{"id":513,"date":"2018-10-10T07:49:06","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T11:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/?p=513"},"modified":"2018-10-19T07:40:57","modified_gmt":"2018-10-19T11:40:57","slug":"win-lawson-of-eisenhower-and-crows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/win-lawson-of-eisenhower-and-crows\/","title":{"rendered":"Win Lawson: Of Eisenhower and Crows"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is written by my friend Merlin Lawson, brother of former USSS Agent Win Lawson. He reflects on one of Win’s favorite “agent anecdotes.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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My brother, Winston \u201cWin\u201d George Lawson, a native of western New York and a\u00a0graduate of the University of Buffalo, served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) before he became a Special Agent in the US Secret Service in 1959. Initially, he worked in the agency\u2019s field office in Syracuse, New York. But after Win completed his Treasury School and Secret Service training at the top of his class and was one of the central agents who cracked a counterfeiting ring in Syracuse, he was noticed by his senior agents in Washington DC.\u00a0He was transferred to the nation\u2019s capital in 1961 and was based there\u00a0for the remainder of his distinguished twenty-two-year career during which he was the recipient of numerous awards and commendations.\u00a0He retired in 1981 as the Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Inspection.<\/p>\n

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In 1960, when Win was still a rookie agent, he was given a two-week temporary assignment on President Eisenhower\u2019s protective detail. At this time, President Eisenhower spent most of his weekends at his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One weekend, Win was working the midnight to morning shift (12 am to 8 am) there, posted just outside of the farmhouse, at the entrance of the nearby barn. This position marked the closest of the agents to the president, who was inside the house.<\/p>\n

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\"\"
Eisenhower Farm House, Gettysburg, PA, US Naval Photo, Eisenhower Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Eisenhower Barn, Gettysburg, PA, NPS Photo Gallery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Win\u2019s shift was nearing completion one quiet, peaceful morning. The sun was ascending over the horizon, and the cawing of birds had just begun when, suddenly, loud explosions were heard – BAM\u2026BAM!!! – from somewhere inside the house.<\/p>\n

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Win nearly levitated as he grabbed his walkie-talkie and screamed, “Shots fired!\u00a0 Converge on Sunshine!” (code name for the Eisenhower farmhouse.)<\/p>\n

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He ran to the house, readied his gun, and rushed inside, heading towards the sunporch where the smell of gunfire still lingered. There he found President Eisenhower standing at an open sliding glass door holding a smoking shotgun. Glowering, he turned to Win and muttered, “Those damn crows, I’m going to shoot every one of them!”<\/p>\n

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Win paused, speechless momentarily, as other agents came charging in.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYes sir, Mr. President,\u201d Win responded, and he turned to leave.<\/p>\n

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Win walked back to the barn, his pulse still racing. He was relieved that his president was safe. He couldn\u2019t say the same for the crows.<\/p>\n

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By Merlin Lawson, as told to me by my brother.<\/em><\/p>\n

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________________<\/p>\n

LINKS:<\/p>\n

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NPS: Tour Eisenhower Gettysburg home<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Eisenhower Farm Photo Gallery<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Eisenhower Library About Ike Residences<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is written by my friend Merlin Lawson, brother of former USSS Agent Win Lawson. He reflects on one of Win’s favorite “agent anecdotes.”\u00a0   ________________   My brother, Winston \u201cWin\u201d George Lawson, a native of western New York and a\u00a0graduate of the University of Buffalo, served in the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps … Continue reading Win Lawson: Of Eisenhower and Crows<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[183],"tags":[158,177,159,178,182,181,179,176,175,62,180,10],"class_list":["post-513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agent-anecdotes","tag-agent-anecdotes","tag-agent-ernie-olsen","tag-agent-win-lawson","tag-bob-burke","tag-dick-johnsen","tag-don-bendickson","tag-emory-roberts","tag-farmhouse","tag-gettysburg","tag-president-eisenhower","tag-roy-kellerman","tag-secret-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":594,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513\/revisions\/594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rufusyoungblood.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}