The List 6144
Good Tuesday Morning June 28
I hope that your week is off to a good start.
Regards,
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On This Day in Naval and Marine Corps History
June 28
1814
The sloop of war USS Wasp commanded by Johnston Blakeley, comes across HMS Reindeer, commanded by William Manners, off Plymouth, England, and engages in battle. After the 19-minute battle, USS Wasp captures HMS Reindeer, taking her crew as prisoners, and burn her at sea.
1869
The Navy's first surgeon-general William M. Wood is appointed, and serves until Oct. 25, 1871.
1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria is assassinated at Sarajevo, Bosnia. This act eventually leads to World War I.
1919
The Versailles Peace Treaty is signed, which ends World War I.
1943
USS Peto (SS 265) and USS Tunny (SS 282) sink Japanese hydrographic-meteorological research ship Tenkai No.2 northeast of Mussau Island and a gunboat Shotoku Maru off the west coast of Rota, Mariana Islands.
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Today in History June 28
1635 The French colony of Guadeloupe is established in the Caribbean.
1675 Frederick William of Brandenburg crushes the Swedes.
1709 Russians defeat the Swedes and Cossacks at the Battle of Poltava.
1776 Colonists repulse a British sea attack on Charleston, South Carolina.
1778 Mary "Molly Pitcher" Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carries water to the soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth.
1839 Cinque and other Africans are kidnapped and sold into slavery in Cuba.
1862 Fighting continues between Union and Confederate forces during the Seven Days' campaign.
1863 General George Meade replaces General Joseph Hooker three days before the Battle of Gettysburg.
1874 The Freedmen's Bank, created to assist former slaves in the United States, closes. Customers of the bank lose $3 million.
1884 Congress declares Labor Day a legal holiday.
1902 Congress passes the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the Isthmus of Panama.
1911 Samuel J. Battle becomes the first African-American policeman in New York City.
1914 Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated at Sarajevo, Serbia.
1919 Germany signs the Treaty of Versailles under protest.
1921 A coal strike in Britain is settled after three months.
1930 More than 1,000 communists are routed during an assault on the British consulate in London.
1938 Congress creates the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to insure construction loans.
1942 German troops launch an offensive to seize Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus and the city of Stalingrad.
1945 General Douglas MacArthur announces the end of Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
1949 The last U.S. combat troops are called home from Korea, leaving only 500 advisers.
1950 General Douglas MacArthur arrives in South Korea as Seoul falls to the North.
1954 French troops begin to pull out of Vietnam's Tonkin province.
1964 Malcolm X founds the Organization for Afro-American Unity to seek independence for blacks in the Western Hemisphere.
1967 14 people are shot during race riots in Buffalo, New York.
1970 Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay] stands before the Supreme Court regarding his refusal of induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.
1971 The Supreme Court overturns the draft evasion conviction of Muhammad Ali.
1972 Richard Nixon announces that no new draftees will be sent to Vietnam.
1976 The first women enter the U.S. Air Force Academy.
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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 Tuesday, 28 June 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 28 June 1967… VADM Bill Lawrence remembered…
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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Thanks to Brett
America Is More Fragile Than the Left Understands
By Victor Davis Hanson
"There is a great deal of ruin in a nation."
— Adam Smith
The Left has been tempting fate since January 2021—applying its nihilist medicine to America on the premise that such a rich patient can ride out any toxic shock.
Our elites assume that all our nation's past violent protests, all its would-be revolutions, all its cultural upheavals, all its institutionalized lawlessness were predicated on one central truth—America's central core is so strong, so rich, and so resilient that it can withstand almost any assault.
So, we can afford 120 days in 2020 of mass rioting, $2 billion in damage, some 35 killed, and 1,500 police injured.
We can easily survive an Afghanistan, and our utter and complete military humiliation. There was no problem in abandoning some $70-80 billion in military loot to terrorists. Who cares that we tossed off a billion-dollar new embassy, and jettisoned a $300-million refitted air base, as long as our pride flags were waving in Kabul?
Certainly, we can afford to restructure all our universities, eliminate free expression and speech, and institute Maoist cultural revolutionary fervor in our revered institutions of higher learning—once the world's greatest levers of scientific advancement and technological progress.
We can jettison merit in every endeavor, from banning the world's great books to grading math tests to running chemistry experiments. And still, a resilient America won't notice.
We assumed that our foundational documents—the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution—our natural bounty in North America, our cherished rule of law, our legal immigration traditions that drew in the most audacious and hardworking on the planet, and our guarantees of personal freedom and liberty led to such staggering wealth and affluence that nothing much that this mediocre generation could do would ever endanger our resilience.
But such inheritances are not written in stone. America, as the world's only successful multiracial democratic republic, was always fragile. It was and is always one generation away from disappearing—should any cohort become so foolish as to mock its past, dismantle its institutions, revert to tribalism, redistribute rather than create wealth, and consume rather than invest.
We are that generation. And we have an accounting with nature's limitations, given there is always a corrective, not a nice one, but remediation nonetheless for every excess.
Our major cities are no longer safe. Somehow, the Left has nearly wrecked San Francisco in less than a decade. A once beautiful and vibrant city is lawless, dirty, toxic, often boarded up, and losing population. It has turned into a medieval keep of well-protected knights in secure fiefs while everyone else is engaged in a bellum omnium contra omnes.
We know it is so because California public officials talk of anything and everything—Roe v. Wade, transitions to electric cars, hundreds of millions of dollars in COVID-19 relief for illegal aliens—to mask their utter impotence to address feces in the street, the random assaults on the vulnerable, and the inability to park a car and return to it intact.
Ditto the Dodge City downtowns of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington, and a host of others. In just four or five years, they have given up on fully funding the police, aggressive prosecutors indicting the violent, and ubiquitous civil servants ensuring the streets are free of trash, vermin, flotsam, jetsam, and human excrement.
There are natural reactions to such excess. The most terrifying is that our once-great cities, especially their downtowns, will simply shrink into something like ghost towns—our versions of an out-West Bodie, or an abandoned Roman city in the sand like Leptis Magna, or a Chernobyl.
But the culprit will not be a played-out mine, or encroaching desert, or a nuclear meltdown, but the progressive leadership of a worn-out, bankrupt people who no longer possess the confidence to keep their urban civilization safe and viable. And so, they either fled, or joined the mob, or locked themselves up in fortified citadels, both in fear to go out and terrified of losing what they owned.
We are seeing that deterioration already in our major cities. Stores are boarded up. Women cease to walk alone after sunset. Police officers walking the beat are now rare. Hate crimes, smash-and-grab robberies, and carjackings go unpunished. Streets are filthy and littered. Commerce and human interaction cease at dusk, as if in expectation that zombies will emerge to control the streets. Criminals when arrested are not always identified—the media censoring names and descriptions on their own selective theories of social justice.
But again, the culprit is not the COVID plague or want of money. It is us, we who turned over our cities to the incompetent, the selfish, the timid, and the violent.
There is again an antidote. But doubling the police force, bringing back broken-windows policing, electing tough prosecutors, moving the homeless from the downtown into hospitals and supervised shelters beyond the suburbs, arresting, convicting, and incarcerating the guilty—all that seems well beyond this generation's capacity.
Would not such efforts be unfair to the mere rock-thrower? Who says the fentanyl user has no right to defecate on the street? Would not our jails become overcrowded? Would the incarcerated be unduly overrepresented by this or that group?
Joe Biden took a strong economy—albeit one that after three serial spendthrift presidencies faced huge national debt and a rendezvous with fiscal sobriety—and has utterly ruined it.
He discouraged labor participation with federal checks. He ensured that his minions on the politicized Federal Reserve Board would keep interest rates artificially low. Biden inflated the money supply while debasing the value of the currency. He brought back mindless regulation and put ideological commissars in place to ensure the corporations, banks, and Wall Street would be woke, allowing ideology to warp ancient economic laws that kept prices stable, supply and demand in balance, and incentives to work and profit.
Many thought Biden would have needed at least four or five years to wreck such a strong economy with such nihilism rather than a mere 16 months.
Yet nature is about to step in with a recession and perhaps even a depression to correct the Biden madness. If interest rates rise, capital dries up, businesses close, employers cut back, consumers no longer have access to easy money, and the nation becomes inert, then the country will be worse off, spend less—and that too will be a brutal solution of sorts to Biden's hyperinflation and stagflation.
Still, it is hard to see how anyone in the government might prefer the proper and necessary medicine at this late hour. An updated Simpson-Bowles plan still could address long-term insolvency. Meaningless regulations could be pruned back. The tax code could be radically altered and simplified to encourage investment rather than consumption. Entitlements could be calibrated by incentives to become productive rather than to remain inert. All of that might return us to a sound currency, a strong GDP, long-term financial solvency, and general prosperity for all. But are not such medicines perceived as worse than the disease?
There is an answer to the open border, when upwards of 4 million illegal aliens will flow into the United States in a mere two years, for the most part without audits, English, capital, income, and vaccinations—and with no idea how to house, feed, or provide health care for millions without background checks.
At this late date, the corrections of stopping catch and release, ending amnesties, hiring more border patrol officers and immigration judges, or building more detention centers are too little too late.
Eventually, Americans will become acculturated to large enclaves of endemic poverty, as millions with no familiarity with the United States are neither assimilated nor integrated.
The border will then disappear, and northern Mexico and the southern United States will become indistinguishable, as millions simply drift back and forth in the manner of an ancient Gaul or Germania. Large areas of Texas, Arizona, and California are already returning to such pre-state status.
Or the alternate corrective will be the completion of a massive wall from the Pacific to the Gulf, with strict audits of all would-be immigrants, immediate deportations for lawbreakers, and legal only immigration that is measured, diverse, and meritocratic.
We are reaching the inflection point quickly and will either experience the absolute destruction of the border or a radical backlash, given that the current mess is unsustainable. Either a nation with borders survives or a tribal and nomadic region supplants it.
If America chooses to shut down refineries, put our rich oil and natural gas fields off-limits, cancel pipelines, and demonize the fossil fuel industry, then, of course, prices for carbon fuels will explode.
The Biden Administration talks nonsensically about Teslas, batteries, and electric replacements. But it is not greenlighting mining for the critical minerals needed for batteries. It is not encouraging nuclear power plants to provide enough power for a clean fleet of 200 million electric cars. There is no Marshall Plan to wean America off mostly non-polluting natural gas and gasoline onto electricity-hungry engines.
Instead, Biden begs the Saudis, the Russians, the Venezuelans, and even the Iranians to pump the fuel he will not. He seeks to drain the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that can supply only a fraction of the oil America gulps daily. He defines his own pre-midterm, self-created mess as a national emergency to tap a reserve he could never fill or refill.
So, what is the natural corrective to unaffordable fuel?
A likely Biden recession or depression, in which the middle classes simply do not enjoy jobs that pay enough to afford $6-9-a-gallon gas. And so, they will not drive. Vacations, optional shopping trips, and visits to friends—all that and more will taper off. Gas will stabilize at near-European levels, and the people, as planned, will be rerouted into dirty and unsafe subways and mass transit.
Biden will be happy. But America won't be the same mobile country.
America's bounty was predicated on each generation following the prompt of the prior, modulating when change was necessary, but not daring to tamper with the foundational principles and values that explained our singular wealth, power, and leisure.
This generation in its arrogance tested fate. It felt itself smarter and morally superior to its betters of the past. It lost that wager and now we the public are paying for its foolishness. To destroy America as we have always known it, there was far less necessary to ruin than our elite believed.
Like a stunned adolescent whose reckless incompetence totaled the family car, the Left seems shocked that America proved so fragile after all.
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Father's Day
Thanks to shadow
This is a great piece on many levels and one of the best Father's day stories I have ever read and worth the repeat.
Folks,
Gonna cover a few things today and I'm gonna start with something I should have shared last week. I did mention it in a private note to "The Bear", but failed to share it with all of you. Gonna call it memories of my father.
Last week was Father's Day and The Bear posted a daily "Rolling Thunder" piece that touched my soul… for it brought back memories of the most memorable "Father's Day" I have ever known. Like to share it with you and the connection to The Bear's post.
Back in the summer of 1966, three days before Father's Day that year; this young Marine was called out on a "Sparrow Hawk" mission. Sparrow Hawk was a stand-by unit that was rushed into service when another unit was in Peril. A quick reaction force if you will… Kinda like the "Alert Birds" on the carrier. The night before, one of our CAC units had been attacked and almost overrun and remained in contact until just before first light. Our Sparrow Hawk Team had been alerted that night, that we would mount up and launch at sun rise and try to block the retreating NVA and take them out. We assembled in the dark at the Helipad and launched early that morning. We were inserted east of the village and hopefully in front of the retreating attackers. But unfortunately, they had moved faster than we thought and we were behind them… the chase was on. It was a ball busting day!
The heat and humidity were oppressive… within minutes on the ground we were all sweating like stuck pigs… add to that the terrain we were slogging through consisted of flooded rice paddies and irrigation canals of gray chalky waters. When we'd ford one of these canals, I'd have to hold my radio and pistol above my head to protect them. From the canals, we'd re-enter the rice paddies and mud and muck would attach to our boots and feel like your feet would weigh 10 pounds each! It went like that the whole day… once in a while we'd get close enough to exchange fire, but the truth was, the bad guys were able to move faster and easier than we were, because of all the weight we were carrying. In the end, it was an exercise of futility. As we neared sunset, the decision was made to withdraw and we waited for our helo's to come in and extract us. By the time we got back to base camp, it was dark and that was followed by a debrief and it was close to 2300 by the time we got back to our tents. I was exhausted and just threw myself on my canvass cot, muddy boots and all. I'd no sooner laid down, when the Company Runner comes into our tent and said, "Stafford, the Skipper needs to see you… get down to the CP tent right away". WTF?
I go down and Dan McMahon, our Company Commander (a great American and still one of my best friends after all these decades) looks at me and says… "You look like shit… rough day, eh"? I said, "Yessir" and explained the rice paddies and dikes. He kinda smiled and said, "Do you realize you have a high water mark across your chest"? I hadn't until he pointed it out. He then says… "I just received this message from Division, via the Battalion… that you are to report to the helipad at 0500 in the morning". Once again, WTF? I gave him a funny look and then he said, "You will be flown to Da Nang, an Officer from Division will be there to meet you and take you over to the transient aircraft terminal". WTF again! Dan then looked up and smiled and said, "You will then board some kind of Navy airplane and will be flown out to the USS Ranger". Big smile and then he said, "You're going to see your daddy for Father's Day"! Now it was not only WTF?… It was also... YGTBSM!
I looked at Dan in disbelief… had a hundred things going through my head. How is this happening? I looked at Dan and said, "You have anything to do with this"? He said, "No, just found out about it 15 minutes ago… a shock to me too". He went on to say that is was odd; but there were no orders, other than the message from Division You'll probably get briefed at Da Nang. He also said, he'd have the Duty Watch come give me a piss call at 0430. And drive me over to the helipad. As I turned to walk away, it dawned on me that all my gear was locked up in the S-4 tent on the other side of the compound, including my shaving gear and clean utilities (SOP when the Sparrow Hawk went out). I turned around and said, "Sir, all my gear is in the S-4 tent. Dan looks up at me… then looks down at my mud encrusted boots… my now gray jungle utilities up to my chest… my two days growth of beard and my salt encrusted arm pits. Dan looked at me and says… "Well, I guess you'll just have to go the way you are. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke… you look hard"… And that is exactly what happened.
I was at the helipad at 0500, boarded a CH-46 and we flew down to Da Nang. We landed at the Division helipad. After the helicopter shut down, I walked out and a crewman pointed me to a jeep and I walked over toward it as this slightly, portly, Major by the last name of Chervin, stepped out on the ground. I saluted and he said, "You Stafford"? I said "Yessir". He steps back and says, "My God son… You look like shit"! I apologized and explained I'd been in the field chasing bad guys and didn't get back to Phu Bai until the night before and only found out about the trip then and all my gear was in the S-4 tent on the other side of the compound. He looked me up and down again and finally said, "Get in and I'll run you over to the transient line… by the way, you look hard". On the way over he asked if I had any orders? I told him I didn't, that nobody even knew this was going on until last night. He looked at me and said, "Tell you what, stay a couple of days and then try to catch the next flight back… don't take advantage of the situation". I assured him I would and he drove me across the field to a waiting C-1, COD… and the next thing I knew I was on the way to my first carrier landing as a passenger.
Upon arrival, they called my dad up to the flight deck and we had a quick reunion and then went inside. Everywhere I went, sailors were staring at me, including a couple of Marines. Here I was, wearing "Jungle Utilities", mud caked boots, three day beard, no rank showing (didn't wear rank in the field) and my .45 pistol and holster. No luggage! In Marine speak… I looked like shit! My dad took me down to his quarters and told me to take a shower and shave. As I was doing that, a Marine Gunny from the Marine Detachment met with my dad and had my filthy clothes and boots picked up and sent them down to the ship's laundry… Couldn't have a Marine walking around the ship looking like "Joe Shit the Rag Man" he said. Dad hooked me up with some temporary civies and took me down to get some chow. The mess crew had made me a big old steak. Sad to say, I couldn't eat it all. What I haven't mentioned was the few days before we got to Phu Bai, we'd been in the field for almost 90 days on an extended operation and I'd been eating nothing but C-Rations. Guess my stomach had shrunk?
That evening, the Gunny showed back up with my now clean utilities and spit shined jungle boots. Had to laugh, neither I or any other Marine polished our boots in Vietnam (at least those of us who were on the tip of the spear in those days). It was great to see my dad… but somehow he seemed subdued. That night he told me why.
And this gives me the chance to segue into "The Bear's" message he sent out just before Father's day. In the "Rolling Thunder" piece, he spoke of the shoot down of one LtCdr. Ted Kopfman of VA-55. The very man who had come up with the idea to have me and my father re-united for Father's Day. He was my dad's boss in the Maintenance Department. That first night on the ship, my dad told me about him and how he'd told my dad what he was trying to pull off, just before his last mission. The day before I arrived had been a hard day for me… but nothing compared to the bad day Ted Kopfman was having… and the years to come. He was shot down.
As I read "The Bears" account, couldn't help but be taken back and get a little misty thinking of it. I always remembered it on Father'd Day, for its was the most memorable Father's Day of my life. And deep inside of me, I have always regretted that I've never been able to thank Ted Kopfman personally for his gesture of thoughtfulness and kindness that he did for me and my dad in hard times. Before he was released from prison by the North Vietnamese, I was able to share many more Father's Day with my dad… something Ted Kopfman was denied over all those years. In the interim, I'd come back, gone to flight training was was flying F-4's at El Toro when he was finally released. I found out he'd been stationed back at Lemoore and I flew an F-4 up to Lemoore to try to thank him personally. Unfortunately, he was off on a trip when I arrived. I sat down in base Ops and wrote him a thank you note and asked that it be delivered to him upon his return… but I've always felt guilty about not doing it in person.
I sent The Bear a short note about this on Father's Day, but thought I'd share it with the rest of you. Over the days since… I have been depressed about the situation in our country today. Collectively, every member of this group has served our nation under extreme circumstances. Many like Ted Kopfman spent years of depravation and misery at the hands of our enemies as a POW… even more of our contemporaries sacrificed their very lives during that time. And active duty military men and women today, continue to make that commitment. But for the first time in my life, I have come to doubt whether what we gave was worth it? For these modern day politicians in our country, seem hell bent on throwing it all away in pursuit of political power.
They are the would be, new "totalitarians"… no different from the Mao's, Castro's, Stalin's, Hitler's, etc. They are full of themselves and feel they should be the one's to determine how we individually, will live out our lives. Where we can live, what we can eat, what we can say and read. While our group was busy doing the nation's bidding… we never realized what was really going on in Washington. Through a deceitful vehicle called patronage… for the last thirty years; the Democratic Party has stacked the deck in virtually every National Agency… including the Departments of Justice, State, our Federal Law Enforcement Agencies and Intelligence agencies… and yes… even the Pentagon. They have hand picked and inserted men and women who are more loyal to a political party than to our country itself. Today… not one leader of a single government agency doesn't bow to the will of the Democratic Party. They refuse to prosecute Democratic Party criminals… but are willing to move hell and high water to prosecute any who they suspect were at the January riots… while letting the thousands of ANTIFA and BLM rioters get away with murder and mayhem. In less than a year, they've almost destroyed our economy. The more dependent we become on government largesse, the more malleable we as citizens become. It's all part of the plan!
Over the last two weeks, I saw snippets of CNO Gilday and Chairman of the JCS Milley, testify before Congress… and I couldn't believe the bullshit coming out of their mouths. They weren't there to discuss needs of the military… they were there to talk about Global Warming (a fraud if there ever was one)… WOKNESS, Critical Race Theory (another fraud)… and "White Rage"! Four of the biggest propaganda frauds to come down the pike in our world's history! It was quite a shit show… Milley claiming he was trying to understand "White Rage" through reading Mao, Lenin and others… slobbering over the concept of diversity. Wonder of it ever occurred to this idiot to go over to the White House and say, "Mr. President… you do realize that by shutting down that pipeline, it'll make us more vulnerable to our enemies militarily and the increase in fuel prices are gonna have a huge negative impact on our budget… every dime in an increase in fuel prices, runs our expenses up in the billions to feed out jets, ships and tanks". Somehow, I can't imagine such a conversation will ever take place with these marplots. One thing for sure, they do have their diversity talking points down to a T.
Got to thinking about these two men and decided to look up their backgrounds on the computer. Some curious things, they and others on the JCS have in common. One, they are "Ivy Leaguers"… Don't generally think of Harvard, Princeton and Yale graduates running the military. And neither Gilday or Milley have ever experienced a shot fired in anger in combat. They did it the old fashion way… bureaucrats and staff pukes. One bio showed Milley's military awards. I couldn't help but notice he had three "Bronze Stars"! Now to a layman, that might infer bravery and exceptional acts in combat. But to those of us who served… one thing was very obvious. None of those Bronze Stars had the telling and qualifying "Combat V" for valor. Every one of those medals was an administrative award! The modern Army seems to hand out those medals like participation trophy's given to our woke grandkids these days. Gilday is a black shoe… and if you read what's going on these days in the Navy… pretty obvious he spends more time on political issues based on lies… than combat readiness and training. In a word, a summation of the Navy's situation today is... shit. The Academy has gone to shit and is woke as any Ivy League cesspool. Forget competence, diversity is the name of the game… our ships seem to be incapable of doing what they were designed to do, from our new Super Carriers to the little Littoral shallow water patrol vessels. And don't get me started on the F-35. It's obvious that training is either ineffective or weak at least, by reading accounts of the problems ships commanders are having with crew competence and social problems. The Air Force and Army are in similar situations… But they be be woke! God help us!
Gents… we're in a real bad place. I fear for this nation's future. My only solace today… is I am proud to have served during the time of honorable men like Ted Kopfman and "The Bear" and so many others.
Shadow
P.S.
One last thought… and this one will probably get me on somebody's watch list… But did it ever occur to all these genius politicians that the greatest inhibitor to Blacks being assimilated and embraced within mainstream society; has nothing to do with the color of their skin… it has everything to do with a violent sub culture and unacceptable behavior. It's that simple. Our rage is not white… it is common sense. You can tell every lie you want to excuse it… but if it looks like a duck, quacks, floats and flies… it's a duck! MLK had it right way back… You judge a man by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin. Think about it!
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This Day in U S Military History…….June 28
1914 – Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, while riding in an Austro-Daimler that was chauffeured by Otto Merz, a Mercedes team driver. The assassination resulted in the outbreak of World War I. The archduke and his wife, Sophie, rode into Sarajevo in a motorcade consisting of four cars; the royals occupied the second. On the way to the City Hall as they crossed the Milijacka River at Cumuria Bridge, Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at the Daimler carrying the archduke and his wife. Franz Ferdinand managed to deflect the bomb onto the street. About a dozen people, including Sophie, who was hit in the face with shrapnel, suffered injuries, but no one was killed. The assassin swallowed a cyanide pill and jumped off the bridge. Unfortunately, he coughed up the pill and landed in only a foot of water. He was taken into custody. The first two cars of the motorcade continued on their way to the Sarajevo City Hall. Upon his arrival at the welcome ceremony, Franz Ferdinand interrupted the mayor's speech, seizing him by the arm and crying, "One comes here to visit and is received with bombs. Mr. Mayor, what do you say?" He later calmed down and finished his own speech with a reaffirming pledge of his regard for the people of Sarajevo. After the speech, Franz Ferdinand ordered his chauffeur to carry him to the hospital to visit the victims of the bomb; Sophie accompanied him. Their driver took a wrong turn after crossing the Imperial Bridge and the car ended up on a street named after Franz Ferdinand's father, Franz Josef. Noticing his mistake, the driver applied the brakes and the car came to a halt a foot short of another Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip. Princip fired his pistol into the car, striking the archduke in the neck and his wife in the stomach. In shock and unaware that she had been wounded, Sophie cried to her husband, "For heaven's sake, what's happened to you?" Franz Ferdinand keeled over whispering "Es ist nichts, Es ist nichts…" A lengthy investigation into the conspiracy failed to prove any complicity in the plot on the part of the Serbian government. Nevertheless, the Austrians sent their army into Serbia and World War I was born.
1935 – FDR ordered a federal gold vault to be built at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
1944 – In the Cotentin Peninsula, American forces of US 1st Army prepare to eliminate German resistance in the direction of Cap de la Hague. The forces of British 2nd Army cross the Odon River on a 2 mile front near Mondrainville.
1945 – General MacArthur announces that the operations on Luzon are complete. It has been 5 months and 19 days since the American invasion began. An estimated 11,000 Japanese troops remain isolated in the Sierra Madre mountains and another 12,000 are trapped in the Kiangan-Bontoc (or Ifugao-Bontoc) area. The US 8th Army is assigned the task of mopping up on Luzon while the US 6th Army is reorganized for the invasion of Japan (Operation Olympic). Much of the mopping-up will be left to Filipino units. On Mindanao, mopping up operations continue.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
HATHAWAY, EDWARD W.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Entered service at: Plymouth, Mass. Born: 9 July 1838, Plymouth, Mass. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Sciota prior to the battle Vicksburg, on 28 June 1862. Struck by a bullet which severed his left arm above the elbow, Hathaway displayed exceptional courage as his ship sustained numerous damaging hits from stem to stern while proceeding down the river to fight the battle of Vicksburg.
ANDERSON, WILLIAM
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1852, Sweden. Accredited to: New York. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Powhatan, 28 June 1878. Acting courageously, Anderson rescued from drowning W. H. Moffatt, first class boy.
*SANTIAGO-COLON, HECTOR
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Company B, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 28 June 1968. Entered service at: New York, N.Y. Born: 20 December 1942, Salinas, Puerto Rico. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Santiago-Colon distinguished himself at the cost of his life while serving as a gunner in the mortar platoon of Company B. While serving as a perimeter sentry, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon heard distinct movement in the heavily wooded area to his front and flanks. Immediately he alerted his fellow sentries in the area to move to their foxholes and remain alert for any enemy probing forces. From the wooded area around his position heavy enemy automatic weapons and small-arms fire suddenly broke out, but extreme darkness rendered difficult the precise location and identification of the hostile force. Only the muzzle flashes from enemy weapons indicated their position. Sp4c. Santiago-Colon and the other members of his position immediately began to repel the attackers, utilizing hand grenades, antipersonnel mines and small-arms fire. Due to the heavy volume of enemy fire and exploding grenades around them, a North Vietnamese soldier was able to crawl, undetected, to their position. Suddenly, the enemy soldier lobbed a hand grenade into Sp4c. Santiago-Colon's foxhole. Realizing that there was no time to throw the grenade out of his position, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon retrieved the grenade, tucked it in to his stomach and, turning away from his comrades, absorbed the full impact of the blast. His heroic self-sacrifice saved the lives of those who occupied the foxhole with him, and provided them with the inspiration to continue fighting until they had forced the enemy to retreat from the perimeter. By his gallantry at the cost of his life and in the highest traditions of the military service, Sp4c. Santiago-Colon has reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for June 28, 2021 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
28 June
1917: Langley Field authorized as an experimental air station. (24) 1924: Lt John A. Macready, flying a Curtiss bomber, set FAI records for altitude (16,732 feet) and duration (2 hours 13 minutes 49.6 seconds) with payloads of 2,204.6 and 3,306.9 pounds.
1927: MACKAY TROPHY/DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. Lts Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger flew a Fokker C-2, powered by three Wright 220 HP engines, the "Bird of Paradise," on the first nonstop flight from Oakland to Wheeler Field, Honolulu. They flew 2,407 miles in 25 hours 50 minutes by using the directional beacons of San Francisco and Maui. They received the Mackay Trophy for 1927 and a DFC. (9)
1934: The Army awarded a contract to Boeing Aircraft Company to design the B-17. (12)
1946: The first V-2 rocket, with instruments for upper air research, launched to an altitude of 67 miles from White Sands Proving Ground. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. FEAF launched its first successful airstrike as more than 20 B-26s from the 3 BG bombed the Munsan rail yards near the 38th parallel and the rail and road traffic between Seoul and North Korean border. One B-26, heavily damaged by enemy antiaircraft fire, crashed on its return to Ashiya AB, killing all aboard. (21) KOREAN WAR. Flying from Kadena AB, the 19 BG made the first B-29 medium bomber strikes of the Korean War by attacking a railroad bridge and tanks, trucks, and supply columns along North Korean invasion routes. Bad weather over Japan limited Fifth Air Force sorties, but 18 fighters flew close air support and interdiction missions. More than 30 F-80s from Itazuke escorted C-54s and B-26s flying between Japan and Suwon. 1Lt Bryce Poe II, in an RF-80A, flew the USAF's first jet combat reconnaissance mission, photographing the North Korean advance. C-54s and C-47s flew out the last of 851 U.S. citizens evacuated by air from South Korea. FEAF transports airlifted 150 tons of ammunition from Tachikawa AB to Suwon, about twenty miles south of Seoul. (28)
1954: The Douglas RB-66A made its first flight. The Air Force accepted this plane earlier in June, but it did not take possession of the plane pending the correction of obvious defects. None of the five RB-66As ever joined the combat air forces. (31)
1957: PROJECT FAR SIDE. The first phase of this project ended when the world's largest balloon lifted a load of military equipment and instruments weighing almost two tons above 104,000 feet. This flight was part of a series of tests to reach extreme altitudes using the "Rockoon" concept--hanging a 4-stage sounding rocket under a balloon and launching it from atitudes above 100,000 feet. The 4-stage vehicle included two Recruit and two Arrow II rockets. The vehicles reached 4,000 miles in the tests. (24) The 93 AREFS at Castle AFB received SAC's first KC-135A Stratotanker, "The City of Renton" (SN 55-3127). (1)
1964: The rebuilt X-15A-2 first flew.
1965: NASA confirmed the selection of Owen K. Garriott, Edward G. Gibson, Duane E. Graveline, Lt Cmdr Joseph P. Kerwin (USN) Frank Curtis Michel, and Harrison Schmitt as science astronauts for the Apollo program. Telephone calls between President Johnson and European leaders via the Early Bird I communications satellite began commercial satellite service between the US and Europe.
1974: Dr. Vannevar Bush, who guided US scientific effort during World War II and helped usher in the atomic age, died in Massachusetts at the age of 84.
1978: A B-1 launched the first live SRAM over the White Sands Missile Range. (12)
1994: McDonnell Douglas delivered the final nine F-15s to the Air Force. (27)
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WORLD NEWS FOR 28 JUNE THANKS TO MILITARY PERISCOPE
USA—46 Migrants Die Of Heat In Truck In Texas New York Times | 06/28/2022 At least 46 suspected migrants have been found dead in an abandoned tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas, reports the New York Times. On Monday, 46 migrants were found dead and 16 alive and suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration at a remote area near railroad tracks and auto salvage yards southwest of downtown San Antonio. The area is known as a drop-off point for migrants smuggled from border areas after crossing into Texas from Mexico. Officials did not confirm the cause of the deaths but indicated that it may have been heat related. Texas has been experiencing extremely high temperatures of late. San Antonio police arrested three people in connection with the deaths. The Dept. of Homeland Security said that its smuggling unit is investigating the deaths. There has been a significant increase in migrants arriving in Texas from Mexico in recent days, according to local law enforcement and county officials.
USA— Critics Question Administration's Commitment To Confronting China Fox Business | 06/28/2022 Critics say President Biden's commitment to a G7 program to invest in infrastructure in developing countries to combat Chinese influence falls short after a decision earlier this month to lift tariffs on Chinese solar panels, reports Fox Business. On Sunday, President Biden said that the U.S. would commit $200 billion to the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment as part of G7 efforts to counter China's controversial Belt and Road Initiative. Critics subsequently questioned whether the administration was serious about countering China, noting President Biden's decision earlier this month to lift tariffs on Chinese solar panels for two years. The move is part of government efforts to spur the solar power industry, which has been hit hard by the pandemic and a legal challenge to the import of solar panels and related equipment from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam that use Chinese components, reported Slate. In March, the Commerce Dept. announced that it would investigate whether China was routing components through those countries to evade existing tariffs. The decision led many U.S. solar companies to pause hundreds of in-development projects, reported the New York Times. The four countries provide up to 82 percent of the crystalline silicone modules used in U.S. solar power projects, due to minimal domestic production, analysts noted. In addition to lifting the sanctions that could inhibit imports from those countries, President Biden sought to activate the Defense Production Act to boost "domestic clean energy manufacturing," including in the solar power industry. Some solar companies indicated that Biden's decision provided some clarity on the tariffs and allowed them to move forward with sourcing components from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. However, pro-tariff groups have criticized the move, saying it prioritizes Chinese manufacturers over American firms and fails to hold China accountable for illegal trade activity.
USA—Image Shows 3rd ID Unit With New AMPVs Army Recognition | 06/28/2022 The 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, at Fort Stewart, Ga., published photos on social media earlier this month showing that it has received new Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicles (AMPVs), reports Army Recognition. The AMPV, based on the chassis of the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, is a family of vehicles designed to replace the aging M113 tracked armored personnel carrier that has been in service since 1960. The Army is acquiring the AMPV in five variants: the XM1283 armored personnel carrier; XM1284 medical evacuation vehicle; XM1285 medical treatment vehicle; XM1287 mortar carrier; and XM1286 command vehicle. The new vehicle is better protected, more survivable, more mobile and has better power-generation capabilities than the M113. Army plans call for the acquisition of 2,907 AMPVs to replace variants of the M113A3 vehicle family.
Ukraine—At Least 18 Killed In Russian Airstrike On Mall Ukrinform | 06/28/2022 A pair of Russian cruise missiles struck a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, killing at least 18 people, reports Ukrinform. The attack on Monday involved two Kh-22 cruise missiles, killing 18 people and injuring 59, according to Dmytro Lunin, the head of the Poltava Regional Military Administration. Thirty-six people were missing, he said. There were an estimated 1,000 people inside the mall at the time of the attack. Rescue work continued through the night as the fire spread to cover an area of 110,870 square feet (10,300 square m), authorities said.
Czech Republic—Defense Ministry Considers F-35 To Replace Gripen Jets Czech Republic Ministry Of Defense | 06/28/2022 The Czech Ministry of Defense is looking at the advanced F-35 stealthy fighter jet to replace its leased Swedish Gripen C/D aircraft at the end of the decade, reports the Aviationist blog. The Czech air force currently flies 14 Gripens leased from Saab through the end of 2027, with an option to extend the lease through 2029. The defense ministry reportedly has three options: further extending the Gripen lease; buying new Gripen E/F fighters; or going in a different direction. The latter could include a competition between the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35, analysts said. The F-35 was previously seen as too expensive for Prague's needs. However, the war in Ukraine and a growing user base in Europe has made it a more attractive option. Defense Minister Jana Cernochova is expected to announce plans to buy 24 new fighters this summer, although an official decision might not be made until 2023, according to Czech media outlet Echo24.
Lithuania—Pro-Russian Hackers Launch DDOS Attack On Internet Services Ars Technica | 06/28/2022 Lithuanian internet services have experienced a major distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack by a pro-Russian hacking group, reports Ars Technica. On Monday, the attack disrupted parts of Lithuania's Secure National Data Transfer Network, which the government said was "one of the critical components of Lithuania's strategy on ensuring national security in cyberspace" and "is built to be operational during crises or war to ensure the continuity of activity of critical institutions." The Core Center of State Telecommunications identified the sites most affected in real time and provided them with DDoS mitigations while also working with international web service providers, officials said. The pro-Russian Killnet hacking group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in response to the Lithuanian ban on some cargoes traveling from Russia to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Vilnius prohibited the transit of goods under European Union sanctions through its territory last week. Lithuanian cybersecurity officials said that more such attacks could be expected, particularly against the communications, energy and financial sectors.
Philippines—Deal Inked With HHI For 6 OPVs Hyundai Heavy Industries | 06/28/2022 The Philippine Dept. of National Defense has signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries for new offshore patrol vessels, reports the South Korean shipbuilder. On Monday, the department signed a US$573 million contract with HHI for six offshore patrol vessels during a ceremony in Manila. Construction will take place at HHI's Ulsan shipyard until 2028. No specific delivery schedule was made public. The new ships, based on the design of the two Jose Rizal-class frigates previously purchased by the Philippines, displace 2,400 tons and measure 310 feet (94.4 m) long with a beam of 47 feet (14.3 m). The class has a top speed of 22 knots, cruising speed of 15 knots and a range of 5,500 nm (10,190 km). The patrol vessels will be armed with a 76-mm main gun and two 30-mm secondary guns. A flight deck will be fitted capable of operating a helicopter and uncrewed aerial vehicles, said HHI.
Spain—NATO Leaders Meet In Madrid Amid Numerous Crises Cable News Network | 06/28/2022 NATO leaders are meeting this week in Madrid to discuss various issues, including a new strategic concept outlining its goals for the next decade, reports CNN. The leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea are also attending the two-day meeting, which began on Tuesday, reported the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The alliance is expected to endorse a new strategic concept that will prioritize "building resilience against transnational threats including cyber and climate" and "deepening partnerships with democratic partners in Europe and Asia in order to strengthen the rules-based international order," according to the White House. The war in Ukraine will be atop the agenda, along with the NATO membership applications of Finland and Sweden, which Turkey is holding up. Ankara has accused the Nordic countries of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group, which has been fighting the Turkish government for decades. Meanwhile, Spain wants NATO to pay more attention to security on the southern flank, including assistance in dealing with threats such as "the political use of energy resources and illegal immigration" in Africa, according to Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, as cited by Agence France-Presse. The leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea are expected to discuss cooperation between the alliance and its democratic allies in the Pacific. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has indicated that the new strategic concept will include the growing challenge posed by China.
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