Space (part 7) - James Lovell

 

James Lovell/wikipedia

August 7, 2025, we lost a legend and great American hero, pioneering astronaut, James Lovell.

Jim Lovell Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers 

He was best known to be on the three man crew that first orbited the moon during Christmas Eve of 1968. 

https://youtu.be/6vvNxhlP1jA?si=m3UCx0JB0sfz48UY

And in April 1970, on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission--the most successful failure.

https://youtu.be/YwG4F-16Tno?si=N4nauWVGeFXsTBN8

Here is a tribute to his life:

https://youtu.be/7EP0qaBo-tc?si=9wpfk9te0tMLQN7f

We do not know what we have on earth until we leave it.

Jim Lovell

Rest in peace in the heavens.

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Other posts in the series: 

Space

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Photo:  James Lovell/wikipedia

America's Story (part 14) - I Was a Male War Bride - the real story

IMDB.com/I Was a Male War Bride

One day rummaging through the local thrift store, I picked up an old copy of The 30th Anniversary Reader's Digest Reader (1953).  Perusing its table of contents, this one story caught my attention -

I Was a Male War Bride

condensed from The Baltimore Sunday Sun, September 28, 1947

Henri Rochard.

Many years ago on the late show, I had seen a movie of that same title, but I didn't know it was based on the autobiography of Henri Rochard.
[reference: Henri Rochard :: Traveling Culture - Circuit Chautauqua in the Twentieth Century]

As we are passing another anniversary of VE Day - Victory in Europe, May 8, 1945, marking the beginning of the end of World War Two - let us take a closer look at one of its heroes, this male war bride and the story behind this movie.

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The Movie

I Was a Male War Bride (1949) can be classified as a screwball comedy.  Its director Howard Hawks made this genre - the rapid fire dialog, the slapstick comedy of antagonism between a man and a woman who cannot admit their feelings for each other, where in the end love eventually triumphs.  Such is the case in this summary -

In post-World War II Germany, French Army Captain Henri Rochard  (Cary Grant) and American Lieutenant Catherine Gates (Ann Sheridan)  have a history of hating each other.  And their final assignment together portents to be the mother of all misadventures, most at Captain Rochard's expense.  But before their mission is over, they fall in love, marry quickly, then face endless red tape when Rochard tries to immigrate to the U.S. as Lieutenant Gates'  male war bride.

The trailer gives a taste of the high jinks that ensure from the duo's volatile chemistry:

(reference:  http://youtu.be/bRVycGZk3Kg)

Turner Classic Movies has a good summary here - I Was a Male War Bride

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The real story

Then I read the condensed story about the real Henri Rochard

* His name was not Henri Rochard.

Henri Rochard was his pen name.  His real name was Roger Henri Charlier

* He was not a French Army Captain, but a Belgian Army Major

The real Henri Rochard was a native of Antwerp, Belgium.  A broadly educated man, he had planned to be a college professor. But he was called into service  as  an anti-aircraft artillery officer when the Axis Powers invaded the Low Countries.  He served until the surrender of ex-King Leopold, then joined the underground resistance.

* He was a POW

Major Rochard's work for the Allies landed him in German prison camps for five months. But since then, among many honors, he got a commission in the army after the liberation of Belgium and a commendation from SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force). 

* He was a representative at the German War Crimes Trials

Because of his ability to speak several languages, the real Henri Rochard served as a liaison officer for the Belgian Government at the Nuremberg and Dachau War Crimes trials.  For his service there, he got a special commendation by President Truman.

* His bride was an American Army nurse

While at the war crimes trials, the real Henri Rochard was accidentally hit by a car, which landed him in a U.S. Army hospital.  It was there he met Catherine - a U.S. Army nurse.  Upon release from the hospital, Major Rochard was discharged from the Belgian Army and returned to Nuremberg as a civilian employee of the U.S. War Department.  But Cupid had struck and Catherine and Henri became engaged. They had planned to get married and leave for the United States as soon as possible.

[references:  I Was a Male War Bride, The Baltimore Sunday Sun, September 28, 1947 and Henri Rochard]

* Up to this point, the real Henri Rochard is so much different than the movie.  Right?

 But there is nothing like government red tape that creates a real life screwball comedy.

Much of the movie did get the flavor the confusion, the frustration, the problems, the waiting, that are stranger than fiction.  (Though the real Henri Rochard did not dress in drag like Cary Grant.)

First, Henri needed permission from the U.S. Army Headquarters to marry Catherine, like they were her father, only more demanding with paperwork.  This took a few months.  Then came the inquiries at the nearest U.S. Consulate regarding his conditions to enter the country.  That took another four months to get an answer.  It was then Henri learned he could be admitted to the U.S. under Public Law 271 - 1945 War Brides Act.

This was when the real trouble began.

The bureaucracy could not deal with a male spouse of a female Army officer.  But through the muck, Henri Rochard wrote -

A long war of attrition with Army regulations, a change of sex - and finally victory and the U.S.A at last.

And in the end the real Henri Rochard - Dr. Roger Henri Charlier - did become an American citizen - a writer, speaker, international consultant.

Movie Remake?

I would like to hear more of the real Henri Rochard - the multilingual scholar, the Belgian anti-aircraft officer making a last stand against Hitler, the underground resistance fighter, the POW, the liaison and representative at the World War Two war crimes trials.  He seems most interesting.

As for government red tape, haven't many of us have shared some of these same frustrations of dealing with a government bureaucracy or large institution that is too big too fail?  (That could be a subject for another blog.)

Some things never change.

And it is heroes and immigrants like Henri Rochard that are part of the America's  Story.

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Other posts in this series:

America's Story (part 1) - The Speech that redefined us, November 19, 1863 (2011)

America's Story (part 2) - Savages! (2011)

America's Story (part 3) - Over There - 1917, 1941 (2011)

America's Story (part 4) - Christmas 1944, when we said NUTS to the enemy (2011)

America's Story (part 5) - Amazing Grace (2012)

America's Story (part 6) - GI Joe Tuskegee Airmen (2012)

America's Story (part 7) - When Reagan was shot (2012)

America's Story (part 8) - Memorial Day, Gettysburg, and Amos Humiston (2012)

America's Story (part 9) - A Tale of Two Revolutions (2012)

America's Story (part 10) - Sergeant York (2012)

America's Story (part 11) - Sacajawea  (2012)

America's Story (part 12) - Death and Taxes (2013)

America's Story (part 13) - The Enola Gay (2013)

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Photo from: IMDB.com/I Was a Male War Bride

Timeless Truths (Part 1) - A Cup of Cold Water

A Drink of Water

And whosoever shall give to drink
 unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water
only in the name of a disciple,
verily I say unto you,
he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Matthew 10:42
(KJV)

What a vivid image illustrating the words of Jesus, spoken nearly 2000 years ago.

The picture above was the Wikimedia picture of the day for May 9, 2007.   It was a candidate for the "Picture of the year 2007" and is considered on the finest images in Wikimedia Commons.  The description:

" U.S. Army Sergeant Kornelia Rachwal gives a young Pakistani girl a drink of water as they are airlifted from Muzaffarabad to Islamabad, Pakistan, aboard a U.S. Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter on the 19 October 2005."  (reference:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

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Giving a cup of cold water seems like a small thing, an insignificant act.  Yet, small acts of kindness speak volumes and can pay eternal dividends, especially during dark days.

From the countless acts of kindness, such as giving a cold cup of water, here are two examples from real life and fiction that stand out.

1. Schindler's List

World War Two was a dark time, and, during the Holocaust, offering a cup of cold water to the Jews or other outcasts was done at great peril.  In the movie, Schindler's List, Oskar Schindler did just this, right under the noses of the Nazis.

Throughout the book and the movie, in order to do business Oskar Schindler is continually bribing SS Officer Amon Goeth.  On one such occasion during a blistering summer day, a train of prisoners heading for the concentration camps rolls by them.  These kinds of people are seen by their oppressors as less than human and treated worse than animals - without food, water, and other necessities.

Yet, using his wits, Oskar maneuvers to have the hot cars hosed down and cooled while the prisoners are given water to drink.  Amon laughs at this act as a cruel joke, giving the condemned hope as everyone knows most - if any at all - would not survive long.  Yet, Oskar persists and bribes the NCO escort on the train to open the doors and give them drink when they stop along the way.

The first part of the clip below shows some of this scene.



The book, from which the movie was based, follows up on this scene with more detail.  Two of the prisoners on this transport, who survived the war, let Oskar know that the NCO did frequently order the doors open and had their water buckets filled.  Though most had perished, the water was a small comfort.  (reference:  Schindler's List, by Thomas Keneally, Chapter 29) 

What makes this story so remarkable is that it really happened, and this small act of kindness was done at great risk.  Though Oskar Schindler would be considered a backslidden Catholic - he was a womanizer, war profiteer, open fraternizer with the Nazis, he acted on the words of Jesus whereas more virtuous men lacked the courage to do so.

2.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This theme of small acts of kindness in dark times runs throughout the works of  Victor Hugo.  His novels  interweave godly acts of light on the dark background of a mad world.

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame,  the denizens gawk at a deformed man, considered less than human, who was flogged and tortured to satisfy a perverted sense of justice in 15th century France.  But the gypsy girl Esmeralda gives Quasimodo a drink of water while better men do nothing.

Esmeralda.  Quasimodo.  Both are outcasts. Again, this small kindness of one outcast to another speaks volumes.

A clip of the scene below is from the silent film version of the movie - The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) .



Today, another of Victor Hugo's novels, Les Miserables (2012), is on the big screen as a musical.  And a turning point is an act of kindness by the bishop of Digne, which forever changes Jean Valjean.

Big doors swing on little hinges.
- W. Clement Stone (1902 - 2002)

So the course of  history or the saving of a life can be changed by a small act of kindness.

This leads to a new thread -

Timeless Truths

- where the ancient proverbs and wisdom will be shown how they still apply throughout the ages.

And what better way to end the first part of this new thread with these timeless words:

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth:

but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

Isaiah 40:8

(KJV)

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Previous posts on similar topics:

ZAMM (part 6) - Sloth, or just not caring ...  (2012)

Anastasis (part 5) - Bible in the Oxyrhynchus garbage dump  (2012)

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Photo from:  Wikipedia - Humanitarian Aid