Index – The Best of Neptunus Lex

On March 6, 2012 we lost Lex. He died doing what he wanted to do, teaching Naval Aviators how to be even better.

Lex as a TOPGUN Instructor

For many of us, the Lexicans, he became more than just a blogger but a friend.  Carroll “Lex” LeFon not only enjoyed writing, but he enjoyed the interaction of the “commentariat”, many of whom he called “the best friends I never met”.

Soon after his accident, his website, Neptunus Lex, went down. If it weren’t for one Lexican, who copied and pasted most (about 70%) of his posts for later reading, “the lightness of Lex”, all 9  years’ worth of his work, would have been gone forever. Since this “Best of“ index has gotten so big, I have built another secondary index (“Rest of“ ) And there’s over 1,000 1,700 of his posts not indexed.

In Memory of CAPT Carroll “Lex” LeFon, and the Wonderful Community He Fostered

Welcome. The idea was floated that a ‘talk amongst yourselves’ blog would be a good addition to for the Non-Facebook Crowd. Here it is.

Letters From Iwo Jima

I have a post coming for the 75th anniversary of the Iwo Jima landings set to come out next month. I also watched the companion movie to Letters (they were made simultaneously)  Clint Eastwood made in 2006  –  Flags of Our Fathers. So you had 2 movies of Iwo Jima – from the perspectives of both sides.

It is all too easy to lump a wartime enemy into “they” with monolithic stereotypes and behavior.

John Basilone

If you drive up I5 from San Diego in a half hour or so you’ll transit the massive USMC base of Camp Pendleton. If you are lucky, looking to the left towards the ocean, you may see some Osprey‘s landing or taking off.

And you will pass a sign on the right telling you that you are on the Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone Highway.

I wonder of the many thousands of people passing that sign every day know who John Basilone was?

James E. Williams

In between working on another post, which may take a few days, I was watching a program on Amazon Prime involving that famous trio, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.

Except this wasn’t the Grand Tour but a boat trip through Cambodia and the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. It was a pretty interesting program, with the usual silly assortment of vehicles.

Some History Long Neglected

In the recent past, what was the most welcome thing a serviceman could receive, particularly when overseas? Something equally precious to Privates and Seamen, Generals and Admirals?

Something that, upon getting, could lift you out of a deep depression?

Or occasionally put you into a depression?

Highways Through Time

This stretch of Rt 66 to Holbrook, AZ was active from 1926 through 1958. It was the only section of Rt 66 that went through a National Park. (Painted Desert). Today only the old telephone poles remain, with the pavement under the dirt and sagebrush.

Coming back from my latest drive, I had a number of misconceptions cleared. In addition to a few historical misconceptions, from Judge Roy Bean to the Alamo, a highway surprised me.

Coming up through New Mexico I saw a sign for US Route 60.

Southwest Travelogue

At the start of my drive, I stopped at a deserted town in California that I had visited years earlier, a town on what was Rt 66 that Interstate 40 had killed.

While walking around, I encountered a biker from British Columbia, and I made the remark that “the best trips are those of which you don’t know where you will end up at the end of the day“.

He smiled knowingly, and said that when he is on the road, he didn’t even take a map.

Roy’s Cafe and Hotel Served as a beacon for weary Rt 66 travelers. Now empty and unused for almost 50 years. Shot during my 2006 visit.

WW2 History Rarely Seen

I just finished an excellent series, shown on Netflix, Greatest Events of World War II In Colour.

It is narrated by British actor Derek Jacobi, and has various historians and best-selling authors talking about the battles. 

One usually is presented with what I would call a one dimensional view of history. 

“This is what they thought, and this is why they planned so-and-so, and this was the result.”

In many of these episodes, I have gotten viewpoints that I had never heard before.