Getting into the USA has never been the easiest process, so it was no surprise that under the current USA regime, everything is just that little slower. Everytime you arrive at US Customs (CBP) you have to expect a very long and slowly moving queue. But as we arrived into Austin, Texas, any talk of CBP checking social media accounts were, for us, vastly over exaggerated. So there is some freedom after all.
In the taxi from the airport I asked the driver, Kono, if we were anywhere The Alamo. ‘Yeah man, San Antonio is only a 45 minute drive from San Marcos, the place we are staying. I said to Kirsty, we have to go there whilst we are out here, I’ve always wanted to visit ever since I first saw the Hollywood film as a young boy watching with my Mum and Dad. As I was talking to Kono about it all, as if by magic, Kirsty got a message from our friend Mark who was hiring a car, and he was suggesting a visit to San Antonio and The Alamo the next day! Perfect timing!
Next morning before we set off I had a call from my good friend Paul, founder of Hammers United, and a fellow military history nut. As I signed off, I said ‘we are off to The Alamo today Paul’, Paul just said ‘blimey, I have always wanted to go there, have a great day’. So typical of Paul to always wish me the best and always look at life through a positive lens.
So Kirsty, Mark, Sam and I headed north west up the Interstate 35 from San Marcos to San Antonio and excitement levels, at least from my perspective were running very, very high. I was navigating, and as we pulled off the Freeway I started to think about the open green space from the film. But there wasn’t any. It was literally high rise buildings everywhere. Fear and loathing, right there. Where’s The Alamo? Have they knocked it down and put a memorial in its place?
We found a car park and parked up. We walked around the corner past a huge building site and then I caught a glance of a memorial which looked fresh as well as impressive. Getting a picture was a challenge given the building site all around the memorial.
Slightly deflated, I started to manage my own expectations and said to the others, ‘maybe commercial modern development needs had trumped some old church that saw a bunch of independent non- Mexicans standing against the Mexicans, but ultimately getting wiped out?’.
But no, around the corner in a quiet haven of space, there it stood, The Alamo. I got very emotional. I have seen that film so many times. The original church still stands as well as the Long Barrack too, the oldest building in San Antonio.
In a nustshell the Battle of The Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal 13-day siege during the Texas Revolution against the Mexicans. Around 200 Texian and Tejano defenders, led by William B. Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett, were annihilated by General Antonio López de Santa Anna’s vastly superior Mexican army. Think thd Battle of Rorke’s Drift, as portrayed in the film Zulu, but this time the vastly outnumbered defenders all die.
I always get a little emotional when I visit historic sites, especially where battles were raged and lives lost. That feeling of poignancy and what it must have been like to face death. Rather self indulgently I recalled that one of the joint commanders, Jim Bowie, he of the famous Bowie Knife, had been taken very ill during the siege and was laid up in sickbed when he met his death. I remember that from the film. Self indulgently because I had been suffering from what I had thought was food poisoning, but may well be a gastro virus of some sort. It had knocked me for six, literally, on the Friday before we flew to Austin on Monday and was still playing havoc with a relentless headache, awful stomach cramps and then sudden rigour attacks. The Texas sun was not helping (as I write this eight days on, I still feel crook but thanks to my friend Dr Mark I have antibiotics.
Just to add to the logistical challenges, because of my illness I had let my good friend Andy down and not sent him a video for an event he was attending. So how better than to do the video from The Alamo? I think he we pleased with the result, all be it delayed!
To add to our agenda, we were asked to do a BBC5Live Drive interview about our expectations for the Croatia game at about midday local time, we are six hours behind the U.K. here and you can listen to it here.
I signed off that interview with a call for England to invoke the spirit of The Alamo, just don’t do the ultimate failure piece. I was trying to tap into the spirit of those brave defenders who just would not yield an inch and not give up. Inside the The Alamo itself are a number of flags each representing the nation or state where those who fell hailed from. There was an English flag there, not British as there were also flags from Scotland and Wales too. Each had a number on it.
England’s number on our flag? 11. Let that number sink in for a minute. Is it a sign? Who knows, but if England can channel that spirit of defiance, togetherness and a flat refusal to surrender for their cause, against all the odds, then that will do for me.
Remember what George Orwell said about sport that it was ‘War Without The Guns’.
Greatescapers's Blog 