Take it away Tom. Hello. Thank you for coming to see us today talk about our book the last hill We thank the National Archives We thank any of you who are watching and listening to our talk and Where our latest book is called the last hill and it's a World War two story and before I turn it over to Bob to Give us some of his input on I want to give a general overview of the book And then we have some more specific points to discuss the last hill the title of the last hill refers to hill 400 and It's it's on the border of Germany and It's the book is about the second range of battalion and we we from the beginning I always thought of this book as kind of like a one of those World War two movies they made in the 1940s and early 50s where you take a unit and you take it from the very Beginning of its origin and the tough drill sergeant or captain whoever's in charge and the cast of characters that Work together to become a cohesive unit and take them on their adventures, and that's that's what we do in the last hill we take the second ranger battalion and While the climax of the book the main event of the book and of course why it's called the last hill is the attack On this particular hill 400 that's on the German border It's height in meters 1300 feet 1500 feet at all The reason why we we we get to that point or eventually get to that point is because we take the second ranger battalion from its origin in Camp in Tennessee and even before that actually and we'll talk about that in a little more detail a bit Oh, and by the way before I forget I'm Tom clave and my colleague that you see in the other screen there is Bob Drury We take it from its adventures When it first gets over to England and station there, there's the D-Day the the Point-du-Hoc guns that has to take out It's the battalion works its way east across occupied France Freeing up fighting the Germans along the way and when we get into the late fall Not quite winter yet, but the conditions of quite wintry already when we get into the late fall of 1944 the second ranger battalion encounters the hill hill 400 and Sometimes called Castle Hill And and its job is to try and take this hill as others have failed, but we'll get to that in a little bit I think what I want to do now is after I've given you a general overview of of a sort of like a a Journey that we take with the second ranger battalion through the book is let's go back to the beginning because I Can readily admit that I did not come up with the idea for this book as it originated with my co-author Bob Drury Well, it didn't originate with me as As as as Tom well knows as any non-fiction writer well knows You never know when the idea for a good book is going to sneak up in there smack you upside the head We've gotten our ideas from a variety of the park rangers It was a Marine historian at Quantico the US Marine Corps historian who suggested that we might want to look into the Sue warrior chief Red Cloud and Both of us were like who but and it turns out that Red Cloud are the protagonist of our book the heart of everything that is The book spent 25 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list all only because this Marine Corps historian an interest in the 19th America's 19th century Indian Wars, so be that as it may as it happened I Guess was what Tom about three years ago. It was we're putting the finishing touches on the Daniel Boone book blood and treasure Yeah, and I was yeah, so it'd be about three years ago I was out having a beer with a friend of mine Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and we were discussing and I've wracked my brain We were discussing some disaster of the day. It had to be before Ukraine I don't know might have an Isis it might it might have been the Russian incursion into Syria it might have been something in Afghanistan and He just want at one point. He threw up his hands and he said it reminds me of the debacle in the hurricane forest during World War two and I was like what now the huh? What farce is this and and as an aside and as Tom well knows My friend is a crusty old former artillery officer. He did not use the word debacle He in fact the phrase he used began with the word cluster if you catch my meeting But anyway at any rate, I'd never heard of the battle of the herd to forest so I called Tom that night I said, you know, maybe we should look into this. We have a few projects after the Boone book on the back burner. I said this might be worth a little cursory research and As it turns out We were rewarded man work we rewarded the story had everything Yeah, undaunted courage from American GIs from the Rangers that we write about personal sacrifice blood and gore a lot of blood and gore And the German defenders of the hurricane forest, which is Tom said was right on the Belgian German frontier They called the farce the gruna hella the green hell and they were not mistaking What did not have at least from our perspective at first glance didn't have a narrative didn't have a through line and so I pulled I got up I pulled the the U.S. Army War Department official history of the Siegfried line now this this Line the Siegfried line the Germans called it the vest ball the West wall That was German territory and they had pretty much put up bunkers all the way surrounding the German frontier and I pulled off the War Department's official history of the Siegfried line And yes, I am the kind of nerd that has the War Department's official history of the Siegfried line in 1944 on his bookshelf and The report was a real doorstop is a real doorstop. It was written by 1963 by the U.S. Army's chief historian Charles McDonald is his name was his name and Coincidentally Charles McDonald had fought through the Hurtken forest as a 21 year old infantry captain and Even this official chronicle this official history Just painted a bleak picture a top-to-bottom catastrophe for the U.S. Army And I mean as I mentioned before the fight was a real meat grinder and McDonald pulled no punches and Describing how we were on our way. We need the allies to a catastrophic defeat in the Hurtken and What we didn't know at the time the army at the time once the D-day breakthrough occurred and we cleaned up pockets of German Resistance on the Brittany Peninsula where the you were the second Ranger battalion fought through heroically The army called a pursuit warfare as we were chasing the Germans back across France and back across Belgium And what nobody expected was that the Germans were going to stand and fight on the Siegfried line In fact Hitler had given orders to every unit manning that line. Let me make sure I get the quote, right You will fight to the last man and the law and the last cartridge you will stand or die so This Hurtken forest is right on the frontier and across this 70 square mile gloomy woodland It's wet. It's cold. It's dank. It's snowing a rainy freezing rain every day the battle of the Hurtken forest was Something right out of the imagination of the brothers grip only as I mentioned with more blood And the ultimate objective as Tom mentioned of the battle of the Hurtken forest was to take Hill 400 its height meters 1300 feet The last hill of course of our book title Now Hill 400 was the highest mini mountain Kind of straddling the eastern edge of the Hurtken forest and beyond Hill 400 was the opening into Germany's heartland and Allied Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower He wanted to break through this opening into the heart of Germany before the end of 1944 that's where the same came from and the war in 44 Eisenhower believed he thought we were going to we once again He thought the allies were going to win the war, but he thought that he the Germans had time To regroup over that winter that that would extend the war another six to eight months with of course the concurrent casualties and and death and And so what he did was at the last minute the things were going so bad we had sent An unbeknownst I should I should point out here that unbeknownst to Eisenhower or any of his Intelligence officers or any of his commanders the one of the reasons the Germans were fighting so hard Along the Siegfried line particularly in the Hurtken forest was because behind Hill 400 Hitler was amassing 40 divisions for a massive counterattack a counterattack of course that became known as the battle of the Bulge and So from the top of this Hill 400 German artillery spotters could see the entire forest and they were directing massive continuous and murderous artillery fire at At the soldiers the GI the American GI's who entered this woodland and at some point over September October and November of 1944 disparate regiments from four separate U.S. Army divisions sent close to 50,000 men into this forest and they incurred 15,000 nearly a third were casualties and The Americans were not only facing this artillery garage. It was raining artillery But the Germans as they retreated to the Siegfried line that's through in the floor forest floor with Let me make sure I get the word right my German is not this wooden TNT pack shoots in dose of the meaning These were little mines that the GI's called them shoe mines because if you stepped on one They blow your boot off with your foot in it and and the Americans were also facing as they had through this forest Scores of bunkers manned by Thousands of Germans with 50 caliber machine guns I mean so the combined Siegfried Siegfried line defense shells mines bunkers Murder holes the GI's called these bunkers The they took down these 15,000 Americans and as the historian Charles McDonald I mean this line just stuck with me. I want to make sure I get this right, too Across a 20-mile front McDonald writes in his official history There was one man down for every three feet games Every three feet came to think about that you take a step. That's three feet one man down across a 20 mile front and So anyway, Tom and I got to talking. I know this is inside baseball, but it's funny The two questions that Tom and I get most there are how do you how do two people write one book and To where do you get your ideas from? So I'm gonna give you a little insight baseball here I already noticed your a beer in a bar with a former army Lieutenant Colonel led to the idea But as we looked further and further into it didn't more and more research and reporting We're saying thing ourselves. No wonder People haven't read about the patent was hurt in forest. I mean, it's certainly not the most uplifting of stories Frankly most historians and and authors who write About World War two they'd rather write about D-Day and maybe the liberation of Paris before the Battle of the Bulge I mean who's gonna want to read about this depressing story? But then but then We hit We hit on something See I kept reading in McDonald's official history and at one point almost as an aside a couple paragraphs at most He writes about this ragged Second Ranger Battalion by this point in the war. They're down to some four hundred officers Non-coms and enlisted men. They have performed heroically on the cliffs of point to Hawk and Omaha Beach at D-Day They are poor performed heroically during the Brittany campaign to clear the Germans out of the Brittany Peninsula And so Eisenhower decides Why don't we send these Rangers into the hurricane forest? As maybe they can turn the tide for us and as it turned out This small unit of special operators They actually ended up succeeding were thousands upon thousands of GIs before them had failed they succeeded in taking and for a time holding the 400 and it was not without many casualties of their own of course so we were Tom and I were kind of cognizant You know, we both grow. Oh, I grew up on movies like Merrill Merrill's Marauders and Jeff Chandler I think played Frank Merrill, you know operating as clandestine guerrilla warfare guerrilla warriors and in Burma and even Darby's Rangers they were named after they were the named after their commander William O Darby That was the first Ranger against to see action in World War two. They were uh, they Operated behind the lines in North Africa blowing up fuel dumps and whatnot belonging to the Desert Fox general or when Rommel the famed commander of Germany's Africa Corps And but these lightning strike in and out battles. They were looked down upon by the regular army the regular army looking at Special operators special forces like the Rangers cowboys. We don't need cowboys. They'll just get in our way Let's just subscribe to the us grant Ulysses Grant will grind Germany Under our military might our armaments our Our air our army air force at the time our our tanks But it didn't work that way in the forest and what happened was is general the General George C. Marshall he liked the idea of these special operators and So he set up several of the Regiments and battalions who first went into north Africa and then later went into Went into went into france during d-day now How do I put this tom and I I we have nothing against her. I have nothing against the great man theory of warfare. I mean, I'll read a book about Peter the great or Uh, well, William Tecumseh Sherman or Napoleon or George Patton, but that's not the Kind of stories we write we like to write about ordinary men Who rise to extraordinary circumstances in combat? and these rangers It looks like they might fill the bill for us so In order to find out the answer Uh to that famed question posed by butch Cassie in the Sundance kid. Who are these guys? We started doing a little digging and we started and To our good fortune The second range of battalions commander lieutenant colonel James Earl rudder big jim rudder his men called him behind his back, of course His papers we started with his papers at the university of texas now rudder Was old school. He had anchored texas a and m's offensive line as a center. He was an all-american center Uh in the era when they played with leather helmets and no face masks And so we started going through rudder's papers. Tom and I have always found That two words kind of Sum up what what makes our narratives Contemporaneous writings and to our great good fortune rudder was uh and his papers, of course He had official after action reports and unit biographies and unit newsletters But he also was an inherent letter writer to his wife margaret chick was her nickname dear chick We kept coming across dear chick dear chick dear chick. I've got at one point I thought we might call the book dear chick but tom talking out of it Uh And it was from these personal letters That we got or we said we were beginning to feel that we're getting what we need here Uh at one point Uh rudder wrote to chick about uh one of his lieutenants bob edlin the full lieutenant Was his nickname because once the second ranger battalion Uh got overseas edlin volunteered for so many behind enemy lines patrols that they just started looking at him Said this man's a fool. He's a fool and as it turns out during the war Edlin or a rudder came to consider bob edlin kind of like a surrogate son And in his letters we discovered that uh, he had exhorted edlin that when the war was over put your memories down on paper And sure enough that's what edlin did and tom finds these two elderly sisters in minnesota Who had transcribed edlin's memories his personal memories? I mean this is gold mine kind of stuff. They're in another letter. Uh, we were kind of surprised Lieutenant colonel rudder wrote to his wife dear chick He wanted to put uh one of his platoon sergeants sergeant when lamell He wanted to put him up for the medal of honor for his actions during the June 6, uh 1944 invasion of france Now lamell had talked rudder out of this Because lamell was aware that any medal of honor recipient was immediately pulled from a combat posting The war department was not going to risk a medal of honor recipient Being killed or wars yet being captured by the enemy and paraded around so I mean we're Len lamell he said no Well, he didn't quite say no, but he said please don't please don't please don't and instead he was awarded the Distinguished service cross, which is our nation's second highest uh military award so I got to curious about this guy Len lamell Looked into him as it turns out he grew up And after the war came home to practice law in a community That is four towns away from me here in the jersey shore so, uh So I went and I started nosing around the library and it turns out I found out about this Another now Len lamell had was long dead. He died in 211 at the age of 91 But there was a a form another retired lieutenant colonel army lieutenant colonel Who had Affected a posthumous campaign to get Len lamell the To be awarded the medal of honor Get this though not for his actions at normandy beach for his actions at top hill 400 I'm saying to myself Here's someone that people deemed medal of honor worthy in two separate fights I could I could find out about this guy. So I called the uh the Uh Retired lieutenant colonel. Paul zygote was his name good man And agreed that he agreed to meet me for coffee and when he walked into the coffee shop with this giant suitcase It pulled out papers like this I knew we hit the mud alone. I said this is it and not only had uh, paul zygote kind of colonel paul zygote collected Testimonials about Len lamell's actions at normandy Uh in the hurricane forest at top hill 400 But he had also In these letters from lamell's battalion mates They'd naturally described what they went through whether it was when they were standing up in training in tennessee at camp bed for forest whether it was climbing the uh Practicing on the cliffs of dover for the cliffs of normandy beach Whether it was the britney peninsula campaign or whether of course whether it was the uh the hurricane forest campaign itself So i'm thinking we we've hit the motherload here. So I called tom that night. I'm almost giddy But the stuff I have about len lamell and he hits me with a one two punch. He said listen to this The communications officer ike lieutenant ike james eichner eich eichner, of course was his nickname Of the second ranger battalion after the war he decided to become Uh kind of an unofficial historian of the ranger battalion And he and ike eichner was also a pack rat and before he died he donated his papers six linear feet of boxes to the army war college in carlyle pennsylvania And um, I said to tom well, we've both been down there researching before i'll get down there this week But I said a one two punch. He said wait, wait. I got more tom had also tracked down the only living son of the battalion's uh chief surgeon Dr. Walter e block doc block, of course, they called him and jeffrey block his only living son Had his father's hand written combat tiring I mean This now we've truly hit the motherload and this led us we're tom and i are now like Hansel and gretel collecting breadcrumbs. We found all these unpublished memoirs that the second ranger battalion rangers had written right after the war and And we found a kind of lewd and rybald Eyes only unofficial unit newsletter. That was the true stuff. This was not meant to be read by anybody else Rangers in the battalion. So now we're amassing all this All this research contemporaneous writing once again those two words And we know we have a book here. We we know that there's a narrative This is not to of course our book is informed by official after action reports and s2 summaries military intelligence summaries and biographies and autobiographies But it's the personal stuff the journals the diaries The letters home dear chick. That's the stuff that we feel Elevates the ordinary men we write about to the to the extraordinary circumstances which they reach So that's my inside baseball now Now if there's questions after nobody has to ask us about inside baseball because now you pretty much know how we came to this story And uh, that's that tom. What do you got? What do you pick it up? Well, I wanted to mention that one of the things that makes a jerry clavin book so enjoyable for me to to work on Is the element of surprise? We we start in one place. We have a pretty decent idea of where we're going But as we as we take that journey We Find things that surprise us and this has been the case. I think with with every book that we've done I'm thinking back to uh, when we worked on the heart of everything that is which is about the, uh, suit chief red cloud that you alluded to earlier Just some things that you come up with that we were we're surprising to us and that we were appreciated by the readers I'm thinking of at one point we We figured out and we included in the book that at the at the height of his power red cloud and his Tribe as his allies and his his his suit tribe and the allies Controlled about 20 of the lower 40 of the united states. That's a pretty remarkable You know, we're talking about the height of his power in the 1850s That was a very surprising piece of information for us and it really I think You know for most people Maybe i'm generalizing but for most people if if you would ask them Uh, you know from having taken their social studies classes in america maybe american history Who were the top two or three or four? Great indian native american leaders in the united states Red cloud not would have necessarily made that list. They would have had Geronimo sitting bull crazy horse the chief joseph maybe a couple of others in there The comesa. Yeah, so we had we had when working on that book all these these things that came across to us That was a surprise to us When we worked on our most recent book Excuse me before uh the last tale which is called blood and treasure You know the story was about yes We had daniel boone as our protagonist and the story is about the basically the first great mass migration of of white settlers across the Appalachians and the adirondacks and Through the cumberland gap and into what became kentucky in missouri and and the ohio valley and places like that But We're we're we're finding out things about daniel boone and about his time period that we never really I don't think most people ever knew about i mean i'm just one example was that Uh in a battle in 1850s 1755 radix folly. It was called You essentially had uh a young daniel boone and a young george washington fighting side by side either one of them could have been killed at any moment during that battle in which Something like a thousand british soldiers were reduced to maybe a couple of hundred left because of this enormous massacre that took place So imagine that daniel boone george washington two mythical figures Basically fighting side by side for their own survival at any moment that could have ended their lives We did not realize that i mean we knew that daniel boone had lived through the years of the american revolution We was a enormous surprise to us and we think helped to book enormously To find out how important he was a figure in the american revolution You know most of us think of the american revolution taking place on the eastern seaboard, which of course much of it did In virginia and the caroline is in new york and new jersey But the the boones borough outpost in kentucky that that it survived repeated assaults in 1778 Made a big difference to the western Front of the war and which if it had been lost would have had an impact on the eastern front of the war too With washington had forced to fight a two-front war so it's interesting that they they survived fighting side by side And then they also because i'm kind of connected to years later And i think with the last hill we found you know some surprises along the way here that we found What's your commensurate surprise? What jumps out at you is? Yeah, a couple of things immediately one is that we take for granted now that Um, uh special forces in our military, you know the the the seals the navy seals the green berets other special forces units Uh, the the creation of rangers now, of course as we explained in the book There had been rangers in american history before there was you know roberts rogers rangers and and uh during the french and indian war and and and uh as as a as a precedent for a ranger unit or a concept in american military but uh the the the uh special forces idea concept was an alien one to the american military in the 19 19 late 30s 19 late 30s and 19 early 40s They they thought it was kind of i mean the british employed it the british of course entered the war in 1939 when they they in germany declared war on each other the uh the the special forces that the british employed went behind enemy lines They committed the espionage Acts They uh the demolition they did everything they could to disrupt rail lines. They they tried to capture Uh prisoners so they can interrogate them and the americans at first a lot of the american military brass were kind of put off by that because they thought well I mean it was an expression like it was ungentleman the gentlemen don't read each other's mail It was like it was kind of the spy craft that that the british were employing and the demolition work was Was kind of like an unfair way to fight a war you fought a war as bob mentioned before the ulysses grant way of doing things where you just You you kept pounding away until your your enemy wore out or submitted Uh, but this is war was different war was changing. There was not you couldn't really afford that world war one You know no bless or bleach kind of uh mentality anymore in world war two so I think to find out that the american military uh and thanks to george c marshal who saw the the I mean church was a big proponent of it and and marshal listened So I think to find out that the rangers were A new concept that had to be almost the the military american military had been dragged kicking and screaming into creating The first ranger battalion which bob referenced before is darby's rangers And then the second ranger battalion which is our protagonist our our main unit throughout the book I think another surprise. I don't want to give away too many surprises of the book because I find I think they're in every chapter but the the uh The rangers had been written about before I mean douglas brinkley for example had written a book called the poise boys of pointe du hacke About the rangers activities on d-day Uh, and that book was written for the 40th anniversary. I believe in 1884 Excuse me 1984 when president ronald reagan went over to normandy to give a speech about d-day And and was especially honoring the rangers um that uh But what was not written about was what happened after d-day to the rangers As they plotted away with the other allied forces across france Uh to where we get to our climactic moment and I think One of the big surprises to me and you you referenced before bob edlin who is our full lieutenant Is that the britney peninsula the campaign that they waged there, uh included this I mean I I still find I know it's in our book we researched that we wrote it I still find it rather unbelievable Uh the story of the The the the fortress that that fell Uh and how it came about I don't want to give away too many details because I think it's a fascinating aspect of the story of the entire story The second rangers, but uh, let me put it this way You had bob edlin and three of his comrades who were known as the fabulous four Because of their exploits behind enemy lines and in assertion at parties and scouting parties and And and missions that they undertook basically ad hoc. I mean the colonel rudder Knew they were taking place, but he sort of like turned a blind eye to them Like I don't really want to know what you guys are doing, but just come back. Just don't get killed Because it's having amazing results we're getting intel from what you guys are doing And they came to this fortress, uh that, uh, uh that housed 800 german soldiers And without going into too many details these four guys forced a fortress of 800 german soldiers to surrender to them And that was an enormous surprise and as as as luck would have it uh lewis gannett Uh who was one of the more, uh active and celebrated reporters, uh more correspondence for the america american newspaper industry in in world war two Uh, he was there, uh as reports were coming in about this fortress being captured By four american rangers He was there and actually filed a story So as bob was referring to contemporaneous accounts That story was one of the bases of being able to report about this fortress. That was that was uh, that was dropped Uh, I think that was caught. I think that one of the things that surprised me too is that We have a uh again refer going back to something bob mentioned before, you know The movies of the of hollywood maryles marauders things like that a walk in the sun some of those celebrated Uh movies about american soldiers that were made even during the war purple heart. I think was another one um e ojima About the pacific theater It's that you have this uh great combination of unique personalities that are our privates our corporals our sergeants our officers and You know bob referred to lenlo mel and we refer to uh the full lieutenant bob enland, but You know, I think bob might want to talk just a little bit about the Uh other men that were part of the second ranger battalion Who are really kind of unique indelible characters you get to know them They're sort of another version of the there are band of brothers There are some similarities to the band of brother's story to the second rangers because if they're they're they're repeated involvement All these actions across europe in 1944 And and and how we came we came to research them in their backgrounds in some cases their families Uh, we were able to get sometimes they wrote these personal little memoirs not even intended for to be published as books They were done sometimes with their families. I think raff gorenston did one um And we got to know these guys and what we want readers to hope that they're going to enjoy we think in the last hill Is they get to know them too? They get to become friends with these guys and they want to find out what's going to happen to these guys At the end of the story, which ones are still going to be part of our battalion? So bob just a couple of your favorite characters in this book. Uh, I you know, I'm thinking Let me interject first off while you were talking about uh George marshal kind of battling the uh high bound army thinking We don't need any clandestine operators. We don't need special operators Uh, it was then major general Dwight D. Eisenhower still working uh, uh at a stateside post in the war department's planning office who wrote to uh to marshal to say Let's not call these because church was in love his beloved commandos And it was Eisenhower who came up with the ideas. Let's not call them commandos That's a little too british. How about if we name them after robert rogers is ranger? so i'm glad you mentioned robert rogers in the french and indian war and uh And they and you also mentioned band of brothers. I was thinking this is uh band of brothers He meets the dirty dozen. I mean we've mentioned, uh Len Lamel But you know, he's got a mouser rifle bullet in his side Uh climbing the cliffs and maybe just perhaps I mean there was a reason rudder wanted to put him in for the Medal of honor perhaps maybe saving the entire uh D-day invasion with his quick thinking and his bravery Uh, and then doing it again a top hill 400 Uh, we mentioned eich eichner the comms officer Uh, he's a character. He was the pack rat after the war, but a scrounger during the war He was we needed telephone wire eich eichner would find it somewhere. We needed socks eich eichner would find it somewhere uh, i'm thinking of uh The fool lieutenant, of course in that looks later All the duke the physically He was the commander of Dog company Harold the dukes later. I mean even his names his nickname swagger the duke Uh, he if the duke was blown off his his uh landing craft was sunk a half mile from omah beach and He was presumed dead The water the english channel was frigid so several days later after the breakthrough off the beach The rangers of bibwacht and I remember the story well how they would go through each other's uh, battalion bags barracks bags And refold stuff to send to the survivors back home usually moms and dads, but sometimes wives and children and just to If they found risque playing cards or condoms or pin-up photos They're not going to send that back home that would get spread out among the uh the company and in duke's later's barracks bag They found They found an unopened bottle of white horse scotch And so of course they opened the scotch whiskey and they passed it all around they all took a swig in duke's memory And three weeks later when duke's shoot up showed up at their duke After being treated for hypothermia. He had survived floating for hours in the english channel And he wanted to know where a scotch was you wouldn't believe how how fast people all of a sudden had other assignments Oh, I got I'm on patrol. Sorry. I gotta go. I'm on mess tent duty. I'm sorry Uh, I mean, how about the daring trek? I mean here's an Captain otto mazny a fox company big stoop. They called and that was his nickname everybody had a nickname Eichner lenn bud lamell big stoop mazny He he was captured by the germans and he escaped and made a thousand mile trek By foot to the black sea where he hooked up with an australian freighter I'm thinking oh tom. I mean we got to mention herman bub bubby stein a real new yorka a new yorka in the ranger battalion I mean he was such an adept and natural climber Uh, in fact a lot of the rangers thought he might have been A second story man in the jewish mob back in new york before the war And he stampered up the cliffs of point to hawk on june 6 1944 Despite the fact that halfway up his maywest life preserver inflated it almost knocked him over But he made it to the top and then 40 years later Uh at a 40th anniversary commemorative ceremony The french government had flown several rangers over among them bubby stein and bubby stein is now in his mid 60s and he did it again Uh, I'm I'm thinking of us Yeah, and don't forget tony regirio who are our tap dancing Tap a tap dancer from boston who was wounded, you know, I don't want to give too much away So, uh, let's just say we'll give one thing away. He could never tap dance again But as tom put it he became a fireman after the war So he danced up and down ladders putting out fires and of course, uh tom mentioned lieutenant, uh, easy companies lieutenant ralph garrison before on oma ha beach garrison finally made it across This charnel house and his back is up against the seawall. They're ready to go over the seawall and if staff sergeant says to him Lieutenant you've been hit And garrison starts to look at he's got a bullet in his canteen. He's got a bullet in his backpack He's got a bullet in the stock of his m1 rifle And he's got bullet holes in his in his leggings and in his Combat jack seven all together, but none of them found flesh. In fact, it was tom hanks who admitted that he based his character Uh, his ranger captain's character and saving private ryan Lieutenant ralph garrison and and I got I know we're going a little long here But I got to mention one more time one of our favorites or at least one of my favorites The bar man, uh, el rod petty el rod petty. Yes, of course And the arson toothless toothless el rod perry perry browning automatic rifle and rudder the lieutenant curvil rudder. He was kind of a stickler for The cut of a man's chip And el rod petty had grown up in the piney woods the red clay of southern georgia He was kind of a hillbilly And he was a street fighter and he played football and all his front teeth top and bottom had been knocked out And the army of course had issued him dentures, but el rod just never liked them.  I got to transfer this guy out back to his old unit He just he doesn't look like a squared away ranger to me and Petty's officer. So he's our best b8 our man He and and as it turns out el rod petty would go on to become as one of one ranger called the heart and soul A fox company But at one point before they shipped off for him one and eventually to the european theater of operations Rudder just had enough he couldn't he saw petty and he said no no he called him into his offices I'm sorry sergeant petty, but i'm transferring you back to your old outfit Uh, it just it's it's the teeth and uh, so petty said may I make my case sir? And rudder said go ahead son and he said Petty explained to him how he had grown up in a broken home His father had beaten him and he said to the colonel. He said the rangers have become my family I love being a ranger.  What do you think? No, I think you can wrap it up. I think uh, I I think what you said before is very important that the the We we we lead up to the last hill and its strategic and psychological importance You know the the germans had to hold this hill the rangers had to take this hill you had these two Opposing forces of the most elite troops that either side could put up against each other And that's why I think when people get to that climactic battle It's the you really don't know what's going to happen. And we're certainly I I will not do that to give it away. I'm going to turn it over to you. I hope you're not going to give it away well, no, I'll just So we lead into the hurtkin forest and Uh rudder's rangers are fighting their way through the hurtkin forest and they and they they make it to the to the base of hill 400 And as half of what's left of the battalion spreads out to keep covering fire on the slopes on December 6th 1944 In fact, Len Lamel said some people think June 6th 1944 was their longest day December 6th 1944 was my longest day and my battalion makes longest day on that morning at dawn 130 rangers 130 men prepare to ascend hill 400 One ranger described it as trying to climb Uh, he said it looked like an upside down ice cream cone. It was a 45 degree angle And one ranger described it as trying to climb a uh a children's playground slide Slippery with snow and ice While german riflemen and machine gunners are pouring bullets And potato masher hand grenades down the slope at them So about a hundred men Make it to the top of hill 400 And after vicious hand hand fighting neither side had time to reload They're killing them wounding each other They're killing each other with their entrenching tools with their trench knives or k-bars With their helmets people men are fighting with their helmets They managed the rangers managed to secure a small perimeter And as that day and night wore on They were stood five counterattacks Uh Heinrich Himmler had promised any unit that can take back hill 400 every man in the unit would Receive an iron cross first class That's how bad the germans wanted this hill back because they were preparing for the battle of the bulge Not far to the east And but the rangers Withstood these attacks And amid these attacks were a continuous battering of artillery A rain of artillery falling on them day and night by the uh By the next morning They did a head count and those hundred men who had made it to the top of the hill they're down to 50 Two more german counterattacks and by noon Lieutenant lend lemel he had received a field promotion from sergeant Lieutenant lend lemel the only officer the only ranger officer left standing at the top of hill 400 He does a head count Got 22 effectives left and these include several men who had crawled out of this makeshift aid station wounded men Grabbed their guns and just said if i'm gonna die i'm gonna die on the line So lend lemel calls the only four non comms who are still effective left standing and he says i know US army is not a democracy But um just this once i'm gonna change the rules We're going to take a vote We can retreat back down the west slope fill 400 Maybe regroup with whatever rangers are still standing down there and retake the hill again Or we could stand and fight I'm gonna let you men vote and i'm gonna vote with you But before you did that he nodded down to the eastern slope and at the base of hill 400 Not only can the american see that the germans are regrouping for a final counterattack But they've been reinforced by a company of elite german paratroops uh balsam yager small balsam yager they were called so Lemel looks down and he says we're going to take this vote now gentlemen And staff sergeant vote technical sergeant vote platoon sergeant vote Sergeant vote you have a vote and my vote That vote was Well, if you want to know what that vote was you're going to have to read the damn book, right time I think that's fair Get the book and you can let us know what you think Yes Thank you again to the national archives. Yes. Thank you very much everybody anybody out there listening and uh Or viewing uh, we really appreciate uh, you're taking some time out of your data To uh, listen to a couple of gemokes like us go on and on about our last book Any questions or open to them? okay I don't see any i'm looking at my bar, but I guess uh So you thought I was going to get the end of the book away, didn't you? I was I was about to start singing a song to cover Blot out what you were saying Question coming through hold. Let's hold on for a second. I see that I see that Commando's a little too british. Let's call them rangers. Yeah In the rat I should have mentioned the rat pack. I remember watching the rat pack and uh, How did replacements get assigned to the battalion tom take it away? Well the replacements, uh, they they I they had to be trained pretty much on the spot It once wherever they they joined the second ranger battalion because even though they had got the replacement Undergone very rigorous training to become rangers in the first place Back in the states and they was when they were sent overseas They were being incorporated into a into a unit that had seen quite a bit of combat Especially more combat as the months went on july august september october november and uh, they they They they had they the replacements really feel kind of sorry for them. They were kind of at a disadvantage because they were Asked to be work fight side by side with guys who had survived some of the worst conditions and some of the worst battles of the war so Specifically, how did a particular ranger get assigned to the second ranger battalion? Then I couldn't answer it was probably just a matter of you know They had to as many replacements they can come up with because the the repo depots. Remember, uh Rutter would scour after an engagement and he's down a hundred men He would scour what they call the repo depots and that's where these Just regular army gis who were coming over would be stationed And rudder would choose the best he could and putting put them through training And I remember at one point there was a figure for every two men who Applied to become a ranger replacement who or who rudder plucked out of a repo depot Uh, for every three men only one would make it right let's say no no You just you're not up to our physical standards. I'm sending you back. No, I'm sorry son You know it's nothing personal, but you're just not ranger material. Yeah, it's not like they were bad soldiers It's just that they were not ranger material just that expression I mean you really had to be the best of the best and and It must have been a sorry thing for some of these fellows to be sent back to the units because they must have felt like Failures and they were not they were they were probably terrific soldiers They just weren't terrific plus one and I remember as the war ground on Someone wrote in his diary Uh, how we didn't even I saw several references to this. We hadn't even learned this guy's name Yeah before he was killed And bagged and tagged and shipped out. Yeah, they'd find him in a hawks in a foxhole Uh, you know, there'd be six germans dead around the foxhole and he'd be dead himself I remember that specifically And also during the battle of the bulge there were several replacements rushed in and they were all killed within the first week Of right, right your deployment. Yeah. Yeah All right. Well, thank you for that question. We're open to another one if there is one available No more. Okay I guess I guess we could say thank you very much. We'll say thank you again to the national archives the folks behind the scenes We'll put this together. Thank you for inviting us. Thank you for your patience and attention We're really excited about the last hill. Uh, it's it's gotten some great reviews We know that people are Really getting immersed in the story and as I said something I mentioned before You really get I think you really get to know these these these rangers and you care about what happens to them and and My comments I've gotten so far as when you get to the end of the book You really felt like you've experienced some of what they experienced and And you're glad for the ones to survive. You feel bad for the ones who didn't and it's a real It's a story with a lot of ups and downs and I think ultimately it's a rather uplifting story I do too. Thanks to the contemporaneous writings the diaries the journals the letters home dear chick I think we didn't pick that as a title. Yes me too. All right. Thanks everybody. Thank you


The world's shortest St. Patrick's Day parade is set to run through downtown Bemidji tomorrow. The parade lasts just 78 paces long between Kagan Cork to Bridget's Pub. Both restaurants will have corned beef and cabbage, Irish stew performers and musicians throughout the day. The tradition with just a few people in the procession was revitalized about a decade ago. In the 80s, if I'm correct, Terry Smart, my father-in-law and Al Snyder had a parade from Kagan Cork to Union Station. We've got this big puppet downstairs, and so it takes three people to operate it.  Now, organizers say the event will start around five o'clock sharp and will take place no matter rain or shine. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


What's up everybody, Jason here for JaspysCaseBrace.com. Happy new release day guys. 2023 Panini Mosaic Football Hobby Edition is here. This is a six box half case break pick and cheese number one. And here we go. So again, pick and cheese number two is already down to five. If you guys want to run that back next guys. Last bomb ojo cover and get in the tights. So here we go guys. Nice little case here. So again, there'll be six boxes on top, six boxes on the bottom to determine which ones we're gonna use here. Let's do a little dice. One, two, three for the top boxes, four, five, six for the bottom boxes. And let's just throw it. There you go, one. So one, two, three for the top boxes. So these out here will be for the next one. I'll put these to the side over here, to my right or to my left I should say. Um, I wrote three at a time guys. Quite a few. Ravens, Ravens is the only one. I did see they made a good burger too. I didn't know where it was gonna come out though. But it makes sense if it's a caramel exclusive. No problem before. I thought maybe you had multiple teams but I guess only one. What is this? Is it a flower? Do you think it's what the rookie is? He's good. So I have a stack right over here. I think I'm pretty sure you guys can see it from the top camera.  All right, here we go. Take a look at this. It looks really clean so far, the base. Now the reds I believe are not numbered like normal. But the swagger's, there's a Bryce Young NFL debut. Dante Ha, they've got a little Randy White for the Cowboys. Orange to one of the nine. Now I don't know if there'll be a lot of these carbon copies but if there is we'll just go left, right for all of them. And Rocket is small. Look at that, it's a 1.99 in focus autographs. Carolina Panthers gonna David B. Daniel Jones on the Smith. Moment in time. Jackson Smith in the Jigbo. And an Eli Manning to 15 for the Giants. First one in the books there. Don Hooker, we got a Chamari Conner for the Chiefs. 2.99, moments in time. Number to 49, Ligera Blunt, Josh Downes. And then we got a Tank Bigsby, 2.99 in focus. Chris of the Jags. Amanda Mascher, Patrick Mahomes over. Dodson Kincaid. And a Derrick Henry for the Titans. Last but not the least, I don't cover him. Remember that shit?  It's sad that that's all he would remember for in college because he was good at working. But you would think that, you wouldn't think that like he actually had a very decent NFL career after that whole, you know, fighting with the Boise State on the field, right? Like he won multiple Super Bowls, very productive running back in NFL. Just did what he was told, it fit people's schemes and, you know, won a couple of Super Bowls in the Patriots, the Eagles. Yeah, he had a decent career. Aw, man, we got some points. Man, no one wants to see some points. Carbon copy, never go left or right for those. Yeah, I don't know for sure. I feel what you mean. There's a Derard Roberts, sorry, Derard Roberts, Dorian Thompson Robertson. Bijan, Deron Payne, CJ Straub, La Porta, Jamison Williams, Orange. I would have a pretty good autograph since we got points. And Colby Wooden for the Packers. True Deportor, that is so true for show. Aren't you the guy with the hockey? Like, yeah, that was me. Loveless introductions. Devon Shen, yeah, that was me. Man, the Allen and Gitter drain me, dude. Jason Kelsie, future Hall of Famer, Jason Kelsie there, for the Eagles, bit of Matt Smith. That's a personal answer. Vincent Johnson, Mari Cooper. A straight fire, Patrick Malhomes. I don't know if that's a purple though. Yeah, that's a purple, nice one, I had a 49. Here we go, that's the next box. Randy Moss, that's enough for the Vikings, Douglas. Come on, man, more points, stop it. Jordan Addison, rad. You know, honestly, yeah, I think China's Kelsie. I think of Kelsie, I think China's Kelsie is the Hall of Famer now, right? He's like one of the best hide-ins in the league. Hands down, and he's still getting underpaid too. But yeah, are there no brothers that are in the Hall of Fame just yet? I mean, I guess JJ will be in the Hall of Fame too, right? And then maybe TJ? Cause there's like cousins, right? Like the Matthews family, like Bruce Matthews and those stuff like that, like. And other people like that, but I guess no actual true brothers yet, huh? I mean, he can be, dude, honestly.  I mean, Travis Kelsie just is more like the consistent, like never really injured for extended period of time and just dominates, right? But yeah, I know for sure. He has the chance to be all-time for sure. But he is one of them up there. Straight fire, Herbert. That's right, his uncle's in it, but not him. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, cause Grank's basically done already.  But yeah, no, I think Travis will take over for sure.  Eagles ended up driving Zach Earth, which wasn't a bad pick at all either. But imagine if the Eagles would have drafted his brother. It's would have been crazy. There's a Z-Flower's right there for you. Red, not numbered, but still. Jaylen Ramsey, insert. You know what's crazy? Wasn't he kind of already Hollywood like early in his career? Didn't he have that one reality shows like chasing Kelsie or something like that, chasing Travis? But if that was really funny, but he's always been out there like that with parties and stuff like that, it's kind of been his problem, but I think also too, I think their podcast has really grown and got them more popular than ever, right? I mean, so I mean, at least they have something to do after they retire now. Rogers, Jaylen Watto.  You guys remember that subway commercial? Oh, he's like, oh, that's a question. He's like, I like to do things. I like to do things dangerous. Raymond, I mean, at least that's who my sheet says. Which should be correct. But it looks like you have him in number one and then somebody else has him in number two. Three hours ago, you got them for your number one. This is break number one, Raymond, yeah. So you have him in this break. So far, no 49ers to my knowledge in the first three boxes. We're ripping the next three. Niners are not available in number two, but they might be available in three and four though. I'm not sure if you grabbed them already, but I posted them three and four before I started this. All right guys, so again, this is a six box half case break.  See what else is hiding in the second half? We are down to four. So not sure what four teams are remaining left, but we are down to four. And it seems like it is the Colts, which is one of the biggest teams, obviously. They're one of the few teams that actually have one of the big rookie quarterback autographs here, like Anthony Richardson. So that's why they're a little pricey. And you have the Jags, Rams and Buccaneers. Last three other teams there. So should be able to get this done, right? I wanna see what's hiding in the second half. These were actually short printed last year. I remember one time I had a whole box, I had like 12 of these. I actually thought it might go over where the cow was, which is Gabriel. Pacheco. And Jaylen Ramsey to 49. Redemption. Good thing or bad thing? Probably a good thing, right? All right, let's check it out. Rookie autographs Mosaic Red, car number 331. Jackson Smith, Nick Jigba for the Seahawks. John Wentzel, there you go, man. Orange to 199. I did get cut recently. Rishi Rice. Not nice, look at that. Joe Montana White. Beautiful, out of 25. Jamal Williams. Nice for the Saints. Mosaic autographs. Saints, go ahead. How about Jason Calcy? Go!  Very nice. Flag goes fly, it's been a Matt Smith. He's got a big following. Center stage is actually numbered there to 99. Drew Sanders for the Broncos. And Don Hooker. Jose Flores. Terrell Rivas. All right, halfway through the box number five and then we'll end up with box six. Ice color match, Bijan Robinson. B DeVe. Oh, let's see actually. This one was a 49er. Cordell Stewart, damn. Oh, way back right there. Steelers. Michael Gallucci. Debo, debo, debo, debo. All right, spring for the 49er. We're getting some good inserts, colors. Last box here, guys. First time in a Jets uniform right there. That's a sweet card, but unfortunately out for the year. Well, at least they say, right? 2225, nice one there. Jets, winner of the cover man. Swagger Stefan Diggs. Madison Bijay Ojolari for the Cardinals. Cardinals, that is Walter. You were there at that game, Adam. What was it like seeing that? Like, I just couldn't stop thinking like, man. Jets finally have like something to look forward to. They got their guy. This guy's the future Hall of Famer. He can still play at a high level. He's going to take him to the promised land. And my God, just so fast probably, right? I really felt for some Jets fans there, especially like the hardcore and long time ones that have endured so much. Right? Second half of the box, guys. And then we are done. Zo. Adam Deeland. Yeah, that's really good with the game. I mean, look, I think you know, whether your Jets have a great, you have a great Jets team. It's just, man, at a 25, we're going to old school with all these freaking Steelers. Lewis Lips. I think you know how good your team is. It's just, it just feels like with what's, with the, and Roger's not there, it might be a wasted season, you know? Or it's like, you guys might have to try to see if there's any chance to bring someone in if his act just can't be the guy. There's Anthony Richardson, Kenneth Walker. So we're going to have to do a couple randomizers here. Just kind of want to put all the hits, hits together so we can do a little recap. We have lots of color here, guys, of course. Stuff we're top loading here.  Some rookies, et cetera. We did get those two points there. I want to say we had another point somewhere in here too. Or maybe not. Was it just those two? Probably might have more. Anyway, it'll all go in one lot anyway, so. But, like I said, we did get a nice Jackson Smith de Jaguar. Wooden, Henley Otto, Big V, Rockin' It Small, Jamal Williams, Sanders, Cordell Stewart. Had a couple of white parallels with Joe Montana and Aaron Rodgers. Bijou Zivari, Louis Lip, got a gold Jason Kelsey. So there you go, guys. And then there was like some left and rights. We'll go by the backside left right and anybody, whatever team it lands on that, left or right is going to go to them. So we'll do two separate randomizers. One for everybody for the points and then one for the left or right. I should just do names. All right, roll it four and a three, seven times. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven times. Left side will win that. And then seven times here and everybody for the points. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seven. And Valerie, there you go. Guys, number two is in the store. And I mean, last time I checked, it was down to four. Down to four again. So if you guys want to do that next, JaspysCaseBricks.com, guys. Thank you.


Alright guys, what is up? Welcome back to another video and another myth-busting mysterious phenomena in the sky caught on camera video. Five strange phenomena in the sky caught on camera. It's by Viral, it's by Viral Dark Seven. That's the channel. They've got 400,000 subs. This video has had eight and a half million views. It's got 32,000 likes and 6,000 dislikes. So I'm not sure exactly what we're going to see, but we're going to see something phenomenal apparently. So stay tuned. Check out Major Key Physiques for the best in sports apparel and workout accessories. They have free shipping worldwide for all orders over $150. Use discount code jacob10 for an extra 10% off. Enjoy the video and I'll see you there. Okay, let's go. Show me something. Number five. Now that's weird. How does that happen? Where'd the smoke come from? I thought the ring just like, well I thought he rewinded it first, then I thought the ring teleported, but no, he's just moving on the ground. Anyone want to translate what they're saying? Write it in the comment section below. It's dissolving now. Was there a fire? I mean where'd the smoke come from? Uh-huh. Nope. I'm going to work it out myself. How is a smoke ring formed? A smoke ring is a visible vortex ring formed by smoke in a clear atmosphere. Smokers may blow smoke rings from the mouth. I've done that before. A smoke ring is commonly formed when a puff of smoke is suddenly injected into clear air, especially through a narrow opening. Right. How is a smoke ring in the sky formed?  Right, we got it.   Okay, well what is it?  It was eventually traced to a fireworks test at nearby Warwick Castle. An identical smoke ring sighted over Chicago in 2012 was attributed to an electrical transformer that blew up. Okay, so it's got to be some sort of explosion to create the smoke. It's gone through some sort of small hole that's come out into very clear air and it's formed into a smoke ring. I don't know how and it's gone just like that. Something's got to have happened underneath before. The sky is broken. It's June 8th, 2015 and the sky is broken. That is a great call. This bands of light is going on in the sky. Yeah, I have no idea. That was so sad. Well, they look like sun rays. They must be coming from the sun, somehow, but the sun's already set. It's amazing what's going on in this world. I've never seen anything like this. I saw something similar last year, but fantastic. Number three. Well, that's different. What? Someone explained that to me.  I like that one, but I don't know what it was. Man, I gotta look that up.  Mysterious light in the sky. Are you kidding me? It's a sunset. Mysterious light in the sky. It's called the sun. Three is Thor going back to Asgard. That's what I look like, man. What is number three? Tell me what number three is. Here we go. Number three. It's an upward moving lightning, ground to cloud lightning. This happens when tall man-made structures discharge in the opposite way. It did look like lightning going up into the clouds, but it also looked like a hand coming down and grabbing it. That's weird. I gotta say, I love storms, man. I love clouds. I love watching storm chases on TV and YouTube. I do love it, but we don't have a huge amount where I've been living in the past. Although, you know, if I knew that there was a risk of having a tornado ripped through my house at any moment, no. I probably wouldn't want to live there, to be honest. Looks like a face. Bruh, that looks like a face. Is it just me? Yes, it's a face. Oh my God. I just watched The Lion King yesterday with my daughter, and you know how Rafiki brings Simba back to the Pride Lands.  That's what this reminds me of. That's scary, man. It's got the air and everything. It's pretty incredible. Number one. What do we got? There's a halo. It's coming down. We're in the dome. That really is the spirit bomb. Israel. Something's drawing all of, like, the force into the middle, isn't it? There must be some sort of ring, some sort of atmospheric holding moisture on the inside. Now what's gonna happen?  All right, I've seen that one now, but what, give me your explanation. It is a halo around the sun, but there's cloud, so the halo is scattered. Sun halo. Halo around the sun makes people nervous. Now does this look the same? An optical illusion over Mexico City showed a halo around the sun. That's not normal. So of course people freaked out. I mean, eventually the sun will explode outwards. I can't say I know what it would look like, but a giant fireball encircling it is- Well, if there was all sorts of clouds in the sky at this point, you'd almost expect them to be sort of drawn in within that halo, but what creates it? What creates it? An optical illusion of halo around the sun. It's the light's reflection off the curvature of the Fermanent Dome as stated in the Bible, caused by the glass sky.  That's gonna be too, too much. Sun halos explain, you know what? No, we're not gonna do that. I'm gonna leave the mystery to you guys. If you wanna let us all know down in the comment section below your explanation to any of these phenomenons, then please do. If you've liked this video, remember to like it, subscribe for more, because there's gonna be plenty more content to come, and I'll see you in the next one. Peace out, everybody.


Hello and welcome to another video. In this video we're going to be talking about tents, and in particular my top 5 tents that I've owned and used. Have I already done this video before and forgot to turn the microphone on? Yes. Am I going to be able to get through it again with the same charm and fluidity? Probably not, but we're going to do it anyway. It's top 5. My top 5 tents, I've owned quite a few tents in my time and I currently own a few tents. I've got about 10. It's too many. I own too many tents. So I thought it would be fun because a lot of people reach out to me and ask me which tent I prefer out of X and Y and Y. So I thought I would just do a little video to run down for you. I've run down the tents and I've made a little list. Little listy for Columbus. You'll be surprised. There's some shockers in there. There's some shockers that I don't think you'll expect. So without further ado, let's get straight into it at number 5. And hopefully, if I've done it properly, I've put some graphics in there as well. So number 5 for me. It's a newcomer. Just in is the Big Agnes Copper Spur in even that. Don't go. Come back. Come back. Come back. Like, look, let's start again. Let's start again. Let's start again. Number 5. Right? Number 5 is the Vanga Banshee 200. Of course it is. I could not have that in my list. A wonderful tent that holds some wonderful memories for me. It's the tent that I always say to people who ask me, what tent shall I get from starting Wild Camping? Can you sell a Vanga Banshee, mate? Because as I sit here this very day, they retail at £139. I think I picked mine up for about £85, but this was about 10 years ago or something. I'm only going to say the weight and the cost of these tents. I might put the stats on the screen for you so you can pause it and have a little look at your leisure. The weight, 2.4 kilograms. Which, for me, I think that's the standard, is about 2 kilograms for a tent that you're not going to be doing multi-day hikes. One or two days in the mountains or just out in your tent. Then I think around the 2 kilogram mark is about what you want or what you're going to get. It's a great tent. It's got two doors. It sets up really quickly, really easy. I give mine to people who I take camping with me sometimes to say, look, newbies who've never used them, I say just use that. Really easy to use. And I get good feedback from it, from everyone who uses it. It's a little bit like Marmite, this tent though. So, you know, on certain forums and Reddit posts and stuff, some people don't like it. Maybe because it's the underdog. You know, it's only a cheap and whatever tent, but I like it. I've got a lot of time for it. And so it's number five on my list. Coming in at four. I put three fingers up there, but four. It's not going well, is it? Number four is actually the Big Agnes Copper Spur H-V-U-L2. A-B-C-D-F-G, hashtag, smiley face emoji, Big Agnes Copper Spur. Just in, just in. I mean, I've only recently purchased this tent. It comes in at £384.99. And it weighs 1,268 grams. So 1.2 kilograms. That's quite good actually. That's very good. It's very light for what it is. And I've just been out in it again. I've just got back the other day. And I've just finished editing a video. It's pretty long. It's nearly an hour long. But I've been out in it again and I was just loving it. I've got myself the footprint for it as well so you can put it up outer first in case it rains, which I did while I was out. It was a bit of a chew, but that'll get easier in time, I think. But the feeling, the overall feeling of quality that I get when I get in this tent with its high doors and its, the zips and everything about it just screeches quality. Wakes you up at midnight and just screams quality into your face while you're having sleep paralysis. It's good. It's very good. And I'm enjoying it so much so that it's made number four on my list. A new kid on the block. So I wouldn't say it was a first-time attempt because it's a lot of money for something if you're not going to be getting into it. It's maybe more your second or third tent and it's not particularly built for high winds unless you've got your hiking poles and extra guidelines to strengthen the sides. I wouldn't say it would be brilliant in high winds. I've had it out in high winds and it was kind of folding in on me. But there's just something about it that I really, really love and that's why double check, it's number four. Number three on the list. I have to look at the list. Right, this one is a shocker. This one is a surprise. It's going to be a surprise for some of this. Number three on the list is the Hillyburg Allac II which I'm sure a lot of people thought would be number one but it's not. Why not? I'll tell you why. Because, let me tell you the cost of it without a footprint as I sit here now, is £1,164.99 English hard-earned pence. It's too much for a tent. It is too much for a tent. It's too expensive. The weight of it, let's have a quick goose. The weight of it is also, as well, is 3,076 grams. So it's a tank. My friends and family all chipped in for my birthday and bought me the Hillyburg Allac II. So it means a lot to me and it is a quality tent. I've had some amazing adventures in it and it will be in my tent collection for life. I'll still use it. I think it's an amazing tent. And anybody who owns a Hillyburg or has used a Hillyburg you know that their quality, the materials, the zips, everything about it, the stitching, the customer service, you know, they are considered the best for a reason. They're amazing, amazing tents. But why is it third then? It's because it's too expensive and it's a bit cliquey as well. The Hillyburg group. People have got Hillyburgs. It seems a bit cliquey and like, I think about it sometimes of like, people think saying that, you know, are you really a wildcumper? Have you got a Hillyburg? You're considered to be serious if you've got a Hillyburg. Which used to be the case. I remember like, back in the day, it was very rare that people would have Hillyburgs. It would be like, ooh, they're serious. Now, I mean, the fells in the Lake District are just littered with them, littered with them. And so, I don't know. They're just a feeling I get when I think about it. I do love the tent and I, you know, one day maybe I'll get another Hillyburg to test it out. I do think they're a great tent, but the cost and the weight of this one, for me, puts it at number three. Number two on the top five list. Coming in at number two is the Terra Nova Wild Country Helm 2. There, I've said it. The Helm 2. Which, let me just quickly tell you how much it costs. It's £163.95. So what's that against the Hillyburg? You can get seven. You can get seven Helm 2s for the cost of an Allac 2, which is nuts, mate. That's a lot of tents. That's a tent. You can use one a day for a week. Every week different, every day a different tent. Let that sink in. The weight of it, it's not shy. It's around, yeah, it's 2.2 kilograms. So it's a lot lighter as well than the Allac 2. The reason it's so high on my list is a few reasons. It's cheap. It's one of the easiest tents to set up and take down that I've ever known. It's just two poles slid in. Take it out, done. Very easy to set up, take down two doors. It doesn't feel as good a quality when you're in it as the Allac 2 or the Copper Spur or anything like that, but it feels robust and it just feels... Okay, let's just say that the Allac 2 is a Hollywood blockbuster. The Helm 2 is more of a cult classic. That's how I'm looking at it anyway. It's my cult classic. And I've had some amazing, amazing adventures in it. That's what's put it up there as well. It's just... Yeah, I've had some absolutely great campouts in it and it reminds me of some amazing times. And that is why the Helm 2 is at number 2. Right? I was going to do that, no. Right, what's number one on my list of tents? I think you all know because it hasn't appeared on the list so far, so you'll probably know. Number one, numero uno for me as I sit here now, it could change tomorrow, it could change in an hour, but for now it is the Lanshan Pro 2. In fact, I'll just put some clapping noise over that instead of just more clapping. Yeah, it has to be made... For me at the moment it has to be... Let's get some vital statistics up. So you can pick one up for about 150 quid. So it's cheap as chips. The weight of it is 915 grams. Super lightweight. Yes, you will need hiking poles to set it up or sticks if you're in the woods.  And as long as you've got light poles, I wouldn't mind hiking with the poles even if I'm not using them just to set the tents up. It's super spacious. It's difficult to set up at first. It can be very tricky to get a decent pitch. But once you know the heights of your poles and how it all works out, I can chuck this thing up in a couple of minutes. Take it down in a couple of minutes as well. No bother. It does need seam sealing yourself which could be a negative of it, but that doesn't take much time and that sort of stuff I do enjoy doing anyway. So I've seam sealed it, put some metal clips on, like they look like ramhead clips where the plastic ones were that are notoriously weak or can be weak. Tents, for me, it's about the memories that they give you and the things that you're doing them. So your favourite tent might be a six man two bedroom tent that you only ever use in paid campsites, but the memories it holds far outweigh the cost of it and the weight of it and all that sort of stuff. So it's individual to you. And the reason, the sole reason my Lanshan Pro 2 is at the top of my list is because of the Cape Wrath Trail. It performed unbelievably for me on that trip and to, you know, some days, like one of the days I did 26 miles and this was late on in the thing. That was like day 13. No, I don't know. Day 11 or 12, I think it was. I did 26 miles and to then after all that get into a tent and lay down in it, it is a vibe. It's a feeling. And every night after walking and trekking you get to the end of the day and you're just knackered and to put that tent up and get in it was just a dream and I associate that feeling with that tent so it'll forever be scorched in my brain as one of the best tents I've ever had. And at the moment probably the best tent that I own for that reason. It's not, you know, I wouldn't take it up in the mountains in winter necessarily or, you know, there's certain things you wouldn't use it for but it's just the memories for me are amazing with it. It's cheap, easy to set up, it's lightweight and for me, easily my number one tent. There we go. There we go, top five. See it just boils down to, I think a lot of it just boils down to memories in it and things that you've done in your tents. So there's your take away from it. I have been out in the big Agnes recently. I've got a video ready to go. This is just sort of like a filler video of me top five tents. I've got a big camping video. Almost an hour long, which is a bit too much in it to be fair but that's how it is. So if you're not already, consider hitting the subscribe button down there. Click the bell notification to be notified when that video drops. And that's it. Love to you all, I'll see you all soon. Au revoir for now.  See you later.


Do you wish your students could have pull-in text inside of seesaw? Maybe it's helpful hints, maybe it's an answer key or maybe it's just something fun you want to give them inside of the canvas. If you do, I have just the video for you. Stick around while we dive into how to create pull-in text right inside of seesaw. The first thing I want to do is find an activity that I want to edit. I'm going to use Bean Goes on the Internet. This is a lesson offering we have all around K through 2 digital citizenship. What I'm going to do is go down to the student template and find a page where I want to add this pull-in text too. Let's say that I just wanted to add an additional hint for students that they can learn from. I'm going to actually add it on this page right here. What I want to do is go over to the text or label tool and start a new text box with some of the words that I want this to have. Let's start with the word helpful hint and then I'm going to add a lot of spaces. Like when I say a lot, I mean a lot of spaces. Once I have our spaces all put in place, I'm then going to actually write my helpful hint to students. Remember, we can always ask an adult for help. Fantastic. So I have all my words in place. I just need to do a couple little things to change the text box. The first thing I'm going to do is go to the three dots and change the style to be all the way filled in. This allows this to look more like a card and be something that can actually be pulled in from students. The next thing I'm going to do is change a color to one that I think matches the actual activity I'm working with here. So let's pick one that kind of complements but doesn't overpower the page. Kind of like this orange like this. The last thing I'm going to do is resize our text box. So I'm going to grab this side and just pull this all the way over so that my text box looks kind of like this. I'm aiming for an edge where all of the text that students read is lined up. But helpful hint is way over here so you can see how important adding in all those spaces were when we actually did it. The last two things I'm going to do is actually lock the size of this so that students don't accidentally resize it and put it somewhere where students can actually pull it in. Let's keep it right down here so it's kind of subtle but not in a place that students can't find it. So here is what it looks like when they're all finished. They have their content that they can play around with and guess what? There's a helpful hint in the corner that students can pull in and listen to on their own just by using the simple label tool text box and pulling it off to the side just like that. So that is how you make pull in text inside of CSI. You can add this to any different activities that you want to or you can start from scratch and make a whole host of different pull in texts for students to engage with. I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you found this helpful. If you did, please like and subscribe. And don't forget to go to web.csaw.me slash lessons to see what we're working on next. Thank you so much for watching.


And now, stay tuned for the mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs. Because even when you know who's guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the final curtain. In The Whistler. I'm The Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak. Yes, friends, it's time for The Whistler, rated by independent research, the most popular West Coast program in radio history. Oh, The Whistler's Strange Story. There are strange paradoxes in the night. The night itself is a paradox. The same darkness that promises sleep and peace in a brighter tomorrow also offers wakeful torment, while disjointed thoughts that sometimes twist and turn until they fit into a pattern. And that pattern, born of night, is murder. Jim Mason woke with a start. The big room was flooded with moonlight, and for a moment he blinked daisily at the unfamiliar surroundings. He stared for a moment through the huge plate glass windows, saw the towering snow-capped peaks resplendent in the moon-washed night. And then he looked down at Laura, his wife, lying beside him, and he realized what had awakened him. Laura was moaning in her sleep. Suddenly she jerked convulsively, sat bold upright in bed, her eyes wide and staring. No. No, don't. Oh, please, please don't. You'll kill me. You'll kill me. Laura! Laura! Jim, don't. Please don't do it. Laura, what is it? What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you. Oh, I... Jim, what is it? You must have been dreaming, Laura, a bad one. Just a dream. Oh, thank heaven. It was horrible, Jim. I was dreaming that... that... That what? Oh, it was nothing really. It's so silly. It doesn't sound so silly, something about somebody killing you. Who was it? Well, I was climbing a mountain. I was very high. It seemed I was coming down a sheer wall of rock. I was using my rappel line. Suddenly I felt something. I looked up. Yes? Somebody was cutting my rope with a knife, a big knife, very shiny. I begged him to stop, but he went right on, cutting and laughing. He? Who, Laura? Jim, it was only a dream. Probably a result of that close call I had this afternoon. I guess I'll be talking about it in my sleep for nights and nights. Who was cutting the rope, Laura? Who? Jim, you know how dreams are. They don't mean anything. They never make sense. No sense at all. Just a bad dream, Jim. You don't dare look for an explanation, do you? Because, as Laura says, dreams never make sense. But you're not quite sure, are you? Long after Laura goes back to sleep, you lie there, your mind reliving the past few days.  Willkommen, Willkommen, Herr Jim. So long it is, ja. Three years. And so well you look, Herr Schmidt. How are you? Oh, this is your wife? Yes, this is Laura. Willkommen, Frau Mason. Thank you. You two and your friends are going to climb? That is good. Your father, he did not come, Herr Jim? No, he did not come. I'm sorry. I am so happy when I get your letter. Right away I take it down to the village to Stefan, so he is happy too. Stefan? Was he still here then? I was afraid that he... Still here? But of course. Well, should he be?  Here he comes. Stefan, Stefan, it's good to see you again. Jim, it is good to see you too. Ja, good. Laura, Laura, this is Stefan. Stefan, this is my wife, Mrs. Mason. She's a climber you're going to be proud of.  Jim has told me so much about you. According to him you are the finest of all alpine guides. I will guide for us. Ja, formation, I will guide for you. A heartwarming reception, isn't it, Jim? Good talk and laughter. With nothing to foreshadow the dark tragedy that is to come. Just four very alive young people on a holiday. Your wife, Laura, yourself, and your two friends, Mona Williams and Peter Bennett. After a short visit, Herr Schmidt shows Mona to a room, Peter to his, and takes you and Laura to the room at the end of the hall. When you and Laura are alone, you turn to her. Well, what do you think of it, Laura? Was I exaggerating? No, you weren't. I love it, Jim. Everything, that enormous window, it's terrific. Or rather, the panorama is terrific. Yeah. Look at those mountains. From here they look so smooth and soft, but up there close, they're ridges, crags, ledges, ice walls. And that big gray dome there to the right, see it? I see it. Great cloud. That and I almost made it to the top, but a sudden storm licked us. You never know when a storm will hit up here, but when it does, it means trouble, real trouble. Yes, Jim, storms can be treacherous, can't they, when they strike suddenly without warning. But there is no storm on the horizon now that you can see. Shortly before lunch, you meet Herr Schmidt coming out of the dining room. Laura and the others haven't come down yet. Smells good, huh? Yeah, Herr Jim, this is herrings a lot and eggs with noodles, your father's favorite. I wish he could have come. He's not sick, I hope. He is dead, Herr Schmidt. Dead? I'm sorry. Very sorry, Herr Jim. Stefan, too, will be very sad. But in the letter you said nothing. He died over a year ago. You leave Herr Schmidt clucking sadly to himself and step out under the terrace, stroll to the rear of the inn and stop suddenly. A few feet away, locked in a close embrace of Peter and Mona. At that moment, Mona's eyes open and she stares straight into yours. And the storm you could not see strikes with full fury within you. You swing around and stalk back into the inn.  You and Mona find yourselves paired off with Peter and Laura, your wife, up the path, talking and laughing. It's utterly beautiful, Jim. Jim? What is it, Jim? Out there on the terrace, he's kissing you. I thought that was all settled. Certainly a man has a perfect right to kiss the girl he's engaged to. I can't give you up. I can't. But you did. Remember? I had no choice. You know that. Yes, I guess I do. I think I always knew that you'd never marry me. I knew it for sure when Laura came along. Laura with practically all the money in the world. I tried working, didn't I? Didn't take long for me to find out. I knew a lot more about spending money than making it. Well, that was something anyway. I never even knew about spending it. You're learning now. I'm not marrying Peter just for his money, Jim. I'm very fond of him. Maybe I'll learn to love him. I hope so. You love me, Mona. You know you do. Jim, Jim, please. The only way I can ever have you is if Laura dies. And she's very healthy. Don't talk like that, Jim. Don't ever talk like that. You stalk along in sullen silence, Jim. Too torn and furious to speak. And the path grows steeper. When you and Mona catch up with Laura and Peter, you find that they're on an open, scrubby slab of rock that hangs out over a sheer drop of at least 300 feet. Below, there's a jumble of rocks. Beyond that stretches the Green Valley, cut by a river winding serenely on its way. Jim, Mona, it's a lovely, lovely view. Come see. It is lovely. Look, you can see the inn.  Careful, that's a pretty steep drop. You ever fell, they need a vacuum cleaner to find you. Laura, what are you doing? Come back off that ledge. That beautiful flower. I'm going to get it. She shouldn't be out on that narrow ledge, or she should slip. Laura, come back. Laura! You move quickly, Jim.  A section of it had crumbled under Laura's weight. You advance as far as you can, praying that the narrow ledge will hold. You carefully go down on one knee and jam your elbow into a crack for support. Laura, I'm going to reach out my hand, grip it with your right hand, then with both hands.  Now, grab. That was close, that was too close. Thank goodness you can move that fast, Jim. I was paralyzed myself. Laura, are you all right? Are you, Laura? Yes, I'm quite all right. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have. I guess I just didn't think. Oh, Jim, darling, it hadn't been for you. I'd be dead now. Now back to the Whistler. You lie there in bed, Jim, in the dead of night, wide awake, recalling today's strange chain of events. Your return to the High Valley and the Swiss Alps with your wife, Laura, and your friends, Mona Williams and Peter Bennett. The maddening sight of Mona and Peter's arms, Laura's possible fall from the rocky ledge, the fall that would have been fatal, Jim, had you not pulled your wife to safety. The irony of the situation twists within you. If Laura had fallen to her death, you'd have her money and Mona. It could have happened so simply, Jim, yet you stepped into the breach, saved your wife's life, and in that instant, widened the gap between yourself and the two things you want most, Laura's money and Mona. That evening, the four of you were seated in the bar of the inn, toasting Laura's good fortune. And I always thought that when a person was on the brink of death, his whole life flashed before him. Oh, and it doesn't... Oh, no, Peter. All I could think of was darn that flower.  They were just lucky the rest of their ledge didn't collapse. Even when it was all over, I was still holding my thumbs. Well, I can joke about it now, but I was terribly frightened. I wonder if you'll ever know how grateful I am, darling. Sure, Laura. I know. Well, as the Chinese say, Jim, once you save a life, that life is yours and look after it for as long as it lives. See what you got yourself into, darling? Oh, cut it out. Okay, I was a hero. I saved you. Now forget it. Watch it. I said, Jim, well, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. It's just that... I guess I'm a little jittery. A delayed reaction or something like that. I'm no darling. Laura, how about this dance? It's a shame to let music like this go to waste. All right, Peter. Excuse us. Sure, Laura. Jim and I will sit this one out. All right, Laura. All right, say something. Don't just stare. You know why I blew up. I do. Yes. You're thinking he wishes he hadn't been quite so fast getting down to that ledge till Laura he wishes... Jim, that's not true. But it is true. That's just what I was thinking. Yes, Jim, a thought stays with you. If you'd have only let Laura fall to her death, it would be all over now. You look down at Laura now sleeping soundly at your side, her nightmare over and done with. And you wonder if she suspects if that's why she dreamed that someone was trying to kill her. She didn't say it was you, did she, Jim? But you know it was you in her dream. Early the next morning, you arise without waking Laura. Go down to breakfast. Stefan comes in as you finish, and the two of you go to the storeroom to look over and choose the equipment that you will need for your climb. Shoo! Smells like mothballs in oil. Yeah. Hashmi takes good care of his equipment. He's got enough here to start a sporting goods store. There's plenty of everything here. You will need crampons, pitons, hammers, ripsacks, water flasks, and rope. Yeah, yeah, rope. Yeah, we couldn't do without the rope, could we, Stefan? No, it could not do without the rope. To a climber, it is often the difference between life and death. Oh, there you are, Jim. Morning all. Have you eaten, Jim? Oh, hours ago. Be sociable, anyway. Sit down. Well, I can do with a cup at that. Stefan thinks a climb to the upper ridges of the gray cloud would be a good climb. We won't try for the top, of course. There will be a little too rugged. Gray cloud. Sounds sort of ominous. It's not too tricky, though, Jim.  I resent that, Mr. Bennett. I'll have you know I'm very good. Oh, Laura, Jim, I've got wonderful news. Mona's broken down. And agreed to set our wedding date for early summer. Oh, that is wonderful. I'm so glad. And I was thinking, Jim, I have no brothers or anything like that. Well, you are our best friend. Will you be my best man? Oh, Jim, did it get our new trousers? Here, take mine. No, no, no, it's nothing. Nothing at all. Clumsy of me. You're not getting stage-fried already, are you, Jim? No, no, it's just that I certainly made a mess of this tablecloth. Well, what do you say, Jim? Well, I don't know what to say, Pete. Look, there's no one I'd rather have. Mona, too, I know. Mona, you ask him in your most irresistible way, please. Yes, yes, of course, Jim. I think that would be very, very nice.  Scream that Mona belongs to you. Smash everything on the table, don't you, Jim? But you don't. No, you just sit there.  Your eyes locked for a moment with Mona's. Go to Peter Bennett. But you don't dare look at Laura, do you, Jim?  All the hate and resentment you feel for her. And you know now what you must do. After breakfast, you hurry to the storeroom. You study the four coils of repel rope. Select the darkest of the four and go to work. You work slowly and with infinite care. Finally, it's done. You smile. It looks like an extremely stout rope, doesn't it, Jim? Yes. But the full weight of a body, even a body as small and as light as Laura's, would snap it. Darker than the other three coils, it will be a simple matter to make certain that Laura gets this rope. By late the next afternoon, your party has passed the timber line. Stefan, who is leading, shouts, points to an arm. The hut is in sight. Small stone shelter built by the Swiss Alpine Club for use for the climbers. In a short time, you're there. We will camp here tonight. It's about time. Softy? I'm as fresh as a daisy. How about you, Laura? I'm fine. I'll be glad to get these shoes off, though. The only thing that hurts on me is my stomach. Let's rustle up some food. Sunset the next day and you'll reach the second hut. So far, there has been no occasion to use the ropes.  You've seen too it that Laura has the dark rope, the one you've cut, that will never support her weight, and tomorrow she'll have to use it. When you start out in the morning, the angle of your ascent steepens, and finally you hit solid rock.  Solid grey wall of overhanging rock. Stefan pauses and faces the four of you. It is a bad spot. Something has happened here. It is better that we descend and look for another way around. But why, Stefan? We can work up to the overhang. There must be some sort of hold beyond it. What do you think, Pete? Well, maybe we could, but the girls aren't... Laura, do you think that you could? I can manage it. Mona, you... Oh, yes, yes, of course, I can make it. No, the eyes have it. Well, good, I go now. I will lower my rope when I clear the overhang. We'll be seeing you, Stefan. Your hand, Herr Jim. Yeah, yeah, up. Well, thanks, Stefan. Better than I expected. Ah, this wind is bad. Yeah, it is very bad. Well, that ledge up there, that is next. But a hundred feet up. Not too steep, though. We can take it on an angle. Laura, Mona, you girls okay? You went up there like mountain girls. I could have done it with one arm tied behind me. I'm not sure you'd be blown off. Me too. That gust hit me hard. It is best to stay close to the wall. You said it. There's nothing but space out there. I ascend now. Herr Jim, you will be lay the rope and make it secure. And the action goes on. Stefan first to ascend, then Peter. And then Mona joins them on the ledge. She waves, the rope comes down. It's time for Laura's ascent, isn't it, Jim? As you reach for the rope to draw it in, the winds hit with full force, and it clipped on a loose stone. Your clawing fingers fasten under the lip of the ledge. You're torn loose. Break down the side of the wall and claw about a nub. And hold. And there you cling, transfixed. Below you there is nothing but death. Sweat pours into your eyes.  Managed to look up, and the Laura's stricken face peering over the edge. Jim, thank goodness. Hold on, Jim. Hold on. We'll lower our rope. Lock it around your wrist and arm. It's on its way down. Hold on. Hang on, Jim. Laura. No, Laura. I can't. I can't. No, Stefan. Hurry. Hurry. No, it won't. Hold on any longer. Whistler will return in just a moment with a strange ending to tonight's story. Now back to the Whistler. The climbing party makes its descent slowly, silently. Stefan guiding Laura's every mechanical move. She's in a bad state of shock, moves like an automaton. Peter follows behind with Mona, the anguish of the experience written in their faces. Finally they reach the alpine hut, put Laura to bed, and after a while she falls into a deep, exhausted sleep. And her three companions take up a vigil by her bed. Suddenly the deadly silence of the room is broken. Stefan, is she all right? She's bad. Very bad. She dreams. It's all right, Mikey. All right.  So much to bear. Jim, Jim, you must... Jim, Jim? Oh, you, Stefan. It was a dream, wasn't it? All the... No. No. No dream. He's dead, isn't he, Stefan? Jim's dead. Yeah, her Jim is dead. Stefan, why didn't he take the rope? Why? He could have been saved. Why, why? If it is as you say from Mason, I do not know why. I do not understand. You are sure that this is so? Yes, yes, he wouldn't take my rope. He tried to say something and then he fell. Why, Stefan, why? We could have saved him. Yeah. Your rope would have saved him. I do not know why he would not take it. He seemed afraid. Yes, that's it. It was like he was afraid of my rope. I do not know why. It was a good rope. All the ropes are good. The night before we left, I go over them all carefully. And a good thing that I do. One of the ropes I took between my hands and poof its nap. So I replace it with a dark one. The one that you carried from Mason. It was a very good rope. It would have held three such men as her, Jim.