Moe Berg

A great story.....

Moe Berg: A second-rate baseball player but a first-rate spy.

When baseball greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig went on tour in Japan in 1934, some fans wondered why a third-string catcher named Moe Berg was included.

The answer was simple: Berg was a US spy. Speaking 15 languages—including Japanese—Moe Berg had two loves: baseball and spying.

In Tokyo , garbed in a kimono, Berg took flowers to the daughter of an American diplomat being treated in St. Luke’s Hospital--the tallest building in the Japanese capital. He never delivered the flowers.The ball-player ascended to the hospital roof and filmed key features: the harbor, military installations, railway yards, etc.

Eight years later, General Jimmy Doolittle studied Berg’s films in planning his spectacular raid on Tokyo .

                                          

Berg’s father, Bernard Berg, a pharmacist in Newark, New Jersey, taught his son Hebrew and Yiddish. Moe, against his wishes, began playing baseball on the street at age four. His father disapproved and never once watched his son play. In Barringer High School , Moe learned Latin, Greek and French. He graduated magna cum laude from Princeton—having added Spanish, Italian, German and Sanskrit to his linguistic quiver, During further studies at the Sorbonne, in Paris, and Columbia Law School he picked up Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Arabic, Portuguese and Hungarian—15 languages in all, plus some regional dialects.

While playing baseball for Princeton University , Moe Berg would describe plays in Latin or Sanskrit.

                                         
                                                                            

During World War II, he was parachuted into Yugoslavia to assess the value to the war effort of the two groups of partisans there. He reported back that Marshall Tito’s forces were widely supported by the people and Winston Churchill ordered all-out support for the Yugoslav underground fighter, rather than Mihajlovic’s Serbians.

The parachute jump at age 41 undoubtedly was a challenge. But there was more to come in that same year.

Berg penetrated German-held Norway , met with members of the underground and located a secret heavy water plant—part of the Nazis’ effort to build an atomic bomb. His information guided the Royal Air Force in a bombing raid to destroy the plant.

                                                      
                                                  

There still remained the question of how far had the Nazis progressed in the race to build the first Atomic bomb. If the Nazis were successful, they would win the war.

Berg (under the code name “Remus”) was sent to Switzerland to hear leading German physicist Werner Heisenberg, a Nobel Laureate, lecture and determine if the Nazis were close to building an A-bomb. Moe managed to slip past the SS guards at the auditorium., posing as a Swiss graduate student. The spy carried in his pocket a pistol and a cyanide pill. If the German indicated the Nazis were close to building a weapon, Berg was to shoot him—and then swallow the cyanide pill. Moe, sitting in the front row, determined that the Germans were nowhere near their goal, so he complimented Heisenberg on his speech and walked him back to his hotel.

                                    
                                    

Moe Berg’s report was distributed to Britain’s Prime Minister,
Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and key figures in the team developing the Atomic Bomb.

Roosevelt responded: “Give my regards to the catcher.”

Most of Germany ’s leading physicists had been Jewish and had fled the Nazis mainly to Britain and the United States .

After the war, Moe Berg was awarded the Medal of Merit— America ’s highest honor for a civilian in wartime. But Berg refused to accept, as he couldn’t tell people about his exploits. After his death, his sister accepted the Medal and it hangs in the Baseball Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, NY.

Sick in bed

Our daughter Christine chosen to be Mary for the pagent
 

This week I spent 2 days in bed with vertigo.  Vertigo is when you are off balance and everything spins, which makes walking almost impossible.  I had to stay in bed to settle down the nausea which accompanies it.  I couldn't eat or drink or I would throw up.  Being sick is sick!  I don't ever want to do that again. I know what brought it on. I was a passenger on the back of a 4-wheeler for  hours and was bounced around like a rag doll.  Vertigo always follows some kind of trauma.  Anyway, I am better now and enjoyed a hike yesterday and church today.

I was very touched by our Sacrament speaker who reminded us that Christ volunteered for the role of being our Savior.  Why would anyone volunteer for that job?  I could hardly handle my two days of  vertigo, I sure wouldn't be volunteering for everyone else's diseases, illnesses and sins.  I guess He really loves us alot more than we can comprehend. All he ask in return is that we do ALL we can do and He will cover the rest.  We need to use the atonement every day when we fall short of all the things we just can't seem to do,  yet want to do.  I always seem to be planning way to much goodness.  Yes, I have the desire to do alot of things for alot of people each and every day, but never seem to get it all done. 

Our speaker told us that the outcome of our future has already been decided.  Because of Christ we are WINNERS!  Just one thing we need to do! Our part! Oh yes, repent, repent and repent, try to keep the commandments and obey the promptings of the Holy Ghost and then, it is a done deal! 

We are here on earth to figure out if we want to follow Christ plan or Satan’s.  Christ has done the hard part for us.  We need to give each day our best.  As members and missionaries of His church we need to spread the message of his endless love to the world, that they can have JOY!  Few people in the world realized they are supposed to have JOY!  They live in misery, regret, remorse and they don’t even know why.  Christ promises us ultimate JOY!  True joy can only come from the Savior.

If we could only see for a moment who we REALLY ARE!  Who we are to become, we would understand why the Savior did for us what He did, we are each individually magnificent humans in the making.

Even in the worst of pain, or terrible disease we cannot comprehend the suffering He went through for us.  Yet, we have been told that, no disease no pain will accompany us in the next life.

LIFE is not easy said Elder Holland, it’s hard because Salvation is not easily obtained.

He quoted a statement about the value of bearing your testimony many times a day, because anyone who hears it, knows they have heard something familiar, for just a moment the veil is thin and they are remembering something they knew from before.  Testimonies are powerful.   Stand tall when you share your testimony, for you stand with Christ, and people will feel His goodness and the truth of what you say.

This week’s mission:  Be filled with joy, share my testimony daily,  ask for His  atonement to work for me as I turn my shortcomings over to Him.

 

A parable - through a dream

A very dear friend of mine shared with me her dream.  She didn't realize until the end of the dream that it was about her life.  She has had some unusual challenges.  It wasn't until I finished reading the dream that I realized this parable was for me.  Then I realized it is a parable that you may also find applicable in your life.

 

I dreamed a parable.  There was a boy in an English class whose teacher told them to write a paragraph in one period.  It was a weighty assignment and the boy knew he needed to do his best.  He didn’t even have a piece of paper so he asked the teacher for a piece and was turned down.  He searched through his notebook and finally found a piece of paper that had only doodling across the top.  He hoped the teacher wouldn’t mind the sketches, and perhaps would even like them. 

So he started writing.  The words flowed to him easily, and he was surprised because he felt it was really turning into something very good.  But he was using a little stub of a pencil and the brilliant words were looking pretty shabby, and hard to read.  Some other boys came into the room and created a big disturbance and made it difficult for the boy to continue writing. 

Near the end of class, the teacher asked the boy to read his paragraph.  Even though it wasn’t completely written down, the boy read the paragraph out loud.  Both the teacher and the students were obviously moved by the paragraph.  The bell rang and the teacher took the incomplete paragraph from the boy and left.

The boy was determined to get his words down and to turn it in to the teacher.  So he looked for another piece of paper.  His girl friend came to him and was telling him about something very important to her and stomped away in a huff because he was so distracted.  But it was very important to him to get this paragraph that was in his mind down on paper. 

He found a small label machine which required searching for each letter and choosing it.  It would be very laborious to get anything down this way, but he decided that it would be worth it.  So he spent the next hour putting down his sentences letter by letter.  For some reason, between each word it printed formatting words in green like “hard return” or “capitalization.” 

When he was finished he took the paper to his teacher.  The teacher looked at the two pages, one with sketches across the top, written in blunt, scratchy pencil, and the other with bright green formatting indications between each word. 

The boy thought that the teacher would probably not even take the trouble to read his paragraph in this state of disarray.  But the look on the teacher’s face told the boy of the teacher’s reaction.  His teacher valued his words very highly, not only for their brilliant content, but also because of what it took for the boy to write it down and get it to him. 

When I woke, I was told that this dream was a parable for mortality.  The fall made it very difficult for us to express and to fulfill the magnificent things that are inside us from before we were born.  Every righteous thing we try to accomplish is much more difficult than it would have been in other circumstances.  But even though the product may turn out less than we desire, our loving Father looks at what it cost us to do, and He recognizes the pure grain of truth and beauty in what we have accomplished.  He treasures not only our effort, but the beautiful person we are including who we were before we were born, who we have become here in this life, and all we will become and do in the eternal worlds ahead.

 

The Rock and the Hard spot

I remember as a very young girl the guilt that went through my entire being because I had taken something that didn’t belong to me.  I didn’t know at the time why I had that feeling but I didn’t like it.  I had been taught the teachings of Jesus Christ, yet I blew it.  I hadn’t planned on taking something that didn’t belong to me: I just did.  And my pain was worse than when I was hit in the head with a rock a few months previous.

It wasn’t for several days that I decided to confessed.  It was so hard; I knew my parents would be so disappointed in me.  But I had to get rid of that pain that seemed to worsen hour by hour.  I really didn’t understand repentance at that young age, I just had hope that I could feel better again.  And I did. A feeling of peace covered my entire body.  It was a great lesson I learned.  My parents forgave me and the emotions I had stored up in those few days dissipated. 

Fast forward many years,  I still made mistakes but from that first experience I learned to recognize my dependence on the Holy Ghost and when the guilt begins, I need to repent immediately.  The longer I put it off the more miserable I am. 

As painful as that lesson was at that tender age I will always be grateful,  for I was rescued from a lifetime of feeling unworthy.  Repentance is powerful!  It works over and over again.

Cherrished Children

I have seven children and they have given me 26 grandchildren who I love very much.  Children can be challenging in this world of deteriorating values.  They were challenging for me years ago.   I felt so inadequate being in charge of all their needs, feeding them, housing them and clothing them.  I felt the urgency to help them develop character, unlease their spiritual potential and help them to become independent moral people that would fit in society.  One child was a big job but seven....what was I thinking.

So with that said, and knowing I am basically out of the kid business, (all of them are raising their own children)  I feel to tell the world (who ever will listen)  what I would do if I could do things all over again.  Where my priorities would be now, that I have a clear picture of the past.

Here is my "I WISH I HAD OF DONE LIST"

Lesson #1
I would have set up my home as a "Christ Centered Home" complete with everything I could think of that would invite the Savior to spend time with us, including pictures that depict the Savior throughout his life, everything entering would reflect what I believed in.  The TV would NOT be the center of my living room.  There is almost nothing on it that teaches what I would want taught to those I love the most.  The TV would be small and in a inconspicuous place unplugged only to be used on special occasions. 

Lesson # 2
Family Home Evening once a week!  No way....it would be everyday, every evening.  I would cease each moment to teach, edify and share my testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ.  Teaching would be my focus especially the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ would be #1 focus. 

Lesson # 3
From the time each baby was born until they left home I would be looking for ways to teach my favorite subject, "How to recognize a prompting from the spirit, and to promptly follow that prompting.  When I saw the movie "Ephraim's Rescue"  I knew what made that young man special...He knew the voice of the Holy Ghost and he always acted upon it quickly.  A great article to read is in the June 2013 Ensign page 24, written by Jeniffer Jones...."Nine Principles for a successful family"  A family choose to take a Sabbatical for a entire year from activities such as dance, sports, anything that took them away from their family focus. They chose to focused on recognizing the spirit and understanding their responsibility in responding to those promptings.  They had great discussions around dinner every evening, took walks and focused on one thing only. Wow!  I can see the value of that is far higher than another year of tumbling or dance. 

Lesson  #4
I would try to instill in them how to recognize key words used by the adversary such as :  FEAR, ANGER, WORRY and HATE.  These are tactics created to keep us  away from trusting God.  Our world seems to love drama....and we don't want our children to go there.  They need to know that God knows them so well that He has their best interest in hia hands at all times.  We are here to be tested and yes, bad things do happen to good people.  We can  grow from our trials and our difficulties.

Lesson  #5  I would limit outside influences in my home.  Yes I mean friends, I would hope to have such a wonderful environment that they love being at home with their family   Siblings would be their best friends.  Our home would be a place of refuge from the world and always feel safe and loved.

Lesson  #6  Once a month FHE I would invite interesting people with marvelous testimonies into our home for dinner and a time for them to influence my children with their testimonies.  My children could also practice their manners and learn how to interact and ask good questions to the speakers.  I would also have the whole family look for a service project we could all participate in somewhere in the community (secretly if possible) at least once a month.  Service is huge and finding them  opportunities to give freely to others.

So for what its worth maybe these lessons can be of value to others, since I am thus un-employed I will blog them out into the world.

Hiking is one of my passions

Rebecca & Ann

I like to hike.  That's not really true; the truth is I love to hike.  Just last week I was able to go on 4 great hikes.  The hikes I take are up in the mountains going  to a destination or peak.  The hikes I went on last week ranged from 4 to 12 miles.  I have certain friends that I enjoy hiking with,  Jane, Ann and Pam .  We all come from different (walks of life) but have found joy in starting on a path and going to set destination.

Life is like a hike!  As we go through life no matter when we start, we are all looking for the perfect path to get us somewhere, somewhere that brings us happiness.   I have met people from all over the world, and discovered that very few have a real destination in mind.  Most people just meander, not knowing where they really want to go, and spend time on every path anyone beckons them to come on.  My destination in life is to return to my Heavenly Father.  I desire that with all my heart.  Most folks just wander from path to path looking for something better than where they are now, hoping to find a reason to be on the pathways in life.

On Saturday we were beginning to wonder if we would ever reach our destination which was “Green Ponds”.  It seemed to us that we should have arrived.  A few minutes later there was a path leading in a different direction, and we had to make a decision, which path would take us where we desired to go.  The one we were on appeared to be the best traveled.   Yet neither were marked to give direction.  After a few minutes Ann said,  lets  not  make a decision until we take the less traveled path up and around the bend until we can see more clearly, so we did and to our surprise we arrived at our ponds.

It’s too bad that there isn’t a road sign on every pathway in life like the following:  “Beware this path will lead you to destruction.” Or “ Danger, cliffs ahead ,this path you will bring you lots of pain and suffering".  Or “Stay on this straight and narrow path, don’t exit and you will find great joy and happiness”. 

I have two granddaughters serving missions in different parts of the world.  McKensey is in Honduras and McKaila  is serving in England.  Both of them are trying to teach people that there is a destination to life,  there is a clearly marked path that can bring them Joy and Happiness, even though there may be some obstacles in the way.  They are discovering that many people are searching for answers.  The answer to all of life's questions is "Jesus Christ".  He provides a path that will lead us directly to him if we will not wander. 

Hiking is great fun, unless you get lost.  Life is also great fun, until you get lost.  I am so glad that when I am feeling lost I can turn to my source ( Jesus Christ)and not depend on the wisdom of man to get me on the right path again.

 

 

 

Throw away babies

I was married in 1967.  My life up to that point had been like a fairytale. Life was simple, easy and fun from the moment I arose each morning until I went to bed each night.  I wasn't spoiled and was willing to eat and wear whatever was given me.  I never complained, and I was never bored.  I also had no idea what was going on in the poor sections of my city, the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world.  I truly had a carefree childhood.

Over the last 40 +years my eyes have been opened.  I have been educated through travel and a lust for learning about the world through books.    I have been drawn to the atrocities in the world before my time, during my time and at the present, particularly concerning women and children.

Did you know that the Cultural Revolution that went on in China in 1967 persecuted those who were educated and they were severely punished?  I just read a wonderful book that takes place in China at this difficult time, the main character is Benfu, a teenager who was sent to a commune, then imprisoned, beaten, harmed, all because his parents were educators.  Then one day a young boy (he hardly knows) risks his own life to send Benfu off to freedom.  Just one act of kindness changed the world, at least Benfus world. 

That boy becomes a man, marries and becomes a trash collector.  As you may know baby girls are discarded and abandoned in China because of the “one only child law” and the heavy emphasis on the value of boys.  Benfu finds these baby girls in the trash, and he keeps them, him and his wife feed them, clothes them, and provides them as much love as they can, even though they themselves were living in poverty.  Over the years he found 24 abandoned girls, mostly babies.  Some die, most live, those that die, knew that for a few days or weeks they were cherished and loved.  This is a story about family, loyalty and love.

Here are a few values that are taught in the book:

You can’t judge a group as a whole by the actions of one or a few.  There are good and bad in all groups.

Never let pride get in your way if you need help.  Don’t deny those you love a better life because you can’t admit you need help.

One good deed can change a life, as well as your own.

A full life does not require material things.

If someone waits until they are financially sound to have children, there wouldn’t be much procreating going on.

 The book is called “The Scavengers Daughters” by Kay Bratt and is based on two caring people who found and cared for abandoned baby girls.

 

Like  Benfu, I hope I will always risk my comfort  to better the life of someone in need especially a child.