Good Saturday Morning September 12, 2020.
Regards,
Skip
This day in Naval History
Sept. 12
1804 In the First Barbary War, the frigates USS Constellation and USS President capture two ships while attempting to enter the harbor during the blockade of Barbary ports, while the brig USS Argus, and USS Constellation later capture a third vessel attempting to enter.
1855 Marines and Sailors from the frigate USS John Adams land at Nukulau, Fiji Islands to seek owed debt to Americans from the King of Fiji, Cakobau. Refusing, he appeals to the American Ambassador in Australia. After years of refusal, Fiji becomes a British possession in 1874 instead.
1942 The Brazilian Navy is placed under operational control of the US Navy. The Navy is commanded by Vice Adm. Jonas H. Ingram as Commander, South Atlantic Force, Atlantic Fleet.
1944 USS Growler (SS 215) torpedoes and sinks the Japanese destroyer Shikinami 240 miles south of Hong Kong, and escort vessel Hirado 250 miles east of Hainan Island.
1944 USS Noa (APD 24) and USS Fullam (DD 474) collide off the Palau Islands. Despite this, USS Fullam, not only rescues all of USS Noa's men, but she also carries out daily shore bombardment and night harassing fire, as well as underwater demolition.
1944 - 5th Fleet carrier aircraft begin 3-day attack on Japanese shipping and facilities in Visayas, Philippines
1966 Gemini 11 is launched. Gemini 11's Commander is Charles Conrad Jr., Command Pilot. The mission lasts two days and 23 hours and includes 44 orbits at an altitude of 1368.9 km. An HS-3 helicopter from USS Guam (LPH 9) recovers the crew.
1987 USS Key West (SSN 722) is commissioned at her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Va. Following the ceremony, the 35th Los Angeles-class attack submarine made a trip down to its name-sake city at Key West, Fla. The boat is the third US Navy vessel to be named after the nations southern-most city.
Thanks to CHINFO
Executive Summary:
• Multiple outlets covered the 18th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
• The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump announced the U.S. will delay tariffs on China by two weeks, while CNBC reports U.S. businesses are increasingly leaving China due to tariff impacts and limited market access according to an American Chamber of Commerce survey.
• The Washington Post reports that the State Department has approved a $6.5 billion sale of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to the Polish military.
9/11
Today in History
September 12 | ||
490 BC | Athenian and Plataean Hoplites commanded by General Miltiades drive back a Persian invasion force under General Datis at Marathon. | |
1213 | Simon de Montfort defeats Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret, France. | |
1609 | Henry Hudson sails into what is now New York Harbor aboard his sloop Half Moon. | |
1662 | Governor Berkley of Virginia is denied his attempts to repeal the Navigation Acts. | |
1683 | A combined Austrian and Polish army defeats the Turks at Kahlenberg and lifts the siege on Vienna, Austria. | |
1722 | The Treaty of St. Petersburg puts an end to the Russo-Persian War. | |
1786 | Despite his failed efforts to suppress the American Revolution, Lord Cornwallis is appointed governor general of India. | |
1836 | Mexican authorities crush the revolt which broke out on August 25. | |
1918 | British troops retake Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front. | |
1919 | Adolf Hitler joins German Worker's Party. | |
1939 | In response to the invasion of Poland, the French Army advances into Germany. On this day they reach their furthest penetration-five miles. | |
1940 | Italian forces begin an offensive into Egypt from Libya. | |
1940 | The Lascaux Caves in France, with their prehistoric wall paintings, are discovered. | |
1944 | American troops fight their way into Germany. | |
1945 | French troops land in Indochina. | |
1969 | President Richard Nixon orders a resumption in bombing North Vietnam. | |
1977 | Steve Biko, a South African activist opposing apartheid, dies while in police custody. | |
1980 | Military coup in Turkey. | |
1990 | East and West Germany, along with the UK, US and USSR—the Allied nations that had occupied post-WWII Germany—sign the final settlement for reunification of Germany. | |
1992 | Space Shuttle Endeavor takes off on NASA's 50th shuttle mission; its crew includes the first African-American woman in space, the first married couple, and the first Japanese citizen to fly in a US spacecraft. | |
2003 | UN lifts sanctions against Libya in exchange for that country accepting responsibility for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and paying recompense to victims' families. | |
2007 | Joseph Estrada, former president of the Philippines, is convicted of plunder. | |
2011 | In New York City, the 9/11 Memorial Museum opens to the public. | |
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"Guy N. Robinson" <robo6puck@aol.com>
September 11, 2001: The last run of Ladder 118.
The Amateur photographer Aaron McLamb captured a photo of Ladder 118 as it crossed the Brooklyn Bridge ? not knowing that it would be the fire truck's last run with the Twin Towers smoking in the background. As it dashed past below his office, he managed to capture the glint of red on the Brooklyn Bridge before it reached Manhattan.? Little did he know that this photo would come to represent the sacrifice of hundreds of first responders during the 9/11 attacks.
On that Tuesday morning, firefighters were stationed at the Middagh St., Brooklyn Heights, firehouse, ready for action. Moments after the second plane crash at 9:03 a.m., the call came. ?Firefighters Vernon Cherry, Leon Smith, Joey Agnello, Robert Regan, Pete Vega, and Scott Davidson jumped into the Ladder 118 fire truck and were on their way.
After crossing the bridge at about 9:10 am, Ladder 118 pulled into the doomed Marriott World Trade Center hotel. The six firefighters ran up the stairs and helped countless panicked guests escape.
Ultimately, over 900 hotel guests were saved that day. ?However, when the North Tower finally collapsed at 10:28 am, the hotel went down, too, including the six members of Ladder 118.
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Thanks to TR
An event on 9/11
Today marks the 19th anniversary of 9/11. It was a very busy and horrible day for me and several others from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation that day as we flew 9 Blackhawks to the WTC to take nurses, paramedics, firefighters and doctors to the scene. The following day I had the presence of mind to write out what I saw......here it is:
We must NEVER FORGET what happened that day.......
On September 11, 2001, I was a Production Test Pilot for Sikorsky Aircraft, based in Stratford, Connecticut - a mere 60 miles or so, as the crow flies, from NYC. A dear friend has asked me to post the email of my account for that day - so here it is. This was written on 12 September, 2001.
Well, I am home, definitely worse for the wear. We launched just moments after we spoke yesterday and sortied 7 Blackhawk helicopters to NYC. My aircraft was diverted to the airport at Danbury, CT, to pick up some EMT's and firefighters. We then proceeded to NYC down the Hudson River (look on a map). The Hudson goes straight down from the north through NYC. The entire nation's air traffic was suspended and we were the only aircraft allowed in. While en route to the city we were jumped by 2 F-16 fighters that came down to ensure that we were who we said we were. Some F-15's buzzed the lead aircraft at less than 100 feet of separation. Trust me when I say that their weapons were unlocked and ready to fire if we had made any wrong moves. Each individual Blackhawk had to receive individual clearance to approach the city.
As we approached the site we had an upclose view of Hell itself. The panoramic view is something that I cannot begin to describe accurately. The twin towers were completely gone from the skyline leaving mere stumps of hulked-out, burning wreckage and debris. The flames and intense smoke/dust blotted out all of Manhattan. It appeared to be a surreal movie set of a grade B movie. It JUST could not possibly be reality. We continued just past the destruction zone and looped around to the landing pad at the tip of Manhattan which is right on the water at Wall Street. We crowded our aircraft onto the pad and shutdown. After being there for only 15 minutes my crew received instructions to get airborne and return to Stratford to get more medical teams. So it was off again and this time we traveled up the East River. This view was even worse and we could see the fires raging below. We returned to our base, shut down, gassed up and picked up our medical crew. We then went back up the East River and landed at our pad again. From here we sat and waited. It became readily apparent that there was really very little for us to do. The medical teams we brought were left with nothing to do for one very good reason - there was no one left to save. That was, perhaps, the saddest moment of my life. There was no sense of urgency at all. We knew that those still down there were dead. We brought some of our own company firefighters to assist in the effort. One firefighter had returned after an hour-long survey of the site. He said that there were about 2 inches of concrete dust covering everything. There were body parts visible and he said that the most eerie thing was the quiet stillness of the area given the events that happened just hours before. Strangely, there were hundreds and hundreds of SHOES everywhere!! People had either ran out of them or had been knocked out of them.
We spent most of our time inside the Port Authority building right on the pad. At times we all ventured out to see and hear whatever we could, but the towering buildings right there on the waterfront made it impossible to see anything, except the pyre of smoke and dust that was everywhere. As I stood there, WTC 7, a 47 story building, collapsed and completely enshrouded all of Manhattan in a wall of smoke and dust. We all had to go back inside. The aircraft were all completely coated in soot and dust and it was impossible to breath.
After hours of waiting, our superiors back at the plant ordered us to return just as the sun was setting. My aircraft was the farthest out on the pad so we needed to prepare to leave so that the others that were pinned in could also leave. I walked very slowly out to the aircraft and still, after hours of being on-scene, I could not grasp the full weight of what had just happened to our people and our nation. I stopped about 50 feet short of the aircraft with the sun setting and the skies completely filled with smoke and dust. For some reason I turned my head to the right and saw, through smoke-filtered sunlight, The Statue of Liberty silhouetted against the New Jersey shoreline. The irony was overwhelming and it was all I could do to keep from completely losing it. The flight back was completely silent; aside from our required calls to approach control, no one had a word to say. We landed at sunset and all went home.
Even the trip home was eventful. I was still completely keyed up from the day's events as I drove home in full darkness. As I approached an overpass on I-95, I saw a group of people over the freeway waving a large American Flag. This was just too much for me. Just then, a very large tow truck passed me on the left and then changed lanes back to the center lane in front of me. One of his rear tires blew out and sprayed large chunks of rubber all over my car. Worse yet, a large flap of rubber stayed attached to his tire, which slapped the pavement at freeway speed very loudly. This sounded just like a .50 caliber machine gun right in my face. I jumped completely out of my flight suit right there. It scared the living daylights out of me.
Well, I am out of steam, and it is late. I do not claim to be the best writer in the world but I wanted to give you a firsthand account of what happened yesterday. Unfortunately, I have failed completely in conveying the full weight of what we saw.
Please feel free to share this with your family if they are interested, and remember this: 11 September, 2001 will live in our memory just as a Pearl Harbor does from 60 years ago.
I have a friend (a pilot from another crew) who had his digicam and took pix as we flew over. I will try to get copies and email them to you. I wish that I had something positive to say. I returned home and gave my entire family a very big hug.
Please remember just how fragile our lives are and give your family a big hug too.
Love to all,
Mark
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Another from TR
Good morning:
19 years ago I was on my way to work on the PATH train this morning. It was an amazing way to commute, and I miss arriving to the foot of Wall St. riding those escalators up in to the base of Tower 2, with "Good Morning Wall St." streaming across the screens above the lobby. I arrived in Tower 2 of the World Trade Center less than 20 minutes before Tower 1 was struck by a plane. I spent the day next door to the towers, down the street in full view of the day unfolding before those towers fell.
If you weren't planning on doing so already, I'd ask this: Please take a moment this morning to remember that day, the incredibly brave people that perished and the many, many incredible people that threw themselves in to helping those in need. It wasn't only the firefighters, police officers and Port Authority that helped that day. It was everyone. People on the streets, in buildings, at offices like ours. Everyone played a part. It's a day forever seared in to my memory as I was witness to some pretty awful moments, but what stands out most to me some almost 20 years later was the incredible, selfless acts of human beings, risking their lives for total strangers. We're all much more alike than different, and in some of the darkest moments the most beautiful parts of humanity are revealed. We're all here to help one another. It's a message worth thinking about just a tad more this morning.
Be well today and feel blessed,
Chris
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VERY good analogy. This one goes back a few years, but perhaps you've forgotten it.
S/F,
- Mud
POST TURTLE
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year Virginia farmer, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Biden and his possible role as our president. The old farmer said, 'Well, ya know, Biden is a 'Post Turtle''. Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was? The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.
The old farmer saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."
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Thanks to Richard
The F-100 and Scott Crossfield
Click the link below if you want to see all the pictures
September 8, 2020Aviation52-5778, Aircraft Accident, Albert Scott Crossfield, F-100A-5-NA, Fighter, FW-778, High Speed Flight Station, LIFE Magazine, NACA High-Speed Flight Station, North American Aviation F-100A Super Sabre, North American Aviation Inc., Pratt & Whitney J57-P-7, Scott Crossfield, Test Pilot
Albert Scott Crossfield, NACA Test Pilot. (Allan Grant/LIFE Magazine)
8 September 1954: Scott Crossfield, a NACA Aeronautical Research Pilot at the High Speed Flight Station, Edwards Air Force Base, California, took the North American Aviation F-100A-5-NA Super Sabre, 52-5778, on its first NACA test flight—and his first flight in an F-100.
Tests of the prototype and early production Super Sabres revealed directional stability problems, a very dangerous inertia coupling characteristic that could cause the aircraft to go violently out of control (and which would result in the death of North American's chief test pilot, George Welch, in just another three weeks). The highly swept wings could stall at high angles of attack, causing the airplane to pitch up in the deadly "Sabre dance". NACA wanted to explore the causes of these aerodynamic problems and design solutions.
During the flight there was an engine fire warning and Crossfield shut down the Pratt & Whitney J57-P-7 turbojet engine. The F-100A had no flaps and North American's own test pilots did not think a "dead stick" landing was possible due the very high landing speed required.
Scott Crossfield tells the story in his autobiography:
. . . As a matter of fact, North American tests pilots were then flipping coins to see who would bring an F-100 in dead-stick to fulfill a requirement of the Air Force acceptance tests. I was not concerned. Dead-stick landings in low L-over-D [Lift-over-Drag] airplanes were my specialty. Every test pilot develops a strong point. I was certain that my talent lay in dead-stick landings.
With the engine idling and generating no energy to the plane's systems, I was running out of hydraulic pressure to operate the controls. Following the handbook instructions, I pulled a lever which extended a miniature "windmill" into the slipstream. This "windmill" churned, building up pressure in the hydraulic lines. Unknown to me, there was a major leak in the line. The windmill was not helping, but hurting me. It was pumping hydraulic fluid overboard as fast as it could turn.
I called Edwards tower and declared an emergency. All airborne planes in the vicinity of the base were warned away from the lake area. I held the ailing F-100 on course, dropping swiftly, following the glide path that I used for the dead-stick Skyrocket. [Douglas D-558-II Skyrocket] I flared out and touched down smoothly. It was one of the best landings I have ever made, in fact. Seconds later, while the F-100 was rolling out, the remaining bit of hydraulic pressure in the control lines drained out and the controls froze.
I then proceeded to violate a cardinal rule of aviation: never try tricks with a compromised airplane. The F-100 was still rolling at a fast clip, coming up fast on the NACA ramp, when I made my poor decision. I had already achieved the exceptional, now I would end it with a flourish, a spectacular wind-up. I would snake the stricken F-100 right up the ramp and bring it to a stop immediately in front of the NACA hangar. This trick, which I had performed so often in the Skyrocket, was a fine touch. After the first successful dead-stick landing in an F-100, it would be fitting.
According to the F-100 handbook, the hydraulic brake system—a separate hydraulic system from the controls—was good for three "cycles," engine out. This means three pumps on the brake, and that proved exactly right. The F-100 was moving at about fifteen miles an hour when I turned up the ramp. I hit the brakes once, twice, three times. The plane slowed, but not quite enough. I was still inching ahead ponderously, like a diesel locomotive. I hit the brakes a fourth time—and my foot went clear to the floorboards. The hydraulic fluid was exhausted. The F-100 rolled on, straight between the yawning hangar doors!
The good Lord was watching over me—partially anyhow. The NACA hangar was then crowded with expensive research tools—the Skyrocket, all the X-1 series, the X-3, X-4 and X-5. Yet somehow, my plane, refusing to halt, squeezed by them all and bored steadily on toward the side wall of the hangar. The nose of the F-100 crunched through the corrugated aluminum, punching out an eight-inch steel I-beam. I was lucky. Had the nose bopped three feet to the left or right, the results could have been catastrophic. Hitting to the right, I would have set off the hangar fire-deluge system, flooding the hangar with 50,000 barrels of water and ruining all the expensive airplanes. Hitting to the left, I would have dislodged a 25-ton hangar-door counterweight, bringing it down on the F-100 cockpit, and doubtless ruining Crossfield.
Chuck Yeager never let me forget the incident. He drew many laughs at congregations of pilots by opening his talk: "Well, the sonic wall was mine. The hangar wall was Crossfield's." That's the way it was at Edwards. Hero one minute, bum the next. That I was the first pilot to land an F-100 dead-stick successfully, and memorized elaborate and complete instrument data on the engine failure besides, was soon forgotten.
The F-100 is a tough bird. Within a month NACA's plane was flying again, with Crossfield back at the helm. In the next few weeks I flew forty-five grueling flights in the airplane, pushing it to the limits, precisely defining the roll coupling. (On one flight the coupling was so severe that it cracked a vertebra in my neck.) These data confirmed, in actual flight, the need for a new F-100 tail, which North American was planning to install on later models of the airplane.
Every night after landing, I taxied the F-100 slowly to the NACA ramp. At the bottom, placed there on orders of Walt Williams, there was a large new sign, symbolic of the new atmosphere at Edwards. It said:
PLEASE COME TO A COMPLETE STOP BEFORE TAXIING UP RAMP
—Always Another Dawn, The Story Of A Rocket Test Pilot, by A. Scott Crossfield with Clay Blair, Jr., The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York, 1960. Chapter 20 at Pages 196–199.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for September 12, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
12 September
1918: Through 15 September, Brig Gen William "Billy" Mitchell led 1,481 planes in the St. Mihiel offensive. This was the biggest air armada to date. (21) Lt Frank Luke (17th Aero Squadron) shot down his first balloon. When he died 17 days later, with 18 balloons and airplanes to his credit, he became the first Army aviator to receive the Medal of Honor. (11)
1942: The 89th Attack Squadron, 3 BG, dropped the first parachute-retarded bomb in World War II on Buna Airstrip, New Guinea. (24) The Army Air Forces activated the 4 FG at Bushey Hall, England, to escort Eighth Air Force heavy bomber missions over occupied Europe. Three RAF Eagle Squadrons, with American volunteers, then transferred from the RAF on 29 September to the VIII Fighter Command, to man the group. (4) (21)
1947: Boeing rolled out the XB-47 in its Seattle plant. (31)
1952: KOREAN WAR. Through 13 September, 25 B-29s attacked the generator building at the giant Sui-ho power plant. Before and during the attack, B-26s and US Navy planes dropped low-level fragmentation bombs to suppress enemy searchlights, rendering 8 of approximately 30 unserviceable. At the same time, four B-29s orbiting to the east jammed enemy radar. Enemy fighters shot down one medium bomber and flak damaged several others, but the B-29s dropped their bombs on target, again rendering the plant unserviceable. Far East Air Forces concluded that searchlight suppression and electronic countermeasures probably saved the B-29s from greater losses. (28)
1958: Gen Curtis E. LeMay flew a KC-135 Stratotanker from Yokota AB to Washington DC, flying the 7,000 miles in 12 hours 28 minutes for an unofficial record. (24)
1962: The first Titan II equipped with decoys launched successfully from Cape Canaveral. (6)
1966: GEMINI XI. Lt Cmdrs Charles Conrad, Jr., and Richard F. Gordon flew Gemini XI to a new altitude record of 851 miles. They also achieved the first rendezvous and space docking in one orbit of the earth. The mission ended on 15 September after 44 orbits. (9)
1969: Maj Jerauld R. Gentry, AFFTC pilot, won the Harmon International Aviator's Trophy for his 1968 flights in NASA's HL-10 Lifting Body. (3)
1970: The 20 TFW at RAF Upper Heyford received USAFE's first F-111Es. (4)
1971: Through 16 September, three USAF aircraft flew to Nicaragua to provide disaster relief after Hurricane Edith. The aircraft carried food, medical supplies, tents, and a USAF radio jeep to coordinate emergency operations and fuel for rescue helicopters. (16) (26)
1978: Northrop's YF-17 performed a flight demonstration at Langley AFB. (16)
1987: The ANG received its first C-12J turbo-prop transport from Beech Aircraft Corporation in ceremonies at the Beech facility in Wichita.
1988: C-5s, C-141s, and C-130s flew to Kingston, Jamaica, after Hurricane Gilbert devastated the island. MAC flew five more C-5 missions in October to provide humanitarian relief. (18)
1992: TYPHOON INIKI. The storm ran over Kauai, Hawaii, with 130-MPH winds and heavy rain. Through 18 October, AMC flew 259 C-5, C-141, C-130, and KC-135 missions, while the ANG operated another 354 C-130 missions to transport more than 8,600 passengers and 9,200 tons of cargo. (16) (18)
2000: The Boeing RS-68 rocket engine completed qualification testing for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards AFB. The testing confirmed the engine's predicted performance. (3)
2002: The CV-22 Osprey resumed flight testing, following a 21-month grounding. The tilt-rotor aircraft, one of two at the AFFTC, flew three sorties for over four flying hours and successfully transitioned into the airplane mode. (3)
2006: Northrop-Grumman rolled out the first RQ-4B Global Hawk "Block 20" UAV. The RQ-4B possessed 3,000-pound payload, compared with the earlier RQ-4A's (Block 10) 2,000-pound payload. Service entry with the 9 RW at Beale AFB was slated for early
2007. (USAF Aimpoints, "Supersized Global Hawk Revealed," 12 Sep 2006)
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This Day in U S Military History
1847 – The Battle of Chapultepec was a United States victory over Mexican forces holding Chapultepec Castle west of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War. The Americans began an artillery barrage against Chapultepec at dawn. It was halted at dark and resumed at first light the next day. At 8 AM, the bombardment was halted and Winfield Scott ordered the infantry attack. There were three assault columns. On the left were the 11th and 14th Infantry under Colonel William Trousdale moving east along the Anzures aqueduct, in the center were four companies of the Voltigeur regiment under Colonel Timothy Patrick Andrews along with the 9th and 15th Infantry moving through the swamp and western edge of the grove, and on the right were the remaining four Voltigeur companies under Lieutenant Colonel Joseph E. Johnston. Pillow was quickly hit in the foot and called for reinforcements, which came from John A. Quitman's division but the attack faltered when fired upon by the Moelia Battalion battery. Andrews's column cleared the grove of Mexican troops and linked up with Johnston. Yet, the attack by the 9th and 15th Infantry stalled waiting for scaling ladders, and Col. Truman B. Ransom was killed. Quitman sent Persifor Smith's brigade to his right and brought in James Shields, plus the New York and 2d Pennsylvania Regiments into the assault. At the same time, Newman S. Clarke's brigade arrived on the western slope, as did the scaling ladders. The Voltigeurs soon planted their flag on the parapet. By 9 AM, General Bravo surrendered to the New York Regiment and the American flag flew over the castle. Santa Anna watched the Americans take Chapultepec while an aide exclaimed "let the Mexican flag never be touched by a foreign enemy". He also exclaimed, "I believe if we were to plant our batteries in Hell the damned Yankees would take them from us."
1918 – The US First Army and the French II Colonial Corps launch a five day attack on the salient at St. Mihiel. It has been held continuously by the Germans since 1914. The advance is led by the First Army's 1 and IV Corps which advance into the southern face of the salient and V Corp, which moves against the west face. The French II Colonial Corps is positioned between the US forces. The attack begins in thick fog and is supported by 600 aircraft commanded by US Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell, a staunch advocate of the value of air power. the attackers are facing nine German divisions in the front line and a further five held in reserve. German resistance collapses on the first day with the US attacks from the south and west linking up at the village of Hattonchatel. By the 16th the entire salient has been reduced.
1942 – The Battle of Edson's Ridge, also known as the Battle of the Bloody Ridge, Battle of Raiders Ridge, and Battle of the Ridge, a land battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Imperial Japanese Army and Allied (mainly United States Marine Corps) ground forces, begins on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, and was the second of three separate major Japanese ground offensives during the Guadalcanal Campaign. In the battle, U.S. Marines, under the overall command of U.S. Major General Alexander Vandegrift, repulsed an attack by the Japanese 35th Infantry Brigade, under the command of Japanese Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi. The Marines were defending the Lunga perimeter that guarded Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, which was captured from the Japanese by the Allies in landings on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942. Kawaguchi's unit was sent to Guadalcanal in response to the Allied landings with the mission of recapturing the airfield and driving the Allied forces from the island. Underestimating the strength of Allied forces on Guadalcanal–about 12,000–Kawaguchi's 6,000 soldiers conducted several nighttime frontal assaults on the U.S. defenses. The main Japanese assault occurred around Lunga ridge south of Henderson Field, manned by troops from several U.S. Marine Corps units, primarily troops from the 1st Raider and 1st Parachute Battalions under U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Merritt A. Edson. Although the Marine defenses were almost overrun, Kawaguchi's attack was ultimately defeated, with heavy losses for the Japanese. Because of the key participation by Edson's unit in defending the ridge, the ridge was commonly referred to as "Edson's" ridge in historical accounts of the battle in Western sources. After Edson's Ridge, the Japanese continued to send troops to Guadalcanal for further attempts to retake Henderson Field, affecting Japanese offensive operations in other areas of the South Pacific.
1972 – U.S. intelligence agencies (the Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Intelligence Agency) report to the National Security Council that the North Vietnamese have 100,000 regular troops in South Vietnam and can sustain fighting "at the present rate" for two years. The report further stated that while U.S. bombing had caused heavy casualties and prevented North Vietnam from doubling operations, the overall effects were disappointing because troops and supplies had kept moving south. It was estimated that 20,000 fresh troops had infiltrated into the South in the previous six weeks and that communist troops in the Mekong Delta had increased as much as tenfold – up to 30,000 – in the last year. This report was significant in that it showed that the North Vietnamese, who had suffered greatly since launching the Easter invasion on March 31, were steadily replacing their losses and maintaining troop levels in the south. These forces and their presence in South Vietnam were not addressed in the Paris Peace Accords that were signed in January 1973, and the North Vietnamese troops remained. Therefore, shortly after the ceasefire was initiated, new fighting erupted between the South Vietnamese forces and the North Vietnamese troops who remained in the South. The South Vietnamese held out for two years, but when the United States failed to honor the promises of continued support made by President Nixon (who resigned on August 9, 1974, in the wake of the Watergate scandal), the North Vietnamese launched a major offensive and the South Vietnamese were defeated in less than 55 days. Saigon fell on April 30, 1975.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
CLARK, FRANCIS J.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company K, 109th Infantry, 28th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Kalborn, Luxembourg, 12 September 1944; near Sevenig, Germany, 17 September 1944. Entered service at: Salem, N.Y. Birth: Whitehall, N.Y. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He fought gallantly in Luxembourg and Germany. On 12 September 1944, Company K began fording the Our River near Kalborn, Luxembourg, to take high ground on the opposite bank. Covered by early morning fog, the 3d Platoon, in which T/Sgt. Clark was squad leader, successfully negotiated the crossing; but when the 2d Platoon reached the shore, withering automatic and small-arms fire ripped into it, eliminating the platoon leader and platoon sergeant and pinning down the troops in the open. From his comparatively safe position, T/Sgt. Clark crawled alone across a field through a hail of bullets to the stricken troops. He led the platoon to safety and then unhesitatingly returned into the fire-swept area to rescue a wounded soldier, carrying him to the American line while hostile gunners tried to cut him down. Later, he led his squad and men of the 2d Platoon in dangerous sorties against strong enemy positions to weaken them by lightning-like jabs. He assaulted an enemy machinegun with hand grenades, killing 2 Germans. He roamed the front and flanks, dashing toward hostile weapons, killing and wounding an undetermined number of the enemy, scattering German patrols and, eventually, forcing the withdrawal of a full company of Germans heavily armed with automatic weapons. On 17 September, near Sevenig, Germany, he advanced alone against an enemy machinegun, killed the gunner and forced the assistant to flee. The Germans counterattacked, and heavy casualties were suffered by Company K. Seeing that 2 platoons lacked leadership, T/Sgt. Clark took over their command and moved among the men to give encouragement. Although wounded on the morning of 18 September, he refused to be evacuated and took up a position in a pillbox when night came. Emerging at daybreak, he killed a German soldier setting up a machinegun not more than 5 yards away. When he located another enemy gun, he moved up unobserved and killed 2 Germans with rifle fire. Later that day he voluntarily braved small-arms fire to take food and water to members of an isolated platoon. T/Sgt. Clark's actions in assuming command when leadership was desperately needed, in launching attacks and beating off counterattacks, in aiding his stranded comrades, and in fearlessly facing powerful enemy fire, were strikingly heroic examples and put fighting heart into the hard-pressed men of Company K.
TOMINAC, JOHN J .
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company I, 15th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Saulx de Vesoul, France, 12 September 1944. Entered service at: Conemaugh, Pa. Birth: Conemaugh, Pa. G.O. No.: 20, 29 March 1945. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty on 12 September 1944, in an attack on Saulx de Vesoul, France 1st Lt. Tominac charged alone over 50 yards of exposed terrain onto an enemy roadblock to dispatch a 3-man crew of German machine gunners with a single burst from his Thompson machinegun after smashing the enemy outpost, he led 1 of his squads in the annihilation of a second hostile group defended by mortar, machinegun automatic pistol, rifle and grenade fire, killing about 30 of the enemy. Reaching the suburbs of the town, he advanced 50 yards ahead of his men to reconnoiter a third enemy position which commanded the road with a 77-mm. SP gun supported by infantry elements. The SP gun opened fire on his supporting tank, setting it afire with a direct hit. A fragment from the same shell painfully wounded 1st Lt. Tominac in the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. As the crew abandoned the M-4 tank, which was rolling down hill toward the enemy, 1st Lt. Tominac picked himself up and jumped onto the hull of the burning vehicle. Despite withering enemy machinegun, mortar, pistol, and sniper fire, which was ricocheting off the hull and turret of the M-4, 1st Lt. Tominac climbed to the turret and gripped the 50-caliber antiaircraft machinegun. Plainly silhouetted against the sky, painfully wounded, and with the tank burning beneath his feet, he directed bursts of machinegun fire on the roadblock, the SP gun, and the supporting German infantrymen, and forced the enemy to withdraw from his prepared position. Jumping off the tank before it exploded, 1st Lt. Tominac refused evacuation despite his painful wound. Calling upon a sergeant to extract the shell fragments from his shoulder with a pocketknife, he continued to direct the assault, led his squad in a hand grenade attack against a fortified position occupied by 32 of the enemy armed with machineguns, machine pistols, and rifles, and compelled them to surrender. His outstanding heroism and exemplary leadership resulted in the destruction of 4 successive enemy defensive positions, surrender of a vital sector of the city Saulx de Vesoul, and the death or capture of at least 60 of the enemy.
*ZUSSMAN, RAYMOND
Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 756th Tank Battalion. Place and date: Noroy le Bourg, France, 12 September 1944. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Birth: Hamtramck, Mich. G.O. No.: 42, 24 May 1945. Citation: On 12 September 1944, 2d Lt. Zussman was in command of 2 tanks operating with an infantry company in the attack on enemy forces occupying the town of Noroy le Bourg, France. At 7 p.m., his command tank bogged down. Throughout the ensuing action, armed only with a carbine, he reconnoitered alone on foot far in advance of his remaining tank and the infantry. Returning only from time to time to designate targets, he directed the action of the tank and turned over to the infantry the numerous German soldiers he had caused to surrender. He located a road block and directed his tanks to destroy it. Fully exposed to fire from enemy positions only 50 yards distant, he stood by his tank directing its fire. Three Germans were killed and 8 surrendered. Again he walked before his tank, leading it against an enemy-held group of houses, machinegun and small arms fire kicking up dust at his feet. The tank fire broke the resistance and 20 enemy surrendered. Going forward again alone he passed an enemy-occupied house from which Germans fired on him and threw grenades in his path. After a brief fire fight, he signaled his tank to come up and fire on the house. Eleven German soldiers were killed and 15 surrendered. Going on alone, he disappeared around a street corner. The fire of his carbine could be heard and in a few minutes he reappeared driving 30 prisoners before him. Under 2d Lt. Zussman's heroic and inspiring leadership, 18 enemy soldiers were killed and 92 captured.
*MAUSERT, FREDERICK W., III
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.) Place and date: Songnap-yong, Korea, 12 September 1951. Entered service at: Dresher, Pa. Born: 2 May 1930, Cambridge, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a squad leader in Company B, in action against enemy aggressor forces. With his company pinned down and suffering heavy casualties under murderous machine gun, rifle, artillery, and mortar fire laid down from heavily fortified, deeply entrenched hostile strongholds on Hill 673, Sgt. Mausert unhesitatingly left his covered position and ran through a heavily mined and fire-swept area to bring back 2 critically wounded men to the comparative safety of the lines. Staunchly refusing evacuation despite a painful head wound sustained during his voluntary act, he insisted on remaining with his squad and, with his platoon ordered into the assault moments later, took the point position and led his men in a furious bayonet charge against the first of a literally impregnable series of bunkers. Stunned and knocked to the ground when another bullet struck his helmet, he regained his feet and resumed his drive, personally silencing the machine gun and leading his men in eliminating several other emplacements in the area. Promptly reorganizing his unit for a renewed fight to the final objective on top of the ridge, Sgt. Mausert boldly left his position when the enemy's fire gained momentum and, making a target of himself, boldly advanced alone into the face of the machine gun, drawing the fire away from his men and enabling them to move into position to assault. Again severely wounded when the enemy's fire found its mark, he still refused aid and continued spearheading the assault to the topmost machine gun nest and bunkers, the last bulwark of the fanatic aggressors. Leaping into the wall of fire, he destroyed another machine gun with grenades before he was mortally wounded by bursting grenades and machine gun fire. Stouthearted and indomitable, Sgt. Mausert, by his fortitude, great personal valor, and extraordinary heroism in the face of almost certain death, had inspired his men to sweep on, overrun and finally secure the objective. His unyielding courage throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
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