Declan Ganley

On this glorious early Summer afternoon, my latest column for @CatholicHerald 'In Yeats’s bee-loud glade': thecatholicherald.com/article/in-yea…

How much have they been successful at?

It’s to save the planet. Net Zero or something.

@Monpokez No, not unless previously contracted for by your service provider.

@declanganley When the consumers have no Internet will you still have access ? Back door for the OuterNet?

On this American Memorial Day, I’m pausing to honor and remember a true American hero from my wife’s family: Salvatore “Sal” Cestaro of Brooklyn, New York. Sal served as a Technical Sergeant and radio operator on a B-17 Flying Fortress with the 774th Bomb Squadron, 463rd Bomb Group (15th Air Force), flying out of Italy. He completed 44 combat missions over Europe before his aircraft was shot down. On July 8, 1944, Sal’s B-17 (serial 42-102916) was on a bombing mission targeting Munich, Germany (ironically, a place where today I have an office and fantastic German based team). The plane was hit by flak and crashed near Siebenhirten, south of Vienna, Austria. Five crewmen were killed. Sal and four others survived, only to be captured and taken prisoner. He was sent to Stalag Luft IV in Gross Tychow, occupied Poland. For nearly 10 months he endured the harsh reality of life as a POW. Then, in early 1945 as Soviet forces advanced, the Germans evacuated the camp. Thousands of prisoners, including Sal, were forced on a brutal winter “death march” westward. Sal’s feet blistered badly and became badly infected, he could no longer walk. A fellow Brooklyn POW named Aldo Girasole carried him on his back for five days until the Germans finally allowed the sick and injured to ride in wagons. Sal was liberated near the Elbe River in May 1945. On his return to New York Sal stayed in his room for a few weeks and didn’t talk to anyone. Then one day he came out, and was perfectly fine for the rest of his long life. That’s how Sal dealt with whatever he was carrying. Roughly 55 years later, Sal and Aldo had an emotional reunion at a Brooklyn hospital; two old soldiers from the same neighborhood who never expected to see each other again. Sal passed away on April 10, 2004, at the age of 80. There is a lovely story about Sal and how the family got the news he was alive and a POW. News of KIA and POWs that time was delivered by Telegram. In the NY Italian ‘Little Italy’, when the telegram man would appear, he would be followed by the neighbours to whatever address he was delivering to. That way the neighbourhood was immediately there to support those getting tragic news. When the telegram arrived about Sal and they found out he was alive, there was an impromptu street party on Mulberry Street to celebrate. Today, on Memorial Day, I remember those who gave their lives and also those who gave so much and came home to carry the memories quietly and also the families and friends that supported them. Thank you for your service, Cousin Sal. You are not forgotten. God rest your immortal soul. 🇺🇸 #MemorialDay #WWII #POW

I know I repeat this ad infinitum but the subsea cable threat is a threat to the arteries of the global internet. The threat is escalating. This is why my team @rivadaspace has worked so hard and invested so much to bring about the #Outernet, which will be the world’s first fully separate (from the internet and subsea cables) and truly global network. Faster, much more secure, and survivable. This is also the reason why we are the Western world’s most targeted private sector company for Chinese lawfare, an official pillar (one of three) of China’s ‘Three Warfares’ military doctrine.

Here’s a photo of Sal’s Liberator ‘Babs’ after the crash and before the repair. I can’t find any photo of the B17 he was subsequently shot down in.

Also remembering another of my wife’s family who fought in WWII, the wonderfully (NY Italian American) nicknamed ‘Frankie The Sailor’. Frankie served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, with all the action that went with that. I will try to do justice to his story another time.

@jreidy_john Great stuff! Congratulations on your son’s marriage!

@declanganley This is fascinating. When my father returned home to Boston, his family was aghast-they thought he he looked like a concentration camp victim. Was amused by the Mulberry Street reference. Son got married in Manhattan last week- we went to Italian restaurant on Mulberry St!

Well, good spot on your part. Here what AI has found: Both airmen were held at the same POW camp: Stalag Luft IV (also called Stalag Luft 4) at Gross-Tychow, Pomerania (present-day Tychowo, Poland). stalagluft4.org • Salvatore “Sal” Cestaro (shot down 8 July 1944) arrived at Stalag Luft IV after capture in Austria. • Tim Reidy (shot down 29 August 1944) was sent there shortly afterward. uswarmemorials.org Their names both appear on the official roster of Stalag Luft IV prisoners compiled from camp records. stalagluft4.org Additional context Stalag Luft IV was a Luftwaffe-run camp specifically for captured Allied aircrew (mostly NCOs and enlisted men). By late 1944 it held thousands of American and British airmen, many from the 15th Air Force operating out of Italy. The two men arrived roughly a month apart, so they were in the camp at the same time during the final months of 1944 and into early 1945. In February 1945, as Soviet forces approached, the Germans evacuated the camp. Most prisoners (including those from both crews) were forced on the infamous “death march” westward through snow and bitter cold. Many died of exposure, starvation, or disease before liberation. This shared experience — same higher command in the 15th Air Force’s 5th Bomb Wing, similar missions over the same region, same capture area in/near Austria, same POW camp, and same death march.

@declanganley My father's name was Tim Reidy; 15th Air Force (Major General N. F. Twinning); 5th Bomb Wing (Commander: Brig. Gen. Charles W. Lawrence); 2nd Bomb Group; 20th Bomb Squadron; his aircraft was # 46369 when he was shot down.

In the era of #ArtificialIntelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human. We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace. #MagnificaHumanitas vatican.va/content/leo-xi…

@jreidy_john See if you can find out his aircraft number. Might have been the same mission, bomber group, squadron.

@declanganley This matches my father's story. Ball turret gunner on a B-17 flying out of Italy, shot down on August 10, 1944 over Austria. Ended up in Stalag Luft IV, just like Sal, and made that brutal march across Germany. All his crew survived. Wonder if he knew Sal.

Clear. True. Not to be relegated, ignored, downplayed or bypassed. The ‘right to life is the first right and essential to all other rights.’

Pope Leo AI-focused encyclical x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Twenty years ago, on our honeymoon, Maria and I were newlyweds at a General Audience with Pope Benedict XVI. Last Wednesday, 20 May, we were privileged to meet His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. We thanked him for seeing us and asked him to pray for us, our family, and for Ireland.

Our biggest curse, and the world’s, is people with brains like this clown: a pure-bred white European who gets all teary-eyed supporting terrorist regimes, convinced he’s some kind of moral hero!

@admsmith249687 You can’t arbitrate with a Russian undersea mine or Chinese shadow-fleet or sub. Critical infrastructure isn’t a corporate tort, it’s why nations have navies.

@declanganley Er maybe just use arbitration courts if there is damage to their corporate assets it's not up to tax payers

Governments who have not already started actively planning for #Outernet back up/data ‘lifeline’ for when subsea cable infrastructure gets taken down, are governments who are going to be left very exposed when it happens. The consolation prize will be, the traditional means of communication, TV, even modern radio broadcasters and social media won’t be able to spread the news because non of it will be working. I can be accused of talking my own book here but absolutely no one has put anything like as much research work, effort and investment into preparing the alternative, the Outernet, as @rivadaspace has. That’s why China continues to ramp up its lawfare actions against Rivada. Lawfare being officially part of China’s ‘Three Warfares’ military doctrine. No Western company has been more subjected to Chinese lawfare than Rivada. As yourself why what we are doing is so important for the Chinese to want to stop us, or take us over, this badly?