To All
. Good Saturday morning May 16. . .It is starting out cool today and overcast clouds but they will go away around 11 and we will have clear skies around noon and 72 today.
Have a great weekend.
Regards,
Skip
HAGD
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Go here to see the director’s corner for all 97 H-Grams
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
May 16
1811 The frigate President, commanded by John Rodgers, exchanges several shots with HMS Little Belt during the night. Each captain claims the other fired first, increasing tensions between the two countries prior to the War of 1812.
1820 The frigate Congress becomes the first U.S. warship to visit China when she visits Guanhzhou (now Canton).
1919 Three Curtiss NC seaplanes leave from Trepassey Bay, Newfoundland, Canada for the first trans-atlantic flight. Only NC 4 makes the flight successfully reaching the Azores on May 17.
1943 USS MacKenzie (DD 614) sinks the German submarine (U 182) west of Madeira. Before being sunk, (U 182) sinks five Allied merchant vessels, including the American steam merchant Richard D. Spaight on March 10, 1943.
1944 USS Franks (DD 554), USS Haggard (DD 555) and USS Johnston (DD 557) sink the Japanese submarine (I 176), 150 miles north of Cape Alexander, Solomon Islands, forcing Japanese to shift the position of their subs in the New-Guinea-Carolines area.
1965 The first US naval gunfire support in Vietnam is performed by USS Henry W. Tucker (DD-875) as she fires upon the Viet Cong coastal concentrations southeast of Saigon.
1992 Military Sealift Commands USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199) is christened and launched at New Orleans, La.
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Today in World History May 16
1770 Marie Antoinette marries future King Louis XVI of France.
1863 At the Battle of Champion's Hill, Union General Ulysess S. Grant repulses the Confederates, driving them into Vicksburg.
1868 President Andrew Johnson is acquitted during Senate impeachment, by one vote, cast by Edmund G. Ross.
1879 The Treaty of Gandamak between Russia and England sets up the Afghan state.
1920 Joan of Arc is canonized in Rome.
1928 The first Academy Awards are held in Hollywood.
1943 A specially trained and equipped Royal Air Force squadron destroys two river dams in Germany.
1951 Chinese Communist Forces launch second phase of the Chinese Spring Offensive in the Korean War and gain up to 20 miles of territory.
1960 A Big Four summit in Paris collapses because of the American U-2 spy plane affair.
1963 After 22 Earth orbits, Gordon Cooper returns to Earth, ending the last mission of Project Mercury
1929
On May 16, 1929, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hands out its first awards, at a dinner party for around 250 people held in the Blossom Room of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California.
The brainchild of Louis B. Mayer, head of the powerful MGM film studio, the Academy was organized in May 1927 as a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the film industry. Its first president and the host of the May 1929 ceremony was the actor Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Unlike today, the winners of the first Oscars—as the coveted gold-plated statuettes later became known—were announced before the awards ceremony itself.
At the time of the first Oscar ceremony, sound had just been introduced into film. The Warner Bros. movie The Jazz Singer—one of the first “talkies”—was not allowed to compete for Best Picture because the Academy decided it was unfair to let movies with sound compete with silent films. The first official Best Picture winner was Wings, directed by William Wellman. The most expensive movie of its time, with a budget of $2 million, the movie told the story of two World War I pilots who fall for the same woman. Another film, F.W. Murnau’s epic Sunrise, was considered a dual winner for the best film of the year. German actor Emil Jannings won the Best Actor honor for his roles in The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh, while 22-year-old Janet Gaynor was the only female winner. After receiving three out of the five Best Actress nods, she won for all three roles, in Seventh Heaven, Street Angel and Sunrise.
A special honorary award was presented to Charlie Chaplin. Originally a nominee for Best Actor, Best Writer and Best Comedy Director for The Circus, Chaplin was removed from these categories so he could receive the special award, a change that some attributed to his unpopularity in Hollywood. It was the last Oscar the Hollywood maverick would receive until another honorary award in 1971.
The Academy officially began using the nickname Oscar for its awards in 1939; a popular but unconfirmed story about the source of the name holds that Academy executive director Margaret Herrick remarked that the statuette looked like her Uncle Oscar. Since 1942, the results of the secret ballot voting have been announced during the live-broadcast Academy Awards ceremony using the sealed-envelope system. The suspense—not to mention the red-carpet arrival of nominees and other stars wearing their most beautiful or outrageous evening wear—continues to draw international attention to the film industry’s biggest night of the year.
1940 Roosevelt asks congress for 900 Million to finance the construction of 50,000 airplanes a year
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May 16
Hello All,
Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you Dan
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
For Saturday May 16..
May 16: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=587
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear’s Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady’s work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend . The site works, find anyone you knew in “search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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From the archives
Thanks to Clyde
‘It was a battle’: Navy vet Everett Alvarez says belief in America got him through 8½ years as POW in Vietnam
On Mon, May 15, 2023 at 16:13 Tom wrote:
Last week the commemoration of the end of the Vietnam War was held on the National Mall in Washington, DC. It gained little fanfare in the MSM. Here is a story of the second longest held POW. In an age when almost every entertainer and celebrity is awarded the Congressional Gold Medal or the Medal of Freedom, the award for Cdr Alverez is still being considered. When asked about the status of those medals, he responded. “What’s the status on that?” he asked with a smile.
‘By
DOUG G. WARE
STARS AND STRIPES • May 11, 2023
Retired Navy pilot Everett Alvarez Jr. talks Wednesday, May 10, 2023, about his time as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. Alvarez was the first fighter pilot shot down during the conflict. (Ken-Yon Hardy/Stars and Stripes)
ROCKVILLE, Md. — The passage of almost 60 years has done nothing to dim former Navy fighter pilot Everett Alvarez Jr.’s memories of the night that he was shot down in the South China Sea and began what would be the second-longest period of captivity for an American service member in the Vietnam War.
At 85 years old, Alvarez still vividly remembers his Douglas A4 Skyhawk filling with smoke and coming apart as he had just a few seconds to make a series of life-or-death choices.
“I was really low. I knew I had to get out right there,” he said Wednesday in an interview at his suburban Washington, D.C., home. “I was trying to get altitude, I was trying to get out to the sea [away from the North Vietnamese coastline], I was trying to maintain control, but I couldn’t do it.”
Then a lieutenant junior grade, Alvarez made one final radio transmission to his wingmen from the USS Constellation before he hit the ejector seat and bailed out into the stormy darkness on Aug. 5, 1964 — only three days after the Gulf of Tonkin incident that triggered America’s full-scale entry into the war.
“I’ll see you guys later,” he told them.
Alvarez would ultimately spend 8½ years as a prisoner of war — much of it in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton.”
He was the first American to be shot down over North Vietnam and the first to be taken prisoner there. This week, he’s also among many veterans who are being honored with a “Welcome Home” celebration on the National Mall by the Vietnam War Commemoration to remember the 50th anniversary of the end of U.S. involvement in the conflict.
Only Floyd James Thompson, an Army Special Forces officer advising the South Vietnamese, was imprisoned longer. He was captured in South Vietnam on March 26, 1964 — more than five months before the Gulf of Tonkin incident — and held for nearly 10 years. He died in 2002.
Alvarez said it’s a miracle that he ejected and made it to the ground alive. Just another second or two in either direction, he said, would have brought certain death.
“I timed it pretty well,” he said, then revising that assessment. “I didn’t time it pretty well. God timed it pretty well. I figured someone is watching over me.”
Even after ending up in the gulf, still alive, Alvarez said he was then immediately met by gunfire from armed fishermen on the water.
“[They] told me to put my hands up in the air, which I did,” he said. “And they got me, quickly.”
About a week later, Alvarez found himself in Hoa Lo Prison — now infamously known as the “Hanoi Hilton,” a large complex built by colonialists to house political prisoners when the region was known as French Indochina.
“I could hear the clanking of the big gate that opened up into the prison as we drove in. I was still blindfolded and they led me into a room where that was my first living quarters. … It was a barren room, a little table, about a 10 feet by 12 [feet] room. They had a metal frame with a slat, a board, which would be the bed.”
Given nothing but a straw mat and a pillow, which was just a straw bundle, and a mosquito net, Alvarez began serving what would turn out to be more than 3,100 days of continuous captivity by the North Vietnamese.
Former POW Everett Alvarez Jr. reads a copy of Stars and Stripes as he relaxes in the hospital after his release from the Hanoi Hilton in 1973. (Defense Department)
During those days, Alvarez said he was often moved over to different parts of the prison complex, and sometimes he was moved away from the complex and into the forest. At times he had roommates, and other times he didn’t. Sometimes his captors could be benevolent, and other times they were just violent.
“I told them as little as I could,” he said. “They quizzed me for six weeks to learn everything they could.”
Late in 1965, his captors moved Alvarez and other captured Americans to a group of small huts somewhere outside Hanoi — a period that the naval aviator called the “second phase of his POW life.” After several weeks, they were sent back to Hanoi and cycled through locations the POWs called “the zoo” and “the briar patch.”
At one point in 1966, the North Vietnamese marched Alvarez and several other captive Americans through the streets of Hanoi, then the capital of North Vietnam. Alvarez said “the Hanoi march” began what might have been the most hostile period of his detention, one that would last for three years.
“Things were starting to turn rough by then. After the march, things really got rough,” he said. “They would punish us. They would torture us for propaganda.
“About three years of constant punishment, torture, different things, they weren’t having success converting us to their ideology, and so they really went after us for propaganda purposes — statements, letters, tapes.”
The tough treatment of Alvarez and the other POWs continued through the next few years, especially after an escape attempt. That treatment included malnourishment, which gave Alvarez dysentery and reduced him to a little more than 100 pounds.
During his time in captivity, Alvarez said there were so many unknowns that he basically had no choice but to hang on to the few morsels of motivation he could muster — thoughts of home, trust in his faith and confidence in his country.
“It was a battle. You have got to hang on to your values, you have got to hang on to your ideals, you have got to hang on to, you know, you’re a member of a team, a group. Everybody was in this thing to keep resisting,” he said.
It was about that time that Alvarez received what was perhaps his worst injury, and one that still causes him trouble today. One of the guards flew into a rage and swung the butt of his rifle into the left side of Alvarez’s face.
“To this day, that’s why I have difficulty. It dislocated my jaw,” he said, also noting he sustained a variety of other injuries that required surgeries on both arms and his back.
Another thing that kept him and the other American POWs going during those dark years in captivity, he said, was communicating with each other. Sometimes they scribbled messages for each other on the bottom of their dishes, and other times they spoke to each other via a finger-tapped communication code.
Going home, finally
The constant interrogations and punishments for Americans at the prison would go on for a couple more years before Alvarez finally began to see some light at the end of the tunnel for him and the others at Hoa Lo.
President Richard Nixon famously increased bombing in North Vietnam in 1972, which included the Hanoi area toward the end of that year. They are often referred to as the “Christmas bombings” and one of the goals of that strategy was to push North Vietnam to the bargaining table.
Scholars and historians have debated for decades how successful Nixon’s strategy was, but Alvarez said when he heard the intensity of the American bombs exploding around him, he knew that the end of the war was in sight. He also knew something was afoot because the POWs’ living conditions began to improve, which is a common bargaining strategy often seen at the end of modern conflicts.
“We knew [North Vietnam] couldn’t last long,” Alvarez said of the relentless U.S. bombing in the latter part of 1972. A couple of weeks later in January 1973, Alvarez said he and the other American prisoners were told they were finally getting released.
“They said, ‘You will be going home soon,’ ” he said.
On Jan. 27, 1973, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War ended with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords and officials on both sides began planning for the release of the POWs.
“We were anxious to go,” Alvarez said.
Escorted by their guards to a nearby landing strip on Feb. 12, Alvarez and dozens of other American POWs stood on the tarmac and watched as their plane — a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter — swooped in to pick them up and take them to a U.S. base in the Philippines. Alvarez was the first one called to board the plane.
“What I remember the most is the plane started up and we were taxiing, and we got to the end of the runway … we lifted off and everybody let out a big cheer,” he said. “And we toasted each other with a little Coke or soft drink that we had and said, ‘We made it.’ ”
Upon arrival in the Philippines, Alvarez was the second one off the plane — after the senior-ranking officer of the group — and he was told he’d have an opportunity to say a few words to the waiting crowd and a row of television cameras.
“I have to tell you, I was just amazed at the crowd and the attention,” Alvarez said, noting he’d heard about the rising anti-war movement in the U.S.
“I came down the ramp and I had no idea what I was going to say. But there’s [an] admiral … at the bottom of the steps. I gave him a salute and I said, ‘Lt. j.g. Alvarez reporting back, sir.’ ”
That moment was captured by a photographer and displayed on the front page of the Feb. 14, 1973, edition of Stars and Stripes.
After his return and recuperation in 1973, Alvarez went on to several different enterprises. He retired from the Navy in 1980 and subsequently served a few political appointments for President Ronald Reagan for the remainder of the decade, including deputy director of the Peace Corps and deputy administrator with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He became a lifetime member of the Board of Fellows at Santa Clara University in California — his alma mater — and founded the information technology consulting firm Alvarez LLC about 20 years ago. The firm is still active in federal government information technology — and Alvarez is still chief executive. His son Marc is president of the company.
Alvarez has also written two books about his experiences in Vietnam, received numerous medals from his time in the Navy and might soon receive the Congressional Gold Medal, which lawmakers are now considering.
“What’s the status on that?” he asked with a smile.
As he now prepares to be honored at the Welcome Home Celebration in Washington this weekend, the proud American grandson of immigrants from Mexico points to several things that have allowed him to be successful in serving his country and realizing the American Dream.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve just had a lot of support. I think I’ve been successful in most things I’ve tried to do. I’ve graduated in electrical engineering from a college. I became a Navy pilot. I was a political appointee. I got into the business world,” Alvarez said. “I was nothing special. I’m just one of the guys that had to do what we had to do. And that’s how we did it, one day at a time. I had a lot of discussions — a lot of conversation with the man upstairs. That’s what worked for me.”
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Thanks to History Facts
Debunked: 5 Myths About Medieval Europe
Arguably no period in European history is as misunderstood as the Middle Ages, which stretched from the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century CE to the rise of the Renaissance roughly 1,000 years later. The myths surrounding this fascinating period of kingdoms and peasants are so prevalent that they led medieval historian Winston Black to write, “The first thing to understand about the Middle Ages… is that they do not actually exist.” The popular perception of life in feudal Europe (exacerbated by Hollywood depictions) is that it was prudish, brutish, and excessively foul, but society was far more advanced than these stereotypes would have us believe. Here, we shine a light on five of the most persistent myths surrounding Europe’s so-called “Dark Ages.”
Myth: Medieval People Thought the World Was Flat
One of the most common myths about medieval society is that people widely believed the Earth was flat, but there’s no evidence that supports this. On the contrary, by the fifth or sixth century BCE, ancient Greeks (specifically Pythagoras) had already begun investigating the planet’s true spherical nature, and by 240 BCE, Greek mathematician Eratosthenes even measured the globe’s circumference (and was pretty dead-on). In fact, the popularity of the flat Earth myth is a considerably more modern development: The myth was perpetuated in 1828 when Washington Irving, who’s known for his inventive short stories, penned The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus, which told a tale of the Italian explorer’s mission to prove that the Earth has curves.
Myth: Society in the Middle Ages Was Very Chaste
The attitudes around romance during the Middle Ages can be difficult to discern, in part because so many historical sources from the era come from the Catholic Church, the predominant religion in Europe at the time. While the church deemed physical intimacy as only acceptable for procreation, medical texts described having too much but also too little intimacy as a potential health hazard that could “upset the humors,” a reference to the prevalent medical theory of the day. King Louis VIII of France, for example, insisted on remaining celibate while fighting in a crusade, and the public opinion was that his death in 1226 was due to this abstinence. Women were also more liberated than many myths suggest; indeed, some historians now believe that items such as the chastity belt — an iron padlock supposedly designed to protect a woman’s “virtue” — never actually existed.
Myth: Knights Were Always Chivalrous
The chivalrous knight — gallant, polite, and virtuous — is one of the most enduring symbols of medieval Europe. It’s also one of the most erroneous. Being the core military warriors in feudal Europe, knights in early medieval times were often disruptive, brutish, and prone to violence, so much so that some church councils prayed to be delivered from their constant barbarism. In an attempt to tame this martial beast, an informal code of chivalry focused around the virtues of honesty, loyalty, respect, and valor, began to take shape in the 10th century CE in France. Many of the modern embellishments about knighthood arrived centuries later during England’s Victorian era, when the romantic literary movement idealized (and often exaggerated) the purity — both culturally and spiritually — of the medieval period.
Myth: Medieval Women Had No Rights
While medieval Europe is far from a shining example of egalitarianism, women in some ways had more rights than they did centuries later. Although the medieval map was a patchwork of kingdoms and duchies, examples of women owning, inheriting, and sharing ownership of properties with their husbands can be found all over Europe, and many dowries imbued women with considerable power. London letter-books also contain many examples of women working as barbers, apothecaries, armorers, shipwrights, and many other professions up until the early 16th century. The destructive Black Death that swept the continent in the 14th century even opened up opportunities for women to own and run many businesses. Women were influential rulers (Eleanor of Aquitaine), warriors (Joan of Arc), and scholars (Christine de Pisan). Today, some historians suggest that the real trouble for women came with the cultural changes of the Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. For all its intellectual and artistic promise, the era created a wealthy middle class eager to mimic the royal way of life, which often busied itself about how to arrange politically motivated marriage among unmarried aristocratic women. In other words, they began treating women as financial or political assets.
Myth: Humans Were Uneducated
For years, scholars used the derogatory term “Dark Ages” to describe the supposed intellectual black hole between the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of the Renaissance era. Of course, the truth is never so simple. During the Middle Ages, Europe actually experienced not one but three smaller cultural revivals — the Carolingian Renaissance of the eighth and ninth centuries, which saw increase in literature and architecture during the rule of Charlemagne; the Ottonian Renaissance in Central Europe during the 10th century, which saw a revival of art and luxury coinciding with reform in the church; and a third renaissance in the 12th century that saw, among other advancements, the early beginnings of Gothic art and architecture (see: Notre-Dame). Some of the first European universities were founded during medieval times (including Oxford in the 12th century), and the very foundations of experimental science took shape thanks to the work of natural philosophers such as Roger Bacon (who lived in the 13th century). In their veneration of the later Renaissance and Enlightenment eras, historians in the 18th and 19th centuries unfairly cast the Middle Ages as a period bereft of any intellectual contribution, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
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6 Debunked Myths About History
Ideally, history is the true story of humanity’s past. But sometimes fictions slip in, either big or small, and stay fixed in the narrative with a stubborn persistence. Some of these fictions are relatively harmless, while others have become the engine of major movements or seriously distorted people’s lives. These are the stories of six of the most prominent myths in history, and why it’s time to debunk them once and for all.
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Napoleon Wasn’t That Short
You’ve probably heard the phrase “Napoleon complex,” which refers to the idea that small creatures — whether people or Pomeranians — often act as if they’re much bigger than they really are, supposedly in an attempt to overcompensate for their lack of stature. Of course, it’s also a reference to Napoleon Bonaparte, the early 19th-century French emperor who wreaked havoc on the European continent for nearly two decades. Yet French sources say Napoleon probably stood at about 5 feet, 5 inches. While that might seem somewhat short by today’s standards, it was only an inch shorter than the average height of a Frenchman at the time. It’s possible he even stood an inch or two taller than this estimate.
So why does history remember Napoleon as such a tiny tyrant? Turns out, it’s actually an enduring piece of British propaganda. In 1803, British political cartoonist James Gillray — arguably the most influential caricaturist of his time — introduced the character “Little Boney,” which portrayed Bonaparte as both diminutive and juvenile. In his cartoons, Napoleon was often seen throwing tantrums while stomping around in oversized boots, military garb, and bicorne hats. The image stuck, and the sight of a raging, pint-sized Napoleon echoed through history. Before his death in 1821, the twice-exiled Napoleon even admitted that Gillray “did more than all the armies of Europe to bring me down.”
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People Have Known the World Was Round for 2,500 Years
“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” in an effort to prove to European naysayers that the world was round, right? Not at all. In fact, Italian explorer Cristoforo Colombo (his real name), his European contemporaries, and basically all educated humans dating back to the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was a sphere. Famous mathematician Pythagoras of Samos (of a2 + b2 = c2 fame) figured out as much around 500 BCE, and 260 years later, another Greek mathematician named Eratosthenes accurately measured the Earth’s circumference. But defying the status quo and risking a deathly plunge into the vacuum of space certainly adds some dramatic tension, which is probably why Washington Irving invented this fictional flourish for his 1828 biography The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. Although he was known for his inventive works of fiction, such as Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving’s creative history of Colombo became one of the most persistent myths of the Age of Exploration.
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Marie Antoinette Never Said “Let Them Eat Cake”
During the French Revolution in the late 18th century, royals and nobles didn’t fare very well — perhaps least of all Queen Marie Antoinette. Married to the last ruler of the ancient régime, King Louis XVI, at the age of 14, Antoinette was seen as an Austrian outsider (her dad was Holy Roman Emperor Francis I) and was often the recipient of France’s ill will. Although the aristocracy was certainly divorced from the harsh realities of the French peasantry, Antoinette was both intelligent and giving, often donating to charitable causes. This didn’t save her from being frequently implicated in various scandals (including a famous one involving a pricey diamond necklace), despite being generally innocent of the charges.
But the most damaging accusation when it comes to Antoinette’s historical reputation is her alleged cold reaction to the plight of the starving French peasantry when she supposedly uttered the phrase “Let them eat cake.” Yet Antoinette didn’t do it. For one thing, the actual French quote — “qu’ils mangent de la brioche” — doesn’t mention cake at all, but instead brioche, a type of sweet bread. Semantics aside, folklore scholars for nearly two centuries have traced the famous phrase to other sources and regions from long before Antoinette was even born. A 16th-century German tale, for example, features a noble woman wondering why peasants didn’t instead eat krosem, also a kind of sweet bread. In 1843, French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr found the same sentence in a book dated 1760 (when the Austrian princess would have been only 5 years old). Even the 2006 film Marie Antoinette (starring Kirsten Dunst in the eponymous role) mentions that the French queen never said the words. Yet despite nearly two centuries of debunking, the myth remains.
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The “Wild West” Wasn’t That Wild
The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881, pitting the lawmen Virgil and Wyatt Earp against outlaws known as the “Cowboys,” is often seen as an emblem of the Wild West. Although depicted in many Hollywood films as evidence of the rampant lawlessness of the West, the real gunfight lasted only 30 seconds, killed three people, and didn’t happen at the O.K. Corral but in a vacant lot down the street. Overall, the episode was a relatively minor one in the history of western North America, but it’s a moment that has become almost legendary in the romanticization of the Wild West, a period of American history stretching from about 1850 until 1900.
Although areas where people struck gold saw a relatively significant uptick in crime, most of the supposedly “wild” West was tamer than you may imagine. Economists, historians, and authors argue that for the most part settlers understood the importance of solving matters civilly, and some towns even passed gun control measures. Although Native Americans suffered egregious injustices during this period, the idea that they massacred white settlers in large numbers has also been exaggerated, and many were actually tolerant of wagon trains headed west.
Another of the most famous tropes associated with the Wild West is also a fabrication, or at least an exaggeration. Many cowboys preferred bowler hats or other lower-crowned hats; what we think of as a cowboy hat didn’t become popular until around the end of the 19th century. (The name “10-gallon hat” didn’t arrive until the 1920s.) Even the ubiquitous saloon-style doors were mostly a myth, as nearly all watering holes in the West had normal doors to keep out chilly winds.
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There Were Actually 12 U.S. Colonies (Until 1776)
Thirteen stripes on the U.S. flag mean 13 colonies originally rebelled against British rule in 1775, right? Strangely, this too is also a myth of sorts. While it’s true that the former British colonies did begin the American Revolution in earnest in 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord, there were technically only 12 colonies at the time. Although it had its own legislative assembly since 1704, the little stretch of coast known today as Delaware was then a part of the Pennsylvania Colony. Delaware didn’t declare its independence until June 15, 1776 — just in time to send delegates to the Second Continental Congress to vote on the Declaration of Independence less than a month later. Although Delaware was the last colony to fully form in America’s colonial period, it certainly wasted no time ushering in the new era, as the state was the very first to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787, technically making it the first U.S. state in the union.
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Thomas Edison Didn’t Invent the Lightbulb
Thomas Edison has plenty of world-changing inventions to his name, such as the phonograph and the kinetograph, but history largely remembers his genius in the shape of the lightbulb. Edison can certainly be thanked for perfecting the lightbulb and making electric light economically feasible, but he’s far from the technology's inventor. Although many could claim credit for the lightbulb’s invention, one of the earliest examples of a lightbulb comes from an English scientist named Ebenezer Kinnersley, who in 1761 — some 86 years before Edison was born — described getting a wire so “red hot” that it gave off light. Kinnersley was describing a process known as incandescence, where electrical resistance actually causes a material to glow. This idea forms the scientific foundation of the incandescent bulb, and many inventors before Edison, including Frederick de Moleyns and Joseph Swan, successfully created incandescent bulbs and lamps. However, in the end it was Edison who by 1880 devised a bulb that lasted some 1,200 hours thanks to its carbonized bamboo filament. Suddenly, lightbulbs transformed from an expensive oddity to the way of the future.
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
Benjamin Franklin created a new alphabet.
When he wasn’t busy experimenting with electricity or dismissing our national symbol as “a bird of bad moral character,” America’s most eclectic founding father had an even stranger pastime: creating a new alphabet. Benjamin Franklin began working on what he called a “Reformed Mode of Spelling” in 1768, envisioning his phonetic alphabet as “a more natural order” that consisted mainly of “sounds formed by the breath, with none or very little help of tongue, teeth, and lips; and produced chiefly in the windpipe.” He removed six consonants he considered superfluous — c, j, q, w, x, and y — while also adding two new vowels and four new consonants.
Under Franklin’s system, each letter could be pronounced only one way (hence why letters such as “c,” which have both “soft” and “hard” pronunciations, were removed). “Long” vowel sounds were achieved by simply using the letter twice in a row. This, he reasoned, would lead to fewer misspellings. Franklin tested his alphabet in a 1768 letter to Polly Stevenson, the daughter of his landlady in London, that ends with “É¥i am, mÉ¥i diir frind, iurs afeks̸É¥netli, B. Franklin” — “I am, my dear friend, yours affectionately, B. Franklin.” Given the fact that you’ve likely never read such a sentence before, you already know that the alphabet never caught on.
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Thanksto 1440
Good morning, it's Saturday, May 16. We're covering a growing Ebola outbreak without a proven vaccine.
One Big Headline
Deadly Virus Resurges
Africa's top public health officials yesterday confirmed an Ebola outbreak in a northeastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. At least 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported, with four deaths definitely linked to Ebola via lab testing.
This marks the Congo's 17th recorded outbreak since Ebola was first identified in 1976 in Africa (see outbreak map). Believed to be naturally hosted by fruit bats, Ebola can cause severe gastrointestinal distress and unexplained bleeding. The virus spreads between humans through direct contact with bodily fluids, and past outbreaks have carried fatality rates ranging from 25% to 90%. Go deeper with this video explainer.
Initial tests indicate the strain currently in the Congo does not belong to the Zaire species, the only one of four with a licensed vaccine. Officials say early detection, contact tracing, and isolation will be crucial. However, contact tracing may prove challenging, as people frequently cross into Uganda and South Sudan for mining work and to flee violence from insurgent groups
Quick Hits
New York judge declares mistrial in Harvey Weinstein rape retrial.
A Manhattan jury yesterday was unable to agree on whether the disgraced Hollywood mogul raped aspiring actress Jessica Mann. The case has now been tried three times. Prosecutors are expected to announce on June 24 whether they will pursue a fourth trial. Weinstein is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence in California for separate rape and sexual assault charges.
Russia and Ukraine swap 205 prisoners of war.
Yesterday’s exchange was the first phase in a planned swap involving 1,000 prisoners from each side. The deal proceeded despite one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv in the four-year war, with at least 24 people killed by a Russian missile strike on an apartment complex Thursday. Russia yesterday said a Ukrainian strike southeast of Moscow killed four people and wounded another 28.
NASA's Psyche spacecraft slingshots by Mars on its way to a rare metal asteroid.
The spacecraft took thousands of photos as it came within 2,800 miles of the red planet, about the distance between the US' East and West coasts. Psyche is en route to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter to study an exceptionally metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche. Scientists think it may be the exposed core of a fledgling planet stripped by cosmic collisions, possibly offering clues into our early solar system.
OpenAI launches ChatGPT for personal finance.
The AI company yesterday announced a new suite of personal finance tools for US-based ChatGPT Pro subscribers. Users can connect accounts from over 12,000 financial institutions—including Schwab, Fidelity, and Robinhood—to the chatbot and receive personalized financial breakdowns. Over 200 million users already ask financial questions to ChatGPT every month, according to OpenAI.
The 151st running of the Preakness Stakes is today. (w/odds)
The second leg of the Triple Crown will begin at approximately 6:50 pm at Maryland's Laurel Park as the event's longtime home, Pimlico Race Course, undergoes major renovations. The $2M race will feature a full 14-horse field, but Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not compete. His trainer said he needs additional time to rest; Golden Tempo is expected to return for the Belmont Stakes on June 6.
Twenty-five countries vie for victory in today's Eurovision final.
Finland's Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen are heavy favorites to win the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest. (Watch their semifinal performance here.) Another standout contender is Delta Goodrem, a 41-year-old cancer survivor who could make history as Australia's first Eurovision winner.
Humankind
Three teens stop to help a man fix his flat tire, and they end up saving his life. (More)
Toddler lights up when her deployed father surprises her at daycare. (More, w/video)
72-year-old woman fulfills her longtime dream of graduating from medical school. (More)
2-year-old boy celebrates being cancer-free with strangers on a plane. (More, w/video)
Twenty-six women, ranging in age from their early 50s to mid-80s, turn an old convent school into a women-only apartment building.
In partnership with Doroni
Morgan Stanley Calls This a $9T Opportunity
If Morgan Stanley’s right, the flying car industry will grow 185,850% by 2050.
They say it will reach $9 trillion, 2X+ more valuable than today’s global car market. And 5,500+ investors believe Doroni will lead the charge. Their H1-X aircraft is designed for everyday life, charging like an EV, fitting in a two-car garage. And it’s no concept. In March, Doroni unveiled a full-scale showroom model FOX Business called it the “‘flying car’ set to revolutionize air travel.”
600+ people already reserved one, good for $240M in potential revenue for Doroni. Humankind(ness)
Dear readers— In honor of Mother's Day, we're pausing our usual act of kindness stories this month to share a sampling of submissions about mothers.
"My mom passed away over two years ago, on Feb. 2, 2023. It’s a day I’ll always remember: her 92nd birthday. We were with her in the morning, and the Lord took her home in the afternoon. It was a really tough time, and I think my mom knew I’d need some encouragement to cope with the loss. As I went through her things, I found little notes she’d left for me to discover. These notes were tucked away in books, cookbooks, and even tin cans. I’m so grateful for those loving notes; they’ve touched and warmed my heart in ways I can’t quite put into words."
— Carla B. in Las Vegas, Nevada
'"Which way home?' Mom asked. I set off confidently. Tramping on paths that spread like veins into the woods, I became totally lost. Mom said she was lost, too. I started to cry. Mom didn’t rescue me. I learned that moss grows on the north side of the trees, the sun travels east to west, the neighbor’s hayfield was west of our property, and so we started in a direction. Half an hour later, I recognized the main path. Many more times in my life, by not telling me the way, Mom gifted me the ability to find my way."
— Patricia C. in Fort Mill, South Carolina
"Motherhood's greatest surprise is how much you learn. One afternoon, my 5-year-old brought me a paper airplane with 'sorry' written all over. He confessed he had broken my phone weeks earlier. We talked about honesty and responsibility, explaining it wasn't okay. Distraught, he returned with a bigger airplane and hugs, but I explained it didn't make up for the loss. Later, he returned with three joined paper airplanes colored with 'sorry, I love you's.' Realizing I am just as lacking when asking forgiveness, I hugged him and let it go. We both were better for it."
— Becky C. in Utah
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This day in American Military History
May 16
1960 – In the wake of the Soviet downing of an American U-2 spy plane on May 1, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev lashes out at the United States and President Dwight D. Eisenhower at a Paris summit meeting between the two heads of state. Khrushchev’s outburst angered Eisenhower and doomed any chances for successful talks or negotiations at the summit. On May 1, 1960, the Soviets shot down a CIA spy plane and captured the pilot, Gary Francis Powers. The United States issued public denials that the aircraft was being used for espionage, claiming instead that it was merely a weather plane that had veered off course. The Soviets thereupon triumphantly produced Powers, large pieces of wreckage from the plane, and Powers’ admission that he was working for the CIA. The incident was a public relations fiasco for Eisenhower, who was forced to admit that the plane had indeed been spying on Russia. Tensions from the incident were still high when Eisenhower and Khrushchev arrived in Paris to begin a summit meeting on May 16. Khrushchev wasted no time in tearing into the United States, declaring that Eisenhower would not be welcome in Russia during his scheduled visit to the Soviet Union in June. He condemned the “inadmissible, provocative actions” of the United States in sending the spy plane over the Soviet Union, and demanded that Eisenhower ban future flights and punish those responsible for this “deliberate violation of the Soviet Union.” When Eisenhower agreed only to a “suspension” of the spy plane flights, Khrushchev left the meeting in a huff. According to U.S. officials, the president was “furious” at Khrushchev for his public dressing-down of the United States. The summit meeting officially adjourned the next day with no further meetings between Khrushchev and Eisenhower. Eisenhower’s planned trip to Moscow in June was scrapped. The collapse of the May 1960 summit meeting was a crushing blow to those in the Soviet Union and the United States who believed that a period of “peaceful coexistence” between the two superpowers was on the horizon. During the previous few years, both Eisenhower and Khrushchev had publicly indicated their desire for an easing of Cold War tensions, but the spy plane incident put an end to such talk, at least for the time being.
1963 – After 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth in Friendship Seven, ending Project Mercury.
1964 – Governor Nelson Rockefeller accepts President Johnson’s offer to brief all Republican candidates for the presidency; afterwards, he agrees with a questioner that Americans are not getting the full story of the situation. Senator Barry Goldwater openly charges that US pilots have died because of obsolescent planes.
1965 – First US gunfire support in Vietnam by USS Tucker.
1965 – What is described by the United States government as “an accidental explosion of a bomb on one aircraft which spread to others” at the Bien Hoa air base leaves 27 U.S. servicemen and 4 South Vietnamese dead and some 95 Americans injured. More than 40 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes, including 10 B-57s, were destroyed.
1969 – 23rd Infantry and 101st Airborne Divisions conduct Operation Lamar Plain southwest of Tamky in Quangtin Province through 13 August.
1972 – A series of air strikes over five days destroys all of North Vietnam’s pumping stations in the southern panhandle, thereby cutting North Vietnam’s main fuel line to South Vietnam. These strikes were part of Operation Linebacker, an air offensive against North Vietnam that had been ordered by President Richard Nixon in early April in response to a massive communist offensive launched on March 30.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken this Day
*MULLER, JOSEPH E.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 305th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Ishimmi, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 15-16 May 1945. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Birth: Holyoke, Mass. G.O. No.: 71, 17 July 1946. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. When his platoon was stopped by deadly fire from a strongly defended ridge, he directed men to points where they could cover his attack. Then through the vicious machinegun and automatic fire, crawling forward alone, he suddenly jumped up, hurled his grenades, charged the enemy, and drove them into the open where his squad shot them down. Seeing enemy survivors about to man a machinegun, He fired his rifle at point-blank range, hurled himself upon them, and killed the remaining 4. Before dawn the next day, the enemy counterattacked fiercely to retake the position. Sgt. Muller crawled forward through the flying bullets and explosives, then leaping to his feet, hurling grenades and firing his rifle, he charged the Japs and routed them. As he moved into his foxhole shared with 2 other men, a lone enemy, who had been feigning death, threw a grenade. Quickly seeing the danger to his companions, Sgt. Muller threw himself over it and smothered the blast with his body. Heroically sacrificing his life to save his comrades, he upheld the highest traditions of the military service.
BALLARD, DONALD E.
Rank and organization: Hospital Corpsman Second Class, U.S. Navy, Company M, 3d Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 16 May 1968. Entered service at: Kansas City, Mo. Born: 5 December 1945, Kansas City, Mo. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life and beyond the call of duty while serving as a HC2c. with Company M, in connection with operations against enemy aggressor forces. During the afternoon hours, Company M was moving to join the remainder of the 3d Battalion in Quang Tri Province. After treating and evacuating 2 heat casualties, HC2c. Ballard was returning to his platoon from the evacuation landing zone when the company was ambushed by a North Vietnamese Army unit employing automatic weapons and mortars, and sustained numerous casualties. Observing a wounded marine, HC2c. Ballard unhesitatingly moved across the fire swept terrain to the injured man and swiftly rendered medical assistance to his comrade. HC2c. Ballard then directed 4 marines to carry the casualty to a position of relative safety. As the 4 men prepared to move the wounded marine, an enemy soldier suddenly left his concealed position and, after hurling a hand grenade which landed near the casualty, commenced firing upon the small group of men. Instantly shouting a warning to the marines, HC2c. Ballard fearlessly threw himself upon the lethal explosive device to protect his comrades from the deadly blast. When the grenade failed to detonate, he calmly arose from his dangerous position and resolutely continued his determined efforts in treating other marine casualties. HC2c. Ballard’s heroic actions and selfless concern for the welfare of his companions served to inspire all who observed him and prevented possible injury or death to his fellow marines. His courage, daring initiative, and unwavering devotion to duty in the face of extreme personal danger, sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
*ROARK, ANUND C.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. Place and date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 16 May 1968. Entered service at: Los Angeles, Calif. Born: 17 February 1948, Vallejo, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Roark distinguished himself by extraordinary gallantry while serving with Company C. Sgt. Roark was the point squad leader of a small force which had the mission of rescuing 11 men in a hilltop observation post under heavy attack by a company-size force, approximately 1,000 meters from the battalion perimeter. As lead elements of the relief force reached the besieged observation post, intense automatic weapons fire from enemy occupied bunkers halted their movement. Without hesitation, Sgt. Roark maneuvered his squad, repeatedly exposing himself to withering enemy fire to hurl grenades and direct the fire of his squad to gain fire superiority and cover the withdrawal of the outpost and evacuation of its casualties. Frustrated in their effort to overrun the position, the enemy swept the hilltop with small arms and volleys of grenades. Seeing a grenade land in the midst of his men, Sgt. Roark, with complete disregard for his safety, hurled himself upon the grenade, absorbing its blast with his body. Sgt. Roark’s magnificent leadership and dauntless courage saved the lives of many of his comrades and were the inspiration for the successful relief of the outpost. His actions which culminated in the supreme sacrifice of his life were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect great credit on himself and the U.S. Army .
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS For May 16
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MAY 16
THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
1919: FIRST ATLANTIC CROSSING BY AIR. Lt Cmdr Albert C. “Puffy” Read and his five-man crew left Trepassy Bay, Newfoundland, in an NC-4. They arrived at the Azores on 17 May and at Lisbon, Portugal, on 27 May, thus completing the first crossing of the Atlantic by air. Two other flying boats failed to finish the trip. (9)
1940: President Roosevelt asked for the production of 50,000 planes a year. (12) (24)
1945: Fighter-bombers assaulted the Ipo Dam area, Luzon, with the largest mass employment of napalm in the Pacific War. (21) (24)
1947: Over New York, 101 B-29s “theoretically” dropped bombs in SAC's first maximum effort mission. (1) 1950: The USAF gained full responsibility for developing and operating the Joint Long Range Proving Ground Division. The Division had the status of a major air command.
1951: KOREAN WAR. In a maximum effort through 26 May, 315 AD cargo aircraft flew an average of over 1,000 tons of supplies daily from Japan to Korea to support UN ground forces seeking to halt the communist offensive. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Through 17 May, in an emergency unit movement by air, the 315 AD dispatched C-119, C-54, and C-46 aircraft to transport 2,361 members of the 187th Regimental Combat Team and combat equipment, vehicles, and supplies from Japan to Pusan, Korea. The team quelled rioting POWs at Koje-do, where the UN Command had established a large POW compound. (28)
1958: Capt Eli L. Beeding, Jr. became the first man to absorb 83 "Gs" in a Daisy Track experiment. Over a 10-mile level course at Edwards AFB, Capt Walter W. Irwin flew a Lockheed F-104A Starfighter to a FAI speed record of 1,404.09 MPH. (9) The first F-101 Voodoo aircraft to reach Europe arrived at Phalsbourg AB, France. (4)
1958: Captain Walter Irwin sets a new absolute speed record piloting a Lockheed F-104A (#55-2969) Starfighter to an average speed of 1,404.012 miles per hour surpassing the previous F.A.I. record.
1964: SECDEF McNamara accelerated the phaseout of Atlas E and Titan I missiles. His directive advanced the retirement from FY1968 to FY1965. (6)
1968: MAC airlifted 88.5 tons of food and relief material to Ethiopia in response to a flood. (16) (26)
1978: Operation ZAIRE I/MACKAY TROPHY. Through 27 May, after Katangan rebels from Angola attacked Zaire’s Shaba province, MAC used one C-5 and 42 C-141 missions to carry 931 tons of cargo and 124 passengers to support Belgian and French operations. During the C-5 mission, Lt Col Robert F. Schultz and his 436 MAW aircrew carried a 130,000-pound outsized load and earned the Mackay Trophy for overcoming fatigue, limited en route support, crippling mechanical problems, and adverse operational conditions in a hostile area. (21)
1980: General Dynamics launched the Tomahawk GLCM for the first time at the Utah Test and Training Range. (3)
1984: MAC C-141s flew 22 tons of medical supplies to Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan. (16)
1989: Operation BLADE JEWEL. Based on deteriorating relations between the US and Panama, President Bush ordered military dependents not residing on American bases to leave Panama. MAC evacuated 5,915 dependents, mainly on civil aircraft, to the US. (18)
2001: Operation FOCUS RELIEF. Through 24 May, in Operation FOCUS RELIEF II, five C-5 missions airlifted 201 US troops and 217 short tons of cargo from Fort Bragg and Ramstein AB to Ghana and Senegal, where they trained indigenous military personnel to support UN peacekeeping efforts in Sierra Leone. From August to October 2000, in Operation FOCUS RELIEF I, AMC flew American forces and equipment to Nigeria to help train Nigerian forces for a peacekeeping role in Sierra Leone. By late 2001, AMC flew another 4 C-5, 4 C-17, and 2 C-141 missions for peacekeeper training in Ghana, Senegal, and Nigeria. Seven airlift sorties from 11 September through 2 October were flown as FOCUS RELIEF III missions. (22)
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