Marion Gunderson Art (and the Farmer's Daughter)

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)

Last night I posted the prologue to this six-part series about Mr. Spaulding and his experiences with explosives.  It will be easier to understand the six-part transcript if you first read the prologue.  If you don’t already know who Mr. Spaulding is, you might want to read the other posts about him.  The “L.” below is me, Louise (class of ’73), one of Mr.  Spaulding’s former students.

* * * * *

L.:  When you were in the military, was that the first time you had been exposed to explosives of any sort?

Mr. S.:  No.  I trace it all back to when I was a kid and fireworks were illegal in Iowa. I never had enough money to buy what I wanted so I gradually learned to make my own.  When I was a senior in high school I was tinkering around with some chemicals.  I had a nice mixture made up.  I made a wrong move and I had quite a bit in a metal can.  I was working up in my room, stupidly.  I got a little touch of acid in there, which I shouldn’t have and it went “whhoooshhh,” just like a flame thrower came out of there.  I managed to burn a lot of skin off both hands.  It was hanging in black shreds.  That didn’t make me very happy.  That was about two weeks before I graduated.  So, when I attended graduation ceremonies, I had both hands bandaged up, like a mummy.

L.:  What you learned about explosives up to that time, was it pretty much self-taught?

Mr. S.:  Yes, that was just chemistry.  They didn’t have any chemistry in high school where I went.  Otherwise, explosives learning I picked up on my own in Guam because there were explosives lying all over the place.  Japanese, American.  Unexploded ammunition, and so forth.  It was just a paradise to me.  I learned how to basically disarm them, take them apart and remove the explosive portion, thereof.  Then I could trade them off to other guys for their beer rations.  We had a beer ration of four cans a day.  Everybody had a beer ration card.

L.:  Was the beer for you?

Mr. S.:  Yes, or for anybody I wanted to give it to.

* * * * *

Part II, of six parts, will be posted by tomorrow evening, September 17th.

Mr. Spaulding enjoys hearing from readers via the comments option that is at the bottom of each post.  If you do comment, the only person seeing your email address is  me.  Although the comment section asks for a web site, it not necessary to enter one.

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)

If you aren’t aware of Mr. Spaulding (Dave Spaulding), you’d probably have fun reading about him in the previous posts.  The first post about him, posted on July 29th, describes him as a teacher and includes several comments from his former students.  Also, scattered in the previous posts are three photos of him.

During August and September, Mr. Spaulding and I had three conversations about his experiences with explosives.  I combined the three conversations into one transcript.  I’ll post that transcript in six parts beginning tomorrow, September 16th.

Hopefully you can appreciate that Mr. Spaulding and I do not want to risk having transcript details about explosives fall into the wrong hands…and subsequently be used inappropriately.  Because of our wanting to be careful, I have omitted portions of the transcript.  As you read, you’ll be able to see where I have omitted a word or explanation.

In the transcript, the blank lines (i.e., __________ ) indicate where a word (or two words) was “bleeped” out.  The “bleeped” out word is usually the name of a chemical or product Mr. Spaulding used.

Also in the transcript, whenever there are squared brackets [   ], it means I omitted one or more sentences in which Mr. Spaulding gave details about a chemical(s) and/or a product(s) and/or a process he used as he worked with explosives.

I realize the blanks and the brackets don’t allow insight to the full robust of the conversations.  My main purpose for posting the transcript is not so readers have a chemistry lesson, but, instead so we can learn more about Mr. Spaulding.  Hopefully, even with the omissions, that purpose will be accomplished.

I emailed the finished product, including blanks and brackets, to Mr. Spaulding to see if he thought it would be easy enough for people to follow.  Clever as always, he replied with, “Knowing what was missing in the blanks made it simple.  To the neophyte, however, it might seem that the writer was afflicted with amentia.”  (Off to the dictionary I went!)

Stay tuned.  The first of six parts will be posted by tomorrow night.

* * * * *

By the way, tomorrow is my father’s 91st birthday.

(Click here to go to this blog’s home page.)