Musings and
History
Quote
of the day:
“You
can spend the majority of your life trying to be popular, but in the
final analysis the number of people attending your funeral will be
governed by the weather.”
Lily Tomlin
One
of my subscribers reminded me of an important event on February 23,
1945. Here is a little background and a brief history of that event.
After
the United States was attacked on December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, the American military was extremely interested in at attack
on the Japanese homeland. It was determined that due to the vast
distances between island airports in the western Pacific. The B-17
aircraft used in Europe would be impractical because of its
relatively short range and limited bomb load. The Commander of the
US Army Air Corp, General “Hap” Arnold issued a prospective order
to the different US aircraft manufacturers and described the minimum
requirements that included a range of 6,000 miles and a bomb load of
10,000 pounds. Boeing Aircraft won the order with the inimitable
B-29 Superfortress. Now the US Navy and Marines were assigned the
task of capturing islands with airports in the Marianas and the
Caroline Island chains that could be made available to aircraft the
size and weight of the B-29. The first two to fall were Kwajalein
and Eniwetok. Next came the airports they were really after on
Tinian, Saipan and Guam. The islands were within 2,500 miles of the
Japanese homeland and all could be modified to handle the B-29. The
problem was that the Japanese had already figured out what the Allied
strategy was and was ramping up a defense of these islands. The
Battle of Saipan was one of the bloodiest in history up to that
point. The US Army Air Force began bombing attacks on the Japanese
mainland in the summer and fall of 1944. The immediate problem was
that the Japanese had radar and a squadron of interceptors on the
island of Iwo Jima which was about halfway between Tinian and the
Japanese mainland making the trip to and from the Japanese mainland
very hazardous resulting in many B-29’s and crews being lost.
Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur agreed that Iwo
Jima had to be taken at all cost. The reason was two-fold. One was
they had to eliminate the interceptors launching from Iwo Jima and
two, if the B-29’s on bombing missions had engine trouble or
damaged from anti-aircraft fire, they could land at Iwo Jima.
On
February 19, 1945 a task force led by Admiral Marc Mitscher for the
US Navy and General Holland Smith for the 4th,
5th
and 6th
divisions of the US Marine Corps dropped anchor on the east side of
Iwo Jima. The big guns of three US battleships opened up and along
with US Navy fighter/bombers began the largest artillery/bombing
assault in history. In the meantime, 20,000 Marines were loaded onto
landing craft to await the completion of the bombardment to commence
landing. After this earth-shattering barrage, the Marines landed.
Nearly the entire first assault wave had landed before they
experienced any gunfire from the Japanese. The Japanese commander
was General Kuribayashi, a very smart and capable leader. After the
Marines were on the island, the Japanese opened up with everything
they had and the slaughter was fantastic. The Japanese had dug 11
mile of tunnels on the island, especially on the extinct volcano
named Suribachi on the south side of the island. All of these
tunnels were bomb proof meaning the naval bombardment had hardly any
effect. This mutual slaughter continued until February 23 when a
Marine platoon fought its way to the peak of Suribachi and raised an
American flag. All the troops below yelled, screamed and cried, the
assault ships blew their horns and whistles and the Secretary of the
US Navy, James Forestall said “This action will ensure the US
Marines for 500 years.” This is the first and only battle where
the casualties of the American forces exceeded those of the enemy.
The only difference is the Americans had about 6,800 killed and
19,000 wounded where there were only 217 Japanese survivors out of
18,400 in this battle. When General Kuribayashi sent his last
message to Tokyo he said “We have not eaten or drank in five days,
our weapons have been destroyed, but out spirits are high. We will
launch out last attack tonight. May Japan exist for a thousand
years.” Sure enough, he led a night assault that was crushed by
the Marines. The remains of General Kuribayashi was never
identified.
There
were 28 Medals of Honor given in this battle, most of them
posthumously. That represents 85% of all Medals of Honor given to US
Navy/US Marines in the entire war.
By
the way, the average age of the combat Marines in this action was
19.7.
This
Date in History February 25
1779
A few days earlier American Patriot George Rogers Clark departed
the small village of Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River with 175
militia and a few French mercenaries to capture Fort Sackville near
present day Vincennes, Indiana. After wading through icy cold water
Clark’s men arrived at the fort from a direction that was
unexpected by the British army inside. Clark called for the
surrender of the fort from the British commander who refused. Then
Clark personally brought five Indians that he and his group had
captured along the way, out in front of the fort and Clark personally
hacked them all to death and disemboweled them with a tomahawk.
Clark then called again for a surrender which was readily accepted.
There were just over ninety British soldiers and their families in
the fort. The success of this raid put the British between a rock
and a hard place in that area because the French settlers realized
that they could not depend on the British military to defend them and
sided with the Patriots. George Roger Clark again was one of those
little known hard-asses for the Patriots that had he not been where
he was when he was, things may have turned out differently.
1576
On this date the head of then Roman Catholic Church, Pope Pius VI
ex-communicated the Queen of England, Elizabeth I and told the
English Catholics that they did not have to obey Elizabeth any
longer. Elizabeth really did not care because her father, Henry
VIII got fed up with the pope interfering with the affairs of the
English crown and he formed his own church, a protestant church known
as the Anglican Church or the Church of England. The only difference
between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church was the Pope was
head of the Catholics and the King/Queen was the head of the
Anglicans. Not a hell of a lot of difference for the faithful.
Elizabeth did not have to stress that the English subjects had better
abide by the rule of the queen or they would meet a date in a dungeon
somewhere or meet a big guy with a big axe and a black hood over his
head. Elizabeth proved to be one of the greatest monarchs in the
history of western man.
Famous quotes:
“Some
people see things that are and ask why, others see things that are
not and ask why, others have to go to work and don’t have time for
all that bullshit.”
George Carlin
“Good
soldiers decide that they will be killed in battle and lose their
fear. Then they can kill with no compassion and no remorse. All
wars depend on it.”
George Patton
Thanks
for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow
No comments:
Post a Comment