At the young age of 14 I started my collection of James Dean memorabilia by accident. A friend of mine received a James Dean biography for her birthday when she was hoping for one about Humphrey Bogart. I had no idea who either actor was at the time. As I thumbed through the book my [...]
Posts from ‘June, 2010’
Collecting is a Ball Vol 5: What Happens If You Die and No One Knows Who You Are?
Having watched the Ken Burns series The Civil War on PBS, it was clear to me that we as a nation learned the cost of trench warfare and assaults in the Civil War, but the actual Union soldiers assaulting the southern earthworks knew the price at a more personal level. One of their largest concerns was the certainty of dying while attacking the fortifications. The casualty rate in doing this was obscenely high. The likelihood of success—let alone survival—was small, and then what? You are an unidentified corpse on the battlefield that may be held by the enemy. It is unlikely your unit is around to identify you.