I really enjoyed reading Olivia's post. The bit about people being annoyed
by the guns rang some bells. Our museum is diagonally across the road from
Ottawa's largest long term (chiefly palliative) care hospital. They have
never complained about anything we have done, which have created more local
traffic, noise, etc., but we are VERY careful to point cannon AWAY from the
hospital during ceremonies in which they are fired. It makes quite a
difference. There are other advantages. We fire the guns into a small grove
of pin oaks and the paper wadding is traped by the branches and falls to the
ground, so the "beaten zone" is very small. The trees have not been damaged.
A little common sense and consideration goes a long way but there is no
pleasing all the folks.
I recall being a battery commander almost thirty years ago firing a salute
in a large park in London, Ontario. We had erected stanchions and ropes to
keep the public well back of our 105mm howitzers, both for safety's sake and
because we didn't want them unduly startled by the noise of the guns firing.
One woman with a small boy refused to cooperate, because "she was a citizen
of this city and it was a public park and how dare we tell her what to do",
etc., etc. (you know the type). I explained to her about the noise and the
danger but she was damned if she would move. Inasmuch as she really wasn'd
in the way or in a dangerous spot, I gave up and carried on.
At the sound of the first round, her son started screaming like a banshee
and continued full bore all through the 21 gun salute. At the end of it, as
my men were preparing to move, she came storming over and ran up one side of
me and down the other about how I should have warned her and what did we
think we were doing, disturbing the peace like that, etc., etc.
Luckily, I spotted the Commander, Canadian Forces Base London, walking a
couple hundred yards away and said "Ma'am, do you see the man in uniform
with the four gold rings on his sleeve? Well, he's our base public relations
officer and I really think he's the one you should be talking to."
Off she went and I turned to my battery sergeant major and said, "Smartly
now, BSM! Let's get the H___ out of here while the getting is good!"
I never heard another word about the incident, so concluded that the base
commander had done his usual excellent job.
Harry Needham
Special Advisor - Programme Development
Canadian War Museum
330 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0M8
Voice: (819) 776-8612 Fax (819) 776-8623
Email: [log in to unmask]
> ----------
> From: Olivia S. Anastasiadis[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Reply To: Museum discussion list
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 1999 3:02 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: funeral exhibit
>
> Sometimes I don't know where my head is. We have a funeral exhibition
> regarding President Nixon; we are currently re-vamping it so that we can
> "celebrate" his fifth death anniversary this coming April. Things we
> have considered adding to the display is the jacket he was wearing when
> he had his stroke, his hospital bracelet; I'm still squeamish about
> showing the death certificate but people are fascinated by these kinds of
> documents.
>
> We have a variety of material related to the funeral proceedings,
> photographs, taped eulogies & video of it all, news clippings, letters
> from foreign dignitaries as well as national political figures. School
> children drawings and letters, as well as construction paper cards with
> drawings of the funeral were sent to us by the teachers or principals of
> these schools. Mourners left placards and home-made posters at the front
> of the building along with religious candles; someone sent a teddy bear
> with its "bear-a-gram" note. Another left a different teddy bear
> strapped in a child's seat with sympathy notes and drawings and
> pinwheels. We even got a pair of boxer's gloves with a poem written on
> both gloves! Lots of poems from other mourners. People who had had
> dealings with Senator Nixon and who still retained news clippings from
> the 50s sent them to us as well, just to show how much they treasured
> their association with him. We really didn't get negative things; a few
> funny cartoons, but most of it was uplifting. We need to decide how much
> of the tribute books, memory books and other items can be safely
> displayed. From the Bronx, New York to Pearl City, Hawaii, we've got a
> lot to sort through. And the protocols followed for Presidential
> funerals is another ball of wax; we have all that material as well, and
> we need to explain it to the public.
>
> The funniest story I heard during the funeral was that there was an older
> lady in the neighborhood, up in arms, and very concerned about the
> Marines shooting off the cannons (for the salute) they brought out by the
> fountain because it would spook her horses (she lives across the street).
> We had to give her fair warning about this part of the proceedings so
> that she would be prepared to calm the horses down. The neighbors were
> very gracious about the extra added traffic and throngs of people who
> descended on us. Some of the neighbors even had coffee and other goodies
> they made for the people who were waiting for hours in line to pay their
> respects to the President. It was surreal. Now we are going to try to
> bring in that same "surreal" feeling to our exhibit so that people
> viewing the display can experience what it was like to be here during
> those days. After the visitors view the funeral display, they can then
> walk out to the gardens where they can see the President's resting place,
> alongside his wife Pat.
>
> O
> Olivia S. Anastasiadis, Curator
> Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace
> 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard
> Yorba Linda, CA 92886
> (714) 993-5075 ext. 224; fax (714) 528-0544; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
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