Good
Morning,
Quote
of the day:
During
WWII the German Army launched a massive surprise attack into Belgium
in an attempt to capture the seaport of Antwerp so the German army
could received supplies to continue the war. This was after D-Day
and the Germans knew this attack was their last chance and was known
from then on as The Battle of the Bulge. The American 82nd
Airborne unit including 18,000 soldiers were encircled by the Germans
in the Belgian town of Bastogne. US General George Patton was
assigned the task of driving north (about 100 miles) and relieving
the 82nd.
Patton and his army was fighting the Germans and a blizzard on their
way toward the 82nd.
The blizzard meant that Pattons's army could not receive
reinforcements or supplies by air and one of his staff suggested that
Patton's army may have to hold up and wait on better weather. Patton
answered with “There are brave men dying up there...we are not
going to wait another day, we are not going to wait another
minute...we are going to attack all night...we are going to attack
tomorrow morning...IF WE ARE NOT VICTORIOUS...let no man come back
alive.” Patton's lead tank column reach Bastogne the day after
Christmas and the 82nd
was relieved. By the way, the commander of that tank column was Lt.
Colonel Creighton Abrams. The present day battle tank is named for
this great leader. He retired as a four star General.
By
the way, after the 82nd
was relieved a paratrooper was interviewed by a newsman who asked how
it felt to be “saved” by Patton. The paratrooper bristled and
said “We did not need to be f%^&#ing saved, we were relieved,
not f%^&#ing saved.” The 82nd
is a proud bunch.
When
I go to Pensacola Beach on my bi-yearly visits, one of my fellow bar
flies is Chuck Pitman. Except Chuck is known to me others as “The
General”. He is a retired Lieutenant General (three stars) from
the US Marine Corp. I read his history and this man has done nearly
everything in combat that can be imagined. He flew combat
helicopters in Nam and was shot down twice in one day. His
qualifications indicate that he was certified in nearly every Marine
Corp aircraft (including helicopters and jet fighters) since the late
50's until he retired. He has some great tales for us all. He is on
several Boards of Directors that keep him moving across the country
and the world. I might be going back for a month long visit about
mid-October and am looking forward to chatting with “The General”.
A
couple of days ago the Spartanburg, SC city cops were called to a
shopping mall by a passer by. This person saw a young English
bulldog laying in the back seat of a car with the windows up and the
outside temperature about 92. The dog was foaming at the mouth and
was breathing very shallow. The cops immediately broke out two
windows, extracted the very limp dog and sent it to the nearest vet.
About that time the owner of the car arrived and was immediately
arrested. Two days ago the 16 month old dog died. What should
happen to the owner?
Speaking
of this, recently the Anderson, SC sheriffs department busted a puppy
mill last week. This bastard had 128 puppies mostly Jack Russells
and Chihuahuas. They were found in “abominable” conditions. Some
of the puppies died when being taken out of their cages. What should
happen to this bastard?
Here
is a story of unbridled bravery. Down in Greenwood, SC a group of
kids were trying to cross a road. One of them was a three year old
girl. Suddenly a car was seen speeding along toward the children and
another person tried to flag him down and warn him of the kids. It
didn't work, the car hit the three year old who flew into the air and
landed on the windshield of the car. The driver then slammed on the
brakes and threw the kid back into the road. The driver did not hit
the brakes until after he had hit the kid. The driver then got out
of the car, looked around, got back into the car and drove away. The
cops found out that the car belongs to a woman who identified her
boyfriend as being the driver of the car while she was at work. The
boyfriend was arrested on a hit and run charge. This brave bastard
said that he had a friend in the car with him that was driving...not
him. He said this in spite of the man that tried to wave him down
and three others that saw him get out of the car and look around and
then drive away and all identified the same person...it was the
boyfriend. Here this piece of trash is trying to lie his way out of
this charge and implicate his friend, if there was one. The little
girl was flown to Greenville Memorial Hospital for a fractured pelvis
and a broken leg. In spite of all of this, she is awake and
coherent. The brave driver is in the joint for quite a spell. The
owner of the car said that she will put her car in the body shop for
the dents and bumps as soon as the cops got what they needed. That
driver is a brave bastard...isn't he?
This
Date in History August 14
1776
On this date the city of Boston celebrated the 11th
anniversary of the revolt against the hated “Stamp Act”. The
Stamp Act was a resolution passed by the British Parliament whereby
any and all documents of any kind, including newspapers, must have a
Stamp attached. The cost of the stamp varied dependent upon the
document it went upon. Parliament needed money to help finance the
British army in the colonies. Well, the colonists hit the roof
saying that Parliament had levied a tax on the colonies with the
colonies not represented in Parliament. Soon those hell-raisers “The
Sons of Liberty” began leaning heavily on the collectors of the
stamp tax by going to their homes and unabashedly threatening their
lives, burning down the warehouses where they thought the stamps were
stored, etc. Finally the collector of the stamp tax said “To hell
with it, I am out of here” as did the majority of the other stamp
tax collectors in the colonies making the Stamp tax unenforceable.
Less than a year later Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. But in its
place they enacted the “Declaratory Act” making Parliament or
their representative have supreme legislative authority everywhere in
the colonies. It took a while for the colonists to figure out the
ramifications of this abomination. Parliament also added a few pence
tax on every barrel of molasses that came into the colonies. There
was no complaint here. Molasses was essential to manufacture of rum
and the male colonists just would not sit still without that tankard
of “grog” every night. It was the women that drank the tea and
raised hell when England forbade the colonies from buying tea from
anyone but English traders and they goaded the men (Sons of Liberty)
into the infamous “Boston Tea Party” in objection to this
bullshit.
1862
On this date Confederate General Kirby Smith led his 10,000 man
army out of Knoxville, Tennessee headed for the Cumberland Gap. His
mission was two-fold. He was to draw US General Don Carlos Buell and
his army out of Chattanooga, Tennessee hoping to give relief to CSA
General Braxton Bragg. Part two of his mission was to cross over
into Kentucky and begin recruiting soldiers for the Confederate army.
CSA General Smith met a small US force in the Cumberland Gap which
just melted away at the approach of Kirby’s army. They met a
little stiffer resistance near Richmond, Kentucky but routed them in
short order. Soon General Smith captured Lexington. They succeeded
to drawing US General Buell out of Chattanooga who pursued Smith into
Kentucky. Buell finally caught up with the combined armies of CSA
General Smith and Bragg at Perryville. A major engagement ensued
which was lost by the CSA and Bragg and Smith retreated back into
Tennessee and safety. They had succeeded in drawing Buell out of
Chattanooga but had failed in the capture of Kentucky.
1831
On this date one of the most famous vigilantes in United States
history in born in Pennsylvania. John X. Beidler drifted west into
Kansas and tried a variety of occupations like brick making and
farming. He got hooked up with the king of the abolitionists in John
Brown but he moved to Texas when Brown made the infamous raid on the
arsenal at Harper’s Ferry. As we all know Brown and his raiding
party were captured on site and all were hanged for treason including
Brown. Eventually “X” as he preferred to be known, ended up in
Virginia City, Montana during the gold rush. The people of Virginia
City had a serious problem with highwaymen robbing and killing
travelers with a psychopath named Henry Plummer being the worst.
Henry was cool though and got himself elected as sheriff of nearby
Bannock, Montana. The people of Virginia City and Bannock got fed up
with the lack of law enforcement and the unbridled lawlessness so
they formed a Vigilante Committee. They went out through the
countryside and captured and hanged on the spot what robbers they
found including good old Henry Plummer. The most famous and
enthusiastic of the vigilantes was our man “X”. Most of the
vigilantes wore hoods and did not want their identification known,
not so with “X”. He labeled himself as “Vigilante X” and was
proud to be known as a killer of robbers as a vigilante. Eventually,
due to the vigilante’s bloodlust, the travelers in and around
Virginia City were much safer. He became a stagecoach driver and
eventually a US Marshal and was very effective at both. But hard
times befell John X. Beidler and he existed on charity alone from
those people that remembered him as the man that cleaned up Virginia
City with a pistol and a noose. He died in Helena, Montana in 1890
and his occupation listed on his death certificate was “Public
Benefactor”. His name is mentioned several times in other books I
have read about the Mountain Men of that era.
Born today:
1867
English writer John Galsworthy. He said “Idealism increases
directly proportional to one’s distance from the problem.” Talk
about hitting the nail on the head.....
1925
US columnist Russell Baker. He said “The goal of all inanimate
objects is to resist man and ultimately defeat him.” That reminds
me of trying to assemble a ten speed bike on Christmas Eve.
1945
US actor/comedian Steve Martin. He said “I think Ronald Reagan
can turn this country into what it used to be....an arctic region
covered with ice.” Ouch!
1950
US cartoonist Gary Larson (The Far Side). He said “I never liked
my own species.”
I
remember one of Larson’s cartoons that showed a cowboy holding a
smoking gun standing over and obvious dead man and saying “What is
the circumference of the earth?” “What is average yearly rainfall
in the Amazon river basin?” Another cowboy walked up and said
“Charlie, the phrase ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ is
just figure of speech.”
Died today:
1972
US composer/pianist Oscar Levant. He said “The first time I
embraced Judy Garland it made pharmaceutical history.” Judy was a
junkie on prescription drugs and so was Oscar.
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment