TheList 7472

To All.

Good Thursday Morning March 12, 2026.

Nice weather here today with clear skies and climbing to 91 for a high today and 90 tomorrow . I hope that your week has started well

Warm Regards,

skip

HAGD

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I got a hold of YP's wife late yesterday by phone (YP had given it to me a long time ago ICE when I was not getting any replies from email or phone calls. She sent me the following late yesterday.

Hi, Skip,

 

Captain Jack Daniels Woodul has had a bit of a health issue beginning on January 2.  He had the flu, along with his wife, Carolyn and son, Chris.  The flu was a bad one.  No one was ever tested; it took several weeks to recover.  On Friday, February 13, Jack collapsed.  After spending six days at our local Miners Hospital in Raton, NM, he was released.  He was diagnosed with Double Pneumonia, A Fib, and a heart murmur.  His son, Douglas arrived to help take care of his Dad.  Not much progress was made, and on the way to Denver on Monday, March 2, some complications occurred, and Jack was taken to the ER at Swedish Hospital.  He was scheduled for an Echocardiogram and a Chemical Stress Test the next day; those appointments were missed.  He was at Swedish for four days.  The discovery there was low sodium.  After returning to New Mexico, Jack was weak, unable to stand or walk.  He is currently on a regiment of Sodium and is slowly showing improvement.  Fortunately, his son, Chris has been in NM and helped take care of his Dad.  Jack has appreciated all the concern from his many friends. 

 

Carolyn Woodul

288 Bartlett Mesa Road

Raton, NM 87740

Carolyn Woodul carolynwoodul@hotmail.com

Send him a quick note here after all he has been entertaining us for many years….skip

Jack Woodul <youthlypuresome@me.com>

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Thanks to Barrett

Ref eyes of the mouse, reminds me (going off kilter here)

My sometime author and primo gunsmith had a metal storage shed next to his trailer.  Sometimes heard rattling therein, and investigated.  Found evidence of mice & rats scrounging for whatever.

Soooo...he installed some mouse traps suitably baited with cheese (don't recall what kind.). The problem abated

But

Not entirely.

Still heard rattling some nights.

Investigated with a flashlight and found Mr Smart Rat pushing the trap against the bulkhead until the trap sprung/sprang, freeing up the cheese.

Derrick decided that any rat that smart and that persistent deserved some freebies so he began leaving bits of cheese outside the shed.

 

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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. 

This day in Naval and Marine Corps History March 12

1864—During the Civil War, Union screw gunboat Aroostook captures the schooner Marion near Velasco, Texas and the screw steamer Massachusetts captures the sloop Persis in Wassaw Sound, GA.

1904—The Marine detachment from USS Cincinnati (C 7) provides protection and assistance during the evacuation of Americans from Chemuplo (Inchon) and Seoul, Korea, when they are endangered by the Russo-Japanese War.

1942—President Franklin D. Roosevelt designates Adm. Ernest J. King to serve as the Chief of Naval Operations, as well as the Commander-in-Chief, United States Fleet (he was appointed on Dec. 30, 1941).

1943—USS Champlin (DD 601) sinks German submarine U-130, which had previously sunk 25 Allied vessels, including three US Navy ships during Operation Torch.

1956—The first missile firing aircraft squadron, Attack Squadron 83, is deployed overseas aboard USS Intrepid (CVA 11).

 

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Today in world History March12

1496   The Jews are expelled from Syria.

1507   Cesare Borgia dies while fighting alongside his brother, the king of Navarre, in Spain.

1609   The Bermuda Islands become an English colony.

1664   New Jersey becomes a British colony.

1789   The United States Post Office is established.

1809   Great Britain signs a treaty with Persia forcing the French out of the country.

1863   President Jefferson Davis delivers his State of the Confederacy address.

1879   The British Zulu War begins.

1884   Mississippi establishes the first U.S. state college for women.

1894   Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.

1903   The Czar of Russia issues a decree providing for nominal freedom of religion throughout the land.

1909   British Parliament increases naval appropriations for Great Britain.

1911   Dr. Fletcher of the Rockefeller Institute discovers the cause of infantile paralysis.

1912   Juliet Low founds the Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia.

1917   Russian troops mutiny as the "February Revolution" begins.

1930   Gandhi begins his march to the sea to symbolizes his defiance of British rule in India.

1933   President Paul von Hindenburg drops the flag of the German Republic and orders that the swastika and empire banner be flown side by side.

1933   President Roosevelt makes the first of his Sunday evening fireside chats.

1938   German troops enter Austria without firing a shot, forming the anschluss (union) of Austria and Germany.

1939   Pius XII is elected the new pope in Rome.

1944   Great Britain bars all travel to neutral Ireland, which is suspected of collaborating with Nazi Germany.

1945   Diarist Anne Frank dies in a German concentration camp.

1959   The U.S. House of Representatives joins the Senate in approving the statehood of Hawaii.

1984   Lebanese President Gemayel opens the second meeting in five years calling for the end to nine-years of war.

1985   The United States and the Soviet Union begin arms control talks in Geneva.

1994   The Church of England ordains women priests.

 

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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 .

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 Thanks to Micro

From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..March 12 . .

March 12: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=1646 

 

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Thanks to Brett

March 11, 2026          

            A Summary of the Iran War, So Far

By: George Friedman

Wars can be viewed by historians later, but while they are raging and facts and lies compete for attention, it's hard to understand what's happening. Nevertheless, as we are living through the war in Iran, it's worth making an attempt to understand what is happening, however confusing it might be.

 

As it stands now, the United States and Israel are conducting an air war that appears bent on destroying Iran's nuclear program. Both see a nuclear weapon as dangerous to themselves, regardless of how it's delivered. It's unclear whether Iran can build a deliverable nuclear weapon, but even if there's a small possibility, it could lead to catastrophic consequences.

 

The first U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear development program demonstrated the importance of this objective. Having only partially succeeded, the U.S. and Israel then mounted a far broader aerial assault to bring about a second objective: to force regime change or, failing that, inflict enough damage to elongate the recovery time, during which perhaps a more prudent government might emerge. One of the factors that caused the Trump administration to believe that regime change might be possible was the anti-regime demonstrations that had filled the streets and resulted in many deaths. This made regime change appear a possible outcome of a military attack. Regime change was not an end in itself but a means to ending Iran's nuclear program (as the primary goal) and creating an Iran that would be less destabilizing to the region.

 

A new supreme leader has since been appointed to head the government, of the same demeanor as the last one. But he is perhaps less powerful because he seems to be sharing decision-making with the head of the Supreme National Security Council and does not seem to have full control over Iran's primary military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

 

Given the destruction of much of the governing system, including its leadership, and national infrastructure – meaning, a loss of command and control and a semi-functional government – it seems as though the IRGC is executing operations under decisions made by its own commanders by default, perhaps according to its own preference. This is evident in the fact that the Iranian president – considered weak because he is a reformist – apologized to countries in the region that were attacked by drones and missiles in the opening stages of the conflict. It seems likely that the IRGC acted as a military force without political guidance, striking long and deep at all threats. At this point, there is likely a process underway to bring the IRGC under the new government's control, even as the new government tries to figure out its strategy and goals, beyond survival. This is not to say that the IRGC has gone rogue, but simply that the first strike left it playing the roles of both military force and decision-maker, and the government's apologies were designed to limit the degree to which the attacked nations would join the Western-led hostilities.

 

It follows from this that the primary goal of the U.S and Israel is to cripple or systematically destroy the IRGC before the new government becomes effective. Destroying the IRGC would make the new government militarily impotent before it consolidates power, putting it in a vulnerable and even desperate situation.

 

The IRGC is a well-armed and trained organization with both ground forces and sophisticated weapons, including drones and missiles. It is widely dispersed throughout Iran, where it is responsible for internal security as well as conventional ground warfare. It's unclear how widely the group's drone and missile systems are dispersed, but it is clear that those systems would need to be resupplied with new weapons from storage areas. It follows, then, that the primary mission for the U.S. and Israel is to identify the logistical system supplying these dispersed forces and destroy them. We can assume, too, that these logistics networks are identifiable by satellite, immobile and located far from major population centers. This means that, in theory, much of the combat between U.S. and Israeli forces on one hand and the IRGC on the other would take place in remote locations, rather than in cities. Notably, only a few Western aircraft have been shot down, which means either that Iranian air defense systems are ineffective or destroyed, or that the information coming out of Iran is limited.

 

There is, of course, another vital dimension to this war: oil. Iran is a major source of oil for the world, but it is not the only source. In the long run, it is likely that the IRGC will be crippled and that other oil producers will increase production, or that Russian oil, under U.S. pressure now, will flow more readily. For the U.S. and Israel, this is the war's shelf life. They need to end it before prices, particularly in the U.S., rise dramatically. From Washington's point of view, Iran is a less important issue than the cost of living. This explains why Iran has attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly one quarter of the world's oil passes. If this creates enough sensitivity to, say, energy prices, it would be a fundamental problem for the U.S. and, as such, would undermine the war effort.

 

The Strait of Hormuz seems to me to be the critical place where the war will be largely decided. Iran is a vast country, home to deserts and some of the world's most rugged mountains. Sending troops into Iran to occupy it, even with limited opposition, would be difficult and tremendously expensive. A war in Iran would likely be very long and unsuccessful. Occupation is therefore unlikely to happen, especially given President Donald Trump's prior view of ground-based extended wars. And if that's the case, the key to the war will be the battle to keep Hormuz open as air power shatters the IRGC – something that could potentially be done in months, not decades.

 

Crucially, the fact that it takes a relatively long time to repair damaged oil facilities gives the IRGC another option. It has not completely halted its attacks on other oil-producing states in the region in spite of the president's apology, and that has already, to some extent, reduced oil production in these states. Increasing production in other parts of the world can be difficult and time-consuming. All this means that if the new Iranian government is unwilling or unable to rein in the IRGC, and it intensifies attacks on regional oil facilities, what could follow would be a significant decline in global oil capability and a dramatic uptick in prices, threatening the global economy. If the IRGC is able to renew its attacks on regional oil producers, simply keeping the strait open would not by itself eliminate the threat of a global economic crisis. This leaves the U.S. and other oil consumers in an extreme economic crisis that will take time to recover from, even after production is resumed. This scenario would leave Trump facing a political crisis in the United States.

 

Washington, then, has three options. The first is to try to cripple the IRGC's missile and drone capabilities quickly. The second is to create a new regime that is able and willing to take control over the IRGC. The third is to battle it out in the Strait of Hormuz. It could also pursue a combination of the three, with each facing severe challenges.

 

This brings us to Russia and China. Russia is less likely to act. Its army is fighting in Ukraine, and more important, it stands to benefit greatly from the destruction of oil production in the Middle East – which would give Moscow much-needed money and political leverage. China is a different story. Even though it has diversified its sources of energy, high oil prices would still hurt its economy, dependent as it still is on exports, which would be harder for foreign markets to afford. Notably, the Chinese foreign minister has condemned the attacks, even as he confirmed that Trump would meet with President Xi Jinping in late March (earlier than the original date). Given China's exposure, and given the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Beijing, China is unlikely to provide military assistance to Iran. It, too, likely hopes someone can rein in the IRGC.

 

Ultimately, the consequences of the war come down to whether Tehran can or will control the IRGC, or whether the U.S. and Israel will risk launching an even greater attack. The stakes are now getting higher globally, with the most likely option being that the U.S. will destroy the IRGC.

 

From a military standpoint, the fundamental question is whether these goals can be reached primarily from manned and unmanned air power, given that a ground war would likely be long and costly in terms of both lives and money, due to Iran's size. If airstrikes cannot achieve the goal, the unknown is whether in the end the U.S. would follow with a ground war, which has been since World War II very costly and in many cases a failure.    

 

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Thanks to 1440

 

Good morning. It's Thursday, March 12, and we're covering the release of emergency oil reserves, a discovery on how bees survive winter, .

 

🇺🇸 Civics Thursday—Few topics shape law and politics in the United States more than immigration. This week, we built out pages on the history of US immigration, birthright citizenship, and the H-1B skilled worker visa. .

 

Oil Lifeline Unlocked

The International Energy Agency, a coalition of 32 nations including the US, agreed yesterday to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to ease disruptions caused by the Iran war.

The move comes amid escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, which normally transports about 20% of the world's oil. Tehran claimed responsibility for at least one of three attacks on commercial vessels in and around the strait yesterday, while the US military said it attacked 16 Iranian mine-laying ships near the channel Tuesday. Oil flow through the strait has fallen to less than 10% of prewar levels (see visual), sending gasoline prices up roughly 20% for US consumers. The IEA's 400 million-barrel release—over 22% of its stockpile—is about how much oil typically passes through the strait every 20 days.

Since its founding in 1974, the energy watchdog has tapped its reserves five other times. The previous record release was about 182.7 million barrels in 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

 

 

Underwater Bees

Queen bumblebees are able to breathe underwater while hibernating, a study revealed yesterday. The physical mechanism behind this process is yet to be fully understood.

Queens are the only colony members that survive winter, spending six to nine months in a hibernating state called diapause. Their shallow burrows tend to become waterlogged, and in a 2024 study, a researcher studying the impact of pesticides accidentally discovered bees can survive while totally submerged. To examine this phenomenon, scientists placed bees underwater in refrigerated conditions for up to eight days. They noticed the bees were producing small amounts of carbon dioxide.

Researchers suspect the bees may have a physical gill—a thin layer of air surrounding them, enabling small amounts of oxygen intake and the release of carbon dioxide. While diapausing, the bees lower their metabolism by 99%, reducing energy intake needs. Even so, lactate accumulated, indicating the bees were supplementing with anaerobic respiration (as humans do during intense activity)..

 

Central US Tornadoes

At least two people were killed and several others were wounded this week amid severe weather spanning Texas to Michigan. More than 18 million people were under a tornado watch as of this writing, with conditions expected to ease today.

Tornadoes are columns of rotating air formed by wind shear, when wind rapidly changes speed and direction with height, trapping air and circulating it horizontally (see 101). There is no national tornado season as there is with Atlantic hurricanes. Twisters typically form in the presence of thunderstorms in the afternoon and early evening. Tuesday saw as many as a dozen storms in Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois—located in the US' so-called Tornado Alley. Several were nighttime tornadoes, which tend to occur less frequently but may be deadlier, in part due to low visibility.

The storms came after at least eight people were killed in tornadoes last week. .

 

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

Iran's soccer team will not compete in the 2026 World Cup, according to the nation's sports minister; the decision comes after President Donald Trump reportedly said the team was welcome to play .

 

 Barbra Streisand to receive honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival in May for her work across theater and film .| Quentin Tarantino's first stage play—a comedy set in 1830s Europe—to debut in London's West End early next year .

 

Team USA wins three gold medals in Paralympic cross-country skiing events; eight-time Paralympian Oksana Masters secures 22nd career medal .)

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 President Donald Trump says the US will build first domestic oil refinery in nearly 50 years, with a $300B investment from India's largest privately held energy company; the refinery will be located in Texas .

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. 5 Inventions That Came Out of the Great Depression

The Great Depression began in 1929 and lasted for an entire decade, affecting nearly every aspect of daily life for people all over the world — and hitting the United States especially hard. U.S. unemployment soared to nearly 25%, businesses shuttered, and families lost their life savings. Food became scarce in many communities, especially as a severe drought hit the Great Plains, leading to the agricultural disaster known as the Dust Bowl.

 

This difficult era also impacted innovation. Independent inventors found themselves with less funding, and many businesses shied away from risky initiatives, but big inventions also helped keep companies and innovators afloat during the hard times. Some inventions were successful specifically because of the economic downturn, such as the groundbreaking new adhesive that could repair just about anything. For others, success came in spite of the crisis. Here are five inventions that came out of the Great Depression that are still shaping our lives today.

 

Sliced Bread

A century ago, people had to bust out a bread knife whenever they wanted a sandwich or slice of toast. That changed in 1928, when a bread slicing and wrapping machine invented by Otto Rohwedder made its debut at a bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri. The machine proved to be so popular that Rohwedder had trouble keeping up with demand from other bakeries. After the Depression hit, economic realities forced him to sell his patent to a larger manufacturing company — but the story has a happy ending. The owners hired the inventor as the vice president and sales manager of a new division formed just for his machines. In 1930, Wonder Bread started advertising its own sliced bread, and, although Wonder Bread used its own machines, Rohwedder's bread-slicer sales exploded as the trend grew. By 1933, sliced bread accounted for 80% of all bread sales. The invention was so influential, it led to the phrase still used to praise new wonders today: "The best thing since sliced bread."

 

Nylon Stockings and Toothbrushes

Before the Depression, the DuPont chemical company had a "fundamental research" program — a team of scientists tasked with increasing scientific knowledge rather than developing specific projects. But with the economic downturn, the division became more focused. It was already working on synthetic textiles and had invented neoprene, although the material wasn't particularly useful at the time. They'd also worked with rayon, which didn't make a great substitute for silk, and was only partially manmade. Nylon was the first entirely synthetic fiber developed by DuPont that was actually useful — and its invention in 1937 was a very bright prospect after the agricultural woes of the era.Nylon started appearing in toothbrushes in 1938, and DuPont showed off its new fabric to the world as hosiery at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The first day nylon stockings became available to the public, around 800,000 pairs flew off the shelves. DuPont's Depression-era investment in fiber technology paid off; by 1937, 40% percent of its sales came from products that didn't exist before 1929, including freon, neoprene, and lucite.

 

Scotch Tape

Richard Drew, the inventor of Scotch tape, cut his teeth as an inventor by creating masking tape in his spare time. In his first job as a lab tech at 3M (known then as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing), he delivered sandpaper samples to auto manufacturers, and after hearing many an auto painter curse over their DIY masking solutions, he decided to design the perfect tape. He worked on it at 3M at first, but after he was scolded and told to get back to work, he continued the project at home. Drew eventually made his masking tape from crepe paper, cabinetmaker's glue, and glycerin in 1925, and got a big promotion.Another industrial problem came to his attention soon after: Bakeries had started using newly invented cellophane for packaging, but had nothing attractive to seal it with. So Drew started experimenting with a clear tape. The adhesives he used on the masking tape looked brown, so he had to invent a new type of adhesive to make sure the tape stayed clear. The result was a cellophane tape with adhesive made from oil, resins, and rubber. As the story goes, the name "Scotch tape" was inspired by an early version of Drew's masking tape, which had adhesive only on the edges, causing one auto painter to ask why Drew was so "Scotch" — a slang term for "cheap" at the expense of Scottish people. Scotch tape debuted in 1930, right at the start of the Great Depression, and as more and more households had to be thrifty and resourceful to survive, the product came along right in the nick of time. People used Scotch tape for everything from mending clothing to capping milk bottles — and even repairing cracked eggs.

 

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

In August 1930, amid the early days of the Great Depression, a Massachusetts chef named Ruth Wakefield took a major risk: She decided to chase her dream of opening an inn and restaurant. It was touch and go at first: In the Toll House Inn's first month, the money on hand dwindled to just $10, a little more than $180 today. But by the end of the year, the business had grown so popular it needed 12 employees to keep up with demand. By the end of the Depression, against all odds, Wakefield had to expand the inn to serve around 1,000 diners per day. Comfort food with complimentary second helpings along a busy road for auto travelers turned out to be a winning strategy.Wakefield is widely credited with inventing the chocolate chip cookie, after stumbling on a recipe that proved to be a hit with diners at the Toll House Inn. Originally served not as a stand-alone dish but as an accompaniment to ice cream, the cookie became the restaurant's most enduring creation, and Wakefield appeared in newspapers and radio shows to talk about the trendy treat. In its early days it was called the "Toll House cookie" or "chocolate crunch cookie"; the "chocolate chip cookie" name came around 1939 because the recipe called for literally chipping the chocolate off the bar.Speaking of chocolate chipping: After Nestle got Wakefield's permission to use the recipe, the cookie started appearing in ads, and it was so popular that it started influencing product development. Early on, Nestle released a semisweet chocolate bar scored into 160 pieces, and in 1940, the company debuted its "morsel" chips — the chocolate chips we know today.

 

Car Radios

In 1928, Paul Galvin co-founded a radio parts manufacturing company along with his brother, Joseph. When the Depression hit, households stopped buying noncritical items such as radios, so Galvin had to think fast to save his business. He noticed that car sales hadn't dipped — people had come to rely on their vehicles — and he figured that inventing a car radio could be a good bet. (Car radios had been attempted before by other companies, but were too cumbersome and expensive to be viable products.) After landing on a solid design at a price that would actually sell, Galvin and his team mounted the new radio on his car and drove all the way from Chicago to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to attend the 1930 Radio Manufacturers Association Convention. They didn't even get a booth; they just parked the car and cranked up the radio. It may seem counterintuitive that a luxury add-on would thrive during a time of extreme economic hardship, but the car radio took off. The team called their radio the Motorola, and their company eventually took the same name.

 

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From the Archives

Thanks to Kit

Kit was flying Broncos at the time and here is his response to the article in The List 6028. The video is enclosed at the end by Kit.  This is a fascinating video about Hugh Mills ("Darkhorse 16"), an Army pilot in Vietnam, when he went back with his squadron mates to Vietnam 44 years later. I flew with Hugh as our Black Pony OV-10s integrated our fixed-wing Broncos, each with twenty 5-inch Zuni rockets, into their Air Cav Packs of Loaches, Huey gunships, and Cobras. Hugh was the scout platoon commander.  I wrote about him in "Flying Black Ponies" when I led a flight to an area where his helos were shot down and we provided close air support. The following footage shows a rescue of Hugh and his buddies (Hugh was shot down 16 times).  I saw more Army helicopters shot down than I can remember. Army pilots were the most courageous pilots I had the honor to work with in Vietnam. Hugh was a great leader.  He later wrote one of the best books ("Low Level Hell") about Vietnam and rotary-wing aviation.  I was asked to blurb it and was honored to do so.

 

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Military Milestones from Dueling Ironclads to Flying Tigers by  W. Thomas

Smith Jr.

03/09/2010

 

This Week in American Military History

 

Mar. 8, 1965:  The lead elements of 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines begin coming

ashore at Da Nang, South Vietnam. Within hours, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines

will arrive aboard transport aircraft at the nearby airbase. The Marines of

3/9 and 1/3 – both part of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – are the

first of America's ground-combat forces destined for offensive operations

against the enemy in Southeast Asia, once again putting teeth in the Marine

Corps' claim that it is "first to fight."

 

Mar. 9, 1847:  Thousands of American soldiers and a company-sized force of

Marines (though referred to as a battalion) under the overall command of

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Winfield Scott and "Home Squadron" Commodore David E.

Conner begin landing at Collado Beach, Mexico, just south of Vera Cruz.

 

In what will prove to be "a model" for future amphibious operations, the

landings are unprecedented: The largest American amphibious operation to

date, conducted in less than five hours without a single loss of life.

 

A portion of Conner's dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy reads:

 

"Gen. Scott has now with him upwards of 11,000 men. At his request, I

permitted the Marines of the squadron, under Capt. [Alvin] Edson, to join

him, as a part of the 3rd Regiment of artillery. The general-in-chief

landed this morning, and the army put itself in motion at an early hour, to

form its lines around the city. There has been some distant firing of shot

and shells from the town and castle upon the troops as they advanced, but

without result."

 

Though the landings are bloodless, grim fighting will continue in the

Mexican-American War.

 

Mar. 9, 1862:  In day-two of the now-famous Battle of Hampton Roads

(Virginia), the Confederate Navy's ironclad warship, CSS Virginia (built

from the remains of the previously scuttled frigate USS Merrimack) and her

Union rival, the also-ironclad USS Monitor, begin exchanging shots in one

of history's first clashes of ironclads.

 

The battle ends in a draw with both vessels inflicting marginal damage on

one another before breaking off the fight: Technically it is a tactical

victory for Virginia because she has inflicted greater damage on the

blockading ships than they on her (Virginia had attacked and destroyed the

Union Navy's wooden warships USS Congress and USS Cumberland the previous

day before the arrival of the Monitor). But it may also be seen as a

strategic victory for the Union because Virginia fails to break the

blockade. The battle however will not be remembered for which side might

have carried the day – though that is still being debated – but rather the

lessons learned in this particular clash which greatly contributed to the

ongoing revolution in Naval tactics and ship-design and construction.

 

Mar. 10, 1783:  The Duc De Lauzun, a Continental Navy transport-vessel

(laden with Spanish silver currency), and her escort, the frigate Alliance

(the first of two so-named American warships), are spotted by three Royal

Navy ships – HMS Sybil, HMS Alarm, and HMS Tobago –off Cape Canaveral,

Florida. Sybil pursues the two American vessels, fires on the slow-moving

Duc De Lauzun, then is aggressively engaged by Alliance. In less than one

hour, the badly damaged Sybil disengages and flees, ending the last Naval

battle of the American Revolution.

 

Alliance is commanded by Capt. (future commodore) John Barry, who – as we

said Feb. 4 – is considered in some circles to be "the Father of the

American Navy," though some would argue that title belongs to Capt. John

Paul Jones.

Mar. 11, 1862:  President Abraham Lincoln – frustrated over Union Army Gen.

George B. McClellan's unwillingness to attack the Confederate Army –

relieves McClellan of his post as general-in-chief of the U.S. Army, but

keeps him on as commanding general of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan –

who will lose his command after failing to destroy Confederate Gen. Robert

E. Lee's wounded army following the Battle of Antietam – becomes the second

well-known casualty in Lincoln's series of firing, hiring, and firing

generals until the Union Army (like the already well-commanded Confederate

Army) is led by some of the most able generals in American military history.

 

Mar. 11, 1943:  "The Flying Tigers" – the famous volunteer group of

American fighter pilots contracted to the Chinese Air Force during World

War II and ultimately brought under U.S. Army Air Forces command as the

China Air Task Force – is absorbed into the 14th Air Force.

 

Commanded by Gen. Claire L. Chennault, "the Flying Tigers" were so-named

because of the tiger-shark faces painted on the noses of their P-40

fighters.

 

Today, according to the U.S. Air Force, airmen of the 14th Air Force are

"the day-to-day operators of Air Force Space Command's space forces." And

the centerpiece of the 14th Air Force emblem is a tiger with wings.

 

I have been back to Vandenberg AFB and the flying Tiger P-40 out front of the  headquarters building is beautiful….skip  I will look for the picture

 

 

This Day in U S Military History

 

12 March

 

1824 – Marines of the Boston Barracks quelled a Massachusetts State Prison riot. Inmates rioted and holed up in the mess hall with a guard as hostage, Marines from the Boston barracks came to help. Major RD Wainwright led 30 Marines into the mess hall to confront 283 armed and determined prisoners. Wainwright ordered his men to cock and level their muskets. "You must leave this hall," he told the inmates. "I give you three minutes to decide. If at the end of that time a man remains, he will be shot dead. I speak no more." In two and a half minutes, "the hall was cleared as if by magic."

 

1864 – One of the biggest military fiascos of the war begins as a combined Union force of infantry and riverboats begins moving up the Red River in Louisiana. The month-long campaign was poorly managed and achieved none of the objectives set forth by Union commanders. The campaign had several strategic goals. The Union hoped to capture everything along the Red River in Louisiana and continue into Texas. President Lincoln hoped to send a symbolic warning to France, which had set up a puppet government in Mexico and seemed to have designs on territorial expansion. Finally, the expedition could also capture cotton-producing regions, a product in short supply in the North. The plan called for Admiral David Dixon Porter to take a flotilla of 20 gunboats up the Red River while General Nathaniel Banks led 27,000 men along the western shore of the river. Porter's squadron entered the river on March 12. Two days later, Fort Derussy fell to the Yankees and the ships moved upriver and captured Alexandria. So far, the expedition was going well, but Banks was moving too slowly. He arrived two weeks after Porter took Alexandria, and he continued to plod towards Shreveport. Banks traveled nearly 20 miles from the Red River, too far for the gunboats to offer any protection. On April 8, Banks' command was attacked and routed by General Richard Taylor, son of former president Zachary Taylor. They fought again the next day, but this time the Yankees held off the Rebel pursuit. The intimidated Banks elected to retreat back down the river before reaching Shreveport. Porter's ships followed, but the Red River was unusually low and the ships were stuck above some rapids near Alexandria. It appeared that the ships would have to be destroyed to keep them from falling into Confederate hands, but Lt. Colonel Joseph Bailey of Wisconsin, an engineer with a logging background, supervised several thousand soldiers in constructing a series of wing dams that raised the water level enough for the ships to pass. The expedition was deemed a failure–it drew Union strength away from other parts of the South and the group never reached Texas.

 

Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day

 

12 March

WAINWRIGHT, JONATHAN M.

Rank and organization: General, Commanding U.S. Army Forces in the Philippines. Place and date: Philippine Islands, 12 March to 7 May 1942. Entered service at: Skaneateles, N.Y. Birth: Walla Walla, Wash. G.O. No.: 80, 19 September 1945. Citation: Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he was in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world.

 

*WOMACK, BRYANT E.

Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Company, 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Sokso-ri, Korea, 12 March 1952. Entered service at: Mill Springs, N.C. Birth: Mill Springs, N.C. G.O. No.: 5, 12 January 1953. Citation: Pfc. Womack distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Pfc. Womack was the only medical aid man attached to a night combat patrol when sudden contact with a numerically superior enemy produced numerous casualties. Pfc. Womack went immediately to their aid, although this necessitated exposing himself to a devastating hail of enemy fire, during which he was seriously wounded. Refusing medical aid for himself, he continued moving among his comrades to administer aid. While he was aiding 1 man, he was again struck by enemy mortar fire, this time suffering the loss of his right arm. Although he knew the consequences should immediate aid not be administered, he still refused aid and insisted that all efforts be made for the benefit of others that were wounded. Although unable to perform the task himself, he remained on the scene and directed others in first aid techniques. The last man to withdraw, he walked until he collapsed from loss of blood, and died a few minutes later while being carried by his comrades. The extraordinary heroism, outstanding courage, and unswerving devotion to his duties displayed by Pfc. Womack reflect the utmost distinction upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.

 

*KAROPCZYC, STEPHEN EDWARD

Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, Company A, 2d Battalion, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. Place and date: Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, 12 March 1967. Entered service at: Bethpage, N.Y. Born: 5 March 1944, New York, N.Y. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. While leading the 3d Platoon, Company A, on a flanking maneuver against a superior enemy force, 1st Lt. Karopczyc observed that his lead element was engaged with a small enemy unit along his route. Aware of the importance of quickly pushing through to the main enemy force in order to provide relief for a hard-pressed friendly platoon, he dashed through the intense enemy fire into the open and hurled colored smoke grenades to designate the foe for attack by helicopter gunships. He moved among his men to embolden their advance, and he guided their attack by marking enemy locations with bursts of fire from his own weapon. His forceful leadership quickened the advance, forced the enemy to retreat, and allowed his unit to close with the main hostile force. Continuing the deployment of his platoon, he constantly exposed himself as he ran from man to man to give encouragement and to direct their efforts. A shot from an enemy sniper struck him above the heart but he refused aid for this serious injury, plugging the bleeding wound with his finger until it could be properly dressed. As the enemy strength mounted, he ordered his men to organize a defensive position in and around some abandoned bunkers where he conducted a defense against the increasingly strong enemy attacks. After several hours, a North Vietnamese soldier hurled a hand grenade to within a few feet of 1st Lt. Karopczyc and 2 other wounded men. Although his position protected him, he leaped up to cover the deadly grenade with a steel helmet. It exploded to drive fragments into 1st Lt. Karopczyc's legs, but his action prevented further injury to the 2 wounded men. Severely weakened by his multiple wounds, he continued to direct the actions of his men until he succumbed 2 hours later. 1st Lt. Karopczyc's heroic leadership, unyielding perseverance, and selfless devotion to his men were directly responsible for the successful and spirited action of his platoon throughout the battle and are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

 

*STOUT, MITCHELL W.

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Battery C, 1st Battalion, 44th Artillery. Place and date: Khe Gio Bridge, Republic of Vietnam, 12 March 1970. Entered service at: Raleigh, N.C. Born: 24 February 1950, Knoxville, Tenn. Citation: Sgt. Stout distinguished himself during an attack by a North Vietnamese Army Sapper company on his unit's firing position at Khe Gio Bridge. Sgt. Stout was in a bunker with members of a searchlight crew when the position came under heavy enemy mortar fire and ground attack. When the intensity of the mortar attack subsided, an enemy grenade was thrown into the bunker. Displaying great courage, Sgt. Stout ran to the grenade, picked it up, and started out of the bunker. As he reached the door, the grenade exploded. By holding the grenade close to his body and shielding its blast, he protected his fellow soldiers in the bunker from further injury or death. Sgt. Stout's conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action, at the cost of his own life, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon him, his unit and the U.S. Army.

 

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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for March 12, . FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY

 

12 March

 

1908: Lt Thomas E. Selfridge's Red Wing, the first Aerial Experiment Association airplane, made its first flight at Lake Keuka, Hammondsport, N. Y., with Frederick W. "Casey" Baldwin at the controls. (24)

 

1915: 1Lt Byron Q. Jones, Cpls Carl T. Hale, and Robert H. Houser flew a Burgess-Renault (Signal Corps No. 28) to a three-man duration record of 7 hours 5 minutes. (5)

 

1917: An Army and Navy board submitted the first interservice agreement on aircraft operations and the development of aeronautic resources to Service Secretaries. This document stressed joint development and operation, but recognized a general division of aeronautic functions along traditional service lines. (5)

 

1949: Capt Roy Showalter flew a 7 BG B-36 to a long-distance record by flying 9,600 miles in 43 hours 37 minutes without refueling. The flight began and ended at Fort Worth. (1)

 

1956: FIRST CENTURY SERIES AIRCRAFT IN EUROPE. The first F-100Cs landed at Bitburg AB, Germany, on their way to Sidi Slimane, Morocco, for duty with the 45th Fighter Day Squadron. That arrival made the F-100C the first Century series aircraft to arrive in the European theater, at least publicly. Earlier in May 1955, six RF-100As secretly arrived at Bitburg, with assignment to the Rhine-Main based 7407th Support Squadron as Detachment #1, to fly reconnaissance missions over Eastern Bloc countries under Project Slick Chick. (4) . Attack Squadron 83, with F7U-3M Cutlass aircraft and Sparrow I missiles, deployed for the Mediterranean from Norfolk in the first overseas employment of a Navy jet fighter squadron armed with air-to-air missiles. (24)

 

1965: Four USN enlisted men ended a 30-day rotating-room test that studied the effect of spinning on spacecraft occupants. (5) The last test Atlas D launched from Vandenberg. (6)

 

1970: Vice President Spiro T. Agnew gave Harmon International Trophies to Maj Jerauld R. Gentry, an AFFTC pilot, and to Col Frank Borman, James A. Lovell, Jr., and Lt Col William A. Anders, the Apollo VIII crewmen. (3)

 

1980: AROUND-THE-WORLD FLIGHT/MACKAY TROPHY. Through 14 March, two 410 BMW B-52Hs from K. I. Sawyer AFB, Mich., flew nonstop, 19,353 nautical miles around the world in 42 hours 30 minutes, averaging 488 MPH. Majors William H. Thurston and John M. Durham commanded the flight from Offutt AFB, across Canada, the North Atlantic, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, and back to Offutt. They earned the trophy for the flight. (1)

 

1998: Operation HOMECOMING's Silver Anniversary. A C-141 from the 445 AW (AFRC) at Wright-Patterson AFB landed at Randolph AFB with more than 50 former US prisoners of war. On 12 February 1973, the same C-141 (tail number 66-0177) airlifted Americans from Gia Lam Airport, Hanoi, North Vietnam on the first Operation HOMECOMING mission to repatriate American servicemen from Southeast Asia. The Starlifter took the men to Randolph AFB for the 25th annual "Freedom Flyers" reunion and the operation's silver anniversary. (22)

 

1998: NASA's B-52 dropped the X-38 atmospheric test vehicle from 23,000 feet on its first test. The vehicle deployed its parafoil parachute and glided to a landing on the Precision Impact Range Area at Edwards. The X-38, designed as a lifting body resembling the X-24A, was planned as an emergency crew return "lifeboat" for the International Space Station. (3)

 

2001: The AFFTC completed the Developmental Test & Evaluation (DT&E) of the F-16 Block 40T6 Avionics Upgrade program with 139 flight test missions and 220-plus flying hours. (3)

 

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