To All
Good Sunday Morning January 7, 2024 I hope you are enjoying your weekend. It .rained last night but it is clear this morning. The wind brought more leaves down and they are out there waiting for me.
Regards,
Skip
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/
This day in Naval and Marine Corps History
7 Januray
1822
The schooner Porpoise captures six pirate vessels off Cuba and destroys their base, while USS Spark recaptures a Dutch sloop that had been taken as a prize by pirates. A landing party destroys the pirate's base in the West Indies.
1881
Nathan Goff Jr., took office as the 28th Secretary of the Navy, serving until March. A World War II destroyer was named for him.
1945
Destroyers Charles Ausburne (DD 570), Braine (DD 630), Russell (DD 414) and Shaw (DD 373) sink the Japanese destroyer Hinoki, 50 miles west-southwest of Manila Bay.
1945
Submarine Spot (SS 413) sinks the Japanese gunboat No.2 Nichiei Maru in the Inland Sea.
1995
Dock Landing Ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) is commissioned.
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Today in World History January 7
1327 King Edward II of England is deposed.
1558 The French, under the Duke of Guise, finally take the port of Calais from the English.
1785 Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American Dr. John Jeffries make the first crossing of the English Channel in a hydrogen balloon.
1807 Responding to Napoleon Bonaparte's attempted blockade of the British Isles, the British blockade Continental Europe.
1865 Cheyenne and Sioux warriors attack Julesburg, Colo., in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre.
1901 New York stock exchange trading exceeds two million shares for the first time in history.
1902 Imperial Court of China returns to Peking. The Empress Dowager resumes her reign.
1918 The Germans move 75,000 troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front.
1934 Six thousand pastors in Berlin defy the Nazis insisting that they will not be silenced.
1944 The U.S. Air Force announces the production of the first jet-fighter, Bell P-59 Airacomet.
1945 U.S. air ace Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. is killed in the Pacific.
1952 French forces in Indochina launch Operation Violette in an effort to push Viet Minh forces away from the town of Ba Vi.
1955 Marian Anderson becomes the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House.
1975 Vietnamese troops take Phuoc Binh in new full-scale offensive.
1979 Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge are overthrown when Vietnamese troops seize the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
1980 US President Jimmy Carter signs legislation providing $1.5 billion in loans to salvage Chrysler Corporation.
1985 Vietnam seizes the Khmer National Liberation Front headquarters near the Thai border.
1985 Japan launches its first interplanetary spacecraft, Sakigake, the first deep space probe launched by any nation other than the US or the USSR.
1989 Prince Akihito is sworn in as Emperor of Japan, following the death of his father, Hirohito.
1990 Safety concerns over structural problems force the Leaning Tower of Pisa to be closed to the public.
1993 The Bosnian Army carries out a surprise attack on the village of Kravica in Srebrenica during the Bosnian War.
1999 The impeachment trial of US President Bill Clinton opens in the US Senate.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for Monday, 25 December 2023 through Sunday, 7 January 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I (1968-1972)… Weeks 7 & 8…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for December 1968…
Christmas Season 1968: historic events, painful losses and heroic sacrifice…
Thanks to Micro
To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Sunday 7 January
7: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2448
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.
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Servicemembers Killed in the Vietnam War
(This site was sent by a friend . 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 History Facts
The ancient Egyptians were the first to divide the day into 24 parts.
24-HOUR SUNDIAL
Ever wondered why there are 24 hours in a day? We have the ancient Egyptians to thank, at least in part. The basis for our modern calendar dates back to the New Kingdom period of ancient Egypt, around 1550 BCE to 1069 BCE. During this era — about a thousand years after the construction of the Great Pyramids of Giza — the Egyptians became the first civilization to divide the day into 24 smaller parts — though with a couple of key differences to how we do it today. For starters, the ancient timekeeping system tracked daytime and nighttime separately, with each divided into 12 parts. Also, these parts — which were measured in various ways, including sundials and water clocks — were not hours as we think of them today. Known as temporal hours or daylight hours, their length changed with the total amount of daylight at different times of year: For instance, the daytime hours would be longer in the summer than in the winter. So why 12? There are a couple of theories. Ancient astronomical tables suggest that nighttime was divided into 12 hours based on how the stars moved across the sky over time, as well as the cycles of the moon. It's also possible these Egyptian timekeepers were following the duodecimal system, which is based on the easily divisible number 12, and was used in many ancient cultures. It wasn't until the second century BCE that the idea emerged to break the day into 24 parts of equal length, a concept first introduced by the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus. The 24-hour day became the standard for tracking time throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and remains so to this day.
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Thanks to Bro Len Kaine for passing this on
Keep up your Good Work.
GBY & Yours, Now & Always,
Bro Len & Sis Anne Kaine
Written By Regina Brett, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught
me. It is the most-requested column I've ever wrote, so here is the column once more:"
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument? Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone..
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
25. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ''In five years, will this matter"?
26. Always choose life.
27. Forgive everyone everything.
28. What other people think of you is none of your business.
29. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time.
30. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
31. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
32. Believe in miracles.
33. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
34. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
35. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
36. Your children get only one childhood.
37. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
38. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
39. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
40. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
41. The best is yet to come.
42. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
43. Yield.
44. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Friends are the family that we choose for ourselves.
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
14 Bizarre State Laws You May Not Know
You could be breaking the law in your own state right now and not even know it. Throughout U.S. history, all 50 states have passed a variety of highly specific, often bizarre laws — some that may have made sense at the time but definitely don't any longer. In every state, you'll find a few of these quirky laws that are rarely enforced but, for whatever reason, remain on the books. Here are 14 obscure and sometimes mind-boggling state laws you've probably never heard of.
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It's Illegal to Sell Fake Butter as Real Butter in Iowa
It's a misdemeanor in Iowa to either directly or indirectly state that oleo, oleomargarine, or margarine is a dairy product, a relic of an era when such laws were common. The law goes on to explain all the manifold ways in which it's illegal to lie about fake butter: "by statement, printing, writing, circular, poster, design, device, grade designation, advertisement, symbol, sound, or any combination thereof." It also specifically prevents the purchase of margarine under the pretense of it being butter.
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According to Its Legal Code, Wisconsin's Cheese Must Please
Speaking of dairy products, when it comes to cheese, Wisconsin isn't playing around. The state whose citizens wear cheese-shaped hats to their football games has unsurprisingly strong standards when it comes to their proudest export, and not just any old cheese is allowed to represent Wisconsin. Per chapter 81 of the administrative code of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, state-certified Muensters, Monterey Jacks, colbys, and cheddars must be "highly pleasing." Meanwhile, Swisses and Emmentalers are required to "have a pleasing and desirable characteristic Swiss cheese flavor."
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In California, You Can't Eat Frog That Was in a Jumping Contest
California has somewhat complicated laws surrounding jumping contests involving frogs. In the Golden State, it's legal to challenge frogs to compete against one another in a jumping contest, but if you try to eat one of them, you could be in hot water. According to the state's Fish & Game Code, "if such a frog dies or is killed, it must be destroyed as soon as possible, and may not be eaten or otherwise used for any purpose." As well, the red-legged frog — the species that starred in Mark Twain's 1865 California-based short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" — is barred from competing, due to its status as an endangered species. The popular choice for the real-life Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee is the non-native eastern bullfrog, and it's illegal to return them to the water after the contest, because they're a big part of the reason that their red-legged cousins got so endangered in the first place.
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No X-Raying Your Feet in a Washingtonian Shoe Store
Washington state has zero tolerance for radioactive feet in its shoe stores. Per RCW 70.98.170, "the operation or maintenance of any X-ray, fluoroscopic, or other equipment or apparatus employing roentgen rays, in the fitting of shoes or other footwear or in the viewing of bones in the feet is prohibited." Seems like a pretty rare occurrence — but it didn't used to be. Between the 1920s and the 1960s, when radiograph technology was new, it wasn't uncommon for American shoe stores to provide X-ray machines to display customers' podalic bones, thanks to an incorrect theory that it would help optimize the fit of their shoes. This unwittingly exposed customers to unhealthy doses of radiation in the process, and in 1971, the FDA finally put the kibosh on shoe store fluoroscopy. It's now illegal in all U.S. states, but Washington was an early adopter, and put this law on the books in 1961.
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You Can Only Buy Room-Temp Soda or Water in Indiana's Liquor Stores
It's not clear what the Hoosiers have against a nice cold nonalcoholic beverage, but you can't buy one at its liquor stores. The list of commodities that an Indiana liquor store is allowed to sell includes "uncooled and uniced charged water, carbonated soda, ginger ale, mineral water, grenadine, and flavoring extracts," but cooler or iced versions are not on the docket.
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Don't Abscond into the Dark New Hampshire Night with Seaweed
The Granite State takes its gardens seriously — even the underwater ones. In 1973, the act of carrying away or collecting seaweed specifically at night in New Hampshire became a violation of the law, with an unspecified punishment. It's theorized that the law stems from the practice by farmers of hauling seaweed ashore to help fertilize their corn fields, and the ban on nighttime seaweed harvesting hypothetically gives other folks a chance to collect their own. Wanna swipe some seaweed from Portsmouth's shores during the day? Totally fine. Just don't be sneaky about it.
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In Massachusetts, It's Illegal to Scare a Pigeon
Since 1848, it has been illegal in the state of Massachusetts to not only kill a pigeon but also to purposefully frighten one from "beds which have been made for the purpose of taking them in nets." Offenders face up to a month in prison as well as a $20 fine, and they're also liable "for the actual damages to the owner or occupant of such beds." According to Massachusetts Historical Society librarian Peter Drummey, the law was a sign of the times — in the 19th century, pigeons were both a food source for residents and used in target shooting, so the law was meant to protect hunters' rights (rather than those of pigeons). While now outdated, the law, like many others in Massachusetts, has remained on the books.
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Eavesdropping Is Forbidden in Oklahoma
If you have trouble minding your own business, you might want to stay out of the Sooner State. Per a 1910 Oklahoma state law, "Every person guilty of secretly loitering about any building, with intent to overhear discourse therein, and to repeat or publish the same to vex, annoy, or injure others, is guilty of a misdemeanor." It's seemingly allowable to accidentally overhear some juicy gossip; just make sure not to do so intentionally. Though rarely enforced, it's one of many bizarre laws in Oklahoma — like a $1 fine for swearing in public.
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Banning Clotheslines Is Banned in Vermont
If you find yourself in Vermont and in need of fresh laundry, you have a right to hang a clothesline to dry your clothes. It's illegal for anyone to ban the use of clotheslines "or other energy devices based on renewable resources" in the Green Mountain State. Unlike most others on this list, the law is actually from this century; it was passed in 2009. It's common for homeowner associations to ban homeowners from "solar drying," with some calling it unsightly — but not any longer in Vermont. State Senator Richard McCormack inserted the law into an energy bill because he'd long sought to protect this very green way to dry your clothes. Interestingly, the law doesn't apply to patio railings in apartments or condos, so Vermonters will want to stay on the safe side and use an actual clothesline.
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In Alabama, You Can't Pretend to Be a Member of the Clergy
It's unclear why this 1965 law was adopted, but it reads in part: "Whoever, being in a public place, fraudulently pretends by garb or outward array to be a minister of any religion, or nun, priest, rabbi or other member of the clergy, is guilty of a misdemeanor." The strange law goes on to explain the punishment — a fine of up to $500, or up to a year spent in jail, or both. This law extends to dressing as the Pope (or any other clergyperson) for Halloween, if you aren't actually one. It's unclear if anyone has been prosecuted for breaking the law, but perhaps it's worth picking another costume to be on the safe side.
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You're Not Allowed to Play Bingo for More Than Five Hours in North Carolina
Bingo sharks, beware: You'll need to pace yourself when you're visiting the Tarheel State. Not only is there a statewide five-hour cap on all bingo games, but you also can't hold two separate bingo sessions within a 48-hour period — they must have a buffer in between of more than two days. North Carolina has a long history of conservative rules on gambling that goes back to its colonial days. In 1749, the General Assembly was already regulating "excessive and immoral" gambling practices and invalidated gambler's debt greater than £100, and the regulations on games and lotteries only snowballed from there. Lotteries were banned outright in 1835. While bingo is legal in North Carolina today, there is a long list of restrictions. In addition to the time limits, bingo is allowed to be played only for fundraising purposes unless the prize is less than $10 (locals call this "beach bingo"). And if the game is played as a fundraiser, the prizes can't exceed $500.
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Happy Hour Is Not Allowed in Utah
It's illegal to sell alcohol at a discounted price in the state of Utah, so that means happy hour at the hotel bar is out of the picture. In its place, many establishments offer "appy hour," when appetizers are on sale instead. Other restrictions on Utahn drinkers include only one 1.5-ounce shot of alcohol allowed per drink (so no doubles, unless you're drinking a cocktail, which allows 2.5 ounces of booze as long as the extra ounce is a less-potent spirit). There is also a maximum of 4% alcohol by weight or 5% alcohol by volume on draft beer (although higher-octane brews are available in stores) and a statewide last call of 1 a.m.
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Billboards Are Prohibited in Hawaii
They take their ocean vistas very seriously in the Aloha State, and understandably so. If you're driving around the islands in the state of Hawaii, you won't find any obstructions to your view, at least not in the form of billboard ads — they've been outlawed since 1927. Several exceptions are allowed, however, including ads affixed to the Waipio Peninsula Soccer Stadium. Hawaii was actually the first state in the U.S. to ban the roadside advertisements — long before it even became a state in 1959. Vermont followed suit in 1968, Maine did so in 1978, and Alaska joined the club in 1998. It's no accident that these four states are known for their spectacular natural beauty, and it's understood among Hawaiians that keeping those unspoiled views intact promotes tourism more effectively than any billboard could.
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Pawn Shops Can't Handle Artificial Limbs in Delaware
"Pawnbrokers, second hand dealers, and scrap metal processors" have their work cut out for them in Delaware, as they must follow a lengthy legal rule book regarding what, how, and when they're allowed to accept goods to be pawned. "No pawnbroker subject to this chapter shall take or receive as a pledge or pawn any artificial limb or wheelchair," the law states. It's not illegal for you to pawn your own wooden leg or wheelchair, therefore, just for a pawnbroker to accept it. They're also not allowed to take manhole covers. When it was originally passed in 1907, the law banned pawnbrokers from accepting workman's tools too, although that provision has since been dropped.
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Thanks to Bill
Your Yearly Dementia Test! (only 4 questions this year)
This one has some different questions than last year.
Yep, it's that time of year again for us to take our annual senior citizen test.
Exercise of the brain is as important as exercise of the muscles.
As we grow older, it's important to keep mentally alert.
If you don't use it, you will lose it !!
#1. What do you put in a toaster?
Answer: 'bread.' If you said 'toast', just give up now and go do something else. And, try not to hurt yourself.
If you said, bread, go to Question #2.
# 2. Say 'silk' ten times. Now spell 'silk.' What do cows drink?
Answer: Cows drink water. If you said 'milk,' don't attempt the next question. Your brain is already over-stressed and may even overheat.
Content yourself with reading more appropriate literature such as Women's Weekly or Auto World.
However, if you did say 'water', proceed to Question #3.
# 3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a green house made from?
Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass.
If you said 'green bricks', why are you still reading this? PLEASE, go and lie down! But, if you said 'glass,' go on to Question #4.
# 4. Please do not use a calculator for this for it would be cheating: You are driving a bus from Jurong to Changi. At Bukit Batok, 17 people got on the bus. At Clementi, 6 people get off the bus and 9 people get on. At Outram, 2 people get off and 4 get on. At Marine Parade, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. And at Eunos, 3 people get off and 5 people get on. You then arrive at Changi.
Without going back to review, how old is the bus driver?
Answer: Oh, for crying out loud!
Don't you remember your own age?!?! It was YOU driving the bus!
If you pass this along to your friends, pray they do better than you.
PS: 95% of people fail most of the questions!
If you had fun with this, send it on. I did... I already know that even when you missed a question, you went on to the next one, didn't you?
Congratulations! Life is like that, even when you fail, you keep going and persisting. Failure is no reason to give up!
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Thanks to Mike
TO UNDERSTAND A MILITARY VETERAN YOU MUST KNOW - - -
We left home as teenagers or in our early twenties for an unknown adventure.
We loved our country enough to defend it and protect it with our own lives.
We said goodbye to friends and family and everything we knew.
We learned the basics and then we scattered in the wind to the far corners of the Earth.
We found new friends and new family.
We became brothers and sisters regardless of color, race or creed.
We had plenty of good times, and plenty of bad times.
We didn't get enough sleep.
We smoked and drank too much.
We picked up both good and bad habits.
We worked hard and played harder.
We didn't earn a great wage.
We experienced the happiness of mail call, and the sadness of missing important events.
We didn't know when, or even if, we were ever going to see home again.
We grew up fast, and yet somehow, we never grew up at all.
We fought for our freedom, as well as the freedom of others.
Some of us saw actual combat, and some of us didn't.
Some of us saw the world, and some of us didn't.
Some of us dealt with physical warfare, most of us dealt with psychological warfare.
We have seen and experienced and dealt with things that we can't fully describe or explain, as not all of our sacrifices were physical.
We participated in time honored ceremonies and rituals with each other, strengthening our bonds and camaraderie.
We counted on each other to get our job done and sometimes to survive it at all.
We have dealt with victory and tragedy.
We have celebrated and mourned.
We lost a few along the way.
When our adventure was over, some of us went back home, some of us started somewhere new, and some of us never came home at all.
We have told amazing and hilarious stories of our exploits and adventures.
We share an unspoken bond with each other, that most people don't experience, and few will understand.
We speak highly of our own branch of service, and poke fun at the other branches.
We know however, that, if needed, we will be there for our brothers and sisters and stand together as one, in a heartbeat.
Being a Veteran is something that had to be earned, and it can never be taken away.
It has no monetary value, but at the same time it is a priceless gift.
People see a Veteran and they thank them for their service.
When we see each other, we give that little upwards head nod, or a slight smile, knowing that we have shared and experienced things that most people have not.
So, from myself to the rest of the veterans out there, I commend and thank you for all that you have done and sacrificed for our country.
Try to remember the good times and make peace with the bad times.
Share your stories.
But most importantly, stand tall and proud, for you have earned the right to be called a VETERAN.
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This Day in U.S. Military History 7 January
1608 – Disaster strikes Jamestown. The fort burns and leaves the colonists vulnerable to attack by Indians and the Spanish.
1718 – Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War hero, was born. He planned the fortifications at the Battle of Bunker Hill and told his men, "don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."
1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
1865 – Cheyenne, Arapaho and Sioux warriors attack Julesburg, CO, in retaliation for the Sand Creek Massacre. After the massacre, the survivors had fled north to the Republican River where the main body of Cheyenne were camped. The Cheyennes sent a messenger to the Sioux and Arapaho inviting them to join them in a war on the whites. In early January 1865, as many as 2000 Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho warriors shifted their camps closer to the South Platte Trail where it cut through the northeast corner of Colorado. On January 6, a small party hit a wagon train and killed twelve men. Just before sunrise the following day, the majority of the Dog Soldiers and their allies concealed themselves in some sand hills a short distance from Fort Rankin and Julesburg, one mile up the Platte River, while the Cheyenne chief Big Crow slipped up to the fort. At first light he rushed the sentries stationed outside the walls. A sixty man cavalry troop quickly emerged from the gates to give chase and as soon as they were clear of the fort they were cut off from their base as more than a thousand warriors dashed from the sand hills and began to empty the cavalry saddles. All but a few were killed. As the remaining garrison prepared to defend the fort, the Indians raced up the Platte to the undefended Julesburg where they plundered at will while the soldiers at Fort Rankin could only watch and harmlessly fire their howitzers.
1904 – The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS".
1918 – In Arver v. United States, the Supreme Court finds that conscription during war is authorized by the Constitution which gives Congress the power "to declare war…to raise and support armies." There are several challenges to the government's power to draft armies which collectively become knows as the Selective Service Law Cases.
1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established – from New York, New York to London, United Kingdom.
1942 – The World War II siege of Bataan began in the Philippines.
1943 – On Guadalcanal, fresh American troops mount an assault on Mount Austen.
1943 – A Japanese convoy lands supplies and reinforcements at Lea, New Guinea despite air attacks.
1944 – The U.S. Air Force announces the production of the first jet-fighter, Bell P-59 Airacomet. Development of the P-59, America's first jet-propelled airplane, was ordered personally by General H. H. Arnold on September 4, 1941. The project was conducted under the utmost secrecy, with Bell building the airplane and General Electric the engine. The first P-59 was completed in mid-1942 and on October 1, 1942, it made its initial flight at Muroc Dry Lake (now Edwards Air Force Base), California. One year later, the airplane was ordered into production, to be powered by I-14 and I-16 engines, improved versions of the original I-A. Bell will produce 66 P-59s. Although the airplane's performance was not spectacular and it never got into combat, the P-59 provided training for AAF personnel and invaluable data for subsequent development of higher performance jet airplanes.
1945 – U.S. air ace Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. is killed in the Pacific.
1945 – British Gen. Bernard Montgomery gives a press conference in which he all but claims complete credit for saving the Allied cause in the Battle of the Bulge. He was almost removed from his command because of the resulting American outcry. On December 16, 1944, the Germans attempted to push the Allied front line west from northern France to northwestern Belgium. The Battle of the Bulge (so-called because the Germans, in pushing through the American defensive line, created a "bulge" around the area of the Ardennes forest) was the largest battle fought on the Western front. The German assault came in early morning at the weakest part of the Allied line, an 80-mile stretch of poorly protected, hilly forest that the Allies believed was too difficult to traverse, and therefore an unlikely location for a German offensive. Between the vulnerability of the thin, isolated American units and the thick fog that prevented Allied air cover from discovering German movement, the Germans were able to push the Americans into retreat. Fresh from commanding the 21st Army group during the Normandy invasion, and having suffered an awful defeat in September as his troops attempted to cross the Rhine, Montgomery took temporary command of the northern shoulder of American and British troops in the Ardennes. He immediately fell into a familiar pattern, failing to act spontaneously for fear of not being sufficiently prepared. Montgomery was afraid to move before the German army had fully exhausted itself, finally making what American commanders saw as only a belated counterattack against the enemy. As the weather improved, American air cover raided German targets on the ground, which proved the turning point in the Allied victory. Monty eventually cut across northern Germany all the way to the Baltic and accepted the German surrender in May. Montgomery had already earned the ire of many American officers because of his cautiousness in the field, arrogance off the field, and willingness to disparage his American counterparts. The last straw was Montgomery's whitewashing of the Battle of the Bulge facts to assembled reporters in his battlefield headquarters-he made his performance in the Ardennes sound not only more heroic but decisive, which necessarily underplayed the Americans' performance. Since the loss of American life in the battle was tremendous and the surrender of 7,500 members of the 106th Infantry humiliating, Gen. Omar Bradley complained loudly to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who passed the complaints on to Churchill. On January 18, Churchill addressed Parliament and announced in no uncertain terms that the "Bulge" was an American battle-and an American victory.
1945 – The attacks of the US 8th Corps of US 1st Army, along the line of the Ourthe west of Houffalize, record progress around Laroche. German attacks in Alsace also continue with some success south of Strasbourg in the area around Erstein.
1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO. Previously, the news media often treated UFO reports with a whimsical or glib attitude reserved for silly season news. Following Mantell's death, however, Jacobs notes "the fact that a person had died in an encounter with an alleged flying saucer dramatically increased public concern about the phenomenon. Now a dramatic new prospect entered thought about UFOs: they might be not only extraterrestrial but potentially hostile as well." However, later investigation by the US Air Force's Project Blue Book indicated that Mantell died chasing a Skyhook balloon, which in 1948 was a top-secret project that Mantell would not have known about.
1953 – In his final State of the Union address before Congress, President Harry S. Truman tells the world that that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. It was just three years earlier on January 31, 1950, that Truman publicly announced that had directed the Atomic Energy Commission to proceed with the development of the hydrogen bomb. Truman's directive came in responds to evidence of an atomic explosion occurring within USSR in 1949.
1960 – Launch of the first fully-guided flight of a Polaris missile at Cape Canaveral (flew 900 miles).
1960 – A small submarine, the Trieste, sets a new record for depth when it descends 24,000 feet into the Pacific off Guam.
1967 – The first elements of the Mobile Riverine Force reached Vietnam on when the USS Whitfield County (LST 1169) docked at Vung Tau. Training began immediately with the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Infantry Division. This unit, in preparation for the assignment to the Mobile Riverine Force, had gotten rid of their tanks, trucks, APCs and jeeps since there would obviously be little need for them in the Mekong Delta. In addition, some of their heavier artillery was also left behind since most of the necessary fi re support would be supplied by the assault boats.
1971 – Accompanied by Admiral Thomas Moorer, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Defense Secretary Melvin Laird arrives in South Vietnam to assess the military situation. The purpose of Laird's visit was to check on the progress of the "Vietnamization" effort. In the summer of 1969, President Richard Nixon ordered that measures be taken to "Vietnamize" the war – he hoped to increase the capabilities of South Vietnamese forces so U.S. troops could eventually be withdrawn and the South Vietnamese could assume more responsibility for the war. This effort included a rapid modernization of South Vietnamese forces with new equipment and weapons, and a renewed emphasis on the American advisory effort. American troop withdrawals began in the fall of 1969 and continued on a regular basis. At the completion of his visit, Laird announced that the preponderance of U.S. "combat responsibility" would end by mid-summer. Upon his return to the United States, however, he warned President Nixon and his cabinet of "some tough days ahead." Admiral Moorer, who also had made a side trip to Phnom Penh, reported that the Cambodian situation was "deteriorating" as Premier Lon Nol's forces were being threatened by the communist Khmer Rouge forces and their North Vietnamese allies.
1968 – Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral. Surveyor 7 was the fifth and final spacecraft of the Surveyor series to achieve a lunar soft landing. The objectives for this mission were to perform a lunar soft landing (in an area well removed from the maria to provide a type of terrain photography and lunar sample significantly different from those of other Surveyor missions); obtain postlanding TV pictures; determine the relative abundances of chemical elements; manipulate the lunar material; obtain touchdown dynamics data; and obtain thermal and radar reflectivity data. This spacecraft was similar in design to the previous Surveyors, but it carried more scientific equipment including a television camera with polarizing filters, a surface sampler, bar magnets on two footpads, two horseshoe magnets on the surface scoop, and auxiliary mirrors. Of the auxiliary mirrors, three were used to observe areas below the spacecraft, one to provide stereoscopic views of the surface sampler area, and seven to show lunar material deposited on the spacecraft. The spacecraft landed on the lunar surface on January 10, 1968, on the outer rim of the crater Tycho.
1975 – Vietnamese troops take Phuoc Binh in new full-scale offensive.
1993 – Largest military confrontation of Restore Hope. 500 Marines engage in a shoot-out with Warlord Aidid's forces in Mogadishu. 15 Somalis are taken POW, no US casualties.
2002 – Tony Blair arrived in Kabul. He said the West would not abandon Afghanistan. 9 US senators also visited the area.
2003 – Police in London announced they had found traces of the deadly poison ricin in a north London apartment and arrested six men in connection with the virulent toxin that has been linked to al-Qaida terrorists and Iraq.
2003 – Creation of the Select Committee on Homeland Security to help Congress coordinate oversight of the new Department of Homeland Security and to ensure implementation of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
2004 – L. Paul Bremer, the top American civilian official in Iraq, said U.S. authorities will release 506 low-level Iraqi prisoners while increasing the bounties for fugitives suspected of major roles in attacks against coalition forces.
2005 – A military jury at Fort Hood, Texas, acquitted Army SGT Tracy Perkins of involuntary manslaughter in the alleged drowning of an Iraqi civilian, but convicted him of assault in the January 2004 incident.
2005 – The nuclear submarine USS San Francisco ran aground 350 miles off the Pacific Ocean territory of Guam, injuring about 20 crew members. One died the next day.
2007 – President George W. Bush announces that he will send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq as part of a shift in American military strategy. Under this new strategy, labeled "the surge," American troops will pacify and protect individual neighborhoods rather than combat sectarian violence through mobile patrols.
2007 – The US intervenes in the Battle of Ras Kamboni, a battle in the 2006-2007 Somali War fought by the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and affiliated militias against Ethiopian and the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces for control of Ras Kamboni, a town near the Kenyan border which once served as a training camp for the militant Islamist group Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya. The battle began on January 5, 2007, when TFG and Ethiopian forces launched their assault. The United States entered the conflict by launching airstrikes using an AC-130 gunship against suspected Al Qaeda members operating within the ranks of the ICU. The town finally fell to the TFG and Ethiopian forces on January 12, 2007.
2008 – Two United States Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets, a F/A-18E and two-seat F/A-18F, flying off the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, crash in the Persian Gulf. The aviators were safely recovered. There was no indication of hostile fire.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
*SHOUP, CURTIS F
Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company I, 346th Infantry, 87th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Tillet, Belgium, 7 January 1945. Entered service at: Buffalo, N.Y. Birth: Napenoch, N.Y. G.0. No.: 60, 25 July 1945. Citation: On 7 January 1945, near Tillet, Belgium, his company attacked German troops on rising ground. Intense hostile machinegun fire pinned down and threatened to annihilate the American unit in an exposed position where frozen ground made it impossible to dig in for protection. Heavy mortar and artillery fire from enemy batteries was added to the storm of destruction falling on the Americans. Realizing that the machinegun must be silenced at all costs, S/Sgt. Shoup, armed with an automatic rifle, crawled to within 75 yards of the enemy emplacement. He found that his fire was ineffective from this position, and completely disregarding his own safety, stood up and grimly strode ahead into the murderous stream of bullets, firing his low-held weapon as he went. He was hit several times and finally was knocked to the ground. But he struggled to his feet and staggered forward until close enough to hurl a grenade, wiping out the enemy machinegun nest with his dying action. By his heroism, fearless determination, and supreme sacrifice, S/Sgt. Shoup eliminated a hostile weapon which threatened to destroy his company and turned a desperate situation into victory.
*SPECKER, JOE C.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, 48th Engineer Combat Battalion. Place and date: At Mount Porchia, Italy, 7 January 1944. Entered service at: Odessa, Mo. Birth: Odessa, Mo. G.O. No.. 56, 12 July 1944. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, in action involving actual conflict. On the night of 7 January 1944, Sgt. Specker, with his company, was advancing up the slope of Mount Porchia, Italy. He was sent forward on reconnaissance and on his return he reported to his company commander the fact that there was an enemy machinegun nest and several well-placed snipers directly in the path and awaiting the company. Sgt. Specker requested and was granted permission to place 1 of his machineguns in a position near the enemy machinegun. Voluntarily and alone he made his way up the mountain with a machinegun and a box of ammunition. He was observed by the enemy as he walked along and was severely wounded by the deadly fire directed at him. Though so seriously wounded that he was unable to walk, he continued to drag himself over the jagged edges of rock and rough terrain until he reached the position at which he desired to set up his machinegun. He set up the gun so well and fired so accurately that the enemy machine-gun nest was silenced and the remainder of the snipers forced to retire, enabling his platoon to obtain their objective. Sgt. Specker was found dead at his gun. His personal bravery, self-sacrifice, and determination were an inspiration to his officers and fellow soldiers.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for January 7, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
7 January
1945: Far East Air Forces joined the 3d Fleet in air attacks on enemy airfields in northern Luzon, Philippines. This attack was the largest coordinated mission of light and medium bombers (132) to date in the Southwest Pacific. (24)
1960: An American Airlines Electra flew 540 miles per hour to set a record of 1 hour 11 minutes 30 seconds from Chicago, Ill., to Washington DC. (5)
1963: Bell Telephone Laboratory scientists repaired Telstar I in flight in an unprecedented ground operation. (5)
1966: The 4200th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Beale AFB, Calif., received the first operational SR-71 (Tail No. 61-7957). (1) The US Junior Chamber of Commerce named Lt Col Edward H. White, a Gemini IV Astronaut, one of the 10 outstanding young men of 1965. (16)
1968: The National Air and Space Administration's Surveyor VII, the last spacecraft in the program to analyze the lunar surface, launched from the Eastern Test Range, Fla., on an Atlas-Centaur rocket (AC-15) on a 67-hour lunar intercept trajectory. It touched down on 9 January in Tycho crater after a 66-hour 35-minute flight and began sending the first of 21,274 detailed pictures back to earth. (5)
1989: Operation MEDFLY 89. Through 20 January, the 167th Tactical Airlift Group flew medical personnel and supplies aboard two C-130 Hercules to Liberia to support Medfly 89. This joint service humanitarian effort trained medical personnel in inoculating people against diseases and treating ailments. (16)
1995: Operation UNISOM II. Through 24 March, Air Mobility Command supported the withdrawal of United Nations forces from Somalia by deploying some U. S. forces to Kenya to cover the withdrawal and then returning the forces to the U. S. The returning flights stopped at Moron AB, Spain, which served as a stage base and refueling site for the operation. Besides Moron, Air Mobility Command units deployed to Mombasa and Nairobi, Kenya. The KC-135s at Nairobi refueled AC-130 gunships. Altogether, Air Mobility Command's airlifters and contracted commercial flights flew 59 missions to carry over 1,400 passengers and over 1,400 short tons of cargo. (18)
2005: Colonel Joseph Lanni, the 412th Test Wing Commander at Edwards AFB, Calif., delivered an F/A-22 Raptor to Langley AFB, Va. That Raptor, the fifth built, formed the nucleus of the first operational F-22 squadron. (3)
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