Puppet Master

 Puppet Master                                                    

Puppet Warriors

         Last month’s tale centered on Ernest Hemingway, who sought adventure and fame throughout his life.  My research on Hemingway surprised me in how much his adventures paralleled those of someone I’d written about before our adventures in Calitri and across Italy took hold.  When I reviewed those words written years earlier, it was as though I’d forged some profound connection and unwittingly channeled Hemingway when I knew little of his life.  I now realize they traveled similar paths.

The parallels between what I’ve since resurrected and last month’s composition (Hemingway — Agnes and Italy) will be apparent if you’ve followed along.  If you haven’t read it, you might want to take the time now.  Their parallels in the eagerness of youth, love, and war were surprisingly similar.  Both were Americans impatient to experience the trials of war—the same war, in fact, which saw one restricted to the ground, the other free to roam the skies above the front. 

Eager to retell my earlier story and note the similarities, I retrieved what information I could from my files about this local Italian personality, Jake Pasini.  I’d accidentally learned of Jake and his exploits while doing library.  His story riveted my interest.  Like an early Alan Shepard, Jake was born, raised, and educated in a small town in our adopted home state of New Hampshire and went on to fame and glory.  My wish is that you find his story, a composite of several glimpses into his life, as intriguing as I did.  Uncovering snippets of his story one piece at a time, much of it by happenstance, would become the norm with Jake. 

Space Pioneer Alan Shepard

Following our house fire in 2016, there remain only three pieces to this recollected soliloquy:

·         September 17, 1996, Second Response from New England Forest Products to My Inquiry 
        (my inquiry and their first reply were lost)

·         August 22, 1919, Letter from Jake’s Fiancé

·         December 2, 1942, San Francisco Chronicle Article

Apparently, my initial request had been intriguing enough to trigger further research on Mr. Pasini by New England Forest Products.  Maybe it was a slow time in the office.  More likely, a wealth of new information had surfaced when they looked into it.  Their remaining second reply from the director of Human Resources follows: 

“We are pleased to be able to continue to contribute to your research into the colorful life and varied careers of Jake Pasini.  Mr. Pasini was a renowned, early employee of our company whose exploits were documented in the annals of NE Forest Products and fortunately recently uncovered.  In my previous letter to you, based on an initial search of these historical archives, I described Jake's boyhood and his early mastery of forest lore, hunting, and fishing in and about the Meredith, NH, environs.  Especially noteworthy were his athletic accomplishments and success at the University of New Hampshire as captain of their fledgling football team, which in 1910 went on to win their regional championship.  Following graduation, he headed to Europe, seeking fame and adventure.  Based on further research, I will now attempt to address your questions about Jake's later career as best we’ve been able to piece it together.

In 1916, Jake joined the famed Lafayette Escadrille in Luxeuil, France, as one of 38 volunteer
American pilots. Later, with America's official entry into WWI, Jake transferred to the American

WWI Hat-in-the-Ring SPAD Fighter

94th "Hat-in-the-Ring" Aero Squadron under the command of Eddie Rickenbacker. 

This crack unit of American pilots risked all in the skies over Europe.  Here, Jake is perhaps as well remembered for his actions in the officer's club and his social panache with the Paris elite as for his successes in the skies over France.  His harrowing exploits were interrupted, however, when he was wounded in action, barely able to crawl from the fiery wreckage of his SPAD XIII.  During his lengthy recuperation, he met his true love, Dominique Rousseau, a French nurse and aspiring actress. 

Jake returned to the US late in 1917 for further recovery, now an air veteran of the Great War (just one kill shy of being an American ace) and engaged to Dominique.  Home again in Meredith, Jake contemplated his future and maintained a transatlantic love affair with Dominique.

By 1918, Jake was well enough to resume flying, although not for the Army Air Corps due to a lingering back problem.  He flew the Boston to Albany (via Plattsburgh) air mail route.  During this aviation stint, he established the aerial tradition of ice-out on Lake Winnipesaukee.  The tradition continues to this day, which is the official date when it is determined by air that the lake cruiser, ‘MS Mount Washington’, can complete its port visits unhindered by ice.

Jake loved everything about his new life except his separation from Dominique.  She had made her stage debut in Paris and was now quite a rising star.  Unfortunately, some months before their planned wedding, we learned that Jake received a crushing letter from Dominique confirming his latent fear that their careers and the distance that separated them had driven them apart.  Dominique called off the wedding.  As you can imagine, Jake was devastated.  She was Jake’s first love, and he was dejected.  During this time, he came close to crashing and decided the stress had made him unfit for flying duties and resigned.  Jake felt the near miss never would have happened if he hadn’t been so distracted by the loss of his lovely fiancé.

Jake took a job with us in 1924.  By then, his confidence had recovered enough to resume flying.  His skills helped us immeasurably to survey our forest holdings throughout the Northeast.  Later, when he mostly “flew a desk” in the front office, Jake Pasini helped popularize “tongue & groove lumber,” due to building techniques he’d observed in England during the war.  Jake’s simple tongue & groove edges solved the ever-present bane of shrinking lumber and added considerable wealth to Jake and New England Forest Products.  Despite this achievement, Jake folded his tent and, as our records indicate, moved on in 1931.

So, what you have suspected is true.  Jake was an incredible guy with a colorful life filled with harrowing exploits and emotional upheaval, but that’s life, isn’t it?  What happened to him later?  We do not know.  Some say he returned to Europe to find Dominique and others that he moved on to Southeast Asia and was flying again.  Maybe further research on your part will shed some light on what exactly became of him.

Good luck with your noble endeavor to keep his memory alive with the establishment of the Longsought B&B “Jake’s Place.”  Who knows, maybe some night Jake will surprise you and knock on your door.  From what I’ve gathered, be ready to sit long, talk much, and laugh often. 

On behalf of New England Forest Products, it was a pleasure for me to look into our employee archives and uncover what was preserved during Mr. Pasini’s years with us.  In our search, we discovered a substantial amount of company and personal history that had been lost to us until your inquiry.”

This most informative letter was signed by Mr. Dale Korff, Director of Human Resources at New England Forest Products of Bangor, Maine.

Continuing the story, what follows is my re-write of Dominique's brief letter to Jake, which, due to its nature, undoubtedly resembled one Hemingway received from his wartime love, Agnes (although, to my knowledge, no copy of it exists).  I felt like a 221B Baker Street sleuth as I drove to northern New Hampshire for a pre-arranged visit with a Pasini family descendant.  I was spellbound as I watched a great-great niece carefully unfold what had once

Dominique 'Dear John'

been a love’s death knell, today a family heirloom.  Its stained surface, creased with folds, separations, and tattered edges, spoke to its age and reminded me of something kept close by, possibly folded in a wallet.  The opening salutation immediately struck me, “Mon Cher Jake.”  Note that when translated from French, “Jake,” an English nickname for “John,” results in the salutation “Dear John.”  Though likely unintentional on Dominique’s part, it ironically hints at something coming to an end.  Then again, sometimes you just need to rip the band-aid off fast.  No need for some long announcement, blathering on about the reasons why, or rambling about the consequence.  Such an approach might only result in a tennis match of replies.  Best then, in commando style, a quick in and out, which was Dominique’s approach.

I was allowed only a photo.  The following replica of the “Dear John,” as Dominique set it down presented in cursive font to maintain the forlorn tenor of the letter that unfolded before my eyes.

Mon Cher Jake                                                                            August 22, 1919

I have received all of your letters, yet I have hesitated to reply. I now know that I must tell you of my feelings. Despite the love we felt for each other here in France, I now realize that I can not follow through on the promises I made to you and our plans to marry.

I am not sure why I now feel this way. Maybe it is because of the distance that separates us and thus our time apart since your injury and return to America. Maybe it is because the terrible war is over, and our need to love and protect each other has faded in the excitement of a new tomorrow. Maybe my career has gotten in the way. I do not know. 

I do know that I am happy with my new life and therefore must return your engagement ring. I do not feel it is right for me to keep it.

Never will I forget you, Jake.  I am sorry.

Toujour,

Dominique Rousseau 

As the informative letter from New England Forest Products relates, Jake disappeared

Pacific Pan Am Clipper Route

following his employment with the lumber company.  It was as if Jake had flown off again.  His family had nothing more to offer either.  Time had clearly used its eraser.  With the trail gone cold, I, too, lost interest and dropped further research on the subject.   It would remain dormant until we vacationed in Bermuda.  It was while we were on a boat ride across Hamilton Bay that we passed an abandoned Pan American Airlines waystation where giant four-engine Boeing ‘Clipper
Ships’ to and from New York were serviced.  I was intrigued as we passed the ramps

Boeing 314 Clipper

leading from the water, the docks, then no more than wood pilings poking the surface, and the crumbling support buildings adorned in encroaching vegetation.  It was the fascinating face of a world given up to technology.  I hadn’t seen anything like it since I’d walked an abandoned WWII airfield on Guam.  It encouraged me to look into Pan Am and its global routes, which, again in surprise, led me to the last remnant of my story.  It indeed was a serendipitous event that indirectly revealed itself totally by chance.  It didn’t just fall into my lap but came a year later while visiting San Francisco, which I’d learned had been the jump-off point for Pan Am’s China Clipper route across the Pacific.  While there, I attended an exhibition that presented information on the city's history, especially during WWII.  Displays presented a wealth

Gen. Chiang-Kai-Shek & 
Wife Soong Mei-Ling

of information a year at a time during the war.  Among the hundreds of newspaper clippings from war correspondents was one from the now departed San Francisco Chronicle.  The words China Clipper caught my eye.  There it was, buried in about 400 words of intrigue involving military leaders, including our ally and leader of the Republic of China, Generalissimo Chiang-Kai-Shek. and mention of a mysterious American civilian and apparent councilor to the general.  What follows is a reproduction from a computer file of what I read: 

San Francisco Chronicle

Dateline 2 December 1942

Inside the War

By Correspondent J. C. McCormick

Who is the American seen recently with President Chiang Kai-Shek of China? San Francisco Chronicle sources tell us he is American expatriate Mr. Jake Pasini. Mr. Pasini is a former WW I American Escadrille and “Hat in the Ring” pilot who, following the war, worked as a U.S. Mail Service pilot and later as a Pan American Pacific Clipper pilot.  With Pan Am, he flew various segments of the San Francisco to Hong Kong route.  At some point during his Pan Am career, while on a layover in Macao, China, he was reportedly introduced to General Chiang Kai-Shek, the Nationalist Chinese generalissimo, by his wife, Soong Mei-Ling. Soong is Chiang’s American-educated wife.  The seemingly shy Soong Mei-Ling is the daughter of a Chinese Methodist missionary. She spent summers at a school in Meredith, NH, in the 1910s, which coincidently is also Mr. Pasini’s hometown and likely the source of their mutual familiarity. Whether they had met previously is not known. With the attack on Pearl Harbor almost a year ago and the opening of the War with Japan, Chiang Kai-Shek, who heads the Republic of China, in joining the Allied Powers, was named the  Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the China war zone.  Reports indicate that Mr. Pasini is highly regarded by the generalissimo and serves as an informal advisor on Republic of China air operations against the Japanese. Sources, on condition of anonymity, report this relationship has developed to its current state as a result of what is described as “instability” due to a growing feud between American Generals Claire Chennault and Joseph Stilwell.  General Chennault is the commander of the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG), nicknamed 'Flying Tigers’ - the English translation of the Chinese Fei Hou. General Stilwell is the current American military adviser to China. Informed sources also suggest they disagree with respect to operational strategy and objectives.  It seems Pasini’s experience with aviation, air warfare, and, most importantly, in understanding Americans is proving helpful to General Kai-shek.  The China-Burma-India Theater is strategically essential in order to tie up vital elements of the Imperial Japanese Army on the Chinese mainland to limit their use against Allied Forces elsewhere in the Pacific.  By all reports, freelance military advisor Pasini is doing fine, taking orders from no one. 

Had I solved the mystery surrounding Jake Pasini?  Not really, for at this point, I must confess.  We never created the B&B (Jake’s Place) mentioned in the lumber company letter, for in the ensuing years, Italy stole our hearts.  But that isn’t the half of it.  I can say with confidence that Jake will never knock on our door.  You’ll likely agree due to the years that have passed since Jake’s 1910 college graduation.  But by this point, his advanced age has nothing to do with it.  As mentioned, the three pieces presented as bona fides of Jake’s lifelong experiences were written years ago.  That much is true, along with the fact that our house did burn down.  Well, why delay any longer?  Here it is, my big reveal:  One is a true-life experience, and the other, concerning Jake, is a grammatical illusion and contrivance of my imagination.

In defense of my actions, it was only while writing about Hemingway last month that the parallels between my creation, Jake Pasini, and the real-world Ernest Hemingway became obvious.  I was stunned by the similarity in their stories, one a fabrication, the other a true-to-life persona.  The smidgen of truth that remains lies in the nature of the phantom creation which so closely mirrored Hemingway’s life: their haste to get to Europe during WWI, their magnetic celebrity, the trauma of WWI, their injuries, their love for their nurses that grew during their convalescence, and the indelible heartbreak of their respective ‘Dear John’ breakups.  

Again, what you just read, and what I’ve attributed to Jake were imagined and written well before learning the details of Hemingway’s life.  For just a moment, I’d morphed and became some Mount Olympus deity or Fate who, in puppet master fashion, could whimsically tug on the strings of mortals.  A creative fiction had taken mortal form and turned into a convenient contrivance.  While my patronage half revolved around a fictional protagonist, I clung to the hope that readers, nonetheless, would enjoy learning of his exploits. 

At first I hesitated and questioned whether to post this ‘fake news’ story.  Then it occurred to me that after confession, there is contrition through good works and forgiveness.  But being the rogue sinner I am, I am not looking for forgiveness.  And it was this realization that took my imagination to a different place.  If the puppet strings are still taut, and I resurrect Jake once more, I just might correct my manipulative lapse and situate him in Calitri!  Standby, Jake may ‘come a-knockin' yet.

From That Rogue Tourist,

Paolo