The List 6319 TGB
To All,
Good Friday Morning 23 December 2022
I hope you all have a great Christmas with your families. You have about 12 or 16 hours left to shop. Good Luck and Merry Christmas. There are a few items in here from last year I hope it helps your get you in the Christmas Spirit.
Regards,
skip
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This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History
December 23
1803—The schooner Enterprise, commanded by Lt. Stephen Decatur, captures the Turkish ketch Mastico with a cargo of female slaves as it is sailing from Tripoli to Constantinople under Turkish colors and without passports. Renamed Intrepid, the former Mastico is taken into U.S. service.
1826—Capt. Thomas Catesby Jones of the sloop-of-war Peacock and King Kamehameha negotiate the first treaty between Hawaii and a foreign power.
1910—Lt. Theodore G. Ellyson becomes the first naval officer sent to flight training when he was ordered to report to the Glenn H. Curtiss Aviation Camp at North Island, San Diego, CA.
1944—USS Blenny (SS 324), despite an escort vessel close by, sinks the Japanese merchant tanker Kenzui Maru off San Fernando, Luzon, Philippines.
1968—The Sailors of USS Pueblo (AGER 2) are repatriated following their release by the North Korean government. The crew had been captured off Wonson on Jan. 23, 1968.
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Today in History: December 23
1861 Lord Lyons, The British minister to America presents a formal complaint to secretary of state, William Seward, regarding the Trent affair.
1900 The Federal Party, which recognizes American sovereignty, is formed in the Philippines.
1919 Great Britain institutes a new constitution for India.
1921 President Warren G. Harding frees Socialist Eugene Debs and 23 other political prisoners.
1933 Pope Pius XI condemns the Nazi sterilization program.
1937 London warns Rome to stop anti-British propaganda in Palestine.
1939 The first Canadian troops arrive in Britain.
1940 Chiang Kai-shek dissolves all Communist associations in China.
1941 Despite throwing back an earlier Japanese amphibious assault, the U.S. Marines and Navy defenders on Wake Island capitulate to a second Japanese invasion.
1944 General Dwight D. Eisenhower confirms the death sentence of Private Eddie Slovik, the only American shot for desertion since the Civil War.
1947 President Harry S Truman grants a pardon to 1,523 who had evaded the World War II draft.
1948 Japan's Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo and six other collaborators are hanged for war crimes.
1950 General Walton H. Walker, the commander of the Eighth Army in Korea, is killed in a jeep accident. Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgeway is named his successor.
1967 U.S. Navy SEALs are ambushed during an operation southeast of Saigon.
1974 The B-1 bomber makes its first successful test flight.
1986 The Voyager completes the first nonstop flight around the globe on one load of fuel. The experimental aircraft, piloted by Americans Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after nine days and four minutes in the sky.
1990 In a referendum on Sovlenia's independence from Yugoslovia, 88.5% vote in favor of independence.
2002 An Iraqi MiG-25 shoots down a US MQ-1 Predator drone.
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Thanks to Carl and Cowboy
The Kingfisher as engineer. Fascinating!
Fascinating is an understatement! Watch and be impressed at how we can learn from nature!
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
… For The List for Friday, 23 December 2022… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 23 December 1967… LBJ with the Rolling Thunder warriors… a few words of appreciation and some "bits of ribbon"…
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 https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
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Thanks to Michael ... and Drf.Rich
Watch Grocery Store Jingle Bells video first, then click below to see how they did it, too bad it is German not a problem for us…you will understand it took a lot of effort. We shop there when in Germany.
(87) Making Of EDEKA KASSENSYMPHONIE - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcH6GBmwoxc
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
https://geopoliticalfutures.com
Daily Memo: Two Holidays
Editor's note: As we approach the end of the year, now is the perfect time to reflect on what the holiday season means to us – and to so many others. Wherever you are and whomever you're with, we hope the following piece, which originally published last year, finds you happy and healthy. From all of us at GPF, happy holidays to you and yours.
By: George Friedman
December 23, 2022
This week we are celebrating two holidays in our house: Hanukkah and Christmas. In the United States, Hanukkah has become an elongated Christmas focused on gift-giving. The true meaning of Hanukkah is lost, with most not understanding that they are celebrating victory in a brutal war between the Seleucids, heirs of the Alexandrian Empire, and a faction of the Jews who also engaged in a civil war against other Jews. This happened almost two centuries before Christ (167-160 B.C.).
There was a war between Damascus and Jerusalem. The Seleucids wanted to control the Mediterranean, so they needed to take Egypt. In order to do that they had to take today's Lebanon and Israel. They succeeded, but the further expansion of the empire fell victim to a Jewish rising. The Seleucids had imposed laws on the conquest of Israel that required Jews to adopt Greek culture, and that included placing a statue of Zeus in the temple. Many Jews, preferring to be left alive, adopted these customs, some retaining hidden Jewish beliefs, others leaving it all behind.
But a faction led by a charismatic figure called Judah Maccabee (Hebrew for "hammer") was revolted by this. Maccabee launched a war against the occupation and simultaneously against Jews who had capitulated to Greek sensuality. He waged a brilliant guerrilla war against the Seleucids, designed to cut lines of supply and communication between Damascus and Jerusalem. He also carried out a civil war against Jews who had adopted Greek beliefs. Maccabee was a charismatic figure who riveted the Jews, a superb strategist and tactician, and a fanatic waging a ruthless civil war against Jews who strayed from the path.
Hanukkah is the celebration of the defeat of the Seleucids and the occupation of Jerusalem. The story is told that, to purify and rededicate the temple, a lamp had to burn purified oil for eight nights. However, the Jews had enough oil for only one night. God wrought a miracle by allowing the lamp to burn for the full eight nights. Hence, the custom of lighting candles on eight successive nights.
The point is that the Americanization of Hanukkah adopted the custom of excessive gift-giving, and forgot that the holiday is a celebration of a particularly bloody war. Judah Maccabee is remembered for his strength. For example, the Israeli sports festival, the Maccabiah Games, is named after him. Others might call him a brilliant if bloodthirsty maniac, but I won't. The Jews faced a geopolitical crisis as the Seleucids tried to recreate the Alexandrian Empire, and the Jews were in their path. Using superior knowledge of the terrain, and superb psychology to unite the Jews, the Jews stopped the Syrians (as they are called today) cold. Either version is defensible, but I like mine better, as it points to other battles between Damascus and Jerusalem, demonstrating my historical model. It also shows the power of America over the most stubborn of souls – Jewish ones.
In our home, we have another religious festival: Christmas. I was 38 years old when first I lived in a house that celebrated Christmas, filled with pagan symbols of the winter solstice, like Christmas trees, boughs of holly and fake snow. My wife was raised a Seventh-day Adventist. People of this faith celebrate their Sabbath on Saturday and lay claim to being the heirs of the Jews. This is, of course, impossible because the Adventists have not waged any serious military operations at this point and no one is boycotting them.
I was in a sense horrified at the sight of the tree, awaiting the wrath of the Maccabees, or at least a jagged comment from my mother, who liked my new wife but would have been appalled at a Christmas tree. I made my peace with the matter by quoting Henry IV (who doesn't quote him?). He said Paris was worth a Mass, which meant that if pretending to be Catholic would get him Paris, it's a cheap price. Since my wife would not countenance anything less than a full-bore Christmas, I determined that she was worth a tree.
We negotiated the matter. She could have her tree, but I would own the top and the bottom. On top would be a large Star of David. On the bottom, where Nativity scenes are normally found, would be something I could call a Syrian village, and on the bough above it, an Israeli F-16. This was not meant to reflect any contemporary conflict, but a celebration of Hanukkah, far more authentic than some candles aglow. It is a reminder that had the Maccabees failed (and they were indeed beaten in a battle near Bethlehem), the story of Christ would be far different. My argument was that by God empowering a particularly intense Jew, He set the stage for Jesus, who was born and loved on the ground the Maccabees fought for, and who purified the temple and expelled the apostates, just as Christ did with the moneychangers. Without Judah Maccabee's divine madness, the village of Bethlehem would have spoken Greek.
And so, peace was made in our home, and our new marriage persevered and flourished. It united a man with a soul common to the Maccabees and a woman who, if not saintly then close enough for government work, performed a miracle – a marriage that celebrated the birth of Christ and effective guerrilla warfare. Indeed, I was introduced to Australian Christmas carols, which, if you have never heard them, are a must. Try "Six White Boomers" for a taste.
There are two deeper points I want to make. The first is that the intertwining of Judaism and Christianity is far more complex than many would appreciate. There is an inseparability that is noted but not really plumbed by either. The Jew sees the Christian as the assimilator of paganism. The Christian sees the Jews as the people who were given God's gift and rejected it. It is like a bad marriage. Each of them sees the failures of the other without grasping how inseparable the two are.
The other point is about America, the country I always marvel at. The Jews were able to come here and redefine Hanukkah as a benign celebration of God's gift of seven extra nights of oil. The Christians could come here and, despite their overwhelming power, make room for the people who rejected Jesus. The commercialism of America is decried for having eroded the precious past. Probably so, but it is noteworthy that it has also softened the differences. Hanukkah is about war and vengeance; Christmas is about God's love for man, imposed by political force for two millennia. For Americans, the burning question is whether Amazon can get their gifts there on time. There are far more terrible things to obsess over.
We are celebrating the holidays this year with our daughter (a retired major in the U.S. Army) and her husband (a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army). Paris is indeed worth a Mass.
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Thanks to Carfl
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2022/12/23/the-greatest-gift-for-all-5/
The Greatest Gift For All
December 23, 2022
Christmas Column 2022 - Paul Craig Roberts
Dear Donors,
Thank you for your support in 2022. Although you have kept me working yet another year, I find it encouraging that there are still some Americans who can think independently and who want to know. As Margaret Mead said, it only takes a few determined people to change the world. Perhaps some of you will be those people.
My traditional Christmas column goes back to sometime in the 1990s when one of my occupations was being a newspaper columnist. It has been widely reprinted at home and abroad. Every year two or three readers write to educate me that religion is the source of wars and persecutions. These readers confuse religion with mankind's abuse of institutions, religious or otherwise. The United States has democratic institutions and legal institutions to protect civil liberties. Nevertheless, we now have a police state. Shall I argue that democracy and civil liberty are the causes of police states?
Some readers also are confused about hypocrisy. There is a vast difference between proclaiming moral principles that one might fail to live up to and proclaiming immoral principles that are all too easy to keep.
In the days of my youth Christianity was still a potent force in America. It was part of most people's lives, whether they were believers or not, and it regulated their behavior. That is why in Atlanta during the 1940s and 1950s we did not have to lock our door at night, and boys and girls could be gone all day without parental supervision and be completely safe. It is why I, as a 5-year old, could walk a mile safely to school and return home safely. Today parents who allowed such independence would be arrested for "child endangerment."
The power of Christian morality over behavior has faded substantially. Nevertheless, even today in the remains of our civilizational foundations many, if not most, people are still guided by Christian morality. As Christian tradition fades as the basis of behavior, barbarity will gather more strength and reign over us.
Liberty is a human achievement. We have it, or had it, because those who believed in it fought to achieve it and to preserve it. As I explain in my Christmas column, people were able to fight for liberty because Christianity empowered the individual.
The other cornerstone of our culture is the Constitution. Indeed, the United States is the Constitution. Without the Constitution, the United States is a different country, and Americans a different people. This is why assaults on the Constitution by the regimes in Washington are assaults on America that are far worse than any assaults by terrorists. There is not much that we can do about these assaults, but we should not through ignorance enable the assaults or believe the government's claim that safety requires the curtailment of civil liberty.
In a spirit of goodwill, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a successful New Year.
Paul Craig Roberts
The Greatest Gift For All
Christmas is a time of traditions. If you have found time in the rush before Christmas to decorate a tree, you are sharing in a relatively new tradition. Although the Christmas tree has ancient roots, at the beginning of the 20th century only 1 in 5 American families put up a tree. It was 1920 before the Christmas tree became the hallmark of the season. Calvin Coolidge was the first President to light a national Christmas tree on the White House lawn.
Gifts are another shared custom. This tradition comes from the wise men or three kings who brought gifts to baby Jesus. When I was a kid, gifts were more modest than they are now, but even then people were complaining about the commercialization of Christmas. We have grown accustomed to the commercialization. Christmas sales are the backbone of many businesses. Gift giving causes us to remember others and to take time from our harried lives to give them thought.
The decorations and gifts of Christmas are one of our connections to a Christian culture that has held Western civilization together for 2,000 years.
In our culture the individual counts. This permits an individual person to put his or her foot down, to take a stand on principle, to become a reformer and to take on injustice.
This empowerment of the individual is unique to Western civilization. It has made the individual a citizen equal in rights to all other citizens, protected from tyrannical government by the rule of law and free speech. These achievements are the products of centuries of struggle, but they all flow from the teaching that God so values the individual's soul that he sent his son to die so we might live. By so elevating the individual, Christianity gave him a voice.
Formerly only those with power had a voice. But in Western civilization people with integrity have a voice. So do people with a sense of justice, of honor, of duty, of fair play. Reformers can reform, investors can invest, and entrepreneurs can create commercial enterprises, new products and new occupations.
The result was a land of opportunity. The United States attracted immigrants who shared our values and reflected them in their own lives. Our culture was absorbed by a diverse people who became one.
In recent decades we have lost sight of the historic achievement that empowered the individual. The religious, legal and political roots of this great achievement are no longer reverently taught in high schools, colleges and universities or respected by our government. The voices that reach us through the millennia and connect us to our culture are being silenced by "Identity Politics," "political correctness," "critical race theory" and the war against "white culture." Prayer has been driven from schools and Christian religious symbols from public life.
Christianity is being gradually marginalized. Each year it becomes more difficult to find a Christmas card that says "Merry Christmas" instead of "Seasons Greetings." In place of Christmas carols we get Hollywood Christmas songs. In some churches Christianity is being transmuted into Christian Zionism and the worship of Israel. Others fly LGBTQ and BLM flags. We are approaching a time when a Christian Christmas cannot be celebrated as it is not inclusive in a diverse society and therefore is politically incorrect if not a hate crime.
Constitutional protections have been diminished by hegemonic political ambitions. Indefinite detention, torture, and murder are now acknowledged practices of the United States government. The historic achievement of due process has been rolled back. Tyranny has re-emerged.
Diversity at home and hegemony abroad are consuming values and are dismantling the culture and the rule of law. There is plenty of room for cultural diversity in the world, but not within a single country. A Tower of Babel has no culture. A person cannot be a Christian one day, a pagan the next and a Muslim the day after. A hodgepodge of cultural and religious values provides no basis for law – except the raw power of the pre-Christian past.
All Americans have a huge stake in Christianity. Whether or not we are individually believers in Christ, we are beneficiaries of the moral doctrine that has curbed power and protected the weak.
Power is the horse ridden by evil. In the 20th century the horse was ridden hard, and the 21st century shows an increase in pace. Millions of people were exterminated in the 20th century by wars that served the ambitions of political leaders and ideological movements. Many were murdered simply because they were members of a class or race that had been demonized by intellectuals and political authority. In the beginning years of the 21st century, hundreds of thousands of Muslims in seven countries have been murdered and millions displaced in order to serve the neoconservatives' agenda of extending Washington and Israel's hegemony.
Power that is secularized and cut free of civilizing traditions is not limited by moral and religious scruples. V.I. Lenin made this clear when he defined the meaning of his dictatorship as "unlimited power, resting directly on force, not limited by anything."
Washington's drive for hegemony over US citizens and the rest of the world is based entirely on the exercise of force and is resurrecting unaccountable power.
Christianity's emphasis on the worth of the individual makes such power as Lenin claimed, and Washington now claims, unthinkable. Be we religious or be we not, our celebration of Christ's birthday celebrates a religion that made us masters of our souls and of our political life on Earth. Such a religion as this is worth holding on to even by atheists.
As we enter into 2023, Western civilization, the product of thousands of years of striving, is in decline. Degeneracy is everywhere before our eyes. As the West sinks into tyranny and degeneracy, will Western peoples defend their liberty and their souls, or will they sink into the tyranny, which again has raised its ugly and all devouring head?
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Thanks to Mud…..I also remember them all…. Skip
I remember all of this like it was yesterday. On reading several like the metal ice trays with a lever, I thought, "Gee, they don't make those anymore?" I am indeed older than dirt. That's why I don't remember having sent this around before. 😂 Merry Christmas.
Darn, I'm Older Than Dirt!
Someone asked the other day,
'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up ,' I informed him, ' All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'home,' I explained! 'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, & if I didn't like what she put on my plate, I was allowed to sit there until I did like it .'
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
Here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis, set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow) .
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 10. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at 11, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God. It came back on the air at about 6 a.m. And there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people ...
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was & so was bread .
All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers - my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 5 AM every morning .
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut At least, they did in the movies! There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive .
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust their gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it ?
MEMORIES:
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old .
How many do you remember ?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor .
Ignition switches on the dashboard .
From Skip…I remember the ignition switch on the floor. I would watch my dad start the car and saw him push on a switch by the gas peddle. When I was around 5 or so My dad and mom had parked the car on the curb and gone into a store. I got into the front seat and put my foot on the switch and he had left the car in gear so it jumped forward a bit and I ended up moving the car a lot. Fortunately there was no car in front of us. When they came out I saw them look toward where the car was and then look at where it was and where it was now and knew I had been caught. As I remember it was a 37 Chevy. Parents were trying not to laugh and I got a few words about it.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards .
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner .
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals .
Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember , NOT the ones you were told about !
Ratings at the bottom .
1. Candy cigarettes
2. Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes
3. Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephones
5. Newsreels before the movie
6. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels !! If you had a TV!
7. Pea-shooters
8 Howdy Doody
9. 45 RPM records
10. 78 rpm records
11. Hi-Fi records 33 1/3 rpm
12. Metal ice trays with lever
13. Blue flashbulb
14. Cork popguns
15. Studebakers
16. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-3 = You're still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age, &
If you remembered 11-16 = You're older than dirt !!! THAT'S ME !!!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life .
Don't forget to pass this along.
Especially to all your really OLD FRIENDS!
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This Day in U S Military History
December 23
This Day in U S Military History 23 December
1864 – Union General William T. Sherman presents the city of Savannah, Georgia, to President Lincoln. Sherman captured Georgia's largest city after his famous "March to the Sea" from Atlanta. Savannah had been one of the last major ports that remained open to the Confederates. After Sherman captured Atlanta in September 1864, he did not plan to stay for long. There was still the Confederate army of General John Bell Hood in the area, and cavalry leaders like Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler, who could threaten Sherman's supply lines. In November, Sherman dispatched part of his force back to Nashville, Tennessee, to deal with Hood while Sherman cut free from his supply lines and headed south and east across Georgia. Along the way, his troops destroyed nearly everything that lay in their path. Sherman's intent was to wreck the morale of the South and bring the war to a swift end. For nearly six weeks, nothing was heard from Sherman's army. Finally, just before Christmas, word arrived that Sherman's army was outside Savannah. A Union officer reached the coast and found a Union warship that carried him to Washington to personally deliver news of the success. Sherman wired Lincoln with the message, "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton."
1941 – After continuing the bombardment of Wake Island the Japanese land 200 men on the island to fierce resistance from the 450 US Marines stationed there1941 – Japanese troops made an amphibious landing on the coast of Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, the Philippines.
1942 – Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas A. Moore performs appendectomy on Fireman Second Class George M. Platter on board USS Silversides (SS-236).
1944 – With Ho Chi Minh's support, Giap sets up an armed propaganda brigade of 34 Vietnamese and within two days will begin to attack French outposts in northern Vietnam. This is essentially the beginning of the Vietminh's armed struggle against the French.
1944 – In the advance of German 5th Panzer Army, Bastogne is surrounded and the Germans demand the surrender of United States troops. The demand to surrender, issued to the American defenders, is rejected by American General McAuliffe commanding the encircled troops. St. Vith is captured late in the day. However, the lack of substantial progress leads Model, commanding Army Group B, and Rundstedt, Commander in Chief West, to recommend an end to the offensive. Brigadier Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe reportedly replied: "Nuts!"
1972 – Washington announces that the bombing of North Vietnam will continue until Hanoi agrees to negotiate "in a spirit of good will and in a constructive attitude." North Vietnamese negotiators walked out of secret talks in Paris on December 13. President Nixon issued an ultimatum to North Vietnam to send its representatives back to the conference table within 72 hours "or else." They rejected Nixon's demand, and in response the president ordered Operation Linebacker II, a full-scale air campaign against the Hanoi area. 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. In the course of the bombing, the Cuban, Egyptian, and Indian embassies were hit in Hanoi, as were Russian and Chinese freighters in Haiphong. Bach Mai, Hanoi's largest hospital, was also damaged by the attacks. In the United States, 41 American religious leaders issued a letter condemning the bombing.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
DALESSONDRO, PETER J.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company E, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Kalterherberg, Germany, 22 December 1944. Entered service at: Watervliet, N.Y. Born: 19 May 1918, Watervliet, N.Y. G.O. No.: 73, 30 August, 1945. Citation: He was with the 1st Platoon holding an important road junction on high ground near Kalterherberg, Germany, on 22 December 1944. In the early morning hours, the enemy after laying down an intense artillery and mortar barrage, followed through with an all-out attack that threatened to overwhelm the position. T/Sgt. Dalessondro, seeing that his men were becoming disorganized, braved the intense fire to move among them with words of encouragement. Advancing to a fully exposed observation post, he adjusted mortar fire upon the attackers, meanwhile firing upon them with his rifle and encouraging his men in halting and repulsing the attack. Later in the day the enemy launched a second determined attack. Once again, T/Sgt. Dalessondro, in the face of imminent death, rushed to his forward position and immediately called for mortar fire. After exhausting his rifle ammunition, he crawled 30 yards over exposed ground to secure a light machinegun, returned to his position, and fired upon the enemy at almost pointblank range until the gun jammed. He managed to get the gun to fire 1 more burst, which used up his last round, but with these bullets he killed 4 German soldiers who were on the verge of murdering an aid man and 2 wounded soldiers in a nearby foxhole. When the enemy had almost surrounded him, he remained alone, steadfastly facing almost certain death or capture, hurling grenades and calling for mortar fire closer and closer to his outpost as he covered the withdrawal of his platoon to a second line of defense. As the German hordes swarmed about him, he was last heard calling for a barrage, saying, "OK, mortars, let me have it–right in this position!" The gallantry and intrepidity shown by T/Sgt. Dalessondro against an overwhelming enemy attack saved his company from complete rout.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for December 23, 2020 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
23 December
1907: The Army's Chief Signal Officer, Brig Gen James Allen, sought bids for the first heavierthan-air military flying machine. The specifications called for an aircraft that could carry two people, fly at 40 miles per hour for 125 miles without stopping, with controllable flight in any direction, and able to land at its takeoff point without damage. (12) (21)
1914: MACKAY TROPHY. Capt Townsend F. Dodd and Lt Shepler W. Fitzgerald won the trophy for reconnaissance competitions. For the third time, the winners were the only competitors as accidents and mishaps removed all other aircraft from the event. (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. Using fighter cover, three H-5 helicopter crews rescued 11 American and 24 Republic of Korea soldiers from a field eight miles behind enemy lines. (28)
1958: Cape Canaveral, Fla., launched the first Atlas C intercontinental ballistic missile on a 4,300-mile flight down the Atlantic Missile Range. It used General Electric's Mod III radio inertial guidance system for the first time. (6)
1959: The Air Force Ballistic Missile Committee selected Malmstrom AFB, Mont., to be the first base for Minuteman I missiles. (6) The 4135th Strategic Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., received the Strategic Air Command's first Hound Dog missile. (1)
1964: TYPHOON OPAL. A C-54 from the 405th Fighter Wing at Clark AB, Philippines, delivered 4,000 items of canned food to the victims of Typhoon Opal in Surigao del Norte Province, Mindanao. (17)
1965: Operation BLUE LIGHT. Through 23 January, the Military Airlift Command transported the 3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, from Hawaii to Pleiku, South Vietnam, to offset communist forces in the area. The movement included 231 C-141 sorties to move 3,000 troops and 4,700 tons of equipment. At the time, it was the largest airlift of troops and equipment into a combat zone. (2) (21)
1969: McDonnell Douglas of St. Louis, Mo., received the prime contract for the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter. (12) (30)
1970: A Sprint terminal-defense interceptor missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean intercepted a Minuteman I reentry vehicle launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. (6)
1974: Charles C. Bock, Rockwell's chief test pilot, flew the prototype B-1 on its first flight from Palmdale to Edwards AFB in California. (1) (3)
1983: The 390th Electronic Combat Squadron attained an initial operating capability with the EF-111A Raven. (16) (26)
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Subject: To the German Commander: NUTS!
Reply-To: info@contact.americanveteranscenter.org
This holiday season, please keep in mind all those who have defended us, in previous generations and those who stand ready today. It is thanks to their sacrifices and gallant feats of arms that we are able to truly make for ourselves a Merry Christmas.
Dear Robert,
In December of 1944, 73 years ago, Allied forces were immersed in one of the most epic battles of the Second World War.
At the time, it was becoming clear that the Germans would not win the war on the Western Front. In hopes of saving his 'Thousand-Year Reich,' Adolf Hitler launched a major offensive through the Ardennes region of Northwestern Europe.
It was the last major German offensive of the war, becoming known as The Battle of the Bulge.
The main German objective was to seize the port of Antwerp, dividing the British and American forces. Key to advancing on Antwerp would be the seizing of the road network that converged on the small eastern Belgian town of Bastogne. Take Bastogne, and the Germans stood a chance of winning the battle, and turning the momentum of the war. Thus, the American paratroopers defending Bastogne had to hold the town – at all costs.
Surrounding the American forces at Bastogne, the Germans sent officers to the Allied lines under a white flag of truce and a message demanding the Americans' surrender. When told of the German delegation's arrival, the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division, General Anthony McAuliffe, first believed the Germans had intended to surrender to the Americans. When told that, in fact, the Germans were demanding the Americans' surrender, McAuliffe exclaimed, "Us surrender? Aw, nuts!"
Realizing that a reply was in order – one that decidedly rejected the Germans' demand of surrender – McAuliffe asked his staff for suggestions. The 101st Airborne Division's operations officer, then-Lt. Colonel Harry W.O. Kinnard chimed in that McAuliffe's initial reaction would be tough to beat. The men nodded in agreement, and the following message was drafted:
To the German Commander,
N U T S !
The American Commander"
Inspired by his men's spirit and defiance, General McAuliffe tasked Lt. Colonel Kinnard with drafting a Christmas message for the division. It read, in part:
"What's merry about all this, you ask? We're fighting, it's cold, we aren't home. All true, but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West....How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division's glorious history but in World history."
The message continued:
"Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies...
We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas."
A witness to one of the great moments of audacious defiance of World War II, General Harry Kinnard shared the story of Christmas, 1944 with the American Veterans Center prior to his passing several years ago.
Please take a moment to listen to the story of 'NUTS!' and the famed Christmas message of 1944, as told by Lieutenant General Harry W.O. Kinnard.
As we enjoy the holidays among family and friends, let us not forget those who, 73 years ago, spent their Christmas in the snow of Bastogne, determined to hold the town at all costs and ensure that by Christmas, 1945, the world would be at peace.
This holiday season, please keep in mind all those who have defended us, in previous generations and those who stand ready today. It is thanks to their sacrifices and gallant feats of arms that we are able to truly make for ourselves a Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
James C. Roberts
President & Founder
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