To All
Good Wednesday Morning August 16 2023.
A bit of history and some tidbits
Regards,
Skip
This Day in Navy and Marine Corps History:
August. 16
1822—USS Grampus investigates and pursues a brig flying Spanish colors. When called upon to surrender, the privateer brig Palmyra from Puerto Rico fires cannon and musket fire. USS Grampus fires back on Palmyra's broadsides reducing Palmyra's rigging to a complete wreck, killing one and wounding six. The brig surrenders with a crew of 88, one long 18-pounder gun and eight 18-pound carronades.
1863—During the Civil War, three Union ships, USS Rhode Island, USS De Soto and USS Gertrude each capture steamers loaded with cargoes of turpentine, cotton, tobacco, coffee, cigars and dry goods from the Bahama Islands to the Gulf of Mexico to Cuba.
1864—During the Civil War, USS Saratoga, commanded by Cmdr. George Colvocoresses, captures 100 prisoners and a quantity of arms on a raid into McIntosh County, GA. Cmdr.
1944—USS Croaker (SS 246) sinks Japanese auxiliary minesweeper, Taito Maru.
1954—Operation Passage to Freedom begins. The operation transports refugees from Haiphong to Saigon, Vietnam.
1958—USS Seadragon (SSN 584) launches at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
1986—USS Nevada (SSBN 733) is commissioned at Groton, CT. The Ohio-class ballistic-missile submarine is the fourth named after the Silver State.
2009—USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9) is christened and launched at San Diego, CA. The Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship is named to honor Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who led the expedition to open trading between the West and Japan.
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Today in World History August 16
1513 Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian defeat the French at Guinegatte, France, in the Battle of the Spurs.
1777 France declares a state of bankruptcy.
1780 American troops are badly defeated by the British at the Battle of Camden, South Carolina.
1812 American General William Hull surrenders Detroit without resistance to a smaller British force under General Issac Brock.
1858 U.S. President James Buchanan and Britain's Queen Victoria exchange messages inaugurating the first transatlantic telegraph line.
1861 Union and Confederate forces clash near Fredericktown and Kirkville, Missouri.
1863 Union General William S. Rosecrans moves his army south from Tullahoma, Tennessee to attack Confederate forces in Chattanooga.
1896 Gold is discovered in the Klondike of Canada's Yukon Territory, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1914 Liege, Belgium, falls to the German army.
1945 Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright, who was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Corregidor on May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria by U.S. troops.
1965 The Watts riots end in south-central Los Angeles after six days.
1977 Elvis Presley dies of a heart attack in the upstairs bedroom suite area of his Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
1984 The safe of the sunken ocean liner Andrea Doria is opened on TV after three decades, revealing cash and certificates but no other valuables.
1986 Sudanese rebels shoot down a Sudanese Airways plane, killing 57 people.
1987 Astrological alignment of sun, moon and six planets marks what believers maintain is the dawning of a New Age.
1988 IBM introduces artificial intelligence software.
1990 Iraq orders 2,500 Americans and 4,000 British nationals in Kuwait to Iraq, in the aftermath of Iraq's invasion of that country.
2012 In South Africa police fire on striking mine workers, killing at least 34.
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
Skip… For The List for Wednesday, 16 August 2023… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 16 August 1968… VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND… Meet Jim Knotts, President and CEO
This following work accounts for every fixed wing loss of the Vietnam War and you can use it to read more about the losses in The Bear's Daily account. Even better it allows you to add your updated information to the work to update for history…skip Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for
Wednesday, August 16th: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2978
Many of you know the pilot on this one
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 Boris ….more on the battler of Guadalcanal,
#4 "Year of the Carrier" RS Perspective
Since 7 Aug, The List has contained 3 posts on Operation Watchtower, the attack on Guadalcanal, the major initiative to leverage the victory at Midway and finally go on the offensive after Pearl Harbor. The first was an overview of the Cactus Air Force from rememberedsky.com; the second was Admiral Cox's H-Gram discussion on the night sea battle and US loss at Savo Island on the night of 8-9 August; and the third was an H-Gram summary of all Guadalcanal focused H-Grams from the admiral.
Noted by Admiral Cox, "The Battle of Midway in June 1942 stopped the Japanese advance, but the Guadalcanal campaign was the true turning point of the Pacific War." Prior to further posts on the campaign - particularly aviation related – this post offers some perspective on one, the final months of 1942 in the Pacific and two, thoughts on the lasting impact on naval aviation.
There are a multitude of reasons for the Guadalcanal campaign to be of more than just passing history:
1. How new and different the operational requirements of Operation Watchtower would prove to be - Midway didn't mean we had all the answers for carrier aviation or its support roles, particularly when tied to a "box" defined by staying close to an invasion/occupation site which then created significantly different requirements from open ocean ops
2. Combination, indeed intertwining and interdependence, of air, land, and sea operations in the face of significant deficiencies in intelligence, doctrine, and materiel
3. Relative overall equality of the forces (after the carrier Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands both sides were forced to retrench – the U.S. because of the loss of carriers, the Japanese through loss of aircraft and pilots)
4. Unusually large number (for World War I or II) of surface-to-surface naval battles. (although many think of Guadalcanal in terms of the land battles, there were more naval battles fought off the island in six months than the British Royal Navy fought in all of World War I)
5. Heightened manifestation of "fog of war" on both sides due to lack of meaningful intelligence (the code breaking of Midway was virtually non-existent), uncertain reconnaissance, bad weather, and the night operations of the Tokyo Express, all coupled with horrible communications
6. Sharp contrast between day and night operations, particularly considering Japanese training for night surface operations (the Japanese were more well trained and effective than the U.S. Navy)
7. Value and dynamics of land-based air on both sides
8. Learning necessary for both land and sea-based air in support of amphibious operations and their sustainment (bomber pilots were trained to attack ships not for close air support of ground troops in contact with the enemy)
9. First use coupled with miss-use by the U.S. with seaborne radar
10. Negative dynamics created by the need felt to protect the carriers compared with the protection of the Marine ground forces exacerbated further by the Japanese air and night sea bombardment of Henderson Field and the Marine "sense of abandonment by the Navy." Note: There were 5,041 U.S. Navy sailors killed in action in the campaign, compared to 1,592 U.S. Marines and soldiers which increases the unfairness at the relative historical and popular treatment of the two sides of this particular story.
11. Finally –just how hard this all turned out to be for both sides. Most striking as noted by Adm Cox is the virtual equality of the results — 24 ships on each side, with comparable tonnage. However, the meaning of this was very different for each side. It is worth highlighting how much the rough parity of carrier forces of the two sides contributed to the protracted nature of the overall bloody struggle for the island
"The American landings on Guadalcanal developed into the most sustained and vicious fight of the Pacific war…As its principal players would admit afterward, the puzzle of victory was solved on the fly and on the cheap, in terms of resources if not lives. The campaign featured tight interdependence among warriors of the air (both sea and land based), land, and sea. For the infantry to seize and hold the island, ships had to control the sea. For a fleet to control the sea, pilots had to fly both from sea and from the island's airfield. For the pilots to fly from the airfield, the infantry had to hold the island.
That tripod stood only by the strength of all three legs. In the end, though, it was principally a navy's battle to win. And despite the ostensible lesson of the Battle of Midway, which had supposedly crowned the aircraft carrier as queen of the seas, the combat sailors of America's surface fleet had a more than incidental voice in who would prevail. For most of the campaign, Guadalcanal was a contest of equals, perhaps the only major battle in the Pacific where the United States and Japan fought from positions of parity. Its outcome was often in doubt." James Hornfisher, Neptune's Inferno.
As noted, the Battle of Midway was critical to success in the Pacific, but the enemy has a say- the Japanese did not sea Midway as the U.S. did. Indeed, they viewed their losses as a bump in the road, and after realizing the intent at Guadalcanal, fully expected to push the invasion back and retake the island. In the end, they almost succeeded. Holding Guadalcanal was almost certainly the critical event in allowing the efforts of 1944 and 45.
Essential to this victory were the controversial decisions that allowed the small handful of CVs – Enterprise, Saratoga, Hornet and Wasp – to fight, survive, and hold on without a total early on loss that would have created disaster. Along with Lexington and Yorktown their operations development, execution, and associated decision making held-the line in 1942 until 1943 and the arrival of Essex class CVs;
In closing, it was one thing to defend Midway operating in open ocean; but being closely tied to the geography of an island and surrounding waters for providing air support was a whole other thing. With intelligence far inferior to that during Midway, staying in one general area exposed the carriers not only to being trapped on the land side if attacked from the sea, including submarine, and land-based air. There was much to be learned – at the expense of all participants.
For the learning and adaptation required in both an open ocean and island environment the CV ops of 42 are the real core of carrier aviation:
• 1) Implementation of the experimentation on the Langley under Admiral Reeves;
• 2) incorporation of the 20s and 30s battle problems lessons learned;
• 3) Employment of reasonable warfighting capability (Wildcat, Dauntless);
• 4) Development of operational capability on, over and from the sea , technology, and a training process that made CV aviation what it became by 44/45; and the basis for everything Naval Aviation does today
Indeed there are multiple articles indicating China is studying the subject in depth.
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More on Boyington from the archives
One addition from Skip
My father in Law ( a Marine who flew in the Banana wars in Nicaragua) knew and worked with Boyington. He did not like or respect the man and had a few stories. One I remember was about his drinking. There was no bridge between Coronado and San Diego in those days and one night Boyington missed the last boat to Coronado. So he decided to swim across. The men tried to stop him but he made it into the water and started across. My father in law could see he was not going to make it and jumped in and brought him back to shore about the time the shore patrol showed up and took him to the brig. He said he really regretted that move. My father in law went ashore during the Battle for Okinawa and was riding in a jeep with three other Marines when one of the tracked amphibious vehicles came up over a hill and crushed it. They were all left for dead by the side of the road sometime later a team came along to collect them when he groaned and they took him to the hospital ship and he ended up in the Long Beach hospital for many months……He worked for Convair in San Diego after the war. He had a picture with John Glenn who came to the plant to see the production line of the Atlas missile.
Thanks to Billy
Shadow, here's a tiny addendum to your Boyington story:
I met Boyington several times at airshows I was flying in. He was selling his book "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (I have a signed copy next to Saki's, the guy who claimed to have shot Boyington down prior to the POW experience. "Samuri" is a good read. He told me he should have convinced Martin Cadin to call it "Bye Bye Black Sheep" Actually, it was Jap pilot, Mike Kowato that knocked Boyington out of the sky.
After the war, Boyington apparently resented Joe Foss. Foss, as you know, with 26 kills became the leading Marine Ace of WWII. Boyington claimed 28 kills, but not all his were as a Marine pilot. He flew with the American Volunteer Group in China flying P-40s. There is some controversy as to his record as an AAG pilot.
Boyington wrestled in college and liked to get into fist-fights. He picked the wrong guy when he confronted Foss. Ol' Joe one-punched Boyington and knocked him out!
Incidentally, he didn't know his real name was Boyington until he signed up for the USMC! He was raised with the name Hallenbeck. Musta been some surprise at that late date!
I knew Joe & DiDi Foss well and we spent time t'gether living close in Scottsdale. Joe was amazing! He'd give public talks extemporaneously. No notes. He never gave the same talk twice. He had an uncanny ability to assess the group he was to speak to. Amazing!
I used to go shooting with him as well. He was the founder of our "Knights of the Round Engines" group. We meet from November thru March where we celebrate aviation greats: The Wright Brothers, Lindbergh, Rickenbacker, Doolittle, and after 2003, Joe Foss. Joe was 87 when a stroke shot him down.
My Dad's CPTP schools (Plains Airways) trained more than 10,000 pilots and mechanics for the war effort. One of his own students, C.K. "Buddy" Faught became a VMF-214 pilot, but was on the USS Franklin when the kamikaze's hit. Buddy was the sole survivor of the ready-room albeit losing his left leg. Here's Boyington signing his leg after the war. Joe signed it as well.
And Thanks to Micro
Shadow:
Thanks for repeating that story about Pappy Boyington and Fred Turnbull. Just a few days ago, two USNA Classmates of mine (one nuclear sub guy that was my Plebe year roommate and the other an F-4 USMC RIO that retired from the reserves as an O-6—Don Jackson) were drooling over emails about Boyington (it started with a video of Pappy's appearance on the old To Tell the Truth television program: https://youtu.be/oV3SAAtb3XY).
I told them he was universally reviled by anyone that knew him, particularly anyone that was in a Japanese prison camp with him. They wanted proof. I hunted and couldn't find the source (your treatise from a couple of years ago on The List), so I sent them some substitutes. This is what I sent to them, so you can see that it was really your story that I remembered, but I didn't know that at the time:
First, there's Bruce Gamble's book: Black Sheep One, which is on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-One-Gregory-Boyington/dp/0891418016. On that page, you can click on the author's name on the left side and find his other books, as well as his biography (he was an NFO in the 80's but medically retired in a wheelchair with a spinal problem).
And, second, an interesting back-and-forth on a web forum about Pappy is at this link: https://stephenesherman.com/greg-pappy-boyington-stories/. At that site, you really have to read the entire page because it's the epitome of "the internet" in that claims are made that can't be substantiated, claims are made that sound credible until someone that knows better chimes in, and there's at least a bit of a chance that some of the claims are being made by frauds that have weighed in on a subject they've just made stuff up about perhaps for years. So, you need to read everything to see how it comes out.
The original source I read (and it may have been in Gamble's book or an excerpt, but I didn't think so) discussed in greater detail Boyington's behavior in the Japanese prison camp. My recollection of that set of stories was that Boyington was able to get himself a prisoner job in the kitchen, where he helped himself to food and drink that he was helping prepare for the Japanese officers. He refused to risk that good deal by stealing food for his compatriots that were starving. After the war, he was hated (as one can imagine) by those compatriots that saw him getting kid-glove treatment for what they considered treasonous behavior. I recall at least one of them ran into him at an air show (where he and a Japanese ace set up shop to sell their books and autographs) and said something (I don't recall what it was) that clearly signaled that he knew Pappy's past as a collaborator. He said Pappy not only wouldn't answer him but left the area and stayed away from him.
Boyington, in his own book and whenever asked, admitted that he came out of the POW camp in better health than when he went into it. He then claims it's because he couldn't drink in there, but the truth is it's because he was getting fed far better than any other prisoner.
There were several other such stories, including what is generally agreed, that he exaggerated his kill count. No one really disputes that; however, the Marine Corps will not recognize Joe Foss as their top ace of all time because it would make them look bad.
Like McCain, if Pappy hadn't been a POW, which added to his fame (for those on the outside), he might have faded away. Also, as with McCain (I think McCain had 31 missions), if he'd had more combat experience, he might not have survived at all.
By the way, he was in combat for a total of one period of ten weeks (yes, less than three months). That was it. At that point, he was burned out, and that may have contributed to him getting shot down on that last mission. There is no reasonable dispute that as a squadron leader, other than his theft of booze and other such antics, he was good. But, as we all know, being a good pilot is only part of the responsibility.
As one fellow at one of the links above says, he was a lost soul. But he did not live up to the legend that surrounds him.
So, I was glad to get your repeat of the Fred Turnbull story in today's List. I promptly sent it on to them.
Thanks and all the best to you,
Micro
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
7 Contributions From Indigenous Nations That Changed America
The human history of the United States begins with Native Americans. After stewarding the land for generations, Indigenous peoples introduced Europeans to "new food plants, new drugs, new dyes, tobacco, unheard-of languages, novel modes of life," and much more, as the historian A. Irving Hallowell wrote back in 1957. Here's a look at just a few of the ways Indigenous peoples impacted American culture.
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Powhatan and Patuxet: Aided in the Survival of Early Settlers
The survival of America's first white settlements hinged on the knowledge of the native population. The settlers at Jamestown would have likely perished during the brutal winter of 1609-1610 were it not for the help of Powhatan captives, who managed 40 acres of maize. The same was true of the Mayflower pilgrims in Massachusetts, who learned how to plant corn thanks to the teachings of the famed Patuxent interpreter, Squanto. The settlers, however, did not return the favor, and continued to take more and more of the natives' land.
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Iroquois: Influenced Federal Power
Today, students are often taught that American democracy has its roots in ancient Rome or Greece. But the American republic also took cues from the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Philosophers like John Locke, whose writings influenced the creation of the United States, wrote with amazement about how the Iroquois Confederacy vested power in people, not a monarch. Meanwhile, Benjamin Franklin wrote letters to the Iroqouis, seemingly calling out how people incorrectly viewed them as "ignorant savages," and spent significant time learning about their federal-style government. In 1751, Franklin wrote, "It would be a strange thing if Six Nations of ignorant savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such an union, and be able to execute it in such a manner as that it has subsisted ages and appears indissoluble; and yet that a like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen English colonies."
The idea that the American republic was influenced by the Iroquois can be polarizing, and is often over- or understated. Some argue that American democracy was copy-and-pasted from the Six Nations. Others argue that the Iroqouis had no influence at all. Most historians, however, occupy a middle ground. "It is a fairly important idea that a great many societies and networks influenced American constitutional thought, the Iroquois among them," historian Gautham Rao tells Politifact.
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Pima: Developed Farm Irrigation
Without water, there can be no agriculture — and no civilization, for that matter. The Pima understood this challenge intimately. Around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, the nation developed sophisticated irrigation systems across the arid deserts of Arizona, making the region habitable. (And establishing life in what is now Phoenix.) Those technologies paid off. Today, agriculture first cultivated by Native Americans makes up 60% of the world's food supply, including pumpkins, cranberries, squash, pineapple, avocados, peanuts, and, of course, corn.
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Plains Indians: Initiated Early Sign Language
Native Americans communicated through sign language centuries before the development of ASL. First recorded in the 1520s, the system — now called Plains Indian Sign Language — was used as a lingua franca by dozens of native nations across the American continent, including the Navajo, Cree, and Crow. The system allowed disparate tribes — many of which spoke completely foreign languages — to communicate and trade. While American Sign Language would later take inspiration from multiple language systems, the sign language developed by Native Americans remains one the world's oldest and most widespread.
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Algonquin: Created Lacrosse
First played in southern Canada more than 200 years ago, early lacrosse games were a chaotic ballsport consisting of hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of participants at one time. When Europeans began settling on North America, some tribes used the game to win the newcomers' trust. In 1763, the Ojibwa people of Michigan used lacrosse as a Trojan Horse. With the British troops watching in the audience, the native athletes slowly worked their way to Fort Michilimackinac, and once they got close enough, they took the fort.
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Native Nations: Promoting Conservation
Writers often attribute the rise of the American conservation and environmental movement to Rachel Carson's 1962 book, Silent Spring. However, Native Americans have been promoting conservation since the beginning of time. In fact, some tribes, like the Anishinaabe, don't have a word for "conservation" because, to them, it's much more than a political philosophy — it's simply a fact of life. A 2019 U.N. report found that land managed by Indigenous populations had stronger biodiversity than land managed through modern agricultural methods.
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Native Nations: Shaped Modern-Day Words
You cannot drive around the United States or speak English without bumping into a Native American contribution. At least 26 state names have native origins, including Arkansas ("downstream people"), Mississippi ("great water"), and Ohio ("beautiful river"). English words that have native origins include "chipmunk," "hammock," "chocolate," "tequila," "canoe," and "opossum."
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Thanks to Brett
Geopolitical Futures:
Keeping the future in focus
Daily Memo: India, China and Setting the Right Expectations
With time, New Delhi has great potential to reduce Beijing's dominance.
By: Kamran Bokhari
Aug 16, 2023
The Chinese economy's extended tumble is undoubtedly being watched from India with glee and opportunism. Ever since India became the world's fifth-largest economy a year ago, there has been a lot of talk about its potential to replace China as the world's manufacturing hub. Realistically, the development gap between the two countries imposes serious limits on New Delhi's ability to take advantage of Beijing's dwindling fortunes. What is likely, however, is that India will adjust the way it does business so as to attract enough investments over the next several years to reduce some of the world's dependency on the Chinese industrial complex. How this unfolds will have a major bearing on U.S. national security and foreign policy in the coming decades.
The Biden administration is trying to curb U.S. investment in China. In some respects, this process was already underway; for example, U.S. venture capital investment in China has declined significantly since 2021. But Washington wants to go further, specifically to prevent Beijing from using American money to advance its military capabilities. So, on Aug. 9, the White House issued an executive order restricting investment in China in three strategic sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence.
In the short term, at least, the U.S. and Chinese economies are too interconnected for Washington to push this strategy very far. The sluggish Chinese economy is already hurting American corporations with major commercial interests there. In recognition of the economies' interdependence, the Treasury Department said it would exempt "publicly traded instruments and intracompany transfers from U.S. parents to subsidiaries." The U.S. well understands that China's enormous market share, acquired over decades, will not be easily reversed. After all, it was Washington's strategy dating back to the Cold War that played a key role in China's rise.
Over the longer term, countering China requires a reduction in the world's dependency on Chinese industry. This, in turn, requires other players to step up and offer serious competition to China. India is a logical contender, given not only its size and development but also its own hostile relations with China.
Unlike China, where the state dominates the private sector and can mobilize resources more quickly (even if the efforts eventually flounder, as they are currently), in the Western economic model investors must see a worthwhile return in order to invest. But just because China is looking unattractive does not make India the belle of the ball. It is up to India to take the steps to attract American investors. The process is underway, but it still needs time.
There is also a framing problem with the public debate on this issue. Generally, observers do not pay attention to a development until it is near maturation or has become a full-blown condition. Some have rightly pointed out the factors that could block India's path to becoming the next China, but they too are seeing the issue from the perspective of a desired end state. Evaluating India's growth potential requires examining it as a process – one that will have flaws similar to the struggles that China experienced during its rise.
Obviously, India is not going to replace China anytime soon. The People's Republic will remain a major producer of manufactured goods for a long time to come. But the Indians have great potential to reduce some of the dominance that the Chinese currently enjoy. The Indian government will have to overcome a number of bureaucratic obstacles to enact the reforms necessary to attract investment. Working in its favor is the fact that China's economic decline has investors spooked, and many are looking for alternative destinations for their cash.
Acceleration of this shift depends on the progress the Indian political elite can make in reducing the risks that have thus far limited firms' willingness to do business in the country. In particular, New Delhi will need to ensure that the rules of the game do not excessively advantage Indian companies; foreign firms will expect a level playing field. To what extent India over the coming years becomes a competitor to China is to a great degree a function of Indian political stability. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has the parliamentary majority to push through the necessary reforms, but it will have to work with state governments that it does not rule.
More important, the BJP will need to balance its geoeconomic imperative with the right-wing Hindu nationalist ideology that fuels its electoral base. For investors considering diversification away from China, reports of communal violence, such as the recent flare-ups in Manipur in the northeast and the areas around the national capital, are reason for pause. Investors are likely to think they are better off weathering the economic storm in China and managing the risks of U.S.-China tensions than trying to wade into the uncertainty of India.
These are not just challenges for India. They also represent hurdles for U.S. strategy, and Washington will need to work with New Delhi toward mitigation. The key is that the United States should not expect anything as grand as India becoming a substitute for China. The American approach will have to be gradual – if it's not already.
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Thanks to Carl N.
August 16th, 1960, Colonel Joseph William Kittinger II stepped away from his open gondola named "Excelsior" which was tethered to a massive helium balloon from an unbelievable altitude of 102,800 feet (31,300 m) above the surface of our Earth.
The atmospheric pressure was so low, that during the accent, Joe's pressurization in his right glove malfunctioned, and his right hand swelled to twice its normal size.
Taking that one giant step, Joe free fell for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, slamming into the thicker atmosphere below at speeds up to 614 miles per hour (988 km/h) before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet.
Joseph William Kittinger II was decorated with a second Distinguished Flying Cross, and awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower Kittinger later served three combat tours of duty during the Vietnam War, flying a total of 483 combat missions.
May 11, 1972 and just before the end of his third tour of duty. While flying an F-4D, Kittinger and his wingman were chasing a MiG-21 when Kittinger's Phantom II was hit by an air-to-air missile from another MiG-21 that damaged the Phantom's starboard wing and set the aircraft on fire. Kittinger and 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich ejected a few miles from Thai Nguyen and were soon captured and taken to the city of Hanoi.
Kittinger and Reich spent 11 months as prisoners of war (POWs) in the Hỏa Lò Prison, the so-called "Hanoi Hilton"
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From Galloping Gates to the Gulf of Sidra by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
This Week in American Military History
Aug. 15, 1845: The War Department transfers Fort Severn, Annapolis to the Navy Department, specifically the new Naval School under Commander Franklin Buchanan.
The U.S. Naval Academy is established.
Franklin, who serves as the school's first superintendent, is destined to become an admiral in the Confederate Navy.
Aug. 15, 1945: Japanese Emperor Hirohito broadcasts his surrender message to the Japanese people, a portion of which reads:
"…the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interests. The enemy, moreover, has begun to employ a new most cruel bomb, the power which to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking toll of many innocent lives. Should we continue to fight, it would only result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation … but would lead also to the total extinction of human civilization."
Hours before the radio broadcast, Japanese Army Maj. Kenji Hatanaka – leading a group of diehards opposed to surrender – attempts a coup to prevent the broadcast. The coup fails. Hatanaka commits suicide.
Aug. 16, 1780: The Battle of Camden (S.C.) – one of the worst tactical blunders on the part of the Continentals during the American Revolution – opens between British Army forces under the command of Gen. Sir Charles Cornwallis and Continental Army forces under Gen. Horatio Gates.
Though the Americans will be decisively defeated at Camden – thanks to Gates' improperly positioning inexperienced militia against seasoned regiments of the regular British Army, as well as his complete loss of tactical control – the battle will prove to be something of a highwater mark for British forces in the southern colonies (after Camden, it's pretty much downhill for the British).
Gates himself will break and run, earning him the nickname, "Galloping Gates." But the heroics of many of the ill-fated albeit last-standing Continental officers and men (like Gen. Johann Baron de Kalb) will prove to be exemplary. And Gen. George Washington – always able to recover from strategic setbacks – will choose the exceptionally able Gen. Nathanael Greene as Gates' replacement.
Aug. 16, 1940: Soldiers with the U.S. Army's parachute test platoon begin jumping over Fort Benning, Georgia. The airborne exercise (actually more of an experiment) is the first for the Army.
In 2001, Pres. George W. Bush will proclaim "August 16" of each year as National Airborne Day.
Aug. 17, 1942: Ahoy Raiders! U.S. Marine Raiders strike Makin Island in the Gilberts.
Sgt. Clyde Thomason, killed during the fighting, will become the first Marine in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor.
Aug. 17, 1943: U.S. Army Gen. George Smith Patton Jr. beats his British Army counterpart Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery to the gates of Messina, Sicily, in what Patton had purportedly referred to as "a horse race in which the prestige of the U.S. Army is at stake."
Aug. 19, 1812: In one of the most dramatic sea battles of the War of 1812, the frigate USS Constitution engages and captures the smaller frigate HMS Guerriere in a contest of broadsides and close-quarters combat between opposing crews of sailors and Marines (the American leathernecks pouring a terrific fire into the unfortunate British officers and men aboard Guerriere).
According to the Naval Historical Center, "Despite the rational excuse that Royal Navy frigates were not as large and powerful as their American counterparts, the real causes of these outcomes were inspired seamanship and vastly better gunnery. For the rest of the 19th Century, long after the War of 1812 was over, America's Navy was credited with an effectiveness that went well beyond its usually modest size."
Constitution (known affectionately as "Old Ironsides") is the oldest ship in the American Navy. Launched in 1797, she serves today as a duly commissioned ship crewed by active-duty U.S. sailors and Naval officers in order to further public awareness of American Naval tradition.
Aug. 19, 1981: One-hundred-sixty-nine years to the day after the victory over HMS Guerriere, the U.S. Navy – specifically two F-14 Tomcats -- knocks down two Libyan Su-22 fighters over the Gulf of Sidra.
Aug. 21, 1863: Confederate guerillas under the command of William Clark Quantrill (operating outside of the control of regular Confederate forces) launch a bloody raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
Quantrill – who purportedly once served in the Missouri State Guard – is widely considered a brigand and a cutthroat. That reputation continues today. To some, however, he remains a folk hero.
Aug. 21, 1942: Just after 3:00 a.m., "Banzai"-screaming Japanese assault forces – primarily members of the elite Japanese Special Naval Landing forces – attack U.S. Marine positions on Guadalcanal in what will become known as the Battle of the Tenaru River.
The first wave is momentarily slowed as the Japanese struggle to get through the Marines' barbed wire and American rifle machinegun fire rip into their ranks. At one point, the enemy breaks through and the fighting degrades into a savage hand-to-hand struggle with knives, machetes, swords, rifle butts, and fists. The Marines kill scores and hold their positions.
Subsequent Japanese attacks follow, but all are beaten back with heavy losses.
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This Day in U S Military History
1812 – During the War of 1812, American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit and his army to the British without a fight. Hull, a 59-year-old veteran of the American Revolution, had lost hope of defending the settlement after seeing the large English and Indian force gathering outside Detroit's walls. The general was also preoccupied with the presence of his daughter and grandchildren inside the fort. Of Hull's 2,000-man army, most were militiamen, and British General Isaac Brock allowed them to return to their homes on the frontier. The regular U.S. Army troops were taken as prisoners to Canada. With the capture of Fort Detroit, Michigan Territory was declared a part of Great Britain and Shawnee chief Tecumseh was able to increase his raids against American positions in the frontier area. Hull's surrender was a severe blow to American morale. In September 1813, U.S. General William Henry Harrison, the future president, recaptured Detroit. In 1814, William Hull was court-martialed for cowardice and neglect of duty in surrendering the fort, and sentenced to die. Because of his service in the revolution, however, President James Madison remitted the sentence
1863 – U.S.S. Pawnee, Commander Balch, escaped undamaged when a floating Confederate torpedo exploded under her stern, destroying a launch, shortly after midnight at Stono Inlet, South Carolina. Four hours later, another torpedo exploded within 30 yards of the ship. In all, four devices exploded close by, and two others were picked up by mortar schooner C. P. Williams. In addition, a boat capable of holding 10 torpedoes was captured by Pawnee. Commander Balch informed Rear Admiral Dahlgren that the torpedoes were ingenious and exceedingly simple" and suggested that 'they may be one of the means" which the Confederates would use to destroy Northern ships stationed in the Stono River. The threat posed by the torpedoes floating down rivers caused grave concern among Northern naval commanders, and Dahlgren came to grips with it at once. Within 10 days, Lieutenant Commander Bacon, U.S.S. Commodore McDonough reported from Lighthouse Inlet that a net had been stretched across the Inlet "for the purpose of stopping torpedoes. . . ."
1896 – Sometime prospector George Carmack stumbles across gold while salmon fishing along the Klondike River in the Yukon. George Carmack's discovery of gold in that region sparked the last great western gold rush, but it was pure chance that he found it. In contrast to the discoverers of many of the other major American gold fields, Carmack was not a particularly serious prospector. He had traveled to Alaska in 1881 drawn by the reports of major gold strikes in the Juneau area, but failing to make a significant strike, he headed north into the isolated Yukon Territory. There he spent his days wandering the wilderness with the friendly Tagish Indians and fishing for salmon. On this day in 1896, Carmack and two Tagish friends were salmon fishing on Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River. As he habitually did, Carmack occasionally stopped to swirl a bit of the river sand in his prospector's pan. He had seen a little gold, but nothing of particular note. At day's end, the men made camp along the creek, and Carmack said he spotted a thumb-sized nugget of gold jutting out from the creek bank. The two Tagish Indians later said that Carmack had been napping that evening and one of them found the nugget while washing a dishpan. Regardless, further investigation revealed gold deposits "lying thick between the flaky slabs of rock like cheese in a sandwich." Subsequent expeditions in the spring and summer of the following year turned up other sizeable gold deposits. In part, because the summer of 1897 was a slow one for news, the major mass-circulation newspapers played up the story of the gold strikes, sparking a nationwide sensation. In the years to come, as many as 50,000 eager gold seekers arrived in the Klondike-Yukon region. Few found any wealth, though their hardships and adventures inspired the highly romanticized Yukon tales of Jack London and the poems of Robert Service. Carmack did get rich, reportedly taking a million dollars worth of gold out of his Klondike claims and retiring to Vancouver, B.C. He died in 1922 at the age of 61, a wealthy and honored benefactor of the city.
1942 – The US Navy L-8 patrol blimp crash-landed at 419 Bellevue St., Daly City, Ca., after drifting in from the ocean. The ship's crew, Lt. Ernest Dewitt Cody (27) and Ensign Charles E. Adams (38), were missing and no trace of them was ever found.
1945 – The Emperor issues an Imperial Rescript (decree) at 1600 hours (local time) ordering all Japanese forces to cease fire. The Cabinet resigns. General Prince Higashikumi becomes the prime minister of Japan and forms a new government. He orders the Imperial Army to obey the Emperor's call and lay down their arms.
1960 – Air Force COL Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that held until 2012: High-altitude jump, free fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.
1972 – U.S. fighter-bombers fly 370 air strikes against North Vietnam, the highest daily total of the year; additionally, there are eight B-52 strikes in the North. Meanwhile, U.S. warplanes flew 321 missions (including 27 B-52 strikes) in South Vietnam, mostly in Quang Tri province. Despite this heavy air activity, hopes for an agreement to end the war rise as Henry Kissinger leaves Paris to confer with President Thieu and his advisers.
2001 – Zacarias Moussaoui (33), a French citizen of Moroccan descent, was arrested in Minneapolis on immigration charges. He was taking lessons on flying Boeing jets with no interest in taking off or landing. He was later suspected as a 5th member of one of the Sep 11 WTC attack teams. In Nov the FBI reported that Moussaoui wanted to learn how to take off and land but not to fly. Mueller also said Ramzi Omar of Yemen, aka Ramsi Binalshibh, may have been the 20th hijacker. The local FBI contacted the CIA for action on Moussaoui when FBI managers failed to take action. Agent Coleen Rowley later charged that senior officials fumbled an opportunity to possibly prevent the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
* HARDENBERGH, HENRY M.
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 39th Illinois Infantry. Place and date: At Deep Run, Va., 16 August 1864. Entered service at: Bremen, Ill. Birth: Noble County, Ind. Date of issue: 6 April 1865. Citation. Capture of flag. He was wounded in the shoulder during this action. He was killed in action at Petersburg on 28 August 1864.
KELLY, THOMAS
Rank and organization: Private, Company A, 6th New York Cavalry. Place and date: At Front Royal, Va., 16 August 1864. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Ireland. Date of issue: 26 August 1864. Citation: Capture of flag.
SHELLENBERGER, JOHN S.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company B, 85th Pennsylvania Infantry. Place and date: At Deep Run, Va., 16 August 1864. Entered service at: Perryopolis, Pa. Birth: ——. Date of issue: 6 April 1865. Citation: Capture of flag.
BURNETT, GEORGE R.
Rank and organization. Second Lieutenant, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N. Mex., 16 August 1881. Entered servlce at: Spring Mills, Pa. Birth. Lower Providence Township Pa. Date of issue: 23 July 1897. Citation. Saved the life of a dismounted soldier, who was in imminent danger of being cut off, by alone galloping quickly to his assistance under heavy fire and escorting him to a place of safety, his horse being twice shot in this action.
WALLEY, AUGUSTUS
Rank and organization: Private, Company I, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N. Mex., 16 August 1881. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Reistertown, Md. Date of issue: 1 October 1890. Citation: Bravery in action with hostile Apaches.
WILLIAMS, MOSES
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company I, 9th U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At foothills of the Cuchillo Negro Mountains, N. Mex., 16 August 1881. Entered service at. ——. Birth: Carrollton, La. Date of issue: 12 November 1896. Citation: Rallied a detachment, skillfully conducted a running flght of 3 or 4 hours, and by his coolness, bravery, and unflinching devotion to duty in standing by his commanding officer in an exposed position under a heavy fire from a large party of Indians saved the lives of at least 3 of his comrades.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for August 16, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
16 August
1909: The Acting Secretary of the Navy disapproved a Navy Bureau of Equipment request to advertise for "two heavier than air flying machines," because the airplane's development had not progressed sufficiently for use in the Navy. (29)
1916: A group of American pilots fighting with the French set up the "Lafayette Escadrille."
1922: The Sperry airway light beacon demonstrated at McCook Field. (24)
1927: Art C. Goebel and Lt William V. Davis (USN) won the Dole Oakland-Honolulu race in 26 hours 17 minutes in the Woolaroc, a small single-engine monoplane. It was named after the Woolaroc Ranch in northeastern Oklahoma, the retreat of oilman Frank Phillips. Of the eight aircraft beginning the race, only the Woolaroc and one other plane completed the flight. Ten people died in the event. (24)
1947: Physicist Martin Pomerantz announced at Swarthmore College that four free balloons carried cosmic ray equipment to a record height between 127,000 and 129,000 feet. (24) A production-model Convair B-36A flew for the first time. (24)
1948: Northrop's XF-89 Scorpion made its first flight at Edwards AFB. (12)
1949: The Berlin Airlift carried a record 12,940 tons of supplies in 24-hours. 1950: KOREAN WAR. On a 27-square-mile area near Waegwan, South Korea, 98 B-29s dropped more than 800 tons of bombs on suspected enemy troop concentrations. This attack was the largest employment of heavy bombers against ground forces since World War II's Normandy invasion. (21) (28)
1960: Capt Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. reached the highest altitude ever reached by man in unpowered flight. His 200-foot-diameter, helium-filled polyethylene balloon, with an open gondola, carried him to 102,800 feet over New Mexico. He then parachuted in free fall for 4 1/2 minutes, at speeds above 600 MPH, before opening his parachute at 17,500 feet. The jump took 13 minutes 8 seconds. (9) (24)
1965: MACKAY TROPHY. TAC's 464 TCW received the 1964 trophy for its November 1964 airlift of 1,500 hostages and refugees from rebel-held territory in the Congo.
1968: The first Boeing LGM-30G Minuteman III ICBM launch from Cape Kennedy succeeded. (6) (12)
1969: Darryl Greenaymer, a civilian test pilot, flew a Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat to a FAI record of 482.462 MPH for piston-engine planes on a 3-kilometer course at Edwards AFB. (3) (9)
1970: A C-5A Galaxy flew a 20.5-hour nonstop flight without refueling in the longest endurance mission for the world's largest aircraft of the time. The C-5A traveled more than 7,000 miles from Edwards AFB to Seattle, Bangor, Atlanta, and back to Edwards AFB, touching the four corners of the US. (3)
1972: The Air Force and Navy signed an agreement for joint participation in the F-15 engine program at the Pratt & Whitney plant in East Hartford, Conn. (12)
2002: GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR. The USAF extended the mobilization of over 14,000 Guardsmen and Reservists, mostly security forces, into a second year of this conflict. (32)
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