TheList 5901

The List 5901

 

Good Sunday Morning November 7.

 

I hope that you are all having a great weekend.

 

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Today in Naval and Marine Corps History

 

November 7

Nov. 7

1861—The U.S. Naval force under Rear Adm. Samuel F. DuPont capture Port Royal Sound, SC. During battle, DuPont's ships steam in boldly and the naval gunners pour a withering fire into the defending forts Walker and Beauregard with extreme accuracy. Marines and sailors land to occupy the forts until turned over to Army troops under Gen. T. W. Sherman.

1881—The Naval Advisory Board submit their report to Secretary of the Navy William H. Hunt recommends new ships in the U.S. Navy be constructed of steel instead of iron, resulting in the A, B, C, D ships.

1944—USS Albacore (SS 218) is sunk by a mine off the northern tip of Honshu. All-hands are lost.

1971—Seabees of from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion (NMCB) 4 arrives at its homeport of Port Hueneme. This was the last full battalion to depart from the Republic of Vietnam. The departure marks the end of a significant chapter in the Seabee effort in Vietnam. An effort which began at Chu Lai in 1965 and resulted in the construction of approximately $200 million worth of facilities in support of U.S. forces.

1973—The War Powers Resolution becomes law. The law requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period, without an authorization of the use of military force or a declaration of war. 

2009—Amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) is commissioned at New York City, NY.

 

Thanks to CHINFO

No CHINFO on the weekends

 

 

Today in History November 7

1665		The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
1811		Rebellious Indians in a conspiracy organized in defiance of the United States government by Tecumseh, Shawnee chief, are defeated during his absence in the Battle of the Wabash (or Tippecanoe) by William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory.
1814		Andrew Jackson attacks and captures Pensacola, Florida, defeating the Spanish and driving out a British force.
1846		Zachary Taylor, one of the heroes of the Mexican War, is elected president.
1861		Union General Ulysses S. Grant launches an unsuccessful raid on Belmont, Missouri.
1876		Rutherford B. Hayes is elected 19th president of the United States.
1881		Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, two participants in Tombstone, Arizona's, famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, are jailed as the hearings on what happened in the fight grow near.
1916		President Woodrow Wilson is re-elected, but the race is so close that all votes must be counted before an outcome can be determined, so the results are not known until November 11.
1916		Jeannette Rankin (R-Montana) is elected the first congresswoman.
1917		British General Sir Edmond Allenby breaks the Turkish defensive line in the Third Battle of Gaza.
1917		The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, take power in Russia.
1921		Benito Mussolini declares himself to be leader of the National Fascist Party in Italy.
1940		Tacoma Bridge in Washington State collapses.
1943		British troops launch a limited offensive along the coast of Burma.
1944		President Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a fourth term by defeating Thomas Dewey.
1956		UN General Assembly calls for France, Israel and the UK to immediately withdraw their troops from Egypt.
1967		In Cleveland, Ohio, Carl B. Stokes becomes the first African American elected mayor of a major American city.
1967		President Lyndon B. Johnson signs a bill establishing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
1972		President Richard Nixon is re-elected.
1973		Congress overrides Pres. Richard M. Nixon's veto of the War Powers Resolution that limited presidential power to wage war without congressional approval.
1975		A uprising in Bangladesh kills Brig. Gen. Khaled Mosharraf and frees Maj. Gen. Ziaur Rahman, future president of the country, from house arrest.
1983		A bomb explodes in the US Capitol's Senate Chambers area, causing $250,000 damages but no one is harmed; a group calling itself the Armed Resistance Unit claimed the bomb was retaliation for US military involvement in Grenada and Lebanon.
1989		Douglas Wilder wins Virginia's gubernatorial election, becoming the first elected African American governor in the US; during Reconstruction Mississippi had an acting governor and Louisiana had an appointed governor who were black.
1990		Mary Robinson becomes the first woman elected President of the Republic of Ireland.
1994		The world's first internet radio broadcast originates from WXYC, the student radio station of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
2000		Hilary Rodham Clinton becomes the first First Lady (1993–2001) elected to public office in the US when she wins a US Senate seat.
2000		Election Day in the US ends with the winner between presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore still undecided.

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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear   … For The List for Sunday, 7 November 2021… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻

 

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…

From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 7 November 1966… RTR post #250 of "a day-to-day journal…"… 750 posts (days) to go… a labor of love!

 

http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/rolling-thunder-remembered-7-november-1966-an-rtr-milestone/

 

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.

 

 

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Arctic Strike: Operation Leader, the U.S. Carrier Raid on Norway and "Diz" Laird, 4 October 1943

H-Gram 022, Attachment 3
Samuel J. Cox, Director NHHC
October 2018 

On 4 October 1943, the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-4) launched two strike packages against German shipping targets along the coast of occupied Norway near Bodø (just north of the Arctic Circle) and Sandnessjøen, 100 miles to the south. Armed with excellent intelligence derived from breaking the German's Enigma code and from the Norwegian Secret Intelligence Service, the raid caught the Germans completely by surprise and was a success.

The strikes by USS Ranger (CV-4) aircraft against targets along the Norwegian coast—north of the Arctic Circle, near Bodø, Norway—on 4 October 1943 were the first Allied carrier strikes against Norway in over two years. Although the German invasion of Norway in April–May 1940 had cost the German navy dearly, it was a debacle for the British and the Royal Navy as well. The Germans lost more sailors (2,375) than soldiers in the invasion of Norway. In the first days of the invasion, Norwegian coastal defense batteries (particularly torpedo batteries) and the British Royal Navy sank one of two heavy cruisers, two of six light cruisers and ten of 20 destroyers in the German navy, including a daring attack right into the Narvik fiord by the battleship HMS Warspite that destroyed eight German destroyers on 13 April 1940. However, the Royal Navy's attempt to defend Norway ended badly on 8 June 1940 when the German battle-cruisers Scharnhost and Gneisenau caught the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers Acasta and Ardent in the Norwegian Sea, sinking all three ships, with the loss of 1,519 British sailors and only 40 survivors—one each from the two destroyers, which had valiantly tried to protect the carrier to the bitter end. After that, the Royal Navy stayed clear of Norway, which became a base for German U-boats and surface combatants, including the battleship Tirpitz.

By late 1943, with the battleship Bismarck sunk in 1941 and the battle-cruiser Gneisenau badly damaged during the "Channel Dash" from Brest, France to Germany in 1943, the remaining German major combatants—battleship Tirpitz, battle-cruiser Scharnhorst, and "pocket-battleship" Lutzow—were based in the far north of Norway (along with 14 destroyers and over 20 U-boats) where they could threaten the convoy route to the Soviet Union. The Royal Navy had to keep extensive forces based at Scapa Flow to guard against a breakout into the Atlantic by the German "fleet in being" based in Norway.

In May 1943, a U.S. Navy force augmented the British Home Fleet, freeing some British battleships to participate in Mediterranean operations. This U.S. force, under the command of Rear Admiral Olaf M. Hustvedt—who was embarked on heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37)—consisted of two new battleships, USS Alabama (BB-60) and USS South Dakota (BB-57), which was recently repaired from her damage at Guadalcanal, and five destroyers. Operating with the Royal Navy, this force "trolled" several times to bait the Germans into coming out to fight, but the Germans refused the offer, and in August 1943, CNO King had gotten tired of it and sent the two battleships to the South Pacific. He replaced them with Ranger, a carrier of an obsolete design not considered survivable in Pacific combat, and the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31). Rear Admiral Hustvedt remained in command aboard Tuscaloosa.

In September 1943, the German navy sortied in force from Norway (feeling a need to justify their continued expenditure of resources to Hitler). Tirpitz, Scharnhorst, Lutzow and 10 destroyers, using gross overkill, shelled and put troops temporarily ashore on 8 September 1943 to destroy the small Allied outpost and weather station on the Norwegian Arctic island of Spitsbergen, far north of the Arctic Circle. A week later, Tuscaloosa and destroyer USS Fitch (DD-462) landed Free Norwegian troops to re-occupy the island.

On 22 September 1943, a force of six British X-Craft midget submarines attacked Tirpitz in Altafiord, Norway in a daring operation. Two of the X-Craft were lost while being towed across the Norwegian Sea—one aborted its attack due to mechanical problems—although its target, Scharnhorst, was underway and out of the fiord. The other three were lost while laying bottom mines under the Tirpitz. The X-Craft inflicted enough damage that Tirpitz was out-of-action for many months—until she was bombed and sunk by British bombers. The cost was nine British sailors killed and six POWs. Two crewmen were awarded Britain's highest award, the Victoria Cross.

With the Tirpitz out of action, the commander of the British Home Fleet determined that the time was right to try a carrier attack on Norway. The timing of the strike was driven by Ultra code-breaking intelligence and radio-intelligence that indicated the large tanker Schleswig would be making a run to supply the German warships in northern Norway. Extensive force and weather intelligence was provided by Norwegian Secret Intelligence Service agents via radios inside occupied Norway. The British carrier HMS Furious was undergoing re-fit, and the carrier HMS Formidable's participation was cancelled because of forecast weather conditions; i.e., the forecast wasn't bad enough; there was insufficient cloud cover to protect her torpedo bombers from superior German fighter aircraft. The prospect of clear skies, however, did not stop Ranger, which was under the command of Captain Gordon Rowe. The carrier's air group was still flying older F4F Wildcats (27), and SBD Dauntless dive bombers (27), but did have 18 of the newer TBF Avenger torpedo bombers.

The Ranger task force departed Scapa Flow on 2 October 1943, covered by British battleships HMS Duke of York and HMS Anson, and was not detected by the Germans during the transit to the far north of the Norwegian Sea. Ranger's strike consisted of a Northern Attack Group (20 SBD dive bombers, escorted by eight F4F Wildcat fighters) and a Southern Attack Group (ten TBF torpedo bombers, carrying bombs, escorted by six F4Fs) with a Norwegian navigator flying in the lead plane of each attack group.

The Northern Attack Group launched first, commencing at 0618 on 4 October 1943. At 0730, as the group approached the Bodo area, four dive bombers and two fighters peeled off to attack 8,000-ton German freighter La Plata, which was badly damaged and beached to prevent sinking. As the other aircraft approached Bodø at 0730, a German convoy was sighted, escorted by the German minesweeper M 365. Two dive bombers attacked Kerkplein, while eight others went after the large tanker Schleswig. The earlier intelligence was right. Schleswig was also badly damaged and had to be beached—but was later salvaged. The eight remaining dive-bombers attacked four small German cargo ships near Bodø, sinking one, seriously damaging two, and strafing the fourth. Two dive bombers were shot down by German anti-aircraft fire; the two aircrew in one were killed and the two in the other became POWs. During the first raid, the Germans jammed their own radios with so much chatter that they were unable to get warning through to other units.

The Southern Attack Group launched 50 minutes after the Northern Group at 0708 and targeted shipping around Sandnessjøen, about 100 miles south of Bodo. The strike bombed the Norwegian (German-controlled) cargo ship Topeka, and set it on fire, killing three Norwegian crewmen and several members of the German anti-aircraft detachment, which had succeeded in downing one of the Avengers—only the pilot survived. The aircraft also bombed and sank the Norwegian cargo liner Vaagen, whose crew had already abandoned ship after witnessing the attack on Topeka, so there were no Norwegian casualties. The U.S. aircraft also bombed and sank the 4,300-ton German navy troopship Skramstad—which had been "requisitioned" from Norway. Accounts vary wildly as to how many German troops went down with the ship. Norwegian intelligence claimed 360, but some modern accounts citing official German records say as few as 37. Samuel Eliot Morison, in his History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, also claiming to cite official German records, put the death toll at 200. U.S. aircraft also strafed the German cargo ship Wolsum and bombed an ammunition barge—which blew up—for good measure.

The mission achieved surprise and was assessed as a great success, particularly in that it severely disrupted shipment of critical iron ore from northern Norway to Germany for several months, and especially since it was the first combat mission for 60 percent of the aircrews. A total of four U.S. aircraft were lost—three to anti-aircraft fire—and one Wildcat to accident (the pilot survived). Six aircraft were damaged by anti-aircraft fire. Commander J. A. Ruddy, the commander of Ranger Air Group and of the Southern Attack Group, would be awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross. The downed Avenger was located in 1987 and the remains of the two aircrewmen were recovered. A blade from the propeller is now in the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. One of the two Dauntlesses shot down near Bodø was found in 1990, and the remains of the pilot and gunner were recovered. There is a memorial near Bodø in honor of the crews and casualties of Operation Leader. Ranger returned to the United States in December 1943 and served the rest of the war as a training carrier.

At around 1400 on 4 October 1943, radar detected three German aircraft approaching Ranger. By then, the unlimited visibility of the morning had given way to extensive cloud cover. Two pairs of Ranger fighters belonging to VF-4 "Red Rippers" played cat and mouse with the German aircraft in the clouds. Finally, Lieutenant Junior Grade Dean S. "Diz" Laird and his flight leader located a Ju-88D twin-engined bomber and took turns shooting it full of holes—unlike Japanese bombers, German aircraft did not immediately burst into flame when hit—before the plane finally crashed into the ocean. Laird subsequently sighted an He-115B twin-engined float plane flying at very low altitude and hit it. The float plane attempted to land on the water, but one of the float pylons collapsed and it cartwheeled into the sea. These were the first German aircraft shot down by U.S. Navy aircraft.

After Ranger returned to the states, VF-4 transitioned to the new F6F Hellcat fighter. Flying from USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), Laird shot down two Japanese Kawasaki "Tony" fighters near Manila on 25 November 1944. on 16 January 1945, near Hainan Island, China—after VF-4 had cross-decked to the USS Essex (CV-9)—Diz was flying in great pain with what turned out to be an inflamed appendix when he shot down a Mitsubishi "Hamp" fighter while protecting a U.S. Navy aircraft on a reconnaissance mission. On 16 February, flying near the Japanese Home Islands, Diz shot down a Mitsubishi Ki-21-II "Sally" twin-engined bomber and, the next day, shot down two more fighters. Diz would be credited with 5 ¾ kills at the end of the war. In April 1945, Diz was sent back to the States where he served in Experimental Fighter Squadron 200 (XFV-200) flying kamikaze strike profiles on U.S. ships.

Diz continued serving in the U.S. Navy, including in the Navy's first jet fighter squadron (VF-171) and first squadron to carrier-qualify in jets, finally retiring in 1971 as a commander. While still on active duty, Diz was one of the pilots flying the simulated Japanese aircraft in the movie Tora! Tora! Tora!,  taking part in the most technically demanding scenes, including the first take-off of a "Val" dive bomber from the carrier Akagi  (USS Yorktown—CV-10—with a fake "Japanese" deck overlaid on the flight deck) and the "Kates" dropping torpedoes over Southeast Loch at Pearl Harbor while attacking "Battleship Row." At age 95, Diz took the controls of a T-34C, the 100th type aircraft he had flown, flying over 8,000 hours. I had opportunity to speak with Diz aboard the museum carrier Hornet (CV-12) in Alameda, California, in the fall of 2016. He was incredibly sharp and is still alive and well so far as I know. What an extraordinary career, and what a hero he is!

Sources include: Atlantic Battle Won: May 43–May 45, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 10, by Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison; "An Ace in the Hole: 'Diz' Laird," by Mark Carlson, Aviation History, 4 May 2018.

 

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Thanks to Jerry

 

From List 5138"….On 26 November 1943, a German Hs-293 radio-controlled, rocket-boosted glide bomb hit and sank His Majesty's Transport (HMT) Rohna off the coast of Algeria, resulting in the deaths of 1,149 crew and passengers, including 1,015 U.S. Army troops (plus 35 U.S. soldiers who subsequently died from wounds.) The loss of Rohna constituted the greatest loss of U.S. life at sea due to enemy action.

"……In order to keep the Germans from learning how successful the guided-bomb attack had been, a tight lid of secrecy was clamped down on the incident, which continued long after the war."

Skip,

 

During the Iraqi War every Sunday  the Washington Post would publish pictures of every service man /woman killed that week, how they were killed (IED, sniper, fire-fight, etc) and where they were killed.  I am convinced that because of this kind of reporting in the MSM, it became very apparent to the insurgents how effective IED's were – both in causing casualties and in affecting morale. If we had the same kind of security as mentioned above I do not believe that the enemy would have known how effective they were and our troops would not have suffered near the number of casualties as they did. I've always thought that the two easiest jobs in the insurgent forces during that time period had to be the intel officer and the morale officer – all you had to do was get a subscription to the Washington Post and the New York Times.

Jerry "Karate Joe" Watson

 

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This is worth the repeat just because You could change Vietnam and replace it with Afghanistan.

Skip

 

 

Thanks to Randy

Truth of The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War                         

by Terry Garlock*, Peachtree City, GA                         

 

         Well into the autumn of my life, I am occasionally reminded the end is not too far over the horizon. Mortality puts thoughts in my head, like "What have I done to leave this world a better place?"

         There actually are a few things that I think made my existence worthwhile. I will tell you just one of them, because so many of you need to hear it.

         No matter how much this rubs the wrong way, I am quite proud to have served my Country in  The Vietnam War. Yes, I know, most of you were taught there is shame attached to any role in the war that America lost, an unfortunate mistake, an immoral war, an unwise intrusion into a civil war, a racist war, a war in which American troops committed widespread atrocities, where America had no strategic interest, and that our North Vietnamese enemy was innocently striving to re-unite Vietnam.

         The problem is, none of those things are true. That didn't stop America over the last 50 years lapping up this Kool-Aid concocted by the anti-war machine, a loose confederation of protesting activists, the mainstream news media and academia. They opposed the war with loud noise, half-truths and fabrications. They are the ones who still write their version in our schoolbooks, and their account of history conveniently excuses themselves for  cowardly encouraging our enemy while we were at war. You see, having the right to protest does not necessarily make it the right or honorable thing to do.

         So, yes, I am defiantly proud to have been among those who raised our right hand swearing to do our duty for our country while so many others yelled and screamed and marched, burned their draft cards, declared, "Hell no! I won't go!" and some fled to Canada. In that period of uncomfortable controversy, even patriots tended to look the other way when activists heartily insulted American troops as they returned through California airports from doing the country's hardest work in Vietnam. War correspondent Joe Galloway summed it up nicely in a column about Vietnam vets in the Chicago Tribune long ago; "They were the best you had, America, and you turned your back on them."

         To be sure, there were lots of warts and wrinkles in the war. We were fighting a tough Communist enemy, defending South Vietnam's right to remain free. At the same time we were betrayed by our own leadership in the White House with their incompetent micromanagement and idiotic war-fighting limitations that got thousands of us killed while preventing victory. And we were betrayed by fellow citizens encouraging our enemy.

         I was trained to be an Army Cobra helicopter pilot. I remember many times, with no regrets, shooting up the enemy to protect our ground troops, firing to cover fellow pilots, and firing to keep the brutal enemy away from South Vietnamese civilians. A high school student asked me last year how I deal with the guilt. I answered that I don't have any guilt, that I was doing my duty and would proudly do it again.

         When John Lennon turned the Beatles into a protest band, his song "Give Peace a Chance" was hailed as genius. Look up the inane lyrics and judge for yourself At protest rallies, crowds of tens of thousands would raise their arms to wave in unison while chanting in ecstasy, "All we are asking, is give peace a chance!" over and over. Luminaries like Tom Smothers, presidential candidate George McGovern, writer and self-acclaimed intellectual Gore Vidal and a host of others lauded Lennon's song and observed "Who wouldn't prefer peace to war?"

         What self-indulgent, naive stupidity!

         My friend Anh Nguyen was 12 years old in 1968, living in the city of Hue, the cultural center of Vietnam. One morning when he opened the shutters to his bedroom window, a shot was fired over his head, the first he knew the enemy's Tet Offensive had begun. The Communists had negotiated a cease fire for their New Year holiday of Tet, then in treachery attacked on that holiday in about 100 locations all over South Vietnam.

         The enemy was well prepared and they took the city of Hue. They had lists of names and addresses provided by spies, and they went from street to street, dragging from their homes political leaders, business owners, teachers, doctors, nurses and other "enemies of the people." The battle raged four weeks before our Marines retook the city. In the aftermath, mass graves with nearly 5,000 bodies were found, executed by the Communists, many tied together and buried alive.

         Anh and his family had evacuated to an American compound for protection. Anh says when the battle was over and they walked Highway 1 back to their home, the most beautiful sight his family had ever seen was US Marines lining the road, standing guard over South Vietnamese civilians. To follow John Lennon's plea, Anh's family and countrymen could "Give peace a chance" by surrendering to the Communist invaders, but even a mush-head like Lennon should know there are some things you don't give up without a fight. I doubt Lennon would have understood the best way to ensure peace is to carry the biggest stick.

         Want to know what causes me shame?

         In 1973, when we basically had the war won, the US gave it away in a peace agreement when escape from Vietnam was the only politically acceptable option. In the peace agreement, the US pledged our ongoing financial support to South Vietnam's defense, and pledged US direct military intervention if the North Vietnamese ever broke their pledge not to attack South Vietnam. In the 1974 elections, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and President Nixon's resignation, Democrats were swept into Congress and promptly cut off all funding to South Vietnam in violation of the US pledge.

         Of course North Vietnam was watching.

         In early 1975 when the North Vietnamese attacked South Vietnam, President Ford literally begged Congress to fund the US pledge to intervene, and Congress refused.

         The same news media, protesters and academia who had screamed against the war, firmly turned their back in 1975 and refused to notice the slaughter and inhumanity as the Communists overwhelmed the ally America had thrown under the bus. Even today, few on the anti-war side know or care there were roughly 75,000 executions, that a panicked million fled in over-packed rickety boats and died at sea by the tens of thousands, that a million were sent to brutal re-education camps for decades and also died by the tens of thousands, or that South Vietnamese who fought to remain free - and their descendants - are still persecuted to this day. Abandoning our ally to that fate is America's everlasting shame.

         We could have won that war if our military had been allowed to take off the soft gloves, but it went on far too long with no end in sight,  mismanaged to a fare-thee-well by the White House and became America's misery. Through it all, even the betrayals from home, we fought well and never lost one significant battle.

         Leftists think they know all about the war and the Americans who fought it. They don't know didley.

         At the 334th Attack Helicopter Company in Bien Hoa, we Cobra pilots were 19 to 25 years old with very rough edges. We thought of ourselves as gunslingers and might have swaggered a bit. We drank too much at the end of a sweat-stained day, for fun or escape or both. We laughed off close calls with the bravado of gallows humor. We toasted our dead and hid the pain of personal loss deep inside. We swore a lot and told foul jokes. We pushed away the worry of how long our luck would hold, and the next day we would bet our life again to protect the South Vietnamese people and each other.

         To properly characterize my fellow Vietnam vets, I need to borrow words from John Steinbeck as he wrote about the inhabitants of Cannery Row, and ask you to look from my angle, past their flaws, to see them as I often do, " . . saints and angels, martyrs and holy men." America's best.

         I am proud to be one of them because we faced evil together in a valiant effort to keep the South Vietnamese people free, doing God's work for a little while, even though it failed by the hand of our own countrymen working against us from safety at home.

         More than any other class of people, I trust and admire the American men and women who served in Vietnam and met the test of their mettle, even the ones I don't know. I wouldn't trade a single one of them for a thousand leftist anti-war elites

         Everyone deserves a second chance But for the naval-gazing flower children who remain unrepentant about encouraging the enemy we were fighting, who still smugly know all the wrong answers about us and the Vietnam War, who have never known mortal danger and didn't give a fig when Saigon fell and the Commies made South Vietnamese streets run red with the blood of innocent people.

 

I want to be sure to deliver this invitation before I get too old and feeble:

Kiss me where the sun don't shine.
-------------------------

*Terry Garlock lives in Peachtree City, GA. tlg.opinion@gmail.com

Published on Wed Jan 30, 2019 in The Citizen, a Fayette County GA newspaper. 


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"A Helicopter is always trying to commit suicide, and its up to the Pilot to talk it out of it."

Yes, I too am proud to be "one of them". 

 

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This Day in U S Military History

 

November 7

 

1805 – Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean. Their survival over the '04-'05 winter was attributed to the help of the Nez Perce Indians.

1811 – Gen. William Henry Harrison won a battle against the Shawnee Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in the Indiana territory. Tenskwatawa, the brother of Shawnee leader Tecumseh, was engaged in the Battle of the Wabash, aka Battle of Tippecanoe, in spite of his brother's strict admonition to avoid it. The battle near the Tippecanoe River with the regular and militia forces of Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison, took place while Tecumseh was out of the area seeking support for a united Indian movement. The battle, which was a nominal victory for Harrison's forces, effectively put an end to Tecumseh's dream of a pan-Indian confederation. Harrison's leadership in the battle also provided a useful campaign slogan for his presidential bid in 1840. The Indians attacked Harrison's men before daybreak. Harrison's army had approximately a thousand troops, including infantry and cavalry. The American army defeated the Indians, but they suffered heavy losses: sixty-two men killed and 126 wounded. The Indian's losses are impossible to know because they carried off most of their dead and wounded. Harrison guessed that at least forty Indians were killed. This battle became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. The American army drove off the Indians and burned Prophetstown to the ground. Most Indians no longer believed in the Prophet. Many returned to their own villages after the defeat. Tecumseh tried to resurrect his confederation, but many natives refused to join him again. Unfortunately for Tecumseh, to gain followers he allied himself with his brother. The Prophet, by making such bold statements before the battle, led Tecumseh's followers to reject the alliance. Divided, it was now only a matter of time before the Indians fell to the Americans.

1814 – Andrew Jackson attacked and captured Pensacola, Florida, without authorization from his superiors. His aim was to end a threat posed by a small British garrison that had caused trouble in the area. Unknown to Jackson, Major General Sir Edward Pakenham had prepared 3,000 soldiers in Jamaica and was sailing to New Orleans to open a British offensive in the South. Pakenham's army was supplemented by other soldiers brought from England. The opposing armies met in the famed January 1815 Battle of New Orleans.

 

1861 – Naval forces under Flag Officer Du Pont captured Port Royal Sound. While Du Pont's ships steamed in boldly, the naval gunners poured a withering fire into the defending Forts Walker and Beauregard with extreme accuracy. The Confederate defenders abandoned the Forts, and the small Confederate naval squadron under Commodore Tattnall could offer only harassing resistance but did rescue troops by ferrying them to the mainland from Hilton Head. Marines and sailors were landed to occupy the Forts until turned over to Army troops under General T. W. Sherman. Careful planning and skill­full execution had given Du Pont a great victory and the Union Navy an important base of operations. The Confederates were compelled to withdraw coastal defenses inland out of reach of naval gunfire. Du Pont wrote: "It is not my temper to rejoice over fallen foes, but this must be a gloomy night in Charleston."

 

1917 – (October 25 on the older Julian calendar then used by Russia), the provisional government of Premier Aleksandr Kerensky fell to the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. He called his followers the Bolsheviks, meaning the majority, when they formed for a short period the majority of a revolutionary committee. The Bolsheviks became a majority of the ruling group, but they were only a small part of the total Russian population. Decades of czarist incompetence and the devastation of World War I had wrecked the Russian economy and in March 1917, Czar Nicholas II abdicated. Kerensky's provisional government struggled to maintain power until Lenin's Bolshevik followers stormed Petrograd and seized all government operations. Lenin and his lieutenant, Leon Trotsky, quickly confiscated land and nationalized industry and in March 1918, Russia withdrew from World War I by signing the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. Bloody civil war raged in Russia for the next two years as the anti-Bolshevik White Army battled the Communists for control.

 

1919 – The first Palmer Raid is conducted on the second anniversary of the Russian Revolution, arresting over 10,000 suspected communists and anarchists in twenty-three different U.S. cities. The Palmer Raids were attempts by the United States Department of Justice to arrest and deport radical leftists, especially anarchists, from the United States. The raids and arrests occurred in November 1919 and January 1920 under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. Though more than 500 foreign citizens were deported, including a number of prominent leftist leaders, Palmer's efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor who had responsibility for deportations and who objected to Palmer's methods. The Palmer Raids occurred in the larger context of the Red Scare, the term given to fear of and reaction against political radicals in the U.S. in the years immediately following World War I.

1941 – The Marine Corps Reserve of 23 battalions completed its mobilization.

1942 – French General Giraud is brought from Vichy France, by the British submarine Seraph, for talks with American General Eisenhower. The Allies wish his support to minimize the resistance of locals loyal to Vichy France after the invasion. General Giraud is under the impression that command of the operation will be given to him.

1942 – On Guadalcanal, American Marines, begin attacks to the east toward Koli Point. The Japanese stage landings after dark to the west of American holdings bringing elements of the 38th Infantry Division to shore.

1943 – US Task Force 38 with the carriers Saratoga and Princeton is attacked by 100 Japanese aircraft. The air attack fails to achieve any hits on the carriers. Meanwhile, on Bougainville Island, a Japanese battalion is landed to the north of the beachhead held by the US 3rd Marine Division. A battle ensues. The Japanese reinforce their garrison on Buka Island.

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

*NISHIMOTO, JOE M.
Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 7 November 1944, near La Houssiere, France. After three days of unsuccessful attempts by his company to dislodge the enemy from a strongly defended ridge, Private First Class Nishimoto, as acting squad leader, boldly crawled forward through a heavily mined and booby-trapped area. Spotting a machine gun nest, he hurled a grenade and destroyed the emplacement. Then, circling to the rear of another machine gun position, he fired his submachine gun at point-blank range, killing one gunner and wounding another. Pursuing two enemy riflemen, Private First Class Nishimoto killed one, while the other hastily retreated. Continuing his determined assault, he drove another machine gun crew from its position. The enemy, with their key strong points taken, were forced to withdraw from this sector. Private First Class Nishimoto's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

 

*THOMAS, HERBERT JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Born: 8 February 1918, Columbus, Ohio. Accredited to: West Virginia. Citation: For extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 3d Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces during the battle at the Koromokina River, Bougainville Islands, Solomon Islands, on 7 November 1943. Although several of his men were struck by enemy bullets as he led his squad through dense jungle undergrowth in the face of severe hostile machinegun fire, Sgt. Thomas and his group fearlessly pressed forward into the center of the Japanese position and destroyed the crews of 2 machineguns by accurate rifle fire and grenades. Discovering a third gun more difficult to approach, he carefully placed his men closely around him in strategic positions from which they were to charge after he had thrown a grenade into the emplacement. When the grenade struck vines and fell back into the midst of the group, Sgt. Thomas deliberately flung himself upon it to smother the explosion, valiantly sacrificing his life for his comrades. Inspired by his selfless action, his men unhesitatingly charged the enemy machinegun and, with fierce determination, killed the crew and several other nearby-defenders. The splendid initiative and extremely heroic conduct of Sgt. Thomas in carrying out his prompt decision with full knowledge of his fate reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

 

*LEONARD, WILLIAM F.
Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant.  U.S. Army. Company C, 30th Infantry. Place and Date: November 7, 1944, St. Die, France.  Born: August 9, 1913, Lockport, NJ .  Departed: Yes (08/04/1985).  Entered Service At: Lockport, NJ .  G.O. Number: .  Date of Issue: 03/18/2014.  Accredited To: .  Citation:  Then-Pfc. William F. Leonard is being recognized for his valorous actions while serving as a squad leader with Company C, 30th Infantry, on Nov. 7, 1944, near St. Die, France. Leonard's platoon was reduced to eight men by blistering artillery, mortar, machine-gun, and rifle power. Leonard led the survivors in an assault over a tree-and-shrub-covered hill, continuously swept by automatic fire. Killing two snipers at ranges of 50 and 75 yards, he disregarded bullets that pierced his back to engage and destroy a machine-gun with rifle grenades, killing its two-man crew. Stunned by an exploding bazooka shell, he continued his relentless advance to knock out a second a machine-gun and capture the roadblock objective.

 

 

*STRYKER, ROBERT F.
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Loc Ninh, Republic of Vietnam, 7 November 1967. Entered service at: Throop, N.Y. Born: 9 November 1944, Auburn, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Stryker, U.S. Army, distinguished himself while serving with Company C. Sp4c. Stryker was serving as a grenadier in a multicompany reconnaissance in force near Loc Ninh. As his unit moved through the dense underbrush, it was suddenly met with a hail of rocket, automatic weapons and small arms fire from enemy forces concealed in fortified bunkers and in the surrounding trees. Reacting quickly, Sp4c. Stryker fired into the enemy positions with his grenade launcher. During the devastating exchange of fire, Sp4c. Stryker detected enemy elements attempting to encircle his company and isolate it from the main body of the friendly force. Undaunted by the enemy machinegun and small-arms fire, Sp4c. Stryker repeatedly fired grenades into the trees, killing enemy snipers and enabling his comrades to sever the attempted encirclement. As the battle continued, Sp4c. Stryker observed several wounded members of his squad in the killing zone of an enemy claymore mine. With complete disregard for his safety, he threw himself upon the mine as it was detonated. He was mortally wounded as his body absorbed the blast and shielded his comrades from the explosion. His unselfish actions were responsible for saving the lives of at least 6 of his fellow soldiers. Sp4c. Stryker's great personal bravery was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for November 7, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

7 November

 

1907: The War Department's Board of Ordnance and Fortification gave the Signal Corps $25,000 to procure an airplane. (4)

 

1910: Phillip O. Parmalee delivered a bolt of silk from Dayton to Columbus, Ohio, to complete the world's first air cargo mission. (20)

 

1917: Eugene J. Bullard, an American pilot in French service, shot down an enemy fighter. Thus, he became the first black fighter pilot to claim an aerial victory in World War I. (21)

 

1918: Dr. Robert H. Goddard demonstrated tube-launched solid-propellant rockets at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. This device evolved into the anti-tank bazooka used in World War II. (20)

 

1939: MACKAY TROPHY. The Secretary of War announced the 1938 trophy would be awarded to the 2 BG for a 10,000-mile flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and return to Langley Field. The group used new Y1B-17 prototypes (Y1 was the service test code) for the trip. (24)

 

1941: First flight of the GB-1 guided glide bomb containing preset guidance. (24)

 

1945: Bell Aircraft Corporation successfully tested a jet-propelled P-59 by remote control using a television to read the instruments. (24)

 

1954: The USAF announced plans to build a $15.5 million atomic aircraft engine research facility, under Pratt & Whitney management, in Connecticut. (20)

 

1957: President Eisenhower announced that the US had solved the missile reentry problem and showed the TV audience a nose cone recovered from a Jupiter missile fired in August at Cape Canaveral. (24)

 

1959: The Discoverer VII satellite launched from the Pacific Missile Range into a polar orbit with an expected life span of two weeks. An electrical systems failure prevented release of its reentry capsule. (24)

 

1961: The USAF completed the overseas deployment of the largest group of tactical fighters since World War II with the landing in Europe of over 200 aircraft flown by ANG pilots mobilized under legislation of 1 August 1961. (24)

 

1967: The last Atlas D in the Air Force inventory launched from Vandenberg AFB. (6)

 

1969: James R. Bede set a light plane distance record on a closed-circuit course, flying 14,441.26 kilometers (8,974 miles) in a BD-2.

 

1975: Boeing delivered the first ALCM flight test missile to the USAF during a roll-out ceremony. (6)

 

2000: The X-35A completed its first aerial refueling. In an earlier test flight at 23,000 feet, the X-35 verified its compatibility with a KC-135's flow-field wake and refueling boom. (3

 

2003: Through 11 November, four KC-135s from the 92 AREFW at Fairchild AFB and one KC-135 from the 22 AREFW at McConnell AFB flew the India Company, 3d Marine Battalion, from Camp Lejeune, N. C. to Djibouti to join the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa in the fight against trans-national terrorists. The Marines provided security at Djibouti IAP. The five KC-135s airlifted 169 Marines and 9 short tons of cargo. (22) After a 21-hour transatlantic flight, Global Hawk (AV-1) landed at the AFFTC at Edwards AFB to end a three-week deployment to Nordholz, Germany, where it flew six sorties to check out a German ground station and a new German/Northrop Grumman electronic intelligence sensor. (3)

 

2007: Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. The MQ-9A Reaper demonstrated its unique precision strike capability by dropping its first precision-guided bomb. While operating over the Sangin region of Afghanistan, the Reaper received a request to attack enemy combatants fighting with friendly forces. The pilot and sensor operator back at Creech AFB, Nev., released two GBU-12 500-pound laser-guided bombs and successfully eliminated the enemy fighters. (AFNEWS, "Reaper Drops First Precision Guided Bomb, Protects Forces," 8 Nov 2007.)