To All
Good Wednesday Morning February 14, 2024. Yesterday was a beautiful day and I made a dent in the leaf piles. Actually got four full green cans out and have about 4 old gray cans full to dump in after the others are picked up. Got 11,194 steps in and a quick workout in last night. Got to use the weed whacker today to clear the weeds that have started grow in next to my fencing. I do not want to give the rattle snakes a place to relax.
Another beautiful day today and Happy Valentines! Happy Ash Wednesday! Happy Lunar New Year!
Get well soon Shadow…see below
Regards,
skip
HAGD
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Not quite. the way to start off the day but I received this from Shadow and thought you should all know.
He adds so much to our lives with his tidbits of information that seem unending and we wish him a quick and total recovery.
Gents,
Some of you were aware I was heading to North Carolina last week to visit two of my mentors and personal heroes… Dan McMahon and Mike "Lancer" Sullivan. This was a second attempt to get up there as the first one had to be cancelled at the last minute because of family obligations. I was bound and determined not to let that happen again. I packed the car on Thursday and was to set off at zero dark thirty Friday morning.
The weather went from mild to cold overnight, wind blowing and I got chilled before getting in the car. For some reason, I couldn't shake it? My plan was to drive to a little town in South Carolina and spend the night (Friday) with my country cousins I spent much of my youth with… then drive on in to Morehead City/New Bern on Saturday. Planned to stay with McMahon Saturday and Sunday then switch over to Lancer Monday and Tuesday.
I arrived at my cousin's and it was even colder than in Florida. Between the long drive and the chill, I felt I should take a nap, which my Cousins graciously accepted and understood. I went in the guest room and crashed. They woke me up a few hours later and we all were going out to a big time BBQ joint; well known in the Great Pee Dee River region of Carolina. Now I had slept like a rock during my nap, but was surprised I still felt chilled… couldn't shake it? We get to the restaurant and we hit the BBQ Buffet. Sat down to eat and all of a sudden, I realized I had no appetite what so ever! A neice of mine drove me back to the house and I crashed again. I slept like a rock!
I left early, stopped for a Mac sausage biscuit… and my appetite had not returned and could only down half of it. I drove straight through and were greeted by Dan and Pat… again I was tired and chilled. Same thing as the night before… couldn't get warm… no desire for food. Sunday morning I was supposed to go with Dan and Pat for breakfast with friends. I begged off and said I was run down and needed to sleep some more. So I one back to sleep. By the time I woke up, it finally dawned on me… I was not right... and I may have something contagious and the last thing I wanted to do was give it to someone else. Considering the advanced ages of all involved… I packed up and drove south until I found a motel and checked in for the night. Drove on home the next morning… still tired, weak and chilled.
It was a long weekend of frustration. Wife was looking after a couple of grand kids, so I was allowed the privilege to get some more sleep. Still weak, still cold. Wife shows up the next morning, Covid Test kit in hand… and Boom! Got it! Half hour later, call from my cousin…. He's now got Covid too, along with a son in law that was at dinner with us. So far, Dan and Pat seem OK? Please dear God… give them a pass! As much as I wanted to see Lancer… I would never have forgiven myself if I'd have infected him. I made the right decision not to continue the trip when I did.
Will keep you up to date… so far, I'm down ten pounds over five days… feel like chit, but no other symptoms than what I already had.
Shadow
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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
February 15
1856—The stores-ship, Supply, commanded by Lt. David Dixon Porter, sails from Smyrna, Syria, bound for Indianola, TX, with a load of 21 camels intended for experimental use in the American desert west of the Rockies.
1898—The battleship Maine explodes in Havana Harbor and nearly three-quarters of the battleship's crew die as a result of the blast. Popular opinion blames Spain, and the Spanish-American war starts soon after.
1943—USS Gato (SS 212) sinks Japanese stores ship Suruga Maru in Bougainville Strait and USS Pickerel (SS 177) attacks a Japanese convoy and sinks cargo vessel Tateyama Maru off the east coast of Honshu.
1944—While serving as commander of a Catalina patrol plane, Lt. Nathan Gordon responds to a report of U.S. Army Fifth Air Force personnel shot down over Kavieng Harbor in the Bismarck Sea. Risking his life and under Japanese fire, he makes a daring rescue mission, saving 15 service members from certain death or capture by the enemy. For his "extraordinary heroism," Gordon is awarded the Medal of Honor.
1960—Icebreakers USS Burton Island (AGB 1) and USS Glacier (AGB 4) become the first U.S. Navy vessels to reach Thurston Peninsula in the Antarctic.
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This Day in World History
15 February
1798 The first serious fist fight occurs in Congress.
1804 New Jersey becomes the last northern state to abolish slavery.
1862 Union General Ulysses S. Grant launches a major assault on Fort Donelson, Tenn.1869 Charges of treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped.
1898 The U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana Harbor, killing 268 sailors and bringing hordes of Western cowboys and gunfighters rushing to enlist in the Spanish-American War.
1900 The British threaten to use natives in the Boer War fight.
1925 The London Zoo announces it will install lights to cheer up fogged-in animals.
1934 U.S. Congress passes the Civil Works Emergency Relief Act, allotting new funds for Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
1940 Hitler orders that all British merchant ships will be considered warships.
1942 British forces in Singapore surrender to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
1943 The Germans break the American Army's lines at the Fanid-Sened Sector in Tunisia, North Africa.
1944 American bombers attack the Abbey of Monte Cassino in an effort to neutralize it as a German observation post in central Italy.
1946 Royal Canadian mounted police arrest 22 as Soviet spies.
1950 Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse-tung sign a mutual defense treaty in Moscow.
1957 Andrei Gromyko replaces Dmitri T. Shepilov as the Soviet Foreign Minister.
1961 Eighteen members of the U.S. figure skating team are lost in an airplane crash in Belgium.
1965 Canada's maple leaf flag is raised for the first time.
1967 Thirteen U.S. helicopters are shot down in one day in Vietnam
1974 U.S. gas stations threaten to close because of federal fuel policies.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 12 February 2024 and ending Sunday, 18 February 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post for 5 May 2019… "Ho Chi Minh Trail Reviewed: Vietnam Death March," by Keith B. Richling (Washington Post, 26 April 1990)
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 can read what happened each day to the aircraft and its crew. ……Skip
I had problems with getting the List out yesterday of the self induced kind and did not realize until after that I left off yesterday's loss. My apologies.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Wednesday 14 February
13: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=2805 (the ONLY loss of any kind on this date during the entire war)
14: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1597
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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Most of you know that I am a workout junky and have been involved in Martial Arts for 70 years and teaching Martial arts for over 30 years. A few of you who were roommates on the ship put up with my antics in our small rooms….Thank you skip
You may enjoy the Quote below from Dick Van Dyke I did.
. Thanks to Carl
Logan Franklin Feb 15, 2023
"In my 30s, I exercised to look good. In my 50s, to stay fit. In my 70s, to stay ambulatory. In my 80s, to avoid assisted living. Now, in my 90s, I'm just doing it out of pure defiance." —Dick Van Dyke.
Pushing the Limits
For a long time one of the things most frequently asked by seniors has been about High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). In short, they want to know if they should do it.
Here's what I know. High-intensity intervals are great for overall physical conditioning and they also burn off fat better than, say, aerobics such as long slow distance running. But the question then becomes: is high-intensity training age-appropriate (meaning safe) for seniors?
For young seniors, let's say those in their 50s, who are in pretty decent shape and with no prohibitive underlying health problems, the answer is an easy yes. However, as we get older the answer is not so clear-cut. For older seniors, just how intense should exercise be? Are we talking about, for example, Tabata? That's pretty tough stuff for the very elderly. Interval training can be good at almost any age, but maybe there comes a time when the intensity should be toned down.
For senior beginners of all ages, and especially overweight senior beginners, a much smarter approach than HIIT is to ease into training with a beginners' strength and fitness program. Then, later on, higher-intensity intervals may come into play.
Until I was 80, I'd sneak in some Tabata, maybe once a week or so. Now at 86, I don't go near that kind of intensity. Any exercise I do isn't nearly as intense as it used to be. I simply keep up a steady movement for about 30 minutes, sometimes combining resistance work with light cardio.
Years ago, a newsletter subscriber, Franco, sent this wonderful quote from the actor/comedian Dick Van Dyke.
"In my 30s, I exercised to look good. In my 50s, to stay fit. In my 70s, to stay ambulatory. In my 80s, to avoid assisted living. Now, in my 90s, I'm just doing it out of pure defiance." —Dick Van Dyke.
People also ask about the high-intensity programs they see in TV infomercials. Most of those programs aren't sustainable for seniors, at least not for me personally. Not as they are shown on TV anyway. Even when I was young I didn't believe in pushing myself to the limit workout after workout, as in HIIT. On the few occasions, I tried going all out at every session, I soon began to dread training.
Extreme training gets riskier as we get older. Be smart. Older folks should let their doctors know what they're up to. And if HIIT is part of your plan (you younger seniors), ease into it. Don't jump in at full-throttle.
Here are a few workout guidelines that I almost universally recommend:
• All balanced fitness programs should include elements of a) strength training, b) cardiovascular exercise, and c) flexibility movements. Based on personal preferences and goals, you can put emphasis on either a, b, or c; but totally ignoring any one of them won't provide a balanced fitness program. Some interval circuit training arrangements can combine all three elements in a single workout, or, of course, they can be divided into separate segments.
• Don't do marathon workout sessions. Generally, anything over an hour in a gym is too much. Less than an hour is usually even better, provided that it is time-spent training, not standing around talking. Yes, I know Jack LaLanne is said to have been doing two-hour-plus workouts into his nineties. He was one in a million.
• Cross training (mixing things up) can be fun because changes of routine tend to keep things interesting, and overuse injuries are more preventable than when doing the same movements over and over, month after month, year after year.
• Select exercise programs that appeal to you. Group exercise classes, for example, are right for some people. Others hate them. Whether training in groups or training alone, strength, cardiovascular and flexibility movements can all be done using only your own bodyweight exercises. On the other hand, why not include free weights, resistance bands or kettlebells if they are available to you? Have fun. Mix them up.
There is a training lifestyle for every taste and to meet every fitness goal.
Stay healthy. Stay fit.
Logan
Senior Exercise Central
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From the Archives
. Martha Raye
Thanks to Bill
I have had a note like this in the List many years ago. There is another out there that modifies this one a bit but she was still an extraordinary woman….skip
For those of you about my age, you will enjoy this. Before this I only remember that Martha Raye was Funny and had a large mouth. Maybe there should be a TV channel that only shows stuff like this.
It was well recognized that Martha Raye endured less comfort more than any other Vietnam entertainer. Don't let the sun go down without reading this about Martha Raye.
The most unforgivable oversight of TV is that her shows were not taped. I was unaware of her credentials or where she is buried.
Somehow I just can't see Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton, or Jessica Simpson doing what this woman and the other USO women, including Ann Margaret & Joey Heatherton did for our troops in past wars. Most of the old time entertainers were made of a lot sterner stuff.
The following is from an Army aviator who takes a trip down memory lane:
"It was just before Thanksgiving '67 and we were ferrying dead and wounded from a large GRF west of Pleiku. We had run out of body bags by noon, so the Hook (CH-47 CHINOOK) was pretty rough in the back. All of a sudden, we heard a 'take-charge' woman's voice in the rear. There was the singer and actress, Martha Raye, with a Special Forces beret and jungle fatigues, with subdued markings, helping the wounded into the Chinook and carrying the dead aboard. Martha had been visiting her Special Forces (SF) 'heroes' out 'west'.
We took off, short of fuel, and headed to the USAF hospital pad at Pleiku. As we all started unloading our sad pax's, a USAF Captain said to Martha.... "Ms. Raye, with all these dead and wounded to process, there would not be time for your show!"
To our surprise, she pulled on her right collar and said "Captain, see this eagle? I am a full 'Bird' in the US Army Reserve and on this is a 'Caduceus' which means I am a nurse, with a surgical specialty.... now, take me to your wounded!"
He said, "Yes, ma'am. Follow me."
Several times at the Army Field Hospital in Pleiku, she would 'cover' a surgical shift, giving a nurse a well-deserved break. Martha is the only woman buried in the SF (Special Forces) cemetery at Ft Bragg.
Hand salute! A great lady. I did not know this about Martha Raye and thought you might like to read it
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Thanks to Captain Billy
Another great Ward Carrol presentation
. Here's Why the F/A-18 Hornet Crashed at the '88 El Toro Airshow
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tmwBAXExm2I&si=L5rcU06U6gZg-7G8
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Thanks to Interesting Facts
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. 6 Facts About How Valentine's Day Evolved From Religion to Chocolate
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Who was St. Valentine? Although we don't know for sure, we do know he wasn't a patron of romantic love. St. Valentine's Day was originally an occasion honoring one of several Christian martyrs. It took centuries before the day was linked to love — and even longer before anyone dreamed up a heart-shaped box of chocolate.
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Historians Don't Know for Sure Who St. Valentine Was
Saint Valentine (approx. 176 - Rome, 14 Feb. 273) Bishop of Terni and Martyr..
The history we have comes from the Bollandists, an order of Belgian Jesuit monks who began publishing an encyclopedic text called the Acta Sanctorum in 1643. They searched archives to document the lives of past saints, organizing their research as part of a calendar that associates each day with a saint. For February 14, they listed several martyrs called "Valentini."
The Bollandists uncovered tales of two Christians who were decapitated on February 14 during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus in the third century. One legend concerns a Roman priest named Valentinus, and the other a bishop of Terni in the province of Umbria, Italy. As the Bollandists note, it's likely the two tales actually refer to the same person. There's also a legend that a St. Valentine performed illegal marriages for the emperor's soldiers, but no real evidence to back it up.
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Churches and Monasteries Say They Have Bits of St. Valentine's Body
A skull enshrined in a glass reliquary and attributed to St. Valentine..
An entire skull purported to be St. Valentine's is still on display in one church, Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. Churches in Madrid, Dublin, Prague, Malta, Birmingham, Glasgow, and the Greek isle of Lesbos have also claimed to have a bit of the saint's skull, or other relics (including his heart) that once belonged to his body.
Relics of martyrs allow Christians to experience a sense that these great souls are still in their community, according to Lisa Bitel, a historian of medieval Europe and religious studies at the University of Southern California. But these bones did not (and don't) have a special significance for lovers.
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Rome Had a Raucous Fertility Festival in Mid-February
The feast of Lupercalia..
The pagan festival of Lupercalia began as a rural ritual of sacrificing goats and dogs. It turned into an urban carnival in Rome, with young men running through the streets whipping onlookers with strips of new goat leather. Romans believed this whipping brought luck to pregnant women.
Around 496 CE, a new pope abolished the festival, which had lasted despite a long series of laws over the previous 150 years banning pagan religious rites. He also declared February 14 to be a celebration of St. Valentine. However, Bitel argues that "there is no evidence that the pope purposely replaced Lupercalia with the more sedate cult of the martyred St. Valentine."
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The Link to Love Came in Literature
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So how did Valentine's Day become associated with romance? You can thank (or blame) famed English poet Geoffrey Chaucer, whose 14th-century poem "Parliament of Fowls" describes a group of birds gathering on "seynt valentynes day" to select their mates.
Within a few decades, fashionable people had begun sending love notes and, soon, original poems, to their sweethearts on the saint's day. By 1415, a French duke imprisoned in the Tower of London called his wife his sweet Valentine. Nearly 200 years after that, Shakespeare had Ophelia sing a song based on the folkloric idea that the first girl a man saw on Valentine's Day would be his true love. By the sentimental Victorian era, Valentine's Day had become a time to shower each other with cards and gifts, decorated with hearts, rosebuds, and baby Cupids symbolizing romance.
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Cupid Was Originally A Hunk
The chubby winged child we often see today first appeared in art and poetry as a handsome youth — the Greek god of love, Eros. Sometimes considered the son of the god of war, Eros caused lots of trouble.
The Romans were the ones who reimagined him as Cupid, the son of Venus (goddess of love and beauty; known in ancient Greece as Aphrodite). The enchanted gold-tipped arrows of his bow, bringing love and lust, were said to pierce both humans and gods alike. Picturing him as a child was a way of "limiting the power that love was thought to have over us," says Catherine Connors, a classics professor at the University of Washington.
Chocolate hadn't yet entered the picture, though.
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Valentine's Chocolates Arrived in the 19th Century
Chocolate did have an early link to marriage. The ancient Maya, who first brewed cacao beans, used their unsweetened drink in marriage ceremonies. Sweet chocolates for Valentine's Day began just as you'd guess — as a way to sell chocolate.
Candymaker Richard Cadbury saw a marketing opportunity in the mid-19th century. His company had developed a manufacturing process that made drinking chocolate tastier. It produced leftover cocoa butter, which he used for bonbons, then called "eating chocolate." Cadbury himself designed gorgeous boxes to put them in. Later, he put the symbolic Cupids and roses on a heart-shaped box, and a tradition was born.
In the United States, Russell Stover and Whitman's brought Valentine's chocolates within reach for millions. Russell Stover bought out Whitman's, and they now sell the "Secret Lace Heart," chocolates that come in a heart-shaped box covered with red satin and black lace reminiscent of lingerie.
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Thanks to History Facts
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. Purple became the color of royalty because the dye was so expensive.
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CYRUS THE GREAT
In the 16th century BCE, a precious treasure emerged from the Mediterranean Sea: Murex brandaris, a type of sea snail. During the Bronze Age in the Phoenician city of Tyre (modern-day Lebanon), the sea snails were used to make Tyrian purple dye, also known as "Royal" or "Imperial" purple. To create the dye, a yellow fluid was extracted from the snails and exposed to light until it turned a brilliant shade of purple. The fabric dye became fashionable across Phoenicia because it was more vibrant and longer-lasting than existing dyes. However, it was also much more expensive to make. It took up to 12,000 mollusks to produce just 1 gram of dye, and Murex snails became worth their weight in gold.
At the time, 1 pound of Tyrian purple wool cost more than what most people made in a year, so the only members of society who could afford the color were nobility and royalty. Because of this, the hue became associated with wealth. It was later adopted by Persian rulers such as Cyrus the Great, as well as most of the ancient Roman emperors, including Julius Caesar, who donned a purple toga. In the Byzantine Empire, not only did rulers wear purple, but they also signed their documents with purple ink. It's believed that the saying "born in the purple" (to denote a noble birth) originated in Byzantium, where children of high-ranking citizens wore purple. Although the color's popularity dwindled after the fall of the Byzantine Empire (in 1453), it never entirely went out of style. Purple finally became widely available after British chemist William Henry Perkin invented the world's first commercial synthetic dye in 1856, called "aniline purple," later named "mauve."
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By the Numbers
Copies sold of Prince's hit album Purple Rain
25 million
Cost of 1 pound of Tyrian purple dye during the Roman Empire (in today's currency)
$66,000
Oscar nominations received by the 1985 film The Color Purple
11
Shades of purple Crayola crayons
22
DID YOU KNOW?
Wearing purple was illegal in Elizabethan England unless you were royalty.
The purple hue has long been associated with the British monarchy. Even today, the coronation crown, St. Edward's Crown, has a lavish purple velvet cap. But in Elizabethan England, you could be fined or even jailed just for wearing purple. In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I issued several sets of "sumptuary laws" designed to regulate expenditures for commoners, often by limiting or banning luxurious items. In 1574, purple was at the top of the list. According to the statute, only the monarch and their family members were allowed to wear purple silk. Plenty of other costly fabrics were also limited, including red shades of velvet, which were reserved for nobility, and gold, silver, or pearl embroidery.
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This Day in U S Military History
February 15
1898 – A massive explosion of unknown origin sinks the battleship USS Maine in Cuba's Havana harbor, killing 260 of the fewer than 400 American crew members aboard. One of the first American battleships, the Maine weighed more than 6,000 tons and was built at a cost of more than $2 million. Ostensibly on a friendly visit, the Maine had been sent to Cuba to protect the interests of Americans there after a rebellion against Spanish rule broke out in Havana in January. An official U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry ruled in March that the ship was blown up by a mine, without directly placing the blame on Spain. Much of Congress and a majority of the American public expressed little doubt that Spain was responsible and called for a declaration of war. Subsequent diplomatic failures to resolve the Maine matter, coupled with United States indignation over Spain's brutal suppression of the Cuban rebellion and continued losses to American investment, led to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898. Within three months, the United States had decisively defeated Spanish forces on land and sea, and in August an armistice halted the fighting. On December 12, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain, officially ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire with the ceding of such former Spanish possessions as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. In 1976, a team of American naval investigators concluded that the Maine explosion was likely caused by a fire that ignited its ammunition stocks, not by a Spanish mine or act of sabotage.
1944 – Allied aircraft bomb the historic monastery on the crest of Monte Cassino. German forces, which have not occupied the position previously, move into the ruins of the monestary. The New Zealand Corps (part of US 5th Army) follows-up the bombing with an assault which fails.
1946 – ENIAC, the first electronic general-purpose computer, is formally dedicated at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) was the first electronic general-purpose computer. It was Turing-complete, digital, and capable of being reprogrammed to solve "a large class of numerical problems". ENIAC was initially designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the United States Army's Ballistic Research Laboratory. When ENIAC was announced in 1946 it was heralded in the press as a "Giant Brain". It had a speed of one thousand times that of electro-mechanical machines. This computational power, coupled with general-purpose programmability, excited scientists and industrialists. ENIAC's design and construction was financed by the United States Army, Ordnance Corps, Research and Development Command which was led by Major General Gladeon Marcus Barnes. He was Chief of Research and Engineering, the Chief of the Research and Development Service, Office of the Chief of Ordnance during World War II. The construction contract was signed on June 5, 1943, and work on the computer began in secret by the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering starting the following month under the code name "Project PX". The completed machine was announced to the public the evening of February 14, 1946 and formally dedicated the next day at the University of Pennsylvania, having cost almost $500,000 (approximately $6,000,000 today). It was formally accepted by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in July 1946. ENIAC was shut down on November 9, 1946 for a refurbishment and a memory upgrade, and was transferred to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland in 1947. There, on July 29, 1947, it was turned on and was in continuous operation until 11:45 p.m. on October 2, 1955. Finished shortly after the end of World War II, one of its first programs was a study of the feasibility of the hydrogen bomb. A few months after its unveiling, in the summer of 1946, as part of "an extraordinary effort to jump-start research in the field" the Pentagon invited "the top people in electronics and mathematics from the United States and Great Britain" to a series of forty-eight lectures altogether called The Theory and Techniques for Design of Digital Computers more often named the Moore School Lectures. Half of these lectures were given by the inventors of ENIAC.
1951 – The communists were defeated at Chipyong-ni by the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division's 23rd Infantry Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and the French Battalion. At the climax of the battle, the 1st Cavalry Division's Task Force Crombez broke through to support the encircled 23rd RCT. After three days of intense combat and having suffered perhaps 8,000 casualties, the Chinese forces withdrew. The 23rd RCT suffered 52 killed, 42 missing and 259 wounded in action. This was the first major battlefield defeat of the Chinese communist forces in the war.
1954 – Canada and the United States agree to construct the Distant Early Warning Line, a system of radar stations in the far northern Arctic regions of Canada and Alaska. The DEW Line was operational from 1957 to the late 1980s and it was the northernmost and most capable of three radar lines in Canada and Alaska; the joint Canadian-US Pinetree Line ran from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, and the Mid-Canada Line ran somewhat north of this.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WOMBLY, VOLTAIRE P.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company F, 2d lowa Infantry. Place and date: At Fort Donelson, Tenn., 15 February 1862. Entered service at: Keosauqua, Van Buren County, lowa. Birth: Van Buren County, lowa. Date of issue: 12 March 1897. Citation: Took the colors after 3 of the color guard had fallen, and although most instantly knocked down by a spent ball, immediately arose and bore the colors to the end of the engagement.
BURGER, JOSEPH
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Crystal Lake, Minn. Birth: Austria. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
CLARK, WILLIAM A.
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Shelbyville, Minn. Birth: Pennsylvania. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
FLANNIGAN, JAMES
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Louisville, Scott County, Minn. Birth: New York. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
HANNA, MILTON
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Henderson, Minn. Birth: Lickland County, Ohio. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
HOLMES, LOVILO N.
Rank and organization: First Sergeant, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Mankato, Minn. Birth: Cattaraugus County, N.Y. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
PAY, BYRON E.
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Mankato, Minn. Born: 21 October 1844, LeRoy Township, Jefferson County, N.Y. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
VALE, JOHN
Rank and organization: Private, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Rochester, Minn. Birth: England. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
WRIGHT, SAMUEL
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company H, 2d Minnesota Infantry. Place and date: At Nolensville, Tenn., 15 February 1863. Entered service at: Swan Lake, Minn. Birth: Indiana. Date of issue: 11 September 1897. Citation: Was one of a detachment of 16 men who heroically defended a wagon train against the attack of 125 cavalry, repulsed the attack and saved the train.
LOW, GEORGE
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1847, Canada. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884. Citation: For jumping overboard from the U.S.S. Tennessee at New Orleans, La., 15 February 1881, and sustaining, until picked up by a boat's crew, N. P. Petersen, gunner's mate, who had fallen overboard.
FLUCKEY, EUGENE BENNETT Lucky Fluckey his great book is called Thunder Below…skip
Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy, Commanding U.S.S. Barb. Place and date: Along coast of China, 19 December 1944 to 15 February 1945. Entered service at: Illinois. Born: S October 1913, Washington, D.C. Other Navy award: Navy Cross with 3 Gold Stars. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Barb during her 11th war patrol along the east coast of China from 19 December 1944 to 15 February 1945. After sinking a large enemy ammunition ship and damaging additional tonnage during a running 2-hour night battle on 8 January, Comdr. Fluckey, in an exceptional feat of brilliant deduction and bold tracking on 25 January, located a concentration of more than 30 enemy ships in the lower reaches of Nankuan Chiang (Mamkwan Harbor). Fully aware that a safe retirement would necessitate an hour's run at full speed through the uncharted, mined, and rock-obstructed waters, he bravely ordered, "Battle station–torpedoes!" In a daring penetration of the heavy enemy screen, and riding in 5 fathoms of water, he launched the Barb's last forward torpedoes at 3,000-yard range. Quickly bringing the ship's stern tubes to bear, he turned loose 4 more torpedoes into the enemy, obtaining 8 direct hits on 6 of the main targets to explode a large ammunition ship and cause inestimable damage by the resultant flying shells and other pyrotechnics. Clearing the treacherous area at high speed, he brought the Barb through to safety and 4 days later sank a large Japanese freighter to complete a record of heroic combat achievement, reflecting the highest credit upon Comdr. Fluckey, his gallant officers and men, and the U.S. Naval Service.
GORDON, NATHAN GREEN
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, commander of Catalina patrol plane. Place and date: Bismarck Sea, 15 February 1944. Entered service at: Arkansas. Born: 4 September 1916, Morrilton, Ark. Citation: For extraordinary heroism above and beyond the call of duty as commander of a Catalina patrol plane in rescuing personnel of the U.S. Army 5th Air Force shot down in combat over Kavieng Harbor in the Bismarck Sea, 15 February 1944. On air alert in the vicinity of Vitu Islands, Lt. (then Lt. j.g.) Gordon unhesitatingly responded to a report of the crash and flew boldly into the harbor, defying close-range fire from enemy shore guns to make 3 separate landings in full view of the Japanese and pick up 9 men, several of them injured. With his cumbersome flying boat dangerously overloaded, he made a brilliant takeoff despite heavy swells and almost total absence of wind and set a course for base, only to receive the report of another group stranded in a rubber life raft 600 yards from the enemy shore. Promptly turning back, he again risked his life to set his plane down under direct fire of the heaviest defenses of Kavieng and take aboard 6 more survivors, coolly making his fourth dexterous takeoff with 15 rescued officers and men. By his exceptional daring, personal valor, and incomparable airmanship under most perilous conditions, Lt. Gordon prevented certain death or capture of our airmen by the Japanese.
*WILLETT, LOUIS E.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. Place and date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 15 February 1967. Entered service at: Brooklyn, N.Y. Born: 19 June 1945, Brooklyn, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Pfc. Willett distinguished himself while serving as a rifleman in Company C, during combat operations. His squad was conducting a security sweep when it made contact with a large enemy force. The squad was immediately engaged with a heavy volume of automatic weapons fire and pinned to the ground. Despite the deadly fusillade, Pfc. Willett rose to his feet firing rapid bursts from his weapon and moved to a position from which he placed highly effective fire on the enemy. His action allowed the remainder of his squad to begin to withdraw from the superior enemy force toward the company perimeter. Pfc. Willett covered the squad's withdrawal, but his position drew heavy enemy machinegun fire, and he received multiple wounds enabling the enemy again to pin down the remainder of the squad. Pfc. Willett struggled to an upright position, and, disregarding his painful wounds, he again engaged the enemy with his rifle to allow his squad to continue its movement and to evacuate several of his comrades who were by now wounded. Moving from position to position, he engaged the enemy at close range until he was mortally wounded. By his unselfish acts of bravery, Pfc. Willett insured the withdrawal of his comrades to the company position, saving their lives at the cost of his life. Pfc. Willett's valorous actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for February 15, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
15 February
1908: The US government received bids for its first airship (see 24 February 1908). (24)
1910: The Signal Corps relocated its flight training program from College Park, Md., to Fort Sam Houston, Tex. (21)
1943: Maj. Gen. Ira C. Eaker will replace Maj. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz as commander of the Eighth Air Force. Spaatz will move to the Mediterranean to command the air operations for TORCH, the invasion of North Africa.
1944: Twelfth Air Force sent 254 B-17 and B-25 bombers to attack and destroy the Abbey of Monte Cassino, Italy. The US Fifth Army did not take the ruins until 18 May, which allowed the US Fifth and British Eighth Armies to advance on Rome. (21)
1948: The XF-87 Blackhawk made its first flight at Edwards AFB, Calif. (5)
1951: To 16 February, H-5 pilots of the 3d Air Rescue Squadron flew through a blinding snowstorm and 40-knot winds to deliver blood plasma and medical supplies to the US Army's 2d Division at Chipyong, Korea. They also evacuated 52 wounded men. (26)
1953: A Northwest Airlines Stratocruiser set a 15-hour, 10-minute record for a flight between Tokyo, Japan, and Seattle, Wash. (24)
1961: The Tactical Air Command received the first T-39B jet trainer at Nellis AFB, Nev.
1962: In the fifth consecutive silo launching, a Minuteman I missile set a new record by flying 3,900 miles, the longest distance for the Minuteman to date. (16) (24)
1963: The North American YAT-28E first flew. (5)
1965: The first OH-13E "Bubbletop" helicopter arrived at Edwards AFB, Calif., for use in a vertical short take-off and landing test pilot training program. (3)
1975: The first pre-production A-10 completed its initial flight at Edwards AFB, Calif. (3)
1978: During Operation SNOW BLOW II, USAF C-5s, C-141s, and C-130s deliver 2,300 tons of snow-removal equipment and other supplies to snowbound New England after a blizzard on 6 February closed most transportation lines in the state of Rhode Island. More than 1,000 passengers are airlifted to safety during the operation.
1979: A Minuteman III missile launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to the Kwajalein missile range, where it deployed three Mark 12A reentry vehicles. (5)
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