TheList 7206

The List 7206

Good Friday morning June 13  It is a different day in the world today with Israel and Iran going at it in the Mideast.

The sun is peeking out and it will be partly cloudy today with a high of 78 .

My daughter and two granddaughters left at o dark thirty for Denver this morning for a large Lacrosse tournament where one of the girls is a featured player to watch.

I hope that you all have a great weekend

 

Thanks to 1440

Israel Strikes Iran

Israel claimed responsibility for launching waves of airstrikes overnight against dozens of targets across Iran. Details of the attack, which Israel called preemptive, are continuing to emerge as of this writing. Iran said top military officials—including Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Gen. Hossein Salami—were killed, along with nuclear scientists. Israel suggested the operation was not over.

 

The attack came after Iran announced a new nuclear enrichment site yesterday, following a censure from the UN's nuclear watchdog agency. A report last week found Iran conducted secret enrichment activities at three facilities and has amassed enough uranium at near-weapons-grade levels to make nine nuclear bombs. An Israeli official yesterday alleged Iran was working to assemble a nuclear weapon.

 

The US evacuated some personnel from the Middle East earlier this week in anticipation of escalating tensions. Following Israel's strike, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was not involved in Israel's attack and warned Iran not to strike US interests or personnel.

 

Warm regards,

skip

HAGD

 

Make it a GREAT Day

 

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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)

Go here to see the director's corner for all 91  H-Grams . .

Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/.

June 13

1881 The bark-rigged wooden steamship Jeannette sinks after she is crushed in an Arctic ice pack during the expedition to reach the North Pole through the Bering Strait. Only 13 of her crew survive out of 33.

 

1900 During the Boxer Rebellion, the International Relief Expedition turns back near Anting, China, and moves to Sanstun after the Tientsin-Peking railroad is cut by the Boxers, whose anti-foreign mantra grew to burning homes and killing foreigners as well as Chinese Christians. In total, 56 Marines and Sailors receive the Medal of Honor for their actions during the Rebellion.

 

1913 Lt. j.g. P.N.L. Bellinger sets an American altitude record for seaplanes when he reaches 6,200 feet in a Curtiss (A 3) aircraft.

 

1939 USS Saratoga (CV 3) and USS Kanawha (AO 1) complete a two-day underway refueling test off the coast of southern Calif., demonstrating the feasibility of refueling carriers at sea where bases are not available.

 

1943 USS Frazier (DD 607) sinks Japanese submarine (I 9), east of Sirius Point, Kiska, Aleutian Islands.

 

1944 USS Melvin (DD 680) sinks Japanese submarine (RO 36) between 50 and 75 miles east of Saipan. Also on this date USS Barb (SS 220) sinks Japanese army transport Takashima Maru in the Sea of Okhotsk and survives counter-attacks by destroyer Hatsuharu.

 

1992 USS Maryland (SSBN 738) is commissioned at New London, Conn. Two days later, the 13th out of 18 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines sails with her Gold Crew to her homeport at Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, Ga.

 

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Today in World History June 13

1777      The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in the American colonies to help in their rebellion against Britain.

1863      Confederate forces on their way to Gettysburg clash with Union troops at the Second Battle of Winchester, Virginia.

1920      The U.S. Post Office Department rules that children may not be sent by parcel post.

1923      The French set a trade barrier between occupied Ruhr and the rest of Germany.

1940      Paris is evacuated as the Germans advance on the city.

1943      German spies land on Long Island, New York, and are soon captured.

1944      The first German V-1 buzz-bomb hits London.

1949      Installed by the French, Bao Dai enters Saigon to rule Vietnam.

1971      The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.

1978      Israelis withdraw the last of their invading forces from Lebanon.

1979      Sioux Indians are awarded $105 million in compensation for the 1877 U.S. seizure of the Black Hills in South Dakota.

1983      Pioneer 10, already in space for 11 years, leaves the solar system.

 

On June 13, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Miranda v. Arizona, establishing the principle that all criminal suspects must be advised of their rights before interrogation. Now considered standard police procedure, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can, and will, be used against you in court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you," has been heard so many times in television and film dramas that it has become almost cliche.

 

The roots of the Miranda decision go back to March 2, 1963, when an 18-year-old Phoenix woman told police that she had been abducted, driven to the desert and raped. Detectives questioning her story gave her a polygraph test, but the results were inconclusive. However, tracking the license plate number of a car that resembled that of her attacker's brought police to Ernesto Miranda, who had a prior record as a peeping tom. Although the victim did not identify Miranda in a line-up, he was brought into police custody and interrogated. What happened next is disputed, but officers left the interrogation with a confession that Miranda later recanted, unaware that he didn't have to say anything at all.

 

Supreme Court

 

The confession was extremely brief and differed in certain respects from the victim's account of the crime. However, Miranda's appointed defense attorney (who was paid $100) didn't call any witnesses at the ensuing trial, and Miranda was convicted. While Miranda was in Arizona state prison, the American Civil Liberties Union took up his appeal, claiming that the confession was false and coerced.

 

The Supreme Court overturned his conviction, but Miranda was retried and convicted in October 1966. Remaining in prison until 1972, Ernesto Miranda was later stabbed to death in the men's room of a bar after a poker game in January 1976.

 

As a result of the case against Miranda, each and every person must now be informed of his or her rights when in custody and about to be interrogated. However, on June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement officers may not be sued for damages under federal civil rights law for failing to issue the Miranda Warning to suspects.

 

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Rollingthunderremembered.com .

June 13

Thanks to Dan Heller and the Bear

 Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.

     An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via  https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).

.

Thanks to Micro

To remind folks that these are from the Vietnam Air Losses site that Micro put together. You click on the url below and get what happened each day to the crew of the aircraft. ……Skip

For Friday June 13

June 13:  https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=629

 

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Thanks to Boris

Subject: RE: Battle of Midway - Legacy 7

 

Charlie,

REALLY GREAT HEARING FROM YOU!!!

 

Guadalcanal as turning point vice Midway?

Great question, and many folks would not agree with me I'm sure, but here goes…

 

First off, I've been a student of BOM since a teenager, have quite a few books and was fortunate to work for two guys from VB-6.And indeed when I started the series on 1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier, I expected to do maybe 10-12 posts beginning with Doolittle's raid, and then overviews of the  battles of Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons, and Santa Cruz Islands – 4 out of 5 CV vs CV battles in history – and then put on the table possible lessons learned for today's South China Sea potential conflict. It grew out to 30 posts, mainly when I realized that despite being very Midway knowledgeable, I didn't know jack about the real context of the last two battles, namely the total Guadalcanal Campaign. I now have as many books on Guadalcanal as I have collected over time on Midway.

 

Second, some points of ref/comparison:

1.            Midway is without argument is the rock on which anyone who wore or wears gold wings stands. I noted it as a decisive battle because it essentially introduced and validated carrier warfare – a major change in warfighting context. But..

2.            There's a substantial distinction between that and turning the tide in WW II in the Pacific.

3.            The enemy has a vote.

4.            A loss of two or three carriers to the US would have been devastating, NOT changing the eventual outcome but certainly the length and affecting multiple critical decisions. On the other hand…

5.            The Japanese high level leadership took the loss of 4 carriers in stride and continued offensive planning almost as if nothing had occurred.

6.            Admirals Nimitz and King saw the overwhelming victory as a chance to go on the offensive, but the context of exercising critical judgement in regard to risk vs reward remained. Admiral Fletcher was still responsible for not losing  capability, such as it was, until the Essex Class carriers began coming on line in 1943.

7.            Even today, the context and use of the term "the carriers abandoned the marines" at Guadalcanal survives. Adm Fletcher could not risk losing multiple carriers by being caught with his back to the islands if IJN carriers approached. Not necessarily accepted or liked by some but the carriers had big picture higher priority than the Marines on the island.

a.            The context of carriers in support of land ops was new territory as compared to open ocean battle

b.            Contrary to the opinion of many, we had not broken the Japanese code, rather figured out some of it – enough to understand "AF" as Midway. By Aug, the Japanese had modified things and we were mostly in the dark intel wise throughout the rest of 1942. By example Fletcher was informed that the IJN carriers were at least 1000km away only the day before the Battle of the Eastern Solomons.

c.            Indeed, a major aspect of the campaign was "hold the line!"

8.            For me and I suspect for a lot of people, Guadalcanal means Marines in a bloody awful jungle environment and then ships sunk in Iron Bottom Sound. The real truth is that Navy surface forces, Navy Carrier forces, Marine ground, land-based air at Henderson Field (mostly USMC, but included AF P-400 Airacobra squadron, and multiple Navy elements from damaged/lost carriers) were so interdependent that missing one element would have brought severe repercussions to the other. Entirely different from Midway, but vital bit of operational concept needed to be learned for remainder of the Pacific war.

9.            The Japanese were surprised by the Aug attack but then considered it would be fairly easy to dislodge the Marines. Not so.  They wound up trying damn near everything but could not accomplish. By numbers the losses were very even. The U.S. lost Hornet and Wasp and Enterprise and Saratoga were damaged and pulled out for awhile but returned. The IJN lost one smaller carrier and damage to another BUT lost way too many seasoned aviators, and lost significant ground forces.

10.         The enemy has a say.

 

Midway's losses by the IJN were unexpected and severe. But mentally and capability wise were still in the game. Indeed the Army hardly noticed or cared. After Guadalcanal they were never on the offense again and never recovered through training the numbers or experienced pilots needed to fight a carrier-based war. On the other hand for the US, the Essex carriers began arriving in '43. Pilots went back and trained their replacements. The Navy of 1944-45 was  far more accomplished and equipped than that of 1942, indeed entirely different in almost every aspect.

After Pearl Harbor, a victory like that at Midway had great impact on how US leadership looked at the future, but it was still only June, six – eight months till the new carriers.  Holding at Guadalcanal was critical and it required land, sea, sea and land-based air forces to accomplish the "holding."

 

In their trial against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) in the waters off Guadalcanal, the Navy mastered a new kind of fight. Expeditionary war was a new kind of enterprise, and its scale at Guadalcanal was surpassed only by its combatants' thoroughgoing deficits in matériel, preparation, and understanding of their enemy. It was the most critical major military operation America would ever run on such a threadbare shoestring

 

As its principal players would admit afterward, the puzzle of victory was solved on the fly and on the cheap, in terms of resources if not lives. The campaign featured tight interdependence among warriors of the air, land, and sea. For the infantry to seize and hold the island, ships had to control the sea. For a fleet to control the sea, the pilots had to fly from the island's airfield. For the pilots to fly from the airfield, the infantry had to hold the island.

 

That tripod stood only by the strength of all three legs. In the end, though, it was principally a navy's battle to win. And despite the ostensible lesson of the Battle of Midway, which had supposedly crowned the aircraft carrier as queen of the seas, the combat sailors of America's surface fleet had a more than incidental voice in who would prevail. For most of the campaign, Guadalcanal was a contest of equals, perhaps the only major battle in the Pacific where the United States and Japan fought from positions of parity. Its outcome was often in doubt."

 Hornfischer

 

So, sorry to be long, Midway is still my heritage but the above is the basis for my Guadalcanal "turning point" assessment. The enemy has a say, and what they say(in reality, believe)  can only be changed by some very difficult learning, re-learning and effort.

I needed to learn a lot that, somewhat to my embarrassment, I didn't know.

Know you're a reader. Two books I would most highly recommend. Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully, looking at Midway mostly from the Japanese perspective and second, Neptune's Inferno by James Hornfischer.

 

Thanks for connecting again and the question. I haven't thought about other pieces.

Hope all is well

Boris

 

Hi Boris

Always enlightening to read one of your treatments.  Lacking your military expertise, I would like to see some direct comparison as to why Guadalcanal would be deemed more important that Midway.  I understand that Guadalcanal's location allows the ability to launch big birds on Japan, but am vague on any Guadalcanal / Midway connections / overlaps.  Help me out.

Next, if you have not already covered it, will you be writing about the USN attack on Truk Lagoon?  I gather 09 carriers (and assorted other ships) and several hundred planes under Adm Spruance did great savagery there (400+ enemy planes, maybe 50 ships and assorted airmen of the Japanese navy destroyed).  Any writings you recommend?

Same questions re Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Thinking out about the big naval battles, I gather that the dive bombers were a quite effective.  The torpedo bombers seem to have been less effective than the dive bombers

As always, you present material that a layman like me can understand.  Unlike me, you can make a clear point in less than 10,000 words.  Logical, understandable, and focused.  My compliments,

CRM

________________________________________

From: beakleyje@roadrunner.com <beakleyje@roadrunner.com>

Subject: FW: Battle of Midway - Legacy 7

4 June, the Battle of Midway has held  special significance for me for quite some time and as I once noted:

You can take this as gospel or not, but over several dozens of these Alpha strikes over NVN in an 11 month cruise, I don't think I ever did not think and wonder about Lew Hopkins and Pat Patterson in there  Dauntless and all those guys doing the same thing – looking out over the partially cloud covered Pacific Ocean – on the 4th of June, 1942 as they launched from Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown on their way to the most significant naval battle of World War II.

As you may recall from my past writing I was extremely honored to serve under Admiral Lew Hopkins at the Naval Missile Center as a young JG. My direct boss – operations officer – was LCDR Pat Patterson. Both were Bombing Six (VB – 6) folks flying from USS Enterprise at Midway, the admiral as an Ensign and probably number 13 down the chute on Kaga. Pat was a petty officer in Ensign Goldsmith's Dauntless and probably last a/c in the "silver waterfall." Of interest Admiral Hopkins claimed his whole life that he actually followed Dick Best's three a/c to strike the Akagi. I have his discussion for the Nimitz Library thanks to his daughter Anne.

My one contribution to this history is that when Pat retired, I had the Victory at Sea segment on Midway shown backwards at his retirement dinner, given that when I asked him about his experience, he replied "what do I know, I was 19 and saw the whole thing backwards!"

 

Most years I post something related on the site. This year the subject is BOM's legacy in lite of one of the precepts for a decisive battle, namely, The battle marks the introduction of a major change in warfare.

 

For me, the  battle at Midway was incredibly important, but the true turning point in the Pacific war was Guadalcanal. But Midway was so important in another sense for all of naval aviation – we can never forget from whence we came!

 

Here is the link to my 2024 post for The Battle of Midway

http://rememberedsky.com/?p=5208

Comments/changes most appreciated

 

Ed 'Boris' Beakley

 

 

Thanks to Barrett

Re: Battle of Midway - Legacy

Rambling here...

As Boris well knows, the road to Guadalcanal and beyond was paved at Midway.  Japan lost the strategic initiative and never regained it.

I've always been intrigued with Guadalcanal because it involved mutually supportive elements, what Churchill called "triphibious operations."  And because no battle-campaign thereafter was such a close-run thing.  Long ago (my first book, the SBD history, 1976?) I noted that Cactus was a symbiotic relationship among U.S. forces afloat, aloft, and ashore.  Sailors delivered Marines and soldiers ashore and kept them supplied, however tenuously.  Aircrews and sailors kept Japanese reinforcements to manageable levels for six sanguinary months. Marines kept Henderson and affiliated airfields out of enemy hands.

Ref. Frank Jack Fletcher.  John Lundstrom's excellent bio, Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, should have nailed down the coffin on "He abandoned the marines."  But we still see it.  I recall when BSCA was published, baby marines immediately gave it one-star reviews clearly before they could have read it.  In the only instance I know of, Amazon deleted those posts. 

After Midway PacFlt had three CVs to support the Guadalcanal landings in August.  So who was going to risk losing one of those precious flight decks?  (Most CCs know that Wasp was sunk in September; Hornet arrived but was lost in October.)  Nimitz finished the balance the Cactus campaign with the Big E--Burns' book was aptly titled Then There Was One. Absent her air group in the October-November crisis, how might the campaign have turned? (Saratoga didn't return until two weeks before Japan quit.)

Meanwhile:

Richard B. Frank's enduring 1992 Guadalcanal volume quotes a Japanese naval officer:

 

"There were many famous battles in the war — Saipan,  Leyte, Okinawa, etc.  But after the war we  [the  professional military] talked only about two, Midway and Guadalcanal."

Rant Mode ON:

Noted in my CV-6 book: in 2009 the navy had grown so PC that CNO's Midway Night oration did not include The J Word.

The next year he managed one reference to The J Word.

Rant Mode to STANDBY

Barrett sends

Wing dip to some CCs I recognize: Skip, Dale, Bear, R.G.

 

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10 MORE ON DRINKS  FROM YESTERDAY

11

There's a Debate Over Whether the Martini Was Invented in California or New York The "shaken or stirred" debate has nothing on the origin of America's most iconic cocktail, which is vigorously argued by both of the nation's coasts.

The historic town of Martinez, California, swears the gin-and-vermouth classic was created as a celebratory Champagne replacement for a gold miner who struck it rich. New Yorkers insist it's solely the invention of the bar staff at the Knickerbocker Hotel, named after the Martini in Martini & Rossi vermouth. As for us? We'll think about it while we have another.

 

12

The Snapple Lady Was an Actual Employee

Kaufman was hired in 1991 to work in Snapple's shipping department. A hardworking, dedicated employee, she noticed the fan mail piling up in the mail room and made it her mission to answer the letters personally, writing or even calling fans back to thank them for their devotion to the brand.

Kaufman ultimately rocketed to stardom after being cast as "Wendy the Snapple Lady," a character who appeared in 37 commercials between 1993 and 1995. The commercials featured a fictionalized version of Wendy doing what she did best — reading and answering fan mail — and some of the ads even involved filming at the homes of fans who had written letters.

 

13

Coca-Cola Ads Helped Popularize Santa Claus' Modern-Day Likeness Coca-Cola advertisement featuring Santa Clause.Coke advertisement with Santa Clause.

Coke has a surprising connection to Santa Claus. In 1931, Coca-Cola hired illustrator Haddon Sundblom to paint Santa Claus for a series of holiday advertisements. Using friend and retired salesman Lou Prentiss as a model, Sundblom produced a version of Santa that depicted the jolly, bearded man with rosy cheeks that we all recognize today. Sundblom would continue painting Santa for Coke's advertisements until 1964.

 

While the character of Santa Claus predated Coke, of course, he had been depicted in a variety of ways, ranging from tall and thin to looking like an elf. An 1862 drawing of Santa Claus by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly portrayed Santa as a tiny figure compared to the booming presence he is today, though Nast would also be the first to draw Santa wearing a red jacket, and some other Nast drawings showed a version of Santa that resembles the jolly man we now know. Yet all in all, it wasn't until Coca-Cola debuted its holiday advertisements that Americans began to fully associate Santa Claus with the large, jovial figure we know him as today.

 

14

The Czech Republic Consumes the Most Beer of Any Country Glasses with light and dark beer in a cafe. For over 25 years running, the country that drinks the most beer per capita — by quite a large margin — is the Czech Republic. The average resident there guzzles 142.6 liters of the golden bubbly beverage annually. By comparison, people in other major beer-drinking countries such as Austria and Germany barely crack 100 liters.

 

It's fair to say that the Czech Republic has a strong beer culture. After all, it is the birthplace of pilsner, one of the most popular styles of beer, and in many Czech cities, a beer will set you back less than a bottle of water. And it doesn't seem likely that the country will reverse course anytime soon. Each year, consumption is increasing, although trends in recent years favor take-home bottles from breweries rather than old-fashioned pints at a local pub.

 

15

Almost All Wines Are Grown From a Single Species of Grape Vitis vinifera grape vine. The mother vine of almost all wines today is Vitis vinifera, a grape likely native to Western Asia. Over millennia, winemakers have domesticated and crossbred the vines to create subspecies with distinct colors, flavors, and suitability to different climates. About 8,000 cultivars exist today, including well-known varieties like pinot noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and merlot. V. vinifera vines have long been cultivated in regions with hot, dry summers and mild winters, such as Italy, Spain, and France, but the U.S., Chile, Australia, and South Africa are also major producers, among other countries.

 

16

Your Genes Might Determine How Much Coffee You Drink If you can't get through the day without several cups of coffee, you may have your genes to blame. A 2018 study suggests inherited traits determine how sensitive humans are to bitter foods like caffeine and quinine (found in tonic water). Researchers found that people with genes that allow them to strongly taste bitter caffeine were more likely to be heavy coffee drinkers (defined as consuming four or more cups daily). It seems counterintuitive that people more perceptive to astringent tastes would drink more coffee than those with average sensitivity — after all, bitter-detecting taste buds likely developed as the body's response to prevent poisoning. But some scientists think that human brains have learned to bypass this warning system in favor of caffeine's energizing properties. The downside? Constant coffee consumers are at higher risk of developing caffeine addiction.

 

17

Tea Bags Were Popularized by Accident

Before individual tea bags came into wide use, it was more common to make an entire pot of tea at once by pouring hot water over tea leaves and then using a strainer. In 1901, Wisconsin inventors Roberta C. Lawson and Mary Molaren filed a patent for a "tea leaf holder," a concept that resembles the tea bags we use today. It wasn't until about seven years later, however, that another individual inadvertently helped popularize the concept of tea bags — at least according to legend. Around 1908, American tea importer Thomas Sullivan reportedly sent samples of tea inside small silken bags to his customers. His clients failed to remove the tea leaves from the bags as Sullivan assumed they would, and soon Sullivan realized that he'd stumbled onto an exciting new concept for tea brewing. He later reimagined the bags using gauze, and eventually paper.

 

Tea bags were booming in popularity throughout the United States by the 1920s, but it took a while for residents of the United Kingdom to adopt the concept. In fact, tea bags wouldn't make their way to the U.K. until 1952, when Lipton patented its "flo-thru" bag, but even then the British weren't keen to change their tea-brewing ways. By 1968, only 3% of tea brewed in the U.K. was done so using tea bags, with that number rising to 12.5% in 1971.

By the end of the 20th century, however, 96% of U.K. tea was brewed with bags.

 

18

Dairy Milk Was Revolutionized by Bacteriology

In 1857, French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered that microorganisms in the air caused lactic acid fermentation, aka the souring of milk. Pasteur also discovered (after a request from Emperor of France Napoleon III) that certain microbes caused wine to go bad, but briefly heating the libation to around 140 degrees Fahrenheit caused those microbes to die off, leaving behind a sterilized (or as it would be later known,

"pasteurized") liquid that would stay fresh for longer.

 

Pasteurization for milk wasn't introduced until 1886, but it was a game-changer, as diseases introduced via contaminated milk killed scores of infants in the 19th century. With the introduction of pasteurization, that number dropped significantly.

 

19

Humans Invented Alcohol Before We Invented the Wheel The wheel is credited as one of humankind's most important inventions: It allowed people to travel farther on land than ever before, irrigate crops, and spin fibers, among other benefits. Today, we often consider the wheel to be the ultimate civilization game-changer, but it turns out, creating the multipurpose apparatus wasn't really on humanity's immediate to-do list. Our ancient ancestors worked on other ideas first: boats, musical instruments, glue, and alcohol. The oldest evidence of booze comes from China, where archaeologists have unearthed 9,000-year-old pottery coated with beer residue; in contrast, early wheels didn't appear until around 3500 BCE (about three millennia later), in what is now Iraq. But even when humans began using wheels, they had a different application — rudimentary versions were commonly used as potter's wheels, a necessity for mass-producing vessels that could store batches of brew (among other things).

 

20

Egg Creams Contain Neither Eggs nor Foods tend to get their names from their appearance or ingredients, though not all are so clear-cut. Take, for instance, the egg cream, a beverage that has delighted the taste buds of New Yorkers (and other diner patrons) since the 1890s. But if you've never sipped on the cool, fizzy drink known for its chocolate flavor and foamy top, you should know: There are no eggs or cream in a traditional egg cream drink.

 

According to culinary lore, the first egg cream was the accidental invention of Louis Auster, a late-19th- and early-20th-century candy shop owner in New York's Lower East Side. Auster's sweet treat arrived in the 1890s, at a time when soda fountains had started selling fancier drinks, and it was a hit — the enterprising inventor reportedly sold upwards of 3,000 egg creams per day by the 1920s and '30s. However, Auster kept his recipe well guarded; the confectioner refused to sell his formula, and eventually took his recipe to the grave. The origins of the drink's name have also been lost to time. Some believe the name "egg cream" came from Auster's use of "Grade A" cream, which could have sounded like "egg cream" with a New York accent. Another possible explanation points to the Yiddish phrase "echt keem," meaning "pure sweetness."

 

Regardless of the misleading name, egg creams are once again gaining popularity in New York, though you don't have to be a city dweller to get your hands on the cool refreshment. Egg creams can be easily made at home with just three ingredients: milk, seltzer, and chocolate syrup.

 

 

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From the archives

Thanks to Dr. Rich and Billy

The B-17 blew apart in an instant. The memory has burned for 80 years.

For waist gunner Mel Jenner, a friend's farewell in the skies over occupied France has echoed since 1944.

By David Burnett

David Burnett is a photojournalist based in New York.

Mel Jenner had one of those World War II jobs that no one really tries out for. Waist gunner in a B-17 bomber was what you'd get if you didn't draw the straw to be pilot or navigator. You had to man a machine gun in front of an open window space at an altitude of four to five miles, the swirling frigid air tough to bear even in a sheepskin jacket and other cold-weather gear. Handling that 50-caliber machine gun took strength and agility, and following an attacking enemy fighter with it, leading them just enough to account for the movement of both airplanes, was a very particular talent.

Mel, who is traveling to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day this week on an American Airlines charter with the nonprofit Old Glory Honor Flight, stood beside me in his living room this spring, still nearly military in his bearing at 102. He showed me a picture of himself as a young man in his Army Air Corps uniform. Then he told me about his best friend, Oscar McClure.

Oscar was a belly turret gunner in Mel's squadron of the 8th Air Force. That put him in a hemisphere of plexiglass slung beneath the fuselage of a B-17, an even more demanding spot than waist gunner. Once closed in there, you were cooped up awkwardly with your knees around your ears for hours. But it had to be crewed. The belly turret gunner helped protect the big plane from attacks from below.

On a mission over Châteaudun in German-occupied France in the run-up to D-Day, spring of 1944, the squadron ran into heavy flak and enemy fighters. Dozens of B-17s flew close together, since Air Corps doctrine taught that the tighter the formation, the stronger the defense. Mel could see his friend Oscar tucked inside his belly turret in the next plane over, just yards away

Then the flak started, puffs of dark smoke exploding around the planes. And in one terrible moment, a burst hit Oscar's plane, blowing off the whole right wing. For an instant, the detached wing hung grotesquely over the torn fuselage, propellers still turning…Mel described looking over at Oscar, who had to know that his life was about to end. Then he watched as his friend took his pair of 50-caliber machine guns and moved them up and down, side to side.

 

As Mel told me this story, he put both arms out in front of him, as if they were his friend's gun barrels. He gently moved them in a slow pattern, up and down, side to side, ever so slightly. His voice broke as said, "And he just waved goodbye to me."

 

For 80 years, Mel Jenner has relived that moment, and still it stops him short, this memory of witnessing his friend's death in wartime. Some things in life can just never become ordinary.  And he isn't alone…

 

I've known Gus Fleschli my entire life.  He's 99 now and sharp!  Gus could tell you about his twenty five missions as a WWII B-17 waist gunner.  He's a fascinating Hometown Hero!

 

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 From the archives

Thanks to Micro….I could not stop watching this

I guess she didn't get the memo…. 😊

 

Gotta love this lady! Talk about peeling some skin off .....

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCCw-uFBfnA

 

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This Day in U S Military History…….June 13

 

1805 – Having hurried ahead of the main body of the expedition, Meriwether Lewis and four men arrive at the Great Falls of the Missouri River, confirming that the explorers are headed in the right direction. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark had set out on their expedition to the Pacific the previous year. They spent the winter of 1804 with the Mandan Indians in present-day North Dakota. The Hidatsa Indians, who lived nearby, had traveled far to the West, and they proved an important source of information for Lewis and Clark. The Hidatsa told Lewis and Clark they would come to a large impassable waterfall in the Missouri when they neared the Rocky Mountains, but they assured the captains that portage around the falls was less than half a mile. Armed with this valuable information, Lewis and Clark resumed their journey up the Missouri accompanied by a party of 33 in April. The expedition made good time, and by early June, the explorers were nearing the Rocky Mountains. On June 3, however, they came to a fork at which two equally large rivers converged. "Which of these rivers was the Missouri?" Lewis asked in his journal. Since the river coming in from the north most resembled the Missouri in its muddy turbulence, most of the men believed it must be the Missouri. Lewis, however, reasoned that the water from the Missouri would have traveled only a short distance from the mountains and, therefore, would be clear and fast-running like the south fork. The decision was critical. If the explorers chose the wrong river, they would not be able to find the Shoshone Indians from whom they planned to obtain horses for the portage over the Rockies. Although all of their men disagreed, Lewis and Clark concluded they should proceed up the south fork. To err on the side of caution, however, the captains decided that Lewis and a party of four would speed ahead on foot. If Lewis did not soon encounter the big waterfall the Hidatsa had told them of, the party would return and the expedition would backtrack to the other river. On this day in 1805, four days after forging ahead of the main body of the expedition, Lewis was overjoyed to hear "the agreeable sound of a fall of water." Soon after he "saw the spray arise above the plain like a column of smoke…. [It] began to make a roaring too tremendous to be mistaken for any cause short of the great falls of the Missouri." By noon, Lewis had reached the falls, where he stared in awe at "a sublimely grand specticle [sic]…. the grandest sight I had ever held." Lewis and Clark had been correct–the south fork was the Missouri River. The mysterious northern fork was actually the Marias River. Had the explorers followed the Marias, they would have traveled up into the northern Rockies where a convenient pass led across the mountains into the Columbia River drainage. However, Lewis and Clark would not have found the Shoshone Indians nor obtained the horses. Without horses, the crossing might well have failed. Three days after finding the falls, Lewis rejoined Clark and told him the good news. However, the captains' elation did not last long. They soon discovered that the portage around the Great Falls was not the easy half-mile jaunt reported by the Hidatsa, but rather a punishing 18-mile trek over rough terrain covered with spiky cactus. The Great Portage, as it was later called, would take the men nearly a month to complete. By mid-July, however, the expedition was again moving ahead. A month later, Lewis and Clark found the Shoshone Indians, who handed over the horses that were so critical to the subsequent success of their mission.

 

1918 – Marines plug the line in their exposed area. German counterattack begins supported by the artillery from three divisions and almost recaptures Bouresches. Heavy gas casualties. A planned relief of 2/5 goes for naught as 2/6 is caught in the open by a artillery barrage with gas.

 

1942 – John C. Cullen, Seaman 2/c discovered Nazi saboteurs landing on beach at Amagansett, Long Island. He reported this to his superiors. The FBI later captured the Nazis and Cullen was awarded the Legion of Merit. The four men had plans to sabotage NYC's water system and industrial sites across the Northeastern US.

1942 – CGC Thetis sank the German U-boat U-157 off the Florida Keys. There were no survivors.

1942 – 1st V-2 rocket launch from Peenemunde, Germany, reached 1.3 km.

1943 – CGC Escanaba exploded and sank off Ivigtut, Greenland, with only two survivors. The cause for the loss has never been confirmed.

1944 – Only one week after the Normandy invasion, the first German V-1 buzz bomb, also called the doodlebug (Fieseler Fi-103), was fired at London. The first guided missile to be used in force, the V-1 was powered by a pulse-jet engine and resembled a small aircraft. Only one of the four missiles London saw that day caused any casualties, but a steady stream of V-1s causing severe damage and casualties fell on London in coming months. At times, nearly 100 bombs fell each day. Many German buzz bombs never reached their targets because of primitive guidance systems or because they were destroyed in flight by anti-aircraft fire or intercepting Allied fighters.

1944 – US 1st Army makes progress towards St Lo and across the Cotentin. Pont l'Abbe is capture in the peninsula. A German counterattack, spearheaded by 17th Panzer Division, toward Carentan is held.

1944 – On Biak, American forces reduce the scattered Japanese resistance from caves in the east of the island. US aircraft are operating from Mokmer Airfield.

1945 – On Okinawa, the Japanese resistance in the Oruku peninsula ends. The US 6th Marine Division records a record 169 Japanese prisoners as well as finding about 200 dead. (This is a large total when compared with previous numbers of Japanese prisoners reported.) The fighting continues to the southeast, especially in the Kunishi Ridge area where a regiment of the US 1st Marine Division suffers heavy casualties. The US 24th Corps uses armored flamethrowers in the elimination of the Japanese held fortified caves on Mount Yuza and Mount Yaeju and on Hills 153 and 115.

1945 – On Luzon, an American armored column attempts pass through the Orioung Pass, to exploit a breakthrough achieved by the US 145th Infantry Regiment (US 37th Division), but a Japanese counterattack blocks the road.

 

1966 – The Supreme Court issued its landmark Miranda vs. Arizona decision, ruling that criminal suspects must be informed of their constitutional rights prior to questioning by police. The conviction of Ernesto Miranda for rape and kidnapping was overturned because his confession was not voluntarily given.

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

FASSEUR, ISAAC L.

Rank and organization: Ordinary Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1860 Holland. Biography not available. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Lackawanna, 13 June 1884, at Callao, Peru, Fasseur rescued William Cruise, who had fallen overboard, from drowning.

 

WILLIAMS, LOUIS (Second Award)

Rank and organization: Captain of the Hold, U.S. Navy. Born: 1845 Norway. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884 Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Lackawanna, Williams rescued from drowning William Cruise, who had fallen overboard at Callao Peru, 13 June 1884.

 

SAGE, WILLIAM H.

Rank and organization: Captain, 23d U.S. Infantry. Place and date: Near Zapote River, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 13 June 1899. Entered service at: Binghamton, N.Y. Birth: Centerville, N.Y. Date of issue: 24 July 1902. Citation: With 9 men volunteered to hold an advanced position and held it against a terrific fire of the enemy estimated at 1,000 strong. Taking a rifle from a wounded man, and cartridges from the belts of others, Capt. Sage himself killed 5 of the enemy.

 

* KEDENBURG, JOHN J.

Rank and organization: Specialist Fifth Class, U.S. Army, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces. place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 13 June 1968. Entered service at: Brooklyn, N.Y. Born: 31 July 1946, Brooklyn, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp5c. Kedenburg, U.S. Army, Command and Control Detachment North, Forward Operating Base 2, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), distinguished himself while serving as advisor to a long-range reconnaissance team of South Vietnamese irregular troops. The team's mission was to conduct counter-guerrilla operations deep within enemy-held territory. prior to reaching the day's objective, the team was attacked and encircled by a battalion-size North Vietnamese Army force. Sp5c. Kedenburg assumed immediate command of the team which succeeded, after a fierce fight, in breaking out of the encirclement. As the team moved through thick jungle to a position from which it could be extracted by helicopter, Sp5c. Kedenburg conducted a gallant rear guard fight against the pursuing enemy and called for tactical air support and rescue helicopters. His withering fire against the enemy permitted the team to reach a preselected landing zone with the loss of only 1 man, who was unaccounted for. Once in the landing zone, Sp5c. Kedenburg deployed the team into a perimeter defense against the numerically superior enemy force. When tactical air support arrived, he skillfully directed air strikes against the enemy, suppressing their fire so that helicopters could hover over the area and drop slings to be used in the extraction of the team. After half of the team was extracted by helicopter, Sp5c. Kedenburg and the remaining 3 members of the team harnessed themselves to the sling on a second hovering helicopter. Just as the helicopter was to lift them out of the area, the South Vietnamese team member who had been unaccounted for after the initial encounter with the enemy appeared in the landing zone. Sp5c. Kedenburg unhesitatingly gave up his place in the sling to the man and directed the helicopter pilot to leave the area. He then continued to engage the enemy who were swarming into the landing zone, killing 6 enemy soldiers before he was overpowered. Sp5c. Kedenburg's inspiring leadership, consummate courage and willing self-sacrifice permitted his small team to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy and escape almost certain annihilation. His actions reflect great credit upon himself and the U.S. Army.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for June 13, 1 FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

13 June

1910: Through 18 June, the Indianapolis Air Meet took place at the Speedway. The Wright Exhibition Team flew here for the first time. (24) In 3 hours 27 minutes, Charles K. Hamilton flew 149.54 miles from New York to Philadelphia and back to win the New York Times $10,000 prize. (24)

1913: Lt (JG) Patrick N. L. Bellinger flew the Curtiss A-3 at Annapolis to a 6,200-foot US altitude record for seaplanes. (24)

1925: In a sham air battle staged 4,000 feet over Times Square, four National Guard aircraft defeated an attack on New York City by four Army planes and then chased them back over Long Island. An estimated 6,000 people watched the clash, and radio station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, broadcast the event live. (32)

1943: Eighth Air Force lost 26 of 60 bombers in a raid on Kiel, Germany. That mission demonstrated the need for fighter escorts. (21)

1962: Capt Richard H. Coan flew the H-43B Huskie helicopter to a world distance record of 656.258 miles over a 25-mile closed-course at Mono Lake, Calif. (24)

1968: A Titan IIIC launch vehicle placed eight Initial Defense Communication Satellite Program (IDCSP) jam-proof satellites into an equatorial orbit, for a total of 26, to extend the system's life span. The launch from Cape Kennedy also ended the IDCSP program. (16) (26)

1972: At Edwards AFB, Maj Buzz Lynch became the first USAF pilot to fly the A-10A. (3)

1973: Seventh Air Force, Eighth Air Force, and the Navy Task Force 77 received the Robert J. Collier Trophy for 1972 for the use of advanced aerospace technology in Operation Linebacker II.

1983: Pioneer 10, launched in 1972 to explore Jupiter, crossed the orbit of Saturn in 1976 and the orbit of Uranus in 1979. On June 13, 1983, the craft crossed the orbit of Neptune, and so became the first human-made object to leave the proximity of the major planets of the Solar System. The mission came to an official end on March 31, 1997. (Pioneer 10 on a Star-37E kick motor just prior to being encapsulated for launch, February 1972).

1995: A B-2 bomber dropped a precision-guided munition on target in a test of a Global Positioning System Aided Munition. The test occurred at China Lake. (16)

1999: Operation ALLIED FORCE. A KC-135R and aircrew from the 319 AREFW at Grand Forks AFB, flying with the 92 AEW in southern Europe, performed the first-ever combat sortie in a Pacer CRAG-modified KC-135 while supporting this operation. Although Pacer CRAG tankers had been deployed to Southwest Asia to support Operation SOUTHERN WATCH, the 13 June mission marked the first time a Pacer CRAG aircraft had logged actual combat time. (22)

2007: The U. S. Army announced a $2.04 billion contract award to L-3 Communications Integrated Systems after selecting the C-27J Spartan as the Joint Cargo Aircraft. (AFNEWS, "C-27J Named as Joint Cargo Aircraft," 14 Jun 2007,

 

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