To All
. Good Tuesday morning May 19. . .It is starting out warmer today and the skies are already clear and we will hit 81 around 2. The forecast is for a lot of clear skies and higher temps over the next week .
Regards,
Skip
HAGD
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
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 19
1813 During the War of 1812, the frigate Congress, commanded by John Smith, captures and burns the British merchant brig, Jean, in the Atlantic.
1855 The screw ship Powhatan lands her Marine guard at Shanghai, China, to protect the lives and property of Americans during a period of unrest.
1882 Commodore Robert W. Shufeldt, onboard USS Swatara, arrives in Korea to negotiate the first commerce treaty between Korea and a Western power. The treaty is signed on May 22, opening Korea to United States trade.
1944 USS England (DE 635) sinks Japanese submarine I 16, the first of five submarines the destroyer sinks in a week’s time. There was a saying that in the US Navy there will always be an England but that has not been true for a while…skip-
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Today in World History: May 19
0715 St. Gregory II begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1535 French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail for North America.
1536 Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, is beheaded on Tower Green.
1568 Defeated by the Protestants, Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England where Queen Elizabeth imprisons her.
1588 The Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal.
1608 The Protestant states form the Evangelical Union of Lutherans and Calvinists.
1635 Cardinal Richelieu of France intervenes in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain.
1643 The French army defeats a Spanish army at Rocroi, France.
1780 Near total darkness descends on New England at noon. No explanation is found.
1856 Senator Charles Sumner speaks out against slavery.
1858 A pro-slavery band led by Charles Hamilton executes unarmed Free State men near Marais des Cygnes on the Kansas-Missouri border.
1863 Union General Ulysses S. Grant's first attack on Vicksburg is repulsed.
1864 The Union and Confederate armies launch their last attacks against each other at Spotsylvania, Virginia.
1921 Congress sharply curbs immigration, setting a national quota system.
1935 The National Football League adopts an annual college draft to begin in 1936.
1964 U.S. diplomats find at least 40 microphones planted in the American embassy in Moscow.
1967 U.S. planes bomb Hanoi for the first time.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
May 19
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 Tuesday May 19..
May 19: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1145
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
.NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
From the archives
Monday Morning Humor thanks to Al
Last Saturday was Armed Forces Day. Where Veterans” Day is to honor those who have served and Memorial Day is to honor those who died in the line of service, Armed Forces Day is to honor those currently serving.
These jokes are in honor of our troops who are positioned around the world.
Misunderstanding Military Terms
One reason the Services have trouble operating jointly is that they don't speak the same language. For example, if you told Navy personnel to "secure a building," they would turn off the lights and lock the doors. Army personnel would occupy the building so no one could enter. Marines would assault the building, capture it, and defend it with suppressive fire and close combat. The Air Force, on the other hand, would take out a three-year lease with an option to buy.
The Show Off Pilots
An F-15 was flying escort with a C-5 and generally making a nuisance of himself by flying rolls around the lumbering transport jet. The message for the C-5 crew was, "Anything you can do, I can do better." Not to be outdone, the transport pilot announced that he would rise to the challenge. The C-5 continued its flight, straight and level, however.
Perplexed, the fighter pilot asked, "So? What did you do?"
"We just shut down two engines."
Military Etiquette
Officer: Soldier, do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: Sure, buddy.
Officer: That's no way to address an officer! Now let's try it again. Do you have change for a dollar?
Soldier: "No, SIR!"
Rules for gunfighting…
USMC
• Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.
• Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.
• Have a plan.
• Have a back-up plan, because the first one probably won't work.
• Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.
• Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun whose caliber does not start with a "4."
• Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.
• Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)
• Use cover or concealment as much as possible.
• Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.
• Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.
• In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.
• If you are not shooting, you should be communicating or reloading.
• Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.
• And above all ... don't drop your guard.
Navy SEAL
• Look very cool in the latest sunglasses.
• Kill every living thing within view.
• Return quickly to looking very cool in latest beach wear.
• Check hair in mirror.
US Army Rangers
• Walk in 50 miles wearing 95 pound ruck while starving.
• Locate individuals requiring killing.
• Request permission via radio from "Higher" to perform killing.
• Curse bitterly when mission is aborted.
• Walk out 50 miles wearing a 95 pound ruck while starving.
US Army
• Select a new beret to wear.
• Sew combat patch on right shoulder.
• Reconsider the color of beret you decide to wear.
US Air Force
• Have a cocktail.
• Adjust temperature on air-conditioner.
• See what's on HBO.
• Determine "what is a gunfight."
• Send the Army.
US Navy
• Go to Sea.
• Drink Coffee.
• Launch airplanes and cruise missiles.
Military Quotes:
• "A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite unpopular in what's left of your unit."-Army's magazine of preventive maintenance.
• "Aim towards the Enemy."-Instruction printed on US Rocket Launcher
• "When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our friend.-U.S. Marine Corps
• "Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground."-USAF Ammo Troop
• "If the enemy is in range, so are you."-Infantry Journal
• "It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."-U.S. Air Force Manual
• "Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."-General Macarthur
• "Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo."-Infantry Journal
• "You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me."-U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.
• "Tracers work both ways."-U.S. Army Ordnance
• "Five second fuses only last three seconds."-Infantry Journal
• "Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last, and don't ever volunteer to do anything."-U.S. Navy Swabbie
• "Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."-David Hackworth
• "If your attack is going too well, your walking into an ambush."-Infantry Journal
• "No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection."-Joe Gay
• "Any ship can be a minesweeper ... once."-Anonymous
• "Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."-Unknown Marine Recruit
• "Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around you."-Your Buddies
• "If you see a bomb technician running, follow him."-USAF Ammo Troop
• "Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ... I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."-At the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base Kadena, Japan
• "You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."-Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)
• "The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."
• "Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky."-From an old carrier sailor
• "If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter and therefore, unsafe."
• "When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."
• "What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, .... the pilot dies."
• "Never trade luck for skill."
• "Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."
• "Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."
• "A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication."
• "Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"
• "Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries."
• "Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
• "When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten."
• "Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day."
• Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII: "When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and gently as possible."
• "The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you."-Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
• "A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum."-Jon McBride, astronaut
• "If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible."-Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot)
• "Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you."
• "There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."-Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970
• "If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
• Basic Flying Rules: "Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to fly there."
• "You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."
• As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?". The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!"-Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)
Submitted by Mike Bolier:
About Pilots:
• As an aviator in flight you can do anything you want... As long as it's right... And we'll let you know if it's right after you get down.
• You can't fly forever without getting killed.
• As a pilot only two bad things can happen to you and one of them will.
a. One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight in an airplane..
b. One day you will walk out to the airplane not knowing that it is your last flight in an airplane.
• Any flight over water in a single engine airplane will absolutely guarantee abnormal engine noises and vibrations.
• There are Rules and there are Laws.
• The rules are made by men who think that they know better how to fly your airplane than you. The Laws (of Physics) were made by the Great One. You can, and sometimes should, suspend the Rules but you can never suspend the Laws.
• More about Rules:
a. The rules are a good place to hide if you don't have a better idea and the talent to execute it.
b. If you deviate from a rule, it must be a flawless performance. (e.g., If you fly under a bridge, don't hit the bridge.)
• The pilot is the highest form of life on earth.
• The ideal pilot is the perfect blend of discipline and aggressiveness.
• About night flying:
a. Remember that the airplane doesn't know that it's dark.
b. On a clear, moonless night, never fly between the tanker's lights.
c. There are certain aircraft sounds that can only be heard at night.
d. If you're going to night fly, it might as well be in the weather so you can double count your exposure to both hazards.
e. Night formation is really an endless series of near misses in equilibrium with each other.
f. You would have to pay a lot of money at a lot of amusement parks and perhaps add a few drugs, to get the same blend of psychedelic sensations as a single engine night weather flight.
• One of the most important skills that a pilot must develop is the skill to ignore those things that were designed by non-pilots to get the pilot's attention.
• At the end of the day, the controllers, ops supervisors, maintenance guys, weather guessers, and birds; they're all trying to kill you and your job is to not let them!
• The concept of "controlling" airspace with radar is just a form of FAA sarcasm directed at pilots to see if they're gullible enough to swallow it. Or to put it another way, when's the last time the FAA ever shot anyone down?
• Remember that the radio is only an electronic suggestion box for the pilot. Sometimes the only way to clear up a problem is to turn it off.
• It is a tacit, yet profound admission of the preeminence of flying in the hierarchy of the human spirit, that those who seek to control aviators via threats always threaten to take one's wings and not one's life.
• Remember when flying low and inverted that the rudder still works the same old way but hopefully your IP never taught you "pull stick back, plane go up".
• Mastering the prohibited maneuvers in the NATOPS Manual is one of the best forms of aviation life insurance you can get.
• A tactic done twice is a procedure. (Refer to unpredictability discussion above)
• The aircraft G-limits are only there in case there is another flight by that particular airplane. If subsequent flights do not appear likely, there are no G-limits.
• If a mother has the slightest suspicion that her infant might grow up to be a pilot, she had better teach him to put things back where he got them
• The ultimate responsibility of the pilot is to fulfill the dreams of the countless millions of earthbound ancestors who could only stare skyward ...and wish.
A Comparison of Pilot traditions between the Navy and the Air Force…
On a carrier, the Naval Aviator looks over at the Catapult Officer ("Shooter") who gives the run up engines signal by rotating his finger above his head. The pilot pushes the throttle forward, checks all gauges and gives the Cat officer a brisk salute, continuing the Navy tradition of asking permission to leave the ship. Cat officer drops to one knee while swooping his arm forward and pointing down deck, granting that permission.
We've all seen Air Force pilots look up just before taxi for takeoff and the ground crew waits until their thumb is sticking straight up. The crew chief then confirms that he sees the thumb, salutes and the Air Force pilot then takes off. This time tested tradition is the last link in the Air Force safety net to confirm that the pilot does not have both thumbs up his a$$.
Four retired guys are walking down a street in Norfolk. Then they turn a corner and see a sign that says "Old Timer's Bar " " ALL DRINKS -- 10 CENTS". They look at each other, then go in.
The old bartender says in a voice that carries across the room, "Come on in and let me pour one for you, what'll it be, Gentlemen?"
There seems to be a fully stocked bar, so the men all ask for a martini. In short order, the bartender serves up 4 iced martinis -- and says, That'll be 10 cents each, please."
They can't believe their good luck. They pay the 40 cents, finish their martinis, and order another round.
Again, four excellent martinis are produced with the bartender again saying, "That's 40 more cents, please."
They pay the 40 cents, but their curiosity is more than they can stand. They've each had two martinis and so far they've spent less than a dollar.
Finally one of the men couldn't stand it any longer and asks the bartender "How can you afford to serve martinis as good as these for a dime a piece?"
"Here's my story. I'm a retired tailor from Brooklyn, and I always wanted to own a bar down by the water. Last year I hit the lottery for $25 million and decided to open this place. Every drink costs a dime whether it's wine, liquor, beer or whatever. They are all the same."
"Wow. That's quite a story" says one of the men.
The four of them sipped at their martinis and couldn't help but notice three other people at the end of the bar who didn't have a drink in front of them, and hadn't ordered anything the whole time they were there.
One man gestures at the three at the end of the bar without drinks and asks the bartender, "What's with them?"
The bartender says, "They're retired Navy , they're waiting for happy hour."
Have a great week,
Al
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."--Peter F. Drucker
"Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."--George S. Patton
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This is a short version of his life. The long one is worth your time. He was and amazing individual…skip
1935 T.E. Lawrence, known to the world as Lawrence of Arabia, dies as a retired Royal Air Force mechanic living under an assumed name. The legendary war hero, author and archaeological scholar succumbed to injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident six days before.
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Tremadog, Wales, in 1888. In 1896, his family moved to Oxford. Lawrence studied architecture and archaeology, for which he made a trip to Ottoman (Turkish)-controlled Syria and Palestine in 1909. In 1911, he won a fellowship to join an expedition excavating an ancient Hittite settlement on the Euphrates River. He worked there for three years and in his free time traveled and learned Arabic. In 1914, he explored the Sinai, near the frontier of Ottoman-controlled Arabia and British-controlled Egypt. The maps Lawrence and his associates made had immediate strategic value upon the outbreak of war between Britain and the Ottoman Empire in October 1914.
Lawrence enlisted in the war and because of his expertise in Arab affairs was assigned to Cairo as an intelligence officer. He spent more than a year in Egypt, processing intelligence information and in 1916 accompanied a British diplomat to Arabia, where Hussein ibn Ali, the emir of Mecca, had proclaimed a revolt against Turkish rule. Lawrence convinced his superiors to aid Hussein’s rebellion, and he was sent to join the Arabian army of Hussein’s son Faisal as a liaison officer.
Under Lawrence’s guidance, the Arabians launched an effective guerrilla war against the Turkish lines. He proved a gifted military strategist and was greatly admired by the Bedouin people of Arabia. In July 1917, Arabian forces captured Aqaba near the Sinai and joined the British march on Jerusalem. Lawrence was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In November, he was captured by the Turks while reconnoitering behind enemy lines in Arab dress and was tortured and sexually abused before escaping. He rejoined his army, which slowly worked its way north to Damascus, which fell in October 1918.
Arabia was liberated, but Lawrence’s hope that the peninsula would be united as a single nation was dashed when Arabian factionalism came to the fore after Damascus. Lawrence, exhausted and disillusioned, left for England. Feeling that Britain had exacerbated the rivalries between the Arabian groups, he appeared before King George V and politely refused the medals offered to him.
After the war, he lobbied hard for independence for Arab countries and appeared at the Paris peace conference in Arab robes. He became something of a legendary figure in his own lifetime, and in 1922 he gave up higher-paying appointments to enlist in the Royal Air Force (RAF) under an assumed name, John Hume Ross. He had just completed writing his monumental war memoir, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and he hoped to escape his fame and acquire material for a new book. Found out by the press, he was discharged, but in 1923 he managed to enlist as a private in the Royal Tanks Corps under another assumed name, T.E. Shaw, a reference to his friend, Irish writer George Bernard Shaw. In 1925, Lawrence rejoined the RAF and two years later legally changed his last name to Shaw.
In 1927, an abridged version of his memoir was published and generated tremendous publicity, but the press was unable to locate Lawrence (he was posted to a base in India). In 1929, he returned to England and spent the next six years writing and working as an RAF mechanic. In 1932, his English translation of Homer’s Odyssey was published under the name of T.E. Shaw. The Mint, a fictionalized account of Royal Air Force recruit training, was not published until 1955 because of its explicitness.
In February 1935, Lawrence was discharged from the RAF and returned to his simple cottage at Clouds Hill, Dorset. On May 13, he was critically injured while driving his motorcycle through the Dorset countryside. He had swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles. On May 19, he died at the hospital of his former RAF camp. Britain mourned his passing.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Interesting Facts
7 Precious Facts About Gold
When Earth was about 200 million years old, it passed through a field of rocks suspended in space. The rocks smashed into our planet and embedded millions of tons of new elements in Earth’s crust — including gold. Over time, the particles coalesced into veins, forming the bulk of the gold later mined for use in jewelry, currency, artworks, electronics, and more. Here are seven facts about this marvelous metal.
1 of 7
Gold Has Unique Chemical Properties
Pure gold is sun-yellow, shiny, and soft, and has about the same hardness as a penny. It’s the most malleable metal: One gram of gold, equivalent in size to a grain of rice, can be hammered into a sheet of gold leaf measuring one square meter. Gold doesn’t rust or break down from friction or high temperatures. It conducts heat well and can be melted or reshaped infinitely without losing its elemental qualities. Gold can also be alloyed with other metals to increase hardness or create different colors. White gold, for example, is a mix of gold, nickel, copper, and zinc, while rose gold comprises gold, silver, and copper.
2 of 7
People Fashioned Gold Into Jewelry as Far Back as 4000 BCE
Cultures in the Middle East and the Mediterranean began using gold in decorative objects and personal ornaments thousands of years ago. The Sumer civilization of southern Iraq made sophisticated gold jewelry around 3000 BCE, and Egyptian dynasties valued gold for funerary art and royal regalia. By the time of the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, gold was the standard for international commerce, and even played a role in mythology and literature. The story of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece may have emerged from an old method of filtering gold particles from streams with sheepskins.
3 of 7
Governments Have Used Gold as Currency for Millennia
Traders in the Mediterranean region used gold rings, bars, or ingots as currency for centuries, and Chinese merchants bought and sold goods with gold tokens as far back as 1091 BCE. In the sixth century BCE, the civilization of Lydia (in present-day Turkey) minted the first gold coins. Cities across the Greek world followed suit, establishing gold coins as the standard currency for trade with Persia, India, and farther afield.
4 of 7
The Search for Gold Fueled the European Invasion of the Americas
European nations’ lust for gold prompted numerous expeditions of discovery to the Americas, beginning in 1492 with Columbus’ voyage to Hispaniola. Spanish conquistadors found the Aztec and Inca cultures awash in gold, which the Native peoples viewed as sacred. The Indigenous leaders gave the conquistadors gifts of gold earrings, necklaces, armbands, figurines, ornaments, and other objects. Seeing the potential riches for the taking, the Spanish government quickly authorized the conquest of the Indigenous cities and requisition of their gold, spelling disaster for the Aztec and Inca peoples.
5 of 7
America’s First Gold Rush Took Place in 1803
Gold is spread across Earth’s crust in varying concentrations. Over the past two centuries, the discoveries of particularly large deposits have often sparked gold rushes. In 1799, 12-year-old Conrad Reed found a 17-pound nugget in a stream on his grandfather’s North Carolina farm, the first time gold was found in the United States. Four years later, the Reed Gold Mine opened and attracted other prospectors hoping to strike it rich. Gold rushes also occurred in California in 1848, Nevada in the 1860s, and the Klondike region in the 1890s. Major gold rushes took place in Australia in the 1840s and 1850s and in South Africa in the 1880s as well.
6 of 7
Today, Gold Is Everywhere From Your Smartphone to the ISS
Thanks to gold’s physical properties, it can be used for a huge range of applications in addition to currency, jewelry, and decorative objects. Dentists repair teeth with gold crowns and bridges, and some cancer therapies use gold nanoparticles to kill malignant cells. Gold also protects sensitive circuitry and parts from corrosion in consumer electronics, communication satellites, and jet engines. And gold sheets reflect solar radiation from spacecraft and astronauts’ helmets.
7 of 7
The U.S Still Maintains a Stockpile of Gold
During the Great Depression, when the U.S. monetary system was based on the Gold Standard — in which the value of all paper and coin currency was convertible to actual gold — the federal government established the Fort Knox Bullion Depository in Kentucky to store the gold needed to back the currency. The U.S. eliminated the Gold Standard in 1971, but still maintains a gold stockpile at Fort Knox. Today, it holds about 147 million ounces of gold in bars roughly the size of a standard brick. That’s about half of all of the gold owned by the United States.
Olympic gold medals are made mostly from silver.
According to the International Olympic Committee, athletes’ gold medals must be composed of at least 92.5% silver and plated with about 6 grams of pure gold. (Silver medals are authentically advertised as solid silver, yet bronze medals are actually 95% copper and 5% zinc.) However, genuine gold medals were briefly part of the Olympic Summer Games. In the St. Louis 1904 Games — the first Olympiad where the modern medal configuration was observed — top finishers received medals made entirely of gold. The practice ended after the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, after World War I led to gold shortages. Cold-weather winners never had the chance to take home fully gold hardware, as the Olympic Winter Games only launched in 1924.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to History Facts
People thought trains would cause “railway madmen.”
During the Victorian era, rail travel was instrumental in England’s rapid transformation from an agrarian culture to an urban, industrialized society. It generally improved life for a large segment of society, leading to new opportunities in travel, transporting goods, business development, and the growth of towns and cities. But flaws in the fledgling railway system posed both minor and major dangers. Only first-class passengers enjoyed the luxury of windows, and third-class carriages did not have roofs until 1844. More seriously, most railway carriages were unlit and had no aisles, making passengers vulnerable to a variety of criminals, from pickpockets to con artists.
Another perceived threat to public safety was the rise of the “railway madman.” An 1864 New York Times article entitled “A Madman in a Railway Carriage” warned readers of a train passenger who seemingly had a mental breakdown once the train began moving. He accused other riders of stealing from him and eventually attempted to jump out of the moving train, requiring his fellow passengers to strap him to his seat for the rest of the journey. Even though the article mentioned that onlookers believed the man to be suffering from a “violent attack of delirium tremens,” a slew of sensational newspaper pieces from other outlets led readers to believe that England was beset by an epidemic of “railway madmen” caused by traveling at high speeds. Some physicians warned that the jolts and bumps of frequent train riding could cause brain damage, leading some to lose their minds, and medical journals discussed finding methods for identifying a latent “railway madman” before he struck. Ultimately, the phenomenon faded from the collective consciousness as inexplicably as it began. Though scattered attacks and incidents continued to be reported sporadically over the next few decades, the panic faded, and train travel became a staple of modern life.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History…….May 19
1864 – A dozen days of fighting around Spotsylvania ends with a Confederate attack against the Union forces. The epic campaign between the Army of the Potomac, under the effective direction of Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia began at the beginning of May when Union forces crossed the Rapidan River. After a bloody two-day battle in the Wilderness forest, Grant moved his army further south toward Spotsylvania Court House. This move was a departure from the tactics of the previous three years in the eastern theater of the Civil War. Since 1861, the Army of the Potomac had been coming down to Virginia under different commanders only to be defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia, usually under Lee’s direction, and had always returned northward. But Grant was different than the other Union generals. He knew that by this time Lee could not sustain constant combat. The numerical superiority of the Yankees would eventually wear Lee down. When Grant ordered his troops to move south, a surge of enthusiasm swept the Union veterans; they knew that in Grant they had an aggressive leader who would not allow the Confederates time to breathe. Nevertheless, the next stop proved to be more costly than the first. After the battle in the Wilderness, Grant and Lee waged a footrace for the strategic crossroads at Spotsylvania. Lee won the race, and his men dug in. On May 8, Grant attacked Lee, initiating a battle that raged for 12 awful days. The climax came on May 12, when the two armies struggled for nearly 20 hours over an area that became known as the Bloody Angle. The fighting continued sporadically for the next week as the Yankees tried to eject the Rebels from their breastworks. Finally, when the Confederates attacked on May 19, Grant prepared to pull out of Spotsylvania. Convinced he could never dislodge the Confederates from their positions, he elected to try to circumvent Lee’s army to the south. The Army of the Potomac moved, leaving behind 18,000 casualties at Spotsylvania to the Confederates’ 12,000. In less than three weeks Grant had lost 33,000 men, with some of the worst fighting yet to come.
1918 – Raoul Lufbery, one of the top-scoring US fighter pilots of the war with 17 victories, is killed during air combat. He had served with other American volunteers in the French Escadrille Lafayette (originally the Escadrille Americaine and credited with 38 air victories) before the United States’ entry into the war. Lufbery was the commander of the famed 94th “Hat in the Ring” Aero Squadron at the time of his death.
1927 – The 11th Marine Regiment arrived at Esteli, Nicaragua, for garrison duty.
1941 – Viet Minh, a communist coalition, formed at Cao Bằng Province, Vietnam.
1942 – In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor.
1943 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set Monday, May 1, 1944 as the date for the Normandy landings (“D-Day”). It would later be delayed over a month due to bad weather.
1943 – On Attu, American forces advance along Clevesy Pass toward Chicagof.
1944 – Allied forces of US 5th Army continue to make advances. The US 2nd Corps captures Gasta Itri and Monte Grande. The French Expeditionary Corps nearly reaches Pico and battle for Campodimele. Meanwhile, British armor and infantry overrun the Aquino airfield, in the Liri Valley but German antitank guns repulse an attempt to seize the town.
1944 – American aircraft the carriers of Task Group 58.2 (Admiral Montgomery) conduct a raid on Marcus Island.
1945 – On Luzon, in the Ipoh dam area north of Manila, where the US 43rd Division of US 11th Corps is operating, Japanese resistance ends. The US 152nd Division is holding its positions near Woodpecker Ridge. The US 25th Division, part of US 1st Corps, begins mopping up in the area north and west of Santa Fe.
1945 – On Okinawa, the US 77th Division suffers heavy casualties while fighting for the Ishimmi ridge and withdraws. Note this battle started on 1 April 1945 and still has weeks to go……Skip
1945 – Some 272 American B-29 Superfortress bombers strike Hamamatsu, 120 miles (192 km) from Tokyo. Bombs are dropped through the clouds from medium altitude.
1972 – Units of South Vietnam’s 9th and 21st Divisions, along with several South Vietnamese airborne battalions, open new stretches of road south of An Loc and come within two miles of the besieged city. In the Central Highlands, North Vietnamese troops, preceded by heavy shelling, tried to break through the lines of South Vietnam’s 23rd Division defending Kontum, but the South Vietnamese troops held firm. These actions were part of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the “Easter Offensive”), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces on March 30 to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north and Kontum in the Central Highlands, included An Loc farther to the south. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where they abandoned their positions in Quang Tri and fled south in the face of the enemy onslaught. At Kontum and An Loc, the South Vietnamese were more successful in defending against the attacks, but only after weeks of bitter fighting. Although the defenders suffered heavy casualties, they managed to hold their own with the aid of U.S. advisors and American airpower. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months, but eventually the South Vietnamese forces prevailed against the invaders and retook Quang Tri in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his Vietnamization program, which he had instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
BROWN, JOHN H.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company A, 47th Ohio Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: Cincinnati, Ohio. Birth: Boston, Mass. Date of issue: 24 August 1896. Citation: Voluntarily carried a verbal message from Col. A. C. Parry to Gen. Hugh Ewing through a terrific fire and in plain view of the enemy.
HOWE, ORION P.
Rank and organization: Musician, Company C, 55th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: Woken, Ill. Birth: Portage County, Ohio. Date of issue: 2 3 April 1896. Citation: A drummer boy, 14 years of age, and severely wounded and exposed to a heavy fire from the enemy, he persistently remained upon the field of battle until he had reported to Gen. W. T. Sherman the necessity of supplying cartridges for the use of troops under command of Colonel Malmborg.
KEPHART, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, Company C, 13th U.S. Infantry. Place and date: At Vicksburg, Miss., 19 May 1863. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Venango County, Pa. Date of issue: 13 May 1899. Citation: Voluntarily and at the risk of his life, under a severe fire of the enemy, aided and assisted to the rear an officer who had been severely wounded and left on the field.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for May 19, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD “PHIL” MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
1908: Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, the first US Army officer to fly an airplane, flew the White Wing at Hammondsport. It was Dr. Alexander Graham Bell's second Aerial Experiment Association plane, and it had hinged ailerons. (20) (21)
1917: A General Order described a distinguished insignia for all US government aircraft and directed it be placed on all naval aircraft. The insignia was a red disc within a white star on a blue circular field, and would be placed on the wings with red, white, and blue vertical bands on the rudder, with the blue forward.
1918: Raoul G. Lufbery, who posted 17 aerial victories with Lafayette Escadrille before joining the American Expeditionary forces, died in aerial combat. (21)
1919: DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. MSgt Ralph W. Bottriell became the first American military person to jump from an aircraft using a manually-operated backpack parachute. He later received the DFC for this feat. (4)
1949: The Navy’s flying boat, the JRM-1 Marshall Mars, broke the record for number of people carried on a single flight when 301 passengers and a crew of seven were flown from Alameda to San Diego. (24)
1951: KOREAN WAR. An H-5 helicopter rescued a downed F-51 pilot southwest of Chorwon, sustaining damage from small arms fire during the pickup. (28)
1961: First Titan I arrived at Lowry AFB. (6)
1963: On a nonstop Washington DC to Moscow flight, the US presidential aircraft, a Boeing 707-320B (VC-137C), with Col James B. Swindal at the controls, set 15 nonstop FAI records in flying the 5,004-mile route in 8 hours 39 minutes 2 seconds. On the 20-21 May return flight, Colonel Swindal and his crew set another 15 FAI records on the Moscow to Washington trip, flying the distance in 9 hours 54 minutes 48.5 seconds, or an average speed of 490.96 MPH. (9)
1965: The USAF used a single Thor-Agena rocket to launch simultaneously eight separate satellite vehicles from Vandenberg AFB. This was the greatest number of satellites the US had ever launched on a single vehicle.
1966: Pioneer VI, launched on 16 December
1965, reached its perihelion, some 75.7 millions miles from the sun. During 154 days in solar orbit, the spacecraft transmitted 340 million readings of 3,000 separate scientific measurements and 3 million readings of 100 individual engineering measurements to earth.
1967: Douglas Aircraft Company received a contract to design and build the MOL. (16)
1969: Through 26 May Apollo 10, the first lunar orbital mission—including LEM operations—using a complete Apollo spacecraft, launched from Kennedy Space Center on a Saturn V with Col Thomas Stafford (USAF), Capt. John Young (USN), and Cmdr. Eugene Cernan (USN) aboard. They splashed down eight days later in the Pacific.
Thomas Patten Stafford (September 17, 1930 – March 18, 2024) was an American Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut, and one of 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon. He also served as Chief of the Astronaut Office from 1969 to 1971. After graduating from the United States Naval Academy, Stafford was commissioned in the United States Air Force, flying the F-86 Sabre before becoming a test pilot. He was selected to become an astronaut in 1962 and flew aboard Gemini 6A in 1965 and Gemini 9A in 1966. In 1969, he commanded Apollo 10, the second crewed mission to orbit the Moon. Here, he and Gene Cernan became the first to fly an Apollo Lunar Module in lunar orbit, descending to an altitude of nine miles.
Thomas Stafford died 18 March this year at the age of 93.
1970: HARMON TROPHY. The Apollo XI crew (Astronauts Michael Collins, Neil A. Armstrong, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr.) received the trophy for outstanding scientific and technological accomplishment in achieving the first landing of man on the moon. (16)
1977: MACKAY TROPHY. Capt James W. Yule, a B-52 instructor pilot, received the Mackay Trophy for gallantry and unusual presence of mind during an in-flight emergency. (21)
1980: The Air Force launched its first Tomahawk GLCM at the Utah Test and Training Range. (3)
1987: Exercise HAMMER 87-1. USAFE units participated in the largest multiwing, multinational, composite force exercise conducted in Europe since World War II to date. (16)
2000: After one test flight at the White Sands Missile Range, the USAF delivered the Boeing X-40A to the Dryden Flight Research Facility. It was an 80 percent scale version of the proposed X-37 Space Maneuver Vehicle (SMV), an unmanned autonomous spacecraft able to deliver small satellites into orbit, conduct on-orbit reconnaissance, and perform other space chores. (3)
2001: The Boeing X-40A completed its seventh and last flight. Released from a U.S. Army Chinook helicopter from 15,000 feet, the X-40A attained 304 mph in its unpowered two-minute descent to a safe landing on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB. (3)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SkipsList" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to skipslist+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/skipslist/CACTjsm0VrU2RkUWHmeeOfPiQvjggDcNDASFHFa63dwspZG76RQ%40mail.gmail.com.
