The List 6075 TGB
Good Sunday Morning April 24.
I hope you are all having a great weekend.
Earlier in the Week I made a comment about The Book Green Ink by Admiral Wisely. He told me that when you order it on Amazon you have to include the rest of the Title Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot or you will receive real green Ink. See Admiral Wisely's note in Rolling Thunder below along with Barrett Tillman's review.
Regards,
Skip.
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History April 24
1778
During the American Revolution, the Continental Navy sloop-of-war Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones, captures the British sloop HMS Drake after an hours battle off Carrickfergus, Ireland.
1805
During the First Barbary War, the frigate Congress, commanded by John Rodgers, captures a Tripolitan gunboat, along with two prizes taken earlier by pirate ships off Tripoli.
1884
USS Bear leaves New York Naval Shipyard on its way to the Arctic as part of the Greely Relief Expedition. USS Thetis and USS Alert join USS Bear on the mission. On June 22, the relief ships rescue the remaining seven members of the 27-man Greely Expedition at Cape Sabine.
1906
Reburial Commemoration Ceremony for Capt. John Paul Jones is held at the Naval Academy. At the ceremony, President Theodore Roosevelt delivers a speech in honor of the legendary Revolutionary War naval captain.
1945
USS Frederick C. Davis (DE 136) is sunk by German submarine U 546, 570 miles east of Cape Race, Newfoundland. In a combined effort, USS Pillsbury (DE 133), USS Flaherty (DE 135), USS Chatelain (DE 19), USS Neunzer (DE 150), USS Hubbard (DE 211), USS Keith (DE 241), USS Janssen (DE 396) and USS Varian (DE 798) sink U 546.
1981
USS San Francisco (SSN 711) is commissioned at Norfolk Naval Station, Va.
1999
USS Higgins (DDG 76) is commissioned at Port Everglades, Fla. A Flight I Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, she is named after Marine Col. William R. Higgins. He was part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon when he was captured in Feb. 1988 by a pro-Iranian group, held hostage and eventually killed in captivity by July 1990. USS Higgins home port is Naval Base San Diego.
This day in World History
April 24
858 St. Nicholas I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1519 Envoys of Montezuma II attend the first Easter mass in Central America.
1547 Charles V's troops defeat the Protestant League of Schmalkalden at the Battle of Muhlberg.
1558 Mary, Queen of Scotland, marries the French dauphin, Francis.
1792 Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes "La Marseillaise". It will become France's national anthem.
1800 The Library of Congress is established in Washington, D.C. with a $5,000 allocation.
1805 U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary pirates.
1833 A patent is granted for the first soda fountain.
1877 Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1884 Otto von Bismarck cables Cape Town, South Africa that it is now a German colony.
1898 Spain declares war on United States, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915 Turks of the Ottoman Empire begin massacring the Armenian minority in their country.
1916 Irish nationalists launch the Easter Uprising against British occupation.
1944 The first B-29 arrives in China, over the Hump of the Himalayas.
1948 The Berlin airlift begins to relieve the surrounded city.
1953 Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961 President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" for the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1968 Leftist students take over Columbia University in protest over the Vietnam War.
1980 A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert.
1981 The IBM Personal Computer is introduced.
1989 Thousands of Chinese students strike in Beijing for more democratic reforms.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
For The List for Sunday, 24 April 2022…. A second post from RTR for the date… this one from the golden pen of Denny Wisely… Might want to plug his book, "Green Ink."… Bear
… For The List for Sunday, 24 April 2022… Bear 🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 24 April 1967… Ed Rasimus describes the dive into the guns to kill the target… Five Stars…
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.
Thanks to Barrett for his review of Green Ink Memoirs of a fighter pilot
5 out of 5 stars a rare memoir
Memoirs by aircraft carrier captains are rare ---I can only think of about half a dozen or so since World War II . But nobody else has written with the depth and breadth of experience that Denny Wisely brings to the literary flight deck. Apart from some heart-thumping combat narratives, his insights to commanding the Blue Angels, USS John F. Kennedy and beyond makes for an exceptional perspective. His work as a test Pilot without having attended Test pilot school and post cold War duties lend even more variety tol the mix.
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Thanks to Dutch
Do your part
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Navigation Humor
Thanks to Dick ...
On December 31, 1899, the passenger steamer SS Warrimoo was quietly knifing its way through the waters of the mid-Pacific on its way from Vancouver to Australia. The navigator had just finished working out a celestial computation of their exact position and brought Captain John DS. Phillips, the result. The Warrimoo's position was LAT 0º 31' N and LONG 179 30' W.
"Know what this means?" First Mate Payton broke in, "We're only a few miles from the intersection of the Equator and the International Date Line". Captain Phillips was prankish enough to take full advantage of the opportunity for achieving the navigational freak of a lifetime. He called his navigators to the bridge to check & double check the ship's position. He changed course slightly so as to bear directly on his mark. Then he adjusted the engine speed. The calm weather & clear night worked in his favor. At mid-night the SS Warrimoo lay on the Equator at exactly the point where it crossed the International Date Line! The consequences of this bizarre position were many:
The forward section (bow) of the ship was in the Southern Hemisphere & in the middle of summer.
The aft (stern) was in the Northern Hemisphere & in the middle of winter.
The date in the aft part of the ship was 31 December 1899.
In the bow (forward) part it was 1 January 1900.
This ship was therefore not only in:
Two different days,
Two different months,
Two different years,
Two different seasons
But in two different centuries - all at the same time.
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This Day in U S Military History…….April 24
1862 – Flag Officer Farragut's fleet ran past Forts Jackson and St. Philip and engaged the defending Confederate flotilla. At 2:00 a.m., U.S.S. Hartford had shown Farragut's signal for the fleet to get underway in three divisions to steam through the breach in the obstructions which had been opened by U.S.S. Pinola and Itasca. A withering fire from the forts was answered by roaring broadsides from the ships. Hartford, grounded in the swift current near Fort St. Philip, was set afire by a Confederate fireraft. Farragut's leadership and the disciplined training of the crew saved the flagship. U.S.S. Varuna was rammed by two Confederate ships and sunk In( 7 MOH were awarded to crewmen) the ensuing melee, C.S.S. Warrior, Stonewall Jackson, General Lovell, and Breckinridge, tender Phoenix, steamers Star and Belle Algerine, and Louisiana gunboat General Quitman were destroyed. The armored ram C.S.S. Manassas was driven ashore by U.S.S. Mississippi and sunk. Steam tenders C.S.S. Landis and W. Burton surrendered; Resolute and Governor Moore were destroyed to prevent capture. "The destruction of the Navy at New Orleans," wrote Confederate Secretary of the Navy Mallory, "was a sad, sad blow . . . When the Union Navy passed the forts and disposed of the Confederate forces afloat, the fate of New Orleans was decided. Farragut had achieved a brilliant victory, one which gave true meaning to the Flag Officer's own words: "The great man in our country must not only plan but execute.
1865 – C.S.S. Webb, Lieutenant Read, dashed from the Red River under forced draft and entered the Mississippi at 8:30 at night in a heroic last-ditch effort to escape to sea. Before departing Alexandria, Louisiana, for his bold attempt, Read wrote Secretary Mallory: "I will have to stake everything upon speed and time." The sudden appearance of the white-painted Webb in the Mississippi caught the Union blockaders (a monitor and two ironclads) at the mouth of the Red River by surprise. She was initially identified as a Federal ship; this mistake in identification gave Read a lead in the dash downstream. A running battle ensued in which Webb shook off the three Union pursuers. As Read proceeded down the Mississippi, other blockading ships took up the chase but were outdistanced by the fast moving Webb, which some observers claimed was making 25 knots. While churning with the current toward New Orleans, Read paused at one point to cut the telegraph wires along the bank. This proved futile as word of his escape and approach passed southward where it generated considerable excitement and a flurry of messages between the Army and Navy commanders who alerted shore batteries and ships to intercept him. About 10 miles above New Orleans Read hoisted the United States flag at half mast in mourning for Lincoln's death and brought Webb's steam pressure up to maximum. He passed the city at about midnight, 24 April, going full speed. Federal gunboats opened on him, whereupon Read broke the Confederate flag. Three hits were scored, the spar torpedo rigged at the steamer's bow was damaged and had to be jettisoned, but the Webb continued on course toward the sea. Twenty-five miles below New Orleans Read's luck ran out, for here Webb encountered U.S.S. Richmond. Thus trapped between Richmond and pursuing gunboats, Read's audacious and well-executed plan came to an end. Webb was run aground and set on fire before her officers and men took to the swamps in an effort to escape. Read and his crew were apprehended within a few hours and taken under guard to New Orleans. They there suffered the indignity of being placed on public display but were subsequently paroled and ordered to their respective homes. Following the restoration of peace, Read became a pilot of the Southwest Pass, one of the mouths of the Mississippi River, and pursued that occupation until his death.
1945 – On Okinawa, Japanese forces defending the Shuri Line, in the south, begin tactical withdrawals. (24 of 82 days in the battle the worst is yet to come. Skip)
1948 – The Berlin airlift began to relieve the surrounded city.
1951 – U.S. Air Force Captain Joseph C. McConnell, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, qualified as the sixth "double ace" (10 kills) of the war.
1971 – North Vietnamese troops hit Allied installations throughout South Vietnam. In the most devastating attack, the ammunition depot at Qui Nhon was blown up. On April 27, the aviation fuel tanks at Da Nang air base were attacked by communist gunners, resulting in explosions and a fire that destroyed a large proportion of the fuel stored there. In the following three days, 54 South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians were reported killed, and 185 wounded. The United States reported seven dead and 60 wounded.
1974 – Naval forces begin minesweeping operations in the Suez Canal Zone.
1980 – An ill-fated military operation to rescue the 52 American hostages held in Tehran ends with eight U.S. servicemen dead and no hostages rescued. With the Iran Hostage Crisis stretching into its sixth month and all diplomatic appeals to the Iranian government ending in failure, President Jimmy Carter ordered the military mission as a last ditch attempt to save the hostages. During the operation, three of eight helicopters failed, crippling the crucial airborne plans. The mission was then canceled at the staging area in Iran, but during the withdrawal one of the retreating helicopters collided with one of six C-130 transport planes, killing eight soldiers and injuring five. The next day, a somber Jimmy Carter gave a press conference in which he took full responsibility for the tragedy. The hostages were not released for another 270 days. On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the ousted shah of Iran to travel to the U.S. for medical treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's political and religious leader, took over the hostage situation and agreed to release non-U.S. captives and female and minority Americans, citing these groups as among the people oppressed by the U.S. government. The remaining 52 captives remained at the mercy of the Ayatollah for the next 14 months. President Carter was unable to diplomatically resolve the crisis, and the April 1980 hostage attempt ended in disaster. Three months later, the former shah died of cancer in Egypt, but the crisis continued. In November, Carter lost the presidential election to Republican Ronald Reagan, and soon after, with the assistance of Algerian intermediaries, successful negotiations began between the United States and Iran. On the day of Reagan's inauguration, January 20, 1981, the United States freed almost $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and the 52 hostages were released after 444 days. The next day, Jimmy Carter flew to West Germany to greet the Americans on their way home.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
TRUESDELL, DONALD LEROY (Name officially changed to Truesdale )
Rank and organization: Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps. Place and date: Vicinity Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, 24 April 1932. Entered service at: South Carolina. Born: 8 August 1906, Lugoff, S.C. Citation: Cpl. Truesdale was second in command of a Guardia Nacional Patrol in active operations against armed bandit forces in the vicinity of Constancia, near Coco River, northern Nicaragua, on 24 April 1932. While the patrol was in formation on the trail searching for a bandit group with which contact had just previously been made, a rifle grenade fell from its carrier and struck a rock, igniting the detonator. Several men close to the grenade at the time were in danger. Cpl. Truesdale, who was several yards away, could easily have sought cover and safety for himself. Knowing full well the grenade would explode within 2 or 3 seconds, he rushed for the grenade, grasped it in his right hand, and attempted to throw it away from the patrol. The grenade exploded in his hand, blowing it off and inflicting serious multiple wounds about his body. Cpl. Truesdale, in taking the full shock of the explosion himself, saved the members of the patrol from loss of life or serious injury.
*NELSON, WILLIAM L .
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. Place and date: At Djebel Dardys, Northwest of Sedjenane, Tunisia, 24 April 1943. Entered service at: Middletown, Del. Birth: Dover, Del. G.O. No.: 85, 17 December 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict. On the morning of 24 April 1943, Sgt. Nelson led his section of heavy mortars to a forward position where he placed his guns and men. Under intense enemy artillery, mortar, and small-arms fire, he advanced alone to a chosen observation position from which he directed the laying of a concentrated mortar barrage which successfully halted an initial enemy counterattack. Although mortally wounded in the accomplishment of his mission, and with his duty clearly completed, Sgt. Nelson crawled to a still more advanced observation point and continued to direct the fire of his section. Dying of handgrenade wounds and only 50 yards from the enemy, Sgt. Nelson encouraged his section to continue their fire and by doing so they took a heavy toll of enemy lives. The skill which Sgt. Nelson displayed in this engagement, his courage, and self-sacrificing devotion to duty and heroism resulting in the loss of his life, was a priceless inspiration to our Armed Forces and were in keeping with the highest tradition of the U.S. Army.
*SQUIRES, JOHN C .
Rank and organization: Sergeant (then Private First Class), U.S. Army, Company A, 30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Padiglione, Italy, 23-24 April 1944. Entered service at: Louisville, Ky. Birth: Louisville, Ky. G.O. No.: 78, 2 October 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. At the start of his company's attack on strongly held enemy positions in and around Spaccasassi Creek, near Padiglione, Italy, on the night of 23-24 April 1944, Pfc. Squires, platoon messenger, participating in his first offensive action, braved intense artillery, mortar, and antitank gun fire in order to investigate the effects of an antitank mine explosion on the leading platoon. Despite shells which burst close to him, Pfc. Squires made his way 50 yards forward to the advance element, noted the situation, reconnoitered a new route of advance and informed his platoon leader of the casualties sustained and the alternate route. Acting without orders, he rounded up stragglers, organized a group of lost men into a squad and led them forward. When the platoon reached Spaccasassi Creek and established an outpost, Pfc. Squires, knowing that almost all of the noncommissioned officers were casualties, placed 8 men in position of his own volition, disregarding enemy machinegun, machine-pistol, and grenade fire which covered the creek draw. When his platoon had been reduced to 14 men, he brought up reinforcements twice. On each trip he went through barbed wire and across an enemy minefield, under intense artillery and mortar fire. Three times in the early morning the outpost was counterattacked. Each time Pfc. Squires ignored withering enemy automatic fire and grenades which struck all around him, and fired hundreds of rounds of rifle, Browning automatic rifle, and captured German Spandau machinegun ammunition at the enemy, inflicting numerous casualties and materially aiding in repulsing the attacks. Following these fights, he moved 50 yards to the south end of the outpost and engaged 21 German soldiers in individual machinegun duels at point-blank range, forcing all 21 enemy to surrender and capturing 13 more Spandau guns. Learning the function of this weapon by questioning a German officer prisoner, he placed the captured guns in position and instructed other members of his platoon in their operation. The next night when the Germans attacked the outpost again he killed 3 and wounded more Germans with captured potato-masher grenades and fire from his Spandau gun. Pfc. Squires was killed in a subsequent action.
WILSON, HAROLD E.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Company G, 3d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Korea, 23-24 April 1951. Entered service at: Birmingham, Ala. Born: S December 1921, Birmingham, Ala. Citation: For gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as platoon sergeant of a rifle platoon attached to Company G, in action against enemy aggressor forces on the night of 23-24 April 1951. When the company outpost was overrun by the enemy while his platoon, firing from hastily constructed foxholes, was engaged in resisting the brunt of a fierce mortar, machine gun, grenade, and small-arms attack launched by hostile forces from high ground under cover of darkness, T/Sgt. Wilson braved intense fire to assist the survivors back into the line and to direct the treatment of casualties. Although twice wounded by gunfire, in the right arm and the left leg, he refused medical aid for himself and continued to move about among his men, shouting words of encouragement. After receiving further wounds in the head and shoulder as the attack increased in intensity, he again insisted upon remaining with his unit. Unable to use either arm to fire, and with mounting casualties among our forces, he resupplied his men with rifles and ammunition taken from the wounded. Personally reporting to his company commander on several occasions, he requested and received additional assistance when the enemy attack became even more fierce and, after placing the reinforcements in strategic positions in the line, directed effective fire until blown off his feet by the bursting of a hostile mortar round in his face. Dazed and suffering from concussion, he still refused medical aid and, despite weakness from loss of blood, moved from foxhole to foxhole, directing fire, resupplying ammunition, rendering first aid, and encouraging his men. By his heroic actions in the face of almost certain death, when the unit's ability to hold the disadvantageous position was doubtful, he instilled confidence in his troops, inspiring them to rally repeatedly and turn back the furious assaults. At dawn, after the final attack had been repulsed, he personally accounted for each man in his platoon before walking unassisted l/2 mile to the aid station where he submitted to treatment. His outstanding courage, initiative, and skilled leadership in the face of overwhelming odds were contributing factors in the success of his company's mission and reflect the highest credit upon T/Sgt. Wilson and the U.S. Naval Service.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for April 24, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
24 April
1909: The first aerial motion picture was shot while Wilbur Wright flew his Wright Biplane over Centocelle, Italy. (20)
1929: Flying a Bellanca CH monoplane, Miss Elinor Smith, a 17-year-old, set a women's solo duration record of 26 hours 21 minutes 32 seconds at Roosevelt, Long Island. (20) (24)
1943: First class of women pilots graduated from US AAF flight training. 1945: MEDAL OF HONOR. In his fighter-bomber, Lt Raymond L. Knight of Twelfth Air Force flew several low-level strafing missions in Italy's northern Po Valley. He destroyed 14 enemy aircraft and wrecked 10 others on the ground. In his final attack, Knight's plane was damaged so badly it was virtually inoperable. Realizing his unit's critical need for aircraft, he tried to return to base. He crashed and died in the Apennines Mountains. Knight earned the medal for his actions and sacrifice. (4)
1946: At Philadelphia, Winged Cargo Incorporated inaugurated the first glider commercial freight service. The company employed a DC-3 towing a Waco glider and made Miami its first stop. Other stops included Havana, Cuba, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. (24)
1951: KOREAN WAR. On separate pickups, a 3 ARS H-5 helicopter rescued the pilot first, then the navigator of a downed B-26 near Chorwon, about 15 miles north of the 38th parallel. The navigator, suffering a broken leg, had been captured by two enemy soldiers, but he managed to seize a gun from one enemy soldier, causing them to run for cover. Friendly fighters kept them pinned down, while the helicopter made the pickup. (28)
1958: The USAF increased the Atlas force to nine squadrons. (6)
1962: The USAF used an orbiting satellite for the first time to transmit TV photographs from Camp Parks, Calif., to Westford, Mass. (4)
1967: AIRFIELD STRIKE. Eight F-105s attacked Hoa Lac Airfield, a North Vietnam MiG base. This first authorized attack against an occupied North Vietnamese air base under the restrictions imposed on US air power destroyed approximately 14 MiGs on the ground. (17)
1975: FIRST WOMEN IN MISSILE COMPETITIONS. Through 2 May, the first female technicians actively participated in SAC's eighth missile competition. A1C Jeanine A. Sousley competed with the 308 SMW's reentry vehicle maintenance team, while Sgt Jo A. Williamson competed with the 321 SMW's electronic laboratory maintenance team. The 381 SMW from McConnell AFB won the Blanchard Trophy. (1) (6)
1980: Operation EVENING LIGHT/EAGLE CLAW. An attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran failed after mechanical difficulties caused some Navy RH-53 helicopter crews to turn back. An RH-53 and an Air Force HC-130 also crashed together in a sandstorm, killing eight servicemen. (21)
1990: The USAF accepted its first British Aerospace C-29A Combat Flight Inspection Aircraft from LTV's Sierra Research Division at the Company's plant at Buffalo, N.Y. The C-29 would help the USAF inspect and calibrate its air traffic control and landing facilities, replacing CT-39s and C-140s used for that mission. (8: Jul 90) Boeing's Condor, an unmanned autonomous aircraft, completed eight test flights as part of a high altitude, long-endurance technology effort under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The aircraft had a wing span larger than the Boeing 747. (8: Jul 90) HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE. On the 35th Space Shuttle flight, the Discovery lifted off with a crew of five. Astronaut Steven Hawley released the telescope the next day. (20) AMERICAN
1992: MACKAY TROPHY. Two Peruvian fighters attacked and heavily damaged an USAF C-130 Hercules in international airspace. Captain Pete B. Eunice, a 310 MAS pilot, still managed a safe landing. For that effort, the C-130 crew earned the 1992 Mackay Trophy. (16) (18)
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Thanks to Carl
The Bay of Pigs: The Sickening Truth Part III
The Bay of Pigs: The Sickening Truth Part III
Humberto Fontova
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Posted: Apr 23, 2022
"This weekend marked the 61st Anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion. We honor the memory of the freedom-fighters who bravely faced the communist Cuban regime. Their legacy lives on today." (Tweet by Fl Gov. Ron DeSantis April 17th.)
Outnumbered over ten to one by Soviet-led forces and betrayed by their sponsor, these mostly civilian volunteers fought till the last bullet. In three days of relentless close-quarter fighting they made monkeys of the Soviet commanders at the scene and cannon-fodder of their Cuban lackeys, inflicting losses of 20 to one.
Fidel, Raul, and Che were quite jittery there for awhile, urging caution in the counterattack. From the lethal fury of the attack and the horrendous casualties their troops and militia were taking, the two Soviets satraps assumed they faced at least 20,000 invading "mercenaries," as they called them.
Yet it was a band of mostly civilian volunteers they outnumbered laughably. But to hear Castro's echo chamber (the D.C. beltway media and leftist academics), Fidel was the plucky David and the invaders the bumbling Goliath.
In fact, if JFK wanted some genuine profiles in courage he might have looked at the men he betrayed on that heroic beachhead. Some of most jaw-dropping heroics, however, came after the shooting ended, after they'd spent their last bullets and knew no more were coming from their ally, the most powerful nation on earth. The same one that enforced a "no-fly zone" half a country wide on another continent (Iraq) with half the U.S. Air Force for a decade but refused to provide one three miles across, 90 miles away, for half a day with two planes.
At any rate, the battle was over in three days, but the heroism was not.
Now came almost two years in Castro's dungeons for the captured Brigada, complete with the physical and psychological torture that always comes with communist incarceration. During almost two years in Castro's dungeons, the freedom fighters lived under a daily death sentence.
Escaping that sentence would have been easy: simply sign the little paper confessing they were "mercenaries of the Yankee imperialists" or go on camera denouncing the U.S. Given these freedom-fighters' betrayal, you might think Fidel and Che Guevara had a cakewalk here.
Wrong. None of these men signed the document or uttered a peep against their "ally." The freedom fighters stood tall, proud, defiant, even sparring with Castro himself during their televised Stalinist show trials. "We will die with dignity!" snapped their commander Erneido Oliva (a black Cuban, by the way, Ms. Maxine "VIVA FIDEL!" Waters" and Jesse "VIVA FIDEL!" Jackson) at the furious Castroites again, and again, and again. To a Castroite, such an attitude not only enrages but also baffles.
Think about it, amigos: even after that betrayal, these men (and boys, some as young as 16 or 17 years old) refused to utter any anti-American slogan for Castro and Che Guevara's cameras and propaganda mill. The very slogans that half-wit, grandstanding "woke" celebrities and politicians parrot daily for free publicity, these betrayed men refused to utter even while thinking it might save their lives.
The Castroites also staged a classic Soviet-style show trial attempting to showcase (for all the world to see) the Bay of Pigs prisoners admitting they were "mercenaries in the pay of the Yankee Imperialists." And initially they thought they'd get the propaganda bonanza they so desperately desired.
For this big production the prisoners were thoroughly interrogated beforehand (the KGB had been coaching Castro's secret police for almost two years by then) to see who'd crack, who'd play along. Only these would get in front of the cameras.
Tomas Cruz, Felipe Rivero, Carlos Onetti and a few other Bay of Pigs freedom fighters gave every impression of having broken down. They whimpered to their Castroite "interrogators" that they'd be willing to go on camera and denounce the U.S.
"AHA!" Fidel and Che snickered while rubbing their hands. "Now we got 'em!" But Rivero and Cruz were also snickering.
So the day came. The Stalinist stage was set at Havana's Sports Arena and the communist cameras rolled. Castro and Che Guevara's lackey vice President Carlos R. Rodriguez was the opening act. He put the microphone to Felipe Rivero.
"Nobody paid us to do a damn thing!" Rivero blurted. Whoops! The Castroites' mouths dropped. They gaped nervously. They looked around. A rumble went through the crowd.
"We came here to fight communism!" Rivero continued. "If you think I'm gonna denounce my freedom fighter brothers just because we're all about to face a firing squad—forget it! Men from every class and race in Cuba volunteered to come here and FIGHT you!"
Holy s**t! What now?! The Castroites were frantic! The cameras were rolling but started shifting around nervously. Rodriguez's lips trembled. He wiped his forehead. He stretched his collar. Some heads would (literally!) roll when the Maximum Leader saw this! The cameras didn't know where to focus.
"And another thing!" Felipe shouted. "We outfought you!" The Castroites were frantic now, they looked from one to another aghast and cleared their throats. They looked like Democrats during the Ollie North hearings.
Rodriguez finally caught his breath and with a trembling voice started with the usual commie mumbo-jumbo about "the masses" and "the people" blah, blah, blah.
"Ok, fine!" Rivero rolled his eyes and waved his hand. "You say you have the people with you? Then hold an election! That'll really tell us, won't it?!"
Complete pandemonium, amigos. Even the diehard commies in the crowd couldn't restrain themselves. Che Guevara himself had to snicker. A rumble of laughter, a rustle of claps and hoots erupted from all corners. All this was on Cuban national TV, remember.
And Cuba – that impoverished and squalid little Third World country Castro's echo chamber (the mainstream media) always tells us about – besides having net immigration from Europe shortly before the glorious liberation, also had more TVs per capita than Canada or Germany.
The very island almost shook with a collective roar.
Finally the Maximum Leader himself (Fidel Castro) pranced on the stage. Only he could straighten things out. He had it all figured out. He had an ace up his sleeve. So he approached the black parachutist prisoner Tomas Cruz. "We opened the beaches for you blacks," he sneered. (In 1958 Cuba had a private whites-only country club with a private beach.) "So what on earth are you doing with these Yankee mercenaries?"
Tell it to Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus, Fidel. Tell it to Maxine Waters and Jesse Jackson – they'll swallow your BS and ask for seconds. But Cruz didn't flinch. He looked Castro straight in the eye. "I didn't come here to swim," he glowered. "I came here to fight communism. I came here with my Cuban brothers of every race to free my homeland from communism."
Well, amigos, the Castroites decided to hold these "trials" behind closed doors and with the cameras off after that.
A guilt-stricken JFK finally ransomed the Brigade back from Castro's dungeon. The negotiations took almost two years while the men suffered the mental and physical tortures that always accompany Communist incarceration. One source claims that Castro had agreed to terms seven months earlier. But the Kennedy brothers (both President and Attorney General) feared the Bay of Pigs issue in the news for the November '62 congressional races. They feared the issue of how those men came to be prisoners in the first place might skew the races Republican. So the prisoners were conveniently released Christmas Eve of '62. A few died in prison during those intervening seven months.
Outrageously, thanks to yet another Democrat administration, Castro might have gotten the last laugh with Rivero. In 1967 Felipe Rivero found himself in a U.S. federal prison. His crime? Organizing attacks from the U.S. trying to overthrow Castro.
You read that right. The same man accused and jailed by Castro for being a U.S. mercenary and lackey, of being bribed by the U.S. to overthrow communism in Cuba, was later jailed by the U.S. for trying to overthrow Communism in Cuba. LBJ had to honor that Kennedy-Khrushchev Missile Crisis swindle to safeguard Castro, you see.
"We ended up getting exactly what we'd wanted all along," snickered Nikita Khrushchev about the Missile Crisis in his diaries, "security for Fidel Castro's regime and American missiles removed from Turkey and Italy. Until today the U.S. has complied with her promise not to interfere with Castro and not to allow anyone else to interfere with Castro. After Kennedy's death, his successor Lyndon Johnson assured us that he would keep the promise not to invade Cuba."
The Brigadistas' ordeal was mostly over by late 1962. But when it came to JFK's lies I'll yield to Bachman Turner Overdrive: "You ain't seen nothing yet! B-ba-ba-ba-BY you just AIN'T seen nothing yet!"
"I promise to deliver this Brigade banner to you in a free Havana!" That was JFK addressing the recently-ransomed Brigade and their families in Miami's Orange Bowl on December 29, 1962. I guess those people hadn't been subject to enough lies, to enough betrayal. They hadn't suffered enough. And the mothers, widows children — they hadn't been through enough either. In Camelot's eyes, they deserved more shameless lies.
Kennedy's secret deal with Khrushchev to safeguard Castro was made barely a month before JFK made his liberation promises in the Orange Bowl. Yet he addressed those men, their families, and compatriots with a straight face.
Small wonder that these Brigadistas, their families, and most of their compatriots always refused to file meekly into the liberal plantation, like obedient little "hispanics," or "latinos," with a nice pat on the head by the condescendingly smirking doyens of the Democrat-Media complex.
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