by Earl Nelson
I will never forget that glorious sight. It has dimmed with time but the thrill is still there.
We chatted a bit, he was going to be present at Howells in the morning but I cut to the chase.
“Is there anything I should be aware of?”
“Minor issues, nothing that you need to be concerned about.”
“That is good to hear. I realized today I will never get a straight answer on the docks.”
“My people tell me things are going good there. It is in my best interest for the project to succeed so I’m keeping an eye on it.”
“Thank you, Colonel, if there is anything I can do for you please let me know.”
“There is, next summer we are going to be in England. An introduction to the Queen would be received very well by my wife.”
“That can be arranged. While you are there you can use my suite at the Plaza on The Strand. Here is my card. Contact me when the event gets closer.”
“I will Lord Blackhoof.”
We shook hands and parted. To think this was the man who sent me a shotgun shell and told me to get out and stay out of Argentina. I guess attitudes change when daughters are safely married.
Wait, is she married?
The next day was boring going over the books at Howell. I already had what I came for. Later in the evening, we took our show on the road again. This time flying to Senegal for refueling.
It was a tiny airport and none of us choose to get off the plane. It didn’t seem safe. I had heard so many unsavory things about the diamond trade here.
No one tried to sell me any of the so-called blood diamonds while we were there. I think we were all glad to get back into the air.
Arriving in Hamburg the next morning was a culture shock after dealing with South American and African officials.
The Germans were their usual efficient and oh so correct selves. It was like a breath of fresh air to know that I didn’t have to reach into my pocket for a gift.
As they were leaving one of the customs officials asked if he could have my autograph as a gift for his daughter. I reached into my coat pocket for one of my publicity pictures.
He must still wonder what I was laughing about.
We went directly to the port for the obligatory tour of the new docks. I swear these cranes were looking bigger all the time.
I mentioned that to one of the dockworkers. He told me it was not as big as the League Island Crane in Philadelphia at the Navy Ship Yards.
It must be huge. I stated that and he told me there were plans underway to build some with a million pounds lift capacity.
I spent a good half hour learning how modern ships were built. It was fascinating. I had no idea that ship compartments were built onshore, then lifted into place and welded together.
He joked that a compartmented ship could break in half and both halves float. Or worse yet one-half sink. It would be like the law of jelly side down. My half would be the one that sunk.
That was also the most interesting conversation I had in Germany. The books were correct and all was well.
Chapter 48
There was one surprise on my trip. I was contacted by a representative of the Federal Government they asked me to come to Berlin to meet with the Chancellor. It seems they wanted to give me an award.
It would be the Knight Commander's Cross (Großes Verdienstkreuz mit Stern); Great Cross with Star.
There was no reason not to go, though I wasn’t certain that I had done anything in Germany to deserve anything. We flew there in the afternoon for a simple ceremony and a reception.
The award was for helping in the economic redevelopment of West Germany. The Germans had come a long way since the war but having a major port updated was considered icing on the cake.
At the reception, I was told of a second reason. Hamburg is a state of West Germany in its own right. There is a long-standing policy that their citizens will not accept any state or federal awards.
I couldn’t understand, but the federal government liked to give these awards to people who did significant achievements in Hamburg as a stick in the eye. Politics you got to love it.
The Chancellor asked for Jim, Todd and to step into a library for a private conversation. As I suspected he wanted to know if we were considering doing any production in Europe.
“If you are looking to place any operations in Europe, we in Germany would be most interested and would be willing to make significant concessions for a large factory which employed a thousand people.”
“Sir we haven’t had that conversation internally but I assure you if we decide to have production in Europe Germany will be among those considered.”
“That’s all we can ask at this time.”
At that, we rejoined the party.
I did get to spend some time talking to a pretty young actress named Hannelore Auer. There was no magnetism between us. It was a professional chat about show business.
I was a little surprised that she wasn’t pushing to get into the US movies but each to their own. I suspected she would have a good career here in Germany. She carried herself well, I could see her in the role of a Princess.
We were staying the night at the Hotel Adlon Kempinski. When we got into our suite we had a brief wrap-up meeting for the events of the day.
The Chancellors question and offer were most interesting but we decided to put off any discussion until we were back in the air. We were learning that walls do have ears.
After we were back on board the plane in the morning and were in the air on our way to Valencia we met in the conference room with the door closed.
Todd and Jim told me they had been having discussions on this very issue. They wanted to work out the advantages and disadvantages before approaching me.
I asked if they had come to any conclusions.
“It would be very much to our advantage to have a production facility in Europe. It would have to be near one of the seas or oceans but we are growing too fast for Pittsburgh to handle.”
“There is another plus to the situation. It would give some protection against the US Politicians. This time it is the Democrats, next it could be the Republicans. They all want a piece of us. Even if we would go to Germany those politicians would have their hand out.”
Jim smiling said, “But you could play them against each other if they demanded too much.”
On that pleasant note, I asked them to continue to take a serious look, even put together a team to cost the project out, including site selection.
This was to be done discretely without letting any country know they were under consideration. I didn’t need the pressure that would be generated.
I gave my newest decoration to Roger to put the ribbon on my bar. Inside the box were instructions on obtaining duplicates. He told me he would need at least a dozen for my uniforms. Even though it was a foreign decoration I knew that I was authorized to wear a German one.
Well at least one from West Germany, I don’t think the East Germans would be offering me any shortly. They would like to put something around my neck, more likely a noose.
I was getting quite a collection. Soon my Coldstream uniform would look like my Boy Scout one, in other words, a Christmas Tree.
The flight to Valencia seemed like a hop skip and a jump after our recent trips.
We started with a tour of the port which had been in operation since 1483. I suspect it is a little larger now.
There were no signs of the Spanish manana. It was full speed ahead at all times. I almost got run over by a speeding forklift. It wasn’t a small one like those used inside. This one had a forty-five-foot box trailer on its forks.
Walking around the one new crane something looked different. It took a while to put it together. I asked Todd what he thought of the concrete foundation of the one crane that had been set up.
He looked at it then kicked an edge with his steel-toed boots. The concrete flaked off. The
head Spanish engineer told us not to worry about it. I didn’t like this at all.
Looking around for the American project engineer I didn’t see him. I asked where he was.
“He asked for the day off.”
“Do we have his phone number?”
It took some pushing but we were finally taken to an office where I called the man's apartment. He answered the phone immediately.
I identified myself. His comment was, “Wow, the head office got through to you guys quickly.”
“We’ve not heard from them, you say you have a call in for upper management?”
“Yes, I was forced to take the day off. They don’t want me on site when you show up.”
“Todd Goodson, Jim Wallace, and I are on-site right now. I wanted to ask about the concrete something doesn’t look right.”
“Good eye, boss, there is more than that wrong.”
“Meet us at the airport private aviation terminal.”
Hanging up the phone I told Jim and Todd to follow me. We walked out of the office to the car that had been put at our disposal for the day. The driver was not in sight.
“Get in,” I said as I got behind the wheel.
Without gunning it to alert anyone I drove out of the port to the airport. It was a straight shot so I could remember the way.
During the trip, Todd wanted to know what was going on. I told him what the engineer had told me.
“Then why didn’t we face those guys down, and fire them on the spot?”
“This is Franco’s Spain, we might have ended up in jail, it depends if this is due to city, province, or national corruption.”
We got to the airport, meeting our engineer who had beat us there. The flight crew was still on the plain or involved in restocking and refueling. I told them wheels up as quickly as possible.
Our chief pilot got his wings in Korea, he knew how to get wheels up. Air traffic control was sputtering behind him. He had followed all of their instructions to the letter, just a lot faster than they thought should be done.
Once in the air, I had the flight plan revised to Rome. I didn’t want to set foot on Spanish territory until this issue was taken care of, or at least out in the open and the rats identified.
Once on the ground in Rome, I worked the telephone. I was glad I spoke Spanish as I worked my way through the Spanish Federal system.
I got through to the prosecutor's office that handled my estancia problem. They told me they would make inquiries. They didn’t want to walk into a buzzsaw anymore than I did so they would identify the powers involved before doing anything.
My next set of calls was to the estancias lawyers and told them they may have to represent Jackson Transportation in a lawsuit against the port of Valencia.
To then this would be like a high school baseball team being told, you will be playing in the National League starting tomorrow. Scary as all get out, but Wow!
While in transit to Rome the engineer Brad White shared the evidence he had collected while on the job. The foundation wasn’t deep enough, the concrete substandard, only half the necessary rebar used.
The crane itself was solid but when it picked up a fully loaded container while at full extension there was a good chance it would fall over. I love doing business here, you can count on it being crooked every time.
Not mafia level crooked, nickel dime bribery crooked with each person only taking a small bit until failure occurs. I wondered if the culture would ever change.
Since we didn’t dare go into Spain until we knew what sort of hornet's nest we had opened we decided to go to our next stop, Hong Kong via India.
Chapter 49
The flight to Bombay seemed to take forever. It seemed like we had always been on this plane going somewhere and never arriving.
Like all good things, it came to an end. When we landed in Bombay we found that the world had changed.
In China Mao Tse-tung was dead. The official word was a heart attack. The unofficial word was lead poisoning. Mao had always been considered as being in good health.
The International New York Times reported that from his family health history Mao would have been expected to live into his eighty’s. To die in his sixties was considered odd.
Deng Xiaoping led a faction that was now trying to take power. Fighting was reported in most areas of China. Deng had been an outspoken opponent of Mao over his Great Leap Forward which was causing starvation in China.
The article told how Deng and his people had bought grain in Canada and had it shipped to them to try to alleviate the situation. That was the last straw for Mao.
He would rather his people starve rather than admit any failure of his plan. He had ordered that Deng be arrested. It was speculated that Deng moved first.
One thing for sure was I wouldn’t be going to China soon. Until the civil war was settled and new leadership in position, I wouldn’t consider going. Even then it would be determined by who was in power.c
Todd, Jim, and I had a serious discussion about even going to Hong Kong. A phone call to the Palace and then being put into contact with the Governor of Hong Kong.
He told me that there were no signs of unrest and that it would help keep things stable if I proceeded. The Chinese workers who made the backbone of Hong Kong were now supporting the British government because of the jobs that had been created.
My presence would be considered a sign that job creation would continue. Based on those assurances we as a group decided we should continue.
Todd and Jim seemed to consider it a bit of an adventure, but then they had never been shot. I wasn’t completely recovered from the last time. However, the Crown had asked me to step up. It reminded me of Tommy this, Tommy that.
We had no business to conduct in India. The customs and immigration people came on board even after we told the tower we were only refueling and leaving.
They made it clear we would not leave until we paid bribes. They even called it bribes, there was no shame. It seemed to be the official practice.
I wanted to throw them off the plane but my Chief Pilot explained to me that we would never get clearance to take off unless we did. Not only wouldn’t we get clearance we have to pay fees for the plane sitting on the ground.
Grumbling I told Jim to take care of it. I later found it cost two hundred dollars. Strangely enough, we were not charged an airport landing fee which was two hundred and fifty dollars.
Go figure.
Only when we were well on our way was I told that they had to bribe everyone they came into contact with, ground crew, fueling, and catering. An envelope was even sent to the Control Tower to facilitate our takeoff position in the queue.
By that time I was ready to go to bed and didn’t care anymore. One thing I for certain I wouldn’t try to do business in India for the foreseeable future.
We were met at the foot of stairs to the plane by a representative of The Peninsula Hotel. He escorted us to a nearby Rolls-Royce Phantom. I had read about their famous fleet but wasn’t surprised. Todd and Jim were awed.
I was too but didn’t let it show. After all, I’m the world traveler of the group. Todd who had never been out of the US before had made that observation when we were in Spain fleeing to Italy.
He was impressed that I spoke Spanish and knew the authorities there. I didn’t disabuse him, letting him think I knew more than I did. I realized that it was an ego thing but hey, it's my ego.
At the hotel, they treated us like we were regular guests. At least me, Todd, Jim, and Roger were treated well but as my functionaries. I better keep the ego in check, having fun was one thing, believing it another.
I was discreetly asked if I would like a companion for my stay. I declined. What a temptation, but I managed.
Instead of going to the docks first thing we met with Sir Robert Black a Scotsman who was the current Governor. He thanked us for coming. You could see he was uneasy dealing with a teenager no ma
tter my accomplishments.
Sensing this Todd took the lead in discussing the port construction project. I was tired enough that I was glad to let him take the lead. I’m sure that Sir Robert would think I was a puppet but so be it.
Sir Robert did lay a bomb on me as we were taking leave.
“Tell Lady Jackson that I asked of her and that I will always remember our adventures in Eygpt. I told him that she was fine and I would relay his message.
This was the second time that Mum and Egypt were mentioned, when was she there, and what was she up to? I couldn’t think of a way to get any information from Sir Robert so let it pass me by.
Jim asked me about Mum and Egypt. I told him it was on a need to know basis. I didn’t tell him that it appeared that I didn’t have, a need to know, as Mum would change the subject when I brought it up.
The construction was first-rate and ahead of schedule. What amazed me was the scaffolding. In the US or UK, we used metal or heavy wood scaffolds that were nailed together. Here they used bamboo which by its nature looked flimsy and lashed it together with a manila cord.
It seemed a strong wind would take it down but I was assured the scaffolds were very strong. I didn’t volunteer to go up on any.
We spent many hours going over the project. It was late afternoon by the time we finished. We returned to our hotel to clean up and change for the reception being given in at Government House by the Governor.
On this occasion, Roger had laid out my Colonels uniform, mess dress variety. With that were all my medals and honors. Not the ribbons, the real medal.
When I looked in the mirror, it was amazing. I wore it well because of my size and physical condition. I could have played a prince in one of those corny romantics, you know where the lovely girl falls for the guy and later finds out he is a Prince. I doubt if they would ever make very many of those movies.
My appearance in the sitting area took Jim and Todd aback. They knew of my rank, regiment, medals, and honors but had never seen me in full fig. Neither said anything but the sideways glances that I kept receiving told the story. Roger had let the front desk know that we would need a ride to Government House.