I am missing Bert and his wife, Martha this morning. For those who came in late, Bert was one of the old and now defunct group of Louis L’Amour fans and readers. It was many years before I discovered who Bert was. He was a retired General in the US Army, who wrote many of the Army training manuals on survival...and when questioned about how down to earth he was, his explanation was, “Oh, I didn’t go to West Point, Mike, I came up through the ranks.” Fortune put me in Roswell, NM on one motorcycle ride and I spent the day with Bert and his lovely wife, Martha. We visited a few of the L’Amour treasures in Roswell and I wonder what might have happened to them after Bert and Martha left us. Bert wrote TRAILING LOUIS L’AMOUR which is still available on used book sites, and guides the reader through many of LL locations. It was a treasure trove for a reader like me who enjoys visiting the locations in Louis’ short stories, poems, and novels. It’s void that can’t be filled of Bert and his knowledgeable comments and observations about the western US that LL wrote about.

I have thought of some of the LL forum 'graduates'
lately, myself. Bert, Tom (Dead River Sailor), and a few more.
When I was a newbie here, Bert sent me copies of his works, gratis, and they occupy a place of honor on the shelves in our family room.

Falcon

DRS was awesome. He always had interesting insights and comments.

LAST EDITED ON 08-07-20 AT 01:58 PM (Pacific Time)
 
I see their Bulletin names are still in the profiles lists. Maybe it would be nice to set up a memorial page and move the profiles there. For many of us these are friends we never met.

Les
Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back..

Every once in a while I catch myself singing "Those were the days my friend" don't know if anyone remembers the tune. Bert quoted that tune, I think he was reminiscing at the time. But, anyway, it reminds me of Bert every dang time.😊

I like that TD. Not sure why, but Bert has been on my mind a lot lately.

Why not, we really miss our good friends. And I think you got to know him good enough.
Their are very few people in life that ARE interesting enough to be your friend, I think.

Mike, i too miss Bert. He was such, as I said to you later,an interesting fellow.
Tell me where he lived and what was his house like. Did you enjoy the tour of his property?
Anything else you can think of.

It was very warm and comfortable...a reflection of Martha I believe. Bert was, however, very unassuming for an Officer...he claimed it had to do with the fact he came up through the ranks, but my conclusion was it was just Bert being Bert. He was definitely one to “ride the river with”.

Oh, and even in his advanced age, not someone you’d want to cross.

Sounds like LL.

I remember Bert. I knew he had written that Trailing book, but I don't have it. I should try to find it. I'd love to see some of the sites in the LL stories. I didn't know that he had been a general. That's pretty cool, especially because he went up through the ranks instead of going to West Point. What was the name of the guy from Alabama, seems like he was from Montgomery, or somewhere around there. He stopped coming here several years ago before my hiatus. I saw him on the Facebook LL page for a while.

Peter

Been racking my brain, but keep coming up empty. Now there’s a railroad memory. On the railroad empty is written as mty.

In the Air Force we just wrote it as MT.

peter

On the railroad MT is Montana....so we use MTY

Makes sense, I suppose.

peter

Yes, but now I'm wondering what truckers use...and what about trailers/containers moving over the road to the railroads? I've been retired for over a decade or I'd look it up.

I am thinking on Bert, every time when I see his books in my shelves. Yeah I am one who received it from Bert, because in this time I was only student on high school I think. Great person, although I never met him, he is still in my heart like my closest friend. Like You Mike, Bonita, Garry and others.

In the Navy, officers who came up thru the ranks, like Bert, were often referred to as "mustangs" which was a title worn with honor.