Skip to main content

May 13, 1918 - Don Martin goes to Paris to get clothes

 Don Martin diary entry for Monday, May 13, 1918: 
Left Neufchateau at 8 for Paris. On train met Judge Wadhams of N.Y. one of the procession of sightseers U.S. sending over. Arrived Paris 2 p.m. Tried taking pair military breeches to replace pair (my only pair) which has hole in the seat. Couldn’t get them. Put on civilian clothes. They feel very comfortable. Had dinner alone at Chatham Grill (cost $ 4.50) [$79 today] and went to Crillon and to bed at 9. Received 5 boxes candy (including maple sugar) from folks at home.
Quiet on all fronts. German offensive soon to start.
Weather miserable. Downpour in Paris.
     Don Martin’s meeting with Judge William H. Wadhams is the only one recorded in his diary, although he had written two articles about the judge. Judge Wadhams’ tribute written following Don Martin’s death indicated that they had met more times. Don Martin made quite an impression on the judge: -“Don Martin has died in the service of his country. He was doing not only newspaper work, but splendid patriotic work at the front. When I was with our boys it was Don Martin whom I found a centre of cheerfulness and inspiration for all the boys at the posts he visited. He had great capacity for friendship and gave freely of his energy and strength. He was always found where the fighting was the hottest. He was most popular with the men and the officers.
“Don Martin’s work for the New York Herald placed him in the first rank of war correspondents. The boys at the front have lost a friend and the people of America one of their greatest newspaper ambassadors."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary.  Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’  Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’.   Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.
Post a Comment
Read more

U.S. Sanctions, Middle East views

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff has hit the capitals again; in Tel Aviv Netanyahu probably told him to tell Trump that he will take over all of Gaza; in Moscow Putin probably told him to tell Trump that Ukraine will be destroyed and forget the sanctions. Witkoff didn’t get to number 3 on his list, Iran. But Trump played another ‘ getting to a deal ’ with Iran card, adding sanctions he can later get credit for removing. And the Middle East commentators are worriedly reacting to the Iran situation. Here are some highlights.  From Newsweek:       The U.S. announced on July 30 the largest Iran-related sanctions since 2018 , targeting entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector: 20 oil firms, 5 vessel management companies, 1 wholesaler, and over 115 individuals in 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong.       U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: "Today's Depar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Assessing possible outcomes of the snapback mechanism

The initiation by the E3 of the 30-day snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council makes everything more difficult and there is great uncertainty about the outcome. Will it be peaceful with a new nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the U.S., endorsed by the UNSC and verified by IAEA, or will Iran withdraw from NPT with further military action by Israel and the U.S.?                 To perhaps shed a little light on what the outcome will be, here is my analysis of how the players - Iran, U.S. and E3 - may be assessing the acceptability of the range of outcomes. Four levels of acceptability were used: 1 Fully acceptable; 2 Less acceptable; 3 Just acceptable; and 4 Not acceptable. Four near term 30-day outcomes are listed, and two optimistic outcomes with an interim U.S.-Iran agreement reached within a 6-month extension.                 For the 30-day near term, the best outcome would b...
Post a Comment
Read more