Good Saturday Morning January 15
I hope that you all have a great weekend.
Regards,
Skip
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History
January. 15
Today in Naval History
January 15
1815—The frigate President, commanded by Stephen Decatur, encounters HMS Endymion out of New York and attempts to board her, not realizing the War of 1812 ended with the Treaty of Ghent on Dec. 1814. After British reinforcements arrive, Decatur is forced to surrender.
1846—The sloop-of-war Jamestown captures the slaver Robert Wilson off Porto Praya.
1865—In a joint amphibious force with the Union army, Rear Adm. David D. Porter and Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry capture Fort Fisher, Wilmington, NC, the last port by which supplies from Europe could reach Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's troops at Richmond, VA.
1916—The submarine E-2 explodes at the New York Navy Yard because of escaping gases during an overhaul. The interior of the ship is severely damaged and four men are killed.
1942—Bad weather off Iceland causes destroyer Mayo (DD 422) and British trawler HMS Douglas to collide, and damages destroyer Simpson (DD 221).
Today in History January 15
1624 | Riots flare in Mexico when it is announced that all churches are to be closed. | |
1811 | In a secret session, Congress plans to annex Spanish East Florida. | |
1865 | Union troops capture Fort Fisher, North Carolina. | |
1913 | The first telephone line between Berlin and New York is inaugurated. | |
1919 | Peasants in Central Russia rise against the Bolsheviks. | |
1920 | The Dry Law goes into effect in the United States. Selling liquor and beer becomes illegal. | |
1920 | The United States approves a $150 million loan to Poland, Austria and Armenia to aid in their war with the Russian communists. | |
1927 | The Dumbarton Bridge opens in San Francisco carrying the first auto traffic across the bay. | |
1929 | The U.S. Senate ratifies the Kellogg-Briand anti-war pact. | |
1930 | Amelia Earhart sets an aviation record for women at 171 mph in a Lockheed Vega. | |
1936 | In London, Japan quits all naval disarmament talks after being denied equality. | |
1944 | The U.S. Fifth Army successfully breaks the German Winter Line in Italy with the capture of Mount Trocchio. | |
1949 | Chinese Communists occupy Tientsin after a 27-hour battle with Nationalist forces. | |
1965 | Sir Winston Churchill suffers a severe stroke. | |
1967 | Some 462 Yale faculty members call for an end to the bombing in North Vietnam. | |
1973 | US President Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action by US troops in Vietnam. | |
1973 | Four of six remaining Watergate defendants plead guilty. | |
1975 | The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of independence and granting the country independence from Portugal. | |
1976 | Sara Jane Moore sentenced to life in prison for her failed attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford. | |
1991 | UN deadline for Iraq to withdraw its forces from occupied Kuwait passes, setting the stage for Operation Desert Storm. | |
1991 | Britain's Queen Elizabeth II approves Australia instituting its own Victoria Cross honors system, the first county in the British Commonwealth permitted to do so. | |
1992 | Slovenia and Croatia's independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is recognized by the international community. | |
2001 | Wikipedia goes online. |
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
… … For The List for Saturday, 15 January 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 15 January 1967 What kept the NVN in the fight…
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Carl ……I am amazed at how quickly you lose the ability to do 40 pushups. I was ok until my COVD booster that kicked my butt for almost a week and am only back to a few over 30 and the last few are a real struggle and not very pretty.
The Gray Iron Fitness Newsletter, Issue #311 Glorious Push-Ups
(More good common sense advice from Logan! No one is immune to health issues but if you are in good shape, take your supplements and maintain a positive attitude, you will not just survive, but thrive!)
In this newsletter . . .
Glorious
Push-Ups
Eons ago, in my USMC days, I thought of myself as a "push-ups master." I could do 100 non-stop. As an old guy, I've given them up entirely. Instead, I do chest presses with resistance bands.
Now I read there's some science that correlates push-up ability with heart health. Interesting. "If you can do 40 push-ups in a row," Harvard scientists say, "your risk of heart attack is over 30 times less."
That was a headline above a report published on a website called "inc.com," if you care to look it up. According to their findings, the number of push-ups is even more indicative of heart health than aerobics stress tests.
The report goes on to explain that even if you can't do forty, every pushup you can do over a certain number can reduce your risk. That sounds reasonable enough, and I have no reason to be suspicious of their findings. So do I intend to start doing push-ups again? Probably not. I'll stick with my resistance bands at this stage in my life (I'm 85).
After reading the report, I can imagine some elderly fitness folks in their 70s and 80s struggling now to hit the magic number of 40. A few beasts out there might be successful, and my hat's off to them, but they will be few and far between.
I led cardio-kickboxing classes until I was almost 70. They were gut-busting workouts. And in those days, my wife would place a 45-pound Olympic barbell plate on my upper back and I would knock out 23 quality push-ups: chest to the floor and then all the way up, locking out on every rep. Forty reps without weight on my back? No problem.
So, did my high degree of fitness mean I was immune to heart attack? Not in my case. Because a couple of years later I had one, much to my surprise — and my doctor's.
Of course, my story is anecdotal and certainly does not negate findings from serious studies by scientists with no axes to grind. Considering my fitness level at the time, my heart attack was an anomaly. The good news: I survived it and went back to working out, with my doctor's approval and encouragement. As mentioned earlier, I'm now 85.
What is the takeaway message from all of this? It is that there are no guarantees. However, there are good odds and bad odds. The good odds greatly favor those who get fit and stay fit. And if a catastrophe should strike, one's state of good health and fitness may likely get you through it.
On the other hand, we all know how to play the bad odds. Just be overweight and physically idle. That almost guarantees that big trouble will visit.
Stay healthy. Stay fit.
Logan
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Carl
Woman pleads guilty after decades of doctoring test results regarding steel utilized to make Navy submarines - TheBlaze
Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, plead guilty to fraud following more than 30 years of falsifying the outcomes of strength tests conducted on steel that was utilized to make Navy submarines, according to the Associated Press.
She previously served as the director of metallurgy at a foundry that provided steel castings utilized to create submarine hulls, according to the AP.
"From 1985 through 2017, Thomas falsified the results of strength and toughness tests for at least 240 productions of steel — about half the steel the foundry produced for the Navy, according to her plea agreement, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma," the AP noted. "The tests were intended to show that the steel would not fail in a collision or in certain 'wartime scenarios,' the Justice Department said," according to the outlet.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Ken ... and Dr. Rich
Aviation Limerick ...
Any of you old aviators heard this one?
This comes from a good friend, Chuck Ramm, whose father was a pilot in WWII and gave it to him. It sounds like a limerick that was probably quoted often in the aviation community of the time. It is the first time I have heard it:
By the ring around his eyeball, you can tell a bombardier.
You can tell a bomber pilot, by the spread across his rear.
You can tell a navigator by his charts, and maps, and such.
You can tell a fighter pilot, but you can't tell him much.
… as told by Henry Ramm
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Mike
A Memorial
DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS? OR WHERE THIS IS?
This statue currently stands outside the Iraqi palace, now home to the 4th Infantry division. It will eventually be shipped home and put in the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.
The statue was created by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad
Kalat was so grateful for the America 's liberation of his country; he melted 3 of the heads of the fallen Saddam and made the statue as a memorial to the American soldiers and their fallen warriors
Kalat worked on this memorial night and day for several months.
To the left of the kneeling soldier is a small Iraqi girl giving the soldier comfort as he mourns the loss of his comrade in arms.
Do you know why we don't hear about this in the news? The media avoids it because it does not have the shock effect. But we can do something about it.
We can pass this along to as many people as we can in honor of all our!brave military who are making a difference.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
Thanks to Mike
Common Sense, who has been with us for many years, has passed away.
No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; And maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 5-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
This Day in U S Military History
1908 – Edward Teller was born on January 15, 1908 in Budapest, Hungary. He left his homeland in 1926 to study in Germany. In 1930 he got his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from the University of Leipzig. With Hilter's rise to power in Germany, Teller emigrated to the United States to take a teaching position at George Washington University in 1935. Teller, along with Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner, persuaded Albert Einstein to warn President Roosevelt of a potential Nazi atomic bomb. Teller was among the first scientists recruited to work on the Manhattan Project. During the Manhattan Project, Teller first worked with Szilard at the University of Chicago. In 1943, he headed a group at Los Alamos in the Theoretical Physics division, however his obsession with the H-bomb caused tensions with other scientists, particularly Hans Bethe, the division leader. Teller left Los Alamos at the end of the war, returning to the University of Chicago. But when the Soviet Union conducted its first test of an atomic device in August 1949, he did his best to drum up support for a crash program to build a hydrogen bomb. When he and mathematician Stanislaw Ulam finally came up with an H-bomb design that would work, Teller was not chosen to head the project. He left Los Alamos and soon joined the newly established Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a rival nuclear weapons lab in California. It was Oppenheimer's security clearance hearings in 1954 that was the occasion for the final rift between Teller and many of his scientific colleagues. At Oppenheimer's hearings, Teller testified that "I feel I would prefer to see the vital interests of this country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more." Teller has continued to be a tireless advocate of a strong defense policy, calling for the development of advanced thermonuclear weapons and continued nuclear testing. He was a vigorous proponent of an anti-ballistic missile shield. Teller was Director Emeritus at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and died in 2003.
1943 – Captain Joe Foss bagged three Japanese planes for a record total of 26 kills.
1944 – The forces of US 2nd Corps (Keyes) capture Monte Trocchio. This completes the US 5th Army advance to the German defenses of the Gustav Line. In part, the operations serve to keep engaged German forces that might otherwise be available to respond to the planned landing at Anzio (January 22).
1945 – On Luzon, the US 14th Corps continues to advance south from the beachhead and has now crossed the Agno River. The US 1st Corps is attacking north and east but fails to reach its objective of Rosario
1945 – American forces encounter heavy resistance in attacks toward St. Vith. US 1st Army troops have reached Houffalize, cutting off remaining German forces to the west in the Ardennes salient.
1973 – Citing "progress" in the Paris peace negotiations between National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam, President Richard Nixon halts the most concentrated bombing of the war, as well as mining, shelling, and all other offensive action against North Vietnam. The cessation of direct attacks against North Vietnam did not extend to South Vietnam, where the fighting continued as both sides jockeyed for control of territory before the anticipated cease-fire. On December 13, North Vietnamese negotiators had walked out of secret talks with Kissinger. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to Hanoi to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours "or else." The North Vietnamese rejected Nixon's demand and the president ordered Operation Linebacker II, a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area. This operation was the most concentrated air offensive of the war. During the 11 days of the attack, 700 B-52 sorties and more than 1,000 fighter-bomber sorties dropped roughly 20,000 tons of bombs, mostly over the densely populated area between Hanoi and Haiphong. On December 28, after 11 days of intensive bombing, the North Vietnamese agreed to return to the talks. When the negotiators met again in early January, they quickly worked out a settlement. The Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 23 and a cease-fire went into effect five days later.
2006 – The Stardust spacecraft has successfully landed in the Dugway Proving Ground after collecting dust samples from the comet Wild 2. It is the first time extraterrestrial samples other than of the moon have been collected and the Stardust spacecraft is the fastest man-made object to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WILCOX, FRANKLIN L.
Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1831, Paris, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Minnesota in action during the assault on Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865. Landing on the beach with the assaulting party from his ship, Wilcox advanced to the top of the sandhill and partly through the breach in the palisades despite enemy fire which killed and wounded many officers and men. When more than two-thirds of the men became seized with panic and retreated on the run, he remained with the party until dark when it came safely away, bringing its wounded, its arms and its colors.
WILLIAMS, AUGUSTUS
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1842, Norway. Accredited to: Massachusetts. G.O. No: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Santiago de Cuba during the assault by the fleet on Fort Fisher, on 15 January 1865. When the landing party to which he was attached charged on the fort with a cheer, and with determination to plant their colors on the ramparts, Williams remained steadfast when they reached the foot of the fort and more than two_thirds of the marines and sailors fell back in panic. Taking cover when the enemy concentrated his fre on the remainder of the group, he alone remained with his executive officer, subsequently withdrawing from the field after dark.
WILLIS, RICHARD
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1826, England. Accredited to: Pennsylvania. G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: Willis served on board the U.S.S. New Ironsides during action in several attacks on Fort Fisher, 24 and 25 December 1864; and 13, 14 and 15 January 1865. The ship steamed in and took the lead in the ironclad division close inshore and immediately opened its starboard battery in a barrage of well_directed fire to cause several fires and explosions and dismount several guns during the first 2 days of fighting. Taken under fire as she steamed into position on 13 January, the New Ironsides fought all day and took on ammunition at night, despite severe weather conditions. When the enemy troops came out of their bombproofs to defend the fort against the storming party, the ship's battery disabled nearly every gun on the fort facing the shore before the ceasefire order was given by the flagship.
BEYER, ARTHUR O.
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Army, Company C, 603d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Place and date: Near Arloncourt, Belgium, 15 January 1945. Entered service at: St. Ansgar, lowa. Born: 20 May 1909, Rock Township, Mitchell County, lowa. G.O. No.: 73, 30 August 1945. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry in action. His platoon, in which he was a tank-destroyer gunner, was held up by antitank, machinegun, and rifle fire from enemy troops dug in along a ridge about 200 yards to the front. Noting a machinegun position in this defense line, he fired upon it with his 76-mm. gun killing 1 man and silencing the weapon. He dismounted from his vehicle and, under direct enemy observation, crossed open ground to capture the 2 remaining members of the crew. Another machinegun, about 250 yards to the left, continued to fire on him. Through withering fire, he advanced on the position. Throwing a grenade into the emplacement, he killed 1 crewmember and again captured the 2 survivors. He was subjected to concentrated small-arms fire but, with great bravery, he worked his way a quarter mile along the ridge, attacking hostile soldiers in their foxholes with his carbine and grenades. When he had completed his self-imposed mission against powerful German forces, he had destroyed 2 machinegun positions, killed 8 of the enemy and captured 18 prisoners, including 2 bazooka teams. Cpl. Beyer's intrepid action and unflinching determination to close with and destroy the enemy eliminated the German defense line and enabled his task force to gain its objective.
JOHNSON, DWIGHT H.
Rank and organization: Specialist Fifth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 1st Battalion, 69th Armor, 4th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Dak To, Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 15 January 1968. Entered service at: Detriot, Mich. Born: 7 May 1947, Detroit, Mich. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Johnson, a tank driver with Company B, was a member of a reaction force moving to aid other elements of his platoon, which was in heavy contact with a battalion size North Vietnamese force. Sp5c. Johnson's tank, upon reaching the point of contact, threw a track and became immobilized. Realizing that he could do no more as a driver, he climbed out of the vehicle, armed only with a .45 caliber pistol. Despite intense hostile fire, Sp5c. Johnson killed several enemy soldiers before he had expended his ammunition. Returning to his tank through a heavy volume of antitank rocket, small arms and automatic weapons fire, he obtained a sub-machine gun with which to continue his fight against the advancing enemy. Armed with this weapon, Sp5c. Johnson again braved deadly enemy fire to return to the center of the ambush site where he courageously eliminated more of the determined foe. Engaged in extremely close combat when the last of his ammunition was expended, he killed an enemy soldier with the stock end of his submachine gun. Now weaponless, Sp5c. Johnson ignored the enemy fire around him, climbed into his platoon sergeant's tank, extricated a wounded crewmember and carried him to an armored personnel carrier. He then returned to the same tank and assisted in firing the main gun until it jammed. In a magnificent display of courage, Sp5c. Johnson exited the tank and again armed only with a .45 caliber pistol, engaged several North Vietnamese troops in close proximity to the vehicle. Fighting his way through devastating fire and remounting his own immobilized tank, he remained fully exposed to the enemy as he bravely and skillfully engaged them with the tank's externally-mounted .50 caliber machine gun; where he remained until the situation was brought under control. Sp5c. Johnson's profound concern for his fellow soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for January 15, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
15 January
1911: SAN FRANCISCO AIR MEET. At Tanforan Race Track Lt Myron S. Crissy (Coast Artillery Corps), flying with Lt Phillip O. Parmalee, dropped America's first live bomb over the side of a Wright airplane on a target 1,500 feet below. Crissy and Lt Paul W. Beck designed the bomb. (13) (24)
1914: The Signal Corps Aviation School issued the first Army aviation safety regulation. It required pilots to wear helmets and leather coats for overland flights, and unsinkable coats for overwater flights. (5) (21)
1915: Lt Byron Q. Jones set a one-man duration record of 8 hours 53 minutes in a Martin T tractor biplane at San Diego, Calif. (24)
1923: The Air Service directed all pilots and passengers in Army aircraft to wear parachutes. (5)
1935: Maj James H. Doolittle flew two passengers on an American Airlines plane nonstop from Los Angeles to New York in 11 hours 59 minutes to set a Federation Aeronautique Internationale record for passenger airplanes and the nonstop west-east transcontinental record. (9) (24)
1948: Gen Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, approved the development of satellite components and satellites. (16) (24)
1950: General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold died of a heart ailment at Sonoma, Calif. (21)
1958: The USAF activated the 4751st Air Defense Missile Wing and assigned it the mission of developing and conducting training for BOMARC missile units. (21) The Strategic Air Command activated the 864th Strategic Missile Squadron (IRBM-Jupiter) at Huntsville, Ala., under the 1st Missile Division. It was the first of three such squadrons in thecommand activated at the Redstone Arsenal, Al., during 1958. (6)
1959: The Strategic Air Command first integrated intercontinental ballistic missile and bomber forces by moving the 703rd Strategic Missile Wing (Titan) and 706th Strategic Missile Wing (Atlas) from the 1st Missile Division to Fifteenth Air Force. (16) (24)
1969: The first improved Backup Intercept Control III radar system began operating at Fort Fisher Air Force Station, N.C. (5) The Strategic Air Command took its last Minuteman I (model "A") missiles off alert at Malmstrom AFB, Mont. (6)
1976: A Titan IIIE launched a West German Helios payload from the Eastern Test Range. (5)
1977: First Laser Maverick missile with the Block 1 seeker launched successfully. (12)
1979: Two Air Rescue and Recovery Service WC-135s from Ascension Island, along with four Military Airlift Command C-141s from Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and Howard AFB, Panama, conducted 113 missions to drop 1,945 dropwindsondes from 30,000 to 37,000 feet to support a World Meteorological Organization effort to get atmospheric and oceanic data. In phase II on 10 May, 6 C-141s operating from Hickam, Ascensions Island, and Acapulco, Mexico, dropped 2,078 dropwindsondes in 110 missions. (2) The E-3A Sentry made its first marijuana capture after the Customs Service spotted and tracked an aircraft that subsequently crashed in Florida. (16)
1991: Air Force Systems Command turned over Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and its launch facilities to Air Force Space Command (AFSPACE). (21)
1994: Hungary, Rumania, and Bulgaria gave F-16 Fighting Falcons overflight rights for their deployment from Germany to Turkey. That permission marked the first time the USAF had flown an operational mission over those countries since World War II. (21)
1998: Through 18 January, 5 C-17s and 13 C-5s deployed civilian utility workers, trucks, chain saws, and other gear to the northeastern US after a devastating ice storm brought down power lines and trees to leave some 500,000 households without electricity. The aircraft picked up most of their passengers and cargo at Pope AFB, N. C., for distribution to Naval Air Station Brunswick and Bangor International Airport, Maine, and Stewart International Airport, N. Y. (22)
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.