A Pilgrimage to Wales: Or How I Learned About American-led Attacks on the British Isles
Story by David A. Laws
That one nation’s hero is another nation’s terrorist is seldom addressed in school history books. Most children learn of the villainous redcoats in the American war of independence. Few texts tell of American-led attacks on the British Isles. Or that the last invasion attempt led to the printing of the country’s first one-pound note. These were unexpected connections I uncovered as I pursued a pilgrimage to Wales (Cymru in the Welsh language) to discover the place of my grandfather’s birth near Fishguard (Abergwaun) in the coastal county of Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro).
With fewer than three million people, the whole country of Wales has less than half the population and is smaller in area than Massachusetts. Although its exports of larger-than-life celebrities, Shirley Bassey, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, and Tom Jones, are world-famous, few of their fans can identify the country on a map of Europe. England, its massively populated neighbor to the east, overwhelms it in so many ways.
“Little England beyond Wales.”
As the western-most county, Pembrokeshire is about as far away from England as you can travel in Wales. However, because of strong Anglo influence…
