the 5th-highest earning production of the year, but well short of turning a profit.

It's for this shortcoming that The Alamo is most often remembered as a failure, a distinction that always offended Wayne. When asked about the film, he was always quick to (quite correctly) point out that The Alamo was a box office hit, just not a profitable one.

Ironically, The Alamo's savior would not be the silver screen at all, but rather the small screen. Since the 1940s, film productions had been finding new life (and revenue) by being sold to TV networks for broadcast. For the movie studios, this was a great way to increase a production's lifespan and squeeze some additional revenue from it before relegating it to the archives. The Alamo followed this trend when its television rights were sold to NBC in 1971. With this deal, The Alamo finally become profitable. 

As of today, the final tally for The Alamo stands at $20 million of revenue against a $12 million budget, for a profit of $8 million. Not bad for a "failure".

Cleopatra (1963)

Taylor and Burton's real-life affair added intrigue to the film, but also helped scuttle Mankiewicz's plan to release the film as two features.

In 1958, 20th Century Fox was interested in producing a film about Cleopatra. Two earlier films about the Egyptian ruler, one in 1917 and another in 1934, had performed well at the box office. Originally planned with a modest budget of $2 million in mind, producer Walter Wagner successfully negotiated a larger budget of $5 million in 1959.

Director Robert Mamoulian was hired to make the picture a reality, and star Elizabeth Taylor, one of Hollywood's biggest names at the time, was awarded an unprecedented $1 million contract to appear in the eponymous role, her fee representing approximately 20% of the film's budget at the onset of the production (Taylor had asked for a $1 million salary to appear in the film as an offhand comment when she was initially approached by Wagner. She was as shocked as anyone when the studio agreed).

From the beginning, the production was plagued with mismanagement, illness, and creative clashes. 16 weeks into the production, Mamoulian had burned through the film's entire planned budget of $5 million, plus an additional $2 million, yet had only approximately 10 minutes of usable footage to show for it. He was promptly fired by 20th Century Fox, and Joseph Mankiewicz was brought in to complete the film.

Matters got worse in January 1961 when Taylor fell ill with pneumonia and production had to be halted; her illness was serious enough that there was a legitimate risk that she may not recover. Quietly, 20th Century Fox began making arrangements for Audrey Hepburn to take over should the worst come to pass. Fortunately, Taylor made a full recovery, albeit a slow one that delayed filming for months.

So many wooden ships were built to film the climactic Battle of Actium scene that it was said 20th Century Fox had the world's 3rd largest navy.

After taking over as director, one of the first decisions that Mankiewicz made was to move the production from England to Italy, requiring all of the elaborate (and expensive) sets to be constructed a second time. By the time filming resumed, daily production costs were exceeding $70k. Expansive scenes such as Cleopatra's grand parade into Rome and the naval Battle of Actium drained studio accounts, necessitating an "all hands on deck" effort by 20th Century Fox. All other studio productions were paused while all available resources were reallocated into Cleopatra to get it across the finish line.

With almost 6 hours of footage on hand at the end of filming, Mankiewicz intended to split Cleopatra into two separate features, called Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra. However, 20th Century Fox objected to this plan, as star Richard Burton, whose adulterous affair with Taylor was now making tabloid headlines worldwide, would not appear in the first installment. Fearing that without Burton the first movie would be a flop (the thought being that the publicity surrounding the Burton-Taylor affair would help ticket sales), the studio ordered Mankiewicz to edit the footage into a single feature. This decision necessitated extensive re-shoots to get the film down to an appropriate length, further exacerbating the film's financial issues.

By the time Cleopatra was released in theaters in June 1963, the total cost of the production stood at a staggering $44 million (approximately $370 million today). While the film was the top earning release of 1963, its $40 million take at the box office was not enough to cover its costs. Like The Alamo, this is the reason that Cleopatra is often remembered as a failure.

Once again, it would be small screen that would save the biggest Hollywood production up to that time. In 1966, 20th Century Fox sold the television rights to Cleopatra to ABC for $5 million (then a record amount for a single film), allowing the studio to finally recoup its investment.

Delayed Gratification

Do either of these films deserve to be remembered as failures? Personally, I don't think so. Profitability isn't the only measure of a film's success (even though these two troubled productions were profitable in the end). People today (and generations to come) aren't going to judge these films by how profitable they were, but rather by how good they are. Both The Alamo and Cleopatra were received well by audiences, and that should be the lasting legacy of these films, as they'll continue to be seen and enjoyed by movie fans (like myself) long after the books have been closed.

SAFe-ty First!

This past week, my team and I at Intrado packed up and hit the road for a few days of Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) training in Scotts Valley, CA. Once on the ground in Cali, we found cold weather, big trees, good food, and some learnin', too!

Westbound and Down

The first leg of our flight to San José was scheduled to depart Mobile Regional Airport at 6:10 AM on Sunday morning. Subtract the TSA-recommended two hours to allow for check-in and security, plus another to get ready and finish packing, and I found myself getting up at 3 AM that morning. Needless to say, I was looking forward to catching some z's on the plane.

We're not nearly as happy as we look.

Despite a short delay due to an issue at the check-in desk, we all managed to make it to the aboard easily enough (if not a little drowsy). The short flight to Dallas was mostly uneventful, as was the longer hop to San José. Before we knew it, we were touching down in the Golden State.

California Dreaming

Arriving in California at around noon, we found some lunch nearby and then set out to Scotts Valley.

Reminds me of the town Rambo blew up in First Blood.

A small city of about 11,000 people nestled in the Santa Cruz mountains about 30 miles south of San Jose, Scotts Valley probably isn't what comes to mind when you think about modern technology hub. However, several major players in the tech space got their start in Scotts Valley, including Netflix, Seagate, and Borland. Today, Intrado rents a small office space at the Enterprise Technology Centre, which was our ultimate destination this trip.

Among Giants

In addition to our Intrado office, Scotts Valley is also home to an old-growth forest called Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to see some of the largest trees in the world, we set out after lunch to go for a hike.

And what a hike it was.

"The Giant"

First of all, these trees are massive. I can't describe it any other way, and pictures don't do them justice. To think that something that big is a living organism boggles the mind, and if the sheer sizes of these trees aren't enough, the ages are nigh unbelievable. 

Redwood cross section.

Near the entrance to the park, a cross section of the redwood is on display. On it are markers identifying the rings that correspond to the years of specific historical events such as the birth of Jesus, the discovery of gunpowder, and the signing of the Magna Carta. To be honest, I couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that I was standing in the presence of something that old. It's almost otherworldly, but I digress.

We were actually freezing to death, or at least I was.

While at the park, we walked a mile-long trail that took us around some of the more noteworthy trees in the area, including the Fremont Tree, inside which the famous explorer John C. Fremont supposedly camped while exploring the west coast (when asked by a reporter to verify the tale, Fremont simply said "It's a good story, let it stand").

The interior of the Fremont Tree.

Aside from the massive redwoods themselves, I found the most noteworthy aspect of the forest to be the eerie silence. Unlike the pine tree woods of the south (which are noisy with rustling leaves and creeping critters), the redwoods are almost painfully silent, with little noise made by flora or fauna. We spotted no birds or small animals during our walk; only a small deer made an appearance just before we decided to head out for the day.

Deer in the redwoods.

Base Camp

After a full day of flying and a walk in the woods (all the while running on about 4 hours of sleep), we were all exhausted and in agreement that soft beds and room service should be our next objective. From the park, we shipped out to our hotel, the Hilton Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley.

Looks like a big stone cabin to me.

To be sure, this wasn't your run-of-the-mill Hilton. The designers obviously wanted to embrace the winter resort vibe, complete with stone brick decor and a fireside bar in the lobby.

I'm not sure if the indoor waterfall is very winter-y.

The fireside bar. Cozy!

After checking in and touching base with our other teams from Mobile who had arrived after us, we all decided to crash for the evening. 8 AM was going to come quite early.

Back to School

Arriving at the Enterprise Technology Centre the next morning, we met up with the other engineering teams from Intrado for our first day of SAFe for Teams training.

Class is in session.

The day mostly consisted of a lengthy presentation divided up by some smaller workshops. Not much to elaborate on, but let's just say that our group was looking forward to watching the college football national championship game that night.

Game Time

The evening following our first day of training, our group met up at a sports bar in Scotts Valley called Bruno's. Let me tell you, this may have been the highlight of the trip.

Geaux Tigahs!

To start, Bruno's is a two-story sports bar in the heart of Scotts Valley. While the first floor has a traditional dining setup, the second floor features big screen TVs and large, overstuffed couches to relax and watch the game on. It wasn't long before we all settled in with some drinks and great pub food for the big event. 

Having the whole team together and just enjoying the evening was a great experience. It's no secret that times have been tough at Intrado recently, but that night we were alright.

Eating Crow

The next day consisted of another presentation mixed with workshops, much like the first. For our evening excursion, we decided to head 6 miles south to Santa Cruz for dinner at a dockside establishment called The Crow's Nest.

Impressive presentation. Food? Not so much...

The members of our team who had been to Scotts Valley before had spent sometime talking up this place during the trip over, so I was fairly excited to try it. From the outside, the presentation was impressive; it reminded me of an oversized seaside cottage overlooking the harbor.

Trust me, there's an ocean there.

Unfortunately, that's where the good news ended. Our team of 6 was squeezed into a table obviously intended for 4, my Coke was as flat as a board, my steak was just okay, and when I finally got outside to take a picture of the Pacific, it was so dark that I couldn't see anything (not their fault, but still disappointing). In the end, The Crow's Nest flew the coop.

SAFe-ty First!

The next day brought our first day of PI (Program Increment) Planning, and with it, no small amount of chaos and confusion (as was expected). That said, we rallied later in the day to get some good work done and set the stage for our last working day in Scotts Valley.

Later that evening, I decided to go ahead and take the optional exam for the course to get officially SAFe certified. Confident after acing the practice test, I jumped right into the real deal with no reservations.

My badge!

About half a dozen questions into the exam I started regretting my haste. However, I managed to pull through and pass without too much anxiety. Needless to say, it was a relief to finally have my certification in hand after studying for the last two weeks and sitting through two full days of instructor-led training.

Vittoria!

We powered through our final working day in Scott Valley without too much drama. We shook hands and bade farewell to our colleges from other locations that we'd only be seeing over conference calls for the foreseeable future, but not before we had one last outing to celebrate our completion of SAFe training.

For the occasion, we found a small, authentic Italian place nestled deep in the redwoods called Ristorante Casa Nostra. 

Is there a better way to wrap up a trip?

Oh man, what a treat. Not only was the food delicious, but we were truly relaxed for the first time all week. For me, it might have been because I had my certification, but I think we were all relieved to make it through all of the uncertainty and to the end of the work week.

Homeward Bound

For the second time in a week, we had to catch a 6 AM flight. That, coupled with the fact that we were flying out of a major airport and said airport was 30 miles away dictated that I set my alarm for 2 AM. Not fun.

Nevertheless, we somehow made it to the gate on time (thanks in no small part to TSA PreCheck. Best $80 I've ever spent!), despite running into some traffic issues along the way. Once again, our flights were uneventful, but I did find a neat burger joint in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport called Smash Burger. How could I pass it up?

Gonna smash this return trip... with Smash Burger!

In the end, we touched down in Mobile at 4 PM, almost exactly 12 hours after I woke up that morning. Commercial air travel never ceases to amaze me.

Looking Back

All-in-all, I have to say that this was a great trip. I don't get to travel nearly as much as I'd like, and for my first time west of the Rockies, I was impressed. I know Scotts Valley isn't San Francisco, Napa Valley, or any of the other more "touristy" California locales, but I still got to see some sights, enjoy some good food, and add another certification to my résumé, all the while avoiding any major disruptions (which I've found is something you should always thank your lucky stars for).

Anyhow, now that I'm in the office again, it's back to the grind. Time to put that new certification to work!

Interview with a Hero: PFC Leo Terrebonne

For the second part of my "Interview with a Hero" series, I sat down with World War II veteran Private First Class Leo Terrebonne of the Army Corps of Engineers at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, LA. Below is an abridged version of our conversation.

PFC Leo Terrebonne

PFC Leo Terrebonne

For my first question, I just wanted to ask a bit about you. Where are you from and what was your service experience like?

Well, I was born across the river in Westwego. I'm what they call a 'Cajun'. I don't know if you've ever heard of us? Anyway, in February 1943 I was drafted into the Army. I spent 11 months in the States training, and at the end of '43 we finished all of our engineer training, and in January of '44 they decided to send us to England... and I spent 25 months over there in England. While I was over in England I met an English girl, and we dated, and she became the wife! And we lived 44 and a half years together, her and I.

Did you live over there or did you move back here?

No, the only time I lived over there is when I was in the service. I used to always say that I had two homes: One here and one in England. All my Christmases and birthdays and holidays were spent with the English family, and when I came home I was back with my regular family.

How did you like England?

Well, I liked being married! It wasn't bad! A lot of guys didn't like it because they were not married, and they didn't have a family over there. Because Christmas and New Years and all that I spent with (my wife's family) and it was much better than having to spend it by yourself in some pub.

While you were in England, what did you and your friends do? Did you spend a lot of time playing cards or something?

Oh, no. I went dancing! They had a dance hall that opened at 11 o'clock in the morning! They had so many GI's just walking around doing nothing, so they decided to open the dance hall at 11 o'clock. They'd open for three hours, from 11 to about 1. And then from 1 to 2 they would stop, and the band would rest. And at 2 o'clock they would start again and we would dance until about 5, then stop for an hour. Every three hours the band would stop for a rest. And they we'd start again at about 6 or 7 to dance again and we danced to almost 10 o'clock, because at 10 o'clock everything closed in England at that time.

Was (the dance hall) popular when it was open? Were there a lot of people there?

Oh, yeah! We had, I'll betcha, about 2 million soldiers over there at that time. We was over there before D-Day. And D-Day was a madhouse. Everything was rush-rush. We weren't sure our invasion was going to succeed. At one (beach) they were blocked by a big boulder, until the engineers blew that boulder away and they could get on the beach. If they wouldn't have gotten on the beach, they would have had to withdraw or they would have drowned right on the beach.

Did people talk a lot about the invasion before it happened? You guys must have known that it was coming.

We actually didn't know when it was going to be. Nothing was mentioned. We knew it was coming, but as far as when, no. And the English people didn't even know, the American people didn't know. As a matter of fact, I don't think General Eisenhower knew. They were waiting for the weather, the weather was so bad. And they happened to get what you call a 'window', and they decide - actually the invasion was supposed to be on the 5th of June, and it wound up on the 6th of June.

Do you remember that day?

Oh yeah, like it was yesterday.

Do you remember when you heard that the invasion had started?

We heard about it that same day. And you would be surprised at how many planes that were in the sky. There were so many planes, I was wondering how they didn't run into each other! But I found out later they were flying 'stacked'. I don't know if you know what 'stacked' is?

They fly above one another?

One would fly low, another medium, and one would fly high. And so many of the planes were C-47s, the paratroopers, all the guidelines from the parachutes still hanging from the plane. The 82nd Airborne and the 101st Airborne - I used to see the 101st Airborne, they used to be stationed not too far from me. We used to go to Birmingham, and there were a lot of them in Birmingham.

In the Corps of Engineers, what did you do?

Well, I thought I had gone in as a carpenter. When I got there, the commander called me and told me the biggest surprise of my life. He told me I was the bugler!

The bugler?

Why? Because I used to play coronet in the school band. And he read my - when you go in, you've got to tell them all that you've done, and they put that in your record. And he read that I was a coronet player, and he wanted a bugler. But I didn't know any of the calls! The only thing I knew was Taps!

He had a book in his (desk) drawer. He pulled it out and said "You know how to read music?" I said "Yes, I do." He gave me the book and said "There's all the calls." He said across the street was Headquarters, and at the back of Headquarters was a wooded area, maybe two or three miles deep. He said "Every morning I want you to go walk as far back into that bush as you can (and practice), because we don't want to hear you practice!".

I was also what they used to call a special runner for the company commander. If you needed some officer or some enlisted man to come, he would tell me to go. Then in the afternoon I would take all the official records for our company back to Headquarters. I also used to pick up the mail and sort it out, (including) passes for the night.

The guys that you hung out with in the Army, what did you talk about? Did you talk about the war or what you wanted to do when you got home?

No, we talked about women. The girls! A little gambling. I don't drink. I never went to the pub. I think I went to one pub... but I didn't drink, so it didn't interest me.

If there's something important that you want people to know about your experience, what would it be?

I think people should live their lives the best way they can. I try to live happy. I mean, I know we get mad sometimes and we say things. But I try to eliminate some of the things that I used to do. I tell people about my wife... I treated my wife like I wanted to be treated, and I hoped that she treated me like she wanted to be treated. And it worked out beautifully!

Interview with a Hero: RDM 2-C John Clay Poche

I've always had a passion for World War II history. Whether watching old war movies and documentaries or reading encyclopedia articles on some of the major battles, I've always wanted to see and hear as much information about the conflict as I could. However, the source of information that I've always found the most fascinating has been the veterans themselves. Hearing their first-hand accounts of what they experienced, what they thought and felt, and how they put the conflict in perspective decades later is an educational experience like no other. Recently, I was privileged to interview a couple of World War II veterans at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and I am proud to share a partial transcript of my first interview below.

But first, I'd like to share a little bit about the museum that facilitated the interviews.

National World War II Museum

Luckily for me, I live within driving distance of New Orleans, which is home to the National World War II Museum. While making a trip down to the Big Easy to see the museum would seem like a no-brainer, one reason or another had kept me from stopping by for several years. However, a couple of weeks ago, I finally got the opportunity to experience the museum first-hand.

And what an experience it was.

First off, the place is huge. The museum campus consists of no less than five buildings (with a sixth on the way!) and countless displays and artifacts to analyze. Everything from uniforms, maps, weapons, tools, and vehicles are there to be seen. It goes without saying that I was a bit overwhelmed by it all, and even after spending a full day at the museum, I estimate that I made it through only about a third of the exhibits.

However, despite the impressive scale and artifact collection, I believe that the museum's most important staples are the veterans themselves who often take the time to set up in the museum lobby and personally share their experiences with visitors. While artifacts, videos, and demonstrations are well and good, nothing beats hearing an account from someone who lived through World War II and experienced it first-hand.

For my part, I had always wanted to take the time to sit down for an interview with one of these veterans, and on the day of my visit to the National World War II, I was honored with the opportunity to speak with not one, but two of these heroes. In this post, I'll post an edited transcript of the first of these interviews, a short talk that I had with U.S. Navy Radarman 2nd Class John Clay Poche.

RDM 2-C John C Poche

RDM 2-C John Clay Poche

Briefly tell me about where you're from and about your service experience.

I was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana. At a very early age, we moved to Marrero, Louisiana. I was living in Marrero at the time I went into the military. I served two years, ten months, and 13 days with the Navy.

I went into the Navy because I knew if I was in the Navy I would have three hot meals every day, and a clean bed to sleep in every night.

And I was wrong! One day, and only one day, I did not have three hot meals. We were under siege by the Japanese fleet (Note: This engagement is known as The Battle off Samar, one of the most brutal naval battles of the Pacific war). We did not have the gunpower to fight with them, because all we had was one 5-inch gun, a tail gun. We did fire that gun; we scored 18 direct hits out of 115 [shots] fired (Note: 6 of the claimed hits were on the Japanese heavy cruiser Chokai).

I was in radar and we were giving radar bearings, relative bearings, and ranges to the to the tail gunner all the time. Every 30 seconds we were giving range and bearings, and they were using those range and bearing to fire at Japanese ships. It worked out real good.

The Japanese did not have radar. That was a big advantage that the American fleet had over them.

Poche's ship, the USS White Plains (CVE-66), a Casablanca-class escort carrier

A lot of people probably ask you about your combat experiences. I want to ask you about some of your experiences where you weren't in combat. What did you and your friends do when you had spare time? Did you play cards?

I played cards. Maybe 45 minutes before my [shift] would begin, I would play cards. Sometimes for money, sometimes for bragging rights! And I liked to brag!

One time, and only one time, we were playing with the Joker, the Joker was wild, and I had the Joker, and the Queen of Spades, and I drew three cards, and I got the Ace of Spades, the King of Spades, and the Ten of Spades! A Royal Flush! I bet two dollars, and nobody called!

Did you watch any movies?

We had movies on the ship, yes we did. We had sometimes 10 movies aboard ship. They would show a movie at certain times of the day, and they would always try to show a different movie. If we ran out of movies, we would get 10 more movies (Note: I'm guessing movies would be included in the regular resupply runs) or whatever our complement was. So, we seldom ever [saw] the same movie more than one time.

What were some of your favorite movies or actors?

Franchot Tone was one. And the movie he played in, I forget what it was, I was really fascinated by the acting. It was really very good. I don't remember the movie anymore but I remember the ending.

What did you and the guys talk about? The war? What you were going to do when you got home? What your plans for the future were?

Personal experiences, more than anything else. We talked about things at home, things that were important in their life.

What's one thing that you would want people to know about your experience that maybe they didn't know, especially young people? What would you tell them?

That the Navy life is a very good life, a very good life.

A Night at the Nexus

I've always been a fan of the theater. Growing up, my brother, father, and I would typically go to the movies at least once every couple of weeks, and it made quite an impression on me from an early age. The smell of popcorn, the dim lights, the big screen, and (of course) the movie itself... to a young me, it was a magical experience.

My love for the cinema continued throughout my formative years and well into my professional life. Two years out of college and into my first job, I was still attending the theater quite regularly (The Grand 18 in Hattiesburg was basically my second home). Then, in August of 2014, I moved to Mobile, Alabama, and things began to change.

With a population well over 300,000, the Mobile area didn't exactly lack for movie theaters, but what it did lack were theaters that people actually wanted to go to. On the west side of Mobile (where I lived), moviegoers had exactly two options: The run-down Carmike Wynnsong on Schillenger Rd (now an AMC), or the ghost town-like Regal Stadium over on Government St (which I had been advised to avoid). To a devoted moviegoer like myself who was also excited about living on a new metro, this was quite a disappointment.

In retrospect, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Even discounting the two lackluster options in West Mobile, traditional theaters overall were becoming increasingly low-rent. The crowds were dying off, theaters were not as well staffed or maintained, and cinema complexes were steadily acquiring a dubious distinction as havens for wondering teenagers and other sketchy characters to congregate and loiter. Call me what you will, but that's a big turn-off for me.

At the same time, my home movie-viewing experience had improved significantly. My father (with whom I was living at the time) had a theater of his own in the upper floor of his house. Complete with a large screen, surround sound system, leather recliners, and even a snack bar, there was little reason for me to venture out in search of the "theater experience". That, coupled with the new 65" 4K TV of my own that I had situated in my room downstairs, afforded me ultra-convenient viewing options at home that made the argument for going out to the theater much harder of a sell.

As a result, my theater attendance dropped off significantly. Rather than darkening the door of my local movie house every other weekend, I found myself showing up only for the occasional blockbuster release (like the latest Star Wars film).

All of that changed after my first night at the Nexus.

Nexus Cinema Dining (or simply "The Nexus") is a new "dine-in" theater that opened this past spring in Mobile. Nestled deep in the suburbs of West Mobile and containing only two screens (and a total of 117 seats), you can be forgiven if you drove past it without taking notice. However, the establishment's unimposing size stands in stark contrast to the exquisite experience that greets anyone who stops by for a visit.

First off, all ticketing for the Nexus is done online through their website. Rather than the split matinée/regular showtime pricing at traditional theaters, all tickets are priced at a premium $16.58 apiece. Seating is also reserved, so you pick your seat when you order your tickets, which is really handy for securing the best seats when you purchase your tickets early. And speaking of early purchasing, be sure to do it whenever you can. Since seating at the Nexus is limited, prime showtimes of major releases tend to sell out as much as a week in advance.

The Nexus main lobby

When you first enter the Nexus, the first thing you'll notice is the unique layout of the lobby. In addition to being a theater, the Nexus is also a full-service restaurant and bar, and the lobby serves as the dining area. In addition, the second floor of the Nexus includes an upstairs dining room that serves as a sports event viewing area, and is a popular hangout for those who want to catch a game and a movie.

The Nexus sports bar

Located at the rear of the building, the Nexus' two theater rooms, the primary "Main Stage" and the secondary "Theater", serve as the main attraction.

Main stage room seating

Theater room seating

As you can see, each room is equipped with multiple rows of plush, motorized leather recliners for seating, as well as 1-2 rows of table seating near the back. Now, it may seem odd that the Nexus elected to mix recliner and table seating in the theater, but I tried the table seating in the "Main Stage" during my first visit and it wasn't all that bad. Indeed, the extra room to spread out a bit that the table provides comes in handy during the dining experience (more on that later), but overall, I still much prefer the recliners.

The video and audio technology employed by the Nexus is top-notch. Each theater utilizes a 4K laser projection system (as opposed to the traditional bulb projectors used by most theaters) which not only provides a sharper image, but also better color saturation and contrast. In addition, the Nexus is also equipped with a full Dolby Atmos sound system, which features object-based sound and over 100 distinct audio channels. Before each film, a short tech demo is played for the audience that showcases these technologies. To put it plainly, the Nexus spared no expense in this area.

Now, the dining areas, seats, theaters, and technology are all well and good, but what about the dining experience? I mean, that's the main attraction, right? After all, it's in the name. Well, I can proudly report that the Nexus succeeds on that level as well.

Recliners with fold-out trays and tablets running the Nexus in-house app

Every seat in the theaters and the dining areas includes a tablet running the Nexus Dining App that you use to order food. You simply scroll through the menu, pick out the items you want, hit "Order", and a member of the staff will bring them out to you promptly.

Me during my second visit

I found the dining experience to be the most impressive part of the Nexus. Not only was the service prompt and the servers courteous, but the food was excellent and the menu was quite extensive. Now, you are going to pay a bit of a premium for the food (my personal favorite, the VooDoo Shrimp, comes in at about $10), but I found everything delicious. With a good variety of appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts (including Old Dutch ice cream!), there's something for everyone, even the pickiest of eaters. And of course, if you're not in the mood for a full meal, you can always just stick with the traditional popcorn and soda (each reasonably priced at about $3).

When describing the dining system to others, there's one question that I get a lot: Is the shuffling of servers in and out of the theater during the movie a distraction? It's a good question and an honest concern, but I'm happy to say that it's not a problem at all. The staff is very good at discretely and quickly making runs into the theater without causing a commotion. The aisles between the rows are wide enough for them to walk past without disturbing anyone, and they have a habit of ducking when serving during the movie so that they don't get in the way of the picture. Honestly, after the first few minutes of the movie, you're fixated enough that you don't really notice the staff bustling about.

Now, there is one other thing to note: The Nexus does leave the overhead lights in the theater on during the movie, though they do dim them significantly. This may seem strange to those who have only ever been to a traditional theater where all of the lights are completely extinguished for the feature presentation, but some degree of light is needed for the patrons to dine and for the staff to move about without incident. But like the previous concern, it really isn't much of an issue. Once you're 5 minutes into the movie, I guarantee that you'll stop noticing it.

Needless to say, after my first visit to the Nexus, I was hooked. I've been back several times since and have not been disappointed. Without a doubt, the Nexus has rekindled my love for the theater, and that means a lot to me.

If you're ever in the Mobile area and feel the hankering to see a movie, or even if you've never experienced a dining cinema and want to see what the fuss is about, I would highly recommend that you stop by and enjoy your own night at the Nexus.