With the hour of the ambush (9:15 AM CDT U.S.) now upon us-- I feel it appropriate to say May God Rest Your Souls In Peace-- to the victims, the outlaws, the lawmen and all who've participated in this history, who are no longer with us. Due to the 76 years that have passed now, fewer and fewer 1st generation individuals remain within B&C History. May 23rd, 1934 was a Wednesday. Perhaps it's even more poignant, when as this year-- May 23rd is a Sunday.
The passage of 76 years has taken with it almost everyone involved... I've got second-hand memories of Bonnie and Clyde and Pretty Boy Floyd and other famous criminals of the day because my parents were both old enough and lived in the right areas to have heard and read a lot about them - Mom lived in northeast Oklahoma, and Dad grew up in Iowa and Missouri, and there were times when Bonnie and Clyde were awfully close to where both of them were growing up. My aunt, older than my mother, spotted Pretty Boy Floyd doing some shopping in Talequah, Oklahoma one time, and when she whispered to her mom and pointed, my grandma told her not to pay any mind to him at all. And now all of my connections to the times of Bonnie and Clyde and their contemporaries are dead and gone, too...
ReplyDeleteWith each year's passing of the anniversary of the ambush, it is a time to reflect upon the events that transpired, which created an enduring legend.
ReplyDeleteOf all I have read and heard over the years, the following words perhaps resonated most profoundly. From my very favorite B&C documentary, "Remembering Bonnie & Clyde" (1994), I will quote these final words, verbatim:
"Their stories have been told and retold, with little regard for the truth. More than half a century after their deaths, they still speak volumes to us about our interest in that which can't be explained -- and the almost morbid curiosity we have about their lives and deaths. Our questions may never be satisfied. They took many of their secrets with them to the grave, and the window of knowledge is quickly closing in on those persons whose lives were touched by Bonnie & Clyde. But even with the passage of time, Bonnie & Clyde's legend will live on; if for no other reason than as a footnote in history -- telling the lives of two people and an era in which they lived; remembering a twisted tale of Love, Family -- and Violence."
I believe this sums it all up most eloqently. RIP B&C!