The List 6318 TGB
To All,
Good Thursday Morning 22 December 2022
I hope that your week has been going well .You only have a Three days
until Christmas. Good Luck.
A bit of history and some tidbits
Regards,
skip
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History
December 22
1775—Congress commissions the first naval officers: Commander-in-Chief
of the Fleet Esek Hopkins; captains Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham
Whipple, Nicolas Biddle, and John Hopkins; and 13 lieutenants
including John Paul Jones.
1841—The Navy's first ocean-going side-wheel steam ship, the
Mississippi, is commissioned at Philadelphia, PA.
1942—Sue Dauser takes the oath of office as Superintendent of Navy
Nurse Corps, becoming the first woman with the relative rank of
captain in U.S. Navy. She is promoted to the rank of captain Feb. 26,
1944.
1942—Aboard USS Silversides (SS 236), Pharmacist's Mate 1st Class
Thomas A. Moore performs an emergency appendectomy on Fireman 3rd
Class George M. Platter while the submarine is submerged and on war
patrol in the Solomon Islands. Platter returned to duty within a few
days of the operation.
1960—HS-3 and HU-2 helicopters, operating from USS Valley Forge,
rescue 28 men from oiler SS Pine Ridge breaking up in heavy seas off
Cape Hatteras, NC.
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Today in History: December 22
1135 Stephen of Blois is crowned the king of England.
1775 Esek Hopkins takes command of the Continental Navy -- a total of
seven ships.
1807 Congress passes the Embargo Act, which halts all trading
completely. It is hoped that the act will keep the United States out
of the European Wars.
1829 The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad opens the first passenger railway line.
1918 The last of the food restrictions, enforced because of the
shortages during World War I, are lifted.
1929 Soviet troops leave Manchuria after a truce is reached with the
Chinese over the Eastern Railway dispute.
1941 Japanese troops make an amphibious landing on the coast of
Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the Philippines.
1942 The Soviets drive German troops back 15 miles at the Don River.
1944 During the Battle of the Bulge, General Anthony McAuliffe
responds to a German surrender request with a one word answer: "Nuts!"
1945 The United States recognizes Tito's government in Yugoslavia.
1965 The EF-105F Wild Weasel makes its first kill over Vietnam.
1966 The United States announces the allocation of 900,000 tons of
grain to fight the famine in India.
1989 The Romanian government of Nicolae Ceausescu is overthrown,
ending 42 years of communist rule.
1989 The division of East and West Germany effectively ends when the
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopens for the first time in nearly 30
years.
1992 What became known as the Archives of Terror are discovered in a
police station near the capital of Paraguay. The records detail tens
of thousands of Latin Americans who had been secretly imprisoned,
tortured and / or killed by the security services of several South
American governments.
1997 Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes his disputed title of President
of Somalia, an important step toward reconciliation in the country.
2001 A passenger on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris, Richard
Reid, unsuccessfully attempts to destroy the plane in flight by
igniting explosives he'd hidden in his shoes.
2001 President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, takes over an interim government.
2008 Some 1.1 billion gallons of coal fly ash slurry flood part of
Tennessee after an ash dike breaks at a solid waste containment area
in Roane County, in the eastern part of the state.
2010 US President Barack Obama signs a law officially repealing the
17-year-old policy known as "Don't ask, don't tell"; the new law
permits homosexuals to serve openly in the US military.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
… For The List for Thursday, 22 December 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 22 December
1967… Popespeak… "Peace without victory" …
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.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War .
Listed by last name and has other info
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Thanks to Bill
To help you find "Inner Peace" over the next few days
If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without alcohol,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
Then You Are Probably
The family dog
And you thought I was going to get all spiritual ...
Handle every stressful situation like a dog.
If you can't eat it or play with it,
Pee on it and walk away
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Today's Interesting Fact
The first product scanned with a barcode was Juicy Fruit gum.
When Marsh Supermarket cashier Sharon Buchanan rang up a 10-pack of
Juicy Fruit on June 26, 1974, and heard a telltale beep, her face must
have registered relief. Buchanan's co-workers at the grocery store in
Troy, Ohio, had placed barcodes on hundreds of items the night before,
as the National Cash Register Company installed the shop's new
computers and scanners. Buchanan's "customer" for that first purchase
was Clyde Dawson, the head of research and development at Marsh
Supermarkets, Inc. For that fateful checkout, Dawson chose the gum,
made by the Wrigley Company, because some had wondered if the machine
would have trouble reading the item's very small barcode. It didn't.
Today, one of Marsh's earliest scanners is part of the Smithsonian
Museum of American History.
The origins of the barcode, meanwhile, date back to January 1949.
That's when a young mechanical engineer, N. Joseph Woodland, came up
with the idea for the tool while drawing in the Miami Beach sand.
Bernard "Bob" Silver — a postgraduate student at Woodland's alma
mater, Drexel Institute of Technology — had told Woodland about a
supermarket manager who approached the school, desperate for a way to
check out shoppers at a faster pace. The duo collaborated on a patent
for a bullseye-shaped barcode, which was approved in 1952. Yet they
couldn't come up with a practical device for reading the information
it held — the laser wasn't invented until 1958, and initial versions
of the scanner were huge and cumbersome — so they sold their patent
for $15,000. Woodland later moved to IBM, and in 1973, his colleague
George Laurer succeeded in perfecting the scannable barcode, in part
by finally putting a printer-friendly, rectangular model into
production. Today, more than 5 billion barcodes are scanned daily, and
some of them are still Juicy Fruit gum.
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Thanks to Mugd
"Presentism" from Bill Mahar
Even uber-liberal Bill Mahar occasionally gets things right!
Mugs
I've linked 1 file to this email:
· Presentism.mp4
Size: 7.3 MB
Filelink Service: Dropbox
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Thanks to Dutch
Yeah, this is sure help beat the Chinese…………
Woke academics urge US Marine Corps to stop calling instructors 'sir'
and 'ma'am' to be more gender inclusive and avoid being 'offensive'
The recommendation came in a recently completed academic report from
the University of Pittsburgh, which was commissioned by the Corps in
2020
Completed this year, the report offers a detailed study on integration
at boot camp, and suggests measures Marines should take to improve
integration
At a whopping 738 pages, the in-depth study highlights a host of
prospective changes the 247-year-old institution can implement
Instead, PhDs Bradley C. Nindl and Mita Lovalekar recommend aspiring
privates call their superiors by their last names - and some leaders
are already skeptical
US Marine Corps are urged to stop calling instructors 'sir' and
'ma'am' to be more gender inclusive | Daily Mail Online
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Thanks to Jim for these two.
The Outer Banks Voice - 'Candy Bomber' Gail Halvorsen turns 101 today
Great story of the American spirit of Christmas and giving.
Take a few minutes to watch an inspiring story that will probably stir
your emotions this Christmas Season.
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Thanks to John H and Dr. Rich
A little Christmas Cheer !!
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Thanks to Dave
Your readers may find this relatively short article by
Everett Piper of interest as it puts the importance of Christianity to
all the positive aspects of our culture in persptective. Even more
reason to celebrate it's birth!
It was published Saturday, but I saw it first this morning
on Milinet, (Kudos to Anthony Milavic). Regret dupes, but IMHO this
one's worth it.
Merry Christmas and
Semper Fidelis,
Dave/Jade
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Even atheists should be thankful for Christmas
The case of the passenger of Flight 1140
By Everett Piper - - Saturday, December 18, 2021
OPINION:
A couple of weeks ago, in this column, I wrote that it's that time of
year, that "most wonderful time of year," when our country's thought
police come out of the woodwork to tell us what we can and cannot say.
I wrote of stories too numerous to count where our culture's minions
of mind control stand barricaded behind their cash registers at Target
and Starbucks, telling us what greetings we can and cannot use. I
wrote of doublespeak and hypocrisy. I wrote of intolerance while
claiming to be tolerant. I wrote of Orwell's obedient lemmings waving
their Christmas banners of inclusion while shamelessly excluding
anyone who dares to say, "Merry Christmas."
This duplicitous lunacy is not new. In fact, it has been with us for
years. Consider the case of American Airlines Flight 1140.
On Dec. 23, 2015, a passenger was tossed off a plane at New York's La
Guardia Airport because of his reaction to an airline worker who
wished him, shame for shame, a "Merry Christmas."
As the story goes, this traveler was waiting to board the plane when
the gate agent welcomed everyone with the traditional season's
greeting. The offended passenger responded by shouting, "You shouldn't
say that. Not everyone celebrates Christmas."
Well, once seated inside, our Mr. Scrooge was greeted by another
American Airlines employee who was apparently oblivious to the earlier
exchange. This time, it was a flight attendant who made the same
unforgivable error of wishing Ebenezer a "Merry Christmas."
And that was the last straw. "Don't say Merry Christmas," raged Jack
Frost before launching into a tirade whereby he presumed to lecture
the attendants, the pilot and all others within earshot about their
festive faux pas.
Refusing to calm down, he continued his tirade. The end result was
that he was escorted off the plane as his audience of fellow
passengers burst into cheers and applause at his departure.
While this story may seem humorous because of its absurdity, we need
to think about its serious side for a moment.
Consider, for example, the man's premise that Christmas, i.e., the
historicity of the birth of Christianity, is an offense and that this
malcontent, and presumably millions of others like him, would be
better off without it.
Our first reaction to this claim should be to ask a basic question.
What would the world look like today if it weren't for Christmas? In
other words, what would life be like if our grumpy traveler had his
way and the "ideas and acts [of Christmas had not been] hurled across
the centuries and around the world" (Thomas Cahill); some 2000 years
ago?
Whether you're a believer in the theology of Christmas or simply an
open-minded historian, you have to confess to the impact of the
holiday's sociology and cosmology on western civilization. The fact of
the matter is that the story of the birth of Christ has dramatically
changed humanity's understanding of life and the way we live it. From
Saul of Tarsus to Emperor Constantine, to Wesley, Wilberforce and
Whitfield; to Chesterton and Lewis, millions of lives have been turned
from deception and debauchery to compassion and love because of
Christmas.
History tells us that the Greek and Roman cultures stopped the
practice of "exposure," otherwise known as infanticide, because of
Christmas. The Celtics, Prussians, Aztecs and Mayans abandoned human
sacrifice because of Christmas. Sexual fidelity and respect for
marriage were normalized in the Roman Empire and throughout the West
because of Christmas. Women were no longer considered mere property
and chattel because of Christmas. Compassion for the sick and the
dying during the great plagues of Europe took place because of
Christmas. Charity for the poor and the elderly became expected during
the Industrial Revolution because of Christmas. Hospitals, orphanages,
child labor laws, education, economic freedom, the dignity of labor,
civil rights, private property and racial equality all were
established and promoted because of Christmas. Slavery was abolished,
and the sanctity of all human life was celebrated because of
Christmas.
Christmas changed the world. We are told in Matthew 1:21 that "His
name shall be called Jesus, for he will save his people from their
sins," and a brief look back at history tells us that this is so true!
Christmas not only saves us from our personal sins, but the "ideas and
acts" of Christmas have saved us from the sins of untold others who
before the birth of Christ would have ignored us, used us, oppressed
us, enslaved us or even killed us in the halls of their governments
and on the altars of their gods.
So, to the ill-informed and intolerant passenger of Flight 1140 and
all those like him, let's all join in wishing everyone a Merry
Christmas and thanking God for it.
• Everett Piper is currently a candidate for Commissioner in Osage
County, Oklahoma, and a columnist for the Washington Times.
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: Major Visits to Washington and Beijing
Ukraine's president is headed to the U.S., while Russia's former
president went to China.
By: GPF Staff
December 21, 2022
Zelenskyy abroad. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit
Washington on Wednesday to meet with U.S. President Joe Biden and
address Congress. The presidents will discuss a new U.S. military aid
package for Ukraine that will include Patriot defense systems. In
response to the news, the Kremlin's spokesperson said the West's
continued support aggravates the conflict.
Russia-China talks. Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian
president and current deputy head of Russia's Security Council, met
with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. They discussed the war
in Ukraine, and Medvedev delivered a message from the Russian
president. Dialogue between Russia and China is intensifying as the
West raises the pressure on Moscow.
Xi supports peace talks. Xi also spoke by phone with German President
Frank-Walter Steinmeier about Ukraine. The Chinese readout says Xi
stressed China's support for peace talks as well as European
"strategic autonomy." It also says Xi expressed his interest in seeing
more Chinese enterprises invest in Germany, and that he urged
Steinmeir to provide a fair and transparent investment climate.
Restoring diplomatic ties. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein
Amirabdollahian met with his Saudi counterpart in Amman on the
sidelines of the Second Baghdad Conference. The Saudi foreign minister
reportedly said Riyadh was ready to restart negotiations on restoring
bilateral diplomatic relations. Iran and Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic
ties in 2016.
Ice breaker. The foreign ministers of Australia and China met for the
first time since 2019 for discussions on bilateral trade restrictions.
Australia is seeking the lifting of Chinese trade sanctions as well as
the reinstatement of annual leaders' summits and trade talks. Xi said
before the meeting that China's relationship with Australia was
important and that Beijing would work toward a comprehensive strategic
partnership.
New oil, same pipeline. KazMunayGas met with German representatives
about the export of Kazakh oil to Germany's major Schwedt refinery via
the Druzhba pipeline. The Kazakh energy company said it is considering
sending a trial shipment of oil to Germany as soon as January. Germany
is trying to diversify its energy sources, but notably, the Druzhba
pipeline runs through Russia.
Mass production. Turkey will begin mass production of several
homegrown defense systems. Ankara is trying to strengthen air defenses
and domestic defense industry.
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This Day in U S Military History
December 22
1910 – LT Theodore G. Ellyson becomes first naval officer sent to
flight training.
1944 – Although the American defenders of Bastogne continue to hold
out against German attacks, elements of the German 5th Panzer Army
have by-passed the town and are advancing to the west and northwest.
These attacks have reached beyond Rochefort and Laroche. However,
improved weather conditions allows Allied ground attack aircraft to
harass the German columns. A sudden improvement in the weather permits
Allied fighter-bombers to conduct about 900 sorties against German
forces in "the Bulge".
1944 – Gen. Dwight Eisenhower endorses the finding of a court-martial
in the case of Eddie Slovik, who was tried for desertion, and
authorizes his execution, the first such sentence against a U.S. Army
soldier since the Civil War, and the only man so punished during World
War II. Private Eddie Slovik was a draftee. Originally classified 4-F
because of a prison record (grand theft auto), he was bumped up to a
1-A classification when draft standards were lowered to meet growing
personnel needs. In January 1944, he was trained to be a rifleman,
which was not to his liking, as he hated guns. In August of the same
year, Slovik was shipped to France to fight with the 28th Infantry
Division, which had already suffered massive casualties in the
fighting there and in Germany. Slovik was a replacement, a class of
soldier not particular respected by officers. As he and a companion
were on the way to the front lines, they became lost in the chaos of
battle, only to stumble upon a Canadian unit that took them in. Slovik
stayed on with the Canadians until October 5, when they turned him and
his buddy over to the American military police, who reunited them with
the 28th Division, now in Elsenborn, Belgium. No charges were brought;
replacements getting lost early on in their tours of duty were not
unusual. But exactly one day after Slovik returned to his unit, he
claimed he was "too scared and too nervous" to be a rifleman and
threatened to run away if forced into combat. His admission was
ignored-and Slovik took off. One day after that he returned, and
Slovik signed a confession of desertion, claiming he would run away
again if forced to fight, and submitted it to an officer of the 28th.
The officer advised Slovik to take the confession back, as the
consequences would be serious. Slovik refused, and he was confined to
the stockade. The 28th Division had seen many cases of soldiers
wounding themselves or deserting in the hopes of a prison sentence
that would at least protect them from the perils of combat. So a legal
officer of the 28th offered Slovik a deal: Dive into combat
immediately and avoid the court-martial. Slovik refused. He was tried
on November 11 for desertion and was convicted in less than two hours.
The nine-officer court-martial panel passed a unanimous sentence:
execution-"to be shot to death with musketry." Slovik's appeal failed.
It was held that he "directly challenged the authority" of the United
States and that "future discipline depends upon a resolute reply to
this challenge." Slovik was to pay for his recalcitrant attitude-and
he was to be made an example. One last appeal was made-to General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander. The timing was bad
for mercy. The Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes forest was issuing
in literally thousands of American casualties, not to mention the
second largest surrender of an American Army unit during the war.
Eisenhower upheld the sentence. Slovik would be shot to death by a
12-man firing squad in eastern France in January of 1945. None of the
rifleman so much as flinched, believing Slovik had gotten what he
deserved
1947 – John Bardeen and Walter Brattain of AT&T Bell Labs in Murray
Hill, New Jersey, unveiled what was soon to be called the transistor,
short for the electrical property known as trans-resistance, which
paved the way to a new era of miniaturized electronics. The device was
improved by William Schockley as a junction transistor. All 3 received
a Nobel Prize in 1956. The events are described in the 1997 book by
Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson: "Crystal Fire: The Birth of the
Information Age."
1948 – In Tokyo, Japan, Hideki Tojo, former Japanese premier and chief
of the Kwantung Army, is executed along with six other top Japanese
leaders for their war crimes during World War II. Seven of the
defendants were also found guilty of committing crimes against
humanity, especially in regard to their systematic genocide of the
Chinese people. On November 12, death sentences were imposed on Tojo
and the six other principals, such as Iwane Matsui, who organized the
Rape of Nanking, and Heitaro Kimura, who brutalized Allied prisoners
of war. Sixteen others were sentenced to life imprisonment, and the
remaining two of the original 25 defendants were sentenced to lesser
terms in prison. Unlike the Nuremberg trial of German war criminals,
where there were four chief prosecutors representing Great Britain,
France, the United States, and the USSR, the Tokyo trial featured only
one chief prosecutor–American Joseph B. Keenan, a former assistant to
the U.S. attorney general. However, other nations, especially China,
contributed to the proceedings, and Australian judge William Flood
Webb presided. In addition to the central Tokyo trial, various
tribunals sitting outside Japan judged some 5,000 Japanese guilty of
war crimes, of whom more than 900 were executed.
1968 – The crew and captain of the U.S. intelligence gathering ship
Pueblo are released after 11 months imprisonment by the government of
North Korea. The ship, and its 83-man crew, was seized by North Korean
warships on January 23 and charged with intruding into North Korean
waters. The seizure infuriated U.S. President Lyndon Johnson. Later,
he claimed that he strongly suspected (although it could not be
proven) that the incident with the Pueblo, coming just a few days
before the communist Tet Offensive in South Vietnam, was a coordinated
diversion. At the time, however, Johnson did little. The Tet
Offensive, which began just a week after the ship was taken by North
Korea, exploded on the front pages and televisions of America and
seemed to paralyze the Johnson administration. To deal with the Pueblo
incident, the United States urged the U.N.'s Security Council to
condemn the action and pressured the Soviet Union to negotiate with
the North Koreans for the ship's release. It was 11 long months before
the Pueblo's men were freed. Both captain and crew were horribly
treated and later recounted their torture at the hands of the North
Koreans. With no help in sight, Captain Lloyd Bucher reluctantly
signed a document confessing that the ship was spying on North Korea.
With this propaganda victory in hand, the North Koreans released the
prisoners and also returned the body of one crewman who died in
captivity. Some Americans criticized Johnson for not taking decisive
retaliatory action against North Korea; others argued that he should
have used every diplomatic means at his disposal to secure a quick
release for the crew. In any case, the event was another blow to
Johnson and America's Cold War foreign policy.
1972 – The East German Embassy and the Hungarian commercial mission in
Hanoi are hit in the eighth day of Operation Linebacker II. Although
there were reports that a prisoner of war camp holding American
soldiers was hit, the rumor was untrue. President Nixon initiated the
full-scale bombing campaign against North Vietnam on December 18, when
the North Vietnamese–who walked out of the peace talks in
Paris–refused an ultimatum from Nixon to return to the negotiating
table. During the 11 days of the operation, 700 B-52 sorties and more
than 1,000 fighter-bomber sorties dropped an estimated 20,000 tons of
bombs, mostly over the densely populated area between Hanoi and
Haiphong. President Nixon was vilified at home and abroad for ordering
the "Christmas bombing," but on December 28, the North Vietnamese did
agree to return to the talks in Paris. When the negotiators met again
in early January, they quickly arrived at a settlement. The Paris
Peace Accords were signed on January 23 and a cease-fire went into
effect five days later.
1986 – The experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and
Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, round-the-world flight
without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in
California.
1997 – A jury in Denver convicted Terry Nichols for conspiracy and
involuntary manslaughter in the Apr 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
1997 – In France "Carlos the Jackal," aka Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, was
convicted in the murder of 2 French agents and a Lebanese informant on
Jun 27, 1975 and sentenced to life in prison.
2004 – US Marines battled insurgents in Fallujah with warplanes
dropping bombs and tanks shelling suspected guerrilla positions. Three
U.S. Marines were killed. 24 guerrillas, most of them non-Iraqi Arabs,
were killed in battles according to a posting on an Islamic web site
the next day. The 1st Fallujah residents were allowed to return. A
bomb killed a US soldier in Baghdad.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
BOLDEN, PAUL L.
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company 1, 120th
Infantry, 30th Infantry Division. Place and date: Petit-Coo, Belgium,
23 December 1944. Entered service at: Madison, Ala. Birth: Hobbes
Island, lowa. G.O. No.: 73, 30 August 1945-. Citation: He voluntarily
attacked a formidable enemy strong point in Petit-Coo, Belgium, on 23
December, 1944, when his company was pinned down by extremely heavy
automatic and small-arms fire coming from a house 200 yards to the
front. Mortar and tank artillery shells pounded the unit, when S/Sgt.
Bolden and a comrade, on their own initiative, moved forward into a
hail of bullets to eliminate the ever-increasing fire from the German
position. Crawling ahead to close with what they knew was a powerfully
armed, vastly superior force, the pair reached the house and took up
assault positions, S/Sgt. Bolden under a window, his comrade across
the street where he could deliver covering fire. In rapid succession,
S/Sgt. Bolden hurled a fragmentation grenade and a white phosphorous
grenade into the building; and then, fully realizing that he faced
tremendous odds, rushed to the door, threw it open and fired into 35
SS troopers who were trying to reorganize themselves after the havoc
wrought by the grenades. Twenty Germans died under fire of his
submachinegun before he was struck in the shoulder, chest, and stomach
by part of a burst which killed his comrade across the street. He
withdrew from the house, waiting for the surviving Germans to come out
and surrender. When none appeared in the doorway, he summoned his
ebbing strength, overcame the extreme pain he suffered and boldly
walked back into the house, firing as he went. He had killed the
remaining 15 enemy soldiers when his ammunition ran out. S/Sgt.
Bolden's heroic advance against great odds, his fearless assault, and
his magnificent display of courage in reentering the building where he
had been severely wounded cleared the path for his company and insured
the success of its mission.
*ELROD, HENRY TALMAGE
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps. Born: 27 September
1905, Rebecca, Ga. Entered service at: Ashburn, Ga. Citation: For
conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above
and beyond the call of duty while attached to Marine Fighting Squadron
211, during action against enemy Japanese land, surface and aerial
units at Wake Island, 8 to 23 December 1941. Engaging vastly superior
forces of enemy bombers and warships on 9 and 12 December, Capt. Elrod
shot down 2 of a flight of 22 hostile planes and, executing repeated
bombing and strafing runs at extremely low altitude and close range,
succeeded in inflicting deadly damage upon a large Japanese vessel,
thereby sinking the first major warship to be destroyed by small
caliber bombs delivered from a fighter-type aircraft. When his plane
was disabled by hostile fire and no other ships were operative, Capt.
Elrod assumed command of 1 flank of the line set up in defiance of the
enemy landing and, conducting a brilliant defense, enabled his men to
hold their positions and repulse intense hostile fusillades to provide
covering fire for unarmed ammunition carriers. Capturing an automatic
weapon during 1 enemy rush in force, he gave his own firearm to 1 of
his men and fought on vigorously against the Japanese. Responsible in
a large measure for the strength of his sector's gallant resistance,
on 23 December, Capt. Elrod led his men with bold aggressiveness until
he fell, mortally wounded. His superb skill as a pilot, daring
leadership and unswerving devotion to duty distinguished him among the
defenders of Wake Island, and his valiant conduct reflects the highest
credit upon himself and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his
life for his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for December 22, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND
SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF
HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE
AGENCY
22 December
1942: The 307th Bombardment Group sent 26 B-24s on the first
full-scale air attack against an enemy base in the Central Pacific.
They staged through Midway to bomb Wake Island. (24)
1944: IX Tactical Air Command transferred three fighter groups to XIX
Tactical Air Command to concentrate airpower for cooperation with the
US Third Army. The Third Army relieved the American troops caught in
the Battle of the Bulge. (4)
1946: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics announced the
Tiamat's development. This winged rocket missile could fly more than
600 miles per hour. Flown at Langley Field, Va., it was the first
guided missile to successfully fly through a predetermined program of
maneuvers. (24)
1949: The YF-86D Sabre made its maiden flight at Edwards AFB, Calif.
1950: KOREAN WAR. One U. S. Navy and five USAF pilots shot down six
MiG-15s, the highest number of daily aerial victory credits for Far
East Air Force for the month and the highest since June. A MiG-15 shot
down an F-86 for the first time. (28)
1952: KOREAN WAR. A SA-16 crew landed in an inlet near Haeju, a N.
Korean port just north of the 38th parallel on the Yellow Sea, and
rescued a downed HMS Glory Seafury pilot in his dinghy. The first and
only fatal aeromedical evacuation accident of the war happened when a
Royal Hellenic Air Force C-47 transporting patients collided with an
F-80 at Suwon AB, S. Korea. (28)
1960: The Department of Defense cut back the Skybolt missile program
due to a lack of funds. (6)
1962: A US Army Nike-Zeus antimissile missile fired from Kwajalein
Island intercepted an Atlas launched 4,800 miles from Vandenberg AFB.
It may have been the first time a Nike-Zeus had discriminated between
an intended target and its decoys. (16) (24) A B-52G launched the
sixth (last) Skybolt missile down the Atlantic Missile Range; however,
President Kennedy had cancelled the program a day earlier. (6)
1963: To 24 December, the Air Rescue Service used HC-54 aircraft,
operating from Laje AB, Azores, to drop rafts and blankets to fire
victims from the Greek Liner Lakonia. An HC-54 at the scene, 170 miles
north of the Madeira Islands, directed the rescue, while vessels below
rescued 896 survivors. (2)
1964: President Johnson funded the development of the CX-HLS (the
C-5A). It could carry 500-700 troops or 250,000 pounds of cargo for
7,000 miles without refueling at 550 MPH. (16) (26) The USAF announced
the construction of the T-27 space flight simulator for $5,500,000
under contract with the Link Group of General Precision, Incorporated.
The T-27 trained astronauts at the Aerospace Research Pilot School on
Edwards AFB, Calif. The Lockheed SR-71 strategic reconnaissance plane
exceeded an altitude of 45,000 feet and a speed of 1,000 MPH in its
maiden flight at Palmdale, Calif. (12) (26) Operation BIGLIFT. Through
22 January 1965, the USAF used its cargo aircraft to deliver 1,500
tons of food, clothing, bedding, fuel, hay, grain, vehicles, pipe, and
medical supplies to victims of flooding in California and Oregon. (21)
1965: Gen Thomas D. White, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force from
1957-1961, died. 1966: In California, Vandenberg AFB successfully
completed its first attempted salvo launch of two Minuteman I (Model
B) missiles. (6)
1969: Twenty-Second Air Force phased-out the last active duty C-124
military airlift squadrons to make way for C-141 operations. To retain
a heavy airlift capability in Southeast Asia, Pacific Air Forces
reassigned four C-124s to the 20th Operations Squadron at Clark AB,
Philippines. (17) (18)
1970: The USAF selected the Fairchild Hitler Corporation, Republic
Division, at Farmindale, N.Y., and Northrop Corporation at Hawthorne,
Calif., to competively develop the A-X specialized close air support
aircraft program. The A-X was supposed to be a rugged, twin-engine,
singleplace aircraft with short takeoff and landing capabilities and
excellent maneuverability. (16)
1973: Deputy Secretary of Defense David Packard approved the NAVSTAR
Global Positioning System program. (12)
1984: Through 8 March, eight C-141 Starlifters carried over 212 tons
of food, tents, and water tanks, and medical supplies from Italy to
Kassala, Sudan. This relief helped over 100,000 Ethopian refugees
fleeing from famine in Niger and Mali in Africa. (16) (26)
1986: The Peacekeeper Intercontinental Ballistic Missile reached its
initial operating capability with the 90th Strategic Missile Wing at
Francis E. Warren AFB, Wyo. (16) (26)
1997: LAST MINUTEMAN II MISSILE. A Cold War icon became obsolete when
the simultaneous turning of seven keys destroyed the last Minuteman II
missile silo. The 31 July 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)
required the destruction of all Minuteman II silo. site, commonly
known as Hotel-11, was located north of Dederick, Mo., more than 90
miles southwest of Whiteman AFB, Mo. (AFNEWS, 22 Dec 97)
2006: The 437th Airlift Wing and the 315th Airlift Wing (Air Force
Reserve Associate) at Charleston AFB, S. C., flew a 20-ship formation
of C-17 Globemaster IIIs, the largest C-17 formation to date ever from
one base. The C-17s flew to North Field in Orangeburg County, S. C.,
where each dropped a 2,000-pound, parachute-equipped pallet to
demonstrate the C-17's strategic airdrop capability, before returning
to Charleston. (22)
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