winnix85

[winnix85]

Lew’s grandmother had good taste

We all know that Lewis Nixon's grandmother had a villa on the Mediterranean coast in southern France, which was once rented to the Kennedy family.

In 2005, Sotheby's auctioned off some many of the art and furniture from this villa, and the auctioned items were even compiled into a catalog. I just found several pages from the auction book...

I mean, look at these exquisite pieces of furniture, imagining a 6-year-old Lew rolling on those magnificent carpets, or trying to toss crumpled paper into that marble lamp...

Seriously, who could buy this book (the seller is in Europe) please, curious to see if there are items closely related to Lew inside the book?

via: https://en.todocoleccion.net/second-hand-books/catalogo-sothebys-muebles-antiguos-villa-faleze-paris-20-octubre-2005~x229624925

#seriously #I’d kill to see the full catalog #lewis nixon #villa fal'eze #real nix #band of brothers

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The draftee's life before Pearl Harbour Attack

Since Lewis Nixon was among the first batch of general mobilization and has almost completed his one-year of service before the Pearl Harbour attack, I have been curious what his experience was like during that period (you know, the pre-Dick days of Lewis Nixon).

I came across the following paragraphs in the book "Those Angry Days". In short, it's never a good idea to start general mobilization without waging war on any country. The morale was low, the training inadequate. What made it worse perhaps was the fact that Lew was not even a draftee, he volunteered. Lew was probably bored to tears peeling potatos all day.

By the summer of 1941, morale in the U.S. Army had sunk to rock bottom. Young men drafted the previous year talked of going AWOL; some even raised the possibility of mutiny.

...Here the draftees were, digging latrines, peeling potatoes, and endlessly drilling, all for a measly thirty dollars a month, while friends back home were earning six and seven times that much in defense factory jobs. And for what? There was no war, and despite what the president said in his May 27 speech, there didn’t appear to be a national emergency, either.

... “the Army has no goal. It does not know whether it is going to fight, or when or where. If the U.S. political leaders have set any military objective, they have not made it clear to the Army.

After interviewing draftees in one camp, a Life journalist reported in August 1941 that 50 percent had threatened to desert if they were not discharged when their year was up.

...The men “do not want to fight because they do not see any reason for fighting.

...Bored and restless, draftees complained about rudimentary or nonexistent combat training, as well as the lack of modern weapons. In training exercises, trucks with the word TANK painted on their sides took the place of real tanks, pieces of drainpipe substituted for antitank guns, and wooden tripods acted as 60 mm mortars.

#lewis nixon #band of brothers #ww2

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The stark contrast between the front page of "San Francisco Examiner" and Page 37 news of society on Octobor 16th 1940, and the front page of "Medford Mail Tribune" and the Page 3 of society news.

#lewis nixon #band of brothers #American Isolationism

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The confusing time stamp on the ww2 draft card

You may have noticed that at the back of the draft card there was a date of registration. I've long suspected it didn't reflect the actual date of the registration of Lewis Nixon at the draft board, but rather more likely to be a batch number.

As you can see, Lewis Nixon's draft card was dated on October 16th 1940, but on that day, he was on the west coast, attending opera with his mother. He was on the west coast until at least November 4th 1940. It's impossible for him to appear at the draft board in N.J. in October.

I think his actual date of registration was on November 22nd 1940, as shown on the right corner on the front page of his draft card, along with his order number 1273.

The Senate and House on September 14 1940 approved the Selective Service Act, instituting compulsory military service for one year and mandating the registration of all American men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five.

But the first "lottery drawing" happened on October 29th:

On October 29, less than a week before Americans went to the polls, he [Roosevelt] stood next to Henry Stimson on the stage of the War Department auditorium. Flashbulbs from news cameras popped as the blindfolded secretary reached into a huge glass fishbowl filled with thousands of bright blue capsules and retrieved one. He handed it to Roosevelt, who opened it and announced: “The first number is one-five-eight.” A woman in the audience screamed. Her son and the more than six thousand other young Americans whose draft number was 158 would be the first ones called up to serve. For the next several hours, War Department officials drew the remainder of the numbers to determine the order in which more than a million men—of the more than sixteen million who had registered for the draft—would be inducted. ----Page 295 of THOSE ANGRY DAYS

#lewis nixon #band of brothers #draft cards #ww2

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Bravo to your research for the new chapter! I’m screaming because it suddenly strikes me that there’s a whole lot of context behind Lewis Nixon’s comment about Sobel:”Sobel is a genius. I had a headmaster just like him in prep school ” LEW HAD A HEADMASTER LIKE SOBEL FOR REAL! 😭

For years we knew Lew went to Santa Barbara Cate School, but I never realised that it was a Spartan school like LOW-LEVEL TOCCOA.

For those who haven’t read the story please read it it’s so GOOOOOOD! You will find the link to the history of Lew’s prep school and its legendary headmaster in the footnote. Here are some excerpts:

The headmaster Mr Cate was know as “The King” behind his back. He was “ imperious and regal” he really ran a tight ship.

“The somewhat Spartan life of the school during Cate’s long reign was a shock to many of the students, most of whom came then, as now, from affluent homes; graduates of a certain age still talk of Cate’s fanaticism for early-morning cold showers--there simply was no hot water”

“Each student was required to have a horse and to arise every morning at 6 to groom and feed it and rake out its corral. …We used to race our horses through the lemon orchards and swim them through the ocean waves and ride them into the mountains for weekend camping trips, which were often led by Cate on his bay mare.”

Students being “incorrigibly persistently and creatively insubordinate,” were punished by “being dunked and pounded repeatedly in the icy waters of the horse trough. “

“every boy had to contribute six hours weekly of productive labor-everything from road building and bricklaying to plumbing, gardening and the raising of farm animals.”

Headmaster Mr Curtis Wolsey Cate (Portrayed by the same artist who drew portrait for Lew and Blanche)

Contact Tracing: Quarter Note Rest

Playlist by @saritasoyyo

Chapter 1 (15,225 words)

“It’s like I told you, Dick,” Nix said over his second cup of coffee that afternoon; he’d developed a habit of sending Zielinski for coffee whenever his attentive hovering irritated him.  “The army’s preparing us for our careers after the war.  I’m going to be a secretary, and you’ll make a fine summer camp director.”  

He was seated in the 2d Bn. office’s one armchair, which Dick had come to think of as ‘Nix’s chair’ because he’d claimed it as one of his many observation posts throughout the Five-Oh-Sink’s maze of offices.  He tended to change locations frequently as he worked, something Dick hadn’t really noticed until he found himself chained to the desk which nominally belonged to Lt. Colonel Strayer, who mostly worked from the Regiment office.  Dick was split between fond amusement at Nix’s perpetual motion and a childish urge to tie him to the chair for company.

#Contact tracing #Now with the context it seems Nix had seen a positive side of Sobel’s training #He saw Sobel a GENIUS like his headmaster #band of brothers #Without the context I always thought that line was a little out of the place #Like Yeah how could the headmaster of a privileged prep school being comparable to Sobel? #You know nothing John Snow #Cate School #lewis nixon

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the stares and the smiles…

#That's good acting❥(^_-) #Damian Lewis THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE #dick winters #lewis nixon #band of brothers

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Nixon looks so hangover and Dick was looking at him like “isn’t this the handsomest guy in the world “

A new Lewis Nixon & Dick Winters photo posted by The Gettysburg Museum Of History

#winnix #band of brothers #lewis nixon #dick winters

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9 years apart. What has the war done to him? He looks so genuinely happy with his war buddies

#lewis nixon #band of brothers

[winnix85]

Blanche was born in 1924 so she was 15.

's not a drill!

This is a portrait of Lewis Nixon III in 1935.

A 17-year-old Lew!!!!

He was stunningly handsome and I'm dying.

source: https://sbhistorical.pastperfectonline.com/photo/1108EF6A-90D8-4064-90D6-502372881251

#Doris has such. beautiful babies #blanche nixon #lewis nixon #band of brothers

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's not a drill!

This is a portrait of Lewis Nixon III in 1935.

A 17-year-old Lew!!!!

He was stunningly handsome and I'm dying.

source: https://sbhistorical.pastperfectonline.com/photo/1108EF6A-90D8-4064-90D6-502372881251

#he was so handsome I’m in tears #17-yr old Lew #Look at those beautiful eyes #how can he be so cute #THE LIPS! #Like a Hollywood star #lewis nixon #band of brothers #the real bob #Clarence Mattei

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I love me a pseudo-historical arranged marriage au but it always nudges my suspension of disbelief when the author has to dance around the implicit expectation that an arranged marriage should lead to children, which a cis gay couple can't provide.

I know for a lot of people that's irrelevant to what they want from an Arranged Marriage plot, but personally I like playing in the weird and uncomfortable implications.

So, I've been thinking about how you would justify an obviously barren marriage in That Kind of fantasy world, and I thought it'd be interesting if gay marriage in Ye Old Fantasy Land was a form of soft disinheritance/abdication.

Like, "Oh, God, I don't want to be in this position of power please just find me a boy to marry", or, "I know you should inherit after you father passes but as your stepmother/legal guardian I think it'd make more sense if my kids got everything, so maybe consider lesbianism?", or "Look, we both know neither of our families has enough money to support that many grandkids, so let's just pair some spares and save both our treasuries the trouble".

Obviously this brings in some very different dynamics that I know not everyone would be pinged by, but I just think it'd be neat.

#In modern AU Stanhope could have arranged a marriage for Nix to marry Norman Dike #To win some liberal votes for democrats #politics

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Wow! Thank you so much for pointing us to the details! I haven’t noticed the hole on the top left corner. So Webster’s card has a hole and an “authenticated” stamp. For comparison, there is Liebgott’s card (despite his family’s claim that he was NOT Jewish and not religious in general). (BTW, Webster’s grandfather was a famous war correspondent. He took Webster’s mother to live in China for a year. Webster also traveled to the far east. Philippine and Japan in 1930s)

Was David Kenyon Webster Jewish? He never gave any clue in his book. But I found him in the “National Jewish Welfare Board”. It’s not someone else by the same name because 33 Millard Ave. Bronxiville NY was his family address. His grandfather (on his mother’s side) was Josiah Kingsley Ohl. Is “Josiah” a Jewish name?

#I didn’t find Sobel’s card

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Chapters: 1/3 Fandom: Band of Brothers (TV 2001) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Lewis Nixon/Richard Winters Characters: Richard Winters, Lewis Nixon, Harry Welsh, Original Male Character(s) Additional Tags: Angst Canon Era, Alternate Universe, Alternative Universe-Canon Divergence, Alternative universe-historical, Kind of an Historical AU Fighting VD and fascism through solid public health and legalizing gay sex, Lots and lots of sex, all kinds of gay sex, are we tagging all the kinds of sex?, Anal Sex, Intercrural Sex, Officer Social Life, Lewis Nixon has rules about drinking, Making it clear that Guernere wasn’t the only soldier going to Lulu’s, Justice 4 DeEtta, Not Nixon Family Fancy-Ryer Family Fancy, the paris trip, when you are desperately in love but also desperately in danger of dying tomorrow Series: Part 3 of Contact Tracing Summary:

In France, Dick and Nix get some much needed rest; unfortunately, it doesn’t last long.

#woahhhh #NOW IT'S XMAS!

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#Spoiler Alert: he was lying #TRIUMPH OF THE WILL (1935) #I was watching it for research purpose #NOT IN SUPPORT OF FASCISM #Surprisingly Hitler said all the right things on the surface #Provocative but nothing particularly vile

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#The Night of Long Knives #Documentary #Youtube

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Where were Lew's parents when he was in Germany?

Well, I'm bored. I was thinking, it wouldn't be so difficult to check out the social notes to see what Doris and Stanhope were doing when their teen son was running wild in Germany. July and August were the social season, their presence or absence in social events may give us some clues regarding whether they were aware of Lew's whereabouts.

So, Lew left on 25 June 1934, returned on 02 Sep 1934.

Doris might be unaware of Lew's absence because she was busy, attending her close friend Marie Dressler, who was gravely ill.

Marie Dressler was an actress. To give you a sense of how famours she was at the time, this was the newspaper headline back then:

Marie Dressler was in critical condition for a month and she finally died on July 28th. After the funeral, Doris (probably still in sorrow), went to Oregon to spend some time with her BFF Mrs Nion Tucker.

Meanwhile, Lew's loving father, Stanhope Nixon, participated in a masquerade rivalry and won the first prize, by mimicking a Scotch Whisky bottle. (and yes, he was in Santa Barbara. He was the parent at home when Lew left for Germany. Why am I not surprised?)

Lew's grandparents were on East coast, also attending summer social events. At the beginning of July, they were saying they were planning to go to Europe. But for some unknown reason they canceled. Instead they stayed in their summer cottage on Monmouth beach in New Jersey. In early August, they arranged a Bon Voyage Party for their head butler, who was of their service for 27 years and finally had the opportunity to go back to Norway to visit his family.

#lewis nixon #obscure facts about lewis nixon #band of brothers #Stanhope f*cked up again

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More historic newspapers during that time period. This batch was all from New York Times. Unlike newspapers.com, NYT's historic archive is free for browsing LINK.

Facepalm to the over-optimistic Russian and US politicians who were writing Hitler's eulogy in 1934.

So during Lew's summer vacation in Germany (June 24 to Aug 24, 1934), these events happened:

June 30-July 2：“Night of the Long Knives” Hitler orders the purge of the top leadership of the Nazi Party paramilitary formation, murdered Ernst Röhm and his top commanders. But when it was happening ppl around the world were told there was a big revolt to overthrow the gov. Aug 2: German President von Hindenburg dies. Hitler becomes President of Germany. Aug 19: Hitler declares himself Führer of the German Reich and People (a.k.a. the absolute dictator of Germany)

Imaging Mrs. Stanhope Nixon kicking herself for giving Lew her signature on that "school field trip"

#Shout out to Jews who voted for Hitler to play safe #RUN! RUN FAST