To All,
Good Friday Morning September 20. 2024. Busy night and busy morning.
Warm Regards and have a great weekend,
skip
Make it a good Day
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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/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 83 H-Grams
Today in Naval and Marine Corps History
September 20
1942 During World War II, the U.S. Naval Operating Base at Auckland, New Zealand, is established.
1943 USS S-28 (SS 133) sinks Japanese gunboat No. 2 Katsura Maru, 165 miles southwest of Paramushir, Kuril Islands.
1943 While conducting daylight reconnaissance of the Bay of Naples to investigate German shore battery activity on the Sorrento Peninsula, Motor Torpedo Boats PT 204 and PT 209 are showered with water from near-hits but escape damage. They chart the location of the battery before leaving the area.
1951 During Operation Summit, the first helicopter-borne landing of a combat unit is performed when Marines are landed by Marine helicopter squadron (HMR 161) in dense fog in Korea.
1981 Philippine Navy frigate, Datu Kalantia, previously, USS Booth (DE 170), is forced aground by Typhoon Clara while at anchor near Clayan Island, 340 miles north of Manila. USS Mount Hood (AE 29), with a special medical team embarks and joins in on rescue operations on Sept. 21. Only 18 members of the crew survive.
1986 USS Bunker Hill (CG 52) is commissioned at Charlestown Naval Shipyard in Boston, near the American Revolutionary War battleground for which the ship is named.
1997 USS Bataan (LHD 5) is commissioned at Pascagoula, Miss. It is the second US Navy ship named in remembrance of the valiant resistance of American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the dawning days of World War II.
2017 Hurricane Maria makes landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm with deadly flooding. The Navy responds by sending USS Wasp (LHD 1), USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) and 17 aircraft to provide humanitarian assistance that lasts until Nov. 20.
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This Day in World History
480 BC Themistocles and his Greek fleet win one of history's first decisive naval victories over Xerxes' Persian force off Salamis.
1378 The election of Robert of Geneva as anti-pope by discontented cardinals creates a great schism in the Catholic church.
1519 Ferdinand Magellan embarks from Spain on a voyage to circumnavigate the world.
1561 Queen Elizabeth of England signs a treaty at Hampton Court with French Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon, the Prince of Conde. The English will occupy Le Havre in return for aiding Bourbon against the Catholics of France.
1565 Pedro Menendez of Spain wipes out the French at Fort Caroline, in Florida.
1604 After a two-year siege, the Spanish retake Ostend, the Netherlands, from the Dutch.
1784 Packet and Daily, the first daily publication in America, appears on the streets.
1806 Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark pass the French village of La Charette, the first white settlement they have seen in more than two years.
1830 The National Negro Convention convenes in Philadelphia with the purpose of abolishing slavery.
1850 The slave trade is abolished in the District of Columbia.
1853 The Allies defeat the Russians at the Battle of Alma on the Crimean Peninsula.
1863 Union troops under George Thomas prevent the Union defeat at Chickamauga from becoming a rout, earning him the nickname "the Rock of Chickamauga."
1934 Bruno Hauptmann arrested for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby.
1952 Scientists confirm that DNA holds hereditary data.
1971 Hurricane Irene becomes the first hurricane known to cross from the Atlantic to Pacific, where it is renamed Hurricane Olivia.
1973 In a pro tennis bout dubbed "The Battle of the Sexes," Billie Jean King beats Bobby Riggs at the Houston Astrodome in Texas.
1977 Socialist Republic of Vietnam admitted to the United Nations.
1984 Suicide car bomber attacks US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 22.
1985 Australia introduces a capital gains tax.
1990 South Ossetia declares its independence from George in the former Soviet Union.
2000 British MI6 Secret intelligence Service building in London attacked by unidentified group using RPG-22 anti-tank missile.
2001 US Pres. George W. Bush, addressing a joint session of Congress, declares a "war on terror.".
2008 A truck loaded with explosives detonates by Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 45 and injuring 226.
2011 US military ends its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and allows gay men and women to serve openly.
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Thanks to the Bear
Skip… For "The List" for the week of 16 September 2024…. Bear
BEAR SENDS… OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972) From the archives of rollingthunderremembered.com… This post concludes the inclusion of Rolling Thunder and Commando Hunt reposts in "The List." For the past 44-weeks, I have provided access to archive entries covering Commando Hunt operations for the period November 1968 through mid-September 1969. These posts are permanently available at the following link.
https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/commando-hunt-post-list/
The RTR website is the domain and property of author Dan Heller and reflects his dedication and commitment to extending the site and archive into the future. The Yankee Air Pirates of Rolling Thunder and Commando Hunt and their 1965-1972 fight with North Vietnam will NOT be forgotten, thanks to Dan's assumption of this task. The RTR site is now world class and in great hands…
It has been my honor and duty to create and turnover this journal of our air war in North Vietnam to Dan Heller. It has also been a pleasure to repost the history of both Rolling Thunder and Commando Hunt ops in Skip Leonard's incomparable daily post and history lesson for the last three years. It was Skip's extraordinary commitment of twenty-years to his daily history lesson that inspired me to create Rolling Thunder Remembered in 2016… Skip goes on. I'm done… Glory gained and duty done, I now retire to my cave on Mount Ogden to contemplate my navel… Bear
(Please note the eye-watering ongoing revamp of the RTR website by Webmaster/Author Dan Heller, who has inherited the site from originators RADM Bear Taylor, USN, Retired, and Angie Morse, "Mighty Thunder")…
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. .Micro is the one also that goes into the archives and finds these inputs and sends them to me for incorporation in the List. It is a lot of work and our thanks goes out to him for his effort.
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 20 September
20-Sep: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=3014
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
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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 Mugs
Coal fired energy plants
Can not verify the numbers but believe we are being played
Coal-Fired Power Plants. The US is a fool on the world stage.
Whatever we do will have essentially no impact on Global Coal-Fired
Power Plants emissions of CO2. You have heard that statement from
me before. Here is additional proof.
True.... China has of course the most....
Doesn't matter what political party you favor, this is eye-opening.
>>>>
How many coal-fired power plants are there in the world today?
>>>>
Green New Deal???
>>>>
The EU has 468 - & building 27 more... Total 495,
>>>>
Turkey has 56 - & building 93 more... Total 149,
>>>>
South Africa has 79 - & building 24 more... Total 103, India has
589 - & building 446 more... Total 1035, The Philippines has 19 - &
building 60 more... Total 79, South Korea has 58 - & building 26
more... Total 84, Japan has 90 - & building 45 more... Total 135,
>>>>
China has 2,363 - & building 1,171 more... Total = 3,534.
That's 5,615 projected coal powered plants in just 8 countries.
>>>>
USA has 15 - & building 0 more.. Total = 15.
>>>>
And Democrat politicians with their "Green New Deal" want to
brainwash us and shut down those 15 plants in order to "Save" the
planet.
>>>>
This is EXCELLENT!! I knew the rough idea about the number of coal
plants, but had not yet seen actual numbers until now.
>>>>
This makes the point. Whatever the USA does or doesn't do won't
make a Tinker's Dam regarding CO2 unless the rest of the world,
especially China and India reduce their coal-fired power plants as
well.
The whole "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" gambits by
Democrats are to create a *supposedly* sound, scientific basis to
justify a federal government power-grab and the passage of MORE
laws to increase taxes and increased control of the privately owned
power industry and its distribution. Never forget the *main*
motivation they have!
"Oh, we will SAVE the planet!!"
>>>>
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!! We are being played ... again!!!
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Https://CaptainBillyWalker.com
From Skip…Be sure to go to Captain Billy's site…You can get lost for hours there in the history of aviation
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Thanks to Mugs
The Long Gray line
…is broken.
Mugs
West Point Needs a Reset
When I attended West Point back in the late '60s and early '70s, cadets used to joke that we got a "$50,000 education, shoved up our a** a nickel at a time." Times have sure changed. Today, the cost of an education at the nation's service academies has risen to an estimated quarter-of-a-million dollars per cadet or midshipman, all of which is funded by our tax dollars.
In the past, such an investment was more than worthwhile; West Point has produced such luminaries as Presidents Grant and Eisenhower, World War II Generals MacArthur, Patton, Arnold and Bradley, and scores of other accomplished military, political and business leaders ever since its inception in 1802.
But in recent times, things have changed. Not only has the taxpayer cost of a West Point education risen, but the Academy's moral and professional compass seems to have shifted.
The U.S. Military Academy was the nation's first engineering school, and rightly so, because engineering is a crucial skill on the battlefield. Soldiers must plan and build fortifications, bridges and other infrastructure as well as find ways to destroy them. But over the last few decades, the Academy has become more of a Liberal Arts College, offering battlefield-irrelevant course materials in such areas as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Critical Race Theory and Gender Studies. West Point now offers a minor in Diversity & Inclusion Studies.
Although sexual fraternization has been a problem ever since women were first admitted to the Academy in 1976, among its various "Affinity Clubs" West Point now sponsors a so-called "Spectrum Club" for homosexual and transexual cadets based solely on their sexual orientation. Presumably, such clubs for heterosexual males and females would not be tolerated.
The Cadet Honor Code used to be unequivocal: "A cadet will not lie, cheat or steal, or tolerate those who do." The penalty for violating the code was expulsion. Now, not so much. The Honor Code is still "managed" by cadets, but punishment for violators is now solely the Superintendent's purview. Football players involved in a recent cheating scandal were not only retained but permitted to play in public competitions, including the Army-Navy and Army-Air Force games, both of which they "won." An athlete-cadet watch thief caught on camera at the Post Exchange was allowed to graduate. The Superintendent has characterized the Honor Code as "aspirational" rather than absolute. The same Superintendent recently excised the school's "Duty, Honor, Country" motto from West Point's mission statement.
Each cadet company now has cadet "Respect Officers" reminiscent of Soviet Political Commissars, to ensure that all bow to the Academy's now-woke culture. Admissions and advancement are now governed by race and gender over merit. The school's Diversity and Inclusion Department has been renamed (for political reasons) but still exists. None of the speakers at last year's Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunity Leadership Conference expressed any divergent views regarding DEI. Boxing, a warrior's sport if ever there was one, no longer is on the intramural schedule.
I was a cadet when the USS Pueblo and its crew were seized in international waters by North Korea. On the door to my barracks room, I rashly posted a map of Southeast Asia with a mushroom cloud replacing that communist country. It was captioned, "Make South Korea an Island." My tactical officer required me to remove my overtly political statement and write an essay on the U.S. military tradition of soldiers subservient to civilian control, as it was clear that the poster questioned Commander-in-Chief Lyndon Baines Johnson's authority. I learned a valuable lesson from that. Now, however, things are different. Overlaying everything at West Point today is politics--Leftist politics.
Upon graduation from West Point, all of us took an oath as commissioned officers to "…support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…." Enshrined in that document among the very first of our unalienable rights is freedom of speech, yet classmate email lists maintained by the Association of Graduates routinely censor any discussion critical of the Academy's and the military's direction. For example, I recently sent an email to my entire class that simply shared the website address of The MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates (www.macarthursociety.org), which was formed to push back against woke policies that many of us believe are undermining our alma mater's mission as well as Army recruiting. My class president censored the email, stating "I have reviewed the site and it's (sic) information and I find it to be biased and highly political therefore not appropriate to be shared with the Class." This same class president emailed the class supporting the Superintendent's decision to remove Duty, Honor, Country from the mission statement and regularly distributes policy positions of current Air Force Secretary and classmate Frank Kendall. I have no problem with such communications, but opposing viewpoints also should be shared.
West Point staffers now routinely violate federal law: The Freedom of Information Act requires citizen queries to be answered within 20 working days, yet the Academy's FOIA office now willfully ignores the law. Judicial Watch had to sue to force West Point to share course materials promoting Critical Race Theory, DEI and other woke subjects. I and graduate friends of mine have unanswered FOIA requests going back one, two or more years.
My own FOIA—to determine the fate of cadets who overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine on Spring Break two years ago—was completed by West Point in June of this year but now languishes in the "Initial Denial Authority" office at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, 11 months after it was filed. The "Initial Denial Authority" refuses to respond to or acknowledge my emails and phone calls.
As a graduate and, more important, as a taxpayer funding these $250,000 educations, I have a right to know what punishment, if any, those drug-abusing cadets received. Did they graduate? Were they expelled and forced to repay their educational costs by serving as enlisted soldiers? Are drug abusers now permitted to serve in the military at all? I don't know. We don't know. And West Point and the Army refuse to enlighten us.
So, here we are: West Point's officer leadership willfully ignores federal law. And they're getting away with it. The same is true at our other service academies. This must change.
________________________________________
Tony Lentini is a 1971 West Point graduate. He served five years in the Army, attaining the rank of captain, and then had a successful career in the energy industry, eventually serving as vice president of public and international affairs at two independent oil and gas companies. He is a founding board member of The MacArthur Society of West Point Graduates.
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Thanks to History facts
Why Did Doctors Wear Beak Masks During the Bubonic Plague?
Few images in medical history are as striking (or as creepy) as those of plague doctors with their long, beaked masks. This peculiar costume, worn by physicians during outbreaks of bubonic plague in Europe, has become an enduring symbol of the disease. But why did doctors wear these strange masks, which surely must only have added to the fear felt by people in times of suffering? What purpose did the design serve? Here's the reasoning behind the mask, which came about in an age when the true nature of disease transmission was still shrouded in mystery.
The Origins of the Plague Doctor Costume
Contrary to common belief, the plague doctor costume was not a medieval-era invention. Despite its common association with the Black Death — the name given to the bubonic plague pandemic that devastated Europe in the mid-1300s — there is no evidence to suggest it was worn during the 14th-century epidemic or at any point in the Middle Ages. It emerged much later, in the 17th century, when plague outbreaks were still common in Europe. We know that the striking attire was worn in 1619 by the French physician Charles Delorme during an eruption of the bubonic plague in Paris. Delorme, who some historians credit as inventing the outfit, described the plague doctor costume in full in a mid-17th century text, complete with leather hat, gloves, a waxed linen robe, boots, and a mask with glass eyes and beak.Plague doctors across Europe soon adopted the outfit; they also carried a stick with which to remove the clothes of the infected. The look was so widely recognized in Italy that it became commonplace in Italian commedia dell'arte — an early form of comedic theater — and carnival celebrations, and it remains a popular costume today.
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Thanks to History Facts
The Hundred Years' War was actually 116 years long.
WORLD HISTORY
A nyone who's watched the TV series Succession or Game of Thrones knows that bad things tend to happen when an aging ruler is without a clear heir. Yet both of those fictional conflicts look positively quaint next to the Hundred Years' War, which was actually 116 years long. Lasting intermittently from 1337 to 1453, the conflict has its roots in the 1328 death of Charles IV of France, who went to the grave without a son. His first cousin succeeded him as King Philip VI, much to the chagrin of Edward III of England and his supporters — as the late king's nephew, Edward was a closer blood relation and many considered his claim stronger. However, an assembly of French barons declared that the throne should pass to a native Frenchman instead, which eventually led to a century-long clash.
France was considerably more powerful at the time, with the strongest military and deepest pockets in all of Western Europe, but a series of early victories by the scrappy English prolonged the war far longer than initially expected. The war, which historians divide into three distinct phases (Edwardian, Caroline, and Lancastrian), was an intermittent affair that finally ended in a French victory after the Battle of Castillon. Though this was the last military conflict of the Hundred Years' War, England and France were technically at war with one another until the Treaty of Picquigny was signed in 1475. The Hundred Years' War is a catchier name than the 116 Years' War (or the 138 Years' War), however, so it's easy to see why it stuck.
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This Week in American Military History: From the Navy's first ace to a 'Barren Victory'
by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Sept. 19, 1777: Battle of Freeman's Farm — first engagement in the Battle of Saratoga (during the American Revolution) — opens between Continental forces under the command of Gen. Horatio Gates and British forces under Gen. John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne. Brits carry the day, but suffer heavy losses. Continentals will ultimately win Saratoga.
Sept. 20, 1797: The Continental Navy frigate Constitution is launched in Boston harbor.
Today USS Constitution – known affectionately as "Old Ironsides" -- is the "oldest ship in the American Navy," and continues serving in the 21st century as a duly commissioned ship crewed by active-duty U.S. sailors and Naval officers in order to further public awareness of American Naval tradition.
Sept. 20, 1863: Confederate forces under the command of Gen. Braxton Bragg (yes, Fort Bragg, N.C. is named in his honor) prevail against Union forces under Maj. Gen. William, though Bragg's casualties are far higher than those of Rosecrans.
Confederate Gen. D. H. Hill will say: "It seems to me that the elan of the Southern soldier was never seen after Chickamauga; the brilliant dash which had distinguished him was gone forever. He fought stoutly to the last, but after Chickamauga, with the sullenness of despair, and without the enthusiasm of hope. That 'barren victory' sealed the fate of the Southern Confederacy."
Sept. 23, 1779: The famous battle of the North Sea opens between Continental Navy frigate Bonhomme Richard under the command of Capt. John Paul Jones, and Royal Navy frigate HMS Serapis.
During the height of the fighting, Serapis' Captain Richard Pearson issues an appeal to Jones that the American ship surrender. Jones refuses.
According to the story, the British captain – aware that Bonhomme Richard is badly damaged and sinking – shouts across the water between the two dueling ships, inquiring as to whether or not Jones has lowered or struck his colors. Jones shouts back, "I have not yet begun to fight!"
It has since been widely reported that Jones reply was, "I may sink, but I'll be damned if I strike!"
In fact, Bonhomme Richard does sink: But not before Pearson himself surrenders (believed to be "the first time in naval history that colors are surrendered to a sinking ship"), and Jones transfers his flag to his newly captured prize, Serapis.
Bonhomme Richard (the first of five American warships named after Benjamin Franklin's pen name) is the former French frigate, Duc de Duras.
Jones is destined to become "the Father of the American Navy," though – in some circles – it is argued that title belongs to Commodore John Barry.
Sept. 24, 1918: U.S. Navy Ensign (future rear admiral) David S. Ingalls – on loan to the Royal Air Force and flying an RAF Sopwith Camel – shoots down enemy aircraft number five, becoming the first ace in U.S. Naval Aviation history, and the Navy's only ace of World War I.
Sept. 24, 1960: Forty-two years to the day after Ensign Ingalls scores his fifth kill, Naval Aviation history is again made with the launching of America's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (the eighth of eight so-named American Navy ships since 1775).
Sept. 25, 1957: U.S. Army paratroopers – members of the 101st Airborne Division – escort nine black students into Little Rock Central High School, Little Rock, Arkansas, ending segregation there.
Sept. 26, 1918: Though technically launched at 11:30 p.m., Sept. 25, with an intense artillery barrage; the Meuse-Argonne Offensive – the six-week long "greatest battle of World War I in which the Americans participated" – officially begins just before dawn when whistles are blown along the American trench-lines, and with fixed-bayonets, American soldiers clamber over the top and begin their assault against the German lines.
The battle, which begins with approximately 600,000 American soldiers and Marines, will see U.S. ranks swell to more one million men. An estimated 26,000-plus Americans will be killed, another 96,000 wounded. But the campaign will end the war.
It will be during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that Private First Class (future Sgt.) Alvin C. York, a Tennessee backwoodsman and former conscientious objector, will find himself in the action for which he will receive Medal of Honor.
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This Day in U S Military History…….20 September
1806 – After nearly two-and-a-half years spent exploring the western wilderness, the Corps of Discovery arrived at the frontier village of La Charette, the first white settlement they had seen since leaving behind the outposts of eastern civilization in 1804. Entirely out of provisions and trade goods and subsisting on wild plums, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and their men were understandably eager to reach home. Upon arriving at La Charette, the men fired a three-round salute to alert the inhabitants of their approach and were answered by three rounds from the trading boats moored at the riverbank. The people of La Charette rushed to the banks of the Missouri to greet the returning heroes. "Every person," Clark wrote with his characteristic inventive spelling, "both French and Americans Seem to express great pleasure at our return, and acknowledge themselves astonished in Seeing us return. They informed us that we were Supposed to have been lost long Since." The Lewis and Clark mission had been a spectacular success. With the aid of friendly Native American tribes, the explorers had charted the upper reaches of the Missouri, proved there was no easy water passage across the Continental Divide, reached the shores of the Pacific Ocean, and made the first major step to opening of the trans-Mississippi West to the American settlement. After spending the evening celebrating with the people of La Charette, the next day the expedition continued rapidly down the river and after two more days reached St. Louis, the city where their long journey had begun. Lewis' first act upon leaping from his canoe to the St. Louis dock was to send a note asking the postmaster to delay the mail headed east so he could write a quick letter to President Jefferson telling him that the intrepid Corps of Discovery had, at long last, come home.
1917 – The 26th "Yankee" Division (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) becomes the first American division to arrive in Europe during World War I. More than one million American soldiers and Marines will join them by war's end in November 1918. All 18 National Guard divisions will serve in France, but only 11 see combat as intact units. Six others become "depot" divisions, serving as a source of replacements for casualties suffered by the frontline divisions. One, the 93rd Division, composed of all of the Guard's African American units, has each of its four regiments parceled out to three different French divisions because American army leadership did not want to mix black and white soldiers together.
1944 – Operation Market Garden continues. A joint attack by the British Guards Armored Division and the US 82nd Airborne Division captures Nijmegen and the bridge over the Waal River. At Arnhem, the British 1st Airborne Division is forced away from the bridge by German forces. Meanwhile, Polish forces, part of Canadian 1st Army, make gains along the Scheldt River. Farther south, US 3rd Army (part of US 12th Army Group) captures Chatel and Luneville.
1944 – On Angaur, most of the Japanese garrison has been eliminated by American forces. Some Japanese forces continue to resist in the northwest of the island.
1945 – German rocket engineers who have been captured at the end of the war and been brought to the US start work on the American rocket program.
1945 – Automotive manufacturers had been at the heart of a seamless war machine during World War II, producing trucks, tanks, and planes at astounding rates. But only after the last shots were fired did auto factories begin to produce cars again, focusing their sights on the booming postwar market. A month after the surrender of Japan, Packard followed the lead of every other company and ceased military production, turning out its last wartime Rolls-Royce Merlin engine on this day.
1950 – Marines of the 1st Marine Division crossed the Han River along a six-mile beachhead, eight miles northwest of Seoul, Korea. Five days later, the 1st and 5th Marines would attack Seoul and the city would be captured by 27 September.
1951 – In Operation Summit, the first combat helicopter landing in history, U.S. Marines were landed in Korea.
1954 – The 1st FORTRAN computer program was executed.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
WHITNEY, WILLIAM G.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, Company B, 11th Michigan Infantry. Place and date: At Chickamauga, Ga., 20 September 1863. Entered service at: Quincy, Mich. Born. 13 December 1840, Allen, Mich. Date of issue: 21 October 1895. Citation: As the enemy were about to charge, this officer went outside the temporary Union works among the dead and wounded enemy and at great exposure to himself cut off and removed their cartridge boxes, bringing the same within the Union lines, the ammunition being used with good effect in again repulsing the attack.
POPE, EVERETT PARKER
Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Peleliu Island, Palau group, 19-20 September 1944. Entered service at: Massachusetts. Born: 16 July 1919, Milton, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as commanding officer of Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, during action against enemy Japanese forces on Peleliu Island, Palau group, on 19-20 September 1944. Subjected to pointblank cannon fire which caused heavy casualties and badly disorganized his company while assaulting a steep coral hill, Capt. Pope rallied his men and gallantly led them to the summit in the face of machinegun, mortar, and sniper fire. Forced by widespread hostile attack to deploy the remnants of his company thinly in order to hold the ground won, and with his machineguns out of order and insufficient water and ammunition, he remained on the exposed hill with 12 men and 1 wounded officer determined to hold through the night. Attacked continuously with grenades, machineguns, and rifles from 3 sides, he and his valiant men fiercely beat back or destroyed the enemy, resorting to hand-to-hand combat as the supply of ammunition dwindled, and still maintaining his lines with his 8 remaining riflemen when daylight brought more deadly fire and he was ordered to withdraw. His valiant leadership against devastating odds while protecting the units below from heavy Japanese attack reflects the highest credit upon Capt. Pope and the U.S. Naval Service .
COMMISKEY, HENRY A., SR.
Rank and organization: First Lieutenant (then 2d Lt.), U.S. Marine Corps, Company C, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Yongdungp'o, Korea, 20 September 1950. Entered service at: Hattiesburg, Miss. Birth: 10 January 1927, Hattiesburg, Miss. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a platoon leader in Company C, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Directed to attack hostile forces well dug in on Hill 85, 1st Lt. Commiskey, spearheaded the assault, charging up the steep slopes on the run. Coolly disregarding the heavy enemy machine gun and small arms fire, he plunged on well forward of the rest of his platoon and was the first man to reach the crest of the objective. Armed only with a pistol, he jumped into a hostile machine gun emplacement occupied by 5 enemy troops and quickly disposed of 4 of the soldiers with his automatic pistol. Grappling with the fifth, 1st Lt. Commiskey knocked him to the ground and held him until he could obtain a weapon from another member of his platoon and killed the last of the enemy guncrew. Continuing his bold assault, he moved to the next emplacement, killed 2 more of the enemy and then led his platoon toward the rear nose of the hill to rout the remainder of the hostile troops and destroy them as they fled from their positions. His valiant leadership and courageous fighting spirit served to inspire the men of his company to heroic endeavor in seizing the objective and reflect the highest credit upon 1st Lt. Commiskey and the U.S. Naval Service.
*MONEGAN, WALTER C., JR.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps, Company F, 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division (Rein.). Place and date: Near Sosa-ri, Korea, 17 and 20 September 1950. Entered service at: Seattle, Wash. Born: 25 December 1930, Melrose, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as a rocket gunner attached to Company F, and in action against enemy aggressor forces. Dug in on a hill overlooking the main Seoul highway when 6 enemy tanks threatened to break through the battalion position during a predawn attack on 17 September, Pfc. Monegan promptly moved forward with his bazooka, under heavy hostile automatic weapons fre and engaged the lead tank at a range of less than 50 yards. After scoring a direct hit and killing the sole surviving tankman with his carbine as he came through the escape hatch, he boldly fired 2 more rounds of ammunition at the oncoming tanks, disorganizing the attack and enabling our tank crews to continue blasting with their 90-mm guns. With his own and an adjacent company's position threatened by annihilation when an overwhelming enemy tank-infantry force bypassed the area and proceeded toward the battalion command post during the early morning of September 20, he seized his rocket launcher and, in total darkness, charged down the slope of the hill where the tanks had broken through. Quick to act when an illuminating shell lit the area, he scored a direct hit on one of the tanks as hostile rifle and automatic-weapons fire raked the area at close range. Again exposing himself, he fired another round to destroy a second tank and, as the rear tank turned to retreat, stood upright to fire and was fatally struck down by hostile machine gun fire when another illuminating shell silhouetted him against the sky. Pfc. Monegan's daring initiative, gallant fighting spirit and courageous devotion to duty were contributing factors in the success of his company in repelling the enemy, and his self-sacrificing efforts throughout sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country .
*PIERCE, LARRY S.
Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade. Place and date: Near Ben Cat, Republic of Vietnam, 20 September 1965. Entered service at: Fresno, Calif. Born: 6 July 1941, Wewoka, Okla. G.O. No.: 7, 24 February 1966. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Pierce was serving as squad leader in a reconnaissance platoon when his patrol was ambushed by hostile forces. Through his inspiring leadership and personal courage, the squad succeeded in eliminating an enemy machinegun and routing the opposing force. While pursuing the fleeing enemy, the squad came upon a dirt road and, as the main body of his men entered the road, Sgt. Pierce discovered an antipersonnel mine emplaced in the road bed. Realizing that the mine could destroy the majority of his squad, Sgt. Pierce saved the lives of his men at the sacrifice of his life by throwing himself directly onto the mine as it exploded. Through his indomitable courage, complete disregard for his safety, and profound concern for his fellow soldiers, he averted loss of life and injury to the members of his squad. Sgt. Pierce's extraordinary heroism, at the cost of his life, are in 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 20 September, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
20 September
1904: Wilbur Wright made the first circular flight in an airplane at Huffman Prairie, near Dayton. (21)
1950: The USAF announced that planes would be tested by remote control, with pilots viewing instrument panels from the ground by television. (24) KOREAN WAR. By using night lighting equipment, FEAF Combat Cargo Command turned its Kimpo airlift into a 24-hour operation. To destroy potential enemy reinforcements, B-29s attacked three separate barracks areas in and near Pyongyang, N. Korea. (28)
1951: The USAF recovered animals from a rocket flight for the first time, when a monkey and 11 mice survived an Aerobee flight to an altitude of 236,000 feet. (16) (24)
1956: Cape Canaveral launched the first Jupiter C, a three-stage missile. It attained an altitude of 680 miles and traveled 3,300 miles. (16) (24) Exercise MOBILE BAKER. In this exercise to deploy a Composite Air Strike Force (CASF) to Europe, the first aircraft left the US and were refueled on their way across the Atlantic by KB-29s and KB-50s. This force included 16 F-100Cs from the 450th Fighter-Day Wing, Foster AFB; 16 F-84Fs from the 366th Fighter-Bomber Wing, England AFB; four RF-84Fs from the 363d TRW, Shaw AFB; and four B-66s from the 17th BMW Tactical, Eglin AFB. After the units arrived in Europe, they participated in NATO Maneuver Whipsaw. The last aircraft returned to the US on 9 October.
1957: General Thomas D. White, the CSAF, announced that radar units could detect ICBMs at a distance of 3,000 miles. (16) (24) From Cape Canaveral, Douglas Aircraft Company's Thor IRBM performed its first test launch and flight. (6) (12)
1959: The Navy's prototype Polaris missile flew successfully over a 500-mile course.
1960: Miss Jerrie Cobb piloted an Aero Commander 680F to a world-class altitude record of 36,932 feet for light aircraft. (24)
1966: Lt Col Donald M. Sorlie became the first USAF pilot to fly the NASA's M2-F2 Lifting Body from the AFFTC at Edwards AFB. A B-52 launched the M2-F2 from 45,000 feet. It reached nearly 400 MPH in its 3 ½-minute flight. (3) (16)
1967: President Johnson asked the Transportation Department to develop a "long-range and comprehensive" program for improving the country's air traffic control system. The President further asked for a financial program that made "those who will benefit most" pay a fair share of the system costs.
1970: Luna 16 soft-landed on the moon.
1980: PACAF sent two F-15 Eagles and an E-3A Sentry to New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand to demonstrate those new aircraft. (26)
1982: On 20-21 September, the 320 BMW at Mather AFB tested Navy Harpoon missiles for compatibility with the B-52. These missiles were designed for an anti-shipping mission. (6)
1999: UN Operation STABILISE. C-130 airlifted U.S. troops from Australia to Dili, East Timor, after that nation declared its independence from Indonesia and a bloody war erupted. Eventually, 1 C-141, 21 C-130s, 3 KC-135s, and 2 C-17s took part in the operation to move peacekeeping troops into the area. (21)
2005: The USAF's last remaining active-duty C-9 Nightingale (Tail No. 876) left Ramstein AB, Germany for Andrews AFB, Md. The C-9 flew to its final resting place at the Andrews air museum. (AFNEWS Article, "Historic C-9 Heads to Andrews for Retirement," 24 September 2005)
2007: A hypersonic vehicle with five innovative payloads made a successful, six-minute flight. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N. M., designed and developed the hypersonic vehicle. A Navy rocket launched the Re-Entry Structures Experiment (RESE), and it reached 95,000 feet and Mach 5 (3,800 MPH) before landing safely in the desert 21 miles from its launch point. The initial RESE mission included experiments on a new acoustic protection system, a reconfigurable hardware architecture, two thermal sensors, a novel high-temperature material, and a flexible circuitry system. (AFNEWS, "Hypersonic Vehicle Completes Inaugural Flight," 1 Oct 2007.)
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