As the year closes out I like to do a synopsis of the project events of the year and share any new developments with anyone who hasn’t yet seen the news. This year and last year were a bit different and unfortunately due to COVID, there’s not much to share. And the one or two things I did learn are pieces of news I can’t share until some time early in 2022. Nothing earthshaking, but a very interesting development none the less. So, in the spirit of just remaining consistent I will apply the KISS principle and keep it simple – hopefully omitting the stupid part. :0)
January 2021 – Stephen Harding informed me that a major movie producer (definite A-lister) was showing interest in his books The Last Battle and The Castaway’s War. At the time he could not share his name with me but over time he did – and it’s still a secret at this point because things may still be in progress. A cadre of A-list actors are also interested in these films, but scheduling conflicts and COVID will be the determiners of who is signed and when. At this time I also noticed that I was getting some extraordinary web hits from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berlin, France and Milan in Italy. I have a couple of websites I use to track IP addresses so I can get an idea of who might be checking in. Milan was especially interesting because George Clooney lives there. As a fellow Kentuckian and person who has done important war related films in the past (The Monuments Men, Three Kings), I truly hope it might be him. Keeping my fingers crossed! (If anyone here knows George, maybe put a bug in his ear?)
February 2021 – I am still working on the book I plan to write, and this month got up to 32,000 words. Had a bit of a hump to get over and Steve talked me through it. Lots still to do, though before it’s anywhere near ready. Also got two new family members in the grand-daughter of John Buicy, Allison Churchman and the son of Keith Sherlie, Ross Brennan.
March 2021 – Steve asked me to prepare interview questions for the personnel running the South Pacific WW2 Museum at Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, my first paid job as a journalist! I happily did so and submitted them to James Carter, who promptly returned the responses. The interview was to appear on the Historynet.com website in April.
April 2021 – The interview article with James Carter of the South Pacific WW2 Museum came on line and can still be viewed at this link: The South Pacific’s Premier World War II Museum
Very cool to have a by line on this site!
May 2021 – COVID across the world stopped the work of the crew of the RV Petrel in 2020. At this point, the crew has dispersed and only Paul Mayer and Rob Kraft remain as Petrel is still docked in Scotland. Steve is still waiting to hear more on the fate of the new director and any movie progress, but these days Hollywood is even slower and more fickle than ever. I did get the name of one A-lister who was interested in doing The Last Battle and it would have been epic – but he had scheduling conflicts at the time. However, at present they are still waiting to see if it will go into production (supposedly scheduled for production in spring in Europe) and by that time, who knows? We wait as usual.
June 2021 – Movie news that a few other A-listers whom I know of but cannot name, are interested in The Last Battle. Since the wait goes on, nothing to report. Steve Harding is doing some on camera interviews for British television WW2 documentaries and also an Austrian group. We also saw the untimely death of prolific and very much respected military and WW2 writer James D. Hornfischer. RIP sir.
July 2021 – I’m 55,000+ words into the book and just 10,000 more needed for a complete manuscript. Too much else to do before that happens, but it’s looking more like it will. Thing is, I still can’t complete the book without getting the plaque in the water. That will take a minor miracle.
August 2021 – Paul Mayer has left the employ of Vulcan, Inc. and become a landlubber. He and wife Rosie along with their menagerie of dogs, a cat and 2 goats live atop a pretty little hill outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Paul has a world class woodshop and is a master at building and constructing anything he wants. Check out his channel on YouTube for very interesting and entertaining videos of his shop and the work he does: HillbillyChic. His 2 helpful co-stars are his goats Bert and Ernie. You gotta see these. We became friends due to the expedition to find Strong and as far as I’m concerned, that will not change. He will always be a part of this. In that vein, he was at a workshop in Florida recently and spoke with a friend who works for Triton Subs. This friend is also associated with another explorer who has the ship and equipment that might help me get the plaque in the water. I had corresponded with this gentleman in the past and sent him another email. He responded quickly and let me know that I was on his list of things he’d like to do once travel opens up in the Solomons again. This right now, is my only hope. I hope I don’t have to resort to Plan B, but time will tell.
September 2021 – I had a Zoom chat with Hazen Audel, the host of the show Primal Survivor on the National Geographic Channel and the man who was featured in the Ultimate Survivor WW2 series. They did a really good job telling the story of Lt. Hugh Barr Miller, Jr. and I was very interested in learning more about Hazen and his experience on the island. He very graciously agreed to the interview and once I transcribe it, portions will appear in at least one chapter of the book. This month we attended a very lightly attended Strong Association reunion in Dayton, Ohio. We had a good time in spite of only about 40 people showing up, and hope for a bigger event in Newport, Rhode Island in 2022. Steve Harding heard some possibly positive news from his contact in Los Angeles that told him The Last Battle might be slated for production in the spring of 2022. Again, we wait.
October 2021 – One big surprise this month was the very unique and rare Strong DD-467 artifact I found on eBay – a copper mail bag tag with the ship’s name and number! I suspect, but cannot prove that this tag was on the very last bag of mail transferred from Strong to Honolulu on July 1st of 1943, just days before her demise. If so, then it’s even more precious due to the last letters home in that bag for 46 men who didn’t survive. One of those letters is Billy’s and it’s a treasure. Several attempts to learn more about the tag have proved fruitless to this point, as any evidence that might tell me more is locked up in the National Archives. I’m just happy to have it for now. Also, a bit about Strong was mentioned in a newsletter of the USS Stephen Potter DD-538. Many Strong survivors ended up on the DD-538, and the author Tim NesSmith from the Tin Can Sailor Association pulled info from an old blog of mine where I had 43 men on the ship from Strong. Recently I did a recount and at least 57 Strong men were on the DD-538. I appreciate. Tim’s mention.
November 2021 – I established contact with a Navy man who works for retired Naval officer and explorer Victor Vescovo, US Navy Lt. Commander Parks Stephenson, retired. Parks shared some news with me that I hope to be able to share with everyone after the first of the year. Between the work of the RV Petrel and Mr. Vescovo’s team the wreck of the USS Johnston DD-557, lost in the Battle of Samar October 25, 1944 was discovered and verified last year. There may be a documentary on this in the future. Soon as I have more information about this or any other developments I’ll pass it along.
December 2021 – At the year’s end the only thing I have to report is a repeat trip to New Orleans and a visit to the National WW2 Museum. We’ve been there 3 times now and it’s never enough. I cannot recommend this enough. The museum is HUGE and has so much to offer. If I lived closer I’d either work there or be a docent.
So, this is it for this year past. What happens next year is dependent on how the world responds to the Omicron variant and anything else COVID might throw at us. There are some great possibilities and I hope they can be realized. If some of my hopes come to be true, you all will be the first to know! After me, of course. Thank you everyone for your continued support of this project. If you know of anyone else who would like to be on the email list, let me know. Also, if you would ever like to be removed let me know that as well.
Happy 2022 to all, and hugs!!!!
-Tammi
January 2021 – Stephen Harding informed me that a major movie producer (definite A-lister) was showing interest in his books The Last Battle and The Castaway’s War. At the time he could not share his name with me but over time he did – and it’s still a secret at this point because things may still be in progress. A cadre of A-list actors are also interested in these films, but scheduling conflicts and COVID will be the determiners of who is signed and when. At this time I also noticed that I was getting some extraordinary web hits from Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berlin, France and Milan in Italy. I have a couple of websites I use to track IP addresses so I can get an idea of who might be checking in. Milan was especially interesting because George Clooney lives there. As a fellow Kentuckian and person who has done important war related films in the past (The Monuments Men, Three Kings), I truly hope it might be him. Keeping my fingers crossed! (If anyone here knows George, maybe put a bug in his ear?)
February 2021 – I am still working on the book I plan to write, and this month got up to 32,000 words. Had a bit of a hump to get over and Steve talked me through it. Lots still to do, though before it’s anywhere near ready. Also got two new family members in the grand-daughter of John Buicy, Allison Churchman and the son of Keith Sherlie, Ross Brennan.
March 2021 – Steve asked me to prepare interview questions for the personnel running the South Pacific WW2 Museum at Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu, my first paid job as a journalist! I happily did so and submitted them to James Carter, who promptly returned the responses. The interview was to appear on the Historynet.com website in April.
April 2021 – The interview article with James Carter of the South Pacific WW2 Museum came on line and can still be viewed at this link: The South Pacific’s Premier World War II Museum
Very cool to have a by line on this site!
May 2021 – COVID across the world stopped the work of the crew of the RV Petrel in 2020. At this point, the crew has dispersed and only Paul Mayer and Rob Kraft remain as Petrel is still docked in Scotland. Steve is still waiting to hear more on the fate of the new director and any movie progress, but these days Hollywood is even slower and more fickle than ever. I did get the name of one A-lister who was interested in doing The Last Battle and it would have been epic – but he had scheduling conflicts at the time. However, at present they are still waiting to see if it will go into production (supposedly scheduled for production in spring in Europe) and by that time, who knows? We wait as usual.
June 2021 – Movie news that a few other A-listers whom I know of but cannot name, are interested in The Last Battle. Since the wait goes on, nothing to report. Steve Harding is doing some on camera interviews for British television WW2 documentaries and also an Austrian group. We also saw the untimely death of prolific and very much respected military and WW2 writer James D. Hornfischer. RIP sir.
July 2021 – I’m 55,000+ words into the book and just 10,000 more needed for a complete manuscript. Too much else to do before that happens, but it’s looking more like it will. Thing is, I still can’t complete the book without getting the plaque in the water. That will take a minor miracle.
August 2021 – Paul Mayer has left the employ of Vulcan, Inc. and become a landlubber. He and wife Rosie along with their menagerie of dogs, a cat and 2 goats live atop a pretty little hill outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Paul has a world class woodshop and is a master at building and constructing anything he wants. Check out his channel on YouTube for very interesting and entertaining videos of his shop and the work he does: HillbillyChic. His 2 helpful co-stars are his goats Bert and Ernie. You gotta see these. We became friends due to the expedition to find Strong and as far as I’m concerned, that will not change. He will always be a part of this. In that vein, he was at a workshop in Florida recently and spoke with a friend who works for Triton Subs. This friend is also associated with another explorer who has the ship and equipment that might help me get the plaque in the water. I had corresponded with this gentleman in the past and sent him another email. He responded quickly and let me know that I was on his list of things he’d like to do once travel opens up in the Solomons again. This right now, is my only hope. I hope I don’t have to resort to Plan B, but time will tell.
September 2021 – I had a Zoom chat with Hazen Audel, the host of the show Primal Survivor on the National Geographic Channel and the man who was featured in the Ultimate Survivor WW2 series. They did a really good job telling the story of Lt. Hugh Barr Miller, Jr. and I was very interested in learning more about Hazen and his experience on the island. He very graciously agreed to the interview and once I transcribe it, portions will appear in at least one chapter of the book. This month we attended a very lightly attended Strong Association reunion in Dayton, Ohio. We had a good time in spite of only about 40 people showing up, and hope for a bigger event in Newport, Rhode Island in 2022. Steve Harding heard some possibly positive news from his contact in Los Angeles that told him The Last Battle might be slated for production in the spring of 2022. Again, we wait.
October 2021 – One big surprise this month was the very unique and rare Strong DD-467 artifact I found on eBay – a copper mail bag tag with the ship’s name and number! I suspect, but cannot prove that this tag was on the very last bag of mail transferred from Strong to Honolulu on July 1st of 1943, just days before her demise. If so, then it’s even more precious due to the last letters home in that bag for 46 men who didn’t survive. One of those letters is Billy’s and it’s a treasure. Several attempts to learn more about the tag have proved fruitless to this point, as any evidence that might tell me more is locked up in the National Archives. I’m just happy to have it for now. Also, a bit about Strong was mentioned in a newsletter of the USS Stephen Potter DD-538. Many Strong survivors ended up on the DD-538, and the author Tim NesSmith from the Tin Can Sailor Association pulled info from an old blog of mine where I had 43 men on the ship from Strong. Recently I did a recount and at least 57 Strong men were on the DD-538. I appreciate. Tim’s mention.
November 2021 – I established contact with a Navy man who works for retired Naval officer and explorer Victor Vescovo, US Navy Lt. Commander Parks Stephenson, retired. Parks shared some news with me that I hope to be able to share with everyone after the first of the year. Between the work of the RV Petrel and Mr. Vescovo’s team the wreck of the USS Johnston DD-557, lost in the Battle of Samar October 25, 1944 was discovered and verified last year. There may be a documentary on this in the future. Soon as I have more information about this or any other developments I’ll pass it along.
December 2021 – At the year’s end the only thing I have to report is a repeat trip to New Orleans and a visit to the National WW2 Museum. We’ve been there 3 times now and it’s never enough. I cannot recommend this enough. The museum is HUGE and has so much to offer. If I lived closer I’d either work there or be a docent.
So, this is it for this year past. What happens next year is dependent on how the world responds to the Omicron variant and anything else COVID might throw at us. There are some great possibilities and I hope they can be realized. If some of my hopes come to be true, you all will be the first to know! After me, of course. Thank you everyone for your continued support of this project. If you know of anyone else who would like to be on the email list, let me know. Also, if you would ever like to be removed let me know that as well.
Happy 2022 to all, and hugs!!!!
-Tammi
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