Daily history

Good morning,







Quote of the day:


“Everyone is entitled to my opinion.”


                Madonna






Here is a few instances of how people’s lives change in an instant never to be the same again.






A Marine sergeant on Iwo Jima was assigned the duty as night guard of the Company CP (command post) during the first night of that infamous battle. Very shortly after taking his post a Japanese soldier attacked with his bayoneted rifle. The Marine was able to parry the attack and threw the Japanese soldier to the ground. The Japanese soldier pulled out a hand grenade and tried to throw it at the Marine. The Marine was able to wrestle the grenade from the Japanese but the pin had already been pulled. The Marine grabbed the soldier and initiated a “bear hug” holding the sputtering grenade against the soldier’s back. The grenade exploded taking the Marines hand and most of his arm with it. The Japanese was literally cut into. The Marine later said that just before the grenade exploded, he and the soldier were so close that they were touching noses and looking at each other’s eyes only inches apart. He said that the look on the soldier’s face stayed with him forever as did the smell of the soldier before and after the explosion along with the texture of his uniform.






In Iraq an American soldier was standing beside his Humvee when he was shot in the back at close range. Fortunately he had on a bullet proof vest and was only stunned but was knocked to the ground. He looked under the Humvee and saw someone coming wearing Arab clothing and he could see the tip of a rifle hanging down. He shot one of the legs of the person approaching who fell to the ground instantly. The attacker with a surprised look stared at the American face to face under the Humvee and hesitated just for a second which cost him his life. The American shot hitting him in the forehead killing him instantly. The American soldier said that he has no idea why the attacker hesitated except maybe he had never seen his victims at such close range (about 10 feet)…or it could be that he finally realized that he was about to kill another human being, but the look on the attackers face will stay with him forever.






In the battle for Fallujah, Iraq a US Marine unit led by a Captain Howell burst into a house known to be occupied by al-Qaeda insurgents. There was no lights in the building. Captain Howell entered a pitch black room and was struck on the left shoulder by an assassin using a two by four which broke his collar bone. Captain Howell grabbed the assassin with his good arm and finally was able to get his arm around the neck. He could not reach his knife because of the incapacitated left arm so he bit a chunk out of the man’s neck which included a piece of the jugular vein and held on until he bled out. He said the man’s mouth was just a couple of inches from his face and as he struggled to live he started yelling curses at the Captain Howell but at the last he was praying to Allah. Captain Howell also said that the smell, feel of his struggles for life and even the taste of the man’s sweat will stay with him forever.






This date in history March 1










1781 In November of 1777 the United States Congress had signed the Articles of Federation and sent out to the respective states for ratification. The Articles of Federation outlined the processes taken by the federal government. The nearly four year delay in ratification came because Virginia and Maryland were squabbling over lands on their western borders. Finally, these two states settled their differences and the Articles of Federation were ratified on this date. This document was the precursor to the United States Constitution. The Federal Government and the individual states knew that the Articles of Federation would not suffice and began working on a better instrument soon after the Articles were ratified. The main difference in the two documents was the sovereignty of the states. The Articles begin with “To all to whom these Present shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States ...” Compared to the opening line of the Constitution “We the people of the United States....do ordain and establish this Constitution for the people of the United States.” The Article II of Articles of Federation says “Each state shall retain its sovereignty, freedom and Independence, and every power, jurisdiction and right which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” Out forefathers were so fearful of another King taking power that they essentially made each state its own monarchy. As I said, early on some very wise men, Thomas Jefferson for one, saw that the Articles were unworkable and began carving out another one. Our forefathers struggled under the Articles until the present day Constitution was graciously ratified and delivered to us in 1789. But even then, there were those that were still fearful of a takeover by a king that they added further amendments to it guaranteeing additional personal liberties and protection. These addenda to this day are known as The Bill of Rights. We went from sovereign King, to an assembly of sovereign states, to a sovereign nation under guidance of some very intelligent men of vision and lovers of freedom that, in my humble opinion, were not here by accident.






1864 The United States Congress chooses to promote Major General Ulysses S. Grant to Lieutenant General effective on this date. Grant is an interesting study in success. He was born in Ohio in 1822. He graduated from West Point in 1843 an unimpressive 21st out a class of 39. He was assigned to the western frontier and fought in the Mexican War. He resigned his commission and became a manger of a clothing store for several years in Ohio. After the attack on Fort Sumter Grant reenlisted and was given the rank of Colonel and assigned to the 21st Illinois Brigade. In the fall of 1861 he was promoted to Brigadier General after he brilliantly captured the Confederate strongholds of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson on the Tennessee River, which virtually gave the Union the control of the entire state of Tennessee. After a series of successes, and some failures, he was able to neutralize the city of Vicksburg which was a Confederate bastion on the Mississippi River giving the Union control of that great artery and the essentially split the Confederacy in half. After this he was brought back east to capture or destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, CSA General Robert E. Lee commanding. After a series of ferocious battles, Lee ran out of food and ammo and eventually surrendered to Grant in April of 1865. There were only two other three star (lieutenant) Generals in the United States Army up to that time, they were Grant, Washington and Henry Halleck. Halleck’s rank was more an honorary one. He never was in command of a military unit in the field with that rank. Grant was the only commander of the Union military that understood his advantage over the Confederate Generals. He could afford to lose more men than the Confederacy. He had more cannon fodder. He was willing to sacrifice his men just so he could take out some of the Confederates knowing that they had few if any replacements. He fought a war of attrition and won.






1932 On this date the 22 month old baby of Charles and Anne Lindbergh show up missing from her crib and a ransom note written in barely readable English demanding $50,000 was found nearby. Someone had put up a ladder to the second floor window of the Lindbergh’s Hopewell, New Jersey home and left muddy footprints in the baby’s bedroom floor. The police found nothing. It was Charles Lindbergh that flew non-stop from New Jersey to Paris in the airplane “The Spirit of Saint Louis”. A few days later a letter arrived and demanded $70,000. It wasn’t until April that a drop point was identified and a go-between delivered the money. The kidnapper left a note saying the baby was in a boat named the “Nellie” off the Massachusetts coast. No such boat was ever found so the police go back to the scene of the crime to investigate more. They found the baby’s corpse just a short distance from the house. About two years later a man bought some gas for his car and pays the attendant with a bill that looked like it was marked. The attendant took down the license number and gave it to the police who tracked it down to a German immigrant name Bruno Hauptman. They searched his house and found $13,000 of the ransom money. Hauptman claimed that he was given the money but he went on trial and was convicted on the slimmest of circumstantial evidence. Two months after the conviction Hauptman was executed in the electric chair.






Born today:






40ad Italian writer Marcus Maritalus. He said “There is no glory in outstripping donkeys”. He must have been debating with some Clemson grads.






1922 Jewish statesman Yitzak Rabin. He said “Don’t make peace with your friends, make peace with the most unsavory of your enemies.” Rabin was an exemplary leader that was gunned down in his prime.






1880 English writer Lytton Strachey. On his death bed he said “If this is dying, then I don’t think much of it.” This, my friends, is arrogance at its peak.






Quotable Quotes:






“I’d move to Los Angeles if Australia and New Zealand were swallowed by some gigantic tidal wave, if there is bubonic plague in Europe and if Africa disappeared from a Martian attack.”


Russell Crowe


By the way, Crowe hired the American OCC shop to build him a chopper motorcycle.






“In Canada a gay marriage is one where the husband does not watch hockey.”


Conan O’Brien






Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow