To All,
Good Sunday morning September 17, 2023
I hope that your weekend is going well.
Regards
Skip
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History Thanks to NHHC
September. 17
1787 The Continental Convention signs the Constitution of the United States at Philadelphia, Pa., replacing the Articles of the Confederation. Named in honor of the Constitution, USS Constitution is launched in 1797 and to date is the world's oldest commissioned U.S. Navy ship in service.
1852 A party of Marines from USS Jamestown land at Buenos Aires, Argentina, to protect Americans during a revolution. During this time, USS Jamestown serves as part of the Brazil Squadron.
1861 During the Civil War, a landing party from USS Massachusetts takes possession of Ship Island, Miss., forcing the Confederates to evacuate.
1902 Landing parties of Marines and Sailors from the sternwheel gunboat USS Cincinnati go ashore at Coln, Panama (later Colombia) to protect American property during a period of unrest.
1944 The Naval Task Force under Rear Adm. William H. P. Blandy lands Army troops on Angaur, Palau Islands, supported by Navy carrier aircraft from USS Wasp (CV 7)and shore bombardment from USS Tennessee. Two days later, Marines land. On Sept. 20, the island is declared secure.
2011 USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1) is christened and launched at Mobile, Ala. The joint high-speed vessel provides rapid transport of military equipment and personnel in theater.
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Today in World History September 17
1787 The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia approves the constitution for the United States of America.
1796 President George Washington delivers his "Farewell Address" to Congress before concluding his second term in office.
1862 The Battle of Antietam in Maryland, the bloodiest day in U.S. history, commences. Fighting in the corn field, Bloody Lane and Burnside's Bridge rages all day as the Union and Confederate armies suffer a combined 26,293 casualties.
1868 The Battle of Beecher's Island begins, in which Major George "Sandy" Forsyth and 50 volunteers hold off 500 Sioux and Cheyenne in eastern Colorado.
1902 U.S. troops are sent to Panama to keep train lines open over the isthmus as Panamanian nationals struggle for independence from Colombia.
1903 Turks destroy the town of Kastoria in Bulgaria, killing 10,000 civilians.
1916 Germany's "Red Baron," Manfred von Richthofen, wins his first aerial combat.
1917 The German Army recaptures the Russian Port of Riga from Russian forces.
1939 With the German army already attacking western Poland, the Soviet Union launches an invasion of eastern Poland.
1942 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meets with Soviet Premier Josef Stalin in Moscow as the German Army rams into Stalingrad.
1944 British airborne troops parachute into Holland to capture the Arnhem bridge as part of Operation Market-Garden. The plan called for the airborne troops to be relieved by British troops, but they were left stranded and eventually surrendered to the Germans.
1947 James Forestall is sworn in as first the U.S. Secretary of Defense.
1957 The Thai army seizes power in Bangkok.
1959 The X-15 rocket plane makes its first flight.
1962 The first federal suit to end public school segregation is filed by the U.S. Justice Department.
1976 The Space Shuttle is unveiled to the public.
1978 Egypt and Israel sign the Camp David Accords.
1980 Nationwide independent trade union Solidarity established in Poland.
1983 Vanessa Williams becomes the first black Miss America; relinquished crown early after scandal over nude photos.
2001 The New York Stock Exchange reopens for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers; longest period of closure since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
2006 Alaska's Fourpeaked Mountain erupts for the first time in at least 10,000 years.
2011 Occupy Wall Street movement calling for greater social and economic equality begins in New York City's Zuccotti Park, coining the phrase "We are the 99%."
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1862
Battle of Antietam breaks out
Beginning early on the morning of September 17, 1862, Confederate and Union troops in the Civil War clash near Maryland's Antietam Creek in the bloodiest single day in American military history.
The Battle of Antietam marked the culmination of Confederate General Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the Northern states. Guiding his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River in early September 1862, the general daringly divided his men, sending half of them, under the command of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, to capture the Union garrison at Harper's Ferry.
President Abraham Lincoln put Major General George B. McClellan in charge of the Union troops responsible for defending Washington, D.C., against Lee's invasion. Over the course of September 15 and 16, the Confederate and Union armies gathered on opposite sides of Antietam Creek.
Fighting began in the foggy dawn hours of September 17. As savage and bloody combat continued for eight hours across the region, the Confederates were pushed back but not beaten, despite sustaining some 15,000 casualties.
By the time the sun went down, both armies still held their ground, despite staggering combined casualties–nearly 23,000 of the 100,000 soldiers engaged, including more than 3,600 dead. McClellan's center never moved forward, leaving a large number of Union troops that did not participate in the battle.
On the morning of September 18, both sides gathered their wounded and buried their dead. That night, Lee turned his forces back to Virginia.
Lincoln issued his preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, that declared slaves in rebel territories "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
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ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED Thanks to the Bear … Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (1965-1968)…
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Friday, September 15
Skip… Post for 17 September 1968 inexplicably deleted from the RTR archives…
Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻… No post for Sunday, 17 Sept 2023…
Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for Sunday, September 17
September 17th: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=806
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
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend last week and I forgot to forward. The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
By: Kipp Hanley
AUGUST 15, 2022
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Thanks to Barrett
I've shared the Corrigan item with my aviation group, adding this:
Reminds me:
Allegedly a Miramar F-8 aviator ran out of JP far offshore and exercised the black & yellow handle.
Time passed.
Eventually he fetched up at the Long Green Table, invited to explain himself.
IIRC he claimed that his gyro compass malfunctioned and he couldn't read the wet compass on the canopy bow
because...
wait for it...
here it comes...
THE SETTING SUN WAS IN HIS EYES.
Note from skip
We had a young gent who was on his first solo in the F-8 (no instructor pilot tucked alongside).. It was a beautiful day but had a lot of haze and visibility was only a couple of miles. He was out over the water south west of Miramar.having trouble finding his way back to Miramar. He was on base radio and was getting help Sort of. Someone told him to fly east and he would hit land and be able to see the Salton sea. So he did and told us that he could see water just over the coast and there were some islands in it. Every one yelled that that he was too far south and to turn north because there were no islands in the Salton Sea. He ended up ejecting and his aircraft landed in the water at the north end of the Salton sea. The Mexicans gave him back to us at the border a bit later. The tail of the F-8 was sticking out of the water for a bit . I do not remember that we salvaged anything from it . Scott 'Ruby might know.
What became part of every brief after that was you do not head east but northeast to return to Miramar from the warning areas
skip
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Thanks to Carl
Two Eccentric Brothers &Their Eccentric Car
Inventive genius Daniel Hungerford stands at the business end of his "Shirley Lois Moon Girl" Rocket Car, named after his daughter Shirley, circa 1930.
By David Setterland
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndxWCBwqUE
Around a century ago, in a little town 15 miles south of Seneca Lake, the largest of western New York's Finger Lakes, two brothers, Daniel and Floyd, were hard at work in a machine shop at 823 West Second Street making parts on their lathe and milling machines. The town was Elmira, about seven miles north of the Pennsylvania line. Meanwhile, not far away in another little town of Hammondsport, New York, lived an early pioneer in the aviation and motorcycle industry who had become quite popular and well known. His knowledge of building engines for airplanes rivaled that of the Wright Brothers. None other than Alexander Graham Bell considered him "the greatest motor expert in the country." Glenn Curtiss, whose many aircraft companies would later help form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, became the talk of many men and somewhat of a hero in setting speed records. With Hammondsport located at the southern tip of Silver Lake, just west of Lake Seneca, I am sure the pioneer Curtiss influenced the brothers Daniel and Floyd Hungerford.
A biography (HERE) of the Hungerford brothers was produced in 2013 by the New York State Museum. The brothers are shown holding their rocket engine.
The town of Elmira was known for building fire apparatus and also airplane gliders. In their daily work, the Hungerford brothers fixed the gliders and made parts for them, and Daniel was himself a glider pilot. (The Hungerford brothers could be compared with the Apperson brothers of Kokomo, Indiana who built the third internal-combustion-powered automobile in the United States for Elwood Haynes, named the Pioneer.) The brothers decided to build a car more powerful than any ever built. They called it the Hungerford Rocket Car. Built largely of cardboard and linoleum (Daniel saying he wanted to exit quickly in case of an emergency) on the chassis of a 1921 Chevrolet, the brothers designed the body aerodynamically round in the front with plenty of windows down both sides and wrapping around the front. Appearing to be almost 30 feet in length, it had a rounded tube-like body set on four wheels. The brothers used a gasoline engine to power the car up to speeds of about 50 mph on local roads, but also had a rocket engine in the back that they could use for extra speed in straight road racing. The rocket engine was not as powerful as it looked, providing a top speed of 70 miles per hour.
America's strangest car, the Hungerford Rocket, was freely roaming the streets of little Elmira, New York in 1929. Don't miss the video of that later in this article.
The Hungerford Rocket was America's first automobile that was a success using a rocket engine for faster speeds when needed. The state of New York did allow the Hungerford Rocket to be registered and driven on the local roads. The brothers had a special rocket hookup with pumps built by Gould Pumps of Seneca Falls, NY. The prototype was the only car the Hungerford brothers built. Sadly, they were prevented from hooking up the rocket engine and actually using it on the street, as one historian wrote in the Encyclopedia of World Cars.
The last exhibition of the Hungerford Rocket Car took place at Colussy's Airport at Coudersport, Pennsylvania on July 29, 1934. The rocket was fired up in a last attempt to find backers for production of the car.
The Standard Catalog of American Cars reports that the Rocket Car was driven thousands of miles in the hope of the Hungerford brothers to start building more. They finished building it in 1929, and possibly the ensuing depression made it impossible for them to reach that goal. Kimes & Clark wrote that the Hungerford brothers were a thesis for the aerodynamic teardrop school of design. A quote from Daniel Hungerford said "If we used a Duesenberg or Locomobile chassis, we could have added a second, third or possibly a fourth rocket engine to it." Having the small Chevy chassis, they only had room for one rocket, and the highest speed was only 70 miles per hour, but extra rocket engines could have made it go much faster.
Hidden Landmarks: Hungerford Rocket Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ndxWCBwqUE
The Hungerfords lent the Rocket Car to George Mapes, a young man who had worked for them, who used it to commute to nearby Champlain College for his second year of study. Hungerford stopped using the car in 1932 after failing to find anyone to sponsor further development and production. It sat in his back yard until being rescued in 1960, then restored by Ralph Hodge and Keith Marvin. It is now on display in the New York State Museum collection in Albany.
The Hungerfords were certainly ahead of their time. Famed rocket designer Robert Goddard had only tested his first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926, and Werner Von Braun wouldn't start testing rockets in Germany until 1934. Given his credentials, Daniel received an excellent offer to work for Bell Aircraft shortly before WWII but, as with most creative geniuses, would never consider working for someone else. After the Rocket Car, the Hungerford's lives became even more intriguing. Like a true visionary, Daniel said "There are practically no inventions at present suited to explore the universe. I see man's destiny as involving the conquest of space and the occupation of the stars. Invention along this line is unlimited." He drew up plans for a three-stage rocket ship that would take man to the moon and beyond. Correctly realizing how much liquid fuel that would take (witness the enormous first stage of today's rockets), he and his brother Floyd proposed using the earth's magnetic field for an "electromagnetic space drive." He vigorously pursued funding for this from Grumman Aircraft, NASA, and other organizations, but with no success.
The brother's highest recognition during their lifetime perhaps came from a letter they sent to the "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" radio program in 1934. Buck Rogers read it over the air, complimenting them with "Because of your interest in rocket motors I feel that you are doing humanity a real service. Rocket airplanes, rocket automobiles, etc. will undoubtedly be the next great important development in transportation. They are on the way."
Always dreamers, Floyd passed away in December, 1963, and his brother Daniel in 1968.
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
7 Amazing Facts About Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island, known colloquially as "The Rock," was once the most notorious prison in the United States. Located 1.25 miles offshore from San Francisco, the island saw Civil War prisoners in the 1860s, mob bosses in the 1930s, and much more. Today, it's one of the Bay Area's most popular tourist attractions, and an on-island museum tells the story of the prison's past. These seven facts span the many ages of Alcatraz and reveal how it became one of the most infamous sites in American history.
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The Word "Alcatraz" Means "Pelican" in Archaic Spanish
In 1775, Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala became the first European to sail into San Francisco Bay. He named the bay and its islands, including one he called "Alcatraces." Although the island's name was anglicized over the decades, its origin is widely believed to mean "pelican" or "strange bird." The island was once a particular hot spot for California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus), which were so plentiful in the 19th century that one French observer noted that when a group of pelicans took off in flight, it created winds like a hurricane. Although the birds' numbers dwindled sharply due to hunting and the use of DDT over the decades, the pelican rebounded in the latter part of the 20th century, and was removed from the Endangered Species List in 2009.
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Before Becoming a Prison, Alcatraz Was a Military Outpost
Although Alcatraz is known as one of America's most infamous prisons, its first official U.S. role was as a military outpost. With California joining the U.S. in 1850 after being ceded from Mexico two years prior, and with hundreds of thousands of people flooding the state as part of the California Gold Rush, the U.S. military needed to protect San Francisco Bay. Alcatraz, along with Fort Point and Lime Point, formed a "triangle of defense" that guarded the bay's entrance. At one point, the U.S. even installed 100 cannons on the 22-acre island, making it the most heavily armed military outpost in the Western U.S. But by the decade's end, the first prisoners had been brought to the island, and Alcatraz played host to both Confederate prisoners and Union deserters during the Civil War.
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Alcatraz Was Home to the First Lighthouse on the U.S. West Coast
During the island's days as a military outpost, the U.S. constructed a lighthouse to serve vessels crisscrossing the busy shipping lanes of San Francisco Bay. Although the lighthouse tower was built by 1852, the Fresnel lens — a compact lens designed to make lighthouses brighter — didn't arrive until 1854. Luckily, the delay didn't cost the lighthouse the impressive accolade of being the first lighthouse constructed on the West Coast of the United States. Sadly, the structure was damaged beyond repair following the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake. It was rebuilt, however, and still operates to this day.
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Prison Life at Alcatraz Wasn't Always Bad
Alcatraz became a federal prison in 1934, after being transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It was designed as a maximum security penitentiary meant for the most difficult inmates in the federal system, and was partly an attempt to show the public that the government was being tough on the widespread crime of the 1920s and '30s.
Although Alcatraz cut an intimidating figure, some prisoners reported that the experience wasn't so bad. The first warden of Alcatraz made sure the food was good to dissuade rioting, and a menu in the 1940s even included "bacon jambalaya, pork roast with all the trimmings, or beef pot pie Anglaise." Prisoners lived one man to a cell, which wasn't a certainty in other federal prisons, and had basic rights to food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. Through good behavior, prisoners could earn privileges that included work on the island and even playing music. In fact, Alcatraz's reputation far surpassed those of some other federal prisons, and occasionally inmates around the country even requested transfers to "The Rock."
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Al Capone Wrote Love Songs While an Inmate at Alcatraz
Arguably the prison's most famous inmate was Al Capone, who was known at Alcatraz as Prisoner 85. Although a ruthless mob leader who ran the Italian American organized crime syndicate known as the Chicago Outfit, Scarface was finally put behind bars for tax evasion in 1931. In a few instances, he resorted to violence when provoked, but he mostly spent time playing banjo in the prison band the Rock Islanders, and writing love songs. In 2017, Capone's handwritten lyrics to one song, titled "Humoresque," sold at auction for $18,750. The lyrics included such memorable lines as "You thrill and fill this heart of mine, with gladness like a soothing symphony, over the air, you gently float, and in my soul, you strike a note." Capone was eventually released from prison in November 1939, after more than seven years behind bars, by which time he was in ill health due to an untreated case of syphilis.
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No One Has Ever Escaped From Alcatraz (Probably)
Of the 14 escape attempts at Alcatraz, all failed — except one daring attempt (forever immortalized in the 1979 film Escape From Alcatraz). On June 12, 1962, an early morning bed check at the prison revealed that three inmates were missing from their beds — and in a made-for-Hollywood twist, they'd been replaced by papier-mâché heads constructed in secret to fool the night guards.
While hacking together homemade life vests (an idea they got from the DIY magazine Popular Mechanics), the escapees tried their luck across the bay toward San Francisco. The FBI discovered the vests on Cronkhite Beach and found other bits of evidence (including letters sealed in rubber) scattered throughout the bay — but the authorities never found any evidence of the men living in the U.S. or abroad, and believed they actually drowned in the bay's frigid waters. The FBI closed the case on December 31, 1979, but the U.S. Marshals Service has continued to investigate.
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Native Americans Occupied Alcatraz
One problem with running a prison on an island is that it can be pretty expensive to maintain, and so in March 1963, the century-old military outpost-turned-penitentiary closed its doors — but that wasn't the end of its story.
In November 1969, a group of Native Americans led by activist Richard Oakes traveled to Alcatraz and began an occupation of the island that lasted 19 months. The group referenced the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which allowed Native people to repossess retired or abandoned federal land, as the basis for their seizure. They issued a proclamation that included a letter to the "Great White Father and All His People," which highlighted the hypocrisy of the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans both past and present. Over the following months, the occupation grew in size to as many as 600 people, before numbers began to dwindle in January 1970. The government cut off electrical and water supplies to the island, food became scarce, and in June 1971 U.S. marshals forcibly removed the final 15 occupiers from the island.
A highly publicized moment of Indigenous activism, the protest brought considerable attention to the plight of America's Native peoples. In 1970, President Richard Nixon even ended the U.S.'s decades-long termination policy — an effort to forcibly eliminate tribes and assimilate Native Indians into American society. The occupation of Alcatraz was the first intertribal protest, and part of a rich history of modern Native American activism.
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This Day in U S Military History
September 17
1787 – The Constitution of the United States of America is signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 U.S. states. The Articles of Confederation, ratified several months before the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, provided for a loose confederation of U.S. states, which were sovereign in most of their affairs. On paper, Congress–the central authority–had the power to govern foreign affairs, conduct war, and regulate currency, but in practice these powers were sharply limited because Congress was given no authority to enforce its requests to the states for money or troops. By 1786, it was apparent that the Union would soon break up if the Articles of Confederation were not amended or replaced. Five states met in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss the issue, and all the states were invited to send delegates to a new constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia. On May 25, 1787, delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. The building, which is now known as Independence Hall, had earlier seen the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the signing of the Articles of Confederation. The assembly immediately discarded the idea of amending the Articles of Confederation and set about drawing up a new scheme of government. Revolutionary War hero George Washington, a delegate from Virginia, was elected convention president. During an intensive debate, the delegates devised a brilliant federal organization characterized by an intricate system of checks and balances. The convention was divided over the issue of state representation in Congress, as more-populated states sought proportional legislation, and smaller states wanted equal representation. The problem was resolved by the Connecticut Compromise, which proposed a bicameral legislature with proportional representation in the lower house (House of Representatives) and equal representation of the states in the upper house (Senate). On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was signed. As dictated by Article VII, the document would not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the 13 states. Beginning on December 7, five states–Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, and Connecticut–ratified it in quick succession. However, other states, especially Massachusetts, opposed the document, as it failed to reserve undelegated powers to the states and lacked constitutional protection of basic political rights, such as freedom of speech, religion, and the press. In February 1788, a compromise was reached under which Massachusetts and other states would agree to ratify the document with the assurance that amendments would be immediately proposed. The Constitution was thus narrowly ratified in Massachusetts, followed by Maryland and South Carolina. On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. In June, Virginia ratified the Constitution, followed by New York in July. On September 25, 1789, the first Congress of the United States adopted 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution–the Bill of Rights–and sent them to the states for ratification. Ten of these amendments were ratified in 1791. In November 1789, North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Rhode Island, which opposed federal control of currency and was critical of compromise on the issue of slavery, resisted ratifying the Constitution until the U.S. government threatened to sever commercial relations with the state. On May 29, 1790, Rhode Island voted by two votes to ratify the document, and the last of the original 13 colonies joined the United States. Today, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution in operation in the world.
1796 – President George Washington delivered his "Farewell Address" to Congress before concluding his second term in office. Washington counseled the republic in his farewell address to avoid "entangling alliances" and involvement in the "ordinary vicissitudes, combinations, and collision of European politics." Also "we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies."
1908 – Orville Wright's passenger on a test flight was Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge. They were circling the landing field at Fort Myer, Va., when a crack developed in the blade of the aircraft's propeller. Wright lost control of the Flyer and the biplane plunged to the ground. Selfridge became powered flight's first fatality, and Wright was seriously injured in the crash. But despite the tragic mishap, the War Department awarded the contract for the first military aircraft to Wright.
1972 – Three U.S. pilots are released by Hanoi. They were the first POWs released since 1969. North Vietnamese officials cautioned the United States not to force the freed men to "slander" Hanoi, claiming that "distortions" about Hanoi's treatment of POWs from a previous release of prisoners in 1969 caused Hanoi to temporarily suspend the release of POWs. The conditions for their release stipulated that they would not do anything to further the U.S. war effort in Indochina. The rest of the POWs were released in March 1973 as part of the agreement that led to the Paris Peace Accords.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*MONEGAN, WALTER C., JR.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company F, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Sosa-ri, Korea, 17 and 20 September 1950. Entered service at: Seattle, Wash. Born: 25 December 1930, Melrose, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rocket gunner attached to Company F, and in action against enemy aggressor forces. Dug in on a hill overlooking the main Seoul highway when 6 enemy tanks threatened to break through the battalion position during a predawn attack on 17 September, Pfc. Monegan promptly moved forward with his bazooka, under heavy hostile automatic weapons fre and engaged the lead tank at a range of less than 50 yards. After scoring a direct hit and killing the sole surviving tankman with his carbine as he came through the escape hatch, he boldly fired 2 more rounds of ammunition at the oncoming tanks, disorganizing the attack and enabling our tank crews to continue blasting with their 90-mm guns. With his own and an adjacent company's position threatened by annihilation when an overwhelming enemy tank-infantry force bypassed the area and proceeded toward the battalion command post during the early morning of September 20, he seized his rocket launcher and, in total darkness, charged down the slope of the hill where the tanks had broken through. Quick to act when an illuminating shell lit the area, he scored a direct hit on one of the tanks as hostile rifle and automatic-weapons fire raked the area at close range. Again exposing himself, he fired another round to destroy a second tank and, as the rear tank turned to retreat, stood upright to fire and was fatally struck down by hostile machine gun fire when another illuminating shell silhouetted him against the sky. Pfc. Monegan's daring initiative, gallant fighting spirit and courageous devotion to duty were contributing factors in the success of his company in repelling the enemy, and his self-sacrificing efforts throughout sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country .
*PILILAAU, HERBERT K.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 23d Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Pia-ri, Korea, 17 September 1951. Entered service at: Oahu, T.H. Born: 10 October 1928, Waianae, Oahu, T.H. G.O. No.: 58, 18 June 1952. Citation: Pfc. Pililaau, a member of Company C, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. The enemy sent wave after wave of fanatical troops against his platoon which held a key terrain feature on "Heartbreak Ridge." Valiantly defending its position, the unit repulsed each attack until ammunition became practically exhausted and it was ordered to withdraw to a new position. Voluntarily remaining behind to cover the withdrawal, Pfc. Pililaau fired his automatic weapon into the ranks of the assailants, threw all his grenades and, with ammunition exhausted, closed with the foe in hand-to-hand combat, courageously fighting with his trench knife and bare fists until finally overcome and mortally wounded. When the position was subsequently retaken, more than 40 enemy dead were counted in the area he had so valiantly defended. His heroic devotion to duty, indomitable fighting spirit, and gallant self-sacrifice reflect the highest credit upon himself, the infantry, and the U.S. Army.
*MORRIS, MELVIN
Rank and Organization: Staff Sergeant. U.S. Army. 3d Company. Place and Date: September 17, 1969, Chi Lang, Vietnam. Born: January 7, 1942, Okmulgee, OK . Departed: No. Entered Service At: Fort Bragg, NC. G.O. Number: . Date of Issue: 03/18/2014. Accredited To: . Citation: Melvin Morris is being recognized for his valorous actions on Sept. 17, 1969, while commanding the Third Company, Third Battalion of the IV Mobile Strike Force near Chi Lang. Then-Staff Sgt. Morris led an advance across enemy lines to retrieve a fallen comrade and single-handedly destroyed an enemy force that had pinned his battalion from a series of bunkers. Staff Sgt. Morris was shot three times as he ran back toward friendly lines with the American casualties, but did not stop until he reached safety.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for September 17, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
17 September
1908: Lt Thomas E. Selfridge, flying as a passenger with Orville Wright, died when the Wright Flyer crashed at Fort Myer. This event was the world's first fatal airplane accident. Wright also received serious injuries. (12) Two Navy observers, Lt George C. Sweet and Naval Constructor William McEntee, reviewed the Wright flying machine demonstrations at Fort Myer. (29)
1909: Orville Wright flew his Wright Flyer to a FAI altitude record of 564 feet in Berlin, Germany. (9)
1911: Calbraith Perry Rodgers flew a Burgess-Wright Biplane, the Vin Fiz, on the first transcontinental flight. He flew 3,390 miles from Sheepshead Bay to Long Beach after 76 stops and 20 crashes, arriving on 11 December. He was attempting to win a $50,000 prize from Willam Randolph Hearst for flying coast-to-coast in 30 days. The plane was named for Rodgers' sponsor, a grape soda. (20) (24)
1941: During Louisiana maneuvers, the Army dropped parachute troops for the first time in a tactical exercise. The Army acquired 13 DC-3s for the event. (21) (24)
1944: Operation MARKET GARDEN. 1,546 allied planes and 478 gliders carried 35,000 troops for an airborne assault between Eindhoven and Arnhem in Holland to secure the Rhine. (18) (24)
1950: KOREAN WAR. The USMC captured Kimpo Airfield. To support the Eighth Army offensive, Fifth Air Force F-51s and F-80s flew napalm attacks, killing an estimated 1,200 enemy soldiers in Tabu-dong, Yongchon, and other strongholds near the Naktong River. FEAF began a week of dropping four million psychological warfare leaflets. (28)
1951: The 62 TCW's activation at McChord AFB made it the first TAC unit with C-124s assigned. (11)
1952: E. J. Smith flew a Bell helicopter (47D1) to a FAI nonstop distance record by flying 1,217 miles from Fort Worth to Niagara Falls.
1958: Capt Charles E. Gibbs flew a 92 AREFS KC-135 from Fairchild AFB to four closed-circuit FAI records: distance without refueling, 3,125.56 miles; speed for 2,000 kilometers, 589.3 MPH, with payloads of 2,204.6, 4,409.2, 11,023, and 22,046 pounds; speed for 5,000 kilometers, 587.1 MPH; and speed for 5,000 kilometers, 587.136 MPH, with the same payloads. (1)
1959: KEY EVENT. After being dropped from a B-52 near Edwards AFB, Scott Crossfield flew the X-15 to over 1,400 MPH and 50,000 feet in altitude in the plane's initial powered test. (3) (9)
1964: President Johnson announced that the US had an over-the-horizon radar that could see around the earth's curvature to detect missiles shortly after their launch. (5) (16)
1965: Exercise NICE WAY. Through 21 September, as war broke out between Pakistan and India, MATS directed 7 C-130s from Exercise Deep Furrow in Turkey to evacuate 650 Americans from Pakistan. In the exercise, C-130s carried about 375 nationals, who had fled to Afghanistan from Pakistan, back to Turkey. (2) (18) The Air Force Systems Command received the Gen Thomas D. White award for its outstanding contribution to the nation's aerospace progress in 1964. (16)
1970: Gunship developer, pilot, and program director, Maj Ronald W. Terry, received the 1969 Harold Brown Award for achievement in research and development. Major Terry worked for the Gunship program office at Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson AFB. (16)
1976: The first Space Shuttle, the Enterprise, rolled out at Palmdale. (12)
1980: For the Glory Trip 77 operational missile test, Vandenberg AFB launched a Minuteman III on a 5,600-mile flight to near Kwajalein. This was the longest Minuteman flight to date.
1987: In a five-hour flight from Rockwell's Palmdale facility, Maj H. Brent Hedgpeth and Lt Col Robert A. Chamberlain flew the 70th production B-1B 2,700 miles to 18 world speed and payload records in the unlimited weight class.
2001: The Air Staff accelerated a program to field the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) on the B-52H. Subsequently, the AFFTC at Edwards AFB trimmed the testing plan from five months to six weeks. After that first accelerated program, the AFFTC sped up several test programs for Operation Enduring Freedom. (3)
2002: The USAF changed the Raptor's official designation from F-22 to F/A-22 to highlight its ground attack capabilities. (3) The Air National Guard's last B-1B left the 116th Bomb Wing (Georgia ANG) at Robins AFB to the "bone yard" at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. Later, the 116th merged with the USAF's 93d Air Control Wing (ACW) to form the 116th ACW, the USAF's first "blended wing," and fly the E-8C JSTARS. (32)
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Thanks to Brett
STRATFOR WORLDVIEW
GEOPOLITICAL DIGEST
India's Special Session of Parliament. An 18-22 September Special Session of Parliament will officially see discussion of key legislation including the Advocates; Press and Registration of Periodicals; Post Office; and Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners bills, but not the controversial Uniform Civil Code; One Nation, One Election proposal; and changing India's name to "Bharat." The controversial issues may nevertheless emerge during the session, which could incite strong opposition pushback and potentially even civil unrest.
First-Ever All-ASEAN Joint Military Drills. Association of Southeast Asian Nations members will hold the bloc's first-ever all-inclusive joint military drills from 18-23 September in the Strait of Malacca. The drills will be noncombat in nature, focusing on disaster relief and humanitarian exercises. Known as ASEX-01 Natuna, the exercises originally had been set to occur in the disputed South China Sea within China's so-called nine-dash line. The new venue was likely due to pressure from Cambodia, one of ASEAN's most pro-China members. While the change in location represents something of a lost opportunity for ASEAN to demonstrate unity against China's sweeping territorial claims and to cultivate security cooperation, simply assembling the exercises at all represents a show of strategic coherence in the oft-divided bloc.
The UN General Assembly. The 78th UN General Assembly will occur 18-26 September against a backdrop of deepening global divisions. The Ukraine war will be a focus, as will economic development and climate change. Important side meetings will also occur, such as those between Israeli, Saudi, and US officials, although a breakthrough on Israeli-Saudi diplomatic normalization is unlikely. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit occurs as US-Saudi relations have improved after years of tensions that soared because of Riyadh's human rights record and energy policies — though with Brent crude now trading above US$90, the latter may soon reemerge as a point of tension. US and EU officials will also likely meet on the sidelines to discuss the international response to the intensifying conflict in Sudan, although international pressure has so far failed to bring about significant negotiations between the Sudanese combatants.
• Key Developments - Analysis • Other Stories We're Tracking - Curated Content
KEY DEVELOPMENTS - ANALYSIS
Upgraded US-Vietnam Relations Bring Enhanced Business Ties
What Happened: The United States and Vietnam upgraded relations to a first-tier "comprehensive strategic partnership" on 10 September, Reuters reported. The diplomatic upgrade also comes with a suite of enhanced business ties designed to underpin Vietnam's developing semiconductor, artificial intelligence and quantum computing industries, energy transition, and defense sector.
Why It Matters: Underscoring the enhanced business ties in key defense and emerging technology sectors, state-owned Vietnam Airlines will buy 50 737 MAX jets from Boeing; US semiconductor firm Amkor Technology will open a US$1.6 billion factory in Bac Ninh province in October; Marvell Technology and Synopsys will invest in semiconductor design and incubation facilities in Ho Chi Minh City; Microsoft will produce a "generative AI-based solution tailored for Vietnam and emerging markets;" and NVIDIA will collaborate with Vietnam's FPT, Viettel, and Vingroup on AI technology. For the United States, helping Vietnam develop its semiconductor industry beyond testing and packaging will help develop a new supply chain node that offers a degree of insulation from market shocks amid its tech competition with China. For Vietnam, training engineers and enhancing its workforce's skills are key to developing its domestic semiconductor industry. Going forward, business ties between the two countries look set to continue growing.
Source: RANE Worldview
Warsaw Will Unilaterally Extend Ukrainian Grain Import Ban, Raising Tensions With Brussels, Kyiv
What Happened: Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has announced that Poland will extend its ban on Ukrainian grain imports beyond the current EU deadline of 15 September regardless of what the European Commission decides on the matter, Politico reported 12 September. The temporary EU import ban applies to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria, where the majority of Ukrainian imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower end up being sold, lowering prices for local farmers. The five countries have recently asked Brussels to extend the ban until at least the end of the year, something Kyiv has vehemently lobbied against. Under the ban, Ukrainian grain products cannot remain within the five countries for consumption or storage, but can transit through them to other markets.
Why It Matters: A unilateral Polish extension of the import ban will raise tensions between Warsaw and Brussels and Warsaw and Kyiv — which has said it will file a complaint at the World Trade Organization against any such move — and may force the European Union to boost transit and shipping capacity to move Ukrainian grain where it is needed, whether in other EU markets or outside the European Union. The move is also set to boost Warsaw's popularity with Polish farmers, a key support base for the ruling Law and Justice party ahead of the 15 October national election. Poland's decision may force other frontline EU member states requesting an extension of the import ban also to extend the restrictions.
Source: RANE Worldview
US Autoworkers Prepare to Strike as Sides Remain Far Apart Ahead of Deadline
What Happened: United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on 13 September said that while the UAW was not planning companywide walkouts, it will escalate its threat of labor action if no deal emerges with Detroit's Big Three automakers ahead of an 11:59 p.m. 14 September deadline. While automakers have raised their wage offers and UAW has also lowered its wage demands in recent days, automakers have rebuffed other UAW demands. Fain did not disclose where UAW would strike first.
Why It Matters: Since a deal looks unlikely ahead of the deadline, the United States will likely experience coordinated strikes at all of the Big Three automakers, causing regional economic disruptions and undermining Biden's electric vehicle strategy. A large strike could majorly impact the Michigan economy and affect Ohio and other states that produce key materials, such as steel and aluminum, used to build automobiles, with a large 10-day strike estimated to cost US$5 billion in lost economic output. It would also put US President Joe Biden in a difficult spot between seeking a good deal for autoworkers without raising costs for producing electric vehicles that would almost certainly be passed onto consumers, undermining his EV transition plans.
Source: RANE Worldview
Slovak Opposition Seeks Hungarian Border Controls Ahead of Election
The Slovak opposition SMER party, which leads polls ahead of an election this month, called on the government to start border checks to halt an increasing flow of migrants crossing from Hungary to Western Europe. Slovakia has seen a jump in the number of migrants, many from Afghanistan and Syria, crossing in recent months, and has been letting them through after registration. Party head Robert Fico has been running on a campaign to defend national interests, end military support for Ukraine, and oppose any sanctions on Russia that could hurt Slovakia.
Source: Reuters
OTHER STORIES WE'RE TRACKING - CURATED CONTENT
ASIA
Xi Jinping's G20 Snub Sparks Concern of Retreat From International Diplomacy
From the moment Li Qiang arrived at the G20 summit over the weekend on an unassuming chartered flight, it was clear the Chinese premier had one mission in New Delhi: not to upstage his boss Xi Jinping. Once in India, Li met US president Joe Biden and a few other leaders. But Li's understated presence drew attention to the enigma of Xi's absence — it was the first time the Chinese president missed the G20 — and left many wondering whether Xi would opt out of future summits, thereby reducing Beijing's influence in international diplomacy.
Source: Financial Times
Politics Drain Into Indonesia's Flood Management
Indonesia is one of the world's most disaster-prone countries, frequently exposed to various geophysical and climate-related hazards. Some Indonesian cities perform better than others in managing the deadly risk of urban flooding, even if important conditions such as geography and rainfall pattern are roughly the same. Beyond the engineering and infrastructure domains, existing power structures and ongoing political processes play a crucial role in shaping a city's ability to cope with floods. The success or failure of flood management depends on the capacity of local governments to set up and implement effective flood defense infrastructure regulations.
Source: East Asia Forum
EUROPE
Ukraine's Strongest Weapon Is Societal Resilience
Derussification has been steaming ahead in Kyiv since the start of the full-scale invasion: while the Ukrainian capital was already scrapping Pushkin and Tolstoy from its map, the mayor of Odesa opposed the removal of the monument to the Empress of Imperial Russian as late as August 2022. According to a Kyiv International Institute of Sociology poll, 80% of the polled population would like to see Ukrainian as the main language in all spheres of communication.
Source: The National Interest
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
How Rigid Government, State Neglect Hobbled Morocco's Earthquake Response
From devastated mountain villages to a shaken yet largely spared Marrakesh, survivors of last week's 6.8-magnitude earthquake in Morocco have criticized the government's response as too little, too late — many bodies are still trapped under rubble, and many communities are relying on local groups and volunteers for support. The earthquake, which killed at least 2,901 people, was the worst to hit Morocco in more than a hundred years. The terrain around its epicenter — in the Atlas Mountains — is difficult to navigate, with isolated villages at dizzying elevations, accessible only by narrow, winding roads. But analysts also attributed the sluggish and poorly coordinated disaster response to Morocco's constitutional monarchy, in which decision-making is highly centralized and lower-level officials fear taking action without approval from the royal palace.
Source: The Washington Post
Understanding Saudi Arabia's Recalibrated Foreign Policy
Saudi Arabia is trying, with mixed success, to recast itself on the international stage. The kingdom, whose gross domestic product reached US$1 trillion in 2022 for the first time, wants an economy that can keep pace with the global energy transition and a foreign policy that is less reliant on the United States. Saudi policies are shaped by the ambitions of its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (commonly known as MBS), to consolidate his hold on power, make the country less dependent on hydrocarbon exports, and transform the kingdom into a significant middle power — one that pursues its interests by increasing its regional and global influence and broadening its external ties. Yet, unless Riyadh makes further changes, its apparent efforts at self-transformation are likely to hit a ceiling that falls short of its hopes.
Source: International Crisis Group
AMERICAS
What the World Gets Wrong About Latin America's Foreign Policy
Latin America is a region that was born, lives, and will continue to develop in the midst of struggle. This seems to be part of the region's identity. Far from lamenting this fact, many small and medium countries, especially those interested in leaving behind their smallness, have opted for cooperation, coordination, and integration to strengthen their interests and agendas. Soft power and political autonomy are the great tools that this region has at its disposal. Therefore, the vision of its leaders and citizens will be vital in projecting the voice of Latin America to the world.
Source: Americas Quarterly
The Real Intervention Haiti Needs
As Haiti teeters on the brink of state collapse amid a marked resurgence of kidnappings, insecurity, and gang violence, Western powers have resorted to their usual strategies to try to stabilize the country: sanctions on Haitian elites connected to gangs and efforts to strengthen the national police. There may be a role for punitive measures in the international community's approach, but any strategy that focuses purely on criminal justice or military-style security mechanisms is doomed to fail, just as past U.S. interventions did. Pervasive state-sanctioned gang activity is just the most visible reflection of the primary driver of Haiti's catastrophe: the country's broken monetary system, which is a legacy of its colonial past.
Source: Foreign Policy
GLOBAL
The G20 Has Flaws but the World Still Needs It
In the dark days of April 2009, the G20 summit became a turning point in the global financial crisis. Leaders agreed on joint initiatives and measures worth US$1.1 trillion to boost trade and bolster struggling economies. The group of 19 big developed and developing markets and the EU was hailed as a forum for economic co-operation that could supplant the western-dominated G8. Reality has fallen short of that vision. The fracturing of the multilateral system, growing US-China tensions, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine have sapped the G20 even as the need for it has grown.
Source: Financial Times
What Comes Next for North Korea-Russia Relations?
North Korea and Russia have taken their relations to a new level after the leaders of the two countries held an in-person summit meeting on Wednesday. While Pyongyang and Moscow have enjoyed close ties since the foundation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 1948, the relationship is seeing a significant upgrade. The visit by Kim Jong Un to Russia shows the world that North Korea has more than just China to rely on and, in fact, has its own "bloc" alliance comprising its two closest diplomatic partners.
Source: The Diplomat
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