Beyond the Scenery

Park News

     September 2 marks the official end of World War II, corresponding with the day the surrender documents were signed with the nation of Japan 80 years ago. The National Park Service has a website listing several parks with some connection to that conflict, but let me highlight a few:

• Washington, DC’s National Mall has several spots: memorials to Dwight D. Eisenhower, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, all those who served (below), and Japanese American Patriotism
• If you want to know more about the 125,000+ plus Japanese and Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during WWII, go to this page. Several of these former sites are in the Park Service
• At Boston National Historical Park’s Charlestown Navy Yard, the WWII era destroyer USS Cassin Young has free tours throughout the year
• Those who fought the war right here in the U.S. are remembered at California’s Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park. That includes my mom and her parents, who worked at a munitions factory
• The Manhattan Project National Historical Park, relating to the development of the atomic bomb, has three locations: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico
• Further afield, in the Pacific Ocean, American Memorial Park in the Northern Marianas Islands pays tribute to the U.S. servicemen and native civilians who died in 1944 in the battles on Saipan, Tinian, and the Philippine Sea in 1944. Guam’s War in the Pacific National Historical Park commemorates those who served in that region.
  

More on What’s Happening in the Parks

• Another free day in the national parks! National Public Lands Day is always near the end of September, this year on Saturday, September 27
• Staffing shortages in our parks are a real problem
• This month’s review from the Subpar Parks calendar: “Not much to do” in Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Really? Not according to this list.

Books

This year I joined the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, a professional group for Christian authors and lecturers. A fellow member, DiAnn Mills brings out a new contemporary book this month with Tyndale, Canyon of Deceit.  

The publisher of my two Life Lessons from the National Parks books has released Designs for Nora by Karen H. Richardson on Kindle.

And my e-novella publisher, Pelican Publishing Group, is putting out a pair of new titles in September:

• Love in a Lifeboat (Karen Malley)
• Unchained Melody (Clare Revell)

Wars and more wars

         Sadly, wars are all over the news these days. World War I was called “the war to end all wars,” but as we well know, it wasn’t. Since then, we’ve been involved in several other conflicts, while fighting continues in other places around the globe.

         Luke 21 (as well as other biblical passages) talk about the real “war to end all wars,” that is, when Jesus returns to earth. The events leading up to that occurrence are frightening (false prophets, wars, earthquakes, betrayal by loved ones, and strange phenomena in nature, among other things).

People down through the ages have tried to predict when all of this will take place, or if we’re on the brink of it happening very soon. That’s a futile calculation, though, because Scripture tells us no one but God knows the hour or day (Matthew 24:36). For believers in Christ, though, while humanly distressed, perplexed and fearful when these occurrences transpire, are directed to “straighten up” and “look up,” because all will see Jesus descending from the sky in all His power and glory (v. 25-28). What a sight that will be!

         Since we don’t know when this will come about, Jesus concludes the chapter by cautioning all of us not to be weighed down by life’s worries and concerns, but be on the alert, prepared to stand before Jesus’s judgment (v. 34-36).

         Are you ready?

Park News

February is Black History Month, so let me mention two national park sites in the news recently.

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Alabama honors the “Red Tails,” African American military pilots trained on Army aircraft during World War II. Their nickname alluded to the planes’ distinctive stripe.

But first these Black men had to prove to the Army Air Corps (the forerunner of the US Air Force) they had the mental and physical abilities to fly and courage to fight in a war. Funny how Whites didn’t have to undergo this scrutiny…

The Airmen were not only pilots, but also served in support roles—radio operators, bombardiers, navigators, control tower operators, mechanics, plus those who served as cooks, quartermasters, etc. Women too—they worked alongside the males in many of those jobs, as well as in the office. Three female parachute riggers instructed cadets how to pack and maintain the parachutes.

Today at the park, you can tour two remaining hangars, full of information and artifacts to learn more about the “Tuskegee Experience,” view two videos, and see a full-sized replica of a red tail P-51 Mustang.

Best of all, it’s free!

So why has this been in the news? As you might know, President Trump wants to do away with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in the federal government. One new measure he implemented was a call for “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.” In response, the Air Force removed training courses featuring the Tuskegee Airmen, as well as the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASPs (women who ferried planes from factory to bases during WWII and served as test pilots, among other duties; the WASP group was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010).

A day later, newly sworn in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the public outcry about the decision, tweeting that decision was reversed. The Air Force said it had “revised” the material.

Then there’s the Doomsday Clock. This is a symbolic assessment of how close humanity is to extinction, due to  nuclear weapons, climate change, etc. This estimation is issued every year since 1947 by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and as of January 28, they’ve moved the “clock” one minute closer to midnight, or doomsday, from 90 seconds to 89.

And just how does this fit into the national parks? I’m glad you asked. The first prediction came from scientists from the Manhattan Project, the ones who built the atomic bombs dropped on Japan to end WWII. “They were worried the public wasn’t really aware of how close we were to the end of life as we knew it,” Rachel Bronson, Current president and CEO of the Bulletin, told USA Today. “It gave the sense that if we did nothing, it would tick on toward midnight, and we could experience the apocalypse.” Martyl Langsdorf, wife of one of Manhattan Project physicist Alexander Langsdorf Jr., came up with the idea of using a clock to represent the threat.

The Manhattan Project National Historical Park has three locations in the National Park Service:

• In what came to be known as The Secret City, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, served as the Project’s headquarters, and where uranium was enriched. The town’s Children’s Museum hosts the park’s Visitor Center, and there are several sites to explore on your own, but a bus tour takes you to primary spots

• The Hanford, Washington site offers free tours from March through October of its B Reactor, the world’s first full-scale plutonium production facility

• Los Alamos, New Mexico is where atomic weapons were designed and built. The Visitor Center is open to all, and the city itself has related museums, but the actual locale can only be seen through a behind-the-fence tour, scheduled twice a year. You also must enter a lottery to participate

All these tours are run by the US Department of Energy, meaning security is strict, proof of citizenship and/or photo I.D. is required, and personal items such as phones, cameras, and recording devises are sometimes prohibited.

More Black History

I’ve written a few articles about other Black History sites, both in the Park Service and elsewhere:

• Buffalo Soldiers

• Zora Neale Hurston

• Black Cowboys

Doomsday?

Not for the believer in Jesus, now and when He comes again. Everything written in Scripture points to this one truth: He brings peace while we live, even in the midst of trouble or distress, because He has overcome, and gives us the ability to overcome as well (John 16:33; Romans 12:21; 1 John 2:13-14, 4:4, 5:4-5; Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26, 3:5, 12).

No, Great Day!

“[T]here will be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations…[People’s] hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth…And then they will see the Son of Man [Jesus] coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draws near (Luke 21:25-28).