Talk:Thomas C. Wasson

Notes on the question of who shot Thomas C. Wasson

1. The UN telegram has 'AS HE CROSSED WAUCHOPE STREET TO ALLEY ALONG WEST SIDE CONGEN'. The alley is clearly 'George Elliot'. Wauchope Street appears to be 'Hess' running East to the Hebrew Union College. The telegram also has 'THE SNIPERS BULLET PRESUMED TO HAVE COME FROM THE DIRECTION JUNCTION JULIANS WAY AND WAUCHOPE STREET'.i.e.what is now the Hebrew Union College.

2. The front line at that time was the City Wall. The Scotsman reports on May 22nd that Arab irregulars had take the Wailing Wall and had begun demolition of the Tifret synagogue. The newspaper also reports that a Jewish force of about 1000 had attacked the Zion Gate during the night. Also Jewish mortars fired on the Jaffa Gate and Arab Legion armoured cars in action between Damascus Gate and Allenby Square. i.e. in front of Notre Dame.

If the sniper was Arab, ie on the City Wall, he would have had a clear line of fire whilst Wasson walked up 'Paul Emile Botta' from the French Consulate. But once on 'Abraham Lincoln' there would have been no clear line of fire.

I have spoken to a member of Bertha Spafford Vester's family about the omission of Chapter 32 from the Jerusalem reprint of 'Our Jerusalem'. He was told it was written by a friend (Evelyn Wells? co-copyright in Lebanese edition) to bring Mrs Spafford Vester's original text up to date. Reading of the text would suggest this is likely. But the 'shot by Jews' is presented as a direct quote from Mrs S.V.'s diary for May 23rd 1948. There seems to be no reason to doubt this.

John Roy Carlson, who attended Wasson's funeral, writes that the Consul General was shot from close range.. The UN telegram's description of the wound suggest he was shot from above, as does Stephen Green. This suggest the sniper was in one of the upper floors of a building on Wauchope Street/Hess. Carlson claims to be undecided about who fired the shot - but there is a sense that he had a specific group in mind when he writes about 'anti-American maniac or maniacs'.

The New York Times version is discredited - see Stephen Green.

For me the clincher is the omission of any reference to the assassination of the Consul General in 'O Jerusalem'.

Padres Hana (talk) 00:03, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Where was he buried?

'May 24 The American consul-general, Mr Wasson, was shot on Saturday and was brought to this hospital, where he died. His body now lies in our house, waiting for burial, as the hospital (CMJ - 'The Church's Ministry Among Jewish People' - Hospital on Street of Prophets, West Jerusalem. Now the 'Anglican International School') outbuildings are already overcrowded with bodies, sixty or more waiting for Jewish burial, and he, of course, is a Christian. Ronald (Adeney) is to conduct his funeral. It is terribly difficult getting people buried, as all the cemeteries are outside the city and cut off by Arab armies. Another member of the American consulate has also died of wounds and lies in the ward next door.' Hannah Hurnard, 'Watchmen on the Walls'. 1998.(First published 1950) ISBN 0 8054 1399 5. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Padres Hana (talk • contribs) 23:04, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

Other references

"The American Consul-General was killed by an Arab sniper's bullet on his way home from one of its meetings (UN truce commission)." page 20 "The first ten years. A diplomatic history of Israel". Walter Eytan. But he gives no name or date. Padres Hana (talk) 20:38, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Another reference

Martin Levin (1997) It Takes a Dream (A history of the Hadassah). Page 263 " At the same time , American Consul-General Thomas Wasson, the most congenial and effective diplomat in the city, worked to secure Mt. Scopus from attack. At the end of the month he was killed by Arab fire near his consulate," Padres Hana (talk) 18:44, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

biased revisionism

An arab can be a jew A jew can be an arab

An arab can be a christian A christian can be an arab

An arab can be a zoroastrian A zoroastrian can be an arab

+365 deities in the box ! ...

Stop it already !

Else you forgot, before the Pre-islamic arabs

or you so biased ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.190.217.129 (talk) 23:22, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

Nothing to see here

Here's my favourite:

"There are one or two other events worthy of brief mention as they reached the world headlines for a fleeting moment. Notably, there were two casualties amongst the members of the United Nations' Truce Commission. On May 22nd an American member, Mr Watson, was shot by an unknown sniper in Jerusalem, while on June 6th a French observer was killed when his jeep ran over a mine." O'Ballance, Edgar (1956) The Arab-Israeli War. 1948. Faber & Faber, London.

Ticks all the boxes:

- wrong name

- 'shot' not 'killed'

- down play status: member of UN Commission not US Consul-General in Jerusalem

- 'unknown sniper' (would love to say 'Arab' if he could) Padres Hana (talk) 12:41, 6 May 2021 (UTC)