Paving the Way for "The Greatest Generation"
America Before Tom Brokaw's Moving Story

Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation captivated America with its account of a generation and a nation defined by war. By looking back at World War II America, Brokaw helped Americans understand our older generations, as well as our nation, as it was before and is now. We find links to past struggles and victories that established our way of life. But America's history dates back further than World War II.

Dr. Bernard Fleury takes us back to the 1860's, the beginnings of the Great Generation, to narrate the story of a man with a wandering Bee in His Bonnet, who took part in the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and as an officer and United States Government cited hero in World War I. Readers get a look into the life of an American soldier in wars that few of us know, but whose repercussions are still felt today.

Frank King at Veteran's Memorial

The man with A Bee in His Bonnet is about Frank King, Fleury's grandfather, whose career in the army took him to many parts of the world. Indeed, King was involved in the anti-terrorist campaigns in the Philippine Insurrection, which resulted from the earliest documented terrorist threat to the United States newly acquired territory there, and was instrumental in the capture of the Bin Laden of his day, Faustino Ablen.

In a series of articles beginning with "Anti-Terrorist Campaigns, United States of America, 1900 to 1902, 1905 to 1907,. and 2000 to 2006, Fleury will document in some detail the Pulajanes movement in the Philippines which Ablen led for a time and which still exists today in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Faustino Ablen's and Osama Bin Laden's terrorist movements were and are very alike in terms of charismatic leadership, promises of eternal bliss for their "martyrs" and use of vicious terrorism to achieve their goals.

Fleury provides a rich historical accounting, as well as a look at the perceptions and emotions of two men, Frank King and Calvin Coolidge, who lived through and documented an era that would later define international geopolitics and the American worldwide dynasty.

Dr. Bernard Fleury also relates how Stephen King, Frank's father, and Stephen's brother, James, came to Canada in 1860 as part of Prince Albert Edward's entourage. A seemingly genetic predisposition towards adventure led James and Stephen into an escapade in the Canadian wilderness, where an uncanny incident kept many of the Kings in the New World for generations to come.

Other major Great Generation persons, like Calvin Coolidge also played a crucial role in defining the Great Generation. Calvin Coolidge did so through the roles he lived as a lawyer, Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts, a member of the State Legislature, Governor of Massachusetts and then Vice President of the United States before becoming our country's thirtieth President upon the death of Warren G. Harding.

All of the persons mentioned in this article and others besides helped pave the way for the Greatest Generation in terms of values, lifestyles, progress, and problems.