War correspondence

I'm holed up indoors today as it is pouring rain but it is reasonably warm so I think this is the start of the spring rains and within a month there will be buds, flowers and new leaves all around.

I have spent my last couple of days on an American war trail, not by design but because much of what is considered touristy in the south relates to one war or another. It is my observance that Americans seem to be 'proud' of their wars . Australians remember wars and respect soldiers who fought but do not glorify and exalt them like here.

Interestingly, during the Revolutionary War (against the British) many South Carolinians fought on the side of the British and the Brits were looking in control for a while until one fellow who knew the layout of all the swamps started some guerrilla tactics and made a real nuisance of himself and eventually wore them down. Lucky for them, when they gave up America, they found Australia to send all the crims to instead!

Most people here seem very proud of all the bloodshed in exchange for their independence and can't understand why we haven't done the same. But the war that confounds me the most is the Civil War which essentially was fought over slavery. To me (and I would think to most people) slavery was and is an incredibly heinous act but here in the south, they still seem to be fighting that war, or are at least bitter about the end result. I'd have thought that period of history would be something you would be ashamed of but this does not seem to be the case. The confederate flag is proudly flown in front of the Columbia State House. It's hard to imagine how African-Americans must feel about that.

I finally made it to the State Museum which had some very interesting displays and information about history both natural and cultural as well as an extensive exhibit on technological developments in the C20th.

On Wednesday I returned to Charleston for a tour of Fort Sumter which is a man-made island fort in the harbour entrance and is where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. It's quite an interesting historic sight which would have much more significance to an American than to me.

Across the river from Charleston is Patriot's Point (what else would it be called?) and moored here is a decommissioned aircraft carrier called the Yorktown which you can climb all over and has many decades worth of military aircraft on the flight deck and in the hangar, including one of the Apollo crafts which this ship rescued from the ocean. There is also a submarine next to it that you can feel claustrophobic in. Not being very well schooled in the inner workings of the military (Top Gun is the best exposure I've had), much of what was on display was out of my league but if this was your thing I guess it would seem like heaven. As well as all the machinery you can walk through the living areas of the ship which are pretty vast and complex in a ship this size (so much so that I got lost and thought I might never see the light of day again) and you can pretend to be the captain up on the navigation deck which is high enough to have a great view of Charleston. All in all a cleverly done military museum.