Saturday, June 18, 2022

Not Tarawa.

 So, Wednesday I ran a post that contained this picture.

Source

It contained the caption "Tarawa.  The US cleverly planned on invading at low tide (shown). Tide was so low the landing craft couldn't make it even to the beach.  The Marines had to wade almost a mile to shore.  The Japanese had machine gun emplacements all the way around the lagoon.  I knew a man that was in that invasion.  He wouldn't talk about it."

I made a mistake there.  It's all correct except the next to the last sentence.  I just found out the man I knew wasn't in the invasion of Tarawa.  Here, as Paul Harvey used to say is "The rest of the story".

When Mrs. J and I retired from the Air Force and moved to the 'Burg, we bought a wine store and sold Texas wines.  There weren't a lot of Texas wineries in the entire state, and 5 of them (Bell Mountain Vineyard, Sister Creek Vineyard, Grape Creek Vineyard, Becker Vineyard and Texas Hills Winery) were within 30 miles of us.  At the time, the large distributors didn't see much market for Texas Wines other than Messina Hof in Bryan/College Station and Llano Estacado in Lubbock.  Given that, I would regularly go and pick up wine from the above mentioned wineries to stock our store.  As such, I got to be good friends with the owners and staff of each.  

To be frank in all but Becker Vineyard, the owners WERE the staff or at least part of it.  It was a pretty symbiotic relationship that developed.  The distributors wouldn't stock their wine so it was hard for them to get traffic and be able to sell their wine.  It was hard for us to have unique Texas wine in stock to sell and we were on Main St in the 'Burg, so we got a LOT of traffic. So, win/win.

This went on for a year or so then, Mrs. J got a good Idea.  "Juvat, why don't we start a tour company and offer tours to the local wineries?"  Win/Win/Win. The wineries got more traffic, we made more money, the customers could taste/drink wine without concern for driving.  A good deal all round.

So, it's a Saturday morning and I'm picking up my tour group.  I've got my "uniform" on. A white polo shirt with a red& blue collar for color.  Pick them up at their quarters and give a short intro, my name, the wineries we're going to (all 5, but no word that that's all that are available, salesmanship doncha know) and the order we'll visit in.  There were 3 couples all in their mid 20's. Nice, enthusiastic and fun.  This is going to be easy.

First up will be Grape Creek vineyard.  Grape Creek at the time was owned by Ned and Nel Simes (pronounced Sims).  Great folks in their late '70's.  IMHO, they made one of the best Merlot's I have ever tasted.  Ned and I kinda hit it off as we had both been in the military.  Given his age at the time, I could surmise that he'd probably served in WWII. He was pretty circumspect, but he did say he'd been in the Marines.

However, I could tell that he didn't put up with a lot of BS.  Which I always respect.

So, we've arrived at Grape Creek and I'm giving my short spiel about the owner, types of wine and recommendations for tasting.  I mention that Grape Creek's Merlot was one of the finest I'd ever had and they should try it.

As you may suspect, I am on the cusp of learning a VERY important lesson.

So we enter the winery, there are no other customers, so Ned comes out and meets and greets.  He asks what wines they'd like to try.  Based on my recommendation they all said "Merlot".  Ned pours the six tastes + one for himself.  He's swirling and sniffing and discussing what he smells.  In other words, educating the guests on wine as well as doing a bit of salesmanship.  

Having completed that, he pushes the tasting glasses to the guests.  I'm standing next to one of the ladies as she swirls, sniffs and takes a big taste.

Then promptly spits it out, unfortunately and with uncommon accuracy, all over my once white shirt., while saying, in a loud Voice, "This is the WORST wine I have ever tasted in My LIFE.!"

My jaw drops.  I happen to glance at Ned and hope to never see a face like that again.  At that point, I knew exactly what a Marine in Combat in WWII looked like.  As to my guests, they recognized that their friend may have committed a bit of a Faux Pas. So we beat a hasty retreat to the Limo where I asked: "What the heck was that?"  I'm pretty sure, but not positive that was what I said.  It might have been a bit stronger.

The young lady said "That was my first taste of red wine.  I like sweet wines like Boone's Farm."

As I said, I learned a big lesson that I need to find out my guests preferences in wine before taking them to the wineries.  So, I took them home, refunded their money, changed out of my uniform and drove back out to the winery to make amends.  Ned had had time to cool off, as I came in and apologized and explained the situation.  He laughed, said OK and that he'd also add a bit of an interview to his spiel.  I later had an opportunity to talk to Nel, his wife.  I told her about the look.  She got very quiet and said that during the war, he'd been in on a few invasions, but had had a particularly hard time on an island she couldn't remember but that it started with a T.  The only one I could remember like that was Tarawa.  She said she thought that was it, but said it would be better if I didn't ask as he didn't like to talk about it.

So.  I thought it was Tarawa.  Ned passed away in 2004 and the Winery was sold in 2006.  I got to thinking about him as we passed the winery on our way to CStat earlier this week and decided I'd do a little googling.  Come to find out that the National Museum of the Pacific War, locally known as the Nimitz Museum, had interviewed Ned in 2002 about his experience in the Pacific.  The Transcript Entry Point is Here.  It's a little tricky to navigate, but in the top right is a download button.  Click that and the transcript will appear with arrows to switch pages.

I think the question marks contained therein were words that shouldn't be seen by children, but that was very much Ned.  

 

Source

And the T island?  Tinian, he was also in on the Saipan invasion and served time on Guadalcanal.  All three were very much the antithesis of a "Walk in the Park".  But reading that brought Ned back for a bit and gave me an inkling of what it was like.  

The Nimitz Museum is a National Treasure.  You should visit it if you get the chance.

Peace out Y'all!

P.S.  The wine industry is going gangbusters down here nowadays.  There are close to a hundred wineries within my old wine tour route.  There are also several dozen tour companies.  

43 comments:

  1. Thinking that describing that "lady" wine taster as such is a bit of a stretch considering how she reacted and what she revealed as what "wine" she liked?! And spitting wine out OVER someone?!! That's what a four-year old does. Mr. Simes was less than a year younger than my dad. Something to listen to that oral interview of his, very nice post juvat.

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    1. Thanks, Nylon. To her credit, she was very apologetic to all concerned. Even offered to buy me a new shirt. And I learned a HUGE lesson. All wine lovers are not alike or said otherwise "Someone likes every wine in my store: no one likes every wine in my store."
      Thanks

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  2. For the longest of times, Qualia Winery in Del Rio was the only winery in Texas.

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    1. 1chota,
      Thanks for the reminder. I remember that from Pilot Training in Del Rio. Is my memory intact that it was built so the Spanish would have communion wine available? Or am I thinking of something else?

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    2. Val Verde Winery 100 Qualia Dr opened in 1883

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  3. Before gifting our home-made wine, we have learned to ask, "What type of wine do you drink when you are spending your money to buy it?"

    With only slight exaggeration, we like wines that are so dry that a puff of wine dust leaves your lips when you exhale after a taste.

    As you said, a learning experience.

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    1. JiP,
      You're a wise man. All I can recommend as an additional precaution is don't stand within spitting range at that first sip.
      As to Dry Wines, I do also. However, I do enjoy Dry Whites or Rose's this time of year. Chilled is better when it's triple digits outside for some reason.
      Yes...Yes it was.

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    2. There's some sort of folk saying that says wisdom comes from experience, but experience comes from bad decisions or bad choices.

      We are working on a project to sew a privacy screen from shade cloth, and our belief, well, it was an assumption, that the edges were cut square by the seller resulted in seam ripping 24 feet of stitches, and doing the careful layout that we should have done before.
      Now we have wisdom about shade cloth!

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    3. JiP,
      Tru Dat!
      or put another way Divvy up assume putting a " outta " after the second s and and ampersand after the u.

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  4. There's even a Sicilian dessert winery over by Beaumont, Bruno and George in Sour Lake. Excellent Sicilian Raisin Wine. Texas has become quite the winemaking state. The only wines that are hard to grow in Texas happen to be my favorites, Moseller whites from Traben-Trarbach and Bernkastel-Kues. Well, and Zell also.

    Words fail in describing gratitude for that Marine's efforts in the Pacific.

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    1. Anon,
      As best I can figure, there is a slight climate difference between the Moselle river valley and Central Texas. But I've been reassured that climate change is coming next week and all will be well. That having been said, I like Moselle wines especially during the summer, when I can chill them. If you know what I mean.

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    2. Crusty Old TV Tech here (again). Funny thing was, I first sampled the fruit of the Bernkastel vineyards in January (hoo boy, it was cold!), but what an impression they made on a young 2Lt on TDY to the FRG for the first time. One of the local comm squadrons contracted with one of the weinguts to make a special vinting, AFCC Wine. It was pretty darn good too. But you're right, a good Bernkastler Spaetlaese on a hot SE Texas afternoon, well chilled, hits the spot.

      Climate change in SE Texas is called Winter! The other seasons are Early Summer, Summer, and Late Summer. Or, Hot and Wet, Hotter and Dry, and Less Hot and More Wet.

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  5. Crusty Old TV Tech previous post, forgot to add my moniker.

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    1. No worries, I do it sometimes myself

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  6. Some people's kids.... Well I guess Boone's Farm is more like wine than Mad Dog 2020. Rejecting a mouthful is usually reserved for blistering hot food. At least in my experience.

    The summer before my senior year in high school, I worked at the USDA / A&M experiment station farm in LBB. The guy that started Llano Estacado Winery worked there at the time. I remember talking to him once or twice. Seemed to be a younger man at the time, say late 20's or early 30's. IIRC.

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    1. STxAR,
      I remember hearing rumblings about Llano Estacado starting up when I was in Grad School there. I don't think they'd released any yet before I graduated pilot training and left the state on my big adventure. Tried it when we got back and was pleasantly surprised. Then got into the wine business and tried other local wines. Most were better.

      As to seeming to be younger, aren't all memories like that?

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  7. Thanks for the great story. Always wanted to visit Guadalcanal. Remember reading the stories of those battles as a kid. Probably one of the reasons I joined The Suck. Semper Fi.

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    1. Catfish,
      As a young first Lieutenant on my first operational assignment to Kunsan Korea, we went down to Clark AB PI. The wing had a requirement to provide a warm body for jungle survival school while there. Since most of the guys in the squadron had experienced that in various degrees during Vietnam, my pink butt was selected. Learned a lot that thankfully I never had to use again, but exploring jungles is officially NOT on my "To Do before croaking" list.
      As with all things, YMMV.
      Thanks

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  8. Betio (the island where the famous battle took place) might be the dark blob just below the clouds, on the left edge. Not quite sure. A lot of trauma for a couple specks of rock in the middle of a giant ocean.

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    1. A Bear,
      I must not have hit publish earlier. I tend to categorize the early invasions as "Work-Up". We didn't know what we didn't know about invasions. Fortunately, we tended to have more people return to educate replacements than the Japanese did. So we started getting better at it. Yes, some bloody, hellish invasions were still in front of us, but we had learned from our mistakes. The Japanese had a harder time doing that. Banzai charges on Okinawa come to mind.

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  9. Knocking Tarawa, Bloody Tarawa out of the chain of island bases was necessary. Possible launch site for long-range recon and bombing flights that could interdict the US to ANZAX shipping.

    Also, since the island wasn't part of the original mandate given to Japan as part of the transfer of territories from Germany after WWI, 'We' (planning) thought the defenses would be weaker than on the German territories owned by Japan. So it would be 'good training' for the rest of the Island Hopping campaigns.

    Mistake. Big mistake. Huge. Japan fortified their occupied and captured islands first, then their mandate islands, because they expected push-back on the occupied islands but not on the mandate islands, fully expecting that Britain and the US would sue for peace after the events of December 1941. Which was a mistake, big mistake, huge, on their (Japan's) part.

    Other mistakes we made were: Not understanding the tide charts for the area (no, really, tides played a big part in the whole almost-failure) and not enough pre-scouting of the islands and not enough pre-invasion bombardment and harassment. Post-Gilbert Islands there were lots and lots of meetings over how not to repeat those issues.

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    1. Agreed, Beans, As I mentioned above, I kinda categorize it as a work-up invasion., in that we were still learning how. Hard costly lessons but needed.

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  10. Classifying Boone's Farm as wine is a bit of a stretch. Though I did indeed consume rather a lot of that beverage as a callow youth. These days I prefer the Spätleses and Ausleses of the Moseltal.

    The fight for Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was horrid. Then again, most battles are, but the ones in the Pacific were even more so.

    Experimentation via shedding blood is sometimes unavoidable, if you don't know what you don't know. Dieppe springs to mind.

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    1. Sarge,
      As did I. Spat's I can handle, although they are right on the edge of the sweetness tolerance level. Aus's, a wee sip is about all I can handle. Just too much sugar. I'm also NOT a Chardonnay fan. Too overdone for too long. Sauv Blanc's, Dry Rieslings, Albariño and some of the dry white French Varietals as well as Dry Rose's are my go to's this time of year. That having been said, To each their own.

      Yeah, there was so much press on Tarawa (I know, Beans, T, BT) and not on Tinian that I assumed that was the Island. I was mistaken. Been there before (mistaken), undoubtedly will be there again.

      You're right Dieppe is another good example.

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  11. "Boone's Farm" is to wine as "Natural Light" is to beer: they are technically made with the same ingredients.

    I have long ago given up recommending almost any food or drink as I have found people's tastes differ greatly. At best, I will start with "Well, I liked..."

    Another plug for The Nimitz Museum. It is a treasure.

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    1. THBB,
      Your comparison is indeed apt. But one has to start somewhere. I only hope she learned something from the experience or at least manners.
      Yeah, my quarterly Nimitz visit currency is just about up. The did a big reno in it and I haven't been to see it yet. Could be something to keep me off the streets next week.
      Glad you talked me into it..

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    2. ...Somehow the beer commercial by Paul Hogen (Crocodile Dundee) comes to mind where wine tasters are at the other end of the bar sipping wine, swirling it in their mouths, then ritually spitting it out. He turns to the camera "Must be awful stuff"...

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    3. "Yeah, my quarterly Nimitz visit currency is just about up. The did a big reno in it and I haven't been to see it yet. Could be something to keep me off the streets next week.
      Glad you talked me into it.."

      Just another service we offer!

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  12. Cracks me up the female wine connoisseur preferred Boones farm. Each to their own! I really didn’t care much for red wine or dark beer until my 30s and now I have nothing else.

    As far as Tarawa my ex neighbor was a character. He was so full of stories I thought a lot of it was BS but which part?

    Said he enlisted in the Marines at 16 and went to Tarawa and then they recalled him for Korea and he was at the Chosin Reservoir.

    Then he invites me to a Chosin Reservoir reunion.

    Of course there was at least one army soldier there, but as my friend like to remind me it took a marine who finally took over to get them all out.

    As far as Tarawa I asked him how did you survive getting the shore, knowing the history and how the Navy refused to listen to that Australian coast watcher.

    Now there is a story in itself, Australians bravely stayed on Japanese inhabited islands to transmit information

    Anyway he said it was about 8 feet deep and he would jump down to the bottom walk along and then push himself up grab some air and go back down.

    I like to tell him that he was a fugitive from the law of averages

    That museum is some thing isn’t it? I spent about four hours there and could’ve easily spend a couple of days.

    They even have a Japanese midget submarine there

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  13. Yes, It is quite a place. Re: your friend, I would have provided all the "Adult Recreational Beverages" he desired to sit there and listen to them. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, it (or some part of it) has been under renovation for quite a while. Can't wait to revisit and see the changes.
    Thanks

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    1. I think he was the real deal because he said things that opposer couldn’t even think of. Such as went on patrol in the jungle and you had to defecate you just crapped in your pants because if you sat down a sniper might get you.

      Ugh!

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  14. The retired seabee that taught me how to run small boats on the lower Potomac when I was a kid was on third wave at Tarawa. Lots of others after that too.

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    1. The third wave wasn't 'that' bad, except for having to push around or run over all the bodies from the first two waves. Of course, 'wasn't 'that' bad' depends on the worst example of 'bad' that is in one's reference. So, well, yes, all landings sucked bad, just wave 1 and wave 2 were that much badder in comparison that wave 3 wasn't 'that' bad.

      Horrible. Having to climb over the bodies of washed up Marines in order to get over the sea wall that Planning didn't know about. Pretty much summed up all of the Pacific War fighting on one island.

      We were so unprepared. Guadalcanal was nothing like the beaches of Betio. We definitely learned, though.

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    2. Beans,
      Yeah, I'd have nightmares for years also. Ned would have good days and bad days. I didn't mind his bad ones.

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  15. When I first lived in Italy, I drank sweet reds. "boonatelli".
    After a couple years I couldn't stand the stuff.

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    1. Everyone starts sweet. Nobody ends sweet.

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  16. I concur- 5 thumbs up on that Nimitz Museum. Funny about that wine "connoisseur," although my wife and me were novices once too. "Friends don't let friends drink White Zin" I was once told.

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  17. Fuzz here, can you ship that Texas vino?

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    1. Depends on what state it goes to, and has to be shipped by the winery. Alcohol laws are screwy and receiving state's rules win over shipping state's rules
      Juvat

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    2. I need to figure something out.

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    3. Easiest way might be to go to the website of a Texas Winery or a winery in whatever state you're interested in and see if you can order it. It should be early in the process when you put your ship to address in. If the website squawks at that point....If not you should be good to go. In the TX Hill country, I'd recommend < a href="https://www.texashillsvineyard.com/">this one, this one or or this one. The first makes Italian Style wines, The second and third are more French Style. YMMV.

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    4. Rats, didn't close out that first link, but the address is there if you want to cut and paste.

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