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OT: Trip to Israel

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Joe Michaels

Diamond
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Location
Shandaken, NY, USA
As some of you may recall from the posts surrounding Lester Bowman's vertical firetube boiler, my wife and I took off for a trip to Israel.
We were in Israel for a little over two weeks. It was out first trip to Israel, and to be honest, I was not really fired up about going- doing it for my wife. The trip was something that surpassed my wildest expectations and had a great effect upon me. I had not planned the trip with machinery oriented sites in mind, with one exception, which I will write about in a paragraph or two-or more.

The experience of the trip began at Newark Airport as we waited at the gate for the El Al flight to take us to Israel. A crowd of passengers of every and any description were waiting for the flight. Large number of Hasidic Jews in their broad brimmed hats and black coats with wives and children, younger orthodox Jewish boys, Christian groups, and a group of young US Military combat veterans- this group going to meet with young combat vets from the Israel Defense Forces to address Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. As I looked at the crowd at the gate, I realized this was the happiest group of people I ever saw waiting for a plane. People were getting to know each other, and everyone around us was happy and encouraging when they heard it was our first trip to Israel. We went on our own, no organized tour, so these were strangers who struck up conversations.

Ordinarily, I do not get choked up over airliners, with my main concern being airworthiness and a good seat assignment. When I saw the lettering on the El Al plane and the Star of David, I was affected like I had not in my wildest imagined. The thought was: "here's a plane flown by our people to take us home". I did get a bit choked up seeing that aircraft and turned away from my wife as I did not want to admit the effect.

On the flight over, groups of orthodox Jewish men would get up from their seats and form a group of at least 10 ( minimum number required for prayers), and start praying per daily requirements. As I kidded my wife, we had "plenty of insurance from both sides of the aisle"- having Christian groups, some with pastors, and the orthodox Jews aboard.

We started in Tel Aviv. On our second day in Tel Aviv, we took a public transit bus to the railroad station, and then took a train to Rehovoth. We went to the Ayalon Institute. This is a museum in which a clandestine small arms ammunition factory is preserved. The factory was built during the British mandate rule, and was built under their noses. The factory was set up prior to the 1948 War of Independence, knowing arms and ammunition would be needed and Israel was embargoed. The factory is located under a bakery and laundry on what had been a Kibbutz (communal farm/settlement). The factory was in full production making 9 mm parabellum rounds for the 1948 war, and the British never caught on. The masonry bakery oven is on rails and moves with a rack and pinion to open an access hatch for moving machinery into the underground shop. In the laundry, a commercial washing machine swings out of the way to open up the personnel access via spiral stair. In the shop, there is a row of small deep-drawing presses which banged out cartridge case, lineshaft driven. There is also a small toolroom, with a 10" Southbend heavy 10" lathe (single tumbler quick change box) and a Delta drill press. I was yelling with delight at seeing those machine tools and my wife had to shssh me. There was even a test range with a mechanical chronograph down under the laundry. The Israelis got brass for the cartridges by ordering it from the British- claiming Israeli women needed lots of lipstick. A small percentage of the sheet brass went for lipstick tubes, with plenty given as gifts to British soldiers and officers for their girlfriends. The bulk of the brass went down into the ammunition plant. The Kibbutz took in laundry from the British garrisons so the Brits did not suspect the huge amounts of bottled gas used by the Kibbutz were really going for melting lead and casting bullets. Workers in the underground plant had to spend time under sunlamps so they would be as tanned as the other members of the Kibbutz who were doing field work on the farm. To get a warning of when the British were coming, the British made it too easy. Contrary to normal British tastes, the British soldiers who came to inspect the Kibbutz said they likes cold beer. The Kibbutzim (residents of the Kibbutz) told the Brits they would have cold beer waiting for them- if the Brits brought the ice. The result was the British soldiers and officers called ahead, so very few surprise inspections resulted. The factory made millions of 9mm rounds for the War of Independence.

We did visit our nephew who is studying Jewelry Design. He proudly showed us the machine shop, with a Schaublin geared head lathe, Aciera universal mill, and other smaller machine tools. He told me he'd had to cut external and internal screw threads on the lathe and routinely did jobs on the Aciera mill. He is doing what amounts a to an oldtime apprenticeship, with bench work, filing, and basic manual skills being stressed, along with state of the art stuff like 3D printing. He is also in charge of the investment casting foundry in the school.

In a twist of Jewish humor, the museum guide pointed out two machines for trimming cartridge cases to length. He said those case length trimmers were referred to as the "Mohels". Anyone who was Jewish burst out laughing, since a "Mohel" is a rabbi who performs circumcisions. We had to explain this to the non-Jews on our tour, and everyone was laughing. The staff of the museum was interested to learn about my relatives who smuggled guns out of NY and aboard ships bound for Israel for the 1948 War, and also was interested in my own shooting and reloading.

Above ground, we saw a nicely restored 'Cat diesel tractor with pony engine that had been used on the Kibbutz. As our tour ended, we met the group of US combat vets whom we'd first met a Newark A/P. They were spending 10 days on a trip designed to help them deal with PTSD, and the program reportedly has a very high success rate.

We visited many of the ancient sites, and spent nearly a week in Jerusalem. Without going into detail, the ancient engineering work is amazing. We visited the ancient port of Caeseria, and went on to Haifa. There, we visited the Museum of the Clandestine Immigration- the story of the "Exodus" ships. The one surviving Exodus ship is preserved there and has quite a good exhibit of films by people who made the voyage and tried to break the British blockade. My wife had never really known about this part of Israeli history, so I explained a lot to her. We then visited the Israeli Naval Museum which is part of that same complex. My wife had never been aboard a submarine or a fast patrol vessel- both of which are on dry land and opened for visitors. I discovered the Israelis seemed to like using Maybach diesel engines.

In Haifa, we stayed in a really nice boutique hotel. A German couple was staying there as well. One evening, they were sitting outside speaking German and talking about the hotel's cat. I wished them a good evening in German and kidded about the cat. They asked how it came to be that I spoke what they called "very good German". I told them the story of knowing Yiddish as a kid and working in machine shops and the brewery amongst German immigrants. The couple were professors of German literature, and were visiting Israel, including Yad Veshem- the museum of the Holocaust. They asked me a lot about Yiddish and Hebrew, and the asked me in English why we'd come to Israel. My mind was flipping up and back from English to German, and without thinking or any hesitation, I blurted out" Wir sind Juden- hier besteht unserem Heimatland"- we are Jews and here is our homeland. The German couple was affected by this remark and there was a long pause. I could see they were caught off balance, so again, without thinking, I said: "Willkommen von unserem Volk von meine Herz" (Welcome from our people from my heart). With that, the woman looked like she was fighting not to cry. It was nice to be able to put that couple at ease and my wife said it was a wonderful thing to see and hear what happened.

We toured most of Israel, including Masada. There, the engineering work to plan the fortress and water supply really impressed me. What amounted to a major hydrological survey and topographic survey of a large region of mountainous terrain had been done in ancient times. I knew what it took in the late 1800's-1900's to build the NYC Water Supply System, and even with good transits, theodolites and existing maps, the surveying and design required huge amounts of survey parties and engineering work. How they did it back in the times of Masada continues to amaze me, let alone the scope of the building work.

In Jerusalem, we took the "wet tunnel tour". This is a tour in the tunnels built about 2000 years ago to get water into Jerusalem, under the walls during times of siege. We rolled up our pant legs and tied our shoes around our necks and walked through about 0.6 KM of tunnel. The water depth varied and in some places was thigh deep. The tunnels are about 18-24" wide, and some low heights in places. We had an Israeli guide and his English was OK, but he mangled some words and could not give technical explanations. We had a German mother and her adult son behind us, and a professor of electrical engineering from UMASS, Amherst in our group. I translated what the Germans could not understand, and had to explain what a "spring" (as in spring of water) is. The guide pointed out where the tunnel headings had met, and whether persons using hammers and chisels were right or left handed. I kept thinking about the fact the people doing the tunnelling had no forced ventilation, used burning wood brands for illumination, and had not good steel for chisels or hammers, no eye protection, and at most wore sandals. My wife asked afterwards about what would have happened if someone in a tour group was injured or taken ill. I told her it would be a difficult extraction and might well wind up as body recovery. I told my wife that it was "welcome to my world", having worked many years on hydroelectric plants and been in wet, dark and tight places routinely. I also told my wife that in the USA, the tunnel tour would have qualified as a "confined space, permit required".

All over Israel, we saw young people in the military. Many were armed, on leave, and just being young people. We saw soldiers on leave with assault rifles or submachine guns in stores, restaurants, on busses, and just going about mainstream life. No one freaked at the sight of the weapons. Some of the Israeli soldiers were young ladies, and if we had them in our military, I think there would be a line outside every recruiting office to join up. In one sweet moment, we were sitting at a square in the Old City of Jerusalem, drinking coffee. A group of young Israeli soldiers on leave were there as well as a group of Asian tourists, Hasidic Jews and young orthodox Jewish kids playing soccer. The Asians were constantly asking the Israeli women soldiers to pose with them. The soccer ball went out of bounds and towards the soldiers. One soldier stopped the ball and did some trick soccer moves with it. Next thing was the little boys and the soldiers were all playing soccer.
No one freaking about soldiers or weapons.

We had a secure and safe feeling anywhere we went in Israel, any hour of the night or day. My wife remarked there are very few obese Israelis. She also remarked that the children are happy and running around and playing like kids are supposed to play. No whiners, no kids zoned out on electronic gaming. I had noted heavy steel bulkhead doors to the baggage room of our first hotel and asked the concierge about it. He told me that every public building and many newer apartment buildings have to have bunkers to take shelter in case of rocket attack. Despite this, the people in Israel for the most part, seem upbeat, happy, and getting on with their lives. I did talk to some of the young Israeli soldiers, including a lady who had just gotten her degree as an engineer and was back in uniform for Officer's Candidate School. It was refreshing to find young people who were sharp, spoke well, up on world events, and had a solid sense of responsibility. My wife and I both remarked about the difference between young people of that generation in the USA vs Israel. We reconnected with a lot more than our nephew on this trip, and will be making future trips to Israel.
 
I very deeply envy you this trip. Sadly I fear I'll never be able to make it to Israel in this lifetime.

a mechanical chronograph

I once read about a vertical shaft driven at carefully monitored RPM with a paper drum spinning on top, lines were printed and numbered so that as the shot pierced the front the distance the reverse side was pierced made calculation of the velocity easy. Is that what it was?
 
Partsproduction:

I hope you do get the chance to visit Israel. It is an amazing country in so many ways, touching the extreme ends of the spectrum- antiquities to cutting edge high tech stuff. Israel is a country that sprang up from what was desert or rocky lands in the past 70 years, and is quite an amazing place to visit at so many levels ranging from archaeological/historic to spiritual as well has scientific and high tech. It is a country about the size of the state of New Jersey, and has so much crammed into it at all levels. What was rocky and barren lands or desert now literally is green or blooming in so many areas. The Israeli small arms industry is thriving, aside from all else, and I am sure many of us often use Israeli products such as "Shaviv" or "Vargus" deburring tools, "Iscar" carbide cutting tools, ETM arbors, Camel grinding wheels, and lots more. I made this trip for my wife, so did not even think about a side trip to visit Iscar or other machine shop related industries. There was too much to see and do, and too little time.

Regarding the chronograph, this was not the "drum type". I had only seen pictures of a "drum type" chronograph in an issue of NRA's magazine "The Rifleman" when I was kid in the 1960's. The chronograph in place in the Ayalon kibbutz museum utilizes the same principal but is quite different. That chronograph consists of a horizontal shaft mounted on pillow block bearings. There are two (2) discs mounted on that shaft. Both discs are the same diameter and are made of light wood or cardboard, fixed to flanges on the shaft. Each disc has a circular piece of "polar" type graph paper. This graph paper is divided with radial lines, and the outer circumference is marked 0 to 360 degrees, similar to a "degree wheel" that is used to set up automotive camshafts. The shaft is positioned so it is parallel to the line of fire on the test range.
The shaft and discs are driven by an electric motor at a known and steady speed.

The way that chronograph works is as follows:
-a barrelled action is mounted on a stand, and is positioned so the line of fire will be at 12:00 on the discs on the shaft.

-to determine velocity of the bullets, the motor drive is turned on causing the discs to rotate at a known and steady speed.

- a single round is fired by the barrelled action ( call it a "test gun" for want of a better term ?).

-the bullet from that single round pierces the first disc and then the second disc before travelling a bit further into a bullet trap.

-the motor drive is stopped and the two circular or "polar" graph paper discs are removed from the discs on the shaft.

-the angular distance from the entry holes in the first and second disc is easily determined.

-knowing the rpm of the motor, the distance between the two discs, and the angular distance between the bullet holes in the two pieces of polar graph paper, the speed of the bullet is easily calculated.

The "drum type" chronograph which was shown in the "Rifleman" all those years ago was a home-made device. As I recall it used a one gallon steel paint can mounted on a shaft and turned by an electric motor. The gun was setup on a bench or machine rest so the line of fire made a "chord" through the walls of the paint can, the chord being perpendicular to the shaft/centerline of the paint can. By knowing the rpm of the shaft/paint can and the angle made by the entry and exit bullet holes about the centerline of the shaft/can, the speed of the bullet can be calculated in much the same way as the "disc type" chronograph at the Ayalon Institute museum.
 
As some of you may recall from the posts surrounding Lester Bowman's vertical firetube boiler, my wife and I took off for a trip to Israel.
We were in Israel for a little over two weeks. It was out first trip to Israel, and to be honest, I was not really fired up about going- doing it for my wife. The trip was something that surpassed my wildest expectations and had a great effect upon me. I had not planned the trip with machinery oriented sites in mind, with one exception, which I will write about in a paragraph or two-or more.

The experience of the trip began at Newark Airport as we waited at the gate for the El Al flight to take us to Israel. A crowd of passengers of every and any description were waiting for the flight. Large number of Hasidic Jews in their broad brimmed hats and black coats with wives and children, younger orthodox Jewish boys, Christian groups, and a group of young US Military combat veterans- this group going to meet with young combat vets from the Israel Defense Forces to address Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. As I looked at the crowd at the gate, I realized this was the happiest group of people I ever saw waiting for a plane. People were getting to know each other, and everyone around us was happy and encouraging when they heard it was our first trip to Israel. We went on our own, no organized tour, so these were strangers who struck up conversations.

Ordinarily, I do not get choked up over airliners, with my main concern being airworthiness and a good seat assignment. When I saw the lettering on the El Al plane and the Star of David, I was affected like I had not in my wildest imagined. The thought was: "here's a plane flown by our people to take us home". I did get a bit choked up seeing that aircraft and turned away from my wife as I did not want to admit the effect.

On the flight over, groups of orthodox Jewish men would get up from their seats and form a group of at least 10 ( minimum number required for prayers), and start praying per daily requirements. As I kidded my wife, we had "plenty of insurance from both sides of the aisle"- having Christian groups, some with pastors, and the orthodox Jews aboard.

We started in Tel Aviv. On our second day in Tel Aviv, we took a public transit bus to the railroad station, and then took a train to Rehovoth. We went to the Ayalon Institute. This is a museum in which a clandestine small arms ammunition factory is preserved. The factory was built during the British mandate rule, and was built under their noses. The factory was set up prior to the 1948 War of Independence, knowing arms and ammunition would be needed and Israel was embargoed. The factory is located under a bakery and laundry on what had been a Kibbutz (communal farm/settlement). The factory was in full production making 9 mm parabellum rounds for the 1948 war, and the British never caught on. The masonry bakery oven is on rails and moves with a rack and pinion to open an access hatch for moving machinery into the underground shop. In the laundry, a commercial washing machine swings out of the way to open up the personnel access via spiral stair. In the shop, there is a row of small deep-drawing presses which banged out cartridge case, lineshaft driven. There is also a small toolroom, with a 10" Southbend heavy 10" lathe (single tumbler quick change box) and a Delta drill press. I was yelling with delight at seeing those machine tools and my wife had to shssh me. There was even a test range with a mechanical chronograph down under the laundry. The Israelis got brass for the cartridges by ordering it from the British- claiming Israeli women needed lots of lipstick. A small percentage of the sheet brass went for lipstick tubes, with plenty given as gifts to British soldiers and officers for their girlfriends. The bulk of the brass went down into the ammunition plant. The Kibbutz took in laundry from the British garrisons so the Brits did not suspect the huge amounts of bottled gas used by the Kibbutz were really going for melting lead and casting bullets. Workers in the underground plant had to spend time under sunlamps so they would be as tanned as the other members of the Kibbutz who were doing field work on the farm. To get a warning of when the British were coming, the British made it too easy. Contrary to normal British tastes, the British soldiers who came to inspect the Kibbutz said they likes cold beer. The Kibbutzim (residents of the Kibbutz) told the Brits they would have cold beer waiting for them- if the Brits brought the ice. The result was the British soldiers and officers called ahead, so very few surprise inspections resulted. The factory made millions of 9mm rounds for the War of Independence.

We did visit our nephew who is studying Jewelry Design. He proudly showed us the machine shop, with a Schaublin geared head lathe, Aciera universal mill, and other smaller machine tools. He told me he'd had to cut external and internal screw threads on the lathe and routinely did jobs on the Aciera mill. He is doing what amounts a to an oldtime apprenticeship, with bench work, filing, and basic manual skills being stressed, along with state of the art stuff like 3D printing. He is also in charge of the investment casting foundry in the school.

In a twist of Jewish humor, the museum guide pointed out two machines for trimming cartridge cases to length. He said those case length trimmers were referred to as the "Mohels". Anyone who was Jewish burst out laughing, since a "Mohel" is a rabbi who performs circumcisions. We had to explain this to the non-Jews on our tour, and everyone was laughing. The staff of the museum was interested to learn about my relatives who smuggled guns out of NY and aboard ships bound for Israel for the 1948 War, and also was interested in my own shooting and reloading.

Above ground, we saw a nicely restored 'Cat diesel tractor with pony engine that had been used on the Kibbutz. As our tour ended, we met the group of US combat vets whom we'd first met a Newark A/P. They were spending 10 days on a trip designed to help them deal with PTSD, and the program reportedly has a very high success rate.

We visited many of the ancient sites, and spent nearly a week in Jerusalem. Without going into detail, the ancient engineering work is amazing. We visited the ancient port of Caeseria, and went on to Haifa. There, we visited the Museum of the Clandestine Immigration- the story of the "Exodus" ships. The one surviving Exodus ship is preserved there and has quite a good exhibit of films by people who made the voyage and tried to break the British blockade. My wife had never really known about this part of Israeli history, so I explained a lot to her. We then visited the Israeli Naval Museum which is part of that same complex. My wife had never been aboard a submarine or a fast patrol vessel- both of which are on dry land and opened for visitors. I discovered the Israelis seemed to like using Maybach diesel engines.

In Haifa, we stayed in a really nice boutique hotel. A German couple was staying there as well. One evening, they were sitting outside speaking German and talking about the hotel's cat. I wished them a good evening in German and kidded about the cat. They asked how it came to be that I spoke what they called "very good German". I told them the story of knowing Yiddish as a kid and working in machine shops and the brewery amongst German immigrants. The couple were professors of German literature, and were visiting Israel, including Yad Veshem- the museum of the Holocaust. They asked me a lot about Yiddish and Hebrew, and the asked me in English why we'd come to Israel. My mind was flipping up and back from English to German, and without thinking or any hesitation, I blurted out" Wir sind Juden- hier besteht unserem Heimatland"- we are Jews and here is our homeland. The German couple was affected by this remark and there was a long pause. I could see they were caught off balance, so again, without thinking, I said: "Willkommen von unserem Volk von meine Herz" (Welcome from our people from my heart). With that, the woman looked like she was fighting not to cry. It was nice to be able to put that couple at ease and my wife said it was a wonderful thing to see and hear what happened.

We toured most of Israel, including Masada. There, the engineering work to plan the fortress and water supply really impressed me. What amounted to a major hydrological survey and topographic survey of a large region of mountainous terrain had been done in ancient times. I knew what it took in the late 1800's-1900's to build the NYC Water Supply System, and even with good transits, theodolites and existing maps, the surveying and design required huge amounts of survey parties and engineering work. How they did it back in the times of Masada continues to amaze me, let alone the scope of the building work.

In Jerusalem, we took the "wet tunnel tour". This is a tour in the tunnels built about 2000 years ago to get water into Jerusalem, under the walls during times of siege. We rolled up our pant legs and tied our shoes around our necks and walked through about 0.6 KM of tunnel. The water depth varied and in some places was thigh deep. The tunnels are about 18-24" wide, and some low heights in places. We had an Israeli guide and his English was OK, but he mangled some words and could not give technical explanations. We had a German mother and her adult son behind us, and a professor of electrical engineering from UMASS, Amherst in our group. I translated what the Germans could not understand, and had to explain what a "spring" (as in spring of water) is. The guide pointed out where the tunnel headings had met, and whether persons using hammers and chisels were right or left handed. I kept thinking about the fact the people doing the tunnelling had no forced ventilation, used burning wood brands for illumination, and had not good steel for chisels or hammers, no eye protection, and at most wore sandals. My wife asked afterwards about what would have happened if someone in a tour group was injured or taken ill. I told her it would be a difficult extraction and might well wind up as body recovery. I told my wife that it was "welcome to my world", having worked many years on hydroelectric plants and been in wet, dark and tight places routinely. I also told my wife that in the USA, the tunnel tour would have qualified as a "confined space, permit required".

All over Israel, we saw young people in the military. Many were armed, on leave, and just being young people. We saw soldiers on leave with assault rifles or submachine guns in stores, restaurants, on busses, and just going about mainstream life. No one freaked at the sight of the weapons. Some of the Israeli soldiers were young ladies, and if we had them in our military, I think there would be a line outside every recruiting office to join up. In one sweet moment, we were sitting at a square in the Old City of Jerusalem, drinking coffee. A group of young Israeli soldiers on leave were there as well as a group of Asian tourists, Hasidic Jews and young orthodox Jewish kids playing soccer. The Asians were constantly asking the Israeli women soldiers to pose with them. The soccer ball went out of bounds and towards the soldiers. One soldier stopped the ball and did some trick soccer moves with it. Next thing was the little boys and the soldiers were all playing soccer.
No one freaking about soldiers or weapons.

We had a secure and safe feeling anywhere we went in Israel, any hour of the night or day. My wife remarked there are very few obese Israelis. She also remarked that the children are happy and running around and playing like kids are supposed to play. No whiners, no kids zoned out on electronic gaming. I had noted heavy steel bulkhead doors to the baggage room of our first hotel and asked the concierge about it. He told me that every public building and many newer apartment buildings have to have bunkers to take shelter in case of rocket attack. Despite this, the people in Israel for the most part, seem upbeat, happy, and getting on with their lives. I did talk to some of the young Israeli soldiers, including a lady who had just gotten her degree as an engineer and was back in uniform for Officer's Candidate School. It was refreshing to find young people who were sharp, spoke well, up on world events, and had a solid sense of responsibility. My wife and I both remarked about the difference between young people of that generation in the USA vs Israel. We reconnected with a lot more than our nephew on this trip, and will be making future trips to Israel.

did not happen unless you have pictures.

just sayin' :codger:


dee
;-DIMG_0051.jpg
 
Per your mention of machine shop tools made in Israel, I'm very proud of Israel and stand with her against the same hordes who attacked her 3000 years ago! Nothing has changed in the human heart in that arena.
I emailed an Israeli "Products made in Israel" website asking for a line card type listing of tools and tooling made in Israel, so I could support the cause.
Apparently the website is only concerned with selling hand made household knick knacks, and wrote back that they knew nothing of industrial tools from Israel. Pity.

I still would like such a card to set up by the phone, I knew about most of the one's you mentioned except Camel wheels.
My Chronograph is of the photo eye type, I've done some interesting loading experiments. :)
 
Americas 51st welfare state and world leader in illegal money laundering. No thanks.
 
Americas 51st welfare state and world leader in illegal money laundering.

Israel's enemies are sparkling clean? Any countries you know of that don't have problems? How many of Israel's enemies get money and weapons from other countries? They outnumber Israel 10 to one, and almost 100 to one in territory, the most despicable set of nations on earth, but you pick on Israel. :(
 
My mind was flipping up and back from English to German, and without thinking or any hesitation, I blurted out" Wir sind Juden- hier besteht unserem Heimatland"- we are Jews and here is our homeland. The German couple was affected by this remark and there was a long pause. I could see they were caught off balance, so again, without thinking, I said: "Willkommen von unserem Volk von meine Herz" (Welcome from our people from my heart). With that, the woman looked like she was fighting not to cry. It was nice to be able to put that couple at ease and my wife said it was a wonderful thing to see and hear what happened.

...very moving Joe...thanks for posting that...
 
...very moving Joe...thanks for posting that...

Indeed.

But Joe, you need to get back to work RIGHT NOW in this country! They had to install a temporary ramp between LGA and the
grand centeral parkway because the construction is in such a mess. They had people carrying suitcases across overpasses so they
would not miss their flights.

I think the need for a welding inspector is at "crisis" level right now!
 
Joe, for much of my life, I was of the mind a "Jew was a Jew", so what. Even made some pretty disparaging comments about them on occasion, wholly out of ignorance, as I never really knew any where I grew up, or had much truck with them after becoming an adult.

Then I read a book shortly after I got out of the the Navy, one called "Oh Jerusalem!"

I will not detail what that book was about, other than to say it went into great detail concerning the struggle for Israel's independence in 1948, especially the battle for Jerusalem itself. A battle that was not completely won until many years later.

Since then, I have read much about the history of the Jewish people.

Gotta say, not many folks have hung as tough for as long as the Jew. They have earned my respect and admiration.
 
I served part of my time under a guy who'd done his National Service in the Britih Army out in Palestine. He'd a different slant on affairs. The British Army was out there as peace keepers trying to prevent the conflict between Jew and Arab along with small detachments from other nations.

He said " The Arabs disliked us because we were letting too many Jews in and the Jews hated us because we weren't letting enough Jews in ! " The troops were between a rock and a hard place and as a result over 400 British servicemen lost their lives mainly in Jewish terrorist attacks in a conflict they didn't want to be part of.

He was out there at the time of the " British Sergeants " incident when two British soldiers were kidnapped then hung by Irgun terrorists as a reprisal for the hanging of three Irgun terrorists by the British authorities earlier.

The two bodies were hung from a tree in public after they'd been killed previously. A land mine was planted under the bodies intended for the people who came to retrieve the bodies. When the bodies were being cut down one of them fell down and detonated the land mine blowing the body into many pieces and wounding the rescuers.
My workmate was out there at the time and got this first hand from another guy who was involved in recovering the bodies.

The leader of the kidnappers and the man who ordered the hangings of the two Sergeants was Menachim Begin who later became prime minster of Israel !

That's probably a bit of history they don't tell you about.

Regards Tyrone.
 
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