Jean Paul Toulet

Jean-Paul Toulet (1867-1920) was a French poet. 

Though he was well-known during his lifetime as a writer of novels, short stories and travelogues, it was his poetry published in reviews from 1910 and in volume form (Contrerimes) in 1921, which established Toulet's reputation among the Fantaisistes. 

In these poems his virtuoso mastery of technique resulted occasionally in little more than gratuitous verbal games which have harmed his reputation as a poet, but in the best examples it served a wide range of feelings, sensations, and moods, from fantasy to self-mocking disillusion and gentle irony, which display a serious and profound analysis of the modern sensibility.

[James Kearns]

Luis Garcia Lopez aka "Zampilla"

I found this beautiful story here, in Spanish, and unfortunately my Spanish is not good enough to provide a proper translation. (Any volunteers??).

It is the story of Luis Garcia Lopez, also known as Zampilla, a moving story of love and courage in -often- difficult times.


And also, of course, a very photogenic beret-wearer. 

Green Beret - US Special Forces

Special Forces Major Herbert Brucker was behind the beginning of the green beret designation in the year 1953. Brucker began the designation which would later be realized by 1st Lt Roger Pezelle who adopted it for his highly operative A-Team called the Operational Detachment FA-32. Rapidly, the green beret would be seen on the members of the special forces units whenever these soldiers went out into the field. However, the US Army was not keen on making the green beret an authorized entity at that time.

Fort Bragg and President Kennedy changed all of that when in 1961; The President of the United States encouraged General Yarborough to inform all of the special forces to wear their green berets to the event. At the event, President Kennedy delivered a speech whereby he made the green beret a "mark of distinction in the trying times ahead."

Every November 22nd, the date of the assassination of Kennedy, several of the green berets travel to his graveside and pay tribute to the man, the President that enabled this group of very special forces to earn the green beret distinction. The men honor President Kennedy by placing a wreath and a green beret on his tomb. If Kennedy were alive today, they would still honor him for making such a profound difference in the way the special forces are perceived by people all around the world.

Special Forces were originally formed in 1952, initially under the U.S. Army Psychological Warfare Division headed by then Brigadier General Robert A. McClure (for details of the early justification for Special Forces, see Clandestine HUMINT and Covert Action).

Special Operations Command was formed by the U.S. Army Psychological Warfare Center which was activated in May 1952. The initial 10th Special Forces Group was formed in June 1952, and was commanded by Colonel Aaron Bank. Bank served with various Office of Strategic Services (OSS) units, including Jedburgh teams advising and leading French Resistance units before the Battle of Normandy, or the D-Day invasion of 6 June 1944. Bank is known as the father of the Special Forces.

The history of Green Berets in Vietnam is too extensive to even start about writing here, but the www is loaded with information on their heroic (and less heroic) deeds there. 

Vietnam made Green Beret with Dragon Lining

Scary Berets

Some people have very different associations with berets than I generally have (and with very good reason). Just look at these pictures and you'll understand.

Anbar police chief Maj. Gen. Tariq al-Youssef on a walkabout in Ramadi town center (Iraq)

Željko Ražnatović and Radovan Karadžić 

Hugo Chavez

Francisco Franco

"Interior Tropa", Brazil

Ché Guevara

Scout, Rhodesian Army

But, mind you, none of these berets have their txortena still in place...

The Bosnian Series #7 - Woody and Elvis

Going through an old photo-album of the time that I worked in Bosnia (1993-94), I stumbled upon this picture of my colleague and friend Peter Morris (Woody, for us).

After the evacuation of our Banja Luka office (in the self proclaimed Republika Srpska), Woody took over from me and I donated my French made Bakarra beret to him for this purpose. 
Here he is pictured while trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with Elvis, our Land Cruiser.

To be fair to Woody, this is me, working hard at getting LC Cliff back on the road after I lost control a little...

The Dutch Series #4 - Harm Kamerlingh Onnes

Harm Kamerlingh Onnes was a highly respected Dutch artist. Over time his talent developed from abstract art to an entertaining expressionist style. He began his career in 1914 with paintings following the path of his father, Menso Kamerlingh Onnes, using a broad palette and swift brush strokes inspired by Vincent van Gogh and the Impressionists.  

Through his friend, the architect J.J.P. Oud, he came into contact with the artists and artistic ideas of the Dutch group "De Stijl", but he never officially joined the movement. Instead he developed to be a story-teller from an ironical point of view, always very observing of the caprices of current life style. 

From the 1950s he began working with ceramics and glass painting, through which media he expressed his vivid imagination and well developed sense of humour. 

Matt Adams on John Olsen

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Self Portrait Janus Faced by John Olsen, which won last year's Archibald Prize (left) andBrown Stain Janus Faced by Matt Adams, which won this year's Bald Archy Prize.

A satirical painting of John Olsen is the winner of this year's Bald Archy Prize.

The winning portrait is a satire on Olsen's 2005 Archibald-winning painting, Self Portrait Janus Faced.

Matt Adams, 29, of the Central Coast, won the faux-prestigious award with his portrait Brown Stain Janus Faced, showing Olsen standing pants-less holding soiled underwear.

At the award ceremony held at Sydney's Queen Victoria Building at 11.30am a spokeswoman for the award described the winning painting as a "satirical poo-take" of Olsen's work.

"It's [Adams's] take on last year's Olsen winner," said Bald Archies organiser Peter Batey.

"But he was moved by the fact that, when they announced the winner last year, both [Art Gallery of NSW Director] Edmund Capon and Olsen seemed to make much of the fact that it was a deserving winner because Olsen hadn't won way back in the 1980s.

"As a young artist, he was under the impression that the pictures would have been judged on their value, not because you didn't win one."

Batey said Olsen lost in 1980s by one vote because a "rebel trustee went against the old boy rules".

But, he said, with Olsen's win last year, the "old guard" was rewarded.

"It seems that the 'old-boy movement' is well and truly ensconced," he said.

In the picture Olsen has his pants around his ankles and is holding up a pair of underpants with a mark or stain on the front.

"It is an image that either looks like a skid mark or a smaller version of the Janus head," said Batey.

"Or, in fact, maybe the shape of a penis."

Australian Artist John Olsen

John Henry Olsen (1928) is an Australian artist. Olsen's primary subject of work is landscape.

In 1957 a Sydney art critic raised funds for John Olsen to go to England and paint. Olsen returned to Sydney in 1960. He wanted to represent Australian culture in such a way that the world would see the diversity in the changing outback seasons.

In 1968 Olsen set up and ran the Bakery Art School, and in 1972-73 he painted 'Salute to Five Bells', inspired by Kenneth Slessor's poem. Olsen's work has been marked by a deep engagement with the Australian landscape, and he has lived for long periods in different parts of the country and travelled widely in it. He has served on the boards of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the National Art Gallery.

His artworks include the Lake Eyre series and more recent works such as Golden Summer, and the Clarendon'. One of Olsen's most successful murals, Salute to Five Bells, is currently hung in the Sydney Opera House. Although he has been labelled as an abstract artist, Olsen rejects this accusation, stating, "I have never painted an abstract painting in my life". He describes his work as "an exploration of the totality of landscape".

He won the 2005 Archibald Prize for his portrait Self portrait Janus Faced.

He lives near Bowral, New South Wales.

Green Beret - Commandos Marine

The Naval Commandos (Commandos marine) are the special forces of the French Navy. They are made up of ~500 members, mostly based in northwestern France (Brittany), with several bases across the country for specific training needs. The Naval Commandos are nicknamed bérets verts (Green Berets). Their qualification training is one of the toughest in the world. They operate under the Naval Rifle and Special Force Command and the French Special Operations Command.

The Naval Commandos were formed during World War II in Great Britain, modeled along with the British Commandos (who were founded in 1940). Its manpower came from the Fusiliers Marins.

It took part in the Normandy Landing on D-day under command of Commandant Kieffer.

Cdr. Kieffer

On 6 June 1944, at 07:31, the Bérets verts landed on Sword Beach. Kieffer, recently promoted to capitaine de corvette, led his men personally. The unit suffered 21 killed and 93 wounded; Kieffer himself was almost immediately wounded twice, hit by shrapnel in the leg, but refused evacuation for two days. Kieffer rejoined his unit on 14 June, in time to take part in the breakthrough towards the Seine and Honfleur. Along with two of his men, he was the first member of the Free French Forces to enter Paris. His 18-year old son, who had recently joined the Maquis, was killed by German troops near Paris at nearly the same time.

By October 1944, the Commando Battalion had three companies. Kieffer led it during the attacks on Vlissingen and Walcheren to capture the port of Antwerp. He later took part in raids against occupied Dutch islands.

In 1945, he was nominated for the Consultative Assembly, and started working in the Inter-Allied Forces Headquarters. He was promoted to capitaine de frégate in 1954.

Tall Toad

An exceptional beret manufacturer is Tall Toad, a small company from Claudville, Virginia. I quote from their web site:

"Tall Toad has been designing and selling hats at Renaissance and Medieval Fairs since 1989. Some of our best sellers include Berets, Flat Caps, Tall Hats,Cavaliers, Tri-corns and fancy Pirate Hats.

My designs are all adaptations based on historical references, many from the Tudor or Elizabethan period. We also make more modern hats including Top Hats and Uncle Sams.

All of our hats are made in Claudville Virginia in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the beautiful views and power outages that come from living way out here. We work hard to maintain the quality of the materials we use and buy US made when it’s possible. We enjoy what we do and appreciate the happy feedback we receive from our hat owners so we strive to satisfy.

Sam Kinison (with disclaimer)

Somehow, I have less trouble writing about, for instance, berets in the 3rd Reich or beret clad terrorists in the name of Islam, than a post about this ex-evangelist, stand-up comedian Sam Kinison. 

To me, this guy is the ultimate stereotype of what many non-Americans see as the ultimate American; big, dumb, loud, rude and ignorant - and I haste myself to point out that that is far from my personal view of US citizens, of course!

But, he did make it into The Beret Blog, being a consistent beret wearer after the rate of his hair loss started competing with the rate of his drug intake. 

Evidently, he is still popular (Kinison died in April, 1992) in certain circles and possibly made a contribution to an increased beret awareness in the US. 

Cosmogono II - The Seat of Wisdom

I received this beautiful picture from Cosmogono himself - thank you very much!

Cosmogono couldn't have guessed how much I enjoy seeing this picture. My late father, Baruch Kolthoff, not only initiated my interest in berets, he spent much of his working life working on the Grote Nederlandse Larousse Encyclopedy  (the Dutch version of the French Grand Larousse encyclopédique). 
My father was a great believer in the literally written and printed word (working with fountain pen and typewriter till the very end) and I am glad he never realized how obsolete his lifework became at the end of his life.
There is really no competition between Google versus 25 Double Phone-book Sized Encyclopedia Volumes ...

Thanks, Cosmogono 

Asturias - 5 October 1934

In Spain in the early 1930s, political parties were polarized, chiefly over the powers to be granted the Roman Catholic Church. In 1934, the united Socialist Party developed a scheme to keep the right-wing, pro-church Confederation Espanola de Derechas Autonomos (CEDA) from joining the increasingly confused and despotic Spanish government; it planned a nationwide general strike, an uprising in Madrid, and a declaration of independence in Catalonia. On October 5, 1934, over 70,000 highly unionized, communist-oriented miners in Asturias (region in northwestern Spain) rose in revolt, occupying the city of Oviedo and taking control of much of the area within a few hours. However, Francisco Franco (1892-1975) and another general led Spanish Foreign Legion and government forces to Asturias, where they brutally put down the uprising in two weeks. The miners had burned churches and killed about 40 persons, including 29 priests. The government troops killed an estimated 3,000 and took about 35,000 prisoners, who were tortured and tried well into 1935. The ferocity of the government divided the Spanish people and helped to precipitate the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.

From the Hyaena Gallery

The things one finds when looking for anything beret on the net...

- Beret! -
"Une Tete Pour Deibler"
Music CDBeret! is the notorious group
of American's that became
so angry, they had no
American means of
expression and were forced
to be reborn by their hate into
a world of moustaches, wine,
cigarettes, and stripes.
Proclaiming that "only
Americans need guitars,"
Beret! is simply bass, drums,
and a few Frenchmen
screaming as loud as they
can. The stripes, the smoke,
the anger...va'ten coule.
Album artwork by Big Tasty.
9 tracks.

 

Green Beret - Foreign Legion

The French Foreign Legion (Légion étrangère) is a unique military unit in the French Army established in 1831. The legion was specifically created for foreign nationals wishing to serve in the French Armed Forces, but commanded by French officers. However, it is also open to French citizens, who amounted to 24% of the recruits as of 2007.

The Legion is today known as an elite military unit whose training focuses not only on traditional military skills but also on its strong esprit de corps. As its men come from different countries with different cultures, this is a widely accepted solution to strengthen them enough to work as a team. Consequently, training is often described as not only physically challenging, but also extremely stressful psychologically.

The French Foreign Legion was created by King Louis Philippe, on 10 March 1831. The direct reason was that foreigners were forbidden to serve in the French Army after the 1830 July Revolution, so the Legion was created to allow the government a way around this restriction. The purpose of the Legion was to remove disruptive elements from society and put them to use fighting the enemies of France. Recruits included failed revolutionaries from the rest of Europe, soldiers from the disbanded foreign regiments, and troublemakers in general, both foreign and French. Algeria was designated as the Legion's home.

In late 1831, the first Legionnaires landed in Algeria, the country that would be the Legion's homeland for 130 years and shape its character. The early years in Algeria were hard for Legionnaires because they were often sent to the worst postings, received the worst assignments and were generally uninterested in the new colony of the French. The Legion's first service in Algeria came to an end after only four years, as it was needed elsewhere.

The Legion was primarily used to protect and expand the French colonial empire during the 19th century, but it also fought in almost all French wars including the Franco-Prussian War and both World Wars. The Foreign Legion has remained an important part of the French Army, surviving three Republics, The Second French Empire, two World Wars, the rise and fall of mass conscript armies, the dismantling of the French colonial empire and the French loss of the legion's base, Algeria.

These days most Legionnaires still come from European countries but a growing percentage comes from Latin-America, 24%. Most of the Legion's commissioned officers are French with approximately 10% being former Legionnaires who have risen through the ranks.

Membership of the Legion is often a reflection of political shifts: specific national representations generally surge whenever a country has a political crisis and tend to subside once the crisis is over and the flow of recruits dries up. After the First World War, many (Tsarist) Russians joined. Immediately before the Second World War, Czechs, Poles and Jews from Eastern Europe fled to France and ended up enlisting in the Legion. 

Following the break-up of Yugoslavia, there were many Serbian nationals. Also in the 1990s, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the changes in the former Warsaw Pact countries, led to an increase in recruitment from Poland and from the former republics of the USSR (If you're interested in joining, click here!).