Good Tuesday morning August 5. Busy day today with two doctor appointments back to back. The sun is out now and looks like 88 is the high today.
Have a great 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 92 H-Grams
August 5
1832 USS Potomac, becomes the first U.S. Navy ship to entertain royalty, King and Queen of Sandwich Islands
1858 The last bit of cable is laid by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon to complete the first trans-Atlantic cable. Niagara's boats carried the end of the cable ashore at Brills Mouth Island, Newfoundland, and the same day Agamemnon landed her end of the cable at England. The first message flashed across August 16 when Queen Victoria sent a cable to President James Buchanan.
1864 Rear Adm. David G. Farragut successfully navigates through a deadly torpedo field Confederates lay in order to block the channel into Mobile Bay. During the battle, Farragut gives his famous quote, Damn the Torpedoes, Full speed ahead!
1882 The first US Navy steel warships (USS Atlanta, USS Boston, USS Chicago and USS Dolphin), are authorized by Congress, beginning the New Navy. Subsequently known as the A, B, C, D ships, they are built at Chester, Pa. USS Dolphin is commissioned first in 1885, followed by USS Atlanta (1886), USS Boston (1887), and USS Chicago (1889).
1921 The Yangtze River Patrol Force is established as a command under the Asiatic Fleet. The force serves in the area until December 1941 when the force is disestablished with many of the ships captured, or scuttled, and the crews taken prisoner by the Japanese.
1944 USS Barbel (SS 316) sinks Japanese merchant passenger-cargo ship, Miyako Maru, off Tokuno Jima while USS Cero (SS 225) attacks a Japanese convoy off Minanao and sinks oiler, Tsurumi, in Davao Gulf. Also on this date, PBY aircraft sinks small Japanese cargo vessel No.2, Eiko Maru, off Taoelahat.
1990 Operation Sharp Edge begins, with the Navy and Marines evacuating U.S. citizens and foreign nationals from Liberia during its civil war.
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This Day in World History
5 August
1391 Castilian sailors in Barcelona, Spain set fire to a Jewish ghetto, killing 100 people and setting off four days of violence against Jews.
1762 Russia, Prussia and Austria sign a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.
1763 Colonel Henry Bouquet decisively defeats the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac's rebellion.
1815 A peace treaty with Tripoli--which follows treaties with Algeria and Tunis--brings an end to the Barbary Wars.
1858 The first transatlantic cable is completed.
1861 Congress adopts the nation's first income tax to finance the Civil War.
1864 The Union Navy captures Mobile Bay in Alabama.
1892 Harriet Tubman receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spy and scout during the Civil War.
1914 The first electric traffic signal lights are installed in Cleveland, Ohio.
1914 The British Expeditionary Force mobilizes for World War I.
1915 The Austro-German Army takes Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front.
1916 The British navy defeats the Ottomans at the naval battle off Port Said, Egypt.
1921Mustafa Kemal is appointed virtual ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
1941 The German army completes taking 410,000 Russian prisoners in the Uman and Smolensk pockets in the Soviet Union.
1951 The United Nations Command suspends armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas.
1962 Actress Marilyn Monroe dies under mysterious circumstances.
1964 President Lyndon Johnson begins bombing North Vietnam in retaliation for the Gulf of Tonkin incident and asks Congress to go to war against North Vietnam.
1974 President Richard Nixon admits he ordered a cover-up for political as well as national security reasons
1981 President Ronald Reagan fires 11,500 striking air traffic controllers.
1992 Four police officers are indicted on civil rights charges in the beating of Rodney King.
1995 Croatian forces capture the city of Knin, a Serb stronghold, during Operation Storm.
1997 The mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Ramzi Yousef, goes on trial.
2012 A gunman in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, opens fire in a Sikh temple, killing six before committing suicide.
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Rollingthunderremembered.com .
August 5
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
From Vietnam Air Losses site for "for 5 August
5-Aug: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=208
Vietnam Air Losses Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
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/ )
By: Kipp Hanley
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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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. Please read this one about Col. Robert L Scott thanks to Barrett and his exceptional writing skills Be sure to open the link below .
I read all his books…… Skip
COLONEL ROBERT LEE SCOTT, Jr., did!!! The ace was flying P-40 Warhawks with the "Flying Tigers" in 1942. On his first mission as group commander he tangled with a Japanese fighter and took several hits. Wounded in the cockpit he managed to get his damaged P-40 back to base. He became the patient of the famous missionary DR. FRED PRUDENCE MANGET. Great aviation writer BARRETT TILLMAN tells the story. "With no anesthetic, Scott endured the pain as the medical missionary extracted the (steel) splinters (from Scott's back). During the prolonged process, Manget's Chinese aide asked Scott, 'Colonel, you fly plane, shoot guns, talk radio, all time flight barbarian. You do all these things alone?' Biting down the pain, Scott snapped back, 'Where in hell would anybody else sit? No, I don't need any help. I'm a fighter pilot!'…
"Dr. Manget interrupted his alcohol swabbing to confront his patient, eye to eye. 'You're wrong there, son,' he said softly. 'You are never alone up there. Not with all the things you came through. You have the greatest copilot in the world even if there is just room for one in that fighter ship.' When he sat up, Scott reeled figuratively and literally. He visualized illuminated figures dancing on a black velvet screen. They resolved themselves into a phrase: 'God is my copilot.'…"
I URGE YOU ALL TO READ the following about Robert L Scott I think you will find it entertaining
https://www.historynet.com/col-robert-l-scott-gods-pilot.htm
https://www.historynet.com/col-robert-l-scott-gods-pilot.htmhttps://www.historynet.com/col-robert-
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. Thanks to Mugs
Gail was a great CO…skip
Wanted to make sure you guys knew about this. I thought Gail was a very good commander for VFP-63, and I kept up with him through the years via email, when that became a thing.
Jim
Dear Friends and Family of Gail Bailey,
In case you weren't on the first email we sent, we are sending an obituary for our Dad, see attached.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories of Dad, they were wonderful to read! And if you still want to share something, we'd love to hear from you!
love,
Sheila, Lisa and Leigh
Gail Robert Bailey
Gail Robert Bailey, age 92, passed away on July 13, 2024 in Tulsa, OK. He was born August 31, 1931 in Coffeyville, Kansas to George Thomas Bailey Jr. and Elva Olive Boren Bailey. Gail grew up in Texarkana, Texas, had a paper route, graduated from Texas High School in 1949, and attended Texarkana Junior College before transferring to Texas A&M University.
While growing up, Gail had the opportunity to fly with a close family friend during visits to their Colorado wheat ranch. This brought about a love of flying inspiring him to pursue a career as a pilot. He left college and joined the U.S. Navy as a NAVCAD, completing Naval Flight Training in Pensacola Florida and earning his wings as a Naval Aviator in 1954. He later earned a degree in political science at the Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterey, California.
While stationed at Moffet Field near San Jose, California, Gail met Charlotte Mortson in the summer of 1956. She was a flight attendant for TWA stationed in San Francisco. Their social circle included a large group of airline stewardesses and Navy pilots who became lifelong friends. Gail and Charlotte were married in January of 1957 and had four daughters, all born in California.
In the Navy, Gail flew multiple jet aircraft including the Vought F-8 Crusader. He flew over Vietnam and served onboard several aircraft carriers including the USS Ticonderoga, USS Oriskany, USS Bon Homme Richard, and USS Hancock. The F8 Crusader was known to be a very challenging aircraft to land due to its high landing speed. Night carrier landings were especially challenging. He had a few close calls, one was while landing on the carrier after having lost his nose wheel. Gail received a Navy Commendation Medal for Heroic Achievement in 1965, two Citations for "heroic and meritorious achievement in aerial flight" in 1965 and 1966, two Vietnam Service Medals in 1966 and 1967, a National Defense Service Medal in 1966, and a Meritorious Service Medal for outstanding service in 1972. Gail was the Commanding Officer of VFP-63 in 1971-1972, a photo squadron stationed at NAS Miramar, and later served as Air Boss on the USS Hancock. He retired from the Navy as a Commander in 1974, having served tours in Brunswick GA, San Diego CA, Norfolk VA, Alameda CA, and Irving TX as a test pilot. Gail was proud of his service in the Navy. He had a Fighter Pilot ego along with a great sense of humor.
Upon Gail's Navy retirement, the Bailey family made their final move from California to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1974. Gail and his sister had recently inherited Bailey Inspection Service, a tank car business, from their father. He worked with his father's former business partner at Mallard Transportation Company to better
learn the tank car business. Gail bought a Mooney Super 21 four-seater airplane soon after moving to Tulsa. He enjoyed business trips as well as fly-in events with other pilots. He and Charlotte would often fly the Mooney for visits to friends and family. They also took a few trips to explore Egypt, Spain and Portugal flying on commercial airlines.
Gail was an avid tennis player and golfer, though he loved flying more than anything. He enjoyed schmoozing with other pilots, including his aircraft mechanic, at Riverside Airport near Jenks, Oklahoma where he kept his airplane. Gail purchased a 21-foot Venture sailboat in the late 1970s. He and Charlotte sailed mostly at Fort Gibson Reservoir in addition to other lakes in the area. He spent time tinkering in the garage, working in the yard, and watching sports on TV. He also enjoyed managing his investments. Gail was known by the neighbor kids as Mr. B.
Although he did not communicate it directly, Gail was proud of his daughters. Sheila flew helicopters in the Navy, Lisa earned a degree in Landscape Architecture at Harvard University, and Leigh became a Hydrologist with the US Forest Service. He was also very proud of his late wife Charlotte who earned a law degree from Tulsa University when she was in her early 50s. Gail was practical, valued situational awareness and common sense, was outgoing, and generously shared his life stories and advice.
Gail was a good friend and didn't hesitate to pick up the phone and call people to keep in touch. He attended many of his high school and Navy reunions. He had lifelong friends from childhood and the Navy for whom he felt a great loss as he outlived many of them. He will be missed by those he left behind. Gail is survived by his four daughters: Sheila Bailey, Lisa Bailey, Paula Bailey and Leigh Bailey, three grandchildren: Ian Bass, Suzanna York, and Terra Miller, and two great grandsons: Dominic and Rhone York. He is preceded in death by his wife Charlotte, his sister Norma Ware, and many close friends.
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. Thanks to Mac
Subject: Contemporary Conundrum
As a man or woman, I used to think I was pretty much just a regular person, but I was born white, into a two-parent household which now, whether I like it or not, makes me privileged, a racist, and responsible for slavery.
I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which by today's standards, makes me a fascist because I plan, budget, and support myself.
I went to High School, and have always held a job. But I now find out that I am not here because I earned it, but because I was "advantaged".
I am heterosexual, which according to gay folks, now makes me a homophobe.
I am not a Muslim, which now labels me as an infidel.
I am older than 70, making me a useless parasite who doesn't understand Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat.
I think and I reason, and I doubt much of what the 'main stream' media tells me, which makes me a Right-wing conspiracy nut.
I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive American culture, making me a xenophobe.
I believe in hard work, fair play, and fair compensation according teach individual's merits, which today makes me an anti-socialist.
I believe our system guarantees freedom of effort - not freedom of outcome or subsidies which must make me a borderline sociopath.
I believe in the defense and protection of the United States for and by all citizens, now making me a militant.
I am proud of our flag, what it stands for, and the many who died to let it fly, so I stand during our National Anthem - so I must be a racist.
Please help me come to terms with the new me because I'm just not sure who I am anymore !
Funny - it all took place over the last 7 or 8 years! If all this nonsense wasn't enough to deal with, now I don't even know which restroom to use... and these days I gotta go more frequently.
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Thanks to History Facts
Only two people have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice.
A longside the Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in America. An average of roughly 10 awards per year have been bestowed since the honor was first created by John F. Kennedy in 1963 (though some presidents award more medals than others), and only two people have received more than one: Ellsworth Bunker and Colin Powell. The former, a career diplomat who served six different U.S. presidents as the ambassador to Argentina, Italy, India, and South Vietnam, received his in 1963 and 1967, both of them with distinction — an additional level of veneration reserved for approximately 8% of recipients.
Powell, meanwhile, earned his awards in 1991 and 1993, the second with distinction. He received the first from George H.W. Bush and the second from Bill Clinton, both of whom he served under as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; he had previously been Ronald Reagan's national security adviser and later became secretary of state for George W. Bush. While presenting Powell with his first medal at the end of the Gulf War, the elder President Bush said, "Your commitment and good counsel, your deep compassion for every one of the thousands of men and women under your command, will always be remembered."
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Thanks to Brett
. Source: The Conservative Woman - Hiroshima 1945: Death and deliverance
Hiroshima 1945: Death and deliverance
By Henry Getley-
August 4, 2025
EIGHTY years ago this week, the US destroyed Hiroshima with an atomic bomb. And ever since that horrific, world-changing moment, the debate over whether it was justifiable to use the weapon has been ceaseless. The Japanese port city was attacked on August 6, 1945, then on August 9 a second American nuclear bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, 200 miles to the west. Six days later Japan surrendered to the Allies, ending the Second World War.
With today's increasingly volatile international situation, the issue of the atomic bombings has become more controversial and divisive than ever, with words such as 'war crime' routinely – and naively – bandied about. Whatever your view, one thing is certain: Japan's sudden forced capitulation in 1945 saved many Allied lives which otherwise would have been sacrificed had the battle against Emperor Hirohito's merciless warriors continued. It also meant that prisoners of war and civilians in conquered territories were rescued from an unspeakably cruel regime of murder, torture, starvation and slavery.
The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in the deaths of around 140,000 people by the end of 1945, while some 70,000 were killed by the Nagasaki attack. However, had the bombs not been used, history might have taken an even bloodier turn. For in the spring of 1945, after the surrender of Germany, planning was under way for Operation Downfall, a gigantic American-led seaborne invasion of Kyushu and Honshu, two of Japan's home islands, aimed at eventually taking Tokyo.
Downfall would have been the largest amphibious assault in history, easily dwarfing the D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944, and one of the largest military operations ever undertaken. The Americans planned to launch it in two phases, attacking Kyushu in November 1945 followed by a much bigger invasion of Honshu, where Tokyo is located, in March 1946.
The forces to be deployed were staggering in scale. The invasion of Kyushu, codenamed Operation Olympic, would initially see 650,000 US soldiers and Marines landing on a 250-mile front. Four months later, the attack on Honshu – codenamed Coronet – would be launched, with up to a million troops hurled into the fray. Naval forces for both operations would include 1,200 warships, 4,000 landing craft and more than 2,000 troopships and ancillary vessels. In the skies, 14,000 aircraft would support the landings.
The Coronet operation would include a British Commonwealth corps of three army divisions – one each from Britain, Canada and Australia / New Zealand. This force, forming part of an amphibious reserve, had been grudgingly included by Downfall's supreme commander General Douglas MacArthur, who also sanctioned the participation of the Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet and an RAF bomber contingent.
Even when faced with Downfall's stupendously powerful juggernaut, the Japanese were not expected to budge. Instead, it was thought they would mount a fanatical resistance, as they had done earlier in 1945 on Okinawa, where in a three-month battle they fought to the death for every inch of the island. On Kyushu and Honshu, some three million of Hirohito's troops were estimated to be dug in ready to repel the invaders, and civilians were also expected to join the fighting.
It meant that Allied casualties would inevitably be horrific. Estimates of the blood price that would have to be paid ranged from 250,000 to one million. If the fighting dragged on, it was feared casualties could climb into the multi-millions. The Japanese, both military and civilian, would also die in unimaginable numbers. It was a grim prospect, but to Allied chiefs there seemed no alternative as the Japanese refused to capitulate despite their empire crumbling around them.
On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was successfully tested in the desert of New Mexico as part of the secret Manhattan Project. On July 25, after Japan rejected the Potsdam Declaration demanding its unconditional surrender, US President Harry Truman gave the go-ahead for the bomb to be used.
On August 15, six days after Nagasaki was destroyed, Hirohito announced Japan's surrender with history's greatest understatement, saying: 'The war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage.' Downfall was cancelled and the surrender, overseen by MacArthur, was formally signed aboard the US battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, ending the Second World War one day short of six years after it began.
So was using the atomic bombs justified? Some critics claim they were an unnecessary overkill because Japan, blockaded and starving, would have surrendered sooner rather than later, particularly after its hopes were dashed of getting the Soviets to broker a peace deal. Instead, the Kremlin declared war on Japan on August 8 – two days after Hiroshima and one day before Nagasaki – and invaded Japanese-occupied Manchuria.
Various supposed reasons are cited for Truman giving the go-ahead for the bombs. It is claimed his main motive was to deter the Soviets from expansionism in Europe by demonstrating the dreadful new weapon. Or else it is said the bombs were detonated because scientists and generals wanted to see if they worked and what their effects would be.
There may well have been such considerations by the president and his advisers in making the decision. But the main purpose of the bombs at that time was straightforward – to stop further Allied lives being thrown away against the barbaric forces of Japan. By August 1945, more than 100,000 American military personnel and up to 30,000 British servicemen had already died fighting Hirohito's pitiless fighters, while Chinese military and civilian deaths at Japanese hands numbered in the millions.
In the 1870s, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck warned about avoiding costly military entanglements, saying: 'The Balkans are not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier.' In the summer of 1945, Japan was not worth the bones of even one more Allied soldier, sailor or airman. Basic military logic dictated that if there was a means of ending the war quickly and thus saving lives, it should be taken – and the atomic bombs provided that means. On that basis alone, it was surely right to use them.
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. Trump's Unknown Frontiers
August 4, 2025
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
Donald Trump's far-ranging counter-revolution, to quote the old Star Trek mission statement, seeks "To boldly go where no one has gone before."
Because no conservative president has dared to question the last 70 years of progressive cultural, social, economic, and political dominance, all traditional wisdom, all our renowned "experts," and all the self-described "authorities" have no real credibility in their mostly flawed analyses and wrong prognoses.
Read what our legacy media predicted in March for this summer's economy, or in January for the future of the border, or what would happen should the U.S. Air Force enter Iranian airspace.
Take the border. "Comprehensive immigration reform" (a euphemism for rolling amnesties and a still-open border) was the establishment's answer to 10,000 foreign nationals storming the border during peak surges of the Biden administration.
But no president had ever simultaneously 1) pressured Mexico to close its borders and patrol ours, 2) announced a plan to complete a border wall along the entire US-Mexico boundary, 3) stopped catch-and-release, 4) ceased refugee applications after illegally entering the U.S., 5) introduced policies encouraging voluntary self-deportation, and 6) prevented all illegal entries at the border.
The result is that we do not know the full effects of these combined border policies.
So far, one million foreign nationals have lost jobs, and 2 million Americans have gained them since Trump's inauguration. How much money will be saved in local, state, and federal entitlements if illegal immigrants return home?
How much trauma and costs will be avoided if 500,000 criminal aliens are deported?
How many serious and lethal hit-and-run accidents will be prevented?
To what degree will the idea of citizenship be reenergized once it is not reduced to the equivalency of mere residence?
How many emergency rooms will have more space for U.S. citizens? No one knows, but the consequences could be enormous.
The U.S. has never applied so many tariffs in so many ways upon so many goods from so many countries. As a result, economists have sworn since March that we are headed to a recession, stock collapse, stagflation, and high unemployment.
But do they really know the profit margins of our mercantile importers, who tariff our goods but expect easy entry for their exports to the U.S.?
Can importers pay a 15% tariff, still make a handsome profit, and not raise costs excessively on the U.S. consumer? If trade surpluses do not matter and tariffs hurt those who implement them, why do sophisticated Europeans, adroit Japanese, and smart Chinese prefer surpluses and tariffs to our deficits and zero or low tariffs? Are they on to something?
Do moderate tariffs encourage rather than retard American enterprise, on the theory that it will not be undercut by dumping and exchange manipulation and can also compete with far cheaper energy and transportation costs?
No one really knows these answers because the U.S. has never tried the current policy in quite the present way before. We do know that the radical free trade and asymmetrical tariffs of the last half-century empowered China to world power status with a dangerous military and hollowed out the U.S. industrial interior.
Is the $2 trillion budget deficit, as predicted, set in stone? Will the national debt only grow to unsustainable levels? However, federal agencies have never announced annual cuts of nearly $200 billion—along with a ten percent reduction in the budget deficit.
Never has the government promised to deregulate and fast-track permits for construction, energy development, and manufacturing from 2-3 years to mere months. What will the financial results be?
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggests that $15 trillion in new foreign investments are now promised. If accurate, what will such influxes do to employment? To federal revenues? To the economy in general?
Is it possible that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could be right that $300 billion in federal income will come from new tariffs—if true, that might reduce the deficit by another 15 percent?
What is the effect on the economy of cheaper energy costs when production is slated to rise without draining the strategic petroleum reserve on the eve of elections?
No one has ever questioned universities before so systematically.
We do know that student loan debt has spiraled to $1.7 trillion. Graduation rates have dropped to about 50-60 percent of those who enroll. The average student now takes six—not four—years to graduate. Today's graduates, by all accounts, leave universities with fewer analytical skills, less language fluency, and reduced general knowledge than in past decades. Faculties have never been more weaponized, with 90-95 percent reportedly holding progressive views.
If universities are taxed on their endowments, will that not force them to reconsider their efforts to maintain their non-profit status?
Will 15 percent limits on overhead charges on federal grants force researchers to watch their budgets and universities to curb their bloated administrative legions?
What is so wrong with curbing the tuition gouging and profiteering off foreign students, and limiting their numbers to ensure access to underserved, deserving Americans?
Will the end of segregated dorms, safe spaces, and "affinity" graduations lead to more integration and assimilation than do the current tribal fixations on race and ethnicity? Historically, does tribalism or assimilation best serve a nation?
Will meritocratic admissions improve student skills, rewarding those who study hard and encouraging those who do not to emulate those who do? Will minorities who are admitted under meritocratic criteria be seen as more or less qualified?
Are far fewer administrators, more emphasis on instruction and less on politics, and more students from the heartland and fewer from communist China or the illiberal Middle East such bad things?
In the last 50 years, affirmative action transmogrified into DEI racial separatism, chauvinism, and a system of reparatory spoils, played and manipulated by grifters, opportunists, and fakers, from Elizabeth Warren-style phonies and Jussie Smollett-like con artists to opportunists like Zohran Mamdani who game the system.
Has any chauvinistic multiracial democracy—like Brazil or India—or any multiethnic or multireligious confederation—such as Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, or Iraq—ever succeeded by prioritizing caste, race, religious sectarianism, or ethnic tribalism?
Can any top-down imposed policy ever be successful when 70 percent of the electorate opposes it?
Can any government that institutionalizes bias and preferences succeed while ignoring class in favor of race—without ever clearly defining which racial criteria justify the entire spoils system, or why?
In our postmodern 21st-century system, no one knows exactly what will happen when race becomes incidental rather than essential. But we do know from history where we were headed under the current aberrant system.
Abroad, in the last 30 years, NATO was voluntarily hollowed out—largely praised in the abstract by European grandees and shorted and ignored in the concrete by Euro budget technocrats. Yet since the days of the Cold War, NATO members had not met their defense expenditure promises.
Now, most NATO members have met those commitments. Frontline NATO states like Sweden, Finland, and Poland are far better armed and prepared than legacy Western members like Belgium, Spain, or Italy. If there follows a rearmed and recommitted NATO, will not the world become a safer place?
We were told for a half-century to steer clear of Iran, the supposed unhinged, lethal bully of the Middle East. Their henchmen blew up barracks and embassies, took and executed hostages, and sowed terror throughout the Middle East with their killer surrogates Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
But Iran had never really fought, much less won a war, since it pleaded with Saddam Hussein for an armistice from the catastrophic Iran-Iraq conflict.
What will be the effect on the Middle East with a currently impotent Iran, an inert Hezbollah, and a subterranean Hamas in hiding? More importantly, what is the current regional role of Iran without a nuclear program, air defenses, a navy, or expeditionary terrorist forces? Again, no one knows.
Finally, we have never seen anything quite so radical as the new Democratic Party, at least not since the McGovern blowout of 1972. In its 24/7, 360-degree fixation on hating Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda, rarely has a party embraced signature policies that are so despised by the American people. As a result, we have no idea what the result will be other than a national implosion at the polls.
Why would any political party embrace open borders, the influx of 12 million illegal aliens, 600 sanctuary cities, biological men dominating women's sports, dismantling the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries, prosecutors who release rather than indict and convict violent criminals, defunding the police, tribal fixations and racial spoils systems in defiance of the Supreme Court, the terrorists of Hamas over democratic Israel, and overt campus anti-Semitism?
We are in the middle of a counter-revolution, whose fate will likely be decided in 15 months by the midterm elections and the status of the late 2026 economy.
Structural changes across the economy, culture, and politics of the country are underway. Our bicoastal experts and authorities are mostly predicting a multifaceted systems failure—without explaining why or how.
Yet the only constant in their predictions is that when and if they prove wrong, they will not pivot, correct, or apologize, but simply move on to their next flawed prognosis, fortified by their titles and letters after their names—but otherwise little else.
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Thanks to Brett and VDH
. Trump's Unknown Frontiers
August 4, 2025
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
Donald Trump's far-ranging counter-revolution, to quote the old Star Trek mission statement, seeks "To boldly go where no one has gone before."
Because no conservative president has dared to question the last 70 years of progressive cultural, social, economic, and political dominance, all traditional wisdom, all our renowned "experts," and all the self-described "authorities" have no real credibility in their mostly flawed analyses and wrong prognoses.
Read what our legacy media predicted in March for this summer's economy, or in January for the future of the border, or what would happen should the U.S. Air Force enter Iranian airspace.
Take the border. "Comprehensive immigration reform" (a euphemism for rolling amnesties and a still-open border) was the establishment's answer to 10,000 foreign nationals storming the border during peak surges of the Biden administration.
But no president had ever simultaneously 1) pressured Mexico to close its borders and patrol ours, 2) announced a plan to complete a border wall along the entire US-Mexico boundary, 3) stopped catch-and-release, 4) ceased refugee applications after illegally entering the U.S., 5) introduced policies encouraging voluntary self-deportation, and 6) prevented all illegal entries at the border.
The result is that we do not know the full effects of these combined border policies.
So far, one million foreign nationals have lost jobs, and 2 million Americans have gained them since Trump's inauguration. How much money will be saved in local, state, and federal entitlements if illegal immigrants return home?
How much trauma and costs will be avoided if 500,000 criminal aliens are deported?
How many serious and lethal hit-and-run accidents will be prevented?
To what degree will the idea of citizenship be reenergized once it is not reduced to the equivalency of mere residence?
How many emergency rooms will have more space for U.S. citizens? No one knows, but the consequences could be enormous.
The U.S. has never applied so many tariffs in so many ways upon so many goods from so many countries. As a result, economists have sworn since March that we are headed to a recession, stock collapse, stagflation, and high unemployment.
But do they really know the profit margins of our mercantile importers, who tariff our goods but expect easy entry for their exports to the U.S.?
Can importers pay a 15% tariff, still make a handsome profit, and not raise costs excessively on the U.S. consumer? If trade surpluses do not matter and tariffs hurt those who implement them, why do sophisticated Europeans, adroit Japanese, and smart Chinese prefer surpluses and tariffs to our deficits and zero or low tariffs? Are they on to something?
Do moderate tariffs encourage rather than retard American enterprise, on the theory that it will not be undercut by dumping and exchange manipulation and can also compete with far cheaper energy and transportation costs?
No one really knows these answers because the U.S. has never tried the current policy in quite the present way before. We do know that the radical free trade and asymmetrical tariffs of the last half-century empowered China to world power status with a dangerous military and hollowed out the U.S. industrial interior.
Is the $2 trillion budget deficit, as predicted, set in stone? Will the national debt only grow to unsustainable levels? However, federal agencies have never announced annual cuts of nearly $200 billion—along with a ten percent reduction in the budget deficit.
Never has the government promised to deregulate and fast-track permits for construction, energy development, and manufacturing from 2-3 years to mere months. What will the financial results be?
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum suggests that $15 trillion in new foreign investments are now promised. If accurate, what will such influxes do to employment? To federal revenues? To the economy in general?
Is it possible that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could be right that $300 billion in federal income will come from new tariffs—if true, that might reduce the deficit by another 15 percent?
What is the effect on the economy of cheaper energy costs when production is slated to rise without draining the strategic petroleum reserve on the eve of elections?
No one has ever questioned universities before so systematically.
We do know that student loan debt has spiraled to $1.7 trillion. Graduation rates have dropped to about 50-60 percent of those who enroll. The average student now takes six—not four—years to graduate. Today's graduates, by all accounts, leave universities with fewer analytical skills, less language fluency, and reduced general knowledge than in past decades. Faculties have never been more weaponized, with 90-95 percent reportedly holding progressive views.
If universities are taxed on their endowments, will that not force them to reconsider their efforts to maintain their non-profit status?
Will 15 percent limits on overhead charges on federal grants force researchers to watch their budgets and universities to curb their bloated administrative legions?
What is so wrong with curbing the tuition gouging and profiteering off foreign students, and limiting their numbers to ensure access to underserved, deserving Americans?
Will the end of segregated dorms, safe spaces, and "affinity" graduations lead to more integration and assimilation than do the current tribal fixations on race and ethnicity? Historically, does tribalism or assimilation best serve a nation?
Will meritocratic admissions improve student skills, rewarding those who study hard and encouraging those who do not to emulate those who do? Will minorities who are admitted under meritocratic criteria be seen as more or less qualified?
Are far fewer administrators, more emphasis on instruction and less on politics, and more students from the heartland and fewer from communist China or the illiberal Middle East such bad things?
In the last 50 years, affirmative action transmogrified into DEI racial separatism, chauvinism, and a system of reparatory spoils, played and manipulated by grifters, opportunists, and fakers, from Elizabeth Warren-style phonies and Jussie Smollett-like con artists to opportunists like Zohran Mamdani who game the system.
Has any chauvinistic multiracial democracy—like Brazil or India—or any multiethnic or multireligious confederation—such as Lebanon, the former Yugoslavia, or Iraq—ever succeeded by prioritizing caste, race, religious sectarianism, or ethnic tribalism?
Can any top-down imposed policy ever be successful when 70 percent of the electorate opposes it?
Can any government that institutionalizes bias and preferences succeed while ignoring class in favor of race—without ever clearly defining which racial criteria justify the entire spoils system, or why?
In our postmodern 21st-century system, no one knows exactly what will happen when race becomes incidental rather than essential. But we do know from history where we were headed under the current aberrant system.
Abroad, in the last 30 years, NATO was voluntarily hollowed out—largely praised in the abstract by European grandees and shorted and ignored in the concrete by Euro budget technocrats. Yet since the days of the Cold War, NATO members had not met their defense expenditure promises.
Now, most NATO members have met those commitments. Frontline NATO states like Sweden, Finland, and Poland are far better armed and prepared than legacy Western members like Belgium, Spain, or Italy. If there follows a rearmed and recommitted NATO, will not the world become a safer place?
We were told for a half-century to steer clear of Iran, the supposed unhinged, lethal bully of the Middle East. Their henchmen blew up barracks and embassies, took and executed hostages, and sowed terror throughout the Middle East with their killer surrogates Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
But Iran had never really fought, much less won a war, since it pleaded with Saddam Hussein for an armistice from the catastrophic Iran-Iraq conflict.
What will be the effect on the Middle East with a currently impotent Iran, an inert Hezbollah, and a subterranean Hamas in hiding? More importantly, what is the current regional role of Iran without a nuclear program, air defenses, a navy, or expeditionary terrorist forces? Again, no one knows.
Finally, we have never seen anything quite so radical as the new Democratic Party, at least not since the McGovern blowout of 1972. In its 24/7, 360-degree fixation on hating Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda, rarely has a party embraced signature policies that are so despised by the American people. As a result, we have no idea what the result will be other than a national implosion at the polls.
Why would any political party embrace open borders, the influx of 12 million illegal aliens, 600 sanctuary cities, biological men dominating women's sports, dismantling the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries, prosecutors who release rather than indict and convict violent criminals, defunding the police, tribal fixations and racial spoils systems in defiance of the Supreme Court, the terrorists of Hamas over democratic Israel, and overt campus anti-Semitism?
We are in the middle of a counter-revolution, whose fate will likely be decided in 15 months by the midterm elections and the status of the late 2026 economy.
Structural changes across the economy, culture, and politics of the country are underway. Our bicoastal experts and authorities are mostly predicting a multifaceted systems failure—without explaining why or how.
Yet the only constant in their predictions is that when and if they prove wrong, they will not pivot, correct, or apologize, but simply move on to their next flawed prognosis, fortified by their titles and letters after their names—but otherwise little else.
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Thanks to1440
. Texas House Standoff
The Texas House yesterday issued civil arrest warrants to force the return of Democratic lawmakers who left the state and blocked a vote on a Republican-led redistricting plan. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) said the absent lawmakers had forfeited their seats and warned he would begin efforts to remove them from office if they didn't return. The warrants can only be enforced within Texas.
Most of the 62-member House Democrats left Texas Sunday to block a quorum and stall voting on a map that would create five additional Republican congressional districts ahead of the 2026 elections. Texas' constitution requires two-thirds of the 150-member Texas House to be present to advance legislation. See a history of the political maneuver's use in Texas here.
Democratic lawmakers, who traveled to states like Illinois and New York, argue the redrawn map dilutes the voting power of minority communities and displays characteristics of partisan gerrymandering. Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas' 38 US House seats. See an overview of gerrymandering here.
Starfish Syndrome Breakthrough
A study published yesterday identified Vibrio pectenicida bacteria as the cause of an ongoing and the largest-ever marine epidemic that has killed over 5 billion Pacific Ocean starfish over the past decade.
Sea star wasting syndrome, first seen in 2013 along North America's Pacific coast, causes starfish to develop lesions, decay, and die. The disease has ravaged more than 20 species, wiping out over 90% of sunflower sea stars in under a decade. Their decline fueled a 10,000% rise in sea urchins along California's North Coast between 2014 and 2023. Roughly 96% of the region's kelp forest vanished during that period as unchecked sea urchin populations devoured kelp forests—key ecosystems that support biodiversity, capture carbon, and filter pollution.
Researchers exposed lab-raised sunflower sea stars to the disease under various conditions to confirm Vibrio pectenicida as the culprit. The team now aims to understand how the bacterium—which belongs to a genus that thrives in warming waters—triggers sea star wasting syndrome in hopes of preventing future outbreaks.
Moscow Trial Begins
A military trial began yesterday over the March 2024 Moscow concert hall shooting rampage that killed 149 people and wounded over 600 others. The attack, claimed by a regional ISIS affiliate, was the deadliest massacre in Russia's capital in 20 years.
Nineteen people are on trial over the attack at Crocus City Hall concert venue, where attendees waited to see the popular rock band Picnic (see history). After gunning down concertgoers, four assailants set the venue ablaze. Authorities identified the suspects as citizens of Tajikistan, where an ISIS affiliate has recruited thousands of people. The US said it warned Russia of intelligence suggesting an imminent attack, but Moscow dismissed the warning amid its war with Ukraine.
Roughly 30 survivors were present at yesterday's hearing, which is not open to the public. Defendants include the four alleged gunmen and 15 accomplices, held in Russia's defendant cages. Human rights groups have criticized the treatment of the suspects over signs of torture.
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Thanks to Brett
. Flood, Smoke Blanket Eastern US
Huge swaths of the U.S. were under flood and air quality alerts Sunday as drenching rain hit the Southeast, and Canadian wildfires continued pushing smoke into the Midwest.
Flood risks in the Southeast and the Plains were elevated throughout the day, as a massive rain system stalled over parts of Alabama, Georgia, and the Florida Panhandle, dropping three to five inches of rain in some areas.
Meanwhile, air quality advisories blanketed the Midwest as smoke from over 700 wildfires in remote areas of Canada continued traveling south. In most affected areas, the advisories were aimed at people with heart or lung disease and asthma.
In the Atlantic, experts are eyeing a tropical depression heading toward the Southeast that could become Tropical Storm Dexter.
Earthquake Delivers Loud Boom in NYC
A 3.0 magnitude earthquake shook parts of New Jersey and New York Saturday night, with tremors felt from the epicenter in Bergen County, N.J., up to Upper Manhattan and Staten Island.
No injuries or structural damage has been reported, but officials are asking residents to be alert for aftershocks, which can sometimes register higher magnitudes than the initial quake.
Despite its relatively small magnitude, the earthquake delivered a loud boom, followed by a few seconds of swaying. "I have experienced two earthquakes in New York and New Jersey, and this was the most violent—I never heard an earthquake before that sounded like a thud,"one resident stated.
The quake follows six small tremors over the course of 17 hours last week in the area.
World's Top 50 Private Companies
The U.S. dominates the list of the world's 50 most valuable private companies in 2025, with 31 entries led by SpaceX ($350 billion) and OpenAI ($300 billion), according to new data.
China follows with eight firms, including TikTok parent ByteDance ($300 billion). AI is the clear frontrunner in valuation growth, with Anthropic, xAI, and Safe Superintelligence joining OpenAI among the top ranks.
The list highlights how private firms, especially in AI and fintech, drive innovation and attract billions before ever going public. .
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This Day in U S Military History……. August 5
1864 – Rear Admiral Farragut took his squadron of 18 ships, including four monitors, against the heavy Confederate defenses of Mobile Bay. Soon after 6 a.m., the Union ships crossed the bar and moved into the bay. The monitors Tecumseh, Manhattan, Winnebago, and Chickasaw formed a column to starboard of the wooden ships in order to take most of the fire from Fort Morgan, which they had to pass at close range. The seven smaller wooden ships were lashed to tile port side of the larger wooden screw steamers, as in the passage of Port Hudson, Mississippi River. Shortly before 7 o'clock, Tecumseh, Commander T.A.M. Craven, opened fire on Fort Morgan. The action quickly became general. The Confederate squadron under Admiral Buchanan, including the heavy ram Tennessee (6 guns) and the smaller ships Gaines (6 guns), Selma (4 guns), and Morgan (6 guns), moved out to engage the attackers. Craven headed Tecumseh straight at Tennessee, bent on engaging her at once. Suddenly, a terrific explosion rocked the Union monitor. She careened violently and went down in seconds, the victim of one of the much-feared torpedoes laid by the Confederates for harbor defense. Amidst the confusion below decks as men struggled to escape the sinking ship, Craven and the pilot, John Collins, arrived at the foot of the ladder leading to the main deck. The captain stepped back. "After you, pilot," he said. Collins was saved, but there was no afterwards for the heroic Craven. He and some 90 officers and men of Tecumseh's crew of 114 went down with the ship. Captain Alden called them "intrepid pioneers of that death-strewed path." Alden, in Brooklyn, was to Tecumseh's port when the disaster occurred; the heavy steamer stopped and began backing to clear "a row of suspecious-looking buoys" directly under Brooklyn's bow. The entire line of wooden vessels was drifting into confusion immediately under the guns of Fort Morgan. Farragut, lashed in the rigging to observe the action over the smoke billowing from the guns, acted promptly and resolutely, characteristic of a great leader who in war must constantly meet emergencies fraught with danger. The only course was the boldest through the torpedo field. "Damn the torpedoes," he ordered; "full speed ahead " (Flag Lieutenant John C. Watson later recalled that Farragut's exact words were: "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead, Drayton! Hard astarboard; ring four bells! Eight bells! Sixteen bells!") His flagship Hartford s wept past Brooklyn into the rows of torpedoes; the fleet followed. The torpedoes were heard bumping against the hulls but none exploded. The Union force steamed into the bay. Hardly past one hazard, Farragut was immediately faced with another: Buchanan attempted to ram Hartford with Tennessee. The Union ship slipped by her slower, clumsier antagonist, returning her fire but also being raked by the fire of gunboat C.S.S. Selma, Lieutenant Peter U. Murphey. Wooden double-ender U.S.S. Metacomet, Lieutenant Commander Jouett, engaged Selma and, though sustaining considerable damage, compelled her to strike her colors shortly after 9 a.m. Meanwhile, Tennessee also attempted in vain to ram Brooklyn. C.S.S. Gaines, Lieu-tenant John W. Bennett, advanced to engage the Union ships as they entered the bay, but she suffered a steering casualty early in the action. ". . . subjected to a very heavy concentrated fire from the Hartford, Richmond, and others at short range . . . , Bennett soon found his command in a sinking condition. He ran her aground near Fort Morgan and salvaged most of the ammuni-tion and small arms before she settled in two fathoms. C.S.S. Morgan, Commander George W. Harrison, briefly engaged Metacomet to assist Selma prior to her surrender, but as the action took place at high speed, Morgan could not maintain her position and faced the possibility of being cut off and captured by two Union ships. Harrison determined to take her under Fort Morgan's guns and later he saved her by boldly running the gauntlet of Federal ships to Mobile. Meanwhile, 300-ton side-wheeler U.S.S. Philippi, Acting Master James T. Seaver, "wishing to be of assistance to the fleet in case any vessels were disabled," grounded near Fort Morgan attempting to get into the bay. The fort's heavy guns quickly found the range and riddled Philippi with shot and shell, forcing Seaver and his crew to abandon ship. A boat crew from C.S.S. Morgan completed her destruction by setting her afire. The Union fleet, having steamed up into the bay, anchored briefly. Buchanan heroically carried the fight to his powerful opponents alone. Farragut reported: "I was not long in comprehending his intention to be the destruction of the flagship. The monitors and such of the wooden vessels as I thought best adapted for the purpose were immediately ordered to attack the ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at full speed, and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on record." For more than an hour the titanic battle raged. Steam sloop of war Monongahela struck Tennessee a heavy blow but succeeded only in damaging herself. Lackawanna rammed into the Confederate ship at full speed but, said Farragut, "the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy list." A shot from Manhattan's 15-inch gun, however, made a greater impression on those on board Tennessee. Lieutenant Wharton, CSN, reported: "The Monongahela was hardly clear of us when a hideous-looking monster came creeping up on our Port side, whose slowly revolving turret revealed the cavernous depths of a mammoth gun. 'Stand clear of the Port side!' I shouted. A moment after a thundrous report shook us all, while a blast of dense, sulpherous smoke covered our port-holes, and 440 pounds of iron, impelled by sixty pounds of powder, admitted daylight through our side, where, before it struck us, there had been over two feet of solid wood, covered with five inches of solid iron. This was the only 15-inch shot that hit us fair. It did not come through; the inside netting caught the splinters, and there were no casualties from it. I was glad to find myself alive after that shot." Hartford struck a glancing blow and poured a broadside into Tennessee from a distance of ten feet Chickasaw pounded the ram with heavy shot; steam sloops Lackawanna and Hartford had collided, but had regained position and, with Ossipee and Monongahela, were preparing to run down Buchanan's ship. The intrepid Confederate Admiral had been seriously wounded and relinquished command to Commander James D. Johnston. The rain of shells knocked out the ironclad's steering. Unable to maneuver and taking on water, Tennessee struggled on against her overwhelmingly superior foes despite the terrible cannonade that pounded her mercilessly. Ultimately, Buchannan and Johnston concurred that Tennessee must surrender to prevent loss of life to no fruitful end. At 10 o'clock a white flag was hoisted. Farragut acknowledged the tenacity and ability with which the Confederate seamen had fought: "During this contest with the rebel gunboats and Tennessee . . . we lost many more men than from the fire of the batteries of Fort Morgan
1945 – On Tinian, at about 0210 hours, seven American aircraft take off for Japan. One of the aircraft is the specially modified B-29 Superfortress — the Enola Gay — carrying the "Little Boy" atomic bomb and heading for Hiroshima.
1945 – Aircraft from the US 5th and 7th Air Forces, based in Okinawa, raid Tarumizu in the south. About 325 planes take part in the attack. Another 12 Japanese cities have leaflets dropped on them by B-29 bombers, warning of coming raids. During the night, American bombers strike Imabari, Ube, Mayobashi, Saga, Nishinomiya and Mikage, fulfulling the threat made by leaflet drops.
1950 – The USS Philippine Sea arrived in Korean waters – the second carrier to enter the war.
1950 – Major Kenneth L. Reusser was awarded a gold star in lieu of a second Navy Cross and became the first Marine to be decorated for valor during the Korean War.
1952 – USAF Major Robinson Risner scored his first aerial victory of the Korean War. He later became a POW during the Vietnam War and retired as a brigadier general.
1964 – F-8 Crusaders, A-1 Skyraiders, and A-4 Skyhawks, from the carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation stationed in the South China Sea, fly 64 sorties against North Vietnamese coastal targets as part of Operation Pierce Arrow in retaliation for the Tonkin Gulf incidents of August 2 and 4. The U.S. warplanes destroyed or damaged 25 North Vietnamese PT boats (claimed by U.S. officials to be about one-half of the North Vietnamese Navy) at bases at Hon Gai, Loc Ghao, Phuc Loi, and Quang Khe; destroyed seven anti-aircraft installations at Vinh; and severely damaged an oil storage depot at Phuc Loi. Two U.S. planes were shot down. One pilot, Lieutenant j.g. (or "junior grade") Everett Alvarez, parachuted to safety, but broke his back in the process and was taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese. He was the first of some 600 U.S. airmen who would be captured during the war and not released until the cease-fire agreement was signed in 1973.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
There were 100 MOH awarded this day 97 were for the battle of Mobile Bay only a couple here
WORAM, CHARLES B.
Rank and organization: Seaman, U.S. Navy. Born: 1845, New York, N.Y. Accredited to: New York. G.O. No.: 45, 31 December 1864. Citation: Served on board the U.S.S. Oneida in the engagement at Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Acting as an aid to the executive officer, Woram carried orders intelligently and correctly, distinguishing himself by his cool courage throughout the battle which resulted in the capture of the rebel ram Tennessee and the damaging of Fort Morgan.
YOUNG, EDWARD B.
Rank and organization: Coxswain, U.S. Navy. Born: 1835, Bergan, N.J. Accredited to: New Jersey. G.O. No.: 59, 22 June 1865. Citation: On board the U.S.S. Calena during the attack on enemy forts at Mobile Bay, 5 August 1864. Securely lashed to the side of the Oneida which had suffered the loss of her steering apparatus and an explosion of her boiler from enemy fire, the Calena aided the stricken vessel past the enemy forts to safety. Despite heavy damage to his ship from raking enemy fire, Young performed his duties with skill and courage throughout the action.
McDONALD, FRANKLIN M.
Rank and organization: Private, Company G, 11th U.S. Infantry Place and date: Near Fort Griffin, Tex., 5 August 1872. Entered service at: ——. Birth: Bowling Green, Ky. Date of issue: 31 August 1872. Citation: Gallantry in defeating Indians wlho attacked the mail.
*REESE, JAMES W.
Rank and organization. Private, U.S. Army, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. Place and date. At Mt. Vassillio, Sicily, 5 August 1943. Entered service at: Chester, Pa. Birth: Chester, Pa. G.O. No.: 85, 17 December 1943. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life. above and beyond the call of duty in action involving actual conflict with the enemy. When the enemy launched a counterattack which threatened the position of his company, Pvt. Reese, as the acting squad leader of a 60-mm. mortar squad, displaying superior leadership on his own initiative, maneuvered his squad forward to a favorable position, from which, by skillfully directing the fire of his weapon, he caused many casualties in the enemy ranks, and aided materially in repulsing the counterattack. When the enemy fire became so severe as to make his position untenable, he ordered the other members of his squad to withdraw to a safer position, but declined to seek safety for himself. So as to bring more effective fire upon the enemy, Pvt. Reese, without assistance, moved his mortar to a new position and attacked an enemy machinegun nest. He had only 3 rounds of ammunition but secured a direct hit with his last round, completely destroying the nest and killing the occupants. Ammunition being exhausted, he abandoned the mortar. seized a rifle and continued to advance, moving into an exposed position overlooking the enemy. Despite a heavy concentration of machinegun, mortar, and artillery fire, the heaviest experienced by his unit throughout the entire Sicilian campaign, he remained at this position and continued to inflict casualties upon the enemy until he was killed. His bravery, coupled with his gallant and unswerving determination to close with the enemy, regardless of consequences and obstacles which he faced, are a priceless inspiration to our armed forces.
*SEBILLE, LOUIS J.
Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Air Force, 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter-Bomber Group, 5th Air Force. Place and date: Near Hanchang, Korea, 5 August 1950. Entered service at: Chicago, Ill. Born: 21 November 1915, Harbor Beach. Mich. Citation: Maj. Sebille, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. During an attack on a camouflaged area containing a concentration of enemy troops, artillery, and armored vehicles, Maj. Sebille's F-51 aircraft was severely damaged by antiaircraft fire. Although fully cognizant of the short period he could remain airborne, he deliberately ignored the possibility of survival by abandoning the aircraft or by crash landing, and continued his attack against the enemy forces threatening the security of friendly ground troops. In his determination to inflict maximum damage upon the enemy, Maj. Sebille again exposed himself to the intense fire of enemy gun batteries and dived on the target to his death. The superior leadership, daring, and selfless devotion to duty which he displayed in the execution of an extremely dangerous mission were an inspiration to both his subordinates and superiors and reflect the highest credit upon himself, the U.S. Air Force, and the armed forces of the United Nations.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for August 5, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
5 August
1911: Lincoln Beachey won the New York to Philadelphia race for the Gimbel $5,000 purse in 1 hour 50 minutes 18 seconds with one stop for fuel. (24)
1922: Lt Clayton Bissell began first model airway night flight from Washington DC to Dayton and return. (24)
1937: The XC-35, first aircraft with a pressurized cabin, made its first performance flight at Wright Field.
1944: FIRST ATTACK AGAINST PHILIPPINES. Night raids began when the 63d Bombardment Squadron from Fifth Air Force launched a single radar-equipped B-24 Snooper. It conducted an ineffective attack on the Sasa airdrome, north of Davao, Mindanao. (17
1950: KOREAN WAR/MEDAL OF HONOR. Maj Louis J. Sebille, the 67 FBS Commander, died near Hamchang, Korea, when he crashed his severely damaged F-51 into an enemy position. Major Sebille received the first Medal of Honor for an USAF member in the Korean War posthumously. (16) (26) In the first SA-16 rescue operation of the war, Captain Charles E. Shroder led a crew in saving a Navy pilot who had crashed into the sea off the Korean coast. (28)
1951: Richard H. Johnson set a world record for single-place gliders, covering 535.69 miles from Odessa, to Salina, Kans.
1954: A production-model B-52 flew for the first time. (12)
1964: The National Academy of Sciences set up a 10-man committee to study sonic boom effects in the development of supersonic transports. The FAA managed this program with support from NASA and the USAF. (5) (16) The JCS established the Yankee Team Tanker Task Force (renamed the Foreign Legion on 3 September) with eight KC-135s at Clark AB to support combat operations in the area. (1) SOUTHEAST ASIA FORCE DEPLOYMENTS. The USAF deployed more squadrons of tactical fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance aircraft to Southeast Asia. On 5 August, B-57s from Clark AB deployed to Bien Hoa AB and additional F-100s moved to Da Nang AB. On 6 August, 18 F-105s from the 36 TFS from Yokota AB deployed to Korat RTAFB. Tactical Air Command provided three tactical fighter squadrons, two troop carrier squadrons, and six reconnaissance aircraft to the battle zone. (17)
1965: The 321 SMW at Grand Forks AFB accepted the first Minuteman II to arrive in the field. (6)
1968: A 1,095-foot long STOLPORT (short takeoff and landing strip) opened at LaGuardia Airport, N.Y.
1971: American Airlines flew the first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flight between Los Angeles and Chicago in 3 hours 18 minutes.
1975: The X-24B became the first lifting body to land on a concrete runway.
1983: EXERCISE AHUAS TARA II: Through 31 December, for exercises with Honduran forces, MAC moved 6,000 passengers and 4,000 tons of cargo to Honduras. (2)
1994: Two A-10 Thunderbolt IIs destroyed an armored vehicle near Sarajevo after the Serbs took heavy weapons from a UN compound. The weapons were returned. (16) (26)
1997: After a 747 Korean Airlines jetliner crashed on Guam, a C-141 from the 305 AMW at McGuire AFB flew a 31-member team of the National Transportation Safety Board from Andrews AFB to Fairchild AFB, where they boarded a 92 AREFW KC-135 for the flight to Andersen AFB. A second C-141 from the 305 AMW took medical equipment and seven physicians from Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe, Hawaii, to Guam to help treat the crash survivors, while a C-141 from the 62 AW at McChord AFB airlifted Red Cross, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and FAA representatives from Hawaii to Guam. Additionally, a joint Army-Air Force critical care team, consisting of two Critical Care Air Transport Teams, each augmented by a second critical care nurse, and two burn teams from the Brooke Army Medical Center's Institute of Surgical Research, left for Guam on 6 August. (22)
2000: AFRC C-141s from the 452 AMW at March ARB and 445 AW at Wright-Patterson AFB joined two active-duty C-141s from the 62 AW at McChord AFB to move firefighters and equipment to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they were bused to Clear Creek, Idaho, to fight raging wildfires.Two AFRC C-130s from the 302 AW at Peterson AFB and two ANG C-130s from the 146 AW at Channel Islands ANG Station, Calif., dropped fire retardant on wildfires near Los Angeles and Fresno. The 145 AW (ANG) at Charlotte, N. C., and the 153 AW (ANG) at Cheyenne, Wyo., flew sorties from Hill AFB to drop fire retardant over the wildfires in California. (22)
2005: Through 7 August, AMC participated in an unusual rescue operation. A C-5 returning to Travis AFB diverted to NAS North Island in San Diego to pick up a 32 US Navy sailors and two Super Scorpio Remotely Operated Vehicles. The C-5 then carried the Navy team 3,700 nautical miles nonstop for 10 hours to Yelizovo Airport, near the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the Kamchatka Peninsula, to help rescue seven sailors from a stranded Russian AS-28 mini-sub that became entangled in fishing net during a 4 August military exercise. On 6 August, three AMC aircraft landed at Yelizovo Airport with more people and equipment, including a C-17 Globemaster III from the 172d Airlift Wing (Mississippi ANG) that flew non-stop from New Orleans NAS to Russia with 95,000 pounds of equipment and personnel. On 7 August, the US and British rescue specialists freed the submarine from the fish nets, and all seven Russians survived. A KC-10 Extender from the 60 AMW at Travis AFB, a KC-135 Stratotanker from the 939 AREFW (AFRC) at Portland, and two KC-135s from the 168 AREFW (ANG) at Eielson AFB provided four refuelings to support the operation. (22)
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