The 'Iron Curtain' Descends in 1946-- Winston Churchill

I will be finishing my list of Chicago Bears head coaches, but yesterday marked an important date in an era I lived through and never thought would end (or has it?).  The Cold War.

MARCH 5, 1946

Winston Churchill delivered his famous "Iron Curtain" Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.

Liz and I accidentally found Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, back on one of our trips.  I came across a very informative article on this speech and a historic London church that has been rebuilt in Fulton and will write about it after Da Bears coaches.

--Cold War Coot

Return of Drive-In Theaters-- Part 7: The 66 Drive-In Theatre

And what would drive-in theater's be without at least one on the famed Mother Road, Route 66?  There are several, including one that just reopened on Sapulpa, Oklahoma, and, of course, Litchfield, Illinois, but probably the most famous one even carries the name, 66 Drive-In Theatre neat Carthage, Missouri.

Its original neon sign continues to attract road-trippers.  (Route 66 is part of the National Trust's National Treasures Program.)

Tickets are often sold out of the original ticket booth, a glowing little building with walls made entirely of glass blocks.

For a complete Route 66 experience ,owner Nathan McDonald recommends staying at the recently restored Boots Court motel (1939) in the nearby town of Carthage, which advertises "A Radio In Every Room)"

Whether You Want One Or Not.  --CootBoots

Missouri's Jerry Corp Memorial Highway

State of Missouri Revised Statutes.

Effective August  28, 2015

Chapter 227

227.417

JERRY CORP MEMORIAL HIGHWAY DESIGNATED FOR A PORTION OF U.S. HIGHWAY 160 IN OZARK COUNTY.

The portion of U.S. Highway 160  in Ozark County from the bridge that crosses Bryant Creek to a location two and a half miles east of such bridge shall be known as the "Jerry Corp Memorial Highway."

The costs for such designation shall be paid by private donations.

--Cooter

Jerry Corp on the Vietnam Wall

From the Wall of Faces site of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

JERRY MARSH CORP

A picture of him accompanies this.

Honored on Panel  11W, Line 30 of the Wall.

Wall Name:  Jerry M. Corp

Date of Birth:  4/14/50

Date of Casualty:  4/21/70

City / County of Record / State:  Tecumseh, Ozark County,  Missouri

Branch of Service:  Army

Casualty Province: Quang Ngai

Rank:  PFC

He is buried at Sallee Cemetery, Ozark County, Missouri.

The Good Die Young.

Korean War Veteran Chuck Class-- Part 4: The P-51 Mustang

One poignant story Mr. Class was about the P-51 Mustang pilot that had been shot down.  Most of the aircraft he saw were World War II vintage, very few jets.  This plane had been shot down, but the pilot had been able to make a crash landing and the plane was upright.  But the plane started smoking and Mr. Class was close enough that he could see the pilot slumped over in the cockpit.

He wanted to rush over to the pilot's aide, but enemy troops were nearby and firing at the plane.  The smoke turned into flames and burned the whole plane.  That was a hard one.

Mr. Class did his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri.  He was drafted into service.

--Cooter

Ships By the Name Missouri in the U.S. Navy-- Part 1: CSS Missouri

From the June 18, 2018, News Tribune  "Perspective:  A History of the Missouri Navy" by Sam Bushman.

I wrote about the CSS Missouri in my Running the Blockade Civil War Navy blog earlier today.

These ships had the name USS Missouri in the United States Navy:

1st.  USS Missouri was a paddlewheel frigate built in 1841 at a cost of $570,000.  In 1843, while a part of the Mediterranean Squadron, the ship caught fire and blew up in Gibraltar.

2nd  CSS Missouri.  See today's Running the Blockade blog.

--CooterMo

Thousands Observe U.S. Entrance to WWI-- Part 4

When the monument was completed five years later, more than 150,000 attended to hear President Calvin Coolidge dedicate it.  (Again, one has to wonder why our current president was not there last week).

The museum's CEO, Matt Naylor, said' "For the past 91 years, people from across the globe have come to learn and remember."

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens lauded the fact that Missouri was the birthplace of Frank Buckles, who, until his death in 2011 was the war's last surviving U.S. veteran.

Across the Atlantic on Thursday, France staged its own centennial observance of the American entrance.  the French Defense Minister urged everyone to remember "the courage of America and the millions of soldiers that came to fight on our side."

--Cooter

Proposed Museum of Suburbia

From the October 10, 2012, Yahoo! Finance "Suburban Dream: Museum of Suburbia" by Jim Carlton, Wall Street Journal.

Overland Park is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri.  Johnson County officials are proposing spending $34 million for a National Museum of Suburbia which will feature a ranch-style home along with lawn furniture to be built in a former bowling alley.

They expect to draw 60,000 visitors who will pay $6 each to see it.  Having grown up in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago, I sure would pay a visit.

--DaCoot

Bonnie and Clyde Guns Fetch $210K

From the Jan. 23rd Chicago Sun-Times.

Two guns believed to have been used by the famous bank-robbing, cop-shooting Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow sold at the Mayo Auction in Kansas City, Mo., for $210,000.

The Joplin Globe reported that an online bidder from the East Coast bought the weapons believed to have been seized at their hideout in Joplin, Missouri in 1933. They were a .45-caliber, fully automatic Thompson submachine gun, better known as a Tommy Gun and a 1897 Winchester 12-gauge shotgun.

Until recently, the two guns had been on display at the Springfield, Missouri, Police Museum since 1973. They had been seized in an April 1933 shootout with law enforcement at an apartment in Joplin which left two police dead (I've seen the apartment).

In a related story, in January 1933, Springfield, Mo., police officer Tom Persell pulled over a suspicious car. he got off his motorcycle, went to the car where Clyde leveled a shotgun at him and ordered him to get in and show them how to get out of town and avoid the police.

They drove back roads at night for six hours before getting to Joplin where the pair released him unharmed.

Too bad I'd never heard of that police museum in Springfield as I sure would have liked to have visited it.

Interesting Story. --DaCoot

Plenty of History on Trip

We've been on the road since the 6th and drove across Illinois, a real little part of Iowa by Keokuk, a whole lot of Missouri, and little bitty parts of Kansas and Oklahoma.

Saw Mickey Mantle's home town in Commerce, Oklahoma. The Marsh Bridge in Kansas. Tornado damage in Joplin. Boots Motel in Carthage, Missouri. Spent three nights at the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon. These last two dating to the 1940s.

Also, we met two Route 66 characters, Dean Walker and Cowboy Don.

Ate at Lambert's Cafe and caught "Throwed Rolls" by Springfield, Missouri, and that great old Steak 'n Shake in the same town on the way back.

There were plenty of museums and a whole lot of Civil War related stuff.

The last three nights we have been in Springfield, Illinois. To say there is a lot of history here would be an understatement.

For more on trip see my RoadDog's Roadlog Blog or Down Da Road I Go Blog.

Deep in the Heart of History. --Cooter

Catching Some History on Route 66

Saturday and Sunday, we were on the Route 66 Association of Missouri's Motor Tour from Miami, Oklahoma, through that short stretch of Kansas and the state of Missouri east to the town of Bourbon, whose water towers have to be among the most photographed on the Mother Road or anywhere for that matter.

We stopped at historical museums in Baxter Springs, Kansas; Rolla, Missouri and Cuba, Missouri. Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend much time in any of them, but this was a first-time visit for us and we'll definitely be back.

The museum in Baxter Springs was especially impressive.

Along Route 66, we saw the old stuff, like the Munger Moss Motel in Lebanon and the Boots Motel in Carthage. And then, there were the new Route 66 places like Mr. C's, the Cave Restaurant, Tow Mater from the movie "Cars" and new addition "Big Red" from the same movie at the Four Women on the Road station in Galena, Kansas, and the Rosati Winery Museum and sampling room near Fanning. Of course, there is also the World's Largest Rocking Chair in Fanning as well.

Sure Enjoyed That Motor Tour. --Cooter

Some History on the Missouri Trip

We're in Lebanon, Missouri right now. We arrived yesterday after a drive through Illinois, the southeastern tip of Iowa (Keokuk) northern part of Missouri and down the western part on US-65.

Macomb, Illinois, has two squares, one a park and one with the county courthouse. Plus Western Illinois University, a school that always gives out alma mater a hard time in sports. Those Fighting Leathernecks (a good Marine name) are tough.

By Carthage, Illinois, where Mormon founder Joseph Smith was killed (the jail is a museum), US-136 aligned with Il-110 for a ways. Above the 110 shield they had C-K-C letters. We thought that was from an old named-highway (before 1928) and probably stood for Carthage-Keokuk-and some other "C" town.

Last night on he internet, I learned that it stood for a new road that is called the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway, a proposed direct route between the two cities.

The reason part of Iowa sticks down into Missouri at the southeast corner is because that is where the Des Moines River joins the Mississippi.

Interesting History. --Cooter

St. Louis' Gateway Arch

From the August 5th Chicago Tribune "Improving Arch could prove to be tall order" by Blair Kamin.

Architect Eero Saarinen built the 630-foot-tall arch (the tallest national monument in the US) as a tribute to American westward expansion. It is impressive, but the grounds around it definitely are not.

Security barriers erected after 9-11 take from the experience the nearly 2.5 million who visit each year.

The City Arch River 2015 Foundation wants to change the Arch's surrounding and even the view of East St. Louis across the Mississippi River and are hosting a design competition. Five teams are finalists and will be presenting their designs this coming Tuesday and a winner will be announced September 24th. The foundation wants to have the revamp completed by the Arch's 50th anniversary, October 28, 2015.

This arch is impressive and we've been seeing it more of late because of our Route 66 travels. One alignment goes right by it. And, you can easily see it at the old Chain of Rocks Bridge north of town.

We visited it once, but found out you'd better pre-order your tickets if you want to go to the top of it. Nice visit anyway. Impressive museum at the base.

Looking Forward to Seeing the Designs. Cooter

Some Good Reasons to Visit St. Louis

Besides having several different alignments of Route 66 through it, Ted Drewe's ice cream, and the Chain of Rocks Bridge, there are some more reasons to visit the Gateway City.

Of course, there's the 630-foot high Gateway Arch. Tickets to the top are $10, but you'd best get them in advance. I know, I visited and didn't get to go to the top as they were all sold out for the day.

Nearby is the old courthouse where slaves Dred and Harriet Scott argued for their freedom and was just another in the incidents dividing the country before the Civil War.


MUSIC

Besides being one of the birthplaces of the blues, St. Louis has been the residences of Scott Joplin, Ike and Tina Turner, and Chuck Berry, who still performs once a month at the Blueberry Hill restaurant and club.


HISTORIC CEMETERIES

CALVARY-- General William Tecumseh Sherman, Tennessee Williams, Dred Scott.

BELLEFONTAINE-- Gen. William Clark (of Lewis and Clark), Adolphus Busch (Anheiser-Bush), James Eads (inventor and engineer, Mary Marsha Rexford (Red Cross worker and first woman to land on Utah Beach on D-Day) and William Burroughs.

From April 5th Chicago Tribune. Cheryl Wittensauer AP.

Things Other Than the Cardinals. --Cooter