30
Wednesday, February 5, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
BREAKER: Film event
takes on morality in
wartime conditions
Continued from page 3
Stratos, the idea behind the
series is to bring together
members of the church and
the community at large to
engage together with impor-
tant and sometimes difficult
issues.
<How do we bring people
together to have discussions
about the things that really
matter?= he said.
Morant was among a large
contingent of Australians
who shipped out to serve the
British Empire during a major
conflict in South Africa from
1899 to 1902, pitting the sol-
diers of the Empire against
tough Dutch-descended set-
tlers of two independent
republics, known as Boers.
The doughty Boers, orga-
nized into highly mobile
mounted units called com-
mandos and bred to the
Mauser rifle, were giving the
British fits. The Empire put
out the call to its colonials
for mounted riflemen. And
from Canada, New Zealand
and Australia they came. The
Breaker enlisted in the 2nd
South Australia Mounted
Rifles and shipped out early
in 1900 for South Africa. He
had two years to live.
By 1901, the war had
degenerated into a grind-
ing guerrilla campaign, with
mounted counter-guerrilla
forces chasing the increas-
ingly worn-down and desper-
ate Boer commandos.
Frustrated by their inabil-
ity to bring the war to a close,
the British under General
Lord Herbert Kitchener
began a systematic campaign
of farm-burning to destroy
the Boer guerillas9 supply
base and herded women and
children into concentration
camps 4 it was the century9s
first use of that sinister term
4 where they died in their
thousands from disease and
poor nutrition.
It is also believed that
Kitchener secretly ordered
that no quarter be given to
Boer commandos caught
wearing khaki from captured
British uniforms. At this stage
in the war, that was common
practice, as the Boer partisans
were ragged and had no other
real means of supply. It was
a necessity of war, but it also
allowed for deception tactics,
for which the Boers were
notorious. The Boers were
also known to fly a white
flag, then open fire on the
troops attempting to accept
their surrender. They blew
up trains and hit garrisons in
lightning raids, escaping into
the vastness of the veldt (prai-
rie grasslands).
Morant had transferred to
a unit called The Bushveldt
Carbineers, commanded by
his best friend, Captain Percy
Hunt, tasked with counter-
guerilla operations in a very
remote and desolate area.
After Hunt was gunned down
in an ambush and subse-
quently mutilated (either by
Boers or by natives of the
district), Morant and the men
under his command went on a
killing spree, including shoot-
ing down unarmed prisoners.
Morant, his friend Lt.
Peter Handcock and Trooper
George Witton were eventu-
ally arrested and tried by a
British court martial.
<There9s never been
any question that Morant,
Handcock and Witton did
the killings for which they
were tried,= Cornelius noted.
<Morant freely acknowledged
it. The question was whether
they were acting under orders
and thrown under the train
as the British tried to negoti-
ate a peace deal. Was Lord
Kitchener using these three
Australian troopers as scape-
goats to wash his sins from
his own hands? That9s the
crux of the courtroom drama
of the movie.=
Cornelius believes the
Morant case raises important
questions that we continue
to wrestle with today in the
counter-insurgent campaigns
of the past two decades.
<For me, it9s less about
judgment and more about
understanding,= Cornelius
said. <I think we have to
be very careful about how
we judge these kinds of cir-
cumstances. On one hand,
accountability is impor-
tant and you9ve got to have
ARTIST: Youth9s work
on display through
February
Continued from page 4
PHOTO PUBLIC DOMAIN
Harry Harbord “Breaker”
Morant — Australian bush poet,
horsebreaker and war criminal,
executed in Pretoria, South Africa.
guardrails or you risk total
moral chaos; on the other,
well& I always hearken back
to the words of my friend
Tom Gibson, who lived here
in Sisters. Tom was a cap-
tain in the 101st Airborne
and saw heavy combat at
the Battle of the Bulge.
Stephen Ambrose quoted him
in 8Band of Brothers9 and
again in 8Citizen Soldiers,9
regarding a story about a
Lieutenant Speirs, who alleg-
edly offered cigarettes to 10
German POWs, then calmly
hosed them down with a .45
Thompson submachine gun.
<Tom9s comment was:
8I firmly believe that only a
combat soldier has the right to
judge another combat soldier.
Only a rifle company combat
soldier knows how hard it is
to retain his sanity, to do his
duty and to survive with some
semblance of honor. You have
to learn to forgive others,
and yourself, for some of the
things that are done.9=
the boys have had access to
the supplies since they were
toddlers. I remember Keegan
would draw on the walls and I
had a hard time erasing his art
because it was really good for
his age.=
Williams9 eldest son,
Riley, 13 years old, expresses
his creativity with photogra-
phy and videography.
Keegan9s enthusiasm for
drawing began when he was
about three 4 or when he
could hold a pencil and make
it work.
Keegan told The Nugget,
<I don9t usually plan what I
am going to draw. I just start
drawing and it just happens.
But I do like to watch a lot of
other artists; it inspires me. I
also like to look at something,
like my backyard, and change
it up in my drawings to the
way I9d like it.=
Keegan9s artwork covers
a variety of styles, from poin-
tillism to abstract with a little
realism mixed in.
<I like to design cartoon-
type drawings, sort of a mixed
style, but more realistic,= he
said.
One of his drawings is
from the 1997 animated short
film <The Old Lady and the
Pigeons.= He drew the inven-
tor of the electric lightbulb,
Thomas Edison, in an impres-
sionistic style.
He recently added color to
some of his drawings using
markers.
Keegan9s other creative
interests are playing the
piano, sculpting, painting and
whittling wood.
His artwork is up for the
entire month of February.
Thomas noted, <The wall
in the Good Day Café is
booked for the year, but we
are always connecting and
booking people.=
For more information
about the art wall in Good
Day Café, call Bedouin,
541-549-3079
Superior
Escrow
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220 S. Pine St., Ste. 102 | 541-548-9180
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