Gore Vidal was an American writer known for his essays, novels, screenplays, and Broadway plays. In 1950, he met his long-term partner Howard Auster. Vidal once reported that the secret to his lengthy relationship with Auster was that they did not have sex with each other: "It's easy to sustain a relationship when sex plays no part and impossible, I have observed, when it does." Auster died in November 2003 and, in February 2005, was buried in a plot for himself and Vidal at Rock Creek Cemetery.
Howard Auster died in November 2003 and was buried in a plot for himself and Vidal at Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, District Of Columbia, USA, Plot: Section E-16. Gore Vidal was buried there in 2012. On one side of Gore Vidal (October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) & Howard Auster (1929 - November 2003) is the grave of Henry Adams, the American journalist, novelist, academic and historian who featured in Vidal's books. On the other side is the great love of Gore Vidal's life, indeed the person who he said was the only person he had ever loved, Jimmy Trimble, who died at Iwo Jima, March 1, 1945.
His most widely regarded social novel was Myra Breckinridge; his best known historical novels included Julian, Burr, and Lincoln. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948), outraged conservative critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality. Vidal always rejected the terms of "homosexual" and "heterosexual" as inherently false, claiming that the vast majority of individuals had the potential to be pansexual. His screenwriting credits included the epic historical drama Ben-Hur (1959), into which he claimed he had written a "gay subplot." Ben-Hur won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
At the time of his death, he was the last of a generation of American writers who had served during World War II, including J. D. Salinger, Kurt Vonnegut, Norman Mailer, and Joseph Heller. Perhaps best remembered for his caustic wit, he has been described as the 20th century's answer to Oscar Wilde.
When Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar appeared in 1948, it was the first popular novel with an openly gay theme. It caused such a furor that the New York Times refused to review his next five books. Although sales of his novels declined for a few years, Vidal rebounded and remained an important writer for more than five decades.
The City and the Pillar was dedicated to "J.T." After rumors were published in a magazine, Vidal eventually confirmed that this referred to his St. Albans love, Jimmie Trimble, who had died in the Battle of Iwo Jima on June 1, 1945.
Vidal was prolific, with a biting wit and strong political views. His historical novels include Burr and Lincoln, which was made into a TV miniseries starring Mary Tyler Moore and Sam Waterston. Myra Breckenridge was made into a spectacular disaster of a film.
After living many years in Italy, Vidal and his longtime companion Howard Auster returned to the US. Auster’s health declined and he died in 2003.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gore_Vidal
During his senior year, Trimble's mound heroics caught the attention of Senators owner Clark Griffith, who invited him to a tryout on May 29, 1943. Manager Ossie Bluege was impressed with the youngster, and on June 4 Griffith gave him a $5,000 signing bonus and agreed to pay for a four-year scholarship to Duke University, where he would be under the direction of Jack Coombs, baseball coach and former major league pitcher who won 31 games for the Athletics in 1910. "Conservatively speaking," wrote Joe Holman in the Washington Times-Herald, "the happiest boy in Washington, D.C., today is Jimmy Trimble ... who yesterday signed a contract with the Washington Club and its president, Clark Griffith." Two days later, by way of celebration, Trimble pitched a 4-0 one-hitter for Chevy Chase A.C. against Mount Pleasant A.C. in the City League, striking out 16.
Trimble enrolled at Duke in September 1943, and played fall baseball for Coombs. With World War II in full stride, he hoped to enter officer training at the university but was rejected due to defective sight in one eye. Instead, he enlisted with the Marines on January 13,1944, and took basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina, where he pitched for the base team. He later graduated from Combat Intelligence School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was taught a little of the Japanese language, rubber boat reconnaissance, map reading, demolition, and radio operation.
In June 1944, Private Trimble headed to the Pacific Theater as a scout and observer with the 4th Platoon of the 3rd Reconnaissance Company, 3rd Marine Division. His first taste of combat was on Guam where he was involved in mopping up the remaining Japanese resistance during July. But once hostilities ceased on the island, he had the opportunity to return to the pitcher's mound. "Baseball," declared Trimble at the time, "is as important to the tired fighter as it is to the tired executive or worker, if not more so."
Pitching for the Headquarters Battalion team during the winter of 1944-1945, Trimble's teammates included tobacco-chewing catcher Bob Schang (a minor leaguer in the White Sox organization and nephew of former major league catcher Wally Schang), minor league third baseman Ray Champagne, left fielder Arthur Manush (nephew of Hall of Famer Heinle Manush), and minor league pitcher Jim Hedgecock. Headquarters Battalion clinched the 3rd Marine Division championship in a three-game series against the 12th Marines. Hedgecock won the first game, 6-2. Trimble, who gave up five untimely hits over six innings in the second game, was charged with the loss as the 12th Marines won, 6-2. Hedgecock then came back in the third game to shut out his opponents, 6-0.
Trimble was one of seven Headquarters Battalion players selected for the 3rd Marine Division All-Stars team that played the 2nd Marine Division in the Pacific Little World Series early in 1945. In a scheduled four-game series, Trimble won the opening game with an 8-6 victory - his sixth-inning sacrifice scoring a crucial run. The 2nd Division won the next two games, then Hedgecock combined with Bill Connelly -who had hurled for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1945 - to end the series at two games a piece.
"Jimmy was a celebrity in camp," recalled Private Don Mates, who had been Trimble's tent-mate back on Guam. "He carried himself like a movie star, but he was liked by everybody, officers and enlisted men alike."
In February 1945, the 3rd Marine Division left Guam bound for Iwo Jima. "Yes, Mom, I am going into combat, but don't let that worry you," he told his mother in a letter dated February 18, 1945. "I know everything is going to be all right, so promise not to worry-just pray as I know you have been doing." [7] At 8:59 A.M. on February 19, the first wave of Marines went ashore at Iwo Jima against little opposition, but as they moved inland in the deathly silence, the Japanese opened fire from cleverly concealed bunkers and killed row upon row of Marines with machine gun and heavy artillery.
Trimble's platoon had been told that they probably would not go ashore as the battle would be over in 72 hours. However, it was soon realized that every man was needed and he was soon aboard a Higgins Boat heading for the beaches. "I was in for the shock of my life," recalled Mates. "I had never seen anything like it, and never expect to see anything like it again. There were bodies all over. There were pieces of bodies. There were bodies without heads, without arms. There were bodies that were completely eviscerated. They hadn't started to bury the dead, and it was just one holy mess."
Trimble was part of an eight-man squad that set up a command post area for General Erskine, commanding general of the 3rd Marine Division. For the next three days Trimble was assigned to guard duty at the command post. Meanwhile, the division was suffering heavy casualties from concealed Japanese spigot mortars and on February 27, the platoon commander, Lieutenant John Staak, asked for eight volunteers to go out on patrol and find out where the mortars were located. Private Trimble was among the first to volunteer.
The following day, Trimble was part of the eight-man reconnaissance team that set out towards the front line, passing weary-eyed, battle-fatigued Marines returning to the rear for a brief respite. As darkness began to fall the team dug in for the night. There was an eerie quietness to the place. Craters sporadically released foul-smelling wisps of sulfur and everywhere was covered with volcanic ash. The whole place resembled the surface of the moon.
Trimble and Private Don Mates were in the third foxhole from the top of a ridge and Mates slept while Trimble took the first four-hour watch. Just after midnight on March 1, a flare unexpectedly lit up the area. They had been overrun by the Japanese and Mates awoke to see Trimble take a bayonet in the right shoulder. Amid the yelling, screaming and chaos, Mates hurled grenades while the wounded Trimble fired his rifle in the direction of any movement. Seconds later, two grenades dropped into the foxhole. One exploded between Mates' legs, the other exploded alongside Trimble. The young pitcher caught the full blast of both grenades. His back, upper arms and the back of his head were a mass of wounds. Mates pulled himself out of the hole, and as he turned to Trimble to help him out, a Japanese soldier, with a mine strapped to his body, jumped in the hole, wrapped his arms around the severely wounded Marine and detonated the mine, killing them both.
Mates, with both his legs broken and bleeding profusely, escaped by rolling himself down the hill. He had lost 20 percent of his left thigh and five percent of his right thigh, and would undergo repeated operations for shrapnel removal for over 30 years. Of the eight-man patrol, two others were dead and Private First Class Joseph McCloskey was missing. McCloskey was found a week later in a cave, where he had been brutally tortured and killed by the Japanese.
Two months after Trimble's death, Baza Garden Baseball Field, the 3rd Marine Division's home ground on Guam, was renamed Trimble Field. "Private Trimble was an outstanding member of the 3rd Marine Division All-Star baseball team," announced Major General Graves Erskine, Division commander. "His name will not be forgotten and his brave spirit will continue to inspire us in the tough battles that lie ahead." [9] Among the many Marines at the opening of Trimble Field was the pitcher's batterymate at St. Albans, Buddy Cromelin. Trimble's body was returned to the United States after the war and rests at Rockcreek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Trimble_III
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
ISBN-13: 978-1500563325
Amazon: Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time
Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher
This journal is friends only. This entry was originally posted at http://reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/3760930.html. If you are not friends on this journal, Please comment there using OpenID.