Hercules & The Moon Goddess
Essay:
With the recent deaths of Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott my memory took me back to an earlier time when I was just beginning my adult life. During High School I had dreamed of becoming either a paleontologist or an entomologist, but there was no way I could attend college, so in 1958 I joined the Army after High School.
In Early 1959, I had finished Army Basic (Company A, 2nd Battle Group, 13th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division) at Fort Carson, Colorado, and MP School (Company G, PMGS) at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and was sent to Fort Hood, Texas to the 720th MP BN (Company B) for my first duty station. I was 18 years old, tough, and thought I knew everything. Four other boys were assigned with me from Fort Gordon, all 17 and 18 years of age and straight from the farm, ranch, or a tough neighborhood street from some big city. There was D. Crist ("D" stood for either David or Don, I don't remember which), David Donnell, J.C. Fields, Patrick Hyland, and myself, and we were all close pals. The old Bob Dylan song, “Forever Young” comes to mind when I think of us back then. For we thought we had the world by the tail, and that we would stay young forever.
I think we kind of grew up a little bit while at Fort Hood. I know that the Army turned us from boys into men. It was at Fort Hood that I tried pizza for the first time in my life, and hated it. Later on, I came to like pizza, but not the first time I tried it. It was also at Fort Hood that we saw Steve Reeves in Hercules at the post theater, and then a few of his other sand and sandal movies followed. Seeing those movies today, you laugh at their campy style, but back then they really influenced a bunch of young Army guys. It got us into the gym, where most of us got into judo and karate, while working out with weights. For me, it was something I stayed with the rest of my life. Judo and karate I stayed with until 1966, at which time I gave up the gym for good; it was demanding too much of my life. For a period from 1961 through early 1963, I was with the 4th Army Judo & Karate team at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, training for the Olympics. But in 1963 I came down on orders for France, and gave up all hope of entering the Olympics, but I stayed with judo and karate training through 1966, when I returned to the States. After being separated from my wife while in France, I decided it was time to give up the gym for good. I bought a set of weights from Sears & Roebucks, and continued my weight program at home.
In March of 2002, I had a stroke, and it ended my weight program, after about 43 years of training. I haven’t lifted weights since, and what muscles I did have, are now turning to fat, and I look back on my life and wonder why I did it in the first place? Of course, it was those campy Hercules movies we saw at Fort Hood, Texas!
But we were young then, and tough, and were going to live forever. In writing this story for Filament Book Club, it brought back those memories from 1959, and my early Army days. I lost tract of Crist when we left Fort Hood, but Fields, Donnell, Hyland and I went to Korea together, but split up after that assignment, and I lost contact with the rest of my pals after Korea. But after retirement, I ran into Donnell and Hyland again. Donnell had retired in Texas, Hyland in Alaska. Donnell later died from heart problems ten years ago, and Hyland was killed in a car accident about the same time. Life seldom goes as planned, unless you work at it, and even then you can be blind-sided when you least expect it, so all you can do is your very best, and set your aims high. I heard that Crist later became a Chief of Police or Sheriff somewhere, and Fields ended up in Jackson, Mississippi.
The story of Hercules was really a tragedy. Although he was strong, and courageous, he suffered throughout his life. Being a mortal, he was left to fend for himself, while his stepmother, Hera took out her vengeance on him, punishing him throughout his life. Only when Hercules laid himself on the funeral pyre and asked his friends to burn him alive (because of the terrible pain he was suffering), did the gods tell Hera that Hercules had suffered enough and she agreed, ending her anger, and Zeus sent Athena to bring him to heaven in her chariot, thus ending his saga on Earth.
Regardless of what the skeptics want you to believe, myths are often based on some truth. The lands of Mu and Atlantis are examples. The Roman and Greek gods run parallel with stories in the Bible. In the Bible we are told, "The sons of God saw that the women of men were fair and mated with them, and there were great men of renown in those days." Hercules and Achilles were both the results of gods mating with mortal women. The story of Samson reads almost identical to the story of Hercules. Both had great strength, both in physical ability and in sexual prowess. And both were men of great renown. The gods in myth are often described as flying through the heavens in fiery chariots. Just read a UFO report today! The ancient civilizations connected the "fiery chariots" (UFOs) to the gods, and those "gods" were constantly interfering with the plans of man; guiding them with new technology (usually weapons), or punishing them for their iniquities.
When I wrote “Hercules And The Moon Goddess”, I tried to include elements from those old movies, as well as the mythology, along with the UFO phenomenon of today, and a touch of science fiction. There were short periods on Earth when Hercules enjoyed brief periods of love and peace, and it is one of those periods that I am bringing to you in this short epic that I hope you will pass on to your grandchildren, and they, theirs. For, unless they are told, the tales will never be heard by those who come after us.
Tom Johnson
Seymour, Texas
May 8, 2007
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