David Doyle Books News #111

Happy Fourth of July!

Dear friends,

Denise and I pray that you and your family have a happy and safe holiday weekend.

As we approach the Independence Day holiday we see a lot of advertising featuring Uncle Sam, but a lot of folks have no idea of his origin - a shame since he is almost a national symbol.

The term Uncle Sam is believed to have originated with Samuel Wilson (1766–1854), a meatpacker from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. The barrels were stamped "U.S." for United States, and soldiers reportedly joked that the initials stood for "Uncle Sam." In fact, the connection to Wilson is so strong that in 1961 it was recognized by Congress as the origin of Uncle Sam.  

While the bearded figure associated with Uncle Sam was created by political cartoonist Thomas Nast in the late 1800s, but it was illustrator James Montgomery Flagg who really defined the figure with his 1917 "I want you" poster - and the face on that poster is allegedly Flagg himself.

The "I want you" on that poster is really what makes this holiday.  Patriots for over 250 years have risked everything to gain and maintain our freedom - and their sacrifices should be neither forgotten nor taken for granted, but rather celebrated.  This weekend while celebrating the freedom we have, also celebrate those who gave it to us.

While I know about Wilson, Nast and Flagg, I don't remember them.  But I do remember 50 years ago when we were celebrating our bicentennial - the American Freedom Train crossing the nation, displaying our history and precious artifacts for all to see; the gathering of tall ships, fire hydrants painted red, white and blue to resemble Uncle Sam and other patriotic themes, the nightly "Bicentennial Minute" with celebrates teaching us about our history in one-minute segments for over two years, starting in 1974.  The nation was dealing with the aftermath of Vietnam, Watergate, and heated political campaigns - yet we all came together as one nation to celebrate the nation's 200th birthday.  

Maybe its because "Bicentennial" is easier to say that "Semiquincentennial" - but things certainly seem different now - and different does not mean better.

Enough of my soap-boxing, we'll talk about books.

This week my U.S. Aviation and Naval Weapons in the Vietnam War book arrived!  This book was originally scheduled for release over 3 years ago, and was finished 4 years ago.  But it is at last available here now!  If you reserved this book, you were sent a notification - please use the link in that notificationi to get your reserved book.

Also this week we received Real to Replica #7, covering the F101 Voodoo, as well as the latest(July)  issue of Phoenix Aviation Modelling Internationalmagazine, along with restocks of some of their earlier Real to Replica books. We also restocked on AFV Modeller, and got the latest issues of Tamiya Modelling Magazine, Model Military International and Model Airplane International.

Remember, if you live in the USA and if your order total of goods is over $75, I pay the shipping.  Unfortunately, if you live in the EU, recent changes in import regulations have forced us to discontinue shipping to your home until we can sort out the new requirements.

When placing your order we ask you to please to pay attention and be sure and enter your street number and street name on the same line - not doing so triggers an error message on our end and delays shipping your order.

Thank you for your ongoing support and honoring your commitment for this publication.

Sincerely,

David & Denise Doyle

https://daviddoylebooks.com