To All,
Good Monday Morning May 1 2023.
I hope that you all had a great weekend.
This is a Bubba Breakfast Friday in San Diego
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History May 1
1811 The American brig Spitfire is stopped by the British frigate Guerriere off Sandy Hook, N.Y., and the American seamen are taken aboard. On May 6, the frigate President, commanded by John Rodgers, was ordered to protect American shipping off Sandy Hook.
1822 60 men from USS Alligator, USS Grampus, and the chartered ship Jane, capture four pirate schooners near Sugar Key, West Indies.
1898 The American squadron, commanded by Commodore George Dewey, defeats the Spanish squadron under the command of Rear Adm. Montojo at Manila Bay, Philippines.
1934 Lt. Frank Akers makes a hooded landing in an OJ-2 at College Park, Maryland, in the first blind landing system intended for an aircraft carrier.
1943 USS Pogy (SS 266), in attack on a Japanese convoy, torpedoes and sinks the Japanese gunboat Keishin Maru off Iwaki, Japan.
1945 Bomber aircraft from VPB 11 and FAW-1 sink Japanese cargo vessel Kyugkoku Maru off Mokpo, Korea.
1951 During the Korean War, AD-4 Skyraiders from Squadron VA-195, USS Princeton (CV-37), attack Hwachon Dam using aerial torpedoes, the only use of these weapons during the Korean War.
1980 - 11 Navy ships begin operations assisting Coast Guard in rescuing Cuban refugees fleeing Cuba in overcrowded boats
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This 'Day in World History
May 1
408 Theodosius II succeeds to the throne of Constantinople.
1308 King Albert is murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.
1486 Christopher Columbus convinces Queen Isabella to fund expedition to the West Indies.
1805 The state of Virginia passes a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.
1863 The Battle of Chancellorsville begins as Union Gen. Joe Hooker starts his three-pronged attack against Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
1867 Reconstruction in the South begins with black voter registration
1877 President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.
1898 The U.S. Navy under Commodore George Dewey defeats the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Manila Bay in the Philippines.
1915 The luxury liner Lusitania leaves New York Harbor for a voyage to Europe.
1927 Adolf Hitler holds his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.
1931 The Empire State Building opens in New York.
1934 The Philippine legislature accepts a U.S. proposal for independence.
1937 President Franklin Roosevelt signs an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.
1941 The film Citizen Kane--directed and starring Orson Welles--opens in New York.
1944 The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, makes its first flight.
1945 Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escapes the Fuehrerbunker as the Red Army advances on Berlin.
1948 North Korea is established.
1950 Gwendolyn Brooks becomes the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.
1960 Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia.
1961 Fidel Castro announces there will be no more elections in Cuba.
1968 In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.
1970 Students from Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, Ohio, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.
1986 The Tass News Agency reports the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.
2011 Osama Bin Laden is killed in Abbottabad Pakistan by US Navy SEALS in Operation Neptune Spear.
1898 The Battle of Manila Bay »
1931 Empire State Building dedicated
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post
Skip… For The List for Monday, 1 May 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 1 May 1968… Political and social pressures on the rise…
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 Peter
Hanoi Hilton Segment
This morning there was a segment about the Hanoi Hilton on CBS show "Sunday Morning." They did a very good job with it. A number of familiar faces in the interview….Mike McGrath, Bob Shumaker, and Charlie Plumb…..
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/surviving-torture-in-the-hanoi-hilton/
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Thanks to Barrett
In the month to come we will be looking at 1942 and the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, The previous MOH note shows how one man might have been pivotal in those battles. Just as the One Marine with a Machine gun survived and stopped the last Japanese suicide charge on the Island of Guadalcanal a few months later.
This helps to feed into the Battle of Midway information which will start soon.
Thanks to Barrett Tillman for putting this together for The List on the Coral Sea Battle and its important relation to the Battle of Midway.
The battle of the Coral Sea.
Most histories treat the first two aircraft carrier battles separately, but in fact they were closely related. Coral Sea directly influenced Midway four weeks later, not only tactically but strategically.
On May 7-8, 1942 two fleets engaged in combat without sighting each other. It had never happened before, and it only occurred four times thereafter. The naval millennium had finally arrived.
The Battle of the Coral Sea began with Japan's thrust toward the Allied base at Port Moresby on New Guinea's southeast coast, opposite Australia. PacFleet intelligence picked up Tokyo's plans, allowing Admiral Chester Nimitz to dispatch the carriers Lexington (CV-2) and Yorktown (CV-5) to intervene. They were opposed by three Japanese flattops: a small one screening the troop transports and a striking arm of two large fleet carriers.
The Americans got in the first blow. On the morning of May 7, a 93-plane strike from both U.S. flattops overwhelmed Japan's small Shoho, which went down in about 20 minutes. Subsequently dive bombers from Vice Adm. Chuichi Naguno's strike force sank a U.S. oiler and destroyer, and that evening another Japanese formation found Vice Adm. Frank Jack Fletcher's force. A dusk dogfight erupted with heavy losses to the Japanese—one or two of whom entered Yorktown's traffic pattern.
The next day was an all-out battle between heavyweights: "Lex" and "Yorky" versus the sisters Shokaku and Zuikaku. Again the Americans struck first, badly damaging Shokaku and mauling her sister's air group. But the Japanese retaliated, inflicting mortal damage on CV-2 and hitting Yorktown with bombs. She limped away, making knots for Pearl where yard crews urgently waited.
Japan's drive at Moresby was thwarted—a strategic win for the U.S. while "Lady Lex" was a far greater loss than little Shoho. Yorktown was sufficiently repaired to make Midway, mainly with beached Saratoga (CV-3) squadrons.
Thus, Coral Sea and Midway remain hand in glove. Had either Shokaku or Zuikaku made the Midway lineup, the battle probably would have been irretrievable for PacFleet.
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Just think this was only a few years ago…..What a downhill slide into a whole new America Thanks to Mike I Like the Thoughts...
Food for thought from a friend…and potential for compassionate adaptation.
Go USA!
Thankfully as a nation this crisis is causing us to reevaluate our priorities: faith, family, community and freedom; and seeing the easy dispatch of liberty also reignites that oft forgotten flickering flame…
Journalists are less important than janitors. Our nation's best athletes are healthcare workers rushing to assist those in need The true heroes are not celebrities, but rather farmers, truck drivers, stock clerks, and supermarket cashiers.
The most valuable businesses do not glitter or present themselves with self-congratulatory award shows; they do today what they have always done to keep our food supply flowing. Perhaps now, at least for a few short weeks, we stop taking them for granted.
Effective right now comfortably invisible workers are recognized as critical priorities; or as the government has officially designated them "essential services." These folks form the network of our lives; they always have, but we didn't notice. Everything else is less than.
The average hard-working American is worth more today than all those who chase the golden statues of Hollywood; and ultimately if they want to go down the superiority path… well, what they provide is essentially useless.
Florida Power and Light won the prestigious International Edward Demming award for excellence in multi-platform engineering and efficiency superiority. They didn't blow every PhD intellectual out of the water with slide rules, CAD programs and engineering acumen. They did it with hard hats and dirty fingernails.
Because they lost the award, the Japanese spent 6 months studying FPL and later published a 1,000 page dissertation essentially saying FPL "wasn't really good, they were just lucky"….. FPL field leadership laughed, took out markers and wrote on the back of their hard hats: "WE'RE NOT GOOD, WE'RE RUCKY"….
When every single Kuwaiti oil field was blown up by Saddam Hussein, they said it would take over five years to cap them all off and restart their oil pumping industry. The Kuwaitis and Saudis called Texans, who had them all capped and back in working order in ten months.
We are a nation that knows how to get shit done.
When the Northern Chile mine workers were trapped two miles underground, they said no-one could save them. Who did they call for help? A bunch of hick miners from USA coal country who went down there, worked on the fly, engineered the rescue equipment on site, and saved every one of them….
That's our America.
Don't lose sight of it.
When a half-breed Islamic whack job, armed with an AK-47 and a goal to meet his virgins, begins opening fire on a train in France, the Americans on board didn't run to the nearest safe room and hide themselves amid baguettes and brie. They said "let's go", and beat the stuffing out of that little nut with a death wish.
Legion d'Honneur or not, that's us. That's you.
That's just how we roll.
Lady Liberty can stroll along the Champs-Elysées with a swagger befitting Mae West because without her arrival they'd be speaking German in the Louvre. Yet for the better part of the past decades groups of intellectual something-or-others have been selling an insufferable narrative that it's better to be sitting around a campfire eating sustainable algae cakes and picking parasites off each other. Enough!
Ordinary people, just like you and me, gave their lives and crashed flight #93, a commercial airliner, into a field in Shanksville Pennsylvania so they could save our nation's capital. Yeah, I think we can wash our hands, quit touching our faces and stay inside for a few days.
In case you missed it, it wasn't FEMA driving jacked-up monster trucks into the flooded neighborhoods around Houston Texas to rescue people from their homes; it was a bunch of glorious rednecks assembled like the second division of the Cajun Navy… which also just happens to be a fabulous bunch of shallow water boat operators who convoy their gear voluntarily into the aftermath of hurricanes and floods.
That's America folks; in all her magnificent colorblind glory.
Git-r'-done ain't government.
Quoting from Bart Hall:
Truckers are saying "f--k the log rules, I'm hauling" and they're getting supplies to the stores. People are stocking the shelves all night and letting old people shop first. Folks are buying meals for truckers, who (obviously) can't go through the drive-ups. Asking 'em what they want, then buying it for them.
Carnival Cruise Line has told Trump "We can match those big Navy Hospital ships with some fully staffed cruise ships"
GM and Ford have said "hold our cars and watch this — we can make ventilators where we were just making car parts, starting next week" — by re-engineering seat ventilators which their engineers hacked together for a new purpose. In under a week.
In a project with which I'm loosely associated, a very-effective agricultural disease-control agent was re-purposed and re-labeled specifically for Corona-virus control by the FDA and EPA in under ten days, from initial request to distribution.
Restaurants and schools have said, "we've got kitchens and staff; we can feed the poor kids who used have school lunch."
NBA basketball players have said, "Hold our basketballs while we write checks to pay the arena staff."
Construction companies are saying, "Here are some high-end masks for medical staff and doctors".
Distilleries are making sanitizer out of distilling "heads and tails" which are normally discarded. Nasty shit to drink, but effective sanitizer.
People are tipping grocery check-out clerks and thanking them for taking the risk.
Local, state, and county governments are taking control of everything the feds cannot do. Some are doing it wrong, but for the first time in decades … they're doing it. Federalism is re-emerging, and the smallest unit of government is the individual and the family. This, too, is re-emerging after decades of dormancy.
As Japanese Admiral Isokuru Yamamoto said, after Pearl Harbor … "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve."
I sense this has just happened. We have a wonderful country, the greatest single force for good in all human history. We have closed our borders, with good reason, yet we have top medical people now assisting North Korea in their response to the virus.
Many things have been re-set, and will never be the same.
By microbiological accident, we are living in profoundly transformative historical times.
So I ask you a question, what part are you to play?
If you feel comfortable sitting in your socially distant box and bitching about all things that are not right, or might be not be right…. Or, if you prefer to allow yourself to be overcome with dark imaginings simply because what cannot be done is more comfortable than the effort to oversee what needs to be done…. well, that's okay.
You can do that.
And when you're done doing that you'll still be in the same place.
Or, you can check on older neighbors to make sure they are OK and make sure they have necessities. If older neighbors need something at the store, get it for them. Friends and neighbors who are anxious, send them a card or note with positive comments on it. Give people hope. If you don't want to send a card, send an e-mail checking up on people.
Order an extra lunch or dinner from a local restaurant just so you can give a tip to the delivery person who shows up at your door. Then stick the extra in the fridge and eat it tomorrow. We can do this.
No-one is saying this doesn't suck; but some people know that standing around bitching about the comparative values of current life in suckdom doesn't actually accomplish anything.
President Trump is doing what needs to be done; with far more information than me; and in the best manner he can assemble to keep America great. He does this while simultaneously swatting away thousands of piranhas biting at him on an hourly basis.
So again, ask yourself a question: what part are you to play?
Live your best life.
You only have this moment once.
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Thanks to Al.
Subject: Monday Morning Humor--May Day
As a world-wide day of celebration, May Day (the first of May) probably ranks second only to New Year's Day. Whereas everyone celebrates the New Year, albeit in different ways, May Day has many different customs depending on where in the world you live:
- The first day of summer
- Cross quarter day. Half way between the Vernal Equinox and Mid-Summer solstice
- Maypole dances in England
- Walpurgis Night (Germany and Scandinavia). - Bonfires and devil worship
- Labor Day - China and Russia hold formal parades
While May Day is now considered to be 1st May (or May 1st), Beltane or Walpurgis starts on the last evening of April and ends on 1st May. There is evidence that at in ancient times pagan celebrations occurred on the nearest full moon rather than the 1st of May. What is interesting is all the different drinks that people world-wide will use to toast May Day, for example beer in Bavaria (Germany), Sima
in Savonlinna (Finland), cider in Cornwall and mead in Merthyr (Wales).
Two yokels were driving to the next village's May Day Fair. They came to a sign that said: May Day Fair Left...so they turned around and went home!
A townie was looking for the May Day Fair, he stopped and asked Jethro. "Will this road take me to the May Day Fair?"
"Oh no," said Jethro.
"You'll have to go by yourself!"
Norman decides to take a balloon ride on offer at the local May Day Fair. The balloon and its customers drift along in the breeze, but eventually they are lost. Norman has no idea where he is, so when the gondolier takes the basket down to ten feet above ground he calls to a passer-by: "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where I am?"
After looking Norman up and down, the passer-by says: "You are in a red balloon, ten feet above ground."
The balloon's unhappy resident replied, "You must be a lawyer"
"How could you possibly know that?" asked the passer-by.
"Because your answer is technically correct but absolutely useless, and the fact is I am still lost".
"Then you must be in management", said the passer-by.
"That's right! How did you know?"
"You have such a good view from where you are, and yet you don't know where you are and you don't know where you are going. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now your problem is somehow my fault!"
Q: If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?
A: Pilgrims.
Q: What goes up when May rain comes down?
A: An umbrella.
Q: Why are oak trees so forgiving?
A: Every May they "turn over a new leaf".
While visiting Moscow last year, I didn't go to the May Day rally and parade. People said it would be perfectly safe, but I saw a lot of red flags.
At a May Day parade, a very old man carries a slogan, "Thank you, comrade Stalin, for my happy childhood!"
The Party representative approaches the old man. "What's that? Are you deriding our Party? Everybody can see, when you were a child, comrade Stalin was not yet born!"
"That's precisely what I'm grateful to him for!" the man said.
Happy May Day,
Al
Now the bright morning-star, Day's harbinger,
Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her
The flowery May, who from her green lap throws
The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose.
Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire
Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
Woods and groves are of thy dressing;
Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing.
Thus we salute thee with our early song,
And welcome thee, and wish thee long.—John Milton
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Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting Stan Katz the Author of The Emperor and the Spy.
It was a fantastic read about a part of the history of World War II and the events leading up to it that I had never read about prior or Since by any other author. If you can find a copy READ IT
Skip,
Great meeting you yesterday.
We're both passionate about US and World History.
By the way, below are two links to some information about that US Intelligence Agent Colonel Sidney Mashbir, who the historical novel, The Emperor and the Spy was written about. The one Paul recommended. Much appreciated if you kindly shared either one or both links to your friends who enjoy learning about unsung American heroes.
Best regards,
Stan S. Katz
https://theemperorandthespy.com/overview/
https://theemperorandthespy.com/reviews/
Below is a link to a Blog Post I wrote honoring the autobiography of a close friend of Colonel Mashbir.
I had the honor of meeting and interviewing the Colonel Robert F. Warren and his son, and assisted them in getting his autobiography completed.
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: US Mediates Azerbaijani-Armenian Talks
Washington is increasingly acting as a broker between the two countries.
By: GPF Staff
May 1, 2023
Nagorno-Karabakh talks. The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia will hold talks on Monday in the United States on their long-standing dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnically Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. The meeting will be mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also spoke by phone on Sunday with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The U.S. has been increasingly trying to negotiate a resolution to the dispute, which could irritate Moscow, the traditional mediator in the region. Relatedly, the Armenian subsidiary of Russia's Gazprom said it would suspend natural gas supplies to Armenia until May 4 to perform "planned repairs" to the North Caucasus-Transcaucasia pipeline.
Grain for sale. Ukraine still has about 12 million tons of grain waiting to be exported this year that may not make it to market, the director general of Ukraine's IMC agricultural company, Alex Lissitsa, said. He added that Ukraine's ability to export the grain is unclear because of uncertainty over the future of the Black Sea grain deal and a move by some European countries to ban Ukrainian grain imports. (The European Union said on Friday that it had reached "an agreement in principle" with five member-state governments to restore shipment of Ukrainian agricultural products through their territories.) According to Lissitsa, it will take six months to move all the remaining grain if the only available route for export is the Danube River.
First step. Turkmenistan has begun exporting liquified natural gas to Pakistan through Afghanistan. Some 50 tankers of gas have already been transported. It's the first step toward implementing the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, which has had trouble getting off the ground in part because the Taliban have reportedly not yet started construction on the Afghan portion of the pipeline. Russia said earlier this year that it was also interested in joining the project.
Kishida in Africa. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on a seven-day tour of Africa. On Sunday, he held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine and other issues. They pledged to boost cooperation on information-sharing and officially upgraded their bilateral ties to a strategic partnership. Kishida is also slated to visit Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique.
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A repeat from the List archives
Thanks to Carl
You have seen and heard all of the Cialis or Viagra commercials? But what really happens when you ask for help with an erection lasting more than 4 hours?
I walked into a drug store and asked to talk to a male pharmacist.
The woman I was speaking with said she was the only pharmacist and since she and her sister owned the store, there were no male employees. She asked if she could help me.
I said that I really would have preferred to speak with a male pharmacist.
She assured me that she was completely professional and whatever it was that I needed to discuss, I could be confident that she would treat me with a high level of professionalism.
I reluctantly agreed and began by saying, "As a shy man, this is tough for me to discuss, but here goes. I get erections every day that last more than four hours. This condition causes me a lot of problems and severe embarrassment. I was wondering what you could give me for it?"
The pharmacist said, "Just a minute, I'll talk to my sister."
When she returned, she said, "We discussed it at length and this is the absolute best we can do:
* 1/3 ownership in the store, * a company pickup truck, * a king-size bed and
* $3,000 a month in living expenses."
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We had an article about the power of a Moose a little while ago and I remembered this but could not find it. This morning I stumbled upon it while working on today's list. AWSOM
Moose thanks to Mike
If you think a train is impressive going through deep snow,...watch this!
http://i.imgur.com/aj4iuMB.gifv
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This Day in U S Military History…….May 1
1785 – Kamehameha I, the king of Hawaiʻi, defeats Kalanikūpule and establishes the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The Battle of Nuʻuanu, fought on the southern part of the island of Oʻahu, was a key battle in the final days of King Kamehameha I's wars to unify the Hawaiian Islands. It is known in the Hawaiian language as Kalelekaʻanae, which means "the leaping mullet", and refers to a number of Oahu warriors driven off the cliff in the final phase of the battle. The Battle of Nuʻuanu began when Kamehameha's forces landed on the southeastern portion of Oʻahu near Waiʻalae and Waikiki. After spending several days gathering supplies and scouting Kalanikupule's positions, Kamehameha's army advanced westward, encountering Kalanikupule's first line of defense near the Punchbowl Crater. Splitting his army into two, Kamehameha sent one half in a flanking maneuver around the crater and the other straight at Kalanikupule. Pressed from both sides, the Oʻahu forces retreated to Kalanikupule's next line of defense near Laʻimi. While Kamehameha pursued, he secretly detached a portion of his army to clear the surrounding heights of the Nuʻuanu Valley of Kalanikupule's cannons. Kamehameha also brought up his own cannons to shell Laʻimi. During this part of the battle, both Kalanikupule and Kaiana were wounded, Kaiana fatally. With its leadership in chaos, the Oʻahu army slowly fell back north through the Nuʻuanu Valley to the cliffs at Nuʻuanu Pali. Caught between the Hawaiian Army and a 1000-foot drop, over 400 Oʻahu warriors either jumped or were pushed over the edge of the Pali (cliff). In 1898 construction workers working on the Pali road discovered 800 skulls which were believed to be the remains of the warriors that fell to their deaths from the cliff above.
1944 – The Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, the 1st jet bomber, made its first flight.
1972 – North Vietnamese troops capture Quang Tri City, the first provincial capital taken during their ongoing offensive. The fall of the city effectively gave the communists control of the entire province of Quang Tri. As the North Vietnamese prepared to continue their attack to the south, 80 percent of Hue's population–already swollen by 300,000 refugees–fled to Da Nang to get out of the way. Farther south along the coast, three districts oof Binh Dinh Province also fell, leaving about one-third of the province under communist control. These attacks were part of the North Vietnamese Nguyen Hue Offensive (later called the "Easter Offensive"), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces designed to strike the blow that would win them the war. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to Quang Tri in the north, were Kontum in the Central Highlands, and An Loc farther to the south. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where they abandoned their positions in Quang Tri. At Kontum and An Loc, the South Vietnamese were more successful in defending against the attacks, but only after weeks of bitter fighting. Although the defenders suffered heavy casualties, they managed to hold their own with the aid of U.S. advisers and American airpower. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam into the summer months, but eventually the South Vietnamese forces prevailed against the invaders, retaking Quang Tri in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his Vietnamization program, which he had instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so U.S. troops could be withdrawn
2007 – First Silver Star Service Banner Day (SSSBD) sponsored by The Silver Star Families of America (SSFOA). SSFOA is a service banner organization dedicated to supporting and assisting our wounded, ill, injured and dying active duty and veterans and their families of ALL branches of service from ALL wars. May 1st is meant to be a day set aside to honor their service and sacrifice; to bring remembrance to those so deserving of our thanks. Since 2007, SSSBD has been observed by all 50 states (including over 3,000 cities, towns and counties), the District of Columbia and Guam. The day has also been endorsed by Resolutions in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as by the POTUS.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
MULLEN, PATRICK (Second Award)
G.O. No.: 62, 29 June 1865. Second award. Citation: Served as boatswain's mate on board the U.S.S. Don, 1 May 1865. Engaged in picking up the crew of picket launch No. 6, which had swamped. Mullen, seeing an officer who was at that time no longer able to keep up and was below the surface of the water, jumped overboard and brought the officer to the boat, thereby rescuing him from drowning, which brave action entitled him to wear a bar on the medal he had already received at Mattox Creek, 17 March 1865.
O'NEILL, STEPHEN
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company E, 7th U S. Infantry. Place and date: At Chancellorsville, Va., 1 May 1863. Entered service at: ——. Birth: St. Johns, New Brunswick. Date of issue: 28 September 1891. Citation: Took up the colors from the hands of the color bearer who had been shot down and bore them through the remainder of the battle.
SMITH, MAYNARD H. (Air Mission)
Rank and organization. Sergeant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 423d Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bomber Group. Place and date: Over Europe, 1 May 1943. Entered service at: Cairo, Mich. Born: 1911, Cairo Mich. G.O. No.: 38, 12 July 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty. The aircraft of which Sgt. Smith was a gunner was subjected to intense enemy antiaircraft fire and determined fighter airplane attacks while returning from a mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe on 1 May 1943. The airplane was hit several times by antiaircraft fire and cannon shells of the fighter airplanes, 2 of the crew were seriously wounded, the aircraft's oxygen system shot out, and several vital control cables severed when intense fires were ignited simultaneously in the radio compartment and waist sections. The situation became so acute that 3 of the crew bailed out into the comparative safety of the sea. Sgt. Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately. The escaping oxygen fanned the fire to such intense heat that the ammunition in the radio compartment began to explode, the radio, gun mount, and camera were melted, and the compartment completely gutted. Sgt. Smith threw the exploding ammunition overboard, fought the fire until all the firefighting aids were exhausted, manned the workable guns until the enemy fighters were driven away, further administered first aid to his wounded comrade, and then by wrapping himself in protecting cloth, completely extinguished the fire by hand. This soldier's gallantry in action, undaunted bravery, and loyalty to his aircraft and fellow crewmembers, without regard for his own personal safety, is an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS
FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR MAY 1 THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
1 May
1913: Army airplanes flew in their second maneuvers, when Lt Thomas DeWitt Milling in a Burgess tractor and Lt Roy C. Kirtland in a Wright airplane flew reconnaissance from Texas City for the 2d Division. Lt William C. Sherman and Lt Eric L. Ellington rode as observers with Milling and Kirtland, respectively. (24)
1925: Ward T. Orman and C.K. Wollam won the National Balloon Race at St. Joseph, Mo., landing at Reform, Ala., after covering a distance of 941.468 kilometers, or 584 miles. (24)
1934: Using a Berliner-Joyce OJ-2, Navy Lt Frank Akers made a blind (instrument only) landing at College Park to demonstrate a system designed for carrier use. (20)
1941: Barrage balloon operations transferred from the Air Corps to the Coast Artillery Corps.
1943: MEDAL OF HONOR: A bomber, with Sgt Maynard H. Smith as gunner, came under intense enemy fire while returning from a mission to enemy-occupied Europe. Smith, on his first mission, elected to fight a fire, administer first aid, man the waist guns, and fight intense flames alternately. For his actions, Sergeant Smith received his medal. (4)
1945: Operation CHOW HOUND. Eighth Air Force sent nearly 400 B-17s from England on a mercy mission to drop nearly 700 tons of food over German-occupied Holland. The Germans approved this flight and promised not to shoot down the bombers if they flew along specified routes. Eighth and RAF bombers flew five more "Chow Hound" missions during the next week and delivered nearly 7,900 tons of food. (7)
1958: The Air Force redesignated the Florida Missile Test Range as the Atlantic Missile Range. (6)
1959: Construction of the first Titan I launch and support facilities began at Lowry AFB. (6)
1960: Soviet air defenses shot down a U-2 from Incirlik AB while flying from Pakistan to Norway. They captured Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) pilot Francis Gary Powers near Sverdlovsk. (4)
1962: SECDEF Robert S. McNamara told the British that the US would not support the Thor squadrons in England after 31 October 1964. (6) Construction ended on the first squadron of Model A Minuteman I facilities at Malmstrom AFB. SAC also activated its third and last Model A squadron, the 490 SMS, there. (6)
1963: The Bell Helicopter Company successfully test flew its Wing Ding, a winged helicopter designed to lift heavy loads. The Air Force Weapons Laboratory established from R&D elements of the Air Force Special Weapons Center and became the tenant unit at Kirtland AFB, N. Mex. The USAF dedicated the General H. H. Arnold, the first Advanced Range Instrumentation Ship, at Port Canaveral. The 6511th Test Group (Parachute) dropped a full size test module of the Apollo manned spacecraft from a modified C-133 during the first test of the earth landing system. (3)
1964: PROJECT ADDED EFFORT to phaseout first-generation ICBMs began by taking the first Atlas-D off alert with the 576 SMS at Vandenberg AFB. (6) (12)
1965: The YF-12A (SR-71 prototype) set nine FAI records at Edwards AFB: 2,070.101 MPH for straightaway speed; 1,642 MPH for a 500-kilometer closed course; 1,688 MPH for a 1,000-kilometer closed course; and 80,257 feet for sustained altitude in horizontal flight. Col Robert L. Stevens and Lt Col Daniel Andre set two records, while Maj Walter F. Daniel and Capt James Cooney set the other two. (3) (9)
1967: A UH-1F helicopter in Ohio completed the first two-way communication to a NASA ground station in Australia via satellite relay. (16)
1968: ANG tactical refueling units completed a year of overseas duty on a continuous basis without mobilization. This was the first operation of its type in Guard and Reserve history. (26)
1974: For the first time, a KC-135 refueled a C-5 in an operational setting. (18)
1983: Operations BAHAMAS AND TURKS. MAC's Twenty-Third Air Force supported South Florida's Task Force on Organized Crime. Two 20 SOS H-1s and aircrews deployed from Hurlburt Field to the Bahamas, where they flew surveillance missions to help local police capture drug traffickers. In its first year, the task force seized or destroyed $114 million in cocaine, $179 million in Marijuana, ten vessels, and 17 aircraft, while apprehending 72 people. (2)
1992: Through 11 May, after race riots in Los Angeles, MAC aircraft airlifted troops, police, and their equipment to southern California. (26)
1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. The AFRC mobilized its first units to support this operation. Eventually the command called six tanker wings and one rescue wing to active duty. (21) Operation ALLIED FORCE. The 171 AREFW (Pennsylvania ANG) received an order to deploy about 400 personnel and 14 KC-135Es for this operation. Additionally, the ANG mobilized the 117 AREFW (Alabama), 128 AREFW (Wisconsin), 141 AREFW (Washington), 151 AREFW (Utah), and the 161 AREFW (Arizona). (32) Operation CORONET NIGHTHAWK. The Air National Guard shifted its drug interdiction program with fighter aircraft in the Caribbean region from Panama to Curacao with the pending closure of U.S. military bases in Panama. (32)
2001: The Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards AFB after a mission to the International Space Station to deliver a robotic arm, a multipurpose logistics module, and an UHF antenna. (3)
2003: END OF MAJOR IRAQI FREEDOM COMBAT OPERATIONS. President George W. Bush declared the major combat operations in Iraq to be over on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in a speech before 5,000 crewmembers. (22) END OF Operation NORTHERN WATCH. The Operation NORTHERN WATCH mission ended. Between 1 January 1997 and the final NORTHERN WATCH sortie on 17 March 2003, more than 100,000 American, British, Turkish, and French airmen had rotated through Incirlik AB to enforce UN Security Council resolutions north of the 36th parallel in Iraq. (22)
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