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Correcting the injustice done to Eric Geddes, R. A. A. F. Sole survivor fights to clear WWII shadow
The following message was sent to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on 2/10/2014 using the address provided by ABC [1]. Minor formatting changes have been made at the request of Ahoy and a few sentence structure changes have been made to the original text. Correcting article: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3670986.htm Article title: Sole survivor fights to clear WWII shadow The subject of this article and related video was settled in 1988 thus making both the video and print article inaccurate. The correct story involves the actions of the Hudson crew of which Geddes was a member, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison and Captain Emile I. Bonnot. Morison and Bonnot were officers in the United States Navy. The entire story as told by Geddes, Morison and Bonnot is available here: [2]. The 1988 report by Bonnot that discredits Morison and verifies the accuracy of the Geddes version is available here: [3]. I attempted to get the above information from U. S. military or government sources but my browser warned me of invalid certificates at the “.MIL” websites thus I am relying on current, public sources. ABC should contact a representative of the U. S. government if ABC wishes to verify the information stated above. On Google Books there is a book entitled The Naval Order of the United States, Past, Present, Future [4]. Read pages 19 and 20. Start with the last two paragraphs on page 19. In the second paragraph on page 20, Bonnot clears the two Hudson pilots of any wrong doing. Also read the criticism section of the Wikipedia entry for Morison at [5]. As for the YouTube video, I am the commenter Bikebrains[6]. I made the following two comments. 1. Hello, Illinois Yank here. The U. S. version of the story was corrected in 1988 by Captain Bonnot, USNR, Historian General Emeritus. Google: "The Battle of Savo Island" geddes bonnot hudson . I regret the pain Mr Geddes suffered as a result of not being aware of the 1988 action. 2. Hello again, Illinois Yank here. The U. S. version of the story was corrected in 1988 by Captain Bonnot, USNR, Historian General Emeritus. The Bonnot report is available on the Internet. Google: Captain Emile bonnot Guadalcanal PDF . Use the PDF called bonnotreport . Again, I regret the decades long injustice done to Mr. Geddes. Please consider correcting both the article and the video because their information has been obsolete for over 25 years and it perpetuates an ugly myth.
References 1. Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s contact address. http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/contact.htm 2. The entire story as told by Geddes, Morison and Bonnot. http://www.ww2pacific.com/hudsonrep.html 3. The 1988 report by Bonnot. http://www.ww2pacific.com/bonnotreport.pdf 4. Read about Bonnot's work. http://books.google.com/books?id=DY99mM57dIoC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false 5. Wikipedia entry for Morison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Eliot_Morison 6. YouTube video: Sole survivor fights to clear WWII shadow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-94ZuB0LM |
