I was delighted to receive today a copy of the official records for Louis Patrick Costello, one of my paternal grand uncles (the younger brother of my grandfather, James Sr.). Fascinating in a number of ways -- and a few things had me bust a gut in laughing.

He was 5 feet, 6 3/4 inches high, with brown hair and blue eyes (ilke me). Initial reaction: a roebuck of a human. (Oddly, a later document gives slightly different data, 5' 8", grey eyes, and fair hair.)

As I suspected, given his later profession in life (podiatrist), he'd been in the Royal Army Medical Corps. As such, then, he was not a combatant, though he obviously served. And in some fairly hairy places, too. The records show that he was in Crete for the Battle of Crete in May-June, 1941 -- something family legend had not told me. From 1941 to 1943, he served in Egypt and Palestine; he was serving in Egypt from February of 1942 to October of 1943, so he certainly would have been in theater for both battles of Alamein, making family legend highly likely.

The records appear to show that he was with the 168th Light Field Ambulance, which was attached to 8 Armoured Brigade; there's a diary by a member of the 168th LFA that I've ordered -- I'm going to see if my grand-uncle is mentioned in it.

The records show he served in Northwest Europe from June 11, 1944 through June 22, 1945, meaning he wouldn't have seen action on D-Day; what actions he might have been involved in can only be speculated upon.

One minor surprise: he enlisted in October of 1938. I wonder if the events of Munich, the month before, had anything to do with it. His civilian occupation was listed as "musician."

I had to laugh when he listed as his next of kin his older brother Michael Joseph -- who at that time was a general in the Irish Army!

He was given "exemplary" ratings for conduct upon his initial discharge in November of 1945 -- more on THAT, anon. Apparently, he was engaged mostly in nursing duties (Nursing Orderly Class Two), and was described as smart, industrious and capable in 1945 documents, though later 1952 documents (when he was called back) describe a "lack of tenacity of purpose."

On the other paw, at various times he was given assorted minor punishments, mostly for being pissed. He got 21 days for insubordination in June, 1941 (when he was in Palestine, a few weeks after he got evacuated from Crete), and got another dose a few weeks later. He also got a field court martial for being AWOL at one point (seemingly only for a day or so), and another for being pissed again. He seems to have had a clean record after 1942, though, except for getting pissed in Trieste, which resulted in him getting busted to Private, again. Maybe he had a rough time in Crete.

Rank: at various times, he bounced up and down from Private to Corporal and back again -- now where have we seen THAT before?

Awards: a fairly routine collection of 1939-1945 Star, Africa Star with 8th Army Clasp, Italy Star, and France-and-Germany Star, along with the Defence Medal and Victory Medal.

In other words: if my grand uncle had been a roebuck or a European mink, he would have fit right in with the Imperial & Royal Army as a squaddie.

They have, apparently, fixed the issue with Classic format, and I can read my text submissions again. So I've switched back to Classic, which hurts my eyes less, literally and otherwise.

I switched over to "Modern" from "Classic," and I can read the text updates again.

Not really keen on the Modern version, but there you are.

One bit of family lore that I've been trying to track down for some years is whether or not my grandfather's younger brother Louis served in the British Army during World War II. A very curious matter, given that his father (my great-grandfather) was sentenced to death by the British during the Irish Civil War, and was incarcerated in an internment camp, and his eldest brother was at that point a general in the *Irish* Army.

My father tossed this bit of lore at me one lunchtime when he saw me with my nose in a book about Montgomery, and my surviving uncle says he has memories of Louis Costello telling stories about the "Western Desert" to my father and the older brothers.

Just today, I got word from the UK Ministry of Defence that they have a file on grand-uncle Louis. They're reviewing it to see if it can be released to me. It's been 115 years (as of a few months ago) since he was born, so I'm hopeful that it will be released to me.

Amusingly, to me, is the fact that the WO file category indicates that Louis was an enlisted man. A squaddie, to use the British Army term. Which means that my grand-uncle could have been quite a bit close to my fictional creation Westersloe Winterbough V.

In case anyone is curious about the reference in the last panel of Sunday, August 17, 2025's Dick Tracy:

"Wasn’t Pallas able to burn the Argive fleet, to sink it in the sea, because of the guilt and madness of one single man, Ajax, son of Oileus [i.e., Ajax the Lesser, or Ajax the Locrian]? She [Juno*] herself hurled Jupiter’s swift fire from the clouds, scattered the ships, and made the sea boil with storms: She caught him up in a water-spout, as he breathed flame from his pierced chest [i.e., pierced by lightning], and pinned him to a sharp rock"

-Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1

In other words, Juno struck Ajax the Locrian in a chest with a bolt of lightning, thus drawing the parallel with the weapon being used by Tess LaKoyle.

*Different translations refer to Athena or Minerva, as well as Juno. W.F. Jackson Knight's translation for Penguin Books (1956) refers to Juno.

 Major Matt Mason pointed out to me an interesting comment on today's DT, the climax of the current story arc. The comment had to do with whether or not the fatal car crash could/would be shown. (In the strip, it isn't shown, but heavily alluded to.) I was going to make a few points about the limits TCA allows, and my own personal tastes in setting things up so the reader fills in the blanks...

...and then I read a few other comments in the thread, and some other comments in general, and remembered why I don't generally read the comments. So I said _____ it, and didn't write anything.

Probably won't write conclusory notes, either, since that's just begging for someone to fire a rhetorical machine gun at my head if I poke it above the parapet. I may be dumb, but I ain't stupid.

Someone else here on FA had a birthday today. So I rang their number. When they answered, I sounded the G-E-C chimes on my Deagan 500 chime box, and then sang the worst, off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" you can possibly imagine. And brother, with my singing chops, that's something.

They, of course, cracked up. Since they had no idea who it was.

I got the sketchbook from  rjbartrop's sister today, safe and sound. Alas! Looks like he never got a chance to do the final drawing. Oh, well. I beat the odds in getting the thing back. One hears many tales of lost sketchbooks.

 rjbartrop's sister reached out to me tonight, and indicated -- lo and behold! -- that she'd found my sketchbook among her brother's effects, and she'll get it back to me. I'm operating under the assumption that Richard wasn't able to do the drawings before he passed, but on the other paw, I get the sketchbook back, which is a break.

By great good luck, I did speak directly to Richard Bartrop's sister today.

Among other things, she was touched and gratified by all of the expressions of sorrow from the fandom as to Richard's passing. She, apparently, was a fan of his work.

She told me that in a few weeks, she's going to be going to Calgary to sort through his materials. So my sketchbook may, in fact, be found (I gave her a description). She did tell me to ask around if anyone else has materials that need to be returned. If anyone does, I can forward requests to the sister, since I have her email.

https://www.choicememorial.com/obit.....?obId=34613275

So it appears he had a sister named Cynthia. Now, to find out where she might be...

Does anyone know what, if anything, happened to Richard Bartrop's estate? Did any other family member step in that I could contact?

Apparently, a woman passenger attacked a bus driver in Madison, WI, because the driver wouldn’t make a stop. The bus crashed into a building, injuring two. Woman fled.

And of course, the building houses  rabbi-tom’s employer, because of course it does.

The man is the most uncanny weird shite magnet alive.

Sleep you black-eyed pig
Fall into a deep pit full of ghosts

This alleged 19th century Icelandic lullaby, posted on FB. I don't know if it loses something in the translation. I wonder if  Karno can shed any light.

IMPORTANT NOTE! MFM has been bounced from the Whispering Woods Conference Center, because someone (I guess) bribed WWCC to take over the whole hotel. The con has been moved to a brand-new hotel, the Memphis Vitality Hotel. Check MFM's Facebook page for more details

Does anyone know? I have a blank sketchbook I sent to him about a month before he passed on, and if he did any work in it, it's obviously something I'd like to have, so I'd like to reach out to whoever is in charge.

I was shocked to see the news, posted here in FA, that Richard Bartrop had suddenly passed away, apparently in connection with a bad infection he'd had. I'd had a few pleasant dealings with him -- in fact, I had a (mercifully blank) sketchbook out with him for some Red and Melonny work.

I liked his artwork style and his humour very much, and I'm greatly saddened by the news.

Normally  rabbi-tom's turf, but I read today that there are approximately 16 living survivors (out of the ca. 87,000 servicemen present) of the Pearl Harbor attack, which was 83 years ago today. Think of that: the low end of the survivors would have to be 101.

Leave the gun. Take the anole.

I got up at 5.45, showered, and headed over to the polling station in my neighborhood, a nearby school's gym. There was a line of, I'd say, about 20 folks waiting for the polls to open at 6.00, which they did, promptly. I was, I think, the first at my particular district's table, and I voted. I did my traditional thing and wrote my name in for each of the judgeship slots open. The optical scanner took my ballot after a little gentle coaxing. No stickers on offer this year, though I got to keep my pen.

In other news, Dixville Notch, NH was tied 3-3, which is a swing to Trump, who lost 0-5 to Biden in 2020 and 2-4 to Clinton in 2016. The GOP hasn't carried the hamlet since 2004; the population of the hamlet has declined over the last number of years, to the point where it had only 4 residents in the 2020 census, and nearly lost its polling place, until a nearby resident moved in to preserve it. Hart's Landing, nearby, apparently did not do the midnight voting thing this time around.

This past week saw the debut of my third long-form Dick Tracy story, and sixth story overall, "The Big Clock." A recap of the story is here: https://www.facebook.com/eocostello.....21053131270929

You can also go to GoComics.com/dicktracy , though I myself am not doing that, owing to the toxic nature of the comments section. The Daily Cartoonist website, at least, made an intelligent observation regarding my use of iconic Chicago buildings in the second strip.

Art by Charles Ettinger, and it's art I like.

Missed the post-season.
Sorrows drowned in lobster roll.
Fuck the damn Yankees.

Today marked the closing of one Dick Tracy story arc (by Mike Curtis, the regular writer). A Minit Mystery is due to start tomorrow, leading to heartburn among some, though others (I don't know how) say the "Mr. Mirror" Minit Mystery is going to be interesting. Then followed some snarky comments directed at yours truly. I "loved" the one about "can't do it all."

Just wanted to circle with you. Nothing particularly Earth-shattering, but if you're following along here, want to chit-chat.