TheList 7456

The List 7456

To All.

Good Tuesday Morning February 24, 2026.

.The weather is another good day here with mostly  clear skies and temps climbing to 78 today

.My granddaughter was recognized in the San Diego Union as one of the best Lacrosse players in San Diego. She already has a full ride scholarship to College for her Lacrosse skills

.Toni is getting along a bit better.

.Regards .

.Skip

.HAGD 

 

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

Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/.    Go here to see the director's corner for all 94 H-Grams. 

February. 24

Yesterday was the 79th Anniversary of the Iwo Jima Flag Raising.

1813—The sloop of war Hornet, commanded by Capt. James Lawrence, encounters HMS Peacock off British Guyana and easily wins the engagement.

1942—Task Force 16, commanded by Vice Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., leads the Wake Island Raid in an attempt to destroy the Japanese installations on the island.

1944—PBY-5As (VP 63) employing Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) gear, bomb and sink German submarine U 761 as she attempts to transit the Straits of Gibraltar.

1945—USS Lagarto (SS 371) sinks Japanese submarine I 371 and freighter Tatsumomo Maru off Bungo Strait, Kyushu.  

1959—USS Galveston (CLG 3) fired the first Talos surface-to-air missile.

 

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Today in World History: February 24

.0786 Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.

1525 In the first of the Franco-Habsburg Wars, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the French king Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.

1538 Ferdinand of Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, conclude the peace of Grosswardein.

1803 Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing to rule on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts the authority of the judicial branch.

1813 Off Guiana, the American sloop Hornet sinks the British sloop Peacock.

1821 Mexico gains independence from Spain.

1836 Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.

1895 The Cuban War of Independence begins.

1908 Japan officially agrees to restrict emigration to the U.S.

1912 The Jewish organization Hadassah is founded in New York City.

1912 Italy bombs Beirut in the first act of war against the Ottoman Empire.

1914 Civil War soldier Joshua Chamberlain dies.

1916 A film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in New York.

1921 Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Commerce.

1928 The New Gallery of New York exhibits works of Archibald Motley, its first show to feature a black artist.

1944 Merrill's Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their ground campaign against Japan into Burma.

1945 U.S. forces liberate prisoners of war in the Los Baños Prison in the Philippines.

1947 Franz von Papen is sentenced to eight years in a labor camp for war crimes.

1959 Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.

1968 North Vietnamese troops capture the imperial palace in Hue, South Vietnam.

1972 Hanoi negotiators walk out of the peace talks in Paris to protest U.S. air raids on North Vietnam.

1991 General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sends in ground forces during the Gulf War.

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.

. Thanks to Barrett

Skip, I was peripherally involved in the Iwo photo research via a couple of marine-specific writers. (There have been half a dozen Flag Raising books.). 

Here's the lowdown on the severely devoted Irish researcher who provided the photographic evidence:

 

https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0219/1116398-iwo-jima-photo/

Irish man sets record straight on Iwo Jima photo - RTÉ An Irish man has been reflecting on his place in the history books on the 75th anniversary of the battle of Iwo Jima, after his research led to the US military correcting the record regarding one ... www.rte.ie

 

Ref. The Japs emerging from their subterranian lairs to overwhelm some AAF tents.  One of my finest sources was CO of a P-51 squadron who'd come up through ROTC.  He slept with a 1911 under his pillow and upon hearing the noise, organized a skirmish line to repel invaders.  Harry said: "I fought the Germans for patriotism and the Japs for fun but next time I'm fighting for money."

Break-break

James Bradley, the son of a reputed flag raiser, grew up thinking his father was in the photo.  He was not.   In Y2K james coauthored a highly successful book, "Flags of Our Fathers" with a Real Writer, a Pulitzer winner, and James Bradley admitted the error years later.

Couple years after that james went solo with the egregiously titled Flyboys, comparing Jap atrocities in the Bonins with Our atrocities—such as bombing Japan into surrender to avoid a horrific invasion.  He also thought that the USN had jets on CVs in 1944. Meanwhile james referred to everybody by first names: as absurd as dubbing the B-25 The Billy Bomber...

My eviscerating Hook magazine review still got requests for reprints years later. Text attached.  I still got requests for it years later.

Here's the hot washup: "James Bradley will never understand, but here's the LSO debrief: Low start, flat in the middle, climbed to glideslope, drifted left, late line-up, high at the ramp, Bolter."

Barrett

 

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Thanks to the Bear and Dan Heller. We will always have the url for you to search items in Rolling Thunder

OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …

. rollingthunderremembered.com .

.

 

 Thanks to Micro

From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..February 24 . .

February 24: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1009 

 

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Hello All,

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).

     If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you      Dan

 

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Thanks to Victor David Hanson

Editor's note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today's video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos.

 

Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for The Daily Signal. We're heading, this year, in November, to the midterms. There's a lot of opposition to the Trump counterrevolution. There's talk of a Democratic resurgence.

 

But before we write off the Republicans—and I'm very confident. I think they're gonna do well in the midterms, for reasons I've outlined before. Do we really want the alternative?

 

.

Because I think the way to characterize the new democratic socialist party is it's sort of a graveyard of bad ideas. That is that, especially in the Obama administration and in the post-George Floyd period, we were told that there were new paradigms, new exegesis, new protocols, agendas that were going to be lasting and permanent, and change America for the better.

 

And they have been tried under former President Joe Biden, and they've been found wanting. And I think they're mostly, now, relegated, as I said, to the boneyard, maybe, of bad ideas.

 

One of them was this idea that a previously small minority of people that suffered from gender dysphoria—maybe 0.001% of the population—was actually a huge group of oppressed peoples, in the manner of the civil rights plight of African Americans or Latinos. And therefore, we had to recognize separate restrooms for trans people. Boys—biological men, I should say, competing in female sports. And we just went whole hog.

 

I think all of us at work, all of a sudden, one day, we woke up and people were listing their pronouns. I haven't seen that recently.

 

Anyway, we were told there was this large stealthy constituency of oppressed trans people and that they had innate grievances against the majority. And they were quite big.

 

I don't think people bought into the idea that there are more than two biological genders. The rest, I think, as a recent Czech diplomat lectured former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Munich, Germany, the rest are socially constructed.

 

Nor did we really look at the effect of biological males competing in sports, especially contact sports—that can be volleyball or things like boxing—the effect of a biological male on female sports, and the fairness, or I should say unfairness, of it.

 

And of course, the transitional surgery, the effect on hormones. The Left had been so careful to warn us about Big Pharma and the medical industry and unnecessary procedures, and yet they were very undiscriminating and just kind of approved whole-hog the idea that you can make these radical surgeries on young teenagers and give them very dangerous drugs—steroids and hormones, antidepressants. And I think now we've seen the result of it. And it's not gonna recur.

 

Open borders were another bad idea. And we had 10,000 people coming across the border. I think the iconic turning point was when Alejandro Mayorkas, the former Biden homeland security secretary, was standing on a podium and saying at the border, "The border is secure." And you could see thousands of people coming in—10,000 a day, 10 million to 12 million over four years.

 

I don't think anybody realizes the enormity of the task to find those 10 million to 12 million. They added to a pool of 20 million, giving us 30 million illegal aliens. And we had another 20 million people not born in the United States that were residents. Some were citizens, some were legal residents, some were on student visas.

 

But the point is, we have 53 million people, 16% of the population wasn't born here, without any idea how to assimilate, acculturate, or integrate them into the body politic.

 

So, I think the idea of open borders, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio pointed out in Europe, is a dead letter. Nobody's gonna come back and say, "We have to let in another 10 million or 5 million." It impacts the poor. It swamps our social welfare network, as we've seen with 500,000 criminals. It spikes our crime.

 

Another one is the idea that we're gonna live in a United Nations utopia and you really don't need a deterrent military. Europe went down that path after the end of the Cold War, 1991, all through the '90s and the new millennium. They disarmed. Germany went from having the biggest army in NATO to having one that wasn't really an army anymore. Europe, despite its $20 trillion gross domestic product and despite its 500 million-plus population, is totally disarmed.

 

We ourselves let our defenses lax under Biden. I think everybody sees now, after the Iranian nuclear threat, what China's up to, what Russia is doing in Ukraine, that you have to deter your enemies. And that requires a strong defense budget.

 

I think, as well, we owe—we're getting into the trillions of dollars. And we're anticipated to get to, in the next decade, I don't know, it could be $40 trillion in debt. It's not sustainable. The interest on the debt, right now, is larger than the defense budget. Europe is suffering the same malaise. But the idea of modern monetary theory—the Left told us—or that since we are loaning the money to ourselves and bondholders, it's turned out to be bogus.

 

The fact is we ran up all of this debt because the Fed, during the Obama and first Trump administration and the first Biden administration, kept interest rates low, so we borrowed billions, trillions of more dollars, at rates as low as 2% or 3%. And now the rates came up. And we saw what a catastrophic idea that was when we have to service it.

 

I don't think anybody's gonna make the argument that we need more socialist entitlement programs funded by borrowed money. If you borrow the money and it's unsustainable, you only have three choices: you can default on it and ruin the nation's credit rating, you can confiscate money, or you can inflate your way out of it.

 

There's a fourth, but I don't see Europe, yet, learning that lesson: You can grow your economy and get greater revenues. That's what we're trying to do in the United States.

 

Fifth, finally, very quickly, I think diversity, equity, and inclusion has sort of been exhausted. It's showed not to be unworkable, that is, how do you determine who is a victim and part of the victim/victimizer binary, historical grievances? If you're Latino or black or Asian, do you prove that somebody was mean to you? Your great-grandfather was a slave—great, great. It's very hard, if you're one-quarter white, half-Asian, one-quarter Latino, what particular group are you?

 

It was an emphasis on superficial appearance, contrary to the content of our character. It was on the color of your skin. That didn't work out too well. It gave people exemptions, and it said that, I, psychologically, if I make a mistake or I don't work hard or I wanna apply to Harvard, but I don't have the SAT scores or the grades of other people, I should get that. Or if I'm in a pilot training program or I'm a surgeon and I don't quite make the standards, there's other criteria, kinda like the Russian commissar system, where if you were ideologically pure, then you were given exemptions from performance.

 

And so, I think we now see that DEI is disruptive, it's discriminatory. And I think, after experimenting with this under the guise of affirmative action, but especially, the last four or five years, people are sick of it. It's incoherent. And it's dangerous. It's dangerous. It puts people in key positions in the economy, where life and death matters, and they are promoted or assessed or retained on criteria other than merit.

 

And so, we can sum up by saying there's four or five things that went full-bloom, full-blast under the Obama and Biden administrations. And I think President Donald Trump and this counterrevolution were able to show the American people that the trans fixation, the open borders, the idea of being pretty much disarmed, deficits—I call it deficit socialism—and DEI didn't work out.

 

There was a laboratory United States that tried these things, and it hasn't worked. And Europe, I think, would agree that it has to follow the same pathway of reform or it's going to end up a Third World country.

 

We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.

 

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From the archives

Thanks to  Barrett. He sends me a lot of these little snippits and I file them in the Barrett folder Here are a couple from the archives. He has written great books about naval aviation and I think I have read most of them but he also is a long range shooter and who could not like that.

Thanks to Barrett

. Skip, ref:
7 Interesting Facts About Animal Patterns

From leopard-print clothing to tabby cats to ladybugs, we're surrounded by beautiful animal patterns. While some provide obvious camouflage for their wearer, others have more mysterious origins. Some are more complicated than they seem, or make more sense in the context of the food chain.

In the mid-late 80s I covered a Soldier of Fortune convention for a newspaper.  As you'd expect, there were all manner of wares for sale, mostly of a tactical-practical nature.

But

I mosied past a booth run by two matronly ladies selling leopard-spotted and zebra- and tiger-striped men's briefs, much like the TV Maytag repairman: loneliest person in town.  One lady said, "I don't understand it, Gertrude.  The bikers really go for this stuff!"

I kept on mosying...

Barrett

And another from Barrett

A CV67 XO related a Fleet Week visitation by The Family, some of whom stayed on board.

After their departure some towels and robes with JFK logos were um missing...

Sidebar: When Caroline Kennedy was floated as ambassador to Japan, somebody (obviously not a Democrat) asked if she spoke the lingo.  She did not, and it didn't matter.  A GOP wag noted, however, that her father had some familiarity with the Japanese navy...

CV names: at Hook 80-something the editor (crusty old photo chief) and I cornered John Lehman.  The chief asked, "SecNav, why can't we name carriers for historic ships instead of Vinson?" (Stennis was being considered, I believe.)

Arms folded, toe tapping.  "You don't have to deal with Congress.  I do."

 

"Sir, are you saying that congress will spend $2-3 billion on a ship named Vinson but not Langley or Essex?"

"That's about the size of it."

Since then some of us have suggested reviving Midway or Coral Sea but Beltway Intel holds that it'll never happen because it might offend a Westpac partner.  Reminds me that in 09 CNO's Midway Night oration omitted The J Word; next year there was I believe one J Word.  It's cited in my CV-6 book.  (An exchange officer did note that the RN's Trafalgar Night included at least passing mention of France.)

Barrett sends

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Thanks to 1440

Some short bits

.

 

Good morning. It's Tuesday, Feb. 24, and we're covering the fallout from the killing of Mexico's most-wanted drug cartel boss, a battle between .

 

 Need To Know

  Cartel Chaos Erupts

At least 73 people, including 25 members of Mexico's National Guard, have been killed in a wave of violence after Mexican authorities killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes—known as "El Mencho"—during a shootout Sunday.

Oseguera Cervantes was among the most-wanted fugitives in the US and Mexico for leading the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico's fastest-growing criminal networks and a major supplier of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine to the US. Authorities reportedly used American intelligence to narrow in on his location and followed one of his romantic partners to his hideout in Jalisco. Mexico's security chief said soldiers also killed at least another 34 suspected criminals across Jalisco and neighboring Michoacan Sunday. The cartel responded by setting fire to vehicles and blocking roads across Mexico, prompting airlines to cancel flights, ride shares to suspend services, and schools to close yesterday.

As of this writing, the US State Department continues to advise Americans in Puerto Vallarta and surrounding areas to remain in place. 

 

 

State of the Union

President Donald Trump will deliver his State of the Union address tonight; the annual speech has traditionally been used to outline the president's agenda and recap accomplishments. The speech comes against the backdrop of last week's Supreme Court decision to eliminate much of his tariff policy as well as tensions with Iran and a crackdown on migration.

Trump is expected to acknowledge the high court's tariff ruling and his subsequent decision to impose a blanket 15% tariff on goods entering the US. That policy goes into effect today and is scheduled to last for 150 days . Trump may also discuss immigration and foreign policy, following last month's capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and a US military buildup in the Middle East amid nuclear negotiations with Iran. Explore facts and figures on the US here.

The address will be aired on major networks beginning at 9 pm ET. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger will provide the Democratic response. See our favorite resources on the history of the president's address here.

 

 

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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> "Fashion is Art" announced as 2026 Met Gala theme (More) | AMC Theatres  attendance drops nearly 10% year-over-year in last quarter of 2025, despite release of blockbusters such as "Avatar: Fire & Ash" and "Wicked: For Good" (More)

 

> Nick Reiner pleads not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in December stabbing death of his parents, director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner .

 

> American skier Lindsey Vonn says surgery saved her from leg amputation after Olympic accident . Two-time WNBA champion Kara Braxton dies at age 43 in a solo car crash .

.

 

Science & Technology

> Anthropic unveils the AI Fluency Index, detailing 11 traits capturing how people interact with AI; metrics can be used to track adoption and uptake over time .

 

Supreme Court agrees to review whether federal law blocks Boulder County, Colorado, from pursuing state-law climate lawsuit against oil companies after the Colorado Supreme Court allowed the case to proceed .

 

> Iron Age grave site discovered in northern Serbia reveals evidence of a 2,800-year-old mass killing; 40 of more than 77 victims were younger than 12 years old .

 

🦎 Burmese pythons, zebra mussels, and more: Today's 1440 Science & Tech newsletter digs into the spread and impact of invasive species. We're also learning about tornado science, asteroids, and more. .

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -1.0%, Dow -1.7%, Nasdaq -1.1%) amid AI and trade uncertainty (More)

 

> European Parliament halts ratification process of sweeping trade deal with the US after President Donald Trump threatens 15% global tariffs (More) | FedEx sues Trump administration for tariff refund after Supreme Court's Friday ruling (More)

 

> US average 30-year fixed mortgage rate falls to 5.99%, matching the lowest level since 2022 .

 

.

Politics & World Affairs

> Ukraine and Russia mark four years of large-scale war today after peace talks ended last week without a breakthrough

 

> London police arrest former UK ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson on suspicion of misconduct in office; Mandelson has been the subject of an investigation into his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein .

 

 Federal judge permanently blocks the release of special counsel Jack Smith's report into President Donald Trump's handling of classified information .

 

In-Depth

> Newsroom Betrayal

The Walrus | Jon Tattrie. After his death, a beloved newsroom legend was revealed to have fabricated much of his identity, hiding his real name, background, and even a past tied to fraud. The shock forced colleagues to confront how a trusted journalist lived a decadeslong double life inside the profession of truth.

 

> The Cloud Conundrum

Quanta | Charlie Wood. Scientists are turning to AI to solve one of climate science's biggest mysteries: clouds. They pose uncertainty in forecasts because they can both cool and warm the planet, yet are too small and complex to model. .

 

 

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.. Subject: Fw: Iwo Jima Flag 2/23/45



Thought you all might enjoy a piece of history.

 

---

Subject: Iwo Jima Flag 2/23/45

 

A Picture from Iwo Jima

William Campenni
 
    It's February.  The star-spangled kneelers of the NFL have given way to their imitators in the NBA, and soon some millionaire dugout squatters of baseball will be adding their insults to our US flag they hate.
    Today is February 23, an otherwise unremarkable day in history.  The first Gutenberg Bible was printed; the first Salk polio vaccine shot administered; and Mississippi was allowed back in the Union.  But nothing worth a holiday or a greeting card ... Unless you are ninety plus years old and thinking back to that day of your youth when you were hunkered behind some ugly volcanic rock stained red by the blood of the buddy beside you and looked up at the unvegetated hill to see others of your comrades raising a flag barely visible in the smoke and haze.  If you squinted, you might have seen a couple of guys with cameras up there with them.
    It was February 23, 1945, and you were looking at the American flag being raised on the summit of Mount Suribachi, on a dreadful island called IwoJima.  One of those photographers, Joe Rosenthal, took a picture that would soon become the most iconic of the American flag's long history.  Papers would be running with that picture in a few days, and it stirred the pride and hopes of people back on the home front, still not knowing the ultimate cost of that island struggle.  Even a preschool kid like me would be awed by that image on pages we could not yet read yet would never forget for the rest of our lives.
    It was a presumptuous act, that flag-raising. The island was far from being secured; that would take several more weeks. It would cost 7,000 Marines their lives. Twenty-seven Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor.  Three of the six flag-raisers would leave Iwo Jima with another American flag, the one that covered their bodies.
    That flag still exists.  Much tattered back then by the whipping winds of the Iwo summit, it can be seen at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia.
    Flash forward to today.  Thanks to our failed government schools and our socially skewed culture, few under age forty even know of Iwo Jima, or even that there was a world war.  Of those 27 Medal of Honor awardees, 22 were reservists, called to duty for that struggle.  In today's culture, the FBI and the War (Defense) Department would be doing an investigation into their character, the newspaper they read, the church they went to, the girls they dated, the organizations they belonged to, and the political party they voted for.  They would be called domestic terrorists.  In 1945, we called them patriotic Americans.
    Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz later concisely summed up what transpired under our flag on those days at IwoJima: "Uncommon valor was a common virtue."  That citation, and an appropriately large sculpture of that flag-raising, borders the sacred ground of Arlington National Cemetery, where lie the remains of many who once stormed the beaches of IwoJima.
    Today, for many "so-called Americans," that flag is a symbol for what they ignorantly and libelously claim is every evil in the world.  For the dwindling heroes who looked up at it in places like IwoJima, or Anzio, or Bastogne, or the smoldering ruins of 9/11, it is a symbol of what is right in America, of what is worth struggling for, even dying for.  For too many, and too often in our government leadership roles, it is no longer the indisputable symbol of "the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible" — but on this day, eighty one years ago, there was no doubt.
    Take a moment today between your cute kitty videos and white privilege diatribes by today's dishonest media to get on your cell phone or iPad and call up that image of the flag-raising on IwoJima.  Just meditate on it for a while.  It's a Grand Old Flag.
Skip  (Carl "Skip" Bell)
Executive Vice President
avvbainfo@gmail.com
(M)770-548-7991
You have received this message from the Atlanta Vietnam Veterans Business Association.
------------------------------------------------------------

 

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Thanks to Nice News

. Extinct No More: Giant Tortoises Are Roaming a Galápagos Island Again

 Carlos Espinosa/CDF

 

For 180 years, giant tortoises have been absent from Floreana Island in the Galápagos due to hunting and human-introduced invasive species (e.g., rats and cats). But that changed last week when 158 juvenile tortoises were let free on the island after being raised in captivity — the result of decades of conservation work.

 

"The return of giant tortoises to Floreana Island is an extraordinary milestone for the Galápagos and a powerful example of what expedition travel can and should support," Amy Berquist, a vice president at Lindblad Expeditions, said in a statement shared with Nice News. The work leading up to the release was funded in part by traveler donations to the Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Fund.

 

The animals' return could revitalize the island in more ways than one. Known as "ecosystem engineers," giant tortoises play a vital role in helping spread the seeds of native plants, creating habitats for other wildlife, and restoring degraded landscapes. "Seeing giant tortoises back on Floreana is a truly spine-tingling moment," said Jen Jones, the chief executive of the Galápagos Conservation Trust. "It's a validation of the incredible efforts we've seen over the last 20 years."

 

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This Day in U S Military History

1944 – Maj. Gen. Frank Merrill's guerrilla force, nicknamed "Merrill's Marauders," begin a campaign in northern Burma. In August 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agreed to create an American ground unit whose sole purpose would be to engage in a "long-range penetration mission" in Japanese-occupied Burma. This mission would consist of cutting Japanese communications and supply lines and otherwise throwing the enemy's positions into chaos. It was hoped that this commando force could thus prepare the way for Gen. Joseph Stillwell's Chinese American Force to reopen the Burma Road, which was closed in April 1942 by the Japanese invaders, and once again allow supplies and war material into China through this route. Within the military, a type of "Help Wanted" ad was put up with the president's authority, an appeal for applicants to participate in a "dangerous and hazardous mission." About 3,000 soldiers volunteered from stateside units to create what was officially called the 5307th Composite Unit, code named "Galahad." It would go into history as Merrill's Marauders, after Brig. Gen. Frank Merrill, their commander. Brigadier General Merrill trained his men in the art of guerrilla warfare in the jungles of India, for secrecy's sake. The commando force was formed into six combat units–Red, White, Blue, Green, Orange, and Khaki–with 400 men in each (the remaining 600 men or so were part of a rear-echelon headquarters that remained in India to coordinate the air-drops of equipment to the men in the field). The Marauders' mission began with a 1,000-mile walk through dense jungle, without artillery support, into Burma. On February 24, 1944, they began their Burmese campaign, which, when done, consisted of five major and 30 minor engagements with a far more numerous Japanese enemy. They had to carry their supplies on their backs and on pack mules, and were resupplied only with airdrops in the middle of the jungle. Merrill's Marauders succeeded in maneuvering behind Japanese forces to cause the disruptions necessary to throw the enemy into confusion. They were so successful, the Marauders managed even to capture the Myitkyina Airfield in northern Burma. When their mission was completed, all surviving Merrill's Marauders had to be evacuated to hospitals to be treated for everything from exhaustion and various tropical diseases to malnutrition or A.O.E. ("Accumulation of Everything"). They were awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation in July 1944, which was re-designated the Presidential Unit Citation in 1966. Every member of the commando force also received the Bronze Star, a very rare distinction for an entire unit. Merrill remained in the Far East and was made an aide to General Stillwell.

1968 – The Tet Offensive ends as U.S. and South Vietnamese troops recapture the ancient capital of Hue from communist forces. Although scattered fighting continued across South Vietnam for another week, the battle for Hue was the last major engagement of the offensive, which saw communist attacks on all of South Vietnam's major cities. In the aftermath of Tet, public opinion in the United States decisively turned against the Vietnam War. As 1968 began–the third year of U.S. ground-troop fighting in Vietnam–U.S. military leadership was still confident that a favorable peace agreement would soon be forced on the North Vietnamese and their allies in South Vietnam, the Viet Cong. Despite growing calls at home for an immediate U.S. withdrawal, President Lyndon Johnson's administration planned to keep the pressure on the communists through increased bombing and other attrition strategies. General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. operations in Vietnam, claimed to see clearly "the light at the end of the tunnel," and Johnson hoped that soon the shell-shocked communists would stumble out of the jungle to the bargaining table. However, on January 30, 1968, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launched their massive Tet Offensive all across South Vietnam. It was the first day of Tet–Vietnam's lunar new year and most important holiday–and many South Vietnamese soldiers, expecting an unofficial truce, had gone home. The Viet Cong were known for guerrilla tactics and had never launched an offensive on this scale; consequently, U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were caught completely by surprise. In the first day of the offensive, tens of thousands of Viet Cong soldiers, supported by North Vietnamese forces, overran the five largest cities of South Vietnam, scores of smaller cities and towns, and a number of U.S. and South Vietnamese bases. The Viet Cong struck at Saigon–South Vietnam's capital–and even attacked, and for several hours held, the U.S. embassy there. The action was caught by U.S. television news crews, which also recorded the brutal impromptu street execution of a Viet Cong rebel by a South Vietnamese military official. As the U.S. and South Vietnamese fought to regain control of Saigon, the cities of Hue, Dalat, Kontum, and Quangtri fell to the communists. U.S. and South Vietnamese forces recaptured most of these cities within a few days, but Hue was fiercely contested by the communist soldiers occupying it. After 26 days of costly house-to-house fighting, the South Vietnamese flag was raised again above Hue on February 24, and the Tet Offensive came to an end. During the communist occupation of Hue, numerous South Vietnamese government officials and civilians were massacred, and many civilians died in U.S. bombing attacks that preceded the liberation of the city. In many respects, the Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the communists: They suffered 10 times more casualties than their enemy and failed to control any of the areas captured in the opening days of the offensive. They had hoped that the offensive would ignite a popular uprising against South Vietnam's government and the presence of U.S. troops. This did not occur. In addition, the Viet Cong, which had come out into the open for the first time in the war, were all but wiped out. However, because the Tet Offensive crushed U.S. hopes for an imminent end to the conflict, it dealt a fatal blow to the U.S. military mission in Vietnam. In Tet's aftermath, President Johnson came under fire on all sides for his Vietnam policy. General Westmoreland requested 200,000 more troops to overwhelm the communists, and a national uproar ensued after this request was disclosed, forcing Johnson to recall Westmoreland to Washington. On March 31, Johnson announced that the United States would begin de-escalation in Vietnam, halt the bombing of North Vietnam, and seek a peace agreement to end the conflict. In the same speech, he also announced that he would not seek reelection to the presidency, citing what he perceived to be his responsibility in creating the national division over Vietnam.

 

1991 – After six weeks of intensive bombing against Iraq and its armed forces, U.S.-led coalition forces launch a ground invasion of Kuwait and Iraq. On August 2, 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait, its tiny oil-rich neighbor, and within hours had occupied most strategic positions in the country. One week later, Operation Shield, the American defense of Saudi Arabia, began as U.S. forces massed in the Persian Gulf. Three months later, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq if it failed to withdraw from Kuwait by January 15, 1991. At 4:30 p.m. EST on January 16, 1991, Operation Desert Storm, a massive U.S.-led offensive against Iraq, began as the first fighter aircraft were launched from Saudi Arabia and off U.S. and British aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf. All evening, aircraft from the U.S.-led military coalition pounded targets in and around Baghdad as the world watched the events transpire in television footage transmitted live via satellite from Baghdad and elsewhere. Operation Desert Storm was conducted by an international coalition under the command of U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf and featured forces from 32 nations, including Britain, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. During the next six weeks, the allied force engaged in a massive air war against Iraq's military and civil infrastructure, encountering little effective resistance from the Iraqi air force. Iraqi ground forces were also helpless during this stage of the war, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's only significant retaliatory measure was the launching of SCUD missile attacks against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Saddam hoped that the missile attacks would provoke Israel, and thus other Arab nations, to enter the conflict; however, at the request of the United States, Israel remained out of the war. On February 24, a massive coalition ground offensive began, and Iraq's outdated and poorly supplied armed forces were rapidly overwhelmed. By the end of the day, the Iraqi army had effectively folded, 10,000 of its troops were held as prisoners, and a U.S. air base had been established deep inside Iraq. After less than four days, Kuwait was liberated, and a majority of Iraq's armed forces had either been destroyed or had surrendered or retreated to Iraq. On February 28, U.S. President George Bush declared a cease-fire, and Iraq pledged to honor future coalition and U.N. peace terms. One hundred and twenty-five American soldiers were killed in the Persian Gulf War, with another 21 regarded as missing in action.

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

COOLEY, RAYMOND H.

Rank and organization: Staff Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company B, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Lumboy, Luzon, Philippine Islands, 24 February 1945. Entered service at: Richard City, Tenn. Born: 7 May 1914, Dunlap, Tenn. G.O. No.: 77, 10 September 1945. Citation: He was a platoon guide in an assault on a camouflaged entrenchment defended by machineguns, rifles, and mortars. When his men were pinned down by 2 enemy machineguns, he voluntarily advanced under heavy fire to within 20 yards of 1 of the guns and attacked it with a hand grenade. The enemy, however, threw the grenade back at him before it could explode. Arming a second grenade, he held it for several seconds of the safe period and then hurled it into the enemy position, where it exploded instantaneously, destroying the gun and crew. He then moved toward the remaining gun, throwing grenades into enemy foxholes as he advanced. Inspired by his actions, 1 squad of his platoon joined him. After he had armed another grenade and was preparing to throw it into the second machinegun position, 6 enemy soldiers rushed at him. Knowing he could not dispose of the armed grenade without injuring his comrades, because of the intermingling in close combat of the men of his platoon and the enemy in the melee which ensued, he deliberately covered the grenade with his body and was severely wounded as it exploded. By his heroic actions, S/Sgt. Cooley not only silenced a machinegun and so inspired his fellow soldiers that they pressed the attack and destroyed the remaining enemy emplacements, but also, in complete disregard of his own safety, accepted certain injury and possible loss of life to avoid wounding his comrades.

LEVITOW, JOHN L.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Air Force, 3d Special Operations Squadron. place and date: Long Binh Army post, Republic of Vietnam, 24 February 1969. Entered service at: New Haven, Conn. Born: 1 November 1945, Hartford, Conn. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Levitow (then A1c.), U.S. Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while assigned as a loadmaster aboard an AC-47 aircraft flying a night mission in support of Long Binh Army post. Sgt. Levitow's aircraft was struck by a hostile mortar round. The resulting explosion ripped a hole 2 feet in diameter through the wing and fragments made over 3,500 holes in the fuselage. All occupants of the cargo compartment were wounded and helplessly slammed against the floor and fuselage. The explosion tore an activated flare from the grasp of a crewmember who had been launching flares to provide illumination for Army ground troops engaged in combat. Sgt. Levitow, though stunned by the concussion of the blast and suffering from over 40 fragment wounds in the back and legs, staggered to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him who had been knocked down and was bleeding heavily. As he was moving his wounded comrade forward and away from the opened cargo compartment door, he saw the smoking flare ahead of him in the aisle. Realizing the danger involved and completely disregarding his own wounds, Sgt. Levitow started toward the burning flare. The aircraft was partially out of control and the flare was rolling wildly from side to side. Sgt. Levitow struggled forward despite the loss of blood from his many wounds and the partial loss of feeling in his right leg. Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. Hugging the deadly device to his body, he dragged himself back to the rear of the aircraft and hurled the flare through the open cargo door. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft. Sgt. Levitow, by his selfless and heroic actions, saved the aircraft and its entire crew from certain death and destruction. Sgt. Levitow's gallantry, his profound concern for his fellowmen, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

*WILBANKS, HILLIARD A.

Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 21st. Tactical Air Support Squadron, Nha Trang AFB, RVN. Place and date: Near Dalat, Republic of Vietnam, 24 February 1967. Entered service at: Atlanta, Ga. Born: 26 July 1933, Cornelia, Ga. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. As a forward air controller Capt. Wilbanks was pilot of an unarmed, light aircraft flying visual reconnaissance ahead of a South Vietnam Army Ranger Battalion. His intensive search revealed a well-concealed and numerically superior hostile force poised to ambush the advancing rangers. The Viet Cong, realizing that Capt. Wilbanks' discovery had compromised their position and ability to launch a surprise attack, immediately fired on the small aircraft with all available firepower. The enemy then began advancing against the exposed forward elements of the ranger force which were pinned down by devastating fire. Capt. Wilbanks recognized that close support aircraft could not arrive in time to enable the rangers to withstand the advancing enemy, onslaught. With full knowledge of the limitations of his unarmed, unarmored, light reconnaissance aircraft, and the great danger imposed by the enemy's vast firepower, he unhesitatingly assumed a covering, close support role. Flying through a hail of withering fire at treetop level, Capt. Wilbanks passed directly over the advancing enemy and inflicted many casualties by firing his rifle out of the side window of his aircraft. Despite increasingly intense antiaircraft fire, Capt. Wilbanks continued to completely disregard his own safety and made repeated low passes over the enemy to divert their fire away from the rangers. His daring tactics successfully interrupted the enemy advance, allowing the rangers to withdraw to safety from their perilous position. During his final courageous attack to protect the withdrawing forces, Capt. Wilbanks was mortally wounded and his bullet-riddled aircraft crashed between the opposing forces. Capt. Wilbanks' magnificent action saved numerous friendly personnel from certain injury or death. His unparalleled concern for his fellow man and his extraordinary heroism were in the highest traditions of the military service, and have reflected great credit upon himself and the U.S. Air Force.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for February 24, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

24 February

 

1908: The US awarded its first airship contract to Capt Thomas S. Baldwin. (5)

1914: Due to a large number of accidents and deaths, an Army board at the Signal Corps Aviation School, San Diego, condemned all pusher airplanes. This recommendation basically condemned all Wright aircraft, all pushers. (5) (21)

1915: Tests on the Macy automatic pilot began at San Diego with Raymond V. Morris, a Curtiss test pilot, at the controls. (24)

1949: Republic unveiled its XF-91 jet rocket interceptor at its Farmingdale factory, Long Island. (24) A two-stage rocket, a WAC (Without Altitude Control) Corporal mounted on a V-2 first stage, attained a 250-mile altitude and 5,000 MPH at White Sands Proving Ground. (24)

1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved a National Security Council recommendation to build the DEW Line. (20)

1955: Convair's R3Y-1 Tradewind flew cross-country from San Diego to Patuxent River in 6 hours, averaging 403 MPH. This feat made the 80-ton aircraft the world's fastest water-based air transport. (24)

1958: General Curtis E. LeMay, VCSAF, said the Air Force wanted to establish a single tanker force to support all combat operations requiring air refueling. (18)

1960: A Titan I, launched from Cape Canaveral, flew 5,000 miles down the Atlantic missile range on its first full-range flight test. Its reentry vehicle landed in the target area, making the event highly successful. (6) (24)

1961: Cape Canaveral launched the first Atlas E. It flew over 7,000 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range, using an all-inertial guidance system. (6)

PROJECT ASSET

1965: The 1,175-pound reentry glider, last in a series of six, launched from Cape Kennedy, Fla., by a Thor-Delta booster into a 13,300-mile suborbital flight. ASSET, or Aerothermodynamic Elastic Structural Systems Environmental Tests was an experimental US space project involving the testing of an uncrewed sub-scale reentry vehicle.

 

Begun in 1960, ASSET was originally designed to verify the superalloy heat shield of the X-20 Dyna-Soar (artist's conception below) prior to full-scale crewed flights. The vehicle's biconic shape and low delta wing were intended to represent Dyna-Soar's forward nose section, where the aerodynamic heating would be the most intense; more than an estimated 4000 °F at the nose cap. Following the X-20 program's cancellation in December 1963, completed ASSET vehicles were used in reentry heating and structural investigations with hopes that data gathered would be useful for the development of future space vehicles, such as the Space Shuttle.

 

1966: At Vandenberg AFB, two 341 SMW combat crews fired two Minuteman I (Model A) missiles simultaneously for the first time to examine multiple-firing techniques. This also marked the first salvo launch down the Western Test Range. (1) (6)

1967: MEDAL OF HONOR. In an unarmed and unarmored O-1 Bird Dog aircraft flying near Di Linh in South Vietnam, Capt Hilliard A. Wilbanks attacked a large body of Vietcong that had attacked a much smaller South Vietnamese ranger force. He used smoke rockets and rifle fire to draw enemy fire and interrupt its advance. He sacrificed his life to protect the withdrawing rangers and received a Medal of Honor for his bravery. (21)

1968: Lockheed rolled out the C-5A Galaxy at its plant in Marietta. (3)

1969: MEDAL OF HONOR. While dropping flares near Saigon, A1C John L. Levitow, a loadmaster, saved the lives of eight crewmembers and their AC-47 aircraft when it sustained a hit from an 82-mm mortar shell. Bleeding from over 40 shrapnel wounds, Levitow dragged another crewmember away from the open cargo door and, without regard for his life, threw himself on a live flare, dragged it to the cargo door, and pushed it out just as it ignited. Levitow then lapsed into unconsciousness. He was the first Air Force enlisted man to receive the Medal of Honor since World War II. (18)

1979: An Atlas booster successfully launched Space Test Program Flight P78-1 from Vandenberg AFB. As its primary payload, the spacecraft carried a gamma spectrometer sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). (5)

1982: NATO's new airborne early warning force at Geilenkirchen AB, Germany, received the first of 18 authorized E-3As. (4) The USAF selected the F-15E over the F-16E for its new dual-role fighter. The USAF planned to buy 393 aircraft with deliveries scheduled to begin in 1988. (30)

1984: Gen Charles A. Gabriel announced the selection of the F-15E as the next dual-role combat fighter. The USAF, however, decided to continue testing on the General Dynamics F-16XL. (3) MAC flew two C-141 missions from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Cherry Point, N.C., to support the withdrawal of US Marines from Lebanon. (16) (26)

1991: Operation DESERT STORM. The ground campaign opened against Iraq. US-backed coalition air forces flew 3,000 sorties in support. Previously, C-130s airlifted Army XVIII Airborne Corps elements from eastern Saudi Arabia to Rafha on the Iraqi border. Flying 300+ sorties a day at 10-minute intervals, the C-130s delivered 13,843 troops and 9,396 tons of cargo. General Norman H. Schwartzkopf's "Hail Mary" maneuver allowed coalition forces to surround Iraq's Republican Guard. In 100 hours, continuous air attacks then allowed the coalition forces to overwhelm the Iraqi ground forces. (16) (21)

1998: President William J. Clinton signed an executive order to call-up of 500 Guardsmen and Reservists for up to 270 days to support military operations in Southwest Asia. (32)

1999: The Orbital Sciences Corporation's X-34 technology-testbed demonstrator airframe arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB for vibration and flight certification tests. It was an unmanned rocket powered vehicle designed to be launched from a modified jetliner, reach orbit, and return to a conventional runway. (3)

2001: Lt Col Stayce D. Harris became the first black female to command a USAF flying squadron, the 729 AS at March AFB. (21)

2005: The AFFTC completed software upgrade testing of the B-1B Lancer to integrate the GBU-38 (500 pound JDAM) munition. (3)

 

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