Chapter 24 - Opportunities (in the Navy)

[Victoria Steele]

Paul,

I can not believe that I have the honor of opening this chapter. But I'd better write fast because if I don't someone will beat me to it.

First of all MAGNIFICENT WORK. And you know I don't hand out compliments easily or lightly.

Just a guick comment on the WONDERFUL AND EXPRESSIVE PICTURES. The little boy with his toy destroyer! The telling expressions at the Lab ... talk about DEPRESSION. .... AND THEN THE SMILE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT.

But I am a great observer ... its what I do for a living .... notice the clenched fist ..... nervousness at having his picture taken? No ... not really .... does he want to be there , having his picture taken with his, obviously proud mama ... maybe ..... there is tension there in that fist. Wheres Josephine?

And the Lab picture. Glum is not the entire word. Notice also how very well Townsend Brown is dressed. I would call it "impeccable" ..... and this is BEFORE he learned how to be so neat in the Navy. .... notice his shoes. Expensive, polished .... attention to detail. Which is what I am doing.Paying attention to details ..... Townsends Father is standing squarely, in command of the situation? Or so he believes with all his heart..... Grace next to him is staring straight ahead ... which I think is her nature, nothing out of that line.
The person standing beside Townsend is not his lovely Josephine. SO .... Who is she?
Casting a studied glance at the "crew" there, I would guess maybe that she is ..... Grace Redmonds daughter maybe ... they look identical. So ...Paul ... huh ... something going on there you haven't bothered to tell us about?
I'll bet that the guy in the light colored suit was an idiot in the lab but probably the thing that kept the place going ... just an observation. How close did I come? Victoria

[Elizabeth Helen Drake]

Whew Victoria,

You must be one sharp researcher. Just your casual observations are so on the mark I am amazed.

Its really a story for Paul to broach, but I did notice that clenched fist too. Townsend Brown has his smile back, so things are far better than the picture taken at the lab. But you are right. There were no pictures of that "graduate" standing with his proud young wife. Just his parents. Several shots , he with his Mom ... he with his Dad .... but no Josephine. So yes, I join you in wondering. Where was she? Especially after the last personal postings about her loss. You would think that she would be there. I think (clenched fist) that he wanted her there. But thats just a calculated quess on my part. What do you think Victoria? Others?

I especially liked the photograph of Townsend Brown as a young child. What were you toting around when you were that age? I believe mine was a RaggetyAnn doll ... Asking others ... what were you pictured with? This kid is toting around a destroyer. Thats fascinating to me. Elizabeth.

[Martin Calloway]

Thats an interesting observation about Townsend Brown with his destroyer. (I am sure there are alot of Philadelphia Experiment fans that will pick up and comment on that.) As if he knew ahead of time, they will ponder.

What did I play with? Gliders. You know, the balsa wood things you fit together and then throw. I was good for hours. (Which is odd because the full sized gliders are my passion now. Hear nothing but a light whistle. Its great.

Paul? and you? Lets see, from your other sites ... red toy trucks? ... a guitar? Strange that we all seem to know something special when we are kids and then we lose it somehow when the world makes us grow up. Well, almost makes us. Theres' a little bit of kid in everybody, I hope. Martin

[Elizabeth Helen Drake]

You know, for years now Paul and I have been dredging through material ... looking for clues, any solid hints about what this Townsend Brown was actually doing. Sometimes we look so hard, we don't see something simple. Then when we finally see something, when it "dawns on us" or we see something we had overlooked we have a tendency to hit ourselves in the forehead .... dumb,dumb, dumb ... we tell ourselves ... How could we have missed that? Well, thats what it has been like. Sometimes we have perpetual headaches. Hello. Paul . Did you see this?

I am sharing this little message with everybody so that you will all share the excitement of a discovery which may (or may not) have any real contribution to this story. But thats what this process has been like. Remember, you are in the pool with us now ... tell us what you think of this.

Paul wrote in the last chapter that Townsend Brown wrote a letter to the Chief of the Bureau of Navigation offering a donation of his lab equipment. (Please read the chapter for details) point here is the DATE. (FEB. 26th, 1931) Brown is a Seaman Second Class. On March 3, 1931 Commander Sinclair writes his letter. saying "Pending the Bureaus decision I am keeping Brown ...." BUT NOTICE THIS, HAPPY RESEARCHERS,
On March 16, 1931 TOWNSEND BROWN REPORTED TO DUTY AT THE NAVY RESEARCH LABORATORY ..... IN ANACOSTA .... OVER THREE THOUSAND MILES FROM SAN DIEGO.

Stop and think on that for a moment folks ..from February 26th to March 16th ..... It takes us months to get just some of this mans records from the NRL ... yet it takes him less than a month to get himself there ... from proposal to completion and physically walking in the door .... You tell me if that isn't ..... ODD. Comments? See what Paul and I go through? Elizabeth

[Angela Bloomstrum]

A message for Paul from a very colorful fish, high in the air.

The picture of Thomas with his ship. Look again.

He is the ship.

A ship that waits in the darkness to see the lights. The ship is him. It circles. Returning, returning, returning. Waiting for the lights. Angela

[Mark Culpepper]

OK, Now thats really interesting. That Townsend Brown could PROPOSE something, have the Navy accept the idea and bring it to a walk- through -the- door conclusion . All within a month. Come on. You all out there. You tell me that this isn't strange? You can't account for "wartime expeditious movement" because we weren't even at war then ... in fact, neither was Europe.

Which leaves me thinking he must have had some POWERFUL FRIENDS IN WASHINGTON before he ever got there. The Navy can't even tie its own shoelace in a month normally. Am I right here? Mark