Hero of the Week 90

 Welcome back viewers

This week we will honor a team of heroes

They are:

Dr. William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin

William Beaumont was an American surgeon from Lebanon, Connecticut. Alexis St. Martin was a Canadian voyageur from Berthierville, Quebec. They grew up in different settings and aimed to pursue different careers in life. Little did they know, their lives were on a collision course. One that would change the course of medical history.

On June 6, 1822, Alexis was working at a fur trading post on Mackinac Island. All of a sudden, a musket discharged and struck him in the side of his torso. William Beaumont arrived on the scene and did his best to treat the gaping wound in Alexis's stomach. Despite Dr. Beaumont's best efforts, Alexis was not expected to survive. The blast had torn out pieces of his stomach muscles, cracked his ribs, perforated his diaphragm, and exposed a lung. 

Beaumont refused to give up. For the next 17 days, he treated St. Martin by bleeding him and giving him a cathartic (similar to a laxative) that allowed him digest food. To everyone's astonishment, Alexis began to recover and get his strength back. By the end of the month he could eat on his own and get out of bed. However there was still one exception. In the two and half weeks he was being treated, his fist-sized gunshot wound had not closed. Instead, it had healed to form a fistula aperture. In other words, Alexis St. Martin now had a gaping hole in his stomach that could not be closed (Beaumont drew a sketch of it).

Dr. Beaumont however, saw this as a major scientific opportunity. The hole in St. Martin's torso had also exposed his digestive system. Beaumont realized that he could observe the mechanics of human digestion and present them to the scientific community. Although he was reluctant to do so, Alexis St. Martin agreed to become an experiment for Beaumont in exchange for payment. 

For the next year, Beaumont conducted a series of science experiments on St. Martin's open stomach cavity. His most common practice was to dangle a piece of food from a string (beef, pork, stale bread, and red cabbage), lower it into the hole, and then withdraw it after a period of time. Beaumont observed and concluded that the food was dissolved and digested due to gastric juices inside the stomach. 

After at least two years of experiments, William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin parted ways. Four years later, they bumped into each other again. To Beaumont's astonishment Alexis revealed that he was in desperate need of money and volunteered to become a test subject again. From 1829 to 1833, Beaumont conducted another 200 experiments on St. Martin until they parted ways for good.

William Beaumont published an account of his findings in 1838. Ultimately he had made at least 51 conclusions about human digestion based on his experiments on St Martin. Beaumont became known as the, "Father of Gastric Physiology" by the scientific community. He passed away on April 25, 1853. Alexis St. Martin continued to work as a laborer in Canada. He lived with his deformity for the rest of his life. He passed away on June 24, 1880. His family refused to bury him until his body had decomposed in order to prevent anymore experiments by any other "curious doctors".

The strange relationship between William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin ultimately led to some of the greatest achievements and advances in the medical field. Although the issue of human experimentation is a hotly debated topic, there is no question that in this case, it had yielded astounding results. These results helped to expand the knowledge of the human body and save many lives in the future. William Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin's story is one that definitely deserves to be told.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/grisly-story-human-guinea-pig-alexis-st-martin-180963520/

https://hekint.org/2020/02/06/william-beaumont-and-alexis-st-martin/

https://mynorth.com/2017/05/the-gruesome-medical-breakthrough-of-dr-william-beaumont-on-mackinac-island/

https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/probing-the-mysteries-of-human-digestion

Hero of the Week 89

 Welcome back viewers

This week we will honor two heroes who share a connection

They are:

Francisco Menendez and Joseph Cinqué 

Intro:

Francisco Menendez and Joseph Cinqué were two freedom fighters who fought against tyranny. They lived at different times, yet both would rise to the challenge of fighting back against bigotry and winning their freedom. They would both become icons in the fight to end slavery and help shape the future of a growing nation.

Part 1

Francisco Menéndez is believed to have been born in the Gambia, before 1709. Early in his life, he was captured by slave traders and was then shipped to the Carolina territory of North America. At some point, he escaped from his captors and hid in the Spanish Florida territory. For at least a decade, Menéndez hid in the Florida swamps evading slave hunters. He decided to come out of hiding and when he learned that the Spaniards were offering refuge to any escaped slaves who volunteered to serve in their local militia. His services would be instrumental in Spain's coming war with Great Britain.

A nine-year war broke out between Spain and Great Britain in 1738. This conflict would be known as the, "War of the Jenkins' Ear". Although most of the fighting took place around the Caribbean Islands, there were a substantial and pivotal number of battles that took place in the territories of Georgia and Florida. Francisco Menéndez would find himself right in the middle of one of these crucial engagements.

To prove his loyalty to the Spanish Crown, Menéndez was given command of a small outpost (and a garrison of a few dozen former slaves) outside of St. Augustine, Florida. The outpost was named, Fort Mose. In June of 1740 a small British force of 170 regulars and native warriors invaded Florida from Georgia. As the enemy force approached Fort Mose, Menéndez realized he was severely outnumbered. He quickly retreated to St. Augustine and then returned with reinforcements.

At the dawn of June 15, Menéndez and 300 free blacks, Seminole warriors, and even some Spanish regulars returned to Fort Mose. They then launched a brutal attack that caught the British completely off guard. With swords, muskets, war clubs, and tomahawks, the joint force viciously slaughtered more than half of the British force within less than two hours. When it was over, the British casualties were 75 killed and 34 captured. Menéndez's army had lost only 10 killed and 20 wounded. What remained of the British army quickly fled into the marshes in complete disorder.

Part II

Joseph Cinqué was born in the year 1814, in British Sierra Leone. His original name was Sengbe Pieh of the Mende Tribe. He grew up as a rice farmer in the territory before he was illegally kidnapped by African slave traders and sold to the Spanish. He was then imprisoned on a slave ship called, Tecora. He was then taken with hundreds of others, across the Atlantic Ocean and sold to man named, Jose Ruiz. Cinqué (with 52 others) was then transferred to another slave ship called, La Amistad. Although the situation seemed to be dire, Cinqué had no intention of becoming a slave. He intended to regain his freedom or die trying.

On the night of July 1, 1839, Joseph Cinqué used a nail file to pry off their manacles. Once they were free, they armed themselves with cane knives and proceeded to attack the crew. The slaves quickly slaughtered most of the Amistad's crew and took control of the ship. They spared two members of the crew and demanded to be returned to their home continent. However the two surviving Spaniards, tricked the freedmen into sailing north along the coastline of the United States. On August 26, an American cutter (USS Washington) approached and apprehended the Amistad. Cinqué and all the other former slaves were taken into custody in New York.

What followed was a series of legal cases regarding what was to be done with the Amistad, its surviving crew, and the former slaves. Spanish authorities demanded that Cinqué and the others be turned over to Cuba to face punishment for their uprising. The case was known as, United States v. Schooner Amistad. At least three different trials were held in the state of Connecticut. Among those to defend Cinqué was former American President, John Quincy Adams. Finally in March of 1841, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of Cinqué and the Mende people. They were officially released on March 9. A year later, Joseph Cinqué and 35 others boarded an American ship and were returned to Africa.

Epilogue

The victory at Fort Mose made a major impact on the British invasion of Spanish Florida. Later in June, the British were soundly defeated at the siege of St. Augustine. Francisco Menéndez was later captured at sea by a British warship. However, he successfully escaped back to Florida and was granted his freedom. In 1759 he returned to the sight of Fort Mose and established the first free black community on American soil. Unfortunately, this did not last very long. In 1763, Great Britain emerged victorious in the Seven Years' War. The treaties that came from that conflict forced Spain to trade Florida to the British. Menéndez and his fellow freedmen were then forced to abandon Fort Mose for good and evacuate to Cuba. From there, Francisco Menéndez disappeared from history.

Joseph Cinqué returned to Sierra Leone in November of 1841. To his horror, he found the most of his family had been killed in his absence. The Mende people had been plunged into civil war that quickly engulfed the country. Cinqué was forced to become a trader along the African coast. Like Menéndez before him, Joseph Cinqué also disappeared from history and is believed to have passed away in the year, 1879. His ultimate fate remains unknown.

Although neither of these men knew it, their courage and valor in fighting for their freedom had had a major impact on the anti-Slavery movement in the United States. Thousands of people across the country heard their stories and were inspired to support the abolishment of slavery. They also inspired other freedmen to get involved as well. Among those that they inspired, were Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. Today, both Francisco Menéndez and Joseph Cinqué continue to inspire millions of people around the world.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/staugustine/timeline/the-english-menace/

https://myfloridahistory.org/frontiers/article/79https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/menendez-francisco

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/african-americans-many-rivers-to-cross/history/what-was-americas-1st-black-town/

https://spartacus-educational.com/Scinque.htm

http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/amistad/AMI_BCIN.HTM

https://whereilivect.org/the-long-journey-of-sengbe-piehjoseph-cinque/

Hero of the Week 88

 Welcome back viewers

This week's hero is...

Mary Elmes

Mary Elisabeth Jean Elmes was born on May 8, 1905, in Cork, Ireland. In 1928, she enrolled in Trinity College Dublin where she gained a first in the languages of French and Spanish. After she received a certificate in international studies joined the University of London's ambulance unit. In 1937, Elmes was sent to Almeria, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War. Once there, she worked at a children's hospital for those who had been wounded in the crossfire. Her experience during the Civil War in Spain would pale in comparison to what she would face in World War II.

In 1940, Elmes was present in Perpignan, France when the Nazis invaded and took over the country. France was then divided into two parts. Northern France was occupied by the Nazis while Southern France was under the control of a puppet government of collaborators (Vichy France). They soon began to aggressively target those who were deemed threats to the state or unfit to live. The Vichy government was more than willing to comply with the Nazi's demands.

By 1941, thousands of Jews in Vichy France had been arrested and transported to a transit camp in the commune of Rivesaltes. Conditions inside the camp were deplorable for those that were imprisoned within. It was highly infested with rats and lice and had very little shelter. Those that were able to survive at least a year in the camp soon found themselves on trains that took them to death camps located in Germany and Poland.

Although the country of Ireland had declared itself neutral during World War II, Mary Elmes had no intention of standing by while innocent people were being persecuted. She and a group of volunteers decided to try and smuggle some people out of Rivesaltes. Elmes personally oversaw their transfer to safe-houses and to neutral Spain, beyond the Nazis's reach. She personally bundled six children in the boot of her car and drove out of the camp to a shelter. After doing this, Elmes returned to the camp and brought out another six. 

Unfortunately, her actions caught the eye of the German Gestapo. In January of 1943, Elmes was arrested and imprisoned in Toulouse and later Paris. For a period of six months, she was held at the notorious Fresnes Prison. While this was happening, more than 2,000 prisoners were transferred from the Rivesaltes transit camp to a notorious death camp near Lublin, Poland. It was a place called, Majdanek. Most of them would not survive. 

For her part, Mary Elmes had successfully rescued more than 400 people (mostly children) from being deported. She survived the war and returned to humanitarian work in France. She eventually got married to a Frenchman and had two children. For her heroic work during World War II, Elmes was awarded France's Legion of Honor (however she declined the award on the grounds of unwanted attention). She passed away on March 9, 2002, at the age of 93. In 2015, Mary Elmes was posthumously awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by Israel. She was the first (and so far only) Irish citizen to receive such an award. 

The heroism and humanity shown by Mary Elmes was among the bravest and most noble during World War II. Although her country chose to not get involved in the conflict, she committed herself to doing what she could to help people in need. She is definitely someone who should be held in high regard.

https://hetireland.org/programmes/mary-elmes-prize/mary-elmes-biography/

https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/arid-30953568.html

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/corkwoman-helped-jewish-brothers-and-many-others-avoid-auschwitz-1.454767

Hero of the Week 87

 Welcome back viewers

This week we will honor a team of heroes

They are...

The crew of the SS Meredith Victory

The Meredith Victory was an American liberty ship that was part the Merchant Marine fleet. It was launched on June 23, 1945. The ship and her crew saw very little service during World War II. Five years later however, the SS Meredith Victory would be called to service again. Her crew could never have predicted what they would be faced with in the winter of 1950.

Part 1

In the winter of 1950, the situation on the Korean peninsula had become dire for the United Nations. The Chinese army had recently entered the war and launched a devastating counter attack. The UN armies (mostly American and South Korean) were decisively defeated and forced to retreat back across the 38th Parallel. By December many of them had pulled back to the North Korean port city of Hungnam to be evacuated by sea. 

While the UN armies were busy evacuating, thousands of North Korean civilians began to arrive in Hungnam. These people were anti-Communists who had supported the UN invasion of North Korea and feared harsh punishment as soon as the Communist armies returned. They had come to Hungnam hoping to be evacuated to South Korea. 

A South Korean doctor named, Hyun Bong-hak urged General Edward Almond to also evacuate the civilians as well. General Almond appealed to President Harry Truman and the latter issued Presidential Proclamation 2914. He ordered all American liberty ships to dispose of their cargo and let the refugees onboard.

Part II

At that time, the Meredith Victory was under the command of Captain Leonard LaRue with a crew of 47. It was one of the last liberty ships to arrive in Hungnam's harbor. By then most of the soldiers and refugees had been successfully evacuated. However, more than 14,000 still remained within the city and the North Korean and Chinese armies had Hungnam in their gunsights.

Captain LaRue quickly ordered the cargo doors to be opened. Although his ship was only built to carry around 60 people, he decided that nobody was going to be left behind. Thousands of refugees were crammed into every available space on the ship. Captain LaRue described them as being, "packed like sardines in a can".

At 11 AM on December 23, the last refugee had boarded and Meredith Victory cast off from Hungnam. By then, the ship was carrying over 14,700 people. This was the largest sea-borne, military evacuation of civilians under combat conditions in American history. It was also the largest ever done by a single ship in maritime history (a Guinness World Record). As soon as it left the harbor, the US Navy opened fire on Hungnam harbor and obliterated anything that could've been used by the Communists.

During the voyage south, the Meredith Victory's crew encountered an unexpected problem. Some of the refugees who were pregnant went into labor. The only crew member with any medical experience was the first mate (Dino Savastio). Due to the vast amount of people crammed aboard the ship, those who gave birth were forced to do so while standing up while Savastio positioned himself so he could catch the newborn. During the three day voyage, First Mate Savastio successfully delivered five newborn babies. On December 26, the Meredith Victory safely pulled into the harbor of Geoje Island. 

Epilogue

Not one life had been lost during the evacuation at Hungnam. Among the refugees that were saved were the parents of a man named, Moon Jae-in. In 2017, he became the 12th President of South Korea. In total, more than 98,100 people (plus the five newborns during the voyage) had been successfully evacuated to South Korea. Today the descendants of the Hungnam refugees number in the Hundreds of thousands. 

Captain LaRue continued to command the Meredith Victory until the ship was decommissioned in 1953. A year later, he was forced to retire from sea-life due to complications from an infected kidney. He later joined a Benedictine Monastery in Newtown, New Jersey. In his later life he reflected on his unexpected rescue mission during the Korean War. He wrote, "I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. And, as I think, the clear, unmistakable message comes to me on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship". Leonard LaRue passed away on October 14, 2001, at the age of 87.

After the war, First Mate Dino Savastio later became captain of his own ship in 1957. In 1978, he became assistant vice-president of the Moore-McCormack Lines. After retiring in 1983, he lived a quiet life until his death in 2008. For their heroism during the Hungnam Evacuation, the crew of the Meredith Victory received the Korean Presidential Unit Citation from the government of South Korea. On August 24, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower officially named the Meredith Victory as a "Gallant Ship". 

The Hungnam Evacuation went into the history books as one of the bravest and most humane acts during the Korean War. It was both a triumph of the human spirt and dedication to protecting fellow human beings from what would've been a terrible fate. The heroism of the Meredith Victory's crew is especially noteworthy. When the time came for it, they answered cries for help and put other lives before their own. I believe that they deserve to be remembered among America's greatest heroes.

https://arsof-history.org/articles/v7n1_hungnam_page_1.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50805106

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/01/137_281072.html

http://nedforney.com/index.php/2018/12/19/hungnam-evacuation-korean-war-timeless/

https://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/spring_03/voyage.shtml

http://www.moore-mccormack.com/Cargo-Liners/Meredith-Victory-1.htm