Daily history

Good morning,


Quote of the day:

“Find a man that says you are beautiful rather than hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat or lie awake just to watch you sleep.”

                                     Maya Angelou

I have been reading too much sad information so I will just continue relate to y’all some of my adventures out there in the world.

I went on a cruise in 2004 for 14 days. My traveling companion and I flew to London and stayed three days before going to on to Dover and boarding a Holland America ship. We stayed in a hotel in southwest London on Cromwell Street. The best part of the hotel was that it was across the street from the Stanhope Pub. There was a motorcycle gang outside sitting at a picnic tables while inside there was a men of obvious means. These guys were wearing derby hats, striped ascot ties, Prince Albert cut away coats, grey pants, white spats and highly polished shoes. They were really tucked in, y'all. I really enjoyed the Stanhope. After the ship got under way we made a stop at Plymouth, Guernsey Island and then stopped at Cherbourg, France for three days. The purpose of the trip was to attend the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion ceremony on June 6. From Cherbourg we were bused to Omaha Beach. I cannot express to you the electricity that was in the air during the time we were there. I remember President George W. Bush, Colin Powell and the President Chirac of France making speeches, French Marines in swarms and helicopter gunships everywhere providing security, but what grabbed my heart was just looking down that cliff and imagining the hell that was being heaped upon our troops on that fateful day. That thought, along with a 21 gun salute using 105 howitzers, a large flotilla of warships passing just offshore, and Taps being played at the end made me cry like a baby and it still brings tears to my eyes to this day. By the way, the ceremony was held in the American cemetery. I had the same feeling there that I did while standing in that field at Gettysburg where 7,000 men died in twenty minutes during Pickett’s charge. I could hear soft moans and groans far off in the distance. There is much more to be said about this adventure which will follow in future lessons.

Two teenagers were arrested near Rockingham, NC for throwing a rock off an overpass which crashed through the windshield of a passing car killing the passenger in the front seat. The first thing that crossed my mind was what kind of values was taught to these kids at home. How is possible for kids in a small southern town have such a disregard for human life? Anyway, a human life was snuffed out just for the hell of it.

All of y’all know by now that there was an explosion in the Massey Big Branch coal mine near Montcoal, West Virginia resulting in 25 deaths so far. The rescue efforts have been temporarily stopped while holes are drilled to vent toxic gasses in the mine. Nearly all of the officials say that it would be a miracle if anyone survives. I do not see how those miners do it. I have a certain amount of claustrophobia anyway and being underground would compound my phobia. Whatever the miners get paid is well worth it.

This date in history April 7

1776   On this date the first United States warship captured a British ship off the coast of Virginia. It was the newly launched USS Lexington against HMS Edward. The commander of the Lexington was Captain John Barry. Barry was a fierce naval warrior that was born in Wexford, Ireland in 1745 and came to the United States aboard his own warship named the “Black Prince” at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The United States bought the ship from Barry and renamed it the USS Alfred and put Captain Esek Hopkins in command. Not only was Barry a superb naval officer, he was instrumental in aiding in Washington’s several victories in New Jersey. After this he returned to the sea and took command of the newly launched USS Alliance. He captured the British vessels HMS Atlanta and the HMS Trepassy. He was engaged in the last naval engagement of the Revolutionary War when he captured the HMS Sybylie in March of 1783. This great man was honored on both sides of the Atlantic. There is a bridge across the Delaware River named in his honor. There is a park in Brooklyn named for him and there is a statue of him in Villanova University. There is also a stature of him in Wexford, Ireland. I have said it before and I will say it again, I believe that it is no accident that all of these exceptional people showed up at the same place and the same point in time to guide us to independence and freedom.

1994    A very tense situation in Rwanda comes to the boiling point with the killing of two Hutu tribal leaders by the Patriotic Front which is the representative group for the rival tribe of the Tutsis. After word of these murders reached across Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis began a mutual slaughter of each other that cost hundred of thousands of lives. At the beginning the Hutus had the upper hand because they were in command of the military, but eventually they got down to business with knives and machetes. The struggle is not completely over yet, there is an occasional hacking to this day. There have been over 800,000 killings with no end in sight. There has been warfare between these tribes since before recorded history. I don’t get, it but it does sounds a lot like the Sunnis and the Shiites, doesn’t it?

1805    On this date the Lewis and Clark expedition departs Fort Mandan, Sacagawea aboard, headed west. Lewis and Clark sent a detailed message to President Thomas Jefferson and sent it downstream toward Saint Louis aboard a 16 man cargo boat. The expedition had wintered across the Missouri River from a Mandan Indian village near present day Bismarck, North Dakota. When they left to head west they only had 6 light canoes and 2 heavy pirogues. The Missouri River had been basically mapped to the Mandan village. After that they were in unknown territory. They figured correctly that the current would get stronger the further west they went and the big cargo boats would be too tough to handle. Lewis and Clark thought they would be back through the Mandan village by winter of the next year. They did not get to meet Thomas Jefferson personally until 1807. When the expedition departed the Mandan village headed west, Lewis wrote in his diary that this was “the most thrilling moment of my life.” It would have been the same for me.

1945    Earlier the United States Navy, Marines and Army had invaded the Japanese island of Okinawa. This action was the bloodiest for America of any in the Pacific theatre. This was because Okinawa was only 350 mile from mainland Japan and the Japanese knew that if the United States Air Force gained use the airfields on the island, they would be bombed around the clock. The Japanese had already sent over 340 kamikaze aircraft that wreaked havoc with the US Navy. Now the Navy found out that the largest battleship on the planet was coming. It was the 78,000 ton Yamato. The US Navy knew they had to stop this beast because it could raise hell with the supply ships still unloading. They sent a whole squadron of torpedo bombers after the Yamato and after they found it they put 12 torpedoes into the sides. In spite of its size, the Yamato quickly went to the bottom carrying 2,498 Japanese sailors to a watery grave.

Born today:

1891    English writer Sir David Low. He said “Everybody is against war even Hitler and Mussolini said they were.” You can’t trust anybody can you?

1915    US singer Billie Holliday. She said “Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.” Billie could rip your heart out with her voice but she had a short drug laden life. What a shame.

1935    US naturalist Hodding Carter. She said “There are only two lasting bequests that we can leave for our children. One is roots and the other is wings.”

1939    US film maker Francis Ford Coppola. He said about his movie Apocalypse Now “My movie was not about Vietnam, is was Vietnam.”

1964    US actor Russell Crowe. He said “I am destined to be attracted to those I cannot defeat.”

Died today:

1891    US showman P.T. Barnum. His last words were “How were the receipts in Madison Square Garden today?” This guy was something else.

1947    US auto maker Henry Ford. He said “Thinking is the hardest work there is which is probably why so few people engage in it.”

Quotable quotes:

“I have an obsessive-compulsion disorder. I have to do things in threes. That is why I gained a reputation as a slut” Mimi Bombeck

“All of these disorders. When I was a kid all we had was crazy people.”

                             Ellen DeGeneres

“God heals and doctors take the fee.” Ben Franklin

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow.