January 2011

Gold! Now that’s a word that gets attention, especially when you have tons of the stuff. It certainly got mine 60-plus years ago when I was a young sailor on the heavy cruiser USS Louisville .

Scuttlebutt had it that we were homeward bound when we weighed anchor at Bahia (now Salvador), Brazil, on the day after Christmas, 1939. The crew was more than ready to get back to the U.S.A., but we were in for a surprise.

“Now hear this, now hear this.” Capt. H. J. Nelson’s voice boomed over the ship’s loudspeakers after we were well under way. He told us that we were not headed home at all. We were on our way to Simonstown, South Africa, to pick up $148 million in gold for delivery to the United States. My astonishment at the captain’s bombshell still remains sharp in my mind.

The $148 Million Cargo Before the Fall

In response to Richard Brookhiser’s article “France and Us” in your August/September 2003 issue, it’s worth adding that the Mortefontaine Treaty negotiated by John Adams with Bonaparte not only ended an undeclared naval war but also formally (but not finally) dissolved our Revolutionary alliance with France. Adams, like Washington, believed in the need for American neutrality regarding all things European, and he set a bold, independent course for America by dissolving our tie with France.

“Letter From the Editor” in the August/ September 2003 issue of American Heritage mentioned that many of the cars of the French Gratitude Train still survive. A splendid example may be found at Ohio’s major National Guard facility, Camp Perry, the site of the United States National Rifle and Pistol Matches. Each year thousands of competitors, young and old, see the car and learn its story.

After the diminutive car, a third the length of rolling stock in the United States, completed a tour of the state in 1950, it was stored in a Camp Perry warehouse. Ten years later it was placed on display, but by 1986 the harsh Lake Erie winters had taken their toll. Three local men refurbished the car while Port Clinton High School art students restored the 40 plaques that decorated it, each representing a province of France.

A prominently displayed plaque adorns Ohio’s car of the Gratitude Train, telling all who care to read it the origins and history of this gift from the people of our oldest yet most difficult ally.

The best news of the year for word buffs, amateur etymologists, professional linguists, and all who respond to the incredible richness of the American language is that J. E. Lighter has found a home for his Historical Dictionary of American Slang.

When Random House published the first two volumes of this dictionary, covering letters A through O, in 1994 and 1997, critics reached for such terms as definitive, absolutely outstanding , and landmark publication. Nevertheless, the publisher abandoned the project when it was only half-completed, leaving the author and his dictionary in publishing limbo—and his many fans aghast.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE SITES MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE:

• Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park: 937-225-7705, www.nps.gov/daav

• Aviation Trail: 937-425-0008 or 937-225-7705, www.aviationtrailinc.org

• Dunbar House: 937-224-7061, www.ohiohistory.org/places/dunbar

• Carillon Historical Park: 937-293-2841, www.carillonpark.org

• Huffman Prairie Flying Field: See Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park

• United States Air Force Museum: 937-255-3286, www.wpafb.af.mil/museum

• National Aviation Hall of Fame: 937-256-0944, www.nationalaviation.org

The U.S. Air Force Museum’s collection is not strictly military; it recounts the epic of flight starting well before the Wright brothers. It’s also not solely about the United States: There’s a British Spitfire, for example, that coexists peacefully with a German Me-262. Nor is it limited to operations within Earth’s atmosphere. Spacecraft on display include the Apollo 15 Command Module, which returned from its lunar landing in 1971. Still, as the name suggests, this museum’s focus is on American air power. Think of an aircraft that’s been in the U.S. arsenal, and there’s a good chance you’ll find it here. One of my favorites has long been an F-86H Sabre with skin panels removed so you can study its innards. B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were produced in vast numbers during World War II, but they’re rare now, and the museum has immaculate examples of each. As for the earlier Martin B-I, which represented a number of firsts, such as internal bomb storage and retractable landing gear, there’s only one left in the world, and it, too, is here.

THE GRATITUDE TRAIN GOING LIKE THIRTY STRENGTH AND COMPLEXITY