May 2004
Monthly Newsletter of the Miami Chapter, FLSSAR
President’s Remarks
Volume 2004, Issue 5
Concord Hymn
By Saul M. Montes-Bradley
By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Compatriots,
Many of you may have been following William
Safire’s column “On Language” on the Sunday magazine of the New York Times, and will probably know
the NPB.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood.
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.
Well, without comparing myself to the Washington
pundit, I am glad to report that we now have a brigade
of our own. A compatriot who seems to be the only
one reading this newsletter was kind enough to, after
duly praising our efforts, make me notice that I mistook one American bard for another by attributing
Emerson’s lines to Longfellow.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, are sons are gone.
Not one to take likely the utterances of my removed
cousins, I went back to my April message only to find,
with dismay, that what in my poor penmanship was
supposed to pass for a poetic reference to the Lexington Alarm turned out to be the misquote of the year.
Had it read “...anniversary of the Lexington Alarm
immortalized by Longfellow,” I would not be writing
this today. But in trying to add poetry to the phrase, I
wrote: “...anniversary of that “shot heard round the
world” immortalized by Longfellow”. As the new
commander of the NPB was soon to point out, it was
Emerson, not Longfellow, who immortalized the “shot
heard round the world.” Longfellow’s visit upon the
subject of the Alarm gave us the Ride of Paul Revere.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
By way of atonement for the misstep, here are the
poems whose author’s I inadvertently offended, with
my thanks to the compatriot who so kindly pointed the
error to me. As I have made him the honorary commander of the NPB, his name shall remain anonymous
unless he accepts the position and authorizes me to
release that information.
Finally, I will be traveling at the end of the month, and
I hope you will give David Mitchell and David Miller
all of your support at the Color Guard events for Memorial Day. Let’s have another good show!
Concord Bridge, Concord, Massachusetts
1
The American
Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors, 05 May 2004
The Bronze Good Citizenship Medals with certificate, previously approved for each of the five (5) Chapter Fife and
Drum members will be awarded in May.
The Miami Chapter, SAR, Board of Director’s Meeting
was held on the 5th day of May 2004 at 7:30 PM in the
Law Office Conference Room of Past President John
Thomson, 370 Minorca Avenue, Coral Gables, Florida.
President Montes-Bradley stated the Liberty Tree Program
was on track, with 19 April 2005 as the goal for the ceremony.
Members Present:
Saul Montes-Bradley, President
David Mitchell, 1st Vice President
Richard Friberg, Treasurer
David C. Miller, Secretary/Registrar
Al Myers, Genealogist
Ken Harrison, Historian
The Miami Chapter SAR Color Guard will participate in
two (2) Memorial Day Celebrations on May 31, 2004 as
follows:
North Miami Beach Memorial Day Parade at the All War
Memorial, N.E 165th Street and 16th Avenue, N.E. Color
Guard members who will participate should report to the
Memorial at 8:30 AM.
John McDonald DAR Chapter Memorial Services at the
Circle on Curtis Parkway in Miami Springs. Services begin
promptly at 9:30 AM; therefore, all Color Guard Members
should report by 9:10 AM.
President Montes-Bradley called the meeting to order and
led the Pledge of allegiance to the Flag of the United
States of America, followed by the invocation by Compatriot Al Myers.
President Montes-Bradley informed the Board of the following from the Florida Society Sons of American Revolution Annual BOM meeting held in Clearwater, Florida
April 30 – May 1, 2004:
The Miami Chapter, SAR placed 3rd in the State Chapter
Challenge Awards.
The Miami Chapter, SAR Newsletter “the American” was
considered to have been the most improved newsletter in
the State. Discussion ensued on possible means to improve the Chapter Newsletter with the goal of becoming
#1 in the State.
The 2004/5 Editor of the Florida Society Sons of American Revolution Magazine “The Patriot” would be himself,
Saul Montes-Bradley.
The next Chapter Monthly Membership Luncheon will be
held Friday, May 28, 2004, 11:45 AM, at the Steak and Ale
Restaurant, SW 97th Avenue and Kendall Drive.
The next Chapter SAR Board Meeting will be held 2 June
2004 at7:30 PM in the Law Office Conference Room of
Past President John Thomson, 370 Minorca Avenue, Coral
Gables, Florida.
Compatriot Al Myers moved the meeting be adjourned.
Motion seconded and carried followed by the recessional
by Compatriot Al Myers.
Compatriot Miller announced the following, having been
approved by National, are new Chapter Members:
Respectfully submitted, David C. Miller, Jr., Secretary
Gerry W. Bass, National # 162660
Douglas H. Bridges, National #161934 & State #8435
Donald W. Pelton III, National # 162662
Glenn A. Symonds, National # 162582 & State #8491
Officers 2004-2005
President Saul M. Montes-Bradley [email protected]
One Turnberry Plaza, Suite 500 Aventura, FL 33180 305-933-6348
1st Vice-President David B. Mitchell [email protected]
2655 LeJeune Rd., # 1001 Coral Gables, FL 33134 305-461-5015
Compatriot Ken Harrison moved the minutes of April 7,
2004 Board of Director’s Meeting be approved. Motion
seconded and carried.
Treasurer Friberg presented the Treasurer’s Report for the
period April 1 thru April 30, 2004.
Compatriot Miller moved the Treasurer’s Report be approved as presented. Motion seconded and carried.
All members are eligible to purchase the George Washington Bicentennial Medal. The miniature medal is
$20.00 and the large medal is $30.00, or you can purchase
the set for $45.00. The Online Catalog address is
http://SARmerchandise.safeshopper.com.
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Secretary/Registrar
David C. Miller
351 Deer Run
Miami Springs, FL 33166
305-888-8065
[email protected]
Genealogist
Dr. Albert E. Myers
13901 Old Cutler Road
Miami, FL 33158
305-235-1525
[email protected]
Treasurer
Richard E. Friberg
7655 SW 83rd Court
South Miami, FL 33143
305-271-9336
[email protected]
Chaplain
Robert C. Sovacool
18004 SW 89th Place
Miami, FL 33157
305-235-7277
[email protected]
Historian
Kenneth E. Harrison
5921 SW 10th Street
West Miami, FL 33144
305-266-0397
[email protected]
Immediate Past President
Dr. Robert E. Liebler
6510 SW 93rd Ave.
Miami, FL 33173
305-271-9251
[email protected]
The American
Paul Revere’s Ride
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore.
He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church,
By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startled the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him made
Masses and moving shapes of shade,-By the trembling ladder, steep and tall,
To the highest window in the wall,
Where he paused to listen and look down
A moment on the roofs of the town
And the moonlight flowing over all.
Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar
Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
Just as the moon rose over the bay,
Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
The Somerset, British man-of-war;
A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar,
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide.
Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead,
In their night encampment on the hill,
Wrapped in silence so deep and still
That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread,
The watchful night-wind, as it went
Creeping along from tent to tent,
And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"
A moment only he feels the spell
Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread
Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street
Wanders and watches, with eager ears,
(Continued on page 5)
William Prescott
Paul Revere, William Dawes and
Dr. Samuel Prescott were actually
stopped by a patrol of regulars as
they made their way to Concord.
Paul Revere was captured and
William Dawes fled back to Lexington, leaving Dr. Prescott, the
only one familiar with the area to
make his escape and alert the
countryside around Concord.
This picture is taken from an
original at the Minuteman National Historic Park, and it portrays Dr. Samuel Prescott in his
run on 19 April 19775
3
The American
Of Trying Times, Week-end Warriors and Betrayal
By Saul Montes-Bradley
“These are the times that try men's souls.” Wrote Thomas
Paine in “the American Crisis,” in 1776. “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from
the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious
the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too
lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as
Freedom should not be highly rated.”
Gone were the big houses, maids and private schools that
power brought and, with them, gone was the marriage of the
Mejias’. Mrs. Castillo then, following the dictates of a clean
conscience, left her husband and brought her brood to the
land she had so “admired” in her Sandinista days. The family settled in a small apartment in Hialeah.
Deprived of the trappings of power, Camilo got a job at a
Burger King and, eventually, signed-up for the Army with
his mother’s blessings. According to both Camilo and his
mother in recent press reports, he did so “because of the
college grants” and had “no idea that he would have to actually fight.” Imagine that! This damn Yankees! They actually
expect their soldiers to fight!
For eight years, Camilo received a salary from the Army at
Fort Hood and, since 1998, from the Florida National
Guard. A salary, money for college and medical insurance
beyond the reach of many whose tax dollars contributed to
his well being. He received this, on the explicit obligation
that, when the time came, he would fight on behalf of his
adoptive nation. Nowhere was it stipulated that he could
decide what constituted a good fight and what not. And nowhere did he object to his training or duty until he was sent
to combat duty.
As is so frequently the case with Paine’s writings, the preceding paragraph has the ring of prophesy to it. Not that one
would claim any intervention of the supernatural, on the
contrary. But when the passing of time seems not to affect
or in any way diminish the truth or relevancy of a statement, we may be the witnesses of those rare examples of
insight that hint at a universal value.
What Paine described in 1776 has not lost relevance nor
force with the passing of the decades.
Take the case of Camilo Mejia, our very contemporary deserter. Most people know very little about him beyond his
name and yet, there seems to be a story waiting to be told.
He then concocted a story about his need to attend certain
business to “comply with his residence requirements” (requirements that are waived while his is on military duty), and when he was supposed to report back to duty,
went AWOL, giving us our first deserter in the Iraq war.
After a few days, and with nowhere to hide, he reappeared
in his mother’s arms and while resorting to her old arts in
feeble attempts to discredit his comrades in arms based on
news reports of events that occurred while he was in Florida,
proceeded to declare himself a conscientious objector. Quite
a feat, for this amoral and opportunistic parasite to claim a
conscience.
Sgt. Mejia’s full name is Camilo Ernesto Mejia Castillo, the
son of Carlos Mejia-Godoy and Maritza Castillo. He was
named after Camilo Cienfuegos and Ernesto “Che”
Guevara, two iconic heroes of the Cuban Revolution, by
parents who were, at the time, heavily involved in a revolution of their own.
Carlos Mejia Godoy was the bard of the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. Author of such epic songs as “Nicaragua,
Nicaragüita” (Nicaragua, Little Nicaragua), a love poem to
a country that “now [with no gringos] I love so much
more,” or instructional songs for new guerrilla recruits
(“Qué es el FAL” - What is the FAL) or, his greatest claim
to fame, the anthem of the Sandinista Movement, including
lines of profound intellectual meaning and rhetorical beauty
of the likes of: “We fight against the Yankee, the enemy of
Humankind.”
Mr. Mejia-Godoy went on to become the Sandinista Government’s Minister of Culture and to, eventually, join them
on the road to the dust heap of history.
Mrs. Castillo, Camilo’s mother, was in the 80’s an intelligence operative for the Sandinista Government, notorious
for her hand in campaigns to slander opponents of the regime.
After the Sandinistas were forced out of power, the lyrics
from the pen of Mr. Mejia-Godoy lost the appeal of yore,
and Mrs. Castillo found the meaning of unemployment.
Those who know me or have read me in the past will find
that last statement uncharacteristically harsh. But how else
can we qualify a fellow who, in spite of origins that called
for caution and a family history of hatred for and struggle
against this country and the very freedoms for which it
stands, was received with open arms and offered a second
chance he only utilized to mislead, his community and our
armed Forces, that he may enjoy benefits in exchange for
services he never meant to perform.
And that brings me back to Paine: “...the summer soldier...
will...shrink from the service of their country.” Indeed. And
as those who stand now, wherever born, will be deserving of
the love of man and woman, let us heap upon Mr. Mejia the
opprobrium he so richly deserves. If he manages to wriggle
out of this one, will be doing a great disservice to so many
who have sacrificed so much for the principles he so clearly
rejects.
4
The American
The fate of a nation was riding that night;
And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
He has left the village and mounted the steep,
And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
And under the alders that skirt its edge,
Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.
(Continued from page 3)
Of the lonely belfry and the dead;
For suddenly all his thoughts are bent
On a shadowy something far away,
Where the river widens to meet the bay,-A line of black that bends and floats
On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.
Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
Now he patted his horse's side,
Now he gazed at the landscape far and near,
Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
And turned and tightened his saddle girth;
But mostly he watched with eager search
The belfry tower of the Old North Church,
As it rose above the graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.
It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
He heard the crowing of the cock,
And the barking of the farmer's dog,
And felt the damp of the river fog,
That rises after the sun goes down.
It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.
He saw the gilded weathercock
Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
And the meeting-house windows, black and bare,
Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
As if they already stood aghast
At the bloody work they would look upon.
It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
He heard the bleating of the flock,
And the twitter of birds among the trees,
And felt the breath of the morning breeze
Blowing over the meadow brown.
A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet;
That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the
light,
(Continued on page 6)
Paul Revere’s Ride, 18 April 1775
From the Collection of the Paul Revere Memorial Association
5
The American
Miami Chapter, Florida Society
Sons of the American Revolution
351 Deer Run
Miami Springs, FL 33166
Welcome new members!
Gerry W. Bass
Douglas H. Bridges
Donald W. Pelton, III
Glenn A. Symonds
Are YOU coming to
SAR meetings?
Visit our website: WWW. SAR-Miami.org
The American
(Continued from page 5)
And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket ball.
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled,--How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo for evermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.-
Calendar
11:45
28 May
AM-Luncheon at the Steak & Ale on 9090 S.W.
97th Avenue. “Genealogical Writing, Style Guidelines and Practical Advice,” A video presentation by Henry B. Hoff, courtesy of
the New England Historic Genealogical Society. R.S.V.P. 305-2719336 (Dick Friberg)
31 May
8:30 AM - Memorial Day Parade—North Miami
Beach, please contact David Mitchell
9:10 AM - Memorial Day Parade—Miami Springs,
please contact David Miller .
03 June
7:30 PM - Board Meeting at Law Offices of Comp.
Jack Thompson, 370 Minorca Avenue, Coral Gables,
Florida
25 June
11:45 AM-Luncheon at the Steak & Ale on 9090 S.W.
97th Avenue. Speaker to be announced. R.S.V.P. 305-271-9336
6