oyuki

Friday, May 06, 2005

New Hogan's Heroes

That is what I think with this news article.

Col. Janis Karpinski will play the role of Col. Klink.
While Pvt. Lydie England will play the role of SGT 'I know nothing!' Schultz.

Should be a big hit don't you think?

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Now to the serious part of the post. Great news that Karpinski has paid a price that will haunt her for the rest of her life. She should have exercised more positive leadership, instead of vacillating amidst a sea of doubts on what the 800th's mission was. When President Lincoln demoted Gen. McClellan from being the commander of the Army of Virginia after failing to capture Richmond, again and again; McClellan tried to run for President in 1864 and was defeated by Lincoln.

I am saddened the court ruled a mistrial in Pvt. England's case. If it is upheld what her lawyers contend that she did not understand what was going on, then the whole unit England joined falls under suspicion as to their compentency and professionalism along with the recruiters who brought England aboard. "Never heard of the Geneva Convention" is NOT a valid excuse in my mind since the U.S. Army and Air Force require yearly briefings on the Law of Armed Conflict which covers the Geneva Conventions. Let ups hope the new court case will once and for all answer the culpability of Pvt. England.

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And let me apologize to all the fans of Hogans Heroes. I know Werner Kemperer who played Col. Klink was a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, him and his father Otto fled Germany in the 1930s. One of the amusing tid-bits I have learned, Kemperer got as a concession from the show's producers that none of Col. Klink's schemes would ever work. I would have to say that Mr. Kemperer enjoyed sticking it to the Nazis in that series and I salute him for it. Just as Robert Clery, who played Cpl. Louis LeBeau, is a French Jew who along with twelve members of his family, was sent to a Nazi concetration camp. And Mr. Clery has made a remarkable life full of art, music, family, and happiness since those dark days that saw all twelve of his family killed in those camps.

Official Robert Clery web-site.
IMDB biography of Werner Kemperer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that "I didn't know it was wrong" defense has never seemed adequate to me. One of the first things they taught us when I went through basic (Ft. Sill, 1990) was the law of land warfare and that you aren't supposed to abuse or shoot prisoners of war. And my National Guard outfit had the required classes to reinforce this every December.

Maybe England didn't pay attention when she went through the classes or was too stupid to understand, but it doesn't seem feasible that she could claim she didn't know.

From what I've heard about Karpinski, she should never have been promoted past 1st lieutenant or been given more responsibility than making sure the orderly room was tidy. She apparently made no serious effort to see what was going on in her own command and whined that her troops wouldn't follow her orders.

Van Helsing said...

Hogan's Heroes was my favorite show growing up. It's a good example of how effective a weapon humor can be against evil ideologies.