h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Dr Mary Edwards Walker: Army Physician, Feminist, Eccentric - A88036031
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor - U1590784

When I found out last week that they'd renamed the last 'Confederate' fort for Dr Mary Walker, I let out a war whoop and ran for the Library of Congress and Internet Archive.

I KNEW they would portray this lady in the most glowing terms. After all, she was WOKE, right?

And I'd seen her photo. And I Knew Things. Also, I couldn't pass up the pleasure of writing a guide entry containing the word 'Oswegonians'. (Twice.)

I wish I'd met Mary Walker. She was a hoot. I hope you enjoy this.

Thank you - this Entry will be an asset to the Edited Guide

"A local woman once offered Dr Walker a glass of milk. She drank half and then said she'd 'save the rest for in the morning' – and then proceeded to stay overnight." - so cheeky!

Glad you were able to find such a great photo for the Entry Illustrates the text well - in particular, it is excellent to see the medal that was a fine honour indeed.

What is a 'masher'?

She apparently called the 'masher' a 'dude', which really confused me because I can't find that use of 'dude' (meaning 'dandy') in the 1860s otherwise.

'Masher' is the term from the 1890s-1910s for men who harass women in public. During that period, women used hatpins to discourage them. There were court cases. Judges and juries usually sided with the women, too. Excellent use of hatpins.

I'll go rewrite that to make it clearer.

And thanks for reading!

And there I was thinking it was what you used on potatoes to make shepherd's pie...

<BB<

Mrs Hoggett does. I prefer to use an electric hand mixer.

She's the one that keeps the dream alive
From the morning, past the evening
To the end of the light
Brimful of Masher on the 45
Well, it's a brimful of Masher on the 45

<BB<

I'm afraid that reference sailed over my head.

'Brimful of Asha' was the UK's first really successful Asian Rock record (it was referenced a lot in radio/television comedy 'Goodness Gracious Me') and is a tribute to Asha Bhosle, an Indian singer who has apparently recorded over 12,000 songs in more than 20 different languages (11,000 at the time of the record being granted 12 years ago), which is a world record: http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/99223-most-studio-recordings-singles.

<BB<

I see. I still don't get what 'brimful of Masher on the 45' could possibly mean. Mysterious words, indeed.

Quick question - is the Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service still awarded, and how many recipients have there been? Sounds an impressive award - but I don't know if it was only given to 3 people during the American Civil War, or if it is an ongoing award that hundreds of servicemen are given each day in their breakfast cereal.

I did wonder whether Fort Walker was an infantry base...

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Fort Walker is a ginormous joint forces training area - 76,000 acres and you can land C130s on it and practise shooting great big guns, jumping out of helicopters, and these days, doing 'asymmetrical warfare', whatever in holy hell that means. I might ask the military nieces and nephews if they ever get there, but they're at other facilities.

According to the fort's website, they are 'Where America's Military Sharpens Its Combat Edge.' Ft Walker (then called Ft AP Hill for a truly ridiculous Confederate) was first used in 1940 to practise for joint operations in WWII.

The Congressional Medal of Honor is a very big deal - highest award and all. It's been awarded 3,525 times as of September of this year. 618 of these were posthumous.

I put in footnotes with all that information, but refrained from commenting either on AP Hill's weirdness or what I think it says about a country less than 250 years old to have awarded that many medals for combat valor 'above and beyond the call of duty'. What it means is that in 250 years that country has been involved in an excessive amount of warfare.

Thanks for the questions! I hope these answers help.

Oh - and I wrote all that and suddenly realised you weren't really interested in who trains at Ft Walker because you were making a 'pune, or play on words...'

It's good to know (but did you mean 'armed forced'?)

My guess would be that asymmetrical warfare might be where you have all the gurt big guns, helicopters, C130s, nuclear weapons and whatnot, and your opponent has pointed sticks. Or as Hilaire Belloc wrote in 1898:
"Whatever happens, we have got,
The Maxim gun, and they have not."

<NN<

(Mind you, the US was defeated in Vietnam in a large part by faeces-covered bamboo spikes and other boobytraps - but that's another discussion).

<TypoTypo<

Thanks for proofreading. I fixed that (Freudian?) typo.

Yes, I imagine that's why they practise for asymmetrical warfare - it can be very effective, from punji sticks back to Johnson's motorcar.

People with great big guns get testy when the natives figure a way around them.

Anyway, thanks also for helping me figure out a way to satisfy the military history geeks without drawing attention away from Mary Walker, who was a phenomenon.

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