Saturday, January 30, 2021

TheList 5601

The List 5601     TGB

.

Good Saturday Morning 30 January.

I hope that you are having a good start to your weekend

Regards,

Skip

 

This day in Naval History

Jan. 30

1862—The first U.S. Navy ironclad warship, USS Monitor, is launched. Commissioned a month later, she soon engages in battle against CSS Virginia, the first battle between ironclad warships.

 

1863—While Landsman Richard Stout is a member of the crew of USS Isaac Smith, which is operating on the Stono River, SC, Confederate forces ambush and capture the ship. For his brave conduct during this action, in which he is badly wounded, Landsman Stout is awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

1944—U.S. Navy ships, including battleship North Carolina, and aircraft, sink nine Japanese vessels.

 

1944—PB2Y aircraft (VP 13 and VP 102) from Midway Island carry out nocturnal bombing raids on Wake Island to neutralize Japanese airfield installations. The strike marks the first time Coronados are used as bombers.

 

1960—The guided-missile destroyer John King (DDG 3) is launched at Bath, ME.

 

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Thanks to Mike

 

World War I Flight Training Video 5 min video - Can download it using the settings feature.

http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/media/005/005k.html 

 

 

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This day in World History

January 30

1649

Charles I of England is beheaded at Whitehall by the executioner Richard Brandon.

1844

Richard Theodore Greener becomes the first African American to graduate from Harvard University.

1862

The USS Monitor is launched at Greenpoint, Long Island.

1901

Women Prohibitionists smash 12 saloons in Kansas.

1912

The British House of Lords opposes the House of Commons by rejecting home rule for Ireland.

1931

The United States awards civil government to the Virgin Islands.

1933

Adolf Hitler is named Chancellor by President Paul Hindenburg.

1936

Governor Harold Hoffman orders a new inquiry into the Lindbergh kidnapping.

1943

Field Marshal Friedrich von Paulus surrenders himself and his staff to Red Army troops in Stalingrad.

1945

The Allies launch a drive on the Siegfried line in Germany.

1949

In India, 100,000 people pray at the site of Gandhi's assassination on the first anniversary of his death.

1953

President Dwight Eisenhower announces that he will pull the Seventh Fleet out of Formosa to permit the Nationalists to attack Communist China.

1964

The Ranger spacecraft, equipped with six TV cameras, is launched to the moon from Cape Canaveral.

1972

British troops shoot dead 14 Irish civilians in Derry, Ireland. The day is forever remembered in Ireland as 'Bloody Sunday.'

1976

The U.S. Supreme Court bans spending limits in campaigns, equating funds with freedom of speech.

1980

The first-ever Chinese Olympic team arrives in New York for the Winter Games at Lake Placid.

 

 

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Worth repeating

 

Thanks to Michael ..and Dr.Rich.

… and then send it to your kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids??

You may have seen something like this one .. but wait until the end to decide ...

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAM6rhMSz3o 

 

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Thanks to Richard

 

Subject: Fw:  From biplanes to drones: How the Navy's carrier aircraft have dominated battlefields for almost a century

 

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-navy-carrier-aircraft-have-dominated-for-almost-a-century-2021-1

 

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Thanks to Dr. Rich

 

Bits and pieces ...

 

Thanks to Jim Allen …

 

When one door closes and another door opens, you are probably in prison. I wouldn't know, but I can imagine the feeling.  Unpleasant images come to mind.  

To me, "drink responsibly" means don't spill it.  Those sippy cups aren't just for kids you know.

Age 60 might be the new 40, 9:00 pm is the new midnight.  If I take a catnap at 5pm and 8pm, I've discovered I can actually make it to midnight occasionally.  And nothing is more confusing than waking up after a nap and it's dark outside.  Am I late for work or dinner?  "Who am I, where am I, what time of day is it?  What day is it?" Kinda like an abductee in the movies waking from being drugged, after being flown to another country. I feel for them.

It's the start of a brand new day, and I'm off like a herd of turtles.  Is that a spoonerism.  I guess they're actually called a bale (apparent by the lines around their shells, right?)  Who determines stuff like that.  Pods, murders, gaggles? What's wrong with herds, flocks and, well flocks.  Add schools to non-mammal sea creatures and I'm happy.  Just curious.  Words are continually added to dictionaries.  Are any ever removed from disuse, modern spelling change, etc.?

The older I get, the earlier it gets late.  Doesn't seem to matter what time I get up.  Weird.  I think it's called OBST, Old Body Standard Time.  And it is NOT seasonal.  When it says go to bed, it does.  But wait, I'm watching a great movie.  It doesn't seem to care.  I try to catch up.  Get up!  It does.  But wait I'm having a good dream.  I'm just along for the ride, bumpy sometimes.  I apparently have no choice.  I try to hang in there, nodding off at 8, pretending I'm watching TV.  I toss and turn in the morning trying not to listen to my old body (and bladder).  I shall learn to obey someday.

When I say, "The other day," I could be referring to any time between yesterday and 15 years ago. Reminds me of living in Victor those decades ago.  A little Mormon town (as you know).  We hadn't been settled but a few days.  I'm sitting on the front porch swilling a cold beer when this guy pulls up and introduces himself as a neighbor.  I look at the nearby houses wondering which is his.  He cut off my search, "We live just down the road."  I later found out he lived MILES down the road.  He had obviously been sent by the church, which was just a block or so from our house, on a recon mission.  Apparently, if you live in the Valley, everyone is considered your neighbor.  

Actually, for being non-Mormon, we were well-accepted in Victor.  I was even on their Town Council for a couple years.  That position may had some influence, allowing me to "open up" the defunct airstrip in town.  That in turn allowed me to commute to and from JAC when working for you.  The strip was only a few thousand few long, grassed over.  Town Hall at one end and power lines at the other.  I'd take off,  climb up Moose Canyon and through the pass,  then essentially glide into JAC.  If I recall, it took about 20 min.Today, it looks like Agate Ave. is sitting on the strip.

I remember being able to get up without making sound effects.  Well, at least you know where I am.  Same thing happens when I go to bed.  A good reason to wait until your spouse falls asleep before you retire.

I had my patience tested. I'm negative.  I'm still slightly positive, but my condition is fading.  With kids and animals, I exhibit positive, with just plain "stupid", stubborn or inconsiderate adults, somewhat negative. 

Remember, if you lose a sock in the dryer, it comes back as a Tupperware lid that doesn't fit any of your containers.  PFM!  Even David Copperfield can't pull that one off, unless of course he has some mis-matched socks and Tupperware.

When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.

I finally got eight hours of sleep. It took me three days, but whatever.  Sometimes, I even rack up those hours at night.

I run like the winded.  I used to.  Now I'm just winded and windy - without running.  How does breathing hard get to my ass so fast?   Breath in fart out.  Is there a pneumo-digestive tract bypass?

When you do squats, are your knees supposed to sound like a goat chewing on an aluminum can stuffed with celery?  What a great metaphor, or is that a simile?  It's definitely a smile.

I don't mean to interrupt people. I just randomly remember things and get really excited.  The younger generation is even better at it.  They just can't seem to wait until the old folks are done.  It's like they have a "listening timer" that ticks twice as fast as my "talking timer".  Theirs always go off before mine.  What's the medical term - oldfarttalkus interruptus?

When I ask for directions, please don't use words like "east."  Sunrise and sunset may work, tho.  The Denver area and Jackson.  You always know which way is west, unless you're downtown Denver.  When they laid out the city a 150 years ago some bastard thought it would make sense to align the streets with Cherry Creek.  Real smart.  The creek runs southeast to northwest.  Can't see one mountain when downtown.  Before GPS and if the sun wasn't out, I've wandered aimlessly down there.  Thank God for the pub bartender/guide to give me direction.

I recall being in Scotland in December.  I really had a hard time determining direction because the sun could be either far north or south during the day.  Even Kenya.  The sun seemed to just hover directly overhead.  I took a picture one day of a power pole outside my hotel window at noon.  It didn't have a shadow!  Equinox.

Don't bother walking a mile in my shoes. That would be boring. Spend 30 seconds in my head. That'll freak you right out.  I could use your feet, tho.  Mine work and look like my head - bumpy, achy, and neither doesn't want any undue stress on them until noon - or after 4pm.

Sometimes, someone unexpected comes into your life out of nowhere,  makes your heart race, and changes you forever. We call those people cops.  Again, I wouldn't know.  Not innocent, just lucky.  

My luck is like a bald guy who just won a comb.  I may be bald, but I still use a comb.  Why, how did my body redirect hair growth from my head to my eyebrows and ears?  Someone once quipped.  It's just gravity.  As you bald those scalp follicles just find new places to grow.  Unfortunately, gravity seems to be affecting other parts of my body these days well.  Soup to nuts.  Nuts!  Yeah, those too.

 

 

 

 

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From the List archives

 

Why were they called 27 Charlie….For those who knew or never knew

 

Thanks to GBox

Thanks to a friend of mine, Supply Corp no less, here is why the Bonnie Dick, Oriskany, Tico, Hancock, and others were called 27 Charlie Class Carriers.  I never knew ……

 

From: Jim Dunkle

 

Many of you may, as have I, wondered why Carriers of a certain class were designated Twenty Seven Charlies (27Cs). While reading Peter Fey's Bloody Sixteen, The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 During the Vietnam War, I found the answer. Fey mentions Ship Modernization Program SCB-27. I Googled SCB-27 and found the answer at the below link.  In a never ending effort to keep you informed, please go here:

 

https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/usnshtp/cv/scb27cl.htm

 

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Thanks to CAP

 

Subject: MORE: Welcome to the Oligarchy\RICH

 

Hi to all - 

 

Oligarchy

 

This term refers to a kind of government we sometimes call 'crony capitalism'.  Public officials and big business collude to get and hold power, and wealth, at the expense of everyone else.  It is a step along the way to total communism, when even big business submits to the government.  

 

Washington DC

 

Did you see that they are building a steel and concrete fence all around the capitol building, and other offices?  That, along with the thousands of troops stationed there tells us what?  For one thing, it tells us that the left is very, very afraid that the public will rise up and throw them out.  They must move fast, to secure and consolidate their positions, before everyone else can react.

 

Biden, who believes in democracy and consensus, is now up to 40 Executive Orders, fundamentally changing the structure of America.  Just as he and Obama promised, all those years ago.

 

Pelosi and others are beating the drum to declare all republicans as 'white supremacists', and 'terrorists, like unto ISIS', and so forth.  Comrade AOC is a leader among those shrill voices.  Pelosi has said for years that 'republicans are the greatest threat to OUR democracy'.  That is true.  Republicans are a threat to what Nancy calls democracy - which is in fact, oligarchy.  But, we must have an external threat, an enemy, real or imagined, to allow us to enforce our edicts.

 

Election Fraud

 

The media still denies this ever happened.  A judge in Virginia decreed that all those late ballots were invalid, and therefore illegal.  Wonder if that will affect the results.  There are many other such cases pending, perhaps more will also declare late ballots, and some of the other really extreme things as illegal.  This is a serious threat to democrats, everywhere.

 

Chicago

 

The Teachers Union likes getting paid for staying home, or going on vacation, or whatever else they are doing.  One spokesperson said that forcing them back into the classroom (which, as I recall, is their job) would 'allow white people to kill blacks'.  So, doing their job makes everyone else 'racist', of course.

 

LA

 

Their DA, George Gascon, who was elected using several million dollars from George Soros, has been working to 'reform' the law there.  Translated from democrat speak, that means making crimes okay, and crooks let loose.  His latest one is an admitted child pornographer, waiting trial, was given a very short sentence, minus the time already served.  He will be loose in 3-4 months.  The parents of the abused children are not happy, but the social justice warriors are ecstatic.  

 

RobinHood

 

The fallout is still raining down upon us.  Google deleted 100,000 negative comments on that site, in an effort to protect the hedge fund managers.  Honor among thieves, I guess.

 

Facebook, for its part, deleted a Christian scholar who objected to transgender people serving in the military.  I am sure that is because Facebook is concerned for the safety and security of the nation, not 'social justice'.

 

Coleen Oefeleken, who worked in a literary job, was fired for just having an account with Parler, and Gab.  No posts, nothing derogatory, she just had the accounts, and was therefore a right wing terrorist, not a proper left wing journalist.

 

Roman Triumph

 

After a general had won a great victory, and was parading through Rome, there was always a slave on the chariot behind him, who continually whispered into the ear of the general "Power is Fleeting".  Just a hint not to let this moment go to his head, and to retain a measure of humility.  Perhaps DC needs such a reminder.

 

Spanish Flu

 

Just 100 years ago, there was a worldwide pandemic of this flu, which killed something like 50 million people.  No nation wanted to claim this as coming from them.  The Spanish, who had relaxed censorship rules after the war, reported on the flu, and everyone was very happy to blame it on them.  But, new research into this tells another story.  Seems this flu was similar to several others - all of which came from China.  In spite of WHO claiming that they just cannot tell where the flu came from (as they cash their checks from China), it appears that biowarfare is a specialty of China, and has been for a long, long time.  Sleep well, boys and girls, Biden is on their payroll, and will look after your safety, trust him, he says so.

 

Rich

 

 

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January 30

 

This Day in U S Military History

 

1798 – A brawl broke out in the House of Representatives in Philadelphia. Matthew Lyon of Vermont spat in the face of Roger Griswold of Connecticut, who responded by attacking him with a hickory walking stick. Lyon was re -elected congressman while serving a jail sentence for violating the Sedition Acts of 1798.

1815 – The burned Library of Congress was reestablished with Jefferson's 6,500 volumes.

 

1835 – In the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol, President Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, survives the first attempt against the life of a U.S. president. During a funeral service honoring the late Representative Warren R. Davis of South Carolina, a man identified as Richard Lawrence discharged two separate pistols in the direction of President Jackson. Both weapons misfired, and Lawrence was promptly subdued and arrested. During the subsequent criminal investigation, the suspect was found to be insane and was sent to a mental prison. Three decades later, President Abraham Lincoln would become the first president to be assassinated.

 

1862 – U.S.S. Monitor, the Union's first sea-going ironclad vessel, launched at Greenpoint, New York. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Fox wired John Ericsson, referring to Monitor's launching: "I congratulate you and trust she will be a success. Hurry her for sea, as the Merrimack is nearly ready at Norfolk, and we wish to send her here."

 

1933 – German President Paul von Hindenburg made Adolf Hitler chancellor. After World War I, Germany fell into disarray and looked for a leader to strengthen it again. Hitler had emerged after joining the Nazi Party in 1919 and taking it over in 1921. In 1932 Hitler ran against von Hindenburg and lost – -but not by a wide margin. The Nazis won 230 seats in the German parliament and continued to gain influence, stifling democracy and communism by force and by making laws against them. After Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Der Führer of the Third Reich and continued as Germany's leader through World War II. Gen. Kurt von Hammerstein -Equord tried to block the appointment of Hitler as chancellor but was overruled by Pres. Hindenburg.

 

1942 – The last pre-war automobiles produced by Chevrolet and DeSoto rolled off the assembly lines today. Wartime restrictions had shut down the commercial automobile industry almost completely, and auto manufacturers were racing to retool their factories for production of military gear.

1943 – On Guadalcanal American forces continue to advance against Japanese resistance. There is heavy fighting along the River Bonegi.

1943 –Second day of the Battle of Rennell Island. The USS Chicago is sunk and a U.S. destroyer is heavily damaged by Japanese torpedoes.

1944 – At Anzio the Allied offensive begins. There are heavy losses and no gains against the German defenses. To the south, along the German-held Gustav Line, the US 5th Army continues attacking. The British 5th Division (part of 10th Corps) breaks through the line and captures Monte Natale. Around Monte Cassino, the US 34th Division (part of 2nd Corps) holds its bridgehead on the west bank of the Rapido River.

 

1945 – US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas executed a flawless rescue of 486 POWs from Camp Cabanatuan north of Manila. The Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as The Great Raid, was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan City, in the Philippines. On January 30, 1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrillas liberated more than 500 from the POW camp. After the surrender of tens of thousands of American troops during the Battle of Bataan, many were sent to a Cabanatuan prison camp following the Bataan Death March. The Japanese transferred most of the prisoners to other areas, leaving just over 500 American and other Allied POWs and civilians in the prison. Facing brutal conditions including disease, torture, and malnourishment, the prisoners feared they would all be executed as General Douglas MacArthur and his American forces returned to Luzon. In late January 1945, a plan was developed by Sixth Army leaders and Filipino guerrillas to send a small force to rescue the prisoners. A group of over a hundred Rangers and Scouts and several hundred guerrillas traveled 30 miles (48 km) behind Japanese lines to reach the camp. In a nighttime raid, under the cover of darkness and a distraction by a P-61 Black Widow, the group surprised the Japanese forces in and around the camp. Hundreds of Japanese troops were killed in the 30-minute coordinated attack; the Americans suffered minimal casualties. The Rangers, Scouts, and guerrillas escorted the POWs back to American lines. The rescue allowed the prisoners to tell of the death march and prison camp atrocities, which sparked a new rush of resolve for the war against Japan. The rescuers were awarded commendations by MacArthur, and were also recognized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A memorial now sits on the site of the former camp, and the events of the raid have been depicted in several films.

 

1945 – A US battalion is landed to take Gamble Island in Subic Bay. To the north, US 11th Corps begins to advance inland quickly and takes Olongapo on Luzon.

 

1953 – U.S. Air Force Captain Benjamin L. Fithian, and his "backseater" Lieutenant Sam Lyons, 319th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, achieved the first F-94 aerial victory when they destroyed a Lavochkin La-9, a "Bedcheck Charlie," which was the nickname given to small communist aircraft that regularly harassed U.N. troops after midnight. The two men made the kill at night using only their fire control radar, a combat first in its own right.

 

1968 – In coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam, communist forces launch their largest offensive of the Vietnam War against South Vietnamese and U.S. troops. Dozens of cities, towns, and military bases–including the U.S. embassy in Saigon–were attacked. The massive offensive was not a military success for the communists, but its size and intensity shook the confidence of many Americans who were led to believe, by the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson, that the war would shortly be coming to a successful close. On January 30, 1968-during the Tet holiday cease-fire in South Vietnam-an estimated 80,000 troops of the North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front attacked cities and military establishments throughout South Vietnam. The most spectacular episode occurred when a group of NLF commandos blasted through the wall surrounding the American embassy in Saigon and unsuccessfully attempted to seize the embassy building. Most of the attacks were turned back, with the communist forces suffering heavy losses. Battles continued to rage throughout the country for weeks–the fight to reclaim the city of Hue from communist troops was particularly destructive. American and South Vietnamese forces lost over 3,000 men during the offensive. Estimates for communist losses ran as high as 40,000. While the communists did not succeed militarily, the impact of the Tet Offensive on public opinion in the United States was significant. The American people, who had been told a few months earlier that the war was successful and that U.S. troops might soon be allowed withdraw, were stunned to see fighting taking place on the grounds of the U.S. embassy. Despite assurances from the Johnson administration that all was well, the Tet Offensive led many Americans to begin seriously questioning such statements, and to wonder whether American military might could truly prevail over the communist threat on foreign shores. In the 1950s, Americans had almost unconditionally supported a vigorous American response to communism; the reaction to the Tet Offensive seemed to reflect the growing skepticism of the 1960s, when Americans felt increasingly doubtful about the efficacy of such Cold War tactics. In the wake of the Tet Offensive, support for the U.S. effort in Vietnam began steadily to decline, and public opinion turned sharply against President Johnson, who decided not to run for re-election.

1971 – Operation Dewey Canyon II begins as the initial phase of Lam Son 719, the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos that would commence on February 8. The purpose of the South Vietnamese operation was to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail, advance to Tchepone in Laos, and destroy the North Vietnamese supply dumps in the area. In Dewey Canyon II, the vanguard of the U.S. 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division began moving from Vandegrift Combat Base along highway Route 9 toward Khe Sanh with an armored cavalry/engineer task force. These units were to clear the way for the move of 20,000 South Vietnamese troops along the highway to reoccupy 1,000 square miles of territory in northwest South Vietnam and to mass at the Laotian border in preparation for Lam Son 719. U.S. ground forces were not to enter Laos, in accordance with a U.S. congressional ban. Instead they gave logistical support, with some 2,600 helicopters on call to airlift Saigon troops and supplies. In addition, U.S. artillerymen provided long-range artillery fires into Laos from American firebases just inside the South Vietnamese border.

 

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

STOUT, RICHARD
Rank and organization: Landsman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1836, New York. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 32, 16 April 1864. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Isaac Smith, Stono River, 30 January 1863. While reconnoitering on the Stono River on this date the U.S.S. Isaac Smith became trapped in a rebel ambush. Fired on from two sides, she fought her guns until disabled. Suffering heavy casualties and at the mercy of the enemy who was delivering a raking fire from every side, she struck her colors out of regard for the wounded aboard, and all aboard were taken prisoners. Carrying out his duties bravely through this action, Stout was severely wounded and lost his right arm while returning the rebel fire.

DROWLEY, JESSE R.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Americal Infantry Division. Place and date: Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 30 January 1944. Entered service at: Spokane, Wash. Birth: St. Charles, Mich. G.O. No.: 73, 6 September 1944. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy at Bougainville, Solomon Islands, 30 January 1944. S/Sgt. Drowley, a squad leader in a platoon whose mission during an attack was to remain under cover while holding the perimeter defense and acting as a reserve for assaulting echelon, saw 3 members of the assault company fall badly wounded. When intense hostile fire prevented aid from reaching the casualties, he fearlessly rushed forward to carry the wounded to cover. After rescuing 2 men, S/Sgt. Drowley discovered an enemy pillbox undetected by assaulting tanks that was inflicting heavy casualties upon the attacking force and was a chief obstacle to the success of the advance. Delegating the rescue of the third man to an assistant, he ran across open terrain to 1 of the tanks. Signaling to the crew, he climbed to the turret, exchanged his weapon for a submachine gun and voluntarily rode the deck of the tank directing it toward the pillbox by tracer fire. The tank, under constant heavy enemy fire, continued to within 20 feet of the pillbox where S/Sgt. Drowley received a severe bullet wound in the chest. Refusing to return for medical treatment, he remained on the tank and continued to direct its progress until the enemy box was definitely located by the crew. At this point he again was wounded by small arms fire, losing his left eye and falling to the ground. He remained alongside the tank until the pillbox had been completely demolished and another directly behind the first destroyed. S/Sgt. Drowley, his voluntary mission successfully accomplished, returned alone for medical treatment.

HAWKS, LLOYD C.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Carano, Italy, 30 January 1944. Entered service at: Park Rapids, Minn. Born: 13 January 1911, Becker, Minn. G.O. No.: 5, 15 January 1945. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On 30 January 1944, at 3 p.m., near Carano, Italy, Pfc. Hawks braved an enemy counterattack in order to rescue 2 wounded men who, unable to move, were Iying in an exposed position within 30 yards of the enemy. Two riflemen, attempting the rescue, had been forced to return to their fighting holes by extremely severe enemy machinegun fire, after crawling only 10 yards toward the casualties. An aid man, whom the enemy could plainly identify as such, had been critically wounded in a similar attempt. Pfc. Hawks, nevertheless, crawled 50 yards through a veritable hail of machinegun bullets and flying mortar fragments to a small ditch, administered first aid to his fellow aid man who had sought cover therein, and continued toward the 2 wounded men 50 yards distant. An enemy machinegun bullet penetrated his helmet, knocking it from his head, momentarily stunning him. Thirteen bullets passed through his helmet as it lay on the ground within 6 inches of his body. Pfc. Hawks, crawled to the casualties, administered first aid to the more seriously wounded man and dragged him to a covered position 25 yards distant. Despite continuous automatic fire from positions only 30 yards away and shells which exploded within 25 yards, Pfc. Hawks returned to the second man and administered first aid to him. As he raised himself to obtain bandages from his medical kit his right hip was shattered by a burst of machinegun fire and a second burst splintered his left forearm. Displaying dogged determination and extreme self-control, Pfc. Hawks, despite severe pain and his dangling left arm, completed the task of bandaging the remaining casualty and with superhuman effort dragged him to the same depression to which he had brought the first man. Finding insufficient cover for 3 men at this point, Pfc. Hawks crawled 75 yards in an effort to regain his company, reaching the ditch in which his fellow aid man was lying.

*McGOVERN, ROBERT M.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. Place and date: Near Kamyangjan-ni, Korea, 30 January 1951. Entered service at: Washington, D.C. Birth: Washington, D.C. G.O. No.: 2, 8 January 1952. Citation: 1st Lt. McGovern, a member of Company A, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in action against an armed enemy of the United Nations. As 1st Lt. McGovern led his platoon up a slope to engage hostile troops emplaced in bunker-type pillboxes with connecting trenches, the unit came under heavy machine gun and rifle fire from the crest of the hill, approximately 75 yards distant. Despite a wound sustained in this initial burst of withering fire, 1st Lt. McGovern, assured the men of his ability to continue on and urged them forward. Forging up the rocky incline, he fearlessly led the platoon to within several yards of its objective when the ruthless foe threw and rolled a vicious barrage of handgrenades on the group and halted the advance. Enemy fire increased in volume and intensity and 1st Lt. McGovern realizing that casualties were rapidly increasing and the morale of his men badly shaken, hurled back several grenades before they exploded. Then, disregarding his painful wound and weakened condition he charged a machine gun emplacement which was raking his position with flanking fire. When he was within 10 yards of the position a burst of fire ripped the carbine from his hands, but, undaunted, he continued his lone-man assault and, firing his pistol and throwing grenades, killed 7 hostile soldiers before falling mortally wounded in front of the gun he had silenced. 1st Lt. McGovern's incredible display of valor imbued his men with indomitable resolution to avenge his death. Fixing bayonets and throwing grenades, they charged with such ferocity that hostile positions were overrun and the enemy routed from the hill. The inspirational leadership, unflinching courage, and intrepid actions of 1st Lt. McGovern reflected utmost glory on himself and the honored tradition of the military services.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for January 30, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

30 January

1911: LONGEST OVERWATER FLIGHT TO DATE: John A. "Douglas" McCurdy flew a Curtiss hydroairplane (or seaplane) from Key West, Fla., to a naval torpedo boat located 10 miles from Havana, Cuba. (24)

 

1946: Major General Curtis E. LeMay announced the opening of an advanced aeronautical engineering school at Wright Field, Ohio. He asked for $300,000 to build a wind tunnel for supersonic aircraft too. (24)

 

1948: Orville Wright died in Dayton, Ohio. He was 76. (16)

 

1951: KOREAN WAR. The 61st Troop Carrier Group's C-54s were the first USAF aircraft to land at the recaptured Suwon Airfield, Republic of Korea. They delivered 270 tons of supplies for the advancing United Nations forces. (28) The Navy confirmed the first flight test of XF4D-1 Skyray. (5)

 

1964: From Cape Canaveral, Fla., Ranger IV launched on a flight to take photos of the moon. The vehicle hit the moon on 2 February, where its cameras failed. (5)

 

1970: Air Force System Command's Space and Missile Systems Organization turned operational control of the first Skynet communications satellite to the United Kingdom. (16)

1979: Flight P78-2 launched for the Space Test Program. The joint NASA and Air Force mission, designated SCATHA (Spacecraft Charging at High Altitudes), gathered data on the build-up of electrical charges on satellites operating at geosynchronous altitude. (5)

 

1985: The last E-4A modified into an E-4B returned to Offutt AFB, Nebr. The E-4B received nuclear effects shields, an advanced command and control system, a 1200-KVA generator (largest generator ever flown), and 13 external communications systems. (1)

 

1992: Air Force Space Command assumed control over Department of Defense satellites and the operation and management of Air Force Satellite Network Control. (26)

 

2001: F-22 Raptor (Tail No. 004) arrived at the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., for testing. It was the first F-22 to have a full avionics suite and stealth capabilities, while the first three F-22s were developed to test the jet's flight envelope. (3)

 

2003: The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., began ground testing for the Global Hawk "Reachback" Demonstration. (See 24 January 2003) (3)

2007: A B-52 Stratofortress at Minot AFB, N. Dak., fired up its engines before daybreak for a test to measure the difference between JP-8 fuel and a new synthetic fuel. The testing certified the synthetic fuel in cold weather as a means to reduce the Air Force's dependence on imported fuel. With the wind chill factor, Minot experienced temperatures of minus 25 degrees during the test. (AFNEWS, "B-52 Tests Synthetic Fuel During Cold Weather," 30 Jan 2007.) The USAF released a request for proposal for a replacement tanker aircraft. That proposal for the KC-X replacement tanker became the USAF's number 1 acquisition priority. (Air Mobility Command Historical Highlights, 2007)

 

 

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Some True Facts from Barrel. Interesting --

 

https://youtu.be/1YTeasbvJ2E

 

https://youtu.be/st8-EY71K84

 

https://youtu.be/mbnBYh-BJ1g

 

https://youtu.be/gNqQL-1gZF8

 

Too many to list.....

 

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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

TheList 5597

The List 5597     TGB

.

With today's reminder of The Paris Peace Accords are signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War. I thought I would resend the following:

 

To all of you new or old to the list. I just wanted to make sure that you have access to the site.

Regards,

skip

 

From: Skip Leonard [mailto:sleonard001@san.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2019 3:02 PM
To: thelist@skipsthelist.org
sleonard001@san.rr.com
Subject: 5071 Special Edition

 

The List 5071 Special Edition

To All,

This is a special edition of The List to introduce a monumental achievement of two Men. Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady. In 2001 Chris published a book called Vietnam Air Losses. A definitive account of all the fixed wing losses in the Vietnam War. After talking to the Bear who has used this as a reference in his work On Rolling Thunder and Commando Hunt Dave got a copy of the book as did I and realized what a treasure it was for those who were involved in the war or associated with those who were lost. In collaboration with Chris who has recently spent hours updating portions to go into this site Dave put it all into the searchable site that he is introducing below.

Well Done gentlemen

Regards,

Skip

From Dave

Skip:

 

The project I've been working on is now finished, and the website is on line for all to use.

 

As you know, Bear refers frequently to Chris Hobson's book Vietnam Air Losses, and he gave us some ideas on where we could purchase a used copy, since it has been out of print since 2001. I found a copy and was fascinated by the information in it.  I was able to contact Chris, who has now retired, and he agreed to update the manuscript with new information and allowed me to put all of it on a website so others won't have to chase down a used copy and pay as much as $896 (actual price for one copy on Amazon) to see what happened to their grandfathers.

 

I thought the greatest value would be in having a searchable database, so I did that.  You can search for a name, day, month, year, military unit, home base (or ship), aircraft type (designation/model or nickname), service, or the disposition of persons (KIA, POW, etc.).  On a separate form, you can search the Narratives of the losses by keywords using Boolean search operators (explanation is on the site). So, if you wanted to look up the siege on Khe Sanh or Thanh Hoa, you can use that form. The only things you can't search for that are in the database are the serial number of aircraft or the rank of the persons.

 

As I write this, there are 3,118 records in the database.  A "record" includes all the data on a loss event, which can often mean more than one aircraft.  In fact, there were as many as six aircraft involved in a single event, but most often there were only a couple.  Individuals in aircraft ranged from one to 30, with a great many with four, six, eight, 16, etc. One record contains a minimum of 13 pieces of data; the maximum contained in a single record was 129 pieces of data. I say this to indicate that I inputted over 100,000 pieces of data into the database, so I suspect we haven't yet found all the errors I made.

 

Going through that amount of data as quickly as I could over about a month or so gave me some impressions that I'd like to record.  These are not statistical analyses; they are simply my impressions as the data passed over my eyes in great volume and quickly:

I was amazed at how many pure accidents there were and how many people died in accidents that had nothing to do with enemy action (in the database, those are defined as KWF, or Killed While Flying, as opposed to KIA).

I was astounded at the number of aircraft that hit mountain tops in bad weather, killing everyone on board. Such a waste.

I was surprised at how slow some units were to heed Lessons Learned, resulting in aircraft being shot down on their 12th pass on the same target at low level, or their tenth or eighth or sixth, etc. In addition, it was clear that small arms fire was nothing to ignore, yet far too many did just that.

I was surprised to see how many pilots were hit by bullets or shrapnel, as opposed to aircraft being damaged alone. There are a lot of instances where the pilot had time to eject but was apparently incapacitated. There was a far higher percentage of that than I would have thought.

It was interesting that some units (and some ships) had considerably more losses than others at the same time, in the same place, in the same type aircraft, flying the same type missions. Again, my impressions are that comparing sister squadrons might indicate that one lost a great deal more than the other, and the same was true of USAF and USMC squadrons flying from the same base. Some ships had incredible runs of "bad luck" compared to others.  In some instances, the types of targets might make some of the difference, but it appears to me that leadership might have played an important role.

Both my deployments were during much easier times, so I'm no expert; however, my air wing policy was no multiple runs on the same target and no pullouts below 3,500 feet AGL. We lost only one aircraft (for the entire air wing on two deployments) due to enemy action.  Even late in the war, there were still some units that were strafing or dropping napalm at low altitude on multiple runs and getting shot down.

The narratives often relate what happened to a survivor (or POW returnee) later in life/career.  Many of them became very senior.  At one point, Chris comments that getting shot down seemed to be a prerequisite for making high rank. Certainly, we all know that combat experience improves chances for promotion. What I noted was that, early in the war, the losses were very junior aircrew, mostly 1Lt's and Lt(jg)'s. It struck me that so many very young people died. As the war continued, the ranks of those lost (which presumably reflects those that were flying the missions and were not shot down) increases dramatically. I don't recall off-hand any Navy or Marine O-6's being lost, but there are many Air Force O-6's and above, up to and including 2-stars and I believe a three-star. Perhaps some of those were just trying to get their tickets punched for career purposes, and they got bit.

Along that same line, there were a great many killed that didn't have to be there. They were flight surgeons or intel officers or even maintenance personnel going along for the ride and getting shot down. Sometimes it happened with experienced aircrew on an orientation flight. I suspect the outgoing FAC was showing the new guy some of the dangerous territory and got hit. A great many disappeared on training flights.

I was dismayed to see several aircraft and a number of deaths due to low passes or other "impromptu" air shows.  In one instance, on his last flight in theater before shipping home, a pilot was killed, along with his crew, doing that.  In another, a C-123 tried to snag a "flag" (reported as lady's underwear) from a flag pole; on the second attempt, they crashed killing all four on board and two Thai civilians on the ground. Wasn't getting shot at enough excitement?

I was heartened and encouraged by the incredible acts of bravery and self-sacrifice to save buddies or people they didn't know. MOH's, Navy and Air Force Crosses are always impressive.

I was disappointed to see how many aircrew landed safely on the ground after ejections only to be killed by civilians or troops.  There were a ton of those, including getting shot while still coming down in a parachute. Personally, I'm not so sure there's any such thing as a non-combatant in a war zone.

It should have come as no surprise, but it was, to see how many were known to have been captured yet either died in captivity (known) or simply were never heard of again. Those that we know made it to a prison and subsequently died are listed as "POW – died," whereas those that we know were captured on the ground but never made it to a prison are listed as KIA.

 

Again, these are my impressions as I entered the data and couldn't help but read many of the stories and circumstances.

 

As I said on the site, the purpose is:  To Preserve and Present What Really Happened for Our Children and Grandchildren.

 

In addition, the "site is dedicated to those that were lost in the skies over the Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and on routes to and from the war zone. May their stories never be forgotten. May their families and friends always be proud."

 

Everyone is invited to see for themselves at:  https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.

 

Micro

 

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Thanks to Dick

 

Subject: China

PLEASE READ THIS FRIENDS. This a must!!l

I think you will find this one interesting!!!!

Consider this a heads-up!

China, what we do not know


A Little Known Reality.

Source: Michael Snyder, Guest Post

In future China will employ millions of American workers and dominate thousands of small communities all over the United States. Chinese acquisition of U.S. businesses set a new all-time record last year, and it is on pace to shatter that record this year.

The Smithfield Foods acquisition is an example. Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world. It has facilities in 26 U.S.A. states, and it employs tens of thousands of Americans. It directly owns 460 farms and has contracts with approximately 2,100 others. But now a Chinese company has bought it for $ 4.7 billion, and that means that the Chinese will now be the most important employer in dozens of rural communities all over America.

Thanks in part to our massively bloated trade deficit with China, the Chinese have trillions of dollars to spend. They are only just starting to exercise their economic muscle.

It is important to keep in mind that there is often not much of a difference between "the Chinese government" and "Chinese corporations." In 2011, 43 percent of all profits in China were produced by companies in which the Chinese government had a controlling interest.


Last year a Chinese company spent $2.6 billion to purchase AMC entertainment – one of the largest movie theater chains in the United States. Now that Chinese
company controls more movie ticket sales than anyone else in the world.


But China is not just relying on acquisitions to expand its economic power, "economic beachheads" are being established all over America . For example, Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. recently broke ground on a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Alabama. Many of the residents of Thomasville, Alabama will be glad to have jobs, but it will also become yet another community that will now be heavily dependent on communist China.

And guess where else Chinese companies are putting down roots?
Detroit.
Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers. If you recently purchased an "American-made" vehicle, there is a really good chance that it has many Chinese parts in it. Industry analysts are hard-pressed to put a number on the Chinese suppliers operating in the United States.

China seems particularly interested in acquiring energy resources in the United States.
For example, China is actually mining for coal in the mountains of Tennessee.
Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holdings Group spent 616 million dollars to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee. At the time, that acquisition really didn't make much news, but now a group of conservatives in Tennessee is trying to stop the Chinese from blowing up their mountains and taking their coal.


And pretty soon China may want to build entire cities in the United States just like they have been doing in other countries. Right now China is actually building a city larger than Manhattan just outside Minsk, the capital of Belarus.

Are you starting to get the picture?
China is on the rise. If you doubt this, just read the following:

# When you total up all imports and exports, China is now the number one trading nation on the entire planet.

# Overall, the U.S.A. has run a trade deficit with China over the past decade that comes to more than 2.3 trillion dollars.

# China has more foreign currency reserves than anyone else on the planet.

# China now has the largest new car market in the entire world.

# China now produces more than twice as many automobiles
as the United States does.
#After being bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, GM is involved in 11 joint ventures with Chinese companies.

# China is the number one gold producer in the world.

# The uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team were made in China.

# 85% of all artificial Christmas trees the world over are made in China.

# The new World Trade Center tower in New York is going to include glass imported from China.

# China now consumes more energy than the United States does.

# China is now in aggregate the leading manufacturer of goods in the entire world.

# China uses more cement than the rest of the world combined.

# China is now the number one producer of wind and solar power on the entire globe.

# China produces 3 times as much coal and 11 times as much
steel as the United States does.

# China produces more than 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth elements.

# China is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of any national defense system.

# In published scientific research articles China is expected to become number one in the world very shortly.

And what we have seen so far may just be the tip of the iceberg.

For now, I will just leave you with one piece of advice - learn to speak Chinese.

You are going to need it.

This is another reason half of the voting citizens of the U.S.A. supported Trump. Biden and son are to promote dealings with China.

PS = As a retiree of Farmland IND & Farmland Foods witch was bought by a Chines Company, My retirement check now is dependent on a Chines Company. Maybe I need to thank God I'm as old as I am!

 

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World News for 27 January thanks to Military Periscope

 

 

USA—Raytheon Expects Biden To Nix Paveway Sale To Saudi Arabia Defense One | 01/27/2021 Raytheon officials believe that the Biden administration may cancel at least one planned arms sale to a customer in the Middle East, reports Defense One. Company executives told investors on Tuesday that Raytheon has removed from its books a $519 million deal for an offensive weapons system to an unnamed Middle Eastern customer. The scale of the deal suggests that the executives were referring to the planned sale of 7,500 Paveway bombs to Saudi Arabia, analysts said. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said the company had anticipated receiving a license for the sale but that appears less likely under the new administration. Hayes said he did not anticipate any issues selling defensive weapons, such as the Patriot air defense system, and other types of arms in the region. During his confirmation hearing, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the administration would end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen. 

 

USA—Biden Broaches Navalny, Hacking, Bounties In 1st Call With Putin National Public Radio | 01/27/2021 President Joe Biden has officially spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time, reports NPR News. During the phone call on Wednesday, Biden raised several issues, including Russian bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan; the SolarWinds hack; the poisoning of opposition figure Alexei Navalny; and Russian influence operations in the 2020 election. He also broached the subject of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Russia has denied many of these allegations as hoaxes or Western propaganda. Sources told CNN that Russia had requested the call shortly after Biden's inauguration and that the new president had sought to confer with European leaders prior to the call. Both leaders agreed to extend the New START arms control agreement for five years ahead of its expiration on Feb. 5. The Kremlin described the call as "business-like and sincere." 

 

USA—Biden Administration To Restore Ties With Palestinians Times of Israel | 01/27/2021 The White House says it will restore relations with and resume aid to Palestinian entities, reports the Times of Israel. On Tuesday, acting U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Richard Mills announced the steps, including reopening diplomatic offices serving Palestinians and restoring humanitarian aid, as part efforts to support a two-state solution to the conflict. Mills emphasized that the U.S. will maintain steadfast support for Israel and oppose "one-sided resolutions and other actions in international bodies that unfairly single out Israel." The Trump administration closed the Washington, D.C., office of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO); ended U.S. contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which helps Palestinian refugees and their descendants; and shuttered the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which served as a de-facto embassy to the Palestinians. He also took several steps that raised questions about the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution. 

 

United Kingdom—Spirit Aerosystems To Build Loyal Wingman Drone Royal Air Force | 01/27/2021 The U.K. has awarded Spirit Aerosystems a contract to design and build a prototype drone capable of operating alongside crewed fighter jets, reports the Royal Air Force. Under the three-year, 30 million pound (US$41.1 million) contract, Spirit Aerosystems will lead Team Mosquito to further develop the RAF's Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA), the service said in a release on Monday. Spirt Aerosystems was selected over partnerships led by Boeing and Blue Bear Systems, reported Defense News. Team Mosquito partner Northrop Grumman UK will provide model-based systems engineering and agile engineering expertise, the company said. The drone is intended to operate at high speed alongside crewed fighters to provide strike, surveillance and electronic warfare support in a "loyal wingman" role. Plans call for a full-scale vehicle prototype to be ready for flight testing by the end of 2023. Work will take place at Spirit's facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lessons learned from the prototype will support a follow-on to the LANCA program with the goal of fielding an operational loyal wingman drone alongside Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightning II jets by the end of the decade. 

 

United Kingdom—Spirit Aerosystems To Build Loyal Wingman Drone Royal Air Force | 01/27/2021 The U.K. has awarded Spirit Aerosystems a contract to design and build a prototype drone capable of operating alongside crewed fighter jets, reports the Royal Air Force. Under the three-year, 30 million pound (US$41.1 million) contract, Spirit Aerosystems will lead Team Mosquito to further develop the RAF's Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA), the service said in a release on Monday. Spirt Aerosystems was selected over partnerships led by Boeing and Blue Bear Systems, reported Defense News. Team Mosquito partner Northrop Grumman UK will provide model-based systems engineering and agile engineering expertise, the company said. The drone is intended to operate at high speed alongside crewed fighters to provide strike, surveillance and electronic warfare support in a "loyal wingman" role. Plans call for a full-scale vehicle prototype to be ready for flight testing by the end of 2023. Work will take place at Spirit's facility in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Lessons learned from the prototype will support a follow-on to the LANCA program with the goal of fielding an operational loyal wingman drone alongside Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 Lightning II jets by the end of the decade. 

 

Austria—Order Made For Another Batch of Pandur APCs General Dynamics European Land Systems | 01/27/2021 The Austrian Ministry of Defense has awarded General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) a contract for a second batch of wheeled armored vehicles, reports the defense firm. The 105 million euro (US$127.6 million) contract awarded on Oct. 30, 2020, covers 30 Pandur Evolution 6 x 6 wheeled armored personnel carriers, GDELS said in a Tuesday release. Deliveries are scheduled for 2022 and 2023. The modular vehicle can be quickly converted into other roles, including casualty evacuation, the company said. The Pandur Evolutions will join 34 vehicles ordered by Austria in 2016 and based at Jagerbataillon 17 in Strass. 

 

India—1 Killed In Dhruv Chopper Crash In Kashmir Press Trust Of India | 01/27/2021 An Indian army light helicopter has crashed while operating in the northern Jammu and Kashmir state, reports the Press Trust of India. On Monday, a Dhruv helicopter crash-landed in an army area in the Kathua district, said local police officials. The helicopter had taken off from Pathankot in Punjab state and was on a routine operational mission, said unnamed sources quoted by the Tribune (India). Both pilots were injured in the crash and taken to a military base hospital for treatment. One later died of his injuries. The cause of the accident is under investigation. A technical problem is suspected.

 

Sri Lanka—U.N. Human-Rights Chief Calls For ICC Investigation Into Crimes Committed During 2009 Offensive Agence France-Presse | 01/27/2021 U.N. human-rights chief Michelle Bachelet has called for an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into allegations of war crimes during the final phase of Sri Lanka's war against Tamil separatists, reports Agence France-Presse. According to a copy of the report obtained by AFP, Sri Lankan-led investigations into crimes committed during the final stages of the war against the Tamil Tigers have failed to hold officials accountable. The U.N. should work to impose asset freezes and travel bans on officials credibly implicated in crimes, says the document. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa won elections in 2019 on a platform that included immunity for troops implicated in wrongdoing in 2009, when a brutal government offensive brought an end to the decades-long conflict. The report says that Rajapaksa has undermined previous investigations into possible crimes and may have contributed to the destruction of evidence. His brother, Mahinda, was president at the time and is now prime minister. Previous U.N. reports have estimated that as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the May 2009 offensive. President Rajapaksa has threatened to withdraw from the U.N. human-rights council if it pursues measures against Sri Lankan soldiers. Sri Lanka is not a member of the ICC. Only the U.N. can refer non-signatory states to the court. 

 

Afghanistan—Taliban Militants Return To Fight After Release, Officials Say Stars And Stripes | 01/27/2021 Senior Afghan government officials say that hundreds of former Taliban prisoners who were released in last year's prisoner exchange have been detained after taking up weapons again, reports Stars & Stripes. At least 600 militants have been recaptured while fighting alongside the Taliban, Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib said on Sunday. The return of former prisoners to the battlefield is the cause of intensified combat in southern Afghanistan, said army chief of staff Gen. Yasin Zia. A Taliban spokesman denied the allegations, saying that security forces had "killed or re-arrested" 40 militants in raids on their homes or medical centers where they were receiving treatment, reported the Voice of America News. Last year, Kabul released more than 5,000 members of the Taliban in exchange for 1,000 members of the Afghan security forces held by the militant group as part of an effort to begin direct peace negotiations under a February 2020 agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban. Those released were required to promise not to return to the fight. 

 

Saudi Arabia—U.S. Seeks Access To Airfields, Ports In West Defense One | 01/27/2021 The U.S. has reached a preliminary agreement with Saudi Arabia that would enable it to use various ports and airfields in the western part of the country in the event of a conflict with Iran, reports Defense One. The need for such access has increased as Iran has improved its ballistic missile capabilities, increasing the vulnerability of the permanent U.S. bases in Kuwait, Qatar the United Arab Emirates and elsewhere. In a conflict with Iran, the U.S. could move troops in and out of facilities in western Saudi Arabia and "lily pad" them eastward into the fight, said Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, during a tour of three potential sites. Aircraft could be stationed in the area farther from Iran's ballistic missiles. McKenzie visited a commercial and industrial port in Yanbu as well as airfields in Tabuk and Taif. The airfields would not require any additional infrastructure, while the port facilities at Yanbu would need some development which would be funded by Saudi Arabia and serve both civilian and military needs, McKenzie said. CENTCOM has been studying additional military sites in Saudi Arabia for at least a year. 

 

Yemen—Sanctions Monitors Accuse Government, Houthis Of Financial Corruption Reuters | 01/27/2021 U.N. sanctions monitors have accused multiple parties in Yemen of financial crimes, reports Reuters. In 2019, the Houthis collected at least US$1.8 billion from citizens as a form of taxes, a large portion of which was redirected to fund militant activities. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia deposited US$2 billion in 2018 with the Central Bank of Yemen for humanitarian purposes. The central bank subsequently broke several foreign exchange rules to launder a large portion of the funds. Private companies received about US$423 million of the Saudi funds through the sophisticated money-laundering scheme, says the report. Those actions benefited high-ranking business and politicians at the expense of the Yemeni people. 

 

Israel—Government Threatens To Strike Iran If U.S. Rejoins Nuclear Pact Breaking Defense | 01/27/2021 Israeli officials say that their government will be forced to attack Iran if the U.S. reduces pressure on Tehran and returns to the nuclear agreement, reports Breaking Defense. Israel is actively monitoring Iranian nuclear facilities and waiting to see if the U.S. will ease sanctions or "plans to stop Iran's race to the bomb," said an unnamed Israeli source. Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inner circle, such as Minister of Settlement Affairs Tzachi Hanegbi, have warned that Israel could attack Iran if the U.S. rejoins the nuclear deal. Analysts say that Iran sees nuclear weapons as the only way to guarantee its security, noting how North Korea is treated by world powers compared to non-nuclear countries. Israeli experts generally agree that any concessions to Iran would only accelerate its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. The time Iran would need to acquire the uranium needed for one nuclear device should it decide to do so (known as breakout) has been estimated at about two months. It would take longer, if Tehran is limited to using only the 1,000 centrifuges at the Fordo facility, experts said. 

 

Sudan—Israeli Intelligence Minister Makes Stop In Khartoum New Arab | 01/27/2021 A delegation of Israeli intelligence officials has visited Sudan for the first time since the countries normalized relations, reports the New Arab (London). Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen arrived in Khartoum on Monday, marking the first time an Israeli minister had led a delegation to Sudan. Talks with Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Defense Minister Yassin Ibrahim covered diplomatic, economic and security issues, said an Israeli Intelligence Ministry readout. Cohen and Ibrahim signed a memorandum of understanding on the issues. The sides also discussed expanding intelligence cooperation. Sudanese leaders briefed their Israeli counterparts on the status of efforts to end boycotts of Israeli goods and other measures affecting bilateral ties. Official Sudanese media did not publicize the visit, noted Agence France-Presse. An Israeli statement cited by Reuters said that a Sudanese delegation would soon visit Israel. 

 

Mali—100 Jihadists Killed In Joint Op With France Agence France-Presse | 01/27/2021 Malian officials say that 100 suspected jihadists were killed in a joint offensive with France this month, reports Agence France-Presse. The operation in central Mali from Jan. 2 to Jan. 20 also resulted in the capture of 20 suspects and the destruction and capture of several vehicles and pieces of military equipment, the Malian military said on Tuesday. Malian troops and French forces from Operation Barkhane, the French-led counterterrorism mission in the Sahel, took part in the operation, which was designed to drive militants out of hideouts in the Douentza-Hombori-Boulkessi sector, where elements of the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) group are based. 

 

Kenya—Deal For Turkish Hizir APCs In The Works The Star | 01/27/2021 The Kenyan Dept. of Defense is working to procure new armored vehicles from Turkey, reports the Star (Kenya). The department is finalizing an agreement for 118 Hizir APCs, produced by Turkish firm Katmerciler, at a cost of US$69 million, said a military spokesman. The acquisition was approved on Jan. 12, reported Defence Web (South Africa). The vehicles would be deployed in Kenya and Somalia to improve security and support operations against the Al-Shabaab militant group. The Hizirs would replace vehicles lost in combat and "mitigate shortcomings in force protection, firepower and mobility in a changing security environment," said the Kenyan procurement board in its recommendation. The APCs can be fitted with an Aselsan SARP remotely operated turret that can be armed with a machine gun or automatic grenade launcher. The Hizir will receive unspecified modifications to meet army requirements, officials said. 

 

Nigeria—Buhari Sacks Military Service Chiefs British Broadcasting Corp. | 01/27/2021 Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has replaced his defense chief and the heads of the armed services, reports BBC News. On Tuesday, Buhari announced that he had fired the chief of defense staff and the leaders of the army, navy and air force and named their replacements. Maj. Gen. Leo Irabor will replace Gen. Abayomi Olonisakin as the chief of defense staff; Maj. Gen. I. Attahiru succeeds Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai as army chief; Rear Adm. A.Z. Gambo replaces Vice Adm. Ibok Ekwe Ibas as navy chief; and Air Vice Marshal I.O. Amao replaces Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar as head of the air force. Attahiru was sacked as theater commander for operations against Boko Haram in 2017 by Buratai, noted the Pulse (Lagos). The military leadership had served in their positions since Buhari assumed office in 2015, the longest tenure since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. A presidential spokesman told Reuters that some of the outgoing officers had retired, while others were fired. There has been growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the armed forces due to the ongoing battle against Boko Haram and Islamic State-West Africa Province (ISWAP) in the northeast; growing conflict between herders and farmers in the central region; and the rise of violent kidnapping gangs in the northwest.  . 

 

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Fw: [TheList] 5596

The List 5596     TGB

.

Good Wednesday Morning 27 January.

A bit of history and some tidbits

Regards,

Skip

 

This Day In Naval History

 

Jan. 27

 

1778—During the American Revolution, the Continental sloop Providence, commanded by Capt. O. P. Rathburne, attacks New Providence Island, spikes the guns of the fort, captures small arms, holds off the sloop-of-war Grayton, and captures a privateer and five other vessels, while freeing 20 released American prisoners.

 

1942—Submarine Gudgeon (SS 211) becomes the first U.S. Navy submarine to sink an enemy Japanese submarine in action during World War II.

 

1945—Destroyer Higbee (DD 806) is commissioned. She is the first U.S. Navy combat ship to bear the name of a female member of the naval service.

 

1952—U.S. Navy carrier aircraft cut the Korean railroad, a constant target during the Korean War, in 165 places, a record for a single day's aircraft operations by Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 77).

 

1967—Tragedy strikes the Apollo space program when a flash fire occurs in command module 012 during a launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle being prepared for the first piloted flight, the AS-204 mission. Three astronauts, Lt. Col. Virgil I. Grissom, a veteran of Mercury and Gemini missions; Lt. Col. Edward H. White, the astronaut who had performed the first United States extravehicular activity during the Gemini program; and (Navy LCDR) Roger B. Chaffee, an astronaut preparing for his first space flight, die in this tragic accident.

 

1973—The Paris Peace Accords are signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War.

 

1988 - About 400 Marines and sailors from the 2d Marine Division, 2d Marine Aircraft Wing, and 2d Force Service Support Group deployed for the Persian Gulf. The Contingency Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) CM 2-88 would relieve Contingency MAGTF 1-88 in the volatile Persian Gulf and provide the effective landing force capability to Joint Task Force Middle East.


Thanks to Ted

Skip,

It's not true that Ev Alvarez was the longest held POW in VN (and U.S. history), and we all should know that.  Indeed, Ev does his best to disclaim the "longest held" title when asked, or is doing speaking engagements.  Yes, he was the first pilot shot down over North Vietnam, and longest held there (although Floyd Thompson ended up there).

 

It's a notable disservice to the SpecOps soldier/pilot who was the longest held, and in gruesome circumstances, not to properly recognize him.  Suggest we give credit where credit is due and correct the widespread, and accepted by many, falsehood about "longest held."    

Cheers, Ted

 

The List  5595, Jan 26

1970 – U.S. Navy Lt. Everett Alvarez Jr. spends his 2,000th day in captivity in Southeast Asia. First taken prisoner when his plane was shot down on August 5, 1964, he became the longest-held POW in U.S. history. Alvarez was downed over Hon Gai during the first bombing raids against North Vietnam in retaliation for the disputed attack on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964."

 

 

 

"On March 26, 1964, the first U.S. service member imprisoned during the Vietnam War was captured near Quảng Trị, South Vietnam when an L-19/O-1 Bird Dog observation plane flown by Captain Richard L. Whitesides and Captain Floyd James Thompson was brought down by small arms fire. Whitesides was killed, and Thompson was taken prisoner; he would ultimately spend just short of nine years in captivity, making him the longest-held POW in American history. The first fighter pilot captured in North Vietnam was Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Everett Alvarez, Jr., who was shot down on August 5, 1964, in the aftermath of the Gulf of Tonkin incident.[3]"

 

 "Army Special Forces Capt. Floyd James Thompson, who was captured on March 26, 1964, was the longest-held POW. Navy Lieut. Junior Grade Everett Alvarez, Jr., shot down on August 5, 1964, was the first pilot to be captured in NVN."

 

"Floyd James "Jim" Thompson (July 8, 1933 – July 16, 2002) was a United States Army colonel. He was the longest-held American prisoner of war in U.S. history, spending nearly nine years in captivity in the jungle camps and mountains of South Vietnam and Laos, and in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War."

 

 

Thanks to CHINFO

 

Executive Summary:
•       National and international press reported on President Joe Biden's first phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
•       The New York Times reported on the challenge of tackling sexual assault in the military.
•       Trade press reported on comments from American Enterprise Institutes' "Defending the Seas" panel discussion.
•          

 

This Day in World History…

 

January 27

1695

Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Amhed II.

1825

Congress approves Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."

1862

President Abraham Lincoln issues General War Order No. 1, setting in motion the Union armies.

1900

Foreign diplomats in Peking fear revolt and demand that the Imperial Government discipline the Boxer Rebels.

1905

Russian General Kuropatkin takes the offensive in Manchuria. The Japanese under General Oyama suffer heavy casualties.

1916

President Woodrow Wilson opens preparedness program.

1918

Communists attempt to seize power in Finland.

1924

Lenin's body is laid in a marble tomb on Red Square near the Kremlin.

1935

A League of Nations majority favors depriving Japan of mandates.

1939

President Franklin D. Roosevelt approves the sale of U.S. war planes to France.

1941

The United States and Great Britain begin high-level military talks in Washington.

1943

The first U.S. raids on the Reich blast Wilhelmshaven base and Emden.

1959

NASA selects 110 candidates for the first U.S. space flight.

1965

Military leaders oust the civilian government of Tran Van Huong in Saigon.

1967

Three astronauts are killed in a flash fire that engulfed their Apollo 1 spacecraft.

1973

A cease fire in Vietnam is called as the Paris peace accords are signed by the United States and North Vietnam.

1978

The State Supreme Court rules that Nazis can display the Swastika in a march in Skokie, Illinois.

1985

Pope John Paul II says mass to one million in Venezuela.

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Thanks to Bill

Political Correctness

If you wondered what political correctness is, here is the best definition I have ever seen, uttered by one of our best presidents ever.

 

What is meant by the modern term referred to as 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS'... 
The definition is found in 4 telegrams at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence , Missouri . The following are copies of four telegrams between 
President Harry Truman and Gen Douglas MacArthur on the day before the actual signing of the WWII Surrender Agreement in September 1945..  The contents of those four telegrams below are exactly as received at the end of the war - not a word has been added or deleted!


  
(1)  Tokyo , Japan   
0800-September 1,1945 
To: President Harry S Truman 
From: General D A MacArthur 
     Tomorrow we meet with those yellow-bellied bastards and sign the Surrender Documents, any last minute instructions? 
  
(2)  Washington , D C 
1300-September 1, 1945 
To: D A MacArthur 
From: H S Truman   
     Congratulations, job well done, but you must tone down your obvious dislike of the Japanese when discussing the terms of the surrender with the press, because some of your remarks are fundamentally not politically correct! 
  
(3) Tokyo, Japan  
1630-September 1, 1945 
To: H S Truman 
From: D A MacArthur and C H Nimitz 
     Wilco Sir, but both Chester and I are somewhat confused, exactly what does the term politically correct mean? 
  
(4)  Washington , D C 
2120-September 1, 1945 
To: D A MacArthur/C H Nimitz
From: H S Truman 
     Political Correctness is a doctrine , recently fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and promoted by a sick mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of shit by the clean end!

Now, with special thanks to the Truman 

Museum and Harry himself, you and I finally have a full understanding of what 'POLITICAL CORRECTNESS' really means...

 

 

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Thanks to Mike

 

The Lord's Prayer (revised)

The Lord's Prayer is not allowed in most U.S. Public schools any more.

A kid in Minnesota wrote the following NEW School Prayer.

This 15-year-old school kid who got an A+ for this entry (TOTALLY AWESOME)!

:-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now I sit me down in school

Where praying is against the rule

For this great nation under God

Finds mention of Him very odd

If scripture now the class recites,

It violates the Bill of Rights.

And anytime my head I bow

Becomes a Federal matter now

  

Our hair can be purple, orange or green,

That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.

The law is specific, the law is precise.

Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice

  

For praying in a public hall

Might offend someone with no faith at all.

In silence alone we must meditate,

God's name is prohibited by the State.

  

We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,

And pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.

They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.

To quote the Good Book makes me liable.

  

We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,

And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.

It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong.

We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.

  

We can get our condoms and birth controls,

Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.

But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,

No word of God must reach this crowd.

  

  

It's scary here I must confess,

When chaos reigns the school's a mess.

So, Lord, this silent plea I make:

Should I be shot; My soul please take!

  

                                                              Amen

  

If you aren't ashamed to do this, Please pass this on.

Jesus said, 'If you are ashamed of me,

I will be ashamed of you before my Father!

  

~~~~~~~~~AWESOME~~~~~~~~~~

Not ashamed. Passing it on!

 

 

 

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January 27

 

This Day in U S Military History

 

 

1778 – Marines landed at New Providence, Bahamas; the American flag flew over foreign soil for the first time. The first American soldiers sent forth from the fledgling nation's shores were a detachment of Marines. That amphibious raid–the first in what remains today a Marine specialty–aimed to seize guns and gunpowder from a British fort.

 

1939 – First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. The Lockheed P-38 Lightning was a World War II American fighter aircraft built by Lockheed. Developed to a United States Army Air Corps requirement, the P-38 had distinctive twin booms and a single, central nacelle containing the cockpit and armament. Named "fork-tailed devil" by the Luftwaffe and "two planes, one pilot" by the Japanese, the P-38 was used in a number of roles, including dive bombing, level bombing, ground-attack, night fighting, photo reconnaissance missions, and extensively as a long-range escort fighter when equipped with drop tanks under its wings. The P-38 was used most successfully in the Pacific Theater of Operations and the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as the mount of America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38 victories). In the South West Pacific theater, the P-38 was the primary long-range fighter of United States Army Air Forces until the appearance of large numbers of P-51D Mustangs toward the end of the war. The P-38 was unusually quiet for a fighter, the exhaust muffled by the turbo-superchargers. The P-38 was the only American fighter aircraft in production throughout American involvement in the war, from Pearl Harbor to Victory over Japan Day.

 

1942 – USS Gudgeon is first US sub to sink enemy submarine in action, Japanese I-173.

 

1943 – 8th Air Force bombers, dispatched from their bases in England, fly the first American bombing raid against the Germans, targeting the Wilhelmshaven port. Of 64 planes participating in the raid, 53 reached their target and managed to shoot down 22 German planes-and lost only three planes in return. The 8th Air Force was activated in February 1942 as a heavy bomber force based in England. Its B-17 Flying Fortresses, capable of sustaining heavy damage while continuing to fly, and its B-24 Liberators, long-range bombers, became famous for precision bombing raids, the premier example being the raid on Wilhelmshaven. Commanded at the time by Brig. Gen. Newton Longfellow, the 8th Air Force was amazingly effective and accurate, by the standards of the time, in bombing warehouses and factories in this first air attack against the Axis power.

 

1945 – The Ledo Road to China is finally cleared when Chinese troops from Burma and Yunnan province link up near Mongyu. General Sultan, who leads the British, American and Chinese in the area, has in fact announced the road as open on January 22nd. Sultan's forces are now moving south toward Mandalay and Lashio by several routes.

 

1967 – A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, kills astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Edward H. White II, and Roger B. Chafee. An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire. The astronauts, the first Americans to die in a spacecraft, had been participating in a simulation of the Apollo 1 launch scheduled for the next month. The Apollo program was initiated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) following President John F. Kennedy's 1961 declaration of the goal of landing men on the moon and bringing them safely back to Earth by the end of the decade. The so-called "moon shot" was the largest scientific and technological undertaking in history. In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to travel to the moon, and on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. walked on the lunar surface. In all, there were 17 Apollo missions and six lunar landings.

 

1973 – The Paris Peace Accords are signed by officials from the United States and North Vietnam, bringing an official end to America's participation in its most unpopular foreign war. The accords did little, however, to solve the turmoil in Vietnam or to heal the terrible domestic divisions in the United States brought on by its involvement in this Cold War battleground. Peace negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam had been ongoing since 1968. Richard Nixon was elected president that year, largely on the basis of his promise to find a way to "peace with honor" in Vietnam. Four years later, after the deaths of thousands more American servicemen, South Vietnamese soldiers, North Vietnamese soldiers, and Viet Cong fighters, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, and America's participation in the struggle in Vietnam came to a close. On the military side, the accords seemed straightforward enough. A cease-fire was declared, and the United States promised to remove all military forces from South Vietnam within 60 days. For their part, the North Vietnamese promised to return all American prisoners of war within that same 60-day framework. The nearly 150,000 North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam were allowed to remain after the cease-fire. The political side of the agreement was somewhat less clear. In essence, the accords called for the reunification of North and South Vietnam through "peaceful means on the basis of discussions and agreements between North and South Viet-Nam." Precisely what this entailed was left unsaid. The United States also promised to "contribute to healing the wounds of war and to postwar reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam [North Vietnam] and throughout Indochina." Most Americans were relieved simply to be out of the Vietnam quagmire. The war against communism in Southeast Asia cost over 50,000 U.S. lives and billions of dollars, in addition to countless soldiers wounded in the line of duty. At home, the war seriously fractured the consensus about the Cold War that had been established in the period after World War II–simple appeals to fighting the red threat of communism would no longer be sufficient to move the American nation to commit its prestige, manpower, and money to foreign conflicts. For Vietnam, the accords meant little. The cease-fire almost immediately collapsed, with recriminations and accusations flying from both sides. In 1975, the North Vietnamese launched a massive military offensive, crushed the South Vietnamese forces, and reunified Vietnam under communist rule.

 

1977 – Pres. Carter pardoned most Vietnam War draft evaders.

 

1980 – Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian Caper, the popular name given to the joint covert rescue. The "caper" involved CIA agents (Tony Mendez and a man known as "Julio") joining the six diplomats to form a fake film crew made up of six Canadians, one Irishman and one Latin American who were finishing scouting for an appropriate location to shoot a scene for the nominal science-fiction film Argo. The ruse was carried off on the morning of Sunday, January 27, 1980, at the Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. The eight Americans successfully boarded a Swissair flight to Zurich and escaped Iran.

 

2003 – During Operation Mongoose, when a band of fighters were assaulted by U.S. forces at the Adi Ghar cave complex 15 miles (24 km) north of Spin Boldak, 18 rebels were reported killed with no U.S. casualties. The site was suspected to be a base for supplies and fighters coming from Pakistan. The first isolated attacks by relatively large Taliban bands on Afghan targets also appeared around that time.

 

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

ROBINSON, JAMES H.
Rank and organization: Private, Company B, 3d Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Brownsville, Ark., 27 January 1865. Entered service at: Victor, Mich. Birth. Oakland County, Mich. Date of issue: 4 April 1865. Citation: Successfully defended himself, single-handed against 7 guerrillas, killing the leader (Capt. W. C. Stephenson) and driving off the remainder of the party.

*EVANS, DONALD W., JR.
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 12 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. Place and date: Tri Tam, Republic of Vietnam, 27 January 1967. Entered service at: Covina, Calif. Born: 23 July 1943, Covina, Calif. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. He left his position of relative safety with his platoon which had not yet been committed to the battle to answer the calls for medical aid from the wounded men of another platoon which was heavily engaged with the enemy force. Dashing across 100 meters of open area through a withering hail of enemy fire and exploding grenades, he administered lifesaving treatment to 1 individual and continued to expose himself to the deadly enemy fire as he moved to treat each of the other wounded men and to offer them encouragement. Realizing that the wounds of 1 man required immediate attention, Sp4c. Evans dragged the injured soldier back across the dangerous fire-swept area, to a secure position from which he could be further evacuated Miraculously escaping the enemy fusillade, Sp4c. Evans returned to the forward location. As he continued the treatment of the wounded, he was struck by fragments from an enemy grenade. Despite his serious and painful injury he succeeded in evacuating another wounded comrade, rejoined his platoon as it was committed to battle and was soon treating other wounded soldiers. As he evacuated another wounded man across the fire covered field, he was severely wounded. Continuing to refuse medical attention and ignoring advice to remain behind, he managed with his waning strength to move yet another wounded comrade across the dangerous open area to safety. Disregarding his painful wounds and seriously weakened from profuse bleeding, he continued his lifesaving medical aid and was killed while treating another wounded comrade. Sp4c. Evan's extraordinary valor, dedication and indomitable spirit saved the lives of several of his fellow soldiers, served as an inspiration to the men of his company, were instrumental in the success of their mission, and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for January 27, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

27 January

1911: At an Aero Club show in San Diego, Calif., Lt Theodore G. "Spuds" Ellyson (U. S. Navy), a student at the nearby Curtiss School, took off in a Curtiss "grass cutter" plane to become the first Naval aviator. With a blocked throttle, this ground plane was not supposed to fly, and Ellyson was not proficient enough to fly. He slewed off left, cracking up the plane somewhat by making a wing-first landing. Ellyson wasn't injured, but from then on he was considered to have made his first flight. (21) (24)

 

1912: MACKAY TROPHY. Clarence H. Mackay established the Mackay Trophy. Aviators could compete for the trophy annually under rules made each year, or the War Department could award the trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year. (24)

 

1928: The Navy airship Los Angeles (ZR-3) landed on the carrier USS Saratoga at sea near Newport, R.I., to transfer passengers and take on fuel and supplies. (24)

 

1943: Eighth Air Force's 1st Bombardment Wing and 2nd Bombardment Wing conducted the first American bombing mission against Germany. In this mission, 53 B-17s and B-24s hit the naval base, the U-boat construction works, power plant, and docks at Wilhelmshaven. Two other bombers hit the submarine base at Emden. Afterwards, the bomber returned to the United Kingdom with the loss of three aircraft. (21) (24)

 

1954: Dr. Wernher von Braun and his team launched Redstone missile No. 2 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. (24)

 

1955: TRAINING IN FORMOSA. During the latter part of November 1954, the Commander-inChief of the Pacific Command invited Far East Air Forces to rotate fighter squadrons to bases on Formosa on a training and familiarization basis. The 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing completed its move to the island today. (17)

 

1967: APOLLO FIRE. USAF Lt Cols Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and Edward White, and Navy Lt Cmdr Roger B. Chaffee died when their Apollo spacecraft caught fire at Cape Kennedy, Fla. They were rehearsing for a 21 February flight. (9)

 

1968: Operation COMBAT FOX: After North Korea seized the S. S. Pueblo on 23 January, the Military Airlift Command supported USAF and Army deployments from the U.S., Pacific, and Southeast Asia to South Korea and Japan. During the next three weeks, the Military Airlift Command moved 7,996 passengers and nearly 13,700 tons of cargo in over 800 missions to the region. (2) (17) (18)

 

1971: Cmdr Donald H. Lilienthal (USN) flew a P-3C Orion to a world speed record for heavyweight turboprops. Over 15-25 kilometers, he reached 501 miles per hour to break the Soviet I1-18's May 1968 record of 452 miles per hour. (5)

 

1973: VIETNAM PEACE ACCORDS. After the 11-day B-52 bombing campaign against Hanoi and Haiphong, North Vietnam signed a peace accord. (1) (2)

 

1977: A Delta booster launched the NATO III-B satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Fla. (5)

 

1982: At the Utah Test and Training Range, an Air Launched Cruise Missile coated with 3/4-inches of ice, showed its all-climate capabilities after its launch by a B-52G. (6)

 

1991: Operation DESERT STORM. After 10 days of aerial combat, US-backed coalition air forces attained air supremacy over the Iraqis. F-111 Aardvarks delivered guided bombs on the Al Ahmadi oil refinery to close oil manifolds opened by the Iraqis. This attack stopped the flow of crude oil, the biggest deliberate oil spill in history, into the Persian Gulf. (16) (21) (26)

 

 

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World News for 27 January thanks to Military Periscope

 

 

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Thanks to Wigs and Jim Webb

 

Vietnam War - A Different Perspective

A long read but well worth it as a recap of the Vietnam War and it place in History then and now.

Take some time to read it. Very well written.

 

 

 

Excellent article written by former Secretary of the Navy

 

Heroes of the Vietnam Generation
By James Webb

The rapidly disappearing cohort of Americans that endured the Great
Depression and then fought World War II is receiving quite a send-off
from the leading lights of the so-called 60s generation. Tom Brokaw
has published two oral histories of "The Greatest Generation" that
featureordinary people doing their duty and suggest that such conduct
was historically unique.

Chris Matthews of "Hardball" is fond of writing columns praising the
Navy service of his father while castigating his own baby boomer
generation for its alleged softness and lack of struggle. William
Bennett gave a startling condescending speech at the Naval Academy a few
years ago comparing the heroism of the "D-Day Generation" to the
drugs-and-sex nihilism of the "Woodstock Generation." And Steven
Spielberg, in promoting his film "Saving Private Ryan," was careful to
justify his portrayals of soldiers in action based on the supposedly
unique nature of World War II.

An irony is at work here. Lest we forget, the World War II generation
now being lionized also brought us the Vietnam War, a conflict which
today's most conspicuous voices by and large opposed, and in which few
of them served. The "best and brightest" of the Vietnam age group once
made headlines by castigating their parents for bringing about the war
in which they would not fight, which has become the war they refuse to
remember.

Pundits back then invented a term for this animus: the "generation gap."
Long, plaintive articles and even books were written examining its
manifestations. Campus leaders, who claimed precocious wisdom through
the magical process of reading a few controversial books, urged fellow
baby boomers not to trust anyone over 30. Their elders, who had survived
the Depression and fought the largest war in history, were looked down
upon as shallow, materialistic, and out of touch.

Those of us who grew up on the other side of the picket line from that
era's counter-culture can't help but feel a little leery of this sudden
gush of appreciation for our elders from the leading lights of the old
counter-culture. Then and now, the national conversation has proceeded
from the dubious assumption that those who came of age during Vietnam are a unified generation in the same sense as their parents were, and thus are capable of being spoken for through these fickle elites.

In truth, the "Vietnam generation" is a misnomer. Those who came of age during that war are permanently divided by different reactions to a
whole range of counter-cultural agendas, and nothing divides them more
deeply than the personal ramifications of the war itself. The sizable
portion of the Vietnam age group who declined to support the
counter-cultural agenda, and especially the men and women who opted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, are quite different from
their peers who for decades have claimed to speak for them. In fact,
they are much like the World War II generation itself. For them,
Woodstock was a side show, college protestors were spoiled brats who
would have benefited from having to work a few jobs in order to pay
their tuition, and Vietnam represented not an intellectual exercise in
draft avoidance, or protest marches but a battlefield that was just as
brutal as those their fathers faced in World War II and Korea.

Few who served during Vietnam ever complained of a generation gap. The men who fought World War II were their heroes and role models. They honored their father's service by emulating it, and largely agreed with their father's wisdom in attempting to stop Communism's reach in
Southeast Asia.

The most accurate poll of their attitudes (Harris, 1980) showed that 91
percent were glad they'd served their country, 74 percent enjoyed their
time in the service, and 89 percent agreed with the statement that "our
troops were asked to fight in a war which our political leaders in
Washington would not let them win." And most importantly, the
castigation they received upon returning home was not from the World War II generation, but from the very elites in their age group who
supposedly spoke for them.

Nine million men served in the military during the Vietnam War, three
million of whom went to the Vietnam Theater. Contrary to popular
mythology, two-thirds of these were volunteers, and 73 percent of those
who died were volunteers. While some attention has been paid recently to the plight of our prisoners of war, most of whom were pilots; there has
been little recognition of how brutal the war was for those who fought
it on the ground.

Dropped onto the enemy's terrain 12,000 miles away from home, America's citizen-soldiers performed with a tenacity and quality that may never be truly understood. Those who believe the war was fought incompletely on a tactical level should consider Hanoi's recent admission that 1.4 million of its soldiers died on the battlefield, compared to 58,000 total U.S. dead.

Those who believe that it was a "dirty little war" where the bombs did
all the work might contemplate that it was the most costly war the U.S.
Marine Corps has ever fought, five times as many dead as World War I,
three times as many dead as in Korea, and more total killed and wounded than in all of World War II.

Significantly, these sacrifices were being made at a time the United
States was deeply divided over our effort in Vietnam. The baby-boom
generation had cracked apart along class lines as America's young men
were making difficult, life-or-death choices about serving. The better
academic institutions became focal points for vitriolic protest against
the war, with few of their graduates going into the military. Harvard
College, which had lost 691 alumni in World War II, lost a total of 12
men in Vietnam from the classes of 1962 through 1972 combined. Those
classes at Princeton lost six, at MIT two. The media turned ever more
hostile. And frequently the reward for a young man's having gone through the trauma of combat was to be greeted by his peers with studied indifference or outright hostility.

What is a hero? My heroes are the young men who faced the issues of war and possible death, and then weighed those concerns against obligations to their country. Citizen-soldiers who interrupted their personal and professional lives at their most formative stage, in the timeless phrase of the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery, "not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, but in simple obedience to duty, as they understood it." Who suffered loneliness, disease, and wounds with an often-contagious elan. And who deserve a far better place in history than that now offered them by the so-called spokesman of our so-called generation.

Mr. Brokaw, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Spielberg, meet my Marines.
1969 was an odd year to be in Vietnam. Second only to 1968 in terms of
American casualties, it was the year made famous by Hamburger Hill, as
well as the gut-wrenching Life cover story showing pictures of 242
Americans who had been killed in one average week of fighting. Back
home, it was the year of Woodstock, and of numerous anti-war rallies
that culminated in the Moratorium march on Washington. The My Lai
massacre hit the papers and was seized upon by the anti-war movement as the emblematic moment of the war. Lyndon Johnson left Washington in utter humiliation.

Richard Nixon entered the scene, destined for an even worse fate. In the
An Hoa Basin southwest of Danang, the Fifth Marine Regiment was in its
third year of continuous combat operations. Combat is an unpredictable
and inexact environment, but we were well led. As a rifle platoon and
company commander, I served under a succession of three regimental
commanders who had cut their teeth in World War II, and four different
battalion commanders, three of whom had seen combat in Korea. The
company commanders were typically captains on their second combat tour in Vietnam, or young first lieutenants like myself who were given
companies after many months of "bush time" as platoon commanders in the Basin's tough and unforgiving environs.

The Basin was one of the most heavily contested areas in Vietnam, its
torn, cratered earth offering every sort of wartime possibility. In the
mountains just to the west, not far from the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the
North Vietnamese Army operated an infantry division from an area called
Base Area 112. In the valleys of the Basin, main-force Viet Cong
battalions whose ranks were 80 percent North Vietnamese Army regulars  moved against the Americans every day. Local Viet Cong units sniped and harassed. Ridgelines and paddy dikes were laced with sophisticated booby traps of every size, from a hand grenade to a 250-pound bomb. The villages sat in the rice paddies and tree lines like individual fortresses, crisscrossed with the trenches and spider holes, their homes sporting bunkers capable of surviving direct hits from large-caliber artillery shells. The Viet Cong infrastructure was intricate and
permeating. Except for the old and the very young, villagers who did not
side with the Communists had either been killed or driven out to the
government controlled enclaves near Danang.

In the rifle companies, we spent the endless months patrolling
ridgelines and villages and mountains, far away from any notion of
tents, barbed wire, hot food, or electricity. Luxuries were limited to
what would fit inside one's pack, which after a few "humps" usually
boiled down to letter-writing material, towel, soap, toothbrush, poncho
liner, and a small transistor radio.

We moved through the boiling heat with 60 pounds of weapons and gear, causing a typical Marine to drop 20 percent of his body weight while in the bush. When we stopped we dug chest-deep fighting holes and slit trenches for toilets. We slept on the ground under makeshift poncho hootches, and when it rained we usually took our hootches down because wet ponchos shined under illumination flares, making great targets.
Sleep itself was fitful, never more than an hour or two at a stretch for
months at a time as we mixed daytime patrolling with night-time
ambushes, listening posts, foxhole duty, and radio watches. Ringworm,
hookworm, malaria, and dysentery were common, as was trench foot when the monsoons came. Respite was rotating back to the mud-filled
regimental combat base at An Hoa for four or five days, where rocket and mortar attacks were frequent and our troops manned defensive bunkers at night. Which makes it kind of hard to get excited about tales of Woodstock, or camping at the Vineyard during summer break.

We had been told while training that Marine officers in the rifle
companies had an 85 percent probability of being killed or wounded, and
the experience of "Dying Delta," as our company was known, bore that
out. Of the officers in the bush when I arrived, our company commander
was wounded, the weapons platoon commander wounded, the first platoon commander was killed, the second platoon commander was wounded twice, and I, commanding the third platoons fared no better. Two of my original three-squad leaders were killed, and the third shot in the stomach. My platoon sergeant was severely wounded, as was my right guide. By the time I left, my platoon I had gone through six radio operators, five of them casualties.

These figures were hardly unique; in fact, they were typical. Many other
units; for instance, those who fought the hill battles around Khe Sanh,
or were with the famed Walking Dead of the Ninth Marine Regiment, or
were in the battle of Hue City or at Dai Do, had it far worse.

When I remember those days and the very young men who spent them with me, I am continually amazed, for these were mostly recent civilians,
barely out of high school, called up from the cities and the farms to do
their year in hell and then return. Visions haunt me every day, not of
the nightmares of war but of the steady consistency with which my
Marines faced their responsibilities, and of how uncomplaining most of
them were in the face of constant danger. The salty, battle-hardened
20-year-olds teaching green 19-year-olds the intricate lessons of the
hostile battlefield. The unerring skill of the young squad leaders as we
moved through unfamiliar villages and weed-choked trails in the black of
night. The quick certainty when a fellow Marine was wounded and needed help. Their willingness to risk their lives to save other Marines in
peril. To this day it stuns me that their own countrymen have so
completely missed the story of their service, lost in the bitter
confusion of the war itself.

Like every military unit throughout history we had occasional laggards,
cowards, and complainers. But in the aggregate, these Marines were the
finest people I have ever been around. It has been my privilege to keep
up with many of them over the years since we all came home. One finds in them very little bitterness about the war in which they fought. The most
common regret, almost to a man, is that they were not able to do more
for each other and for the people they came to help.

It would be redundant to say that I would trust my life to these men.
Because I already have, in more ways than I can ever recount. I am alive
today because of their quiet, unaffected heroism. Such valor epitomizes
the conduct of Americans at war from the first days of our existence.
That the boomer elites can canonize this sort of conduct in our fathers'
generation while ignoring it in our own is more than simple oversight.
It is a conscious, continuing travesty.

**Former Secretary of the Navy James Webb was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and Bronze Star medals for heroism as a Marine in
Vietnam. His novels include The Emperor's General and Fields of Fire.

 

 

 

 

 

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