To All,
Good Saturday Morning April 13. I hope that your weekend is off to a good start. We are overcast with rain expected later tonight.
Regards,
Skip
HAGD
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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
April 13
1940 USS J. Fred Talbott (DD 156) returns to the Panama Canal Zone after providing medical assistance to a passenger on board Japanese steamship SS Arimasan Maru.
1942 USS Grayling (SS 209) sinks the Japanese freighter Ryujin Maru off southest tip of Shikoku, Japan.
1944 USS Harder (SS 257) sinks the Japanese destroyer Ikazuchi, 180 miles SSW of Guam.
1952 During the Korean War, sorties launch from USS Philippine Sea (CV 47) and Boxer (CV 21) and deliver 200 tons of aircraft ordnance to the North Korean target area.
1960 The Navy's navigation satellite, Transit 1B, which demonstrates the first engine restart in space, is placed into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, by Thor-Able-Star.
1981 AV-8A Harriers deploy as a Marine Air Group on board an amphibious assault ship for the first time.
1996 USS Carney (DDG 64) is commissioned at Mayport, Fla., her homeport. The destroyer is the 14th of the Arleigh Burke-class and the first to be named after Adm. Robert Carney, the Chief of Naval Operations during the Eisenhower administration.
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This day in world history April 13
1598 The Edict of Nantes grants political rights to French Huguenots.
1775 Lord North extends the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act forbids trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland.
1861 After 34 hours of bombardment, Union-held Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates.
1864 Union forces under Gen. Sherman begin their devastating march through Georgia.
1902 J.C. Penny opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1919 British forces kill hundreds of Indian nationalists in the Amritsar Massacre.
1933 The first flight over Mount Everest is completed by Lord Clydesdale.
1941 German troops capture Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
1943 Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Jefferson Memorial.
1945 Vienna falls to Soviet troops.
1960 The first navigational satellite is launched into Earth's orbit.
1961 The U.N. General Assembly condemns South Africa because of apartheid.
1964 Sidney Poitier becomes the first black individual to win an Oscar for best actor.
1970 An oxygen tank explodes on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing and jeopardizing the lives of the three-man crew.
1976 The U.S. Federal Reserve begins issuing $2 bicentennial notes.
1979 The world's longest doubles ping-pong match ends after 101 hours.
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OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For The List for the week beginning Monday, 8 April 2024 through Sunday, 14 April 2024… Bear🇺🇸⚓️🐻
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)…
From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com post of 30 June 2019…
B-52 Operation MENU targeting leaked to NVN… No surprises…?…
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
Flying near Hianan Island was always dangerous
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "Saturday 13 April
1. 13. https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=519
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.
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 Service members 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 Interesting Facts
8 Larger-Than-Life Facts About John Wayne
John Wayne, the shy son of a struggling pharmacist, wasn't all that much like the characters he played — he wasn't really a swaggering marshal, a brooding brawler, or prone to shooting up troublemakers in frontier towns. He didn't even respond to being called "John." Yet the commanding aura he used to mesmerize audiences eventually made his legend indistinguishable from the individual beneath the cowboy hat and drawl. Here are eight real-life facts about the larger-than-life actor who set the gold standard for the lawmakers, the justice-dispensers, and the men of action he portrayed to unparalleled effect on the big screen.
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He Wasn't Born John Wayne
Born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907 in Winterset, Iowa, the future movie star earned his longtime nickname, Duke (or "The Duke"), well before he adopted his famed stage name. According to Scott Eyman's John Wayne: The Life and Legend, after Wayne's family moved to California, they adopted an Airedale terrier named Big Duke, prompting local firemen to dub the skinny boy who chased after the dog "Little Duke."
More than a decade later, with Duke Morrison set for his first starring role in The Big Trail (1930), Fox Studios head Winfield Sheehan decided to rename the young actor after maverick Revolutionary War General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, with the "John" something of an afterthought.
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He Was a Talented Football Player Before Becoming an Actor
The Hollywood Archive/ Alamy Stock Photo
Given his 6-foot-4-inch, 200-plus-pound frame, it's perhaps unsurprising that Wayne was a standout football player in his younger years. Per The Life and Legend, Wayne starred on a championship-winning Glendale High School football team in the early 1920s, before earning a scholarship to play at the University of Southern California. Although he lost his scholarship (allegedly after getting injured in a bodysurfing accident) during his junior year, Wayne had already spent time working in the Fox props department via his head coach's connections, and as such was prepared to continue in the motion picture industry after his football prospects disintegrated.
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John Wayne Was One of the First "Singing Cowboys"
Between his first headlining role in The Big Trail and his leap to stardom with Stagecoach (1939), Wayne toiled away in dozens of forgettable feature films through the 1930s. That included a stint in talkies — such as Riders of Destiny (1933) and Lawless Range (1935) — as a singing cowboy, an archetype soon made famous by Gene Autry. But while Autry was a legitimate musician, Wayne relied on the "movie magic" of a dubbed voice and guitar strumming to look the part. Embarrassed by the inability to perform his characters' songs during public appearances, Wayne informed his bosses that he was retiring from the lip-syncing business.
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He Was Criticized for Being a Draft Dodger
Perhaps surprisingly for someone who represented American ruggedness in the flesh, Wayne never signed on for military service during World War II. Even as peers such as Clark Gable, Henry Fonda, and Jimmy Stewart enlisted, Wayne was initially given a pass as the sole provider for his family, and later obtained additional deferment as a movie star who best served "national interest." Although Wayne did entertain American troops overseas on behalf of the United Services Organization (USO), he occasionally experienced a rude welcome from the servicemen who didn't appreciate the "fake machismo" he demonstrated on screen. Later biographers have suggested that Wayne remained in Hollywood to further a career that was just taking off, with his guilt over not serving fueling public displays of patriotism.
5 of 8
He Frequently Enjoyed Games of Chess
His reputation as a man's man notwithstanding, Wayne also enjoyed headier activities such as chess. His affinity for the game of kings stretched all the way back to at least high school, with one teacher recalling the teenager's "aggressive" style in matches. Often seen hunched over a chessboard between takes on set, Wayne was said to have rung up an undefeated record against industry buddies Ed Faulkner and Jimmy Grant. However, he may not have been a particularly gracious loser; he reportedly once sent a board and pieces flying after getting badly beaten by fellow actor William Windom.
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He Turned a Former Navy Warship Into a Pleasure Boat
In his later years, Wayne enjoyed spending increasing amounts of time aboard his 136-foot yacht, the Wild Goose. Wayne bought the vessel, originally built as a U.S. Navy minesweeper during World War I, in the early 1960s, and had it renovated to include such luxuries as a saloon, a fireplace, and a bridal suite. Although Wayne most treasured the family getaways aboard his yacht, he also used it to host parties for Hollywood luminaries, and lent it out to friends such as Tom Jones and Dennis Wilson. Like its owner, the Wild Goose even managed to work its way into the movie business, with appearances in The President's Analyst (1967) and Skidoo (1968).
7 of 8
He Earned a Grammy Nomination for a Poetry Album
A few years after winning his first and only Oscar for his performance in True Grit (1969), Wayne nearly added to his trophy collection with the well-received release of his 1973 spoken-word poetry album, America, Why I Love Her. Written by John Mitchum, brother of Wayne's sometime co-star Robert Mitchum, the album's 10 tracks included such entries as the service-oriented "An American Boy Grows Up" and the anti-demonstration "Why Are You Marching, Son?" America, Why I Love Her spent 16 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and earned a 1973 Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album, although Richard Harris ultimately claimed the award for his rendition of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
8 of 8
After Having a Lung Removed, He Performed for Another Decade
Possibly due to his work in the vicinity of a nuclear test site on the set of The Conqueror (1956), Wayne wound up having a lung (and multiple ribs) removed to treat cancer in 1964. Amazingly, he returned to the sort of action-heavy roles that had come to define his career, in films such as Hellfighters (1968) and Chisum (1970). Despite his willingness to soldier on, the veteran actor was clearly suffering from an array of health problems by the mid-1970s. After word of his health issues reached insurance companies, he wound up having to contribute a hefty portion to finance the insurance for what became his final film, The Shootist (1976). He succumbed to stomach cancer in 1979. (His family later created the John Wayne Cancer Foundation to help others with the disease.)
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From the LIst archives
I had been looking for this one and finally found it this morning
The Jerry Can
During World War II the United States exported more tons of petroleum products than of all other war material combined. The mainstay of the enormous oil-and gasoline transportation network that fed the war was the oceangoing tanker, supplemented on land by pipelines, railroad tank cars, and trucks. But for combat vehicles on the move, another link was crucial; smaller containers that could be carried and poured by hand and moved around a battle zone by trucks.
Hitler knew this. He perceived early on that the weakest link in his plans for blitzkrieg using his panzer divisions was fuel supply. He ordered his staff to design a fuel container that would minimize gasoline losses under combat conditions. As a result the German army had thousands of jerrycans, as they came to be called, stored and ready when hostilities began in 1939.
The jerrycan had been developed under the strictest secrecy, and its unique features were many. It was flat-sided and rectangular in shape, consisting of two halves welded together as in a typical automobile gasoline tank. It had three handles, enabling one man to carry two cans and pass one to another man in bucket-brigade fashion. Its capacity was approximately five U.S. gallons; its weight filled, forty-five pounds. Thanks to an air chamber at the top, it would float on water if dropped overboard or from a plane. Its short spout was secured with a snap closure that could be propped open for pouring, making unnecessary any funnel or opener. A gasket made the mouth leak proof. An air-breathing tube from the spout to the air space kept the pouring smooth. And most important, the can's inside was lined with an impervious plastic material developed for the insides of steel beer barrels. This enabled the jerrycan to be used alternately for gasoline and water.
Early in the summer of 1939, this secret weapon began a roundabout odyssey into American hands. An American engineer named Paul Pleiss, finishing up a manufacturing job in Berlin, persuaded a German colleague to join him on a vacation trip overland to India. The two bought an automobile chassis and built a body for it. As they prepared to leave on their journey, they realized that they had no provision for emergency water. The German engineer knew of and had access to thousands of jerrycans stored at Tempelhof Airport. He simply took three and mounted them on the underside of the car.
The two drove across eleven national borders without incident and were halfway across India when Field Marshal Goering sent a plane to take the German engineer back home. Before departing, the engineer compounded his treason by giving Pleiss complete specifications for the jerrycan’s manufacture. Pleiss continued on alone to Calcutta. Then he put the car in storage and returned to Philadelphia.
Back in the United States, Pleiss told military officials about the container, but without a sample can he could stir no interest, even though the war was now well under way. The risk involved in having the cans removed from the car and shipped from Calcutta seemed too great, so he eventually had the complete vehicle sent to him, via Turkey and the Cape of Good Hope. It arrived in New York in the summer of 1940 with the three jerrycans intact. Pleiss immediately sent one of the cans to Washington. The War Department looked at it but unwisely decided that an updated version of their World War I container would be good enough. That was a cylindrical ten-gallon can with two screw closures. It required a wrench and a funnel for pouring.
That one jerrycan in the Army's possession was later sent to Camp Holabird, in Maryland. There it was poorly redesigned; the only features retained were the size, shape, and handles. The welded circumferential joint was replaced with rolled seams around the bottom and one side. Both a wrench and a funnel were required for its use. And it now had no lining. As any petroleum engineer knows, it is unsafe to store gasoline in a container with rolled seams. This ersatz can did not win wide acceptance.
The British first encountered the jerrycan during the German invasion of Norway, in 1940, and gave it its English name (the Germans were, of course, the Jerries). Later that year Pleiss was in London and was asked by British officers if he knew anything about the can's design and manufacture. He ordered the second of his three jerrycans flown to London. Steps were taken to manufacture exact duplicates of it.
Two years later the United States was still oblivious of the can. Then, in September 1942, two quality-control officers posted to American refineries in the Mideast ran smack into the problems being created by ignoring the jerrycan. I was one of those two. passing through Cairo two weeks before the start of the Battle of El Alamein, we learned that the British wanted no part of a planned U.S. Navy can; as far as they were concerned, the only container worth having was the Jerry can, even though their only supply was those captured in battle. The British were bitter; two years after the invasion of Norway there was still no evidence that their government had done anything about the jerrycan.
My colleague and I learned quickly about the jerrycan's advantages and the Allied can’s costly disadvantages, and we sent a cable to naval officials in Washington stating that 40 percent of all the gasoline sent to Egypt was being lost through spillage and evaporation. We added that a detailed report would follow. The 40 percent figure was actually a guess intended to provoke alarm, but it worked. A cable came back immediately requesting confirmation.
We then arranged a visit to several fuel-handling depots at the rear of Montgomery’s army and found there that conditions were indeed appalling. Fuel arrived by rail from the sea in fifty-five-gallon steel drums with rolled seams and friction-sealed metallic mouths. The drums were handled violently by local laborers. Many leaked. The next link in the chain was the infamous five-gallon “petrol tin.†This was a square can of tin plate that had been used for decades to supply lamp kerosene. It was hardly useful for gasoline. In the hot desert sun, it tended to swell up, burst at the seams, and leak. Since a funnel was needed for pouring, spillage was also a problem.
Allied soldiers in Africa knew that the only gasoline container worth having was German. Similar tins were carried on Liberator bombers in flight. They leaked out perhaps a third of the fuel they carried. Because of this, General Wavell's defeat of the Italians in North Africa in 1940 had come to naught. His planes and combat vehicles had literally run out of gas. Likewise in 1941, General Auchinleck's victory over Rommel had withered away. In 1942 General Montgomery saw to it that he had enough supplies, including gasoline, to whip Rommel in spite of terrific wastage. And he was helped by captured jerrycans.
The British historian Desmond Young later confirmed the great importance of oil cans in the early African part of the war. “No one who did not serve in the desert,†he wrote, “can realize to what extent the difference between complete and partial success rested on the simplest item of our equipmentâ€"and the worst. Whoever sent our troops into desert warfare with the [five-gallon] petrol tin has much to answer for. General Auchinleck estimates that this flimsy and ill-constructed containers led to the loss of thirty per cent of petrol between base and consumer. … The overall loss was almost incalculable. To calculate the tanks destroyed, the number of men who were killed or went into captivity because of shortage of petrol at some crucial moment, the ships and merchant seamen lost in carrying it, would be quite impossible. After my colleague and I made our report, a new five-gallon container under consideration in Washington was canceled.
Meanwhile the British were finally gearing up for mass production. Two million British jerrycans were sent to North Africa in early 1943, and by early 1944 they were being manufactured in the Middle East. Since the British had such a head start, the Allies agreed to let them produce all the cans needed for the invasion of Europe. Millions were ready by D-day. By V-E day some twenty-one million Allied jerrycans had been scattered all over Europe. President Roosevelt observed in November 1944, "Without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their way across France at a lightning pace which exceeded the German Blitz of 1940."
In Washington little about the jerry can appears in the official record. A military report says simply, a sample of the jerry can was brought to the office of the Quartermaster General in the summer of 1940.
Richard M. Daniel is a retired commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve and a chemical engineer. Posted by Jerry Can in Jerry Can Tags: 5 gallon, http://www.jerrycan.com/the-little-can-that-could/
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Napoleon had an older brother who moved to New Jersey.
New Jersey is known for its beach boardwalks, saltwater taffy, and colonial American history. But many people don't know that the tiny East Coast state was also once home to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's eldest brother and the former king of Naples and Spain. How the royal went from governing entire countries to living in the New Jersey countryside is thanks to his brother's military conquests. After abdicating the French throne in 1814, Napoleon escaped exile and attempted to retake his former role. However, the campaign ended with the Battle of Waterloo, where his troops were defeated by the British. Knowing his brother would likely return to exile, Joseph Bonaparte feared he was also at risk of banishment. His solution: flee Europe, in disguise, by way of a ship heading to New York.
In America, Bonaparte spent time in Philadelphia among other French expatriates before settling along the Delaware River in Bordentown, New Jersey. In 1816, he began construction of Point Breeze, an enormous estate once said to rival the White House. Situated between New York and Philadelphia, the 1,800-acre estate included a 38,000-square-foot mansion, sculpture gardens, carriage trails, bridges, and a human-made lake — which attracted prominent visitors like John Quincy Adams and the Marquis de Lafayette. At the time, Bonaparte's personal library was larger than the Library of Congress and he maintained the largest private art collection in the U.S. — both of which, along with the grounds, were often open for public enjoyment. Bonaparte left Point Breeze in 1839 for London and today little of the estate survives, but in 2021 the City of Bordentown (with help from the state government and nonprofit groups) purchased the remains of Bonaparte's retreat and transformed it into a new city municipal complex.
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This Day in U S Military History…….April 13
1861 – After a thirty-three hour bombardment by Confederate cannon, Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor surrenders. The first engagement of the war ended in Rebel victory. The surrender concluded a standoff that began with South Carolina's secession from the Union on December 20, 1860. When President Lincoln sent word to Charleston in early April that he planned to send food to the beleaguered garrison, the Confederates took action. They opened fire on Sumter in the predawn of April 12. Over the next day, nearly 4,000 rounds were hurled toward the black silhouette of Fort Sumter. Inside Sumter was its commander, Major Robert Anderson, 9 officers, 68 enlisted men, 8 musicians, and 43 construction workers who were still putting the finishing touches on the fort. Captain Abner Doubleday, the man often inaccurately credited with inventing the game of baseball, returned fire nearly two hours after the barrage began. By the morning of April 13, the garrison in Sumter was in dire straits. The soldiers had sustained only minor injuries, but they could not hold out much longer. The fort was badly damaged, and the Confederate's shots were becoming more precise. Around noon, the flagstaff was shot away. Louis Wigfall, a former U.S. senator from Texas, rowed out without permission to see if the garrison was trying to surrender. Anderson decided that further resistance was futile, and he ran a white flag up a makeshift flagpole. The first engagement of the war was over, and the only casualty had been a Confederate horse. The Union force was allowed to leave for the north; before leaving, the soldiers fired a 100-gun salute. During the salute, one soldier was killed and another mortally wounded by a prematurely exploding cartridge. The Civil War had officially begun.
1941 – The USSR and Japan sign a five year Neutrality Agreement. For Stalin this is an invaluable piece of diplomacy which, backed by secret information from Soviet spies in Tokyo, will allow him to transfer forces from Siberia to face a possible German attack. These moves begin now. The agreement represents a complete change in Japanese policy and marks the growing concern of the Japanese military leaders and statesmen to look south to the resources of the East Indies. The agreement has been negotiated almost alone by Foreign Minister Matsuoka, in Moscow on the way back from a European visit.
1945 – On Okinawa, elements of the US 6th Marine Division not engaged on the Motobu Peninsula continue to advance up the west coast of the island and reach the northwest tip at Hedo Point. Japanese Kamikaze attacks hit a destroyer. British carriers attack Sakashima Gunto.
1945 – The Nazi concentration camps at Belsen and Buchenwald are liberated by British and American forces respectively. Jena is captured by US 3rd Army units. To the south, US 7th Army forces take Bamberg.
1945 – In Manila Bay, American forces land on Fort Drum, known as "the Concrete Battleship", and begin to pour 5,000 gallons of oil fuel into the fortifications. This is then set on fire and burns for five days, eliminating the Japanese garrison.
1970 – Disaster strikes 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blows up on Apollo 13, the third manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive. Mission commander Lovell reported to mission control on Earth: "Houston, we've had a problem here," and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth. The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply, and providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13's course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, with the world anxiously watching, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1972 – Three North Vietnamese divisions attack An Loc with infantry, tanks, heavy artillery and rockets, taking half the city after a day of close combat. An Loc, the capital of Binh Long Province, was located 65 miles northwest of Saigon. This attack was the southernmost thrust of the three-pronged Nguyen Hue Offensive (later more commonly known as the "Easter Offensive"), a massive invasion by North Vietnamese forces designed to strike the knockout blow that would win the war for the communists. The attacking force included 14 infantry divisions and 26 separate regiments, with more than 120,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles. The main North Vietnamese objectives, in addition to An Loc in the south, were Quang Tri in the north, and Kontum in the Central Highlands. Initially, the South Vietnamese defenders in each case were almost overwhelmed, particularly in the northernmost provinces, where the South Vietnamese abandoned their positions in Quang Tri and fled south in the face of the enemy onslaught. In Binh Long, the North Vietnamese forces crossed into South Vietnam from Cambodia to strike first at Loc Ninh on April 5, then quickly encircled An Loc, holding it under siege for almost three months while they made repeated attempts to take the city. The defenders suffered heavy casualties, including 2,300 dead or missing, but with the aid of U.S. advisors and American airpower, they managed to hold An Loc against vastly superior odds until the siege was lifted on June 18. Fighting continued all over South Vietnam throughout the summer months, but eventually the South Vietnamese forces prevailed against the invaders, even retaking Quang Tri in September. With the communist invasion blunted, President Nixon declared that the South Vietnamese victory proved the viability of his Vietnamization program, instituted in 1969 to increase the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces.
2001 – With the crew of a U.S. spy plane safely back in the United States, American officials gave their detailed version of what happened when the plane collided with a Chinese fighter on April 1; the United States said its plane was struck by the jet. China maintained that the U.S. plane rammed the fighter.
2003 – U.S.-led forces announced the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan, a half-brother of and adviser to Saddam Hussein. Watban is one of three of Saddam's half-brothers (both share the same mother). During his tenure as Interior Minister, he is accused of having overseen the deportations, torture, and executions of hundred of prisoners. Some of those executions were reportedly taped with copies kept at the ministry. Despite his family ties to Saddam and his position, Watban was not thought to be fully trusted by Saddam Hussein. Watban is believed to have been shot in the leg by Uday Husein during a party in 1995. British SAS troops were believed to have orchestrated the capture of Watban Ibrahim Hasan Al-Tikriti near the town of Rabia, on the road between the city of Mosul and the Syrian border, as he was attempting to flee to Syria. He is the 5 of Spades on the Most-Wanted-Deck-of-Cards.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WESTON, JOHN F.
Rank and organization: Major, 4th Kentucky Cavalry. Place and date: Near Wetumpka, Ala., 13 April 1865. Entered service at: Kentucky. Birth: Kentucky. Date of issue: 9 April 1898. Citation: This officer, with a small detachment, while en route to destroy steamboats loaded with supplies for the enemy, was stopped by an unfordable river, but with 5 of his men swam the river, captured 2 leaky canoes, and ferried his men across. He then encountered and defeated the enemy, and on reaching Wetumpka found the steamers anchored in midstream. By a ruse obtained possession of a boat, with which he reached the steamers and demanded and received their surrender.
COX, ROBERT EDWARD
Rank and organizarion: Chief Gunner's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 22 December 1855, St. Albans, W. Va. Accredited to: West Virginia. G.O. No.: 43, 14 April 1921. (Medal presented by President Harding.) Citation: For extraordinary heroism on U.S.S. Missouri 13 April, 1904. While at target practice off Pensacola, Fla., an accident occurred in the after turret of the Missouri whereby the lives of 5 officers and 28 men were lost. The ship was in imminent danger of destruction by explosion, and the prompt action of C.G. Cox and 2 gunners' mates caused the fire to be brought under control, and the loss of the Missouri, together with her crew, was averted.
MONSSEN, MONS
Rank and organization. Chief Gunner's Mate, U.S. Navy. Born: 20 January 1867, Norway. G.O. No.: 160, 26 May 1904. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Missouri, for extraordinary heroism in entering a burning magazine through the scuttle and endeavoring to extinguish the fire by throwing water with his hands until a hose was passed to him, 13 April 1904.
NORDSTROM, ISIDOR
Rank and organization: Chief Boatswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 24 May 1876, Goteborg, Sweden. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 142, 4 December 1924. Citation: For gallant conduct upon the occasion of the disastrous fire of accidentally ignited powder charges, which occurred in the forward turret of the U.S.S. Kearsage during target practice on 13 April 1906. Chief Boatswain Nordstrom, then chief boatswain's mate, was among the first to enter the turret in order to assist in bringing out the injured.
SCHEPKE, CHARLES S.
Rank and organization: Gunner's Mate First Class, U.S. Navy. Born: 26 December 1878, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 160, 26 May 1904. Citation: For extraordinary heroism while serving on the U.S.S. Missouri in remaining by a burning magazine and assisting to extinguish the fire, 13 April 1904.
GAUJOT, JULIEN E.
Rank and organization: Captain, Troop K, 1st U.S. Cavalry. Place and date: At Aqua Prieta, Mexico, 13 April 1911. Entered service at: Williamson, W. Va. Birth: Keweenaw, Mich. Date of issue: 23 November 1912. Citation: Crossed the field of fire to obtain the permission of the rebel commander to receive the surrender of the surrounded forces of Mexican Federals and escort such forces, together with 5 Americans held as prisoners, to the American line.
ANDERSON, BEAUFORD T.
Rank and organization: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, 381st Infantry, 96th Infantry Division. Place and date: Okinawa, 13 April 1945. Entered service at: Soldiers Grove, Wis. Birth: Eagle, Wis. G.O. No.: 63, 27 June 1946. Citation: He displayed conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty. When a powerfully conducted predawn Japanese counterattack struck his unit's flank, he ordered his men to take cover in an old tomb, and then, armed only with a carbine, faced the onslaught alone. After emptying 1 magazine at pointblank range into the screaming attackers, he seized an enemy mortar dud and threw it back among the charging Japs, killing several as it burst. Securing a box of mortar shells, he extracted the safety pins, banged the bases upon a rock to arm them and proceeded alternately to hurl shells and fire his piece among the fanatical foe, finally forcing them to withdraw. Despite the protests of his comrades, and bleeding profusely from a severe shrapnel wound, he made his way to his company commander to report the action. T/Sgt. Anderson's intrepid conduct in the face of overwhelming odds accounted for 25 enemy killed and several machineguns and knee mortars destroyed, thus single-handedly removing a serious threat to the company's flank.
KERSTETTER, DEXTER J.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Company C, 130th Infantry, 33d Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Galiano, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 April 1945. Entered service at: Centralia, Wash. Birth: Centralia, Wash. G.O. No.: 97,1 November 1945. Citation: He was with his unit in a dawn attack against hill positions approachable only along a narrow ridge paralleled on each side by steep cliffs which were heavily defended by enemy mortars, machineguns, and rifles in well-camouflaged spider holes and tunnels leading to caves. When the leading element was halted by intense fire that inflicted 5 casualties, Pfc. Kerstetter passed through the American line with his squad. Placing himself well in advance of his men, he grimly worked his way up the narrow steep hogback, meeting the brunt of enemy action. With well-aimed shots and rifle-grenade fire, he forced the Japs to take cover. He left the trail and moving down a cliff that offered only precarious footholds, dropped among 4 Japs at the entrance to a cave, fired his rifle from his hip and killed them all. Climbing back to the trail, he advanced against heavy enemy machinegun, rifle, and mortar fire to silence a heavy machinegun by killing its crew of 4 with rifle fire and grenades. He expended his remaining ammunition and grenades on a group of approximately 20 Japs, scattering them, and returned to his squad for more ammunition and first aid for his left hand, which had been blistered by the heat from his rifle. Resupplied, he guided a fresh platoon into a position from which a concerted attack could be launched, killing 3 hostile soldiers on the way. In all, he dispatched 16 Japs that day. The hill was taken and held against the enemy's counterattacks, which continued for 3 days. Pfc. Kerstetter's dauntless and gallant heroism was largely responsible for the capture of this key enemy position, and his fearless attack in the face of great odds was an inspiration to his comrades in their dangerous task.
NORRIS, THOMAS R.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, SEAL Advisor, Strategic Technical Directorate Assistance Team, Headquarters, U.S. Military Assistance Command. Place and date: Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 10 to 13 April 1972. Entered service at: Silver Spring, Md. Born: 14 January 1944, Jacksonville, Fla. Citation: Lt. Norris completed an unprecedented ground rescue of 2 downed pilots deep within heavily controlled enemy territory in Quang Tri Province. Lt. Norris, on the night of 10 April, led a 5-man patrol through 2,000 meters of heavily controlled enemy territory, located 1 of the downed pilots at daybreak, and returned to the Forward Operating Base (FOB). On 11 April, after a devastating mortar and rocket attack on the small FOB, Lt. Norris led a 3-man team on 2 unsuccessful rescue attempts for the second pilot. On the afternoon of the 12th, a forward air controller located the pilot and notified Lt. Norris. Dressed in fishermen disguises and using a sampan, Lt. Norris and 1 Vietnamese traveled throughout that night and found the injured pilot at dawn. Covering the pilot with bamboo and vegetation, they began the return journey, successfully evading a North Vietnamese patrol. Approaching the FOB, they came under heavy machinegun fire. Lt. Norris called in an air strike which provided suppression fire and a smoke screen, allowing the rescue party to reach the FOB. By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, undaunted courage, and selfless dedication in the face of extreme danger, Lt. Norris enhanced the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
Note from Skip.. This is a great book and movie called Bat 21. I believe this is the LtCol who they communicated with by naming holes in golf courses and since he had a great memory he could tell the rescuers where and how long it would take him. He did it by telling them the hole and golf course and string them together and they would know which way he was going. and when he would get there.
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This Day in Aviation History" brought to you by the Daedalians Airpower Blog Update. To subscribe to this weekly email, go to https://daedalians.org/airpower-blog/.
April 12, 1930
Capt. Hugh M. Elmendorf guided a flight of 19 Boeing P-19 fighters, 95th Pursuit Squadron, at Mather Field, California. The aircraft climbed in formation to 30,000 feet, a new altitude record. Elmendorf was a second lieutenant and infantry instructor in World War I. He transferred to the Army Air Service in early 1921 where he received his Pursuit Pilot rating on Dec. 7, 1921. He is the namesake of Elmendorf AFB, now known as Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
April 13, 1915
Lieutenants Thomas D. Milling, Daedalian Founder Member #133, and B.Q. Jones, Founder Member #1398, are detached from the 1st Aero Squadron and ordered to deploy along the Mexican border with a single airplane to find the location of bandit leader Francisco "Pancho" Villa.
April 14, 1918
Over the Toul Airdrome in France, Lieutenants Alan F. Winslow, Daedalian Founder Member #1602, and Douglas Campbell, Founder Member #1825, of the 94th Squadron are the first army combat pilots to shoot down German aircraft; they are flying French-built Nieuport 28s.
April 15, 1935
Passage of the Aviation Cadet Act created the grade of Aviation Cadet in the Navy and Marine Corps Reserves. The act set up a new program for pilot training in which qualified college graduates between the ages of 18 and 28 were to be eligible for one year of flight instruction, benefits of pay, and uniform gratuities and insurance. Following three additional years on active duty they were to be commissioned as ensigns or second lieutenants, paid a bonus of $1,500, and returned to inactive duty as members of the Reserves. The program provided many of the aviators who manned cockpits during WWII..
April 16, 1915
Lt. j.g. Patrick N. L. Bellinger, Daedalian Founder Member #2101, successfully catapulted from a coal barge in flying boat AB-2 at Pensacola, Florida. Assistant Naval Constructor Lt. Holden C. Richardson, Founder Member #13115, had designed and fabricated the device at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C., in 1913. The success of this and subsequent launches by Lt. Kenneth Whiting, Founder Member #13986; Lt. j.g. Richard C. Saufley, Founder Member #13307; and Ens. Clarence K. Bronson, Founder Member #4461; led to the installation of catapults on board ships.
April 17, 1956
Lockheed unveiled its F-104A Starfighter, 55-2956, at Palmdale, California. Gen. Otto P. Weyland, who was a Daedalian, observed: "This is much more than just another fighter, it is a significant and tremendous step forward in our progress in supersonic flight."
April 18, 1942
The Doolittle Raid struck Japan. Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle, USAAF, led the B-25B Mitchell crews of the Army's 17th Bombardment Group. It was the first air operation to strike the Japanese archipelago. It demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was vulnerable to American air attack, served as retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and provided an important boost to American morale. Doolittle was Daedalian Founder Member #107.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for April 13, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
13 April
1913: At San Diego, Lt S. H. McLeary set a new Army altitude record of 8,400 feet in his Curtiss plane. (24)
1925: Henry Ford started airplane freight operations between Detroit, Mich., and Chicago. This was the first regularly scheduled commercial freight operation in the US. (24)
1944: Bombers assigned to the 3 AD traveled through heavy anti-aircraft fire to raid the Messerschmitt aircraft plant in Augsburg, Germany. (4)
1959: The USAF launched the Discoverer II satellite from Vandenberg AFB into a polar orbit. It ejected an information capsule. (24)
1960: Transit I-B, a Navy navigational satellite launched from Cape Canaveral on a Thor-Able-Star rocket, went into a 16-month orbit. The rocket achieved the first known restart in space. (24)
1962: Lt Cmdr Del W. Nordberg (USN) set a new rate-of-climb record when his F4H-1 Phantom II ascended from a standing start at Point Mugu to 98,425 feet in 371.43 seconds. (24) Capt Boyce B. Buckner (USA) set a world time-to-climb record by flying a YHU-ID Iroquois helicopter to 19,686 feet in 5 minutes 51 seconds. (24)
1971: The L-1011 Tri Star set several records: take off with its heaviest load of 404,000 pounds; climb to 30,000 feet; and cruising speed to date of 569 MPH for 6 hours 41 minutes. (3)
1972: Vandenberg AFB launched the last Minuteman II in Phase I operational tests. (6) 1973: USAFE accepted the responsibility to man and train the Iranian Air Force in F-4 Phantom operations. (26)
1979: To aid undernourished and starving people in Zaire, a C-141 delivered 20 tons of vegetable seeds for Kamina Base. (16) (26)
1992: A KC-135 delivered 22,000 pounds of fuel to C-17 test aircraft T-1 to demonstrate the new airlifter's ability to be refueled while airborne. (18)
1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. US Army General Wesley Clark, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, asked for 300 more U.S. aircraft in addition to the 82 aircraft he requested on 9 April. His request brought the total U.S. aircraft involved in the operation to 800. (32)
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On this day in Air force History
Editor's Note: After the 6 April inaugural "Famous Flights" release, AFHF received a note from Robert Arnold—General Hap Arnold's grandson and member of the AFHF President's Advisory Council. Here is a bit of the inside story regarding the "Around the World" flight from his note. (Image: Autographed Original Fabric poster created by the Smithsonian Institution from fabric removed the Chicago during restoration. From Don Douglas to "Robby," Fifty years ago this great adventure was successfully made by the Air Corps…)
RA: Not only is this the anniversary of the flight, but also my grandfather's birthday. [Note: Robert's family is a true representation of the "military-industrial complex." Robert's father, W. Bruce Arnold, married Donald Douglas' daughter, Barbara. Donald Douglas (standing right) was born on 6 April 1892]. I love this photo of the family and Chicago at Clover Field. My Mom, held by Charlotte [Douglas], is in the sensational bonnet. Don and Will [Douglas] on the wing.
From Vision to Victory
General Hap Arnold's Journey Creating America's Air Force
by Col. W. Bruce Arnold, USAF Ret. and Robert Bruce Arnold
Copyrights 1990 and 2023, all rights reserved. Text and images used with permission.
Excerpt from Chapter Five…
…later we found out that Major Fred Martin would command the flight and our personal favorite Lowell Smith had been chosen to pilot one of the four planes. In the end, the big World Cruisers came down to Rockwell Field and the crews trained there. They were to have pontoons mounted on the planes for a part of the trip, so every day for three weeks you could see the big biplanes practicing water take-offs on the Bay. These were removed when operations shifted back to the field.
Pop [H. H. Arnold] was very busy now with support of the flight, seeing that spare parts arrived on time, that the planes were overhauled and maintained properly, and that the crews had everything they needed.
Finally, the Cruisers took off for Santa Monica, where a big celebration and air show were scheduled. Mother and Pop went up for the festivities, and Mother even got a ride in Lowell's open cockpit Cruiser, The Chicago.
Later, Pop flew alongside and stayed with the planes as far as Seattle, the official jumping off spot, but Mother returned home when they left Santa Monica. Every time I look at it, I think of my five-foot-tall Mother climbing up a ladder and somehow dropping into the deep, open cockpit of that huge biplane with her usually lady like aplomb and gamely going for a spin. Wouldn't happen in the Air Force today. No sir.
When she arrived back at the house, she was still excitedly talking about the big, sturdy new airplanes. Compared to the Ansaldo she had flown years before with Pop out of the Presidio's Crissy Field, let alone the hot LePere that Pop liked to fly, these were the first of the future, solid, well-built aircraft beginning to enter army service. As a result, Douglas would be forever known for its robust designs and being First Around the World. Today, that achievement remains part of the company logo.
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