Friday

Good morning,

Quote of the day:

“If you are talking to God it is prayer, if God is talking to you it is schizophrenia.”

                                                     Lily Tomlin

Lest we forget...here is a Medal of Honor citation to a member of the “greatest generation”.

Congressional Medal of Honor

BAKER, JR., THOMAS ALEXANDER
CMH #2604

Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. ArmyBirthday: 25 June 1916Unit: Company A, 105th Infantry, 27th Infantry DivisionPlace and Date of Action: Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944 Date of Death: 12 July 1944Cemetery: National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (F-162) (MH); Honolulu, HI

CITATION: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. His entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machine gun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade, who was himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree. Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier’s pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker’s body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.

This Date in History September 19

1966 Twenty-two scientists including several Nobel laureates send President Lyndon Johnson a letter advising against the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam because of the risk of several elements in the chemical that could adversely affect human and animal life. The House Republicans send LBJ a “white paper” advising that the US was getting too deep into the war in Nam and it was affecting the economy adversely. United Nations Secretary-General U Thant sent LBJ a letter advising him to re-think the US involvement in Vietnam. And finally Pope Paul VI suggests that a Catholic encyclical should be issued against the US getting involved what was considered by his holiness to be a civil war. LBJ responded by sending swarms of B-52’s, F-105’s, F-4’s and several types of naval aircraft to bomb the hell out of several targets north and south of the DMZ. This is a prime example of the old adage “Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely”. And finally “When enough people tell you that you are sick, you had better lie down.” LBJ was a hardheaded dude. There is no doubt in my mind that worry over the Vietnam War killed him.

1862 The Battle of Iuka, Mississippi, began. It is a battle between US Gen. Phil Sheridan and CSA Gen. Sterling Price. Both armies are pretty much evenly matched with Sheridan having a number advantage over Price but that was common throughout the war. Price was trying to prevent Sheridan from joining US Gen. Don Carlos Buell in Tennessee. It didn’t work, Price was defeated and this spelled big trouble for the CSA in the western theater.

1862 The Battle of Chickamauga begins. This battle is between CSA General Braxton Bragg and US Gen. William Rosecrans. Rosecrans has his ass handed to him and retreats back to Chattanooga. It was not often that Bragg prevailed.

1862 The 3^rd Battle of Winchester Virginia happened on this day. In this engagement the CSA forces are routed. It is a battle between US Gen. Phil Sheridan with 34,000 troops and CSA Gen. Jubal Early with 16,000 troops. Go figure.

1955 Argentina President Juan Peron is deposed by a military coup. You know, you see a lot of that in Central and South America. I guess it is their blood to change Presidents once in a while no matter what. Anyway, Peron went into exile in Spain. Two years before this event Peron’s wife Eva died from cancer. Eva, known affectionately as Evita, was loved by the working class because while she was married to Peron she fostered many changes for the working class making their lives more tolerable and she was a damn good looking woman too. Y'all know about the musical “Evita” that more or less depicted Eva’s life. Later on Peron is re-elected President of Argentina and by this time he has a new wife named Isabel. In 1974 Peron died and Isabel assumed the Presidency but the Argentine Air Force said “I don’t think so” and she is deposed by a, you guessed it, military coup. Argentina suffered under this brutal administration until they were kicked out by a…you know.

1900   Earlier Robert Parker and Harry Longabough robbed a bank in Winnemucca, Nevada together. Y’all may not know these guys but they were also known as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. In his youth Parker took his name Butch Cassidy in honor of a neighbor that taught him the ways of the gun. Longabough took the name Sundance because that the name of the town whose jail he spent a lot of time at for horse thievery. They both were members of the loose group known as the Hole in the Wall Gang which got its name from a secret hideout in the mountains of Colorado. The Pinkerton detective agency was hired by the railroads to stop these two from robbing trains and was on their asses constantly. It got so bad that Butch, Sundance and a woman named Etta Place moved to South America and started knocking over banks in Argentina. The Argentineans were not amused and chased them out and they went to Bolivia and did some honest work for a while until their identities were discovered. It is reported that Butch and Sundance were killed in a shootout in San Vicente, Bolivia. The rumor persists that Butch escaped and spent his last years peacefully on a ranch in Nevada. Nothing was ever heard from Etta Place again. An interesting mystery.

1827 Jim Bowie got into duel in Alexandria, Louisiana and the weapon of choice was knives. Well, for the first time Jim whips out the knife that bears his name and promptly disembowels his banker opponent. There were a lot of fights in those days but Jim and his brother Rezin had way more that normal. It is almost a certainty that Jim did not invent the famous knife but it was probably his brother Rezin who was severely wounded earlier in a knife fight and decided that he needed a knife that would cut both directions and had a sharp point to stab with and voila, the Bowie knife. There was a rumor that the knife was made with a piece of a meteorite making it “out of this world”. Not true. As we all know, Jim was killed at the Alamo and I do not know what happened to Rezin.

Born today:

1851 English writer Henry Arthur Jones. When speaking of George Bernard Shaw he said “He is a freakish homunculus germinated outside lawful procreation.” I had to go the dictionary here.

1911 English writer William Golding. He said “Sleep is when all the unsorted stuff comes flying out of your mind like a dustpan in a high wind.” What a thought.

1974 US comic Jimmy Fallon. He said “Sometimes I wish I had a bad childhood. That might explain my Looney Tunes behavior.” Jimmy was a regular on Saturday Night Live and later replaced Jay Leno.

Died today:

1881 US President James A. Garfield. He said “I have had a lot of trouble in my life but the worst never came.” How do you know that, Jim?

   Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow

Goodbye from the land of Largemouth Bass, Bream and smooth talking politicians...all of which smell funny from time to time.