Joe K, you claim knowing my age? That's quite interesting and I would like
to have that data myself so send it on when you can, along with your source
of the info.
You mispelled the name of the WW-1 French taxi. It was a 12cv Unic built by
M. Georges Richard , in a little town called Puteaux, Seine. It was in
that town that we visited some of the local ladies etc.
Reason I happened to know this gentleman was that after the famous "Taxis
of the Marne" event, his Unic taxis switched to the advanced Claudel
carburettor , on which I happened to hold a partial patent for the idle
system (only). M. Richard prevailed upon Gen. Pershing to have me loaned
to the Unic works to assist making the carb work properly on the various
Unic models, including the taxi model. Hence I did yeoman duty there and
was awarded the Criox deGare for this effort. Of course Foch and the other
French high command were giving out medals to everyone at that time and
there was even a certain chef in Pigalle that received one...and this sort
of taints the value of the award?
BTW, there is an interesting link between this marque and the reference I
made yesterday to Chrysler ruining Rootes and SIMCA. The Unic co. was
taken over by SIMCA in the 1930s and commercial vehicles of this name were
produced after WW-2 . I believe the firm eventually perished along with
SIMCA in the late 60s.
Your own historical memory is quite evident and to be complimented.
Your mention of the Russo-Turkish war must refer to my recent long article
published by Man At Arms magazine (Aug-97 ed.) in which I recounted the
history of the Winchester repeating rifle as well of other weaponry which
made an impact upon all future land warfare. You would enjoy reading how
Osman Pasha (the Turkish Field Marshal) held up the entire Russian-Romanian
campaign for over five months by the skillful battles at Plevna, Bulgaria
in 1877. Of course , this is way before I was born so my material came from
various printed sources of that time. Most encyclopedia will have some
mention of Plevna as it is recognized as significant in military history.
Joe Fitzpatrick, you figure I must be about 101 years old? You may be
correct since actual records are not available. I do come from a very long
life family and grandparents lived to 102, 104,99 and 98. The 102 year old
grandfather actually died from injuries after crashing his Harley soft tail
into a parked car.
Terry, the T does not stand for what you guessed it did. Actually, with all
birth record being lost, no one now knows what it stands for but I have
always seemed to have it.
My dad was the famous Milo G. Trenk (Hudson Motor Car Co.) and his birth
cert. had nothing shown as a middle name. He simply inserted a G. because
he said he was uncomfortable having "empty" as his legal initials. Perhaps
I should have asked him about my own T, but at the time, it did not seem of
importance and now of course he has been long gone.
You seemed concerned about my fingers getting stiff and I assure you that
there is little to worry about since I still play my nine foot Baldwin
concert grand and keep in shape. When I was quite a younger person, Arthur
Rubinstein gave me some lessons for a few years and I made a debut at
Carnegie Hall in NYC, playing some deBussey material. Arthur later said he
hoped I had other means of gainful income, as I would make no money at the
pianoforte. I never performed in public again.
Ramon, to answer your pvt. message, yes I did quite a lot of personal
engine work as well as work on other parts of vehicles. Being a native
American, I was already an expert on the Nash built "Liberty" trucks the
AEF was generally equipped with. They also had chain drive Mack trucks but
the Liberty were faster and easier to keep running in my opinion. There was
also a LaFayette truck we used but I forget who made them. Rickenbacker
was a race car driver and half baked mechanic. He was only allowed to
change tires and other simple jobs under my supervision. Of course once he
got moved to air pilot school he soon found his proper place and the rest
is history.
In the future, do not fear your fellow LIST members . Your concern that
they might "hang you on the wall..." will not likely occur. Therefore, let
there be no more pvt e-mail. Put it out here for all the people to see.
Dick T.
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