The Writer's Block

On Eugene Ormandy's Retirement

Bach's musical macrame'

Of silken threads

Is re-created by

The nimble fingers of
Senor Pablo Casals
Who plays along with
His friend
And interpreter,                                                       
Eugene Ormandy,
A gentleman of the
Intellectual design of Johann.

With bows and strings and fingers
Of musical craftsmanship
Into the superhuman -
Perhaps sublime
Artistry (meaning
Skill and feeling
Of the aforementioned)
Senor Casals.

And though
We can not
Create such music
With its emotions,
We understand what we have heard:
A true meaningful expression
Of our very human
        and we hope
               meaningful
Existence.

        Jean Davie Fieg

Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from January 2012

Emilie Kestner recuperating after an appendectomy on Jan. 9, glad that she was not at college when it happened....  Hannah Harvey learning to scoot on her very pink scooter....  Jean Fieg being blown away by the fact that the photos ordered on-line by daughter Judy Kestner in Corpus Christi, Texas could be picked up at Walgreen's in Greensboro, N.C. just a few hours later....  Anne Roman creating the dreamy flyer for the Fieg Family Reunion to be held in August, 2012.... Greg Fieg searching for the power cord to his computer notebook and thinking he probably left it in in a cafe Timbuktoo....  Facebook friends of Kathy Clancy enjoying spectacular photos of the trip she and hubby Brian took to the Grand Canyon this month....

Stork Proclaims, "August is the Coolest Month"

Statistics show that more babies are born on a Tuesday during the month of August than on any other day of any other month of the year, so it is with bated breath that we await the month of August 2012 when the families of two Fieg cousins -- Tyler and Julia (nee Schwartz) McGonigal of Fort Montgomery, NY and Brian and Emily Fieg of Acworth, GA -- are expecting additions to their families.

The dates to hold out for are the 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th - all Tuesdays.  Let's not prove the statisticians wrong.

News came to your editor first that Tyler and Julia are expecting in early August.  We presume that Tyler's parents, Bobby and Mary McGonigal, who live near Rochester, will swing by the Fieg Family reunion in Cooperstown for about three minutes on their way to visit their first grandchild.  Tyler, 30,  is superintendent of the Rockland County Golf Course at Rockland County State Park in Rockland County, NY just north of New York City, and Julia is an 8th grade teacher in Ossining.  Tyler's brother, Kyle, is undoubtedly very eager to become known as Uncle Kyle; Mary reports, "We are over the moon!"

Close on the heels of this information came word of the pregnancy of Emily and Brian Fieg, expecting in mid-August.  They wrote in an e-mail to Brian's Uncle Steve, "Although we still have not yet heard the baby's heartbeat, we trust that he or she is healthy. We are almost to the end of our first trimester and are due mid August. We would appreciate continued prayers for our health and the baby's."  Great-uncle Greg Fieg asks that we also pray for a boy to carry on the Fieg name for yet another generation.

The two newest August births will carry on the tradition of birthdays in the eighth month, including Emilie Kestner, born on August 17, 1993 (a Tuesday).  Lothar Fieg Sr. was born on August 11, 1886 and his mother, Emilie Boehler Fieg,  on August 23, 1857.  Also born in August were Florence Fieg Bookhout (born in 1917 on August 11, her father's birthday), Lothar "Bud" Fieg Jr. (August 22, 1919), Liz Bookhout Boggs (August 24, 1944), Marsha Whiteside Adams (August 25, 1950), Robert "Bob" Whiteside II (August 27, 1957, a Tuesday), Max Fieg (Ed Fieg's son) and Collette Corkery (sorry I don't have the birthdates of the young'uns).  Anyone else to add to our list?

Col. Edward L. Fieg Going 'Over the Wire'

Col. Edward L. Fieg arrived at a full parking lot his hospital at Travis Air Force Base on the morning of January 26 to begin a 17 hour day in which he saw 25 patients of the 86 who came into the emergency room.  At the conclusion of the day, the doctor's car was the last of among hundreds that had been there that morning and Ed left a message for his commanding officer that he had put the Taliban on speed-dial so he could "cross the wire."

Busy Stork Delivers Baby Boy to Adams Family

William Robert Adams on his birthday, Jan. 16, 2012

On January 16 around 3:30 a.m. the stork wrangled an 8 pound 1 ounce dogie named Billy Bob and left him in the care of his new parents, Urusula Arsenault and Robert "Bob" Adams Jr., who promptly renamed him William Robert Adams.

Young Master Adams is the great-grandson of Maxine Fieg and Dr. Robert Whiteside and grandson of Marsha Whiteside and William "Bill" Adams Sr., all of Iowa.

The newly expanded family lives in a condo ("which seems right downtown, to me ----big-time town for an adopted Iowan like me," says Great-grandma Maxine) at 1830 W. Huron, #2, Chicago, IL 60622 for those of you who would like to send your regards.

Grandmother Marsha reports, "Labor and delivery went smoothly, all is well.... He is pretty darn cute!" 

The double name is a common joke in the Whiteside family.  Aunt Maxine says, "All the guys in the family fool around with the "two name" names ----often by simply adding "Joe" for the fake middle name."  This birth prompted the baby's uncle, Kevin Still, to exclaim, "Ah, we have a Billy Bob in the family," and so the name will probably stick, for good or ill.

Baby BB's uncles Bob and Jeff Whiteside, sent their congratulations via e-mail.  Said Jeff, "Congrat-ulations to all. One more plate for the Thanksgiving dinner," and Bob said simply, "Welcome Billiam Bobbert!" 

Let us hope that, with all the nicknames the kid has, we will know who is being spoken about when his name comes up in the future!

On another note, Aunt Maxine reports that Marsha and Bill have moved back into the main level of their house in Dakota Dunes, IA.  The home was flooded last year forcing the couple to move in with her parents for a few months while repairs were made.  "Arrangements are being (made) to re-do the lower level----fortunately they were able to haul (man oh man is that heavy stuff) the carpet and carpet pad to our downstairs in hope it'll be usable," says Maxine. We all wish them a speedy return to normalcy.

Child Saved From Drowning (55 Years Ago)

Midge McClenon, who is a Shields relative (Lothar Fieg Sr. married Florence Shields, Midge's aunt), sent this in an e-mail last July.  It is lightly edited, but a fascinating read!

Someone (maybe Greg Fieg...) told me about the time he went swimming - intentionally or not - at a Shields Reunion in Corbett. He got into water over his head and couldn't swim. He said he had no idea who pulled him out - some man - and he went running to Grandma. The man who pulled him out was " young" Tom Hoppey, not to be confused with his father, also named Tom Hoppey, who is Irene Shields Hoppey's husband. "Young" Tom is their son. Irene is the daughter of David and Kate (Haas) Shields. David is Florence Shields Fieg's uncle - just in case you can't follow the lineage any better than I can. I have to have the genealogy in hand!


.... I thought it quite a coincidence that Michele (VanPelt) would bring it up in a conversation at the reunion last Sunday. I had intended to ask if anyone remembered that happening but it had slipped my mind until I heard her talking to Ken Shields about it. Oh, that Ken Shields is not Irene's brother! I'm beginning to wish there were a law against naming children after ancestors! If you have the opportunity, pass the information along to Greg. If it wasn't Greg maybe it was Steven - I've had several e-mails from him.

Maybe we should offer swimming lessons at the Fieg reunion in August!

Doris Holm Recalls Weather Phenomenon

Doris Fieg Holm, daughter of Max Fieg and granddaughter of Carl and Emilie Fieg who emigrated from Germany early in the twentieth century, sent this e-mail to your editor a while back.  What an exciting memory!  Perhaps someone can answer her question.

I remember sitting in Uncle Lothar's living room on the hill in Oneonta as a kid, perhaps about 8 years old.....There was a terrible thunderstorm going on outside.  Suddenly lightning hit the house, and I saw a ball of fire run across the top of one wall and down the corner into the ground again.  I can't remember anything else that happened, except that I was one scared and shaken kid.  It was loud and so fast that it was over in a split second  No one else was in the room with me, as I recall.

So many memories....is the house really vacant?  Who owns it now? 

Doris Fieg Holm

Kay Corkery Remembered as Woman of Quieting Influence

Catherine Y. "Kay" Corkery

Catherine Y. "Kay" Corkery, a career registered nurse whose serenity and composure proved invaluable to her staff, patients and their families during dire moments of strife and uncertainty, died Jan. 3 at the home of her daughter, Kerry, in Erie, Pa. She was 75.

Mrs. Corkery was the mother of Kevin Corkery, husband of Sarah Fieg Corkery.  They and their seven children returned by auto to West Oneonta this weekend from a 600-mile round trip to Western N.Y. for the funeral.

Having lost her husband Jerry Corkery less than a year ago, Mrs. Corkery had been recently diagnosed with cancer. Until earlier this year Kay and Jerry, who had been married for more than 45 years, had been living in retirement in Pittsburgh.  Kay not long ago visited Sarah and Kevin at their home in West Oneonta, with her illness entirely unforeseen.

Her loss came as a shock not only to her family but to her many colleagues and friends at Women's Christian Association hospital in Jamestown, where she retired nearly a dozen years ago.  There she was remembered as a woman of exceptional ability who often became the tranquil center of whirling tempests of worry and doubt that commonly abound among the ailing and infirm during the most challenging and difficult moments of their lives.

Dan Tyler, administrative nurse and a member of the WCA staff for 29 years, likened her to a benign parental authority among junior, less experienced staff.

"She was like a mother," Mr. Tyler said.  "...She was very caring and very special, with a soothing voice and calming influence.  She was one who would go the extra mile, with a great deal of pride and conscientiousness in her work."

A Jamestown native, Mrs. Corkery was a 1955 graduate of Jamestown High School and a 1958 graduate of Mercy School of Nursing in Buffalo.  She formerly was on the nursing staff at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo and at Rusk Institute of Spinal Rehabilitation in New York City.

At the WCA in Jamestown, Mr. Tyler explained Kay that often worked the 3-11 p.m .shift, a duty schedule often marked by the inescapable necessity of solemn decision-making involving choices of mortality.  Mastering the circumstances, she held the position of supervisor of nurses when she retired in 1999.

"She was well loved," Mr. Tyler said. "We were happy that we had her when she was here, and sad when she left."

After being given the last rites about 72 hours before her passing, Kay spent her final hours without discomfort or complaint, much as it was for her patients, with her help, over the years.

Maren, Colette, Grace, Karoline, Frances, Seamus and Sean Corkery, all of West Oneonta, are among 12 surviving grandchildren, in addition to Kevin's siblings, Kerry and Todd.

Bill Doyle's Research Uncovers Genuine 'War Horse'

 

Statue of Field Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim (1867-1951)
by Aimo Tukianen. Helsinki, Finland.   (Ed. note: The
horse is standing on all four feet which means that
the rider survived the battle. If one of the horse's front legs
is raised  it indicates its rider was injured in battle
and if the horse is rearing on its hind legs it means
the rider perished in battle.)

As Steven Spielberg's fictional, blockbuster motion picture 'War Horse' opens across the nation in an 11th-hour bid for an Oscar, it brings to mind the existence of a real war horse, a less known but prized, combat-tested stallion, Talisman, on whose back Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim of Finland rode into battle in numerous military engagements in the first half of the 20th century.

Bill Doyle, who, with Diana Fieg Monaco, was recently in Helsinki and viewed a statue of the late general atop the vaunted steed, is writing a book centering on the Finnish use of horses in guerrilla warfare against German and Russian invaders during World War II. Bill said that Mannerheim's life story includes a description of his horse in glowing terms, speaking of the animal as though he were human.

"In Finland, Marshall Mannerheim was George Washington, Santa Claus and Batman all rolled into one," Bill says. "He was way bigger than life." 

His horse, ironically, gets the credit for helping to launch Mannerheim's ascent through advanced field ranks during a succession of five wars.

Mannerheim, who died at the age of 96 in 1951, was the military leader of the White Guard in the Finnish Civil War, Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defense Forces during World War II, Marshal of Finland, Regent of Finland and president from 1944–1946 and is generally considered the father of his country.

His thoroughbred, Tallisman, may not be as well known as Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion or Tom Mix's Tony, or even the fictional Joey of  'War Horse,'  but evidence points to an equally remarkable, real-life animal, one that stood head and shoulders above the many horses Mannerheim rode during his lenghty and storied military career.

"Despite his high mettle (spiritedness), he was the quietest horse I have ever ridden under fire,"  Mannerheim wrote as he recalled their final ride as he, then just a major, led a reconnaisance in force.  During the maneuver, Mannerheim instantly knew something was seriously wrong when the horse shuddered with a "severe shock" but remained on his feet.

"The splendid animal had been hit by a bullet but he did his duty until the end," Mannerheim said.

Because he and the mortally wounded horse were able to complete their mission, Mannerheim was elevated to the rank of colonel, the earliest of many field promotions en route to becoming a general then a field marshal.

"This honor could not console me for the loss of wonderful friend Talisman. He was a wonderful horse," the ordinarily stoic Mannerheim said with a highly uncharacteristic expression of sentiment.

In the movie 'War Horse,' the horse Joey is pressed into service during World War I and is depicted as having not only bravery and character, but cognitive reasoning.  Many would scoff at the idea of a horse being intelligent and self-aware but testimonials abound about such animals.

The silent movie star William S. Hart, who, in 1899, played Messala in the stage production of Lew Wallace's "Ben Hur,"  actually drove a Roman chariot at a full gallop on stage in the production.  The wheels were mounted on a rotating track.  He later went on to star in Hollywood westerns with his horse, Fritz, who is credited with being the first motion picture wonder horse.

The little pinto's name appears in the credits of more than a half dozen westerns and his picture hangs in the arena and stable of Fieg cousin Annie Bookhout in Brooktondale, N.Y. near Ithaca.  Annie has raised horses since she was 12 and concedes she has loved more than a few; one wonders how many she thought of as smart.

Ken Maynard's horse Tarzan unties the ropes
binding his master in Wheels of Destiny, 1933.

Cowboy star Ken Maynard's horse Tarzan could even untie ropes, but were Tarzan and Fritz really as smart as depicted in Hollywood?

Consider this: Fritz did falls, jumped over fences, galloped through fire and into rivers and out of and into buildings, to name a few of his stunts.

In his autobiography, Hart recalls 'The Toll Gate,' a film in which he deliberately rode Fritz into a river and became caught in a deep and violently spinning eddy.

"Once the animal got into it, he could neither swim out nor climb out. There was no bottom for his hind legs to reach and he could only get his front hoofs on the ledge which was six feet under water,"  Hart recalled.

"Almighty God! How Fritz did try! He struggled. He screamed. He looked at me with the eyes of a human being. He actually climbed the arched side walls until he turned himself over backwards.

"Twice we went down in those cold, whirling depts and twice we fought our way to the surface again. I knew the next time would be the last. Fritz spoke to me—I know he did. I heard him, and I spoke to him. I said, 'God help us, Fritz.' ...And God did help us!

"...As we were going down for the last time the strong current we had been fighting carried us over the ledge back toward the way we came in, and as we sank we touched the bottom and regained our feet."

Fritz is buried on Hart's charming, 85-year-old California rancho, now a public monument and park maintained by the County of Los Angeles just north of the city on land featuring a herd of buffalo used in Walt Disney movies.  His gravemarker reads: “Bill Hart's Pinto Pony Fritz—Aged 31 Years—A Loyal Comrade."

Doubters aside, Mannerheim's and Hart's deep respect for their horses and recognition of their bravery, cunning, loyalty and devotion demonstrate that many humans know what it means to love and be loved by an animal.

Spielberg's movie is based on a children's novel "War Horse" by British author Michael Morpurgo, first published in London in 1982 and produced as a play in 2007.  The movie comes highly recommended by FFN.

Iowa Cousins Complete Move In Time for Christmas

It was a close call, but on Dec. 23 Matt and Emilie Fieg Harvey and family completed their move into a brand new home in Grimes, Iowa, just in time for the arrival of Santa Claus.

The home, a three-story affair in an upscale, family-oriented Des Moines suburb, is located just a mile from grandmother Karen White Fieg's house and abuts the elementary school that the eldest of the three children, Paige, 4, will attend next year.  The children will actually attend public schools where Emilie and Matt were first introduced and will be able to walk to school through the 12th grade.

Neighbors in the cul-de-sac told the Harveys that Paige and her siblings Hanna, 2, and Michael, a newborn, bring to 44 the number of children under age 10 who live on their short little street.

If Matt, better known to friends and family as Harv, is intimated by the many responsibilities that come with financing the property, he has yet to betray it. Harv is an information technology specialist for The Principal Financial Group, a financial planning and investment firm with $318.8 billion in assets worldwide.

"I feel great," Harv said. "I feel like I am living the American dream."

At the Harveys' new home, each child has his or her own bedroom and there is a large playroom on the third floor, prompting the children's grandfather, Air Force Col. Ed Fieg, who toured the home shortly before its completion, to marvel at how much more little Michael will have than did his mother when she was born.  At that time the Fiegs lived in a tiny, two-bedroom apartment over a garage -- a remodeled barn, actually -- in Durham, N.C.

In addition to the playroom and an as-yet unfinished 'man cave' in the large basement, the 2,700-square foot structure features a three-car garage, a huge living and dining room and adjoining kitchen with black granite counter tops and sink.  A fireplace dominates the living room but is designed for maximum efficiency as it is entirely electric.

This is the second Fieg family to move into a new home this year.  Kevin and Anne Whiteside Still recently took possession of their new home in Danville, Indiana.

Survey Monkey Celebrates Big Black Jack Win

Here is the last set of seven Survey Monkey questions from the recent Fiegfamily questionnaire.  Hope you did well!

1. Bresee's public rest rooms were memorable in Oneonta for: 

• A uniformed attendant who offered towels and fragrance to customers.
• Lounge chairs, a sofa, ashtrays and telephones.
• Toilet stalls with a slot that required payment of a nickel to enter.  If you don't remember the pay toilet in department stores and other buildings, envision little kids desperately crawling under the door before an accident happened.  Half of the respondents chose this answer, half the one above it.
• French style Bidets.  

2. Bresee's is often remembered for its popular "Health Bar," a typical 20th century lunch counter where diners could order not only a tasty and economical lunch, but catch up with the day's events as they chatted with one another across looping, U-shaped counters that criss-crossed the room. Long after they became anachronisms, virtually unique beverages from the turn of the century were still being offered as standard fare at the Health Bar. These delicious fizzy drinks, forerunners of modern soda pop, were known as: 

• Strawberry, lemon and chocolate phosphates.  Yum!  62.5% got it right.
• Sarsparilla.
• Mineral water.
• All of the above.  

3. The ingredients for a Bresee's strawberry egg cream included all but one of the following:

• Eggs, which any self-respecting New Yorker should know, though only 3 of 8 Fieg respondents did!
• Ice cream
• Strawberry syrup
• Seltzer  

4. When Frank Bresee opened his store in 1899, Coca Cola had been on the market for many years and contained this special invigorating ingredient, which was deleted from the recipe four years later:

• Cocaine.  Those people knew how to enjoy life!  Congrats to the 75% who were correct.
• Codeine
• Caffeine
• None of the above. 

5. The beginning of the end arrived for Bresee's with the establishment of Jamesway, a discount shopping center located east of town. When the shopping center opened, a Bresee's executive was caught in the aisles writing down the prices of merchandise. This interloper was asked by Jamesway to: 

• Submit a list of Bresee's prices in exchange.for the information he took.
• Leave the premises immediately.  Gee, what grouchy people at Jamesway....  Half of you knew this -- has it happened to you too?
• Apply for a job because the new store was shorthanded.
• None of the above.  

6. Anna Perry, an almost iconic Fieg neighborhood personage who lived until approximately age 90, arrived from Sherburne by electric trolly car shortly after the turn of the century, and, having graduated from Oneonta Normal School, became a school teacher. She joined the Bresee's sales staff after she retired from education at the age of 65. Because she never had a driver's license, she typically covered the near two-mile distance from North Sixth Street to the store:

• On horseback
• By taxi cab
• By bus
• On foot.  Now we complain of having to walk 75 paces into Wal-Mart from the parking lot!  Everyone knew this one. 

7. After divorcing him, Robert Bresee's ex-wife married local educator and Fieg acquaintance Jim Couden, who looked enough like a certain Hollywood matinee idol that he could be mistaken for him. In fact, Jim and this actor shared the same part in a Hollywood motion picture, Jim playing the part as a little boy and the actor finishing the role as an adult. The actor was:

• Robert Taylor
• Tyrone Power.  Who's he?  Half of you voted for Robert Taylor -- red herring!!
• George Montgomery
• Dale Robertson

Rose Bowl Brings Fieg Family Hero to Mind

As the No. 10-ranked Wisconsin Badgers, champions of the Big Ten Conference, and the No. 5-ranked Oregon Ducks, Pac-12 Conference champions, prepare to square off in the 98th Annual Rose Bowl Game on January 2, 2012 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA, the Rose Bowl heroics of Fieg cousin Bob Stiles once again come to mind.

Lee Majors

It was more than 40 years ago that Bob, step-grandson of the late Max Fieg and nephew of Doris Fieg Holm, was named the most valuable player in the 1966 tilt between the UCLA Bruins and the No. 1 ranked Michigan Wolverines in the 1967 Rose Bowl.  Bob's performance forever positioned him among the pantheon of Rose Bowl standouts,  though it is hard to imagine a more unlikely gridiron hero than the slightly-built extended Fieg family member, who looked not altogether unlike a boy playing among men.

Bob's performance was the talk of the town that year and led to his appearance four years later, playing the role of himself, in a 1970 episode of the Emmy-winning "Bracken's World" starring Lee Majors.

In the 56th Annual Rose Bowl, Bob is remembered as a key component of the diminutive California upstarts who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat before more than 100,000 New Year's Day football fans as Bob was credited with saving the game after he literally knocked himself unconscious to prevent a game-breaking score as the final seconds ticked off.

 A story in The Los Angeles Times written in 2000 said, "The game film shows (Bob) Apisa, a 212-pound (Michigan) sophomore fullback from Honolulu, running parallel to the line of scrimmage, fighting off defenders Dallas Grider and Jim Colletto, then getting tackled by a flying Stiles, a 5-foot-8, 175-pound junior, who slams into Apisa's upper body and brings him down."

According to Wikipedia, "Michigan State was a two touchdown favorite and the consensus No. 1-ranked team, but the undersized Bruins held their own through a scoreless first quarter.

"In the second quarter, UCLA recovered a muffed punt inside the Michigan State five-yard line; QB Gary Beban eventually took it in from one yard out to give the Bruins a surprising lead over the stunned Spartans. UCLA coach Tommy Prothro went into his bag of tricks and called for an onside kick. Kicker Kurt Zimmerman executed it perfecty and Dallas Grider fell on the ball.

"UCLA QB Gary Beban then threaded a pass between 3 Spartan defenders to Kurt Altenberg, who made a great catch that put UCLA on the one-yard line. Beban scored on a short run to make it 14-0. UCLA's small-scale defense continued to play well, but the larger Spartans were beginning to wear them down and began picking up bigger and bigger chunks of yardage on the ground. Midway through the 4th quarter, Michigan State finally broke through for a touchdown, but failed on the try for a two-point conversion and UCLA led 14-6.

"Michigan State got the ball back and began to march down field in the waning moments. With under a minute to play the Spartans scored again and, trailing 14-12, lined up for a two-point conversion attempt. They pitched out to their large Samoan fullback, Apisa, and as he turned the corner, it appeared he would fall into the end zone to tie the game. But UCLA defensive back Bob Stiles ran full speed and threw himself into Apisa, keeping Apisa out of the end zone and knocking himself out in the process."


Bob today is the proprietor of the Hana Sushi Restaurant on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles and in Ketchum, ID.

Seven Come Eleven - Survey Monkey is on a Roll

Here is the second set of seven Survey Monkey questions recently posted.  Were your guesses among the correct ones?  Take a look:

1. In the 1950s, Don Sherwood's future wife Dolly's dog "Spot" attacked and bit a little boy who encroached too near "Spot's" territory. This little boy turned out to be:

Jack Bresee
Will Bookhout was the unlucky young man.  All but one respondent got it correct.
John Steidel
Bob Roman

2. Though Bresee's Oneonta Department Store was virtually an institution in Oneonta, it eventually became a white elephant as shoppers took their business to large malls and super discount stores many miles from the downtown commercial district. How many years did Bresee's operate before the classic old time department store went the way of so many others like it in city after city across the nation?

25 years
40 years
60 years
100 years is a long time.  It was tied with 60 years, not such a long time.


3. Lothar Fieg was chairman of the city service board when he oversaw the development of and laid the cornerstone for the construction of Oneonta's water filtration plant on East Street. To this day, Lothar's name appears on a plaque in the building, along with other city notables who were involved at the project's inception, including the man for whom the building is named:
Don Sherwood
Albert Ferrone
Mayor Roger G. Hughes was the man, as over half of you knew.  What, are you from Oneonta or something?
Frank Bresee


4. Because of her regal bearing, culture and position in the community, this woman's hiring by Bresee's as a sales associate in the fashions department was a matter of pride not only for the Bresee brothers but for co-workers Marina Fieg and others of a more common station. This 1936 graduate of Hartwick College was:

Mrs. Albert Ferrone
Mrs. Robert Taylor
Mrs. Roger G. Hughes is correct, though every person received at least one vote.
Mrs. Don Sherwood


5. After the death of Mayor Roger G. Hughes, his wife Nella:

Left town for Florida and was never heard from again.
Became the first woman to be elected mayor.
Remarried and became the new Mrs. Don Sherwood after he divorced his first wife Dolly.
Retired in Oneonta, dying last year at age 95.  The vast majority knew this one -- what, are you from Oneonta or something?

6. Bresee's Oneonta Department Store made headlines when:

Zippy, a popular television chimpanzee, made an appearance there in 1955.
An second floor escalator was added in 1952.
The original 19th century red brick front was covered by an aluminum facade in 1959.
All of the above.   That was one hoppin' department store as over 71% of you knew.  I suspect that you are from Oneonta or something.


7. At the age of 4, Greg Fieg was riding down the escalator with his mother when the contraption malfunctioned and abruptly halted, nearly throwing him and a half dozen other riders down its sharp folding beltway steps. The lad was prevented from a serious fall when:

He and his mother Marina stepped off the bottom step just as the machinery failed.
He was hurled into the heavy black trusses of two nuns riding in front of him.
His mother's companion caught him by his little necktie.  This must have become family lore as it was the most popular answer.
He jumped over the railing to the "up" elevator.

Corkerys Welcome Twin Boys

There are two things in this world that you're never quite prepared for: TWINS!

Seamus Patrick Corkery and Sean Gerard Corkery were born to Sarah Fieg Corkery and her husband, Kevin, at the Bassett Hospital Birthing Center in Cooperstown, N.Y. on December 6.

This marks the first incidence of twins in Sarah's genetic line since her aunts, Colleen and Kathleen Powell, were born to Sarah's maternal grandmother in 1949.  (Colleen can prove they are twins because of a photo taken when she was two.  Ba-dum-bum....)

The boys are grandchildren numbers ten and eleven for proud grampa Greg Fieg.

Seamus, 7 lb. 10 oz. , 19 1/4", was born at 3:39 a.m. and is said to resembles the Corkerys and Sean, 7 lb. 12.9 oz., 18 1/2", was born at 3:45 a.m. and is said to resemble the Fiegs. They are fraternal twins.

These are the sixth and seventh infants born to the Corkerys following Maren, 13, Collette, 10, Grace, 7, Karoline, 4 and Frances, 2 all of whom were born in Cooperstown, home of baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame. 

It is a bit premature to tell, but the two new arrivals, being both healthy and of good size, project to be corner infielders rather than middle infielders and, it is assumed, their favorite fruit will be pears.



Seamus on the left, Sean on the right

The boys' middle names are those of  Irish saints.  (Their parents opted not to use the names Pete and Re-pete.)

Kevin and Sarah live in nearby Oneonta where Kevin is a financial adviser.  He will continue in this line of work even though his own sons will never get a loan.  (Insert rim shot here.)

Can You Take a Joke?

Twin boys were separated at birth.  One was adopted by a couple from Madrid and named Juan Antonio.  The other was adopted by a couple from Cairo and named Ahmal Abdul.

Years later the birth mother received an envelope from Spain with a photo of Juan, a happy, healthy little boy.  She told her husband, "I wish I had a picture of the other baby," and he replied, "Why?  If you've seen Juan you've seen Ahmal."

Survey Monkey Plays Black Jack, Gets Twenty-One, Seven at a Time!

The twenty-one question Fieg family survey created on Nov. 1 is now closed.  Here are the correct answers to the first seven questions, italicized, underlined and emboldened:

1. When Bob Roman launched his career in Oneonta as a dime store chain regional executive, he married Dorothy Fieg and they set up housekeeping in a little apartment on Pine Street rented to them by:

F.W. Woolworth
J.C. Penney
The Bresees of Bresee's Oneonta Dept. Store, correctly guessed by 60% of respondents
J.J. Newberry

2. Jack Bresee, the Fiegs' personable second ward city alderman, was proprietor of a popular Main Street mercantile establishment known as:

J.J. Newberry's
Bresees' Oneonta Department Store
The Golden Rooster - only 20% knew this one
F. W. Woolworth's

3. One Christmas, Oneonta department store proprietor Lynn Bresee offered a $300 bonus (a lot of money in those days) to one of his employees, Frank Fieg's wife, Marina, saying to her:

Don't spend it all in one place.
Don't spend it all on beer.
Don't run off to Las Vegas.
Don't tell Frank. Yep - again 60% of you were correct.

4. Frank Bresee opened Bresee's Oneonta Department Store in 1899 after a successful career as:

A ship-to-shore telegrapher aboard the transatlantic liner "Eturia."
Chief Chef at the Windsor Hotel in Oneonta.
An itinerant, tinware peddler who sold various household goods from a horsedrawn wagon. Quite the success story - and 4 out of 10 got it right.
Oneonta yardmaster for the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.

5. Of Frank Bresee's sons, Mister Phil, Mister Fred, Mister Wilmer, Mister Lynn, Mister Robert and Mister Jack, as they were called, one does not belong to the group of men who, over the entire span of the 20th century, developed their business into the finest department store for more than 50 miles in any direction. The ringer is:

Mister Fred (there was no such person)
Mister Robert (never returned from the Spanish American War)
Jack (never addressed as "Mister Jack" and no relation to the family.) A pat on the back to the 3 out of 10 who got it right -- you didn't just guess, did you, hmm?
Mister Wilmer (no one would give a boy such a rediculous name.)

6. When movie and television actor Robert Taylor came to Oneonta to promote a pilot for a new TV series based on Oneonta artist Don Sherwood's cartoon hero Dan Flagg, in which Taylor was to take the starring role, the reception was held at:

The Windsor Hotel
The Hotel Oneonta
The Stanton Opera House
Bresee's Oneonta Department Store - if you've been reading the blog, you'd know this, as did 60% of you!

7. Before she married, Dorothy Fieg was a legal secretary for Albert Ferrone, arguably the most influential man of his era as owner of a number of downtown Oneonta properties, and his partner John Steidel, whose office was just a few doors from Dorothy and Bob's apartment on Pine Street. The Ferrone and Steidel law firm is long gone, but the offices today are occupied by:

Jack Bresee
William R. Bookhout - once again, the blog yields the answer!  Congrats to 9 of you -- the one who guessed wrong was probably you-know-who....
Robert Taylor Productions
Don Sherwood

Sign Me Up!

(From a senior citizens' publication:)
Interesting Ads and Signs

• Semi-Annual after-Christmas Sale! 
• For Sale:  Diamonds $20; microscopes $15.
• For sale:  A quilted high chair that can be made into a table, potty chair, rocking horse, refrigerator, spring coat, size 8 and fur collar.  (Wow!)
• We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $1. 
• Our bikinis are exciting.  They're simply the tops!
• Save regularly in our bank.  You'll never reget it!
• Auto Repair Service.  Free pick-up and delivery.  Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again.
• Tired of cleaning yourself?  Let me do it!

On Anniversary of His Birth, Fieg Recalled by his Contemporaries

Former Oneonta Mayor Albert S. "Sam" Nader, the iconic leader who brought about the sweeping Broad Street urban renewal and the eight-story Nader Towers project, and established a minor league baseball franchise that introduced professional players Don Mattingly, Bernie Williams, John Elway, Amos Otis and others, has seen the great ones come and go -- both the famous and the not-so-famous.

The image of Lothar Fieg Sr. will never appear on a postage stamp or baseball card, but when Nader needed a job done and done right, Fieg was the man to whom he turned.

On the occasion of the 125th observance of Lothar Fieg's birth, the mayor and other Fieg contemporaries recently took a few moments to reminisce about the late builder of beautiful and enduring homes, describing him as a top professional in his field.



Mayor Albert S.
"Sam" Nader

"Lothar was a master craftsman," said Nader, 92, in a telephone interview from his home on River Street.  "He did a lot of things for me.  I remember one time he came to me with this old saw I had lying around and asked, 'What's this?'   He oiled it, cleaned it up, sharpened it and made it useful again."          

                                                                                                             

That was typical of the late contractor, who paid attention to details and was unafraid to demonstrate a little extra effort.



The late Mayor Roger G. Hughes, in whose administration Fieg served for seven years as chairman of the City Public Service Board, praised Fieg at the time of the builder's death in 1958 and ordered that the City Hall flag be lowered to half staff.  He noted that Fieg "was held in the highest esteem."



"Lothar was a man of sound judgment, a wise counselor, a solid citizen,"  Hughes said. "... He was recognized as an authority in the field of construction."



It has been said that few were the buildings in the downtown commercial district that did not have a Fieg  fingerprint on them at one time or another, as his company's repair and remodeling jobs were too numerous to count during the four decades he practiced his craft in Oneonta.

Retired Air Force Col. Clifford R. "Roger" Silliman, 92, perhaps the last survivor of the Fieg crew that built the Woodchuck Knoll mansion in Emmons in 1935, recalled that, though he was merely a teenager, he was given the chance to work alongside skilled carpenters and masons. Silliman was easily the youngest of the 20 to 30 men who would meet early in the morning at Fieg's shop at 3 Lewis Street to be handed assignments scattering them to various projects out, about and around the the city.



"He was so good to me, giving me jobs in his company,"  Silliman recalled during a telephone interview from his home near Vandenburg Air Force Base in Lompoc, Calif.  "I always felt that he gave me the benefit of working for him because of his loyalty to my family."



Ray Finkle, 90, went to work for Fieg in 1949 and, among many other assignments, helped erect the 160-foot Elmore Feed Mill silo, the tallest structure in Oneonta at the time.  Finkle also worked on the Duncan Briggs estate house.



"He knew how to handle a T-square,"  Finkle said.  "He knew just how to cut the right angle when you were fitting joists and pitched roofs and so forth.  He was very clever with it."

Finkle was being trained to take charge of the First National Bank of Hobart project when the 72-year-old Fieg died suddenly after coming home for lunch after a morning's work. Finkle was stunned.  

"It was a shock, all right," said Finkle, who had seen his share of carnage as a World War II veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in a supporting role.  "He had been working right along and had never been sick or anything and then, boom!



"I felt real bad because I had worked for him a long time.  He was a good friend.  He was such a good person that everybody liked him."

Besides Thornwood (the home of the president of Hartwick College), Woodchuck Knoll and the home of Briggs Lumber Co. president Duncan Briggs, Fieg erected the Wycoff Florist owner's home on 

Country Club Road, the Upstate Baptist Home for Children in Portlandville, the Russell home on Union Street, the Gardner home at Chestnut and West Streets, and the Main Street Baptist Church expansion, to name a few.  He and Mayor Hughes collaborated on planning, financing and construction of a new city water filtration plant on East Street which today bears Hughes' name.



Fieg, who was born on Aug. 11, 1886, also oversaw the complete dismantling, piece by piece, and reassembly of a 19th-century one-room schoolhouse, frontier blacksmith shop and country store, supervising their move from their original locations to the the grounds of the Farmer's Museum in Cooperstown.  At the museum he also built the original display for the world infamous 1869 Cardiff Giant hoax, in which charlatans claimed they had unearthed a ten-foot tall, petrified pre-historic man.



In addition to being chairman of the City Public Service Board, he was a leader on the steering and operations committee of the annual Oneonta Home Show, a member of the board of directors of the Oneonta Symphony Orchestra, twice president of the Lion's club and played tuba in the New York State National Guard Co. G marching band.  He was also a Mason.



As a Lion he devoted himself to providing aid to the vision-impaired, including the distribution of reading glasses to disadvantaged children.  "A benefactor of the blind, he did much for them in his quiet, unassuming way," Hughes remembered.  "His integrity and character will ever shine as a beacon to his fellow men."



Perhaps more important to Lothar, however, were his wife, the former Florence Shields, and their seven children, upon whom he doted.  Often he had a child or two in tow when he toured construction sites or traveled out of town.

Five-year-old grandson Greg Fieg saw the city of Utica through the windshield of "Grandpa's" Willys.  Roger Silliman as a boy made at least two trips with Lothar to the Albany-Schenectady area and Lothar's daughter, Maxine, rode with him to the Corbett and Stewart acid factory in southern Delaware County, where he had been named superintendent when he was only a teen himself.

Maxine recalled that he also took her aboard the Staten Island Ferry and, ignoring signs barring passengers from entering the wheelhouse, persuaded the captain to give them a tour of the helm and explain all its workings.  His curiosity was irrepressible, she said.

Lothar was a friend of the late Oneonta grocer Nicolas Rizzo Sr., with whom he formed a special bond as both were immigrants and were nearly the same age.  He and old Nick regularly chatted when Lothar stopped by the store.  One day he found Nick's boy, Joe, struggling (as usual) with his junior high mathematics homework.

"Let me see that,"  Lothar said to the boy, and took 30 or 40 minutes to work through the problems with Joe while teaching him how to solve them.

"I was real happy the next morning because I had my homework done," Joe, 70, recalled.  "I usually didn't."

Can You Take A Joke?

A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, with his wife by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're beautiful,' then fell asleep again.

His wife had never heard him say that before, so she stayed by his side. A few minutes later his eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're cute.' The wife was disappointed because instead of 'beautiful,' it was now 'cute.'

She asked, 'What happened to beautiful?'
The doctor replied, 'The drugs are wearing off.'

When and Where?

Here is a photo sent to me by my mumsey, Jean Davie Fieg.  It shows Bertha, Lothar and Emilie Fieg as children.  Millie looks to be about 5 which would mean the picture was taken in 1899 or 1900.  Could they be standing in their back yard in Yonkers during their first American winter?  What do you think?

Where Am I?

1.  ED FIEG SR. WON A STARTING POSITION in the secondary of the Oneonta High School Yellowjackets football team and later a starting position in the old semi-pro Empire State Football League after studying as a boy under the tutelage of:

A.  Coach Knute Rockne in Buffalo, NY

B.  Coach Vince Lombardi in Corning, NY
C.  Coach Jerry Sandusky in Derby, NY

D.  Coach Joe Paterno in Oneonta, NY

2.  WHILE IN OHIO, TO TRAVEL FROM UPPER SANDUSKY to Sandusky, one must travel approximately 57 miles in which direction?

A.  Northeast

B.  Southeast

C.  East Southeast

D.  West Northwest

3.  THE CITY OF SANDUSKY, OH is named after:

A.  Jerry Sandusky's great-great-great grandfather, a fur trader who was marooned on Lake Erie while trapping otter.

B.  The horizon just west of the city where the sun sets over huge white sand dunes during the winter months.

C.  There are various theories, though no one really knows why it has that name.

D.  Upper Sandusky

4.  THE ALL-TIME LOW TEMPERATURE in Sioux City, IA since records began being kept was -26  degrees F. in 1926.  Sioux City is on the approximate same global latitudinal position as:

A.  Icy Iceland

B.  Frigid Finland

C.  Gloomy Glasgow

D.  Sunny Naples

5.  SARAH FIEG CORKERY'S SISTER-IN-LAW lives a short drive from the city of North East Pennsylvania, which is located:

A.  Near CA, PA

B.  Near WY, PA

C.  In NE PA
D.  In NW PA


Here are the answers to the above questions -- did you have to use your GPS?

1. ED FIEG SR. WON A STARTING POSITION in the secondary of the Oneonta High School Yellowjackets football team and later a starting position in the old semi-pro Empire State Football League after studying as a boy under the tutelage of:

A. Coach Knute Rockne in Buffalo, NY

B.  Coach Vince Lombardi in Corning, NY

C. Coach Jerry Sandusky in Derby, NY

D. Coach Joe Paterno in Oneonta, NY

2. TO TRAVEL FROM UPPER SANDUSKY, OH to Sandusky, OH one must travel approximately 57 miles in which direction?

A. Northeast
B. Southeast
C. East Southeast
D. West Northwest


3. THE CITY OF SANDUSKY, OH is named after:

A. Jerry Sandusky's great-great-great grandfather, a fur trader who was marooned on Lake Erie while trapping otter.
B. The horizon just west of the city where the sun sets over huge white sand dunes during the winter months.
C. There are various theories, though no one really knows why it has that name.
D. Upper Sandusky


4. THE ALL-TIME LOW TEMPERATURE in Sioux City, IA since records began being kept was -26 degrees F. in 1926. Sioux City is on the approximate same global latitudinal position as:

A. Icy Iceland
B. Frigid Finland
C. Gloomy Glasgow
D. Sunny Naples


5. SARAH FIEG CORKERY'S SISTER-IN-LAW lives a short drive from the city of North East Pennsylvania, which is located:

A. Near CA, PA
B. Near WY, PA
C. In NE PA
D. In NW PA

Engineering Simplified

Thanks to Diana Monaco for the following flowchart.  Now you know everything you need to know to make stuff work:

Twins?

Look at these beauties!  Annie Mig Whiteside and her grandmother, Maxine Fieg Whiteside.

Thanks to Kathy Whiteside for sending the photo...

EXTRA! EXTRA! PURSE FINDS WAY HOME

She thought she'd never see her purse again but, in today's mail, Lisa Fieg got the shock of her life when she received a package containing her purse that recently went missing at the New York New Church.

There was no note enclosed so we must presume that the story we ran in the Fieg Family News led to the miraculous return of Lisa's belongings.

Can You Feature That? Word Paintings from October, 2011

Judy and Joe Kestner celebrating Judy's 60th birthday with dinner and a movie....  Diana Monaco attending her 40th high school reunion (Romy and Michelle were NOT there)....  Phyllis Fieg enjoying the gas-saving benefits of driving more slowly on her way to work....  Cade Dangca making sparks while cutting a piece of metal (the burn was not too severe and he was wearing a welder's helmet, Mom)....  Dave Boggs watching in amazement as grandson Richard Clancy paddles his homemade pumpkin boat in Otsego Lake....  Cindy Harris getting ready for a first ever online alpaca auction later this month....  Lisa Fieg packing for another trip to Philly....  Jean Davie Fieg monitoring a water leak under her kitchen sink, expecting to hear "screaming violins" at any moment....  Eleanor Fieg posting positive, upbeat messages on Facebook ....  Many surprised faces in the Northeast as snow covers the landscape....  John Boggs counting this week's earthquakes in his neighborhood in California....  Greg Fieg offering his condolences to television personality Alan Colmes over the loss of his 17-year-old beagle, Barney.... 

Can It Be Lisa Fieg Who is Mugged Every 3.4 Seconds?

In New York City a woman is robbed every 3.4 seconds and while it may seem that it is Lisa Fieg , we would like to clarify that it is not.

Yes, Lisa once again has had her purse stolen, this time from a church pew while she sat with her eyes closed, which makes the fourth time she has been mugged. 

It brings to mind the time that Kimiko Fieg was mugged in New York on a crowded subway platform and she chased down the assailant, grabbed him and refuse to let him go until help arrived (not recommended).

Kimiko obviously recovered her purse but Lisa was out all her hard-earned cash ($260), her credit cards, her driver's license and her peace of mind, not to mention the handsome leather designer purse.

The story, however, has a happy ending because her devoted neighbor, Louis DiIulio, with whome she was sitting at the time, presented her with a brand new purse, $300 in cash and his personal escort to the Department of Motor Vehicles where Lisa will have her driver's license restored.

Lisa said that Louis' gallant gesture lifted the "weight of the world" from her shoulders.

The Writer's Block

An autumnal ode from Steven Fieg (forwarded to me by Jean Fieg):

Steven`s Autumn
 
While sitting on the back deck

 Listening to the leaves

 Trying to decipher

 The stories the wind

 Was telling me

 Of places It had been,

                                                        And places to go.

Thanks, coz!

Oops! I Did It AGAIN!

Phyllis Fieg works in the Post Office department where mail is forwarded to new addresses.

I Stand Corrected

Phyllis Fieg has advised me that her Buick (see "Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Engines," Aug. 22, 2011) has over half a million miles on its frame, not one-quarter of a million (I wondered what all the hoopla was about!).

Phyllis, who is employed by the U.S. Postal Service, has been working six days a week lately, her only day off being Sunday.  October 1 is the first day of the government's fiscal year and once that day dawns the coffers of the Post Office are replenished and they can pay the overtime needed to catch up on the backlog caused in the previous months by the laying off of employees and the closing of various facilities.  Thus she is making the big bucks, but having to cram two days' chores into one.

On Sunday Phyllis washes and irons all her clothes, does her grocery shopping and fixes food for lunch for the week, cleans her bathroom and bedroom and even has a few minutes to chat with her sisters Judy and Diana when they make their regular weekly calls to the home on Knightwood Dr.

The department where Phyllis works is responsible for misdirected mail. PLEASE PRINT.

All in a Day's Work for Bozeman, MT Police on Oct. 17

* A man called to report that a bear had gotten into his garbage on Rouse Avenue.

* A group of men were throwing garbage at an upstairs apartment window on Main Street.  The men told police that individuals in the apartment were calling them names and threw garbage at them first, and they were throwing the garbage back. The individuals in the apartment denied it.

*A large black bear was seen in the driveway of a home on Fifth Avenue. The resident said the bear growled at him.


*An intoxicated man was warned for stumbling into the street and lying down in a traffic circle.

* Seven or eight pairs of women's underwear were found by police at noon in the bathroom at Peets Hill.

*  Several individuals were warned by police to climb down from the roof at a neighborhood bar on Main Street.

*  A woman armed with a mop called police after confronting a man who mistakenly tried to enter her home, thinking it was his.  She had watched the man try to enter a vehicle adcross the street, and when he could not, he came to her house and tried to get in.  Officers escorted him to his proper residence.

Atlas Shrugged: The Road to Nowhere

How often, while traveling, have you seen a highway sign that almost read like a sentence until you realized it was listing the names of upcoming towns?  Never?  Hmmm.  Well here are some exit signs we'd like to see.  The town names are real; their proximity to each other is surreal!

In South Carolina: 
NEXT 3 EXITS
IVA LATTA CLOVER

In Texas:
EXIT NOW
OATMEAL RAISIN
and
EXIT LEFT AND RIGHT
KENEDY NIXON

In Oklahoma:
ANTLERS GORE BEAVER
RIGHT LANE ONLY

In North Carolina:
EXIT ONLY
TOAST TRIANGLE
and
APEX HIGH POINT
10 MILES

In California:
EXIT NOW
WEED
HAPPY CAMP
HIGHLAND

In New York:
LIVERPOOL MUTTONTOWN RYE
EXIT CLOSED

And in North Dakota:
ROLLA CANNON BALL
THIS EXIT

Dan Doyle Promoted; Bill, Diana Depart for Finland

Capt. Daniel Doyle, son of Bill Doyle of Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., has been promoted to the rank of major, the Air Force recently announced.

Dan, 32, serves in the judge advocate corps in the Washington D.C. area where he he and his wife, Erica,  recently bought  a new home in the Virginia suburbs.  They will reside there with their daughter, Miriam Jane, 5, and nine-month-old son, Andrew William, who is named for his grandfather.

The family will soon be visited by Bill and Diana Fieg Monaco, who have been a couple for more than a decade. Diana and Bill, in observance of their anniversary, have just departed for a commemorative vacation in Helsinki to be followed by a stop in Estonia.  In Estonia, across the Baltic Sea from Finland, Bill will attend the Trialogos Festival, a Roman Catholic confab devoted to world issues of family and worship.

Bill, who works in heavy excavation, is contemplating retirement in Estonia, where he will continue research for a book on Finland's resistance to Soviet and German invaders during the World War II era.

Mounted on skis, Finnish troops moved with the speed of cavalry, frustrating the invaders at every turn. At some points they deployed in opposition to the Soviets and, after Hitler turned against the Reds, in alliance with them.

Of special interest is the training and deployment of thousands of draft horses which enabled Finnish guerrillas to out-maneuver heavily armored and mechanized German and Soviet units in mountainous and heavily forested terrain and in highly inclement weather.

Not only did the Finns wear white uniforms to help them blend in against the snowy background but even their horses were dressed in white (see photo above). 

Relatively little has been published in English about these events in comparison to other European engagements of the World War II era, making for plenty of fertile territory for Bill's research.