Ho Chi Minh AKA "Uncle Ho"

Hồ Chí Minh (born Nguyễn Sinh Cung; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as Bác Hồ ('Uncle Hồ'), also known as Hồ Chủ tịch ('President Hồ'), Người cha già của dân tộc ('Father of the people') and by other aliases  was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1945 to 1955 and as President from 1945 until his death in 1969. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist, he served as Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers' Party of Vietnam.

Hồ Chí Minh was born in Nghệ An province, in Central Vietnam. He led the Việt Minh independence movement from 1941 onward. Initially, it was an umbrella group for all parties fighting for Vietnam's independence, but the Communist Party gained majority support after 1945. Hồ Chí Minh led the Communist-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945, defeating the French Union in 1954 at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, ending the First Indochina War, and resulting in the division of Vietnam, with the Communists in control of North Vietnam. He was a key figure in the People's Army of Vietnam and the Việt Cộng during the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975. Ho officially stepped down from power in 1965 due to health problems and died in 1969. North Vietnam was ultimately victorious against South Vietnam and its allies, and Vietnam was officially unified in 1976. Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.

Familiar trees in Costa Rica

 Familiar trees in Costa Rica

Gliders and Mules WW2

 The American mule; the least understood and most underrated of the equines. As a personal choice, I would take the dumbest mule over the smartest horse anytime. Mules are made for the long haul, they can go days without water, live on practically any type of food - including people food , and are 10 times smarter than a horse. in WW2 thousands of mules were deployed to the pacific theatre of war via ships then Gliders or planes. Most went by glider. I dont know how the Mules were restrained in the gliders but it had to be tight so they didnt move much, and perhaps they were given a sedative. I would not want to be the Glider Pilot though, Mules, especially packed with loads constantly shift their weight and would - I assume - mess with the pilots trim characteristics in flight. Shoot fire! I hated pulling a trailer full of mules into the mountains back in the day, just because of the way their weight shifted. Those Glider pilots had balls of steel.

https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/army-mules-the-beast.../

The Filipino paliunt AKA the "Richardson" slam fire shotgun

The Filipino paliunt slam fire shot gun. Use for Hunting and in war. Gun powder was made from the coarse powder taken from japanese mines, mixed with sulpher, salt peter and antimony. The making of the powder was laborious process , but it worked. Sometimes, you have to roll with what you got. Shotgun cartridges were either brass or waxed cardboard back in the day. They could be reloaded several times though the brass tended to wear out faster than the waxed cardboard. Also known as The "Richardson" slam fire shotgun AKA guerilla (not gorilla - HUGE difference). I'm not sure why Richardson got the credit for this gun, Im certain he didnt invent it. Im sure It is because after he returned home from the war he decided to capitalize on the design and sell it commercially. They had a short run in the USA and came in 3 models. To me these are a classic example of Filipino ingenuity. Called in the Philippines a paliuntod or paltik guns. Anyhoo, if interested you can do further research on this gun. By reading the book "American guerilla in the Philippines" Or, you can watch the movie starring Tyrone Power by the same title. Or lastly, you can watch this vid on YT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUjDumvMK6I

Dick Summers making fire in A.B. Guthrie's book "Fair land, Fair Land"

"Summers spread grease on the rag, sprinkled powder from his horn on the grease and worked it in.

Higgins came back with an arm load of fire branches. Summers took one of them, got out his knife (Green River knife) and began cutting shavings, thin as ribbons. Nothing but a razor sharp blade could do that, and Mack wondered how the man kept his knife in such shape.

Summers put the shavings over the rag, added some fine twigs, poured a bit of gun powder under one end of the rag, and withdrew flint and steel from his possible sack. He rubbed the powder from his hands on his pants leg and then struck a spark. The bit of powder went up in a puff but still ignited the rag. As the fire spread sputtering along it, lighting the shavings, Higgins said "by god, a slow fuse". Higgins built up the fire and began heating frying pans...."

SARAWAK Old man on Youtube

I dig this old mans videos about Jungle knives and life in the jungle.. Check out his youtube channel for interesting videos on unique subjects. The link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZRP_i5O754 

A fish tale from Patagonia

So there I was in Chilean Patagonia,  camping out and just basically killing time.  My grub was running low so I decided to try my hand at a little primitive tenkara fishing. Turns out I didn't have any fishing gear. Only a Gill net. Anyhow, I dug through my plunder and ended up making a hook from a safety pin and I used some artificial sinew as a line. 

Being a bit of an ichthyologist I know a thing or 2 about trout. I have fished for them in Maine, Montana , Mongolia and all over the world actually.  I  began turning over rocks looking for bugs etc. To use as bait. I hooked a few bugs on my pin hook and chucked it in the river. No luck.

I thought about different bait alternatives and remembered that my father used dough balls dipped in bacon grease, and in Thailand the locals use dough balls with shrimp powder in the mix.

So, I dug through my garbage bag and pulled out some mouldy bread and my tuna cans. I  dipped the bread in water then kneaded it into several dough balls. Next I swabbed out the tuna cans with the dough. There were also several bugs in the cans so I just smashed them into the mix.

Finally ready I baited up my homemade hook and dropped it in an eddy behind a boulder. .....the about 5 seconds later;  Wham! I had a strike. I managed to land him before he could wriggle off my barb less hook. I had a few other hits but didn't land another. It's ok,I was grateful for the one I had. I cooked it up in a soup with some Ramen. Twernt bad ,and a fitting meal for a Patagonia Wilderness adventure. 

The gear of the "Mad Trapper"

 

 A few years back I was lucky to receive a link from a friend at Discovery channel Canada. It was for a show about the autopsy of “The Mad Trapper”. It was an excellent show but a little inaccurate as to the equipment Johnson carried on his run from the law. The documentary showed TMT with a small partially loaded ruck sack instead of a Trapper Nelson frame pack and he was carrying a rifle saddle scabbard tied to his pack. A saddle scabbard for your rifle would be a very impractical item due to its weight, bulk, and once frozen in the extreme temperatures of the arctic it would be like sheet iron thus making getting your rifle into play nearly impossible.

Also, the documentary showed the character playing Johnson wearing cotton military style clothing – another inaccuracy. Its just me, I have not watched TV in years but when I do I expect things to be portrayed accurately. I find that TV types are extremely vexing and annoying in the liberties they take. Portraying anything with inaccuracies only detracts from the true story and tends to cloud any issues involved in the story. I digress.....

Recently, I was staying with a friend in New Hampshire and happened to find the book “The Mad Trapper of rat River” -  by Dick North. Appendix “A” - Exhibit “C” lists all of the equipment Albert Johnson AKA “The Mad Trapper” had in his possession at the time he was killed by the RCMP.

Pretty cool to me and I'm sure to many others. I had personally never seen this list before and found it interesting to note that Johnson (according to the RCMP list) didn't have extra clothing of any kind, no socks, wool cap, extra mittens, undies and he didn't have a blanket or sleeping bag or food, just some salt and red pepper. During the manhunt He was never known to build a fire to warm himself or cook a meal. I'm just guessing but Perhaps he made small twig fires cook small game like the whiskey jack and squirrel or to brew some spruce or pine needle tea in his lard bucket cooking pot. If he didn't stop to cook or make a brew, I can only imagine that he was chewing snow for water and eating the small game he shot raw.

Looking over this list of equipment I think it shows definite wilderness savvy and potential skill. The Gear Johnson was packing was practical ad functional and suited to the environment. His choice of rifles was excellent, one each for large and small game. Johnson even had an oily rag to swab down his guns. The axe, knives (2), sewing kit, matches, Compass, fishing gear, and babiche to repair his snow shoes all show that Johnson was no tenderfoot and knew what to carry for an extended stay in the wilderness. Smart, functional and practical but about average for your typical “sour dough” I think.

Many of the items Johnson carried on his run from the RCMP closely resemble what I have in my pack now....Like red pepper, salt, sewing kit, fishing gear, .22 rifle & ammo, Matches, cooking pot, small mirror, buckskin rifle case, match safe, cash, razor. I do have a blanket, tent or hammock, minimal food and clothing.

I would like to find one of those old trapper nelson packs though, They look pretty cool but are getting hard to find. I might have to locate a craftsman who could make me a copy of one. I like the simple design of the wooden frame and the canvas pack sack. I did some research into the Trapper Nelson packs and found that they first hit the scene in 1927 and were popular up through WW2 and were used by the Alaskan Army scouts during the war.

In fact, I watched the movie “Death Hunt” with Lee Marvin and Chuck Bronson, which is based in the “Mad Trapper” story and noticed that “Johnson” was wearing a Trapper Nelson pack in the film. You could also see his extra rifle and axe handle sticking up out of the pack.

Below I have copied the list exactly as it is written in the Dick North Book about “The Mad Trapper”. I'm too old and broken down now to do it myself but Id like to see someone replicate Johnson's run from the law using this same gear. Personally?? I doubt anyone could do it.

 I especially doubt that any of the new generation of TV survival "Experts" could match this mans epic run from the law.

Tomahawk – Scouts Out!

Albert Johnson “The mad trapper”
(Gear)

When Johnson was killed he had the following possessions in is pockets and pack;
$2,410 in Canadian and American money.

A small glass jar containing 5 pearls valued at $15.00

5 pieces of gold dental work valued at $3.20

another small jar containing 13 penny weight of alluvial gold valued at $9.36

a model 99 Savage “Featherweight” rifle in 30.30

an Iver Johnson sawed off shotgun in 16 guage

a Winchester .22 rifle model  58

39 30-30 shells

4 16 guage shotgun shells

64 .22 bullets

a compass

a package of 32 pills

an axe; a trapper nelson pack ; lard can with lid in old sack; a dead squirrel; a dead whiskey jack

knife made from a trap spring

match safe

Gillette safety razor

envelope containing a piece of a 3 cornered file, an awl and a chisel made from a nail.
a small knife with a moose skin cover.
moose skin rifle cover, moose skin pouch, moose skin sewing bag containing needles and thread.
small spring, nails wrapped in tin foil, Matches wrapped in tin foil, 30-30 cartridge box containing a small empty bottle and a small piece of wax.
7 pieces of moose hide, a sack containing 6 empty sacks, 15 pieces of babiche, 1 large bundle of babiche snow shoe lacing,1 bundle of sewing thread, 1 moose skin lace.
Calico rifle cover
Large envelope containing;
1 box pony matches
1 bundle sulfur matches wrapped in tin foil
1 bundle sulfur matches wrapped in paper
1 tinfoil packet containing 2 pills
1 paper package of 6 pills
1 paper package of fish hooks
1 tinfoil package containing oily rag
1 leather cover containing comb and sewing materials
4 loose .22 shells
a moose hide container holding a small mirror
1 packet of red pepper
1 packet of salt
1 bundle of rag twine

Dick summers plunder

 

Dick summers plunder

"Evans was looking at summers little pile of plunder. There wasn’t much there, Not near enough by the rules - A blanket and an old buffalo robe that covered just a teensy keg of whisky, a little bit of meal, about a shirt tail full of it, and salt meat and coffee and tobacco and a kettle and a couple of knives and two rifles, His old Hawken and an over and under double barrel with one bore big enough for bird shot. He has a little of Indian goods, too, blue and white beads and fish hooks and tobacco and a roll of scarlet strouding and some vermilion.

All this plunder put together wasn’t much more than a couple of pack horses could carry easily.

Even so it was more than he needed.

He could travel from Hell to breakfast with no more than a gun and a horse, and would get there in time for dinner without the horse".
__________________

From the book “The way west” by A. B. Guthrie

Donbas AKA a man never dies

 

Donbas: A True Story of an Escape Across Russia. “You’re cold? He escaped from Russia on a freight train…in winter.”

“I was arrested in Brasov on my way to school,” his book begins. And right there your stomach sinks. Because you know what’s coming: a terrible story, told in unadorned prose.

As “Donbas” opens, Jacques is 16 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 180 pounds. He’s the youngest person in the box car filled with Romanians that the Russians are shipping east in January of 1945. But his youth vanishes fast when he watches guards execute some would-be escapees. On one hand, he envies their death: “no more cold, misery, hunger.” On the other, he wants to live. Which means he’ll have to escape.

This is a book about noticing everything, paying sharp attention, looking for an opening. His first conclusion: Don’t try to escape in winter, don’t think you can get out of Russia without knowing Russian.

But after a few days of working in the coal mines of Donbas (now considered part of the Ukraine), his thoughts turn from escape to survival. The work is wet and cold. A cave-in could come at any time. Exhaustion, exposure, hunger — death comes in many forms here.

I have never read an account of work in a mine that made me so claustrophobic. I found myself reading faster, as if getting to the end of a particularly horrible shift would provide some relief. But it didn’t — above ground, there were sadistic guards and icy winds. “Many prisoners died,” Jacques reports matter-of-factly. “Over half the camp. Four hundred and fifty weak and sick weren’t suffering any more”

Jacques is comparatively well off. He is strong and uncomplaining, a good worker. He gets privileges — when he goes to nearby homes for dinner, it’s a delight to read as he eats and eats and eats. But he’s never fooled; there’s always a power-mad guard around the corner. And one does beat him so badly he almost dies. Which makes it all the more satisfying when, with the permission of a senior officer, Jacques stomps that sadist mercilessly. “It was a good feeling while it lasted,” he says. I think even a pacifist would agree.

After two and a half years, his luck runs out. Jacques is trapped in a cave-in and rescued only by a friend’s heroic efforts. He fears his legs will be amputated. It’s winter, but so what — he must escape. His legs are running with pus, he is a mass of sores, but he slips onto a train, hides in an open coal car and begins the slow, freezing ride to the West.